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Thursday, August 02, 2018

08/02 Links Pt2: Hamas summer camp poisons young Palestinians' minds with hatred & violence; Caving to pressure, Tunisia to host 7-year-old Israeli chess whiz

From Ian:

Radical Islamists, women and little girls are not your toys
Recently, the media reported that 14 terrified young girls and women were kidnapped by ISIS when they attacked the Druze city of Suwayda, Syria. ISIS has threatened to treat these Druze women and girls in the same manner that they have treated Yazidi women and girls should the Syrian regime not halt its offensive against the Yarmouk Valley. As a feminist and Jewish woman, I have the following to say to ISIS and other radical Islamists who have a similar mentality: Minority women and little girls are not toys with whom you can do with whatever you like.

Many young girls across the Middle East do better in school than their male counter-parts.
Women and girls, just like men and boys, are breathing living human beings and deserve to be treated as such. They have feelings and are in pain when you hurt them. They can articulate themselves just as well as a man can and in many cases, better. Furthermore, according to an article that was recently published in the Atlantic, many young girls across the Middle East do better in school than their male counter-parts. However, despite this, women only make up a tiny fraction of the work force in most Arab countries, while men who did not perform as well in school are the ones who end up with the jobs.

ISIS and other radical Islamist groups seek to allow women and girls to do nothing in addition to being wives, mothers and in the case of minority women, sexual slaves. The Me Too Movement should be up in arms but it is not, preferring to focus its wrath upon people who sexually abuse American women. To date, there is no sign of intent to broaden the movement to include minority women in the Islamic world who continue to be oppressed merely because they were born into the wrong gender and the wrong faith. Other Western feminist organizations ignore the real plight of islamic women and falsely charge Israel with suppressing them.

Hamas summer camp poisons young Palestinians' minds with hatred & violence
What are your children doing this #summer?
#Hamas in #Gaza is depriving young Palestinians of their childhood by poisoning their minds with hatred & violence.


A college textbook says Holocaust victims failed to realize their strength
An online textbook, which blames Holocaust victims for failing to tap into their strength, is required reading for nearly 19,000 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students.

"21st Century Wellness" is part of a one-credit hour Lifetime Fitness course all UNC undergraduates have to take before graduation. The course is meant to teach students how to stay physically fit and make healthy lifestyle choices.

But along with handing out advice about leading a healthy lifestyle, the book delves into other subjects. One excerpt says Holocaust victims who died failed to find their inner strength.

"The people in the camps who did not tap into the strength that comes from their intrinsic worth succumbed to the brutality to which they were subjected," the book reads. The text was contracted for use for two years, but it is currently under review for the fall, a school spokesman said.

Ryan Holmes, who took a Lifetime Fitness weight training course last fall, was one of a number of students who criticized the book.

"Some of the stuff they said seemed almost like pseudoscience, and it kind of blurred the lines between what I recognized to be real factual information and things that may or may not be true. It put a lot of emphasis on the connection between mental and physical health, more than normal," he said. "I thought that it was an oversimplification that didn't account for situational factors."
Caving to pressure, Tunisia to host 7-year-old Israeli chess whiz
The Tunisian Chess Federation has agreed to allow a 7-year-old Israeli girl to take part in the World School Individual Chess Championships in Sousse, Tunisia, in 2019.

In response to a request for clarification from the World Chess Federation, the organization issued a letter saying players from all countries, "without exception," are invited to participate in the tournament.

The World Chess Federation had demanded that the North African country confirm it would provide visas to all participants or else risk losing the right to host the competition, following a campaign by Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.

After Tunisia initially showed no signs that it intended to let European School Individual chess champion Liel Levitan in to Tunisia to play in the tournament, the group launched a campaign called "Let Liel Play" in which hundreds of Israel supporters signed a petition demanding that she be allowed entry. StandWithUs also wrote to World Chess Federation Administrative Manager Polina Tsedenova about the matter.



Muslim Leaders Will Speak Up for Palestinians, but Not for the Persecuted Muslims in China
China is in the midst of a massive campaign of repression directed at the Uighurs, a Muslim people, speaking a Turkic language, concentrated in the country’s northwestern province. As many as a million people have been placed in prison camps, where they are urged to reject Muhammad for Mao. Outside the camps, Beijing has placed restrictions on public prayer, Islamic schools, and fasting on Ramadan. Although this repression far outstrips anything Palestinians have suffered under Israeli rule, Muslim leaders are almost uniformly silent. Nithin Coca comments:

No Muslim nation’s head of state has made a public statement in support of the Uighurs this decade. Politicians and many religious leaders who claim to speak for the faith are silent in the face of China’s political and economic power. . . . Last summer, Egypt deported several ethnic Uighurs back to China, where they faced near-certain jail time and, potentially, death, to little protest. This followed similar moves by Malaysia and Pakistan in 2011.

