Sunday, April 19, 2015
Chloe Valdary: The fake sincerity of pro-Palestinian commentators
This process usually occurs when the acolytes of armchair social justice mistake colloquy in echo chambers for sincere concern for the wellbeing of others. Politicians, professors and journalists alike carry on mindlessly suggesting untenable and, worse, immoral prescriptions that ostensibly help Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank but which in fact bring about their demise. The logic of these academics, when put to practical use, reads more like a satirical pamphlet than advice intended to be taken seriously:Natan Sharansky: When did America forget that it’s America?
• Let’s prove we love Palestinians by creating a state which, under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, has already robbed them of international aid, persecuted their minority population, and withheld from them the dignity of basic civil liberties – such as the right to vote, and the right to choose one’s own religion.
– Every pundit on CNN (et al) who advocates for a Palestinian state, without fully comprehending what they are calling for.
• Let’s prove we love Palestinians by championing the tunnel complex built by Hamas – even though those tunnels were built with the blood of Gazan children who were deemed to be expendable by the Hamas regime.
– Al Jazeera (et al) which, when describing the tunnel system as a “Palestinian assertion of political autonomy and resistance” failed to realize that it was symbolically standing on the graves of innocent Gazans in order to push a brutal political agenda.
• “Let’s prove we love Palestinians by suggesting that Hamas was ‘resisting’ against oppressive Israeli policies in the 2014 conflict even though Hamas reigns brutally over its own people á la Joseph Stalin.
– Every member of the glib pep squad that is Students for Justice in Palestine (et al) who serve as proxies running interference on campus for regimes that persecute their own people.
I am afraid that the real reason for the U.S. stance is not its assessment, however incorrect, of the two sides’ respective interests but rather a tragic loss of moral self-confidence. While negotiating with the Soviet Union, U.S. administrations of all stripes felt certain of the moral superiority of their political system over the Soviet one. They felt they were speaking in the name of their people and the free world as a whole, while the leaders of the Soviet regime could speak for no one but themselves and the declining number of true believers still loyal to their ideology.PMW: "There were between one and two million Jewish victims" of the Holocaust, says official PA daily
But in today’s postmodern world, when asserting the superiority of liberal democracy over other regimes seems like the quaint relic of a colonialist past, even the United States appears to have lost the courage of its convictions.
We have yet to see the full consequences of this moral diffidence, but one thing is clear: The loss of America’s self-assured global leadership threatens not only the United States and Israel but also the people of Iran and a growing number of others living under Tehran’s increasingly emboldened rule. Although the hour is growing late, there is still time to change course — before the effects grow more catastrophic still.
On the occasion of the Israeli remembrance day for the victims of the Holocaust last week, a regular columnist in the official Palestinian Authority daily wrote an op-ed in which he recognized the fact that the Holocaust occurred and targeted Jews. But although the writer even called it "a catastrophe," he reiterated false statements that have long been part of PA policy regarding the Holocaust, minimizing its scope and blaming the Zionist movement for participating in evil.
The PA daily repeated the claim that Jews have exaggerated the number of victims and that it was not 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, but only "between one and two million":
"Estimates regarding the number of Holocaust victims differ. The supporters of the Zionist movement have exaggerated the number of victims, claiming that it amounts to 6 million, whereas others, unbiased researchers, have estimated that there were between one and two million Jewish victims." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 18, 2015]
The writer hinted to an oft-repeated accusation that Jews were themselves at fault because their non-Jewish fellow citizens wanted to be rid of them due to the inherent Jewish evil:
"Regardless of the number, the bottom line is that a catastrophe that harmed the Jews in Europe occurred, due to matters concerning the relations between the European nations and the Jews living among them. "
The writer also repeated the claim that Zionists wanted "to increase the Jews' suffering" in the Holocaust in order to blackmail Europe into supporting Israel - "the Zionist colonialist project", to further Jewish immigration to Israel and to create more "compassion" for the Jews:
"The Zionist movement wanted to achieve a series of goals: First, to take advantage and use this [the Holocaust] to blackmail the European states financially and politically to make them support the Zionist colonialist project. Second, to bully the Jews to immigrate to the Israeli ethnic cleansing state, which was [then] in in the preparatory stages of establishment. Third, to increase the Jews' suffering and abuse in order to take advantage of the world's compassion for them."
