11/14 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: Why Gaza is not remotely occupied; Israel bans Mads Gilbert

From Ian:

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Eugene Kontorovich: Why Gaza is not remotely occupied (I)

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last week found no jurisdiction over Israel’s naval interdiction of vessels seeking to break the Gaza blockade. But she did issue a long obiter pronouncement – albeit non-binding, tentative, and discounted with multiple disclaimers – that it would be “reasonable” to conclude Israel occupies Gaza.
Normally such a tentative statement would not warrant further examination. But even with all the qualifications, the prosecutor’s argument is not reasonable. It is absurd and unprecedented. It embodies principles that have never and can never be applied to other situations. This post will discuss the doctrinal and judicial flaws with the OTP’s analysis. A subsequent post will examine state practice, the insignificance of the alleged powers the OTP claims Israel exercises.
An occupation is traditionally defined as a power exercising “effective control” over the territory in a way that displaces the prior government. The occupying power is expected to provide law and order, essential services, and all the basic functions of government – and is thus required to have the kind of control that allows for that. As the ICJ has put it, occupation requires a territory to be “actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.” There has never been a finding of a such “remote” occupation, lasting nine years after the end of physical occupation and in the presence of a distinct and hostile local government. Indeed, even puppet governments are not considered occupation by the puppet master.

Gaza is not remotely occupied (II)

Ironically, the ICC decision comes shortly after Sweden’s much-trumpeted decision to recognize a Palestinian state. The Swedes are sticklers for international law, and do not believe in short cuts around the objective Montivedeo criteria for recognizing new states. Thus in explaining their decision, Stockholm said that the Palestinians do have a government, a power exercising control. It likened it to Kosovo and Croatia, where recognition occurred when the government only controlled some of its claimed territory. The Swedes did not specify which territory the Palestinian government controls (or which government), but presumably it would include Gaza and Area A.
Even aside from the issue of whether Palestine qualifies as a state, most of the world recognizes a Palestinian “government” that includes Gaza as well. A government governs, and thus has effective control. So it the Prosector is truly guided by the opinion of the international community, she has a problem, as these views are contradictory. That is the danger in departing from legal tests to political ones.

Israel bans co-author of Lancet letter from Gaza

A Norwegian doctor who has been critical of Israel has been banned from entering the Gaza Strip for life, with Israeli officials citing security reasons, Norway’s Verdens Gang newspaper reported Friday.
Dr. Mads Gilbert has been treating patients at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital for 30 years, VG reported, but on his most recent trip in October, Israeli soldiers at the Erez Crossing told him he could not enter.
Gilbert has called the decision “provocative, unreasonable and totally unacceptable.” The Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv said it was told the doctor was being prohibited from entering the Palestinian territory for “security reasons,” with no further justification given.

Gilbert was one of the authors of a letter published in the prominent medical journal Lancet during the recent Gaza conflict, which accused Israel of massacring Palestinians and overwhelmingly targeting women and children. The British journal’s editor Prof. Richard Horton later said — following a trip to Israel — that he regretted the letter and that it “did not convey the level of complexity that is the reality in Israel.”

In a 2001 interview with the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, Gilbert stated that 9/11 occurred because of Western foreign policy and that he supported terror attacks within the framework of that “context,” claiming that “the suppressed have a moral right to attack the United States.”

Islamic terrorists are no 'lone wolves'

The battle against Palestinian terrorism is undermined by the futile focus on the symptoms (individual terrorists) rather than the root cause (hate education). In other words, let us not chase individual mosquitoes; let us instead drain the swamp.
Counterterrorism is further undermined by the immoral-moral equivalence applied to Palestinian perpetrators and their Israeli victims; by the knee-jerk pressure of Israel urging sweeping concessions and restraint, thereby emboldening terrorists; ignoring Abbas' terrorist/subversive track record in order to promote wishful-thinking; and extending counterproductive financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, which bankrolls hate education.
For instance, the annual $400 million the U.S. gives to Abbas -- which is more than the combined aid from all the Arab oil producers -- has not reduced terrorism and non-compliance, has not shifted Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence, and has not eliminated hate education.
Congress would not support hate education within the U.S., but supports hate education in the Palestinian Authority, thereby undermining the civil liberties of most Palestinians. The Palestinians, in turn, abhor the corrupt, oppressive, terroristic "Tunisian Gang" of Abbas and his associates, which was imposed on them by the Oslo Accords.
The suspension of foreign aid to, and all communications with, Abbas, the hate educator, would communicate the message that hate education is the antithesis of core U.S. values; that hate educators should not benefit from the largesse of the U.S. taxpayer; and that hate educators on the one hand, and compliance with agreements and peaceful coexistence on the other, constitutes a scandalous oxymoron.