This is in stark contrast to how these countries react to news of prejudice against Muslims by the West or, especially, Israel. Events in Gaza have sparked protests across the Islamic world, not only in the Middle East but also in more distant Bangladesh and Indonesia. If Egypt or Malaysia had deported Palestinians to Israeli prisons, the uproar would likely have been ferocious. But the brutal, and expressly anti-religious, persecution of Uighurs prompts no response. . .
Farrakhan Is NOT Happy About Netflix Pulling His Documentary
In a statement posted on Twitter Wednesday, Farrakhan said his documentary, "My Life's Journey Through Music," was inexplicably pulled by Netflix.

"As late as July 30, 2018, Netflix published that this documentary would be 'Coming August 1' on its media platform," reads the official statement published on his account. "On July 31, 2018, less than 24 hours before the airing of the documentary, the Nation of Islam became aware through news and online outlets that Netflix decided not to air it due to 'internal miscommunication'. The Nation of Islam has not been informed of what was the alleged 'internal miscommunication'."

"The timing of Netflix’s decision – at the 11th hour – to cancel the airing of the documentary affected millions of potential viewers and raises more questions than answers," the statement continues. "In light of this untimely sequence of events, did Netflix bow to outside forces in canceling the airing of the documentary? Did media pressure contribute to this result? What do the opponents of truth not want you to learn about Minister Farrakhan?"
Corbyn is making the case for Israel better than a Zionist ever could
Jeremy Corbyn has, unwittingly, become an advocate for Zionism

Countless Jewish acquaintances have told me they plan to move to Israel should Corbyn become Prime Minister

As long as there is anti-Semitism in the world, Israel will be a necessary refuge for Jews in danger

Jeremy Corbyn would never admit to being a Zionist. The far-left leader of the British Labour Party has called Hamas and Hezbollah – both constitutionally committed to the destruction of Israel – “friends,” contributed money to a charity operated by a Holocaust denier, and defended a Reverend who claimed Israel was responsible for 9/11 on the grounds that he “dared to speak out against Zionism.”

Yet despite this long track record of animus towards Israel, Jeremy Corbyn has become, unwittingly, one of the most effective advocates for Zionism.

How? By institutionalising anti-Semitism within Britain’s largest political party, he and his supporters daily prove the necessity of a Jewish state.

In the nearly three years since the career backbencher won his party’s leadership contest, Labour has been plagued by anti-Semitism scandals. Hundreds of Labour members have been disciplined for anti-Semitic statements. In 2016, a cross-party parliamentary committee ruled that “the failure of the Labour Party consistently and effectively to deal with anti-Semitic incidents in recent years risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally anti-Semitic.” Just last week, yet another Labour elected official was suspended for an anti-Semitic social media post claiming that Jews are “parasites” who “drink blood,” “should be gassed” and that “Hitler would have a solution to the Israel problem.”

Corbyn has not been a bystander to this toxic subculture. He has spent his entire life mired in those precincts of the far left where hostility to Israel frequently blurs into outright Jew-hatred, and it was entirely predictable that a Labour party led by a lifelong enemy of the West would find itself in this ignominious state.


Corbyn called for Holocaust Memorial Day to be renamed ‘Genocide Memorial Day’
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, which is embroiled in a series of anti-Semitism scandals, in the past supported a parliamentary motion to rename the country’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

In 2011, Corbyn was among a group of predominantly Labour politicians who proposed changing the name to “Genocide Memorial Day – Never Again For Anyone,” to reflect that “Nazism targeted not only Jewish [people],” Politics Home reported Wednesday.

Writing that “every life is of value,” the 23 MPs — among them a single member of the ruling Conservative Party, Peter Bottomley — filed their motion on January 27, 2011, UK Holocaust Memorial Day, which is marked on the same day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The British memorial day officially includes a commitment to remember all the victims of Nazi persecution as well as later genocides — in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

The Corbyn-supported motion called on the government to make the name change to acknowledge “that disabled people were the first victims of Nazi mass murder, that working class activists and trade unionists, many of whom were Jewish, were the first to be sent to concentration camps, and that Nazism targeted not only Jewish but also Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, lesbian, gay and bisexual people and others they deemed undesirables.”
Jeremy Corbyn pointed at anti-racism activists and had them removed from his 2010 Holocaust abuse event, as speakers claimed Nazis’ victims became their successors
Campaign Against Antisemitism has heard from anti-racism activists who attended Jeremy Corbyn’s 2010 Holocaust Memorial Day event in which speakers repeatedly diminished the memory of the Holocaust.

