08/05 Links Pt2: The Moral Psychosis of Demonstrating for Hamas; War Cost Gaza $5B

From Ian:

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The Moral Psychosis of Demonstrating for Hamas

In fact, the continual pattern of violence in the Arab world against Israel agitates liberals greatly, and makes them condemn Israel, not its foes, for having inspired Arab rage, with the assumption that only peoples with justifiable grievances are moved to violent ends to solve their woes.
This explains why the Left has regularly glossed over terroristic behavior on the part of Islamists—Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, the Al Aqsa Brigades, or others—and has romanticized this violence as “resistance.” This rationalization, that violence is an acceptable, if not expected, component of seeking social justice—that is, that the inherent “violence” of imperialism, colonialism, or capitalism will be met by the same violence as the oppressed attempt to throw off their oppressors—is exactly the style of self-defeating rationality that in this age has proven to be an intractable part of the so-called War on Terror.
Abetted by the Arab world, which has also perennially defined Israelis as European interlopers with no legitimate connection to the Levant, Israel-haters are now willing to sacrifice the very survival of the Jewish state because they feel that false charge of racism and apartheid against Israel is more incompatible with their fervent belief in a perfectible world than the rejectionist and genocidal efforts of the Arab world which, in fact have necessitated Israeli security measures—the separation wall, indeed, the occupation itself—all of which, ironically, are pointed to as indications of exactly how racist Israel’s behavior actually is against the Palestinians.
In fact, observed Harvard’s Ruth Wisse, the more hostile the Arab foes of Israel became, the more difficult it has become for liberals to absolve Israel for creating the very violent urges that emerged to eliminate it. “By blaming Israel for Arab complaints,” she wrote, “liberals anticipate a reasonable, pacific solution to the conflict . . . The democratic Jewish state is subject to ‘rational’ persuasion; not so the Arabs. The more determinedly, and by Western standards, irrationally, Arab governments and their agents pursue their anti-Israel campaign . . . the more desperately the liberal imagination tries to blame the Jews for incurring Arab displeasure.”

2006 Flashback: When Hollywood Had the Courage to Stand Up for Israel

Back in 2006, a mere 8 years ago, many of those sitting in silence today were as full-throated in their support for Israel as they were in their condemnation of Hamas. This is from a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times published in August of 2006:
We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas," the ad reads.
"If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.
"We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs."
A who's who of Hollywood heavyweights joined Kidman on the ad.
The actors listed included: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton and William Hurt.
Directors Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner and Sam Raimi also signed their names.
Other Hollywood powerplayers supporting the ad included Sumner Redstone, the chairman and majority owner of Paramount Pictures, and billionaire mogul, Haim Saban.

Chloes Valdary: On the clever word bending of SJP

Often times people in the SJP camp like to ask you loaded questions which force you to accept their premise. It would be like if a Klansman asked you, “do you deny that blacks are ruining our country, raping white women, and changing the fabric of America?” Or if a Nazi asked you, “do you deny that Jewish interlopers are ruining Germany, murdering German children and stealing money from us?”
Beginning with the term “Do you deny” forces you to accept the premise, whether you answer “Yes,” or “No.”
So SJP might ask, “you deny Israel occupies the WB, has a siege on Gaza, an apartheid wall runs across the land & is bombing Gaza now?”
This is a dilemma. You cannot answer Yes because to answer yes means you are denying “reality.” You cannot answer No because to answer no means you are accepting “reality.”
You reject the premise by refusing to answer the question in a roundabout way:
“I will not be party to the rejection of my own dignity and self-worth as a Jew/Zionist by engaging in discourse tinged with racism and denial of Jewish indigenous rights, and which masks bigotry in hippy faux-human rights language which in truth you care nothing about.”

Pastors in Israel: We Support Your Right to Defeat Hamas

Those who made the trek arrived in Israel with the “intended purpose of showing support for the Jewish people at a time when the nations of the world have expressed unilateral condemnation for Israel’s choice to defend her citizens from terrorists’ attacks,” as CUFI leader Pastor John Hagee put it in a letter to each of those pastors attending the trip.
With Israel facing an international backlash for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which Israel says has successfully destroyed Hamas’ underground tunnel network, the pastors sought to make it known that it still has allies across America.

