Friday, July 22, 2016
Melanie Phillips: The invisible Jewish victims
As a Western, ethnically based nation, Israel is therefore damned in the liberal mind three times over, and its military actions against “oppressed” Arabs to protect its people from further attack place it automatically beyond the pale.
It isn’t just Israelis who are thus airbrushed out of the victim picture but Diaspora Jews too. In Britain, there was widespread surprise that French Jews were targeted in the attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris following the atrocity at Charlie Hebdo.
In similar vein, there is shock at the vicious Jew-hatred which has openly erupted within the British Labour Party under the leadership of the ultra-left “friend” of Hamas and Hezbollah, Jeremy Corbyn.
Yet for many years French Jews have been under murderous attack by Muslims which the British media have for the most part failed to report at all. As for Jew-hatred in Britain, this has been rampant within British progressive circles for more than 15 years.
With their minds twisted by the demonization and delegitimization of Israel which is the default narrative of the liberal establishment, the British have failed to grasp that this is merely a fresh mutation of the oldest hatred – hatred of the collective Jew.
Refusing to see Israel or the Jewish people as victims is part of the moral sickness of the West. This has blinded people in the West to the threat they themselves face.
It guarantees the impotent shock with which they will continue to respond to the atrocities and challenges which are undoubtedly and tragically yet to come.
Caroline Glick: Turkey – Roger out
To make a long story short then, the Turkish military is no longer capable of cooperating in any meaningful way with the US or NATO . Erdogan, never a reliable ally, is now openly hostile.Abbas Hugs War Criminal President of Sudan, Aims to “Restrain Israeli Movements” in Africa
He is in the midst of committing aggression against NATO forces at Incirlik. And he is embracing Turkish jihadists who are ideologically indistinguishable from ISIS.
The US surrender to Russia means that America cannot protect Turkey from Russia. And Erdogan has chosen to blame American for Turkey’s fast approaching economic doomsday.
Under the circumstances, if NATO takes its job of protecting the free world seriously, it has no choice but to quit with the business as usual routine and kick Turkey out of the alliance, withdraw its personnel and either remove or disable the nuclear weapons it fields in the country.
As for anti-ISIS operations, the US will have to move its bases to Iraqi Kurdistan and embrace the Kurds as the strategic allies they have clearly become.
In the aftermath of the failed coup, Turkey is a time bomb. It cannot be defused. It will go off. The only way to protect the free world from the aftershocks is by closing the border and battening down the hatches.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is coordinating with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a wanted war criminal, in order to “restrain Israeli movements” in the African continent, the PA’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. The International Criminal Court charged al-Bashir with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur, where he is accused of seeking to exterminate three non-Arab ethnic groups.
“President Mahmoud Abbas and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir discussed developing a strategy for the African continent and coordinating to restrain Israeli attempts to make a breakthrough in Africa,” Riyad al-Maliki told reporters in Khartoum.
Abbas kicked off his three-day visit to Sudan on Tuesday, embracing al-Bashir upon his arrival and signing a number of bilateral agreements — including one to create a mechanism for consultation between the PA and Sudan.
In a Facebook post published after their meeting, Abbas extended his support to the Sudanese government and expressed “solidarity with Sudan against unjust economic sanction [sic].”
Man Who Complained He’s Called “Muslim Pig” Calls Jews “Pigs”
On the ABC Australia’s July 18 Q&A program, Muslim audience member Khaled Elomar asked Australian anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson a question,Over 25,000 March in Jerusalem’s Largest-Ever Pride Parade
KHALED ELOMAR: Why? Simply because people like yourself, who have extremely dangerous and disturbing rhetoric, it’s a fuel to hatred, bigotry and ignorance. You should listen to what you say.I feel for Mr Elomar, I really do. Or at least I would – if he wasn’t a vile hater and deceitful hypocrite.
A man who blamed Pauline Hanson for being called a ‘Muslim pig’ by the Australian public has gone on expletive-ridden Facebook rants about Zionism and capitalism and told the One Nation leader to self-harm.
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But it has been revealed Mr Elomar has gone on angry rants on social media – after accusing Ms Hanson of using ‘extremely dangerous and disturbing rhetoric’.
‘To the Zionists and Capitalists of the world, go f*** yourselves. We want peace mother f******,’ he wrote.
