Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Why is this occupation different from all other occupations?
The EU insists that any agreement it signs with Israel explicitly exclude the settlements in the “occupied” West Bank, the scholars noted in a letter sent last month to Ashton’s Brussels office. So why don’t the same constraints apply in the case of Morocco? This blatant inconsistency shows “an official double-standard practiced by the EU,” Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University and Israeli ex-ambassador to Canada Alan Baker charged.The boycott Israel campaign: absolutely no similarities with the 1930s Nazi boycott of Jews (satire)
Last week, the EU responded to the letter, saying, essentially, that Israel’s occupation is different, but without detailing how and why.
While Israel continues to be subject to intensified terrorist atrocities - six attacks in the last 2 days - (ignored as usual by the main stream media), the campaign to boycott Israel also intensifies. Some people have suggested similarities between this boycott Israel campaign and the Nazi boycott of Jews in the 1930s. As the following table makes clear there is absolutely no basis for arguing that these boycott campaigns are in any way similar.War on Want: The ‘charity’ that is just an anti-Israel propaganda organization funded by duped Brits (courtesy of the BBC and Comic Relief)
Looking at the War on Want website today I note that in its annual ‘thank you’ message to its supporters its main listed achievement is its role in the BDS campaign against Israel, including its boast of how it disrupted the AGM of the firm G4S and pressured them into terminating business in Israel. It also takes credit for the UK government issuing “an explicit warning to British businesses over the risks of involvement in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”:Disgraced UN rep trying to meet anti-Semite for Christmas lunch in London
Disgraced UN official Richard Falk, who was condemned last week by Canada, Australia and the U.S., recently provided the cover endorsement for a book denounced as anti-Semitic even by the most extreme anti-Israel activists.Abbas, Ashton join Xmas festivities in Bethlehem
Now Falk is trying to meet the anti-Semitic author for lunch in London:
Atzmon’s book asks whether ”Hitler might have been right after all.” The British Foreign Office last year condemned Falk for endorsing it.
Palestinian dignitaries greeted Twal at the entrance of Bethlehem. His motorcade crawled through the town’s narrow streets as he stopped to shake hands and greet the throngs of visitors. It took him nearly 90 minutes to make the short trip to celebrate Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity compound.BBC’s Knell exploits Christmas report to lie about anti-terrorist fence
Hundreds of people packed the compound for the service. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh were among the dignitaries in attendance.
Of course Knell conveniently neglects to inform viewers that Jewish communities existed on Jewish-owned land in Gush Etzion long before 1948 and that those communities were destroyed, massacred and ethnically cleansed by British financed, equipped and led Jordanian troops.Richard Millet: St James’s Church, Piccadilly, installs life size replica of Israel’s security wall during 12 days of Christmas.
What about Knell’s claim of “a high concrete wall around Bethlehem”? Audiences will naturally understand “around” to mean – as it does in the English language – encircling, on every side. However the anti-terrorist fence does not encircle Bethlehem – it is located to its north and west as can be seen on the UN-produced map below.
St James’s Church, Piccadilly, in London’s West End has installed a life size 8 metre tall/30 metre long replica of Israel’s security wall in its courtyard as part of its Bethlehem Unwrapped festival. The replica wall is so vast that it obscures the Church itself.The award for ‘UK paper blaming Israel for ruining Christmas in Bethlehem’ goes to….
The replica wall will be lit up at night and for the next twelve days of Christmas (until 5th January) a montage of images and slogans will be continuously projected onto it. Scenes include parts of London with a wall passing through it.
Remarkably, in 880 words written by the Times reporter about the fate of Christians in Bethlehem, there isn’t a single word about the problem of Islamist extremism. Nor does she note that the only country in the region where the Christian population is increasing is Israel.More hate courtesy of Ali Abunimah: Tweets about Israel ‘harvesting children’
Indeed, the fact that the only nation in the Middle East where Christians are flourishing just happens to be the sole place where radical Islam is not a serious threat is essential to understanding the fate of Christianity in that part of the world – vital context about contrasting values of tolerance in the region which Catherine Philp fails to provide.
Ali Abunimah is the co-founder of Electronic Intifada - and occasional ’Comment is Free’ contributor – who opposes the existence of a Jewish state within any borders.Israel cannot solve the Palestinian problem
He had this to say on Twitter yesterday about the reported death of a child in Gaza after three separate terrorist incidents on the Israel-Gaza border, which included the murder – by a Palestinian sniper - of an Israeli Bedouin named Saleh Abu Latif:
Israel is a country with so many blessings. It has a thriving economy. It has incredible natural beauty. It is even now discovering natural resources. Baruch Hashem People are jealous of Israel’s success. People claim Israel’s success came from criminal action.Terrorists Threaten to Attack US Troops in Jordan Valley
Israel is blamed for the suffering of the Palestinians. But Israel is not responsible. Building homes in disputed territory is not a crime. Blowing up buses is a crime. Israel’s success came from hard work, incredible sacrifice and a lot of luck. Israel’s success has helped make the world a better place. Not just for the Jewish people but for all the people in the world. I am proud of Israel’s accomplishments.
