Thursday, June 16, 2016
Lawmakers call for defunding UN schools after film shows Palestinian kids praising ISIS
U.S. lawmakers want to cut off funds to United Nations-run schools where a new documentary shows kids as young as 13 declaring they want to kill Jews and join ISIS.NGO Monitor Triggers Major Changes in Holland, UK, and Switzerland
The documentary, “The UNRWA Road to Terror: Palestinian Classroom Incitement," shows children as young as 7 in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) expressing support for terrorism. One clip shows a 13-year-old Palestinian student chanting “With Allah’s help I will fight for ISIS, the Islamic State.”
Members of Congress and sources with knowledge of pending legislation told FoxNews.com that lawmakers are looking to introduce bills cutting off funding from such schools before Congress adjourns this summer.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said major reform is needed to UN schools.
Today, June 16, the Dutch Parliament approved a proposal requiring the government to review funding for NGOs that promote BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) targeting Israel, and, in particular, the Human Rights and International Law Secretariat based at Birzeit University in Ramallah.Why Palestinians hate Shavuot
A similar debate and vote is scheduled to take place in the Swiss Parliament on Friday, June 17. The Dutch and Swiss governments, along with Sweden and Denmark, provide $17 million to this framework over three years ending in 2016. As documented in NGO Monitor research reports, this money is used for core funding to 24 NGOs, including many of the leaders of BDS and lawfare campaigns, such as Badil and Al Haq, and a number of Israeli political NGOs.
In parallel, the British Parliament held a debate this week on the government’s international aid activities, including the distribution of funds by the Department for International Development (DFID). In this debate, MPs cited NGO Monitor research reports on this funding, calling on the government to stop diversion of funds to anti-peace Israeli and Palestinian NGOs. Following the debate, DFID officials announcement policy changes. In response, Sir Eric Pickles, MP declared: “I welcome a shift in DFID’s funding toward peaceful coexistence projects that better support a peace process, along with the Minister’s agreement to look at alleged abuses of British aid by particular Palestinian NGOs.”
In all three instances, the parliamentary debates, votes, and policy changes followed recent briefings from NGO Monitor, based on our research reports. The need for responsible policies regarding NGO funding from Europe has been repeated by Israeli government officials, diplomats, and members of the Knesset in their contacts with European counterparts.
A thought occurred to me as we were reading the story of Ruth in synagogue this week: Palestinians must hate Shavuot.Back to Entebbe: Former Israeli hostage reveals diary
If there is one Jewish holiday which overflows with reminders of the flimsiness of Palestinian claims against Israel, it's Shavuot. Start with Megillat Ruth. The central events of the story all take place in Bethlehem. The first two verses identify the city as "Bethlehem, in Judea." The residents are all Jews. They speak Hebrew.
There is no mention of any "Palestine" or "Palestinians." Those terms did not even exist until many centuries later.
These facts cannot sit well with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. As recently as March 21, Abbas declared on official PA Television: "We were in this land since before Abraham…The Bible says, in these words, that the Palestinians existed before Abraham." I wonder which Bible it is that Abbas has been reading!
Similarly absurd statements were recently made by Abbas's Advisor on Religious Islamic Affairs and Supreme Shari'ah Judge, Mahmoud al-Habbash. "We have been here for the last 5,000 years, and have not left this land," he declared on PA Television on June 3. "Our forefathers are the monotheist Canaanites and Jebusites." (Translations from Palestinian Media Watch.)
Of course, Habbash's claims are nonsense. As every legitimate archaeologist, anthropologist, and Mideast historian will attest, there is no connection whatsoever between the Palestinian Arabs of today and the Canaanites. Islam did not even exist until the 7th century CE. The Arabs came here from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century C.E.
"Every time I fly abroad, I take a close look at every passenger and at each member of the air crew to make sure they are not terrorists," says 81-year-old Sarah Davidson, one of the Israelis who was held hostage in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, after Air France Flight 139 was hijacked en route to Paris.
"This is just part of who I have been for the past 40 years," she said.
