Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Judea Pearl: How not to fight an anti-Israel boycott
What ASA members should be most concerned about is their professional reputation, having let their organization be hijacked by the rhetoric of the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement and its radical supporters. While the resolution itself may sound benign, ASA members should have taken a hard look at the purpose for which this document will be used in the future.PMW: Palestinian refugee: Jordanian army told us to leave in 1948 War
The leaders of the BDS movement do not hide that purpose: In every conversation with them, they make it crystal clear that their ultimate goal is not to end the occupation, nor is it to achieve a peaceful solution in the Middle East, but rather to defame Israel in the public eye, to choreograph an arena where Israel’s criminality is debated, to intimidate pro-coexistence voices into silence, if not shame, and eventually bring about Israel’s isolation, if not her demise.
Resorting to Lies, Distortions to Attack Israel
A short film dramatizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is drawing traffic at Upworthy. In the film, "No Way Through," by the left-wing outfit Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a man hits a woman with his car, calls for an ambulance, then is forced to drive her to the hospital himself through the streets of London. When he arrives, he is turned away by soldiers, who eventually beat him senseless while the young woman suffers on the back seat of his car.
The film closes with the claim: "Around Jerusalem the average ambulance journey time for a Palestinian is now almost 2 hours, compared to 10 minutes in 2001."Here are some facts that the film leaves out. In 2000, Palestinians launched a deadly intifada that included relentless terror attacks on Israeli cities, resulting in over one thousand deaths. The checkpoints were set up to catch would-be terrorists. As the intifada wound down (largely through successful Israeli military efforts), the number of checkpoints was decreased.
Finally, there is the grim fact that Palestinian terror groups have sometimes used ambulances to carry bombs and other weapons, just as they frequently use civilian infrastructure (such as schools) to launch rocket attacks or to hide weapons and fighters. Just last week, an inadvertent explosion at the Palestinian embassy in the Czech Republic revealed the storage of illicit weapons there, in likely violation of the Vienna Convention.
How Terrorists Attacked Israel in 2013
Terrorists attacked Israeli civilians and soldiers in many different forms throughout 2013. Terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah carried out attacks from within Israel and from neighboring countries. The events below are just a small selection of the violence perpetrated against Israel in 2013. Terrorists attempt an attack against Israel almost every day. Could you live like this?Rocket launched from Gaza Strip hits Negev
The fragments of the projectile, which exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council, were found on Monday evening.Pipe bomb explodes at Rachel’s Tomb parking lot
The incident comes amid several weeks of renewed violence along the border.
One person was lightly injured and treated on the spot, according to Israel Radio. The blast reportedly occurred in the parking lot.Bat Yam Bus Bomb: Hole in Security Fence Used by Terrorists to Infiltrate Israel Was Well Known
IDF units were out searching the area for the perpetrator.
Earlier Monday, a Palestinian attacker hurled a grenade at an IDF base near Bethlehem.
The hole in the fence that the terrorists used to enter Israeli territory had been revealed on the ‘Six’ news program, broadcast on Channel 2. On August 19 2013, Channel 2 News broadcast a video that showed how this gap in the fence was routinely being used by Palestinian Arabs in order to enter and leave Israel.Israeli Arab Charged over Bus Bomb
A Bedouin Muslim with Israeli citizenship was charged Monday in the Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court for his part in a failed bus bombing in the city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. The bomb was successfully planted in a bus and detonated, but serious casualties were avoided thanks to the passengers' and driver's alertness, and swift action by police.Chile's Jewish community hurt by soccer club shirt
Chilean Jewish community demands apology and asks the country's soccer association to ban shirts produced by the Palestino soccer club, which feature a map showing all of Israel as Palestinian land Chile's Palestinian Federation supports the shirt. (h/t Bob Knot)Former US ambassadors change mind on Pollard
The web site spoke to Sam Lewis, who served as ambassador until 1985 when Pollard was arrested in Washington, and Thomas Pickering, who as Lewis' replacement dealt with the arrest's aftermath. Both veteran diplomats are considered close to Kerry and strongly support his current efforts to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.Edward Snowden has more US-Israel secrets to expose, Glenn Greenwald says
Greenwald voiced understanding for the Pollard linkage.HRW and the Al Qaeda funder: Not even a smidgen of contrition?
"I think you are absolutely right to contrast the Jonathan Pollard case with revelations of American spying on their closest allies within the Israeli government, because it does underlie, underscore exactly the hypocrisy that lies at the center of so much of what the US government does," he said.
Despite the addition of Al Karama leaders to terrorist watch lists, established human rights NGOs are not ruling out working with the group in the future. Human Rights Watch said Naimi’s terrorist designation should not detract from the rest of Al Karama’s work.BDS silences Native American voices
"The accused terrorist has resigned from Al Karama,” said Human Rights Watch spokesperson Emma Daly, referring to Naimi, who has not resigned. “Al Karama’s position would suggest it doesn’t identify with al Qaeda despite the unproven allegations against its former non-executive chair.”
There are serious problems with the first paragraph. Qualifying Arabs as the indigenous people of the Levant is sketchy and denies that the region’s original people were Judeans, Samaritans, Phoenicians and other Canaanite people. Arabs only arrived in the 7th century AD. Atshan dishonestly portrays Jews as “European colonists” while it is a fact that there have always been Jews in what is now Israel, including the disputed territories. They have been joined over the last several centuries by diaspora Jews from Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, from both ends of the Mediterranean and from Eastern Europe. No one could possibly mistake a Yemenite Jew for a European, and Atshan understands that very well.Anti-Israel academic boycott group’s tax-exempt status challenged
The reaction to ASA’s boycott has been overwhelmingly negative. At least 125 universities and leading academic organizations have spoken out against the boycott and issued strong statements as to the damage to higher education such boycotts inflict.MLA to bar pro-Israel campus groups from making presentations at Chicago conference
Earlier today my attorneys filed with the IRS a whistleblower complaint challenging ASA’s 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in light of the academic boycott.
