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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

11/11 Links Pt1: The rise of the child terrorist; PA again accuses Israel of 'assassinating' Arafat

From Ian:

The rise of the child terrorist
Wars have never been pretty. People are maimed and killed. Children are orphaned and spouses are widowed. It is precisely for this reason that wars, over time, have been relegated to the adult sphere: because children need to be children. Indeed, some are less innocent than others. But they are still children.
The Palestinian Authority still has not internalized what the role of the child should be in a conflict. In the Palestinian Authority, just as in the Gaza Strip, they don't understand that children shouldn't play any role at all.
A child has the privilege of being a child, regardless of origin, religion or skin color. A child is supposed to be innocent. So why in hell did we see two children trying to stab Jews to death again on Tuesday?
The video from the Jerusalem light rail on Tuesday shows two children, one of whom less than 12 years old, assaulting a Jewish security guard with knives. It is an appalling and terrifying sight.
In the video we can see everything, except for the innocence of a child. We don't see two children. We see two terrorists. We see two murderers.
Those who try to excuse this grave incident by blaming the "occupation" are wrong and misleading. It isn't the "occupation" sending children with knives to kill Jews. Palestinian incitement is sending them, efficiently and persistently.
Does Israel Deserve Terrorism?
Can you condemn terrorism while at the same time rationalizing it? Not in a moral or logical argument. But that’s what liberal author Peter Beinart is doing when he said in a speech to a Los Angles synagogue that the current surge of bloody Palestinian terrorism is a direct product of Israel’s “moral darkness” and that “the Israeli government is reaping what it has sowed.” Beinart, whose remarks were highlighted by the anti-Zionist Mondoweiss site, thinks the stabbing intifada is a “monstrous, demented response” of the Palestinians to their plight in much the same way that 9/11 was a “monstrous, demented response to American foreign policy, a foreign policy of support for Arab dictatorships and Israeli policies which produced tremendous suffering in the Arab world.” In other words, the self-proclaimed spokesman for what he calls “liberal Zionism” believes Americans had it coming to them on 9/11 and the same is true for Israelis now. In doing so, he not only discredits himself but also shines a harsh light on the dubious efforts of many on the left to claim they support Israel while trashing it.
As much as Beinart wants to have it both ways — to condemn terrorism while essentially justifying it — he can’t. Beinart may think his is a morally nuanced approach to these crimes, but all he’s done is to prove that he is morally obtuse. That is true because saying al-Qaeda and Palestinian terrorist are wrong in their methods but right in their sense of grievance blurs is a profound misunderstanding of the point of such terrorism. More than that, assumptions about the guilt of the United States and Israel are not merely wrongheaded judgments but a deliberate effort to avoid the truth.
Beinart’s strong words about blowing up the World Trade Center and random stabbings represent an attempt on his part to establish his moral bona fides before turning to the thing he really dislikes: American support for Israel and Israel’s refusal to make suicidal concessions to the Palestinians without even a flimsy promise of peace.
PA again accuses Israel of 'assassinating' Arafat
The head of the Palestinian Arab team looking into the death of former chairman Yasser Arafat on Tuesday again accused Israel of assassinating the former leader in a Paris hospital, AFP reported.
His comments came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Arafat's death and two months after French judges closed an investigation into claims he was murdered, without bringing any charges.
"The inquiry committee has been able to identify the assassin of former president Yasser Arafat," claimed Tawfiq Tirawi, the head of the probe opened in 2009.
"Israel is responsible," he declared, though he would not provide further details other than to add that "we still need some time to elucidate the exact circumstances of this assassination". (h/t Bob Knot)
Hamas hands over Arafat’s Gaza home to his Fatah party
Gaza’s Hamas rulers handed over the house of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to officials from his Fatah party on Tuesday with the intention of turning it to a museum for the iconic leader.
The house has been closed since the Islamic terror group Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 after routing the Palestinian Authority’s forces and ousting Fatah under the leadership of Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, in bloody street battles.
The ceremony, attended by officials from all Palestinian factions, took place on the eve of the anniversary of Arafat’s 2004 death. During his final years, at the height of the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, Arafat lived under Israeli siege in the presidential compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. After falling ill in the fall of 2004, the 75-year-old leader was flown to France, where he died in a military hospital.



