Thursday, November 13, 2014
Author of ‘Best Speech by an Israeli Diplomat Ever’ Calls Time on Palestinian ‘Narrative of Victimhood’ (INTERVIEW)
I first encountered the name of George Deek at the end of September, when a reader sent me a link to an entry on a Norwegian blog headlined “The best speech an Israeli diplomat ever held.” Whether the speech deserved that ultimate praise is an open question, but it was certainly one of the more powerful personal accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that I’ve ever read. The fact that its author was a 30 year old Christian Arab citizen of Israel, a native of Jaffa, and the current number two at the Israeli Embassy in Oslo, with an enviable command of Arabic, Hebrew and English, only made the person of George Deek more intriguing.Michael Lumish: “You Stole Their Land”
This week, I conducted a long interview with Deek over the phone. He spoke rapidly and eloquently for over an hour, weaving his personal story into the wider fabric of the Middle East’s myriad ethnic, religious and political conflicts. Deek made the case that his own, sometimes frustrating, quest to succeed in a Jewish state offers a scintilla of hope to the other countries of the Middle East, where – as we are seeing once again in Iraq and Syria – sectarian and communal divides are much more stark and brutal. That he did so with a charm that almost compels you to agree with him is by the bye; the intellectual merits of his arguments warrant serious consideration, and perhaps indicate that Deek has a future ahead of him as a liberal Arab writer or politician.
The eastern coast of the Mediterranean has no more indigenous people than the Jewish people. We were there thousands of years prior to the Arab conquests. We were there, in no particular order, before the Romans or the Persians or the Babylonians or the Brits. There are no other people on this planet, from an historical perspective, who can lay greater claim to the Land of Israel than the people of Israel, the Jewish people.Chloé Valdary: The Missing Piece: Jewish Lives Matter
Is there really any argument to be made that this is untrue?
Can, for example, San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi – who is building an academic career based on spreading hatred toward Jews among liberals and progressives – honestly argue that Jews have less claim to Judaea than do Arabs? Arabs conquered and now control 99.9 percent of the entire Middle East and it is somehow unjust that the native Jewish population hold onto any portion of our historic homeland?
It is entirely absurd, but this is the poison that they are selling.
The best and most straightforward manner of dealing with this nonsense is to remind western liberals that Israel is Jewish land. Just as France is French and England is English and Portugal is Portuguese and China is Chinese, so Israel is Jewish. The very word “Israel” means the Jewish people.
Now, unlike France, Engand, Portugal, or China, we are willing to share that land, but no one can tell us that it is not Jewish land.
“Yes it’s true that Jews have been an oppressed people. But lots of people are oppressed.”
Dr. Clayborne Carson — the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University — gave this flippant response when I pointed out that Jews are an aboriginal people who come from the land of Israel, who have always yearned to return to their land. The trivialization of the persecution of a people could not have been captured so perfectly; but what was tragic about Carson’s statement was that the man who subtly diminished the plight of an indigenous civilization carried the name of Dr. King’s legacy; and indeed, Dr. King is turning in his grave.
Yet this was the sentiment that colored most of the arguments put forth by the debaters at Stanford’s panel discussion event entitled, “Whose Rights? An educational debate on the dis/connection between the U.S. Civil Rights Movement & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” In reality, neither Jewish nor Palestinian rights were truly substantially addressed. I brought up the former incessantly, but to no avail; the concept of the right of Jews to live anywhere on the face of the earth including Judea & Samaria is one which needed no responding to; the debaters preferred to ignore it. They also preferred to ignore the curtailing of the right of Jews to worship freely at their holiest site; the right of Jews to enter certain areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority; the right of Jews to buy land from Arabs; the right of Jews to visit the burial sites of their forefathers and mothers; the right of Jews to live anywhere in the land between the river and the sea.
