09/02 Links Pt2: Holocaust deniers in B'Tselem; The Twitter Hypocrisy of Kenneth Roth

From Ian:

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Ben-Dror Yemini: Holocaust deniers in B'Tselem

B'Tselem is the main supplier of factual background material thanks to researcher Atef Abu a-Rub who is also a Holocaust denier. The man is responsible for dozens of "researches" and reports about the Israeli abuse in the territories. He is so good at his job that when foreign reporters calls B'Tselem to visit the territories, it is Abu a-Rub who is sent to serve as their tour guide and shows them the area through his eyes.
Member of B'Tselem public council Hussein Abu Hussein described Israel as a "big monster that attacks us on a daily basis and nibbles through our flesh… we all feel like crushing its head, but just talking will not help, therefore everyone has a role. Atef Abu a-Rub has a role. He is responsible for a flowing supply of "information" to describe Israel as a monster.
How much Abu a-Rub's information is worth? According to him, the mountains adjacent to the Jordan Valley used to be green until the Jews came and stole the water beneath them. In addition those Jews "kill dozens in their sleep and tell everyone it's because of the resistance". But the Jews, he said, manage to hide their evil deeds because they have a strong media. Yes, that is the man's opinions and the world is fed with B'Tselem "researches".
This diabolic propaganda is fascinating, because it succeeds in turning the tables. Holocaust surviving Jews become part of Hamas' propaganda mechanism that wishes to continue the work of those who were engaging in extermination of the Jewish people. Abu a-Rub and other "human rights" activists like him, succeed in creating one of the biggest scams of recent decades.

The Twitter Hypocrisy of Kenneth Roth

What is going on here?
For several years now, critics of Human Rights Watch—including the organization’s co-founder and chairman emeritus, Robert Bernstein—have pointed out that it directs a disproportionate amount of critical attention to Israel, a country that, unlike most others in the Middle East, has a large and flourishing civil society and human-rights sector of its own. HRW has usually batted away that claim by pointing out that other countries in the Middle East have been the subjects of as many or more HRW “reports.” This is a disingenuous response, because the overall amount of material put out on Israel, measured by words and pages, is strikingly out of balance and because HRW’s reports on Israel are uniquely accompanied in almost every case by high-profile press releases and press conferences. As its executive director, Roth has devoted much of his letter writing and public work to alleged Israeli crimes, to the exclusion of other matters. And he has taken his conduct to Twitter.
It is not only the frequency of his Israel-related tweets that leaves little doubt that the Jewish state occupies a special, preeminent place in Roth’s pantheon of villains. It’s also what he chose to tweet. He jumped on any and every critical piece in the papers. Moreover, the sneering tone of many of his tweets rather undermines his claim that he has no special animus against Israel and was just giving that human rights–abusing, international law–breaking country the critical scrutiny that it so obviously deserve.Roth’s pleasure was apparent when he tweeted a New York magazine blog post that claimed that an Israeli spokesman had admitted that the kidnapping of three Israeli boys that ignited the current fighting had not been perpetrated by Hamas: “Remember when #Israel insisted Hamas was behind kidnap-murder of three West Bank teens. Oops, turns out it wasn’t.” That article and its claim were later discredited; Roth did not see fit to tweet that correction of fact.

UN Watch: Richard Falk: UN Watch harmed my academic career

Richard Falk, the infamous 9/11 Truther and author of the New York Times 1979 classic op-ed “Trusting Khomeini,” has not received a moment of our attention since his 6-year term as the UNHRC’s special investigator of “Israel’s violations of the bases and principles of international law” expired, at long last, in June of this year.
Yet the former committee member of Human Rights Watch, expelled by Ken Roth 24 hours after we protested his role at the global NGO, continues to evince a profound bitterness to UN Watch, the only human rights group at the United Nations that dared to expose his toxic mix of pro-Hamas appeasement, anti-Western invective, support for 9/11 conspiracy theorists and demonization of Israel.
Our allies in condemning Falk’s poison included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the U.S., the UK, Canada — and the Palestinian Authority, which famously tried to fire him. For a glimpse into Falk’s numerous statements supporting terrorism against America, the West and Israel, click here.
While we stopped watching him after he left the UN, it seems the man is bitter. Here is Falk’s latest tirade against UN Watch, from his essay yesterday on the alleged misuses of anti-Semitism:

