Thursday, August 06, 2015
PMW: Murdering Jewish children is for Allah, according to the Palestinian Authority
Every society has murderers and extremists who would kill even children. The test of a society’s morality is how it responds to those murderers.Michael Lumish: A "Statement of Interest"
Israel loathes, ostracizes and prosecutes Israeli terrorists who murder Palestinian children. The Palestinian Authority honors, embraces and rewards Palestinian terrorists who murder Israeli children.
Last Friday, a terrorist, apparently an Israeli, set fire to a Palestinian home, killing an 18-month-old boy. The arson and murder has been condemned by Israel’s prime minister, president, political and religious leaders and everyone who has spoken about it. When the murderer is found he will be prosecuted and will spend the rest of his life in prison.
On March 11, 2011, five members of the Fogel family were killed in their home by Palestinian terrorists from the Awad family. Hakim Awad led the attack, killing the parents, Ehud and Ruth, and three of their children, aged 11, four and two months.
From the day Awad was arrested the PA rewarded him with a monthly salary, which eventually will reach $3,000 a month, four times the average Palestinian civil servant’s salary. Official PA TV then invited his mother and aunt to talk on the PA TV program dedicated to honoring and sending greetings to imprisoned terrorists. They referred to Awad and his accomplices as “heroes” and Hakim Awad himself was called “the hero, the legend.” The PA TV host added: “We, for our part, also convey our greetings to them.”
Dalal Mughrabi led a terrorist attack in which 12 children and 25 adults were murdered in a bus hijacking. To teach Palestinian children the value it places on murdering a large number of Israeli children the PA has named dozens of places in her honor, including three schools, summer camps, sporting events, a town square and much more.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas himself funded a computer center named after her and sponsored a birthday party in her honor, as the banner shown on PA TV highlighted: “Under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas: The Political and National Education Authority Ceremony on the anniversary of the birth of the bride of the cosmos, The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi.”
The truth is that the PA-PLO is an enemy to the Jewish people, an enemy to the Israeli people, and an enemy of the United States and the West. They danced in the streets when the World Trade Center came down in Manhattan. While we were mourning our dead they were handing out candy to their children and rejoicing in the comeuppance of the Great Satan.Clifford Rosen: Jewish privilege vs. Palestinian privilege
{I lost one of my neighbors growing up that day.}
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the PA-PLO is entirely counterproductive to the national self-interests of Americans, Israelis, and the entire western world. It was ex-US president Jimmy Carter that initially bolstered the career of PLO chieftain Yassir Arafat and we've been stuck with these guys ever since, but they certainly aren't helping anything.
How is it possibly in the best interest of the American people to support an organization that calls for the murder of Jews and Americans? What kind of honest cooperation can we possibly expect from a group that names schools and public squares after the murderers of innocent civilians?
It is long past time for the US government to acknowledge the fact that the Oslo "peace process" is over. It is done and it is now time to move on.
In my opinion, at this point the US should stay out of Israeli affairs vis-à-vis the internal Arab problem. (Happy, Shirlee? ) Siding with terrorists against Jews - which seems to be an Obama administration forté - only makes things worse, but one would think that would be obvious.
Since these accusations of Jewish “privilege” are also used to attack Israel, I thought I would list examples of Israeli “privilege” I thought up of as well:
1 Being told you have no right to live in the country you currently live in, and in most cases, were born and lived your whole life in.
2 Being told your country is illegitimate and has no right to exist.
3 Being told you must either return to the country where your ancestors were oppressed for centuries or must live as a minority under a people of whom 93% are anti-Semitic.
4 Being constantly demonized and dehumanized on university campuses around the world.
5 Being the target of a campaign to boycott you in order to force you to commit national suicide.
6 Being the only country unable to serve on the UN Security Council and other UN bodies.
7 Being subject to disproportionate scrutiny by several UN bodies, including the UN “Human Rights” Council, which has some of the worst human rights abusers on the planet currently serving on it.