Davidson, her husband, Uzi, and their two sons, Ron, then 16, and Benny, then 13, were on their way to the United States on what was supposed to be Benny's bar mitzvah trip. She kept a diary detailing their captivity, which ended on July 4, 1976, after Israeli commandos carried out a daring raid and rescued the hostages in Operation Thunderbolt (later renamed Operation Jonathan, in memory of Sayeret Matkal commander Yoni Netanyahu -- brother of now-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who was killed in the raid).
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the events, the Davidson family recently gave an interview to Israel Hayom in which they talked about their ordeal. Benny said he had been "very afraid of [Ugandan dictator] Idi Amin, who arrived and spoke with us."
Uzi Davidson, then an Israeli Air Force navigator, recalled how he made a split-second decision to eat his military entry pass to make sure his hijackers wouldn't find out about his sensitive position.
Kissinger: Arab peace plan impossible given regional turmoil
Regional turmoil makes it impossible to use the regional 2002 Arab Peace Plan to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger told the 2016 Herzliya conference on Wednesday night.Egypt, Jordan call on Israel to accept Saudi Initiative
“A number of state are not in a position right now to undertake any regional peace initiative,” Kissinger said.
He was interviewed by Israeli journalist and author Ari Shavit, and spoke via a video hookup from the United States.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a regional process based on a revised version of that plan.
But Kissinger said such an option was not feasible given that states like Syria, Libya and Iraq were dissolving, and that because it was still unclear what the new government structures would look like, it was hard to imagine that they could be part of any such deal at present.
“If one asks oneself who are the members of such a regional agreement, it is not obvious that it can’t be achieved?” Kissinger asked.
For such an agreement to be worth the paper it is written on, he said, the regional Arab and Islamic states would have to offer Israel guarantees, and “one would have to ask oneself which countries are in a position to extend guarantees.”
Kissinger recalled that under former US president Jimmy Carter – who had brokered a peace deal between Israel and Egypt – it was believed that a state-bystate approach was best. Kissinger said that Egyptian president Anwar Sadat – who was the partner to that deal – believed that holding a regional peace conference to resolve the Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its neighbors was risky, because any process with that many partners increases the risk that it could fall apart.
So many years later, he said, he still holds by that idea.
The Egyptian and Jordanian Ambassadors on Thursday called on Israel to accept the 2002 Arab Peace Plan, as the best path forward to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Egypt ready to push Palestinians on peace process, envoy says
“Egypt still believes that reaching a peace agreement is achievable,” Egypt Ambassador to Israel Hazem Khairat said in a rare public address to the Israeli public which he delivered at the 2016 Herzliya Conference.
He pledged that his country would continue to work for a just peace that restores security to the region. This includes “activating the Arab Peace Initiative,” Khairat said.
The Arab Peace Plan, also known as the Saudi Initiative, offers Israel normalized ties with the Arab world in exchange for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and a solution to the Palestinian refugees.
Cairo is willing to help create an “appropriate Palestinian environment” to facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, Egypt’s envoy to Israel said Thursday, appearing to answer the Israeli demand for Arab states to exert more pressure on Ramallah.Dore Gold: Ties with Sunni world growing quietly
But in his first public appearance since becoming ambassador in February, Hazem Khairat also appeared to blame Israel for the stalemate in the peace process and reiterated Cairo’s desire to rid Israel of its reported nuclear arsenal.
“As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is facing a dangerous deadlock, Egypt still believes that reaching a peace agreement is achievable,” Khairat said during a speech at the Herzliya Conference.
“For a just peace that brings security back to the region, Egypt will continue to work with all parties, including preparing an appropriate Palestinian environment and activating the Arab Peace Initiative. But only Israelis and Palestinians can make a courageous choice to achieve it.”
Foreign Ministry director- general Dore Gold said at the 16th annual Herzliya Conference on Wednesday that there is a “strategic convergence” between Israel and the Sunni Arab world and that the Palestinian issue is at the bottom of priorities.Ken Livingstone: 'I could be Jewish'
In a meeting with an unnamed Middle Eastern counterpart, Gold discovered that their talking points for their meeting were almost identical, with the Palestinian issue close to the bottom of the list of issues, he said during a panel discussing the region.
