Friday, November 20, 2015
Caroline Glick: Who is being delusional?
Following the interview’s broadcast, Lavie countered that if Abbas were truly interested in establishing an independent Palestinian state, he wouldn’t have cared about the political fortunes of the Israeli prime minister. He would have taken the offer and run, knowing that, as Olmert said, the likelihood that he’d get a similar offer in the next 50 years was nonexistent.Brooke Goldstein: Oslo is Over
The most notable reaction to Abbas’s admission was the reaction that never came. The Israeli Left had no reaction to his interview.
Abbas is the hero of the Left.
He is their partner. He is their moderate. He is their man of peace. Abbas is the Palestinian leader to whom every leftist politician worth his snuff, from opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog to the Meretz Knesset faction make regular pilgrimages to prove their devotion to peace.
Their man in Ramallah received the most radical offer ever to see the light of day. And rather than accept it, he rejected it out of hand and refused to meet with Olmert ever again, and he openly admits it.
The Left’s non-response is not surprising. Abbas’s decision to end all speculation about whether or not he is a man of peace is merely the latest blow reality has cast on their two-state formula.
The Left’s policy of land for peace failed more than 15 years ago when Abbas’s boss, Yasser Arafat, preferred war to peace and initiated the worst campaign of terrorism that Israel had ever experienced.
Yet for the last 15 years, the Israeli “peace camp” has never wavered in its view that, despite it all, Israel must rid itself of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants the Oslo Accords to be annulled. We should give him what he wants.Compromise for Now, the End of Israel for Later
Mr. Abbas declared his intention to annul the agreements after promising a “bombshell” in his speech to the UN General Assembly last month. Abbas claimed he would use “all peaceful and legal means” to end the peace process immediately.
His first step? Incitement to genocide.
“[The] Al-Aqsa [mosque on the Temple Mount] is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” Mr. Abbas declared on Palestinian Authority TV. “They [Jews] have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet.” Thus began what some consider to be the third Palestinian Intifada, or violent uprising. Mr. Abbas continued, “We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every martyr will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.”
Prior to the signing of Oslo I in 1993 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was a designated terror organization in the United States and Israel. Established to fight a guerilla war against the Jewish state, its governing document — the Palestine National Charter — called for Israel’s destruction. Member organizations of the PLO were responsible for bombings, hijackings, and the notorious 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. The PLO’s main political faction, Fatah, led by PLO founder Yasser Arafat, carried out numerous acts of terror killing thousands of innocent men, women and children. The PLO was declassified as a terror group in 1994, only after the international community recognized the Oslo process as the path to Arab-Israeli peace.
Now that Mr. Abbas wants to end Oslo, he may get more that he bargained for. With the dissolution of the agreement, the PLO could return to its pre-1993 designation as a terrorist organization. As a result, funds would no longer flow from U.S. Treasury coffers and taxes would no longer be distributed to Palestinian officials through Israeli banks or customs unions. Under Executive Order 12947, individuals or entities attempting to transfer money to “foreign terrorists that disrupt the Middle East peace process”—such as the PLO—would be liable under federal laws criminalizing the provision of material support to terrorism.
Against the bloody background of stabbings and other deadly violence in Israel and the West Bank, Daniel Polisar’s thorough analysis of Palestinian polling data, “What Do Palestinians Want?,” makes essential reading for anyone interested in more than just the grim daily headlines. His central point—that the majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have long supported “armed struggle” against Israelis—is not only accurate but a fact regularly distorted by media focus on the seemingly “individual” nature of today’s terrorist incidents. Polisar’s conclusions, moreover, are well grounded in exhaustive research into the mounds of survey data that have piled up ever since the first Oslo accords of 1993—which is when I myself started to work with Palestinian colleagues in launching the first scientific polls of the Palestinian population.
Rather than repeating Polisar’s findings, I’d like to begin with a few observations and quibbles, then introduce some recent findings, mainly from a poll I conducted in June, and conclude with what I hope to see in Polisar’s larger study-in-progress on this subject.
