Tuesday, February 03, 2015
'Jewish connection to Hebron cannot be denied'
President Reuven Rivlin visited Kiryat Arba and Hebron on Monday, becoming the first Israeli president to do so in 17 years. Rivlin attended the inaugural ceremony of a new visitors center at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Beit Hadassah and also visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs.UN Watch: UN rights chief who ignored anti-Semitism to address Holocaust Museum
During Rivlin's visit, dozens of Meretz party activists protested against the president's visit and the opening of the new visitors center. At one point, there was an altercation between the activists and local Jewish residents.
In his speech at Kiryat Arba, Rivlin said, "We are allowed to disagree, but we must not disrespect each other, whether we are on the Right or on the Left."
From there, Rivlin continued to Hebron, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and the visitors center's inaugural ceremony with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.
"The museum tells a 3,800-year story," Rivlin said. "Even those who have different opinions regarding the presence of the Jewish community in Hebron cannot deny the deep connection of the Jewish people to the city."
Is UN rights chief Zeid the right person to address the Holocaust Museum this week?Richard Millett: Investigations and media coverage in aftermath of LSE Palsoc/Femsoc event.
Last week he issued a statement on the Holocaust that — unlike the remarks of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — noticeably refused to mention the word anti-Semitism once, neither in relation to the Nazi genocide, nor in relation to the continuing attacks and incitement against Jews today in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Today’s UN press release follows below.
High Commissioner Zeid today begins the first official visit by a UN Human Rights Chief to Washington D.C. to meet senior U.S administration officials and Members of Congress since 2007, when former High Commissioner Louise Arbour made a similar visit.
Zeid, who took up his position as the fifth UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last September, will hold meetings with State Department and other U.S. Government officials, including National Security Adviser Susan Rice, to discuss a wide range of overseas and domestic issues. He will also meet with around eight senior members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On Thursday, at 10:00 a.m., Zeid will deliver an address entitled “Can Atrocities be Prevented? Living in the Shadow of the Holocaust” at a public event at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington. He will also attend two round-table events with Civil Society organisations.
LSE’s Israel Society immediately lodged a complaint against the LSE Student Union over Baker’s remarks (Why not over Agha’s remarks also?) and the Feminist Society immediately apologised:
“Having reviewed the statements, regarding applauding an attack against Israeli soldiers, made by a speaker at our event we apologise unequivocally on behalf of the Feminist Society. We give platforms to oppressed peoples, including those under violent occupations, but that does not mean that their views always reflect our own. The Feminist Society is truly regretful that we have caused offence.”
Shamefully, the same cannot be said of the Palestine Society which stated:
“Although the LSESU Palestine Society does not necessarily share the views held by the speaker, we maintain that she is entitled to them and is free to express her analysis on the issue, whatever that may be.”
Incredibly, the chairperson of last week’s event Aitemad Muhanna-Matar, a research fellow at the LSE’s Middle East Centre, then took the issue to new depths with her equating of Israelis and Nazis. She said to the online newspaper:
“These resistance military actions were done in the western history by the IRA, during the American and French revolutions. At a lesser extent, Jews resisted against the Nazist (sic) kidnappers, but faced certain death, the same as Palestinians who committed violence against the Israelis certainly face certain death.”
Ambassador Prosor at UNSC: Women in armed conflict
"We must do everything in our power to oppose the extremists who want to drag us back to the dark ages. Every time they try to take away a woman’s voice, we must give that woman a voice."
Ambassador Prosor at the UN Security Council, January 30th, 2015.
Anti-Semitism is once again on the march in Europe
The title of my recently published book is “Israel: Is It Good for the Jews?” When I started writing it, I did not know how I was going to answer that question. The more I delved into the subject, the more I read and did research, the more I concluded that the answer is yes. The recent events in Paris make me even surer.Two Argentinean Judges Decline to Handle Nisman's Allegations
In the long and blood-soaked history of Europe’s Jews, the death of four more in a Parisian kosher market is, at best, a footnote. But they were not the accidental victims of the terrorists’ wrath, not just merely in the way or in the line of fire. They were singled out for who they were and not for what they had done — like publish provocative cartoons. They were killed for being Jews.
