Monday, June 27, 2016
Prager U Video: Why Don't Feminists Fight for Muslim Women
Are women oppressed in Muslim countries? What about in Islamic enclaves in the West? Are these places violating or fulfilling the Quran and Islamic law?Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why Don't Feminists Fight for Muslim Women?
In Prager University's newest video, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an author and activist who was raised a devout Muslim, describes the human rights crisis of our time, asks why feminists in the West don't seem to care, and explains why immigration to the West from the Middle East means this issue matters more than ever.
Culture matters. It ‘s the primary source of social progress or regression. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the status of women. The Judeo-Christian culture -- and perhaps a more apt word is civilization -- has produced over time the law codes, language and material prosperity that have greatly elevated women's status.
But this progress is not shared everywhere.
There are still hundreds of millions of people that live in a culture -- the Islamic, for instance -- that takes female inferiority for granted. Until recently, these cultures -- the Western and the Islamic -- were, for the most part, separated. But that is changing. Dramatically so.
Large numbers of immigrant men from the Middle East, South Asia and various parts of Africa have brought a different set of values to the West, specifically Europe. More than a million arrived in 2015 alone. More are on the way.
As a result, crimes against girls and women -- groping, harassments, assaults and rape - have risen sharply. These crimes illustrate the stark difference between the Western culture of the victims and that of the perpetrators.
Phyllis Chesler: The American Gulag
Left censorship is going from bad to worse.Western Universities: The Best Indoctrination Money Can Buy
For years, beginning in 2003, I have personally faced both censorship and demonization. When I began publishing pieces about anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and Islamic gender and religious apartheid at conservative sites, I was seen as having "gone over to the dark side," as having joined the legion of enemies against all that was right and good.
My former easy and frequent access to left-liberal venues was over. I learned, early on, about the soft censorship of the Left, the American version of the Soviet Gulag. One could think, write, and even publish but it would be as if one had not spoken--although one would still be constantly attacked for where one published as much as for what one published.
Since then, Left censorship has only gotten worse. (There is also censorship on the Right--but not quite as much.)
A week ago, a colleague of mine was thrilled that a mainstream newspaper had reached out to him for a piece about the violent customs of many male Muslim immigrants to Europe. He discovered, to his shock, that his piece had been edited in a way that turned his argument upside down and ended up sounding like American Attorney General Loretta Lynch's view, namely, that home-grown terrorists need "love and compassion," not profiling or detention.
I told him: One more left-liberal newspaper has just bitten the Orwellian dust. He could expose this use of his reasoned view for propaganda purposes--or wear out his welcome at this distinguished venue.
The tendency of modern liberals to wring apologies out of governments for the actions of their ancestors, from the slave trade to Orientalist depictions of the peoples of Islam, is a pointless attempt to re-write history. There are, of course, no calls for Muslim governments to apologize for anything from their slave trade to the early Arab conquests.
"The ethics of establishing a campus in an authoritarian country are murky, especially when it inhibits free expression." -- Professor Stephen F. Eisenman, Northwestern University (which has a branch in Qatar)
Oxford and Cambridge, have accepted more than 233.5 million pounds sterling from Saudi and Muslim sources since 1995 -- the largest source of external funding to UK universities.
"Several agreements made between the MEC [Oxford's Middle East Centre] and donors appear to indicate that funders have sought to influence the centre's output and activities." -- Robin Simcox, A Degree of Influence, 2009, p.35
One of those "dilemmas" is the influence by teachers across the United States on impressionable students who organize Israel Apartheid Weeks. They join with assorted anti-Semitic demonstrators, condemn Israel for every sin under the sun, and use intimidation against Jewish and Zionist colleagues, but are never told any historical, legal, or political facts by their equally biased faculties.
Why Zionism Is Americanism
An excerpt from Jeffrey Rosen’s new biography of the Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis shows the extraordinary jurist thinking about America and IsraelThe Hamas leader who is reshaping US public opinion against Israel
Louis D. Brandeis’s Jeffersonian ideals about democratic participation and small-scale self-government eventually came to focus on a distant place where he dared to believe that they could be achieved. That place was Palestine. Raised as an unobservant and nonpracticing Jew, Brandeis experienced a remarkable personal and intellectual transformation in his fifties. He became the head of the Zionist movement in America.
