Thursday, August 13, 2015
When the prime ministers took down the hijackers
Before Operation Thunderbolt in Entebbe there was Operation Isotope.Jimmy Carter: Two-state solution is dead, Israel to blame
On May 8, 1972, four Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Belgian Sabena Airlines’ flight 571 as it flew from Vienna to Tel Aviv.
The plane landed in what was then known as Lod Airport, now Ben Gurion International. A 30-hour standoff between the hijackers and the Israeli government followed, before members of the crack Sayeret Matkal unit stormed the plane and took down the terrorists, killing two and capturing two.
Some 43 years later, Keshet Broadcasting has created a new film about the episode, with interviews from those who took part on both sides of the kidnapping, archival footage and modern dramatizations of the events.
The operation was led by former prime minister Ehud Barak, who commanded Sayeret Matkal at the time. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a team leader in the unit, was injured by friendly fire in the assault.
Though the film will not be broadcast in Israel until September 8, it premiered Tuesday evening in Jerusalem’s Cinema City, with many of the individuals who took part in the operation on hand, including Barak, Netanyahu, and then-transportation minister Shimon Peres.
Former US president Jimmy Carter said that the two-state solution has “zero chance” of being realized today, and blamed this on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a wide-ranging interview with Prospect Magazine Thursday.NGO Monitor: EU research funds wasted on Amnesty’s Hollywood-style CSI adventure
Carter accused Netanyahu of adopting a “one-state solution,” and lamented that the “US had withdrawn” from making further efforts. He further accused the Jewish state of denying Palestinians equal rights, but stopped short of labeling Israel an apartheid state, a term he utilized in his 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
“These are the worst prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for years. At this moment, there is zero chance of the two-state solution,” Carter said.
Carter, who served as US president from 1977 to 1981, said he believes that Netanyahu has no intention of pursuing peace, and lamented that “They [Palestinians] will never get equal rights [to Israeli Jews, in a one-state solution].”
Netanyahu “does not now and has never sincerely believed in a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine,” Carter added. He noted that when he visited Israel and the West Bank in April, he did not bother to contact Netanyahu for a meeting, on the grounds that “it would be a waste of time to ask” — expecting that the request would be rebuffed as were previous ones.
The former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner gave the interview ahead of the launch of his new book, A Full Life: Reflections at 90, and shortly after he announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with cancer. He will turn 91 in October.
In July 2015, amid great fanfare, including a media blitz and later a press-conference in Jerusalem, Amnesty International and the UK-based Forensic Architecture project launched their “Gaza Platform.” The stated objective was to shed “new light on violations of international law committed” in last summer’s bitter war.
This pseudo-scientific exercise repeated Amnesty’s standard political bias and was immediately exposed as factually inaccurate – terrorists were identified as civilian health care workers; a “journalist” doubled as a Hamas operative, etc.. The major investment in graphics and public relations not withstanding, the impact of the “Gaza forensics architecture project” was largely and justifiably non-existent. The claim that computerized maps and “eyewitness testimony” gathered by NGOs in Gaza could somehow determine whether war crimes were committed is clearly untenable. (Under international law, this would require examination of the intentions of Israeli military officials, and determining the presence or absence of Hamas terrorists and their weapons at the time and location of each attack. “Forensic architecture” can do neither.)
However, on one issue, the implications are significant – the amount of European taxpayer money that was wasted on this Hollywood-style exercise in pseudo-science. Apparently persuaded by buzz-words and the promise of hi-tech graphics, the EU framework known as the European Research Council (ERC) paid the bills. An initial grant of €1.2 million was provided for the 2011-2015 period to Eyal Weizman, the “principle investigator”. An additional €150,000 came from the ERC in 2014 for a “Media Aggregation and Plotting Platform” (MAPP), ostensibly to give human rights organizations “a highly efficient research and advocacy tool.”
