Friday, February 21, 2014
CLAIM: Oxfam Exec delighted: “Now The Jews Are Going To Get It!” On Eve Of ’67 War
But my Oxfam Moment came one summer’s evening when a senior Oxfam executive invited me to dinner at his sumptuous home in the rolling Oxfordshire countryside. He was cultured, brilliant and cool. Every inch the top Foreign Office diplomat, which had indeed been his previous calling. Before dinner, he suggested we take drinks on the lawn. As an afterthought, he asked the butler to bring out his portable radio so that we could listen to the news. It was, after all, the first day of the Six Day War.Official PA daily crossword: Haifa is "a port in occupied Palestine"
The BBC faithfully reported claims by the Israelis that they had destroyed the air forces of Egypt and Syria on the ground. Then, the newsreader intoned the Arab claims that they had inflicted extensive damage on the Israeli army; that Egyptian tanks were advancing; that they were now 25 kilometres from Tel Aviv.
My urbane host lost his cultivated cool. His elderly body shot into the air, fists pumping at the skies: ‘Now the Jews are going to get it... Now they’re going to get it.’ Remember, Israel occupied no territories, nor had it constructed a single settlement. There could be only one explanation for his jubilation: the prospect of Israel’s imminent destruction. When he recovered his composure, he raised his glass and beamed at me: ‘Wonderful news. Simply wonderful.’ I stared back, shocked, not knowing how to respond. To my shame, I said nothing.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented numerous examples of the official PA daily's use of crossword puzzles to deny Israel's existence. Cities such as Acre, Safed, Lod and even Tel Aviv have been presented as "Palestinian" or "occupied."Dutch firm says Israel boycott not factor in port tender (paywall soz.)
The PA uses the many infrastructures of communication at its disposal to promote the message that there is no Israel, but only "occupied Palestine," and that it is only a matter of time and planning before Israel disappears and "Palestine" returns.
A report in TheMarker on Monday stating that at least two foreign companies dropped out of the Israeli government tender to develop private seaports due to anti-Israel boycotts has been disputed by two of the companies involved. (h/t Yenta Press)
Free Speech and Antisemitism: Max Blumenthal’s Goliath
James Fallows may think all this is worthy of debate, but as Twitter user Sol Robinson demonstrated with his reply to Blumenthal, there isn’t really all that much to debate when someone “cannot understand the difference between Jews wanting to get away from racists, and racists wanting jews gone.”Report: Anti-Zionism Integral to European Left-Wing Thought
Assuming that Blumenthal really “cannot understand” this difference is arguably the most charitable take, particularly in view of the fact that Blumenthal himself? advocated a “Juden raus” policy for those Israeli Jews who would refuse to “become indigenized” in the Arab state that Blumenthal hopes will replace the Jewish state in the not too distant future. To put it bluntly: there is precious little difference between what Stormfront members would like to see happen in Europe and the U.S. and what Max Blumenthal would like to see happen in the Middle East.
Anti-Zionism is an “integral part” of left-wing ideology in Europe and serves as a replacement for anti-Semitism, according to a report on global anti-Semitic trends in 2013 released by Israel’s Information and Diaspora Ministry in January.NGO Monitor: Exploiting Justice: How the UK, EU, & Norway Fund NGO Lawfare vs. Israel
“The anti-Zionism prevalent mainly on the left, which has already become an integral part of the permanent worldview of individuals and groups of the left, can today be defined as a cultural code replacing anti-Semitism and enabling its disseminators to deny all connection to anti-Semitism,” said the report.
The ministry said anti-Zionism has become a major component of anti-Semitic expressions in Western Europe.
While the report said anti-Zionism in Eastern Europe remains a “minor component in public discourse,” in Western Europe it “represents a significant component of anti-Semitic manifestations and discourse.”
NRC’s [Norwegian Refugee Council] “Information, counselling, and legal assistance (ICLA)” project exploits judicial frameworks to control and manipulate Israeli policy outside any democratic framework, and to promote international delegitimization campaigns. The evidence suggests that NRC is carrying out a strategy of trying “every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system… to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage.”Anti-Israel NGOs spark call for reform from MEPs
Speaking from Brussels, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO monitor, told The Jerusalem Post that a “highly disproportionate number of NGOs are focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict... more so than any other part of the world.”Presbyterian Org Says Agenda of Group Within Church is ‘End of the Jewish State of Israel’
He added “some [EU] money goes to BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] and other ways to sabotage Israel’s judicial system.”
NGO Monitor issued the analysis of EU funding on Tuesday.