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth Dennis Prager Matti Friedman




Meet the New Jews, Same as the Old Jews

Perversely, many of the people claiming the mantle of historic Jewish victimhood challenge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish refuge. In this reading, if Europe’s Muslims are the new Jews, its (few remaining) Jews are the new Nazis. With tiring regularity, comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany can be found everywhere from the pages of Europe’s supposedly respectable, liberal newspapers to the massive demonstrations at which the Jewish state is accused of committing “genocide” against Palestinians.
Eight years ago, as Mehdi Hasan has noted in the New Statesman, the alleged tide of Islamophobia led the Jewish journalist Jonathan Freedland to imagine the experience of being a Muslim in contemporary Britain. “I wouldn’t just feel frightened,” Freedland wrote for The Guardian in 2006. “I would be looking for my passport.” Yet as events over the past few months indicate, it is Jews who are scrambling for ways to leave the Old Continent due to rising intolerance against their very presence. And, irony of ironies, that intolerance comes almost exclusively from the alleged “new Jews” themselves, that is, Muslims. A November survey, conducted before the latest uptick in anti-Semitic attacks, found that 29 percent of European Jews have considered emigration. In the past few weeks alone, the number of anti-Semitic incidents has doubled in Britain, a Muslim mob tried to break into a Paris synagogue, and shouts of “Jews to the gas chambers” can once again be heard in Germany.
The “new” Jews, it turns out, are the same as the old ones: Jews.

Despite Obama, American Jews Will Still Blindly Vote for Democrats

For some of these people, their synagogue and religion has become solely liberal values. Jeff Jacoby, the op-ed editor of the Boston Globe, has written that “liberalism has superseded Judaism as the religion of most American Jews.” Author Norman Podhoretz wrote in “Why Are Jews Liberal” that “To most American Jews, then, liberalism is not, as has often been said, merely a necessary component of Jewishness: it is the very essence of being a Jew. Nor is it a ‘substitute for religion’: it is a religion in its own right, complete with its own catechism and its own dogmas and, Tertullian-­like, obdurately resistant to facts that undermine its claims and promises.” For them, “The new Torah will always trump the old.”
There will be plenty of noise made in midterm elections – and soon enough in the 2016 Presidential election – about the “Jewish vote.” Plenty of noise will be made about the money that Sheldon Adelson and others will spend on trying to get Jews to vote Republican. My prediction is it will largely all be noise.

The Anti-Antisemitism of Fools

I have just come back from attending a large demonstration in central London protesting the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK.
The demonstration was organised by a new group called the Campaign Against Antisemitism. It was backed by all the major Jewish organisations in Britain, including the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council, and many others. Nearly a thousand people signed up to attend the demo on Facebook; it looked to me like there was at least that number there. The crowd seemed overwhelmingly Jewish.
Now if this had been a demonstration against racism, organized by the leadership of the Black communities in Britain, I can guarantee you that a wide range of Left groups would have been there to show their solidarity. You would have found assorted Trotskyists and others selling their newspapers, handing out leaflets and showing that they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with an ethnic minority group struggling against racist assaults, while busily trying to recruit new members.
But at this demonstration, I didn’t see a single left group of any kind with an obvious presence. There may have been individual socialists – like myself – there; but there were no banners, newspapers, or flyers.

Saudis Announce Plan to Build 1st Nuclear Reactor

Energy officials in Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that they are embarking on a plan to build a nuclear reactor “for peaceful purposes,” Israel’s NRG News reported, quoting the London-based “Al-Hayat” Arabic-language daily.
Senior sources in the Muslim kingdom told the newspaper that construction of the reactor is expected to begin before the end of the calendar year.
“Construction of the first Saudi nuclear reactor will take ten years, according to the plan, although we hope that we can complete the task in less time,” the newspaper said, quoting Saudi sources.
The kingdom’s ultimate goal, the report stated, is to establish four nuclear reactors throughout the country.