How did he become a Zionist? Although he never denied his Judaism, Brandeis had identified only marginally with Jews since his childhood in Louisville, in keeping with the secular tradition of his ancestors. This changed in 1910. “Throughout long years which represent my own life, I have been to a great extent separated from the Jews,” Brandeis declared in 1914 during his remarks at an emergency meeting of American Zionists at the Hotel Marseilles in New York, which he agreed to chair at the request of the young Zionist and cultural critic Horace Kallen. “I am very ignorant in things Jewish.” But he went on to say that “recent experiences, public and professional, have taught me this: I find Jews possessed of those very qualities which we of the twentieth century seek to develop in our struggle for justice and democracy; a deep moral feeling which makes them capable of noble acts; a deep sense of the brotherhood of man; and a high intelligence, the fruit of three thousand years of civilization.” All of these experiences convinced Brandeis “that the Jewish People should be preserved.”
The Web is now referring the public to an “academic report” that came out from the Hamas front group CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations in the US), and UC Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender Studies that discusses “Islamophobia “ in the United States. The report identifies 33 specific non-profits in the U.S. that have been allegedly responsible for “attacks” against the Muslim population that are being done “unfairly.” Pro-Israel and pro-U.S. groups and individuals on the list fired back, mostly at CAIR, but neglected to mention the ultimate source for the bogus academic work report. While one critic of the report described it as “so far-out, steeped in campus Marxist radicalism and Critical Theory jargon, that it must be read to be believed,” even he failed to note that the pseudo-academic report was produced by an Arab UC Berkeley lecturer from the Department of Near East Studies at Cal who knows how to use the rhetoric of the student revolutionary to perfection.Ivory Tower Agita: On Israel and the Past, The Left Loses Its Way
His name is Hatem Bazian and he is a Hamas apparatchik on the faculty at UC Berkeley who uses California and US tax dollars to finance his jihad against Israel and the United States right from the Bay area campus. Bazian, has used the California educational system since his undergraduate days as a leader of the Palestinian movement at his alma mater, San Francisco State University, called the General Union of Palestinian Students, or the GUPS for short.
The GUPS is an official terrorist sponsoring group in Gaza and in Europe as well. Bazian took the GUPS as a model and created the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) movement that has spread to campuses throughout the US and Canada, working to indoctrinate public opinion against Israel in the upcoming generations of students, including Jews.
While many groups discuss the campus situation in the United States regarding anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish and Israeli students across America and Canada, few address the main source of all this, a man who could be dubbed the Yasser Arafat wannabe of the academic circuit and who once even called for an “Intifada” in America.
Never before have liberals and progressives had so little in common; indeed, the words themselves are beginning to mean very different things.UK Labour Party: Haven for Racists?
The Democratic Party is suffering through a summer identity crisis, courtesy of Bernie Sanders’ now-unwinding insurgency against the liberal establishment. His promises—of universal healthcare, tuition-free state college, and a more aggressive taxation of the top one percent—are forcing liberal Democrats to decide whether equality of outcome, rather than opportunity, is the new rallying cry of the old Left.
Israel is becoming a litmus test, too. Those who Sanders appointed to serve on the Democratic Party’s platform drafting committee include two outspoken critics of Israel, who intend to shift American foreign policy more in line with the Palestinian cause. One of them, James Zogby, tried to include language in the platform urging “an end to occupation and illegal settlements,” language he claimed Sanders had crafted himself. This amendment didn’t make it into the platform’s first draft, although Sanders surely isn’t finished trying to change the official party line on Israel.
The Democratic Party has been staunchly pro-Israel since the country’s inception in 1948. Jewish-Americans, who mostly count themselves as liberals, vote the Democratic ticket nearly 80 percent of the time. Progressives are forcing liberals in general, and Jewish liberals in particular, to choose sides. Meanwhile, Republicans, whose support for Israel has remained unshakable, hope to become the beneficiaries of party defections.
