Thursday, February 13, 2014
European companies should be concerned by the BDS campaign
When Transjordan conquered the West Bank in 1948 and annexed it in 1950, it did so on a territory that had been allocated to Jewish self-determination by post-World War I international treaties. Hence Jordan’s sovereignty over the West Bank was never recognized by the international community (with the exception of Britain and Pakistan). When Israel conquered the West Bank in June 1967, it did so in a legitimate act of self-defense (as opposed to Jordan’s military aggression in 1948). Israel did not cross an international border, but a temporary armistice line. It did not conquer a recognized sovereign territory, but one that had been allocated to the Jewish People by the League of Nations and that had been unlawfully controlled by Jordan for 19 years.Alan Dershowitz: Ten reasons why the BDS movement is immoral and hinders peace
Therefore, many international lawyers dispute the assertion that the West Bank is an occupied territory and that the 1949 Geneva Convention applies to it. Article 49 of the convention, which prohibits the mass transfer of populations into occupied territories, was meant to prevent what was a common German practice during WWII, not the voluntary settlement of Jews in a land that was allocated to them for that very purpose by the League of Nations.
The actions brought against Israeli companies that operate beyond the 1949 Armistice Line are therefore legally groundless, even according to the disputable opinion that Israel’s presence beyond that line is illegal. However, were other European courts to vindicate anti-Israeli boycotters in the future, then hundreds of European companies would be exposed to lawsuits because of their activities and investments in countries that occupy territories or that control disputed ones. The list includes, among others, China (over Tibet), Russia (over Abkhazia), Turkey (over Cyprus), and Morocco (over Western Sahara).
Although BDS activists do not have a case, they are potentially exposing hundreds of European companies operating in the above countries to liability. I say bring it on and give Europe a taste of its own medicine.
As a strong supporter of the two state solution and a critic of Israel's settlement policies, I am particularly appalled at efforts to impose divestment, boycotts and sanctions against Israel, and Israel alone, because BDS makes it more difficult to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Mid-East conflict that requires compromise on all sides.
The BDS movement is highly immoral, threatens the peace process and discourages the Palestinians from agreeing to any reasonable peace offer. Here are ten compelling reasons why the BDS movement is immoral and incompatible with current efforts to arrive at a compromise peace.
Defeating the lies of BDS (On their own terms) – Part I
As the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement becomes more popular with both the Hard Left and Hard Right in America (spurred on by both rabid anti-Semites as well as anti-Zionist Jews who somehow are fine to be in alliance) it is important that we who support the Zionist dream of Israel have the right answers and tools necessary to argue our cause in a rational and easily understood manner. Before we start however it is important to recognize that the goal of BDS is the elimination of the State of Israel. Nothing more, nothing less. They want Israel as it was conceived gone.BDS on a Roll? Not So Fast
Moreover, many recent BDS “victories” are actually optical illusions. Take, for instance, the announcement by Denmark’s largest bank that it’s divesting from Bank Hapoalim. But as Hapoalim pointed out, “Denmark’s Danske Bank has no investments, of any kind, with Bank Hapoalim.” Similarly, the Norwegian Finance Ministry recently ordered its sovereign wealth fund to divest from two other Israeli companies–but again, the fund had no investments in those companies.IMF says Israel’s economic outlook remains solid
Such “faux boycotts” are obviously still damaging, because they create the illusion that BDS is gathering steam. Nevertheless, they’re a far cry from real boycotts that do real economic damage.
In short, despite John Kerry’s warnings that if peace talks fail, anti-Israel boycotts will metastasize, BDS remains a fringe movement that can still be thwarted. It will grow to threatening proportions only if Israel and its allies make no effort to challenge it.
The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday it expects Israel’s GDP growth to remain stable at 3.4 percent in 2014, but noted that social disparities pose a threat to the economy.BDS movement calls on Rolling Stones to cancel plans to play in Israel
“Israel’s economic fundamentals remain strong. GDP growth is solid, unemployment is low and inflation remains firmly anchored within the one-three percent target range,” the International Monetary Fund said after its latest review of the economy.
“The financial sector is in good health and the external position is strong,” the report added.
Just days after The Jerusalem Post broke the story that the Stones were closing in on a June 10 show at Ramat Gan Stadium, the BDS movement opened a Facebook page Wednesday, calling on the band to cancel their plans to play in Israel "due to the state's crimes against humanity."PA to ask FIFA to expel Israel
A Thursday post on the Facebook page claimed that pro-Israel hackers had unsuccessfully attempted to take down the site.