11-, 14-year-old terrorists admit stabbing guard for 'revenge'
The 14-year-old terrorist who, along with his 11-year-old relative, stabbed a security guard in Jerusalem on Tuesday committed the crime out of revenge, he confessed to police Wednesday.
"I wanted to kill Jews to avenge my cousin, Muhammed Ali, who was murdered at Damascus Gate," Muawiyyeh Alkam told police. Ali stabbed three people at the Gate, located outside of Jerusalem's Old City, on October 12; he was eliminated on-site by security forces.
The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court extended the 14 year-old's remand by one week Wednesday. His cousin and fellow teen terrorist, 11-year-old Ali Alkam, remains in moderate condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.
The two teens, residents of nearby Shuafat, carried out the stabbing attack aboard a light rail car as it pulled into Pisgat Ze'ev's Yekutiel Adam station Tuesday. An uncle of theirs told Walla! News that the two studied in the same school and likely planned the attack from there.
Footage which emerged late Tuesday night showed the two sneaking up on the Light Rail guard; despite being injured, the 25 year-old succeeded in shooting and injuring Ali, while Muawiyyeh was detained at the scene by alert bystanders.
Arab Child-Terrorists on Jerusalem Train


New video of security forces shooting terrorist charging at them with knife
Security camera footage emerged on Tuesday evening of a 37-year-old terrorist wielding a knife who charged two security guards at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City earlier in the day.
In the video the assailant can be seen with the knife running towards the guards and the guards rapidly responding to the attack.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said one of the guards shot him, leaving him in critical condition. He later died of his wounds.


Border Policeman takes down Arab knifeman with his bare hands
A Border Police officer fought off a knife-wielding rioter with his bare hands Tuesday afternoon, preventing an arrest operation from turning deadly.
The incident in question occurred near A-Tira village, near Kalkiya in Samaria, as dozens of Arab youths hurled rocks and firebombs at Border Police forces.
After dispersing the rioters security forces entered the village to track down and arrest the main instigators.
But when Staff Sergeant "D." and his colleagues managed to grab one of the main suspects, the rioter pulled out a knife and attempted to stab them.
"In a split second I realized that this had gone from an arrest of rock-throwers to an attempted stabbing attack," he recounted. "The distance was short, so my only option was to overpower him with my hands.
"I managed to dodge the stabbing and beat him until he was neutralized."
Jerusalem stabber sentenced to 16 years
A Jerusalem court jailed a Palestinian Arab man Wednesday to 16 years for the December stabbing of two Israeli Border policemen near Jerusalem's Old City.
The court said Mussa Ajlouni, 25, a resident of the Old City, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to two counts of attempted murder over the December 26 attack on the officers, near his home.
Video of the incident shows the terrorist approaching the two border policemen from behind and violently attacking them.
Police at the time described the injuries as light, but the charge sheet said one of the officers suffered damage to tendons and nerves in his hand and required further treatment. The other victim had a cut to his neck.
Ajlouni was arrested in early January on suspicion of carrying out the stabbing attack at a security checkpoint near the Lions Gate of the Old City.
Under interrogation Ajlouni admitted responsibility for the attack, and told how he prepared and hid the large knife in advance.
Six weeks of terror, 19 new disabled veterans
The Ministry of Defense's Rehabilitation Department presented to the Knesset Comptroller's Committee information about the latest terror wave on Wednesday morning, including partial data on the number of injuries.
The Ministry of Defense has recognized 19 police, IDF soldiers, and Border Police officers as disabled veterans since the beginning of October, expediting the bureaucratic acceptance process so that all could receive full benefits immediately. Of those, 12 were police and Border Police officers, and seven were IDF soldiers and enlisted Border Police soldiers.
The Ministry has also made progress in the lengthy processing of soldiers wounded during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in summer 2014, which had stalled somewhat in the intervening 14 months.
During and immediately after the operation, the department received 594 applications for disabled veteran status - 337 from reservists, 199 from soldiers in mandatory service, and 58 from career officers.
All soldiers who were directly injured as a result of the fighting were immediately recognized and incorporated into the veterans' program, which includes state-provided medical treatment and living expenses, as well as a state assessment to determine their final status as disabled persons under Israeli law.
ISIS threatens Eilat in new video
The Sinai branch of Islamic State (ISIS) released a new video Wednesday threatening attacks on Israel soon - particularly the southern coastal city of Eilat.