Sanders has acknowledged Israel’s right to defend itself, but finds disproportionate Palestinian losses to be unacceptable. How Israel is supposed to reduce civilian casualties in these asymmetrical wars it is forced to fight, where rockets and playpens, terrorists and toddlers, share the same household, is a matter that neither Sanders, nor any progressive, has an answer for.
It is hard to believe that the party once led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who assisted President Bush in leading the war on terror and fighting expansionist Islamist movements, is now being fought over and led by a man who voted against banning Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization.For first time, Democrats to condemn BDS, recognize Palestinian right to self govern
The idea that a single totalitarian Caliphate would bring increased democracy and stability, let alone civil and political rights, to an increasingly factional, corrupt and unstable Middle East, appears more a childlike, logic-defying fantasy.
Isn't it usually secular societies that protect the rights of religious minorities, including Muslims, to practice their faith?
I am not a Jew, and I have no links to Judaism. But if being a Jew offends antisemitic racists, then I am happy to call myself Jew, and to stand up and be counted with the Jews as a minority facing increased persecution across Europe.
The Democratic Party plans to declare in its platform opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a top priority for the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, The Jerusalem Post has learned.London Mayor Sadiq Khan to 'Post': I have zero-tolerance for anti-Semitism in my city
In a detailed briefing on the platform's language exclusive to the Post, the Democrats would declare that Palestinians "should be free to govern themselves in their own viable state, in peace and in dignity."
The party will also recommit itself to maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge in the region and "oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement."
Both of these commitments are new to the Democratic Party Platform: its commitment to Palestinian self-determination, as well as to its fight against BDS, a movement which seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state in favor of the creation of a freed Palestinian state.
Last Sunday I was honored to attend the annual Iftar at Finchley Reform Synagogue, one of a number where I have been welcomed in my first Ramadan as mayor of London.PreOccupiedTerritory: In Compromise, Obama To Ban Muslim Guns (satire)
During my time there, it was inspiring to hear that the synagogue has been hosting local Somali Bravanese worshipers since their community center was burned down in an arson attack three years ago. Many of these individuals had never set foot in a synagogue before, but now friendships have developed over shared meals, and the two communities held an Interfaith Succot Festival at a local shopping mall last year.
This is just one example I’ve witnessed through my attendance at a wide variety of Iftars this Ramadan, of faith groups coming together. It has been humbling to see people from many backgrounds finding common ground as we break the fast. London’s greatest strength is our diversity and it’s wonderful to see Londoners celebrating our capital’s different traditions, determined to stand up to division.
As a British Muslim, I am no stranger to prejudice. I know what it’s like to be discriminated against just because of your background or religion. That’s why I promise to fight racism in all its forms and will make challenging the alarming rise in anti-Semitism in recent years a priority.
In my first weeks as mayor I am proud to have signed the Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism pledge.
This morning, President Obama ordered the immediate implementation of a ban on all firearms of the Muslim persuasion from entering the US, following weeks of tension over gun control, immigration, Islamic terrorism, and prejudice against gays that followed a shooting attack in Florida that killed dozens. The president has directed the Attorney General and immigration authorities to implement a partial measure aimed at defanging Republican opposition to his policies and addressing the issues themselves.Israel’s Odds and Lessons From Napoleon’s Enemies
With Executive Order 4556, Obama used his authority to bar all handguns, rifles, automatic weapons, and military-grade firearms documented as belonging to the Islamic faith from gaining entry to American soil. In so doing, analysts say, the president is banking on Republican suspicion of Muslims to shield him and the Democratic Party from fallout over restricting guns.
“It’s a gamble, but not a big one,” explained A. R. Fiteen, a writer for Guns & Ammo magazine. “Domestic gun manufacturers, whom the NRA chiefly represents, are unlikely to care that foreign guns are being stopped at the border, and may even welcome such a development. I can’t see the GOP making a big deal out of this, and I think they’d be happier if Obama had banned homosexual guns as well, or instead, but the current political climate isn’t exactly conducive to that.”
Congressional Democrats appear resigned to the limited move. “It’s bittersweet, and insufficient, but it’s probably all we’re going to get for now,” said former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. “I’m not happy about the singling out of Muslim weapons, which obviously strikes me as discriminatory, but I can’t see how it’s illegal, given that firearms are shielded by the Second Amendment, not the First.”