They have told us how Jeremy Corbyn told them to be quiet when they tried remonstrating with speakers, one of whom declared that “Nazism has won because it has finally managed to ‘Nazify’ the consciousness of its victims.”

This form of Holocaust inversion is antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism, which the Labour Party refuses to adopt.

As anti-racism activists remonstrated with the speakers, as chair of the event it was Mr Corbyn who told the activists, including a Holocaust survivor, to be silent and listen to the antisemitic abuse, ordering police to remove those who refused to stand by.

Mr Corbyn’s event was the opposite of a commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day; it was a desecration, and it was deliberate.


Corbyn-Hosted Holocaust Event in 2010 Was ‘Brimming With Raging Hatred,’ Attendee Says
A Holocaust survivor who participated in a Holocaust Memorial Day event in 2010 attended by current Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the meeting was “brimming with raging hatred, directed at Israel and Jews not sharing the organiser’s views.”

Rubin Katz also noted that Corbyn was actively involved in ejecting opponents from the event.

“Jeremy Corbyn walked down the aisle with a policeman pointing to those he wanted removed,” he said, according to The Jewish Chronicle.

“Their leaflet [promoting the event] bore the solemn pledge ‘Never Again’ and displayed the familiar image of Jewish women with their hands up and their heads held high being led out of the burning Warsaw Ghetto,” Katz added, “alongside a picture of what looks like an angry crowd of ululating Arab women ululating giving the V sign — a photographic perversion of which Goebbels would have approved.”

Katz said that organizers exploited an elderly Holocaust survivor, Dr Hajo Meyer, who said many use the “Nazi genocide of Jews to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the state of Israel.”
Jeremy Corbyn Praised Hamas Terrorists as ‘Brothers’ on Iran State TV
UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of giving his personal support to murderous anti-Israel Hamas terrorists who between them killed upwards of 600 people.

On an Iranian TV programme called “Remember Palestine” in 2012, the hard left politician described more than 1,000 convicted terrorists released by the Israeli government in a prisoner swap as “brothers”, and questioned if there was a “serious case” against them. Mr Corbyn said:

Well, you have to ask the question why they’re in prison in the first place and since the releases that took place after the hunger strike I met many of the brothers including the brother who has been speaking here when they came out of prison when I was in Doha earlier this year, and you just realise that this mass imprisonment of Palestinians is actually part of a much bigger political game.

They are used as bargaining chips in political debate and political discussion, and because if there was the serious case against the individual prisoners that Israel claims there have been, then they wouldn’t win an appeal, they wouldn’t get out, they wouldn’t be released, but they are released in very large numbers.

Corporal Shalit apparently equals the lives of a very, very large number of Palestinian people.

Well I’m glad that those that were released, were released, and I hope they’re now in safe places.


Abdul Aziz Umar, who Mr. Corbyn refers to as a “brother”, was given seven life sentences after he helped in the preparation of a suicide vest detonated at a restaurant in Jerusalem in 2003, which killed seven innocent people.
Corbyn’s comments on Shalit prisoner swap mirror the tortured logic of the Guardian’s Deborah Orr
New revelations continue to surface about Jeremy Corbyn amidst an antisemitism scandal which continues to engulf his party.

The latest involves a Times of London report on footage which surfaced of the Labour Party leader praising, during a 2012 Press TV show hosted by Lauren Booth, the release of Hamas terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. He questioned whether there was a “serious case” against any of the 1,027 Palestinian terrorists freed in the prisoner swap, ignoring the fact that they’d been convicted of the murder of almost 600 Israelis.

Though most reports and tweets focused on Corbyn’s support for the terrorists, referring to them at one point in the interview as “brothers”, what especially caught our eye was this part of Corbyn’s comments:
“Corporal Shalit apparently equals the lives of a very, very large number of Palestinian people. Well I’m glad that those that were released, were released, and I hope they’re now in safe places.”

Does Corbyn’s bizarre framing of the prisoner swap sound familiar?

Well, readers of our blog may recall that, in Oct. 2011, we commented on the moral logic of Guardian journalist Deborah Orr in her article on the Shalit deal.
Revealed: John McDonnell signed Early Day Motion welcoming launch of extreme anti-Zionist group
Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell signed a Westminster early day motion to “welcome the launch” of an extreme anti-Zionist group whose founding charter called for destruction of the state of Israel – and alleged collaboration between Zionism and Nazi Germany.

