Tuesday, February 21, 2017
CAMERA: Analyzing Palestinian Propaganda on CNN: Rashid Khalidi on "Fareed Zakaria GPS"
On Feb. 12, 2017, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi was invited onto CNN's global affairs program hosted by Fareed Zakaria (Fareed Zakaria GPS) to defend and justify the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. This followed an interview on the same program a week earlier with French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy where he charged the BDS campaign with being "an anti-Semitic campaign" which "takes its roots a long time ago, 60 years ago, in the fringes of dying Nazism." Lévy's words so enraged Khalidi and other proponents of the anti-Israel campaign that Khalidi complained to the host, then appeared himself on the show the following week.
Khalidi, an experienced propagandist, used classic propaganda tactics (name-calling, transfer/association, glittering generalities, logical fallacy, bandwagon, plain folks, and card stacking, as described by the The Institute for Propaganda Analysis) to defend BDS, and to delegitimize Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, much as he had done several weeks earlier on WBEZ's Worldview.
Fareed Zakaria, with a history of skewing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, helped Khalidi along, not only providing him with an unfettered platform to disseminate his misinformation, but having photos and drawings televised to illustrate Khalidi's deceptive analogies, and in the case of Jerusalem, disseminating some half truths of his own.
Here are the facts on BDS and Jerusalem, followed by an analysis of the propaganda disseminated on Zakaria's CNN program.
IsraellyCool: Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Rips UN And BDS
Following my previous post on The Australian editorial against recognition of a Palestinian state comes further positive signs from Australia – from none other than Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has condemned the UN and BDS.PMW: Kids jump for Jihad at European-funded dance competition
Malcolm Turnbull has strongly condemned the UN, accusing it of a prejudiced attack against Israel over a Security Council resolution that accused the Israeli government of violating international law with its settlement activity.
On the eve of a historic visit by Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrives in Sydney today as the first sitting Israeli leader to visit Australia, the Prime Minister also charged those who promoted or supported a boycott campaign with a deplorable attempt to de-legitimise the Jewish state.
In an exclusive commentary article published in The Australian today, Mr Turnbull denounces the UN for what he claims is bias, citing 20 resolutions between 2014 and 2015 that are critical of Israel when only a single resolution had been issued on the Syrian war.
While Mr Turnbull has been critical in the past of anti-Israeli resolutions, rarely has he been so forceful in his language. “My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticising Israel of the kind recently adopted by the Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimise the Jewish state,” Mr Turnbull writes.
Like many western cultural centers, the Yafa Cultural Center in Nablus recently hosted a folk dance competition for youth. But unlike their western counterparts, children at this competition danced to calls for violence and waltzed to words of war:
“We replaced bracelets with weapons
We attacked the despicable [Zionists]...
Jihad is needed
Pull the trigger.”
The Yafa Cultural Center, which receives funding from the German development agency GIZ, Norway, and the European Union, recently posted to its website photos from the first Yafa Folk Dance Competition. The gold prize winner danced to the song Pull the Trigger. The following is a longer excerpt from the song's lyrics:
“The Zionists coveted [our] homeland,
compounding damage and enmity
But the popular revolution awaits [them]
The orchard called us to the struggle
We replaced bracelets with weapons
We attacked the despicable [Zionists]
We do not want [internal] strife or disputes
While this invading enemy is on the battlefield
This is the day that Jihad is needed
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country.”
This song was previously broadcast on PA TV in 2010.
Defeating radical Islam
Who is the enemy? It’s been over 15 years since Sept. 11, 2001, and this fundamental question still rattles around. Prominent answers have included evildoers, violent extremists, terrorists, Muslims, and Islamists.Book review – The weapon wizards: how Israel became a high-tech military superpower
As an example of how not to answer this question, the Obama administration convened a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group in 2010 and included participants who turned up such gems as: “Jihad as holy war is a European invention,” the caliphate’s return is “inevitable,” Shariah (Islamic law) is “misunderstood,” and “Islamic terrorism is a contradiction in terms because terrorism is not Islamic by definition.” The result? The group produced propaganda helpful to the (unnamed) enemy.
In contrast, then-candidate Donald Trump gave a robust speech in August 2016 on how he, as president, would “Make America Safe Again.” In it, he pledged that “one of my first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam.” Note: he said radical Islam, not some euphemism like violent extremism.
The goal of that commission, he said, “will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalization, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalization.” The commission “will include reformist voices in the Muslim community” with the goal to “develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners.”