GOP sees signs of Jewish voters drifting away from Democrats

While declarations of a rift between Democrats and the Jewish community have proven premature in the past, things could be different this time, they assert.
Just in the last week, the Obama administration used unusually strong language to condemn the shelling of a United Nations-run school in Gaza, apparently by the Israeli military, and drafted a document for a cease-fire that Israeli officials denounced as favoring Hamas.
Conservatives say the overall stance of the administration has created an atmosphere of skepticism in the Democratic base toward Israel.

Did the U.N. Call on Israel to Share Iron Dome With Hamas?

...but the ever zealous guardians of Israel’s minor infractions and little else soon declared that Pillay was being slandered: she never called on Israel to share its defensive bounties, but rather criticized the United States for helping to fund the advanced system and noted that “no such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling.”
Which, in a way, is an even more deplorable statement to make. It refrains—as the recent U.N. Human Rights Council, presided over by Pillay, has—from ever mentioning Hamas, or the fact that it is a terrorist organization engaged in a campaign of indiscriminate attacks against a civilian population, a war crime by any measure.
Even more disingenuously, while it portrays Israel and its American backers as fat cats who pad themselves with cash, it neglects to say that Hamas’s annual operating expenses are estimated at $1 billion, or that then-Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, no pauper, visited Hamas in Gaza in the fall of 2012 and pledged $400 million to aid the terrorists in their fight against Israel.
That, by the way, is nearly double what Congress has just pledged to refurbish Iron Dome.
Any way you look at it, then, Pillay’s statement makes a mockery of the principles her organization purports to protect.

Yvonne Ridley’s Chilling Tweet

Yvonne Ridley, former-Taliban-captive-turned-Muslim tweeted the following to the world today.
"We have a Scottish-wide tour planned, working to make Scotland a Zionist-free zone:"
I shudder to think what she means by “Zionist-free.” Especially considering this is someone who ever-so-casually supports terrorist groups like Hizbullah. (h/t Yeled)

British Muslim Minister Quits over Gaza Policy

A British minister who was the first Muslim woman to sit in the Cabinet has resigned over the British government's policy on Gaza, she said Tuesday.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a minister at the Foreign Office and minister for faith and communities, wrote on Twitter: "With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza."
Warsi's parents were Pakistani immigrants and she was made a member of the House of Lords in 2007.
She was appointed to Cameron's Cabinet when his coalition government took power in 2010 and while she initially had a high media profile, her star had dimmed in recent years.

Spain halts weapons sales to Israel

The move will be reviewed in September, and is considered to be largely symbolic.
Spain sold Israel €4.9 million ($6.56 million) worth of arms in 2013, including vehicle parts, ATVs, grenade fuses, and optical systems.

British Government Wobbles on Arms Exports to Israel

Britain is reviewing all arms export licences to Israel in response to the Jewish state's escalating conflict with Hamas in Gaza, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.
"We are currently reviewing all export licences to Israel to confirm that we think they are appropriate," a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters. The decision to conduct the review was taken last week, she said.
According to a report by a British parliamentary committee last month, outstanding government-approved contracts for export of dual use or military goods to Israel are worth more than 7.8 billion pounds. These include contracts to supply body armour, drone components, and missile parts.

Activist Group London Palestine Action Shuts Down Israeli Drone Factory

Pro-Palestine activists have shut down a factory in Staffordshire owned by an Israeli military company in protest at the current Gaza conflict.
Members of the London Palestine Action group scaled the roof and chained the doors of the UAV Engines Limited factory in Shenstone.
UAV states that it produces "engines for various size tactical UAVs, target drones and single mission platforms". It is owned by Israel's largest weapons company, Elbit Systems.

