Wednesday, January 04, 2017
David Collier: Why is there no State of Palestine?
There is no State of Palestine because the Arabs walked away from the negotiating table in 2000. Choosing instead to start the second intifada. Over 1000 Israelis were murdered
There is no State of Palestine because when Israel withdrew from Gaza and dismantled settlements, Hamas took control and launched rocket attacks. 1000’s of rockets have been fired at Israel.
There is no State of Palestine because in 2008, when Olmert, the Israeli PM, offered one to the Palestinian President, the Palestinians rejected it.
There is no State of Palestine because the Arabs are currently split into warring factions. The same type of divisions as we see exploding elsewhere in the Middle East.
There is no State of Palestine because too many Arabs (not all) simply do not accept, still will not accept, peaceful existence with Israel.
There is no State of Palestine because too many people, are invested in the conflict. This is especially true of the thousands of NGO’s who in a perverse symbiosis report on a conflict that would probably not exist without them.
100 years after Balfour, the UN are still kicking Israel as if somehow the Jewish State holds the key to the end of the conflict. You will not solve this conflict until you are honest about the cause.
We often hear claims that Palestinians are "native" or indigenous to the land of Israel, but does history back this up? It's worth taking a look:
UN Watch: Why the World's Worst Regimes Join the U.N. Human Rights Council
On Montreal's CJAD Radio, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer was asked if dictatorships should be welcomed to the U.N. Human Rights Council to engage them in dialogue in the hope of reform. Interviewed by Dan Delmar.
Palestinians face budget cuts after sharp fall in foreign funding
Foreign financial support to the Palestinian budget is running at about half the forecast level, the Palestinian Authority prime minister told local media on Tuesday, meaning deep cuts will have to be made to the budget this year.Evelyn Gordon: The Anti-Semitism the Left Ignores
At its cabinet meeting, the government said it expected to run a budget deficit of 4.12 billion shekels in 2017 ($1.06 billion), approaching 15 percent of gross domestic product.
"We had expected to get $1.2 billion in (external) support and offers but we have only received $640 million so far," Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah told Al-Quds newspaper.
Saudi Arabia has in the past been a reliable supporter of the Palestinians, as have the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, but it has cut back its contributions sharply in recent months.
Normally Saudi pays about $20 million a month into the budget, but it stopped making regular contributions last April, in part to apply pressure on President Mahmoud Abbas to implement political changes.
The European Union and the United States have also reduced direct budget support, preferring instead to fund development programs that target specific areas.
So far, however, only left-wing anti-Semites have tried to oust Jews from universities or organize boycotts of Jewish businesses. Granted, they often hide behind the fig leaf of “anti-Zionism.” But when, for instance, left-wing students burst into a Brooklyn College faculty meeting last year and demanded “Zionists off campus,” does anyone seriously think they were targeting evangelical Christians?Israel erased in UN schools
And sometimes, they don’t even bother with the “Zionist” fig leaf. When BDS advocates denied Rachel Beyda a seat on the UCLA student council’s judicial board in 2015, for instance, they did so because they deemed her Jewishness disqualifying in and of itself. True, after a faculty advisor ruled this unacceptable, the council held a revote and elected her. That’s precisely why grassroots hate is so different from the officially sponsored variety. It’s no accident that, as a study released last year shows, campuses where BDS groups are strong also tend to experience more anti-Semitism, because BDS activists are among the main perpetrators of campus anti-Semitism.
Left-wing anti-Semites are a vocal part of the Democratic Party’s base, even if most preferred Bernie Sanders to Clinton. So faced with a non-ideal choice between two candidates who both have anti-Semites in their base, you don’t have to be a racist ultra-nationalist to prefer the one whose supporters aren’t yet engaging in Nazi-style boycotts; you just have to think that protecting Jews’ livelihoods is a higher priority than protecting them from nasty rhetoric.
