Pages

Thursday, January 23, 2014

01/23 Links Pt2: UK MP again diminishes Holocaust Memorial Day, David Baddiel on the "Quenelle"

From Ian:

David Ward MP *again* diminishes Holocaust Memorial Day
This time last year, David Ward MP was censured by his own party, the Liberal Democrats, after claiming that, “the [liberated] Jews” were inflicting similar atrocities on the Palestinian people. Ward at the time continued to dig deeper, and has landed himself square in an anti-Semitic hole, having issued many statements over the course of the last year to similar effect.
His comments about Israel not lasting forever saw him suspended from his party, while recently, and bizarrely, he gave a brief history lesson on Twitter, stating as if it were a new fact, that the Palestinians were not responsible for the Holocaust.
So little wonder that today, Ward took a stand once again, in great offence to the memory of those millions killed during the Holocaust, to somehow juxtapose the political point of the Palestinian right of return, with Holocaust Memorial Day, officially observed in Britain on Monday 27th January this year.


Israeli song a hit in Yemen
A song from an Israeli singer with Yemenite roots – but who has never visited the country – has become a surprise hit in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, the Economist reported on Tuesday.
Zion Golan's song "Sana’a al-Yemen" is frequently heard blaring from stereos and minibus speakers. "Come with me to Sanaa," Golan sings in Yemeni Arabic. "Sanaa, my home, you'll like it."
But although the lyrics refer to Sana’a as home, Golan has never been there. As an Israeli Jew he is forbidden to travel to Yemen.
Saudi Columnist: The Number of Ariel Sharon’s Victims is Nowhere Near That of Arab Rulers
Saudi Arabian columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi recently published an article in the Saudi government daily Okaz, claiming that despite the “horrific acts of massacre” former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon carried out, the number of Arabs he killed is nowhere near that of those who died at the hands of Arab rulers, especially since the onset of the Arab Spring, according to MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, on Wednesday.
MEMRI said the article was published on January 13, on the occasion of Sharon’s funeral. In the article, as well as pointing out the great number of Arab deaths due to Arab rulers, in Syria and Lebanon, Al-Harbi said that Zionists who had once claimed “Arabs as a barbaric people” were proven right by “a reality that exceeds imagination,” including “decapitations, bombing houses with explosive barrels, the rape of women, and the expulsion of millions of innocent civilians.” (h/t dabney_c)



Lies, damned lies, and eulogies
Falsehoods were not limited to Iran’s Press TV, which unearthed long ago debunked bogus quotes attributed to Ariel Sharon, such as “We, the Jews, control America” and “Even today I volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn them . . . ”
An op-ed today in The New York Times also attributes ambitions of ethnic cleansing to Sharon, although it doesn’t bother with a supporting quote, real or otherwise. Ali Jarbawi, a political scientist at Birzeit University and a former minister of the Palestinian Authority, alleges that Sharon “wanted an ethnically pure Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” (“The man who made peace impossible”).
How does the BBC define ‘pro-Palestinian’?
“Pro-Palestinian shirt”? Does the BBC really hold the opinion that wiping Israel off the map – literally or figuratively – is “pro-Palestinian”?
This is the second time in the past week alone that we have seen bizarre use of the term “pro-Palestinian” by BBC employees. On January 17th the BBC News website published two reports which used that term in their headlines: “Israel berates ‘pro-Palestinian EU’” and “Israel PM’s anger at ‘pro-Palestinian EU‘“.
In fact, those reports related to comments made by Israel’s prime minister regarding the fact that the EU overlooks the subject of incitement propagated by official Palestinian Authority sources and, as we commented at the time: “Those are of course two very different things: ignoring incitement and often racist demonisation is not ‘pro-Palestinian’ any more than pointing it out is ‘anti-Palestinian’.”
Canadian minister counts the political costs of supporting Israel
The notion that Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party wins points at home by taking pro-Israel positions is plain dumb, Jason Kenney says
It’s no secret that the foreign ministries of most Western countries have an institutional bias against Israel that is probably informed by the fact that there is one Jewish state and dozens of other Islamic and Arabic states. That frankly informs the professional public service in most Western foreign ministries.
And 40 times more in Muslim countries. That’s right. The prime minister more or less intimated that in his speech. That means you’ve got dozens more diplomats and foreign policy wonks who absorb a particular perspective which is frankly and obviously hostile to Israel.
So that becomes the default position. It takes a profound act, it takes great intentionality on the part of political actors, to overcome that kind of institutional bias to begin with.
Canadian PM Harper’s moving pro-Israel speech brings the Jew haters out
After Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s moving speech in Israel, it didn’t take long for the haters to crawl out from under their rocks.
The above cartoon was penned by “Aislin,” the pen name of The Montreal Gazette editorial cartoonist Christopher Terry Mosher and the implications are obvious, that PM Harper and the Canadian Government are lackeys ‘controlled by the Jews’.
Why is San Francisco State University Celebrating Edward Said?
To answer this question, one must look back at the history of SFSU – its culture and its philosophy. SFSU is known for its progressiveness and diversity. Thriving on this forward-thinking ideology, SFSU once again led the path in modernity by becoming the first school in the United States to include a mural of a Palestinian leader. Although prominently displayed on campus, most students do not know who the leader is. In a campus survey of 60 students, 100% of them were at a loss when asked to identify the man in the mural or his personal beliefs and/or what he stood for.
"Today I will die, today I will fight" - PA TV music video