The speaker in the video says that the organization is growing stronger in the Sinai Peninsula, and threatens to attack Eilat "very soon."
He also says that Jews will soon "pay for their crimes against Muslims" and "regret what you did."
"We are on the edge of the Temple Mount in Palestine, close to the Jews who steal their land," the speaker says. "More than once already the blood of Jews was spilled in surprise attacks," he added, referring to the terror war on Israel.
The speaker also blasts the Egyptian army for "helping the Jews desecrate holy places for Muslims," referencing Egypt's war on terror in the Sinai Peninsula - which he then claims is unsuccessful.
This is not the first time ISIS has directly threatened Israel. In October, the group released a video in Hebrew, featuring what appears to be an Israeli Arab; the speaker threatens that "not a single Jew will be left in the entire country."
BBC Hardtalk host fails to challenge Saeb Erekat’s claim on ’74 Palestinians killed’
Back in June, Hadar Sela reported on a Hardtalk interview with Saeb Erekat, in which host Zeinab Badawi failed to challenge the Palestinian chief negotiator as he recycled old statements, and reverted to talking points and anti-Israel agitprop in lieu of substantive responses.
A few days ago, Erekat again appeared on the BBC flagship programme – a show hosted this time by Stephen Sackur.
To his credit, Sackur asked some genuinely provocative questions, such as ‘Why are so many mostly young Palestinians intent on killing Israeli Jews?’, which, under different circumstances, may have elicited an interesting give and take. However, Erekat largely succeeded in evading Sackur’s questions.
Further, the Hardtalk host allowed his Palestinian guest to misrepresent the facts regarding the Palestinian death toll since the latest wave of attacks began last month. Erekat claimed (at the 18:40 mark of the video) that 74 Palestinians were killed by Israelis.
However, Sackur didn’t tell viewers that, of those 74 killed, the majority (48) were terrorists killed while involved in attacks or attempted attacks.
EU sets guidelines on labeling settlement goods, drawing Israeli anger
The European Union approved guidelines Wednesday for its member states to label products made in West Bank settlements, drawing angry condemnation from Israel and accusations of anti-Semitism.
At a meeting in Brussels, the European Commissioner “adopted this morning the interpretative notice on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,” the EU’s executive said.
Wednesday’s move by the European Council, which will also apply to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, underscores the EU’s unhappiness over Israel’s continued expansion of settlements on territory that Palestinians are seeking for a future state.
According to the guidelines published, the labels will need to point out that the product is made in an Israeli settlement, and not just the geographical origin.
READ: Full European Union labeling guidelines
Following is the full text of the European Union’s announcement regarding the labeling of products made by Israelis in the West Bank, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem:
PM: EU ‘should be ashamed of itself’ for settlement labeling
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday pointed an accusatory finger at the European Union, saying it should be “ashamed of itself” for announcing a decision to impose labeling guidelines on Israeli products manufactured over the Green Line.
This move is “hypocritical and applies double standards, targeting Israel when there are over 200 other conflicts around the world,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“The EU has decided to label only Israel, and we are not prepared to accept the fact that Europe is labeling the side that is being attacked by terrorism,” he said.
“The Israeli economy is strong and will withstand this [decision]. Those who will be harmed will actually be Palestinian workers in Israeli factories [over the Green Line]. The European Union should be ashamed of itself,” Netanyahu continued.
Top minister: Labeling settlement products is veiled anti-Semitism
A senior cabinet minister on Tuesday condemned a European Union plan to begin labeling West Bank settlement products, saying the move amounted to “disguised anti-Semitism.”
The EU is expected to order the labeling, possibly this week, in what is widely seen as a show of displeasure over Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in territory sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The EU already bars goods made in settlements from receiving customs exemptions given to goods made inside Israel.
Yuval Steinitz, the Minister for National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources, and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the EU of unfairly singling out Israel when it has not taken similar action toward products made in areas like Chinese-controlled Tibet or Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
“We cannot conceive it but as some disguised anti-Semitism,” he told reporters Tuesday.
EU labeling 'just the first stage in total boycott of Israel'
The research institute NGO Monitor sat down with Arutz Sheva on Wednesday to dissect the implications of the EU decision earlier in the day to label Jewish products from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
According to Itai Reuveni, a senior researcher at NGO Monitor's Israel Desk, the step is part of a well-planned European scheme to boycott all of Israel.
