Sunday, March 16, 2014
Johansson hails SodaStream as a ‘model,’ slams politicized Oxfam
Johansson was vigorous in her response, however. “I stand behind that decision. I was aware of that particular factory before I signed it.”Eight Crucial Questions for Abbas (and One for President Obama)
“Really?” the interviewer interjected, apparently surprised or disbelieving.
“Yes, and… it still doesn’t seem like a problem,” Johansson said. “Until someone has a solution to the closing of that factory to leaving all those people destitute, that doesn’t seem like the solution to the problem.”
When the interviewer then put it to her that “the international community says that the settlements are illegal and shouldn’t be there,” Johansson said: “I think that’s something that’s very easily debatable. In that case, I was literally plunged into a conversation that’s way grander and larger than this one particular issue. And there’s no right side or wrong side leaning on this issue.”
There seems to be a double-standard when it comes to how Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian Authority's erstwhile President, Mahmoud Abbas -- now in the tenth year of his four-year term -- are treated by the Obama White House, as well as by many journalists. While Netanyahu is humiliated, insulted, threatened, and told that he must make "painful concessions" for peace, such as releasing more than 100 terrorists merely to get the Palestinians to come to a negotiating table, Abbas – a facilitator and supporter of these terrorists – is treated with kid gloves, and with Obama virtually begging him to visit.Eugene Kontorovich; "Israel's Borders in International Law"
Ya’alon: Abbas is not a partner for peace
Speaking to Channel 2, the Likud minister said bitterly that the Palestinian leader was “a partner for taking, but not a partner for giving. He’s not a partner for a final agreement, at the end of which there is recognition of Israel’s rights as the nation state of the Jewish people, an end of the conflict and an end to all demands. He [Abbas] says this openly,” said Ya’alon.Abbas Defiant Ahead of Meeting with Obama
The defense minister, a former IDF chief of staff and a very senior government figure, who has filled in as prime minister when Benjamin Netanyahu is indisposed, said he believed full peace “won’t happen in my generation.” (h/t Bob Knot)
Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said that Abbas plans to speak with Obama on all issues related to the realization of a two-state solution and the establishment of a just and balanced peace that will result in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.Plenty of room at the inn
Abu Rudeineh stated that the visit to Washington is taking place during a sensitive time period and under circumstances of change in the Arab world, stressing that PA Chairman intends to stick to the “fundamental Palestinian principles”.
How many times have you heard that early Zionists came to a land already populated, and found the inhabitants ‘invisible’ in their European arrogance? “A land without a people for a people without a land,” they supposedly said, and then proceeded to kick out the people that they hadn’t noticed, in order to get their land.Dramatic new announcements by Obama (satire)
This is the basis of the Palestinian narrative, and we hear it from their apologists as well, who love to talk about the ‘indigenous’ Palestinians and the ‘European colonialist’ Jewish ‘settlers’ that ‘dispossessed’ them.
The hidden assumption here is that there was only enough land for one people. The conflict had to be a zero-sum affair: if the Jews came in, the Arabs would have to get out.
In celebration of the Jewish festival of Purim President Obama has announced an extension of his policy of rapprochement. In a speech to the Annual Conference of the JfJfEwwtKU organisation (Jews for Justice for Everybody who wants to Kill Us) he said:The failed ethics of the ‘ethical boycott’ against Israel
"Everybody knows that my policy of reaching out to genocidal antisemites, which was so successful with President Assad of Syria and which will also succeed with Iran, is the right thing to do. I therefore now plan to extend this policy beyond just Middle Eastern despots and clerical fascists.
First of all, therefore, I am opening my hand to the Nazi party of Germany. Indeed, there are many law-abiding Germans still living today who never accepted the legitimacy of the democracy imposed by the Allied forces after World War 2.
Examining the validity of the argument, we first find that there has never been a binding court order to rule that the settlements are illegal. This means that Danske Bank’s claim is based on an arbitrary interpretation of the legal situation surrounding the settlements, and not on a legal ruling per se. It is a subjective decision for the Danish bank to join the boycotts rather than a conclusion based on legally binding orders. Of course, every company has the right to cut off business with whomever it wants, but let’s be clear about what kind of “legal grounds,” or lack thereof, Danske Bank is referring to.#Hashtag – #BDSIsTheNewAntiSemitism
If the boycott is not a legally sound point of view, perhaps at least the other claim made by Danske Bank about the “ethical grounds” might be valid? Let’s suppose Danske Bank wants nothing to do with companies funding oppression. If this were its position, they would surely be quick to sanction Chinese or Russian banks for the crimes with which they are accusing the Israeli bank. But Danske Bank doesn’t even pretend to sanction the circumstance (e.g. oppression), rather, it is blacklisting Bank Hapoalim as the symbol for what is wrong in the world as far as oppression goes.