On Feb. 2, Reuters reported that, consistent with the August statement, the Trump administration “wants to revamp and rename” the Obama administration’s old CVE effort to focus solely on Islamism. Symbolic of this change, the name Countering Violent Extremism will be changed to “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism” (or a near equivalent).
To make the most of this historic opportunity, the Middle East Forum has crafted a comprehensive plan for a White House Commission on Radical Islam for the administration to use. Here’s a summary of how we see the commission working and having an impact:
In 2011, Dan Senor and Saul Singer wrote in Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, how Israel, a country of 7 million and only 60 years old was able to produced more start-up companies than Japan, China, India, France, South Korea, Canada and the UK.IsraellyCool: Know Your History: Nazi-Arab Collaboration In Palestine, 1930s
Jump 6 years and military reporters and defense analysts Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot do the same in a fascinating and compelling new book: The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower (St. Martin’s Press 978-1-250-08833-8). Here, the authors focus on how Israel became a military supplier extraordinaire.
The authors write that in days after Israel gained its independence, they didn’t have enough bullets to fight. They also were limited to whom they could procure military equipment from. Yet a few decades later, they become the world’s 6th largest arms exporter. Israel’s impressive array of state of the art products includes drones, missiles, satellites, cyberdefense systems and much more.
At its core, the authors write that Israel was forced into the situation given that Israel has no natural resources. It was forced to use human capital and ingenuity as its main resource. The primary question the book attempts to answer is how did Israel develop so many cutting-edge products, often years before the US and other countries. They answer that there’s no single characteristic, rather several factors; all of which they detail.
Beyond that, Israel has made numerous long-term strategic decisions that created an environment to be a world’s leader in arms developments. Several factors the authors note is that despite its small size, Israel invests more than any other country in research and development, roughly 4.5% of its GDP.
Co-operation between the Zionists and Nazis made headlines last year, after comments by former London Mayor “Red” Ken Livingstone regarding the Haavara agreement. And now The Forward has published a disgraceful piece about Zionist-Nazi cooperation. Livingstone and The Forward ignore the critical fact that any deals done by the Zionists were aimed at saving Jewish lives.
What is lesser known is cooperation between the Arabs in Palestine and the Nazis. Sure, much has been said about the Grand Mufti’s relations with, and support of, the Nazis. But the cooperation happened on a more micro level.
Newspapers from the time provide more insight into this. For instance, The Sentinel, Thursday, July 11, 1935, reported about the establishment of a Nazi club for Arab youths.
Jerusalem fumes as Israeli envoy’s talk in Dublin nixed by protests
A talk at a Dublin university by Israel’s ambassador was canceled following protests by pro-Palestinian students, with Jerusalem calling on Irish authorities to take action against the demonstrators.Antisemitism Watchdog Calls on UK's University of Exeter to Take Action Against Student Gov't Candidate Tweeting 'Proud to Be Called a Terrorist'
Ambassador Ze’ev Boker was due to take part in a conversation with the Society for International Affairs, also known as SOFIA, in Dublin’s Trinity College Monday night.
About 40 pro-Palestinian students holding flags and placards took over the venue, forcing the cancellation of the event after police and university security were unable to move the protesters.
The event was billed as a short talk by the ambassador followed by a question and answer session, against the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent talks with US President Donald Trump, according to the Facebook event page.
A Jewish rights group has called on a UK university to take action against a candidate for student government who tweeted, “I am so proud to be called terrorist [sic].”University cancels Israel Apartheid Week event
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) told The Algemeiner that Malaka Shwaikh — who is reportedly running unchallenged for vice president of the University of Exeter’s Students’ Guild, where she currently serves as a trustee — “was clearly breaching the school’s disciplinary code” by posting messages encouraging violence against Jews and Israelis from her now disabled Twitter account.
According to the CAA, Shwaikh’s tweets included: “Zionism ideology is no different than that of Hitler’s”; “The shadow of the Holocaust continues to fall over us from the continuous Israeli occupation of Palestine to the election of Trump”; and, “Hitler did his deed and the Palestinians had to pay for it.”
“[T]he university has obligations under the government’s ‘Prevent’ counter-extremism strategy…naturally, Ms. Shwaikh can be held accountable for any crimes she has committed,” the CAA spokesperson said, noting that the student’s position as an Exeter instructor adds to the concern.
The University of Central Lancashire has cancelled an event which was due to take place as part of "Israel Apartheid Week" activity on its campus.Israel Activist at McGill Lauds Student Government for Demanding Resignation of Rep Who Tweeted ‘Punch a Zionist’
The session was organised by the university's Friends of Palestine group and was billed as a panel discussion looking at the boycott of Israel.