8 Being held to much higher standard than the rest of the world.
9 Being told you must come up with peace soon or else you will be forced to give up your self-determination.
10 Being subject to threats of annihilation.
11 Being subject to rocket attacks and other terrorist activity.
12 Being denied the right to defend yourself and being accused of “war crimes” when you do so.
On the other hand, Palestinians are seen by progressives as an “oppressed people of color” who have no privilege. However, here are the privileges they and only they have:
Educating their children: a modest, peace-focused proposal
This post is about making a radical change to the education that Palestinian Arab children get in their schools. A change for the better, but then - as most people know - that's not saying much.Amb. Alan Baker: Condemnation and Condolence by the UN Secretary General — Genuine or Politically Biased?
We have posted here about UNRWA dozens of times over the years. Why? Because its existence is a fundamental pre-requisite for the hatred and passion for lethal violence that is daily injected into the blood and consciousness of generations of Palestinian Arab children.
This has been happening for nearly seventy years. As refugee support organizations, can there be one as spectacularly ineffective as UNRWA? As a terrorist training institution, can there be one as heart-breakingly effective as UNRWA?
We have recently been focusing on the money problems at the billion-dollar-annual-budget agency, and how its absolutely sickening focus on educating for terror goes unremarked, unchecked and un-stopped by all of the world's agencies for the protection of children. We're referring, in no particular order, to UNICEF, Defence for Children International, UNESCO, Child Rights International Network, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Washington-based Jerusalem Fund, Save the Children, Arab Council for Childhood Development and numerous others. Thousands of bureaucrats, hundreds of fund-raisers and no one with enough time to address the daily disaster which is Palestinian Arab education.
The recent act of hatred and terror in which a Palestinian child was tragically burned to death and members of his family seriously wounded is clearly deserving of utter condemnation and repudiation by all.UN Watch: Double-standards: The Gaza vs. Yemen conflicts
It was indeed strongly condemned by the U.N. Secretary-General, who expressed condolences and called for the perpetrators to be promptly brought to justice.
However, the sincerity and bone fides of this condemnation and expression of condolence would appear to be somewhat questionable, in light of the unfortunate and unnecessary addition by the Secretary General of a political message arbitrarily attaching blame.
As long as the investigation of the act has not yet been completed by the responsible investigative authorities in Israel, the Secretary General cannot and should not use the tragic event of the child’s death to arbitrarily render a selective, and clearly political and unproven determination, declaring, without any basis in fact, that it was caused by the lack of a political process or by Israel’s settlement policy.
Analyzing the Secretary General’s reactions, or lack thereof, to similar and even more serious acts of terror throughout the world over the past few months, it becomes clear, as in most issues regarding Israel, that the classical UN double-standard would appear to have been applied even here, with one mode of behavior applicable to Israel only.
The bias of the UN Human Rights Council against Israel cannot be disputed by anyone, including William Schabbas. With its standing agenda item, one-sided reports, biased mandates, the UNHRC in its 10 years of operation has condemned Israel more times that the rest of the world combined. Yes, this anti-Israel bias has permeated into all sectors of UN activity, including its Secretariat, which is supposed to have the “highest standards of integrity” (UN Charter, para 101.3). Yet, in the case of Israel, the UN fails this test.US Official Says Palestinian State Won’t be Established During Obama Presidency
A case in point is how the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) dealt with the Gaza conflict in the Summer 2014 compared to how it deals with the conflict in Yemen today. One could claim that the conflicts are significantly different: Israel was exercising its right to self-defense in response to a barrage of rockets that targeted its cities. In the case of Yemen, Saudi Arabia is wedging a military campaign without its own territory being directly attacked, mostly driven by geopolitical interests.
Both conflicts have claimed an almost equal number of deaths (2,251 Palestinians dead—from Hamas sources endorsed by the UN—compared to at least 1,916 dead civilians in Yemen, with the conflict still going on). Yet, the OHCHR response has been completely different.
We will contrast a statement on Gaza issued by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in July 2014 with press briefing notes on Yemen issued by the High Commissioner’s spokesperson yesterday.
An American official told Israeli political reporters on Tuesday that the Obama administration understands that there is no possibility a Palestinian state will be established by the end of President Barack Obama’s time in office, Israel’s NRG reported.Most Palestinians want economic cooperation with Israel, poll shows
Despite this belief, the official made clear that Washington would not take the issue off its agenda, and would continue to promote the peace process during the remainder of Obama’s presidency.
The official said the White House is concerned over the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and pointed out that the nuclear deal with Iran had overshadowed the issue.