Nazi invasion of London EXPOSED: World's top Holocaust deniers... filmed at secret race hate rally where Jews are referred to as the 'enemy'
Nazi sympathisers, Holocaust deniers and their supporters from across the world have held a sickening secret rally in Britain at which speakers unleashed anti-Semitic rants, referring to Jews as ‘the enemy’ and ‘children of darkness’.Beinart's neo-Neturei-Kartism
The meeting of the shadowy organisation will fuel fears of a growing resurgence in hatred towards Jews across Europe. The vile event was observed by a Mail on Sunday undercover team.
Held in London’s Victoria, the meeting was, said experts, the most significant gathering of Holocaust deniers Britain has ever seen, with speakers invited from Spain, Canada and the United States.
Today, the largest Holocaust remembrance event ever held in Britain will mark 70 years since the liberation of concentration camp Bergen-Belsen by the British Army.
But last Saturday, just a short walk from New Scotland Yard, it was clear that the sinister anti-Semitic conspiracy theories which led to the extermination of six million Jews are still fostered by a poisonous few.
It now appears, well, at least to me, that Peter Beinart's odyssey from his family's Betar/Revisionist roots to anti-Zionism is reaching full expression. Seemingly self-delighted with his outrageous opinions and more invidious action-suggestions of boycott (supposedly selective but he forgets that not all who read him are as smart as he thinks he is), he now has published a call with the message thatVIDEO: Jewish reporter harassed in Paris street
Instead of helping left- and right-wing American Jews talk to each other about Israel, let’s help them find a common Jewish identity beyond Israel.
He acknowledges that he is treated with disdain in some quarters. Nevertheless, he has friends amongst these people and what sustains their relationships is --- studying Judaism. Israel is too contentious a subject and among the bonds of communal connection that Jews share, Israel is but one of them, the others being "a shared memory of oppression" even though "the sense of exclusion that once forged solidarity among American Jews weakens" as the memory of the Holocaust fades (tell that, Peter, to Nashville), "Jewish culture" (his example is the bialy) and the third is “tikkun olam” (which in his extreme secular liberal/progressivism means (the idea that Jews bear a special responsibility to the strangers in our midst [but "in our midst" originally meant within the Land of Israel but we know Beinart's perversions of Jewish history, religion and culture, don't we?]).
As for history, he falsely claims that "the Holocaust created an American Jewish consensus in support of the Jewish State". Not quite. The extermination of 6 million Jews only suppressed the political ideology that Binart now seeks to, pardon the cross-religious literacy, resurrect.
We have run several posts about Walking While Jewish in European cities, and the resulting street harassment.
Here is another example. Call it “Reporting While Jewish” in Paris.
Miri Michaeli Schwartz is a reporter for Israel Channel 10 News.
She was doing a report on the streets of Paris regarding the search for the downed Green Wings flight a number of weeks ago, when some Arab men noticed the Hebrew lettering on her microphone. They surrounded her and began to harass her.
She just recently posted the short video, which only show a small part of the incident, on her facebook page
ISIS Supporters Hand Out Israeli Heaters In Gaza Giveaway
Palestinian ISIS supporters in the Gaza Strip are giving away Israeli space heaters to local civilians.PM: Israel sees S-300 sale to Iran with ‘utmost gravity’
Images posted in in an ISIS forum show supporters handing out space heaters from Sachs, one of Israel’s leading electronics companies, in boxes relabeled with the ISIS logo and a message that reads: “These are provided by the soldiers of the Islamic State. Don’t forget to pray for us.”
The electronics were distributed as part of a tradition called Zakat, an Islamic tithing for the poor, which ISIS has capitalized on to build political support in Gaza, just as it has in other areas throughout the region. ISIS fighters in Syria, Iraq and Libya have routinely invested in charity to strengthen their ties with the local communities under the Islamic State’s control. In some areas of Iraq, ISIS also collects tithes to pay for zakat gifts to the poor, based on people’s assets or wealth, using forms like the one shown below.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel treated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to supply advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran with “utmost gravity.”Putin warns Israel not to sell arms to Ukraine
“Israel views with utmost gravity the supply of S-300 missiles from Russia to Iran, especially at a time when Iran is stepping up its aggression in the region and around the borders of the State of Israel,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
The prime minister also reiterated Israel’s stance about the framework long-term nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, saying it didn’t address Iran’s regional military aspirations.
