Sunday, November 26, 2017
Alan Dershowitz: Dems' double standard on terrorists murdering Israelis
Palestinian terrorist leaders often use teenagers to commit acts of terror because they know the Israeli legal system treats children more leniently than adults. Now 10 Democrats belonging to the Congressional Progressive Caucus are trying to give terrorist leaders yet another reason for using young people to murder even more innocent civilians.Richard Millett: Students at SOAS told that Zionists paraded dead and mutilated Arab bodies through Jerusalem.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., introduced legislation Nov. 14 – co-sponsored by nine other Democrats – calling on the State Department to “prevent United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military’s ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian children.”
In a news release about the proposed legislation, McCollum said: “This legislation highlights Israel’s system of military detention of Palestinian children and ensures that no American assistance to Israel supports human rights violations …. Peace can only be achieved by respecting human rights, especially the rights of children. Congress must not turn a blind eye the unjust and ongoing mistreatment of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation.”
It is well established that recruiting and using young Palestinians to wage terror on Israeli civilians is part of the modus operandi of Palestinian terrorist leaders. For decades, members of the radical Palestinian political and religious leadership have been stirring up young people to wage war against the Jews and the Jewish State.
This was seen in the gruesome intifada that began in 2000, in which Palestinian teenagers committed dozens of attacks against Jewish Israelis on buses, in cafes and at nightclubs.
More recently – in what has become known as the “lone-wolf” intifada – children as young as 13 have stabbed Israelis with scissors, screwdrivers and knives.
Legislation proposed by the 10 Democrats is titled the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act. The bill does not explicitly define at what age a person moves from childhood to adulthood.
While noting that children between the ages of 12 and 17 are held and prosecuted by Israeli military courts, the bill fails to acknowledge that some of the most barbaric terrorist attacks against Jewish Israelis have been committed by Palestinian teens.
There is currently a hate-filled anti-Israel exhibition in the library at SOAS. It has been up since October 25th and finishes on November 30th. During this time thousands of SOAS students will have been subjected to sick lies about Israel.JCPA: The “Black Friday” Massacre in the Sinai Mosque
One exhibit is a cake filled with M16 bullets supposed to represent the time an Arab girl baked a cake for her sister in “Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron” in 1967.
The exhibition is called Memory Metamorphosis: An Exhibition of Palestine Remembered. The exhibits are based on interviews with Palestinians.
On Thurdsay night I went to a discussion at SOAS about this exhibition chaired by SOAS lecturer Rafeef Ziadah. On her panel were two of the artists; Jacqueline Reem Salloum and Suhel Nafar. Also on the panel was Hazem Jamjoum from New York University.
Jamjoun explained that someone they tried to interview for the exhibition had lived in Deir Yassin. Jamjoun told the audience what apparently happened there:
“There was a retributory attack on Deir Yassin. The bodies of the people who were killed and mutilated were then paraded around the Zionist neighbourhoods of western Jerusalem. It was a very intentional psychological warfare of getting stories of murder, rape and killing pregnant women to go far because it would scare and was extremely effective.”
A new book describes there being nothing of the sort having happened at Deir Yassin.
The Struggle between the Islamic State and the Sufis
Residents of the Al-Rawdah village said the terror attack on the mosque began during Friday prayers a short time before the sermon. Explosions ripped through the mosque, and hundreds of worshippers were then shot at from close range for 10 to 20 minutes. Some 25 to 30 terrorists fired with automatic weapons after arriving at the mosque in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The residents say the mosque was attacked because it is a Sufi place of worship; Al Qaeda and the Islamic State regard Sufi Muslims as heretics. In addition, the terror organizations operating in the Sinai Peninsula view residents of the village who belong to the Al-Sawarka Bedouin tribe as collaborators with the Egyptian police and army.
Sufism is a mystical trend in Islam that deals, among other things, with the doctrine of the “hidden.” The Al-Rawdah mosque belongs to the Sufi stream, and the Islamic State had made threats to attack it. However, no special security measures were taken there.