It was due to feature speakers including anti-Israel activist Ben White and pro-Palestinian academics.
But a spokesperson for the university said “Debunking Misconceptions on Palestine" contravened the definition of antisemitism adopted by the government and was “unlawful”.
In a statement on behalf of the university in Preston, Lancashire, the spokesperson said: “The UK government has formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s new definition of what constitutes antisemitism.
An Israel activist at Montreal’s McGill University told The Algemeiner on Monday that he’s “happy the student government finally took a strong stance” and requested that a representative who tweeted “punch a Zionist” step down.NFL’s Cameron Jordan During Trip to Holy Land Rebuffs Twitter Follower Accusing Him of ‘Doing PR for Israeli Apartheid’
Simon Paransky said, “I hope Igor [Sadikov] heeds the call to resign,” referring to the member of the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) who justified his call for violence on the grounds of Israeli “dispossession and colonization of Palestinian land.”
The SSMU’s recommendation that he quit his post over “incitement to violence” came days after the body rejected a motion to impeach him, at which time SSMU had explained that it “stands in support of freedom of expression and the right of representatives to hold a diversity of political beliefs.”
As McGill’s alternative newspaper, Prince Arthur Herald, reported late last week, the about-face seems to have resulted from direct involvement by the university’s principal, Suzanne Fortier.
An NFL star currently on a week-long tour of Israel batted away criticism from a social media user on Saturday who accused the player of “doing PR” for the Jewish state’s “apartheid system.”Are Anti-Israel activists attempting to hijack the People's Climate march?
“PR? I’m goin on a trip for the spiritual and historical layout of a country I’ve always wanted to go to. I’m learning more,” New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan shot back.
Cameron JordanCameron — one of five out of an original group of 11 NFL players scheduled to take the Feb. 13-20 trip who did not succumb to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and cancel his participation — also posted positive reviews of the country, along with photos of fun-filled activities and visits to Christian sites.
@neshoba77 PR? I'm goin on a trip for the spiritual and historical layout of a country I've always wanted to go to. I'm learning more
The trip was sponsored by Israel’s Tourism Ministry.
The People's Climate March is scheduled for April 29 and we're already seeing the tell-tale signs of infiltration and co-option.What is a Killer Imam Doing in Public Libraries in Canada?
This email is being shuffled around various "social justice" e-lists. Its all about "peace". Sounds innocuous enough, right?
This email originated with "World Beyond War"
The advisory board of World Beyond War includes anti-Israel activists who were involved with the Gaza flotilla, including Mairead Maguire, Medea Benjamin, Ann Wright and Kathy Kelly. Their support and participation in the flotilla, a challenge to the sovereignty of the state of Israel and its right to secure its own borders cheapens their talk of "peace". These are people that reject the existence of a nation state of the Jewish people within ANY borders. Their vision of "peace" is a world without Israel.
This is the genesis of how a well-meaning and singularly focused event gets hijacked by the anti-Israel cru. If the People's Climate March agrees to add "peace" to their agenda, it opens the door to groups like World Beyond War, who will no doubt offer to provide signage and speakers that will invariably alienate the Climate march core.
Stay in your lane, People's Climate March. Don't allow groups with an extremist agenda to hijack your message. We've seen this happen before.
How is it possible that books that advocate violence and extremism meet the "selection criteria" of the Ottawa Public Library, but those that speak out against violence and extremism do not?BBC’s sketchy reporting on Gaza power crisis highlighted
The presence of these Islamic books, and these books alone, in Canada's public libraries, without any others to contradict them, gives them legitimacy. They are seen to represent a certain form of Islam that the government of Canada and the City of Ottawa recognize.
This indicates that there is official support for the extremist and terrorist version of Islam, and at the same time no support for a humanist interpretation of Islam.
This surah [4:74] also indicates that if you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are in a state of war against your host country. If you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are living with the enemy.
If we are to reject this danger, it is important that libraries and other institutions have books that reject these Islamist views and confront their hatred, extremism and violence.
BBC reporting on the topic of the perennial electricity shortage in the Gaza Strip has long been noteworthy for its failure to inform audiences of the full background to that crisis.Jewish Defence League alleges hate crime
The latest example of that style of reporting was seen at the beginning of this month in Tim Franks’ radio report from Gaza for the BBC World Service and it was also evident in two BBC News website reports published a couple of weeks earlier.gaza-power-crisis-2
The Times of Israel recently published an interview with the Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip which once again highlights the fact that BBC audiences are being serially denied the full range of information necessary for understanding of this topic.