Why? The conventional answer is Israel — or, to put it another way, the plight of the Palestinians. There is some truth to both of these, yet the Islamic world is not so concerned about Palestinians that it has accorded Palestinian refugees anything like equal rights in the countries where they have sought refuge or protested when whole Palestinian communities were uprooted from Kuwait and other Gulf states after the PLO supported Saddam Hussein — ethnic cleansing of a type. The Arab world weeps for the Palestinians — but only on cue and not too much.
Two judges in Argentina on Monday declined to handle the allegations brought by late prosecutor Alberto Nisman against President Cristina Fernandez, charging her with seeking to derail his investigation of the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, Reuters reported.Anti-Semitic Nisman posters appear in Buenos Aires
Nisman’s death came hours before he had been due to testify against senior government officials on the subject of the bombing of the Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994, which left 85 people dead.
He had accused several senior government figures - including Kirchner and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman - of involvement in a plot to cover up Iran's alleged role in the bombing.
His death has set off a huge scandal, with Kirchner suggesting Nisman was manipulated by former intelligence agents who then killed him to smear her.
Nisman had brought his case before Judge Ariel Lijo as he was already investigating charges of attempts to derail the prosecutor's investigation of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85.
Posters appeared in a Jewish neighborhood of Buenos Aires reading “A good Jew is a dead Jew. The good Jew is Nisman.”Bombing victims testify at US trial on PLO role in Israel attacks
The posters in Villa Crespo refer to Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor heading the probe into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center who was found shot dead in his Buenos Aires apartment on Jan. 18. His death remains unexplained.
No group or individual has taken credit for the unsigned posters. The motto is similar to the phrase “The only good Jew is a dead Jew” used by nationalistic and anti-Semitic groups during the 1960s and ’70s.
DAIA, the Argentine Jewish political umbrella, expressed “concern” about the posters. DAIA President Julio Schlosser told the Argentine media that he will discuss the issue with national authorities.
The Sokolow family is the lead plaintiff in a civil trial against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority that will decide whether the groups should pay up to $3 billion for allegedly providing support for six attacks in the Jerusalem area between 2002 and 2004.French soldiers attacked outside Jewish community center
The attacks killed 33 and wounded more than 450, including the January 2002 bombing that injured Jamie Sokolow, her sister Lauren, her mother Rena and her father Mark, all of whom testified on Monday.
Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, has told jurors that Palestinian leaders approved payments they knew would contribute to attacks.
Defense lawyers have argued the Palestinian government should not be held liable for the crimes of a few militants who acted on their own or at the behest of more radical organizations such as Hamas.
The plaintiffs are seeking triple damages under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act that would bring total liability to $3 billion. Any award would likely be subject to appeal.
An man with a knife hidden in his bag attacked three soldiers on an anti-terror patrol in front of a Jewish community center in southern France on Tuesday, two police officials said.France 'no Jews' job ad sparks outrage
Sarah Baron, a police union official in the city of Nice, said the man was detained after the attack near the Galeries Lafayette department store. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the attacker had an identity card with the name Moussa Coulibaly.
The surname, which is relatively common for families of Malian descent, is the same as that of the man who seized hostages in a kosher supermarket in Paris and gunned down a policewoman last month.
Another police official said the attacker pulled a knife at least 20 centimeters (8 inches) long out of a bag and set upon one of the soldiers, injuring him in the chin. He then swiped two other soldiers — one in the cheek, the other in the forearm — before being apprehended by riot police stationed near the building, which houses the city’s Jewish community center. (h/t Phil)
An advert for a graphic design job in France has been withdrawn after it said the candidate should "if possible not be a Jew".Glenn Greenwald, Iranian Government in Agreement Regarding Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
Racial discrimination is illegal in France and anti-racism group SOS Racisme says it is taking legal action.
The ad was posted on Monday by Paris-based NSL Studio on jobs site Graphic-Jobs.com.
NSL Studio has apologised for the ad but offered various explanations as to why it contained the offending clause.
The company was quoted on Monday by French news website Les Inrocks as saying that the hours of work, particularly during busy periods, meant the candidate should not be someone with cultural or religious needs.
