Friday, March 04, 2016
Anti-Semitism in Europe: ‘The devil that never dies’
The paragraph, read out loud by one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Holocaust, chilled the audience.Lessons in Anti-Semitism with Max Blumenthal
“Contaminated by the monstrous and rooted ‘certitude’ that in this catastrophic and absurd world there exists a people chosen by God … the Jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, to make it incurable, and they show it to the world as if it were a banner,” read Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, at a Georgetown University conference Monday (Feb. 29) on anti-Semitism in Europe.
“Israel seizes hold of the terrible words of God in Deuteronomy: ‘Vengeance is mine, and I will be repaid,'” he continued. “Israel in short is a racist state by virtue of Judaism’s monstrous doctrines, racist not just against the Palestinians but against the entire world.”
Goldhagen stopped reading.
“Now, if I told you that these were the words of a Hamas leader, or any number of Middle Eastern political officials, or movement leaders, you wouldn’t be very surprised,” he said. “But these were the words of Jose Saramago, the Nobel Prize-winning author, as published in 2002 in El Pais, the paper of record of Spain.”
This diatribe against the Jews, printed in one of Europe’s leading mainstream newspapers, came before the most recent spike in anti-Semitism across the continent, the subject of the daylong conference sponsored by Georgetown University’s new Center for Jewish Civilization.
Last Wednesday I had the misfortune of attending a presentation by the notorious American journalist Max Blumenthal. Hosted and organized by the Toronto Public Library, together with PEN Canada and a shady anti-Israeli organization called Independent Jewish Voices, the event was supposed to promote free speech and understanding of different points of view. In his introduction, the president of PEN even mentioned by name two Bangladeshi secular bloggers who received numerous threats and eventually were hacked to death by Muslim extremists.Daphne Anson: A Traveller in Eurabia
However, the presentation itself had more to do with defending the views of the Muslim murderers. It was puzzling that of all authors in the world the organizers picked as a keynote speaker Max Blumenthal, a man whose views hardly advance free speech. To add insult to the injury, the organizers and especially the representative of the library, stated in the beginning that no photography and recording were allowed during the event, which defied its purpose. They obviously couldn’t grasp the irony of having a free speech event that must be kept secret. But when you consider the views of Blumenthal and the fact that the format was a conversation with Olivia Ward from the Toronto Star, Canada’s most biased lefty newspaper, it wasn’t surprising that they tried to prevent the public from learning more about the discussion.
Canadian broadcaster Ezra Levant recently went to some of those countries of northern Europe that are rapidly becoming hell-holes for Jews (as well as for women and girls), thanks to "cultural enrichment".SPECIAL REPORT: Does Ezra's fact-finding trip to Europe reveal Canada's future?
Look, if you can bear to, at what he found. [3 episodes, Malmo, Cologne]
Is Trump Really Pro-Israel?
But what has to scare pro-Israel observers about Trump is his utter malleability. All of Trump’s current political convictions on just about every issue are newly minted. He has also told us that he is someone who can and will change. And given us ability to shift positions and ignore past statements, it’s beyond me as to how anyone could rely on anything he has said, good or bad, as a firm indicator of future policy choices.Michael Lumish: The Donald
And that brings in another comparison to Obama. Like Trump, we knew very little about what Obama would do. Moreover, the key characteristic about their candidacies is their belief in the magic of their personalities and talents. The two men couldn’t be more different in just about every respect. But when it comes to hubris, they are birds of a feather. Good luck to anyone who thinks they can know for sure how Trump will govern.
Of course, the argument will be made that Trump is better than Clinton, who has a problematic history on Israel which is balanced by the things she said while serving as a senator from New York and on the campaign trail now. A Clinton administration might be pro-Israel in the way of her husband’s, or it might resemble her former boss Obama. But as dismaying as the latter prospect might be, it is less of an unknown than Trump.