"Labeling the products is the first step," said Reuveni based on an analysis of the publications put out by those groups leading the boycott movement. He argued that the European lack of understanding that labeling is merely the first step shows either that they are naive, or that they think Israelis are naive.
Quoting the EU Ambassador to Israel who claimed the step is merely technical and not part of a general boycott, Reuveni told Arutz Sheva that "if he really means it, that contradicts the declarations of the organizations who advanced the labeling; these are organizations who receive European funding."
"Their goal is not technical labeling, but rather (it is) the first stage in a layered plan that ends with a general boycott on those who do business with Israel. To claim this is just labeling for transparency is a sin against reality. The labeling is meant to do something with it."
European Jewish Leader Exposes EU Hypocrisy
Shortly after the EU publicized its decision Wednesday, Dr. Kantor stated:
The EU has been consistently asked why Israel is made a special case without any other precedent.
The EU has refused to answer even though we see it signing agreements to profit from and contributing to Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara and Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus.
In many other disputes the EU actually supports or profits from an internationally designated occupation.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU in Brussels, released today new guidelines regarding the labeling of products from Israeli companies in the West Bank that are sold in Europe.
Dr. Kantor said that the EU decision “is clearly discriminatory and stands in stark contradistinction to the EU’s own mandate to be fair and free of prejudice.
Justice Minister 'weighing legal action against EU decision'
Israeli officials have reacted with outrage to the European Union's decision to mark products made by Jews in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) said Wednesday that the move is "an anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish decision."
"European hypocrisy and hatred toward Israel have exceeded all possible limits," she stated. "It's interesting that in Western Sahara and Cyprus, they were never told to mark products," she noted, in a comparison to two other disputed territories that have been considered "occupied."
The minister said that she was weighing the taking of legal steps against the EU's decision.
Israel's Foreign Ministry summoned the EU ambassador Wednesday for a dressing-down following the announcement about the product marking.
Israel said that it denounces the EU's decision. "We regret that the EU decides, out of political motives, chose to take a discriminatory and unusual step that is taken from the world of boycotts, and did so of all days at a time when Israel is dealing with a terror wave against its citizens."
Israel: EU decision to label settlement products may harm ties with Brussels
Israel condemned as discriminatory a European Union decision to publish guidelines to allow for consumer labels on imports produced over the Green Line, to signify that they were not made in Israel.
It warned that the move could harm Israeli European relations.
“We regret that the EU took this politically motivated and unusual and discriminatory step, that it learned from the world of boycotts,” the Foreign Ministry said in a harshly worded statement.
The Foreign Ministry also summoned the European Union’s Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg to explain the decision by the European Commission, which is the political body in Brussels.
 A grim omen
The European Union's wheels of injustice grind slowly, but they eventually churn out their decisions, and the EU is now poised to issue guidelines to its member nations on the labeling of settlement products.
The export of settlement products to Europe amounts to only a fraction of all Israeli exports to the continent, but while the immediate repercussions will not be major, no one believes Israel-haters in European will stop there.
Boycotting settlement products is only the first step. Europe is likely to crumble under pressure from the Palestinians and from the Muslims overrunning its streets, and it will inch its way toward an overall boycott of Israel.
Even if the damage is small, it is still very real. A store owner in Toulouse will not bother to distinguish between a product made in Beit El and one made in Tel Aviv -- he will simply discard both in favor of a product made in Lisbon.
Morally speaking, this type of product labeling is akin to the yellow Star of David. It is the first step on a road whose end is unknown.
Will the French Anti-Boycott Law Lead to a Pan-European Law?
The judges in Paris deserve praise, as do the umbrella organization of French Jewry, CRIF, and the nongovernmental organization BNCVA along with its president Sammy Ghozlan for their spirited activity. These dedicated activists constantly monitor pro-Palestinian activists for any attempts to violate the existing laws.
It is now all the more vital to work for the adoption of the French law by other European countries, such as Britain. Whoever fights anti-Semitism and racism must condemn the ugly phenomenon of the boycott in all the domains – economic, cultural, and academic. Attempts to glorify the boycott of Israel should not only be denounced but also severely punished in a deterrent fashion.