Russian President Vladmir Putin warned Israel Saturday against a “counterproductive” sale of weapons to Ukraine, in response to his own divisive decision to supply the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran.Ready for the truth about Iran? Khamenei wants to destroy us
“It’s the Israeli leadership’s choice,” the Russian leader said. “It’s their right to do what they think is appropriate.” But, he warned on Russian state-run media, “It will only lead to another round of conflicts, to a rise in the number of victims — and the outcome will be the same.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Putin Thursday in a failed attempt to convince the Russian president to refrain from selling the system to the Iranians.
Israeli media reported last week that Israel was mulling arms sales to Ukraine in the face of Moscow’s resolve to go through with a delivery of the S-300 system to Iran.
Why are so many "experts" amazed that there is no deal with Iran? It's certainly not because Western negotiators weren't willing to meet the mullahs halfway; they were eager to compromise, even to drop longstanding demands, in an effort to reach agreement.Iran leader derides ‘silly’ US threats, but urges his military to be ‘prepared’
The surprise shows that we don't grasp the nature of the Iranian regime, which is why the pundits and the diplomats are so often forced to scramble for explanations when things don't go according to scheme.
Our basic error, from which all the others flow, is that we think our offer of a strategic alliance — President Obama's "outstretched hand" — is attractive to Iran. It isn't. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei doesn't want a deal with us; he wants to destroy us. When he calls us the "Great Satan" or when he leads chants of "Death to America!," he means it.
Khamenei wants to go down in Islamic history as the man who defeated America, not the imam who signed a deal with the devil. He's willing to accept our surrender, but he won't forge a partnership with Obama.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the country’s armed forces Sunday to increase their “defensive preparedness,” hitting out at a US warning of possible military action. He also reportedly called the US and Israel the most serious threat to the world.Khamenei calls Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons a 'myth'
Khamenei told commanders and troops in a speech that Iran “will never accept such silly remarks,” a jab at General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, though he did not name him.
Dempsey said Thursday that should ongoing diplomacy with Iran fail, “the military option… to ensure that Iran does not achieve a nuclear weapon is intact.”
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday the United States had created the "myth" of nuclear weapons to portray Iran as a threat, hardening his rhetoric before nuclear negotiations resume this week.Israeli TV: Obama ‘president of Iran’
Khamenei has supported the talks but has continued to express deep mistrust of the United States. As the highest authority in Iran, the withdrawal of his support could cause the negotiations to collapse.
"They created the myth of nuclear weapons so they could say the Islamic Republic is a source of threat. No, the source of threat is America itself," Khamenei said in comments cited by the semi-official Fars news agency.
"The other side is methodically and shamelessly threatening us militarily ... even if they did not make these overt threats, we would have to be prepared," he said in an address to military commanders.
Barack Obama is the president of… Iran? Channel 2 news accidentally bestowed that honorific upon Obama Saturday night when reporting on a press conference by the US president.PreOccupied Territory: In Nod To Zionist Control, Woman On New $20 Bill To Be Golda Meir (satire)
The mistake, in an on-screen ID tag, came at a time when Israeli concerns over the US-Iran relationship are particularly acute.
Ties between America and Israel have grown strained in recent months as Obama attempts to work out a nuclear deal with Iran, on terms Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu furiously opposes.
The campaign to replace the visage of President Andrew Jackson on the American twenty-dollar note with that of a woman came to an end today with an announcement by the Federal Reserve that it had made its selection: Golda Meir, an Israeli leader who served as Prime Minister from 1969-1974. The Fed announcement explained that the selection was made in keeping with the need to please the US’s Zionist overlords.1.15 million flags to fly on Independence Day
Meir’s countenance was chosen over previous frontrunners Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller. A Federal Reserve spokesman told reporters that the organization, which instructs the Bureau of Printing and Engraving on the design and production of the various denominations of currency, felt compelled to acknowledge the central role that the International Zionist Conspiracy plays in American governance, while maintaining the quest to honor a woman with a place on the $20 bill.