As an alternative to the MLA panel, the ICC and Hillel have organized a discussion on academic freedom in Israel titled “Perspectives Against Academic Boycotts” on January 9 in Chicago.Modern Language Association Denies JNS Press Credential for Convention
The alternative panel features three MLA members — including Russell Berman, a past MLA president, and scholar Ilan Troen, chair of the Brandeis University Israel Studies program and a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. (h/t MtTB)
Mark Aurigemma, a communications professional representing MLA, wrote in an email to the JNS.org reporter who applied that the convention “reserves media credentials for outlets and journalists that are substantively focused on academic issues.”University Officials Who Opposed ASA Boycott of Israel Asked to Follow Suit for MLA Measure
In a letter to university officials obtained byJNS.org, Hillel President and CEO Eric Fingerhut and ICC Executive Director Jacob Baime stressed the importance of taking pre-emptive action against the potential passage of the MLA resolution.Who’s vandalising what, exactly?
“Rather than responding after the fact, as we were all forced to do with the ASA resolution, we urge you to make clear, in advance of the MLA resolution, your opposition to it and to any other such efforts to hold Israel to a different standard than any other nation,” wrote Fingerhut and Baime. “In this way, the members of the MLA will fully understand the depths of opposition prior to casting their votes.”
Armed with just a spray paint can, Kay wrote, “St. James – no to jihad. Justice for Christians, Israel and all people” on the doors of the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center: a strong message for any armchair activists who thought they could steamroll the facts for their political purposes.Daphne Anson: No More Anti-Israel Hatefests at St James's Piccadilly: petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury
But still, there’s always one, isn’t there?
And that one, this time, happened to be none other than the frothing-at-the-mouth, anti-Israel blogger Ben White, advocator of a one-state solution, which would see an end to Israel in its current form. This sorry excuse for a human being took to Twitter to goad a terror victim (Kay) over her pro-peace graffiti.
He wrote, “Pro-Israel activist vandalises Palestinian NGO entrance in Bethlehem…” before going on to hit out at another pro-peace activist.
Did you know that, according to eyewitnesses, a church official with a spray can was seen dutifully painting over messages deemed offensive (by the church) on the St James's, Piccadilly, "Apartheid Wall" yet did not paint over a swastika? (Disgusted members of the public erased it themselves.)Bordeaux becomes first city to cancel Dieudonne show
Did you know that a slogan praising the antisemitic quenelle sign was left on the wall?
France’s interior minister said Monday that local officials have the right to ban shows on a national tour of a comic whose performances are considered anti-Semitic.French athletes defend, deny flashing reverse Nazi salute
Hours later, Bordeaux’s mayor, former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, accepted the offer, making the wine capital the first French city to cancel a show by Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala ahead of the comic’s tour. (h/t MtTB)
The founder of the Nice Dolphins, Jean Luc Donivar, offered the defense of sports players in a nearly 1,000-word statement concerning photos that were taken in December and which surfaced online last week of eight players performing the quenelle, which was invented by the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala and which France’s interior minister Manuel Valls last week termed “an anti-Semitic gesture of hate.”No One’s Laughing at This Anti-Semitic Comedian
Now focus back on the politics. For most of contemporary comedy’s run it’s been the domain of the Left. Jews and blacks – from Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor – were the pathfinders of modern stand-up and gave rise to an edgy, rebellious style of satire aimed at the status quo. I’m sure Dennis Miller would agree. Statistically comics with the political leanings of Miller are a rare breed.Report: One Direction Singer Harry Styles to Learn Hebrew, Perform in Israel in 2014
Dieudonné is using that same comedy but as a weapon against a minority. Which leads me to the most Bizzaro thing about Dieudonné. While Dieudonné is clearly racist, he’s dark skinned and from Cameroon. He would have been first in line at the gas chambers he so frivolously mocks.
Harry Styles, 19, lead singer of the popular One Direction boy band, is taking his interest in Judaism to the next level, by vowing to learn the Hebrew language in 2014, the UK’s Daily Star reported, citing an unnamed Styles pal.Rolling Stones reportedly in talks to play Israel in June
“Harry’s made it his mission to learn to speak and write Hebrew,” the inside source said. “His obsession started with his tattoos, but now he’s becoming very serious about learning as much as he can. So far he’s learnt to write his name and One Direction in Hebrew.”
Media reports were awash on Tuesday that Israelis might get some "satisfaction" this June with an outdoor concert by The Rolling Stones. Channel 2 reported that promoters Marcel Avraham and Gad Oron have offered the legendary British rockers led by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards $4.5m to perform at Park Hayarkon.Israeli kids organize winter drive for Syrian refugees
A group of Israeli youngsters are putting the politics of their parents and leaders aside and galvanizing to collect life-saving winter supplies for the freezing Syrian refugees of the region.
Dubbed Operation Human Worth, the drive is being spearheaded by the Israeli youth organizations Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed in conjunction with the social and education organization Dror-Israel, as well as Israeli Flying Aid, the Israeli global humanitarian organization that was among the first on the ground in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.
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