First, quibbles. On the basis of survey results and other data, I believe that the reality is in some ways better than Polisar judges and in some ways worse. Better: there is rich evidence that the Palestinian public, when presented with a “package deal,” is considerably more inclined to accept compromise with Israel than when issues are viewed in isolation. This applies even to the most contentious issues like the future of Jerusalem, the “right of return,” or recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Worse: Polisar accepts the notion that most Palestinians support violence in spite of Mahmoud Abbas’s steady and repeated opposition to it. In fact, Abbas and other Palestinian leaders consistently send a mixed message on this key issue, opposing violence in the abstract while continuing to glorify individual terrorists in official statements, ceremonies, and the media.
IDF Blog: Female Fighters on the Frontline with ISIS in Sinai
“I’m not afraid to confront terrorists if necessary,” explains Lieutenant Ada, a commander in the co-ed Caracal Battalion on the Israel-Sinai border. “ISIS fighters are terrified of being defeated by a woman, it completely contradicts their radical beliefs.”
The Israel-Sinai border has become increasingly tense as terror organizations, including ISIS-affiliated groups, have solidified their presence and created instability in the region.[Read more about the Sinai threat here.]
The Caracal Battalion is responsible for defending the volatile Israel-Sinai border. Established in 2004, Caracal was the first battalion to fully integrate women as combat soldiers. The battalion is trained to deal with terrorist infiltrations, bombs on the border, shootings, smuggling and criminal events.
“We are here to stand up against terrorism”
“After the Russian plane went down, we realized how tangible the threat has become,” says Lt. Ada. “My soldiers need to know that we are here to stand up against terrorism. I’m not afraid to confront terrorists if necessary. ISIS fighters are terrified of being defeated by a woman, it completely contradicts their radical beliefs.”
The 68 Congressional Representatives who refused to repudiate incitement
Palestinian incitement and glorification of violence is a huge obstacle to peaceful co-existence.Shmuley Boteach: Sweden’s blood libel against Israel over the Paris terrorist attacks
The Palestinian government, media and educational system are all complicit.
Recognizing this, earlier this month, 369 Members of Congress sent a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, stating
“Now is the time for the Palestinian Authority to take concrete steps to avoid further violence. This starts with a sustained effort to publicly and officially repudiate these attacks, ending the unacceptable incitement to violence emanating from Palestinian Authority officials and institutions, continuing important security cooperation with Israel and agreeing to unconditionally renew direct talks with the Israelis.”
The 68 Representatives (listed below), however, did not sign. If your Representative did not sign this letter, please call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask to be transferred to your Representative,and express your disappointment.
For your reference, the names in red were endorsed by J street
Where else but the Middle East could you find the Orwellian formulation that Israel is equivalent to Islamic State disseminated by a Palestinian terrorist organization – Fatah – that has engaged in international terrorism for half a century? Palestinian leaders have become masters of the “Big Lie,” perfected by the Nazis, so I was not surprised to hear one more fabrication emanating from Ramallah aimed at demonizing Israel.After Paris Attack, Middle Class Jihadists Debunking Myth That All Islamic Extremists Are Poor And Disenfranchised
Although many European officials have fallen into the Palestinian trap, and not only believed their lies but repeated them, I was still surprised by the outrageous remarks by Margot Wallström, Sweden’s foreign affairs minister, suggesting the explanation for the Paris violence could be found in the plight of the Palestinians whose desperation, she believes, forces them to resort to violence. This view is inane on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start.
First, the terrorists in Paris were not Palestinians, had nothing to do with their cause and attacked their targets because of their belief that all nations should be ruled by Muslims according to their interpretation of Shari’a law.
As the French president said, this was an act of war, not desperation.
Second, Palestinians do not resort to terrorism out of desperation. They have alternatives such as negotiations and nonviolence, which they have eschewed. Instead, their leaders incite them to violence through mosques, social and conventional media and the schools.
Third, State Department Arabists, as well as ignoramuses such as Wallström, believe all Middle East problems would evaporate if the Palestinian issue were resolved or, better yet, if Israel disappeared.