To qualify for this grant, Forensic Architecture is listed as a research project at the University of London (Goldsmiths), explained vaguely as “a field of practice and as an analytical method for probing the political and social histories inscribed in spatial artefacts and in built environments.” The Forensic Architecture website, however, is not hosted by the University, suggesting a very limited connection.
Notorious conspiracy theorist who believes the 'world is controlled by Jewish elders' spoke at Westminster event hosted by Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn hosted an event at Parliament at which a 9/11 conspiracy theorist gave a speech.Labor Party hopeful in Britain defended 9/11 anti-Israel conspiracy theorist
The hard-left favourite to become the party's leader unwittingly gave a platform to James Thring, who has previously made bizarre claims that 'Jewish elders' control financial markets.
Heavily-bearded Thring gave vent to his views at the event organised by a pro-Palestinian pressure group and hosted by Corbyn. Another controversial campaigner also spoke at the meeting and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
The revelation is the latest to hit leadership hopeful Corbyn, whose unexpected success threatens to split the Labour party.
While Thring was not scheduled to speak, the actual booked speaker was also a controversial figure anti-Israel figure, Max Blumenthal.
Blumenthal gained notoriety by inventing the hashtag #JSIL, implying that Jewish people are as bad as ISIS.
In his unscheduled five-minute address, Thring stated that a Palestinian militia should be armed and equipped.
He also boasted of having close connections to the Chinese authorities, whom he said he was lobbying to provide weapons to the Palestinians.
In Blumenthal's address, which took place later that evening, he called Israel 'a racist society' in which non-Jewish Africans were 'attacked by right-wing mobs in scenes reminiscent of Kristallnacht'.
Jeremy Corbyn, a Parliament member who is on track to become the head of Britain’s Labor Party, wrote a letter in support of a priest who claimed that Israel and wealthy Jews were behind the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.Galloway: If Elected London Mayor I'll Boycott Israelis
Corbyn defended Rev. Stephen Sizer, who in February posted an article on Facebook blaming Israel for the attack on the New York landmark, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
In a letter to Anglican Church leaders after they decided to ban Sizer from using the Internet for six months, Corbyn wrote in February that Sizer was unfairly “under attack by certain individuals intent on discrediting the excellent work [he] does in highlighting the injustices of the Palestinian Israeli situation.”
Corbyn has surprised many by leading in the race for Labor chief in polls of party members this summer.
According to the Daily Mail, he also has described Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends” and is a close friend of Holocaust denier Paul Eisen, who runs a pro-Palestinian group called Deir Yassin Remembered.
Former British MP George Galloway says that if elected Mayor of London he will refuse to host any Israeli counterparts - but insists he will not try to make the UK capital "Israel-free."Richard Millett: George Galloway given his own show for a week on LBC.
Speaking to Jewish News, the notorious anti-Israel demagogue said he would boycott mayors from Israeli cities if he took office. However, he added that only the deputy mayor had the power to enact a full boycott of the Jewish state.
"I would not be able to do that, but the mayoralty could," he said. "The deputy mayor could."
Galloway, who leads the far-left Respect Party, was the subject of a police investigation last year over charges of racism, after it was revealed he had declared his Bradford West constituency "Israel-free."
Earlier this year he was ousted from his seat in parliament by an overwhelming majority of voters in Bradford, many of whom had grown disgruntled over his poor record in office and his campaign team's dirty tactics during the general elections.
Galloway accepted news of his defeat with a typically verbose speech decrying the fact that "the Zionists" would celebrate the result.
George Galloway used to present a regular phone-in show on Talksport Radio. During one of my live on-air calls with him when we were debating Israel George told me that I was banned from phoning in again because I was “deceiving the listeners”. Galloway’s show ended in 2010 after a four year run.Israel to European governments: Stop funding illegal Palestinian building
Now LBC Radio has announced that George will host his own show this coming Saturday morning from 10am and then from 10am to 1pm the following Monday to Friday. He will be covering for presenters who are away.