The anti-Semitic shame of Malmö, Sweden continues with attack on Rabbi

Once again we return to writing about Malmö, Sweden.
Malmö, for us, has become something of the poster-child for Islamist anti-Semitic violence in Europe coupled with leftist tolerance and indifference, all in the name of hating Israel.
Recently there have been anti-Israel rallies in Malmö:
It is not surprising that the anti-Semitic shame of Malmö egged on by anti-Israel hate in the streets has resulted in violence, from JTA via Haaretz, Rabbi attacked in Sweden, days after synagogue vandalized.
There is a profound sickness sweeping Europe, and elsewhere.
Wherever you find an anti-Israel rally, you find Malmö sickness:

Human Rights Watch: Israeli Soldiers Shoot And Kill Fleeing Civillians In Gaza

On Monday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing severe war crimes in Gaza including not only collateral damage incurred during Operation Protective Edge but also the deliberate targeting of fleeing civilians when no militants were present.
According to the report, these "massacres" took place between July 23 and July 25 in the southern Gaza town of Khuza'a, all of which were corroborated and confirmed by "Palestinian witnesses."
The article later states Human Rights Watch did no actual research on the killings in Khuza'a itself because the roads into the town were destroyed by bomb craters, but also "it was not clear whether Israeli forces would permit entrance." As it stands, Human Rights Watch issued 3 major instances where Israel deliberately targeted civilians, all of which were corroborated by supposed eyewitnesses, without providing thorough investigation into the matter.
The article concludes suggesting that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should "urgently seek International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes committed on and from Palestinian territory."

Report: Violence Against Hamas in Gaza

Palestinian Arab sources said Tuesday that Gaza residents attacked Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri Saturday evening, near the Shifa Hospital.
Abu Zuhri had arrived at the hospital for an interview with a news outlet.
The residents blamed Hamas for the death of family members and for destruction of their homes. Armed Hamas terrorists from the Izzedine al-Kassam Brigades extricated Abu Zuri and arrested the angry residents.
Arabic website vetogate.com said that reporters in Gaza are well aware of the incident but are afraid to report it, because Hamas's security agency could go after them if they do.

Hamas TV: Perhaps destruction in Gaza is "for the best"

Hamas is attempting to convince Palestinians that its military actions during the Gaza conflict were victorious and that the war it caused, with all its destruction, was beneficial to the Palestinians. As Palestinian Media Watch previously reported, Hamas justified the civilian deaths it caused in Gaza, claiming that it was beneficial to those killed to have died for Allah as Shahids - Martyrs. Now, Hamas is justifying the widespread destruction it caused to infrastructure and homes, saying, "Perhaps all this [destruction] is for the best":
Al-Aqsa TV host: "[Israel] has bombed everything: homes, factories, institutions, organizations and mosques, because it wants to keep us busy with reconstruction. Maybe it's for the best, so we'll build them again better and nicer, as evidence of the Palestinian people's victory. We'll build them bigger, with monuments for the extent of the crime and of [our] achievement in Shuja'iya, Beit Hanoun and other places."

Top Iranian Official Mohsen Rezai: In the Future, Hamas Should Let Civilians Hide in its Tunnels.


Gazans Point Finger at Hamas – ‘The Government in Gaza Doesn’t Do Anything’ – ‘We Need Peace With the Jewish People, Good Relations, Not War’

George Thomas, Senior Correspondent for CBN, interviewed several Gazans in the marketplace, including the local pita bread baker, and women at a community center.
Raghda Hejazi, a mother of five, said, “We need peace with the Jewish people, good relations, not war.
“Hamas needs to find a way to solve these differences with Israel, America and Arab countries,” she said.
Salim Hejazi said, “My message to the Israelis and Palestinians is find a way to solve the issues so we can live an honorable life, a good life.”
She said, “We need to be united and have peace.”

Most Gazan Citizens Have Had Enough of Hamas

Mudar Zahran (Palestinian Political Leader) joins Sean Hannity to express the anger, frustration and total hatred moderate Palestinians are feeling towards Hamas.

Expert: Hamas’ ‘Homemade’ Sniper Rifle Really Smuggled From Iran

A recently-released video from Hamas which touts what the terror group claims to be a “homemade” long-range sniper rifle – the “Ghoul” – is actually an Austrian weapon, smuggled via Iran.
“Hamas’ claim to have indigenously manufactured this rifle is totally false – from what is visible on the video, it’s clearly an Austrian Steyr HS.50 rifle,” Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Center told The Washington Post on Monday.
Lister, an expert on weaponry used in the middle east, said “While the Qassam Brigades might achieve some level of internal morale boost by claiming things like this, the blatant falsity apparent to experts suggests a level of desperation on Hamas’ part.”
The .50 caliber HS.50 has a maximum effective range of just under a mile, according to the report, which may be one of the reasons Israel has cleared a zone exceeding that range for farms and fields bordering Gaza.