Although Europe is an important economic power, in the sphere of foreign and defense policy it is still faltering, and the major decisions in this sphere are actually made by three countries: Germany, Britain, and France. It is now their responsibility to maintain the existing status quo and prevent the boycott of Israel and its products, standing firm against the pressures exerted by pro-Palestinian organizations and movements. One may criticize the policy of the Israeli government, but one may not boycott a democratic state that is a member of the United Nations while, at the same time, exalting Islamic State as it sows death and terror. Debates at every venue — in the media or on campuses — are essential to increased understanding, and the recent debate at Oxford University showed that there are those who will listen to Israel’s message. Indeed, the arguments of American Prof. Alan Dershowitz persuaded more students than the slanders and distortions of the BDS activists. Their movement opposes any peace process, incites against Jews, and maliciously sabotages any attempt at Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.
And finally it must be noted that the ongoing Palestinian terror activity in the territories and within Israel is likely to spark anti-Jewish incitement and violence in Europe as well. It must not be forgotten that Jews have already been killed in a kosher supermarket in Paris and at the Otzar Hatorah School in Toulouse.
Hence, the authorities must be prepared to act urgently and apply the laws of enforcement and deterrence, relentlessly prosecuting all the inciters.
'Settler' owners vow: We will fight back, sell more
Jewish business owners in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem who are poised to be harmed by the EU decision Wednesday to label their products responded - by vowing to sell even more.
Vered Ben Saadon, owner of the Tura Winery in the village Rehelim in Samaria, told Channel 2 that around 40% of the 56,000 bottles she produces a year are designed for export.
"For five months we had no wine on the shelves thanks to people who didn't like the violence of the boycott movement," Ben Saadon revealed regarding past boycott attempts, noting how the boycott achieved the exact opposite of its goal by spurring business.
Another affected winery is Bazelet Hagolan of Kedmat Tzvi in the Golan Heights, which decided to export its fine chardonnay wines with a blue and white Israeli flag on the top of the cork.
"We are proud of our national flag and hope that other wineries will follow us and imprint the Israeli flag on wine bottles meant for export to Europe," owner Yoav Levy told Channel 2.
"We hope that despite the orders of the European Union, the (European) countries will reject the decision to accept the boycott and will support Israel," said Levy.
Labeling products is ‘opposite of boycott,’ European official says
The European Union’s labeling scheme for settlement products could actually lead to an increase in overall exports from Israel, a senior European diplomat said, dismissing Israeli claims that the measure was tantamount to a boycott and could seriously harm Israeli businesses.
The European Commission in Brussels on Wednesday is expected to publish guidelines on the labeling of goods made or produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which would be binding on all member states, according to the official. However, countries that disregard the guidelines would not have to fear any sanctions, the official indicated.
“Our statistics show that in countries where [labeling of settlement products] is applied, in the UK, for example, overall trade volume of Israel with that country has gone up, not down, since separate labeling for products made in occupied territories began,” the senior official said.
“We believe that people who, for political reasons, don’t want to buy products from settlements will have more clarity on products made in Israel, therefore the trade will not go down. As it has gone up following labeling… Jerusalem believes it will serve a boycott, well it’s other way around — it’s the opposite of boycotting.”
PLO celebrates EU labeling but 'it isn't enough'
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist organization on Wednesday said an EU decision to label Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem was a "positive step" but did not go far enough.
"EU labeling of settlement products is a step in the right direction but insufficient," the PLO's negotiations affairs department said on Twitter. "Products of a war crime must be banned not just labeled."
PLO secretary-general Saeb Erekat also welcomed the decision, calling it a "significant move toward a total boycott of Israeli settlements, which are built illegally on occupied Palestinian lands."
His comment confirms the assessment of experts who told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that the move is merely the first stage towards a total boycott of all Israeli products.
"We believe that more actions are necessary to hold Israel accountable for the crimes it continues to commit against the land and people of Palestine," he said in a statement, which ironically comes in the midst of a terror wave being incited by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Leftists applaud move to label 'settlement' goods
While Israeli parliamentarians rushed Wednesday to condemn the European Union's decision to label Jewish-made goods from Judea and Samaria, a group of leftists have come out in favor of the measure.
In a petition signed by 550 former politicians and intellectuals, the group charges the move is necessary to "promote peace in the region."
"We, Israelis who care about their country now more than ever, welcome the EU's decision to label products from Israeli settlements, and we hope that additional countries will follow in this process," the petition states.
"The separation the international community has made between Israel and the territory of the settlements is a step that could promote peace in the region, strengthen Israel's position in the world and thwart attempts to delegitimize it."