The mosque itself was established by the Sufi Sheikh Eid Abu Jarir, founder of the Sufi community in the Sinai Peninsula. About 90 percent of those living in the Al-Rawdah village are Sufis, and they have good relations with the Egyptian security establishment.
As noted, the Islamic State sees the Sufis as heretics against Islam. In 2013 Islamic State terrorists blew up both the tomb of the Sufi Sheikh Salim Abu Jarir in the village of Mazar and the tomb of Sheikh Hamid in the Al-Mughara region, both of which are located in Sinai.
In November 2016, Islamic State terrorists murdered 90-year-old Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz, the senior figure among the Sufi sheikhs in Sinai.
MEMRI: Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas Awards Medal Of Honor To Egyptian Writer Mohamed Salmawy, Known For His Extremist And Antisemitic Views
Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas recently awarded a medal of honor to Egyptian writer Mohamed Salmawy, the former chairman of the Egyptian Writers Union and currently an advisor to the union, for his literary contribution to the Palestinian cause. The award ceremony, held at the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, was attended by Palestinian officials and writers. Speakers at the ceremony emphasized that Salmawy's works documented the stories of martyrs and served as "literary-ideological weapons" in the service of the Palestinian cause. One month ago, Salmawy was also awarded the "Yasser Arafat Africa Prize for Freedom and Peace" in Senegal, at the initiative of the Palestinian ambassador to the country. This prize was awarded at a festive event sponsored by the Senegalese president and attended by the Palestinian ambassador and by Senegalese and Arab officials.PMW: The US recycles demands of the PA, will US ignore PA violations as in the past?
Salmawy, renowned in the Arab world and especially in Egypt, is known for his virulently antisemitic views. In February 1998, he published in the French-language Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Hebdo an article titled "Look for the Jews!", in which he argued, citing French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy and American antisemite David Irving, that the Jews seek to harm anyone who does not support them. He implied that the Jews were behind the publicizing of the Lewinsky scandal with the aim of preventing then U.S. president Bill Clinton from pressuring the Israeli government into making concessions to the Palestinians. He also attacked the French law criminalizing Holocaust denial and the charges brought against Roger Garaudy based on this law, writing: "The thinker Roger Garaudy is being prosecuted on the basis of a law that seems to belong to the Middle-Ages, but which was passed in 1990. This law... bans the questioning of crimes against humanity. However, in this case the word 'humanity' does not refer to the human race, but only to six million Jews who were supposedly the victims of genocide during World War II."
Identical demands made by the Obama administration were ignored by the PA:IsraellyCool: Guest Post: Why I Became A Zionist by Stefanie MacWilliams
Commit to non-violence,
Recognize the State of Israel,
Accept previous agreements (including ending incitement)
The PA violations as delineated in a Congressional hearing were ignored by the Obama administration. These same violations continue daily.
Will the new administration likewise ignore the PA's violations?
Last month, Jason Greenblatt, the US' special representative for international negotiations, announced US President Trump's demands of the Palestinian Authority.
These demands are identical in essence and in language to former US president Obama's demands as expressed by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Congress at a Congressional hearing:
Following Clinton's statement in 2009, the PA "unambiguously and explicitly" continued to violate all of Obama's conditions as expressed by Clinton, but the US ignored all the violations and continued funding the Palestinian Authority. Under the new administration, PMW has already documented hundreds of violations of Trump's conditions as expressed by Greenblatt, yet the US continues to see the PA as a peace partner and continues funding it.
It is not the intention of the Palestinians which limits their destruction of Israel, but their inability to carry out their intentions. And, conversely, it is the intention of the Israelis which limits their killing of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, not their inability to carry out these evil aspersions cast upon them which have no basis in reality.Report: Israel vows to destroy Iranian positions within 40 km of Syrian border
Palestinian terrorists really do believe that they are right and justified in murdering babies in Israel. We should listen to what they say, and not listen to so-called progressives who speak on college campuses about the evil Israeli apartheid who say that their murder of babies is caused by just, logical grievances.
As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir put it more eloquently, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
#FreePalestine is a jihad movement. I have come to believe that the biggest factor in turning the tide in the West away from supporting Palestine and towards supporting Israel is a new and collective understanding of Islam and the Jihad it preaches.