Mr Elomar has also repeatedly belittled Ms Hanson on his Facebook page telling the One Nation leader to ‘uppercut herself’.
Over 25,000 people participated in Jerusalem’s 15th annual LGBT pride parade on Thursday, the largest such event to ever take place in the Israeli capital.Netanyahu: LGBTs an integral part of Israeli society
Participants first gathered in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park at 5:45 PM, then chanted and marched with banners calling for equality along the city’s downtown area, much of which was closed off to vehicles.
Knesset members from various political parties — including Likud, Zionist Union, Meretz, and Yesh Atid — were also in attendance.
“This is a day of love and happiness,” said Yair Lapid, chairman of Yesh Atid. “I think that the ability to accept others is the basis of human society. Anyone who is unable to accept that—they’ve got a problem.”
Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan of Likud echoed these sentiments, saying before the march: “We live in a Jewish and democratic state, I grew up in a religious household, and I graduated from a yeshiva high school. The most important principle that we were taught was ‘Love your neighbor as yourself—this is the whole Torah,’ and this is the thing that has kept the Jewish people throughout the generations.”
“My expectation of rabbis and leaders of this community is that they be a unifying voice, a voice that consolidates, of tolerance, of accepting the other and the different. A voice of unity and not of division and hatred,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the LGBT community is an integral part of Israeli society, calling the pride parade in Jerusalem a “march of unity” for all those who believe in equality. The Hebrew message was followed by an English video stressing the differences between the treatment of homosexuals in Arab countries and Israel.Jerusalem rabbis speak out in support of the Pride Parade
In a Facebook post and video in Hebrew, the prime minister wrote that those who participated in Thursday’s event “will be marching for one principle: All human beings are equal, all human beings were created in God’s image, all human beings have a right to live their lives as they choose, with dignity and security.”
Some 25,000 people, according to police estimates, marched Thursday evening at the fifteenth annual Jerusalem gay pride parade under heavy security after a deadly stabbing attack that took place at last year’s event.
Netanyahu paid tribute to Shira Banki, 16, who was murdered at the 2015 parade in the capital by an ultra-Orthodox extremist, calling her a “brave, talented and loved” child.
Despite hundreds of rabbis speaking out against Jerusalem’s gay parade and Rabbi Yigal Levenstein’s anti-gay comments, a Jerusalem-based Orthodox rabbi nevertheless gave full support to the event.Israel trying to quash discussion of EU document blaming 'occupation' for terrorism
“I feel there is a community who is being oppressed at the moment, and society is judged on how you treat your disenfranchised,” Rabbi Donniel Hartman told The Jerusalem Post.
Hartman is president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, a pluralistic research center for Jewish thought. He voiced strong backing for the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade and even participated in the march.
The Orthodox rabbi was highly critical of the recent rhetorical attacks on the gay community and said it was critical for Israeli society as a whole to rally around LGBT people.
Israel is trying to prevent an internal EU document blaming Palestinian terrorism on the “occupation” from coming up for discussion in EU institutions in Brussels, The Jerusalem Post has learned.French President Meets Abbas, Stresses Fragility of Mideast
The paper, drafted late last year by all the EU countries with consulates in Jerusalem and embassies in Ramallah, stated that the wave of knifing attacks, car ramming and shootings since October is – as the EUobserver reported this week – “due, in large part, to Israel’s occupation.”
The EUobserver, which saw the 39-page paper, wrote that according to the document, the attacks that began in October and have since then claimed some 40 lives “began after right-wing Israeli politicians and religious groups began to question the status quo on Arab rights at the Temple Mount complex in the Old City.”
But, the document claimed, the loss of hope in a two-state solution and poor living conditions formed the “psychological root” for the terrorism.
President Francois Hollande has stressed the “fragility” of the Mideast situation with mounting violence in a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.In rare call, Netanyahu offers Abbas condolences on brother’s death
In the meeting Thursday evening, the French president said that “recreating a political perspective is urgent,” a statement from Hollande’s office said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet with Abbas on Friday in Paris.
The French statement noted the report this month by the Quartet of Mideast negotiators — the U.N., U.S., European Union and Russia — that said Israel’s settlement expansion is eroding the viability of a Palestinian state and raises “legitimate questions” about its commitment to a two-state solution. It calls on Palestinians to “act decisively” to stop incitement to violence.
