Tuesday, September 30, 2014
In Depth: UK anti-Semitism continues unabated after Gaza war
The Israeli defensive war against Hamas in Gaza may have finished a month ago but its side effects are still reverberating abroad, not least of all in the UK.The NBA To Be Hit With Anti-Israel Protests?
While the range and level of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activity in Britain has not matched that seen in parts of continental Europe such as France, the UK Jewish community still felt its effects as never before, as illustrated by near record levels of incidents reported by the organization responsible for the Jewish community’s defense, the Community Security Trust (CST).
Their monthly anti-Semitism figures told it all. In July, the CST recorded more than 302 incidents, while the provisional figure for August is already more than 150. The statistics are incomplete as the CST anticipate receiving more detailed information about incidents from the various regional police authorities and other sources, many of which, due to their other responsibilities and priorities, take their time in submitting reports. Each and every incident reported has to be assessed and, where necessary, duplicated reports must be eliminated.
But the overall figures do not lie. The CST points to a comparison of the July total of 302 incidents with the 304 incidents registered in the six-month period from January to June 2014.
In his commentary posted by the far-left magazine, "The Nation" called "Are Gaza Protests Coming to the NBA Preseason?" Dave Zirin uses the possibility of the NBA being hit by protests to make a one-sided argument declaring the evil nature of Israel and the IDF. Zirin also ignores that the groups threatening to protest are not simply against Israeli policies but call for the destruction of the Jewish State, and implies that the NBA is a tool of Israel.Anti-Israel activists perform “blood bucket challenge” at Yad Vashem
From the first paragraph Zirin misleads the reader:
"When Israeli sports teams travel to Europe, they are often met with protest. Palestinian solidarity and human rights organizations, such as Red Card Israeli Apartheid, have argued that such spectacles “normalize” the military occupation suffered by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. They also argue that it is fantasy to pretend that these games do not carry a strong political as well as symbolic weight."
Israel left Gaza on August 15, 2005. The greenhouses and other industry starters Israel left when it disengaged were turned into terrorist launching pads and missile launchers.
After explaining Israel Maccabi's Euroleague championship earned the team its preseason tour, Zirin offers a one-sided commentary about the recent Gaza war. Using the words of an Israeli expatriate who uses the Hamas-supplied casualty numbers, "The Nation" commentator argues that this is no time for "hoops" as usual. He neglects to tell the reader the source of the casualty numbers, and never mentions the Hamas rocket attacks or their use of human shields.
If you thought the “blood bucket challenge” performed by Megan Marzec, President of the Ohio University student senate, was a disgusting politicization of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, just wait.Israeli Socialist Movement Compares IDF to Nazis at Auschwitz
A group calling itself “Jews Against Genocide” just performed the stunt at various locations in Israel, including at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Jerusalem.
The group’s Facebook page indicates it was formed in July 2014. That page also indicates it is a supporter of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement.
The stunt is promoted at the website of the anti-Israel The International Solidarity Movement where it is noted that the group claims inspiration from Marzec.
Parents of Israeli high school students from the coastal region were left furious, after a letter making the outrageous comparison between genocidal Nazi troops and IDF soldiers was read last week during an organized youth trip to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
The letter was written by a 25-year-old educator and coordinator of Ha'ihud Hahakla'i (the Agricultural Union), a youth movement founded in 1978 from the socialist movement of the same name that has been active developing agricultural settlements since the 1920s. The movement on its website describes itself as "apolitical."
The coordinator of the socialist youth group sent the letter with several of the students in the high school class visiting Auschwitz who belong to the group. Reportedly after one of the students showed the letter to the teacher he was encouraged to read it to the class, which he did, according to Walla!.
NGO Monitor: Richard Horton’s war on Israel
Richard Horton is the editor of The Lancet, which is often referred to as one of the most prestigious British medical journals. For many years, he has used (or abused) that position to publish political tracts and pseudo-scientific articles, particularly but not limited to one-sided attacks against Israel.George Soros-Funded West Bank University Has a Disturbing Discrimination Policy
Although Horton has withstood past criticism of his role, he is now faced with his most serious crisis, following publication of NGO Monitor’s report showing that Dr. Paola Manduca and Dr. Swee Ang – two of the main authors of an “Open Letter for the People of Gaza” published in the Lancet – are promoting David Duke, the notorious American racist. Among their other radical activities, Manduca and Swee Ang sent out emails endorsing one of Duke’s pathologically anti-Semitic videos entitled, “CNN Goldman Sachs & the Zio-Matrix.”