UN: Gaza Losses Over $5 Billon

According to UN officials, Gaza sustained at least $5 billion in damage over the past month and a half of IDF shelling and ground action. In an interview with the Palestinian Authority news agency Ma'an, the PA's Labor Minister, Dr. Mufid Al-Hasayena, said that the PA would be appealing to interactional donors for funds to rebuild, and demanding that Israel fund construction efforts as well.
The $5 billion relates only to physical damage to buildings and infrastructure, he said. It does not measure personal losses. Few Gazans had home insurance, and there was no way to estimate the amount of losses Gazans sustained. The $5 billion sum was likely to rise significantly as the scope of losses becomes clearer, he said.

Geraldo Erupts Trying To Defend His Pro-Hamas Stance On 'Outnumbered'

Tantaros: Geraldo, let me please speak. They put these kids in a school, put weapons deliberately in a school, then Israel strikes and people like you get up and defend a terrorist organization.
Rivera: What is a person like me?
Tantaros: An apologist for a terrorist organization.
Rivera: You should be ashamed of yourself for saying that to me, of all people. There is a Jewish Star tattooed on my hand. I am a die-hard Zionist, I would die for Israel. This is appalling. This is appalling.

Rivera: When they were 1,800 dead civilians and women and children are bleeding on camera and you're not moved by that?
Tantaros: Whose fault is that? They warned them to move the kids.
Rivera: These Palestinian missiles are absolutely laughable in their military effect. Israel is about to declare an unilateral ceasefire; they should have declared it two weeks ago.
Tantaros: You are unbelievable to defend Hamas.
Rivera: Israel is alone in the world and it is because of attitudes like yours. (h/t MtTB)

Geraldo battles Tantaros over Israel


No, Israel Did Not Drop Barrel Bombs On Gaza

This barrel looking object is a part of an Israeli mine clearing line charge called Zefa Shirion (literally, Armor Viper, which also tells of its British origin).
That barrel houses the cable with the explosive charges, and it unravels out of it during flight.
Keen eyes may have seen the trailer used to move and launch this type weapon abandoned in Gaza a couple of weeks ago.

There it is: American media’s coverage of Gaza is ‘racist’… against Hamas

It is clear that Hamas’s only strategy against Israel — maximizing the number of civilian casualties in order to generate sympathy for their cause in the Western press — has been and continues to be successful. While even the Arab world has given up on negotiating with their irrational interlocutors in Gaza, only members of the press in the West continue to demand Israel give up on the prosecution of this war and negotiate an unfavorable peace. Recent weeks have left regular news media viewers with the unmistakable impression that Israel is winning the war everywhere but on the media front.
Enter another universe now where the American press is an ethnocentric jingoist monolith plagued by racism against Muslims. That, at least, is journalist Glenn Greenwald’s take.
In an interview with Huffington Post Lives’ Marc Lamont Hill, who just yesterday called Israel’s inability to entirely prevent civilian casualties when that is the enemy objective suggestive that this is “an unjust war,” Greenwald said that the American press deserves an “F” for their coverage of the conflict.
“There’s no question that the way that the American media covers this conflict is based on the principle that Israeli lives are just inherently more valuable than Palestinian lives,” Greenwald slandered. (h/t MtTB)

Update: A Window into the NY Times Biased Mindset

So to Erlanger the most important point is not that, in what is clearly a Palestinian terror attack aimed at killing as many innocent Israeli civilians as possible, a Palestinian driving a tractor crushed an Israeli pedestrian, murdering him, and smashed and overturned a bus that was, fortunately, nearly empty.
No, the really important issue was that the police "shot and killed" the "local Palestinian."

CNN Has Two Israel Critics Debate Israel

With due respect to CNN's Jake Tapper, who is one of the best and fairest journalists in the American media today, it was more than a bit odd to see him host a debate Monday evening between Israel critic Reza Aslan and Israel critic Peter Beinart, where Beinart was ostensibly there to represent the pro-Israel side of the argument.
Aslan said that Hamas would hope that the 72-hour ceasefire would lead to the end of the blockade of the Gaza Strip. (Of course it would. Hamas could also end that blockade itself, if it gave up trying to kill Israelis with materials imported from abroad.) Aslan also called for an international arms embargo against Israel (alone, of course) and celebrated what he claimed (falsely) was a decline of support for Israel among Americans.
As for Beinart, he continued his effort to use the war as a means to promote his diplomatic hobbyhorses, Beinart told Tapper that beyond the ceasefire, "I do think the underlying issues had to be addressed" and that Israelis "need to understand" Palestinian suffering--as if they do not. To his credit, Beinart` managed--just!--to oppose an arms embargo, but proposed that Israel release Palestinian murderer Marwan Barghouti.