“I’m not trying to play football with the Palestinian issue, but in fact, on both papers, the Palestinian issue was not the No. 1 issue. It was pretty close to the bottom.”
That does not mean Israel should not try to get a breakthrough, “but we have to realize that isn’t any more of the currency with which you build ties in much of the Arab world, the Sunni world...20-30 years ago everyone said to solve the Palestinian issue and you will have peace with the Arab world.”
The former Mayor of London, who has been suspended from the Labour Party for arguing that Hitler supported Zionism, told the JC he might have Jewish ancestry on his mother's side.Eugene Kontorovich: Anti-BDS laws don’t perpetuate discrimination. They prevent it
Asked to name a Jewish friend, he cited the late Lord Janner, a one-time fellow Labour MP.
He said: "Greville Janner used to drive me home from the House of Commons at night. We would chat away about the Middle East. He would speculate about whether or not I was Jewish because my grandmother's name was Zona."
Mr Livingstone said: "I have lots of Jewish friends and I always have. I have had members of the Board of Deputies round for parties."
He added: "When I went to Israel and stopped by a kibbutz, I felt completely at home there. Everyone was a leftie like me."
Denying that he was antisemitic, Mr Livingstone threatened to "go to court" if Labour officials expelled him from the party.
He said: "What judge, given the nature of the British legal system, will say: 'You can punish someone for telling the truth'?
"I don't think they will kick me out. I mean, how can they? I will turn up at the final hearing with all these documents. What are we going to do next, suspend people for saying 'two plus two makes four'?"
He claimed that he had been stopped in the street by Jewish supporters near his home in Cricklewood, north-west London. He said: "They tell me they're Jewish. They say: 'We know what you said was true, don't give in'."
On June 16, the New Jersey Assembly is expected to have a final vote on a bill restricting the state’s dealings with companies that boycott Israel. The measure, S1923/A925, would have the Garden State join the nine states that have already adopted such measures in just the past year. Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order implementing similar policies in New York state.Christian Zionist Documentary Reveals Truth About BDS and ‘Hating Israel’
These bills are motivated by state lawmakers’ conviction that boycotts of Israel are fundamentally discriminatory and often a thin veil for anti-Semitic motives. They have passed by overwhelming bipartisan votes. But some critics of the measures have recently begun to argue that they violate the First Amendment.
It is important to make clear what these laws do and do not do. None of the laws bans or punishes criticism of Israel, or stops anyone from boycotting Israel. They apply solely to businesses that contract with or get investment money from state governments.
These laws simply say: If you want the state to do business with you, you need to abide by the state’s policies of sound and fair business practices, including anti-discrimination rules.
Take, for example, a company whose CEO speaks out strongly against Israel and hangs a banner from its headquarters that says “Zionism = Racism.” That company would in no way be affected by such laws.
That’s because these laws are not about speech or viewpoints. They are about unfair and discriminatory business decisions. And whether one agrees or not with such laws as a policy matter, there is no question they do not pose a First Amendment problem.
“When it comes to apartheid, Israel sucks.”‘There will be consequences against Israeli BDS-supporters’
It’s a key quote delivered by American comedian Brad Stine, a devout Christian and a featured personality in a new documentary film called “Hating Israel: In Search of the Truth Behind BDS.”
The premiere of the 90-minute film produced by Laurie Cardoza-Moore — founder and president of the Christian Zionist organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) — was held in Jerusalem on June 8, in front of an audience of Knesset members, Israel advocates, business leaders, journalists and other VIP guests.
Cardoza-Moore describes the film’s style as “docutainment” — an entertaining documentary — and says it is aimed primarily at millennials (those born from the early 1980s until around 2000). Stine shapes his opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while traveling throughout Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled territories. He carries out a series of interviews with Jews, Christians, and Muslims to get their thoughts about what life is really like. Through his journey, he comes to the conclusion that labeling Israel as an “apartheid state” is preposterous.