This is not an isolated incident – for years, Manduca has been involved in spreading unsupported accusations regarding diabolical Israeli weapons, and she has also disseminated articles and made comments with anti-Semitic content. As editor, Horton published three articles by Manduca that included pseudo-scientific allegations that Israel caused birth defects in Gaza.
For her part, Swee Ang was a founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a political advocacy NGO that collects funds for and is involved in demonizing Israel When asked about the Zio-Matrix video, she responded, “I am concerned that if there is any truth in the video, that Jews control the media, politics and banking, what on earth is going on? I was worried.” Had Horton done a quick background check, he would also have discovered Swee Ang’s close links to the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, headed by Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad, well known for his blatant anti-Semitism.
Following his usual practice, Horton initially dismissed criticism for giving Manduca, Swee Ang, Mads Gilbert (who justified the 9-11 terror attacks on the US and co-authored the tendentious Gaza letter) and other supporters of hate a platform in the Lancet. Horton has withstood censure for trampling on the requirements of scientific integrity and methodology (as in the case of a 1998 article falsely linking a childhood vaccine with autism), and for participating in the annual, politically-loaded Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance conference held at Birzeit University.
A leading Palestinian university in the West Bank funded by U.S. and European donors does not allow any Israeli Jews to set foot on campus, according to a reporter’s firsthand account.5 Palestinian Artifacts From Before Israel that Prove Palestine NEVER existed
Amira Hass, a reporter for the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz, detailed her recent experience being asked to leave a conference at Birzeit University, located near Ramallah in the West Bank. Hass reported Sunday that she was asked to leave due to a university policy in place for the past two decades “stipulating that Israelis (Jewish Israelis, that is) are not allowed on the university grounds,” she wrote.
Hass herself has been highly critical of Israeli policy, and made news last year after encouraging Palestinians to throw stones at Israelis, calling it their “birthright.”
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking but no, I haven’t lost my mind and no, I am not kidding.J Street Launches Beyoncé-Themed Anti-Israel Campaign
For those of you who have been following me (@israel_shield) on Twitter, you know that I spend a good part of my time battling and destroying anti-Israel propaganda and lies and this Palestine issue is at the top of my list. I know an area called Palestine existed; the Romans coined that name when they occupied Israel from the Jews long before Islam ever existed.
NEVER WAS PALESTINE AN ARAB COUNTRY AND NEVER WAS IT OCCUPIED FROM PALESTINIAN ARABS
Modern day Palestine was a geographical area that included what is today Jordan and was governed by the British Mandate. Palestine was NEVER an Arab State, country or national home for a people who call themselves Palestinians. A Palestinian nation is a farce, a bluff and a blatant lie. There was no such thing as a Palestinian nation and all the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians are actually Arabs from surrounding countries. This is not just my opinion, this is what their own leaders say loud and clear!
It includes an ad with a cartoon of Netanyahu standing in between two women who resemble Beyoncé Knowles. The women are wearing leotards with maps of Israel and the Palestinian territories.Max Blumenthal and ‘band of Israel haters’ try to equate Israel with ISIS
“If You Like it then You Should Put a Border on it,” reads the ad–a play on the 2008 Beyoncé song line “if you like it then you should have put a ring on it.” The song criticizes men who won’t commit to marriage and later regret it when their partners move on.
J Street also called on supporters to back the campaign by using the Twitter hashtag #borderonit and signing an online petition.
As of Monday afternoon, the campaign had generated mixed reviews on Twitter, with some mocking it and others criticizing it as sexist for its depiction of women.
“WTF kind of sexist campaign is @jstreetdotorg running with its @Borderonit ads?” tweeted user Uri Horesh.
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky described it as J Street’s “lamest campaign yet.”
Left wing water carriers often like to prop up their positions by creating false moral equivalents. That happened today where some Israel haters thought it would be clever to create the hashtag #JSIL (Jewish State in Israel and Levant) to try and make the ridiculous assertion that Israel defending itself against terrorist attacks is exactly the same as ISIS overrunning the Middle East, beheading innocents, committing mass executions, and calling for (and inspiring) terrorist attacks around the world. (h/t MtTB)Academic Boycott Making Resurgence on Campus
When the American Studies Association approved an academic boycott against Israel late last year, the academic world spoke out against the move loudly and clearly.Port of Oakland Loses as ZIM Moves to Friendlier Shores
Presidents of 250 academic institutions signed a letter of opposition. Brandeis University and other prestigious institutions formally withdrew from the association. “We can no longer support an organization that has rejected two of the core principles of American culture – freedom of association and expression,” Brandeis said in a statement.
The severe backlash discredited academic boycotting as a tactic, and prevented any new motions throughout the school year.