UK media headline fail: Do Times editors read their own articles?

A Times (of London) article about an Israeli attack on Islamic Jihad terrorists at a house in the Shati ‘refugee camp’ yesterday – which also tragically killed a Palestinian girl – was accompanied by the following headline:
"Refugee camp hit as Israel admits it broke Gaza truce"
So, according to the headline, the Israelis admitted that the strike on jihadists represented a violation of the truce that had gone into effect at 10 AM that day. However, there’s one problem: there’s nothing in the report by Gregg Carlstrom which even comes close to backing up this claim.

BBC regular Atwan shatters 14 year old BBC myth on second Intifada

Here is a clip from an interview given by that old BBC favourite Abdel Bari Atwan to the Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen on July 29th.
Apparently Abdel Bari Atwan has not told his friends at the BBC that Yasser Arafat “decided to ignite the second Intifada” or of Arafat’s “period of preparation for the second Intifada”. If he had shared that personal knowledge with them, they surely would not still be running all those embarrassingly inaccurate articles and backgrounders on their website which claim that the second Intifada began because Ariel Sharon went for a pre-coordinated thirty-four minute visit to Temple Mount.

South African Solidarity Rally for Israel

70 Years on from Anne Frank’s Capture … Whats changed!? Tisha B’Av

70 Years ago, Anne Frank was in hiding, 70 years ago to this day, she was snatched from her home and sent off to her death, and 70 Years on from such a tragic day, the last few weeks in Israel has seen the murder of 3 innocent Israeli children. If that wasn’t enough, since then, 64 innocent souls have been killed whilst fighting for the existence of our homeland, a war we never wanted, but one that was waged because our enemy refuses to believe in the right to our existence. And yet again just last weekend, one more soldier was captured, dying in the process.
This really sent shivers down my spine, I really question whats changed in the last 70 years. Perhaps anti-semitism was subdued for a while but it is now seemingly returning as a result of Israel’s actions and Israel’s obligation to protect its citizens. Within the time it has written me to write this blog, I also tweeted, “70 years ago today Anne Frank captured by Nazislast few months 4 kidnappings of Israelis/anti semitism on rise #israel#nothingschanged RT”. The Tweet has already been met with responses to the affect of the IDF is a nazi army and therefore we are deserving of this. I look all over my news feed on Facebook and its full of rallies and demonstrations, in which the chant, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”is chanted harrowingly by thousands of people. Most of them probably not even fully understanding they are calling for the complete annihilation of the Jewish people. It really makes you wonder …

Australian Islamist Leaders Incite to Jihad to Expel Jews from Palestine


Israel activist attacked. Hate Crime in San Francisco

A group of local peace activists were filming a flash mob in Union Square, in the heart of San Francisco this weekend.
It was an attempt to show the world what Israel has been going through, the last few weeks.
Someone didn't want that to happen.
This clip captures a completely unprovoked attack on the cameraman. I've got a pretty good idea of what motivated him.

Why are there no pro Palestinian marches?

Now, make no mistake, the protests that we have seen across the world have not been about being pro-Palestinian – they have in fact been everything, but pro-Palestinian. Instead, they have unashamedly been anti-Israel and yes, anti-Semitic. When protesters hold banners with the Israeli flag equalling the Nazi symbol, it is not about being pro-Palestinian. When signs are held aloft, saying ‘Kill the Jews’ or ‘Exterminate Israel’, it is not about being pro-Palestinian. When Jews in Paris are cowering in their synagogue in fear of another pogrom being unleashed upon them, it is certainly not pro-Palestinian. If these protesters who are so passionate and so caring and so shocked and so hurt and so heartbroken about what is going on in Gaza with the Palestinians, I pose a few simple questions.
Where are they when thousands of Palestinians are dying today in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria– dying of starvation, dying due to lack of medical care as well as being murdered in that bloody war. Thousands of them have sought refuge in Jordan but have been rejected, as it is a Jordanian government policy to deport them back into the hell hole of Syria. Will the protesters be holding candle lit vigils in protest against that?