Military Performances, Glorification of Suicide Bombings at Graduation Ceremony of Hamas Youth Camps


Politician Backs Petition to Ban Jobbik’s Gábor Vona From UK Holocaust Memorial Day Visit
Andrew Dismore, London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden, said he backed Hope Not Hate’s petition urging Home Secretary Theresa May to ban Gábor Vona, the leader of the Hungarian far right Jobbik Party and founder of the now outlawed “Magyar Gárda Mozgalom Paramilitary Guard,” from attending an event in Holborn on Sunday, in an email to The Algemeiner on Wednesday.
Dismore said he had already written to the Home Secretary, asking her to exclude Vona from the UK and called on the police to ban the event. He said he “is now urging all Londoners to sign the petition to show Mr Vona’s hate-fuelled views are not welcome on our city’s streets.”
Planned Holocaust Monument Angers Hungarian Jewish Groups
The Hungarian government is planning to erect a memorial statue in honor of the country’s 1944 Nazi occupation. Hungarian Jewish critics view the memorial as an effort by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to diminish Hungarian responsibility for the deportations of Jews that were assisted by Hungarian authorities. This year is the 70th anniversary of the deportations of more than 430,000 Hungarian Jews to Nazi concentration camps.
The planned monument will portray Germany’s imperial eagle swooping down on the archangel Gabriel, a symbol for Hungary. But after Germany invaded Hungary, Hungarian officers had assisted the Nazis in deporting Jews. The Budapest-based Mazsihisz, a major Jewish group in Hungary, has threatened to boycott this year’s Holocaust commemorations in Hungary due to this monument.
French Jews: It feels like 1933 again
With world attention focusing on Dieudonne’s inverted Nazi salute – an antisemitic gesture with the added implication that Jews are censoring you from doing a full Nazi salute – World ORT has a Facebook feature on French Jews. Clicking on each photo reveals the story of a different young French Jewish person.
Jewish Comedian Calls Out Anelka for Support of Anti-Semitic Comedian Dieudonné (VIDEO)
“Anelka seemed to be saying, ‘no it’s not anti-Semitic, it’s just a gesture in support of my friend, the enormous anti-Semite’,” Baddiel told BBC Newsnight. “That’s the point when I thought something was not quite right.”
Baddiel said he Tweeted out his thoughts on the quenelle, Anelka and Dieudonné and learned from some French Twitter users what their opinion was:
“In France, they said, no it’s anti-government, anti-establishment, but that has become very mixed up with anti-Semitic behavior,” Baddiel told BBC Newsnight.
One said to him via Twitter, “No, it’s against the French government and the Zionist cabal.” At that point, Baddiel said, “You’re probably getting quite close to anti-Semitism…”
NEWSNIGHT: David Baddiel on Anelka and the "Quenelle"