Ryan Bellerose: Peacemakers
People seem to have no issue telling Israelis to “forgive and make peace” with people who not only haven’t ever shown they want peace, but who openly advocate for the genocide of every single Jew. People who celebrate terrorist attacks. People who pay terrorists according to how many Jews their terrorism killed. The refrain from groups like JVP and J Street is very similar, “If only the Israelis would give just a little bit more, there would be peace” or my favorite “If they would just stop building settlements, there would be peace.” Both of those statements are abject idiocy, for there can be no peace as long as one side refuses to even accept the others existence. There was a cartoon about Kerry telling Israel to “meet Hamas halfway” when Hamas’s goal is to “kill all the Jews”. I get it, people are tired of war, they want to believe that peace is possible, and that everyone wants peace, but I don’t think that there are two sides who want peace. For the pro palestinians to want peace, they have to accept the existence of the state of Israel. Have you seen any evidence that they are willing to do this?Max Blumenthal Banned from German Parliament After Attack, Blames Jewish Conspiracy
If a man walked up to you with a gun, shoots one of your kids and says “I hate you, I want to shoot you and your entire family,” then 5 minutes later he puts the gun away says “Ok I hate you and still want to kill you, but lets make peace because I want peace and I’m out of bullets,” would you even entertain the thought? If I walked up to you every day and said “I hate you”, then punched you in the stomach, then one day said “I still hate you but I want to make peace because my hand is sore,” would you make peace knowing that its just a matter of time before my hand gets better?
There is only one way to a real, lasting peace, and that’s for Israel to do what it has always done. They need to make the hard choice. They need to bite the bullet and go in, create a demilitarized zone. They need to use economic incentives to build an actual economy that isn’t stagnated by Hamas and Fatah and their greedy grubby paws. They need to take control of the education system, to remove the hatred spewing garbage those kids are being fed in school. It would be vastly unpopular in the EU, but I think its the only way forward.
The Vast Jewish Conspiracy doesn’t just run America, it also controls Germany.Bombing Victim’s Niece: Rasmea Odeh is no hero
Max Blumenthal, who recently tried to turn deranged anti-Semitism into a career, thought he would have a great time smearing the Jewish State in Germany. He brought along David Sheen, a guy who likes to rant about “Jewish Supremacism” and whose only function is to make Blumenthal seem a little less crazy.
But he didn’t check his calendar and forgot that it was 2014, not 1934.
The only people who wanted to host him were East German Commies and even they didn’t want to host him after seeing some of the crazy anti-Semitic things in his book. (One of his chapters is titled “How to Kill Goyim and Influence People”.)
So Max Blumenthal and David Sheen handled the problem in exactly the reasonable way you would expect. They entered the German parliament and began trying to harass and intimidate the head of the German Left Party.
I spent last week attending the Immigration Fraud Trial in Detroit of Rasmieh Odeh. I sat in that courtroom with my father (alone in our row) surrounded by supporters of Odeh. We endured days of hateful looks and the rehashing of a traumatic event that changed my family forever.What Does It Take for a Liberal Hostage to Lose His Illusions About Islam?
While I find a great sense of relief in knowing that a unanimous jury found her guilty in less than two hours, I still remain troubled by her numerous supporters.
As I stated in my piece on Huffington Post, “That she has resurfaced after years of hiding her true person and now with hundreds of blind followers and supporters unaware (or worse, who don’t care) of what she did is sheer agony.
That she only served 10 years of her life sentence before being part of a prisoner swap was always painful for us, but that she moved to the US and became Associate Director of the Arab American Action Network, a group which does many things including trying to combat stereotypes of Arabs and is being called an “icon” and “pillar of her community” while hiding her past is awful.”
I want to ask you this: Can you not pick a hero who has not killed two people by placing a bomb in a supermarket (with the intent to kill many more)? One who did not then place another bomb at the British consulate on the same day (said bomb was found and defused). And one who didn’t go back (alone) to the British Consulate again 4 days later placing another bomb which caused structural damage?
Have you seen the documentary, “Women in Struggle”, in which Odeh and her accomplice sit on a couch together years after the bombing and talk in detail about their gruesome acts? That it was their idea to have a second bomb go off 5 minutes after the first to kill the first responders?
Theo Padnos’ account of his time as a hostage is honestly told. This is a man who studied in a “religious academy”, who could quote verses from the Koran, who fell into a nightmare in which he discovered what Islam really was.Pastor treated in Israel for acid burns: West doesn’t understand reality of Islamic ideology
I began my studies in a neighborhood mosque, then enrolled in a religious school popular among those who dream of a “back to the days of the prophet” version of Islam. Later, I moved to Syria to study at a religious academy in Damascus
Somehow none of that alerted him to the difference between what Muslims believe and what liberals think they believe.
Ugandan pastor Umar Mulinde, a Christian convert from Islam, said growing up, he constantly heard “Jews are the most hated people by God.”Netanyahu to meet Thursday with King Abdullah, Kerry in Jordan
He had no relationship with Jews, and “did not even know where Israel was on a map,” but he was taught to hate it.