Are Democrats Losing the Jews?

First, some raw facts. In the 2006 midterm elections, 87 percent of Jews voted for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives. Last week, in the 2014 midterm elections, 66 percent cast ballots for Democrats. That's a 21-point drop in eight years—and, it might seem, a major cause for celebration among the likes of the Republican Jewish Coalition and philo-Semitic political strategists everywhere.
But while Jewish support for Democrats has definitely declined over the last decade, the context is important. Poll numbers show how people are voting, but it's more difficult to figure out what they mean for the role of Jews in American politics.
And for such a small group, that's a big question.
"The importance of the Jews isn't their votes," said Benjamin Ginsberg, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. "They account for a huge share of the activist base of the Democratic Party and account for much of the money available to Democratic candidates. If you are a Republican strategist, it seems fairly obviously that if you can shift Jewish support even a little bit away from the Democrats, it makes the Democratic Party less competitive."

As Jews Shift Away From Democratic Party, Is Ed Koch’s 2012 Advice Being Heeded?

A few months before his death in February 2013, the legendary former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, gave a lengthy interview to The Algemeiner, in which he issued some pointed advice to both the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.
“I believe it’s harmful for a community to be exclusively for one party,” Koch said to the Jews. “The Jewish community is… far too tied to the Democratic party. Even though I’m a Democrat, I think they should make clear that the candidate, whether Democrat or Republican, has to win their support in every election and not be taken for granted.”
Addressing the Democrats, Koch said simply: “The Jewish community currently is taken for granted by the Democratic party.”
Two years later, it seems that growing numbers of Jewish voters are heeding Koch’s counsel, while the Democrats don’t appear to have absorbed what he said.

Isi Leibler: Is American Jewish leadership intimidated?

I would hesitate in writing this column had I not served as a national Jewish leader who faced similar dilemmas to those confronting the American Jewish leadership today, many of whom I was engaged with in various battles against enemies of the Jewish people and Israel.
Yet, with considerable regret and notwithstanding notable exceptions, I believe that today the major leaders within the American Jewish establishment are failing to stand up and be counted, despite chilling signals that the US administration is about to abandon Israel, effectively revoking the US-Israel alliance on which we are deeply dependent.
There are even hints that US President Barack Obama may forgo the US veto at the United Nations Security Council that protects Israel from censure and sanctions – which could have disastrous repercussions.
This is taking place at a time when much of the world regards Israel as they did Czechoslovakia in the 1930s.

"I've Never ... Felt Inhibited By Antisemites": Isi Leibler On His Long & Legendary Career as A World Jewish Leader (video)

"Unquestionably the dominant Jewish lay leader in Australia during the previous quarter century”, as the Encyclopaedia Judaica describes him, Isi Leibler (who celebrated his 80th birthday last month) headed the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) from 1978-95. He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1977, an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) in 1989, and an honorary Doctor of Letters from Deakin University in 1990.
Well-known around the globe for his regular column in the Jerusalem Post, Isi Leibler
was born in Antwerp, the eldest of three sons of Polish-born parents, and was brought up in Australia from the age of five. Educated at the Melbourne Boys' High School and the University of Melbourne, where he attained a first-class honors degree in politics, he began doctoral studies with the hope of becoming a diplomat, but abandoned that goal owing to the early death, in 1957, of this father, a diamond merchant. Eventually, with Melbourne Yiddishist and Bundist Bono Wiener, Isi Leibler founded Jetset Tours, which became the largest travel company in the Southern Hemisphere.
Isi Leibler was involved in Jewish communal leadership from his student days, and became a legendary figure not only on the Australian but on the world Jewish stage, initially for his pioneering involvement in the cause of Soviet Jewry.