Peace Now says move is ‘legitimate,’ not a boycott
The Peace Now NGO says in a statement that the European decision to label products made in the settlement is a “legitimate” move.
“Labeling products is not a boycott against Israel or BDS [boycott, sanctions and divestment], but a legitimate move intended to separate products of the settlements from blue and white products,” the NGO says.
Knesset advances bill to keep out boycott supporters
A bill that would allow officials to deny entry into Israel to persons calling for a boycott against it passed the first of four Knesset votes on Wednesday, just hours before the EU announced it would begin labeling Israeli products made in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The bill passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum by a majority of 55-31.
Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal, who proposed the measure, said it was intended to address “the absurd situation where a person exploits Israeli democracy and what Israel has to offer in order to push boycotts against the country.”
That situation, he vowed, “is going to stop. Gone are the days when people call for a boycott against Israel, land in Ben Gurion [Airport] and take a taxi to [the West Bank village of] Bil’in only to throw stones at soldiers.”
The bill enjoyed a handy majority in the plenum, but faced vociferous criticism from the opposition.
Europe’s settlement product labeling hurts Palestinians, not Israelis
The European Union’s recent decision to label products manufactured in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank is not merely a technical move as EU officials have claimed. Their intention seems clear enough: to draw European and global consumer attention to these products as a first step in boycotting them. European governments mistakenly believe that labeling and boycotting Israeli products manufactured in Jewish settlements will cause economic pain to Israeli businesses over the green line and cause them to fail. Politically, many European leaders and their political class believe that boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) will logically bring Israel to leave the settlements altogether and return to the 1949 armistice lines (1967 “borders”) thereby paving the way for a Palestinian state along these lines.
Their logic is misguided.
In fact, the newly approved EU labeling policy and Europe’s well known sympathy for BDS have already yielded unintended consequences. Labeling and boycotts have had minimal effects on Jewish settlement economics; instead, BDS harms the Palestinian economy. It has already resulted in the termination of hundreds of Palestinian employees of the public company Soda Stream that operates along with several hundred other companies in the Mishor Adumim Industrial Zone some 15 minutes outside of Jerusalem. Some 4,000 Palestinians are employed there. BDS provocations against Soda Stream brought corporate management to move the company’s factory from Mishor Adumim to the Negev. The BDS cost: Close to 1,000 Palestinian workers, who had earned some 5,000 to 6,000 shekels monthly plus all Israeli worker benefits that are protected by Israeli law, lost well-paying employment. Those newly unemployed Palestinian workers will now need to seek employment in Palestinian cities of the West Bank at a monthly salary of some 1,500 shekels without social or medical benefits.
Anti-Israel Nincompoops Of The Day (Updated)
..have to be these Code Pink “activists”
Because nothing says “boycott Israel” like getting on a plane and travelling to Israel.
And I suppose while in Israel, they boycotted Israeli food and accommodation.
Thank goodness our enemies are so stupid.
Update: As some pointed out, Ariel Gold organized a recent anti Israel event for third grade classes at the Beverly J. Martin School in Ithaca, NY, featuring Bassem Tamimi, otherwise known as the man who exploits his daughter ‘Shirley Temper.’
Another good point raised by many of you – let Ms Purple Shirt try dressing like that in front of Al Aqsa Mosque. Or in Gaza.
PreOccupiedTerritory: EU History Texts To Recast Nazi Yellow Star As ‘Consumer Information’ (satire)
Among the world’s approximately 200 existing territorial disputes, the EU selected only Israel’s for such treatment, but denied there was any anti-Israel or antisemitic motive for the decision. Starting next week, the body will begin a review of the history texts currently approved by various member states, and will recommend the specific changes necessary to bring understanding of Nazi policies into line with the current EU understanding of what constitutes an antisemitic policy. Accordingly, the law in Nazi Germany and the territories it controlled, to the effect that Jews must sew a yellow star with the word “Jew” in the local language onto their outermost garments, will be explained not as an effort to separate Jews and undermine their legitimacy and rights, but as a useful way to provide the host populations with pertinent information relevant to purchasing habits.