Rajoub, a senior Fatah official and former Palestinian Authority security commander, said that the Palestinians won’t accept any compromises or half solutions to solve the problems facing Palestinian athletes and sports.Photographer Rankin says Scarlett Johansson submitted to 'powerful Jewish zealots'
“We will demand the expulsion of Israel from FIFA and the International Olympics Committee,” Rajoub told reporters in Ramallah.
British photographer Rankin has launched a blistering attack on what he called "powerful Jewish zealots" in the United States and blamed "extreme Judaism" for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.‘Quenelle’ comic ordered to remove parts of Internet video
In an interview with the Independent, the portrait and fashion photographer criticised actress Scarlett Johansson for leaving her ambassadorial role with Oxfam over a row regarding Israeli West Bank settlements.
A French court on Wednesday ordered controversial comic Dieudonne to remove two sections of a video he has posted on YouTube which has been widely condemned as anti-Semitic.Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, The Huffington Post’s Anti-Semitism Expert
In a ruling that will increase the pressure on the video-sharing website to ban the comedian from its platform altogether, a judge ruled that one of the passages breached French law on Holocaust denial and another one amounted to incitement to racial hatred.
So according to Shihab-Eldin not only is the charge of anti-Semitism inappropriately used, it also doesn’t exclusively refer to discrimination against Jewish people.Presbyterian Anti-Zionists are Destroying Their Church by Attacking Israel
So, what – in this guy’s opinion – is the correct term to be used for hatred of Jews alone?
On his Monday show, Shihab-Eldin hosted Professor Stephen Walt, author of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” a book personally recommended by Osama Bin Laden, which asserts that American Jews have a stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy to the detriment of the American people.
The segment was titled: “Stephen Walt On Israel: ‘More Open Discourse,’ Anti-Semite Smear ‘Overused.’”
It’s hard to see how self-respecting Presbyterians can set foot in PC(USA) churches!EU president removes Nazi sympathizer’s poem from site
The denomination has been hijacked by people who have it in for Jews and their homeland. When it comes to promoting peace and human rights, PC(USA) peacemakers have Jews on the brain.
Just how bad is it? A Presbyterian report prepared by the denomination’s peacemakers – and sold on the denomination’s website - has gotten glowing reviews from both David Duke and Iran’s PressTV. Here is David Duke’s victory lap:
Herman Van Rompuy claimed that the poem, “The Seagull,” written by Cyriel Verschaeve, was a favorite of his mother-in-law’s, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.Simon Weisenthal Center Appeals to Dutch PM Over Anti-Semitism
Verschaeve, a Catholic priest, was a leading Flemish nationalist, and long admired German imperial culture. After the Nazi occupation of Belgium, he recruited soldiers for the volunteer SS Flemish Legion, and was appointed by the Nazis to head the Flemish cultural council. He met with Heinrich Himmler in 1944.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a strongly-worded letter to Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Frans Asscher Tuesday addressing a major degradation of the attitude in the Netherlands toward Jews and the State of Israel.Jews of Venezuela, the new Diaspora
The specific issue the letter addresses is a statistic from the University of Bielefeld showing that 39% of Dutch citizens believe Israel is conducting a "war of extermination" against the Palestinian Arabs.
Our Jewish brothers in Venezuela have emigrated by the thousands, many of them to Miami, others to Spain, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Chili and Mexico. Some have made aliya. Throughout the world they still manage to sit for Shabbat, several generations together, and dream of rebuilding their lives.Recluse’s ‘Nazi art trove’ bigger than first thought
They know that hatred did not cease last year on the 27th of January when the National Assembly unanimously approved an agreement in memory of Holocaust victims – when Chavistas in parliament devoted the occasion to slander and demonization of Israel on the grounds that they consider it to be committing a genocide.
The latest pieces were found at the property in Salzburg belonging to Cornelius Gurlitt, his spokesman said Tuesday, just months after the art world was rocked by news of a spectacular trove of more than 1,400 works unearthed at his German home in 2012.‘Monuments Men:’ Rescuing Chagall’s Paintings, Abandoning Chagall (INTERVIEW)
A first inspection indicates there is no Nazi loot — artwork that the fascist regime stole from Jewish owners or bought from them cheaply under duress — in the latest discovery, spokesman Stephan Holzinger said.