“You cannot set [the peace process] aside while you are dealing with the Iranian issue, because of demographics and because of what is happening in Gaza,” said the official, according to the report.
“There is no scenario where we would not deal with the Palestinian issue or not do something to push it forward in any case,” the official continued. “But we are realistic when it comes to this, that we will not reach an agreement during this administration. However, we must keep the issue in focus.”
A poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion and sponsored by a D.C.-based think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, has findings that may be new to those who’ve followed the Arab-Israeli conflict.Tensions Rising Again Between Hamas and 'Authority of Traitors'
Washington Institute fellow David Pollock characterized as a “surprise” a response that most Palestinian Arabs in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank (Judea and Samaria) want economic cooperation with Israel. He notes that “a majority (55 percent) in the West Bank, and nearly as many in Gaza (48 percent), also say they would ‘like to see Israeli companies offer more jobs inside’ those areas.”
This desire for jobs corresponds with what residents in areas polled stated to be their priorities: family and money. Only 14 percent of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and 24 percent of Gazans polled said that “working to establish a Palestinian state” was their top priority. In contrast, “making enough money to live” and “having a good family life” polled much higher in both areas.
The Palestinian emphasis on increased economic cooperation contrasts with the stated objectives of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, advocated by groups like the Jewish Voice for Peace and others who support the economic ghettoization of Israel. BDS was founded by Palestinian “civil society groups”—including U.S.-listed terror groups Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of Fatah, and Syrian extremist groups. The latter of these groups have the stated objective of destroying Israel; the BDS movement seeks to wage economic warfare against the Jewish state. Although such a goal appears to be in conflict with many Palestinian Arabs—as this data illustrates.
The poll also showed a sharp difference in the opinions of West Bank Arabs and those in the Strip regarding “responsibility for the slow pace of reconstruction in Gaza.” Forty percent of the former put most of the blame on Israel. Conversely, a plurality (40 percent) of those actually living in Gaza blamed Hamas—which has ruled the region since the first and only elections in 2006—more than they blamed Israel (29 percent).
By a large majority, Gazans (88 percent) said the Palestinian Authority (PA)—which through the corrupt Fatah organization currently rules the West Bank and was ousted from Gaza by a violent Hamas-led coup in 2007—“should take over the administration” there.
When it comes to peace with Israel, 58 percent of West Bankers and 65 percent of Gazans polled said that even if a “two-state solution” is negotiated, “the struggle is not over and resistance should continue until all of historic Palestine [Israel] is liberated.” In other words, Palestinian Arabs in both areas want to see Israel destroyed. 56 percent of the respondents in the West Bank and 84 percent in Gaza support the use of violent attacks to achieve this end. Despite this pronounced support for violence, 74 percent of West Bankers and 83 percent of Gazans say “Hamas should maintain a ceasefire with Israel.”
Current Middle East Studies Association (MESA) president and George Washington University political science professor Nathan Brown downplayed Hamas's long history of terrorism on July 23 at the anti-Israel Jerusalem Fund think tank in Washington, DC. He and others on a panel titled "Gaza in Context: Broader Implications in the Palestinian Plight" claimed that the Islamic supremacism of Hamas and, increasingly, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is mere nationalism before an audience of forty.Accept Hamas as "Legitimate Political Player," Says Middle East Studies Association President
Former Jerusalem Fund and current U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation director Yousef Munayyer opened the panel with a proclamation worthy of the Gaza Chamber of Commerce: "Gaza can be a hub of commerce and industry" with "tremendous potential to once again be an engine of success and prosperity." Yet the Gaza strip became a threat to Israel after it relinquished the area in 2005 to Palestinians who were more interested in ransacking and militarizing donated Israeli greenhouses than engaging in commerce. Noting that Gaza, with 1.8 million inhabitants, is the largest Palestinian city, Munayyer asserted that the "most valuable resource to the Palestinian nation is perhaps its population," a claim belied by Hamas's frequent use of such "resources" as human shields for propaganda against Israel.