EU representatives have repeatedly insisted the labeling requirement is a technical, not a political, step, while behind the scenes several officials have conceded it is meant to pressure Israel over the lack of further territorial concessions to the Palestinians. As such, the requirement apples even to Israeli-occupied territories not considered Palestinian, such as the Golan Heights, which was taken from Syria in 1967, and later annexed, a move not recognized internationally. Along the same lines, EU officials privately acknowledge that footnotes in the textbooks will be allowed to allude to the economic and social pressure concomitant with the star-wearing requirement, and the fact that a commercial boycott of Jewish businesses was also given the force of German law at the time.
An EU spokesman said the body would continue the unrestricted importation of hundreds of thousands of migrants from areas under territorial dispute in the Middle East, Africa, and south-central Asia with no labeling or vetting requirements.
Ya’alon: Israel lacks evidence for conviction in fatal Duma firebombing
After 101 days, Israeli law-enforcement officials still don’t have enough evidence to indict the Jewish extremists who firebombed a Palestinian home, killing three members of the same family, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced Monday.
Last month, Ya’alon announced the Shin Bet security service and Israel Police knew which right-wing extremist group carried out the July attack on the Dawabsha family in the village of Duma, but didn’t have enough evidence about the identities of the perpetrators to convict.
The firebombing killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsha and mortally injured his parents, who died in the following weeks.
The deaths prompted outrage among the Palestinians, in Israel and across the international community. Ali’s four-year-old brother survived the attack, which was widely attributed to Jewish extremists.
Critics have taken Israeli officials to task for failing to produce an indictment in the case thus far, pointing to it as proof of a double standard for Jewish and Palestinian terrorists.
Testing weapon capabilities, Hamas fires rocket into sea
Hamas fired a rocket from the northern Gaza Strip into the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, in what Israel believes was likely a test of the group’s rocket systems rather than an attempt to hit Israeli territory.
The missile was likely fired as part of an exercise by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military branch of the Hamas extremist group that rules the Gaza Strip, the Walla news site reported.
On Sunday night, Israel carried out an air strike in the Gaza in response to a rocket attack earlier in the day, targeting a Hamas installation. The military said it struck Hamas infrastructure in the south of the Strip. There were no reports of Palestinian casualties.
Sunday’s rocket had landed in an open field in southern Israel, causing no injuries or damage. Rocket sirens were triggered in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council for the first time in two weeks.
Egypt’s Sissi calls for NATO help in Libya ‘vacuum’
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, called for NATO powers to help rebuild Libya, beset by violence since an uprising backed by the Western military alliance toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi, in an interview on Tuesday.
Sissi was quoted in British newspaper the Daily Telegraph ahead of a visit to London in which he is to discuss security cooperation with Prime Minister David Cameron.
“Libya is a danger that threatens all of us. If there is no government then this only creates a vacuum where extremists can prosper,” Sissi said, according to the Telegraph.
“It was a mission that was not completely accomplished… We must support all efforts to help the Libyan people and the Libyan economy.”
Libya has descended into chaos since longtime dictator Gaddafi was ousted in 2011 and killed in the midst of an uprising supported by NATO states.
Sharm el-Sheikh hotels 'using fake bomb detectors'
Hotel staff in Sharm el-Sheikh are using "rubbish" bomb detecting equipment as part of their security procedures in the wake of the suspected bombing of a Russian plane flying out of the Egyptian resort, it has been claimed.
As hundreds of Britons remain stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh, there are fears that the security technology used at hotels in the area is sub-standard and in some cases could even be fake.
Paul Biddiss, a global security adviser, told the Mirror: “If they are what they appear then these so-called scanners are absolute rubbish, as much use as a chocolate fireguard.”
Wands used by security guards in hotels at the resort have been likened to devices sold by James McCormick, who was jailed in 2013 for making millions of pounds selling fake bomb detectors around the world.
Mr Biddiss said if the scanners were the same, then they are “utterly useless”.
“The only use for these things would be as a deterrent, but they could actually cost lives if people believed they worked.
Tourists have also voiced concerns over the efficacy of the detectors, but the Foriegn Office said sniffer dogs, body searches and CCTV were also being used to keep people safe.
Who Downed the Russian Airliner? Israel, Obvi
On October 31, a Russian airliner heading from Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia, crashed in northern Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, a majority of them Russians. As families grieve, people are searching for answers: What caused the crash? Was it a bomb? If so, who is responsible? Is it ISIS, or one of its affiliates?
No, dummy, it’s probably Israel. At least, that is, according to the math of Pepe Escobar, a reporter for the Asia Times and Russia Today, who outlined his theory on Facebook.


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