“The role of the Federal Reserve has always been one of balancing competing interests, albeit generally of a strictly fiscal or monetary nature,” said Fed representative Learned Elder. “In this case, however, there wasn’t much of a competition – we were able to find an inspirational woman who also happened to be an influential Zionist.”
In celebration of Israel's 67th birthday, Israelis will fly an estimated 1.15 million blue and white flags, a 15% increase over the previous year.Netanyahu pays homage to fallen brother as Israel prepares to honor war dead
According to the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, Israel citizens and businesses will shell out roughly NIS 11 million for flags of all shapes and sizes.
Put end to end, they would reach around 940 million meters in length, according to Avi Marom, of the chamber's textile branch.
There was a 10% spike in orders for giant flags for decorating buildings, and a 12% increase in purchases from local authorities.
"The largest flag purchased this year is 687.5 meters long," Maron said.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the gravesite of his brother, Yoni, on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem on Saturday night, kicking off a somber week that will culminate on Wednesday with national remembrance for Israel's fallen soldiers.Bereaved families to Ya'alon: Prevent joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial service
Yoni Netanyahu was the only Israeli soldier killed during the 1976 raid launched by special forces who successfully extricated over 100 Israeli and Jewish passengers of an Air France jet that was taken hostage by Palestinian and German terrorists.
The events of Entebbe are believed to have had a profound impact on Netanyahu, who went on to write numerous books about terrorism before embarking on a successful diplomatic and political career that eventually brought him to Israel’s premiership.
At the time of the operation, Netanyahu said during a memorial two years ago, he was studying in the US, and the moment he heard IDF soldiers had landed in Entebbe, he knew his brother had to be there, and called his parents.
Criticism against the annual Remembrance Day ceremony held by the organization Combatants for Peace has intensified. The ceremony is a private initiative that allows members of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families to come together to mourn their losses attributed to the ongoing conflict.Second victim of Jerusalem terror attack still in serious condition
According to a report by Army Radio on Sunday, this year 107 bereaved Israeli families from Samaria sent a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon demanding that he prevent visas from being issued to the Palestinian families wishing to enter Israel to participate in the ceremony.
"The ceremony is provocative and demeaning to Remembrance Day and to the memory of the fallen soldiers," the letter read. "We are appalled that the Israeli government would allow such a joint memorial event to be held in memory of our enemies who are the reason for the murder and injury to our boys who enlisted in the army to protect the people and the land, and our boys living in Israel who died, if only because they were Jews."
Shira Klein, 20, who was wounded in Wednesday’s apparent terror attack in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood, remains in serious but stable condition.Arab Mob Hurls Rocks at Beit El, IDF's 'Hands are Tied'
The attack claimed the life of 25-year-old Yohai Sherki, the son of prominent rabbi Ouri Sherki who is well known in the city’s francophone community. Sherki died of his injuries on Thursday morning and was buried later that day.
Klein is hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the capital’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where she is kept sedated and connected to machines that assist her breathing, according to Hebrew media reports.
At least 70 Palestinian Arabs from the Jalazun village approached Beit El on Friday evening, locals stated Saturday night, and began throwing rocks at IDF soldiers stationed nearby, Border Police officers who arrived at the scene, and Jewish homes in the community.Two men who plotted to bomb Mamilla open mall in Jerusalem sentenced to prison
Several of the rocks hit the yard of the Koren family as the children were playing outside, a representative told Arutz Sheva - "and, by a miracle, no one was hurt."
One rock caused "thousands of shekels" of damage to a shed on the property, however, which was filled with medical equipment.
Security forces responded with riot control measures; six terrorists were injured in the attack. Just two rioters were arrested and taken into police custody for questioning.
Two east Jerusalem residents who planned a massive terror attack at Jerusalem's outdoor Mamilla mall during the High Holidays in 2013 were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences at the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday.Hamas Toughens Conditions for Releasing Soldiers' Bodies
Both defendants, Ahmad Rishek, who was given a ten year prison term and Ismail Abu Mfalfal, who received an 8-year prison term, were convicted of conspiracy to aid an enemy during war and attempted manufacturing of a weapon in January.