In his presentation, Brown observed blandly that Palestinians "sometimes . . . don't make the choices that international diplomacy would like them to make," as if Hamas was simply a political party. Palestinian self-determination is something the "international community has heartily endorsed, so long as Palestinians make the right choices," he added. Without naming either perpetrator or victim, Brown vaguely referred to "episodic violence" involving Gaza. He cited a Palestinian Hamas supporter who, in reference to Israel's 2014 Protective Edge military campaign in Gaza, wondered, "what would have happened if Hamas had given up arms," implying that Hamas was merely defending itself.
Tensions are rising again between terror group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by rival terror group Fatah. At an event in Gaza this marking the end of a military-style summer camp for 25,000 Gazans, top Hamas terrorist Mahmoud A-Zahar called PA chief Mahmoud Abbas a “phony president,” and described the PA as “an Authority of treason.”PreOccupied Territory: Ministry Of Apartheid Disbanded Amid Complete Ineffectiveness (satire)
The comment is typical of many made in the past several weeks by Hamas spokespeople. On Monday, Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Rahman Shadid said that the PA was “defending the settlers.” On Sunday, the PA returned three Israelis who had ventured into PA-controlled areas back to Israeli officials, prompting Shadid to rail against the PA.
“At a time when the settlers are burning our children, the Palestinian Authority returns settlers to the occupation, and moreover it limits the powers of the struggle, persecutes them, binds their hands, confiscates weapons, provides information on fighters and goes so far as to turn many of them over to the occupation,” he said, referring to the arson in the village of Duma last week.
Last week, Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas figure, called Abbas “a dictator who every day proves to be an enemy of the Palestinian people and who unsuitable to govern.” He added that Abbas is the main reason that the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah is not being implemented, accusing Abbas of stalling the formation of a joint Arab effort to deal with the “Zionist enemy.”
The government body in charge of developing and implementing ways to disenfranchise and institutionalize discrimination against Israel’s Arab population is being dismantled under the state’s 2015-2016 budget after oversight revealed it has never come close to achieving its mandated objectives.Activist sues PA, Jordan over Jewish access to Temple Mount
Government ministers voted 17-0, with two abstaining, to disband the Ministry of Apartheid, following a short discussion on the findings of an audit to the effect that not only are Arab citizens still accorded full political rights, they serve in elected positions and hold judicial office – including on the High Court. Despite nearly seventy years of activity, the Ministry of Apartheid has failed in every respect to deny voting rights, bar Arabs as a class from civic roles, or in any other way impinge on their citizenship in the State or a place in the public sphere. The vote took place as part of deliberations over the terms of the budget, and is expected to help ease the belt-tightening taking place across all other ministries, though some functions of the defunct ministry may be adopted by other entities.
Minister of Apartheid Aflaya Gizani, whose was required to abstain under deliberation rules, made an impassioned plea prior to the vote to spare his ministry, giving an array of explanations for the body’s having little to show for its decades of work, and promising to put new effort into its mission. The other ministers, however, remained unconvinced, primarily, experts say, because the audit in question is the fifth in the last twenty years to find that the Ministry of Apartheid was having little to no effect.
“It’s not really a surprise, and no one, not even the most right-wing members of the cabinet, was going to fight this decision,” said political analyst Don Botha. “The consistent dismal failures of that ministry to legally deny Arabs any of the most basic civil rights far outweigh any ideological position these ministers may have. It’s been an embarrassment to them for a very long time.”
A right-wing Israeli activist this week filed a NIS 1 billion class-action lawsuit against Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and an Arab NGO, claiming their activities restrict Jewish access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which amounts to discrimination.Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian religious leaders challenge Jewish presence atop Temple Mount
The site is holy to both Jews and Muslims and is one of the key areas of dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.
According to Baruch Ben Yosef, the current policy to limit Jewish visitation and prohibits non-Muslim worship at the site — enacted by the Jordanian-run Waqf, which maintains administrative rule over the holy site, endorsed by Israel, and enforced by Israeli security forces — violates Israeli discrimination laws.
An Israeli law passed in 2000 prohibits those who operate public places from denying entry based on race, religion, nationality, sex or political affiliation. Violation of the law is a criminal offense, and offenders can be ordered to pay damages of up to NIS 50,000 to victims of discrimination.
Palestinian religious leaders – both Muslims and Christians – signed a declaration stating that Jews have no right to enter the Temple Mount at a press conference in east Jerusalem on Wednesday.Abbas: Israel Educates a Culture of Terror
The declaration, titled “the Blessed Aksa Mosque Document” and signed by scores of religious figures, expressed their objections to Israeli and Jordanian understandings that allow Jews to visit the Temple Mount and to claims that the two countries had agreed to jointly supervise archeological excavations at the holy site.