Jon Stewart, anti-Israel propagandist

Stewart seems to think that having Jewish parents and playing a news anchor on TV make him an authority on Middle East politics. So he can throw out comments about Israel being an “oppressor” and go along with the suggestion that Israel is not a “realistic, functioning democratic society.” And while he’s at it he can propagate the falsehood that Israel has appropriated 1000 acres of ‘Palestinian’ land in the ‘West bank’.
He says that he wants Israel to be a safe and secure state, so why does he support the position of the hostile Obama Administration over that of the democratically elected government of Israel?

More scenes from Concentration camp Gaza

Today is day one of ExpoTech Gaza 2014
Among the invited are
- More than 200 Palestinian ICT companies.
- Palestinian Academics, opinion leaders and other role models from Palestine and abroad.
- Key governmental bodies and other Palestinian partners from the public sector.
- Non-profit developmental organizations and think-tanks in Palestine.
- Palestinian and International media.

Anti-Israel activists barricade the Oakland Federal Building (Sorta)

Anti-Israel activists (well, two of them anyway) Noura Khouri and Henry Noor are sitting symbolically in front of a doorway at the Oakland federal building to express their uncontrollable rage over convicted murderer Rasmea Odeh's pending imprisonment. Two of their comrades have used U locks to fasten their necks to the building. They seem vaguely aware of just how ridiculous it look, and they avert their gaze from mine. A handful of other anti-Israel activists are also milling around aimlessly, waving banners and chanting slogans.
A handful of Homeland security officers are surveying the scene, looking bored.
Two bomb sniffing beagles are walking the perimeter of the complex, happy to get out in the autumn air.
Also sighted (don't these people have jobs?) Kate Raphael, Dick Becker, Ramsey El Qare, Sara Kershnar, tree-sitter Ayre and several dozen angry Arabs, JVPers and other familiar faces.
The activists distribute a flyer glorifying Rasmea Odeh, a member of the PFLP terror group who was responsible for the death of two young men, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner.

A year after passing boycott, ASA still obsessed with Israel

The tense atmosphere for the ASA’s annual meeting was apparent before it even started. A statement by the ASA leadership in December that it would not collaborate with “scholars who are expressly serving as representatives or ambassadors of [Israeli] institutions” led to questions over whether Israeli scholars could even attend. The ASA confirmed that they could and three did, as well an administrator from Haifa University who encountered no difficulties.
The association also employed stringent requirements for media credentials, insisting on a photo ID and extensive verification that journalists and their publications covered higher education and were not “advocacy publications.”
All of this took place against a broader academic landscape beset by budget cuts and worries about diminishing job opportunities and curbs on academic freedom. The tone of the gathering was captured in a Friday afternoon session called “Scholars Under Attack.”
Still, ASA officials said they stood by the boycott.

Woolworths takes Palestine protesters to court

Woolworths has filed a court application against the organisation Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel in South Africa (BDS SA) "to protect our employees and customers from increasing unlawful protests inside its stores".
BDS SA is a member of the National Coalition 4 Palestine (NC4P).
Paula Disberry, group director: retail operations at Woolworths, told Fin24 the unlawful protest actions inside its stores have had a profound effect on many of its employees and customers.
"We respect the right of BDS to protest, but we are seeking to prevent protests inside our stores. Unfortunately their campaign has extended beyond raising awareness and includes actions such as intimidation of customers and employees, restricting access and preventing customers from shopping," said Disberry, adding that products have also been damaged.

Pro-Palestine teen pleads guilty to role in violent Calgary protest

One of four pro-Palestinian protesters charged in connection with a dust up with Israel supporters in Calgary pleaded guilty to assault Wednesday for sucker-punching a woman.
The offender, who was 17 at the time and can't be named, admitted striking Samantha Hamilton once in the face as she went to assist her brother, who was being attacked.
Defence counsel Rame Katrib entered a guilty plea on behalf of the now 18-year-old.
Crown prosecutor Carla MacPhail, who said she will not be seeking any jail time, read in a statement of agreed facts signed by Katrib and his client.
She said the altercation took place during a rally supporting Palestine in the early evening of July 18.