Islamic State is just one example of the absurdity of this view. If Israel was destroyed tomorrow, Islamic State would still be determined to establish a world-wide caliphate and would still have attacked Paris. Furthermore, Israel’s disappearance would not halt the civil wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, stop Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, defeat al-Qaida or erase the enmity between Shiites and Sunnis.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the 27-year-old Belgian man who authorities said masterminded the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris, is helping to debunk a stereotype that young jihadis leaving their Western homes to join militants of the Islamic State are angry, impoverished societal outcasts. Abaaoud is from an area of Brussels that has a strong middle class, booming commercial districts and a gentrifying “hipster” crowd, according to the Atlantic.Australia's Grand Mufti urged followers to sign petition against anti-terror laws calling them 'racist' - as photo emerges of him with Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis
Officials’ focus on Abaaoud emphasizes how many Western nations, mostly those in Europe, have an oversized role in the spread of Islamic radicalization among their well-established Muslim and immigrant communities. Countries such as Belgium, Britain and France have provided a steady flow of militants to the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, presenting a challenge for authorities looking to prevent domestic attacks and weaken the Middle Eastern caliphate.
Part of the problem is that these young jihadis leaving to join the Islamic State fight, and carrying valid passports that would allow safe passage back home, feel oppressed by Western culture that struggles to integrate Muslims. Men traveling to Syria to answer the call to jihad last year told CNN that practicing Islam was harder in their home countries.
"I'm from the south of England. I grew up in a middle class family," said Abu Anwar of Britain, who was 25 when he was interviewed by CNN. "Life was easy back home. I had a life. I had a car. But the thing is: You cannot practice Islam back home. We see all around us evil. We see pedophiles. We see homosexuality. We see crime. We see rape."
Australia's Muslim leader branded the government's new terror laws as 'racist' and 'discriminatory' as an image emerged of the Grand Mufti standing next to Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis.MALI BLOODBATH: 27 dead, up to 90 held hostage in hotel as US, Malian forces work to free captives
Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed spoke at the Auburn Islamic Community Centre in Sydney's west in September last year claiming the new anti-terrorism laws would only be used to target Muslims, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Grand Mufti urged followers to sign a petition protesting the new terror laws because they allegedly 'breached human rights'.
Dr Mohammed came under fire this week after he failed to condemn the Paris terror attacks.
Many were critical of a statement he made that suggested racism and Islamaphobia may have been behind the attacks that killed 129 last Friday.
It comes as a photo emerged of Dr Mohammed and the Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis standing together at Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney's west in 2010 while attending a World Refugee Day celebration.
On December 15, 2015 Monis - a self-proclaimed sheikh - took 18 people hostage at the Lindt Cafe at Martin Place in Sydney's city.
Two hostages, Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, were killed and Monis was shot when police raided the premises.
The deadly hostage situation at a hotel in Mali's capital city appeared to come to an end Friday, but the fate of dozens of guests and hotel workers was still unclear.France deploys special forces to Mali hostage-taking
Local media reported there were no more hostages by Friday afternoon at the Radisson hotel in Bamako.
A U.N. official told The Associated Press that initial reports from the field indicate that 27 people were killed in the attack. Al Qaeda-linked jihadists claimed responsibility for the siege.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the operation is still ongoing, said 12 bodies were found in the basement and 15 bodies were found on the second floor. The official stressed that the building had yet to be totally cleared.
Another U.N. official, U.N. Mali mission spokesman Olivier Salgado, said two extremists have been killed and that forces are going from room to room, checking for more casualties.
French special forces have deployed at the luxury hotel in the Malian capital Bamako to assist in ending a mass hostage-taking, the French defense ministry said Friday.The Judean People's Front: What about the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement?
“In response to the request from the Malian authorities, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian decided to send a unit of French special forces,” the ministry said, adding they had come in from Burkina Faso.
The units were “in place from 2:00 pm French time (1300 GMT)”, the ministry said.
