In United Nations Address, French Philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy Calls for ‘Muslim Nostra Aetate’
Famed French philosopher and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy last week called on the Muslim world to formulate its own version of the famed Nostra Aetate declaration by Pope Paul VI in 1965.Why Im Tirtzu launched its campaign
The document, which denounced antisemitism and effectively absolved Jews for the death of Jesus, amounted to a historic reset of Catholic-Jewish relations and also outlined the Church’s modern attitude to other world faiths.
Speaking at an event at the United Nations on Wednesday, co-hosted by the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the Nuncio of the Vatican to the UN, Lévy said, “I would say, with all possible humility and respect, that it would be so great, it would make such a difference, it would be such a revolution, maybe a revolution as big as was the revolution of Nostra Aetate, if there were tomorrow, or in 10 years, but tomorrow would be better, a Nostra Aetate inside the Muslim world.”
In the past week grass-roots Israeli Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu launched a campaign designed to highlight the connection between some 20 Israeli NGOs which regularly attack the State of Israel and its core institutions, such as the IDF, with allegations including war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, etc., and the foreign governments, mostly in Europe, that are directly or indirectly funding them.Fred Maroun: No morals and no excuses: The Arabs living in the West
We believe it is important to delineate the compelling reasons for calling the public’s attention to what we believe is a destructive state of affairs that impinges on Israeli sovereignty, allowing foreign governments to use local NGOs to further their own anti-Israeli agendas.
We live in increasingly perilous times for Israel and Jews throughout the world. In Israel, we have been subject to an unrelenting series of vicious, random, murderous terror attacks with the common thread their being directed at Jews qua Jews. In other words, it is a racist-based terror wave motivated by anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
At the same time, many of the NGOs highlighted in the campaign report are actively seeking to neutralize efforts to stop terrorists, deter further attacks and protect the people of Israel.
Despite the ritualistic incantation of Never Again, it is no secret that it has once again become open season on Jews throughout the world. The cynical fig leaf of anti-Zionism has been stripped to expose unvarnished anti-Semitism in its pure and virulent essence. In many quarters, anti-Semitism has become not only acceptable, but a desirable response to “Palestinian oppression” and every other ill, even racial tensions in the US.
Anti-Semitism has reached nauseating levels, and while some Western politicians recognize this, they have done little to address the problem. The world is highly biased against the one and only Jewish state, non-Israeli Jews are increasingly victims of violence, and Israeli Jews are under threat from multiple fronts while the criminals attacking their civilians are called a “resistance” movement.
A terrorist attack on French civilians raised the world’s ire, but almost daily stabbings of Israeli civilians over weeks and months go practically unnoticed. In fact, Jews are blamed for defending themselves. We live in an age of heightened human rights awareness, but human rights abuses against Jews are considered unimportant.
There are three parties mainly responsible for this anti-Semitism:
- The Arabs who refused to accept the 1947 UN partition plan, fought over a dozen wars trying to destroy Israel, and continue to promote hatred against Jews.
- The Muslims who blindly support anti-Zionism while using Israel as an excuse for their own crimes.
- The modern West that has allowed anti-Semitism to disguise itself as anti-Zionism and infect its universities and much of its media and political class.
Pollard’s punitive parole
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,” said Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, “but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”Amid strong Israeli-Greek ties, Greece’s parliament to recognize Palestinian state
That’s the primary reason why the Jonathan Pollard case has resonated among fair-minded Americans for the past quarter- century, those who recognize that while their justice system usually works remarkably well, when it fails it is incumbent on them to try setting it straight.
Simply put, Pollard’s life sentence for passing classified information to Israel was so grossly disproportionate a punishment for an offense that ordinarily carries a fine or two to four years in jail that it’s cried out for redress ever since his conviction 30 years ago.
Pollard was released on parole late last month, but he is far from a free man.
As has been amply reported in Israel but scarcely noted in American media, the conditions of his parole are among the harshest ever meted out: he is required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to track his whereabouts, and is subject to unfettered monitoring and inspection of his computer and cell phone both at home and at work.
Even as Israel and Greek ties reach new highs with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scheduled to meet twice next month with Greece’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, the Greek parliament is expected to call on its government on Tuesday to recognize a Palestinian state.French MP in ultimatum to Israel: Accept our diplomas or I’ll oppose aliyah
The declaration is expected to take place after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who will meet with Prime Minister Tsipras on Monday, addresses the Greek parliament.