Like Obama’s backers who promised us that their candidate would be better than we thought, Trump supporters say the same thing with as little basis in fact. They are guessing. They might be right about his good qualities. But Jews who find it hard to believe that a man who says he would be “neutral” on the Middle East and that engages in dog whistles to bigots may be forgiven for being as skeptical about Trump as some on the right were about Obama.
Today I am a pro-Israel, pro-democracy, pro-liberal moderate independent who believes that the American Democratic Party has thrown its central values in the toilet, with the encouragement of Barack Obama.Romney: Trump is a phony, a fraud, and should not be president
The Democratic Party and the progressive-left like to claim that they stand for social justice and universal human rights.
If this was ever actually the case, it no longer is.
When the Democratic Party turned its back on the Jewish people, by turning its back to the Jewish State of Israel, I knew that not only was it time to remove myself from their association, but also to conclude that in supporting Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Fatah - and failing to oppose ISIS - that it was no longer supporting democracy, liberalism, women's rights, Gay rights, or anti-racism within the Middle East.
I may not support Donald Trump, but I will definitely oppose the racism and Judeophobia embedded within the Democratic Party and the Left.
When the Left made a home of itself for the BDS movement it pointed Jews who care about the well-being of other Jews toward the door.
I sometimes wonder what happened to the feminist Left that once had the gonads to stand up to the Taliban.
Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is charging into the increasingly divisive White House race with a verbal lashing of Donald Trump and a plea for fellow Republicans to shun the front-runner for the good of country and party.Donald Trump Bizarrely Likens David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan to ‘Federation of Jewish Philanthropies’
Romney branded the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” whose “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University” in a speech Thursday morning at the University of Utah. The Associated Press obtained excerpts of his remarks in advance.
Trump, in turn, dismissed Romney as “a stiff” who “didn’t know what he was doing” as the party’s candidate in 2012 and blew a chance to beat President Barack Obama. “People are energized by what I’m saying in the campaign and turning out in remarkable numbers to vote,” Trump told NBC’s “Today.”
In ratcheting up the rhetoric, Romney cast his lot with a growing chorus of anxious Republican leaders — people many Trump supporters view as establishment figures — in trying to slow the New York real estate mogul’s momentum.
Today, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was interviewed on MSNBC’s flagship Morning Joe program. Host Mika Brzezinski confronted the candidate about a variety of issues, including his recent refusal to disavow former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke’s endorsement on CNN. Trump maintained that he had always condemned David Duke–something he had indeed done in the past, but failed to do on CNN, despite repeated promptings.
And then Trump offered a bizarre quasi-comparison between Duke and the Jewish Federations:
Some might see Trump’s strange likening of Jewish groups to the KKK as an attempt to dog whistle to his bigoted supporters. But more likely, he was simply flailing in a largely nonsensical stream-of-consciousness to avoid answering the question. The problem, in this instance, was not that Trump was trying to express bigotry, but that he did not even recognize that what he was saying could be construed as such. This combination of actual animus and obliviousness is what makes Trump’s rhetoric–and its wall-to-wall coverage by a ratings-hungry news media–so dangerous.
ADL: Trump’s statement on Jews, white supremacists ‘obscene’
The Anti-Defamation League condemned as “obscene” a statement by presidential candidate Donald Trump, which appeared to tie Jewish donors to white supremacists.UK Chief Rabbi Refuses to Meet With Anti-Israel Politician George Galloway
Trump made the statement Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when asked about the white supremacist David Duke, and why he had declined to condemn him during an earlier interview last week on CNN, when he was asked about Duke and other racist individuals of groups that endorsed Trump’s candidacy.
“David Duke is a bad person who I disavowed on numerous occasions over the years,” Trump said on “Morning Joe,” adding he did not immediately condemn him on CNN because, “I don’t like to disavow groups if I don’t know who they are. I mean, you could have Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in groups.”
