12/15 Links Pt2: Europeans Fund Anti-Israel Libels; The scholars who ban disagreement

From Ian:

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Gerald Steinberg: Europeans Fund Anti-Israel Libels

There is a direct and causal connection between increased funding for political advocacy NGOs, mainstream media visibility, and support for the distorted Palestinian narrative. As a result of an increase in funds, Zochrot was able to go from a fringe group with virtually no impact to a major player, influencing others with its ideological and political perspective.
NGOs are important players in international politics and within the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular. In this case, Zochrot's ability to promote its agenda through the media and other venues is dependent on the funding it receives from foreign governments. This, coupled with unprofessional media reporting, promotes the group's propaganda and fuels the conflict.
Through the iNakba app, Zochrot gained a platform to promote a highly partisan, false perspective via journalists who accepted the narrative at face value and then acted as force multipliers for this agenda. This is the halo effect, in which the NGOs are perceived as reliable sources with moral authority and knowledge untainted by partisan politics at a time when they are actually partisan purveyors of a false historical narrative and executors of a political warfare that has reinforced Palestinian rejectionism and made peace ever more remote.

Elliott Abrams: The scholars who ban disagreement

The scholars defend themselves from criticism. They are moderates, you see:
"The … call for personal sanctions very specifically opposes wide boycott efforts and its backers are not worried about being lumped together with the BDS proponents who are widely regarded as working toward Israel's destruction. It is 'utterly different than anathematizing an entire category of persons like the academic boycott efforts,' Gitlin said. 'In this case there is a proper target, people whose activity is toxic and we think they need to be named.' 'This would provide a way of mobilizing votes against blanket boycotts but equally against the attempts to make the occupation irreversible,' Shafir said. 'It would allow us to find a place in the middle and remain distinguished from but remain part of the ongoing dialogue in a productive way that is protective of Israel's ties with the U.S., the world and liberal intellectuals.'"
They have a place in the middle, you see. "Liberal intellectuals" from Israel can travel, and this group of scholars will protect Israel's connection to liberal intellectuals around the world. Elected officials who do not share their liberal views (and actually may not even be liberal intellectuals at all!) have no such right to travel.
Nothing will come of this ludicrous idea, but it worth noting and thinking through. Here is a group of intellectuals who wish to apply this test to one single country on the face of the earth, Israel, a democracy -- but think themselves are in the "middle" and are "protective" of Israel.
As the saying goes, with friends like these …

UK: Hamas-linked Interpal Enjoys Mainstream Support

Oborne argues that working with Hamas is unavoidable: "it is almost impossible not to deal with Hamas, the ruling political party in the territory before the unity deal earlier this year, if you're a charity working there."
This claim, however, is demonstrably untrue. First, scores of British charities operate in the Gaza strip, but very few of their trustees find themselves starring in Hamas photo-shoots. Second, does having to "deal with Hamas" really include visits to the family homes and shrines of Hamas terrorist leaders?
In 2012, for instance, Essam Yusuf visited the homes of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior Hamas leader who once promised he would "kill Jews everywhere;" and Sheikh Said Seyam, who commanded Hamas's Executive Force, a militia that tortured and murdered Palestinian supporters of Fatah during Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2006.
So what makes Oborne write a column for Britain's top-selling broadsheet in support of Interpal?
It is notable that just a few days before his Telegraph article, Oborne spoke at an event organized by Interpal to celebrate its 20th anniversary. His fellow speakers included Chris Gunness, the spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA]; Daud Abdullah, the former head of the Muslim Council of Britain; Oliver McTernan, a commentator who runs a pro-Hamas British group called Forward Thinking; and Jeremy Corbyn MP.
Among these speakers, there seems to have been a bit of mutual back-scratching. Interpal has pledged $500,000 for UNRWA, and Oliver McTernan and UNRWA were both quoted in defense of Interpal as part of Peter Oborne's Telegraph article. Jeremy Corbyn MP has sponsored and signed a number of Early Day Motions in parliament that praise Interpal for its "humanitarian work" and condemn the "damaging designation of Interpal" as a terror-support organization.

Why Is UNRWA’s Chris Gunness Outing A Journalist Not A Story?