In the accompanying video clip Justin Cohen, news editor of the Jewish News, says to London mayoral candidate Galloway “You say you want to represent London for all but many British Jews will consider that laughable considering your comments”.
Although not shown in the clip Justin goes on to mention Galloway’s comments last summer that Bradford should become an “Israel-free zone” (Galloway lost his Bradford West parliamentary seat in this May’s general election) and he asked George whether he wished London to be “Israel-free” also.
The Foreign Ministry has warned European governments against flouting Israeli law by funding illegal Palestinian building in Area C of the West Bank and has already razed such structures.Israel foiled 17 suicide attacks so far this year, Shin Bet says
“We bring this issue up in almost every conversation we have with the Europeans,” said Aviv Shir-On, Deputy Director General for European Affairs in the Foreign Ministry.
He spoke on the issue before a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sub-group on Judea and Samaria on Tuesday.
“We won’t accept illegal building,” Shir-On said. The Europeans have been informed about Israel’s stance on this issue, he added.
“We’ve told them they have to take into account, that such construction can be destroyed,” Shir-On said.
But he has assured the European officials, Shir-On said, that they will be notified before any demolition occurs.
The Palestinian terrorism of 2015 looks very different from the kind that Israel suffered during the first years of the Second Intifada. The weapons are improvised, there are no “wanted men” whom Israel is seeking for orchestrating the attacks; indeed, there is often no organizational support. But the effort to perpetrate terror attacks against Israeli targets is intensifying.Sara Netanyahu Directs Protestors to Abbas's House
According to the Shin Bet’s own statistics, Israeli security forces have prevented 17 suicide attacks so far this year — that’s 17 in just seven months. This figure does not include attacks prevented by the Palestinian Authority, which has dismantled several cells that planned such attacks.
Five of the 17 attacks thwarted by Israel were planned by members of Hamas, five were planned by other groups, and the remaining seven were not associated with any organization. In other words, terror cells are now frequently being established without affiliation to a Palestinian group, but rather on the basis of introductions between friends, fellow university students and/or connections on social networks. Such cells are exceptionally hard for the security services to penetrate.
This is supposedly a more “amateur” type of terrorism. But so far this year, too, Israel prevented eight kidnappings planned by these so-called amateurs — and, again, this figure does not include kidnappings prevented by the Palestinian Authority. Of those eight, four were planned by members of Hamas and the rest by Islamic Jihad and other groups.
In all, over the first seven months of 2015, Israel’s defense and security establishment prevented 111 attempted terror attacks, including shooting attacks and bombings along with the kidnappings and suicide attacks.
The protest, entitled "Fasting with them," began outside the Prime Minister's Residence a month ago to mark the one year anniversary of Operation Protective Edge.Senior IDF source: We knew Hamas wouldn't abandon their tunnel-building
"Woman Making Peace" called on the government to prioritize negotiations with the PA, in the hopes of achieving a peace agreement.
At the two-hour meeting between Sara Netanyahu and the activists, Netanyahu claimed her husband "is constantly working for peace and the security of our people."
"He, and everyone else in our family, wants peace, security, prosperity and welfare for all citizens of Israel more than anything else," the Prime Minister's wife added.
Netanyahu suggested the activists take their peace protest to the homes of PA leaders and urge them to focus on negotiations instead of promoting boycotts of the Jewish state.
"I would be happy if Abu Mazen (Abbas - ed.) came to our home in Jerusalem in order to speak to my husband about how to ensure peace and security for both peoples. In the past, we hosted him quite warmly," Netanyahu told the activists.
One day after the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) made public that it arrested a Hamas activist who revealed extensive information about the Islamist group's new tunnel building towards Israel, a senior source in the IDF's Gaza Division said that no one was surprised by the information and the division is ready for any scenario in its job to protect the Gaza border communities in the South.Hamas man spills beans on appropriation of construction materials: BBC silent
During last summer's Operation Protective Edge, Hamas used its vast network of tunnels to launch attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens.