The French statement noted France’s wish for an international conference.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Friday to offer condolences on the death of his brother, an Israeli official told AFP.Poll: Majority of Israelis Attach Little Importance to Relations With Palestinian Authority; View Egypt as Crucial
Abbas’s brother Omar died in Qatar Thursday, with the funeral taking place on Friday. He had been suffering from cancer and had been undergoing treatment in Tel Aviv’s Assuta Medical Center.
The official, in the Prime Minister’s Office, said Netanyahu called Abbas on Friday but that the conversation was “only to offer condolences.” No other topics were discussed, he said.
Palestinian state media confirmed the call.
Relations between the two men are frosty, with Netanyahu accusing Abbas of libeling the Jewish people last month after he suggested some rabbis had called for Palestinian wells to be poisoned. The Israeli leadership has often accused the Palestinian leader of promoting incitement against Israel in Palestinian media, thereby encouraging violent attacks against Israelis.
A new survey revealed that most Israelis attach little importance to relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Thursday.German TV Airs Pro-Erdogan European Lobbyist Claim of ‘Zionist Parallel Structures’ Behind Failed Coup in Turkey
According to the report, the survey – conducted by the Rafi Smith Institute on behalf of Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, associated with Germany’s Social Democratic Party – examined how the Israeli public views cooperation between the Jewish state and various Arab countries.
The poll found that approximately 54 percent of the public placed Israel’s relationship with the PA in one of the two bottom slots among five options. The others were: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco. Some 68% ranked Egypt in the first or second slot, while 44% put Jordan in one of the two top spots. Another 35% listed relations with Saudi Arabia in one of the two top slots.
Despite the low rating given to relations with the PA, 26% of the respondents rated it in first place, with only Egypt topping that, at 37%.
Arab-Israeli respondents rated the PA in first place and Egypt second.
A Turkish-German lawyer falsely claimed on Sunday that a Jerusalem Post article acknowledged the existence of “Zionist parallel structures” behind the failed coup in Turkey last weekend.Israel official on first visit to Chad in 40 years
Fatih Zingal, deputy chairman of the Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD), made this assertion during a panel discussion on the widely viewed “Anne Will” show, broadcast on Das Erste, Germany’s main public network – as part of his defense of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s massive crackdown against members of the military, judiciary and academia, in the aftermath of the quelled attempt to oust him.
Zingal, among five panelists on the show, said that the English-language Israeli paper wrote that these “Zionist structures” are considered “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Parallel structure” is a common catch-phrase used by Erdogan and his AKP Party to describe cleric Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in the United States. It is Gülen whom Erdogan immediately accused of being behind the failed coup, which began Friday night and was quashed by the government on Saturday.
A top Israeli official traveled to Chad earlier this month for talks on bolstering ties, the first such visit since ties were severed in 1972, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.IDF Blog: Facebook Live: Sgt. Amit from the Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion
Foreign Ministry Director Dr. Dore Gold met President Idriss Deby at his palace in the northern Chad on July 14, as Israel is pressing a campaign to improve ties with Africa, the Ministry said.
The announcement came two days after Israel renewed diplomatic relations with Guinea after a 49-year break and close on the heels of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's four-nation Africa tour.
Gold discussed with Deby "matters of common interest" and "strengthening bilateral relations, but did not agree a timetable for a full renewal of ties, foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.
Nahshon confirmed it was the first such high-level meeting since 1972, when Chad severed relations with Israel.
Relations between Africa and Israel have been strained over the years.
Last night, Sgt. Amit from a coed battalion helped take down two weapons smugglers, who were trying to pass five M-16s and 20 pistols from Jordan into Israel. The Lions of the Jordan Battalion, in cooperation with Israeli intelligence, may have prevented a large-scale attack endangering the lives of hundreds of Israelis.
