Friday, April 04, 2014
Sarah Honig: The postulate of illegitimacy
Something strikingly dramatic happened in this country exactly on this day 94 years ago. Cries of Itbach el-Yahud(slaughter the Jews) filled the air. It was the first coordinated mass-murder offensive launched by infamous Jerusalem Mufti Haj-Amin el-Husseini (who would in time become an avid Nazi collaborator, Hitler’s personal guest in Berlin during WWII and a wanted war-criminal).Injustice Anywhere Is a Threat to Justice Everywhere: A Mother’s Plea
Ever since, this land shook fitfully as rounds of massacres and wars followed each other in breathless succession. The past mustn’t be consigned to irrelevance. Unbroken historical continuities contextualize current events. Nothing springs forth from a vacuum. What now transpires began back then.
The pivotal murder-drive of 1920 and its aftermath are vital for understanding why John Kerry’s peace pageant is a flop and why Israel so profoundly displeases him, his boss Barack Obama and their pet-Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas. It established the prototype whereby Jews are punished for Arab crimes against Jews. It highlights the pattern of appeasing Arab wrath and of Jews paying – as if Jewish existence is in and of itself a casus belli.
Today, Malki and Michal lie buried side by side, while their murderer, who smiled happily to learn her tally of dead children, is free and thriving in Jordan. She frequently travels in the Arab world to incite adoring crowds to follow in her footsteps.My unpleasant evening with ‘Breaking the Silence’
In my country, my husband and I are not welcome to decry this. Parents of murdered children are hailed as heroes when they declare that they want the murderer to go unpunished. Whether for the sake of a prisoner “swap,” to prolong the negotiations with the PA or, as the cliche goes, “to promote peace.” Waiving our right to justice is considered the noble, patriotic thing to do.
Our quest for justice, for a life sentence for Tamimi – there is no capital punishment here – has invited accusations that we are merely vengeful. (h/t Ken Kelso)
On March 31, I attended a disturbing lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. It was co-sponsored by St. Louis Hillel at Washington University and J Street U. The speaker, a former Israeli soldier with the group “Breaking the Silence” (BtS), misrepresented and demonized the Israel Defense Forces, Israel, and Israeli policy. BtS is known for bringing in speakers like this, so I could not understand why Hillel and J Street U had sponsored a talk whose only purpose appeared to be to misinform audiences and instill hostility towards Israel.
As an Israeli reservist who had been stationed in the West Bank, I sat in disbelief as the speaker described attitudes and policies that were entirely divorced from reality.
The former soldier, Oded Na’aman, claimed that Israeli soldiers are trained to oppress the Palestinians individually and as a people, that they maliciously mistreat Palestinians in the West Bank, and that they are taught to make Palestinians fear Israeli soldiers. He argued that there are no civil rights for Palestinians and that the Jewish people who now have a state use their power to oppress Palestinians.
I had no idea what he was talking about or what motivated him to lie.
He did not describe the Israel or IDF that I know so intimately.
Facing Chaos - Two Israeli Soldiers Found Themselves Under the Attack of Anti-Israel Activists
This ISS [Israeli Soldiers' Stories] event, much like the others, was aimed to show aspects of Israel, which are usually not shown in foreign media. Matan, Tamir and American Lt. Col. Brad Letner were invited to this campus to speak about their lives and thoughts about Israel and to share their personal experiences from their service in the IDF. Much like during other events of such, members of anti-Israel groups entered the hall, but what started as a silent protest (covering their mouths with duct tape and holding signs with accusations) like they usually do, quickly escalated to “booing” and yelling and much worse. Immediately after the soldiers' introduction, the protesters began booing and even dared to call the soldiers “baby killers,” “terrorists” and “rapists.” This was after all who were present were asked to behave properly and remain civil, and even though both Matan and Tamir were willing to answer any question from the audience.WATCH: Anti-Israel protest on US campus
The Israeli soldiers, however, did not let the whole even[t] escalate. They maintained their composure, remained representative, and continue to talk over the shouting, enduring the false, harsh, accusations.
On Thursday night, we arrived at San Jose State University in California. During the lecture, students from the Muslim Students' Association began a protest designed as a provocation. They all stood up together during the lecture, holding signs, waving flags and booing.Why it’s already too late for the boycotters
In response, we asked them to remain in the lecture. "Peace begins with dialogue," we told them. "If you believe that peace is possible, stay and ask all the difficult questions you have."
They did not stay.
Those who say they want dialogue cannot boycott. Those who want peace cannot hold on to hate.
