Muslim anti-Semitism is only decades old, Obama claims
“Anti-Semitism is hard-wired into Islam,” from its origins before 700, said Andrew Bostom, author of three books about Islam, including “The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism,” which lists centuries of anti-Semitic hatred, murders, pogroms and apartheid-like discrimination.UNESCO looks to hold Land of Israel exhibit in June
Intellectuals, politicians and diplomats are loath to admit the centrality of anti-Semitism in Islamic beliefs, because it fuels conflict with Israel and the West and it can’t be fixed by Westerners, Bostom said. ”You’re dealing with an intractable situation, and people hate intractable situations,” he said, adding “diplomats are the worst.”
In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Obama described the Muslim hatred of Israel as byproduct of recent fights, not as a consequence of Islam’s doctrinal objection to any Jewish government. (h/t MtTB)
UNESCO, on its website and in letters to the Center, had always said the exhibit was postponed. The absence of an alternative date, however, gave the impression that the exhibit had been canceled.UNESCO Fiasco Explains Why ME Talks Fail
On Tuesday, UNESCO posted a note on its website in which it reaffirmed that the exhibit had only been postponed, but not canceled.
“UNESCO is in discussions with the Simon Wiesenthal Center to finalize the last points and inaugurate the exhibition in the month of June,” it said. (h/t Bob Knot)
The reason that the exhibit was necessary in the first place was to correct the depiction of the state of Israel purveyed by the Palestinians and their international cheerleaders as a colonial error in which Jews were dumped on Arab territory in order to compensate for the Holocaust. If Jews are seen as having connections and a presence in historic Israel/Palestine millennia before 1948, it undermines the canard—a staple of Palestinian Authority propaganda and incitement—to delegitimize the notion that Jews have any right to sovereignty anywhere in the Middle East, making peace talks pointless.
That is exactly the sort of delusional perspective the State Department should be working hard to oppose. But the American decision to distance itself from the project sent an unmistakable message that the Obama administration views any talk about Jewish ties to the land as too controversial to warrant its involvement. So long as the Palestinians are enabled by both the UN and the U.S. to continue denying Jewish history, the peace process that both Bokova and the State Department claim to take so seriously has no chance of success. (h/t NormanF)
Algerian writer Sansal blasts UNESCO
Professor Robert Wistrich is fuming about UNESCO's cancellation of its Israel exhibition after two years in the planning. But equally furious is the Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose letter to Irina Bokova, the UNESCO Director-General, I have translated below. Sansal's condemnation of UNESCO's decision is all the more courageous because he still lives in an Arab country. (With thanks: Ahuva)Pinkwashing: Anti Israel campaigner says 'No Gay parades in Gaza because of Israel!'
"I am sending you this letter to tell you of my surprise and discomfort following your decision to cancel the exhibition " 3500 years of ties between the Jewish people and the Holy Land ". (h/t NormanF)
I went along to this 'pinkwashing' campaign against Israel, in essence its 'gays for palestine' yeah I know right? Like saying 'blacks for kkk', I had two signs on me, one saying 'I support gay rights, that is why im against your vision of 'river to the sea' palestine. palestinian gays are persecuted by their governments in their territories, they seek refuge in Israel and are accepted', the other one says 'If hamas and fatah form a coaltion will they rename themselves FATASS?!'
After 28 years, Pollard deserves facts, not fiction
Bowman also neglects to mention that secretary of defense Caspar W. Weinberger (whose affidavit Bowman cites as proof of his position) admitted years later in an interview with prominent journalist Edwin Black that the Pollard case was “a very minor matter, but made very important... It was made far bigger than its actual importance.” Those words cannot be reconciled with Bowman’s inflammatory statements.Israel Lobby Trope in The Independent
In the face of this groundswell of support for a very belated measure of justice for Pollard, Bowman apparently feels the need to make his opposing view heard. Bowman is entitled to his opinion. But he is not entitled to invent facts in order to support it.
As a matter of simple justice, the actual facts compel Jonathan Pollard’s release after over 28 years behind bars.
Is it really so difficult to believe that some U.S. Congressmen may harbor genuine concerns and mistrust towards Iran without some all-powerful “Israel lobby” pulling the strings? And if Macintyre claims that this is “one difference” then why not tell us what the other differences are?Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn receives death threats after posting Mohammed cartoon on Twitter
Far easier to buy into the trope of Jewish power to explain something that you find politically disagreeable. That this is coming from the pen of The Independent’s man in Israel is equally disturbing.
Supporters of Maajid Nawaz said the parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn received five explicit death threats and 20 further insinuated threats.George Galloway issues “Fatwa” on twitter
Mr Nawaz, founder of anti-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation, sparked a storm after posting the cartoon on Twitter last week showing Jesus saying “hey” to Mohammed, who replies “how ya doin’?”.