The report is titled “Evaluating Funding for Political Advocacy NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The battle over Israel within the Presbyterian church turned a corner on Thursday, when a pro-Israel faction, called Presbyterians for Middle East Peace, said it would fight the church agenda, as described in its ‘Zionism Unsettled’ monograph. The document on Zionism, praised this week by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Iranian media, was described by PFMEP as seeking the “end of the Jewish State of Israel.”SodaStream, aikido, or how to outsmart BDS
In a statement to supporters, entitled, “The True Agenda: the End of the Jewish State of Israel,” PFMEP described itself “as a grassroots group of Presbyterian lay and clergy volunteers who want the Presbyterian Church USA to be an effective peacemaker in the Middle East.” It said the group came together after the church’s 2004 General Assembly and was established prior to the 2008 Presbyterian General Assembly.
As soon as the news about ScarJo’s involvement got out, BDS militants embarked on a vociferous campaign; which of course triggered a counter-campaign; which led to Johansson’s and Oxfam’s reactions; which in turn generated a frenzy of media activity. Press releases were sent; statements were read; countless news items and op-eds were written; media correspondents were sent out to investigate and report – they even went to visit SodaStream’s ‘settlement’ factory; the row figured prominently in TV and radio news and commentary, etc. The social media, too, buzzed with activity. All this created an amount of publicity that Ms. Johansson’s clip could never on its own have hoped to generate.Which Israeli will Europe and Arabs Target Next?
Sure, some would argue that this was negative publicity – and hence detrimental. But that’s misunderstanding how things work in advertising. Messages that are indisputably negative may indeed be detrimental. But that was not SodaStream’s case at all. Oxfam and the BDS’ers argued their case; but so did Sodastream and Israel’s supporters. The company (and ScarJo) argued that the SodaStream offers employment to both Jews and Arabs, on equal terms; that it thus helps combat Palestinian poverty; that it turns nominal enemies into actual work colleagues. Oxfam and the BDS crowd argued that the company was… well, guilty of the crime of ‘being there’. SodaStream’s CEO Birnbaum got interviewed and came across as a reasonable, caring man; the BDS’ers came across as fanatics sticking to ‘principles’ even at the cost of people getting the sack. Crucially, SodaStream’s Palestinian employees supported their employer’s narrative.
The fact remains that a Dutch soccer player was excluded from a training camp on the sole basis that he is Jew with an Israeli passport.Banging your head against the (Apartheid) Wall
Not only is the Dutch Foreign Ministry's advice to "keep sports and politics separated as much as possible" bankrupt of any enforceable meaning; it conflicts with the Dutch Constitution, which states: "Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race or sex or any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted."
The hypocritical -- and, bluntly, racist -- restrictions of these countries become even more conspicuous when contrasted to the double-standards they practice when events happen to suit some other interest.
When doing business or cooperating on security with Israel or Israelis, these same EU and UAE rules do not apply.
When added to the new calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions, it seems appropriate to ask, is it not actually many Europeans, Arabs and Muslims who are the new Nazis?
So as the Apartheid Wall is about to roll out into London, I’ve been thinking: what can you do to demonstrate the importance of the West Bank Barrier to protecting Israeli civilians from terrorism, and thereby underscore the absurdity of the whole Apartheid Wall campaign?Watchdog: FBI, San Francisco Police Investigating Student Leader After Violent Posts About IDF, Hillel
Here are some ideas.
1. Dress up as a suicide bomber. Throw on an explosive belt, wrap your face in a keffiyeh and grab an AK-47. Run towards the Wall at full speed, shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” When you hit the Wall, fall over and rub your head, muttering “D’oh!” in the style of Homer Simpson. Protest loudly about how the racist Zionist regime is impeding your freedom of movement.
The FBI and a Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating a San Francisco student leader who published violent comments about the Israel Defense Forces and Jewish student group Hillel, campus anti-Semitism watchdog AMCHA said in a message to supporters on Thursday.Eager Arab Students Learn From Scientist at Technion
Mohammed Hammad, 22, who until recently was the president of San Francisco State University’s General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS), made the troubling statements on the social network Tumblr. They were subsequently brought to the attention of campus officials and the local police department by AMCHA.
While in the U.S. and Great Britain academic organizations crusade against Israeli universities, promoting boycotts, divestment and sanctions, some eager students in Arab countries apparently have different ideas.Friedman Praises Israel’s Academic Freedom, then Urges Its Termination
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman writes about the interest generated among students of surrounding Arab states in an on-line course on nanotechnology by Professor Hossam Haick, an Israeli-Arab scientist at Israel's Technion Institute. According to Friedman
So far, there are about 4,800 registrations for the Arabic version, including students from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and the West Bank. Iranians are signing up for the English version.