According to the website of the Greek daily Kathimerini, the speaker of the Greek parliament will read out a non-binding symbolic resolution, unanimously approved by the parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee last Thursday, that calls on the government to recognize Palestine as a state.
The resolution was drawn up by the governing radical left-wing Syriza party.
Last week, Kathimerini reported that the resolution is similar to ones passed last year by the French and British parliaments – which were also non-binding and symbolic – rather than the one passed by Sweden in October 2014 that paved the way for Swedish government recognition of “Palestine,” something that severely soured ties with Israel.
A Jewish lawmaker in France is warning that he will move to stymie French-Jewish immigration to Israel if the country does not move quickly to fully recognize French academic degrees.Senior executive of Turkish ruling party: Israel undoubtedly 'a friend' of Ankara
Meyer Habib says he will call on French Jews to freeze their plans to immigrate to Israel if the state does not, in the next three months, enact reforms that would allow French doctors, dentists, nurses and lawyers to immediately start working in Israel without having to pass difficult tests.
Habib, a longtime friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, told The Times of Israel during an interview at the Knesset that he believes the prime minister is on his side but that the professional elite in Israel places stumbling blocks in the way of reform, as they fear an influx of French professionals would lead to a decrease in wages for native Israelis.
“The Israeli state and Israeli nation is a friend of Turkey without a doubt,” Omer Celik, a spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, said on Sunday during a press conference in Ankara according to reports by the Turkish daily Hurriyet.Source: Top Hamas operative has left Turkey following heavy US, Israeli pressure
According to the report, Celik said that while a final agreement had yet to be signed, Israel and Turkey were working on a draft agreement to improve ties between the two nations at a meeting in Switzerland between the incoming head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, Israeli envoy Joseph Ciechanover and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu.
“There is no concrete agreement, [or] anything that has been signed," said Celik according to the report. "Efforts have been ongoing for a draft,” he added.
"Our criticisms made up until now were about the Israeli government's extreme acts, the acts that we don't see as legitimate,” Celik said.
Hamas’s top operative Saleh Al-Arouri has left Turkey following unprecedented American and Israeli pressure on the Turkish government, a Hamas source said on Monday.Daniel Pipes: An Israeli gas pipeline to Turkey? Bad idea
The source said that Al-Arouri was now moving from one country to another and was no longer based in Turkey.
The source told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that Al-Arouri had left Turkey several months ago. “He decided to leave Turkey voluntarily so as not to embarrass Turkey, which was facing big pressure from Israel and the US Administration,” the source added, denying charges that Al-Arouri was involved in planning terror attacks from Turkey.
The report about Al-Arouri’s departure from Turkey comes amid signs of rapprochement between Ankara and Israel.
The source claimed that Hamas has advised its top officials to refrain from settling in one country on a permanent basis and to move between different countries.
A Wall Street Journal report of the Turkish-Israeli negotiations in Switzerland indicates a Turkish readiness to close on the Mavi Marmara dispute, to end Hamas activities on Turkish soil, and (most important) to discuss a pipeline carrying natural gas from Israel to Turkey.Bennett announces first dedicated academic college for Arab Israelis
The last makes good sense from Ankara's viewpoint, for Israeli gas would diminish its dependence on Russian gas; but this step hardly serves Israel's interests. Once the Russian threat has passed, Turkish Islamists (will likely be around for a good long while) will resume their old ways, including the bitterly anti-Israel dimension. (Already, since negotiations began, Erdoğan has met with Khaled Meshaal, a Hamas leader.) Because a gas pipeline renders Israel hostage to Turkey into the long-range future, this looks like an imprudent step.
Despite an Israeli reputation for toughness, Jerusalem tends to be too optimistic (think of the Oslo Accords of 1993 or the Gaza withdrawal of 2005), creating major problems for Washington. Therefore, however tempting an Israel-Turkey gas pipeline may appear, Americans should advise and work against such a step.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday announced the creation of the first general academic college for Israeli Arabs, saying the move would help to close gaps between Arabs and Jews, while also dissuading community members from leaving the country to study.Shaked Pushes Compensation Bill for Owners of Land Transferred to PA under Oslo
“The aim of establishing a college, over and above the equality issue, is to prevent Arab citizens from studying in institutions in Arab countries or in Hebron,” Bennett said, according to the Hebrew-language daily Israel Hayom.