Rhetoric obviously does matter; every serious genocide scholar considers it the first step on the road to genocide. That’s precisely why Jews have always been so sensitive to anti-Semitic rhetoric, and Jewish Trump supporters are no exception. They’re far from untroubled by alt-right anti-Semitism. They simply consider the left-wing version more troubling still.
An Israeli investigation into school books used by United Nations-run schools in the West Bank were found to consistently delegitimize and demonize the State of Israel.SPME BDS Monitor: Repercussions of the Obama Abstention at the UN Security Council
These textbooks—written by the Palestinian Ministry of Education—are used in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in both Gaza and the West Bank.
However, the most shocking discovery is that the UN schools don't teach Palestinian children to recognize Israel as a country—not within the 1947 borders, nor any borders at all.
The research was presented by Dr. Arnon Gross who translated the books, and Dr. Ronni Shaked from the Harry Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In one of the history books, Zionism is defines as a colonialist movement that was founded by European Jews in order to gather Jews from all over the world and to put them in Palestine along with in other neighboring Arab countries. The textbooks argue that the Zionists do this via methods such as immigration and forcing the Arab population off their land.
No mention is made of the religious or historical connection of Jews to the Land of Israel or to Jerusalem in these textbooks used by UNRWA. The schools also make no mention of Jewish holy sites anywhere in their materials—no Western Wall, no Cave of the Patriarchs, and no Rachel's Tomb.
Instead, the textbooks teach that these are all Muslim holy sites which the Jews are trying illegitimately to take control of.
2016 was a bad year for BDS, with setbacks at universities and the state level. But the Obama administration’s unexpected decision to abstain from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli “settlements” has the potential to dramatically revitalize the BDS movement, particularly in the international arena and the local level.Fighting BDS in the courts
The furious reactions from the US Congress suggests that Obama’s decision may also prompt a withdrawal of American support for the United Nations. This shows how the BDS movement and its underlying antisemitism work to the detriment of international affairs, and a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The most significant BDS event in December, and possibly all of 2016, was the US decision to abstain from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli “settlements” as having “no legal validity,” and declaring that the UN would not recognize any changes to the 1949 Armistice Line (the “1967 border”) — except those agreed to through negotiations. The resolution defines all territories east of the “Green Line” as “Palestinian.” One clause specifically calls on states to “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”
Democratic countries worked to establish the International Criminal Court to put an end to war crimes in Africa -- and that too quickly veered from that path and directed its fire at Israel.Fighting BDS by Striking the First Blow
In a terrible role reversal, the victim was placed in a pillory. Humanitarian law became a joke, exalted principles became pawns in the hands of the worst extremists, and the courts became refuges for people who fan the flames of murderous hatred toward Israel. It seemed the state of the Jewish people would forever remain a permanent defendant in every legal forum. The attempts to harm Israel even reached the judicial system of Israel itself: As Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently stated, Israeli courts have been inundated with petitions and legal proceedings by foreign-funded radical leftist organizations, with the aim of wearing out the system.
Nevertheless, when it became clear that judicial warfare is a fact, ideas to harness the methods in Israel's favor arose. If terrorists' supporters can take advantage of legal loopholes, why not turn the lawfare weapon against them? Non-governmental organizations acting in the spirit of freedom, democracy and human rights took this important role upon themselves. The Shurat Hadin organization began to file claims for compensation from the perpetrators of terrorism, the American Lawfare Project organization successfully proved that the policy of companies in the Arab world to discriminate against Israelis violates U.S. law, and Spain's ACOM lobby group is waging a noble war against every attempt to boycott Israel on the Iberian Peninsula.
The weapon of judicial lawfare can pose a threat in the hands of a trained enemy, but it can also provide new opportunities. Now is the time to learn how to take up arms skillfully and wisely.
By the end of 2016, the United Nations will have adopted 20 resolutions against the state of Israel and four resolutions against all other countries combined. Since 2012, university students in the United States have been almost as aggressive, introducing roughly 100 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolutions against Israel, and at best a handful of resolutions against all other nations combined.Henry Jackson Society: HJS Research Fellow Rupert Sutton on Student Rights' work against antisemitism on campus
Judging from this imbalance, it seems that US students consider Israel the world’s foremost human rights violator — worse than Syria, China, Russia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Sudan, Bangladesh, Libya, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, South Korea, Brunei, Somalia and Saudi Arabia.