On at least one issue (but probably more than that), exiled American journalist Glenn Greenwald and the Iranian Government are completely simpatico. Both seized on the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris as an opportunity to showcase anti-Semitic cartoons.Somali protestors demand teacher resign over Mohammed cartoons
Last month, Greenwald tried to “commission two or three cartoonists to create cartoons that mock Judaism and malign sacred figures to Jews the way Charlie Hebdo did to Muslims,” but was allegedly unable to find any takers. So he just republished a bunch of anti-Jewish cartoons in defense of free speech.
Controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed hit home in Seattle recently, culminating in a protest outside of southend refugee service provider on Friday.Stand With Us: UC Davis Aggies for Israel, Stand Up to BDS Bigotry, have Allahu Akbar shouted at them!
A group of Somali Americans gathered outside the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to demand the resignation of a teacher who showed the cartoons to her teenage students on the day after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
“We’re not gonna be silent when it’s something that’s not right,” said Hassan Aden, who was one of between 15 to 20 people who attended the protest. “We’re trying to show that we’re not happy with what she did.”
The teacher, Deepa Bhandaru, recently earned her Ph.D from the UW Political Science department, and works for ReWA teaching a free class on world affairs for youth, where she showed the cartoons during a lesson on free speech and religious pluralism.
The Genocidal Nature of Anti-Israel Radicalism Reveals Itself at UC Davis
And pro-Palestinian activists on the Davis campus obviously were not concerned about civility when three Jewish students tried to speak on behalf of Israel at UC Davis at a November 2012 protest against Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The Jewish students were first shouted down with chants of “Leave our space!” “Shame on you!” “F**k Israel,” and “Long live the Intifada!” and then forced against a wall of windows while angry protestors threatened them with closed fists and physical aggression. When pro-Palestinian activists shout “Long live the intifada,” it is, of course, a grotesque and murderous reference to the Second Intifada, during which Arab terrorists murdered some 1000 Israelis and wounded more than 14,000 others, so the fact that this is what passes as intellectual debate about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on campus is clear evidence that any hope of rational discourse or productive discussion has vanished. Civility has devolved into acrimony, and one can reasonably wonder, based on their language, what the true intentions are of those who defame, demean, and libel Israel in their effort to promote Palestinian self-affirmation.How to Respond to Honors for Palestinian Killer of US Senator’s Niece
There is no other explanation for why educated and well-intentioned individuals, experiencing paroxysms of moral self-righteousness in which they are compelled to speak out for the perennial victim, can loudly and publicly advocate for the murder of Jews—who already have created and live in a viable sovereign state—on behalf a group of genocidal enemies of Israel whose tragic condition may well be their own doing, and, at any rate, is the not the sole fault of Israel’s. That these activists are willing, and ready, to sacrifice the Jewish state, and Jewish lives, in the name of social justice and a specious campaign of self-determination by Palestinian Arabs, shows how morally corrupt and deadly the conversation about human rights has become—both on campuses and outside the ivy walls.
The whole problem with the world,” observed philosopher Bertrand Russell, “is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” On the UC Davis campus, fools and fanatics may have prevailed in the current vote, but, in doing so, seem to have revealed the true nature of their genocidal, anti-Semitic hatred.
And its lethal nature and intent should frighten us all.
Did you know that the United States Senate has been underwriting a series of events publicly glorifying a Palestinian terrorist who murdered an American citizen—in fact, a senator’s niece? Well, it is, and this outrage must come to an end.Extremist anti- Israel groups planning on protesting AIPAC again
The terrorist’s name is Dalal Mughrabi. On March 9, 1978, she headed a squad of 13 Palestinian terrorists who set out from Lebanon towards Israel, in several small boats. They were members of Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). At the time, Yasser Arafat was chairman of the PLO and Fatah, and Mahmoud Abbas was his second in command. Today, Abbas is chairman of the PLO and Fatah, and president of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The terrorists landed on a northern Israeli beach, where Gail Rubin, an American Jewish nature photographer, was taking photos of rare birds. Her work had been exhibited at The Jewish Museum in New York City and other prominent venues. She also happened to be the niece of then U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-Connecticut).
A consortium of extremist anti-Israel groups, including Code Pink, End The Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine East and If Americans Knew have begun plans to disrupt the Washington AIPAC Policy Conference, in an effort to "Shut Down AIPAC"British Parliamentarian Faces Ejection from Party Over Anti-Zionist, Antisemitic Tweets
With nearly 14,000 expected in DC to help nuture a strong relationship between Israel and America, the assorted fringe groups are going to have a rather difficult time.