Muslim hate is mainly religiously based and when he became a Christian, all of a sudden the preachers were “talking about love, and a lot about Israel,” Mulinde said, in an interview in his most recent visit for treatment after an acid attack threatened his life and severely damaged his face.
“It is part of the Islamic mind, and the Western mind refuses to accept the reality of Islamic ideology,” he said.
On December 24, 2011, Muslims in Uganda threw acid on him and severely burned his face, neck and back. He was transported to Sheba Medical Center for treatment with the help of Israeli friends, and has been returning for treatment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday evening in the Jordanian capital of Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the recent surge of violence in Jerusalem.Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas: Jordan 'major partner' to Palestinians on Jerusalem issue
Netanyahu is set to convey the message — one he’s said on numerous occasions over the past few weeks — that Israel has no intention to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, Channel 2 reported.
The site — the holiest in Judaism, and the third-holiest in Islam — has been a source of increased tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, tensions which have led to a number of violent clashes between security forces and Palestinian demonstrators, four terror attacks and an attempted assassination of a Temple Mount activist in just under a month.
Jordan is a major partner for Palestinians on the issue of Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday after he spoke with King Abdullah in Amman.Jordanian Cleric: It Might Be OK To Treat Jewish Tombstones With Respect (satire)
He spoke in advance of his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jordan on Thursday. Kerry will also meet separately with Abdullah.
The visit comes amid a crisis in relations between Jerusalem and Amman over Jerusalem and amid a new wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, including in the nation’s capital. Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Amman for consultations. There is no date yet for his return.
Abbas and Abdullah have accused Israel of wanting to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, which is under the control of the Islamic Wakf. Only Muslims are allowed to pray there, but Jews and Christians can visit.
A leading Sunni preacher in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan made waves today by floating the notion that Islam might take a kind view of treating the grave markers of Jews with respect.Suha Arafat Calls for Recognition of Israel: ‘No One Can Doubt Israel’s Existence’
Hassan Ali Al-Hajez of the capital city’s Ibrahimi Mosque shocked worshipers during his sermon by suggesting the possibility that the tombstones of Jews deserve a fate other than being overturned, smashed, defaced with graffiti, or used in the construction of latrines. Hajez further invoked Islamic texts and scholars to support his idea, but was unable to complete his address before being hounded from the room and pelted with books.
Hajez’s fellow clerics were quick to distance themselves from his remarks, and insisted that he must have spoken on a theoretical plane. “Imam Hassan’s words were taken out of context, we are certain,” said his colleague Omar Sulemain. “There is no other way to account for anyone voicing the sacrilegious, offensive, and downright blasphemous idea that Jewish graves should be treated with anything but contempt.”
The widow of former Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman and arch terrorist, Yasser Arafat, says “We need to clearly express the recognition of Israel; no one can doubt its existence,” Israel’s Ma’ariv reported Wednesday.US ‘deeply concerned’ at new E. Jerusalem housing plan
On the 10th anniversary of Arafat’s death, Suha Arafat told Italy’s La Republica, that, “Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, Fatah leaders and buildings were attacked.”
Suha sharply attacked Hamas, which is also making inroads into the West Bank, despite Israeli and PA security efforts, and in the face of a “unity government” agreement with the Fatah-led PA.
“Hamas has taken the people in the Gaza Strip as hostages,” she said. “When I see what is happening in Gaza, it’s just genocide. This generation grew up with violence, without education, with only a hope of emigrating.
“I hope that Hamas will finally understand that it should work towards peace negotiations,” she said. “They said my husband was an obstacle to peace. [But] We saw what happened to peace after his death.”
“It’s unbelievable how much the Strip has became an Islamic state,” Suha said. Turning to Hamas’ terrorism and IDF retaliation, she argued that, “It’s easy to make war, but it’s hard to stop it. Armed struggle will not lead to anything.”
The US expressed its concern Wednesday that the approval by a local planning committee for 200 new homes in a Jerusalem neighborhood that lies in part over the Green Line will be an obstruction to peace.Kissinger: Israel Should Not Seek Final Peace Deal With Palestinians Until MidEast Chaos Subsides
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the move in the Ramot neighborhood would further hinder efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a two-state solution, Reuters reported.