Toronto’s Jewish Defence League says it will file a “hate crimes” complaint with Toronto Police alleging there were “troubling” words in sermons at a downtown mosque, including inciting the “killing of Jews.”'No Jews' posted in Toronto condo building
“We are going to speak with the police,” said JDL National Co-ordinator Meir Weinstein, who alleged Monday that “these are anti-Semitic hate crimes.”
But first the JDL is to hold an emergency meeting to decide how to proceed after bringing to light several videos taken from within the downtown mosque Masjid Toronto, part of the Muslim Association of Canada.
The videos, featuring a 2016 sermon in Arabic, were initially posted online by the mosque. They were subsequently posted on YouTube by CIJnews co-founder Jonathan Halevi, a linguist who speaks several languages.
According to Halevi, the sermon included the following:
“O Allah! Give them victory over the criminal people, O Allah! Destroy anyone who killed Muslims, O Allah! Destroy anyone who displaced the sons of the Muslims, O Allah! Count their number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them, O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!”
For clarification, the “purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews” refers to the famous mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Toronto police are investigating a possible hate crime after anti-Semitic notes were found on the doors of several units at a condo building in the Willowdale neighborhood of the city.Israeli glass tech can help car windows show ads
Post-it notes bearing a swastika and reading “No Jews” were found on the front doors of several Jewish residences in the building, reported the CP24 news channel.
Some of the notes contained anti-Semitic slurs and some residents reported that their mezuzahs had been vandalized.
A total of seven residents reported receiving the notes or having the mezuzahs on their doors vandalized.
Speaking with CP24, one resident who came home to find her mezuzah vandalized said she was “shocked.”
“It’s naturally very disturbing,” the resident, Helen Chaiton, said. “I come from the Holocaust – my parents came to Canada in 1948 after the war. So I’m very familiar with anti-Semitism and I know historically what ensues.”
Gauzy, an Israeli developer and manufacturer of liquid crystal glass panels, or smart glass, has developed a new way to communicate location- and time-based messages on car windows in partnership with Daimler AG, the German car maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.“Israeli Innovation Is Powering the American Economy”: Investors Descend on Jerusalem
The technology was demonstrated at the AutoBahn Expo Day in Stuttgart, Germany, last week, when startups that took part in the StartUp AutoBahn accelerator presented their projects in front of over 1,200 people, including Daimler’s board and other global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The accelerator, run by Daimler, gave 13 startups the opportunity to work with large OEMs for 100 days to develop new automotive technologies which will be incorporated into serial production by companies like Mercedes Benz.
In its collaboration with Daimler, Gauzy created what it says is the “thinnest dark retro-fit liquid crystal film” which can be applied to the existing windows of a car, as opposed to being laminated between two pieces of glass during the manufacturing phase. This film allows images and videos to be projected onto opaque windows in HD quality. Gauzy’s liquid glass technology enables car windows to switch from transparent to opaque on demand.
More than 6,000 investors and entrepreneurs crammed the Israel Convention Center in Jerusalem Thursday for the annual OurCrowd Investors’ Summit, braving Jerusalem’s freezing rain to attend what was billed as the largest gathering of investors in Israeli history. Including investors from 82 countries and corporate representatives from close to 300 companies, as well as 250 venture capital firms, the convention promoted Israeli innovation in fields as diverse as agricultural, automotive, financial, medical and sports technology. The summit, which has grown sixfold since it was first held in 2015, mirrors the growth of venture capital in Israel in general, and of firms like OurCrowd, which manages a portfolio of more than $400 million invested in Israeli startups.IAI Completes ‘Integrated Underwater Harbour Defense and Surveillance System’ for Indian Navy
Speaking to the plenary, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat focused on the development of the startup environment in Israel’s capital. “Jerusalem is a city not only of the past, but also of the future,” he said, pointing to the more than 600 startups that are now headquartered in Jerusalem, including the automotive company Mobileye, which is at the forefront of the development of autonomous vehicles and was Israel’s largest IPO in the US, raising $890 million when it went public in 2014, and today enjoying a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion.
Jon Medved, the founder and guiding force behind OurCrowd, explained Israel’s contribution to American economic growth. “Israeli innovation is powering the American economy in a number of ways. Our innovative companies, when they want to go to market they set up shop in America. They start hiring Americans,” he told TheTower.org. Medved cited a recent study that found over 200 Israeli companies now headquartered in Boston alone. “They directly employ 9,000 people, and indirectly through subcontractors another 27,000. They’re generating $18 billion of annual economic activity, which represents 4 percent of the Massachusetts GDP.”