Of course, that’s ridiculous. Yet as a result of a sophisticated Palestinian nationalist campaign — plus a hefty dose of antisemitism — it’s modish for students to reserve their most extreme outrage for the US’ chief ally in the Middle East. The pro-Israel side, meanwhile, has proved completely ineffective.
We’re losing, in part, because most pro-Israel organizations have a long history of supporting Israel, not fighting for Israel. They operate on the assumption that the best way to battle BDS is through education — a long-term solution that won’t work in the campus battles as long as pro-Israel faculty and students remain in the minority.
Muslim student activists call for “a new Hitler” to “wipe out the Jews”
Amidst a hotbed of antisemitism on Middle Tennessee State University’s campus, Dareen Ahmad, a student and a leading active member in the university’s Muslim Student Association, tweeted: “Israel is a terror state, we need a new Hitler,” presumably advocating for another Jewish genocide.‘Kumar’ donates MasterChef prize money to Palestinian refugee agency
Ahmad has also tweeted: “Preachhh ‘@Bateekhahead: [translated from Arabic] Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dog!!!,’” and followed with another antisemitic tweet: “Omg if i was in falasteen right now id go wave our flag in every zionist kalbs [dogs] face right now!”
Ahmed’s pro-Hitler tweet and antisemitic comments were just a taste of the many sent out by Muslim student activists on the university’s campus. MTSU student Dana Swaies, a well-known representative for the school’s MSA chapter and Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament, stated: “May Allah annihilate the Jewish dogs.”
Muslim student Shaden Hamdulla contemplated putting Jews in concentration camps and called for a new Hitler to wipe them out. Hamdulla has also tweeted, “F**k israel and anyone who supports them,” “Wtf is Israel and why is it on my snapchat feed?” and “can they form a ‘Northern israel’ if israel isnt even a real country? inshallah allah provides you with intelligence.”
American actor Kal Penn, best known for playing “Kumar” in the “Harold & Kumar” series, donated his $25,000 winnings from the TV show “MasterChef Celebrity Showdown” to UNRWA — the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians.The BBC`s “soft boycott” of Israel
Following his win, Penn said, “Only in America can a guy make tacos on FOX TV, almost lose an eye, and win $25,000 to support Palestinian refugees,” according to a statement on UNRWA’s website.
He added that UNRWA is “a lifeline for so many families that have been struggling for decades to meet their basic needs and achieve their rights.”
Penn, who served in the White House Office of Public Engagement during US President Barack Obama’s first term in office, implored his followers on Twitter to also donate to UNRWA, saying he would write a thank you note to anyone who contributes to the refugee agency.
He currently appears in the political drama TV series “Designated Survivor.”
UNRWA’s US office wrote on Twitter prior to the final episode that “if Kal Penn wins, so do Palestinian refugees.”
A few weeks ago, Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard drew attention to the BBC`s “soft boycott” of Israel. The term, coined by Mr Pollard, describes the tendency at the BBC to report on Israeli innovations and technological breakthroughs, without mentioning that they took place at Israeli institutions and companies.‘Analysis’ from BBC R4: Hizballah doesn’t threaten Israeli civilians
Most recently, the BBC reported on a breakthrough in cancer treatment by the Weizmann Institute, but the Israeli origins of the research were significantly downplayed.
I wish to further analyse this “soft boycott”, and argue that it is actually multifaceted. There are times when the BBC completely ignores Israel`s connection to a newsworthy company, times when Israel`s connection is significantly downplayed, and times when Israel`s connection is specifically focussed on, in cases which fit a particular agenda and narrative of Israel, as a militaristic and pariah state.