Despite my many mistakes and regrets of my selfishness and ignorance, I hope I can do my small part to aid peace.
I will stand with the best country in the Middle East, the ancient homeland of the Jewish people, over the inevitable Islamic theocracy that would emerge in any new Palestinian state.
Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida revealed on Sunday that an Israeli source disclosed a promise from Jerusalem to destroy all Iranian facilities within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of Israel's Golan Heights.Assad to Netanyahu: Ready to discuss Golan demilitarization
The source, who remains unnamed, said that during Syrian President Bashar Assad's surprise visit to Russia last week, Assad gave Russian Premier Vladimir Putin a message for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Damascus will agree to a demilitarized zone of up to 40 kilometers from the border in the Golan Heights as part of a comprehensive agreement between the two countries, but only if Israel does not work to remove Assad's regime from power.
The report also claims that Putin then called Netanyahu to relay the message, and that the Israeli prime minister said he would be willing to accept the deal, but that Israel's goal of eradicating Iran and Hezbollah from the country would remain.
According to the source, Jerusalem sees Assad as the last president of the Alawite community, indicating that a change of regime in Syria - at least towards a government less-linked to Iran - would be favorable for Israel. The Alawites are a minority Shi'ite community in Syria, and have long been supported by Iran, which seeks to extend its influence from the Gulf across the region to the Mediterranean.
The source also commented that after the defeat of the Islamic State, the conflict in Syria would become ''more difficult,'' likely pointing towards a vacuum that would be left without the group. Russian, Syrian and Iranian-backed forces have been fighting against ISIS, while also seeking to knock out rebel groups that oppose the current regime. Russia's stated interests have been in line with Iran's in wanting to keep Assad in power.
During his visit to Sochi last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad conveyed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a message that Damascus was ready to discuss the disarmament of the Golan Heights up to 40 kilometers from the separation line, and to examine autonomy for the Kurds and Druze in the country as part of a comprehensive agreement that would leave the current Syrian regime in power, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida as reported by Nana 10 news.Saudi Arabia vows new Islamic alliance ‘will wipe terrorists from the earth’
According to the report, a Western source also told the newspaper that in Putin's telephone conversation with Netanyahu after the meeting, the latter assured his Russian counterpart that he was ready to discuss Assad's demands with the Israeli security institutions. However, he stressed the necessity of removing Hezbollah and Iran from Syria.
The source also said that a senior Israeli official recently said that Israel is certain that Assad is to be the last Alawite president in Syria. The source added that he expects the Syrian crisis to increase after the ISIS defeat, especially if "Tehran continues to play with fire", noting the Iranian presence in southern Syria, and that Israel has stressed that it will attack Iranian installations and activities within 40 kilometers of the Golan Heights.
According to the source, the official also said that "Syria will not be the same again as it was in the past, and it is determined to be a federal or confederate state." In the meantime, the source added that according to the senior official, Lebanon would not be immune to such a move taking place, and the new map of the region would reflect this.
Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince vowed to “pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth” as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance.Israel, US race to head off UN settlement ‘blacklist’ of major firms
“In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries… with no coordination” among national authorities, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the Saudi defense minister, said in his keynote speech at the gathering in Riyadh.
“This ends today, with this alliance.”
The summit is the first meeting of defense ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, which officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a “pan-Islamic unified front” against violent extremism.
The alliance was announced in 2015 under the auspices of Prince Mohammed, whose rapid ascent since his appointment as heir to the throne in June has shaken the political scene across the region.
The alliance groups largely, although not exclusively, Sunni-majority or Sunni-ruled countries.
It excludes Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival, Shiite-dominated Iran, as well as Syria and Iraq, whose leaders have close ties to Tehran.
Weeks ahead of the expected completion of a UN database of companies that operate in Israel’s West Bank settlements, Israel and the Trump Administration are working feverishly to prevent its publication.Europe-funded group boasts to donors about obtaining arrest warrant for Livni
While Israel is usually quick to brush off UN criticism, officials say they are taking the so-called “blacklist” seriously, fearing its publication could have devastating consequences by driving companies away, deterring others from coming and prompting investors to dump shares of Israeli firms. Dozens of major Israeli companies, as well as multinationals that do business in Israel, are expected to appear on the list.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day,” Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told The Associated Press.
The UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, ordered the compilation of the database in March 2016, calling on UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein to “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on Palestinians.”
The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements, built on occupied land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, to be illegal. Israel rejects such claims, citing the land’s strategic and religious significance, and says the matter should be resolved in negotiations.
Israeli officials say that about 100 local companies that operate in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have received warning letters that they will be on the list. In addition, some 50 international companies, mostly American and European, also have been warned.
An organization that allocates European funding to Palestinian human rights groups boasted of initiating war crimes charges in Britain against Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister.Palestinian teen caught smuggling knife into Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs
The Ramallah-based Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat — a platform created by the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland – noted in its 2016 annual report of the legal troubles its “partners” gave Livni as an example of how it is “influencing duty bearers and building accountability.”
“In response to joint work between partners and pressure from international bodies, a British judge issued an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni,” read the report, which was compiled in August and published sometime last month. “Scotland Yard’s War Crimes Unit transmitted a letter to the Israeli Embassy in London inviting Tzipi Livni to a police interview under caution in relation to her role” in the 2014 Operation Cast Lead operation by the Israel Defense Forces against Hamas in Gaza.
In the Netherlands, prosecutors have dismissed war crimes complaints against Israeli politicians as unfounded or beyond the jurisdiction of the Dutch judiciary.
In 2011, following repeated attempts to prosecute Israelis including Livni, Britain’s parliament passed an amendment that says that the director of public prosecutions must agree to issue an arrest warrant in universal jurisdiction cases in which the alleged crimes were committed outside of Britain. This means political considerations also will be taken into account.
In 2016, during a trip to United Kingdom for a women conference, Livni, who is a lawmaker, had meetings organized for her by Israel with British foreign office diplomats just so that her visit would be under cover of diplomatic immunity.
She declined to appear before Scotland Yard, whose summons for her was voluntary.
Border police arrested a Palestinian teen who tried to enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the divided West Bank city of Hebron with a knife on Sunday.PA minister: Hamas preventing Palestinian gov't from operating in Gaza
At a checkpoint outside the holy site, Border Police officers noticed the 17-year-old Hebron resident was trying to hide an object under his shirt, police said.
Even after the officers asked the youth to turn out his pockets, he continued to try and hide the knife, police said.
Upon searching him, police uncovered the knife and detained the teen for further questioning.
Police said they faced “determined efforts” to bring weapons into the holy site and carry out attacks.
A similar incident occurred earlier this month when Border Police caught another Palestinian teen trying to enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs with a knife hidden in his sock.
Despite the looming deadline for the Palestinian Authority to take full responsibility for the Gaza Strip on December 1, Hamas has barely empowered the PA government to operate in the small territory, PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh said.PreOccupiedTerritory: Renewable Energy Orgs Hail Pact To Heat Russian Homes With Palestinian Hot Air (satire)
Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement on October 12 in Cairo to advance reconciliation efforts and restore the PA’s governing authority in Gaza. According to the agreement, the two rival factions agreed to “complete measures to empower the [PA] government to completely undertake its duties and responsibilities in administrating the Strip...by December 1 (Friday)..”
“We are like the child that is crawling on this issue of empowering the government,” Sheikh told PA television in an interview on Saturday night. “We have not surpassed the 5% [marker] on the issue of empowering the government.”
Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the Fatah-dominated PA in 2007 form the territory.
Sheikh’s comments on Saturday came some three days after Fatah, Hamas and 11 other Palestinian factions participated in two days of reconciliation talks in Cairo under the auspices of the Egyptian Intelligence Services.
According to Sheikh, Hamas has prevented the PA from collecting taxes and calling up its employees to work in its ministries in Gaza and stifled discussions on the future of the Strip’s security.
Sheikh also said that the PA has not been empowered to run Gaza’s border crossings, which Hamas turned over to the PA on November 1.