In contrast, Israel’s enemies have always fought as alliances, whether the formal military alliance of front-line Arab states that took part in wars of ’48, ’67 and ’73, or the informal political-military alliances behind irregular armies like Hezbollah. And, as Napoleon discovered time and time again, the joint decision making inherent in a military alliance frequently robs allied armies of their ability to act flexibly or respond quickly to take the initiative, making them vulnerable to nimbler opponents under more unified leadership.Fighting BDS by reaching out to the Christian community
Keep in mind that Napoleon’s enemies at least had a common goal of stopping his conquest of Europe, which meant the French Emperor had to exploit subtle divisions in each of his “united” enemy’s political and military situations and leadership. In contrast, Israel’s “allied” enemies have been at each other’s throats for the better part of a century, with cultural antagonisms rooted in religious sectarianism and tribal conflict going back far longer. This has only enhanced the ability of Israel’s small but united force to defeat the far larger but disunited forces arrayed against her time and time again.
The fact that Israel (in contrast to her enemies) does not harbor genocidal aims offers another ironic military advantage to the Jewish state. For soldiers who know they have a safe escape route back to home base (whether in Cairo, Damascus or Amman) are much more likely to retreat when confronted with the horrors of the battlefield. In contrast, an army (like Israel’s) that knows defeat is likely to lead to liquidation of themselves, their families and homeland is far more motivated to fight to the end.
Moving onto the propaganda battlefield, the Arab states arrayed against Israel are allied with a further two-dozen non-Arab Islamic states that have inherited the “automatic majority” of Non-Aligned Movement fashioned by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This is what contributes to the enemy’s overwhelming advantage within institutions such as the United Nations were the one Jewish state lacks the numbers needed to take the propaganda fight to the enemy.
Given these odds, Israel and her friends have wisely chosen to avoid direct confrontation and instead turned to their US ally to veto any anti-Israel initiative taken at the UN that might have binding legal authority, thus neutering the enemy’s advantage in this important theater. Such a strategy represents a classic flanking maneuver that resists the temptation to directly attack where the enemy is strongest in favor of clever tactics that make an opponent’s numerical superiority irrelevant.
Our side has yet to gain similar footing in the fight against BDS for reasons having to do with our numerical superiority and lack of unified command, at least in the US. And it is to this subject that we’ll turn to next.
There are more than two billion Christians in the world today, and that number is growing quickly. What I have seen is that every Christian has the potential to be a friend of the Jewish people, if we invest a little energy into reaching out to them.Jew hate: The intersection of the hard left, and the hard right.
Huge amounts of money are being invested by the American community into new ways to stop the anti-BDS efforts, but if we stopped to assess, we would see that an effective strategy has already been produced and proven.
And if we band together to further these efforts of reaching out to the next generation of Christians, we will see tangible results which up until now have only been a dream.
We should continue strengthening Jewish students on campus and educating American students who are open to hearing about Israel, but the Israel advocacy strategy would not be complete without including the next generation of Christians as well.
The author is senior vice president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Israeli university cancels prize to Breaking the Silence
Today, several neo-Nazi groups rallied in Sacramento, and were met with a counter protest.
Traditionalist Workers Party, Blood and Honor, the Golden State Skinheads and other neo-Nazi white supremacist groups violently clashed with a group calling themselves Antifasac. Official estimates are 30 skinheads, with over 400 gathering in opposition.
Ten people were taken to area hospitals, 2 with life threatening injuries after the clash at the State Capitol. Nine men and one woman were injured
The Traditionalist Workers party is headed by Mathew Heimbach, Jew hater and a fan of the Hezbollah terror group.
The president of Ben-Gurion University cancelled a decision to award a prize to an Israeli NGO that tracks alleged abuses of Palestinians by IDF soldiers, arguing the group is too far beyond the national consensus.Playing the Jewish Card to Promote BDS
The Breaking the Silence organization was chosen in May by the Middle East Studies faculty of the university to receive the Berelson prize for Jewish-Arab understanding, worth NIS 20,000 ($5,145). The prize is awarded annually.