Even as the US Secretary of State was still speaking on the topic of the two-state solution on December 28th, the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘PM’ was already offering coverage of that long speech by John Kerry.pm-28-12HRC Prompts Toronto Star Clarifications: Israel Isn’t Building More Settlements, Supports 2-State Solution
Included in that coverage was analysis (from 05:07 here) from Ian Bremmer of ‘Eurasia Group’ – parts of which might come as something of a surprise to anyone who has been following the news from Israel in recent years – including the thousands of missile attacks from the Gaza Strip and the terror attacks against Israelis which have taken over forty lives and wounded hundreds in the past 15 months.
“Well, in the long-term Kerry’s certainly correct that an imposed one-state solution is no way to build peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But certainly in the short and medium term – and this has been going on for more than just the Obama administrations – the amount of stability that the Israelis presently enjoy with a one-state solution – even if it’s not final – is perfectly fine for them. I mean, even the Israeli Left no longer talks much about a two-state solution because there’s just not much of a Palestinian threat against Israelis these days. They don’t need Palestinian labour. With American defence support Hizballah can’t launch missiles into Israel to threaten Israeli civilians and the extraordinary surveillance – both human surveillance as well as cyber surveillance – the Israelis can do on would-be terrorists in and outside their country has helped to ensure that Israeli security is tantamount [sic]. So I mean the reality is this just isn’t a top priority for many people…”
Today, the Toronto Star published the following two clarification notices after HRC notified the Star that in back-to-back editions on December 28/29, their editors had falsely claimed that Israel supports a “one-state solution” and that it had built “more settlements” in recent years:BBC News recycles Iranian terrorism blur
On December 28, the Star published a New York Times article with a headline that erroneously claimed that: “Israel to defy UN, build more settlements”
Contrary to this headline given by Star editors, Israel has only approved the building of new homes within existing settlements, they have not vowed to build “more settlements”, there is a stark difference. The lead of this article confirms the veracity of this, as does a body paragraph which says: “The city intends to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of the town Wednesday, in what a top official called a first installment of 5,600 new homes.”
On December 30th a report titled “Israel warns of New Year terror threat in India” appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page.UKMW prompts correction to inaccurate Times of London headline on settlers and Trump
After telling the story described in the headline, the report went on to inform readers that:
“In 2012, the wife of Israeli diplomat stationed in India was critically wounded in a car bomb attack along with her driver and two others.
The incident sparked diplomatic tensions when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of being behind it – a charge strongly denied by Tehran.”
Well over three years ago, in August 2013, another BBC report included a similar statement concerning that same attack in New Delhi in February 2012:
“The blasts came a day after two bomb attacks targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.
Israel has accused Iran of orchestrating the attacks, a charge which Iran denies.”
Yesterday, we posted about an inaccurate headline accompanying a Jan. 1st Times of London article by Gregg Carlstrom.Antisemitism Experts: Popularity in Germany of New Annotated Version of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Doesn't Need to Be Cause for Alarm
We demonstrated that no Israeli settlers – according to the text of the actual article – had in fact made such comments, and that the only person who did was Israeli Interior Minister (and West Jerusalem resident) Aryeh Deri.
The headline’s claim that “Israeli settlers” hailed Trump as the Jews’ new “Messiah” is completely erroneous.
We complained to Times of London editors (under the terms of the accuracy clause of the editors’ code), and today they responded by revising the headline to more accurately reflect the contents of the article.
Here’s the new headline:
The fact that a new annotated version of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf has become a best-seller in Germany does not need to be cause for alarm, antisemitism experts told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.Prominent American Islamic Scholar Calls ‘Horrific’ Antisemitism Rampant Among Muslims Antithetical to Their Religion
“It’s more than understandable that sales of Mein Kampf make people nervous,” Ben Cohen, author of Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism, said. “But we also need to grasp that people read that vile book for different reasons. For historians, for scholars of antisemitism, for those researching totalitarianism, it’s a key text in terms of establishing that Hitler’s war against the Jews was the foundation stone of the Third Reich.”
