11/05 Links Pt2: Israel slams Amnesty report; Friedman: ‘No Idea’ if Palestinians Are Peace Partners

From Ian:

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Tom Friedman Admits: ‘No Idea’ if Palestinians Are Peace Partners

Noted New York Times columnist and author, Thomas Friedman, in an interview with Israel Army radio aired Tuesday, admitted that he has “…no idea whether Israel has a Palestinian partner for a secure peace.”
He added, however, that, despite the uncertainty, and, “given Israel’s predicament, it should be doing everything it can to test, test, test, and test again, whether it has such a Palestinian partner…”
Friedman did not mention any of Israel’s recent confidence-building gestures towards the Palestinians, including a nine-month settlement freeze, and a host of other civil and political offers to ease daily life and restart talks.
Nor did he mention ongoing Palestinian Authority (PA) – backed terrorism, and rejectionism of efforts to restart talks, vitriolic incitement in official Palestinian media against Israelis and Jews, and simply sidestepping direct negotiations in order to exploit the United Nations as a bludgeon against the Jewish state.

Israel slams Amnesty ‘war crimes’ report

Israel has rejected claims by Amnesty International that its army committed war crimes in the latest Gaza conflict, alleging that Amnesty “serves as a propaganda tool for Hamas and other terror groups”.
The Israeli Embassy in London condemned Amnesty for its “extreme bias” and for “producing no evidence” to back up allegations in a new report, entitled ‘Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes’.
The 47-page dossier focuses on eight attacks by the IDF which Amnesty said caused the deaths of “at least 104 civilians, including 62 children”. The NGO said that “several of the attacks directly and deliberately targeted civilians or civilian objects, which would constitute war crimes.”
Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East director, said: “Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes [and] displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused.”
An Israeli spokesman called the report “a narrow, decontextualised report [which] restricts its capability to advance positive change”.
As well as questioning Amnesty’s evidence, the embassy also pointed out that the report “does not mention the word ‘terror’ in relation to Hamas or other armed Palestinian groups, nor does it mention tunnels built by Hamas to infiltrate Israel and perpetrate terror attacks.” (h/t Bob Knot)

Senior Amnesty International official compares Israel to Islamic State on Twitter

Campaigns Manager Kristyan Benedict uses hashtag '#JSIL' in Tweet; Israeli embassy in London slams use of 'ugly, hateful term with anti-Jewish connotations.'
The campaigns manager for Amnesty International UK, Kristyan Benedict, published a Tweet on Wednesday comparing Israel to the Islamic State, using the contentious hashtag #JSIL.
The hashtag has been used by extreme anti-Israel groups to draw a parallel between Israel and the Islamist organization infamous for beheading its captives, including several Western hostages.

Sky News Amnesty Report Demonstrates Lazy Journalism

An Amnesty International report has accused Israel of possible “war crimes” during this year’s Gaza conflict. A number of international media outlets have covered the story including Sky News.
Tom Rayner’s story is breathtakingly one-sided giving over the entire report to Amnesty’s claims. Why is this the case? Sky’s story states:
Sky News asked the Israeli military for a response to the Amnesty International report, but none has been offered at this time.
A simple Google News search reveals that Sky’s report was published at approximately the same time as other media outlets including the New York Times, which includes plenty of rebuttal from official Israeli sources:

PreOccupied Territory: Amnesty International To Merge With Hamas (satire)

“It’s a natural synergy of goals and talents,” says AI spokesman.
One of the world’s most prominent organizations working to raise awareness of human rights violations and political repression will officially join forces with the Hamas movement, Amnesty International announced this morning.
The two organizations have collaborated for years already, leading the heads of both entities to explore ways in the two might merge into a single unit to streamline the operations of both and to avoid redundancies in the field. Hamas has enjoyed success over the last decade in highlighting the suffering of Gaza Strip residents and pinning the blame on Israel, while Amnesty has engaged in similar pursuits, often relying on Hamas-provided or Hamas-coached witnesses in preparing its reports to condemn Israel for whatever violations of international law it can think of.
Those explorations gave way over the summer to a trial period, in which the war with Israel played a central role. The smoothness with which representatives of Amnesty and Hamas worked together during the conflict convinced a critical number of decision-makers the idea was a winner, but it was the aftermath that once and for all demonstrated the feasibility and benefit of the venture, as Amnesty investigators and reporters effectively and efficiently took the selective or embellished data provided by Hamas and further massaged, edited, or interpreted it to vilify Israel to the maximum extent and exonerate Hamas.