“We are deeply concerned by this decision particularly given the tense situation in Jerusalem,” Psaki said during her daily press briefing. “Most importantly they are contrary to Israel’s own stated goal of achieving a two-state solution because they make it more difficult to do that.”
Respected statesman and former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger told a New York audience on Tuesday that considering the widespread upheaval in the Middle East, it is a mistake for Israel to pursue a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians.Israel announces it won’t cooperate with UN Gaza probe
After describing the regional turmoil, Kissinger advised against seeking a “permanent settlement” until “the fundamental issues that I described here move to some resolution.”
The renowned diplomat said “the overall solutions will have to be discussed within the context of a solution of the various upheavals and the settling down of these upheavals.”
In the meantime, he counseled, Israel should “make contributions by the understanding it shows for the psychological and historical problems of the people with which it lives in the same territory. But things cannot be accomplished in a final manner in a single negotiation.”
The UN team has been in Jordan for several days, awaiting Israeli permission to cross the border, Channel 2 reported. It said the members were using the time in Jordan to interview “witnesses” there.Today: UN set to adopt same nine anti-Israel resolutions interpreter called “a bit much”
The Foreign Ministry said the decision came about because of the UN Human Rights Council’s “obsessive hostility” toward Israel and “one-sided mandate.” It also cited anti-Israel statements made by inquiry head William Schabas as a factor in the move.
“While Hamas fired thousands of rockets toward Israel, the UN Human Rights Council decided it would determine in advance Israel’s ‘guilt’ and set up an investigative committee to serve as a rubber stamp to its known positions,” a ministry statement said.
“Since the Schabas commission is not an inquiry but a commission that gives its conclusions in advance, Israel will not cooperate with the UN Commission on Human Rights over the last conflict with Hamas,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.
Today, the UN’s Fourth Committee is set to adopt its usual nine politically-motivated anti-Israel resolutions, while ignoring the rest of the world.A Turkish Quest to "Liberate" Jerusalem
One year ago, a hot mic caught a UN interpreter in a Spectacular UN Moment of Candor.
Unaware that her microphone was on and under the mistaken impression that she was speaking only to colleagues, the interpreter uttered the following words into the headphones of every UN delegate, and before a live webcast audience worldwide:
"I think when you have… like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean I know… There’s other really bad shit happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff."
No doubt, after Gaza, al-Aqsa (and Jerusalem) has become a powerful Turkish obsession, and a treasure-trove of votes, especially in view of Turkey's parliamentary elections next June. And do not expect the Turkish leadership only to corrupt facts. Plain fabrication is a more favored method. All the same, someone, sometimes, would unwillingly reveal the truth often when trying to corrupt other facts.Rutgers SJP Hosts Jew-Hating 'Die-In'
Since Davutoglu claimed that "Jerusalem has been entrusted with the Turks by Hazrat Omar," it may be useful to refresh memories. Hazrat Omar is Omar bin Al-Khattab (579-644), one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. Within the context of "conquest vs. occupation," he was referenced by the top cleric, Professor Gormez in a 2012 speech:
"After Hazrat Omar conquered al-Quds [Jerusalem], he was invited to pray at a church [as there were no mosques yet in Jerusalem]. But he politely refused because he was worried that the [conquering] Muslims could turn the church into a mosque after he prayed there."
I’m referring to continual, perpetual, trite hatred of Jews and Israel. You see, while the Rutgers chapter of the AEPi fraternity was handing out information with facts about Israel, denouncing terror and hatred and attempting to have a civil conversation about the facts, the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (an International Solidarity Movement or whatever they are calling themselves these days) was staging a “Die-In” at the same time.A Serious Medical Journal Just Went Mental
What exactly is this event supposed to accomplish? How is this supposed to bring a just and peaceful solution to a very difficult conflict? Who, precisely, is going to benefit from more hatred, more empty slogans, more propaganda and more bullying? How do these students even think that they are furthering their own goals?
For all the nonsensical half-truths, propaganda and outright lies about Israel that they parrot during their events, why not also take aim at the fact that Hamas, in the midst of firing thousands of rockets at Israeli women and children, also dropped 475 rockets on Palestinians. Shouldn’t this also be the subject of an event from a group that purports to care about Palestinians? Even if we grant their premise that they are simply “people of conscious” (sic) who “cannot and should not stand by and watch Israel conduct its heinous crimes” – why aren’t they concerned with the actual heinous crimes of Hamas, or ISIS, or Iran?
