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Monday, February 15, 2016

02/15 Links Pt2: Ten years since Ilan Halimi's murder; Vassar students sell Leila Khaled T-shirts

From Ian:

MEMRI: Article In Radical Islamist Pro-AKP Turkish Daily: Gorillas, Chimps Are Cursed, Mutated Jews
In his January 31, 2016 column in the pro-AKP government, radical Islamist daily Vahdet, journalist Seyfi Sahin wrote that the evolutionary theory of "the Jew" Darwin contradicts Allah's word in the Koran. Claiming to be a physician, Sahin argued that humans did not evolve from monkeys, but rather that monkeys evolved from perverted Jews whom Allah cursed and punished. The column was widely criticized by Turkey's independent opposition media.
Following are excerpts from Sahin's article, titled "Monkeys Evolved from Humans."
"Chromosomal Anomalies" In Monkeys "Have Never Led To The Birth Of Human Beings Or Of Monkeys Resembling Human Beings"
"Monkeys are animals that look like humans. Humans have 46 chromosomes and monkeys have 48. Since these chromosomes are similar in structure, these species can transfer from one to the other. When we, physicians, examine anomalies in chromosomes, we find that human chromosomal anomalies lead to the birth of humans similar to monkeys, as in cases of microcephaly, in which newborns resemble monkeys in form, intelligence, behavior, and social life. Such [deformed humans] must be kept under strict control. The numbers of such cases is not negligible.
"In monkeys too there are chromosomal anomalies, but these have never led to the birth of human beings or of monkeys resembling human beings. We understand from this that humans are not derived from monkeys, but that monkeys come from humans. There are many factors in the creation of such anomalies, among them divine, environmental, and chemical."
Ryan Bellerose: Unassailable
The reason Jewish identity is so integral to this struggle is simple – the other side is claiming that Israelis are not indigenous, that they are “white colonisers” who stole “Arab ancestral lands”. Now this claim is patently ridiculous to anyone with a 3rd grade education and a commensurate reading level, but sadly often the Jewish people’s own actions and reactions suggest that they themselves are not quite decolonized enough to claim their birthright and heritage. Many of them still see their identity through a white European lens, rather than a Middle Eastern lens, and this leads not only to massive confusion but lost opportunities such as the Temple Mount and now in Judea and Samaria.
I have documented Jewish indigenous status beyond any reasonable doubt. I have given you the language and hopefully the knowledge to defend the position, but YOU must internalize your identity. YOU must decide to decolonize and then YOU must decide what that means to YOU and your people.
Its really simple – you are Jews, your culture is ancient, your traditions date back three thousand years and your spirituality is intertwined with both. Only you can decide what you should be keeping and what you need to lose, but ask yourself, what would my ancestors say? Would they say “You needed those things in diaspora, but now you are home again and it’s time to evolve and become who you are meant to be” or would they say “Stay as the diaspora made you out of necessity”? I believe you are meant to be a Light unto the Nations, to show us the way that indigenous people are supposed to evolve while maintaining the core of your identity. You have fought so hard to stay Jewish – literally hundreds of generations have lived and died to bring you to this point. Your ancestors fought, bled and died for you to remain Jews and even more recently for you to be able to go home as Jews to your ancestral lands. They didn’t do that so that you could be the end of it. They did it so that you could be the beginning, the beginning of a brave new world, one that is unassailable.
Now be invulnerable in your identity, then be invincible.
THAT is your birthright.
Unassailable.
Palestinian Envoy to the UNHRC Suggests that Jews Should Return to Their Countries of Origin




David Singer: France's surrender to PLO and Muslim pressure on "Palestine"
France's extraordinary decision to try and resurrect the dead two-state solution smacks of:
1. Abject surrender to PLO demands for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State outside the parameters defined by Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap.
2. A desperate attempt to appease France's 4.7 million Muslims as they protest against the continuing state of emergency declared after the series of co-ordinated attacks by Islamic State in Paris last November that saw 130 people murdered and 368 wounded.