J Street U National Board Member: 'I Really Want Israel To Be Perfect'

Contrary to Stewart’s assertion that students at both universities do the “same things,” Brandeis has yet to host a pro-terror, pro-Jihad rally on campus like Al-Quds. However, groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and J Street U have featured speakers who relentlessly demonize Israel such Sam Bahour, Max Blumenthal and the Israel-bashing organization Breaking the Silence.
Footage of the pro-Jihad rally caused an uproar in the American Jewish community:
Stewart also “argues that there is a way to care about Jewish issues but remain empathetic to the plight of humans everywhere.”
“To me, being pro-Israel encompasses being pro-Palestine,” Stewart told The Justice.
“If we want to see Israel be the best it can be, that means being pro-Palestinian. I would love it if everyone on campus understood that,” said Stewart, who redundantly identifies as an "(Angry) Jewish feminist" on her Twitter page.
Stewart says that she does not "blame people who find it really difficult to have this type of dialogue" because she too finds it difficult.
“Especially as someone who identifies as a Zionist, who grew up in an American Jewish community, I really want Israel to be perfect," said Stewart, who did not offer any examples of perfect societies which Israel should emulate.

After shunning Europe, Russia turning to Israel for fruit imports

Russia is interested in increasing its fruit imports from Israel, after deciding to boycott imports from Europe as part of the ongoing diplomatic spat between Russia and the West.
This development comes as buyers in Gaza, Jordan and some European nations have started refusing to buy Israeli mangoes due to Operation Protective Edge. Most recently, a buyer for a supermarket chain in Montreal announced that it would not be buying Israeli fruit.
Amir Porat, marketing manager for Adom Fruits, which exports primarily pomegranate and mango, said that as opposed to the Montreal buyer, his buyers in Canada are still interested in Israeli produce.
“My customer is happy to receive Israeli products, he’s clearly pro-Israel and very satisfied with the produce,” said Porat. He acknowledged that not all Canadians may feel that way, however.
Due to the tension between Russia and Europe, and Russia’s decision to halt imports from Europe, Israel has been asked to increase exports of fruits, specifically apples and plums, said Porat.

EU threatens Israel with total ban of poultry unless it marks products from settlements

The European Union will impose a ban on imports of all Israeli meat, poultry, and dairy products unless Jerusalem comes up with a sufficiently effective mechanism that differentiates the produce that originates in areas beyond the 1967 Green Line, according to a report which appears in Tuesday editions of Ma'ariv Hashavua.
Last month, a Foreign Ministry official warned that EU legislation could lead to a wholesale refusal to accept any Israeli exports produced in the West Bank, Golan Heights, and east Jerusalem.
According to the Ma'ariv Hashavua report, however, that ban could encompass produce from all Israeli exporters. Israeli officials have "a matter of weeks" to persuade their EU counterparts that they have put in place a system that separately labels produce that is grown in disputed territories.

BDS in South Africa – an abject failure

Meanwhile, despite several years of lobbying by BDS to have Israeli products kept out of South Africa, and preventing government officials from visiting Israel, trade between the two countries is flourishing like never before, exceeding R5 billion.
Frankly, BDS is subverting the full development potential of the South African economy, because Israel can offer South Africa solutions to all its most pressing problems.
Israeli companies stand ready to assist with water scarcity and treatment solutions, food supply solutions, youth employment and entrepreneurial solutions and answers to many other medical and security challenges.
Just when it looked like the BDS campaign would achieve a victory, the senate and the vice chancellor at the University of Cape Town, in the last week in August, overturned a resolution which was adopted by a majority of the Students Representative Council to sever links with Israeli universities and to boycott Israeli academics and students.
Archbishop Tutu tried repeatedly to prevail upon a Dutch Presbyterian Investment Fund to withdraw its investments from Israeli companies, and had his call rejected emphatically.

Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell can’t “spot the difference” between Russia and Israel

Within the growing body of work in the field of Comically Erroneous Political Comparisons, Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell just distinguished himself as a rising star. Here’s a Sept. 1st cartoon by Bell, an artist who clearly doesn’t want his creative expression to be fenced in by stubborn political and geographic realities.
We’ll take a wild stab, and work under the assumption that Bell’s cartoon is inspired by the recent row concerning Israel’s announcement that it’s taking control of 1000 acres of land near Gvaot in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.
Now, here’s a size comparison between Israel and Russia. This of course doesn’t include Greater Russia – the boundaries of the country after they took over, by military force, the Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Crimea and sections of eastern Ukraine. See if you can “spot the difference” between Israel and Russia, or even just spot Israel.
Indeed, Russia’s newly “acquired” territory of Crimea, at just over 10,000 square miles, is, by itself, larger than Israel.

Irish Times Corrects Gaza Occupation Photo Caption

In an Irish Times story “Hamas and Fatah agree plan to secure a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem,” the photo of Mahmoud Abbas included the following caption:
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas: last-ditch effort in 21-year campaign to achieve end by peaceful means to Israeli occupation of Gaza.
HonestReporting contacted the Irish Times, pointing out that Israel withdrew its soldiers and civilians from Gaza in 2005, hence there is no “occupation of Gaza” to bring to an end.

The Independent Changes “Jewish Lobby” Headline

While The Independent may have realized that it had crossed a line with a headline referring to “powerful Jewish lobbies,” Mira Bar Hillel was less bothered, as she demonstrated on Twitter:
We are also informed that the words “multi-tentacled” were removed from the text, presumably to avoid associations with anti-Semitic tropes. (Unfortunately the original version was not cached so we are unable to provide a screenshot.)
Ultimately, Mira Bar Hillel’s latest slur and The Independent’s willingness to publish such tripe merely demonstrates an obsession with Israel bordering on the neurotic.

Apple Adds App For Kids Comparing George Washington To Palestinian Terrorists

This "incredible ecosystem" includes materials from Pearson Education, whose authors, according to EAGnews.org, have penned such questions for Common Core students to discuss as, “Was George Washington any different from Palestinian terrorists trying to protect their country?” or “Was Jefferson a hypocrite? Did he really think of a slave as a sub-human while writing the Declaration of Independence?”
Other questionable app inclusions come from the Watson Institute, which EAGnews.org has found has historical ties to Chicago public education and its previous board members Barack Obama and communist Bill Ayers.

Spain Renewing Jewish Historical Sites for Profit?

Just outside the 11th-century walls that surround Avila in central Spain, rows of granite slabs surrounded by neatly trimmed grass mark the spot where ancient Jewish graves lay.
Local authorities spent 250,000 euros ($335,000) to build the memorial garden, which opened last year, on the grounds of a medieval Jewish cemetery in what used to be an empty field behind a monastery - a move criticized by some as being a ploy to increase tourism.
A plaque explains, in Spanish and English, that the cemetery was dismantled after Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492 banished Jews from Spain as part of the brutal Inquisition that sought to wipe out Judaism from the kingdom.
"We knew there was a Jewish cemetery there and we decided to highlight it," Avila mayor Miguel Angel Garcia Nieto said at his office in the city's imposing 19th century town hall.
"We can't live with our backs to the reality that many people around the world have their roots here in Spain, including Avila, whose ancestors were forced to leave," he added.

As Ice Bucket Challenge Draws Attention to ALS, Israeli Cure Gathers Pace

While people across the world – or at least those who post to YouTube – are taking the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,” and hopefully actually donating to the cause as well, Israeli research into a cure for “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is actually about to enter Phase II clinical trials in the US, according to Israel 21C.
Following the successful initial treatment of four advance-stage ALS patients at Hadassah Medical Center in Israel, BrainStorm, a company which focuses on stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), is hoping for similar successes in the American trial study.

New cloud server could have kept celebrity pics safe, partner says

Celebrities live in constant fear of invasion of privacy, since they’re attractive targets for illicit photographers, gossip mongerers, and, as many like Scarlett Johannson and Kate Upton just learned the hard way, hackers accessing their photos. An Israeli businessperson has an answer — show them a bit of “Respect.”
The private pictures of dozens of celebrities made their way from Apple’s iCloud server to public websites this week, showing that fame and wealth are no defense against hacking, said Lionel Wolberger of Jerusalem’s Emmett Global. But the Respect Network, with which Emmett has partnered, could have prevented the mass photo leak, he said.
And “it’s open to everyone, not just celebrities,” said Wolberger.