But a new year heralds a new beginning and anti-Israel academic boycotts are once again ascendant at American universities, as if the tactic magically stopped serving as an assault on academic freedom or discrimination against Israeli academics.
On Sunday night, after not being able to unload at the Port of Oakland over the weekend, the ZIM Shanghai decided to head to the friendlier Port of Los Angeles, where BDS protests are ignored and ZIM ships are unload, unhindered.Threatening Dockworkers. This is not your grandfather's "Solidarity"
The ship will arrive there Tuesday.
On Saturday, ILWU 10 and 34 released a statement claiming they are not involved in the BDS protest against unloading Israeli owned ZIM ships at the Port of Oakland, and that their workers were physically threatened by the BDS protesters. They claim their leadership and management have no role in organizing the conflict.
ILWU statement on blockage of Zim vessel by protestors at Port of OaklandSouth African BDS Activists Storm Woolworths Store in Johannesburg
ILWU Local 10 and 34 represented longshoremen and clerks dispatched to work the vessel ZIM Shanghai at SSA’s Oakland California Terminal were met with hostile demonstrators, effectively blocking all access to the terminal. Longshoremen and Clerks trying to report to work were threatened physically at some points of ingress and their personal vehicles were physically blocked. As such, all personnel stood-by outside of the demonstration perimeters for health and safety purposes. At approximately 8 PM SSA released all personnel from work.
As far as the union can ascertain, the protests are organized by a coalition of individuals and organizations that plan events and create action alerts under the name of “Block the Boat for Gaza” online.
The ILWU is not among the groups organizing the protests, and the leadership and membership of the ILWU have taken no position on the Israel/Gaza conflict.
Scuffles broke out at a Woolworths store in the South African city of Johannesburg on Saturday, after Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists staged a protest over the stocking of Israeli goods.Students for Justice in Palestine at Loyola Univ. Chicago Temporarily Suspended
Activists brandishing pro-Palestinian banners rushed into the store chanting “Free Palestine, boycott Woolworths.” After security guards attempted to move the protestors, many of whom were dancing and leaping around, out of the store, a brief confrontation ensued. The store closed its doors temporarily as a result.
The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Loyola University was temporarily suspended by the university administration for verbally assaulting a student group tabling for Birthright Israel according to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.Jeremy Hardy promotes stereotypes of Israelis on BBC Radio 4
The Brandeis Center, which seeks “to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and to promote justice for all,” noted in a press release that the university presented SJP “with a letter indicating that SJP is temporarily prevented from hosting any on-campus activities or events until their leadership meets with Loyola University Chicago representatives and the group complies with stated policies and procedures that apply to all student organizations.”
So as we see, in addition to inaccuracies such as the representation of the Mandate for Palestine as a British colonial project, the claim that the British “encouraged Jewish migration”, the (obviously) unsupported claim that Israeli governments are “racist and colonial” and the falsehood that “greedy” Israel is “getting bigger and bigger”, Hardy aims for cheap and easy laughs by using offensive stereotypes of Israelis as being violent and aggressive.Babi Yar Monument to Mass Execution of Jews in Ukraine Vandalized
Given Hardy’s track record of collaboration with the ISM, one would probably not have expected anything other than the exploitation of a ‘comedy’ show for the promotion of his own embarrassingly uninformed politics. That, of course, is a factor of which Radio 4 editors must have been aware in advance but, as we have seen before, the BBC seems to think that the promotion of inaccurate information and crude national stereotypes is perfectly acceptable – just as long as a ‘comedy’ label is appended.
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah this past Wednesday, a monument to one of the largest shooting massacres of Jews during World War II was vandalized with swastikas and other graffiti marks. The incident was reported by LifeNews, a Russian news website.Firebomb thrown at Kiev’s oldest synagogue
Babi Yar is a large ravine on the outskirts of Kiev, which was occupied by the Nazis in 1941. The city’s Jews responded to a summons to gather in the center of the Ukrainian capital, assuming they were to be deported. Instead, they were forced into lines and marched two miles to the ravine, where they were systematically gunned down by the machine guns of the Einsatzgruppe, the Nazi paramilitary death squad. Their bodies fell straight down into the mountain gorge.
A total of 33,771 Jews were executed at Babi Yar on September 29-30, 1941, according to Einsatzgruppe Operational Situation Report No. 101. An additional 100,000 to 150,000 corpses are estimated to share the mass grave, as Soviet war prisoners, Gypsies, Ukrainian civilians, and psychiatric patients were also killed and dumped into the bottom of the ravine.