France made its intentions clear in the following statement released on 30 January by Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius:
"France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the two-state solution"
Mr Fabius issued this not-so veiled threat on France 24:
“If this attempt to achieve a negotiated solution reaches a dead end, we will take responsibility and recognize the Palestinian state,”
Time for Arab states to publicize their Israel ties, Netanyahu says
Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the prime minister maintained that most moderate Arab countries see Israel as their ally, not their enemy, as they share a common struggle against Iran and the Islamic State.
“Major Arab countries are changing their view of Israel … they don’t see Israel anymore as their enemy, but they see Israel as their ally, especially in the battle against militant Islam with its two fountainheads,” he said in English. “Now, this is something that is forging new ties, many of them discreet, some of them open. And I think there too we can expect and should expect and should ask to see a change.”
The prime minister did not elaborate on that issue.
Netanyahu, who was addressing more than 100 leaders from the Conference’s 53 member organizations, thanked the delegates for “taking the message of Israel far and wide” — a reference to recent visits to Turkey and Egypt by Conference members. He emphasized his commitment to the unity of the Jewish people saying, “All Jews must feel at home and welcome in Israel.”
PA: Palestinians to ‘never’ again negotiate directly with Israel
Peace talks collapsed in April 2014 and since then, the situation has deteriorated, with the prospects of fresh dialogue appearing more remote than ever. But Malki said that one-on-one talks with Israel were out of the question.
“We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Malki told a press conference. He is visiting Japan with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later Monday.
Malki stressed that a multilateral framework to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is needed and he praised an initiative discussed late last month by France to revive plans for an international conference to end the conflict.
And he warned that without international involvement, a vacuum will be left that may end up being filled by the Islamic State jihadist group.
“If Daesh take advantage of lack of any brokers… then of course, they might come and try to fill it,” he said, referring to Islamic State.
“This is very dangerous,” he added.
“If the Americans are giving up and the Europeans don’t have the courage to do anything and Arabs are really worried about their own problems, what do you expect? Extremists around might take over.”
PA claims ownership of Jordan Valley in international ploy
The Palestinian Authority's (PA) Foreign Ministry is refuting what they are calling "The Israeli policy of Judaizing" in the "Palestinian Jordan Valley".
In an official statement the Ministry called upon the international community to stop Israel from actions which include the Judaization of the area and the forceful removal of local residents. Additionally they have asked the international community to take legal action in the area in order to protect the Palestinian people and to enact binding regulations in the United Nations Security Council that will prevent further establishment of Israeli settlement in the area.
The Ministry emphasized that the Jordan Valley is an integral part of the "occupied country of Palestine" and that all of the unilateral moves that Israel it taking in reclaiming state owned land are in violation of international law.
The Ministry backed up its comments with "evidence" that it bought from reports of "Israeli human rights organizations". The Ministry further accused Israel of removing evidence of Palestinian ownership of the land in area C by turning agricultural fields into training bases for the military which endanger the lives of Palestinians and causes them to lose hope of living in dignity on the land of their fathers.
Report: Israel began work on 1,800 settlement homes in 2015
According to a report published by the left-wing group Peace Now on Sunday, construction began on 1,800 new housing units in settlements in 2015 -- a drop from 3,100 the previous year.
More than 40% of the construction starts were located on the other side of security fence that protects most of the main Israeli residential blocs in Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem.
The report said that tenders for 1,143 new housing units were published in 2015, 560 in Judea and Samaria and 583 in east Jerusalem. However, it should be noted that most of the east Jerusalem tenders were ones that were recycled after the state failed to market them to contractors in previous years.
Efrat Regional Council head Oded Ravivi said, "After Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog declared that the two-state solution was not feasible, the remaining question is, how long will it take for Peace Now to also realize that settlements are not the obstacle to peace?"
Think for yourself, Ambassador Shapiro
Dan Shapiro's latest “wake-up call” falsely accusing Israel of implementing “two standards of adherence to the law: one for Israelis and one for Palestinian Arabs” was a new low. Shapiro, who has always used his Jewish identity to infer that he is "one of us," crossed the red lines and joined the ranks of Israel's enemies.