Israeli firm’s novel acne treatment ‘foams up’ to IPO

Foam is for more than just bubble baths – an Israeli medical development firm has found dozens of beneficial uses. One of the most promising is an acne treatment that researchers say is more effective and safer than products now on the market. Other Foamix-inspired roles for foam are delivering treatments for infections and afflictions of the skin, uterus, vagina, and other sensitive areas of the body. All this has driven the company toward going public.
With 55 registered patents and 135 pending approval, Foamix is well-placed to raise up to $75 million in an initial public offering, which the company filed with the NASDAQ exchange several weeks ago. Foamix’s secret sauce is its 4% minocycline foam formulation for the treatment of acne, which is set to enter Phase III studies and testing next year, the last stage before final FDA approval.

Heart research sheds light on breast cancer

The actress Angelina Jolie shocked the world when she announced she was having a double mastectomy. As a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, she had an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and chose the surgery to reduce her risk. Now, new research from Israel points to better outcomes for those being treated or who are at risk.
They focused on a protein called Erbin that seems to be linked to heart disease – specifically an abnormally enlarged heart, as Rachmin and her team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
‘I want to study women [with breast cancer] who have developed cardiotoxicity to measure the Erbin in their hearts and find any correlations, says researcher Inbal Rachmin.
“We were the first one to publish about Erbin’s role in the heart, not only in mice models but in humans,” Rachmin tells ISRAEL21c. “There was only one article that showed expression in cell lines but didn’t show any physiological function like we did.”

‘See you soon, Israel,’ says Gaga

Lady Gaga already confirmed her September 13 concert on Sunday.
Now she’s whetting appetites with a video.
What hasn’t been confirmed is whether Lady Gaga and her new buddy, crooner Tony Bennett, will be performing together.
Bennett is scheduled to perform a day after Lady Gaga, on September 14, in Tel Aviv’s Heichal Hatarbut.

Israel’s Christian Friends Are the Candle in the Darkness

During Operation Protective Edge, The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews became known as “the government of the south” because we have been taking quick and effective action to help the neediest people of Israel. Within 24 hours of the first rocket attacks, The Fellowship – along with hundreds of our volunteers – was on the ground delivering thousands of prepared meals to elderly who were too frightened to leave their homes even to shop for groceries, since they knew they wouldn’t be able to make it to a shelter in time if an alarm sounded. We helped orphans deal with this terrifying situation, placed dozens of bomb shelters in strategic locations, provided emergency equipment to first respondents and more – all while under constant rocket fire.
For many desperate people in Israel, The Fellowship was their only hope and the only place to turn to. I truly thank God that we came through for them.
But it was not just the aid that we provided that gave these people hope. Every person who received help was told that that help was made possible by Christians and Jews around the world who love them. Most Israelis know that Jews stand with them in solidarity and support, but for some, the fact that millions of Christians love the people of Israel came as a shocking and uplifting surprise.
“The rockets are falling and the entire world hates us, but this food reminds me that we are not alone,” an elderly woman in Ashkelon said with tears in her eyes as she looked at the note in her Fellowship food package explaining that it was donated by Christians.

The World Stands in Solidarity With Israel

One of the gratifying aspects of the last 51 days has been the tremendous outpouring of love, affectation and solidarity from across the world for Israel, as she struggles in her fight against terror.
Photos from the Facebook Page, Solidarity with Israel Event Locator

Chloe Valdary: This is What A Zionist Looks Like

In the summer of 2014, I had the pleasure of consulting with CAMERA and getting heavily involved in Israel advocacy during Operation Protective Edge. It was the best summer of my life, and, as a result of my activism, I was inspired to start a series called ‘This is What A Zionist Looks Like’ to celebrate and call attention to the multitude of people –both celebrities and pioneers in their field — who have been on record in supporting Israel. In this I believe we can create new conversations by associating familiar faces with zionism and gaining the interest of those who know nothing about it in the process. With this campaign, hopefully we can bridge the gap and get people talking more about the great quest for Jewish Emancipation.