US special forces were also helping in the effort to rescue hostages, a Pentagon spokeswoman said
By now most of you have heard that Israel recently banned the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Real Jstreets has already discussed the radical, anti-Semitic and violent things they have said and supported. But there is another part of this story that is being brushed under the carpet:Guess who's funding incitement against loyal Arabs?
The Southern Branch is just as radical, anti-Israel and hate-filled as the Northern Branch!
If that is true, though, then why is it legal and referred to as moderate?
That's right, the Islamic Movement in Israel split between the "hardliners" in the north who hold the radical Islamist beliefs of the Muslim Brotherhood while boycotting Israeli elections and the "moderates" in the south who hold the radical Islamist beliefs of the Muslim Brotherhood while participating in Israeli elections.
Did you spot the difference? It is the same difference frequently cited by the media for why ISIS is radical and Hamas is moderate, namely that while they both hold fundamentalist Islamist views that are inherently anti-Semitic, misogynistic, homophobic and expansionist, Hamas has changed its tactics and agreed to participate in elections it knows it can win.
Deputy Minister of Defense Eli Ben-Dahan and MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home), MK Merav Ben-Ari (Kulanu) and MK Miki Zohar (Likud) dispatched a letter this week to Talia Sasson, President of the New Israel Fund, in which they demanded that the Fund cease its support for the “Baladna Association for Arab Youth” organization.Landmark agreement paves way for Palestinian 3G service
Baladna recently produced a music video inciting against Arabs and members of other minorities who enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces, and calling on minorities to refuse to enlist.
Ben-Ari and Zohar are co-chairs of the Knesset Caucus for Encouraging and Promoting the Enlistment of Minorities to the IDF and Civil Service. The letter was also signed by by leaders of the minorities enlisting in the IDF, including Father Gabriel Nadaf, Sara Zoabi and Mohammad Ka’abiyah.
The letter states that “in the clip, musicians Tamer Nafar and Jowan Safadi protest against the enlistment of Arab youth, Israeli citizens, into military service. We see as extreme and destructive the incitement against minorities who wish to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, and to integrate themselves into the Israeli society."
"We demand that you both immediately cease funding the 'Baladna Association for Arab Youth' organization, and that you issue a statement categorically and unequivocally condemning the incitement against the minorities serving in the Israeli Defense Forces or Israel’s Civil Service.”
Israel signed an agreement Thursday with the Palestinian Authority paving the way for the deployment of high-speed 3G cellular service by Palestinian cellular companies, dialing down a long-standing complaint that Israel was restricting access to faster mobile Internet speeds.Restaurants on the Rise in Gaza
Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh and Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai signed a “memorandum of understanding” Thursday morning that officials said would mean 3G service, used as a standard in much of the world, could be available to Palestinians in three to six months.
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords that regulate the relationship between Israel and the autonomous Palestinian Authority, Israel regulates the frequencies available to cell companies in Palestinian-ruled areas, but is required to allow Palestinian communications infrastructure that is separate from Israel’s.
The opening of 3G frequencies to Palestinian companies Wataniya and Jawwal has long been a demand of Palestinian officials and activists.
More dispatches from Ghetto Gaza, the world's largest open air concentration camp. In spite of the homeless, poverty and despair we keep hearing about, since the beginning of 2015, 195 new restaurants have been licensed in Gaza. There are 73 additional restaurants still in the pipeline.No Labels for Occupied Catalonia?
From Al-Monitor "Restaurants on the Rise in Gaza"
Al-Monitor noticed, during a tour of various restaurants in Gaza City, how they have reached a professional level of customer service. Rizk al-Helou, the director of the Department of Tourism at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, told Al-Monitor in this regard, “When foreigners visit the Gaza Strip, they are surprised by the modern and sophisticated entertainment venues, restaurants and cafes, and by the service provided to customers. There are many success stories and it is considered a great breakthrough in this industry.”
Here's a glimpse at culinary Gaza.