Directing him are President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, both leading proponents of the school of "saving Israel from itself". They claim at every opportunity that the status quo is unsustainable, and have been at the forefront of advancing a unilateral two-state solution, an idea that has been proven over and over again to be unattainable and is vehemently opposed by the Palestinian Arabs.
Dan Shapiro criticized Israel's ‘settlements’ and then sharply condemned its “West Bank policy”, speaking in Tel Aviv in the aftermath of brutal Palestinian terror. The day before he spoke, a Palestinian Arab terrorist slashed Dafna Meir, a 38-year-old mother of six, to death at the entrance of her home, in front of her children. A day later, as Meir's funeral convoy was traveling to Jerusalem, another Palestinian Arab terrorist slashed and badly wounded a 30-year-old pregnant woman who was shopping.
A day after Shapiro spoke; Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Al-Tirawi called a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, "just a phase" of an ongoing struggle. Palestine, he said, "stretches from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea," adding, "I challenge any Palestinian to say that the map of Palestine is limited to the West Bank and Gaza."
I'm worried about Thomas Friedman
I'm worried about Thomas Friedman.
The New York Times columnist is just 62, but he's already showing serious signs of forgetfulness--almost what one might call amnesia.
In his February 10 column, Friedman declared that Israel is "determined to permanently occupy all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including where 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live."
Yet everyone who resides in the real world knows that Israel occupies only about 60% of that territory--and only about 2% of those 2.5-million Palestinians live in the Israeli controlled areas. And it's been that way for more than twenty years.
Is Friedman suffering from some kind of memory blackout covering those two decades? Is he genuinely unaware of what transpired during that period?
PreOccupiedTerritory: Are There Any Other Allies I Can Alienate? Asking For A Friend by Barack Obama (satire)
In the space of less than a year, my administration has successfully shaken longstanding commitments to the security and integrity of three US allies in the Middle East: Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Does anyone know if there are other such allies I can alienate in the eleven months I have left in office? Asking for a friend.
It’s sort of amazing how quickly things can turn around like that. In pursuit of a détente with Iran, it’s possible to reverse decades of cooperation and shared interests with multiple countries, while enabling an explicitly genocidal, racist, homophobic, repressive dictatorial theocratic regime to establish itself as the leading player in the region. It’s a radical transformation to occur in so short a time, so I’m sort of wondering if the feat can be repeated elsewhere in the world. You know, hypothetically.
China looks like a good candidate for a realignment of that nature. They’ve long sought to reclaim Taiwan, and their ally North Korea perpetually threatens both South Korea – like Taiwan, a longstanding US ally – and Japan. A reinterpretation of American security and economic priorities in East Asia would make the whole Iran nuclear deal and its empowerment of radical anti-Western forces in the Islamic Republic look like child’s play. Would that take nearly as long as the process did in the Middle East? How would it be accomplished? Theoretically, I mean.
Andrew Bolt: Labor now the go-to party for the anti-Semite
Here is a typical motion before the conference, and note what’s missing - any reference to Palestinian terrorism, including the recent huge upsurge in knife attacks, and any reference to the refusal of Palestinian leaders to negotiate in good faith, call elections or refrain from inciting or praising terrorists:
SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS BRANCH
1. That Conference welcomes the decision of the 2015 National ALP Conference to commit the next Labor Government to moving to recognise the state of Palestine. In view of:
- The continued expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank;
- The continued oppression [sic] of Palestinian residents of the West Bank;
- Violence directed at Palestinians by Israeli settlers;
- Recognition of Palestine by 135 of 193 nation states; and
- The Obama Administration’s conclusion that Israel has deliberately obstructed negotiations toward a two state solution.
The next Labor Government will immediately recognise the state of Palestine.
The official book Labor has prepared for conference delegates shows how distorted Labor’s priorities are.
- Number of times Israel is mentioned: 104
- Number of times China is mentioned: 6
- Number of times Russia is mentioned: 1
- Number of times terrorism is mentioned: 1
- Number of times jihad is mentioned: 1 (naming Labor candidate Jihad Dib.)