Rishak, 23, from Shuafat, and Abu Mfalfal, 27, from Abu Dis – were indicted in September 2013. They were not charged with attempted murder, which carries a more serious sentence, because they were caught early in the planning stage.
They and other Hamas members from Ramallah and Jerusalem were led by Hamdi Romana, 22, of Ramallah, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said.
During the investigation by the IDF and the police, security forces uncovered an explosives lab in Romana’s home, including instruction manuals on how to construct bombs, the Shin Bet stated.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has introduced strict conditions for any future transaction with Israel regarding the return of the bodies of two soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge.PreOccupied Territory: Those Sons Of Apes And Pigs Must Stop Dehumanizing Us By Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Negotiator (satire)
Last October, there was talk in Hamas of a swap of Arab terrorists in exchange for the bodies of Givati Brigade officer Hadar Goldin and Golani Brigade combat soldier Oron Shaul, although the deal never materialized.
Now, in an interview with Tayaf radio in Gaza, Mashaal said Hamas would not sign any agreement to release terrorists in exchange for the bodies, "before Israel fulfills its earlier commitments regarding the release of prisoners" - a reference to the fourth tranche of terrorist releases Israel halted in 2014 after the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas declared a unity government.
Mashaal also demanded that all terrorists rearrested after being released during the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal be re-released.
The key to Israeli-Palestinian peace lies with the people, not with the politicians. A stable, lasting accord must be based in mutual respect for the other’s sovereignty and human dignity. That is why those descendants of apes and pigs must cease their dehumanization campaign against the Palestinian people.Lancet accused of editorial misconduct
Whether or not negotiations between us and Israel are taking place – and we all know whom to blame for the current impasse – they will only succeed, when they eventually resume, if each side sincerely commits to portraying the other as worthy of all the rights inherent in being human. That is the only way to guarantee that an agreement will be honored. Someone better beat that into the Israelis’ heads, because they, like most subhumans, only understand force.
It is merely one more arena in which Israeli hypocrisy abounds. They claim to want a negotiated solution, but reject negotiations predicated on a non-negotiated premise. They insist on universal access to holy places, but ignore the Muslim desire to deny that access. They build a barrier, ostensibly to keep out “terrorists,” but ignore its deleterious impact on the Palestinian suicide bomber industry, knowing that literally dozens of families of such bombers depend on Palestinian Authority pensions for their livelihood – at the same time painting a society that engages in such attacks as barbaric. Characterizations of anyone as less than fully human must stop, and the first ones to stop must be those simian, porcine Jews.
On March 31 2015, hundreds of physicians from across the globe submitted a complaint to the Senior Management and Board of Reed Elsevier concerning “egregious editorial misconduct at The Lancet that is unacceptable in general and also gravely violates your own published Editorial Policies”.Zoabi to Talk 'Israeli Apartheid' with American College Students
The signatories include 5 Nobel laureates, 4 knights and a Lord.
The letter protests "the grossly irresponsible and damaging editorial misuse of The Lancet for political purposes" as well as the "abject failure of the owner/publisher, Reed Elsevier, to enforce appropriate ethical standards of editorship.", citing as examples, the publication of the fraudulent MMR vaccine article, as well as last years "Open Letter to Gaza"
The Lancet, owned by Reed Elsevier, is one of the major general medical journals. It has been misused by its editor-in-chief, Dr Richard Horton, as a vehicle for his own eclectic personal and political agenda, at times characterized by flagrantly irresponsible publications. The worst examples of this are the MMR vaccine scare of 1998 and “An open letter for the people in Gaza” by Manduca et al published on July 22, 2014.
MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint Arab List) is taking her recent, court-sanctioned reelection and using it to do what she does best - attack the Jewish state. And this time, globally.In Sydney Soon, A Campus Law School Hass Fest
Zoabi will be the featured speaker at an anti-Israel event sponsored by the New York University (NYU) chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Entitled "Israeli Racism and Apartheid: An Insider's View - A Talk with Parliament Member Haneen Zoabi," the event will take place this coming Friday night at 8 p.m. in Manhattan for students and interested parties alike.
Described by SJP as a "Palestinian citizen of Israel and a feminist paliementarian," Zoabi will give what the student club describes as an insider perspective on the "Israeli Apartheid" experienced by "Palestinian citizens."