The contrast between Spain’s treatment of Catalonian and Basque demands for independence and Israel’s treatment of Palestinian demands for independence couldn’t be starker. Whereas Spain adamantly refuses even to negotiate on the issue and has repeatedly squelched efforts to hold referendums, Israel has repeatedly offered the Palestinians a state in most of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem; it’s the Palestinians who have rejected these offers. Israel also actually withdrew from Gaza and parts of the West Bank to further the Palestinians’ quest for independence, whereas Spain has yet to vacate an inch of Catalonia or the Basque CountryBoycotting the Boycotters: Israel fights back against European blacklist campaign
Moreover, Israel has done all this despite rampant Palestinian terror throughout the years since the “peace process” began in 1993. In contrast, the Catalonian independence movement has never engaged in terror, while ETA has killed fewer people in almost five decades of activity than Palestinian terrorists did during the second intifada of 2000-05 alone, and has carried out no attacks at all since 2011. In other words, Israel would have far more excuse for intransigence than Spain does because a Palestinian state shows every sign of being a real security threat to Israel, whereas Catalonia and the Basque country pose no comparable threat to Spain.
Israel also negotiated repeatedly with Syria on a land-for-peace deal in the Golan Heights. It was Syria’s meltdown into civil war that ultimately ended those negotiations.
It’s no secret that the EU’s labeling decision is a piece of unmitigated anti-Israel bias. As Prof. Eugene Kontorovich concisely explained in last week’s New York Times, it blatantly contradicts the EU’s own policy on other territorial disputes worldwide, as well as World Trade Organization rules and national court rulings in various European countries.
But if the EU believes labeling is the way to go, then the obvious place to start is at home. So it’s high time to begin labeling the produce of Spanish-occupied Catalonia and the Basque Country – two areas that, based on their track records, would be far more peaceful, productive members of the international community than a Palestinian state ever would.
Israel has decided that it will not stand idly by in the face of the European Union’s decision to label all goods produced in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.UT-Austin anti-Israel student leader called for “support” of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP
It will take measures against 16 European countries that backed the initiative, likely damaging relations between Israel and the EU, Israeli website Ynet reported.
Some of the 16 countries backing the labeling, including Italy and the Netherlands, have better relations with Israel than others, so measures against these countries will be less harsh than countries that have been more hostile towards Israel such as Ireland and Sweden.
Steps include reexamining the EU’s role in the peace process and restricting meetings between EU ambassadors to lower tier government figures. Ambassadors from all 16 countries will receive official censure from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“In addition, any foreign delegations seeking to visit the West Bank and Gaza will undergo a much stricter process for entry and may even be prevented from entering those areas entirely. Official representatives from said governments may be denied meetings with the prime minister or the president.
The students who disrupted a UT-Austin Israel Studies event hosted by Professor Ami Pedahzur have gone on the offensive, filing a “civil rights” complaint with the University.Horowitz Freedom Center Claims Credit for Posters Linking Campus Anti-Israel Groups to Hamas
The disruption was carried out by the UT-Austin Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), led by law student Mohammed Nabulsi, who also is a leader of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on campus.
Despite my requests both to the University and the students’ lawyer Brian McGiverin, I have not received a copy of the complaint. But the nature of the charges has been explained in press statements issued by the students and McGiverin.
For the present, the accusations made at the press conference seem somewhat different when you learn that Nabulsi appears to have used an online alias of a known terrorist name, PSC sponsored an event supporting the current uprising, and Nabulsi argued that BDS needs to support groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP.
David Horowitz—chairman and founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center—took credit earlier this week for posters appearing on Washington, DC, and Southern California area campuses linking anti-Israel activism on those campuses to Hamas terrorism.ADL reports rise in anti-Israel activity on US campuses
The posters were placed anonymously last week in a guerrilla campaign targeting the campuses of George Washington University and American University in Washington, DC and those of UCLA, UC-Irvine and UC-San Diego in Southern California.
The posters identify two campus organizations—Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Students Associations (MSA)—which act as propaganda agents for the terrorist organization Hamas, agitating for the destruction of the Jewish state. One poster depicts a bloody knife and a series of photos of children who are training to become anti-Israel terrorists. The caption reads: “Students for ‘Justice’ in Palestine: Supporting a Culture that Teaches Children to Slaughter Jews.”