The declaration was initiated by the Islamic Supreme Commission, which is headed by former Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Ekrima Sabri.
The Israeli presence in Jerusalem, the sheikh emphasized, was an “illegal occupation,” and added that Israel has no sovereignty over the Aksa Mosque.
Sabri told journalists at the press conference that the Aksa Mosque, as well as all the area surrounding it and above and beneath it, was “purely and exclusively sacred to Muslims.”
Neither Jews nor any other party had any right to the site, “not even one grain of soil,” he said, adding that entering the site is considered an incursion of Palestinian Muslim rights.
“This would be a grave assault and desecration against the Aksa Mosque,” he added.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that if Israel does not catch the culprits behind the lethal arson in the Arab village of Duma in Samaria last Friday, it should be treated as a "collaborator" to the crime.Arab League, Abbas call on UN to protect Palestinians from Israeli settlers
While speaking at a meeting of the Arab League in Cairo, Abbas accused Israel of the arson that left an Arab infant dead and four family members wounded.
Abbas said Israel is educating "a culture of terror and apartheid."
The comment may strike many as hypocritical, given how Abbas's PA has long used its educational system and media to incite terrorism, and Abbas last October made a public call for a religious war against Jews.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, along with 15 foreign ministers from the Arab League, called on the UN Security Council to draft a resolution protecting Palestinians from "terrorist crimes" by Israeli settlers during a meeting in Cairo, Wednesday.Israeli Woman Describes Dramatic Escape From Burning Vehicle After Molotov Cocktail Attack
The gathering was held in the wake of an arson attack that claimed the life an 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsha, who was burned alive Friday morning after suspected Jewish extremists set fire to his family home in the village of Duma, located in the northern West Bank, according to AFP.
Scrawled in graffiti near the site of the incident was the word "revenge" written in Hebrew.
Abbas argued during the meeting that the attack was directly linked to the government's inaction to quell rising Jewish extremist groups in the West Bank and halt settlement expansion efforts, "where (the Israeli government) gives grants to build thousands of settlement units and it continues its crimes by the herds of settlers, which ended with the burning of the Dawabsha family member."
Before the meeting, Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi said, "The Arab Group (at the UN) must act to submit a draft resolution to the Security Council concerning terrorist crimes by Israeli settler groups against the Palestinian people.
"What is required is real international protection, through a Security Council decision," he added.
A young Israeli woman recounted her harrowing escape from a burning car after it was hit in a Molotov cocktail attack in northern Jerusalem on Monday, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.Hamas celebrates terror camp graduation
“We heard a very large explosion, and the car filled up with fire. My husband shouted to me to get out quickly. I opened the door, and tried to get out, but I had my seat belt on, so it took me a few seconds,” said Inbar Azrak, 27.
“I rolled out of the car onto the road and my husband came and put out the flames on my skirt which was still on fire,” said Azrak.
“We were lying there in the road, calling for help, when some incredible people came from nearby to help us. We realized immediately that we’d been hit by a Molotov cocktail, it was very frightening,” she said.
Azrak and her husband were rushed to a local hospital shortly after the assault.
Hamas boasts 25,000 participants at graduation ceremonies of summer camp which trained civilians in warfare techniques.Hamas Threatens Violence Unless Israel Lifts Blockade
The military wing of Hamas completed its Gaza summer camp on Wednesday, with celebrations being held all over the strip featuring children brandishing guns and speeches by officials.
Upon the opening of the camp, the group said that participants, aged 15-60, would spend two weeks being "trained in military techniques and in firing live ammunition" as well as "first aid and rescue techniques."
The comments were made at a ceremony marking the end of a military-style summer camp for 25,000 Gazans, in which young children are encouraged to commit jihad against Jews.Hamas sentences Israel collaborator to death by hanging
"Today, our message to the occupier is very clear: We will not accept a blockade," said Mahmoud Zahar, a senior leader of Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip and has been holding indirect contacts with Israel over a long-term truce in return for an end to the nine-year-old blockade.