Arab Attacked, Hospitalized for Posting Israeli Flag on Facebook
Haled Abu Mokh, an Israeli Muslim Arab, was attacked by other Arabs last week for posting a profile picture with Israel’s flag on Facebook. Haled, who works in a Jerusalem hotel, was caught by a fellow Arab worker surfing to his Facebook page, and the other man started cursing him out and threatening him. By the end of that day’s shift, that same worker followed Haled on the street and threw a stone on his head. Haled dropped to the ground and was later evacuated to hospital, where he received several stitches. He’s still suffering from dizziness.What Iran shows us about the global jihadist movement
Haled was a guest on Israel’s Channel 20 TV, where he told the host, Rinat Spivak, that he is used to these reactions: “These responses, it’s normal, wherever there are such extremist Arabs, but they won’t break me.”
“Why should I be afraid,” he answered the host’s next question. “We shouldn’t be afraid of them, they should fear me, not me of them. I walk the true path. This is the truth. I was born here, I opened my eyes here and saw the national flag. There was no Palestinian flag where I was born. The Star of David, that’s me, that’s how my mother raised me.”
Haled also made clear that “no one will shut me up! This only strengthened my resolve to love this wonderful country, and I’m not alone. There are other Arabs in this country who aren’t ready to live in fear. It’s a pity that there are some people who don’t understand what democracy is, and they live in a violent and barbaric reality. What kind of future are they going to have?”
According to the very State Department that pushed so hard for the Obama administration’s Iran appeasement deal, that same nation upon whom we have lavished over $100 billion, lobbied on behalf of and promised protection of its nuclear infrastructure, remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.Iran Preparing to Reopen Prohibited Nuclear Sites
While many are aware of the pernicious activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard across the globe, and the Khameinist regime’s support of Shia jihadist groups like Hezbollah, lesser discussed is Iranian collaboration with Sunni jihadists.
For the latest evidence of an alliance that might surprise those who view Sunni and Shia Muslims as diametrically opposed mortal enemies, look no further than the recent news out of the U.S. Treasury Department.
As reported in the always-insightful Omri Ceren’s latest dispatch, Treasury announced that it was imposing sanctions on three senior Al Qaeda members stationed in Iran.
According to the Treasury press release, it took such action to “disrupt the operations, fundraising, and support networks that help al-Qaida move money and operatives from South Asia and across the Middle East.”
Top Iranian leaders have instructed the country’s atomic energy organization to prepare for the reopening of multiple nuclear sites that had been shuttered as part of last summer’s nuclear agreement.Iran threatens faster uranium enrichment if nuclear deal is violated
Ali Larijani, the leader of Iran’s parliament, requested this week that the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization prepare a plan to reopen nuclear enrichment facilitates that had been shutdown as part of the effort to limit Tehran’s research into nuclear weapons technology, according to comments carried in Iran’s state-controlled media.
Iranian leaders are displeased with a recent United Nations report chastising the Islamic Republic for violating international agreements prohibiting the country’s work on ballistic missiles.
The U.N. described these repeated test launches as not consistent with international accords. Iranian leaders dismissed the report as “biased.”
Iranian lawmakers recently passed legislation in June 2015, mandating the country preserve its nuclear infrastructure if more sanctions are placed on the country.
Tehran’s nuclear chief on Wednesday threatened that Iran would quickly resume uranium enrichment at a faster pace than before if the US-led P5+1 were to violate the year-old nuclear deal, and the speaker of Iran’s parliament called for preparation to build a new nuclear plant to carry out such enrichment.PreOccupiedTerritory: Jews Of Iran Free To Hold Any Political Views The Government OKs (satire)
Speaking a year after the deal was signed, and amid Iranian complaints that promised economic advantages have yet to fully materialize, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said in a TV interview reported by Fars news that Iran can enrich uranium at an even higher capacity than before the agreement was signed. “We can go to better conditions compared with the past as quickly as possible,” he said. “Of course, this will happen if the other side violates the nuclear deal and this violation will be confirmed by the board (in Iran) which supervises (implementation of) the nuclear deal.”
Earlier Wednesday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani urged Salehi’s organization to get ready to build a new nuclear enrichment plant, in response to what he said were hostile measures by US officials and legislators. Iran’s nuclear agency, he said, must “prepare the plan for building a nuclear plant for enrichment to the degrees needed by the country, based on relevant laws, and inform the parliament on the process.”