“Of course, there are others for whom Mein Kampf, with its pornographic antisemitism, is a source of inspiration — however, the editions they read are not annotated by anti-Nazi German historians, but the neo-Nazi versions widely available on the internet,” Cohen continued. “In that sense, the far greater challenge is the impact Mein Kampf has when it’s read not in German, but in Arabic and Turkish, where it helps to fuel an already intense hatred of Jews in those countries and cultures.”
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld — founder of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank’s post-Holocaust and antisemitism program – felt similarly.
“I wouldn’t turn this into a major item of worry, because today the venue of communication of hatred is social media — Twitter and Facebook and these kinds of things,” he said. “I don’t think a 2,000-page book can compete with that as far as the impact of hatred is concerned.”
A prominent American Muslim scholar stated publicly last month that his community is rife with “horrific” antisemitism and racism against non-Muslims — something he said is antithetical to the teachings of Islam, the Canadian Jewish News reported.Jewish couple’s headstone vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti in Indiana
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf — co-founder of the Islamic liberal arts school Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California — made this assertion while addressing the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) conference in Toronto at the end of December. Yusuf bemoaned witnessing fellow Muslims expressing “some of the worst racism,” especially through “anti-Jewish rhetoric.”
Referring to his 20-year relationship with Arab Islamic scholar Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Yusuf said he’s “never heard [Bin Bayyah] saying a bad word about Jewish people ever, and yet I’ve heard in our community so many blatant remarks [about Jews].”
According to CJN, Yusuf’s acknowledgement of antisemitism among North American Muslims went unchallenged, unlike other statements he made during his lecture — specifically when he spoke about “black-on-black” violence.
“…[T]here are twice as many whites had been shot by police, but nobody ever shows those videos. It’s the assumption is the police are racist and it’s not always the case, and I think it’s very dangerous again to just broad stroke any police now that shoots a black is immediately considered a racist…the police aren’t all racist, we cannot say that [sic].”
Muslim leaders — among them Abdullah Hakim Quick, a member of the Canadian Council of Imams — reportedly condemned Yusuf, accusing him of “cowardice.”
An anti-Semitic message was spray-painted across the headstone of a Jewish couple buried in the cemetery of a small Indiana town — one of the only headstones bearing a Jewish name.Swastika painted on US Reform rabbinical school’s sign
The words “Fucking Jew” were spray-painted in white across the back of the double headstone, on top of the large Jewish star, in the Scottsburg Cemetery.
Jarin Gladstein, a grandson of the couple, told the local media that he was “livid, upset, sick,” over the desecration.
Two other headstones in the cemetery were later discovered to have been vandalized.
On Monday, Gladstein posted a photo of his grandparents’ headstone on Facebook and in less than 24 hours had received 3,100 likes and other reactions. The photo has been shared nearly 15,000 times.
A swastika was spray-painted on a sign near the entrance to the Reform movement’s rabbinical school in Cincinnati, Ohio.Will Hebrew be taught in the Arab world?
The white swastika was discovered Tuesday morning on a Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion sign and was reported to the police shortly thereafter, said Rabbi Kenneth Kanter, associate dean and director of the rabbinical school.
The rabbinical school removed the graffiti later in the morning at the police’s recommendation.
Kanter told JTA that the vandalism likely occurred Monday night or Tuesday morning, and that the school was looking at campus security footage.
“We are grateful for the support of the community and police, both locally and nationally, and recognize that this quickly painted swastika is a nuisance and troubling — but in comparison to issues in so many communities and cities around the world this is very small and very minor,” Kanter said.
Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudis, and Iraqi students gathered for a workshop in Amman last week to discuss what to many may seem like a surprising issue; the future of the Hebrew language in the Arab World.Israel-China deal paves way for thousands of Chinese construction workers in Israel
The organizers of the workshop was the Center for Israel Studies in Amman. Founded just two years ago, the center is headed by Dr. Abdullah Swalha, who obtained his doctorate at Cairo University where he studied Jews and Israeli democracy.
The workshop was funded in part by the DC- and Tel Aviv-based Israel Institute, which also took part in the event.