- Number of times economy is mentioned: 45
- Number of times jobs is mentioned: 63
- And number of times climate change is mentioned: 34 (which at least suggests even Labor is getting bored)
Liberal MP under fire over Israel
LIBERAL MP Craig Laundy [Australia] has been slammed after alluding to the fact that “the issues that we as a globe confront today” can be traced back to the creation of the State of Israel.
In a speech in the Federation Chamber of Parliament earlier this month supporting a motion to recognise 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, the Member for Reid in Sydney’s western suburbs, admitted he has never been to the region but that many Palestinians “call my electorate home”.
Laundy, who is co-chair of the federal Parliamentary Friends of Palestine, said, “A people were displaced and they have been fighting for their identity ever since. That is it simply. If you look at the Middle East and the issues that we as a globe confront today, we can trace it pretty much back to this region some 60 or 70 years ago. Anyone who stands in this place and argues differently is not being fair dinkum.”
Referring to a two-state solution, Laundy said: “I believe this is used as a line to hide behind; it does not get past that. This is an issue we need to attack; we need to be real about it … for the last almost 60 years, the people of Palestine have not had a fair go.”
Asked by The AJN if her colleague’s opinions represented the party line, Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said simply: “The Australian government’s long-standing position is that we remain committed to Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally-recognised borders.”
EXCLUSIVE: Owner of Ohio Deli Targeted by Machete Terrorist: “We Are Israeli, We Fight Back”
Hany Baransi has been serving authentic hummus and falafel in his central Ohio eatery for 27 years, proudly giving diners a taste of his Israeli Christian Arab heritage between bites of rich Mediterranean fare.
A sign bearing an Arabic greeting—“Ahlan Wa Sahalan”— hangs prominently near the glass doors of his Nazareth Restaurant & Deli in Columbus, through which passersby can also spot an Israeli flag. Baransi says he has always been outspoken about his Israeli identity, and so when his restaurant was attacked on Thursday evening by a machete-wielding man, he believed it was no coincidence.
“I am a very outspoken Israeli, and I have an Israeli flag in my restaurant,” added Baransi, who moved to the United States from Haifa in 1983 and said he tries to visit Israel as often as he can. “When people [from the Arab community] ask me where I am from, I tell them I am Israeli, I am an Israeli Christian Arab, it’s not like I am Palestinian, and then they start arguing and fighting with me.”
Baransi noted that the FBI, which has since joined the investigation and is probing whether the assault was an instance of homegrown extremism, has yet to share any conclusions. He mentioned that he is hoping to hear from them by Monday. For now, he is focusing on helping his staff cope with the traumatic experience they underwent.
“You know, we are Israelis, used to this in our lives, people attacking us and wanting to kill us,” he observed. “But Americans — I have young ladies, 19, 20-years-old, they probably never heard people yelling and screaming. It was a huge experience for them. And some of them are very devastated. All of us communicate on a daily basis, and some of us, a couple of people, are still having a really hard time.”
Ten years since Ilan Halimi's murder
It has been ten years since the death of Ilan Halimi Hy"d, a handsome and charismatic 23-year-old Jewish man, who was abducted and slowly tortured to death for 24 days by a Parisian Muslim anti-Semitic gang. The horrific murder drove home to whoever needed the proof that the spirit of Nazi sadism is alive and well in Europe.
Halimi, who made a living as a cellphone salesman, was kidnapped in Bagneux on January 21, 2006, by the gang that called itself "The Barbarians," after being lured by a 17-year-old female gang member.
He was held for 24 days in an apartment on the 11th floor of a residential building, bound, with his head covered entirely in duct tape except for a small gap for his mouth.
He was subjected to three weeks of beatings and torture, while gang members attempted to extract a 450,000 Euro ransom from his family. Ilan's uncle, Rafi Halimi, reported that "the gang phoned the family on several occasions and made them listen to the recitation of verses from the Koran, while Ilan's tortured screams could be heard in the background."
Halimi was found naked, handcuffed and tied to a tree three weeks after his capture, but died from his wounds on the way to hospital.