Anger over university's decision to cancel Islamic extremism report launch

A university has been accused of censorship after scrapping the launch of a report into alleged Islamic extremism in schools and campuses across the UK.
The University of West London was criticised following the decision to cancel the event staged by Sharia Watch UK – set up to monitor the radicalisation of young British Muslims – on safety and procedural grounds.
It follows claims in the past that universities have failed to crackdown on extremist speakers and turned a blind eye to gender segregation for religious reasons.

Students At Ryerson Univ. Stand Up Against Anti-Semitism

On Tuesday, pro-Israel students stood up for their right to attend classes without the divisive propaganda of a motion to demonize Israel - and Jewish students-​ at the General Assembly meeting of the Ryerson Student Union (RSU) at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Motion I, “which called for the RSU to revamp its No Islamophobia No Anti-Semitism No Racism Campaign” passed unanimously. Motion J, “calling on the RSU to publicly oppose anti-Semitic actions on campus, to work with Jewish students to fight anti-Semitism, and for the RSU to publish an annual report detailing all incidents of racism on campus and the actions taken by the RSU,” passed after some debate.
"When a speaker said that she's not anti-Semitic, just anti-Zionist, I just wanted to jump up and say - 'It's the same thing!'” explained Shawna Gorsky, a student leader. “It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable when people openly claim to be anti-Zionist, when that in itself is discrimination. I feel personally attacked when people say things like that."

German-Arab trade group under fire for boycott of Israel

Volker Beck, a senior Green Party deputy in the Bundestag, called for an inquiry into the practices of the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry because they enable the boycott of Israel.
Beck, who is president of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group, wrote the Merkel administration on Tuesday, asking what knowledge the federal government has concerning a “boycott of Israeli products” and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s practices.
“How does the federal government assess the [Arab-German Chamber of Commerce] practice of issuing a certificate that no work was conducted with Israel [concerning a product for export]?” Beck asked.

BBC Defense of ‘Anti-Semitic’ Exchange Draws Fire From UK Jewish Community

Despite receiving 33 complaints from viewers about a panel discussion that openly promoted anti-Semitic stereotypes, the BBC, Britain’s publicly-funded broadcaster, has defended the exchange, leading to criticism from the main UK Jewish communal security body that the corporation’s reaction was “obviously wrong.”
As The Algemeiner reported on Tuesday, the panel had been discussing the headline on the November 8 edition of The Independent newspaper, which read: “Jewish donors drop ‘toxic’ Miliband.” Miliband, who is Jewish, has been facing growing criticism from within the Jewish community since Maureen Lipman, a leading British Jewish actress, declared she was abandoning the party after the Labour leader gave his backing to British recognition of a Palestinian state independently of any negotiations with Israel.
As London’s Jewish Chronicle noted, BBC panelist Jo Phillips said: “What you get is a lot of unnamed people, from the sort of Jewish lobby, and obviously, you know, they’ve been very supportive of the Labour party, and they are abandoning ‘toxic’ Labour.
“But they are not abandoning it because of Ed Miliband’s personal ratings, according to this, it’s because of what Ed Miliband actually said in the summer, his aggressive condemnation of Israel’s disproportionate attacks and incursion into Gaza.”
Those comments were followed by presenter Tim Willcox asking: “A lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the political mansion tax presumably?”

BBC’s Connolly fails to tell all about the ‘status quo’ on Temple Mount

Neither does Connolly inform his listeners how that status quo has been changed over the last 47 years.
Whatever one’s opinion of the campaign by some for equal Jewish prayer rights on Temple Mount (for some reason uniformly portrayed by the BBC as a “Right-wing” issue), it is clear that the Israeli government has no intention of changing that aspect of the status quo. However, the many other components of that status quo which have changed – including damage to antiquities, unauthorized construction, restriction of access to non-Muslims and harassment of visitors – are consistently concealed from audiences in BBC portrayal of the topic. Kevin Connolly’s latest item is no exception.