The general assembly of the Israeli Council for Higher Education will meet Tuesday to approve a call for tenders to operate an academic framework in an Arab community in northern Israel.
“This is history for the Arab community and this is history for the State of Israel,” Bennett said at the opening of a Jewish Home party faction meeting.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in her role as chair of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday approved a bill to compensate landowners whose land was transferred to the Palestinian Authority’s control. The bill was initially sponsored by MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi). Israeli citizens whose land was taken from them to comply with the Oslo accords, to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, will receive compensation under the new law. The scope of the law’s cost to the state is not known because the Defense Ministry is yet to provide any information on it.Arab MK Zoabi apologizes for calling Arab police ‘traitors’
In fact, Justice Minister Shaked who had been requesting the cost information from the Defense Ministry felt she was being given the runaround, as the ministry kept delaying providing the requested information, and so Shaked decided not to wait any longer and got the bill approved in committee anyway. With the ministerial committee’s backing, the bill has a much better chance of making it through the House this time—after two previous failures. The Defense Ministry will just have to come up with the data eventually.
Firebrand Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi of the Joint (Arab) List apologized Monday for calling Arab policemen traitors during a demonstration in Nazareth last year.Hamas-ISIS Cooperation Adds New Layer to Regional Threats, Says Mideast Scholar (INTERVIEW)
The apology is part of a plea bargain that allows Zoabi to dodge a more serious incitement charge for the July 2014 incident, during which she accused an Arab police officer of treason against his people, a statement interpreted by officials as a call for violence against Arab Israeli officers.
“My remarks came against a backdrop of harsh arrests,” Zoabi wrote in a letter of apology, adding that she was “upset” at the time, and that the things she said “were not representative of my style or my way.”
Zoabi added that she “had no intention of insulting anyone. I’m sorry I said those things and apologize to anyone who was hurt by them.”
In a region full of challenges and short on solutions, reported cooperation between Hamas and the Islamic State branch in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula — considered by many experts to be the terror group’s most potent offshoot — adds a new layer of threats to Middle East stability and especially to Israel.Chairman of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Says Russian Involvement in Syria Works to Israel’s Advantage
According to reports, the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terrorist organization and the Islamic State branch are collaborating on funding, smuggling, training, and even medical support.
“It’s a worrying development in the sense that this aids both Hamas’s military buildup after the 2014 war [with Israel], as well as assists Islamic State in the Sinai in its insurgency against the Egyptian government and even Israel,” Neri Zilber — a visiting scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank who focuses on the Middle East peace process, with an emphasis on Palestinian economics and state-building — told JNS.org.
“The Islamic State is believed to cherry-pick from weapons shipments destined for Hamas in Gaza, it receives some direct training, and injured Islamic State fighters also might receive medical treatment in Gaza,” said Zilber.
Tzachi Hanegbi, who also serves as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told the Hebrew daily Israel Hayom that ISIS’ expansion in the Sinai and gradual takeover of Syria are among the greatest threats facing Israel today, and praised Russian intervention aimed at destroying the terrorist organization.'I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming'
Hanegbi said that from Israel’s perspective there are three main developments in the region: Russian intervention against ISIS (particularly after the downing of the Russian plane over the Sinai); Iran’s support backing of the Assad regime in Syria, which run counter to Israeli interests; and Israel’s determination to prevent any “game-changing” Iranian weapons from reaching Hezbollah.
According to Al Jazeera, Hanegbi also told Israel Hayom that while the presence of dozens of Russian jets and soldiers in Syria could have led to an accidental clash with Israel, both sides preempted that possibility by establishing a joint coordination mechanism aimed at preventing any misunderstandings from occurring.
It is hardly surprising that when Faida Hamdy wonders whether she is responsible for everything that happened after her moment of fame she is overwhelmed.Official: Turkey Stopped 36,000 Jihadi Wannabes from Joining Islamic State
Mrs Hamdy was the council inspector who, five years ago today confiscated the vegetable stall of a street vendor in her dusty town in central Tunisia.
In despair, that young man set himself on fire in a protest outside the council offices. Within weeks, he was dead, dozens of young Arab men had copied him, riots had overthrown his president, and the Arab Spring was under way.
As the world marks the anniversary, Syria and Iraq are in flames, Libya has broken down, and the twin evils of militant terror and repression stalk the region.
Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala told reporters this week that the government has prevented more than 36,000 people from crossing into Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).Turkey to withdraw more troops from Iraq after US request
“Speaking about this organization [ISIL], we have denied entry to 33,746 people from 123 countries,” he explained. “In total 2,783 people from 89 countries were captured in Turkey and deported, in order to prevent their entry into Syria, where they would have joined terrorism activities.”
His statement comes just after Turkey completed its largest investigation into ISIS. Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Murat Çağlak authored the 315-page indictment, which named 67 suspects, including “leading militants” who led ISIS groups in Turkey.
The youngest suspect is 19 years old, while the oldest is 49.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced late Saturday the government “in recognition of the Iraqi concerns and in accordance with the requirements of the fight against Daesh (Islamic State), is continuing to move military forces from Nineveh province.”ISIS Demands Release of Martin Shkreli, Calling Him a Hero in the War on the West (satire)
The move followed an appeal from US President Barak Obama, who called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and urged him “to take additional steps to deescalate tensions with Iraq.”
The Ankara-Baghdad spat has been an unwelcome setback to US efforts to accelerate the fight against Islamic State extremists.
Turkey began withdrawing troops stationed near the IS-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul earlier this week. But Baghdad, which considers the deployment of Turkish troops an illegal incursion, demanded the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Iraqi territory at a UN Security Council meeting.
Calling the vilified financial executive a valiant warrior in the fight against American citizens, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi demanded the U.S. government immediately release “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli.JPost Editorial: Iran’s plans
“By raising the price of life-saving pharmaceutical drugs 50-fold, Sheikh Shkreli has shown an unparalleled commitment to jihad against the American infidels,” al-Baghdadi said in a video released online by the terror group, whose members make up the majority of Shkreli’s shareholders. “The Crusaders must release our mujahid immediately or we will strike mercilessly.”
While it’s unclear whether Shkreli has formally bledged bayyat, or allegiance, to ISIS, counterterrorism officials have long speculated about a connection between the two.
“While ISIS didn’t claim credit for Shkreli’s price hike on Daraprim, there was speculation early on that it was an ISIS operation,” said one official, referring to Shkreli’s decision to raise the price of the life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 per dose. “It’s possible ISIS sought to keep some distance from Shkreli out of fear that he’d damage the group’s reputation.”
If Shkreli is not released within 24 hours, al-Baghdadi said his group would destroy the sole copy of the new Wu-Tang Clan album, which the CEO had given the terrorist leader as a Hanukah gift.
Within hours of the IAEA vote, the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Iran determined in a confidential report, obtained by Reuters, that Iran had violated an October Security Council resolution by test-firing the medium-range Emad rocket, which is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.The death knell of the non-proliferation regime?
What steps, if any, is the international community planning to take against Tehran following this violation? In response to the report, the White House did not rule out punitive measures against Iran that were “consistent with US national security.” But what, in practice, does this mean? Iran’s ayatollahs have used terrorism as a tool since they seized power in 1979. They have had a hand in dozens of terrorist attacks around the globe, from Argentina to Afghanistan. Today, Iran continues to be the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, funding proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as fighters for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Iranian regime sees Israel as its arch-enemy, and even if its leaders have toned down their rhetoric in the past year or so, they clearly oppose the existence of the Jewish state.
Iran’s coffers are now expected to fill as a result of sanctions relief. What will the Islamic Republic do with the billions of dollars pouring in? If it decides, as Israel fears, to pump them into its military and resume its covert nuclear program, can we trust the international community and the IAEA to act? What would it take to wake them up to the dangers posed by the Iranian regime? If the rest of the world chooses to look the other way, it may again fall on Israel to sound the alarm.
The poor record of the US in this matter is not limited to Iran. Look at the failure of dealing with North Korea, the agreement with India and the discussions on a possible deal with Pakistan.Analysis: The U.S. Is Enabling Iranian Expansion in Syria
Non-proliferation is not a major factor in these. Think of Pakistan’s assistance to Iran and Libya, think of North Korea’s assistance to Syria, against whom, so it is reported, the US even refused to act.
The next victim of this shambles is the possibility of creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Who will sit down and discuss such a possibility – with Iran at the same table? Will Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others, including Israel, believe a word Iran utters or even signs? From now on, it will be a free-for-all in the area of proliferation, and it will not really matter whether a state is a party to the NPT or not. The shortsightedness in not daring to deal properly with Iran could be the undoing of the whole world order, rickety as it may have been until now.