"It was known to us and we had no doubt that Hamas wouldn't abandon this [tunnel-building activity]," the source said.
The military source said the IDF was not standing idly while Hamas dug.
"There is a lot being done on the issue of tunnels. Many units are engaged that I won't talk about," he said.
"To the citizens of the South I say: You can sleep quietly. I don't sleep quietly but that is not my job exactly. We are ready for any action from the other side that may happen via the tunnels and we working 24 hours-a-day," he reassured.
On at least one occasion, BBC audiences were told that Israel was not allowing construction materials into the Gaza Strip at all and another recurring theme has been the claim that a lack of building materials – supposedly caused by border restrictions imposed by Israel – will bring about more conflict.Drill tests Gaza border 'smart fences'
The Israeli Security Agency recently released information concerning the arrest last month of a Hamas operative from Rafah called Ibraheem Adel Shehadeh Shaer. Among the information provided by Shaer (also spelt Sha’ar) is this:
“Shaer told investigators that material for Hamas’s war infrastructure is now being brought into Gaza under the guise of reconstruction programs aimed at repairing the damage caused during the fighting, when thousands of buildings were destroyed.”
Will the BBC now stop using the qualifier “Israel says” and carry out some serious investigative reporting on this subject – not least the obvious failures of the UN administered ‘Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism’ which supposedly ensures that building materials are not misappropriated for the purposes of terrorism? Will the corporation finally recognize the significance of its long-standing self-conscription to the campaign promoted by UNRWA and Hamas to have all border restrictions lifted? And will the BBC finally clarify to its audiences that the precursor for future conflict lies in Hamas’ ongoing preparations for that scenario?
The fact that to date there has been no BBC reporting on this story does not inspire optimism on those fronts.
Gaza-adjacent communities have been preparing for another round of escalation. Since the end of last year's conflict, residents received a new "protection package" suited to the threats they faced during Operation Protective Edge.Abbas’s son highlighted in Palestinian corruption claims
New smart fences have been built and made operational around communities that lacked them. The smart fence permits immediate detection of infiltrations, triggering deployment of the community's security coordinator and military units stationed in the area.
Eyal Hajbi, chief security officer for Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, observed the fence construction over the last few weeks. "Currently all the fences surrounding the communities have been upgraded, and lighting and technological measures have been installed to complete the defenses," he said.
"This was a mission we worked on in cooperation with the Home Front Command and the Southern Command," added Hajbi. "It's a project in which a large amount of funds was invested, and all parties banded together in order to advance it and reach the point we're at now."
The son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been tied to a corruption scandal involving leaked documents that appear to show attempts by Palestinian officials to misuse public funds.Arch-Terrorist Marwan Barghouti Suggested as New PA Chief
An invoice published by a protest group on the Internet apparently shows that Yasser Mahmoud Reda Abbas made a payment of $50,000 as part of his acquisition of apartments in a luxury complex in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government.
The “Abbas doesn’t represent me” group posted an image of the document on its Facebook page.
Earlier revelations from paperwork leaked online have triggered outrage, highlighting the corruption and mismanagement critics say remain rampant in the Palestinian government.
A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t allowed to discuss the leak, confirmed the documents’ authenticity to The Associated Press. They have offered a rare glimpse into the wheeling and dealing of the Palestinian government, long bogged down by rivalries.
Amid rumors that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas is preparing to step down, Kadura Fars, head of the Palestinian Prisoner's Club, suggested Wednesday night that arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti "become the next chairman of the PA."Palestinian Authority faces million dollar lawsuit for torturing prisoner
Fars made the comments during an interview for a series of articles called "Security Prisoners," Channel 10 reported.
Barghouti, 56, was sentenced to five life sentences in 2002 after being convicted of multiple murder and attempted murder charges for attacks carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on Israeli civilians and soldiers during the Second Intifada.