Iran conquers The Economist

Coincidently, CNN culinary reporter Anthony Bourdain also presented a special report on Iran ‎this month. It included an interview with Rezaian and his Iranian wife, Yeganeh Salehi, ‎correspondent for an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper. Neither have been critics of the regime. ‎Bourdain is troubled by Rezaian's incarceration (Salehi also was jailed, then released last ‎month) but he doesn't let that interfere with the story he wants to tell, which is similar to the story ‎told by The Economist: Iranians, he is shocked to find, are friendly and hospitable, not ‎revolutionary firebrands. From that he infers that the regime must be not so bad after all. ‎
The Economist says that Iran is no longer "seething with hatred and bent on destruction." But ‎neither was it in early 1979 when I spent several months there covering the Iranian Revolution. ‎Most people were eager to talk with me. But most people were not the angry jihadis who, in the ‎fall of that year, seized the U.S. Embassy and for 444 days abused the diplomats they took as ‎hostages. ‎
Both The Economist and Bourdain are concerned about the impact of sanctions on Iran's ‎economy. Both give short shrift to what provoked the sanctions: the regime's illicit nuclear ‎weapons program. The Economist says of this program: "Many regard it as a symbol of national ‎strength at a time of perplexing social changes." Ah yes, what better fortifies one against ‎perplexing social changes than nuclear armed missiles with "Death to America!" painted on their ‎sides? ‎
The Economist reinforces all the standard media memes. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is a ‎‎"moderate" battling "hard-liners." Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is "dovish." ‎Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Forces responsible for the deaths of hundreds of ‎Americans in Iraq, is merely the "bete noire" of the American armed forces.‎

Isi Leibler: Obama desperate for a deal with Iran at any price

Despite statements to the contrary, the Obama administration appears determined to achieve an agreement with Iran and seems willing to breach its repeated undertakings that it would never countenance Iran becoming a nuclear power. With the mullahs’ increased intransigence as they sense the desperation of the Americans to avoid a confrontation, the November 24 deadline will probably be extended, enabling the centrifuges to continue spinning while the P5+1 countries engage in fruitless negotiations with the duplicitous Iranians.
The Iranians have mocked US Secretary of State John Kerry’s overtures, including his secret appeals to them to coordinate with the US in opposing Islamic State (IS). Speaking from a podium bedecked with banners blazing “America cannot do a damn thing,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boasted that the “Great Satan’s” efforts to bring Iran to its knees had failed and that US President Barack Obama lacked the courage for a military confrontation. Ali Younesi, senior advisor to “moderate” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, referred to Obama as “the weakest of US presidents,” whose six years in office were “humiliating.”
Nevertheless, the administration continues to grovel in an effort to appease the Iranians. It is widely believed that the unprecedented hostility recently directed against Israel, especially the statement that Israel had lost the opportunity of exploiting the military option to prevent Iran becoming a nuclear power, was primarily for the benefit of Khamenei.

Bret Stephens: If Iran Says ‘Yes’

Finally, as the Economist magazine argued in a recent editorial, time is on the West’s side. Think of China in the early 1970s: Sooner or later, Khamenei, like Mao, will die; sooner or later, public thirst for modernization, led by a Deng Xiaoping -type figure such as Hasan Rouhani, will steer Tehran to a better path.
Maybe so: Dreams sometimes come true. But diplomacy based on dreams usually fails. Iran, under its moderate leadership, executes one person roughly every seven hours. It boasts broad sway over four Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and, most recently, Sanaa, in Yemen. The President of the Great Satan is all but begging for a nuclear deal. European companies are already salivating at the thought of a piece of the post-sanctions Iranian economy. Try dialing that back.
As for the opposition once known as the Green Revolution, when did you last hear from it?
The Obama administration likes to make much of the notion that Iran, starved by sanctions, is like a beggar at a banquet. If so, this beggar doesn’t settle for scraps. If Iran says no to a deal, Mr. Kerry will soon be back with a better offer. If it says yes, it will take what it’s given and, in good time, take some more.
Al Qaeda on a “path to defeat.” America “out of Iraq.” It won’t be long before a nuclear deal with Iran will join the list of Mr. Obama’s hollow Mideast achievements.

Netanyahu: Iran is America’s enemy, not its partner

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US not to embrace Iran in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS), stating: “Iran is not a partner of America. It’s an enemy of America.”
There have been suggestions that Iran can help solve the problem of extremism in the Middle East, but nothing could be further from the truth, said Netanyahu.
“Iran is not part of the solution. It’s a huge part of the problem,” Netanyahu said.
“As I said to the United Nations a few months ago, to defeat ISIS and allow Iran to be a threshold nuclear power would be to win the battle and lose the war,” the prime minister said.

