Monday, February 10, 2014
BBC’s Yolande Knell dons her campaigning hat yet again
Let’s take a closer look at Knell’s claim of “returning to land” in Ein Hijleh – also spelt Ein Hajla. According to a paper produced by the Palestinian NGO ARIJ in 2012:If Jews attacked Muslims in Mecca, world media would cover nothing else for a month
“Deir Hajla is one of the oldest monasteries in both Palestine and the world. It contains mosaic floors dating back to the Medieval Ages, which were later renovated. In the north-east side of the monastery there is located ‘Ein Hajla (Hajla Spring) which, according to popular legend, the Canaanite village of Beit Hajla (meaning the house of hopscotch) was built upon. However, in the Roman era, it was called Hajla (the translation of which refers to the partridge bird) (Al Dabbagh, 1991) which is presently frequent in the region.”
Here’s a clue to the origin of that “Roman era” name:
“The Monastery, known in Arabic as Deir Hajla, seems to preserve the Hebrew name Bet Hoglah, which is mentioned in the biblical description of the lands of the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua18:19).”
Imagine that this week, Jews got angry and hundreds attacked Palestinian Arabs with rocks at the holiest Muslim site in the world. Imagine that this violence came after a handful of Muslims came to pray peacefully at the site, and even though hundreds of Jews attacked police officers, only seven were arrested. Can anyone imagine the endless news stories and media reports which would emanate as a result? The New York Times would have three front-page stories; there would be countless United Nations and European Union condemnations, and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on site. Media coverage would be non-stop.From the archives: Oxfam and the Israeli “gas chambers”
But, in reality Arabs attacked Jews repeatedly over the last few days at the Temple Mount, the holiest site for Jews, so it is barely a news story. Palestinian Arab violence against Jews is a regular occurrence, and as the media seemingly expects the Arabs to throw rocks, they don’t afford it much media coverage.
A less well-known episode, but one that reveals much about the evolution of Oxfam’s attitudes towards Israel, occurred in October 1977. Oxfam’s then director-general Brian W. Walker had just returned from a visit to Jordan and Israel. His observations in the West Bank prompted him to write to Judith Hart, the Minister for Overseas Development in James Callaghan’s Labour Government. His letter contained a number of remarkable suggestions, not least of which was that Oxfam would be happy to assist a British minister to “travel incognito” into Israeli occupied territory via Jordan.
By far the most disturbing aspect of Walker’s letter, however, was the allegation that Israeli policies in relation to West Bank water resources amounted to a crime against the Palestinian people that could be compared to the Holocaust.
“The policy being followed by Israel,” Walker declared, “is in no real sense different from the use of the gas chambers by the Nazis – for a ‘living’ death is, in many respects, worse than death itself.”
SodaStream boycotters are bad people
In a blog post for Mondoweiss, somebody named Annie Robbins has expressed her delight in SodaStream’s falling stock prices. Let’s give Ms. Robbins the benefit of the doubt and try to follow her reasoning all the way through: 1) She wants to help Palestinians. 2) SodaStream employs Palestinians. 3) The best way to help Palestinians is to pressure SodaStream into closing its factory and never opening another one in the West Bank. If Ms. Robbins had her way, several hundred more Palestinians would be out of work — all in the name of helping Palestinians. Huh? Her reasoning is so weak that it begs the question whether she actually cares at all about improving the lives of Palestinians.Hamas endorses BDS
Answer: Probably not.
What company they keep. Hamas endorses BDSBDS Fail Of The Day: Do-It-Yourself Home Bomb Edition
Do you want to stand with Scarlett Johansson, for universal rights, and strong economic and cultural ties, or do you want to stand with the genocidal terror group Hamas?
This next video contains the discernible lack of talent you’d expect from a BDShole video, but throw in some bonus child endangerment for good measure.The Weekend Australian/ 4 Corners One-Sided Investigation: What Can You Do?
