Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Three Years Later: Fogel Family Massacre Commemorated in Itamar
The three-year Hebrew anniversary of the infamous Fogel family massacre, which took place in the West Bank town of Itamar, was memorialized on Monday, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.Ex-TNR Editor Blasts Magazine for Anti-Israel Writer
An official commemoration was held at Mishkan Ehud, a study and prayer complex built in honor of the slain family members.
On March 11th, 2011, two teenage cousins from a nearby Arab village scaled the security fence surrounding Itamar. They crawled through the window of the Fogel home and, once inside, murdered parents Udi and Ruth, and their children: 11-year-old Yoav, 4-year-old Elad and 3-month-old Hadas.
Three children survived: 14-year-old Tamar, 10-year-old Roi and 4-year-old Yishai.
Martin Peretz, the long-time editor-in-chief of the New Republic until 2010 and owner until 2012, slammed the magazine on Sunday for publishing an excerpt of an anti-Israel book written by senior editor John Judis.‘Summit to Reassess the U.S. – Israel ‘Special Relationship” Held at National Press Club, C-Span Re-Broadcasts
TNR was known for its liberal, pro-Israel editorial line under Peretz’s 35-year stewardship. However, it has moved away from this position under its new owner and editor, Mark Zuckerberg’s college roommate Chris Hughes.
The magazine recently published a chapter of Judis’s new book, “Genesis: Truman, American Jews and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict,” which reportedly questions the legitimacy of Israel’s founding and attributes American support for the Jewish state to pressure from the Israel lobby.
A first-ever conference called the “National Summit to Reassess the U.S. – Israel ‘Special Relationship’” was held at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. on Friday, and the event is now being re-broadcast on C-Span.Author Warns of Racist Movement in Israel Looking for ‘Right to Kill Non-Jewish Children’
The conference echoed many of the controversial themes of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer book on ‘The Israel Lobby.’ Walt was a speaker on one of its panels.
The program included sessions, such as “How does the Israel lobby influence Congress?”, “Does Israel and its lobby exercise too much influence on U.S. decisions to wage war in the Middle East?”, “Does the ‘special relationship’ transcend rule of law?”, “History: How did the ‘special relationship’ come to be?”, “Has the lobby captured political parties and news media?”, and “Is Israel really a U.S. ally?”
Author and syndicated columnist Allan Brownfeld, speaking at Institute for Research’s Middle East Policy conference on Friday, warned the audience of the rise of “racism” in Israel against non-Jews. He said that there is a popular movement in Israel which takes its cues from a popular book, “financed by the Israeli government,” arguing for the right of Jews to kill non-Jews. Brownfeld added that this extremism dates back to early 19th Century Europe.
“In Israel itself, there is a growth of racism,” Brownfeld began. “There is a growth of religious extremism. (h/t Effect)
All-Powerful Zionist Conspiracy Apparently Really Bad At Covering Its Tracks (satire)
Experts are divided on what accounts for this major oversight, considering that by now, the Elders of Zion should have been expected to notice the error and institute some adequate concealment policy. “It might just be laziness,” said Indolnt Fakir, a Turkish analyst. “I’m sure it’s hard work engineering 9/11 and making sure all the Jews escape, all while planning a second invasion of Iraq and infecting Palestinian children with AIDS – after harvesting their organs,” he added.Anti-Israel Hackers Plan Mass Attack for April 7 (Video)
Others disagree. “This is clearly a case of plain old arrogance,” asserted Ahmad Windbag, a Palestinian journalist who follows reports of the Zionist conspiracy in Arab media. “The Jews – I mean the Zionists; we’re not allowed to publicly hate Jews anymore – probably think we’re all too stupid and backward to figure it all out, and even if we did, too powerless to do anything about it, so it’s even crueler.”
Windbag said he could elaborate, but was afraid of being overheard by Zionist agents who would continue to do nothing to him.
Hackers attacked an out-of-date Israel credit card website Monday and are planning a massive attack on websites and mobile phones on April 7, according to experts of the Aman group, ClearSky and Terrogence.Islamic states try to hold up Human Rights Council appointment because of absence of known anti-Israel bias
Next month is “Hacktivists month.” In this day and age of suicidal liberalism, when will there be a National Terrorists’ Month?