The self publicising creature George Galloway hasn’t been in the news recently (unless you count his appearances on the Russian propaganda channel RT) so it comes as no surprise that he has decided to join the ranks of the easily offended brigade by complaining about a Jesus and Mo cartoon image being tweeted by Maajid Nawaz.George Galloway’s Farcical TV Show Takes Anti-Israel Slander to Unprecedented Level
Galloway described Netanyahu as a “petty and venal figure” and Tony Blair as a “war criminal.” He claimed that he just managed to escape from Lebanon in 1982 from the IDF’s “phosphorus bombs and tanks.” Galloway’s anti-Israel diatribes were supported by his sidekick Gayatri, who also happens to be his wife. She chimed in with libelous claims saying that Israeli dams contributed to flooding in Gaza, and described former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a “terrorist leader.” The former allegation had been previously exposed as a falsehood and a spokesman for Israel’s Water Authority confirmed that “no dams even exist in the area.”French Jew cleared of blood libel 344 years after execution
Toward the end of the program, Galloway bizarrely claimed that the blue lines on the Israeli flag represent the Israeli ambition to rule from the Nile to the Euphrates. Contrary to this absurd claim, the blue lines derive from the design on the traditional Jewish prayer shawl.
The village of Glatigny in the eastern district of Moselle set the record straight Sunday on the wrongful conviction of Raphael Levy in 1670 for murder. Levy, a simple merchant, was found guilty and burned at the stake for the alleged killing of three-year-old Didier Lemoine for ritual purposes, Le Figaro reported Sunday.South Africa to Honor Anti-Semitic Poet Amiri Baraka
City officials affixed a plaque in Levy’s memory to a public building in the village of Glatigny, near where he was killed. The text refers to him as a “Jewish martyr from Boulay,” Levy’s village, who was “accused of a ritual crime which he did not commit.”
South Africa's Department of Arts and Culture has announced that it will be joining local celebrations of the life and work of Amiri Baraka, the African-American jazz poet known for his improvisational verse--and also infamous for his hatred of Jews, and especially Israel. Baraka passed away on Jan. 9 at the age of 79.Poland Poll Reveals Stubborn Anti-Semitism Amid Jewish Revival Hopes
A majority of respondents in a recent Polish national survey believe that there’s a Jewish conspiracy to control international banking and the media. And 90% of these Poles say they’ve never met a Jew.Taiwan Translates First Report on Auschwitz into Chinese
The national study, conducted by the Center for Research on Prejudice at Warsaw University, found that in Poland, the belief in a Jewish conspiracy remains high – 63% in 2013 – and relatively unchanged from 2009 when 65% of respondents held this belief.
Taiwan will release a Chinese edition of the first known Holocaust report on Auschwitz-Birkenau written by a Polish resistance fighter who infiltrated the Nazi death camp, a Polish institute said Monday.Polish Righteous Among the Nations Honored at Yad Vashem
According to AFP, the Chinese translation of the report will be available from Taiwanese publisher Acropolis starting Wednesday, Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) said on its website.
Yad Vashem held an event on January 16 to posthumously honor a Polish woman, Maria Zurawska, as Righteous Among the Nations. The medal and certificate of honor were accepted by her daughter Bronislawa Skoczylas, who arrived from Poland to attend the ceremony.Israel Signs Defense Agreement With Kazakhstan
The ceremony took place in the presence of Polish Ambassador to Israel, Jacek Hodorowicz, Jay and Amy Lakritz from America – who are children of the late Holocaust survivor Julia Lakritz – Sheldon Haber, the brother of the late Holocaust survivor, two great-granddaughters of the honoree, Holocaust survivors, and others.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and his counterpart from Kazakhstan, Adilbek Dzhaksbekov, signed a security agreement on Monday, formally sealing the defense ties between the two countries.Finland Army Orders Camouflage From Israel’s Fibrotex
The agreement, which was signed in Tel Aviv, gives a framework for defense trade and cooperation between the Jewish state and the Sunni Muslim-majority nation, reports Defense News.
Israel’s Fibrotex Technologies said it won an order for advanced multispectral camouflage systems from Finland’s Army, UPI reported.Israeli Company Invents Nuclear Proof Vest That Protects Against Toxic Radiation
Fibrotex said it will provide four types of camouflage systems as part of the long-term agreement that could be worth some $47 million.
An Israeli company has developed a vest that can protect a person from dangerous radiation, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Tuesday.Israel’s Precision Strike Capabilities Are Global Market Hit
According to Dr. Oren Milstein, President of the hi-tech company StemRad, “This is the first product of its kind that protects against gamma radiation, which has [until now] killed people who have been exposed to it.”
In targeting Islamic Jihad operative Ahmad Sa’ad, driving a motorcycle on Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip when he was struck by a precision missile from an Israeli Air Force jet flying overhead, the IDF demonstrated its precision strike capabilities that are now being sold on the global market.Israeli Pilots Break Guinness World Record Flying Low Over Dead Sea
Footage of the strike, taken inadvertently by a security camera, showed the terrorist, responsible for firing six rockets from Gaza towards Israel last week, being blown from his motorcycle, while neighboring cars were barely affected by the blast.
According to Defense News on Tuesday, “standoff artillery, laser-guided bombs, precision tank rounds and a host of other weapons initially developed for the Israeli military are proliferating on the global market as demand grows for operationally proven precision strike capabilities.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Israel announced that 12 pilots flying six aircraft 422 meters below sea level have set a new Guinness World Record for a low formation flight, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Monday.
Formation flying consists of several planes flying together in a precise geometric shape. This particular form of recreational flying requires an extremely high level of aeronautical expertise as even a slight deviation of one plane from the formation or flight path is liable to cause a serious accident.