Sadly, this will not be soon remedied.
The show will go on, including the five-year NPT meetings, proposed draft resolutions both at the IAEA and the UN will be presented, and some of them passed, extolling the past achievements of the now almost non-existent non-proliferation regime.
For the last four years, Syria has been the main arena in which Iran has pursued its goal of regional dominance. With Western countries now paralyzed — sometimes literally so — by the thought of further ISIS atrocities, Iran has wasted no time in playing the situation to its advantage. In the last couple of weeks, there have been rumors flying around that Iran was actually in retreat from Syria. Yet the reverse is true; the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is getting ready to deploy fighter aircraft in Syria on Assad’s behalf.Iran: ‘Zionist lobbying’ behind exclusion from US visa waiver
What this represents is a direct threat to Israel, whose air force has already been compelled to engage in occasional strikes against the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. While a global crisis was just about averted after the Turks shot down on a Russian jet in the border area with Syria, we might not be so lucky in the event of a clash between Israeli and Iranian fighter planes.
For that reason, it’s not enough to close our eyes and wish we could fast forward to a new US administration in January 2017. In the year between now and then, much can happen — will happen — unless the Iranians are told clearly to back off, with the consequences of not doing so unambiguously laid out. For years, President Obama told us that “all options” were on the table in dealing with Iran. He has not, so far as I am aware, backed down on that formula, which now needs to be revived in the Syrian theater. Because if it isn’t, the atrocities, the refugee outflows, and the spread of deadly Islamist ideology will reach new heights.
Some readers may find the suggestion that Obama should now tell the Iranians that further escalation in Syria will result in a reimposition of sanctions, or even military action, to be naive, ridiculous, absurd, and all sorts of other adjectives. Maybe. But, as is often said, you go to war with the army you have. And the war is getting closer.
Iran claimed Monday that Israel was to blame for a recent US Congress decision that excludes Iranians and people who have visited Iran from the country’s visa waiver program.Campus Fascists And The Suppression Of Free Speech
According to Reuters, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Tehran, said that the American decision was enacted “under pressure from the Zionist lobby” and other “currents” opposed to the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
The decision, signed into law on Friday by US President Barack Obama on Friday as part of a $1.1 trillion spending bill, is a security measure that was first introduced in the wake of recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
It also applies to Syria, Iraq and Sudan.
Ansari warned that Iran would keep a sharp eye on how the US implements the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the nuclear deal — and will adapt its own actions should the US fall short, the semi official Iranian FARS News Agency reported.
So, with not a bit of self-awareness or embarrassment, these moral narcissists at CUNY accuse the administration of being a sinister cabal of Zionist reprobates intent on promulgating racist policies for the good of Israel and to the detriment of good people like themselves (people who deserve, among other benefits, education without cost). And they ghoulishly shriek “Intifada, Intifada, long live Intifada,” an unambiguous call for the murder of Jews at the hands of psychopathic terrorists. Therefore, they should not be indignant, as they generally are, when others – both on and off their respective campuses – use their own freedom of expression to point out how lethal this ideology is and that, despite the fact that its rhetoric is draped in the language of so-called social justice, it exposes a malignant double standard in its rage, lethality, and accusatory rhetoric against Israel.New York Times’ Tales of Israeli Messianic War-Mongering
These sanctimonious activists may well feel that they have access to all the truth and facts, but even if this were true – which it demonstrably and regularly is not – it does not empower them with the right to have the only voice to trumpet their ideology and to disrupt, shout down, or totally eliminate competing opinions in political or academic debates.
True intellectual diversity – the ideal that is often bandied about but rarely achieved –must be dedicated to the protection of unfettered speech, representing opposing viewpoints, where the best ideas become clear through the utterance of weaker ones. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Just in time for Christmas, Roger Cohen decided to write about the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict. Again.Financial Times amplifies Palestinians’ exploitation of Christamas, Part 3
In an article called “The Assassination in Israel that Worked,” Cohen portrayed an Israeli society overrun with religious fanatical murderers. He described the killer of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Yigal Amir, as “a religious-nationalist follower of Baruch Goldstein, the American-born killer of 29 Palestinian worshipers in Hebron in 1994.” He wrote about Jews living east of the Green Line (EGL) as obsessed with “Messianic Zionism,” at odds with the concept of democracy. Because Palestinians are desperate for their own state, Jews living in EGL make “violence inevitable” according to Cohen. He argued that the UN’s creation of Israel “was territorial compromise, as envisaged in Resolution 181 of 1947, calling for two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in the Holy Land. This was humankind’s decision, not God’s.” In short, according to Cohen, the vast Messianic cult of violence in Israel seeks all of the Holy Land, but the rights of Jews are limited to just half of the land as dictated by man’s laws.