Why did one of the world’s most widely respected medical journals publish anti-Israel conspiracy theories?CiF Watch prompts Indy correction to claim about Muslim prayer at the Mount
It was once the case that The Lancet, one of the oldest and most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals in the United Kingdom, was merely a forum for publishing suspect and unreliable research. Its infamous 1998 paper that linked the MMR vaccine to autism, for example, was subsequently disowned and apologized for by the journal’s editor, Richard Horton, although not before anti-vaccination hysteria gripped the world to the point that vaccination rates in the richest suburbs of Los Angeles are now as low as third-world nations such as Chad and South Sudan.
Today, The Lancet is embroiled in controversy once more. On July 23, the journal published “An open letter for the people of Gaza” in its correspondence section. Authored by medical professionals on behalf of 24 signatories, most of them from Italy and the UK, the letter denounced “what we witness in the aggression of Gaza by Israel.”
In addition to the bizarre suggestion by Ben Lynfield at The Independent that recent violence in Jerusalem can be attributed to Israeli restrictions on Muslim “access to al-Aqsa Mosque”, his Nov. 6th report included the following historical error concerning the history of Muslim prayer at the Temple Mount Compound.BBC WS ‘Newshour’ continues to mislead on Temple Mount issues
Lynfield omits the Crusader period (1099 to 1187) in which Christian prayer was of course permitted. (In the 13th century, there were several years of additional Crusader control, before Muslim rule was re-established in 1244.)
After contacting Indy editors, they revised the passage to note the period when Christians ruled the holy city.
So as we see, here is another example of BBC audiences worldwide being wrongly informed that Jews are going to Al Aqsa Mosque. Additionally, listeners are led to believe that Temple Mount is not a holy site for Jews with Franks’ intervention doing little to clarify the fact that not only is that not true, but it is actually the most holy site in Judaism.BBC Radio 4 compares Israel’s anti-terrorist fence to the Berlin Wall
No effort was made by Franks to counter the inaccurate version of the same morning’s events (in which Palestinian began rioting before the police entered the compound rather than the other way round) and the fact that age restrictions on entry to Temple Mount are intended purely to prevent organized – and often paid – rioters from disturbing the peace was not adequately clarified.
Whilst Abunimah invoked the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan on several occasions as supposed back-up to his claims, no attempt was made to inform audiences that Israel is responsible for security at the site or what that treaty actually says with regard to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. The reality is in fact considerably different to the picture presented by Franks’ guest.
Connolly’s account fits perfectly into the far from impartial standard BBC template used to present the topic of the anti-terrorist fence. It includes the usual inaccurate misrepresentation of the anti-terrorist fence as a structure designed to “separate” two areas and fails to adequately inform audiences with regard to the years of terrorism which were the background to its construction.Video Fail: Wrong Year Footage Multiplies Palestinian Casualties
Connolly employs the inevitable qualifying BBC formula of “Israel says” but refrains from providing BBC audiences with the readily available factual evidence of the fence’s effectiveness in preventing terror attacks. He inserts the equally uniform amplification of the evidence-free narrative according to which “Palestinians believe it was done to annex their territory” whilst concurrently misleadingly portraying areas which are supposed to have their status determined by negotiation – according to agreements signed by the representatives of the Palestinian people – as “Palestinian land”. And as is so often the case in BBC reporting, Connolly misrepresents the physical nature of the structure, failing to inform listeners that well over 90% of it is fence rather than a wall.
What the video doesn’t tell you is that it covers events from a Nakba Day back in May 2011 when incidents included an attempt by hundreds of Palestinians to breach Israel’s border with Syria on the Golan Heights. This only becomes obvious when you see the 2011 date stamp at the end of the video.BBC News website coverage of November 10 terror attacks reveals editorial policies
It’s unprofessional and lazy journalism to pass off events that are over three years old as recent footage.
In addition, the video itself gives casualty figures way in excess of those that occurred in May 2014, quoting at least 12 dead rather than the two that the article relates to. The video also conveys events taking place on multiple borders, which was not the case in 2014, where protests were limited to a narrower geographical area.