“It is obscene to even mention a Jewish organization in the same breath as these white supremacist groups,” the Forward quoted the CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, as saying. “Mr. Trump needs to acknowledge that the rhetoric of these hate groups is appalling and does not belong in any political discussion.”
The chief rabbi of the United Kingdom under no circumstance will agree to meet politician George Galloway, known for his anti-Israel views, a representative of the religious leader said on Wednesday.Antisemites Temporarily Bring Down Israellycool After Launching DDOS Attack
A spokesman for Galloway, a candidate for the London mayoralty, told The Jewish Chronicle that the former Respect Party MP would be “honored” to meet Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, after the rabbi met Tuesday with Tory and Labor mayoral candidates Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan.
However, when Mirvis’ spokesperson was asked if the rabbi would consent to such a meeting, he said: “There is no chance that the Chief Rabbi would dignify Mr Galloway’s candidacy for Mayor of London by meeting him.”
“If Mr Galloway would genuinely like to meet the Chief Rabbi – a remark to a journalist strikes me as an odd way of trying to achieve it,” Mirvis’ spokesperson added. “You’ll have to forgive me for doubting the sincerity of this spokesman.”
This morning Israel time, Israellycool was down for a number of hours. My hosting provider informs me that the server was the victim of an intense DDOS or distributed denial of service attack.Want to Boycott Israel? Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
This coincides with a concerted campaign on Twitter launched by antisemites supporting Sue Clark and the hateful ideas she espouses, to bombard my timeline with vile antisemitic memes. One of them bragged about my site being down.
The irony is many of them accuse me of being an enemy of free speech (for exposing the antisemitism), yet took my site down. Then again, they have also called me evil, so they are clearly living in a bizarro world.
The good news is the site is well protected (I pay extra for that so thanks to those of you who have donated) and I don’t plan on being silenced any time soon.
Thank you to the pond scum for validating the worth of what we do here.
When navigating to www.bdsguide.com, I’m immediately confronted with a clenched fist on a red banner against a crisp white background, and the matter-of-fact wording that I’m viewing the site in the Safari browser on Mac OS X. As an Apple product, my computer has been provided to me under the direction of CEO Tim Cook, who has met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a trip to Israel for the inauguration of one of the company’s offices in the Jewish state.Another legal win for anti-BDS members at Olympia Food Coop
“Please uninstall Safari,” the notice warns me.
I’m also told that Apple recently acquired an Israeli chip manufacturer, Anobit, and opened a third research and development center in Israel. So I should definitely “uninstall OSX.”
Continuing to browse the website, I discover an extensive and evolving list of companies and individuals that support Israel. At a time when the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is working hard to make the case for taking a stand against Israel, the research accumulated in this guide could seemingly serve the boycotters well.
But there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Supporters of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) scored a big win many years ago when they managed to pass a boycott of Israeli products at the Olympia Food Coop in Olympia, Washington.The BDS Connection To Terrorism
It was the first such successful coop boycott, and I believe either the only one or one of only a very small number.
A similar move was attempted in Ithaca at the GreenStar Food Coop. The GreenStar council rejected the boycott as possibly in violation of New York’s anti-discrimination law, Huge BDS loss – GreenStar Food Coop rejects Israel boycott.
After the Olympia BDS policy was adopted, numerous members sued. That suit originally was thrown out of court, but in May 2015 the Washington State Supreme Court reversed. We reported at the time, a Big Win for Washington anti-BDS Activists:
It’s not hard to find the connection between those who support BDS and those who support and commit terror. The above video by “The Truth About The Middle East” does a very good job making these connections clear.
Look no further than the recent laying off of the remaining Palestinian Sodastream employees to understand that the BDS Movement is not interested in achieving any positive results. Only the destruction of Israel and the elimination of the Jewish people from the Jordan to the Mediterranean.