"Break the siege because we will not be able to hold back those who want to defend their territory from those who have destroyed their homes and killed their children," he threatened.
The guilty party, who was convicted of "collaborating with the occupation," was only identified by his intials, A.S.Hamas security forces detain Gazan journalist
Hamas cracked down on suspected Israel collaborators during last summer's Operation Protective Edge, killing 18 in one day.
Gunmen wearing masks and dressed in black shot seven of those condemned, whose faces were covered and hands bound, in front of worshipers emerging from the Omari Mosque, a.k.a the Great Mosque of Gaza, on Palestine Square in the Old City, in the first public executions in the Strip since the 1990s.
A further 11 were killed at an abandoned police station near Gaza City, Hamas security officials said.
“The resistance has begun an operation called ‘Strangling the Necks,’ targeting collaborators who aid the occupation, kill our people and destroy houses,” said Al-Majd, a website run by Hamas’s internal security service.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights denounced the killing of Gazans by Hamas.
Hamas security forces on Wednesday detained a Gazan journalist several months after she wrote a report critical of the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, her father told Ma'an.Notorious UK Cleric Anjem Choudary Charged over ISIS Recruitment
After journalist Mushira al-Hajj wrote the article, the Ministry of Health filed a complaint against her to the Hamas-affiliated attorney general, her father Tawfiq said.
Tawfiq, who is a local poet, said that both he and his daughter were asked to apologize about the report, but they refused. He said that his daughter's arrest on Wednesday followed as a result.
Gaza-based rights groups said in statements that she would initially be detained 48 hours for questioning in the coastal enclave's Ansar prison.
Mushira al-Hajj, 28, has worked with a number of local media outlets. She is married and has a daughter.
Earlier this year, a Palestinian journalist working for al-Jazeera accused security forces in Gaza of physically assaulting and detaining him.
Anjem Choudary, Britain's most notorious radical Muslim preacher, has been formally charged with enlisting British citizens to support ISIS.New Israel Fund Shamefully Tries to Exploit Stabbing at Gay Pride Parade
Choudary, along with one of his top proteges, stands accused of "inviting support" for the vicious Islamist terror group between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015, according to British media reports.
The Islamist leader is a high-profile sympathizer of the so-called "Islamic State" group, and has previously founded and headed a number of extremist Muslim groups which were subsequently banned as terrorist organizations by the British government.
But Choudary - a 48-year-old former British law student - has proven adept at circumventing UK anti-terror and incitement laws, avoiding formal charges despite his incendiary rhetoric - until now.
NIF’s claims that blame the attack on “extremists in Israel who have cultivated an ideology of hate and of homophobia,” and that somehow link this to “…the outcome of a dysfunctional political reality” are wrong.Reverse Pinkwashing: Exploiting isolated Israeli anti-gay violence to excuse widespread Palestinian LGBT persecution
In fact, the extremists of the NIF are rejected across the board in Israel – from right to left – and will continue to be. Those who support Israel, gay or straight, right-wing or left-wing, stand against attacks on gays – and they stand against boycotts of Israel.
We further reject NIF’s attempt to somehow make this about the Israeli government. Only a few weeks ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court made their landmark ruling on gay marriage, Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon issued a statement that said, “The Supreme Court of the United States made an important, just and historic decision today.” Ya’alon added, “Every person has the right to marry and have children, regardless of their sexual orientation. I hope additional countries, including Israel, will follow in the footsteps of the United States and grant this basic right to all.”
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where LGBT rights are protected. As the Mayor of Tel Aviv recently said, “We are trying to create a model for openness, pluralism, tolerance – live and let live.”
For homosexuals of all races and religions, Israel is one of the most open places in the world.
After a murder and multiple stabbing at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade last Thursday, by an individual who perpetrated an attack a decade ago, the anti-Israel movement has kicked into high gear.EU’s Choice of Labels: “Made in West Bank” & “Anti-Semite”
There is a concerted effort to undermine an indisputable truth — Israel is the safest, most-welcoming, most open society for LGBT individuals in the Middle East.
The term “Pinkwashing” is a growing part of the anti-Israel movement’s attack on Israel, by claiming that Israel promotes its positive gay rights record in order to (pink) wash its alleged crimes against Palestinians. (There also are Greenwashing and Redwashing claims made against Israel.)