After seeing the slanderous lies that they tweet about Israel I decided I’d have some fun and take their tweets and change the wording so that it described them instead of Israeli’s.Israel upgrades Apache helicopters after U.S. blocked their modernization
The strange barrage of attacks that I received was eye opening and telling. It showed me a picture of a deceptive group of thugs, not interested in showing what the truth is but for the demise of Israel. There is no compromise here, they deny the right of Israel to exist at all.
The sources said the Air Force was equipping the Apaches with two new electronic warfare systems developed in the Jewish state.Human Rights Watch Hires Michael Bay To Portray Palestinians As Innocent, IDF As Brutal (satire)
“They are based on the huge operational experience of the force in using the Apache Longbow in a variety of combat scenarios,” an officer, identified only as Maj. Yonatan, said.
The upgrade has been developed amid the U.S. refusal to modernize Israel’s Apache fleet, employed in attacks on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. (h/t Yenta Press)
Human rights activists have also weighed in, praising both Human Rights Watch and Michael Bay for what they hope will provide creative synergy in a field plagued by amateurish demonizing of Israel. “Repurposing a photo of a child killed in the Syrian civil war and recaptioning it as one killed by Israel is about the best we’ve seen so far from activists in the field,” said Amnesty International spokesman Joseph Goebbels. “It’s about time we had some actual Hollywood-level direction on the scene to give the results some real punch, instead of just relying on, say, the BBC, to do the work of editing out Palestinian provocations. Don’t get me wrong – the BBC is very good, but it’s not Michael Bay.”Fuel enters Gaza as Kerem Shalom crossing re-opened
Deliveries of fuel to the Gaza Strip resumed on Sunday morning as Israeli authorities allowed the Kerem Shalom (Kerem Abu Salem) crossing to re-open, Palestinian crossing officials said.Iran: 'Palestinian Resistance’s' missile power now 1,000 times stronger
The decision comes only a day after the besieged coastal enclave's sole power plant was forced to shut down after Israel closed the border crossing, cutting off its supplies of fuel and further restricting the Gaza Strip's already limited power supply.
Iran's defense minister on Saturday commended Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip for firing dozens of rockets into southern Israel last week, stating that "the operational power of the Resistance against the Zionist regime is a thousand times more than what it was before."Egyptian militants outwit army in Sinai battlefield
Iran's Fars News Agency quoted Iranian Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Hossein Dehqan on Saturday as saying “the resistance forces have fired over 150 missiles against the occupied territories in the last 4 days, after the assassination of a number of resistance commanders by the Zionist regime in Gaza and the West Bank.” He claimed that the Gaza terror organizations had not yet displayed their actual missile capability.
Egypt's army says it is crushing Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but in the region's villages and towns a victory for the state feels a long way off.Egypt Promises 'Decisive Action' After Gunmen Kill 6 Soldiers
In a rare visit to eight villages in Northern Sinai last week, a Reuters reporter saw widespread destruction caused by army operations, but also found evidence that a few hundred militants are successfully playing a cat-and-mouse game with the Arab world's biggest army and are nowhere near defeat. It is increasingly difficult for foreign correspondents to openly enter conflict zones in the Sinai.
Residents say the militants - a mix of Egyptian Islamists, foreign fighters and disgruntled youth - have seized control of about a third of the villages in the region and are now taking their fight closer to Cairo.
Egypt has declared "decisive action" against Islamists on Sunday, 24 hours after six soldiers were killed by unidentified gunmen at a checkpoint in a Cairo suburb, according to Al-Jazeera. Two bombs were also left at the checkpoint and defused by explosives experts,Israeli doctor treating Syrians says snipers deliberately shoot children in the spine
In response, the Egyptian cabinet decided to "decisively confront whoever attacks citizens and civilian and government installations," it said in a statement. It added that attacks on military personnel would be dealt with in the military court system, in accordance with the constitution approved via a January referendum.
Doctor makes claim after UN report shows child casualty rates in Syria are the highest recorded in any recent conflict in the regionIsraeli hospital cares for Syrian Children
A senior Israeli doctor treating child victims of the Syrian civil war has said that snipers in the war-town country are aiming for the spine to cause maximum trauma.
Dr Yoav Hoffman, a doctor at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, is one of many doctors who has been treating severely wounded Syrians at the Western Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya, northern Israel.