The approximately twenty thousand Jews living in Iran today enjoy religious and political freedom rare in the rest of the Islamic Middle East, a recent report indicates, as they are allowed to espouse any political or ideological point of view that has already received approval from the central government.Nice attack: Bastille Day killer Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel 'planned second atrocity'
A survey of religious and political freedoms in Islamic countries conducted by the Beliefs and Ideology Academic Society (BIAS) revealed that despite the widespread impression that Jews in Iran are prohibited from exhibiting beliefs or politics out of line with those endorsed by the Supreme Leader, in practice the community is left unmolested if they hew to the ideological guidelines implicitly laid out for them by the country’s leadership.
Researchers from BIAS studied the political environment of Iranian Jews since the Islamic revolution of 1979, and found clear indications that the religious freedom enjoyed by the community is unparalleled elsewhere in the region, excepting Israel. “We found that the openness of Iranian authorities to free Jewish political and religious expression far outstrips that of neighboring Jordan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia,” wrote lead study author Forrest Furthetriis. “The same holds true for Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iraq, and Syria, for that matter. You simply won’t find Jews enjoying such freedom of expression in those lands the way you will in Iran.”
Furthetriis noted that according to the data assembled by the study, Jews were free to express their views on Zionism across a range of attitudes from indifference to vehement opposition. “We found data points along the whole segment of the spectrum between ‘I don’t see the State of Israel as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy’ to ‘Zionism is a criminal movement that must be eliminated at all costs,'” he explained. “All of those positions are in tune with the sensibilities set forth by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”
A chilling audio message recorded by Bastille Day killer Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel suggests a second atrocity was being planned for August, French prosecutors fear.Paris terror police swoop to arrest 20 in raids surrounding mosque
The revelation came as five alleged accomplices of the man who used a 19-tonne lorry to murder 84 people appeared in court today charged with terrorist offences.
At 5pm on July 14 - the day of the attack on crowds watching a firework display in Nice - Lahouaiej-Bouhlel recorded a message saying: “Chokri and his friends are ready for next month, they are currently with Walid,” according to Le Monde.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot dead by police and all of the names mentioned in phone messages recovered by investigators are covered by the four men — including Tunisian Chokri C — and one women who have been charged. However, prosecutors fear there could be other accomplices who are still at large and ready to strike.
The emergency operation in the Argenteuil area, north of the French capital, was triggered by an anonymous tip-off which indicated an imminent risk, authorities revealed.British lawmaker accuses Israel of causing rise in jihadism
Anti-terror police swooped on the addresses at midday local time (11am BST).
One search was in Park Avenue near the Val Notre Dame neighbourhood, where police arrested a family living, including children, near the Assalam mosque.
Witnesses said rubber bullets were used by police during the raid and the area is now cordoned off.
The second operation took place at a home in Avenue Maurice Utrillo near the Victor Dupouy Hospital - not in an Islamic bookstore as was reported on social media.
At least four women, including a pensioner, were arrested by the authorities.
A British lawmaker who said Israel would eventually disappear accused the Jewish state of being a major cause in the rise of jihadism worldwide.British Labour MP Berates National Union of Students for Treatment of Jews; Calls It a ‘Sad Day’ When He Agrees With Conservative Counterpart
Following the statement Thursday by Jenny Tonge, a House of Lords member from the Liberal Democrat party, the Board of Deputies of British Jews called on the party’s head to fire her.
Tonge said “the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel is a major cause of the rise of extreme Islamism and Daesh,” using the Arab-language acronym of the Islamic State terrorist organization. She said Israel was provoking a generation of violent extremists who would have “a justified grudge” against Israel and Britain.
Board of Deputies Vice President Marie van der Zyl in a statement said it was “another outrageous speech” by Tonge on the Middle East.
“It is time for Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron to expel her once and for all from the party,” the statement said.
A British Labour MP called it a “sad day” when he finds himself agreeing with a Conservative counterpart on the unjust treatment of Jews by the country’s largest student organization.American Studies Association discussing possible academic boycott of Turkey, but why stop there?
Wes Streeting made this comment on Wednesday, during a speech in parliament, in reaction to remarks made by Michael Gove against the National Union of Students (NUS).
Gove, a former secretary of justice and education, blasted the NUS after it decided to end the practice of allowing Jewish students to select a representative to a prominent anti-racism committee.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Gove said the NUS has morphed into “a chilling environment and a cold home for students, particularly those who are Jewish.” He added that there were “voices and individuals within the NUS who have not upheld the best traditions of academic freedom.”