Anti-Semitism In France 2016: Amid Jewish Exodus To Israel, Rabbis And Scholars Fight To Preserve Traditions
As the plane touched down in Israel from Paris in the summer of 2014 packed with dozens of French Jews full of hope for their new lives in Israel, a devastating conflict in the Gaza Strip raged. Israeli authorities directed new arrivals on what to do if their plane was attacked by rocket fire from militants in Gaza, and Avi Mayer of the Jewish Agency, a group that works with people who want to move to Israel, asked passengers about their plans for the future and if they were afraid.
“Afraid?” said one Parisian. “No. I left my fear behind in France.”
Thousands of French Jews have left their country to move to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. in the past few years, as anti-Semitic far-right wing politics have grown stronger and the threat of Islamic extremism has become a daily source of fear in many neighborhoods. In the year following attacks on a kosher supermarket in Paris, 9,000 French Jews left the country to move to Israel — compared with 1,900 five years earlier. While scholars and community leaders reported a growing incidence of anti-Semitism, many of them said the only way to prevent prejudice from spreading and to preserve their culture was to stay in France and fight for their rights.
“I am in favor of people staying and affirming their culture ... all the more since it is threatened,” said Isy Cemachovic, president of the Jewish Religious Association in Dijon in eastern France. With an influx of predominantly Muslim refugees from Syria, Cemachovic noted that the Jewish population would shrink in comparison. “We are already a minority, and we will become an even smaller minority,” he said.
Vassar students sell T-shirts praising terrorist to raise money for ‘Palestinian resistance’
It’s not enough for the Vassar College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to advocate for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolution against Israel in its student government.
The activists are also selling a T-shirt featuring terrorist plane hijacker Leila Khaled, and the profits go to “organizing Palestinian resistance,” as the group wrote on Facebook yesterday (note the ironic peace sign).
Check out our friends at Existence is Resistance!!! They will be selling sweet f*cking antiZionist gear at our events. 100% of profits goes towards organizing Palestinian resistance#ExistenceisResistance
Posted by Students for Justice in Palestine at Vassar on Thursday, February 11, 2016

The figure on the T-shirt was identified by Rebecca Lesses, associate professor at Ithaca College and coordinator of its Jewish studies program:
A fine hero for SJP at Vassar to have – an airplane hijacker who managed to avoid jail. Apparently the people in the two planes that she hijacked – TWA 840 and El Al 219 – don’t matter to them. The terrorist, not the victims, is the one they laud. They don’t appear to be able to imagine themselves as the terrified passengers, wondering what was going to happen to them when armed attackers take over their planes. No, what they like is “sweet f*cking antiZionist gear.”

The group behind the T-shirts, Existence is Resistance, has a thing for guns and hip-hop.

Jewish Groups Denounce Choice of Antisemite to Headline ‘Freedom to Read Week’ Event in Toronto
Two major Jewish groups gently ripped into the Canadian branch of the international organization PEN — which campaigns on behalf of writers persecuted or imprisoned for expressing themselves freely – for inviting a highly controversial author to headline an event it is co-sponsoring, the Canadian Jewish News reported on Sunday.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center asked PEN why it is headlining the event, to be held on Feb. 24 at the Toronto Reference Library, with self-described “anti-Zionist” Max Blumenthal, whose fringe positions on Israel have earned him the label of antisemite.
Blumenthal, author of The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza and Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, was invited by PEN Canada, in conjunction with Independent Jewish Voices and Another Story Bookshop (as part of “Freedom to Read Week”) to be the star attraction at the event, titled “Embattled Truths: Reporting on Gaza.” His co-panelist will be Toronto Star foreign affairs reporter Olivia Ward.
“We thought this is an odd choice,” CIJA spokesperson Martin Sampson told the CJN. “Why would they do that? Why would they put their reputation at risk by associating with Blumenthal? I think his extreme positions disqualify him for being a rational, reasonable contributor in the discourse about Israel.”
Ten rules for crushing BDS terrorists
First let’s understand what we ‘re talking about. We are talking about thugs who learned their tactics from the Brown Shirts of yesteryear -- the means to disrupt, intimidate, bully and terrorize.