University President Rivka Carmi decided the organization, which has been highly controversial in Israel, was not an appropriate awardee, the Israeli news site Haaretz reported on Sunday.
The university said in a statement that Breaking the Silence “is an organization that is not in the national consensus, and the giving of the prize is liable to give a appearance of political bias.”
In contrast to its innocent-sounding name, Jewish Voice for Peace actually shares the most dangerous and radical positions of the BDS movement; it supports a Palestinian claim to a “right of return” for refugees, which would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state, has promoted the lie that the Al-Aqsa mosque is under threat, and praised increased Palestinian violence over the last 8 months as “resistance.” Their pinned Tweet is from October 2015 praising MSNBC for its “courage” in airing a series of maps that claim to show Palestinian land loss – which MSNBC later apologized for, admitting the map was “completely wrong.”French town declares boycott of Israeli settlement goods
JVP deliberately exploits its Jewish character to attempt to shield the BDS movement from accusations of anti-Semitism, which explains the headline of its director Rebecca Vilkomerson’s piece for the Washington Post: “I’m Jewish, and I want people to boycott Israel.”
The implication is that anyone who might be uncomfortable with the idea of singling out the world’s only Jewish state for boycotts and demonization now has the go-ahead to target Israel, because they have Rebecca Vilkomerson’s Jewish approval. But a closer look at her article shows that her arguments supporting BDS are so weak, her religion might be the only card she has left to play.
A municipality near the French capital passed a motion declaring a boycott of Israeli settlement goods and vowing further research and labeling on other products from the Jewish state.Greens draw outrage, ‘anti-Israel’ accusations, over proposal to add BDS to party policies
The council of Bondy, located north of Paris, whose mayor, Sylvine Thomassin, belongs to French President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party, passed the resolution with only five objections last week on June 23, the news website Rezo Citoyen reported on Saturday.
“The Municipal Council of Bondy decided to no longer buy products from Israeli settlements,” read the motion, which had only five objections. It also called for the application of European Commission regulations introduced in November, that require separate labeling for all settlement goods entering the European Union. The regulations so far are only enforced in Belgium, Britain and Denmark.
As long as the regulations are not applied in France, Bondy’s municipal council will “research prior to purchase the origin of products not clearly indicated.”
Members of the Green Party [Canada] are deciding whether to add Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel to a list of official party policies.SA organization pulls out of Hebrew U conference following BDS pressure
Party members are also voting on a resolution that would insist on revoking charitable status from the Jewish National Fund of Canada, which develops land in Israel.
Both are “outrageous” propositions, says Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement, and the latter is “tremendously hypocritical,” says JNF Canada, which promotes itself as an environmental leader.
The Green Party’s only MP and leader, Elizabeth May, says she is against both resolutions. She explained policy proposals come from the grassroots of the party and are not vetted before being put to members.
Results from an online ballot will become available next week. Proposals are either adopted, rejected or “yellow-lighted,” which would send them to the national convention floor in Ottawa, Aug. 5-7. May said the third option is the most likely.
Following pressure from the BDS movement The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) in South Africa withdrew its participation from a conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, BDS South Africa has said.Scandal: The New York Times’ Favorite Source on Iran Was Getting Paid by Boeing
The center was scheduled to participate in the Fifth Global Conference of the International Network of Genocide Scholars (INoGS), taking place this year in Jerusalem.
According to BDS South Africa, it reached out the CSVR urging them to reconsider their participation in the conference.
According to BDS South Africa, following its letter, the CSVR gave in and withdrew from the conference stating that it had “failed to carefully consider the ramifications of its participation when it initially registered for the conference.”
Despite the center’s boycott, researchers and speakers from across the globe are in attendance at the conference entitled “Intersections: Holocaust Scholarship, Genocide Research, and Histories of Mass Violence,” that opened on Sunday.
Noted speakers include professors and researchers from leading universities and institutions worldwide as well as H.E. Adama Dieng, the special adviser for the Secretary- General on the Prevention of Genocide at the United Nations, who will deliver a keynote address.