Stine also speaks to experts on Israel including retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz; author and educator Rabbi Ken Spiro; radio talk show host Dennis Prager, Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid; and others to try to understand why Israel is singled out for international condemnation and boycotts when countries with seemingly far worse human rights records are given a pass.
During the “Seinfeld”-like film — which includes commentary, interviews, and visuals from headline news — Stine’s interviews are interspersed with footage of the comedian revealing his findings during a stand-up comedy routine in the U.S.
Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Information Gilad Erdan (Likud) announced Thursday that the government is planning a series of legislative measures against Israeli organizations and citizens that promote the boycott of the state.IsraellyCool: Roger Waters Dating Israel-Hating Palestinian
"There will now be real price to pay for someone working against their own country in order to isolate it from the rest of the world," Erdan said in his speech at the 16th Institute for Policy and Strategy Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
"I set up a legal team, together with the Ministry of Justice, that will promote governmental legislation on the matter", said Erden. "If we want to convince the world that the de-legitimization of Israel is something wrong and that there should be consequences, we must start here in Israel."
Months after splitting with wife number four Laurie Dunning, he seems to have found love again – with someone who seems to share his disdain for Israel.Boycott activists protest New York governor’s anti-BDS edict
After reportedly beginning an affair with her behind the back of her Jewish husband – who was also his pal.
Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, a vocal critic of Israel, is dating Palestinian journalist and author Rula Jebreal after divorcing his fourth wife.
Waters, 72, and Jebreal, 43, have been dating for a few months, in the aftermath of Waters’ split with wife Laurie Durning, Page Six can exclusively reveal.
Jebreal and Waters were introduced around five years ago by Durning and Jebreal’s husband, biotech entrepreneur Arthur Altschul Jr., from whom she is now separated.
The source continued, “But after Roger split with his wife, he began an affair with Rula. Arthur found out, and their marriage ended. Roger and Rula have been together around three months and they discuss Palestine all the time, they are both so very passionate about it.
“It is the talk of the Hamptons, and some people are calling them the ‘Palestinian power couple.’ But it is very weird for their former spouses, who introduced them,” the source added.
Waters — who has homes in Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton — is a supporter of a boycott of Israel over the issue of Palestinian rights. He has likened Israeli treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa, sparking criticism from the pro-Israel lobby.
Likewise, Jebreal is an articulate critic of Israel and has written three books, including “Miral,” about women caught in the crossfire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was made into a movie by her ex Julian Schnabel.
Critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians staged a protest Wednesday against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order prohibiting state investments in any company that support a boycott of Israel.NY State Senator Introduces Bill to Halt Public Funding of State and City Colleges Over Hate Speech, Israel Boycotts
A group of more than 100 people gathered outside the Democratic governor’s office, chanting loudly before attempting to deliver a petition to Cuomo seeking the reversal of his executive order.
Speakers at the rally organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports the BDS movement seeking a boycott of Israel, say the state is violating the constitutionally protected free speech of business owners by treating them differently than others simply because of their political opinions.
Cuomo’s executive order was issued this month. He has said it is intended to support Israel and protect it against the threat of boycott or sanctions.
He called it the first of its kind anywhere in the country, as the move drew praise from pro-Israel groups and condemnation from others.
A New York State senator recently introduced a bill to halt the public funding of campus organizations that engage in hate speech and anti-Israel boycotts, the New York Daily News reported on Monday.Victory: YouTube restores video of vile BDS harassment of pro-Israel Professor
Long Island Sen. Jack Martins (R-Nassau County) said his bill would defund state and city university campus groups that actively promote and take part in boycotts of American allies, who are defined by law as Israel, South Korea, Ireland, Japan and all NATO countries. State and city universities are already prohibited by law from engaging in international boycotts against allied nations.
Martins told the Daily News that the bill was born out of frustration with City University of New York (CUNY) officials, who, he said, have failed to act to combat growing antisemitism on their campuses. CUNY is currently conducting an investigation into allegations that several of its student groups — particularly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — actively engage in antisemitic activity.