Environmental groups welcomed the announcement today of an agreement between Russia and the Palestinian Authority to provide the former with a large supply of hot air with which to heat residences and workplaces this winter.IsraellyCool: George Galloway Makes Complete Arse of Himself (Again)
Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and other prominent ecology-minded organizations called the pilot arrangement a step in the right direction and a smart economic move by both parties, and characterized it as a welcome precedent in the ongoing global campaign to reduce dependence on non-renewable fuel sources that damage the environment.
The organizations issued a joint statement Monday praising the deal, which calls for the Palestinians to supply Russian energy companies for the next two years with 350 million cubic meters of hot air, a resource that Palestinians have rendered effectively inexhaustible. In exchange, Russia will pay the equivalent of US $2 billion. That quantity will offset Russian fossil fuel expenditures by several hundred billion rubles, according to estimates, and will provide a boost to a Palestinian economy that struggles to produce much of value.
“We hope this arrangement becomes a model that gets implemented elsewhere,” read the statement. “Palestinian hot air production has long sufficed to meet the wintertime heating needs of numerous countries; the main impediment has been a lack of creative thinking. We foresee this welcome development undergoing adaptation for many other potential clients.” Important potential clients include China, whose billion-plus population requires immense heating expenditures that have also wreaked havoc on the environment.
Following yesterday’s horrendous terror attack in Egypt, Israel hater George Galloway posted the following on social media.
“235 dead, 125 wounded and the death toll is expected to climb. I look for the Eiffel Tower to be lit up in the colours of Egypt this evening. I look for some emergency response from Facebook and all the usual choreographers of grief” #EgyptAttack
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) November 24, 2017
Listen: https://t.co/6N3LnYVH4F pic.twitter.com/x8b1uu5yIB
Oh my, isn’t this awkward.
Landmarks worldwide pay tribute to victims of Egypt mosque attack
Landmarks and government buildings across the globe paid tribute Friday to the victims of an attack earlier in the day at a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula that left 305 people dead and another 128 injured.
Really, really awkward.
A horrific attack in #Egypt. We send our condolences to our friends across the border and light the Municipality building in their honor. pic.twitter.com/3hgnYtd1j5
— Mayor of Tel Aviv (@MayorOfTelAviv) November 24, 2017
Iran vows to put Europe in missile range if threatened
A top Iranian general warned Saturday that the country could increase its missile range beyond 2,000 kilometers if it feels threatened by Europe.BREAKING
Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, also claimed Israel was afraid to go to war with Lebanese terror group Hezbollah because this would lead to the annihilation of the Jewish state.
Salami said Iran could expand its missile range and had only not done so because it did not see Europe as a threat.
“If we have kept the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers, it’s not due to lack of technology. … We are following a strategic doctrine,” he said, according to a Reuters translation of a Fars report.
“So far we have felt that Europe is not a threat, so we did not increase the range of our missiles. But if Europe wants to turn into a threat, we will increase the range of our missiles,” he added.
Iran’s Ayatollah ‘Deeply Honored’ After Saudi Crown Prince Calls Him ‘Hitler’ (satire)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said he is reconsidering his longstanding hostility towards Saudi Arabia after the Saudi crown prince paid him what he called “the ultimate compliment.”Old-school hate at The New School: The university is wrong to put Linda Sarsour on a panel
“I am honored and humbled that Mohammed bin Salman has said that I am the new Hitler,” Iran’s Supreme Leader told The Mideast Beast. “This act of friendship by the crown prince has led me to reconsider my distrust of the Saudis and of all Sunni Muslims.”
The prince’s comments come amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the latter of which has repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the map. But not all Iranians saw bin Salman’s comments as an olive branch. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president and a preeminent holocaust denier, called the Hitler comparison “deeply insulting.”
“If the Saudis want to honor the ayatollah, why don’t they compare him to somebody who actually killed some Jews?” Ahmadinejad questioned.