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed and delivered comprehensive security and protection systems, known as the ‘Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System’ (IUHDSS). The Indian Navy, tasked with defending the subcontinent’s 4,670 miles long coastline, raised the need for such systems.Leviathan partners raise $1.75b. from international lenders
Developed by IAI subsidiary, Elta Systems, IUHDSS comprises surveillance, observation, surface, and underwater sensing arrays that can detect, locate, and track various threats – whether from small boats and submersibles, swimmer delivery vehicles (SDV), swimmers or divers.
IUHDSS is a modular system, tailor-made to meet specific customer needs. The system includes an advanced command and control system, a range of coastal surveillance radars, diver-detecting sonars, electro-optical sensors, and automatic threat identification systems. The central command and control system provides automatic integration of all sensors, creating a common situational picture for port defense.
Nissim Hadas, IAI Executive VP & ELTA President, said in a statement, “We are proud to deliver another project to India, our strategic partner. Many of IAI’s systems play a role in India’s maritime and coastal defense. Since becoming operational, this system has proved itself, and we look forward to continuing our long-term strategic cooperation with India for a bright and safe future.”
In a key step toward furnishing Israel and its neighbors with a robust natural gas supply, the Leviathan reservoir partners have secured $1.75 billion in loans for the basin's development.Vatican to join with Rome Jewish community on menorah exhibition
The partners signed the financing agreement with a consortium of about 20 international and Israeli lenders, led by J.P. Morgan Limited and HSBC Pank Plc, according to a report submitted to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning. The funds are expected to support the A1 development stage of the Leviathan project.
Once developed, the 613-billion cubic meter Leviathan gas reservoir – located about 130 km. west of Haifa – is expected to not only boost domestic gas supplies, but also to serve as an export outlet for Israel's immediate neighbors and the wider Mediterranean region.
Houston-based Noble Energy holds a 39.66% share of the Leviathan reservoir, while the Delek Group’s subsidiaries Delek Drilling and Avner Oil each have 22.67% and Ratio Oil Exploration has 15%.
The Vatican and Rome's Jewish community on Monday presented an ambitious exhibition on the menorah which will bring together 130 works featuring the iconic Jewish candelabrum, an ancient symbol of the faith.Hebrew carvings on column lend weight to Galilee village’s Jewish past
The show on the seven-candle Hebrew lamp will run simultaneously from May 15 to July 23 at the Vatican museums and the synagogue complex in a city which once housed one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.
The artifacts are being loaned by nearly 20 museums around the world, including London's National Gallery and the Louvre in Paris.
Among them will be one of the earliest known depictions of a menorah, an engraved stone found at the site in Israel where a synagogue from the Second Temple period was discovered by archaeologists in 2009.
Christian medieval candlesticks inspired by the menorah, as well as the works of contemporary artists, will also be on display.
But history's most precious menorah, made out of solid gold, will be missing.
The menorah, depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome, was one of the spoils brought back to the city by the Romans after they sacked the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
A pair of 1,800-year-old Hebrew inscriptions carved into a capital found last week in the Druze village of Pekiin may lend support to a tradition linking the Galilean village to an ancient center of Jewish scholarship.
The inscriptions, etched into a limestone block buried beneath a courtyard of a building adjacent to the village’s 19th-century synagogue, were found during restoration work, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.
The antiquities authority was tight-lipped about the find and refused to disclose the text of the inscriptions, saying they were still being studied and wouldn’t be published until they appear in a scholarly journal.
The IAA also wouldn’t say how archaeologists who inspected the inscriptions determined they were 1,800 years old. The IAA did disclose that the inscriptions appeared to be dedications by donors to the synagogue, lending support to the tradition of a Jewish presence during the Roman period.
U.N. showcases a country that's a force of nature, Israel's natural beauty is celebrated with riveting photography display
Israel prides itself on its variety of natural landscapes and unspoiled scenery. And no wonder: the country's biodiversity is impressive. Its landscape is dotted with everything from snowy mountaintops and sunburnt deserts to evergreen forests and pristine beaches.
This visual variety is on show in a new exhibit at the United Nations in New York City. Titled "The Natural Side of Israel," it brings together a beautifully curated selection of nature photographs captured by Israeli photographers. Here's a sampling of what's in the show:
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