Despite this so-called "apartheid," it is ironic that Zoabi, who, whether she admits it or not, comes to NYU as a representative of the Israeli Knesset, is speaking about discrimination in that same country.
The rather squalid all-day event that's going to take place in the Staff Common Room of the Law Faculty at the University of New South Wales campus in the Sydney suburb of Randwick on 24 April was excitedly touched on about a fortnight ago in a video (I wouldn't bother, if I were you) by a veteran Aussie Israel-basher of Jewish birth, Vivienne Porzsolt (of "Jews Against The Occupation", one of those would-fit-into-a-telephone-booth outfits).Real People — Not Bus Stops
With former NSW parliamentarian (Greens, need you ask!) and publisher Sylvia Hale (the Hale half of Hale and Iremonger), Ms Porzsolt went on the Flotilla in 2010 and had a nice little adventure.
In the video mentioned above she sits alongside Peter Slezak, another Israel-bashing "as-a-Jew", who's going to be a speaker at the Randwick hate-fest.
The keynote speaker will be the notorious Israel-bashing Ha'aretz journalist Amira Hass, who's currently already in Australia working hermischiefmagic among the we-hate-Israel set. (Sorry, folks, this dinner to meet her in Sydney is all booked out!)
While the article written underneath the bizarre headline makes clear what happened, one has to wonder if whomever wrote the misleading headline even took the time to read the story. Unfortunately, the headline is perhaps the most important part of an article since many news readers simply skim through the paper, whether online or in print. Based on the headline, how could anyone understand that this was an act of terrorism against two innocent people rather than a crash at an inanimate bus stop?Guardian publishes essay falsely charging Israel with ethnically cleansing Jerusalem Palestinians
This is not the first time that headline writers have gotten it wrong when it comes to acts of terrorism against Israelis. After a similar attack in 2011, we reported on headlines at the BBC, the Associated Press, and Sky News — all of who described the target of an attack as a bus stop, rather than the real people who were victims of the terrorist.
There are multiple distortions, errors and misrepresentations of fact throughout an 1800 word essay published by Teju Cole at The Guardian on April 17th, titled ‘Slow violence, cold violence – Teju Cole on East Jerusalem‘. However, the most egregiously false charge leveled at Israel by Cole – a writer and literary critic who has contributed to the New York Times, New Yorker, Financial Times, and The Atlantic – is that Palestinians are being ethnically cleansed from Jerusalem.Stone-Throwing, Lost in Haaretz Translation
Here are the relevant passages.
As in other neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem – Har Homa, the Old City, Mount Scopus, Jaffa Gate – there is a policy at work in Sheikh Jarrah. This policy is two-fold. The first is the systematic removal of Palestinian Arabs, either by banishing individuals on the basis of paperwork, or by taking over or destroying their homes by court order.
The second aspect of the policy is the systematic increase of the Jewish populations of these neighbourhoods
This two-fold policy, of pushing out Palestinian Arabs and filling the land with Israeli Jews, is recognised by all the parties involved. And for such a policy, the term “ethnic cleansing” is not too strong: it is in fact the only accurate description.
First, it’s important to note that Jews were the ones ethnically cleansed from east Jerusalem following the Jordanian occupation of that section of the city in the aftermath the 1948 war. That’s the only reason why east Jerusalem was – for the first time in the city’s history – Jew-free between 1949 and 1967, thus giving rise to the media misnomer of a “historically Arab east Jerusalem”.
"Haaretz, Lost in Translation," that enduring phenomenon of Haaretz's English translators deleting information about Arab violence or wrongdoing which had appeared in the Hebrew original, strikes again.New ISIS video purportedly shows shooting, beheading of 30 Ethiopian Christians
This time, Haaretz translators transform a Palestinian stone-thrower who was fatally shot as he was engaged in violence against Israeli troops into a non-violent marcher who was shot for no offense greater than feeling rage over his cousin's death.
The original Hebrew version of Levy's article Friday notes that the crowd of Palestinian mourners had been throwing stones.
The relevant sentence, underlined in red, means (CAMERA's translation):
Thousands accompanied him on his final journey and at the end hundreds of enraged youth approached the checkpoint at the exit of the city, and threw stones.