I’m not saying that Mr. Pickering’s opinion was purchased. He might have been in favor of a deal with Iran even if he had not been on Boeing’s payroll. Maybe Boeing sought him out and paid him because of his pre-existing views that he arrived at independently. But given Boeing’s huge financial stake in the outcome of the Iran deal, and given the high scrutiny that the Times applies to even the appearance of potential conflicts when it comes to financial interests and other public policy issues, this is a large lapse.Israel-Hater Spews Anti-Semitic, Vicious Op-Ed
Imagine if, say, this were a former federal climate science official opining in the pages of the Times about global warming legislation without disclosing that he was a paid consultant to a coal company. Or imagine if this were a former federal cancer official opining in the columns of the Times about smoking regulations without disclosing that he was a paid consultant to a cigarette company.
The whole matter would make a fine topic for the Times public editor. But Times readers have had no service from a public editor since the last item posted at the public editor’s blog on April 15, leaving a hiatus of more than two months during which the office charged with investigating matters of journalistic integrity at the Times has been vacant, or at least silent.
A public editor might ask whether Times editors or reporters bothered to ask Mr. Pickering if he had any paid consulting work for clients interested in business with Iran. What did Mr. Pickering tell the Times if the paper did ask? If the Times didn’t ask, why did it fail? Is the usual journalistic skepticism suspended when a source or contributing opinion writer is pushing a deal that would give billions to a terrorist enemy of Israel? The whole situation is an embarrassment to the Times. But to be embarrassed requires a sense of shame, which, alas, it isn’t clear that the Times has on these topics.
Aayesha J. Soni, a rabid hater of Israel, wrote an opinion piece in South Africa’s The Mail and Guardian, comparing Israel to Hitler.Historical Malfeasance of The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Why now?
For the first time in history, an Israeli ambassador was recently appointed to chair a permanent UN committee: Danny Danon, who now heads the UN’s Law Committee. Soni’s ramblings against Israel are disguised as a criticism of Ambassador Danon’s appointment.
What are the specific criticisms?
Soni accuses Israel of breaking “more UN resolutions than any other country in UN history,” and of “crimes against humanity,” claiming that this makes Israel “guilty of the same crimes as Hitler.”
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis specifically fits the international definition of anti-Semitism, as backed by many governments (though not South Africa’s). The comparison is not only untrue, but it is offensive to Israelis, Holocaust survivors, and all people of good conscience.
The Daily Telegraph (Australia) headline "Israeli Thunderbolt hostage-rescue raid on Entebbe was a drama worthy of Hollywood blockbusters" is certainly true. Despite the promising headline, the seemingly light "historical" article celebrating 40 years since the daring Entebbe rescue gives credence to a bizarre conspiracy theory from the 1970s.MEMRI: Anti-Semitic Poem In Ramadan Supplement Of Qatari 'Al-Sharq' Daily
Following an account of the well-known Israeli heroics popularized in various Hollywood movies, Telegraph history writer Marea Donnelly then ventures into less familiar territory. "[I]ntrigue surrounds" the choice of some westerners to join the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists in kidnapping Israelis, the article alleges. "Adding to the confusion," Donnelly continues, was the fact that the hijackers described themselves as belonging to the "Che Guevara Force and the Gaza Commando of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)".
Readers then unexpectedly encounter an ostensible cause to doubt the heroic narrative:
Then in 2007 Britian’s National Archives released a file suggesting Israel’s Security Service, the Shin Bet, had helped subversive agents in the PFLP stage the hijack.
First secretary at the British embassy in Paris, David Colvin, told superiors a contact in the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Association suggested the attack was designed to torpedo the rival Palestine Liberation Organisation’s standing in France, and prevent a perceived rapprochement between Americans and the PLO.
The apparent implication is that the aforementioned "confusion" can be attributed to the alleged Israeli engineering of the hijacking in which three Israeli hostages and one commando were killed.
The claim, popular in pro-Palestinian conspiracy sites, is based on a single "report" given to David Colvin, the first secretary at the British embassy in Paris in 1976. Recently released by the British archives, the document begins: "It might be useful to record some of the theories which are circulating about the incident." In other words, this document recounts various rumors or theories. The report notes the "theories," but does not assess them.