Kiev’s oldest synagogue was the target of a firebomb that burst into flames outside the building.Frenchman Probed for Telling TV He Might Kill Jews
The firebombing at the Great Choral Synagogue on September 24, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, did not cause damage, according to the news website evreiskiy.kiev.ua, which belongs to the Jewish Kiev watchdog on anti-Semitism.
Police suspect that an arsonist targeting the actual building hurled the firebomb — a glass bottle filled with a flammable substance.
French police have opened a criminal investigation against a young man who made anti-Semitic statements and suggested in a televised interview that Jews should be killed.German Social Democratic Party branch puts anti-Semitic posts on Facebook
Yves Jannier, the prosecutor of the Pontoise region north of Paris, ordered the probe Monday following the airing last week by the France 2 channel of an interview with a young man about the Jews of the nearby Parisian suburb of Sarcelles, Le Parisien reported Monday.
The young man, who was not named, is seen in the interview while standing with friends on the street and answering the questions posed by a female journalist for France 2. “What they are doing over there in Palestine, we are doing here to the Jews. And if we get real angry, we might just kill them,” the man said.
The interview was part of a 46-minute special program on the Jewish community of Sarcelles, a poor suburb where 60,000 Jews live amidst a heavily-Muslim population.
“If I get angry, I will light up all of them, all the Jews,” said the young man.
He is suspected of justifying a crime and “incitement to hate and violence” against an ethnic group, Le Parisien reported.
A local chapter of Germany’s second largest party, the Social Democrats (SPD), posted anti-Semitic conspiracy theory entries on its Facebook page in Hagen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia state.German Politician Dismissed Over Anti-Semitic 'Simpsons' Post
“Anti-Jewish agitation appeared on the Facebook page of SPD Hagen,” went the headline in a piece in regional paper WAZ on Sunday. The hardcore anti-Semitic statements allegedly came from Osman Demir, an SPD chapter committee member in the Wehringhausen neighborhood, and were on the Hagen branch’s Facebook page for a lengthy period and available to its 150 members.
Under the headline “Incitement by the Zionist media and press and press powers in Germany," the post's author engaged in a rant about Jewish media reports shaping the February 2012 resignation of German president Christian Wulff, WAZ reported. Wulff resigned facing allegations of corruption relating to his prior service as prime minister of Lower Saxony. He was acquitted of the allegations at a trial last February.
The postings on the SPD Hagen Facebook page prompted a prominent veteran SPD member to resign.
Top officials in a new German party are rushing to expel one of its members, the Bild reports Tuesday, after he posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his Facebook page.Iraqi scholar: Jews persuaded Bush to invade Iraq in 2003 because of Torah prophecy
The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, recently won several seats in regional legislative bodies.
However, at least one member will not be participating, the party's branch in eastern Brandenburg state said Monday, after it decided to start expulsion proceedings against Jan-Ulrich Weiss.
Weiss was already excluded from the party's new 11-member caucus in the state legislature due to the incident, whereby Weiss allegedly posted a caricature reminiscent of the Nazi paper Der Stuermer.
The collage-style cartoon included photos of prominent Jewish banker Jacob Rothschild next to pictures of "Mr. Burns" - the greedy villain of hit TV show The Simpsons. German newspapers refused to print the offensive post, but it quickly made the rounds on social media.
A new book by an Iraqi scholar argues that the Jews persuaded US President George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003, as part of a global Jewish conspiracy rooted in the Torah and ancient history, according to a report in Palestinian media outlet Al Watan Voice.French Winemaker Accused of Discrimination After Label Designed by Famed Israeli Artist Found Missing From Website
The book, by Dr. Mohammad Hussein Al-Falahi, was published by Dar Djlah in Oman, Al Watan Voice writes.
Interest in the Iraqi people occupies a large proportion of Jewish thought, Al-Falahi argues, with “about 350-400 pages” of the Torah devoted to the Babylonian exile.
According to the report, Al Falahi argues that many of those in Bush’s inner circle, including Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney, were Jews who forced the former US President to invade Iraq because this was a “central and strategic goal of world Jewry”. Other figures in the “global Jewish order”, such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, were also instrumental in persuading Bush to invade Iraq, Al Falahi says.
A prestigious French winemaker has come under fire after it was discovered that a label designed by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam is the only one absent from its online display of bottle art going back to 1945.Vatican to Contribute to Preservation of Auschwitz
Ron Agam, Yaacov’s son, said that he suspects that his father was singled out by Château Mouton Rothschild ”because of his Israeli connection” and called on the company “to acknowledge the truth and come clean.”
He said the discovery was “like a betrayal” to his father who is 86 “especially that he had considered the Mouton Rothschild wine Company, a supporter and a friend.”