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has objected to the top candidate proposed by a cross-regional group to replace Richard Falk as the UN special rapporteur on Israel. Pakistan, acting on behalf of the OIC, has circulated the following letter on March 6, 2014:Palestinian PM woos Chinese firms for oil exploration
"Excellency, I am writing this letter to you in my capacity as the OIC Coordinator on human rights and humanitarian issues. I would like to invite your attention towards recently recommended list of the mandate holders by the Consultative Group...
Unfortunately, the Consultative Group has recommended the name of a candidate as a Special Rapporteur on the 'situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967' who has no expertise nor relevant experience of the Middle East situation. This recommendation of the Consultative Group is a violation of the IB package. It is, therefore, unacceptable to the OIC."
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah called on China to encourage Chinese companies to join a bid for petroleum exploration in the Palestinian territories.CAMERA Calls for New York Times Corrections on "Jewish State" Issues
Al-Hamdallah said in a news statement after his meeting in the West Bank with the Chinese special envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike that his government has recently approved a bid to invite international companies to explore for oil in the West Bank. He added that another bid is being prepared for exploring offshore gas in Gaza. "We hope the Chinese government would urge Chinese companies to help enhance investment," read the statement.
CAMERA has called on The New York Times to correct two substantive factual errors appearing in a March 6, 2014 Op-Ed by a former Palestinian Authority official.Stockholm High School Vandalized With Swastikas, Anti-Jewish Slurs (PHOTOS)
The Op-Ed, "Defining the Jewish State" by Ali Jarbawi, claims that Israel's call for the Palestinians to recognize the country as the Jewish state is both a new demand by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an Israeli precondition to negotiations.
A Stockholm, Sweden, high school was plastered overnight with anti-Semitic graffiti, Nazi Swastikas and anti-Jewish slurs, Swedish English-language newspaper The Local reported on Monday.Putin Plays the Anti-Semitism Card in Ukraine Crisis
Concerned parent Calle Nathanson told The Local: “My 13-year-old daughter was on the way to school and she saw that one of the entrances was totally bombed by graffiti.”
Written in Swedish, the graffiti included the words “Jewish swine” and “disgusting Jews,” swastikas, and the number 1488, which is a symbol for white power and the Nazi greeting Heil Hitler.
Step back for a second, and you can see the rich historical irony at work here. One European nation with a long and bloody history of anti-Semitism has engaged in aggression against another European nation, also with a long and bloody history of anti-Semitism. When this happened almost a century ago, during the horrendous civil war that followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, pogroms wracked Ukraine; now, while there have been anti-Semitic incidents and speeches reported in Ukraine, there is certainly no state policy of anti-Semitism on either side, much less an event that could deservedly be called a pogrom.France to Return Three Looted Paintings to Rightful Owners
At the same time, western intellectuals and activists who instinctively scorn the charge of anti-Semitism when it crops up in the contexts of Zionism and Israel are actually arguing that we should take Putin’s claims seriously! For example, there’s Professor Stephen Cohen of New York University, a leading nostalgist for the Soviet era, who compared Ukrainian nationalists to the Nazis in an interview with CNN. And then there’s Michael Lerner, whose Tikkun magazine and its associated “spiritual progressives network” are the closest thing we Jews have to a cult, waxing lyrically about his favorite bete noire: “The neocons seem all too willing to ignore the fascistic and proto-Nazi elements in the coalition that last week overthrew the democratically elected and pro-Russian government.”
France will return on Tuesday three paintings seized by the Nazis to their rightful owners, AFP reports.Holocaust haunts French railway’s US business
This is just the tip of an iceberg in a country where nearly 2,000 such artworks remain unclaimed, the report noted.
All works of art identified as having been stolen by the Nazis are kept in French museums that are required to report them and put them on display in the hope that the previous owners, their heirs or assignees will spot and claim them.
Seventy years after the Holocaust, Rosette Goldstein and many fellow Americans are still seeking reparations from French rail firm SNCF for transporting their loved ones to Nazi death camps.Football Jihad: who's who in the new battle ground (updated)
Goldstein, now 75, was in Maryland on Monday to testify before state lawmakers, who have threatened to prevent SNCF bidding for a major public contract over its role in the World War II genocide.
Clutching a register of those transported by France’s state-owned rail company, a still emotional Goldstein showed where her father’s name was entered.