It really is hard to imagine how we could report on BDS on campus without the ability to post videos to YouTube where they get the most viewership and are most easily shared.“Water Apartheid” Was Really Just a Burst Pipe, But the Media Don’t Care
I wrote not that long ago about how Conservatives are prisoners of Twitter because we had come to rely on that platform to communicate, leaving us with no viable alternative when conservative accounts were shut down arbitrarily.
The same holds true for YouTube and Facebook — we are prisoners. Better start exploring the options before it’s too late.
One final act readers can do. There is a phenomenon called the Streisand Effect:
The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.
It is named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose 2003 attempt to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, California, inadvertently drew further public attention to it. Similar attempts have been made, for example, in cease-and-desist letters to suppress numbers, files, and websites. Instead of being suppressed, the information receives extensive publicity and media extensions such as videos and spoof songs, often being widely mirrored across the Internet or distributed on file-sharing networks.
It’s often said that the best answer to offensive speech is more speech, not censorship. So too the best answer to attempts to suppress the Loughnane video is to share it, post it, embed it.
Mark Twain supposedly said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” and that is exactly what happened today.Contrary to Indy charge, Israel INCREASED water supply to Palestinians during Ramadan (Updated)
The Independent, International Business Times, Radio New Zealand and the Times of London have all picked up a blatantly incorrect Al Jazeera story.
In an outrageous example closer to fiction writing than journalism, The Independent incorrectly portrays Israel as intentionally denying water to Palestinians in the West Bank.
The article goes on to say:
Israel has cut off the water supply to large areas of the West Bank, Palestinian authorities have claimed.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have reportedly been left without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a period of fasting, at a time when temperatures can exceed 35C.
Meanwhile the International Business Times (IBT) twice described Israeli actions with the phrase “water apartheid,” attributing the inflammatory quote only to vague and unnamed “critics of Israel” but implying that it is a commonly accepted term.
We’ve been in touch with COGAT (the Israeli authority in the territories), who told us that, in order to accommodate Palestinians during Ramadan, when Muslims can’t drink water during the day, “the water supply has been increased during night-time in order to meet the needs of the residents”.NPR Producer: Deluge of Jew-Hatred in Response to Broadcast About Online Antisemitism Forced Program to Shut Down Comments Section (INTERVIEW)
Additionally, COGAT noted that, beginning at the start of Ramadan, on June 6-7, “the water supply to Hebron and Bethlehem [was] expanded [by] 5,000 cubic meters per day in order to meet the needs of the residents“.
So, to clarify, in summer months, the consumption of water naturally increases.
The water carrier can’t keep up with consumption, so residents (both Muslims AND Jews) experience a shortage. Quite simply, the demand exceeds supply.
However, to make up for this shortage and, most importantly, to address the changing water needs of Palestinian Muslims during the holiday of Ramadan, Israel INCREASED the amount of available water to the Hebron and Bethlehem communities, and INCREASED the amount of available water during the night, the time when religious Muslims will need it the most.
So, the Indy’s charge that Israel malevolently “cut off water” to Palestinian Muslims during the month of Ramadan is pretty much the opposite of the truth.
A producer for a Boston-area National Public Radio (NPR) station expressed her shock on Wednesday at the barrage of antisemitic and racist remarks posted in response to a broadcast about online antisemitism — which resulted in the shutting down of the comments section of the station’s website.Tribune Newspapers Contradicts Themselves in Refusing to Correct
Karyn Miller-Medzon, a senior associate producer for 90.9 WBUR-FM NPR’s “Here and Now” nationally syndicated program, told The Algemeiner she was “caught by surprise” at the hatred spewed in response to a post of a previously broadcast, eight-minute segment highlighting the controversial “(((echo)))” symbol used by white supremacist groups and antisemites to track Jews online. The segment featured an interview with Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who spoke about the organization’s decision to place the (((echo))) on its list of hate symbols. Within hours, she said, the site was flooded with vicious epithets.
“There was a deluge — over 100 comments — of offensive, racist and antisemitic remarks — the kind that you know people somewhere think but don’t expect to see,” she said. “Every time an offensive comment appeared, five or six more people would add their own comment to that one. So each comment would spawn new ones.”