Back then they spoke mostly German. Today they speak mostly Arabic even if it’s in English.
The target? The Jews. Anybody else? Nobody else.
Think Kristallnacht (the infamous Night of Breaking Glass) – except on a daily basis, not just one night – and focused on every business imaginable, and the campuses.
Nearly every college and university in the United States has them, and has them ready to “break glass” and riot against anything Jewish or Israeli.
Mostly a Muslim phenomenon, some Christians and even some Jews have signed on. You know who you are and shame on you.
The movement, it is said, began in 2005. Partly correct. More accurately, it begin in 1965 when Ted Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson pushed through an immigration act that for the first time limited these immigrants, people familiar with Judeo/Christian values (Europeans), in favor of those immigrants, people coming from lands where it’s sharia or die.
This is the result.
Grape Expectations. BDS Wine club
This will have the BDS holes ...whining....
In fighting boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, truth and history are the most important weapons in our arsenal. The Buycott is also a hugely effective technique- the collective economic power of the pro-Israel community made short work of the campaign against Trader Joes, and the specialty grocer was never bothered again.
Buycotts empower consumers, and enable us support our families and friends in Israel, without resorting to the ugliness of our opponents tactics.
In that spirit, check out the BDS Wine Club, featuring fine wines from the biblical heartland of Israel- Judea and Samaria. In spite of the BDS battle cry of "Occupation", Jews have been making wine in this area for thousands of years. Regardless of your feelings regarding "settlements", the issue is a red herring. The organizers of the BDS movement have repeated admitted that they will not accept a Jewish state within any borders.
Order now and have your wines delivered before Pesach.
Honest Reporting: Nissan’s Driving App Can’t Find Israel
An HonestReporting fan (and enthusiastic Nissan owner) discovered that his NissanConnect mobile application does not include Israel on its list of countries.
This is a strange development, because Nissan cars are highly popular in Israel, where they have been sold since 1991.
Nissan’s web site includes Israel, and Israel’s relations with Japan, the company’s home country, are generally quite positive.
So what’s with Nissan’s maps?
A closer examination of NissanConnect shows that this particular app made its way to Israel via a Nissan affiliated company called “Nissan Middle East” which is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Though Israel has a diplomatic mission in the UAE related to renewable energy projects, the countries do not have diplomatic relations and the UAE does not officially acknowledge that Israel exists.
Nissan’s headquarters in Japan may not even realize that its local Middle East distributor has decided to erase one of its most enthusiastic markets from its own mobile app.
EXCLUSIVE – Jackie Mason: Hollywood Should Blacklist Celebs Who Boycott Israel
When it comes to tackling the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting the Jewish state, Israel and its champions should start fighting fire with fire, comic legend Jackie Mason proposed during a radio interview Sunday.
Hollywood stars who boycott Israel should be blacklisted by the Jewish state’s supporters in the entertainment industry, Mason contended.
The comedian argued: “If they are determined to persecute Israel, why can’t we persecute them? Why can’t we put them out of business? Why should we let them get away with it?”
Mason was speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” the popular weekend talk radio show broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM in Philadelphia. Klein doubles as Breitbart Jerusalem’s bureau chief and senior investigative reporter.
Mason found it “disgusting” that celebrities would boycott Israel while many of their own careers, he said, were advanced by Jewish executives in Hollywood, as well as “Jews who created the industry.”
BDS Fail Of The Day: Taylor Made For Mockery
The BDSHoles are unhappy at Taylor Swift, for wearing Leviev diamonds.
So they have gone out and done what they do best – sing off-key.
Bonus: You may recognize two of the BDSHoles from a previous flash moob mob (there was an actual clue in there).
The BDSHoles were none other than Moobs and the annoying overacting guy.
Croatian government urged to fire Holocaust-denying minister
Calls are mounting for Croatia to fire a government minister who authored a book denying the Holocaust, or face international sanctions.