The campaign to demonize Israel is relentless and operates, as I have reported for years on this blog, not just in politics and the media, but in art, cinema, theatre, and sport. Anti-Israel activists - operating under the guise of being 'pro-Palestinian' - prey especially on the ignorant in society who easily believe the lies told to them. One example of such a group being increasingly targeted are footballers, because an anti-Israel message from them can have instant worldwide impact. Hence, there has been a steadily increasing number of footballers taking part in what I call the 'football jihad' - and they are by no means all Muslims. The non-Muslims are typical of the ignorant youngsters you see at any university meeting or rally protesting against Israel - with their Hamas supporting T-shirts and kaffiyas, repeating unquestioningly the same lies told to them.PointGrab puts you in gesture control
I have decided to maintain a log of these footballer and (as per my log of anti-Israel charities) I have awarded a number of Arafats (rather than stars) to each (where 5 Arafats is the worse possible). The list - ordered by the fame of the player - is by no means exhaustive but will be updated over time.
Thanks to an Israeli startup called PointGrab, life has just gotten exponentially easier.Cameron to make 1st visit as UK leader to Israel
Now, you don’t have to press the buttons on your remote control to channel surf; nor do you have to get up to switch songs on the computer across the room. Your bare hands can do the trick.
This is made possible by PointGrab’s advanced gesture recognition software, on the market since 2010, which offers an intuitive way of interacting with consumer devices. Through finger, hand and two-hand movements, the software (available on Android, iOS, Linux, OS X and Windows) communicates with the standard camera of PCs, tablets, smartphones and TVs for a whole new user experience.
Its Hybrid Action Recognition technology – which won the Frost & Sullivan 2013 European Technology Innovation Award – was introduced last July and can accurately and reliably anticipate, detect and analyze shapes and movements up to 17 feet away.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron plans to make his first visit as British leader to Israel and the Palestinian territories this week.FDA approves Israel-developed stem cell ‘factory’ for research
Cameron's Downing Street office says he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deliver a speech at the Knesset on Wednesday.
He also is scheduled to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during his two-day trip.
An Israeli-invented process to speed up injury repairs got a big boost last week when the FDA approved the use of mass-produced manufactured therapeutic stem cells produced by Pluristem Therapeutics for use in studies on treating injuries. The Placental Expanded (PLX) stem cell products, derived from human placenta, will be produced in a large facility in northern Israel. With the manufacturing process approved, the next step, the company hopes, is widespread FDA approval for use of the cells in treating injuries and muscle diseases.14,000 people see Israeli innovation showcase at AIPAC Policy Conference
It was actually the second big regulatory “win” for Haifa-based Pluristem in recent weeks. In February, Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which regulates medical treatment in the country, approved in January the company’s manufacturing process for production of mesenchymal-like adherent stromal cells (ASCs) derived from full term human placentas. The approval came just after the company announced positive results in a study where patients who suffered from a muscular injury were successfully treated with Pluristem cells.
The four Israeli companies invited to present their futuristic technologies in front of 14,000 attendees of the 2014 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington last week received an enthusiastic response from the largest gathering of America’s pro-Israel community. Jews, Christians, African Americans and Latinos from all 50 states were in attendance, including thousands of college students.The instant test that lets you diagnose your illness
The Israel Innovation Showcase has become a favorite highlight of twice-yearly AIPAC national events. ISRAEL21c’s Nathan Miller was at the Policy Conference to speak with the four executives, whose groundbreaking companies have all been featured on ISRAEL21c for their potential to improve lives.
“We are overwhelmed by the positive reaction and interest,” ElMindA CEO Ronen Gadot told Miller.
Imagine waking up one morning with a cough or a sinus headache. Should you go into the office? Instead of trying to get a doctor’s appointment to find out if you are contagious, you go to the nearest pharmacy for an instant test to determine what kind of virus, bacteria or fungus you may have.
This scenario is not far from becoming reality, thanks to the Jerusalem-based subsidiary of Azure PCR. The company’s disruptive technology has streamlined the process of detecting, diagnosing and tracking infectious diseases.
“This is really important in terms of drug-resistant diseases,” says British-born CEO Aron Cohen, recalling how Muppets founder Jim Henson died in 1990, at age 53, from a drug-resistant bacterial infection before doctors had time to pinpoint the disease strain. “Had he been diagnosed right away, he might still be alive today.”