A second poster pictures terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a targeted U.S. military strike in 2011, identifying him as an "MSA Terrorist” who served as the “Head of al-Qaeda in Yemen” and also as the “President [of the] MSA [at] Colorado State.” Awlaki is not the only former MSA president to go on to leadership positions in al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
A report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) watchdog group has found a significant rise in anti-Israel activity on US college campuses over the past academic year.Students Supporting Israel Honors Memory of Victims as the Minnesota Student Association Rejects 9/11 Recognition
The report found that so far in the 2014-2015 academic year, over 150 “explicitly anti-Israel programs” have taken place or been planned. This marks an increase of 30 percent from the same period last year, when the number of such programs was 105.
“At the same time that these events have been taking place, anti-Israel groups have hurled accusations suggesting that the pro-Israel community is engaged in a collective effort to stifle their speech,” the report reads.
Top on the report’s list of challenges are the continued efforts of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to delegitimize the Jewish state by drawing parallels to Apartheid South Africa and urging individuals, companies and governments to stop their contacts with Israel and Israelis.
The report describes anti-Israel events by student groups and those that have been sponsored or co-sponsored by university departments at a number of institutions, including the University of California-Berkeley, Drew University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Students Supporting Israel has been holding an annual 9/11 memorial at the University of Minnesota campus for three years in a row. This year, as the movement grew, the memorial took place on 25 college campuses led by Students Supporting Israel chapters. In all those three years of running the memorial event, not even once a student approached our group saying that they feel unsafe by the memorial, and not a single student started treating fellow Muslim students differently because of it. The opposite is true. All students who walked by the memorial or participated in it were very respectful, focusing on the memory of the victims, and the hope for such terrible terror attacks as on 9/11 to never happen again.Breitbart News Continues International Expansion With Launch Of Breitbart Jerusalem
The problem therefore, lies not in holding a 9/11 moment of recognition, or any other memorial on campus. The problem lies in the growing trend among college students of seeing discrimination where there is none, and of turning a blind eye to matters that are actually important. Were those same MSA members who expressed concern for 9/11 recognition to create an unsafe space on campus were also concerned when swastikas were drawn on Students Supporting Israel posters, creating a real unsafe space for Israel supporters on campus? Were they also concerned when an Israeli law professor was recently brutally interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists from SJP and the Anti-War Committee just because he was a Jewish Israeli? Not at all concerned, and no statements were publically made. Such selective topics of “concern” by some of the MSA students thus are what really make campus an unsafe space, creating true discrimination and close mildness at a place that should be open to all opinions, even those one disagrees with.
After successfully launching Breitbart London in 2014, the Breitbart News Network continues its international expansion with the launch of a new content vertical and bureau in Jerusalem, Israel. Breitbart Jerusalem will produce daily, hard-hitting exclusive news and features related to Israel and will also cover Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and beyond. The bureau will be led by veteran Middle East correspondent Aaron Klein, an Israel-based American reporter, weekend talk radio host and New York Times bestselling author.Singer whose lyrics deride Jews, gays, to sing for Germany at Eurovision
“Israel, much like London, is on the frontlines of our current cultural and political war,” said Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon. “There is a growing global anti-establishment revolt against the permanent political class at home, and the global elites that influence them, which impacts everyone from Israel to the U.S. Our international team and coverage offers a bird’s eye view from the front lines of the cultural and political battles taking place across the West.”
Klein is known for his enterprising investigative reporting, news making interviews with terrorists and Islamic extremists, and for his near constant stream of scoops on both the Middle East and the Obama administration. He joins Breitbart from WND.com, where he has served as senior reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief since 2005. Before his death in 2012, Andrew Breitbart approached Klein to run the website’s Jerusalem bureau.