The new George Clooney film, “The Monuments Men,” tells the thrilling story of U.S. military personnel who during World War II risked their lives to rescue paintings by the likes of Rembrandt, Picasso, and Chagall that the Nazis had stolen.George Clooney Joined by Jewish Original Monuments Man at Film Premiere
But for Connecticut civil rights attorney Bill Bingham, the story is one of tragic irony. His father, Hiram Bingham IV, was a dissident U.S. diplomat who helped rescue Marc Chagall after the Roosevelt administration abandoned the painter—the same administration that later made such efforts to recover Chagall’s paintings. Save the artwork, abandon the artist? It’s a peculiar legacy, as Bingham explains in this exclusive interview.
Joining Clooney on the red carpet at the Odeon Leicester Square was Harry Ettlinger, one of the original Monuments Men. The actor introduced him to the audience inside the theater.IAI opens cyber R&D center in Singapore
“We have been able to travel with a ‘young man’ who at 13 had to leave Germany for being Jewish,” Clooney said before Ettlinger bowed in front of the audience, according to London’s Evening Standard. “He fled to New Jersey and ended up fighting for the U.S. army. We are absolutely delighted to have Harry here with us this evening.”
Israel Aerospace Industries is launching a new research and development center in Singapore on Thursday, with the aim of finding new techniques and technologies to provide early warnings of impending cyber attacks.Chinese Conglomerate in Negotiations to Buy Israeli Dairy Co-Op Tnuva
The center is the first that an Israeli defense corporation has opened in the Far East, and its work force is expected to comprise 80 to 90 percent Singaporean staff, including scientists, engineers and professional computer analysts (known as white-hat hackers). (h/t Yoel)
Negotiations for control of Israeli dairy cooperative Tnuva are moving forward, as the company’s controlling shareholders—British investment firm Apax and Mivtach Shamir Food Industries Ltd.—consider selling Apax’s share in the company to China’s Bright Food Group.Israeli Company Launches World’s First GPS-Based Mobile Heart Attack App
According to sources close to the negotiations, if the deal goes forward it would be for some 8.5 billion to 9.5 billion shekels ($2.4 billion to $2.7 billion). The emerging deal is said to be serious, but contrary to recent rumors the Chinese company is not planning to send representatives to Israel in the near future, according to Israel Hayom.
The world’s first HIPAA-compliant mobile application for cardiac patients and high-risk cardiac patients was launched for the U.S. market on Tuesday, February 11. Developed by Israeli Danny Oberman, the app is known as CathMaps+ and provides emergency assistance by integrating a patient’s cardiac history with an interactive map of Cath Labs.Israeli-Palestinian cancer support group knocks down walls
CathMaps+, owned by Kickstart LLC, is available for most Android and iOS users, and provides cardiac patients with tailored emergency tools in case of a follow-on incident, as well as GPS mapping of the nearest catheterization labs in many countries around the world. It also allows cardiologists fast access to critical medical history in an emergency, ensuring more informed, personalized and effective treatment.
While there seems to be consensus that women on both sides should not be scared, and that awareness and testing are key, Ruth and Ibtisam are optimistic about the relationships between Israelis and Palestinians fostered by Cope.Using alternative energies to heat greenhouses
"There is a true solidarity and empathy within our group," says Ibtisam.
"I see how some of the Israeli ladies are saying to the Palestinian ladies: 'Let me take you to my doctor in Tel Aviv. Give me your tests so that I can have my doctor look at it for you.' That gives me hope."
Though Energy Industries has been around for 40 years, it wasn’t until changing hands three years ago that it began to boom. Originally dealing in boilers and piping, it is now a leading problem solver in the field of energy conservation, at home and abroad.Tech lets viewers take a custom (video) tour of Israel
One of its signature systems – utilizing alternative energy sources to heat greenhouses in cold climates – was recently sold to the government of Georgia. Another, which involves extracting the natural gases emitted from garbage landfills and turning it into electricity, earned the Israeli company a contract to build a plant in Ghana.
After its recent coup as the first and only company commissioned by Bob Dylan to make a music video of his most famous song, Israeli start-up Interlude is putting its interactive video platform to work for the Israel Ministry of Tourism. A new interactive video by the Ministry presents potential visitors to Israel with a full range of Israel tour experiences, all in a five minute video.
Tourism Minister Uzi Landau introduced the video Wednesday at the International Mediterranean Tourism Market, going on this week in Tel Aviv. Using Interlude’s platform, the video offers viewers dozens of itineraries by making interactive selections as the video plays.
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