There was another thing Chris Gunness did in his tweets that, in my opinion should have been a huge story. Chris Gunness took an old, leaked, private picture of a reporter who just happens to work for the Jerusalem Post today and sent it out to his entire twitter feed.
Not just once, but dozens and dozens of times. He tagged almost anybody he could think of, especially senior staff at the Jerusalem post. I’ve created a Storify page because I can’t embed that many tweets on Israellycool. Nearly every one of these tweets spawned side debates that Chris pursued as if UNRWA has nothing else to worry about than playing on twitter.
The journalist in question, Samuel Sokol, doesn’t even cover UNRWA, it appears he was just a convenient stick to beat the entire Jerusalem Post.

In Concession, UNRWA Curriculum Reduced To 80% Incitement (satire)

As a result, UNRWA spokesman in Gaza Chris Gunness told reporters today that modifications would be implemented under which the teachers would be required to limit incitement to eighty percent of classroom time, with membership in an Islamist organization no longer a preferred resume item for employment as an UNRWA teacher.
“These measures demonstrate that our critics are wrong when they call us incapable of making changes,” said Gunness. “But just watch – any minute now the same agitators will call this change insufficient and dismiss the effort this required as if it means nothing.”
Indeed, concessions made by Palestinians in general have gone largely unappreciated in recent decades. “It involves a major sacrifice to openly commit to not trying to kill as many Jews as possible all the time, even if your actual adherence to that commitment is spotty,” explained Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “I’m not sure everyone appreciates the challenge of surviving politically in this region when one is not staunchly devoted to resisting Jewish sovereignty of any sort.”
“The least the world can do to reward us for our pledge not to keep trying to wipe out the Jews is to force Israel to make it easier for us to wipe out the Jews,” he said.

PreOccupied Territory: UN Again Delays Toilet Training For Palestinians (satire)

The United Nations has again postponed an initiative to work on moving the Palestinians toward maturity and moral agency, a spokesman for the organization announced today.
A project to provide the Arab inhabitants of Judea, Samaria, Jordan, and various refugee camps in the Middle East with a rudimentary awareness of the need for compromise and consideration of others – as well as a regimen of basic self-sufficiency in hygiene – was initially proposed decades ago, but political maneuvering and bureaucratic snafus, as well as financial pressures, have caused repeated delays of the program.
The initiative, General Rehabilitative Operations for the Welfare and Upbringing of Palestinians (GROWUP), is modeled on, and closely resembles, a toilet-training regimen for toddlers. It calls for a gradual reduction in international provision of all Palestinian needs with a concurrent effort to instill responsibility and volition. As a result, the world will be able to allocate its resources to other needs, instead of perpetually underwriting Palestinian education, infrastructure, health care, security, advocacy, and cleanup.
The need for a GROWUP program emerged ever more urgently this past summer in the aftermath of the fighting in Gaza, when donor nations realized they were repeatedly funding the reconstruction of facilities that the Palestinians could have maintained by demonstrating a modicum of maturity but instead threw a temper tantrum in the form of rockets fired at Israeli civilians and attempted massacres via infiltration tunnels. When Israel took measures to stop the fire, Palestinians and their enablers cried even louder at the resulting casualties and devastation.

Peace difficult when such hatred exists for Jews

The recent savage slaughter in Jerusalem took place in the early morning of Nov. 18 when a group of Jews were gathered in a synagogue in West Jerusalem for morning prayers. Places of worship are supposed to be free of terror, but two terrorists committed a well-planned assault on the assembled congregation, and literally butchered four renowned rabbis.
The weapons used were axes, meat cleavers and guns. The prayer shawls of the deceased were covered with blood. The first Israeli policeman to arrive on the scene was killed by the terrorists.
This was a symbolic attack on all Jews! It reminds us of the Holocaust, especially with the ugly face of anti-Semitism rearing up again in European countries and around the world!
Arabs in Gaza and East Jerusalem celebrated the atrocity by distributing candies and other sweets in the streets of their respective neighborhoods. And, it took Secretary of State John Kerry twisting the arm of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in order to get him to comment on the murders in the synagogue.