On June 20, 2016, the Qatari daily Al-Sharq published an anti-Semitic poem titled "The Plot of the Jews." The poem, by Dr. Khaled Hassan Hindawi, appeared on the last page of a special Ramadan supplement. It accuses the Jews of spreading corruption and of hatching plots against the Muslims by means of their "venomous serpents," such as Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-'Abadi and the leader of the Houthi Rebels in Yemen, 'Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi.Ex-Auschwitz guard, 94, appeals accessory to murder conviction
The following is a translation of the poem:
"The Plot of the Jews
"The Jew’s plot against the Muslims
"Their corruption is spread through ideas and bombardments
"With planes and with sharpened tongues
"[They send forth] venomous serpents
"That penetrate our fortress in times of distress.
"Let me list these serpents, they are Bashar and Sisi
"And Houthi and Haider Al-'Abadi"
A former Nazi SS guard who was sentenced to five years in prison by a German court for his role as an accessory in the murder of at least 170,000 people in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland has appealed his conviction.Munich state museum profited from Nazi-looted art, probe finds
Attorneys for Reinhold Hanning, 94, filed appeals of the verdict handed down earlier this month by the district court in Detmold, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, The Associated Press reported.
Lawyers representing nine Auschwitz survivors or their families as co-plaintiffs at the trial also appealed the verdict, according to the AP, which could not provide further details.
Hanning will remain free while he appeals.
He joined the Waffen SS in 1942 and was posted that year to Auschwitz. Hanning had joined Hitler Youth in 1934.
After World War II, German museums handed over artwork looted from Jews to the families of prominent Nazis responsible for the theft, often without demanding any proof of ownership, a British restitution group charged on Monday.US eyes Israeli short-range missile interceptor for Europe defense
“It seems that Bavaria thought restitution meant restitution to the Nazis rather than to their victims,” a statement from the Commission for Looted Art in Europe said.
The deception began as soon as American authorities handed over the restitution task to the Bavarian administration in 1949, according to the report. Thousands of artworks were in question.
Reportedly, German authorities kept some and sold others at deflated prices, including to members of prominent Nazi families such as the widow of Hermann Göring and Henriette von Schirach (nee Hoffmann), the wife of Hitler’s district governor, or “Gauleiter,” in Vienna.
The United States has tested the short-range interceptor missile used by Israel's Iron Dome system with a view to incorporating it or a future American counterpart in European-based air defenses against Russia, a US Army general said on Monday.Israeli satellite to help secure Rio Olympics
Developed with funding help from Washington, Iron Dome has had a 90 percent shoot-down rate against Palestinian rockets, Israeli and US officials say. But the system's $50 million unit price and limited reach have dampened its export appeal.
Visiting Israel, Major-General Glenn Bramhall of the US Army's Air and Missile Defense Command said he saw a new need to complement his corps' mid-range Patriot and THAAD interceptors with a thrifty system for less powerful missile threats.
To that end, he said, US assessors have test-launched Iron Dome's interceptor missile, "Tamir," which is jointly manufactured by Massachusetts firm Raytheon Co. and Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
"With all that is happening in Europe, especially the fact that Russia has really awakened itself and has really decided to rebuild its military and is really posing a threat, we are looking at how we can do the multi-tiered defense," Bramhall told Reuters at a conference hosted by the Israeli security organization iHLS.
An Israeli high-resolution imaging satellite will strengthen security during the Olympics and Paralympic Games taking place in Rio de Janeiro this summer.Israel to deliver drip irrigation systems to Paraguayan farmers
The announcement was made last week by Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann, who said the Eros-B satellite will allow very detailed inspections of the city during the sporting events in August and September, the G1 news portal reported Friday.
“This is an Israeli satellite at a low Earth orbit altitude capable of capturing high-resolution images of up to 50 centimeters [about 1 1/2 feet] in an area of 450 kilometers [some 31 miles], thus enabling the identification of objects, people, cars and goods,” Jungmann explained to the local media.
He added that the Eros-B satellite will be used on an experimental basis for six months as a security complement and, in the future, will support in border surveillance.
“Brazil has no need to worry because we have been in touch with the world’s best intelligence agencies and we will bring unique innovations to the Games,” Jungmann said. “We’ll have an international intelligence center to host 100 nations and their own intelligence centers, which is unprecedented.”