The pinkwashing movement, which has a particular hold among anti-Israel students and faculty on campuses, seeks to turn Israel’s positive gay rights record into something bad. The pinkwashing movement is nearly silent, at the same time, on the plight of Palestinian gays, who are relentlessly persecuted and often flee for their lives.
This latest effort to exploit the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade attack, however, is even worse. Call it “Reverse Pinkwashing,” seeking to use an isolated incident to deny the truth about Israel’s gay rights record in order to wash away the violent and pervasive persecution of LGBT individuals in Palestinian society.
Below I examine the crime, the Israeli gay rights record, the dismal status of gays in Palestinian society, and the Reverse Pinkwashing exploitation in the wake of the attack.
The European Union distinction of strictly labelling products to exclude Israeli territory is unique for Israel. The EU makes no distinctions for countries where it does not challenge the legal authority (like the US with American Samoa), AND for other countries where it disagrees with the claim on disputed land. Some examples:Israel Accused of Genocide in Outrageous Cartoon
In 1974, Turkey illegally seized one-third of the Cyprus and declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an entity which is not recognized by any country in the world other than Turkey. Yet the EU avoids heated discussions with Turkey over the labelling of products from TRNC such as its famous halloumi cheese.
When it comes to China, the EU trips over itself to facilitate trade. As stated on the EU website on trade: “China is the EU’s biggest source of imports by far, and has also become one of the EU’s fastest growing export markets. The EU has also become China’s biggest source of imports. China and Europe now trade well over €1 billion a day.” Trade includes items made in Tibet, and the EU has not addressed any specific “Made in Tibet” labelling. This is despite China occupying Tibet and transferring 7.5 million Chinese into the territory, counter to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
India has a long running dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. The EU stated that it is “committed to further increase their trade flows in both goods and services as well as bilateral investment and access to public procurement through the Free Trade Agreement negotiations that were launched in 2007.” No specific labelling program has been discussed for items coming from Kashmir.
The European Union has shown a unique fascination with Israeli territories.
It makes no labelling distinction for other disputed territories such as Tibet and Kashmir to assist consumers
It does not dispute the tariff system that countries use for its territories like the United States with American Samoa
The EU ignores the Oslo II agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority which specifically segment the Israeli settlements in Area C as Israeli territory
It ignores its own trade agreement with Israel
A political cartoon is one of the most effective tools of communication. People see an image and remember it longer than an article or an essay. Unfortunately, it’s also an extremely effective way of passing misinformation. And that’s the problem with a recent cartoon in Le Monde, France’s paper of record.Times Journo: Identify Jewish, Gay Paedophiles with Stars and Triangles, Apologises for 'Misunderstanding'
The cartoon shows an IDF soldier firing his gun at Palestinian civilians, who appear to be dying in the rubble in front of him. The soldier is joined by a stereotypical religious Jew, depicted with a long beard, hat and coat, and even a rifle on his shoulder. The religious Jew is also holding a suitcase labeled New Settlements, and he’s telling the soldier: “Can’t you shoot any quicker? I’m in a hurry to move in!” In the background, an Israeli helicopter is firing on Palestinian buildings.
The meaning of the cartoon is unmistakable: Israel is intentionally killing Palestinians in order to steal the land for its own use.
The cartoon, by veteran cartoonist Jean Plantureux (known as Plantu), is shocking not only because of its false and gruesome depiction of Israeli soldiers and its caricature of the religious but also because it comes at a time of deep soul searching in Israel over the death of a Palestinian baby, who was killed in a house fire widely believed to have been set by Jewish extremists.
A Times of London journalist has apologised today after issuing a tweet that seemed to call for alleged Jewish, Gay paedophiles to be identified with “triangles” and “stars” in the continuing police investigation into political establishment and celebrity paedophilia.Hitler set for German big screen comeback
Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor for the paper, posted the tweet at 4:45pm on Wednesday, but withdrew the message just moments later as outrage over his statements grew.
People perceived the statement, “So many of the VIPs accused of being paedophiles are Jewish or gay.Maybe we could have a system to identify these people: triangles, stars..” as a call to label those identified as potential child abusers – with a nod towards the Nazi Germany tradition of forcing yellow stars onto Jewish people.