Watch: Cornel West Calls Obama a 'War Criminal' at Pro-Gaza Rally

Radical leftist professor Cornel West denounced President Obama during a pro-Gaza rally in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, calling him a “war criminal.”
“I want to say to my black brother in the White House, Barack Obama is a war criminal not because he is black or half African and white, but because his drones have killed 233 innocent children, and because he facilitates the killing of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, in the West Bank and that would be true anywhere else,” he shouted as the crowd cheered.

Megadeth, Cee Lo Green bow out of Israel shows

American heavy metal giants Megadeth, who have appeared in Israel three times, and whose leader Dave Mustaine, repeatedly expressed support for the country during the last month, bowed out of their scheduled Wednesday show at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center at the last minute on Monday.
The band posted a statement on its web site saying: "Due to an inability to confirm the guaranteed passage of the band and their gear into Tel Aviv in time for the show, the upcoming Megadeth concert, scheduled for Wednesday, August 6, 2014, has been cancelled. The band was looking forward to this concert and is disappointed they will not be able to put on the show for their fans, but expects to return to Tel Aviv on their next international tour."
Also on Monday, promoters of an August 19 show in Jerusalem by hip hop singer and former The Voice judge Cee Lo Green announced its cancellation.

ATP scraps Israel tennis tourney over Gaza conflict

The ATP announced the cancellation on Monday hours before the announcement of a 72-hour cease-fire and negotiations toward a truce between Israel and Hamas.
The Negev Israel Open, which was scheduled for Sept. 15-21 in Ramat Hasharon near Tel Aviv, would have been the first ATP World Tour event held in Israel since 1996. The tournament had a $1 million purse.
“We regret the ATP World Tour event in Tel Aviv, Israel, will not take place this year,” said Chris Kermode, the ATP’s executive chairman and president. “Sadly, we do not feel we can proceed as planned given the situation in the region.

I support the BDS movement

For all Jews have done for this world. From the polio vaccine to the chips in the mobile phones that you are holding, it is time that we say ENOUGH.
We are a patient people. When I hear from my friends on the left that Arabs look at this conflict through the prism of time. Time is on their side they say... Jews are the ones who are patient. We waited thousands of years to have our prayer of “next year in Jerusalem” come true.
We have lived through every unimaginable horror that the world has foisted on us from expulsion to holocaust and we are still here. Not only are we here we are thriving.
The World stood by and said nothing while one third of our family was murdered yet we are still here.
The Arab world attacked Israel 5 times directly and we are still here.
If the saying “what doesn't kill you makes you stronger” then WE ARE ALL SUPERMEN. Oh by the way that was created by Jews.
At some point you say ENOUGH. TIME TO BOYCOTT THE BOYCOTTERS. Believe me they lose more than we do.

U.K. National Union of Students Adopts Pro-BDS Resolution

The adoption of the BDS policy allows student unions throughout the U.K. to impose sanctions on Israel and support campaigns to boycott Israel on their campuses, the Jewish Chronicle of London reported.
The Jewish National Union of Students (UJS) responded to the decision by saying, “NUS NEC have passed a policy that will only divide student groups, undermine interfaith relations, and suffocate progressive voices for peace on both sides. … The Jewish people have an inalienable right to self-determination, and on this principle, UJS will not compromise.”
NUS is an umbrella group representing more than 600 student unions across the U.K., or 95 percent of all student groups in the country.

NUS Boycott of Israel

As the NUS is a representative of students throughout the UK the most fundamental point is how this boycott will affect the students it represents. By endorsing the BDS at this time the NUS will be endorsing the rallies that have taken place across the world. In Belgium Jews have been refused medical care, in France there have been numerous violent demonstrations despite the government banning pro Palestinian rallies. These demonstrations have been well documented and the NUS are jumping on the band wagon. The question is: what precedent does this set? Rallying on campus will achieve goals? We are going to turn campus’ nationwide into a place to drive political opinion, not a place conducive to study for the nation’s intellectual elite.
It will only promote division between pro Israel students and the much more numerous pro Arab students. It will lead to campus being a place where people are afraid to show support for Israel, thereby stifling freedom of expression.