In his book, Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegović, a member of the far-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), specifically denies the murder of some 32,000 Jews by Croatia's pro-Nazi regime, known as the Ustasha of the Independent State of Croatia. Hasanbegović has reportedly promoted the book on several neo-Nazi and White Supremacist websites.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 20,000 of the Ustasha's Jewish victims were murdered at the Jasenovac concentration camps, some 110 km (68.4 miles) from the capital Zagreb.
Earlier this month, the Simon Weisenthal Center expressed its "shock shock and indignation at several actions taken, and comments made, by newly-appointed Croatian Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegovic," and called on the Croatian government to remove him from his position.
The coalition government is currently led by the Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST), but the HDZ is a key coalition partner.
Madrid Jewish community sues magazine over racist cartoons.
The Jewish community in Madrid is seeking legal action against the El Jueves satirical magazine over a comic strip published in its latest issue featuring anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic images.
One of the cartoons in the comic strip depicts an Israeli soldier abusing a Palestinian with a caption reading, "You don't understand. My parents were in a concentration camp."
The action is explained saying, "Israel is like a child who saw his father hit his mother, and now has grown up hit to his wife."
Another image in the comic strip depicts a religious Jew with the anti-Semitic stereotype of a grossly protruding nose, along with the caption, "Israel, the promised land a science fiction book says was given to a group of people by a made-up God. Israel, the paradise of the Jews and no one else, because they refuse to share it with anyone who does not embrace their religion."
While this is not the first time El Jueves has criticized Jews, the Madrid community felt that this time it crossed the line.
Austria keeps ‘troublemaker’ Jewish historian in jail despite evidence said to clear him
Templ, 55, is the author of Unser Wien [Our Vienna], a book detailing all the real estate in the Austrian capital which was confiscated from Jews in the days and months leading to the Holocaust and never returned to its owners. He has been a vocal and prominent critic of Austria’s Holocaust-era conduct.
Templ is himself an indirect claimant to the Fuerth, a building owned by his ancestors and confiscated in 1938. He was convicted by Austria of misleading the authorities by withholding the existence of an estranged aunt when he applied, on behalf of his 80-year-old mother Helene, for the return of the building, and has been jailed for the offense since last October. An original three-year term was reduced to one year on appeal.
The aunt, Elisabeth Kretschamr, would have been eligible to receive a 12th share of ownership of the building, which would in turn have passed to the state had it known of her existence, the Austrian authorities charged in the case against him.
According to a report Saturday in the Guardian, papers found in the state-run offices set up to facilitate the return of properties to heirs and descendants show that authorities were, in fact, made aware by Templ of Kretschmar’s existence in 2003.
Auschwitz survivors recount horrors at former SS guard's trial
Three survivors spoke on Friday of the smell of burnt bodies and piles of the dead at Nazi Germany's Auschwitz death camp, one of whose former guards stands accused of helping in the murder of at least 170,000 people.
"If your ribs were visible, you were a candidate for the crematorium," said Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old survivor who lost 35 family members during the Holocaust.
He was speaking at the trial of former guard Reinhold Hanning, also 94, who remained largely silent on the second day of his trial, showing no emotions as the survivors detailed their horrific experience.
Hanning, sounding weak, was heard only once in court when asked how he was doing by Judge Anke Grudda. "Fine," he responded.
Dressed in the same brown tweed suit jacket as on Thursday, bespectacled Hanning -- who was 20 in 1942 when he joined the camp as a guard -- slowly walked into court where hearings are restricted to two hours given his age.
Turkcell drops Valentine’s advert over accusations of anti-Semitism
Turkcell, the largest mobile phone operator in Turkey, has pulled an anti-Valentine’s day advert which had prompted concerns of anti-Semitism. The advert mocked Valentine’s day, showing young single people singing along to a song by Yildiz Tilbe, a Turkish singer.
While the advert itself did not target any religious or ethnic group, the fact that Tilbe’s song was used caused controversy due to her past anti-Semitic comments.
The Turkcell CEO, Kaan Terzioglu, said that the company had dropped the advert because Turkcell respects sensitivities for nations and religions.