He is considered one of the founders of "Tanzim," one of Fatah's armed terrorist factions, and has continued to exert great influence within the party even from prison.
According to Fars, "I hope Barghouti will be the leader to lead the Palestinian people to freedom, independence and sovereignty." Another PA official, Jibril Rajoub, described Bargouti as "a national symbol for us."
According to the complaint filed by the the Civil Authority for the Independence of the Judiciary Body and Rule of Law (ISTIQLAL), Ahmad Bilal Abd al-Malak al-Deekm spent five days in June in a Palestinian Authority detention center for criticizing the government on his social media profiles and was subjected to various acts of torture.Hamas Official: There's No Room for Jews in 'Palestine'
The report states that al-Deekm was beaten with batons and sticks, deprived of sleep, faced verbal abuse and was forced to perform humiliating acts by two Palestinian criminal investigators.
The plaintiff was released to Yasser Arafat hospital after his health severely deteriorated due to fears that he might die while in custody. Doctors have confirmed the patient's severe bruising was the result of torture.
ISTIQLAL has said that it hopes that this lawsuit will encourage other Palestinians to speak out about torture they have faced and seek compensation from those violating human rights.
Hamas continues to incite young people to violence and jihad against Israel.Hamas holds talks with Fatah on recent efforts to reach truce with Israel
On Tuesday, the group concluded a course entitled “Al-Quds Army for Girls”, which trains young female Hamas activists on basic combat skills and assistance to fighters.
Rajaa al-Halabi, who heads the Hamas women's movement, said at the closing ceremony of the course that "the liberation army, the pioneers of the liberation, the Al-Quds Army, will liberate Palestine from the defilement of the occupation ... and the next battle will be the decisive one."
Halabi added, "The Israeli occupation has begun to realize that it has no place on Palestinian land ... and the primary mission of the military camps of Al-Quds for girls is to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, and to restore the rights to their owners, as Palestine, all of Palestine belongs to us, and we will never give up a single grain of its land. Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa and Palestine are indivisible."
Hamas has continuously incited youths in Gaza towards violence against Israelis. One of its trademarks is the annual military-style summer camp for 25,000 Gazans, in which young children are encouraged to commit jihad against Jews.
Hamas said on Thursday that any proposal for a long-term truce with Israel would be brought to the attention of other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.Fatah launches scathing attack against Tony Blaire, calls on Hamas to stop dealing with him
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said his movement held talks with representatives of various factions, including Fatah, to brief them on recent efforts to achieve a truce with Israel.
He noted that Hamas leaders held talks about the proposed truce with European officials, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who until recently served as the Quartet’s envoy to the Middle East.
Kayed al-Ghul, a senior official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said that he heard from Hamas leaders that the movement still hasn’t reached agreement with Blair or any other European party about the proposed truce.
Al-Ghul pointed out that the reports in the media about an imminent truce agreement between Hamas and Israel did not reflect the true and declared position of the movement’s leaders in the Gaza Strip.
Fatah launched a scathing attack on Tony Blair and called on Hamas to stop dealing with him.Hamas: Fatah Members Are 'Enemies of Allah'
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawassmeh said that Blair does not hold any official title “since he was fired by the Qaurtet.” Qawassmeh accused Blair of playing a “suspicious role” by trying to reach a long-term truce agreement between Hamas and Israel.
“Blair is acting as a broker to obstruct matters and we don’t know what his intentions are,” the Fatah spokesman said. He urged Hamas to stop dealing with Blair and halt all negotiations with Israel. The spokesman said that Hamas should coordinate directly with the PLO.
The rift between Hamas and Fatah is reaching new heights, after a senior Hamas member on Wednesday referred to members of Fatah as traitors who must be punished.Hamas claims to capture Israeli drone
Speaking to the Palestine newspaper, Khalil al-Haya referred to the security coordination between the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and Israel as "treason".