According to Miller-Medzon, these included “stereotypical depictions of Jews, about their physiology and long noses, things like, ‘Well, of course, we want to show who the Jews are online so they don’t interbreed with the common population,’ and, ‘We wouldn’t have to use the (((echo))) symbol if Jews wore yellow stars.’”
Tribune Newspapers (including The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun) offered a contradictory refusal to a request by CAMERA for a correction to an article calling disputed territories, some of which are held by Israel, “Palestinian lands.”Misleading by omission on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs
The Tribune report “John Kerry joins French-led Middle East peace push,” by correspondent Tracy Wilkinson, appeared in The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune (online June 3). It says, among other things: “…participants in Friday’s talks, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and about 25 senior European and Arab diplomats, urged Israelis and Palestinians to ‘genuinely’ commit to a two-state solution and to create conditions for ‘fully ending’ Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.”
However, as CAMERA pointed out in its correction request, there are not now, nor have there ever been, “Palestinian lands.” Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, no power has exercised recognized sovereignty over the land in question. Its status is to resolved by negotiations anticipated by U.N. Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian interim accords, the 2003 international ‘road map’ and related diplomatic efforts taking 242 and 338 as reference points.
It would be more accurate to describe the status of the territories as disputed, not Palestinian. As U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeline Albright stated in March 1994: “We simply do not support the description of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 War as occupied territory.” That is, neither occupied Jordanian (the West Bank, 1948-1967) or Egyptian (the Gaza Strip, 1948-1967) land, nor occupied Palestinian territory.
The June 10th edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Desert Island Discs’, presented by Kirsty Young, featured British surgeon David Nott who, in addition to his regular work, volunteers with Médecins Sans Frontières and the International Committee of the Red Cross.Bolstering and airbrushing BDS on BBC WS ‘Business Matters’ – part one
Later, terrorists also fired missiles at Israeli civilian communities but none of that very relevant context was provided to listeners to this programme. Shifa hospital was of course not attacked on that day or any other and – despite what Nott was told at the time – it was in fact considered to be one of the safest places in the Gaza Strip, as reported by the BBC’s James Reynolds just days later:
“…just to explain where we are; we’re at the Shifa hospital here in the centre of Gaza. When you speak to ordinary people here, they feel that this is about the only safe place that there is in this strip of land – this or the grounds of the other hospitals here – because they believe that Israel will not target hospitals. There are actually some families sleeping outside the hospital – again, they believe that they won’t be hit here….”
Whether or not Mr Nott asked his hosts at Shifa hospital why the secure underground operating theatre located in the bunker underneath that facility was not placed at his disposal is unclear. Had he done so, he would have been able to tell BBC audiences that most probably the reason that his colleagues assumed that the hospital was going to be bombed on August 1st 2014 was because Hamas was using the space beneath his feet as a command centre and refuge – and him as a human shield.
If Kirsty Young had provided that context to Radio 4 listeners, their take-away impressions of this story would of course have been more accurate.
We have noted many times before on these pages that whilst the BBC often provides a platform for proponents of BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – against Israel (and no less frequently some of its own journalists can also be found amplifying and mainstreaming that campaign), the corporation consistently fails to provide its audiences with the full facts about the aims and motivations of BDS.New England officials discuss spike in anti-Semitism
Hearing continued with some examples of BDS’ supposed success:
“And the threat is clear. It’s already cost Israel millions of dollars. The mobile company Orange cut off relations with its local provider in Israel last year which many attributed to BDS pressure.”
In fact Orange’s parting of ways with its former brand licensee Partner Communications cost it – rather than “Israel”, as claimed by Hearing – millions of dollars.
“Orange’s Israeli brand licensee Partner Communications will cease to use the Orange name within 24 months, the two sides announced Tuesday [June 2015]. Partner had previously been expected to use the Orange name until 2025.
The new agreement stipulates that Orange will pay up to €90 million to Partner, a sizeable chunk of which will be used to help Partner rebrand itself in the wake of Orange’s departure.”