Maybe their friends from Hezbollah will join them again this year.
Expect the usual shrill disruptions, inane signage and mindless blather that is characteristic of a Code Pink event.
A British parliamentarian could be fired from the Liberal Democrat Party over a series of anti-Israel and antisemitic tweets, a senior member of the party has said.LA County Republican Officer Associates with Radical Anti-Semitism
David Ward, who represents the constituency of Bradford East in the north of England, was treading “a thin line between free speech and hate speech and incitement,” Lynne Featherstone, who serves as Crime Prevention Minister in Britain’s governing coalition, told The Jewish Chronicle.
Party officials are now considering whether to “withdraw the whip” – a process by which Ward would be fired from his party but remain in his parliamentary seat – in response to the parliamentarian’s repeated offenses on Twitter, as well as his other public statements. Last week, Ward observed Holocaust Memorial Day by listing other genocides that have taken place since the Second World War. Among the genuine genocides that claimed the lives of millions in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, Ward also listed “Palestine,” in a deliberate attempt to provoke a comparison between the Nazi persecution of the Jews and Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.
A key member of the L.A. County Liberty Caucus and recently-appointed chairman of the 54th Assembly District Central Committee of the L.A. County Republican Party, Zendehnam has openly expressed his disdain for the "arrogance, dishonesty, manipulation, exploitation, bullying & noise” of the United States and the “psychopath Zionists” who defend the “mass murder and ethnic cleansing” of Israel.Airbrushing Hizballah: BBC News report on Nasrallah speech
Perhaps most shocking is Zendehnam’s YouTube page (screenshots below), which features his "favorite" videos, many of which promote extremist ideology. A few examples:
A video on the evils of “Judeo-Nazis" and how "Israel the Darkness of a State Body"
A video on "How I became a self-hating Jew"
Videos featuring Norman Finkelstein (a critic of the “Holocaust industry” and hero among neo-Nazis)
A pro-Putin and Syria video
A video claiming Jews declared war on Nazi Germany and thus the Nazis were defending themselves
A video claiming Iran to be a true democracy
A “Boycott Israel” video
A video on Zionist ethnic cleansing and claiming Jewish bankers control the world
A video on “defending Guantanamo Bay Prisoners
On January 30th the BBC News website’s Middle East page published a report about a 90 minute video address given on the same day by the leader of Hizballah. Titled “Hezbollah says it does not want war with Israel“, the 270 word article actually devotes a mere three sentences to description of the content of Nasrallah’s speech.IsraellyCool: More Media Monkey Business
Perusal of the account of the address published by the Lebanese English language outlet The Daily Star shows that there was a lot more to the Hizballah leader’s message than the BBC’s ‘Nasrallah the peacenik’ portrayal makes out.
No less significant is the fact that the BBC airbrushed out of its account Nasrallah’s references to the ties between his organization and the Syrian regime and Iran. Just days before the January 18th strike on Hizballah operatives and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Syrian Golan, Nasrallah had denied in an interview with Al Mayadeen that his forces were active on the Syrian-Israeli border. The presence of Hizballah terrorists and IRGC officers revealed by the strike (as one Lebanese commentator put it; they were not there for a picnic) had already proved Nasrallah’s claim to be a lie – and parts of his January 30th address further confirmed that fact.
In a report on the neglect of animals at a Gazan zoo, The Daily Mails attributes the animal’s predicament to the conflict.Islamic State reported to burn Jordanian pilot alive
Leaving aside the casualty statistics that do not distinguish between terrorist and civilian, what this report fails to mention is how Hamas have a history of booby-trapping Gazan zoos. Which one could imagine would make it difficult for zookeepers to look after the animals.
There’s also the small matter of Hamas mascots mistreating animals.
Not to mention of the fact that last year, Israel helped transfer lions from Gaza zoo to Jordan.
So while I am sure the conflict started by Hamas has taken its toll on the zoos, Hamas’ disregard for animal life (in addition to their disregard for human life) is also relevant, as is Israel’s regard for animal life.
The Islamic State terrorist group released a video Tuesday showing the burning death of captured Jordanian pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, according to reports.Obama says US deploying all available assets to free US woman in ISIS captivity
Stills from a video shared on social media appeared to show Kasasbeh standing in a cage and being surrounded by flames, before being consumed.
The spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces confirmed the death of the “hero pilot” and vowed revenge.
“While the military forces mourn the martyr, they emphasize his blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians,” Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement read on Jordanian TV. (h/t Phil)
The US is working to free a 26-year-old American woman who is a captive of the terrorist organization Islamic State, US President Barack Obama said in an interview with NBC News aired on Sunday.Why ISIS’s Grisly Tactics Haven’t Backfired
Islamic State terrorists have held the unnamed woman since August 2013. Over the course of her captivity, US officials, along with her family, have remained firm in their request that her identity remain anonymous and out of the public eye.
She is believed to be the only remaining American in Islamic State confinement after the group beheaded aid worker Peter Kassig in November. On Saturday, the group also beheaded Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, after the failure of international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap.
“We are deploying all the assets that we can, working with all the coalition allies that we can to identify her location.”
Some are starting to wonder what ISIS has achieved with its high-profile executions. And indeed the countries targeted in its grisly beheading videos–Britain, the U.S., Japan–have not knuckled under. Indeed these executions have had the opposite reaction, leading the U.S. and the UK to begin military action against ISIS along with European and Arab allies. In Jordan, support for its role in the anti-ISIS coalition has been growing, rather than shrinking, as a result of the threats confronting its captured pilot who hails from a prominent tribe. Even Japan, which historically has not used military force abroad, is now threatening retaliation for the murder of its hostages.Australia, Britain Slam ISIS Hostage Killing at Defense Talks
So is it safe to say that ISIS’s brutal tactics have backfired? Not so fast. Its barbaric actions may cause revulsion but they also inspire fear among many and help to keep millions of dollars in ransom payments flowing for the release of European hostages. There is even a small subset of Muslims who are inspired by the spectacle of the “Islamic State” waging merciless war on “infidels” (however innocent). These admirers are presumably among the 1,000 or so foreigners a month traveling to Syria to join ISIS and rival groups such as the Al-Nusra Front. Most of all such atrocities keep ISIS in the news and serve as a counterpoint to news of setbacks it has suffered, such as the loss of Kobani in northern Syria to Kurd fighters backed by American airpower.
Certainly since ISIS began its beheadings last summer, it has suffered setbacks; U.S. Central Command claims that 6,000 of its fighters have been killed in that period by coalition airpower. But in that time ISIS has managed to hold onto Mosul and Fallujah in Iraq while actually expanding its control in Syria.
The Australian and British foreign ministers Sunday slammed the killing of a Japanese journalist by Islamic State (ISIS) as they vowed to tackle the jihadi terrorist threat at defense talks in Sydney.Japanese PM: We Will Never Forgive Terrorists
British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond is in Australia for the annual meeting with his counterpart Julie Bishop, with efforts to counter terrorism and foreign fighters high on the agenda.
"I wanted to extend Australia's deepest condolences to the people and government of Japan," Bishop told AFP.
"The depraved behavior that has led to the killing of two Japanese nationals is an unspeakable atrocity and we are united in our resolve to counter terrorism in all its forms wherever it occurs."
A visibly upset Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to "never forgive terrorists" after the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video purportedly showing the beheading of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.Will Japan go to War against ISIS?
"I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists," Abe told reporters in Tokyo on Sunday morning (local time), according to the AFP news agency.
"We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes," he declared.
After two Japanese hostages were beheaded by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Syria, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hinted at taking part in the US-led fight against ISIS, but Professor Ehud Harari, an expert on Japanese foreign policy, says he may be unable to carry out his promise.Iraqi libraries ransacked, books burned by Islamic State in Mosul
After the second hostage - journalist Kenji Goto - was murdered, Abe said on Sunday "we will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes."
The statement has led to expectations, primarily among the Americans, that Japan may actively take part in the struggle against ISIS, and Harari told Arutz Sheva that Abe has indeed been advancing Japan's ability to use military capabilities abroad since his election in 2012.
In trying to broaden Japan's military involvement he has given rise to a stormy public debate centered around Article Nine of the Japanese constitution largely crafted by the US after World War II, which forbids sending soldiers to conflicts abroad not related to the direct defense of the island nation.