Here’s the kicker. Even though Sodastream has capitulated to the demands of these evil haters and moved their business to the Negev, and forced to lay off all the Palestinian workers despite their efforts to keep them on board, BDS is STILL not relenting on their attacks on Sodastream.
I hope student governments will continue to see this and understand why the BDS Movement is getting condemned by governments all across the United States and in Canada. Maybe that will get them to stop these annoying and futile “Pro-BDS bills” that only waste your time and mine.
Columbia Students, Faculty, Alumni Release Statement Condemning Campus BDS Group’s Reference to Palestinian Terrorism as ‘Civil Disobedience’
A declaration condemning an anti-Israel group’s reference to terrorism as “civil disobedience,” signed by more than 600 Columbia University students, faculty and alumni, was released Wednesday night, Bwog-Columbia Student News reported.Vassar anti-Israel activists attempt stealth academic boycott Resolution
The statement refers back to a Facebook post last week by “Columbia University Apartheid Divest” (CUAD), the group that launched a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in February, as reported by The Algemeiner. In the post, CUAD links to, and quotes from, an article posted at socialistworker.org, describing the First and Second Intifadas, the violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel between 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, as “civil disobedience.” The quote CUAD highlights asserts that the uprisings were not “acts of terrorism,” but instead “rebellions against terrorism.”
“Israeli Apartheid Week” — an annual event sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine, among other groups, highlighting criticism of Israel and its policies — is currently underway at Columbia. Another controversy arose during the event, when a pro-Israel group’s installation, featuring a 12-foot inflatable Pinocchio, was forced down by pro-BDS members of Columbia’s Student Governing Board, as reported by The Algemeiner.
This is a stealth attempt to get the Vassar student government to pass an academic boycott of Israel, an issue that has not been the focus of the campus debate and is not explicitly mentioned in the Resolution.1975 – When Vassar students protested anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionism
Passing the SJP/JVP Resolution would be purely symbolic, because the Vassar administration already has said it would not engage in an academic boycott.
Nonetheless, that symbolism would mark the Vassar student government, purporting to speak for the Vassar student body, as being on the most extreme fringe of the small number of student governments that have passed BDS resolutions.
That such a stain on the Vassar student body could pass under the cover of a vague Resolution that doesn’t even mention the academic boycott makes it even worse.
The “Zionism is Racism” resolution was a watershed moment in many ways. The Jew hatred of the Holocaust worked its way into the organization supposedly founded, in part, to prevent another world war and genocide. The hatred was fueled by Islamic and Marxist countries.Canadian editor denies praising jihad against civilians; here are the facts
An Editorial in the student newspaper not only condemned the U.N. Resolution, it characterized the claim that Zionism is Racism as anti-Semitic:
The simple-minded ratification of Arab-inspired, anti-Israel strategy demonstrated by the U.N. General Assembly vote on Monday denouncing Zionism displaysa sad lack of imagination by world leaders toward combatting the real instances of discrimination, racism and emotional animosity in our international society….
But by so broadly and categorically equating all forms of Zionism with racism, only the racist emotion of anti-Semitism appears to have been the vote’s primary motivation.
Mohamad Hisham Khalifeh, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, is the founder, CEO and Editor in Chief of Al Forqan Newspaper printed in Windsor, Ontario and distributed in Windsor, London and Detroit.Telegraph headline falsely suggests Israeli anti-Muslim racism
Following CIJnews report on Khalifeh’s editorial lauding the Palestinian knife attacks aimed Israeli Jews as a “sacred duty of jihad”, the Jewish human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada urged the Ontario government to “launch a full investigation of the paper and particularly the offensive editorial.”
When asked to comment on this issue by the Windsor Star (March 3, 2016), Khalifeh was quoted as saying the following: “That’s not correct. It wasn’t said in that phrase. The editorial was saying we support Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation. That’s the main thing… We don’t support any terror attacks on civilians,” Khalifeh said. “But we do support all kinds of resistance.”