Ten days from Iran nuclear deadline, talk of a second extension

Negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran may require more time than planned, officials involved in the talks began suggesting on Thursday.
The talks are set to end on November 24 after 10 months of effort.
“Key questions” remain unresolved, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Paris.
“I can’t make any predictions at this time,” Fabius said. “I think it will only be on the day of the 24th that we’ll be able to make an assessment.”
But in Moscow, one Russian official entertained the possibility of extending the talks.

Hardliners in Iran Attack the “Humiliating” Nuclear Talks

Hardline political factions in Iran attacked the negotiations that the Islamic Republic is currently conducting with the international powers on the nuclear issue, claiming that these talks are “humiliating” Iran.
“Washington does not want to fully lift the sanctions,” complained Ham Anshidi, a website associated with conservative political factions in Iran. The site quoted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that Iran should not give in when it comes to its nuclear program.
These remarks follow two days of nuclear talks in Muscat, Oman, between Iran and the P5+1 nations—the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany. The deadline for a comprehensive agreement is November 24.
In a secret letter sent last month, U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly stressed to Khamenei that any cooperation in fighting Islamic State militants would depend on reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal.

Pentagon Downplays Iranian Replica Drone After First Flight

Iran’s copy of a U.S. drone aircraft captured in 2011 is inferior to the American original, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as it downplayed claims from Tehran this week that the replica had taken its first flight.
Asked about the Iranian replica, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren quipped: “Replica being the operative word there.”
“There is no way it matches American technology,” Warren told a news briefing. He did not cite evidence to back up his assertion.
In December 2011, Iran said it had captured a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran that had been reported lost by U.S. forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The aircraft is manufactured by U.S. defense technology company Lockheed Martin
In a video posted this week by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced satisfaction after seeing a replica of the drone, saying: “Today is a very sweet and unforgettable day for me.”

US lawmakers move to strip Nazi war criminals of benefits

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday to strip suspected Nazi war criminals of their U.S. government pension benefits, insisting that American taxpayers should not be underwriting the retirement of anyone who participated in the Third Reich's atrocities.
The Nazi Social Security Benefits Termination Act comes in response to an Associated Press investigation published in October revealing that millions of dollars in benefits have been paid to dozens of former Nazis who were forced out of the United States. At least four are alive, living in Europe on U.S. Social Security benefits.
The legislation would end benefits for Nazi suspects who have lost their American citizenship, a step called denaturalization. U.S. law currently requires a higher threshold -- a final order of deportation -- before benefits can be terminated. A companion bill to close this loophole is scheduled to be introduced in the Senate.

Greek ambassador speaks out against racism, anti-Semitism

Speaking at an event to commemorate Greek Jews murdered in the Holocaust, Greek Ambassador Spyridon Lampridis said that the crimes committed during the Second World War are still relevant today.
“No one has the right to forget or forgive for the capital crime against humanity that was committed over 70 years ago,” Lampridis said on Wednesday night at the memorial evening at Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.
“Nazism, racism, anti-Semitism and social intolerance have no place in our modern democratic societies. Our states, but also we, individually, as active and responsible citizens, should not and will not tolerate the hatching of the terrible serpent of fascism out of its egg for a second time in Greece, Europe or anywhere else in the world,” he declared.
The event was the first collaborative effort between Beit Hatfutsot and the Jewish Museum of Greece, and included a traveling exhibition on hidden children in Nazi-occupied Greece, and the screening of the award-winning documentary by Vassilis Loules, Kisses to the Children, which features the stories of five children who were hidden by Christian friends and neighbors.

Director of Nicki Minaj 'Only' Video Not Apologizing for Nazi Imagery

Nicki Minaj’s new single “Only” was released this week to heavy criticism for its use of Nazi imagery.
The video’s director, Jeff Osbourne, has issued a statement on Myspace offering no apologies. The statement, which is in response to one released by the Anti-Defamation League, offered a disclaimer.
Osbourne cited his personal views and not those of the stars of the video:
"Before I start, be clear that these are my personal views and not the views of Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, or Young Money. First, I'm not apologizing for my work, nor will I dodge the immediate question. The flags, armbands, and gas mask (and perhaps my use of symmetry?) are all representative of Nazism."