The JC can reveal that Mr McDonnell signed EDM 2332 in October 2008 to “welcome the launch of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and its founding Charter” and praised the organisation for speaking out to “discredit Israel's attempts to suppress criticism with false accusations of antisemitism”.

An EDM’s main purpose is to draw attention to the subject matter involved.

The revelation emerged on the day Mr McDonnell attempted to place himself as the potential mediator in Labour’s long-running antisemitism crisis.

In a statement, he said the issue had “shaken us to the core really.”
The JC goes undercover at fiery Liverpool Momentum meeting
One of Jeremy Corbyn's closest allies has defended Labour activists who use language "perceived as antisemitic" at a packed meeting of Momentum supporters in Liverpool.

Chris Williamson, the Derby North MP, spoke out on Tuesday night after a left-wing Labour member used a hard-core antisemitic trope to defend Peter Willsman - the disgraced ruling National Executive Committee member exposed on Monday by the JC.

To loud applause, Mr Williamson urged the audience to be "brave" in the face of "sinister" action taken against such "activists in the Labour Party." Mr Williamson said: “I don't believe they are antisemites."

He added that some in the party had "allowed their passion to run away" and expressed themselves in "a light which could be perceived as antisemitic... I don't believe they are antisemites."

Minutes earlier, a member of the Sefton Constituency Labour Party, known only as Jack, used an openly antisemitic trope, claiming that "Israeli foot soldiers” are attempting to "take our democracy away from us".
LABOUR COUNCILLOR: ANTI-SEMITISM IS ‘MI5 TORY PLOT’
Meet Dave Oldfield, Labour councillor in North Lincolnshire. Cllr Oldfield thinks the Labour anti-Semitism scandal “must be a MI5 Tory government plot to cause havoc in our party” because he has “never come across it anywhere”. Last night he shared a post saying he will no longer be reading anything about anti-Semitism because it is a “politically motivated attack by the political establishment”.
LABOUR COUNCILLOR: JEWISH TORIES BEHIND RABBIS’ LETTER
Labour councillor Mike Pevitt reckons allegations of Anti-Semitism in his party are plot by Jewish Tory party members. In a tweet referring to the letter signed by dozens of rabbis criticising Labour over anti-Semitism, Cllr Pevitt wrote: “Labour get lead in polls and Tories instruct their Jewish members to write in”.

In a further tweet, Cllr Pevitt suggested that the Anti-Semitsm “debate” was a Tory plan.

This is the second lunatic councillor Guido has found today, after this morning’s “anti-Semitism is an MI5 Tory plot“ nutter. Are Labour even bothering to suspend these people any more, or have they just given up?


Pro-Palestinian Student: ‘Every Last Jew Will Die’
How much cognitive dissonance does it take to tweet “I don’t hate Jews, I hate Zionists” just SEVEN MINUTES after saying “when Palestine is returned, just know there will be NO mercy what so ever [sic], every last Jew will die”?

The dude who said he doesn’t hate Jews seven minutes after saying “every last Jew will die” is University of Texas at Arlington student Malik Ibrahim, according to Canary Mission. Malik is part of UT Arlington’s Muslim Students Association and went on to say “the Jews that do live will be swallowed by us, we will marry their daughters and there will only be Muslim Arabs” and, a few weeks later, celebrated the EU’s decision to take Hamas off of its terrorism list.

But Malik isn’t an isolated case of pro-Palestinian radicalism at UT Arlington. Dana Amar, then vice president of the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine, said “Hamas are freedom fighters. Not terrorists.” This was during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, which started when Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teens. If that’s not a terrorist act, I’m not quite sure what is.

Another UT Arlington student and fellow Muslim Students Association member Noor Saadat really likes her Arabic, using it to tweet “Allah will curse the father of the Jews” and apparently screamed “the homes of the Jews be destroyed.” There’s also Ahmad Hajmahmoud, who tweeted what translates to “Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dogs.” And of course, UT Arlington graduate Elhaum Langroodi, who compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler.

Finally, there’s Nancy Salem, a UT Arlington SJP activist but not student who got fired from her job teaching two-year-olds after tweets including phrases like “kill some Jews” and “gassed a Jew.” You know, a lot of people treat the Israel-Palestine conflict as a nuanced issue, and it is. But if you want your side of the argument to be taken seriously, this is NOT how you do it.
Pro-Palestinian Student: ‘Every Last Jew Will Die’


Barnard College to Host Prisoners’ Group Accused of Ties With Palestinian Terrorists
Barnard College in New York is due on Thursday to host a group accused of ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization in the United States and more than 30 other countries.