According to Al-Haya, anyone who reveals the secrets of the Palestinian forces is nothing but a "traitor to Allah and his messenger".
He warned the Palestinian security forces who have been arresting Hamas members that the day will come when the Palestinian people will judge them for their "crimes" and on that day their regret of their actions will no longer help them.
Al-Haya also said that there is no point in continuing negotiations with Israel, and called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop all contacts with Israel, in order to achieve the goal of the “return of the refugees” and the establishment of a state on all “Palestinian land.”
In a video aired on Hamas’s official Aqsa TV channel that purported to show the drone, the group said it succeeded in capturing the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The video identified the drone as a Skylark 1 model that fell on July 22 in the Palestinian enclave.NGO Monitor: Adalah Establishes US Office: “This is where change needs to happen”
“This is a significant achievement for a number of bright young minds in the organization,” Hamas said in a statement, adding that it was the work of a “special unit.”
“We did security checks [on the drone] to determine the systems and the built-in technology, after which the special put it back together. The drone is now in the service of [Hamas’s armed wing], the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades,” the statement continued.
“The enemy must know that we lie in wait and will surprise it any day, now when it least expects it,” the group wrote.
In the video, it is unclear what model is being shown. A masked man is seen driving up to the drone laying in some sort of field, takes apart the wings and puts the pieces in the car. At a seemingly different location, he puts it back together, adding different parts.
On July 29, 2015, a group of anti-Israel NGOs held an event in a congressional office building. One of the speakers was Nadia Ben-Youssef, the US representative of the Israeli Arab NGO Adalah (which is a core member of the New Israel Fund network). Regarding her role in Washington, she explained, “[The UN Commission of Inquiry Report on the 2014 Gaza War] which was very powerful, and damning and calling for an end to the systemic impunity that prevails and we're here for that purpose. Adalah is now establishing a US presence because this is where change needs to happen.”New Secretary General of Kairos Palestine Hind Khoury rationalizes suicide bombers.
The event was organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, one of the main BDS groups in the United States, with an additional speaker from Defense for Children International-Palestine Section (DCI-PS). Co-sponsors included global BDS activists: Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), United Methodist Kairos Response, US Palestinian Community Network, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Just World Books.
In 2008-2014, New Israel Fund (NIF) authorized grants worth $1,874,656 to Adalah (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014).
The new Secretary General of Kairos Palestine is Hind KhouryNGO Monitor: Analysis of IHL Secretariat Annual Report 2014: Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands
Listen to a 2011 clip of her rationalizing suicide bombing
"...our martyrs, even if they were suicide bombers they are martyrs we can't think of them as criminals. i refuse that. "
The Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (“IHL Secretariat”) posted its 2014 Annual Report on August 2, 2015. Four governments – Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands – have budgeted over $13 million (2013-2016) to numerous Israeli and Palestinian political advocacy NGOs via this framework, which is based at the Institute of Law of Birzeit University in Ramallah.Dilemma For Israel Boycotters As Scientists Make HIV Breakthrough
Information provided in the Annual Report highlights fundamental problems with the IHL Secretariat funding mechanism, including support for political warfare against Israel, adoption of extreme NGO demonization rhetoric, the singling out and targeting of Jewish communities abroad, and very limited focus on Palestinian human rights and alleged violations.
The Annual Report shows the major dissonance between the activities of the IHL Secretariat and the declared foreign policies principles of the four donor governments.
Scientists in Israel have announced a breakthrough in HIV research, a development that will leave Israel boycotters with their latest ethical dilemma. The team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say their finding will result in a “revolutionary diagnosis and the key to the clinical solution that will prevent infection with HIV and will destroy the deadly virus.”From Southampton to Exeter, 109 miles of extremism
i24News reports that Dr Ran Taube of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics at the southern Israeli university said his team has discovered similarities between HIV (the virus that leads to AIDS) and leukemia. Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Uri Rubio of Soroka University Medical Center, the research aims both to stamp out AIDS and to slow the progress of a rare mixed-lineage leukemia mostly occurring in children.