A closing document states that there will be a push to develop Hebrew language studies in the Arab world, understand the content of Hebrew language classes taught at Arab universities, research to what degree understanding Hebrew would help in understanding the State of Israel and Israelis in general, and brainstorming about the challenges, opportunities, and potential risks of learning Hebrew.
There was also a note made about the history of Hebrew studies in these various Arab countries.
It said that various Hebrew studies courses began at Egyptian universities in the 1960s and that there are 13 universities with over 2,500 students who learn about Hebrew in Egypt every year. A similar program began in Iraq in 1969, in Saudi Arabia in 1994, and in Jordan in 2000 at the Yarmouk University.
The Chinese are coming … to build Israeli homes.25 brilliant Israeli tech companies to watch in 2017
Israel and China agreed on the wording of an agreement in Beijing on Wednesday that will pave the way for some 6,000 Chinese construction workers to come and work in Israel within six months.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said the accord, which will be formally signed at the end of February in Jerusalem, was negotiated for the last 18 months and will provide a “boost” to solve the housing crisis.
Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel said that the housing market in Israel has suffered over the last few years because of a lack of manpower. This agreement will bring new technology and a skilled workforce, he said.
“The Chinese workers will reduce the construction time, and bring down prices for the benefit of the public,” Ariel said.
Every year, scores of innovative Israeli inventions and technologies are introduced to the market, and 2017 will be no exception.Israel tech exits totaled $10 billion in 2016 – report
From medical devices to clean technologies, Israeli companies will unleash a host of unique products.
Pioneering high-tech entrepreneur and investor Yossi Vardi tells ISRAEL21c that smart mobility solutions and drone technologies are two areas in which Israel will dominate this year.
“The ecosystem in mobility is led by Israeli companies such as Mobileye and a number of Israeli companies active in shared driving, like Via and Gett. In 2017, we’ll see more and many car manufacturers visiting Israel to discover our technologies for connected cars and autonomous cars,” he says.
“The interest shown around the world for Israeli technologies just continues to grow,” comments Vardi, who recently organized Israeli innovation festivals in China and London.
Israeli high-tech companies closed 104 exit deals in 2016 for a total of $10 billion, up 12 percent from 2015, a new report by IVC Research Center and law firm Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal shows.Flying ambulance drone heading for take off
Exit deals are either merger or acquisitions, investor buyouts, or initial public offerings by firms.
The 2016 exits figure includes 93 merger and acquisition deals, for a value of $8.8 billion, including the $4.4 billion sale of online gaming company Playtika to online Chinese gaming company Giant Interactive group, the largest acquisition that year. Without including the Playtika deal, the exit figures are “substantially lower than in previous years,” said Alon Sahar, partner at Meitar.
“Following several years of growth both in terms of deal numbers and their proceeds, 2016 presents an obvious slowdown,” in exits, said Alon Sahar, partner at Meitar. “It’s impossible to tell whether this is the beginning of a new trend or a natural correction due to significant hikes in previous years. We will need to wait a few quarters to see whether or not the market is facing a profound change.”
There were eight investor buyouts in 2016, totaling $1.22 billion — and three initial public offerings for a total of $15.1 million.
A revolutionary drone aircraft, big enough to carry people, could be whizzing through the skies within a few years, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Manufacturers of the Cormorant, formerly known as the AirMule, hope to see what has been dubbed a “flying car” on the aviation market by 2020.
The UAV has been in development for 15 years by Yavneh-based Urban Aeronautics, who envision it being used as an air ambulance for tricky rescue missions in tight urban environments or for moving troops around the battlefield.
Weighing in at 1.5 tons, the drone can carry a payload of up to 500 kg (1,100 pounds), uses internal rotors to keep itself aloft and can zoom along at 185 kilometers an hour (115 miles per hour). It can be remotely piloted or set to fly autonomously.
A first solo flight was made in November and, despite some minor glitches, the company considered the sortie a success. It is now aiming to see the Cormorant meet safety and other standards of the US Federal Aviation Administration, an achievement that would open up global markets for the vehicle.