When Islamic State group militants invaded the Central Library of Mosul earlier this month, they were on a mission to destroy a familiar enemy: other people's ideas.Analysis: Iran Making Fight Against ISIS “Impossible” in Iraq
Residents say the extremists smashed the locks that had protected the biggest repository of learning in the northern Iraq town, and loaded around 2,000 books -- including children's stories, poetry, philosophy and tomes on sports, health, culture and science -- into six pickup trucks. They left only Islamic texts.
The rest?
"These books promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned," a bearded militant in traditional Afghani two-piece clothing told residents, according to one man living nearby who spoke to The Associated Press. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation, said the Islamic State group official made his impromptu address as others stuffed books into empty flour bags.
Iran is making the American fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) even harder, according to an analysis published today by Michael Weiss and Michael Pregent for The Daily Beast. The analysis notes that Pregent, when he recently briefed American military advisors who were heading to Iraq, told them that “Iranian and Shia-militia targeting choices” would have priority even over American military and intelligence officials.PreOccupied Territory: ISIS Leader Caught Without Underage Bride (satire)
Weiss and Pregent observed that many Sunni tribesmen, who have fought ISIS, are now being killed by their fellow tribe members who have embraced ISIS giving the Sunnis “a choice between cutting a pragmatic deal with ISIS or embracing Shia death squads as their saviors and liberators.”
Weiss and Pregent quote a few Iraqi Shiite politicians who are uncomfortable with the Iranian involvement in their internal strife and fear that it will lead to only greater bloodshed.
This analysis follows the massacre of over 70 Sunni men in a village in eastern Iraq last week by Shiite militias.
The head of the Islamic State found himself embroiled in a scandal today when visiting dignitaries from an allied militia found him with no underage girls forced into marriage with him.Anti-semite footballer Mohamed Salah pushed out of Chelsea
The shadowy Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was scheduled to meet with a delegation of representatives from several Iraqi and Syrian tribal associations, but Baghdadi failed to appear at the meeting as scheduled, and the delegation’s messengers to his accommodations in the area discovered him not only failing to engage in mistreatment of a minor bride, but failing to have one on the premises at all, let alone confined to kitchen and bedroom duties.
The messengers related that Baghdadi appeared slightly disoriented, but attributed his state to the early hour. The tribal delegation left without seeing him, apparently dismayed at the Islamic State leader’s behavior. The stability of relations between the central IS authority and the tribal areas remains uncertain as a result.
Several of the tribal leaders, who declined to be named out of concern for their safety, expressed confusion and disgust over the evident hypocrisy. “The Islamic State represents the first opportunity to implement a political system completely in line with authentic Islamic principles, and here we have its leader in blatant disregard of Islamic practice,” one lamented. “I personally made sure to rape four of my eleven-year-old wives in preparation for this meeting, and this is the thanks I get.” He expressed concern over the future of the Islamic State as a political entity if it failed to uphold such basic values.
Update (one year on) 2 Feb 2015: Salah has been quietly moved out of Chelsea having barely played a game for themFormer civil servant's shocking Facebook hate rant: 'Hitler should have exterminated all Jews'
The following was posted 24 Jan 2014 with the title "If Mohamed Salah is not an antisemite Abramovic can get him to prove it". Seems like he never did....
Mohamed Salah is an Egyptian footballer who has just signed for Chelsea - a club owned by Roman Abramovic - for £11 million. The English sports media this morning is covering this story with headlines like "Salah: I am not an antisemite". Of course, Salah is not an antisemite. Like most Muslim non-antisemites he does not explicitly hate all 'Jews', only 'Jews who believe they have a right to their historical homeland', i.e.'Zionists'.
In August 2013 Salah's team Basel FC were drawn against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a champions league qualifier**. In the home tie Salah refused to shake the hands of the Israeli team, which is a remarkable achievement given that the EUFA protocol requires the home team to line up while the away team walks along the line shaking each hand. Salah managed to 'avoid this' by going to the touchline, pretending to tie up his shoe laces. He also refused to shake hands with any Maccabi players after the game, which Basel won 1-0. After the match Salah announced he would refuse to play in the return leg in Israel. Only after his club threatened to terminate his contract if he did not travel he announced:
"I will fly to Israel , Football is more important than politics and it is my job. In my thoughts I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won’t be shown in the Champions League."