Khalifeh’s editorial (originally in Arabic)
“The Duty of Jihad
“Everyone carries out the jihad in his/ her way, that what said to me one of the pilgrims [in Mecca] and this summarizes the course of events in our Arab and Islamic countries, armies and parties, weapons and munitions, rockets and [fighter] jets… and the Palestinian teenager is [standing] alone wielding a knife in his hand, defending the honour and dignity of every Arab and every Muslim, and moreover every person. He [the Palestinian teenager] does not accept the injustice in the face of the Zionist usurper.
“The Knife Intifada, initiated by the sons of al-Quds [Jerusalem] who scarified their souls, exposed the falsity of the allegations made by those who espouse the duty of jihad and fight in Syria and Iraq and everywhere but not in Beit al-Maqdis [Jerusalem]. The executions of Jerusalemites (children, women and elders) did not move the manhood in the heads of the leaders of the Arab and Islamic nation! The violations against the holy site in al-Quds [Jerusalem] have not affected those who protect the holy shrines! [Note: the killing of the Palestinian terrorists during attack by Israeli forces is portrayed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as “executions”]
“The Knife Intifada was born orphan from the womb of a bereaved mother, but the sons of this sacred place with the determination of the heroes will be mentioned in history of this nation that in the midst of the current events there was a group which recognized the right of the sacred duty of jihad!
Please read the words in this headline, accompanying a March 3 article by their Jerusalem correspondent Raf Sanchez, and tell us what comes to mind.Holocaust denial leaflets calling genocide the 'greatest swindle of all time' are handed out at the University of Melbourne
Israeli group dubs Oprah Winfrey's voice to make her say "kill Muslims"
Sounds pretty sinister, doesn’t it? It certainly suggests that some racist, ‘far-right’ Israeli group is trying to promote the message that Muslims should be killed.
However, if you pay attention to the easy-to-miss strap line, or go past the headline to read the text and video several paragraphs down, you’ll learn that the story highlights a campaign by the Israel Law Centre (ILC) to combat official incitement broadcasted on the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation.
The ILC video dubs the voices of well-known American personalities to make it sound as if they’re saying “kill the Muslims”, in order for people to relate to the odiousness of official Palestinian TV messages which incite the murder of Jews.
Holocaust denial leaflets calling the brutal genocide of some six million Jews the 'greatest swindle of all time' have been handed out to students at a reputable Australian university.New York State Bill Proposes Ban on Antisemitic Textbooks
Roughly 300 anti-Semitic flyers were found in the University of Melbourne's Square car park on Monday, the first day day of the new university semester.
The leaflets linked to a website promoting similar ideologies, saying that 'Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud.'
They also disputed the reliability of eyewitness testimonies from Holocaust survivors, the Jewish News reported.
Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, said the flyers were an 'utterly sickening' case of 'hateful propoganda.'
'This is an alarming escalation in anti-Jewish hostility and is a cause for serious concern,” Mr Abramovich said.
“The racists and bigots who distributed these Holocaust denial materials want to confuse readers by disguising this venom and vileness as a legitimate alternative view of history, and are trying to promote the abhorrent message of racism, Nazism and Fascism.”
Hebrew and Jewish Studies have been offered at the University of Melbourne since 1946, and allow students the opportunity to study the language, literature and history of Jewish culture and society.
It is believed the holocaust denial flyers may have referenced a line of thinking first put out by American political scientist Norman Finkelstein, whose 2000 book 'The Holocaust Industry' suggested that the memory of the Holocaust was exploited and used as an 'ideological weapon.'
State lawmakers in New York have proposed a new bill that would ban antisemitic textbooks from schools.Pole indicted for burning Jew effigy at anti-Muslim protest
Textbooks and materials that misrepresent historical depictions of Jews, Christians, African-Americans and other racial, ethnic or religious groups would be prohibited in New York’s statewide Common Core curriculum.