Israel is set to deliver this week 13 drip irrigation systems to Paraguayan small farmers.Israeli Lifeguard Discovers 900 Year Old Oil Lamp During Beach Run
The handover is the result of a technical collaboration process between the Jewish state and Paraguay’s local Federation of Production Cooperatives.
Agricultural producers of the Friesland and Volendam colonies, both located in the San Pedro province, will be the targeted beneficiaries. The delivery ceremony is scheduled for June 29, reported La Nacion newspaper.
“Through this project, small farmers in San Pedro will have access for the first time to drip irrigation systems. Producers will use it for growing vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet peppers and carrots, and will be assisted by the federation,” reported the Israeli Embassy in Asuncion.
An Israeli lifeguard found a candle estimated to be about 900 years old during a morning run on the beach in Tel Ashkelon National Park in southern Israel last Tuesday.Helen Mirren Meets Arab and Jewish Students Seeking Peace through the Performing Arts
“During the run I saw some planks washed up from the sea, and I stopped to pick them up”, lifeguard Meir Amshik said. “Suddenly, I saw part of the new cliff deteriorating. I made my way there and saw the intriguing candle lying there in its entirety. I thought it might be an antique, so I picked it up. I went back to the lifeguard’s tent and together with Avi Panzer, director of the lifeguard station, we contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).”
“The ancient oil lamp, which served as a light source, is dated to the 12th century AD (early Crusader period),” said Sa’ar Ganor, IAA archaeologist of the Ashkelon district. “You can really see the signs of wear and soot on the mouth. The candle was discovered as a result of receding coastal cliff, battered by the seasonal forces of nature.”
“The candle represents part of the cultural richness of the ancient city of Ashkelon, which was a city of commerce,” Ganor explained. “In Ashkelon, the port’s function is to import goods from the sea, as well as to export manufactured goods from all parts of southern Israel. In Ashkelon Coast National Park you can find evidence of preserved life starting from the Canaanite period 4000 years ago, until the modern era.”
Dame Helen Mirren (Woman in Gold, Trumbo, The Queen, The Madness of King George) last Thursday met with Arab and Jewish theatre students at The Billy Crystal Program for Peace through the Performing Arts, at the Department of Theatre Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.Iftar fund-raiser in Abu Gosh helps sick Palestinians get help in Israeli hospitals
At the university’s Garage Theatre, Dame Helen heard from Arab and Jewish students in the Department of Theater Studies what it’s like to act in both Arabic and Hebrew. They then gave a live performance in both languages. She also visited the Theatre Archive and Museum, where artist-teacher Emanuella Amichai, an award-winning choreographer and performance director, introduced her work Place-Identity, with Israeli-Arab student Elham Mahamid, which was performed last year as part of the closing event of the Jerusalem Art Festival.
At the Hebrew University’s Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, Dame Helen took a selfie with a picture of her good friend Billy Crystal. At the recent memorial service for Muhammad Ali, Crystal described the origins of The Program for Peace through the Performing Arts:
Hundreds of people gathered in the schoolyard at the Abu Gosh Comprehensive High School on Friday for a festive Ramadan break-fast dinner and to raise money to help Palestinian patients get treatment in Israeli hospitals.
The celebrants came from the town west of Jerusalem and from neighboring villages to the event that was organized by the Salametcom nonprofit organization.
After the meal, the guests were entertained with traditional music and Dabke dancing. The event was attended by Abu Gosh’s mayor, Issa Jaber, and by hospitalized children from Hadassah Medical Center who are being helped by Salametcom.
The group provides assistance to patients from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the moment they cross the checkpoint.
“Many times, family members of the patients face troubles with crossing the checkpoint and accompanying them. We drive them from there directly to the hospital and assist them with getting the correct treatment,” says Yaacob Ibrahim, the event organizer and one of the senior volunteers of the organization. “ “We assist with whatever possible – from subsidizing medicine to fun activity days for hospitalized children. We have a storage facility with wheelchairs and strollers, and we are holding this fund-raiser in order to fund that kind of equipment,” says Ibrahim. “We started off translating medical forms from Hebrew to Arabic, and in time we expanded our services.”
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