B***ocks, Distortion and Slander: Why the NUS is Dead Wrong

Although, the specific context for his move is the conflict in Gaza and accusations of Israeli war crimes, the essential argument positions those in favour of of BDS as advocating a legitimate tactic in order to express solidarity with Palestinian suffering and force Israel to end alleged violations of international law.. The campaign is presented as an anti-racist, pro human rights position.
This is a rhetorical device which serves two purposes. In claiming anti-racist and pro-human rights credentials, the argument automatically places those opposed to BDS as racist and anti-human rights, whilst simultaneously masking the true nature of the BDS campaign.
BDS is a racist argument which unjustly discriminates against Israelis and Jews. If this alone was insufficient, the agenda itself pays no regard for human rights. Rather, the intention is to deprive the Jewish nation of their human rights enshrined in international law; the right to self-defence, self-determination of nations and equality before the law.

The BDS Movement's History of Dishonesty

There is an old saying: 'if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.' Though the BDS movement has had very little success, the movement has grown over the past decade. With this growth comes the spread of more rhetoric. While the BDS movement pretends to be a humanitarian campaign, it is in fact simply an ideological assault on the existence of Israel as a Jewish nation.
Fighting the BDS movement is not difficult. Their claims are backed by nothing but false rhetoric. When people tried to institute a BDS movement on the Park Slope Coop in New York, it failed. Groups banded together and pushed through the rhetoric to show Coop members that BDS did not really represent human rights.
Much like the WSU divestors, the rest of the BDS movement is filled with cowards, unable to handle confrontation outside the echo chamber of their own supporters. They were successful at WSU because they eliminated opposition. However, it is important to stand up to BDS supporters whenever you can, call out their rhetoric, and let them know that they do not represent the truth.

Tourists come despite the war

To be sure, the steep dip in tourism to Israel that began with the July 8 outbreak of Operation Protective Edge has members of the industry worried. The Tourism Ministry noted a 13 percent decrease in tourist entries through Ben-Gurion International Airport for the period of July 1-22. An inter-ministerial committee has been set up to meet the financial challenge and compensate businesses hurt by the tourism slump, which is expected to last until the end of December, according to Shmuel Marom, head of the Incoming Tour Operators Association.
Nevertheless, not everyone is staying away. “At first it was frightening to hear the sirens and have to get my kids to the nearby shelter, without freaking them out in the process,” Rothstein said. “But then we got used to it. It was a unifying experience meeting Israelis in the shelter.”
Furthermore, she added, “With the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment as high as it is in Sweden, Israel is actually relaxing for me. And my boys suddenly felt safe in a funny way.”

US farmers get growing tech from Gaza-front start-up

Kibbutz Yad Mordecai is close to the border with Gaza, and it’s been the target of rocket attacks by Gaza terrorists for years — long before the current conflict. But that hasn’t stopped the village’s agriculture tech firm PhyTech from developing an innovative cloud-based crop yield monitor system that is in use on dozens of farms in Israel. This week, PhyTech is introducing its system to US farmers at a major agricultural technology show.
PhyTech’s PlantBeat service equips crops with sensors that record information about the growing environment and plant reaction to it — how much water a plant has been getting, how moist the soil is, temperature, and other data. The sensors upload the information to a cloud server, where it is analyzed and downloaded to a mobile app PhyTech users download. The app indicates how healthy the plant is and what to do to improve its performance.

Stunning mosaic found at ancient Galilee synagogue

Pachyderms find no mention in the Bible. So Professor Jodi Magness was astonished to uncover a mosaic in an ancient Galilean village’s synagogue which featured, of all things, a group of elephants.
Excavations at Huqoq began in 2011, and during the first season archaeologists led by Magness found the wall of a synagogue. In the subsequent seasons, Magness’s team uncovered portions of the Galilean synagogue’s mosaics. The part of the mosaic uncovered this summer, however, stunned archaeologists because it’s the first time they’ve found a synagogue decorated with a non-biblical story scene.
Magness, a professor of Early Judaism at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke to The Times of Israel about her team’s latest discovery this summer: an enormous, ornate section of the 5th-century synagogue’s floor which tells a story in a mosaic. Which story, however, remains a subject of debate.