“The bias that exists in some textbooks currently in use today simply does not accurately represent Judeo-Christian history in the United States. By creating this commission, New York State will be in a better position to have input and oversight on what textbooks and instructional materials get used in our elementary schools,” said State Assemblyman Brian Curran, who recently held a press conference to discuss the bill, which he is jointly proposing with Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
Polish prosecutors indicted for incitement a construction contractor from the western city of Wroclaw who burned an effigy of a Jew at a protest rally against Muslim immigration.3D metal printing pioneer XJet gets $25m investment
Piotr Rybak may face as long as two years in jail if convicted of the charges levelled against him last week for his actions on November 18 last year, the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported of February 25.
Prosecutors are considering indicting additional people in connection with the November event, when Rybak was photographed setting fire to an effigy of an Orthodox Jew with sidelocks, according to the daily. The incident was part of a rally by 200 people who gathered to protest EU requirements that Poland accept refugees from Syria and Iraq. Rybak is accused of incitement hatred against a faith or ethnic group.
During the event, Rybak was heard saying: “Our duty and the duty of the newly-elected government” is to say that “we will not bring a single Muslim into Poland, Poland is for Poles.” He then set fire to the effigy, which featured an EU flag. He has denied any wrongdoing and refused to answer prosecutors’ questions.
Metal could be the big boost 3D printing needs to make it in the industrial world, according to Eitan Tsarfati, CEO of Autodesk Israel’s research and development center – which is why Autodesk (via its through its Spark Investment Fund), together with Israeli-Chinese private equity fund Catalyst CEL, has invested $25 million in Rehovot-based XJet.Young Israeli genius making breakthroughs in neuroscience
The company is developing an inkjet printing tech for liquid metal, “the first time this is being done anywhere,” according to XJet CEO Dror Danai.
For Catalyst, the investment in XJet could foster nothing less than a manufacturing revolution, said Yair Shamir, a managing partner of the fund and the new chairman of XJet.
“A fund like ours, which works with Western and Chinese investors, can help bring this technology to China, where a 3D manufacturing revolution will profoundly affect the world.”
XJet uses nanotechnology to create special metal liquids that, with its 3D metal printing technology, can create unique items on the fly.
At the age of 16, while Amir Goldenthal’s friends were busy with matriculation exams, he was at the end of the first year of undergraduate physics - and starting his doctorate.Kenya-Israel partnership will make the country water secure
The unprecedented decision by the heads of the Department of Physics and the Center for Neuroscience Studies at Bar-Ilan University - to allow the young teenager to begin his doctoral studies - proved very quickly to be successful, when Goldenthal completed his bachelor's and master's degrees with honors, published articles in international scientific journals, and was selected to attend a convention of Nobel Prize winners in Japan, which was set to bring together past and future world influencers.
Recently, the nearly-20-year-old Goldenthal has been coming to the university every day by taking two buses from Ashdod. His doctoral dissertation work involved breakthroughs in understanding neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In the coming days Goldenthal will travel to a medical research center in Germany alongside his supervisor, Prof. Ido Kanter, Director of the Department of Physics and the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. They were invited by a senior researcher in neuroscience to apply their findings with patients who suffer from brain injuries.
NAIROBI: “Over 3,000 years ago not many kilometres from West of Kibbutz Kalia near the Dead Sea, the Children of Israel crossed River Jordan into the promised Land”, a land flowing with milk and honey but not water where rainfall is about 40 mm a year. These are the words of Amb Gil Haskel, the former Israeli Ambassador to Kenya as he addressed the Kenyan delegation led by President Uhuru Kenyatta as we visited Kenyan students in the desert.What Israel is giving me: The voice of an Arab doctor
But over the years, the Israelis have turned Israel from chronically water insecure country to a water/food secure and surplus country exporting water and food to Jordan and Palestine. Amb Gil, who is also the Head of MASHAV that is in charge of Foreign Aid, and Hon Uri Ariel, the Israeli Minister for Agriculture, told us that Israel changed its water and food fortunes after realising that rain-fed agriculture was not sustainable and turned to irrigated agriculture. Israel stopped waiting for rain and water from the Sea of Galilee and turned salty water of the Mediterranean Sea and through desalination plants at Sorek, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Hadeira, Palmichim and waste-water re-cycling gave its citizens millions of cubic metres of water in excess of their needs.