Netanyahu commiserates with persecuted Christians

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed solidarity with Middle East Christians while speaking at the Forum for Drafting Christians into the IDF in Nazareth on Sunday.
Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis, Mayor of Nazareth, Ali Sala and prominent Israeli Priest Father Gabriel Naddaf were present at the event in Nazareth to mark both the New Year and Christmas.
In his speech Netanyahu condemned the now “rising tide of Islamic fanaticism and extremism,” stating that Christians, both in Israel and the Middle East, are suffering because of it. The prime minister commiserated with Christians in the Middle East who are facing persecution by extremist groups, such as Islamic State.
“The shrinkage and disappearance of entire Christian communities, communities that were there thousands of years, since the birth of Christianity, entire communities that are deleted in one fell swoop, brutally, savagely,” Netanyahu said. “They are expelled, they are persecuted. Sometimes those who manage to escape - their fate fortunate that they at least live, and others suffer from a terrible fate.”

 Sajid Javid: Protests and boycotts risk stripping Britain's vibrant arts scene

There is no place for boycotting or political demonstration in the arts, the culture secretary has said, as he warns a penchant for protesting risks stripping Britain of its vibrant arts scene.
Sajid Javid, the secretary of state for culture, argued boycotting productions and exhibitions achieves nothing, saying no-one should put pressure on an institution to change its art.
Speaking at the Union of Jewish Students Annual Conference in London, following high-profile controversies about donations from Israel to theatres this year, Mr Javid said culture was “bigger than politics” and must not be interfered with.
Arguing modern Britain is home to a “staggering range of art and culture” which reflects its “multi-faceted” society, he added it was essential that people remain free to express their thoughts and opinions from the local pub, to Twitter, to Parliament.
Mr Javid’s comments come months after the Tricycle Theatre announced it would not be working with the UK Jewish Film Festival was , after its organisers accepted a grant from the Israeli embassy.

Exclusive: British Government refuses to condemn Jordan's honouring of terrorist murderers

On 20 November I posted an article about the special prayer session held at the opening session of the Parliament in Jordan to honour the two terrorists who committed the Har Nof synagogue massacre. I wrote the following letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Well I have now had an answer from the FCO. In order to 'de-escalate tensions' Britain has decided it will not say anything at all to the Jordanians about their support for terrorism. In order to appreciate how appalling this response is you need to remember that the British Goverment never has any qualms about calling in the Israeli ambassador to formally complain about far less serious matters - indeed in the last 3 years Britain has expelled Israeli diplomats from the UK 'in retaliation' for the death of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai that was never even proved to have any Israeli involvement; and threatened to break off all diplomatic relations with Israel because Israel had the audacity to issue planning permits for building of new homes in its capital city.
Here is the full response:

Concordia Univ. Graffiti: 'Jews Are F***ed Up People'

Campus advocates of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Santions (BDS) movement often attack Israel and the Jewish State in an insidious manner. Hiding behind mantra of “human rights” and “pursuing social justice,” students level a variety of false allegations going as far as to accuse Israel of being a genocidal enterprise like Nazi Germany under Hitler.
The anti-Israel students at Concordia University in Canada aren’t subtle in the slightest. In a telling Op-Ed, Jonathan Mamane, a leader in Concordia United Against BDS, highlights the outright anti-Semitism emerging on campus.
After the campus hosted weeks of campaigning against Israel, grotesque anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered on campus. Mamane also notes that students who wear symbols which publicly identify them as Jewish have been subjected to hatred and vitriol.
The hate towards anti-BDS continued. Seemingly overnight the hate morphed from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. Bathroom stalls within the Concordia campus demonstrated graffiti portraying anti-Semitic comments, such as “Jews are f***ed up people” and “Jews are not people.” These dehumanizing and negative comments, along with the ones found on social media, gave Concordians United Against BDS strong evidence for anti-Semitism as opposed to anti-Zionism on campus.