Lastly, Cohen argued, the only way to push back against the right-wing Israelis and their government was to employ different angles of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) in which Obama should “close American loopholes that benefit Israeli settlers.”
Here is a bit of education for Roger Cohen (maybe the byline was wrong and this was written by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, the loud advocate of BDS?):
So, for three years in a row the Financial Times has amplified Palestinian efforts to misleadingly suggest that Israel is oppressing Christians in the city believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.The Real Anti-Semitic Threat
Of course, such narratives obscure the fact that whilst Christians face unprecedented persecution in Muslim majority countries, Israel, the only majority Jewish country, is the only regional safe-haven for Christians. Indeed, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the indigenous Christian population is actually growing.
Evidently, Israel’s progressive advantage in the area of religious freedom isn’t the Christmas picture Financial Times editors want you to see.
“To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also anti-Semitism.”Polish lawmaker accuses 'Jewish banker' of funding opposition
That is precisely what all too many in Europe and elsewhere are doing. To judge Israel by a different standard than other nations and to attempt to deprive the Jewish people of the same things that no one would think of denying to others — the right to a state of their own and the right of self-defense — are practicing discrimination. And discrimination against Jews is anti-Semitism. Those who wage war on the one Jewish state in the world are anti-Semites.
Unfortunately, that’s a necessary lesson that some Middle Eastern Christians who seek to appease hostile Muslim majorities have forgotten. The same is true of many Christian denominations that appear to embrace good relations with Jews only when they are powerless or victims.
Thus, while any efforts to take the conversion issue off the table should be cheered this must be viewed as part of a foundation for good relations that will allow both Catholics and Jews to fight against hate together. Forced conversion was a matter of vital importance as late as the 19th century. But today, Jews have bigger problems as a war against Israel promoted both by Islamist extremists and Western intellectual elites gains momentum. It is far more important that Catholics and the many adherents of other faiths who admire the pope also embrace his teachings on anti-Semitism. If they do, they will understand that they are as obligated to fight against anti-Zionist efforts to isolate or attack Israel as any Jew.
Pawel Kukiz, a Polish MP, claimed yesterday that the recent opposition rallies in Warsaw were funded by a “Jewish banker.”Top Greek bishop blames ‘Zionist monster’ for gay rights bill
In an interview with a local radio station Zet Radio, Kukiz said that “apparently the march was financed somehow from the outside. 150 million PLN (38 million USD) are to be given by the Jews, the Jewish banker, in organization of the march”
According to the station, the Right-wing politician was referring to American financier George Soros.
This statement came as tens of thousands of people in several Polish cities protested against the country’s new right-wing government over the weekend.
Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus said the cohabitation bill is a result of the “constant war against the true faith” being waged “by the international Zionist monster,” which he said controls the Greek government.Israeli Robots Take Fight to Terrorists
In a statement on the website of the Metropolis of Piraeus, the bishop also threatened to sever relations with any Greek lawmaker who supports the bill when it comes to a vote on Tuesday, saying it subverts human sexuality and is destroying the traditional family unit.
The bishop has a long history of making anti-Semitic comments. In 2010, he told a Greek TV station that Jews had orchestrated the Holocaust and were behind Greece’s financial crisis. He later clarified that these were his personal opinions and did not represent the Church of Greece.
When the Pentagon recently selected a company to supply a portable, stair-climbing robot that can sniff out booby traps, top brass shunned market leaders like iRobot Corp. and QinetiQ North America. Instead, an Israeli upstart called Roboteam Ltd. got the $25 million contract, its second order for the U.S. military in two years.Israeli Scientists May Have Found Cure For Diabetes
Founded in 2009 by a pair of Israeli special-forces officers, Roboteam (Slogan: Dominate the Unknown) is benefiting from accelerating demand for inexpensive military bots that can be deployed by SWAT teams to foil terrorists in major cities as well as protect U.S. soldiers from improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and other combat zones. The global market for the so-called service robots, which includes consumer machines, is growing about 17 percent per year and could reach some $18 billion by 2020, according to MarketsandMarkets analyst Antariksh Raut.