Michael Lumish: "Palestinian-Jews"

Propaganda, quite obviously, functions through language and images. The words that we use to describe a political situation make all the difference in the world. Many people who care about politics are more than willing to distort the conversation for the purpose of advancing their political agenda.
Those of us who write about politics of any sort are susceptible to this, including myself.
{Shocking, I know.}
But this gives us all the more reason to question the dominant language that we use to discuss the conflict. This is why I challenge terms like "Occupation" particularly when it shows up with the Big O to suggest that it is the Big Daddy of all other occupations around the world.
Words like "settler" or "settlement" have taken on implications of illegitimacy because people like Barack Obama, not to mention Alan Dershowitz, have made it so.
And the word "Zionist"? Fuggedaboutit. In the ears of many, many well-meaning liberal-left white people it sounds like "the enemy of all that is good, decent, and true" because over the decades the hatred and contempt have done their work.
So, let us examine the word "Palestinian" for a moment.
It clearly refers to the ancient Philistines and the very word "Philistine" is derived from various words in various languages including the Hebrew, Plištim, which means "invader" in the English.

The Left's Worst Crime in the Middle East

The left picked Pan-Islamists over secularists in Iran and Turkey. It picked racialist fascists in Egypt, Iraq and Syria-- and their local Palestinian militias. It backed Islamist and Arabist revolts again in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. And after backing every totalitarian majoritarian regime that wasn't too closely aligned to the United States-- their one great enemy is the region's only democratic state.
The left's worst crime in the Middle East is its craven love for tyranny, for grand empires built on race and religion, over the national and political rights of the minority. These Apartheid states are all they care about. Their greatest effort has been set not on resolving the stateless problems of the Kurdish minority, on the national borders of Armenia or ending the Turkish occupation and settlement of Cyprus-- but on adding yet another Arab-Muslim state to the region.
Palestine, the cynical project of Pan-Arabist and Pan-Islamist thugs, is the great obsession of the left. Because if there's one thing that the Middle East doesn't have enough of, it's totalitarian regimes built on Arab and Islamist identity. And the one thing it has too much of is democratic state with a non-Arab and non-Muslim majority. And that one thing is what they are committed to destroying.

Naftali Bennett - NYTs OpEd: For Israel, Two-State Is No Solution

Recent events in the Middle East are a reminder of how the old models of peace between Israel and the Palestinians are no longer relevant. The time has come to rethink the two-state solution.
This past summer, Hamas and its allies fired over 4,500 rockets and mortars at Israel, demonstrating once again what happens when we evacuate territory to the so-called 1967 lines and hand it over to our adversaries. Peace is not obtained. Rather, we are met by war and bloodshed.
The rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and other extreme elements in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, make the risks just as clear. Israel cannot afford to gamble with its security. There are no second chances in the volatile Middle East.
That is why, for its security, Israel cannot withdraw from more territory and cannot allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. If we were to pull out of the West Bank, the entire country would become a target for terrorists who would be able to set up rocket launchers adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem and on the hills above the runways of Ben-Gurion International Airport and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Take the Jordan Valley. The Palestinians demand that Israel withdraw from this narrow piece of land, which borders Jordan. But if we do so in today’s climate, we potentially open the door for the Islamic State and other extremists to flood into the new Palestinian state. We cannot take that risk.