Orange’s CEO (who of course is likely better informed than the “many” cited by Hearing) dismissed claims that BDS had influenced his company’s strategy and Orange continues to have business interests in Israel.
Amid a spike in anti-Semitic activity across New England, Jewish and Israeli residents met with the mayor of Newton, Massachusetts, to express their concern about incidents in the Boston suburb’s school system.Hitler’s Mein Kampf (My Struggle) may soon become our struggle
More than 150 people attended the standing-room-only community forum with Newton Mayor Setti Warren Tuesday evening.
The meeting followed the revelation in late February of several acts of anti-Semitic vandalism at a middle school that had gone unreported. Those reports jarred the city, as did stories about Catholic high school students who chanted anti-Semitic slogans during a game against Newton North High School.
Since the start of 2016, there have been 56 anti-Semitic incidents in various states in New England, according to the New England Anti-Defamation League. In all of last year, there were 61.
“The scourge of anti-Semitism is one of the most important issues facing the city,” Warren said in his opening remarks at the public forum.
The forum was hosted by the Israel American Council at its regional office in Newton, home to a large Jewish population. Some 30,000 Israeli Americans reportedly live in the Boston area. The event was cosponsored with the New England ADL, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.
The mass distribution of Adolf Hitler’s infamous, anti-Semitic rant known as Mein Kampf (My Struggle) has recently been given a big boost by the initiative of Italian conservative leaning newspaper, Il Giornale, to give the book as a gift to anyone who buys a copy of the paper. Considering the global rise of anti-Semitism, this move could prove to be a precursor of another epic catastrophe for the Jewish people.French writer fined for saying Hitler should have finished the job
“If … the Jew is victorious over the other peoples of the world, his crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity.” This past weekend, thousands of readers of the Italian newspaper, Il Giornale, consumed these venomous words, as well as numerous other anti-Semitic tropes, as the paper distributed thousands of free copies of Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s autobiography.
The newspaper was scolded for its decision. Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, described the act as “squalid,” while others criticized the newspaper’s move as a “sales trick.” In its defense, the paper argued that the initiative would “educate readers about the evils of Nazism.”
Since the end of World War II and until January 1, 2016, the distribution of the book had been banned in Europe. But now that the copyrights have expired, the book is being distributed once more. Although an annotated version of the text is being distributed and sold in Germany and Italy “for educational purposes,” copies of the original text can easily be purchased online and in bookstores throughout the world. In consequence, just over seventy years after the end of the most satanic attempt to exterminate the Jews, the text that fueled the Nazi ideology is once again a bestseller—all around the world.
A French court slapped writer Alain Soral with a $13,000 fine and a suspended prison sentence of six months for saying the Nazis should have finished killing the Jews of Europe.Michigan requires public schools to teach about Holocaust
The sentence, handed down Tuesday, was over Soral’s Facebook post of last year about Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, two anti-racism activists who helped track down dozens of Nazi war criminals.
“This is what happens when you don’t finish the job,” Soral wrote about an article on a state honor conferred on the Klarsfelds by Germany.
A judge found Soral, who is a well-known writer in far-right circles and an ally of the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, guilty of “justifying war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Le Figaro reported Tuesday. Soral has had multiple previous convictions for minimizing or mocking the Holocaust.
The Holocaust during World War II and the 1915 to 1920 massacre of Armenians must be taught in Michigan public schools under a law signed by Governor Rick Snyder on Tuesday.Israeli Company Invents Virtual Personal Trainer Headphones (VIDEO)
The new law recommends a combined six hours of genocide lessons be taught at some point between grades 8-12, and requires Snyder to make appointments to a 15-member genocide education panel.
The law says instruction doesn’t need to be limited to the Armenian massacre and the Holocaust, but those were the only two mass killings formally acknowledged in the law.
Snyder released a letter explaining his signature Tuesday, noting that not all governments and nations accept the definition of genocide as put forth by the United Nations.
“Teaching the students of Michigan about genocide is important because we should remember and learn about these terrible events in our past while continuing to work toward creating a more tolerant society,” Snyder said in the statement.