ITV: Shocking Attack on a Rabbi Punched in the Face at his Synagogue


Meet the ambassador: Matthew Gould, Britain’s first Jewish envoy to Israel

Very few ambassadors make headlines in the countries where they are posted before they set foot in them. Matthew Gould is an exception to the rule in that he is Jewish, and thus made history as Britain’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel.
Much was made of this before he took up his position four years ago, but perhaps more should have been made of the fact that he had previously been deputy chief of mission in Iran, where he made a point of visiting Jews and attending synagogue services.
Gould was no stranger to Israel when he arrived. His grandparents had brought him on a tour of the country when he was eight or nine and he came back on holidays while a student and after completing university. His big regret is that he didn’t spend his gap year in Israel, and he is envious of students who do.
In Britain, almost everyone who is principal private secretary to the foreign secretary more or less gets to pick the country to which he will be assigned. Gould was parliamentary private secretary to both David Miliband and William Hague. He and his bride, Celia, chose Israel, “because it mattered to us personally; because it’s a fabulous country in which to live; and a fabulous place in which to raise a family.”

Israel presents an ‘Iron Dome’ for ‘electricity terror’

When Hamas rained rockets on Israel in 2012 and again in 2014, the country was able to prevent widespread casualties and damage by activating the Iron Dome system, which intercepted and destroyed rockets fired at Israeli population centers and industrial areas. But rockets aren’t the only threat, or even the main threat. Experts are examining ways to find and foil enemy cyber-attacks against the country’s infrastructure, attacks that are already taking place in the tens of thousands.
The brains behind Iron Dome have given some thought to this problem as well. On Tuesday, the Israel Electric Company (IEC) unveiled its Information Grid, a system designed to keep an eye on electricity data flows, helping to ensure that nothing is amiss in how power is being deployed. The Grid was designed by IEC professionals, together with developers from mPrest Systems, the company that supplied much of the technology for Iron Dome. The system was presented for the first time Tuesday at the Homeland Security Conference taking place in Tel Aviv this week.

And the cyber award winner is …

On November 12, Windward and CyberSeal were named the first- and second-place winners, respectively, of the 2014 Homeland Security and Cyber Security Innovation Competition sponsored by the Chief Scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Economy with the the Israel Export Institute and MATIMOP – The Israeli Industry Center for R&D.
Windward, an intelligence and information technology company, was established in 2010 by Israeli Navy veterans Matan Peled and Ami Daniel shortly after commercial satellites started being used to pinpoint the precise location of ships on the open sea.
Combining traditional naval skills with modern data science, Windward offers technology and intelligence tools that enable port and customs authorities and watchdog NGOs to monitor the movement of any ship around the globe and automatically determine whether a particular vessel may be involved in illegal activities.
Windward is now developing a way to map the global movement of goods in order to help Wall Street traders and other financial entities identify and determine trade opportunities in real-time.

Argentine conference looks at Israel as model of start-up development

An Argentine municipality hosted a conference with Israel as its model for start-up development.
On Tuesday, the Israeli flag was flying over the Vicente Lopez district for a conference titled “Start-up Nation: Israel as a paradigm of the entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
The municipality, with a population of some 271,000, is located about 12 miles north of Buenos Aires City and is part of the Buenos Aires province.
More than 60 businesspeople heard from a panel of Argentine and Israelis presenters about Israel’s model to develop start-ups.

Microsoft confirms purchase of Israeli ‘security critic’ Aorato

Microsoft announced Thursday that it was buying Israeli cyber-security firm Aorato, confirming rumors that have been circulating for several weeks.
In a blog post, MS Vice-President Takeshi Numoto wrote that the company was “making this acquisition to give customers a new level of protection against threats through better visibility into their identity infrastructure. With Aorato we will accelerate our ability to give customers powerful identity and access solutions that span on-premises and the cloud, which is central to our overall hybrid cloud strategy.”
Neither Numoto nor Aorato would confirm what the purchase price was, but industry sources put it at about $200 million.