For some reason, this violence on the part of the Palestinian crowd was does not appear in the English article.
A video purportedly made by Islamic State and posted on social media sites on Sunday appeared to show militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.Never Again Should Include Endangered Yazidis
Reuters was not able to verify the authenticity of the video but the killings resemble past violence carried out by Islamic State, which has expanded its reach from strongholds in Iraq and Syria to a conflict-ridden Libya.
The video, in which militants call Christians crusaders and say they are out to kill Muslims, showed about 15 men being beheaded on a beach and another group of the same size shot in their heads in Libya's southern desert interior.
Both groups of men are referred to in a subtitle as "worshipers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian church".
In April, the renewal and rejuvenation of Spring join with faith and remembrance. Faith and hope are embodied in the celebrations of Passover and Easter; darker memories are stirred by the commemorations of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) and of the Armenian Genocide.Electric vehicle industry keen on SoftWheel technology
On Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) 2015, Jews will gather around the precious remnant of aging survivors. We will touch yellow stars of David, view documentaries showing the tracks at Auschwitz approaching the Arbeit Macht Frei sign, avert our eyes from the images of endless piles of corpses near the mouths of the crematoria and the walking corpses following liberation. We will give voice to our deepest fears over the resurgence of deadly antisemitism in Europe and relentless attacks demonizing the state of Israel-home to the largest Jewish community in the world.
But this year, the Jewish community and everyone else for whom memory is a sacred trust should also be looking at haunting images of the Yazidis, the people targeted for extinction by ISIS. Having sustained mass murders, the starvation deaths of their children, and the mass abduction of their women, they might soon be reduced to a historical footnote.
Israeli startup SoftWheel, which already has the wheelchair and bicycle world talking about its groundbreaking suspension system within wheels, is now eyeing the electric vehicle market.Israeli economy sees highest growth in years in Q4 2014
Daniel Barel, CEO of Softwheel, told ISRAEL21c that several car manufacturers have already approached the Tel Aviv-based company about its technology that can reduce wasted energy and absorb shocks for a smoother ride, but refused to disclose any names.
SoftWheel’s technology ups the ante on current tire and suspension systems with its wheels automatically responding to changes in the terrain. The company is currently focused on improving wheelchair and bicycle wheels but hopes to crack the automobile, airplane and mass transit markets as well.
The Israeli economy grew 7% in the last quarter of 2014, the highest rate of growth in recent years, the Central Bureau of Statistics reports.Zionism in Animation: Bringing Hasbara to 21st Century
The 7% growth in Q4 of 2014 represents a stark contrast to the 0.3% growth in the third quarter of the same year -- when Operation Protective Edge was under way -- and a mere 1.5% in Q2. Total economic growth for 2014 stood at 2.8%, compared to total growth of 2.7% for all of 2013.
In general, the numbers indicate a real improvement in the economy in the last quarter of 2014: Israel's total economic value crossed the trillion shekel threshold and reached its highest-ever amount: NIS 1.09 trillion ($278 billion). Per capita economic growth grew by 5% in Q4.
The improvement in the living standard in those same months was reflected in new car purchases, which jumped by 75.5%, as well as in purchases of refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines and dryers, which all increased by 22.1%. Purchases of clothing and footwear increased by 10.3%, while spending on airfare for trips abroad rose by 8.1%. The only decreases noted were of newspapers and medications, which were down by 1.7%.
A new crowdfunding campaign, arriving just in time for Yom Haatzmaut [Israel's independence day], looks to "tell the story of Zionism" through a series of 100 short animated clips.Zionism in Animation - Crowd Funding Campaign
The project, entitled "Zionism in Animation," sees itself as a way to "inform and educate" Jews around the world about the history and culture of the Jewish state, in the hopes of strengthening their connection to both Judaism and Israel.
Telling the story of Zionism in an "attention-grabbing way" is the primary goal of the project created by Jerusalem-based Rogatka animation stuio owner Shlomo Blass.
Accorging to Zionism in Animation's website, many Jews do not know enough about the return to their homeland, and particularly with the digital revolution, animated content fills a gaping hole in engaging Millennials in Zionist education.