The Hypocrisy of Solidarity – Gaza to Ferguson

Besides demonstrable systemic racism and the frequent oppression of those who belong to any minority group in Gaza, casual racism is endemic and not even acknowledged by those who perpetrate it. In November 2013, Asma Al-Ghoul wrote for Al Monitor that “Hey, chocolate,” “Hey, cappuccino,” “Hey, Galaxy [brand of chocolate],” “Hey, brown one,” and “Hey, black one,” are jocular expressions used by some in Gaza when a man, woman or child of African descent passes by. Sometimes the racism is expressed nonverbally through looks. Gazans, however, seem unaware of this racism.”
The article goes on describe some of what the 10,000-strong African community deal with in Gaza. It is almost certain that some well-meaning individuals blame Israel for this, because of course everything is Israel is blamed for much that happens in the Middle East, whether it is involved or not. This is without even touching on how Hamas profit from the sale of African slaves, yet they apparently claim to stand with African Americans. The absence of any condemnation of such bigotry from those activists who are uniting the causes of Gaza and Ferguson rings as loud as any bell.
In the wider Arab world, the rampant racism that exists towards non-Arabs is shocking; indeed, from my own experience in Saudi Arabia, seeing Saudis referring to dark-skinned individuals as Abd (Slave or Servant) was sickening. The broader world seems uncomfortable talking about prejudice that exists in the Muslim world, perpetrated by Muslims against those whom they deem as inferior. If we are reminded of the 1930s European attitude towards Jews, it is no small surprise.
Those who stand up for the human rights for Palestinians, as such groups so vehemently insist they do, somehow find time to demonize Israel and stand in protest at events in the US, and yet remain stunningly silent on honour killings of Palestinian women. Is it that the human rights of women do not matter? Or is it that they are interested only in protesting something for which they can blame Israel?

Librarians for BDS: When Librarians Burn Books

Professors should be judged by their research and their teaching. University librarians should be held to another standard entirely. A university librarian’s purpose is to accumulate books, journals, and archival materials ranging the gambit of the field irrespective of their own personal politics, or the popular political directives of the day. Once they acquire those resources, a librarian should organize and ease access to it.
And yet, with this statement released by Middle Eastern Studies scholars and librarians endorsing the BDS call and seeking the boycott of Israeli academic institutions, librarians at some major universities are effectively embracing the notion that they will filter acquisitions according to their own political predilections. What librarians such as Mastan Ebtehaj at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University; Blair Kuntz at the University of Toronto; Mahmoud Omidsalar at California State University, Los Angeles; and Anais Salamon at McGill University are effectively saying is that they will not consider acquiring, cataloguing, or making available titles published by such Israeli scholarly presses such as Tel Aviv University Press, or the Truman Institute’s press. That may not literally be burning books, but how shameful it is for university librarians to do the figurative equivalent, filtering knowledge by whether or not they agree with the author or, as BDS demands, whether or not they like his or her nationality or that of the scholar’s publishing company. How ironic it is that librarians—those who should dedicate their professional life to protecting access to knowledge—have read so few of the history books they supposedly guard, for if they did, they might not be comfortable with past parallels to their present actions.

The Economist Lumps Terror Victims and Terrorists Together

The Economist‘s latest analysis of events in Israel contains the following paragraph:
Of late the conflict has been concentrated in cities, particularly Jerusalem. Since the summer, young Palestinians have often clashed at night with Israeli police. The mood turned uglier in the autumn over a campaign by Jewish radicals to establish a right to pray on the grounds of the al-Aqsa mosque. This is Islam’s third-holiest shrine, which stands on the ruins of the former Jewish temple. Palestinians have attacked Israelis with knives or used their cars as weapons. In total ten Palestinians, nine Jews and two Druze have been killed since October 22nd.
While The Economist is prepared to state that the al-Aqsa mosque is Islam’s third-holiest shrine, the mention of “the former Jewish temple” fails to acknowledge that the Temple Mount is Judaism’s holiest site. And what exactly constitutes the “grounds of the al-Aqsa mosque?”
More galling, however, is the published death toll. The Economist states that Palestinians have carried out attacks against Israelis. So why then are those Palestinians who perpetrated such acts (and died in the course of doing so) treated as victims of the very violence that they themselves carried out?