Dieudonne arrested on suspicion of assaulting officials
Anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly firing rubber bullets at law enforcement officers who tried to serve a writ on him for non-payment of fines or taxes.
Dieudonne, as he’s popularly known, has several previous convictions for inciting anti-Semitism. He was questioned by police Tuesday night for nine hours and then released.
Morocco Acquired IAI's Heron
The Israeli Aerospace Industry, via the French company Dassault, has sold to Morocco three "Heron" drones (also called Harfang). This was reported on the site farmorocco, covering the Moroccan army, and the military magazine REVISTA DE AERONÁUTICA Y ASTRONÁUTICA.
According to other reports on the web, the UAV is manufactured by IAI and the French company is marketing it under the brand name “EADS Harfang”. According to another site, triposo, the version of the drone sold to Morocco includes a device for carrying three surveillance cameras (Recon Pods), video recording system, and an air-ground communication system (data link system). The UAV as well includes electro-optical systems for day-night vision.
You won’t miss medicines anymore with Israel’s Medisafe app
Israel’s MediSafe Project is a cloud-based app that monitors an individual’s medicine intake to prevent potentially fatal incidences of under-dosing or overdosing. MediSafe is a graduate of Microsoft’s Accelerator program for early stage startups that utilize cloud-based mobile devices.
Omri ‘Bob’ Shor is the co-founder and CEO of MediSafe. His brother and he created the MediSafe Project in 2012 after an incident in his family led to his father accidentally overdosing on insulin.
Israel, Ghana and Germany co-operate to build capacity of citrus farmers
He said the Government of Ghana is grateful for the support being provided by the German and Israeli Governments under this trilateral co-operation to improve the citrus industry’.
Ghana's citrus yield currently stands at 20-25 tons per hectare - against an industry average of 70-80 tons per hectare in Israel.
FX’s new TV series ‘Tyrant’ about Syrian leader — is made in Israel
FX’s new drama, Tyrant, hasn’t finished filming but it’s already being hyped in America as one of the year’s ‘most hot-button series.’ The new show is an original creation of Israel’s Gideon Raff – who was behind Prisoners of War (Hatufim), on which Homeland was based.
Israeli actors Moran Atias and Ashraf Barhom have lead roles alongside Adam Rayner, Sammy Sheik, and Jennifer Finnigan. The series is being filmed in Kfar Saba.
Tyrant is based on the story of Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad as well as elements from neighboring countries.
California rabbi wins first MMA match
An Orthodox rabbi from California won his first amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) match by a technical knockout (TKO) in the second round, Fox News reported Tuesday.
Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, 22, began to train with Cameroonian MMA fighter and judo specialist Thierry Sokoudjou after taking an interest in martial arts.
Major Byzantine-era church unearthed in southern Israel
The Israel Antiquities Authority recently unearthed a 1500 year old Byzantine era church complete with intricate mosaic floors in southern Israel. The discovery was made during salvage excavations prior to the construction of a new neighborhood in the village of Aluma which is east of Ashkelon. The church was part of a settlement located next to the main road running between Ashkelon on the sea coast to the west, and Beit Guvrin and Jerusalem to the east.
Israel Raises €1.5 Billion in European 10-Year Bond Issue; Increased Issue by €500 Million Because of High Demand
The State of Israel raised €1.5 billion ($2.04 billion) in a 10-year bond issue aimed at European institutions on Wednesday, increasing the issue by €500 million because of high demand, Amnon Kraus, representing the Israeli Economic Mission in the U.S., told The Algemeiner.
Kraus said the total order book stood at €5.7 billion from 30 countries, which meant demand was higher than expected, which was the reason why the issue was increased and the yield, at 2.93 percent, was relatively low.