Yet again we see the legal purchase of properties in specific geographical areas by people of a certain religion or ethnicity framed by the ‘progressive’ BBC as “settlement” and audiences encouraged to view that as an element of the context to recent violent attacks carried out by Palestinians.Pigua Alon Shvut BBC tweets 2How Lobbyists Reflect Countries They Support
However, this article – like its predecessor and all other previous BBC reports in recent weeks – erases the very relevant issue of Palestinian incitement – both official and unofficial – from audience view – just like those hundreds of pre-Operation Protective Edge missiles have been erased from the BBC’s narrative.
For months now partners in the Palestinian unity government have been inciting violence and terror. The BBC has religiously ignored incitement and glorification of terrorism by the PA president, by his party Fatah, by PA institutions, by official PA media and by Abbas’ unity government partners Hamas.
What is truly interesting about these foreign-policy lobbies, however, is just how much they have come to reflect the countries with which they seek greater U.S. strategic alignment.Germany warns anti-Semitism rising amid upsurge in Mideast violence
Take AIPAC: At present, its president is Bob Cohen, elected in 2013. Before him, it has had well over a dozen presidents and executive directors, most serving just two or three years before the membership elected a new leader. As such, AIPAC has very much reflected the democratic nature of both the United States and Israel. As in Israel and the United States, its audience actively debates issues—there is seldom an easy consensus in AIPAC circles and contrary to the caricatures put out by some in more fringe circles, AIPAC remains a big tent, with its rank-and-file actually leaning toward the liberal and progressive within the American political context.
NIAC is a different animal entirely. Since its inception more than a decade ago, it has been led by a single leader, Trita Parsi, a dual Swedish-Iranian citizen permanently residing in the United States. NIAC has no regularly scheduled elections and so Parsi seems intent to remain his organization’s leader for life. Indeed, it’s a parallel not lost on Iranian-Americans, who often mock Parsi as the “rahbar,” or supreme leader. NIAC reflects Iranian political culture in other ways as well. While AIPAC tends to ignore criticism or simply argue back, NIAC has responded to criticism with ad hominem attack or by seeking to silence those it dislikes. Hence, it sued an Iranian-American journalist for defamation, a suit it ended up losing after also being sanctioned for seeking to surreptitiously alter its record and for failing to uphold discovery orders.
Germany's foreign minister said at an international conference on anti-Semitism on Thursday that "hatred of Jews" was on the rise once more in his country and across Europe, fueled by spiraling violence in the Middle East.German ambassador to Netherlands to visit graves of SS soldiers
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany's Jews were subjected to threats and attacks at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza must not be used as justification for an anti-Semitic behavior.
As well as slogans like "Gas the Jews!" during some marches, in July at the height of the 50-day Gaza war petrol bombs were thrown at a synagogue in Wuppertal which had been burnt down on Kristallnacht - a Nazi attack on the Jews in 1938 - and rebuilt.
"Bold and brutal anti-Semitism has shown its ugly face again," Steinmeier told an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) event.
Ambassador Franz Josef Kremp is supposed to attend the commemoration on November 16 at the Ysselsteyn cemetery near Eindhoven in the eastern Netherlands, a cemetery for victims of World War II. He is, according to a report Wednesday by the Dutch De Telegraaf daily, aware that it contains the remains of SS soldiers.Effed Up Muslim Says The JOO’s Were Behind Nigerian School Bombings Because They Like Killing Kids
Herman Loonstein, founder of the Federative Jewish Netherlands group and a Jewish activist against commemoration in the Netherlands of Nazis and soldiers who fought for Germany, told the daily: “I think this is an affront. Mr. Kremp should not be presenting SS soldiers as victims. Jews were the victims.”
De Telegraaf reported that it had obtained a letter written by Kremp about the Ysselsteyn cemetery — where neo-Nazis have gathered in the past to honor Nazi soldiers buried there — in which he stated: “Among the dead resting here are German and Dutch war casualties, including Waffen SS.” The report did not say to whom the letter was addressed and in what context.
Yobe School Blast: Sheikh Zakzaky Alleges Israeli Connection In Potiskum BloodbathIsraeli Knesset’s Christian Caucus Mourns Pro-Israel Pastor Killed in Plane Crash
Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky said, the Ashura and secondary school attacks in Potiskum in which majority of the victims were children has Israeli landmark and connection.
The Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria made the statement on Monday during the 18th day of Ashura Majlis at the Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria.
The Israeli Knesset Christian Allies Caucus is mourning renowned Evangelical Pastor Myles Munroe, who was killed along with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas on Sunday.Super-fast video search stands guard at the Statue of Liberty
The plane had exploded upon hitting a crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard while trying to land in Freeport. Josh Reinstein, director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, remembered Munroe as a frequent visitor to the Jewish state whose “faith and love of Israel was an inspiration to us all.”