Obama Called on Israel to Follow in Rabin's Footsteps

19 years after signing the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and 19 years after his tragic death, Yitzhak Rabin was lauded by President Barack Obama as a man of peace and courage, who "demonstrated that a commitment to communication, cooperation, and genuine reconciliation can help change the course of history."
The following excerpts are taken from Rabin's last public speech to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) on October 5, 1995, just days before he was murdered, and reveal Rabin's true pragmatic and realistic vision:
"Here, in the land of Israel, we returned and built a nation. Here, in the land of Israel, we established a state.The land of the prophets, which bequeathed to the world the values of morality, law and justice, was after two thousand years, restored to its lawful owners - the members of the Jewish people. On its land, we have built an exceptional national home and state.”
"We view the permanent solution in the framework of [the] State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
"We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Solicitor General: Israel Has No Claim to Jerusalem, Just as Russia Has No Claim to Crimea

Lawyers for the Obama administration compared Israel’s control of Jerusalem to Russian claims over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea during oral arguments this week before the Supreme Court in a case concerning the rights of U.S. citizens to list Jerusalem as part of Israel on their passports.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who is rumored to be in the running to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, drew the comparison on Monday while he attempted to convince the Supreme Court that Jerusalem is not officially part of Israel.
The controversial case hinges around Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in Jerusalem in 2002. Zivotofsky’s parents requested that Menachem’s U.S. passport bear “Jerusalem, Israel” as his place of birth, a request that was denied by the Obama administration on the basis of its longstanding policy to not recognize the holy city as part of Israel. (h/t Jewess)

Bill: Apply all Israeli laws in Judea and Samaria

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation is scheduled to debate a new bill seeking to subject the Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria to the full extent of Israeli law.
According to Israel's Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1967, while most articles in Israel's criminal and civil codes apply across Judea and Samaria, the area is simultaneously under military law, meaning its Israeli citizens are subjected to a dual legal system. Furthermore, many legal amendments enacted in Israel over the years, especially those pertaining to property and labor laws, exclude the settlements.

EU Foreign Affairs Chief: Jewish Homes 'Detrimental to Peace'

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday condemned Israel's plans to build another 500 Jewish homes in Jerusalem, ahead of her first visit to the Jewish state later this week.
Going ahead with the Jewish homes risks undermining efforts to get the Middle East peace process back on track, Mogherini said.
The European Union was leading efforts to get the talks restarted "but this decision represents yet another highly detrimental step which undermines the prospects for a two-state solution," she said in a statement.

What Do US Election Results Mean for US-Israel Relations?

Prof. Eytan Gilboa, an expert on American-Israeli relations, spoke with Arutz Sheva about what he deemed the "three major issues Israel is concerned about," that could be significantly impacted by this change in US legislative control.
The first - the war with Islamic State (ISIS). Although the United States has been launching airstrikes against the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, many Republicans feel the Obama administration's foreign policy is not doing enough against what many constituents view as a "serious threat."
With the Republican victory an increase in military spending and a comprehensive debate over policy toward the Islamic State seems likely.
The second and "most important" issue for Israel is the Iranian nuclear deal, to which Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government is strongly opposed.
"The United States is close to a deal with Iran and the President says he is not deterred to get the approval of Congress" to rescind sanctions against Iran in a final agreement deal.
And finally, the third issue is the possible resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Obama has up until this point held significant leverage against Israel, but "if he were to begin pressuring Israel [into negotiations] again, Israel may very well turn to and ask for help from members of Congress."

French lawmakers prepare motion to recognize Palestine

French Socialist lawmakers are preparing to submit a motion to parliament asking the government to recognize Palestine as a state, sources said Tuesday, weeks after British MPs passed a similar vote.
The planned move follows the collapse of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and this year’s conflict between Hamas and Israel in which more than 2,000 Palestinians — half of them gunmen, Israel says — and dozens of Israelis were killed.
“The (lower house National) Assembly asks the French government to use recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to obtain a final settlement of the conflict,” reads the provisional motion seen by AFP.

Unilateral recognition of Palestinian state is non-effective says Czech Foreign Minister

Unilateral recognition of Palestine as a state is non-effective because there will be no consensus between Palestine and Israel, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek told a breakfast meeting of The Israel Council on Foreign Relations at the King David Hotel, Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Zaoralek is in the region to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials and is due to travel to Ramallah on Thursday.
It is uncertain whether he will receive as welcome a reception there as he has received in Israel as the Czech Republic was the only European country to vote against the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral attempt to attain statehood at the United Nations.
Zaoralek described relations between the Czech Republic and Israel as “excellent” adding that he hoped that they will remain that way.