With enough water for domestic and industrial use, Israel pumped millions of cubic metres of water into its dry lands and through irrigation, turned the desert green and produced enough food for its national consumption as well as export. It invested in and developed technology and human resources to a higher degree than many countries and today, boasts of being the water and irrigation superpower of the world and the No. 1 country in the world in waste-water managed at 90 per cent.
Her name is Faiza. She works for a major private hospital in Israel.Major Alaa Waheeb: There’s only one country in the Middle East that could produce a soldier like me
We met a week ago, while I was there assisting a relative of mine.
Faiza is at the head of the intensive care unit, she runs from one patient to the other offering always a sweet smile together with very professional care.
Faiza lives in Shuafat, an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem where there are frequent disturbances.
She comes from a family of eleven, most of them graduates of Israeli universities. Between one patient and another, we share our visions about life.
“I love my life. I love living in Israel. I thank Allah every day for having given me the opportunity to grow up here,” she says. “I know that if it was not for this country, I would never be what I am.”
“Here you can choose,” she says while she is finishing her coffee during her break. She turns her head toward the Arab doctors and nurses. “Israel gives you the opportunity to express your human potential,” she adds.
I visited the UK to combat Israeli Apartheid Week, to challenge the lies and mistruths hurled at the country I am proud to call home. But what hurts me the most is not how unbelievable they are. The opposite, in fact. They are all too believable, and I should know – because I once believed them too.He is one of Israel's top soldiers, but to his friends he is a traitor
The reality is that the town I grew up in did not recognise the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. While Arabic is an official language, I did not learn Hebrew until I was 17. I was raised to believe the worst things about Jews, and, had I not eventually met and worked alongside them, I might still believe those things today.
In my role as a soldier, I have met all kinds of people both in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Jews, Arabs, Religious, Secular, Left-wing and Right-wing. I have met Israelis who were prejudiced against me. But I have also met Palestinians who appreciate the work that I do to maintain some sort of peace and stability in the most dangerous part of the world.
Forget slogans and shouting. Peace – real peace – will only come when people talk to each other. Not necessarily agree – just agree to listen. But the irony of Israeli Apartheid Week is that it wants individuals to focus on differences, not similarities. Instead of building bridges between communities, it wants to build walls.
During my time in the UK, I spoke alongside a fellow soldier, a medic who has treated both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists without distinction. We were the Muslim who protects Jewish lives, and the Jew who saves Muslim lives. There’s only one country in the Middle East that could produce a couple like that – and it sure as hell isn’t an apartheid state.
Israel's highest-ranking Muslim soldier has described how he endeavours to make his service a source of pride to his father, despite many treating him as a traitor.
Growing up in the village of Reineh in the Galilee - where many believe he has betrayed Arab-Israelis - Major Alaa Waheeb said he never imagined he would be part of the Israeli Defence Forces, let alone go on to become its most-decorated Muslim.
The major was speaking while in Britain for a tour of communities organised by the grassroots group Zionist Federation.
But the soldier, who has served as a platoon commander and was an operations officer in the Gaza brigade during the disengagement in 2005, could not even speak Hebrew until he was 18.
At his high school, he was told that "serving in the IDF is not the way of the Muslim religion". He said it was only the intervention of his father which caused him to perform "a 180-degree change from where I was," and join the army.
"If there's one thing that I want to say, it's that my dad was the one who wanted me to join the IDF. My dad always told me to be a soldier.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
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