“Israel had no better friend and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus was honored to work with him,” Reinstein told The Jerusalem Post.
Heightened security and always-ready high definition cameras found on many cellphones today have joined forces to create an endless stream of images, both video and still, that pour into police stations and security offices all day, every day.Start-up’s ‘smart balloons’ help quest for peace in Jerusalem
That deluge, according to Rachel Neiman of the Israeli firm BriefCam, is a problem that her firm stands ready to solve, by helping law enforcement and private security to quickly parse through endless reams of footage in order to find what they really need to see.
“The smartphone revolution especially, along with the heightened state of security since 9/11, have prompted more people to get involved and take video of events as they are happening,” said Neiman. “Law enforcement is very much in favor of this, but they have been inundated – sometimes overwhelmed – by the amount of footage they have to go through. That’s where BriefCam and our new Syndex GV product comes in.”
High-tech balloons — real ones and decoys — are playing a part in trying to put an end to weeks of violence in Jerusalem, where Palestinians have been attacking Israelis, throwing rocks at police and at the city’s light rail cars. In response, officials have been seeking ways to calm things down and to increase the sense of security among residents. Rami Shmuely, CEO of video surveillance security company RT, says the city may have found an answer – video-camera equipped balloons RT makes and sells.Israeli Web Startup Wix to Advertise at Superbowl
“The city ordered three of our camera-equipped balloons, and I told the mayor that he should order two more even without the cameras, just for the deterrence factor,” Shmuely told The Times of Israel. “He laughed, but a few days later he called me up to tell me that the system was indeed very effective. As soon as the balloon was taken down for maintenance, they started throwing rocks in Shuafat again,” a reference to a Palestinian refugee camp inside Jerusalem’s city limits.
The balloon launch was announced a few weeks ago as part of an effort by security officials to discourage the rioting and rock throwing that has cropped up in Jerusalem in recent weeks. Regardless of the political issues, said Mayor Nir Barkat, the physical safety of residents and visitors would not be compromised – and part of that solution, said Shmuely, is RT’s SkyStar aerial video surveillance system.
Israeli do-it-yourself website construction platform Wix is set to advertise during the Super Bowl XLIX, writes Jewish Business News.IDF Blog: The “Merkava” celebrates 35 years of service in the IDF
The company will air a 30 second spot in the fourth quarter of the game, which will be broadcast on NBC on February 1st.
Seth Winter, Executive VP-sales and sales marketing, NBC Sports Group and NBC Universal News Group, told Ad Age that a 30-second spot in the Super Bowl is running advertisers $4.5 million. The ad will highlight Wix's mission to simplify website creation, specifically for small business owners.
Thirty-five years ago, after several years of development and months of training, the “Merkava I” tank, the first completely armored Israeli vehicle, began its active service in the IDF. Today, the “Merkava” is a key factor in the IDF’s forces.Auschwitz prisoner No. A7733 finally finds his family
Since its first operational activity during the First Lebanon War in 1982, the “Merkava” has proven itself as the best tank on the battlefield, outshining the T-72 tanks supplied to the Syrian army by the Soviet Union. Ever since, the Merkava has fought on every front, always fulfilling its mission.
Today, the “Merkava MK-IV”, which came into use in 2004, is the most modern of the “Merkava” tanks. It includes a fire control system that allows it to shoot down helicopters, a Battle Management System which allows different vehicles to communicate in the battlefield, and a caterpillar track system that allow it to move over all types of terrain.
Auschwitz prisoner No. A7733 has yet to find his twin brother, but his journey has already generated a family.
About a year and a half ago, Ynet published the story of Menachem Bodner, a twin survivor of the Mengele experiments, who after 70 years, thanks to a persistent genealogy researcher, discovered his real name, his place of birth and the fact that he has distant relatives living in Israel.
Recently, thanks to a DNA test and a research of his roots in the United States, he also found cousins he never knew he had, and held a video chat with them from California last week.
In addition, for the first time in his adult life, he received a picture of his parents, who were erased from his scarred memory in Auschwitz and who he had not seen since the family was sent to the camps by the Gestapo.
The journey in search of his twin brother, Jeno, prisoner No. A7734, is still going on.
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