Today’s NY Times Columnist Tom Friedman’s “Breakfast Before the MOOC” praises a Technion pan-Arabic MOOC (massive online open course), yet another example of Israel’s inclusive approach to Arab students everywhere, and then, on the same page, calls for curtailing that success story in Judea and Samaria, which would mean the end of those freedoms for local Palestinians.Rowan Williams Hails the Khomeinist IHRC
It’s sinister stuff.
Tomorrow the IHRC will hold its “Islamophobia Awards” rally in London. Apparently Theresa May is a favourite to win. Other nominees include Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation.Hungary backpedals on disputed Holocaust monument
It is no surprise to see some of the names on the list of supporters of the event. They include weird peer Lord Avebury, disgraced former Labour peer Lord Ahmed, fanatical Israel hater Lauren Booth, and creepy Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather.
But this one does stand out: Dr Rowan Williams
The Hungarian government said Wednesday it had postponed the inauguration of a controversial monument which Jewish critics say glosses over Budapest’s active role in the Holocaust.German police arrest 9 suspected former Auschwitz camp guards
The monument, to be unveiled as Hungary marks the 70th anniversary of the start of mass deportations of Jews when the Nazis took power in 1944, will also be renamed, according to a cabinet statement.
It will no longer be “dedicated to the memory of the German occupation” but to the “victims of the German occupation,” and will be inaugurated on May 31 instead of March 19.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff praised the arrests.Map Shows Every French Child Deported During the Holocaust
“We congratulate the Zentrale Stelle [the German government’s arm for investigating war crimes] and the German prosecutors involved and urge that these efforts be fully expedited so that as many as possible Holocaust perpetrators can be brought to justice,” said Zuroff, who is the director of the center’s Jerusalem office.
Of the 76,000 Jews deported from France and sent to Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, 11,400 of them were children. Now, France is trying to trace those small footprints.Oskar Schindler’s Czech Factory for Sale; Could Become Holocaust Museum
A new online interactive map shows the origin of every child deported from France between July 1942 and August 1944. The map was created by French historian Jean-Luc Pinol, and uses data collected by former Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld.
The factory, in Brnenec — population 1,300 — in eastern Czech Republic, 120 miles from Prague, once belonged to the “Czech-German industrialist, spy and a member of the Nazi party who sheltered about 1,200 Jews there in the final months of the Second World War,” Bloomberg wrote. Schindler was the subject of Steven Spielberg’s Academy award-winning 1993 film ‘Schindler’s List.’Room at Bar-Ilan U. to be Dedicated to Muslim Prayer
Blahoslav Kaspar, the city’s mayor, told Bloomberg that the dilapidated complex “has real potential,” though “it looks like Dresden after the bombing,” and he suggested that it could be a good spot for a Holocaust museum.
A room on the Bar-Ilan University campus will be dedicated as a prayer facility for Muslim students in the coming days to meet the needs of the 500 Muslim students who are strict about observing their religion, including five appointed times for prayer each day. The move is a result of an initiative by the school's Gilda student organization, which started at the request of a student. Until now, Muslim students have had to pray on the grass or in classrooms. (h/t Bob Knot)Former NZ PM Helen Clark ‘blown away’ by Israeli ingenuity
The innovations of tomorrow are borne of the ideas of today. And to get the idea juices flowing, 70 carefully selected entrepreneurs, academics, and students got away from it all this week — heading out to Caesarea — to discuss what the future will look like, and how they and others will help it get that way.Ravens Linebacker Terrell Suggs Speaks Hebrew When Asked If He’s the Greatest Jewish NFL Athlete (VIDEO)
That ideas were flying at the Israeli Designed International Development conference (more familiarly known as ID2) was evident in the reaction of a special guest at the event — Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and former New Zealand Prime Minister. She visited ID2 on Wednesday, the second day of the three-day event.
Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs spoke in Hebrew to a TMZ reporter when asked if he considered himself the greatest Jewish football player of all time, upon arriving at LAX airport Tuesday.IDF Blog: Fghting For Israel at Every Step: Golani Infantry Brigade Celebrates 66 Years
The Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowler considers himself to be half Jewish, according to the publication. He has a Jewish star tattooed on his right arm and wears a Star of David necklace around town.
66 years ago, in the lead-up to the 1948 War of Independence, the leadership of the Haganah formed the Golani Infantry Brigade. Three months later, the State of Israel was established. Golani’s soldiers were called on to defend the fledgling state from what seemed like almost certain destruction. This week, a new generation of Golani soldiers graduated from their basic training. Their mission: to continue Golani’s proud tradition of protecting Israel.
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