Israel’s specialty has always been tech innovation, not managing consumer facing brands. This is the reason that Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and countless other tech-giants have set up R&D, manufacturing, or other operations here. Beyond that, some of Israel’s most successful tech companies, such as Amdocs or CheckPoint, operate on a B2B basis, where purchasing decisions are made on purely economic grounds. In-fact, Israel’s single largest publicly traded company, Teva, has based its business on the production of generic drugs – the exact opposite of clear and identifiable branding.British BDS Countered by Grassroots Movements and a Touch of Humor
This doesn’t give boycotters many Israeli products to actually boycott. On the other hand, some of the most significant “Israeli” products are nearly impossible to avoid. For example, the single largest employer in Israel’s tech space is Intel. Can you imagine how anyone would would even begin to approach a boycott of a company responsible for 80% percent of all CPUs in computers today?
That doesn’t mean Israel can ignore the boycotters. They represent a serious challenge to Israel simply because they are a dedicated group which has committed to take action to weaken, undermine, and delegitimize Israel. More over, their end goal is terrifying in its rejection of the internationally agreed-upon vision of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. But no discussion of the BDS movement can be complete without a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the huge challenges facing the boycotters.
Sussex Friends of Israel (SFI), born from that first accidental meeting between Cobbs and Laurence, has grown so successful that it has employed a part-time director, Neil Duncanson. The group now has 6,200 “likes” on Facebook and 1,200 followers on Twitter. Most of its supporters are local Jews, often people who had dropped out of mainstream activities, but who were galvanized by the anti-Ecostream protests that have frequently degenerated into anti-Semitic rhetoric and abuse. At least four grandmothers make regular appearances on the picket lines. SFI's calling card has been most successful when -- candidly -- it has mocked the BDS protesters with cheerful humor and a friendly local saxophonist playing for the entertainment of Brighton's Saturday shoppers.British psychotherapists gear up for racist boycott of Israeli psychotherapists.
On Wednesday night I found myself sitting among 60 or so psychotherapists and mental health workers at the Guild of Psychotherapists in London for the launch meeting of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network.The Times and “Occupied Arab Land”
The four panelists were David Harrold and Mohamed Altawil, both of the Palestine Trauma Centre UK, psychotherapist Martin Kemp and ubiquitous Israel-hater Jeff Halper of Israeli Committee against House Demolitions. Chairing the evening was psychotherapist Teresa Bailey.
The evening was supposed to be about helping the Palestinians but, as ever, it quickly dissolved into an evening of unmitigated attacks on Israel and Zionism, and calls for a boycott of the Jewish state. Contributions from panelists were very short so as to encourage comments from the audience.
The reference to “occupied Arab land” is inaccurate and prejudicial, implying that there is no Jewish historical or legal claim to those areas. While the correct terminology would be “disputed territories,” Catherine Philp’s description goes beyond other common (and inaccurate) terms that the media regularly use to describe the area of the West Bank / Judea and Samaria.UK journalist who dated Ehud Olmert corrupts Gaza War casualty figures
Within the context of the paragraph itself, it is nigh impossible that Israel would have referred to “occupied Arab land” in any statement it would have released.
Even such politicized pro-Palestinian NGOs such as B’tselem haven’t claimed that the three-week conflict between Israel and Hamas “left over 1,000 Palestinian civilians dead”. While other sources (including, quite tellingly, Hamas) place the civilian casualty figures dramatically lower, B’tselem has claimed that 773 of the 1387 Palestinians they claim were killed in the war “did not take part in hostilities” – more than 20 percent less than the figure cited by Bar-Hillel.Stealth ‘corrections’ at the Indy in Mira Bar-Hillel’s confessional about Olmert
So, do they accept B’tselem’s figures, or don’t they? If they do, then are we to believe that 773 is “nearly 1000??EXCLUSIVE: Victim of Anti-Semitic Attack in France Says Similar Incidents Occur Every Week (INTERVIEW)
“This incident is not isolated. There are similar incidences every week in Paris, in the suburbs [and] in the provinces,” said the 59-year-old Jewish teacher, only identified as David. “There was another attack after mine in Paris and the general media did not mention it, only the Jewish media did. They never talk about Jews being attacked, they don’t write that ’Jews [were] attacked by Arabs.’”Soccer star Anelka: Jewish wife controls French PM
David was assaulted by three North African “Maghreb men” at 10 p.m. on March 20 after leaving a kosher restaurant in Rue Manin, Paris, and making his way to a subway station. “They started to curse me out: ‘dirty Jew,’ ‘death to the Jews,’ ‘son of a b***,’ etc. Then they started to beat me up,” he said in an interview following the incident. Then, with a marker, they drew a swastika on his bare chest.