As a liberal Jewish long-time writing professor at The New School, I’ve always been proud of our legacy: how the university’s founders provided refuge to German-Jewish scholars Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt and other brilliant Europeans fleeing Nazism. So I feel betrayed that Tuesday, the Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism program is sponsoring a panel entitled “Anti-Semitism and the Struggle for Justice,” featuring the hatemonger Linda Sarsour.Sarsour, not Trump, most likely TIME’s person of the year
Sarsour is the left-wing’s new hijab heroine, a Brooklyn-born Palestinian activist who has tweeted “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” and shared a podium praising her friends Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (a virulent anti-Semite) and Rasmea Odeh, a terrorist who spent 10 years in jail for abetting the killing two Hebrew University students in 1969, as well as the attempted bombing of the British consulate.
Sarsour pushed out Jewish females at a recent Women’s March by preposterously proclaiming Zionists can’t be feminists. She promotes the incendiary movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS), which sadly just won a historic victory at my alma mater the University of Michigan.
Imagine what would happen if I tweeted “Nothing is creepier than Palestinians,” proclaimed “gays can’t be feminists,” appeared alongside the KKK’s David Duke and publicly boycotted everything Arab-owned or run. My bosses and colleagues would call me a racist and I’d probably be fired.
Yet trash-talking Jewish Israelis is not only permitted in progressive circles, it’s rewarded. So Sarsour gets embraced by CUNY and now The New School, is named one of Glamour magazine’s women of the year and gets celebrated by Mayor de Blasio.
Back and forth it goes. President Trump says he had it in the bag, but turned it down, so far as being named TIME magazine’s person of the year, 2017.Avi Benlolo: Campuses allowed anti-Semitism to fester. Now they're paying the price
Never happened, say the magazine’s editors. Trump was never in the running.
Why Trump cares about this in the first place is a mystery. In case he forgot, he was last year’s choice.
Anyway, he is the president for the next four years…and hopefully the next eight years…so what’s the big deal?
I mean, who cares about 2017? It’s been a rotten year. Best forgotten once it’s gone.
Then the fact that nobody reads TIME anymore. That’s Old Media. You read TIME only in the dentist’s office while waiting for your root canal procedure.
Speaking of which – Linda Sarsour.
Now there’s TIME’s most likely pick to represent 2017. She is the picture, the image of everything gone to pot over the past nearly 12 months.
Last week, the editors of “Your Ward News” were arrested in Toronto for willful promotion of hatred against Jews and women. Those of us involved in the ongoing fight against hate breathed a sigh of relief. For two years, these men had freely distributed anti-Semitic and misogynistic pamphlets to homes that never asked for them, including those of Holocaust survivors. It took too long to stop them, but their arrest is an important precedent in our society. It serves as a reminder that, in Canada, speech doesn’t enjoy absolute protection from the law when it crosses the line into promoting hate against identifiable groups.German broadcaster pulls sponsorship of Waters concert
Where to draw that line on university campuses is something administrators are struggling with today, but only after having allowed free speech to promote hate against one group — Jewish people — on campus for years. As a result, the efforts have been a mess of contradictions. The University of British Columbia tried to pass a policy on free speech recently that ended up denouncing those whose speech might create “a toxic environment” while maintaining that speech rights are no more important than “equality rights.” Meanwhile, at McGill University, a Jewish student was recently stripped of his position on student council simply because he privately supported pro-Israel causes.
“Freedom for me but not for thee” suits those who have the power to decide whose opinions are worth protecting — those who set the agenda, dictate culture and policy, and have an ability to pile on with sheer strength in numbers. You can find them in unions, on university faculties and student councils.
In earlier years, those same groups championed free speech on campus as a means to justify the targeting of Israel and, by extension, Jewish students. Appeal after appeal from Jewish groups registering concern about the anti-Semitism being promoted by events like “Israeli Apartheid Week” and on-campus Israeli boycotts were excused by university officials offering the same standard operating procedure: it’s free speech, dummy.
Europe
German public broadcasting institution Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) announced that it was withdrawing its sponsorship of an upcoming concert featuring notorious anti-Israel activist and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters to be held in the city of Cologne this June, Israel Hayom reported.IsraellyCool: Musician Phil Soussan Rips “Pseudo Conscious Scumbag Roger Waters And His Racist Hate Brigade”
The move came as a result of pressure from the Jewish community and non-Jewish supporters of Israel in Germany, following a series of ads for the concert in which WDR highlighted its sponsorship. Activists waged a media campaign against WDR’s sponsorship, calling on social networks “not to grant support with public money for the anti-Semite Roger Waters.”