Despite the fact AIDS is now classed as a chronic disease treated with anti-retroviral drugs, to date there has been no treatment proven to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. The number of HIV-infected individuals still rises every year, so if this team of research scientists from Israel has made the breakthrough that leads directly or indirectly to the development of a workable vaccine they have done the world a great service.
Unfortunately a certain group of scientists from outside Israel will not be collaborating in this effort to develop a vaccine that would rid the world of HIV.
And who are these speakersMedia out in droves and security heavy as Paris event showcases Tel Aviv
Prof. Nur Masalha, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London, UK. Was on Panel 1 at Southampton. Frequently described as a Palestinian activist online. Supports the general divestment and the academic boycotts
Prof. Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, UK. Was on Panel 1 at Southampton. Hardly needs an introduction, also described as an activist. He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006). Firmly believes Israel is racist, apartheid, an ethnically cleansing state and so on. Actively supports the boycott
Dr. Marcelo Svirsky, University of Wollogong, Australia. Was on Panel 8 at Southampton. Only need to read this piece ‘From Auschwitz To Sderot: The Decline Of Our Humanity‘ to understand his position. Actively supports the boycott.
Prof. Lorenzo Veracini, Swinburne University [Australia]. The only named speaker not to have been scheduled at Southampton (perhaps he was busy). Firmly believes Israel is an attempt at ‘settler-colonial conquest’.
Prof. Gabriel Piterberg, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. was originally on the list, but has since gone missing without leave. Was on Panel 1 at Southampton. Piterberg has called Israel’s system akin to Apartheid and actively supports the boycott.
Exeter is yet another anti-Israel hate fest; devoid even of the pretense of even-handedness. The themes at the Exeter conference are predictably self serving for the anti-Israel crowd, and the papers will apparently be placed into book form and no doubt soon appear in campuses around the UK to be spread around Islamic extremists intent on destructing the only free nation in the Middle East. One of these themes in particular caught my attention – “How do settler colonial structures affect different forms of resistance?” Which sounds as if it is suggesting that the terror attacks of the PLO, Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad and the Gazan Daesh, are understandable examples of ‘resistance’ to the Jewish ‘colonial’ exercise.
A Paris beach event celebrating Tel Aviv drew more journalists, riot police and security guards than visitors on Thursday — as well as a much larger “Gaza Beach” protest.C-SPAN Provides Platform for Radical Activist Medea Benjamin
Bemused locals who headed down to “Tel Aviv Sur Seine” had to maneuver through bag checks, security pat-downs and metal detectors to reach the small stretch of sand on the banks of the Seine.
Paris converts a long stretch of its riverbank into a makeshift beach known as “Paris Plages” every summer. This year, the city named certain days after resorts around the world.
Thursday’s event consisted of little more than a few people playing bat and ball in front of a picture of Tel Aviv, but it was enough to excite a major media brouhaha after objections from anti-Israel protesters.
The Tel Aviv section of the beach, not far from the Notre Dame Cathedral, was only around 200 meters (yards) long and guarded by a phalanx of riot police on either end.
Originally aired on Aug. 2, 2015 (repeated on Aug. 3, Aug. 8), a three-hour show on C-SPAN2's Book TV-In Depth featured radical activist Medea Benjamin hosted by C-SPAN's Peter Slen. Slen, like other hosts of C-SPAN's Washington Journal daily three-hour call-in show, routinely accepts (and sometimes encourages) callers' numerous blame-Israel misinformation harangues. So, it's not surprising that Slen facilitates the guest's condemnation of Israel and its supporters, along with her Code Pink group's other post-liberal leftist nostrums.30 cars, buildings defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti in San Antonio
Perhaps looking into her crystal ball, Medea Benjamin, born (1952 in Freeport, New York, on Long Island) as Susan Benjamin, decided to change her name during her first year at Tufts University. She renamed herself after the mythological Greek character “Medea.” Medea was an enchantress and witch who used her powers to help Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. Today, media indulgence of Medea Benjamin's public narcissism fleeces news consumers of time better spent on more substantive guests.
Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted on some 30 cars and buildings in a San Antonio neighborhood near an Orthodox synagogue.WATCH: Texas pastor’s warm message after attack
The graffiti discovered Wednesday morning in the Texas city included swastikas and references to the Ku Klux Klan, according to local reports. At least one car’s side window was smashed in with a rock.
The San Antonio Police are investigating the incident.
Much of the vandalism was centered on Sholom Drive and Sholom Place, streets that border Congregation Rodfei Sholom. Most of the congregation’s 300 member families live near the synagogue.
“I want to tell those who did this that you have done something destructive,” Rabbi Arnold Scheinberg of Rodfei Shalom told News Radio 1200 WOAI. “Your life could be much better if you could have more love than hate. We’re sorry for you; we are sorry the way you express your life.”
On Wednesday morning, some 30 cars and buildings surrounding a San Antonio Orthodox Jewish synagogue were hit with anti-Semitic graffiti. Police found spray-painted swastikas and curse words on various sites near Congregation Rodfei Sholom and a car window had been smashed with a rock.
In the immediate wake of the incident, Pastor John Hagee of San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church showed up at the scene in a show of solidarity from the city’s Christian community. Later in the day, Hagee and Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg of Rodfei Sholom – who have been friends for 34 years, according to Hagee – uploaded a heartwarming video showing solidarity between San Antonio’s Jews and Christians to YouTube that already has over 17,000 views.
“As soon as I heard that this had happened, [my wife] Diana and I came immediately to express our solidarity with the rabbi, with his congregation and the Jewish community in the city of San Antonio. I want to say to all of the Christians in America: We stand with the Jewish people. An attack against this synagogue is an attack against Christians everywhere,” Hagee says in the video, arm-in-arm with Scheinberg. “And I am saying to the policing agencies of our city and to the citizens of our city: Join together in finding out who the hoodlums were that did this so they can be brought together and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Record passenger traffic at Israel's Ben Gurion airport
There will be an all-time record number of passengers passing through the airport today and August will be a record month.Israel announces deal on offshore gas development
Passenger traffic at Ben Gurion airport is beating all forecasts. There will be an all-time record number of people passing through Ben Gurion airport today as about 80,000 passengers fly in about 457 incoming and outgoing flights.
August is also expected to be a new record month for the Israeli airport with over two million passengers arriving and departing on international flights. In July passenger traffic at Ben Gurion airport was up 20% and the number of flights was up 10% compared with the corresponding months last year.
The rise in the number of passengers is due to the EU Open Skies agreement that has greatly expanded the range of carrier, and options for low-cost flights.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced a major deal between his government and a consortium including US firm Noble Energy on natural gas production in the Mediterranean Sea.WATCH: The Security Council votes ‘yes’ to Israel
“The agreement will bring in hundreds of billions of shekels [tens of billions of dollars] to Israeli citizens over the coming years,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement, without providing details.
“I shall bring this agreement to the cabinet on Sunday. I’m sure it will pass by a large majority of votes.”
Negotiations have been underway with a consortium including Noble and locally based Delek Group, with talks involving natural gas pricing for Israeli reserves and future production.
In this clip from March 1949, the UN Security Council votes to admit Israel as a member nation. The decision then awaited the General Assembly’s May approval.
In the video, nine nations vote for Israel, Britain abstains, and Egypt votes nay.
It was the third time since its establishment in 1948 that Israel had applied for membership in the UN, previously without success.
“If approved by the General Assembly,” the announcer narrates, “Israel will become the 59th nation to join the UN. Israel takes another big step forward.”