Palestinian activist gets open mic for propagation of lies on BBC WS ‘Newshour’

So who is the person introduced by Rebecca Kesby as “Abdullah Abrama”? There appears to be no such person but an internet search for ‘Ziad Abu Ein’ and ‘helmet’ shows that the same story of the Palestinian official being hit on the head with a helmet by an Israeli soldier was also being heavily promoted elsewhere at the same time by veteran anti-Israel activist and leading figure in the Bil’in Popular Committees Abdallah Abu Rahma (also spelt Rahmah or Rahmeh).
Obviously Abrama/Abu Rahma’s account of events is for the most part fictitious. There is no evidence in any of the filmed footage taken at the event of Abu Ein having been deliberately hit on the head with a helmet and videos also show that he clearly did not immediately ‘fall down’ – either “in a coma” or otherwise. As has already been noted here, in between the altercation with a Border Police officer and his sitting down, Abu Ein managed to give an interview to the media and it is of course highly doubtful that he did that whilst “in a coma”. Neither is there any filmed evidence to support Abrama/Abu Rahma’s claim that “all” the participants in the demonstration were beaten.
Abrama/Abu Rahma also misleads BBC audiences with regard to the circumstances of the demonstration which was in fact organized to coincide with the presentation of a petition to the Supreme Court demanding the eviction of the Adei Ad outpost.

Acid attack on Israeli children not news for BBC, false Barghouti ‘arson’ claim left standing

Like other non-fatal attacks, the incident has not been reported by the BBC.
Also on December 12th, a shooting attack took place at the Israeli embassy in Athens with no reported injuries. The incident was not reported on the BBC News website.
On December 7th a man wounded in the terror attack which took place at the Shimon Hatsadik light rail station in Jerusalem on November 5th died of his injuries. Sixty year-old Abd al-Karim Nafith Hamid was a resident of Jerusalem and his death brings the number of people killed in that terror attack to three. The BBC has not reported Mr Hamid’s death.
On December 11th investigators from the Fire Department announced that the November 12th incident in which a mosque in the village of Mughayir was severely damaged by fire occurred as a result of an electrical fault and was not a case of arson as had been suggested by Fatah’s Husam Zomlot in an interview with BBC World Service radio and stated by Mustafa Barghouti in an interview with BBC News.

Anti-Semitism in Armenia: A Clear and Present Danger

The conflict in Syria has forced millions to leave their homes, among them many of the country’s Armenian minority. Many have fled and returned to Armenia, a safe haven for ethnic Armenians—much as Israel is for Jews around the world. So it is ironic, given this shared need for a homeland free of religious intolerance, that Armenia’s own Jewish community has been pressured and intimidated since the country attained independence.
Anti-Semitism in Armenia is an unfortunate and little-acknowledged fact. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the country’s Jewish minority and Jewish heritage—the products of a more tolerant time—have shrunk dramatically. The end of Soviet rule removed constraint, and anti-Semitic attacks rose dramatically. That, and Armenia’s ongoing economic collapse, drive the Jews of Armenia to flee the country. In just 20 years, Armenian Jewish population has shrunk from more than 5,000 to just a few hundred.
And the cultural violence has continued. Anti-Semitic books are published and TV programs aired, and the Holocaust memorial in the capital of Yerevan has been repeatedly defaced. Of course, many countries have suffered such unfortunate incidents, the product of an ignorant populace. But in Armenia such views have been espoused even by mainstream politicians and media personalities. In 2004, a pro-government radio presenter expressed anti-Semitic views for months on end. A nationalist politician was also allowed to freely make lurid slurs against Jews before public pressure forced the government to arrest him.

Hanukkah-Decorated Florida Home Vandalized with Swastika

A Jewish man found a swastika drawn on the gate to his home where he had put up decorations for Hanukkah.
David Cohen, 72 and a resident of North Fort Myers, Fla., told police that he found the swastika drawn onto his gate on Monday afternoon.
“I can’t even say how mad it makes me feel,” Cohen told news-press.com. “If it was a kid, I’d say they were very stupid. If it was an adult, they are very ignorant.”
The swastika was about four inches in length.
“I first saw it Monday when I came back from the North Fort Myers Community Center,” Cohen said.
Cohen reported the incident to the sheriff’s office and kept the fence open in order to avoid seeing the swastika and then painted over it.
He also placed a Menorah, dreidel and a Star of David near and around his lawn, which so far has been not vandalized.

Weapons from Israeli Embassy shooting were used in ’13 Athens attack

The two rifles used in a shooting spree on the Israeli Embassy in Athens were used in a similar attack last year on the German ambassador’s home in the Greek capital.
Dozens of shots from the Kalashnikovs were fired on the embassy, which was closed at the time, in the attack early Friday morning.
There was no claim of responsibility, though Greek police believe a group from the far left was responsible. Greek anarchist groups have attacked several foreign embassies in Athens in recent years.