“We pulled the video because no content is worth ignoring the sensitivities of 'any' nation or religion,” he said.
Tilbe sparked outrage in 2014 after making comments which praised Hitler and his policy towards the Jews. She reportedly said, “God bless Hitler, it was even too few what he did to the Jews, he was right” and, “The Jews will be destroyed by Muslims, in the name of Allah, not much time left for it to be done.”
MEMRI: Algerian Officials Displeased By France's Appointment Of Moroccan Jewish Woman As Minister Of Culture
As part of a recent government reshuffle in France, professional technocrat Audrey Azoulay, a former culture advisor to French President François Hollande and former director of the National Center of Cinematography, was appointed as France's Minister of Culture and Communication, replacing Fleur Pellerin.
Born in Morocco, Audrey Azoulay is the daughter of André Azoulay, an advisor to King Mohamed VI and before him to king Hassan II, and consequently her appointment did not go unnoticed in North Africa. According to the North African French-language website Mondafrique, several Algerian officials expressed displeasure at her appointment, including Sa'id Bouteflika, a brother and advisor to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who even complained about it to an advisor of the French President. The site estimated that the source of the displeasure was an Algerian concern about the growing influence of Moroccan figures in the French media and political arena. Another factor, the site hinted, is Morocco's good reputation in terms of its tolerance towards Jews, which too is a source of annoyance for Algeria.
The francophone Moroccan website Le360 likewise commented on the Algerian objections to Azoulay's appointment, stating that they had "antisemitic overtones," and that they stemmed from Algeria's hostility towards Morocco and towards its "socialist president" Hollande. Like Mondafrique, this site estimated that Algeria was concerned about Morocco's influence over France, especially since Algerian President Bouteflika believed that Hollande "belonged" to him.
Record number of Brazilian Jews moving to Israel
A record number of Brazilian Jews immigrated to Israel last year, Brazilian media reported.
The reports were about the arrival to Israel in 2015 of 463 immigrants from Brazil – the highest number recorded over the past 10 years, according to Israeli official data.
The in-depth report on this movement last week by Globo TV came amid the country’s worst economic crisis in a century. Among Israel’s pull factors, the television station listed Israel’s social benefits for newcomers and other citizens, as well as job opportunities.
Jewish immigration to Israel, or aliyah, from Brazil in 2015 had increased that year by 41 percent over the 308 Brazilians who immigrated to Israel in 2014. The third highest figure since 2005 for newcomers from Brazil was 281 newcomers, in 2007.
Black rapper who found spiritual home in Orthodoxy on the move to Israel
From the heart of the Big Apple, one of the world’s most multicultural cities, comes the rap rhapsody “HaShem Melech 2.0.”
The anthem-like song, with almost 450,000 views on YouTube to date, marks the first time Israeli-born writer and composer Gad Elbaz collaborated with Nissim Baruch Black of Seattle, Washington. But it’s not the words, or even the melody, that sets it apart in Black’s eyes. It’s the way it spoke to the 30-year-old’s own artistic and spiritual journey from Christianity to Islam to Orthodox Judaism.
“The song speaks about salvation from heaven, and I mediated on that for a long time. At the end of the day the song and its meaning is beyond any of us. Okay, the song is catchy, but it also lifts people out of dark places,” Black said in a telephone interview with The Times of Israel.
It was in 2013 that Black, formerly known as D. Black, first heard Elbaz’s recording of the song. Soon afterwards he went home and played it for his son, then just over a year old. As toddlers will do, his son asked Black to play it again and again and “one more time whether I wanted to or not,” Black said.
A Must read series from IsraellyCool: Know Your History: The Palestine Of 1897
A new series where I bring to you news from the newspaper archives to debunk common misconceptions about the Middle East conflict.
One of the narratives we hear from the Israel haters is, in simple terms, the Jews came from Europe and stole the land from the Palestinian people.
Here is an article published in the New York Times on August 15, 1897, two weeks before Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress.
Know Your History: Mark Sykes, Post Balfour Declaration, 1917
Know Your History: Prince Faisal, 1920
Know Your History: Arab Boycott, 1945


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