Make Seltzer and Boycott Sodastream VIDEO
I am not going to recount examples of Palestinian youth committing grave crimes. Many case studies are linked in the articles above; horrific examples of 16, 17 and 18 year olds engaging in terrorist activities resulting in loss of innocent life.Hungary’s Jews to boycott state Holocaust ceremonies
Honest Reporting has prepared a fantastic piece debunking these distortions. Please read Rock Solid Reporting Down Under? and send it around.
WHAT YOU CAN DO? BE AN ADVOCATE…
To be effective in setting the record straight we cannot rely merely on our communal leadership to pave the way. It is up to every single one of us to rally strong; take to Facebook, Twitter and challenge the main media outlets for the sake of balance, reason and so the death of countless Israeli terror victims is not in vain.
Representatives of Jewish organizations raised their concerns Thursday at a meeting with Orban’s chief of staff, Janos Lazar, who heads the state’s Holocaust memorial year program. At the meeting, Lazar said Orban would address the concerns this week.Greek opposition party drops candidate after anti-Semitic rant
[PM] Orban already wrote to Jewish leaders last month defending the German occupation monument, saying it would commemorate all Nazi victims.
Meanwhile, several synagogues and other Jewish institutions have unilaterally announced that they will decline funding from the Holocaust memorial year Civil Fund.
“We are sad to have witnessed how in recent weeks the remembrance initiatives have become unworthy pawns in governmental political games as Hungary approaches its parliamentary elections,” a statement from the Bet Orim Reform congregation said Sunday announcing that it would not accept the Civil Fund grant. “Bet Orim does not wish to be part of this kind of political strategy.”
The Greek Jewish community welcomed Syriza’s decision to drop Karypidis.New Presbyterian Church USA Arab-Israel Study Guide Blasted as ‘Hateful Document’
“With this decision, Syriza launches a strong and clear message towards the Greek society that anti-Semitism is to be condemned as a phenomenon of racism and bigotry that breeds hatred against Jews,” said a statement from the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece. (h/t Bob Knot)
The 74-page study guide, titled “Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide,” was produced by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church USA and released ahead of its national assembly in June.Time for Some Answers From United Church of Christ on Pilgrim Press
“Every couple of years, in the run-up to the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly, anti-Zionist activists in the denomination put forth a hateful document that assails Israel’s legitimacy and antagonizes Jews in the United States. It happened in 2010, it happened in 2012 and it happened again in 2014 with this document,” Dexter Van Zile, Christian Media Analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, told JNS.org.
The Pilgrim Press—the publishing house of the United Church of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination headquartered in Ohio—has a stockpile of misinformation and anti-Jewish contempt in its warehouse in Cleveland. It comes in the form of its most recent printing of “Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel and the Palestinians,” by Rev. Dr. Gary Burge, a professor at Wheaton College in Illinois.Ex-CIA chief: Anti-Semitism likely in Pollard case
This book, which is now in its second edition, depicts Jews as unworthy of living in the land of Israel. Citing John 15:6, Burge writes in the book’s second edition, “Branches that attempt living in the land… which refused to be attached to Jesus will be removed.” In the first edition, Burge was much harsher, stating that these branches would be “cast out and burned,” but in both editions, the author’s message is clear: Jews are not entitled to live in the land of Israel because they have rejected Jesus as their messiah.
Woolsey’s told Israeli Channel 10 TV Saturday that Americans who spied for other countries including South Korea, the Philippines, and Greece were freed after short sentences, while Jonathan Pollard is still jailed after 25 years.Former President George W. Bush Presented with ADL's Highest Honor
Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy when he gave thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handlers. He was arrested in 1985 and later sentenced to life in prison.
“I certainly don’t think that it is universally true, but in the case of some American individuals, I think there is anti-Semitism at work here,” Woolsey said. (h/t Bob Knot)
The ADL cited the former president's inspirational leadership in promoting democratic values worldwide when faced with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 during one of the most dramatic and consequential periods in American history; his commitment to securing Israeli-Palestinian peace; and his establishment of the United States’ first Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.One Hour Translation app is gold at Sochi Olympics
"The best Middle Eastern policy starts with an alliance with the only democracy in the Middle East, and that is Israel. ... The cornerstone of peace begins with an unshakable US-Israel alliance,” stated Bush.