Having examined the patients, 40 per cent of whom have been women and children, he came to a disturbing conclusion.
The hospital clown had seen and heard enough. After making the rounds of children’s wards for months in Western Galilee Medical Center in northern Israel, he had met many injured and sick children — some with terminal diseases, others with severe, life-threatening injuries. His job was to bring out a smile. But after he met one 9-year-old Syrian boy, the clown briefly considered hanging up his hat for the last time.Will Ukraine’s real anti-Semite please stand up?
“The boy arrived severely injured and in complete shock,” said Sara Paperin of the International Affairs department of the hospital. “He kept describing over and over again how he had seen his brother decapitated in front of his eyes,” she recalled, saying the boy was devastated at the thought that he had lost all of his family. “After meeting the youngster, the hospital clown called me and said, ‘I just can’t do this anymore.’”
Over the last year, the hospital has treated 230 injured Syrians, more than 40% of them women and children, and as the months go by, the stream of patients with critical injuries is only increasing.(h/t Zvi)
Synagogue vandalism, Molotov cocktails, attacks on Jews. To hear the list of recent anti-Semitic reports out of Ukraine, one might be forgiven for thinking the country is a hotbed of Jew hatred.Quebec premier defends candidate over kashrut remarks
However, many of the country’s Jews believe that the attacks are being blown out of proportion, or even engineered, by the Kremlin in a bid to foster trouble and topple Kiev’s quavering new government.
In conversations with The Times of Israel this weekend, this was the scenario painted by Ukraine’s Jewish leadership, including its chief rabbis.
She called for kosher slaughter to be banned, and for the government to provide rules to “secularize” food and no longer “promote religious accommodation” in food.Jordanian boy has successful kidney transplant in Israel
According to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), Mailloux has called kosher certification a “ripoff,” “robbery” and a “tax” paid “directly … to the synagogue,” unbeknownst to Quebecers.
While the Jordanian street has expressed a great deal of animosity toward Israel recently, there are also stories that occasionally inspire optimism.Ghana, Israel explore agric partnership
Last week, a 7-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian boy who had suffered critical kidney failure underwent a successful kidney transplant at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. His mother was the donor. The complicated procedure was not possible in Jordanian hospitals.
Although Ghana’s agric sector has not been doing well for a while now, relinquishing its position as the largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Mr Shamir said Israel has invested so much into research and if Ghana can do same coupled with its available natural resources, the sector can record tremendous growth.Guitar legend and 'goodwill ambassador to Israel' heading back to Tel Aviv
According to crop researchers in Ghana, the government commits almost nothing in the annual budget to crop research. As a result, they are unable to research into different crop varieties for the different regions that could help boost production across the country. (h/t Zvi)
Vai said he wouldn’t be surprised is some of the Israeli amateurs he invited onstage over four years ago in Tel Aviv ended up participating in the camp. But it wasn’t only the musicianship that impressed him – he was serious when he mentioned being a goodwill ambassador for Israel. Before arriving in 2010, he researched the country after many conversations with the promoter of the master class, but it still didn’t prepare him for the normality of Tel Aviv.Iran intel: ‘No $^#ing clue what’s up with Israel today’ (satire)
“Unfortunately, a lot of the time, the only information a foreigner can get is what’s on the news,” he said. (h/t Zvi)
Iran’s vaunted intelligence services were thrown into a panic Sunday when they witnessed widespread behavior in Israel they simply couldn’t account for.UN Condemns All Jews For Mordechai Not Bowing To Haman (satire)
“We have satellite footage of a pregnant John Kerry drinking with Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” deputy IRGC intelligence chief Sari Seiha-Melech told FARCE news agency. “Literally none of our models predicted this.”
“And we have multiple reports of slutty Yair Lapids staggering through Tel Aviv’s streets holding hands with French maids. We can’t account for this development.”
Frustration boiled over at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s weekly intelligence briefing, when a seasoned intelligence chief told the supreme leader, “Screw this. We’ve got nothing.”
The United nations Security Council issued a condemnation of the Jewish people today, following Mordechai’s refusal to prostrate himself before Haman, another of the King Ahashverosh’s ministers. The resolution called the refusal “a deplorable act of intolerance,” and called on the Jews to withdraw at once from living in the Persian empire.Happy Purim from the IDF!
Resolution 1312, introduced by the delegation from Edom, passed unanimously, with only Macedon abstaining. The Council saw Mordechai’s action as representative of Jews as a whole, and not the actions of an individual, given longstanding Jewish glorification of refusing to bow down to self-aggrandizing potentates.