Soccer star Nicolas Anelka said the Jewish wife of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls influenced the politician to oppose the quenelle salute.French court punishes man for quenelle salute
Anelka, who was fired last week from his British soccer team for performing the gesture in December, made the charges in an interview published Friday by the French edition of the Metronews daily.
Amid a spate of anti-Semitic attacks, a French court for the first time punished a defendant who performed the quasi-Nazi quenelle salute.Transforming the Dead Sea’s Salt Into a Gourmet Seasoning
The correctional tribunal of Bordeaux on Wednesday convicted the defendant, a 28-year-old Moroccan native, of incitement to racial hatred for performing the quenelle in front of a synagogue, and fined him the equivalent of $4,130.
An Israeli company works with a Palestinian factory to create salt infused with flavors like rosemary, jalapeño, or red wineTop 10 Israeli advances in autism
Salt 424, which gets its name from the fact that the surface of the Dead Sea is 424 meters below sea level, is the first company to bring gourmet salt from the Dead Sea to the Israeli and international market. Less than a year after its launch, the company is selling its products in seven countries, including the United States and Canada, and it already has European chefs as acolytes
In recent years Israel has become a major hub for studies on autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that is today the second most prevalent among children.How Edward Snowden is helping the Israeli tech business
People with autism, which is included in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASD), have social and communication difficulties that often make it hard for sufferers to leave home and live independently. They often engage in repetitive behavior, and can have intellectual disabilities.
Israeli cyber-security companies that can promise to effectively protect user information from prying eyes may want to send rogue NSA operative Edward Snowden a thank-you letter. It’s because of Snowden, in large part, that the European Union is significantly tightening its rules on what data companies are allowed to access and how they are allowed to process that data — providing new opportunities for Israeli firms.Blind can ‘see’ with Israeli-developed camera system
“For Israeli companies, the new rules may appear to be onerous, but there could be a great business opportunity for many of them in Europe as a result,” according to Patrick Van Eecke, one of the leading legal experts in Europe on cyber-security policy issues. “There are many companies around the world that specialize in collecting data, but they are not clear on the implications of Europe’s new policies — and as a result, there is opportunity for companies from Israel, many of which do understand the policies.”
Recent developments in technology have brought good news for the blind and the visually impaired. An Israeli device to assist such people is the first on the market — and far more inexpensive than alternative technologies being developed.Foreign investment in Israel totaled $74 billion in 2012
The OrCam Artificial Vision Device doesn’t actually restore vision, explained Erez Naaman, vice president of engineering at the Jerusalem-based maker of the device. “We do the next best thing — to help the visually impaired navigate the world with a low-cost device and without invasive procedures.”
Foreigners believe in the Israeli economy, and are putting their money where their mouth is: Foreign investment in Israeli companies in 2012 totaled $74.4 billion, data published Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows.Israeli-developed Magisto features in new Amazon TV box
According to the CBS numbers, the amount of foreign investment in Israel in 2012 represented a 14.5% increase over the $65 billion of foreign investment in 2011, and a 40.7% increase from 2010, which saw foreign investment of some $60 billion.
A day after Amazon announced its new set-top box, it revealed that the Fire TV has an important Israeli-born component. Fire TV’s official video editing app is made by Magisto, an Israeli start-up that lets users “produce” polished, professional-looking video presentations using clips uploaded from their computers or smartphones. With the Magisto app, Fire TV users will be able to build a library of their own video clips and watch them on their TV sets.Israel Daily Picture: Celebrating Passover in Jerusalem 95 Years Ago with the Jewish Legion Part 1
Magisto was founded in 2009 as SightEra by two Israeli vision technology experts: Alex Rav-Acha, formerly of HumanEyes, which developed technology for 3D photography, and Dr. Oren Boiman of the Weizmann Institute. In 2011, the company developed the Magisto app and changed its name to match that of its product.
The British army captured Jerusalem from the Turks in December 1917 and continued their Palestine campaign for another year until the capture of Damascus. Meanwhile, the Jewish Legion, consisting of Jewish volunteers, sat in Cairo chafing at the bit to join the fight in Palestine. They finally joined Allenby's forces in June 1918 and fought against the Turks in the Jordan River Valley.
The Jewish battalions of the Jewish Legion were manned by volunteers from Palestine, Europe, the United States and Canada, soldiers stirred by the call to action by Zionist leaders Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor. Colonel John Henry Patterson, the unit's first commanding officer, described the Legion:
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