Israel’s One Hour Translation app, the fastest professional translation service in the world with more than 15,000 active translators in 100 countries, has been named the top mobile application to use while cheering on your team at the Sochi Olympics. The UK newspaper, The Telegraph, cited OHT as the best of five apps to use when following the Winter Games.Inside the Israeli-made security system at Sochi
One Hour Translation, which has its headquarters in Israel, is offering a free translation service for over 70 languages during the Olympics. Twitter users need to tweet @OHT with an image or text to be translated and the company will send a real-time translation from a professional translator. For example, “@OHT Where is the skating rink? English – Russian.”
An Israeli company called NICE Systems (yes, really) has deployed a network of platforms that provide the Sochi Olympic Games with what they need most: a real-time “integration system platform” that “takes points of data — video images, radio communications, phone calls, access control alarms — and blends it all into a single operating system that interacts with all of that," according to Bill Besse, a security specialist and Andrews International vice president, when interviewed by risk-management publication CSO Online.ClickSoftware Gains on 59% Jump in New Clients: Israel Overnight
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (CKSW:US), the Israeli company that makes computer programs used to manage workforces, rallied in New York after reporting a 59 percent surge in new customers last year.Israel's WLCSP becomes first foreign co-founded company to go public in China
Shares of the Petach Tikva, Israel-based company increased 7.2 percent to $9.35 last week, extending this year’s rally to 25 percent. The Bloomberg Israel-US Equity Index of the largest Israeli companies traded in New York added 0.3 percent, led by Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc. SodaStream International Ltd., the Israeli maker of home soda machines, increased 2.8 percent. Perrigo Co., a maker of generic over-the-counter medicines, had the biggest discount among dual-listed companies.
Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP), a portfolio company of Israel's Infinity group, became the first foreign co-founded company to go public in China when it debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.How ‘disruption’ won Waze its $1 billion exit
WLCSP's founding investors were Infinity and China' CVSC, and until the IPO, Israeli shareholders controlled some 38% of the company.
“We are honored to be the co-founders of a great company which is also a symbol of China-Israel cooperation," said Infinity Group founder and managing partner Amir Gal-Or. "We are exceptionally proud that WLCSP is the first company based on Israeli technology to go public in China.”
And are there any lessons early-stage and still-unborn start-ups can learn from Waze’s success?Rolling Stones to rock Ramat Gan Stadium June 10
Yes there are, said Yahal Zilka, a partner and co-founder of Magma Venture Partners, one of the VC firms that invested $12 million in Waze way back when — in 2008, in a Series A funding round. “So far, Waze has been the largest mobile Internet exit ever,” Zilka noted at an investor’s forum in Herzliya last week. “We decided back then that Waze had what it takes to succeed, because it brought a real disruption to the marketplace.”
“Disruption,” Zilka said, is what investors look for in an app or a start-up. What disruption means, however, depends on context. It can mean a completely new product to serve a market no one thought existed; it can also mean a more efficient way to accomplish a goal. It can even mean developing a new take on an existing, tried and true service or product, and coming up with a fresh way to extend market reach. Based on his experience, those disruptions, said Zilka, are worth lots of money at exit time.
The Rolling Stones will perform on June 10 at Ramat Gan Stadium, according to a source close to the production. According to the source, the show will probably be promoted by Shuki Weiss, who represents all LiveNation concerts and events in Israel.Russian Jews remember Israeli athletes murdered at 1972 Munich Olympic Games
About 200 people assembled at a hotel just outside the Olympic gates Sunday. Jews from the city of Sochi joined Israeli delegates, embassy officials from Moscow and American visitors from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidism founded in Russia in 1775 and centered in the Smolensk region for 100 years. Now the leadership resides in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.Sunshine Across Israel
“Today we will think of our brothers who died only because they were Jews,” said Lazar, a member of the movement who lives in Moscow. “Now, unfortunately, the whole world understands the threat of terrorism.”
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