Palestinians to seek end of 'occupation' later this month at UN, PA official says

The Palestinian leadership is planning to submit a draft resolution later this month to the UN Security Council that will seek an end date to the "Israeli occupation," a senior official said on Tuesday, according to an AFP report.
According the AFP report, though the US is expected to veto the resolution, Wassel Abu Yusef, a senior PLO official, said the Palestinians would not halt the process.

Washington Reiterates its Objection to PA's UN Resolution

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated to Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, during a Monday meeting in Washington, that the U.S. was opposed “to unilateral steps by either party that attempt to prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations.”
Nothing has yet been tabled at the United Nations, she noted in her remarks, according to AFP, "so this is a preliminary discussion. And obviously having a back-and-forth and hearing from them is part of the reason to have a meeting."

Brandeis Univ. Professor Likens Anti-BDS Event to Germany with Nazi Sympathizers

Brandeis University professor of politics Donald Hindley likened an on-campus event explaining the issues with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to Germany in the late 1930's "with everyone at least a Nazi sympathizer."
Hindley garnered international attention for his remarks made on a restricted Brandeis faculty listserv titled "Concerned." The listserv is still in use and Hindley wrote the comment on Tuesday evening.
Fellow professor Gordon Fellman, one of the co-creators of the listserv, sent an email to the subscribers alerting everyone to an upcoming event titled "Teach-In on the Gaza Conflict and BDS Movement" featuring speakers from anti-BDS both Brandeis and the Greater Boston community. Topics include, "Overview of the Gaza Conflict," "Israeli and Palestinian Political Landscapes," "The Roots of the BDS Movement.""BDS Case Study at the University of Illinois"and "Millenial Attitudes Toward Israel."

Hen Mazzig: ‘Don’t let this ‘murderer’ speak at King’s College’

At King’s College London, a University with an enormous ‘war studies’ department, only the presence of an Israeli will ‘offend’ pacifists. Because you see, Hen Mazzig, who wants to speak at King’s College, is a threat to peace.
This 25 year old Israeli — whose family were ethnically cleansed from Iraq and N. Africa in the 50’s for being Jewish — is a threat.
This young man — who at the age of 12, was almost blown up in an ice cream shop by a Palestinian terrorist — is a threat.
This 18 year old teenager — who chose to serve in the Humanitarian unit of the Israeli army (instead of combat unit), because he wanted to help bring peace closer– is a threat.
This 21 years young second Lt. who saved the life of a Palestinian kid from Gaza, (and even coordinated the reunion with his family in Ramallah), is a threat.
This 24 year old Israeli who wishes to fight for the civil rights of the most oppressed minorities in the world, the Jewish people- is a threat.
Not Hamas, the terror group, who bombarded his home and family with more than 20,000 rockets in 8 years. Not the tens of thousands of people marching down the streets of London calling to ‘bring down Israel.’ Not the BDS movement calling to boycott Israel based on lies and propaganda. Not the extremists who want to enforce a fundamentalist interpretation of sharia law across Britain (who by the way, often speak at King’s College). The Student Union in KCL is afraid of Hen Mazzig. They are afraid of me.

'Racist' London University Threatens Jewish Leader At Pro-IDF Event

One of Britain's top universities has been accused of racism after a Jewish student leader was threatened at his own event by a member of staff. Sami Steinbock was left shaken and visibly upset after the King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU) staffer 'squared up to him and pointed at him' outside an event he organised for the Israeli Society.
The member of staff concerned, Sital Gandesha, is officially listed as “Safe Space Officer” by KCLSU. Despite his limited role, Mr Gandesha established his own security position at the door, against the wishes of Mr Steinbock. He then denied access to supporters of the event, instead favouring protesters.
Steinbock had requested formally accredited KCL security, but they instead waited on a nearby stairwell. The event descended into chaos as members of the Israeli Society were prevented from entering the lecture theatre until pro-Palestinian groups decided to walk out.
The talk was being given by Lt Hen Mazzig, an Army Officer who had worked on humanitarian missions for the Israeli Defence Force. The Israeli Society had hoped to organise a debate between Mazzig and students interested in Middle Eastern affairs.

Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee at UC Davis

The paranoid notion that the ADL’s letter amounts to “unacceptable interference by off-campus interests” which is “baldly racist,” and which somehow “chills” political advocacy on the UC Davis campus, is, of course, ridiculous. More troubling is that this statement reveals that the professors naively believed that pro-Palestinian activists can institute an ideological assault against Israel, call for Jewish academics to be shunned from the community of world scholars while simultaneously singling out and attacking the Jewish state as an illegal, colonial occupier on stolen Palestinian land, and libel and harass Jewish students and other supporters of Israel by making them complicit in, and responsible for, the actions of their government in perpetrating what activists define as an “illegal occupation” without anyone with opposing views answering these slanders with counter-arguments and opposing views.
The faculty members’ motivation was purportedly to “show support for Palestinian solidarity activism,” but several working definitions of anti-Semitism, including those by the U.S. State Department and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, suggest that such actions, in targeting Israel and holding it to a different standard of behavior than all other nations — something which the actions and speech of UC Davis’s Students for Justice in Palestine and the organization American Muslims for Palestine clearly do — is one criteria by which speech and actions can be considered anti-Semitic, which of course the professors here conveniently ignore or of which they are sadly ignorant.

Melissa Parke positions herself on the fringe

LABOR leaders have distanced themselves from Fremantle MP Melissa Parke after she broke ranks with party policy and called on Australia to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against “apartheid” ­Israel and quoted a 9/11 “truther” to back her stand.
“BDS is a perfectly acceptable form of protest,” the former UN lawyer told parliament in a speech she admitted would “likely not be popular”, tabling a petition urging Australia to join the movement.
....in defence of BDS....Ms Parke quoted former UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, Richard Falk, who was rebuked by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in 2011 for “preposterous” remarks asking if the September 11 terror attacks had been orchestrated by the US government....
Her stand was immediately rejected by the Opposition Leader. “Labor’s position on this matter is clear,” Bill Shorten’s spokesman said, pointing to a speech earlier this year when Mr Shorten said: “I stand for engagement with Israel at every level.”

 Labor Senator Glenn Serle pays out Labor’s Melissa Parke over anti-Israel attack

Labor has become more anti-Israel as the Muslim minorities in its key NSW marginal seats grows - and as anti-Semitism becomes more fashionable in the far-Left.
Finally a Labor MP confronts this foul drift in his own party. All praise to Senator Glenn Sterle for his rebuke in parliament of Labor MP Melissa Parke:
"Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (01:32): I rise to condemn the recent remarks from the member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke, in support of a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel. By supporting campaigns for BDS promoted by the likes of Omar Barghouti, the member for Fremantle shows that she is ill-informed and her comments are simplistic and, unfortunately, inflammatory.
The member supports boycotting Israeli and Jewish businesses and in her speech praises the BDS movement headed by Mr Barghouti, who has said on a number of occasions that he wants an end to the Jewish state. His BDS movement is not an opposition to settlements, it is an opposition to Israel’s existence and for Israeli Jews at best to live as a minority under a Muslim majority."

BBC: Another Jerusalem Terror Attack, Another Headline Fail

Jerusalem has suffered another terror attack. In similar fashion to a previous attack, a Palestinian has driven a car into a crowd of Israeli pedestrians before being shot dead by police. At the time of writing, one person has been killed and 14 more injured in the incident which took place late Wednesday morning at a light rail station on the seam-line between the west and east of the city.
And like in previous incidents of this nature, the BBC has produced an appalling headline:
"Driver hits pedestrians in Jerusalem"
That the BBC has apportioned blame to an anonymous “driver” rather than an inanimate vehicle hardly constitutes any improvement on its previous efforts. Just when will the BBC learn?
UPDATE
The BBC has updated its headline:
"East Jerusalem pedestrians hit by driver"

Islamist Medical Student Reports Pro-Israel, Anti-ISIS Doctor to General Medical Council for 'Islamophobia'

A London doctor is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) for alleged Islamophobia after posting criticism of ISIS and support for Israel on his private Facebook page. He was reported to the council by Faisel Alam, who described himself on the complaint form as a “concerned member of the public” but in reality has links to both Islamic and leftist organisations, as well as the Council itself.
Breitbart London has seen a copy of the complaint, the substance of which reads in full “This man is viciously Islamophobic and has used his Facebook to espouse his hatred towards this particular religious group. I fear that his highly intolerable views towards this group of people will compromise his Duty of Care.”
But we have found a number of links between Mr Alam and extremist groups, mostly through his involvement with university campus Islamic Societies which have come under widespread scrutiny over recent years for hosting extremist speakers, creating terrorists, and taking millions of pounds in funding from Saudi and Middle Eastern sources.
Moreover, the file of evidence submitted by Alam to the GMC shows no evidence that the work of Dr Destree, an emergency medical practitioner from London, is anything less than satisfactory, leading to fellow doctors questioning why the investigation is going ahead at all.