According to Streeting, who served as president of the NUS from 2008 to 2010, the NUS shows a “lack of care towards Jewish students.”
ASA’s national council now is led by supporters of the academic boycott of Israel, including its current President Robert Warrior, formerly of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, now at the University of Kansas. Other BDS supporters on the national council include the controversial hate-tweeting Professor Steven Salaita (American U. Beirut), Nadine Nabar (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Jodi Melamed (Marquette University).Israel Advocacy Lawyer Calls Suit Against American Studies Association for ‘Discriminatory’ Boycott of Jewish State ‘Test Case’ for US Judicial System (INTERVIEW)
One of the concerns with academic boycotts is where to stop. If Israel is boycotted, why not China, Russian, Israel’s neighboring Arab countries, and dozens of other countries. It’s the dilemma I pointed out yesterday when I noted that when ASA adopted the Israel boycott, its then-President Curtis Marez justified singling out Israel because “one has to start somewhere”:
The American Studies Association has never before called for an academic boycott of any nation’s universities, said Curtis Marez, the group’s president and an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego. He did not dispute that many nations, including many of Israel’s neighbors, are generally judged to have human rights records that are worse than Israel’s, or comparable, but he said, “one has to start somewhere.”
So now supporters of the academic boycott of Israel face a test — expand the academic boycott to Turkey, or be revealed to be hypocrites at best, or as Alan Dershowitz predicted, anti-Semites who start and stop with the majority-Jewish state at worst.
ASA, along with numerous other faculty associations, has issued a statement condemning the Turkish academic purge, without calling for an academic boycott:
A new lawsuit challenging the American Studies Association’s (ASA) “discriminatory” academic boycott of Israel is a “test case” for the US judicial system, the attorney filing the suit told The Algemeiner on Thursday.New York Magazine Denies Supporting BDS, Despite Calling Sabra Hummus ‘Politicized,’ Suggesting Alternative Brand
“This case has two main purposes, one academic and the other to advocate for Israel,” said New York lawyer David Abrams, executive director of the Zionist Advocacy Center.
In a complaint filed Wednesday at the Kings County Court, the plaintiff — Athenaeum Blue & White — alleges it is being “unlawfully denied” joining the ASA as an institutional member on the basis of its Israeli origin, thereby violating the New York City Human Rights Law.
“Although the Defendants [ASA] are nominally open to membership to all not-for-profit organizations such as the Plaintiff, they have announced, in substance and effect, that Israeli organizations such as the Plaintiff are not welcome,” the lawsuit maintains.
New York Magazine told The Algemeiner on Thursday that it “does not support a boycott of Israel,” despite its designation of Sabra, a popular brand of hummus and other spreads, as problematic.Now That He's In Hot Water, Publisher of London, Ontario Arabic Magazine Tries to Distance Himself From Holocaust-Denying Editorial In, Um, His Own Rag
The attack on Sabra appeared in the cover story of the magazine’s July 11 issue in an article entitled “The Neurotic Eater’s Grocery List,” which featured a list of products the magazine considers “morally squishy.” Among these was Sabra hummus, which it called “politicized” because its parent company, Strauss, provides financial support to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The magazine also directed readers to an alternative, locally sourced hummus brand should Sabra’s support for the IDF “bug you.”
Responding the article, one reader wrote: “I’m… not sure why hummus is singled out for being ‘politicized.’ Don’t a lot of food companies get involved in political issues? I stopped buying Eden Foods products because of their stance on contraceptive coverage under Obamacare.”
A crucial point to make here: the Ontario government, which had previously advertised in this publication, including in the issue in which this Holocaust editorial (one which, BTW, is fully in line with Arab/Muslim consensus on the subject) appeared, is now saying all the right things:BBC Watch complaint on ‘banned’ book upheld
Angry reaction came from across the province Thursday, including from Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews.
"I want to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the statements in the Al-Saraha article," she said. "Statements like these, filled with hatred, prejudice and lies, have no place in our society."
Matthews says, neither she nor the premier knew the article would be published when they bought advertising space in the magazine. Matthews says the advertising will stop.
That's swell, Deb. As is this info:
Until yesterday, the City of London's immigration portal linked to the digital edition of the magazine, but the link has been removed.