Sydney teen who yelled ‘Kill the Jews’ sentenced to Shabbat dinner

One of the five drunken youths arrested for terrorizing Jewish children on a school bus in Australia will visit the Sydney Jewish Museum as part of his punishment.
The offender, who cannot be named because he is a minor, also will participate in a tolerance program run by the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, attend a Shabbat dinner, and read Primo Levi’s “If This Is A Man” and Elie Wiesel’s “Night.”
The punishment, which was agreed upon by both sides, was levied at a youth justice conference on December 9 in Sydney at which the offender expressed remorse for his actions.
The conference was held solely for the one youth, whose offenses were too serious for a caution. All five offenders were minors: Two others received warnings; the other two were let off.
On August 6, the five youths terrorized a bus in Sydney carrying Jewish students, some as young as 6, with threats of slitting their throats and chants of “Kill the Jews” and “Heil Hitler.”

Spanish law to naturalize Jews rendered ‘meaningless’

Spanish-speaking Israelis are complaining that Spain’s legislation for the naturalization of Sephardic Jews has been rendered symbolic because of changes to a bill that would formalize the procedure.
The changes to the government-supported draft bill were introduced last month during deliberations at a congressional committee ahead of a vote by the Spanish Congress scheduled for December 16, Leon Amiras, chairman of a group for Spanish and Portuguese speaking immigrants to Israel, told JTA on Sunday.
The revisions that “render the bill declarative but ultimately meaningless,” he said, include a demand that applicants be tested in Spain by a government-approved notary on their knowledge of Spanish and Sephardic culture. If they pass, applicants would need to return to Spain at a later date for another procedure.

Slain Kansas City teen’s scout troop completes his volunteer project

The Eagle Scout troop of the teen shot to death last year at a suburban Kansas City JCC completed his project to collect food for needy mothers and children.
On Saturday, the scouts in Troop 92 canvassed the neighborhood as part of Reat Underwood’s project to collect food and other staples for Operation Breakthrough, a local early childhood education center, the Kansas City Star reported Sunday. Underwood, 14, and his mother volunteered at the center.
Underwood had aimed to bring in enough goods to fill 30-some cardboard boxes, according to the newspaper. The troop’s drive, which ends Monday, has amassed several truckloads of food and supplies, as well as approximately $6,000 in donations.
The teen and his grandfather, William Corporon, were killed on April 13 in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kan., where Underwood was part of a singing competition.

Parents of slain journalist to honor son at Hannukah event

The parents of Steven Sotloff, an American-Israeli journalist murdered by the Islamic State in September, will celebrate the first night of Hanukkah this week by lighting the Chabad center’s outdoor public menorah-lighting in Miami.
Arthur and Shirley Sotloff, both residents of South Florida, were invited to mark the occasion on Tuesday by Rabbi Yossi Harlig and his wife, Nechama, who are both co-directors of the Chabad center.
A post published by the Jewish organization stated that the two had a desire to reach out to Sotloff’s parents, whom they met during the shiva (mourning period) for Steven, and honor the memory of the former Florida native.
“He worked to keep Jewish traditions in dark places, and we felt that really symbolizes the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, which celebrates freedom and light,” Harlig stated.

Claims Conference ups funding for Holocaust survivors

The Claims Conference will raise its allocations to social service organizations serving Jewish Holocaust victims by 21 percent over last year.
The allocations for 2015 will total $365 million, an increase of $80 million over 2014, Julius Berman, president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, announced in a statement. The allocations are used primarily for home care, as well as for hunger relief, medical care, winter aid, and transportation for Holocaust survivors in 47 countries.
“All Shoah victims should be able to receive the help and support that they need to live the rest of their lives in dignity, after having endured indescribable suffering in their youth,” Berman said. “Holocaust victims deserve all the aid and comfort that it is possible to give them in the twilight of their lives.”