“Hurricane Breitbart is about to hit the Middle East and I’m honored to be at the center of the storm,” said Klein. “The Breitbart revolution has been exploding in the U.S. and across Europe and it’s time to deploy that energy to the streets of Jerusalem and beyond. I look forward to working with the company’s esteemed leaders, including Steve Bannon, Larry Solov and Alexander Marlow.”
A popular German singer, some of whose lyrics have been described as anti-Semitic and homophobic, will be Germany's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) next year, sparking criticism on social media and in the press.Anti-Semitism appearing in some Polish textbooks
Xavier Naidoo, an R&B artist of Indian and African heritage whose albums have sold millions, was handpicked on Thursday evening by public broadcaster ARD to be the face of Germany at the song contest to be held in Stockholm.
"Is Xavier Naidoo the right one for the ESC?" the mass-selling Bild newspaper headlined on Friday, inviting celebrities and politicians to argue for and against his selection.
Naidoo's 2012 song "Wo sind" (Where Are) was criticized by German media, politicians, rights groups and the public for lyrics that suggest homosexuals are paedophiles.
On Germany's reunification anniversary last year, he appeared at a rally of the Reichsbuerger group, whose members promote the establishment of a German Reich based on 1937 borders that include large parts of Poland and former Soviet republics.
"Both the guy and the decision are unbelievable," Johannes Kahrs, a politician with the left-leaning Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government, wrote in Bild.
Nationalism and anti-Semitism are present in some history textbooks in Poland, a new report found.Victim of Antisemitic Attack in Manchester Calls Face-to-Face With Offender ‘Incredibly Rewarding’
The report, “Anti-Semitism is not an option,” by the Czulent Jewish Association in conjunction with the Autonomia Foundation, analyzed 142 Polish history textbooks used in formal education settings accepted by the Polish Ministry of National Education and 29 used in informal education settings.
The report was presented last week to the Polish Ombudsman’s office in Warsaw.
“There is nationalism presented in many workbooks,” Bozena Keff, a publicist and researcher from the Jewish Historical Institute, told the Polish edition of Newsweek. “You can be either Ukrainian, Jew or a Pole and there is no place for doubts or showing the complexity of the problem.”
“[Textbook] authors don’t provide us with any information that might help to see any other possible points of view on [a] situation.”
A victim of an antisemitic attack in Manchester, UK, said meeting his attacker was gratifying and he encourages others to do the same, the local publication Salford Online reported on Wednesday.From Egypt to Hebrew Academia: An Arab’s Transformation Through Education
“It was incredibly rewarding,” said Jack, 24, of meeting the offender, who was close to his age. “Where the victim is comfortable and the crime fits, I would wholeheartedly encourage other people to go down this route.”
Jack added that the face-to-face encounter let him “understand [the offender’s] mindset…and [for him] to see the consequences of his crime.”
On Rosh Hashanah in 2011, Jack was wearing a Jewish skullcap, also known as a kippah, and was walking home from a synagogue in Salford, Manchester, when the driver of a passing car hurled antisemitic insults at him. Jack took down the car’s registration number and reported it to police. Authorities called back a week later to tell him the offender was found. The verbal assailant was told to write Jack a letter of apology and also meet the victim in person.
“My main purpose is to explain beyond any reasonable doubt why a 12- and 13-year-old, instead of going on a bike ride, or going to play with their toys…they go bring knives, kitchen knives, from their mother’s kitchen, and go try to stab Jews,” says Hussein Aboubakr Mansour. “This is not because they have any grievances against Israeli occupation. They are just 12. What kind of grievances could you build when you’re 12 years old?”Jerusalem chosen among ‘Best Cities in the World’
Mansour’s words have more gravitas than those of many others commenting on radical Islam. A 26-year-old political refugee born and raised in a traditional, middle class Arab-Muslim family in Egypt’s capital of Cairo, he took some time during a two-week national US speaking tour — sponsored by pro-Israel education group StandWithUs — for an interview with JNS.org on the persecution he suffered under Egyptian regimes, his survival of Arab Spring chaos, and his current educational efforts. Now an assistant professor of Hebrew Studies at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., Mansour’s stated goal on the tour was to “educate people about antisemitism in the Arab world.”