Tel Aviv-based Roboteam has managed to undercut rivals with lighter robots that sell for about half the industry average. Designed in Israel and manufactured in Bethesda, Maryland, they climb stairs and see around corners. The smallest bot, IRIS, weighs 3.6 pounds and can be lobbed into a building, providing a video stream to troops or police officers outside. The largest, PROBOT, trundles along with patrols and carries 1,650 pounds of equipment. Roboteam says its bots are as easy to operate as a PlayStation and cheaper to maintain than a military or police dog.
An Israeli biotech company is developing an engineered micro-pancreas (EMP) to safeguard transplanted insulin-producing beta cells and eventually cure diabetes, ISRAEL21c reported.Israeli bubble tech to clean up Australian wastewater pools
In addition to regulating type 1 diabetes, Betalin Therapeutics’ tissue-engineering invention also has the potential to cure it. The engineers behind the breakthrough believe that if the clinical trials are successful it can also cure severe forms of type 2 diabetes.
In people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas’ insulin-producing beta cells don’t function, making daily injections or some other form of insulin infusion a necessity. Type 1 patients can also be implanted with donor islets full of healthy beta cells, but scientists haven’t found a way to keep the transplanted cells from failing within a matter of days.
Fresh from British success with its aeration recycling system, Israeli greentech firm Mapal Green Energy hopes to pull off the same trick Down Under.Andreja Preger, Jewish anti-Nazi partisan, dies at 104
On Sunday, the company announced its first major contract in Australia – supplying a system to beverage maker Schweppes to clean up industrial waste from its factories throughout the country.
Mapal will work with a local engineering firm to design an aeration system for installation at bottling plants belonging to Schweppes, which has a huge operation across Australia. Mapal will supply the equipment and operate the water purification equipment it installs.
In a Mapal system, bubbles – water infused with air – are used to clean water as part of aeration systems, removing pollutants and separating sludge from water. The treatment removes nearly all the solid waste and pollutants, allowing water providers to purify and recycle water quickly and efficiently.
Andreja Preger, a noted concert pianist who survived the Holocaust as part of Yugoslavia’s anti-Nazi partisans, has died.Ancient inscription points to Jewish past for early Christian site
Preger died on December 18 in Belgrade at the age of 104.
Preger was born in Pecs, Hungary, but grew up in Zagreb, where he attended the local Jewish school. In addition to music, he studied law.
In a wide-ranging interview with Centropa.org, he recalled that as a teen, he was active in the leftist Zionist youth group Hashomer Hatzair.
Preger was mobilized as a Yugoslav army reservist after Axis forces occupied Yugoslavia in April 1941. After the establishment of Independent Croatia, a Nazi puppet state run by the local fascist Ustasha, on April 10, 1941, he hid out in Zagreb, where the fascist authorities “were looking for members of Hashomer Hatzair, lawyers and law clerks, so that they could deprive the community of its leaders.” He also spent time in Split, on the coast, which was occupied by more lenient Italian forces. His father and uncle were killed at the notorious Jasecovac camp, run by the Ustasha.
In 1943, Preger joined the anti-fascist partisans led by Josip Broz Tito at Tito’s headquarters in Jajce, in Bosnia, where he was a member of the National Liberation Theatre.
When Haifa University archaeologist Haim Cohen called the head of the Golan Heights regional council Eli Malka earlier this month, he said he had a Hanukkah present for him.
“The good news: We’ve found a new 1,600-year-old Jewish settlement on the shores of the Sea of Galilee,” the archaeologist recounted in a phone interview with The Times of Israel. “The bad news: They haven’t been paying municipal taxes.”
Cohen’s team recently unearthed a monumental Hebrew inscription at Kursi, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee on the Golan Heights, providing conclusive evidence that the Roman- and Byzantine-era town mentioned in the New Testament and Talmud was Jewish.
Digs this month at the previously obscure site yielded a village with a large public building — possibly a synagogue — and an enormous inner harbor for large ships.
More impressive, however, were seven lines of Hebrew and Aramaic text carved into a large slab of imported Greek marble. It includes the words “marmaria,” “amen,” “the holy king” and “the merciful,” researchers said.