Waters has been outspoken in his support for the BDS movement, and has worked continuously over the past several years to discourage other artists from performing in Israel.
According to Israel Hayom, the broadcaster’s sponsorship of Waters only added insult to injury, after it had initially refused last summer to broadcast a documentary that it itself had commissioned about the new face of anti-Semitism in Europe. The documentary dealt with the anti-Israel nature of modern anti-Semitism in Europe, and highlighted the rampant anti-Semitism in Muslim and Arab immigrant communities. Following public pressure, the documentary was ultimately aired, but only after “disclaimers” were added which presented the film as “unprofessional.”
In a letter sent over the weekend to supporters of Israel who had expressed protest over the sponsorship of the concert, WDR Intendant Tom Buhrow announced that WDR was cancelling its sponsorship.
I have written before about famed musician Phil Soussan. Besides being a bass guitarist, songwriter and producer who has been a member of bands, including some fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Vince Neil, Johnny Hallyday and John Waite (as well as some featuring Jimmy Page, Steve Lukather, Edgar Winter and Richie Kotzen), he’s also a huge supporter of Israel who is not afraid to rip the haters. Phil was even gracious enough to write a guest post here on Israellycool.Israeli Mainstream Media Fails to Cover Zionist Statements by Muslim Kuwaiti Writer on Kuwaiti TV
In his latest Facebook post, Phil has applauded Nick Cave for his stand against BDS, while not holding back in ripping Roger Waters and the haters.
Good on you Nick Cave – Thank you for having a personal opinion and not being pressured by the pseudo conscious scumbag Roger Waters and his racist hate brigade. Israel was, is and will always be the land of the Israelites (funny that huh?). It also has always welcomed Israeli arabs who make up about 25%, but will not allow those who wish to kill, destroy, maim and bomb Jews, Christian’s, Kurds, Ethiopians and anyone else in their own land – a little inconvenient fact that Mr Waters intellectual power cannot seem to grasp.
Keep pretending that you are an intellect and that you know things that no one else does. The only beacon of light that you represent, Roger Waters, is the one that leads down the long dark corridor to a medieval gas chamber.
Here is a Muslim Arab, stating historical truths, that have been censored and derided by a politically correct liberal mainstream thought police for decades. These statements stand in stark contrast to everything mainstream media, the Israeli left and center-left, and so called western liberals, have believed in, and promoted, for the past 40 or 50 years.Neo-Nazi site thanks deputy FM for 'admitting' US Jews don't serve
For decades now mainstream media and the political left have ignored or marginalized brave and internationally renowned Zionist truthsayers from the Arab and Muslim world, the likes of Brigitte Gabriel, Nonie Darwish, Mosab Hassan Yousef and Kasim Hafeez just to mention a few of the more famous ones.
The time has come for mainstream media and the political center left in Israel and the west, to wake up and acknowledge the truth as simply stated by Abdullah Al-Hadlaq. Their relevance will depend on it, history will judge them by it, and true democratic free-speech is waiting for it.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely may have been sharply rebuked by Israeli and Jewish world officials last week for her now infamous statements disparaging American Jews for "failing to serve in the military," but her words did win her some fans.New York Times clobbered for story on ‘polite’ Midwestern neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer on Thursday featured a column by Lee Rogers applauding the Israeli politician for "admitting" to a fact that has long been a stereotype touted by the extreme right.
"An Israeli diplomat just admitted a very inconvenient fact. Few Jews living in the United States have ever served in the American military. Considering that America has been fighting all sorts of insane wars for Jews and Israel, this is not something they want people talking about," wrote Rogers on the site founded and edited by Andrew Anglin.
"It’s not a surprise to see how Netanyahu quickly distanced Israel away from these remarks. The last thing the Jews want are the American people waking up to the fact that they’re fighting wars for them even though few Jews serve themselves," wrote Rogers.