The reason behind attacks on Jews and Westerners, Mansour explains, is that Muslim terrorists are “cradled into this blind, antisemitic hatred for the Jews, [which teaches] ‘Jews are demons, Jews are evil,’ and this a real problem, and [it is] why we need to support Israel. Israel is not engaging in some sort of political conflict. Israel is fighting for its life against this blind sea of irrational hatred.”
What Mansour encountered during his childhood in Egypt mirrors the environs of Palestinian youths who have been behind recent stabbing terror attacks in Jerusalem.
Israel features in 11 categories in the Condé Nast Traveler’s 28th annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Jerusalem, El Al, and select Eilat, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv hotels were chosen as among the world’s best in their different travel groupings.Boxing world champ: Jerusalem is my favorite city
Jerusalem was named as one of the Best Cities in the World.
“Long a place of religious pilgrimage for Christians, Jews and Muslims, Jerusalem is now drawing a different sort of pilgrim: the global traveler. In addition to its significant sacred and religious sights, the city boasts modern architecture, a cutting-edge light-rail transit network, and a growing number of notable restaurants,” reads the blurb on why Jerusalem ranks 11th in the readers’ survey.
“Head to the Israel Museum for an exploration of the country’s culture, and stop for a bite at Machneyuda for authentic Mediterranean cuisine.”
Jerusalem scored 84.715 out of 100.
Florence, Budapest and Vienna were the top three cities as chosen from the more than 128,000 comments sent to Conde Nast for the Readers’ Choice Awards.
El Al airlines also ranked well in the survey. Conde Nast readers chose the Israeli carrier as 18th best international airline (outside the US).
World boxing champion and politician Manny Pacquiao, affectionately known as "Pacman," is currently on his fourth visit to Israel with his wife Jinkee, and during the trip he has revealed his deep love for the land.Robert Kraft donating $20M to medical research
The 36-year-old has a long list of achievements under his belt - from being the first and only eight-division world champion having won ten world titles, and being named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s, to being elected to the Philippine House of Representatives.
In an interview with Channel 2 published Friday, "Pacman" was asked what his favorite city is and immediately responded "Jerusalem," adding, "when you're a Christian it's very important."
Pacquiao has been recognized in recent years as a close supporter of Israel, and even went so far as to name his young son Israel.
"I'm practicing Hebrew, and especially the prayers in Hebrew," he said, before reciting the Priestly Blessing said by the Kohanim.
Robert Kraft, the Jewish owner of the New England Patriots, will donate $20 million to fund research in personalized medicine.Remembering Jewish Refugees on 30 November.
The Robert and Myra Kraft Family Foundation pledged the money to the Harvard Business School to create the Kraft Endowment for Advancing Precision Medicine, the school announced Wednesday.
The Kraft Endowment will support research and other activities that advance the growing field of precision medicine, which allows scientists and physicians to use a patient’s genetic history and other information such as lifestyle to understand a disease based on its biological mechanisms, then diagnose and develop tailored treatments.
Two initial pilot research projects are set to begin in the coming months.
Kraft’s wife, Myra, died of ovarian cancer in 2011 and, according to the school, he pursued precision medicine to help her.
Linda Hakim left Iraq for London in 1970. But she has never been able to shake off the fear she had felt growing up as a Jew.
She heard mobs in Baghdad, after Israel’s Six Day War victory, screaming ‘death to Israel, death to the Jews.”
She escaped a lynch mob only when her fast-thinking headmaster bundled her and a group of Jewish students into his VW Beetle.
She will never forget the TV spectacle of nine innocent Jews — some only teenagers — swinging from the gallows in Baghdad’s main square in 1969 as hundreds of thousands sang and danced under the bodies.
Even when her family had boarded the plane bound for London having abandoned their home and possessions, they could not let down their guard. The Iraqi police arrested a classmate of Linda’s and escorted him off the plane. Even today, every time she sees a police uniform, Linda’s heart races.
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