The Vatican has joined 30 other nations in contributing to the historical preservation of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi death camp in Poland.Indo-Israel ties on the march
The Vatican said it will donate $127,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which seeks to raise $152 million to help preserve the remains of Auschwitz.
“Considering the significance of the goal of the Foundation and the support it received from the Polish government, the decision to send support in the amount of 100 thousand Euro has been taken. This sum is so modest due to the limited possibilities. However, this is an expression of full support for the project of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, wrote in a letter to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.
The “sky is the limit” in Israeli-Indian relations, Netanyahu told his counterpart at the opening of their talks held in a ballroom of Manhattan’s Palace Hotel, where Netanyahu is staying during his five days in New York.India, Israel set to team up on cyber-defense
According to Netanyahu’s office the two men discussed Iran, the threat of Islamic terrorism, which India has suffered badly from over the years, and possible cooperation in the fields of hi-tech, cybersecurity, water conservation and agriculture.
“We are two old people, some of the oldest civilizations on earth,” he said. “But also two democracies, proud of our tradition, but also eager to seize the future. I believe that if we work together it will be for the benefit of both our peoples.”
Israel has reportedly invited India to participate in a joint effort on cyber-defense, a project that will aim to be a link between civilian and military authorities in both countries.New baby formula has no dairy or soy
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended the offer during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on Sunday, the Hindustan Times reported.
The invitation to collaborate comes at a time when India is focusing on building its own cyber-defense systems, in collaboration with other countries including the US and UK, the report noted. Modi also discussed cyber-defense, terrorism and other security issues during a subsequent meeting on Monday with US President Barack Obama.
Up to half of all infants fed baby formula suffer gastro distress, skin rashes, respiratory problems and other signs that they can’t tolerate cow’s milk. The only alternative, soy formula, is a last resort because of possible hormonal effects of its powerful phytoestrogens.Young Israeli social entrepreneur named ‘leader of tomorrow’ by TIME magazine
A new vegetable-based product called INDI (Innovative Non Dairy Infant formula), developed by two Israeli baby-food executives, could provide parents across the world with a long sought-after option containing neither cow’s milk nor soy but delivering all the nutrition required by international regulations.
This game-changing formula came out of research, trial and error by Uriel Kesler and Hamutal Yitzhak, owners of Heart baby food. Yitzhak was previously Israel’s category manager for Similac infant formula at Abbott Labs, and Kesler handled consumer products and baby food for Promedico.
27-year-old Israeli social entrepreneur has been named a ‘Next Generation Leader‘ by TIME magazine for her role in building communities of kindness. Adi Altschuler, the Israel manager of Google for Education, is one of six young people from around the world to be honored by the magazine.Western Wall plaza dig reveals structures dating back to Herod
“It is not enough, or even necessary, for a leader to be exceptionally good at his or her chosen discipline. What a leader must be exceptionally good at, however, is inspiring others to believe in a shared vision. That’s hard to do, especially when a young scientist, entrepreneur or activist has had only a short time to form a plan and build a team,” TIME magazine writes in its introduction to how it chose “these leaders of tomorrow who are working hard to change their worlds today.”
Israeli archaeologists recently dug up an ancient subterranean structure, parts of which date back to Roman times, just meters from the Temple Mount, Channel 10 reported Sunday.The Jewish Food Taste Test
“It’s one of the [most] impressive, beautiful and grand places found recently in Jerusalem,” Israel Antiquities Authority Jerusalem Region Archaeologist Yuval Baruch told the station.
“It is one of the most significant remains” found in Jerusalem in the last generation,” he said.
Vibrant ‘Humans of Tel Aviv’ Photo Series Struts City’s Multiculti Stuff (VIDEO)
Israeli street photographer Erez Kaganovitz is on a one-man vision quest to share what he says is the true face of the city, and country, he loves: Tel Aviv – and Israel.Humans of Tel Aviv
“Usually when people think about Tel Aviv or Israel, they think about a war zone, or they think about the conflict with the Palestinians or they think about an ‘apartheid state,’ – but the truth is: most people don’t have a clue about what’s going on in Tel Aviv,” Kaganovitz told The Algemeiner on Monday.
Two years ago, he started photographing people, starting his own local Israeli brand of the wildly popular Humans of… photo collections, which began with New York, but quickly spread to cities around the globe.
His usually on-the-fly shots and even more posed photos feature unique faces, unlikely clothes, indie looks, unlikely poses, and exploit impromptu structural motifs and even props to depict a truly diverse and close-up-and-personal view of the denizens of Israel’s cultural and business center.