There’s an old journalism saying: If you are writing about a neo-Nazi in middle America, don’t make him seem like Wally Cleaver.Amazon reportedly mulls retail sales in Israel
Okay, there’s not, but after the New York Times seemed to do just that Saturday, perhaps there should be.
A story published in the Gray Lady describing Dayton-area neo-Nazi Tony Hovater as “polite and low-key,” with “Midwestern manners [that] would please anyone’s mother,” kicked up an internet storm of rage over the weekend, with even writer Richard Fausset admitting that his piece was lacking.
Most took issue with the idea that Fausset seemed to be normalizing white supremacist attitudes with his profile of Hovater, following him to fast-casual restaurants like Applebee’s and Panera Bread and giving him a soapbox to spew anti-Semitic canards.
Anti-Defamation League head Jonathan Greenblatt chided the paper for “humanizing the inhumane.”
US e-commerce behemoth Amazon is preparing to launch retail sales activities in Israel and is in talks to rent 25,000 sq. meters (260,000 sq. ft.) of storage space in central Israel to provide the local market with products, the Calcalist business daily reported Sunday.Israeli VR camera goes to space to film for National Geographic
Amazon is working in Israel via local and foreign teams to scout the market and study local consumer trends, services and logistic and distribution networks. Information about the US giant’s activities has reached local retailers who fear that Amazon’s entry into the market will boost online sales and hurt traditional stores, Calcalist said.
The internet retail giant had $136 billion in sales in 2016, of which 66.4 percent was in the US and 10.4% was in Germany. Thirty-three percent of Amazon’s products sold online are electronic products, with just some 11% in books and media, its original sales focus.
Israeli customers who buy products online,generally order via Amazon, eBay, and China’s AliExpress, which deliver to Israel from their foreign warehouses. Products from Amazon make their way to Israel from Germany, the UK and sometimes from the US, Calcalist wrote. This leads to higher delivery prices and longer delivery times.
If Amazon sets up a warehouse locally, then it may lower the price of Amazon products for the Israeli consumer and cut back on delivery times, Calcalist speculated. In the US, Amazon offers 24-hour delivery for certain products in some local markets.
A virtual reality camera has been sent into space to take part in a National Geographic documentary directed by Oscar-nominated Darren Aronofsky, said Human Eyes, a Neve Ilan, Israel-based firm that produced the camera.Israel Trail to pass through Judea and Samaria, Golan
The camera will be used by astronaut Paolo Nespoli to get 3D, 360-degree shots of life and work aboard the International Space Station, a joint US-Russian-Japanese-EU-Canadian low-orbit project. The footage will feed into the documentary titled “One Strange Rock.”
For Human Eyes, being part of the space project represents a major coup in the VR market, one that comes on the heels of much work, research, trial and error.
Established in 2000, the Israeli firm, which has more than 70 patents to its name, was initially focused on printing technologies and only approached VR in 2014.
Human Eyes CEO Shahar Bin-Nun, who has developed the Vuze VR camera (Courtesy)
The idea, said Human Eyes CEO Shahar Bin-Nun, was to develop a VR camera capable of doing affordable 3D work at high resolution. With a top-line VR camera ranging from $15,000 to $60,000, and a simple one going for as little as $200, Human Eyes’ Vuze model sells for $800 to $1,000. The Vuze is a relatively small camera, with patented algorithms the company said allows it to create the same high-quality 3D despite its compact size.
The government is expected to make a historic decision today, which will change the route of the country's main hiking trail, known as the Israel National Trail, so that it will pass through Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, Israel Hayom reported.Gaza Terror - Israel Tech
The path, on which many have tread during its 22-year existence, is only within the boundaries of the Green Line, and has been criticized for not passing through the capital of Israel and important historical and religious sites.
The Israel Trail winds for about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from Dan in northern Israel to Eilat at its southern point, and is managed by the “Council for the Marking of Trails,” run by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
In the past, National Geographic chose the Israel Trail as one of the 20 best hiking trails in the world.
Last week several tons of explosive material were on their way into Gaza when Israel caught it using innovative chemistry tech: saving untold numbers of lives. And the media said...nothing.