The Israeli company LifeBEAM has created the first augmented reality (AI) personal trainer headphones to use while exercising.WATCH: Cutting-Edge Israeli Tanks and Drones Featured at World’s Biggest Defense Show
Within 90 minutes on the Kickstarter online crowd-funding platform, LifeBEAM exceeded its funding goal of $100,000 for the “Vi” headphones. The funding has now surpassed $500,000.
The headphones feature 11 aerospace-grade biosensors that track heart rate, location, weather, elevation, cadence, and more to develop a personalized exercise program. The application can adapt to the user over time and even provide recommendations in real time, coaching users during their workouts.
Additionally, users can listen to music and stream videos while exercising.
“By improving a person’s awareness of their own behaviors, environment, and real-time physiology, Vi provides an inspiring and truly smarter workout experience. We call Vi an ‘Awareable,’ as it’s the first and only wearable with the power to actually be aware of a person’s activity patterns and coach their behavior in real time,” said Omri Yoffe, CEO and co-founder of LifeBEAM, which is based in New York City and has R&D centers in Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and Asia.
Israel’s experience fighting terrorism has made its pavilion at Eurosatory 2016, the world’s largest defense and security exhibition, a popular destination for nations looking to upgrade their anti-terror capabilities, especially in light of major terror attacks in Orlando and Paris, Globes reported Monday.Nano Textile says it can make any fabric antibacterial
Thirty Israeli defense and security companies are being featured at the convention in Paris this week, and are drawing attention from many prospective government buyers, especially in Europe.
“Europe is recovering and Israeli industry is feeling this in terms of the volume of orders and the level of interest by many countries in new and advanced weapons systems,” Israel Military Industries president and CEO Avi Felder told Globes. “In many European capitals, the threat of terrorism has changed awareness and sharpened the need for new and appropriate means as part of their preparations for extreme scenarios. First and foremost this is expressed in defense budgets that are getting bigger and bigger.”
Israel’s arms exports were at a ten-year low in the middle of last year, but, apparently in reaction to the terror attacks and the European refugee crisis, European defense purchases from Israel grew to $1.6 billion for 2015. Overall, Israeli defense sales rose by $100 million in 2015, totaling $5.7 billion.
Nano Textile has developed a technology that can transform any fabric into one that kills bacteria, the Ramat Gan, Israel-based company said in a statement.Watch Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt in ‘Denial’ Trailer
The company said the cost-effective technology permanently prevents the growth of bacteria on both natural and synthetic fibers, can prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections and can reduce cross contamination between patients and medical staff, helping reduce secondary infections.
Any readymade textile is transformed into an antibacterial one by embedding zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles onto the fabric, the company said. ZnO is known for its antibacterial properties and has been approved by the FDA as safe. Nanoparticles of ZnO eradicate even antibiotic resistant bacteria such as Methicilin-resistant Staphylocossus aureus (MRSA), Nano Textile said.
Holocaust denial is a confusing thing. It’s kind of like saying that Barack Obama isn’t the President, or that Tuesday comes after Friday—the idea doesn’t even need to be engaged with. It’s self-evident! And yet, for Deborah Lipstadt, the task of proving the existence of a sustained effort to systematically murder Europe’s Jews proved far more difficult than she could’ve ever imagined.
The forthcoming film Denial tells the story of Lipstadt’s legal battles with famed Holocaust denier and historian David Irving. After describing Irving’s Holocaust denial as purposefully obtuse and a distortion of history in her own book, Lipstadt, a historian herself, was sued for libel. In England, Irving’s home country, the burden of proof is placed upon the defendant, not the claimant. In order to protect her name, Lipstadt rebuffed the idea that Holocaust denial was a legitimate academic choice, and had to prove the existence of the Holocaust in court. (Lipstadt also wrote The Eichmann Trial for Nextbook Press, part of its Jewish Encounter Series).
Starring Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt and Timothy Spall as David Irving, Denial will be released on September 30. Watch the newly released trailer below:
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.