US tourist wearing Star of David attacked in Germany

An American tourist was robbed and called a “Jewish bastard” by youths after he asked them for directions in the Cologne train station.
Police are seeking witnesses to the incident, which took place at approximately 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
On the same weekend in Cologne, Germany’s fourth-largest city, some 5,000 people reportedly participated in a major anti-Muslim demonstration, mostly of soccer hooligans, under the motto “Hooligans against Salafists.” Violence erupted during the demonstration, with 49 police officers slightly injured and property damage of about $25,000.

Anti-Semitic Designer Loses Court Case

British designer John Galliano - sacked three years ago by fashion house Dior over a drunken anti-Semitic rant in a Paris
bar - has lost his case for unfair dismissal, lawyers for both parties said on Tuesday.
A Paris labor court rejected his claim, and ordered him to pay a symbolic one euro each to Dior and the John Galliano label which was also named in the action; both are part of the same group.
Galliano's lawyer Chantal Giraud-van Gaver told AFP she was very disappointed by Tuesday's ruling, adding that she would be recommending that her client appeal the decision.
She had earlier said the claim was for between 2.4 million euros (over $3 million) and 13 million euros (over $16 million), depending on how the court chose to classify the dismissal.

Merkel: Holocaust Memorial Thieves Must be Brought to Justice

Merkel, who visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial last year, was presented the prize, named for a former inmate of the death camp, in Berlin where she spoke of the importance of never forgetting the horrors of the Nazi regime and its victims.
"All the more appalling... are acts like the theft of the gate of this concentration camp memorial," she said.
"I hope that those who did that are caught quickly and held to account."
Police have said they are examining whether neo-Nazis were behind the theft but were open to all other possible leads.
Merkel said remembrance was a way to honor the victims but also helped to shape life today and in the future.

Lisbon Jews Demand Protection After 'Ebola' Desecration

The Lisbon Jewish community is demanding extra protection and quick police action to find the perpetrators of what they said was a hate crime, when unknown vandals drew the world “ebola” on a memorial to martyred victims of a massacre in Portugal in 1506.
Besides increased patrols, community leaders called for the placing of security cameras at the memorial, considered one of the most prominent Jewish presences in the country.

Anti-Semitic Muslim Preacher Banned from Entering Belgium

Belgium on Tuesday banned a Kuwaiti Muslim preacher from attending an event in Brussels, accusing him of making anti-Semitic remarks and being a threat to public order.
Tareq Al-Suwaidan, described as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf state, was due to speak at the Brussels Muslim Fair this weekend.
But Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon ordered officials to "take the necessary steps to forbid Tareq Al-Suwaidan access to the area or to stay in it", his office said in a statement.
"It was the only decision possible," Jambon and Prime Minister Charles Michel said in the statement.
"This preacher has unacceptable anti-Semitic beliefs and his presence here is a threat to public order." (h/t Bob Knot)

Church to become first synagogue in German state since Kristallnacht

A former church will become Germany’s newest synagogue and the first in the state of Brandenburg since 1938.
In ceremonies on Sunday, Ulrike Menzel, who has led the Evangelical parish in Cottbus since 2009, handed a key for the Schlolsskirche, or “castle church,” to the Jewish Association of the State of Brandenburg.
The actual dedication of the synagogue is planned for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27.
“It’s wonderful to see this house of worship returned to its intended use,” Menzel said at the ceremony, according to the Nordkurier online newspaper. For decades, the building has been used for social and communal events.