But Kennedy, who wrote of his own homosexuality in defence, has said that he meant precisely the opposite.
What would Adolf Hitler make of modern Germany, and what would Germany make of him? These questions are explored in a soon-to-be-released film adaptation of the best-selling 2012 satirical novel “Er Ist Wieder Da” (Look Who’s Back) by German author Timur Vermes.Stanford top university for producing Nobel laureates
German production company Constantin Film released teaser clips on Tuesday featuring Oliver Masucci as the Nazi leader who wakes up from a coma in the Berlin of 2011, penniless, homeless, and with no idea of what has happened since 1945.
As he sets about trying build a life for himself in a modern world that features such marvels as mobile phones and the Internet, Hitler unwittingly becomes a YouTube sensation, then a television celebrity, and finally turns his power-hungry mind to politics.
The book sold two million copies in Germany and 40 million around the world. It was originally released in hardback copy priced €19.33, a reference to the year that the real Hitler came to power in Germany.
Vermes told the BBC in 2013 that he deliberately presented Hitler as a human character, rather than a monster, to force Germans to reflect on how they feel about the infamous dictator.
Stanford University has topped a list of institutions with the most Nobel prizewinners this century, while the US dominates a top 10 based on the nationality of winners.El Al to Buy and Lease Boeing Dreamliners in $800M-900M Deal
US universities and institutes take eight spots in the institutional top 10 table, drawn up by Times Higher Education ahead of the World Academic Summit next month.
Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Germany’s Max Planck Society take the two remaining positions in joint eighth and 10th place respectively.
El Al Airlines is in negotiations to add more than a dozen Dreamliner aircraft to its Boeing fleet, the company has announced.Drive to immortalize ‘British Schindler’ on stamp gains steam
El Al Chief Executive Officer David Maimon said in a statement, “I am proud to announce today (Aug. 6) the largest procurement program in El Al’s history.
“El Al’s board today authorized the company to hold talks with Boeing over the acquisition of wide-body Dreamliner aircraft for the purchase and lease of 15 planes in the next five years. This move is expected to be a significant leap forward in optimizing routes, passenger service and flight experience.”
Delivery of the new fuel-efficient 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners – an $800-$900 million order – would start in the first half of 2017 and continue through 2020, Maimon said.
A campaign to immortalize Sir Nicholas Winton, known as the “British Schindler,” on a stamp in the United Kingdom has garnered more than 84,000 signatures in an online petition.Israel Daily Picture: The Capture of Be'er Sheva by the Australian Light Horsemen in 1917 -- Arguably the Most Important Battle of WWI in Palestine
Winton was a 29-year-old stockbroker when he arrived in Prague in December 1938. He was planning to go on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, but changed his plans when he heard about the refugee crisis in Czechoslovakia, which had just been occupied by the Nazis. In the following nine months, he organized eight trains that carried children, the vast majority of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia to safety in Britain.
The stamp campaign was launched a week ago by the British jewishnews website, and is backed by the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Association of Jewish Refugees and Sir Mick Davis, who chaired David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission, according to the website. So far, the petition has a goal of 150,000 signatures.
“He was rightly honored in his lifetime including with a knighthood from the Queen and a statue in his home town,” reads the Change.org petition, which had 84,667 signatures as of Wednesday evening. “But his name and the lesson that one person can make a difference even in the face of overwhelming evil, must live on. The rare honor of a Royal Mail stamp would help to achieve that while at the same time being a fitting tribute to Sir Nicholas.”
Sir Nicholas passed away in hospital in Slough on July 1, at the age of 106.
Our reader "Gary" alerted us to a digitized photo resource in the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
The Library contains private diaries and albums of Australian soldiers who served as part of the British expeditionary forces in Palestine. Their pictures show their three-year combat action from the Suez Canal, the Sinai, Be'er Sheva, Jerusalem, and all the way to Damascus.
The legendary cavalry charge made by the Australian Light Horsemen to capture the wells of Be'er Sheva in October 1917 was a turning point in the war, particularly after two disastrous attempt by British forces to push through Turkish defenses in Gaza. After Be'er Sheva the way was open to Jerusalem, Jaffa and beyond.
Until now, only one controversial picture of the cavalry charge was known. Some argued that it was actually a photo of a re-enactment.