As readers may recall, since late last year various BBC radio programmes have misled their audiences by promoting assorted versions of the inaccurate claim that Dorit Rabinyan’s book ‘Gader Haya’ (‘Borderlife’) has been banned in Israel.German man throws Nazi slur at the wrong person
December 2015, BBC World Service: BBC World Service ‘Newshour’ reports a ‘book ban’ that does not exist.
January 2016, BBC World Service: BBC World Service continues to promote the fiction of an Israeli ‘book ban’.
February 2016, BBC Radio 4: How an uncorrected inaccuracy became BBC conventional wisdom.
March 2016, BBC World Service: BBC WS yet again promotes inaccurate claim of Israeli book ‘ban’.
With previous efforts to alert BBC World Service programme makers to the inaccuracy having proved fruitless, after the February 22nd broadcast of ‘Front Row’ on Radio 4, BBC Watch submitted a complaint concerning the following inaccurate claims made in that programme:
A German man traveling by train in Austria was arrested after throwing racist insults at a woman and her son, Germany's English speaking news site, The Local, reported Tuesday.Large swastika painted on southern New Jersey home
The incident occurred after the young boy's foot touched the 65-year-old man's bag.
A passenger in the area intervened after which the German man responded, "I gassed hundred of tattooed pics like you in Aushwitz"
The passenger, a member of the EKO-Cobra, a special counter-terrorism unit in Austria, responded by arresting the German man.
A large swastika was painted on a home in southern New Jersey.‘Godfather’ actor: ’67 lines an offer Israel should refuse
The swastika was discovered Wednesday morning in suburban Mount Laurel, about 17 miles from Philadelphia. Police believe the Nazi symbol was painted on the house sometime after 10 the night before, the Jewish Exponent reported.
The family was not named, but a New Jersey radio station reported that the homeowner said she believed the family was targeted because her husband is Jewish. Also, there were pro-police signs on their lawn, according to the radio report.
Local police are investigating the incident.
Actor James Caan, best known for his role as tough guy Santino “Sonny” Corleone in “The Godfather,” on Thursday toured Jewish settlements in the West Bank and urged Israel not to return to its pre-1967 lines.New Peres center to showcase Israel tech, spark dreams
“The European and American demands to return to the 1967 borders — aren’t sensible, and I object strongly to those demands,” he said.
Caan was in Israel as a guest of the Albert Einstein Foundation and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His visit over the Green Line began at the statue commemorating the three teens kidnapped and killed in June 2014 — Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrach — in the Gush Etzion bloc.
After receiving an overview of the local history, Caan, who said he was surprised by the number of tourist sites in the area, added that he was “amazed by the beauty and uniqueness of Gush Etzion, the resilience of the people who live here and I express my full support for all who live in the land of Israel.
Former Israeli president Shimon Peres, together with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, laid the cornerstone today for the Israeli Innovation Center, which aims to be a visitors center as well a source of technological innovation.Shimon Peres: Following Maimonides
The new center, planned to open in 2018, will be located at the Peres Peace House on the Jaffa coast in the south of Tel Aviv. It aims to draw guests from around the world to learn about Israel’s achievements in the high tech sphere.
At the event attended by leading figures of the high tech industry, including Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. founder Gil Shwed and Yossi Vardi, Peres unveiled his aspiration to use the center to close the gaps between the Arab and Jewish populations, and between rich and poor, and lead to regional innovation collaboration.
Humanity’s future depends on the interaction between science and morality. Science empowers human beings, morality restrains them. It is the balance between the two which ensures human progress. Science which develops without a moral spine may destroy the world. On the other hand, morality which prevents science from developing may starve the world.
Only a proper balance between morality and science can ensure the continued existence and progress of humanity as a whole.
At the heart of Jewish faith lies the moral compass, and at the center of its historic compass lies the constant aspiration for true knowledge. This essence was written in stone at Mount Sinai, and became known as the Ten Commandments. These represent the moral certificate and wisdom of the Jewish people.
Even though over 3,000 years have passed, not even a single word of these commandments has been changed, and they have become the inheritance, the solid foundation, of Western civilization, most of which had bowed down to idols, submitted to tyrants, ignored justice and spilled blood.
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.