Elder of Ziyon covered the events of the return leg in Tel Aviv in which Salah again avoided shaking hands with the Maccabi players (this time by bumping them instead). As usual EUFA, who are so determined to 'drive out racism' from the game refused to take any action when it came down to antisemitism.
A FORMER civil servant is being probed by police after he said Hitler should have killed every Jew during the Holocaust.Ukraine run by ‘miserable Jews,’ says rebel chief
In his hate-filled Facebook rant Zaim Mohammed, 43, who has worked for both the UK and Scottish governments, branded Jews as greedy troublemakers who make everyone’s lives a misery.
Police Scotland launched an investigation last week after a complaint from Glasgow-based lawyer Matthew Berlow.
The comments by Mohammed, now an IT consultant, were made only days before the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz where one million Jews were executed during World War II.
Mohammed, of Maryhill, Glasgow, wrote: “My grievance is with Hitler for failing to exterminate entire Jewish race.
Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebel chief on Monday branded the country’s leaders “miserable” Jews in an apparent anti-Semitic jibe.Swastikas deface Babi Yar memorial monument, again
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed that Kiev’s pro-Western leaders were “miserable representatives of the great Jewish people.
“I can’t remember a time when Cossacks were led by people who have never held a sword in their hands,” Zakharchenko told a press conference in the eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk, in a reference to Ukraine’s nationalist forebears, the Cossacks.
Zakharchenko said that the country’s historical nationalists “would turn in their graves if they could see who is running Ukraine.”
Anti-Semitic sentiment remains widespread in Ukraine, where leaders are commonly labelled as Jewish by those seeking to discredit them.
For the third time in recent months, Nazi swastikas were discovered on the Babi Yar memorial monument for Holocaust victims in Kiev.Employees of Israeli Company Take “Space Selfie”
The latest incident was discovered January 30 by employees of the National Historical Memorial Site in Babi Yar, where Nazi troops killed more than 33,000 Jews in 1941.
The swastikas were daubed on a monument shaped like a menorah that stands at the entrance to the site, the news website evreiskiy.kiev.ua reported.
The incident closely follows commemorations in Ukraine and across the world on January 27, International Holocaust Memorial Day, which this year attracted considerable media attention because it was the 70th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp.
Employees of Israel Aerospace Industries last week gathered to pose for a “space selfie” (embedded video below) Yahoo! News reported Friday.
Three hundred employees from Israel Aerospace Industries, or IAI, arranged themselves to spell out the company’s initials, for what they call a space selfie. That’s because the selfie was taken by the company’s passing satellite — the EROS-B, which is positioned about 325 miles above Earth!
The employees had to be in a specific area in order for the space selfie to work, but luckily they were quite familiar with the satellite, since they helped build it. The company uploaded a video to YouTube, showing just how it was able to pull off the out-of-this-world pic. The snap was the company’s way of celebrating Israel Space Week.
Fifth Masada opera festival announced
The Israeli Opera announced its fifth Masada Opera Festival, featuring “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini and “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, to be performed at the base of the historic mountain in June.Mobile SniffPhone will detect cancer on a user’s breath
The festival will take place on two successive weekends in June, with four performances of “Tosca” and two of “Carmina Burana.”
The opera festival is an ongoing effort to draw a younger audience to the musical art. The event was far from sold out last year.
Holding it on the weekend, rather than mid-week, makes it more attractive for the Israeli audience, said Yonat Burmil, who handles press relations for the Israeli Opera.
An innovative early disease detection system that uses the sense of smell is going mobile.
The NaNose breathalyzer technology developed by Professor Hossam Haick of the Technion will soon be installed in a mobile phone – to be called, appropriately, the SniffPhone. A tiny smell-sensitive sensor will be installed onto a phone add-on, and using specially designed software, the phone will be able to “smell” users’ breath to determine if they have cancer, among other serious diseases.
By identifying the special “odor” emitted by cancer cells, the NaNose system can detect the presence of tumors, both benign and malignant, more quickly, efficiently and cheaply than previously possible, said Haick.
“Current cancer diagnosis techniques are ineffective and impractical,” he said. NaNose technology, he said, “could facilitate faster therapeutic intervention, replacing expensive and time-consuming clinical follow-up that would eventually lead to the same intervention.”
According to research done by Haick’s team, the NaNose system has a 90 percent accuracy rate.