Khaled al-Azhbet, the official spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist group, warned that if American or other foreign troops are stationed in the Jordan Valley, they will be targeted in attacks.Hamas Minister: First Israel, then the World
“We will treat any foreign armed forces as invaders, regardless of their citizenship or their mission,” he declared. “Our policy toward them will be identical to that taken toward the Zionist enemy.”
The ultimate goal of the Hamas movement is to establish Islam worldwide, Hamas minister Fathi Hammad declared during a recent public address in Gaza.Poll: Most Palestinians believe Israel Poisoned Arafat
“We shall liberate our land, Allah willing. We shall liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and our cities and villages, as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era,” Hammad proclaimed.
According to poll released Tuesday by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 59 percent of respondents believe Israel fatally poisoned Arafat, while 21 percent "believe that a Palestinian party or group or a joint Palestinian-Israeli party or group is responsible."French Soldier Under Investigation for Wearing Nazi Slogan on Uniform
Arafat died in 2004, at the age of 75, following an illness. At the time, his wife Suha refused to allow an autopsy. She later allowed investigators to exhume his body after traces of polonium-210 were found on clothing that she provided to scientists as part of an Al Jazeera documentary.
A french soldier serving in the Central African Republic is under investigation for wearing a patch with a Nazi slogan on his uniform.French use Nazi-like salute with impunity
The patch caught the attention of French Military Chiefs after pictures of the soldier wearing it were posted on Facebook.
According to The Guardian, the patch was round and had "the number 32 on a French flag and the words 'my honor is loyalty.'" Nazi Waffen-SS used the motto during World War II.
Last week, the Swiss municipality of Carouge near Geneva fired two volunteer firefighters over online photos in which they performed the quenelle. In September, two French soldiers were disciplined for performing it in front of a Paris synagogue and then posting the image online.Simple air-and-water fuel soon to take off
Dieudonne, a professed anti-Semite, Hamas supporter and Holocaust denier, was convicted last month for a seventh time of incitement against Jews and slapped with a $36,000 fine. Like the Nazi salute, the quenelle is seen as a variant of the Roman salute and, considering its inventor’s penchant for defiance of France’s anti-Nazi laws, is understood to challenge the prohibition on performing the Nazi salute.
It’s been a vision and a dream since post-industrial revolution scientists understood there was a problem with burning coal and oil: an alternative fuel made from the basic and plentiful elements on earth.Paint the new Cornell-Technion New York campus ‘green’
Could the answer be as simple as water and air?
An Israeli research team from Ben-Gurion University has developed something that seems like fuel for the futuristic Jetson family. But Prof. Moti Herskowitz estimates that in only 10 or 20 years, when the cost of hydrogen becomes low enough to be competitive, his innovation could replace pollution-causing jet fuel.
The new campus being built on Roosevelt Island in New York City for the Cornell-Technion technology campus will be the last word in sustainable construction. Plans for the campus were approved by officials last week, with the city signing over 12 acres of land on the East River island to Cornell for construction of the project.Christian Arabs top country’s matriculation charts
Christian Arabs in Israel appear to represent the most successfully studious sector in the Jewish state, new research shows, as the tiny sector’s students are more likely than any other Israeli community to succeed on their matriculation exams.IDF Blog: Christians Serving In the IDF: A Growing Community
According to a study published by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Christmas, over the past school year, 70% of the sector’s high school students were eligible for matriculation, compared to 50% of Muslim-Arab students, 64% of Druze students, and 61% of students enrolled in the mostly Jewish Hebrew education system.
Today, as people around the world celebrate Christmas, Christian soldiers serving in the IDF are off duty and at home with their families for the holiday. The growing community of Christian IDF soldiers recently gathered for a special forum to recognize their contribution to the State of Israel.Historian Says Bugs Bunny Might be Jewish
Stern revealed his findings at a lecture held recently at Britain’s University of Warwick, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported. Stern, who watched thousands of animated shorts that feature Bugs Bunny, noted in his presentation that there are Jewish fingerprints all over the smart aleck cartoon character, including the very voice of Bugs Bunny – Jewish actor Mel Blanc.
Stern’s exhaustive study even included the findings of one specific cartoon episode in which Bugs Bunny flashes back to his childhood. The New York neighborhood Bugs grew up in is teeming with obviously Jewish characters, such as ultra-Orthodox Jews and other stereotypically Eastern European figures from the turn of the 20th century.
Stern closed his case for Bugs Bunny being Jewish by reminding his audience that the legendary rabbit’s arch nemesis is…Porky Pig. The pig, of course, is Judaism’s quintessentially unclean animal.