ALS solution may come closer with Israeli-made app

What’s needed is more data – much more, said Alon, and to help gather it, the Israeli branch of German software giant SAP Technologies has embarked on a unique project with Prize4Life: A hackathon in which SAP volunteers will develop an app for mobile devices to enable caregivers to record and upload data on an ALS patient’s condition. With the app, caregivers will be able to immediately record how patients respond to stimuli, if there has been any deterioration in their motor or mental skills – the hallmark of ALS, as patients’ physical and mental conditions worsen gradually over time – whether certain reactions or changes are triggered by certain conditions, activities, foods, and more.
Such an app would provide a great improvement over the current situation, where there is no way to record the minute details of an ALS patient’s day, and that data could prove crucial for researchers looking for an effective treatment for ALS, said Alon. “We plan to build the world’s biggest database of information relating to ALS patients, with the intention of analyzing the information to seek out behavior correlations. The SAP hackathon participants are developing an app that will enable the recording and uploading of this data, which will be available to medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies that are working on treatments for ALS.”

Helping preemies breathe easier

The Pneumonitor, a noninvasive medical device now in clinical trials, could make a critical difference in keeping premature babies alive and well.
The CEO of the Israeli startup Pneumedicare explains that Pneumonitor addresses a common danger for preemies hooked up to ventilation machines to help their immature lungs stay open. High pressure from the ventilator can cause the infant’s tiny air sacs to become overinflated and burst – a condition called pneumothorax.
“Today, monitoring devices for mechanically ventilated patients include sensors in the endotracheal tube and a monitor for blood oxygen saturation, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate, but they all detect a respiratory problem late, after distress and some damage may already be present,” says Carmit Levy.
“In the case of pneumothorax, the average time to diagnosis is two hours, and the first alarm doesn’t provide specific information about the source of the problem. In animal experiments, our unique technology detects a potential pneumothorax an hour before it happens.”

New Plant for Producing F-35 Aircraft Wings Opened Near Airport

Israel Aerospace Industries inaugurated Tuesday a new plant for the manufacture of American fighter pilot wings for F-35 aircraft near Ben Gurion Airport.
As part of the deal, the IDF will receive 19 stealth aircraft at a cost of $2.7 billion, which will be deducted from US aid funds to Israel.
In exchange, every year - starting in 2016 - the new plant is expected to provide about a third of the world's production of F-35 wings, with about 810 wings per year - a production volume worth roughly 2.5 billion dollars.
At the factory's dedication ceremony, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon hailed the "special relationship" between the US and Israel.
"Today, we are here at IAI for the dedication of the production line of the wings of F-35 airplanes," he began. "This is a model of the power of the special relationship between the United States and Israel and between the defense establishments of the two countries and the strength of the State Israel, its people and capabilities."

Pope Francis Praises Bar-Ilan University for Commitment to Interfaith Relations

Pope Francis praised Israel’s Bar-Ilan University for its commitment to fostering interfaith dialogue in a meeting with the university’s president.
Bar-Ilan President Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz visited the Vatican last week with a delegation of South American and Spanish businesspeople. Hershkowitz said that “as a microcosm of Israeli society, Bar-Ilan’s doors are open to students of all races and religions,” Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“Through a variety of ongoing dialogue programs aimed at fostering understanding and acceptance, Bar-Ilan University has been working to bridge gaps between various sectors of Israeli society for many years. It is, therefore, a deep privilege to be meeting with and honoring the pope, who has taken it upon himself to undertake this tremendous task on a worldwide scale,” he said.

YouTube parody adds a Jewish comedic twist to viral anti-street-harassment video

Last week, a video depicting street harassment of women called "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman" went viral and has since inspired a plethora of parodies in its wake.
Proof that the internet parody machine has something to offer to every demographic, videos such as "10 Hours of Walking in World of Warcraft," "10 Hours of Walking in LA as a Drag Queen" and "10 Hours of Walking in Berlin as a Man" amused millions of viewers in recent days.
Jumping on the bandwagon, Scott Rogowsky, host of the live comedy show "Running Late," has released "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Jew."
The video depicts Rogowsky attempting to navigate the streets of New York while being "harassed" by Orthodox Jews interrogating him about his religion.
While walking the streets, Rogowsky is asked everything from "Are you Jewish?, "[Can you give me] a little Shehecheyanu or something?" and "Sniff my etrog." Since its posting on Monday, the video has had over 30,000 views.

10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Jew