Exclusive: American billionaire pledges to purchase Israeli companies to strengthen Jewish state

Morton Mandel plans on investing in Israeli firms as a way of building up the Jewish state, the billionaire American Jew told The Jerusalem Post during an interview in Tel Aviv last week.
Speaking from the offices of one of the businesses he owns here, Mandel, the 93-year-old co-founder of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, said that he plans to “buy more companies that are not doing well and fix them up. The driver is I want a better, stronger, healthier Israel.”
Mandel, who invests in Israeli companies and donates directly to a variety of Israeli causes primarily linked to education and leadership training, was honored by Yediot Books on the sale of the twenty-thousandth copy of the Hebrew translation of his book
It's All About Who You Hire, How They Lead...and Other Essential Advice from a Self-Made Leader, by the Negev development town of Yeruham, which named a street after him. Mandel owns a bottling plant there and contributes to a number of local charitable endeavors.
Explaining his desire to contribute to Israeli society, Mandel recalled growing up with anti-Semitism in pre-World War II America and how the Israeli victory in the 1967 Six Day War “made me a foot taller and a different person with my non-Jewish friends.

Gates grant for public-health hero

Prof. Zvi Bentwich has received a Grand Challenges in Global Health grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his project in Ethiopia to wipe out parasitic worm infections.
Bentwich, 78, is a longtime member of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s department of microbiology, immunology and genetics, and heads the university’s Center for Emerging Diseases, Tropical Diseases and AIDS. He has labored for years to eradicate common parasitic infestations that contribute to Africa’s AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics, after his groundbreaking research uncovered a strong link between intestinal worms and immune system deficiencies in the 1990s.
The two cornerstones of Bentwich’s new program are a health-education campaign run by specially trained local students, and the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities. The test region in Ethiopia encompasses 30 schools serving an area with a population of 200,000.
Families in the test region will be educated by the students about the causes and symptoms of the parasite-caused diseases, and how to avoid contracting them. They will also be treated with anti-parasitic drugs. At the same time, the schools will receive fresh drinking water and latrines.
The effect of the two-pronged program on infection rates will be evaluated after 18 months.

Israeli nano-GPS powers ‘selfie’ nano-drone

The biggest thing in drones is the Zano, weighing in at a diminutive 55 grams (1.94 oz) in a 6.5 centimeter x 6.5 centimeter (2.5″ x 2.5″) package. And to keep the Zano, the smallest drone available to consumers, under control, its makers are using the world’s smallest GPS module.
That module is made by Israel’s OriginGPS, which specializes in making mini-sized direction and guidance chips and systems.
“To put it simply, Zano would not exist without OriginGPS,” said Reece Crowther, head of Sales and Marketing of the Torquing Group, maker of the Zano. “The GPS feature of Zano is the heart and soul of the product, and because we have pushed the boundaries of UAV size, no other product on the market could provide the power of Zano at the same minimal size and weight. Picking OriginGPS to power Zano was a no-brainer.”

First Israeli Golfer Qualifies for Major Golf Tournaments

When ISRAEL21c interviewed champion golfer Laetitia Beck for a feature story a couple of months ago, she was nervously anticipating the third and final qualifier toward earning her LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tour Card. No Israeli has ever won either the LPGA or PGA (Professional Golf Association) ticket to the world’s major pro golf tournaments.
On December 7, Beck became the first Israeli LPGA Tour Card holder following her victory in a sudden-death finish in the qualifier at Daytona Beach, Florida. The card enables her to compete in the LPGA’s 33 tournaments planned for 2015 in more than a dozen countries. The first is scheduled for the end of January, shortly before Beck’s 23rd birthday. Her golfing star began to rise when she won the Israeli Open Golf Championship at age 12, and she won that title four more times before moving from her family’s home in Caesarea for serious training in Florida.

Massive 2,800-year-old farmhouse found in central Israel

Israeli archaeologists recently uncovered an ancient farmhouse in the area of modern day Rosh Ha’ayin, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.
The structure is believed to be 2,800 years old, and consists of 23 rooms.
“The farm, which is extraordinarily well-preserved, extends across an area of 30 meters by 40 meters and was built in the eighth century BCE, the time of the Assyrian conquest,” IAA excavation director Amit Shadman said. “Farm houses during this period served as small settlements of sorts whose inhabitants participated in processing agricultural produce. The numerous wine presses discovered in the vicinity of the settlement indicate the wine industry was the most important branch of agriculture in the region. A large silo, which was used to store grain, shows that the ancient residents were also engaged in growing cereal.”