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Saturday, May 24, 2014

05/24 Links: Three Murdered at Jewish Museum in Brussels; Project ‘Torah on the Moon’ !

From Ian:

Michael Lumish: What Part of "NO"...?
At this point there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that dictator Abbas has no interest whatsoever in a negotiated conclusion of hostilities. We are constantly told that a subsection of the great Arab majority in the Middle East, the Palestinian-Arabs, are persecuted by the Jewish minority in that part of the world. And, yet, somehow that allegedly persecuted Arab subsection simply cannot bring itself to accept autonomy and peace for itself and its children.
Oh, well.
That being the case, Israel has every right to simply declare its final borders and remove the IDF to behind those borders.
Perhaps the single, foremost problem facing the Jewish people today is that of Arab-Muslim Supremacism in the Middle East. Given Israel's technological and military superiority over the impoverished and hostile Arab majority, Bennett is probably correct.
A unilateral disengagement will not, of course, end genocidal Arab-Muslim hostility toward the Jewish minority in the region, but it is certainly preferable to this endless process of begging the Palestinian-Arabs to accept Jewish autonomy on historically Jewish land. They have said "no" over and over and over again since at least since 1937, when they rejected the Peel Commission Report.
What part of "no" do we not understand?

Belgian PM condemns ‘abhorrent’ attack at Brussels Jewish Museum that kills 3
Belgium stands “united” against the “abhorrent” attack Saturday at the Brussels Jewish Museum that killed three people and critically injured one, Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said hours after the shooting.
“Our country and all Belgians, no matter their language, origins or [religious] convictions, are united in the face of this abhorrent attack on a Jewish cultural center,” said the Belgian leader, adding that “all efforts are in place” to identify and arrest those who committed the crime.
One man was in custody after the attack, according to Belgian authorities.
The murders Saturday afternoon were a result of “a climate of hate,” said Joel Rubinfeld, the head of the Belgian League against anti-Semitism.
Rubinfeld told AFP it clearly “is a terrorist act” as a man had been seen driving up and entering the museum before opening fire inside and running off.

‘I Just About Vomited’: Texas Man Says He’s Sickened After Hearing Chicago Arab & Muslim Community Praise His Brother’s Terrorist Killer
The brother of 21-year-old Eddie Joffe – one of the two victims of the bombing she took part in with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – lives in Houston and only last week learned she had been living in the U.S. for 20 years. Basil Joffe told the National Review that he was sickened to hear about the praise being heaped upon Odeh by her community.
His brother Eddie and his best friend Leon Kanner were stocking up on groceries for a hiking trip when a can of sweets rigged with dynamite detonated at the Jerusalem supermarket, killing both.
Basil Joffe told National Review that “the body was so badly burned and blackened from the explosion that they could barely recognize it” and that his parents never recovered until the day they died from the devastation of losing their son.
Joffe said “I just about vomited” after hearing the praise being poured on his brother’s killer, particularly the allegation that she’s an innocent victim of discrimination.
“How could they purport to prevent unfair discrimination and stereotyping when one of their [leaders] is a convicted terrorist, murdered people, and is unrepentant? It makes a hypocrisy, a mockery, of what they’re trying to accomplish,” Basil Joffe told National Review. (h/t Bob Knot)



George McGovern, Auschwitz, and the Nigerian Schoolgirls
U.S. officials say it would be “too risky” to send commandos to rescue the 300 schoolgirls being held hostage by Islamist terrorists in Nigeria.
If that’s the problem, they should look to the late George McGovern for the solution.
Back in 1944, the future U.S. senator and Democratic presidential nominee was the 22 year-old pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber in World War II. Among his targets: German synthetic oil factories in occupied Poland—some of them less than five miles from the gas chambers of Auschwitz. And that’s where a possible solution for Nigeria comes in.
John Kerry Lies, Claims US Only Country Helping in Nigeria
Secretary of State John Kerry lied on Thursday, claiming that the United States is the lone country assisting Nigeria rescue the schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist organization Boko Haram. According to a report in the Times of Israel, Kerry made the remarks at a dinner at the State Department on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the diplomatic corps.
“Boko Haram, Nigeria, only the United States is there offering the assistance to help find those young women,” Kerry said according to the report.
In truth, Britain, France and Israel have all sent a team of experts to assist as well, and China too has offered assistance.
Israel Thrives: Lessons about today from Arab/Muslim historical treatment of their Jews
A popular theory about Muslim opposition to Zionist activity is that it is a continuation of Muslim oppression of the Jews since the Muslims conquered the Middle East which in turn is dictated by sharia law.
There are a couple truthful elements to this theory. One, there have been multiple occurrences of brutal persecution by the Muslims of their Jewish subjects, spanning both time and space, that have resulted in the deaths of many Jews and the conversion to Islam of countless more. Furthermore, there are Muslims today who are engaged in similar repression or attempted repression against the Jews, many of them justifying their activity by sharia law. The issue is, is today's Islamic repression of the Jews a continuation of their practice from centuries ago, or is it a new phenomenon? Answering that question will require a look at the record beyond just what the Muslims did from 700 to 1800 CE and what they are doing now to look and what transpired in between those two eras.
Al Sharpton Defends Racist Rant: ‘It Was Only One Jew’
Al Sharpton’s history of hate is so voluminous and well documented, where does one even begin?
The time he disparaged Jews as “diamond merchants” during the unrest of the infamous Crown Heights riots?
Or when Sharpton tried goading NYC’s Jewish community into an all-out fistfight, saying “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house”?
How about referring to the Jewish owner of Freddy’s Fashion Mart, Fred Harari, as a “white interloper” for seeking to expand his business in Harlem? (You may have heard of Freddy’s. It was also known as the Harlem Massacre. One of Sharpton’s followers also disapproved of the “white interloper” and burned the store to the ground, murdering eight people including himself.)
Jewish Students at DePaul U Intimidated by BDS Protests
The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has brought their BDS movement to the Campus of DePaul University, and with it came the intimidation and harassment seen at other campuses. Rachel, a sophomore at DePaul, explained, “This entire campaign and entire sit-in going on in the SAC (Schmitt Academic Center) is totally unsafe for Jewish students and I have had a lot of Jewish students text me and call me today and tell me they are not comfortable walking through that part of our campus, which is really disheartening.”
A protest and sit in by the SJP is being held at the Schmitt Academic Center at least until Friday, when student voting ends on the non-binding resolution urging the Administration to divest from Israel.
DePaul University Jewish Students Intimidated on Campus


CAMERA Updates Billboard Humiliating New York Times
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) has adjusted their billboard outside of the office of the New York Times. The updated billboard was tweeted out by New York Times Media Editor Peter Lattman and reads "Unfair to Jill Abramson, Definitely Unfair to Israel."
Details remain unclear, but a number of reports allege that Abramson was fired for requesting that her pay be equal to that of men who previously held her position. According to the New Yorker, "Abramson believed that her pay was not the same as that of her male counterparts." This charge has been denied by New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
The longtime bias against Israel of the New York Times was featured in a six-month long research study conducted by CAMERA. Months later, CAMERA called out the anti-Israel bias of the paper through its initial billboard:
Investigative Project on Terrorism Posts Full-Page NYT Ad on Radical Islamist Censorship
The Investigative Project on Terrorism, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit research center dedicated to exposing the threat of violent extremist terror around the world, is launching a full-page advertisement in The New York Times warning against censorship by radical Islamist groups.
The ad, titled "Still here. Still free. But for how long?", commemorates the opening of the National September 11 Memorial Museum and warns that "the threat from radical Islamist terrorists who killed thousands of innocent Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 is as real today as it was then, if not more so." One major threat to the stability and freedom of the West, the ad warns, is the repeated attempts to censor those who wish to target radical Islam, and a campaign, according to the IPT, to eliminate the word "Islam" from discussions of radical Islamist terror.
"Islamist groups, masquerading as 'civil rights' groups, have embarked on a bullying campaign to censor the word 'Islam' when discussing Islamic terrorism," the ad states, "And the media plays a key role in this deception by legitimizing these radical Islamic groups and not exposing them."
UN's top "human rights" official Pillay declares Israel guilty until proven innocent
According to the top UN human rights official Israel is guilty until proven innocent...or just guilty despite all the evidence to the contrary.
On May 23, 2014, UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay accused Israel of "extrajudicial executions ... as well as willful killings" of two Palestinians who came into contact with Israeli security forces during a Palestinian riot on so-called "Nakba Day" May 15, 2014.
To support Pillay's charge the OHCHR spokesperson also said that "the killing comes amid a series of incidents involving the excessive use of force by Israeli security forces" which was "reported in the High Commissioner's last report to the Human Rights Council."
Except that in her "last report" - dated January 13, 2014 and released in February 2014 - Pillay resorted to falsifying evidence.
In the January 2014 report the High Commissioner lists alleged "incidents" on which she based her conclusion of "excessive use of force". Two incidents described in the report illustrate well her animosity against Israel.
Judean Convoy Protests Rampant Road TerrorHevron region residents drive in convoy to Negohot village, protest rise in rock and molotov cocktail attacks.
Residents of the Har Hevron Regional Council embarked on a protest convoy on Friday to the southern Judea town of Negohot. The chain of cars was meant to protest the sharp rise in stones and molotov cocktails thrown on Israel cars on local roads.
The road between Negohot and the village of Adoraim, which has been stricken by terror and has been closed by police in the past, is the main and most direct passage from Negohot to the more central areas near Hevron, as well as Jerusalem. It is also used by many local residents as a short-cut to the central coastal region, as it leads to Highway 6.
Palestinian journalists criticize Abbas for condemning assault on Israeli reporter
Palestinian journalists over the weekend criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for meeting with Israeli journalist Avi Issacharoff.
Last week, Abbas received Issacharoff in his office and condemned the recent assault on him by Palestinians near Ramallah.
Issacharoff said he and his photographer were nearly lynched by a Palestinian mob that had been incited by a Palestinian female journalist. The two were rescued by PA security intelligence officers.
2 jihadis die in Gaza training accident
Two Palestinian gunmen died on Saturday morning in a training accident in the Gaza Strip.
The two, who were Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
At least two more members of the terror group were injured, Army Radio reported.
On Friday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket which struck southern Israel, without causing casualties or damage, following a weeks-long lull.
An army spokeswoman told AFP it struck open ground in the Shaar Hanegev area. (h/t Bob Knot)
Man Shouts ‘Heil Hitler’ at London Kosher Restaurant; Judge Calls Act ‘Outrageous, Profoundly Insulting, Threatening’
A drunk Slovakian restaurant worker walked up to a kosher restaurant in London on Holocaust Remembrance Day, performed a Nazi salute and shouted “Heil Hitler,” and has now been sentenced by a judge for his crime, London’s Evening Standard reported on Thursday.
“Miroslav Ondrus, 33, marched up to three men eating at the White House Express in Golders Green and performed the offensive gesture, Hendon magistrates’ court heard,” the Evening Standard reported. “The Slovakian also picked up restaurant manager Solomon Tangi after he protested about his behavior and shook him violently, injuring his wrist.”
Iraqi minister denies deal over Jewish archive
An internal dispute has broken out over the 'deal' reached between the US and Iraqi governments to extend by two years the stay of the Iraqi Jewish archive (IJA) in the US. The Iraqi minister of Tourism and Antiquities has denied that his ministry approved the agreement announced by the Iraqi ambassador to Washington.
According to an article in the Arabic press, the minister says he does not have knowledge of the agreement, which would allow there to be more exhibitions of the Iraqi-Jewish archive in the US. If true, the agreement would not be valid, as the archive belongs to the Department of Iraqi Manuscripts, part of his ministry.
However, the Iraqi ambassador to Washington, Lukman Faily, representing the Iraqi foreign ministry, whose statement announced the original deal, has moved swiftly to reassure Iraqi Jews in the US, led by the New-York-based World Organisation of Jews from Iraq (WOJI), that the deal still stands.
Israeli Team Plans to Send Torah Scroll to the Moon to Preserve Sacred Text in Event of Apocalypse
An Israeli team hopes to send a Torah scroll to the moon’s surface in an effort to preserve a part of Jewish culture in case of an apocalypse, Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Friday.
The scroll would travel outside Earth’s atmosphere with other Earth artifacts as part of the Google Lunar XPrize mission, a competition among private companies to send vehicles to the moon with the goal of maintaining Earth’s relics beyond a world-ending event, such as a nuclear war. The sacred text would be transported in a capsule enabling it to survive on the moon for more than 10,000 years, the Daily Mail noted.
The project has been named ‘Torah on the Moon.’
Meet iBario, Israel’s $100 million Internet empire
Israel’s iBario is a web conglomerate that, over seven years, has grown to be one of the world’s biggest Internet marketing companies, building a top-tier downloading platform, shopping site, recipe site, Internet speed measuring site, question and answer information site and reaching one of Google’s biggest advertising partners, becoming the target of jealousy from other sites which can’t accomplish even one of these tasks.
“We want to build an online empire, and operate everything from Israel,” said Felix Leshno, marketing director and one of the five partner-owners of iBario, a company with a major foothold in many corners of the Internet and an ever-growing base of users and business partners. In the company’s first interview with English-language media, Leshno said that iBario “is building this empire in Israel, and we intend to keep it here.”
Israel’s Cabinet Approves Netanyahu, Lieberman’s Plan to Strengthen Economic Ties With Pacific Alliance, Latin America
The Cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition government on Sunday approved a plan to expand economic ties with the Pacific Alliance countries and Latin America.
The initiative was presented by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The approximately NIS 50 million, 2014-2017 plan includes the reopening of an Israeli embassy in Paraguay; the establishment of a joint agricultural research fund with Mexico; progress toward signing financial protocols with Colombia, Brazil and Chile; and cooperation in industrial research and development that will financed by the State of Israel and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), with NIS 7 million from each side.
Sabra proposes US hummus law
The hummus manufacturer, which is co-owned by PepsiCo and the Israel-based Strauss Group, has filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration to create a standard for which dips are considered hummus.
Sales of hummus have soared in the United States over the last decade, and Sabra controls about 60 percent of the market, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm.
UN Watch Honors Top Canadian Minister for ‘Moral Courage,’ Drawing Praise from Dalai Lama
Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch presented its annual Moral Courage Award tonight to Canadian cabinet minister Jason Kenney, one of the country’s most influential national figures, a decision that drew strong praise from the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader who sent a special envoy to the Geneva ceremony attended by UN officials, ambassadors, and community leaders.
“UN Watch honors Minister Kenney for demonstrating the courage to lead in upholding the founding principles of the United Nations, and defending the true principles of human rights,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
“When others have been silent while serial perpetrators of human rights abuses like Iran and Syria seek to hijack the UN’s human rights and anti-racism causes, Minister Kenney has been a clear and consistent voice for their millions of victims, opposing tyranny, hypocrisy and injustice.”
In an emotional moment, the Dalai Lama’s envoy placed a traditional Tibetan scarf upon Kenney to recognize his outspoken defense of oppressed Tibetans.