Two members of Addameer, a Ramallah-based outfit that bills itself as a prisoner support and human rights association, will participate in the event Breaking Bars: Fighting Incarceration from the US to Palestine, which is set to take place at the school’s Diana Center.

Yet critics such as the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor have recently warned that “more than half of Addameer’s current and former employees, as well as lawyers that work for Addameer, have links to the PFLP.”

The terrorist group has carried out multiple attacks against civilians, including at least nine suicide bombings that claimed nearly 110 casualties during the Second Intifada. More recently, it orchestrated a 2014 massacre of five worshipers and one police officer in a Jerusalem synagogue.

Numerous Addameer leaders have been suspected — and, in many cases, convicted — of involvement with the PFLP, according to research carried out by NGO Monitor.
Lawyers Want Removal of Stanford Resident Assistant Who Threatened Violence On Jews
Lawyers are petitioning Stanford University leadership to remove from a resident assistant position a student who threatened violence against Jews and Israel in a series of social media posts, according to a copy of the legal letter sent on behalf of Jewish students fearing for their safety on campus.

Lawyers with the Pennsylvania-based Marcus & Auerbach firm sent a letter to Stanford's president requesting that student Hamzeh Daoud be removed from his post as a resident assistant at the university in light of social media posts in which Daoud called for the destruction of Israel and violently cursed those who support Zionism.

The letter, sent on behalf of an anonymous Jewish student who fears for his or her safety on campus, calls on Stanford to take swift action against Daoud as a result of his multiple postings advocating for the destruction of Israel.

The petition represents just the latest anti-Semitic scandal on Stanford's campus, which has been faced with multiple instances of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist discrimination in recent months.

"Daoud's public statements—including statements he has made that were public, but that he has recently hidden by deleting certain of his social media accounts—make clear that he is not capable of performing the duties of a Resident Assistant," the letter states, according to a copy exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "Worse, if Stanford were to retain a person of Daoud's temperament in that position after being made aware of his statements, Stanford will have clearly discriminated against Zionist students on campus, in violation of federal law and its own formal policies."

Lawyers maintain that Daoud's violent rhetoric should disqualify him from any leadership post on campus.
IsraellyCool: BDS Movement Claims Yet Another False Victory
This is hummus-gate all over again.

While it is true Adidas did write that they “had raised the issue of Israeli settlement teams with FIFA”, that seems to have been the scope of it. If you read the contents of their letter, you will also see how they are careful to note that fundamentally, Adidas “acts in a politically neutral way.”

In other words, Adidas made a point of (politely) rejecting the BDS demands to end their association with the Israel Football Association.

So why, then, is Adidas no longer sponsoring the Israel Football Association? The reason has nothing to do with BDS, with the decision being made by the IFA as part of a “strategic move” to improve teams’ performance.
IsraellyCool: International Solidarity Movement Invents Lie About Palestinian With Down Syndrome
Earlier this week, the International Solidarity Movement claimed we shot in the head Mahmoud Zayed, the palestinian with Down Syndrome I have blogged about extensively.

Not surprisingly, there is absolutely no other report – not even from the palestinian side – to back this up.

Note also they are now claiming he was 28 years old. Previous reports suggested he was 26.

You can bet your life that if he was shot in the head, it would be all over the news, including the mainstream media. The fact remains that they are exploiting this poor man in order to spread their lies and hatred of Israel.

Not that I am surprised. As I have documented in the past, ISM members are implored to lie to achieve their goals.
PreOccupiedTerritory: New Israel Fund Under Fire For Not Having Eritrean Asylum-Seeker As Director (satire)
A leading organization in far-left Israeli politics and social change found itself the target of criticism from former allies as word spread that despite its progressive credentials, it has failed to integrate the most vulnerable and powerless members of society into positions of power and leadership in its own ranks.

The New Israel Fund was forced onto the defensive today following robust discourse on social media regarding the organization’s dearth of African migrants occupying its senior offices, even as the NIF bankrolls and engineers social and political campaigns to force the government to grant the same rights and privileges to migrants that citizens already enjoy.

Representatives of organizations across the left portion of Israel’s political spectrum voiced concern and condemnation Thursday following a series of tweets and Facebook posts by activists within the African migrant community in South Tel Aviv who have worked with NIF-funded groups and participated in NIF-funded initiatives.

“The whole White Knight syndrome is really getting to us,” railed Mgonna Gokressi, originally from Eritrea. “These Euro- and dollar-spending blowhards swoop in and decide they know what’s good for us and for Israel, when their schtick has been rejected by Israeli voters again and again. Maybe they think they can gain a political foothold if they get us on their side and we get the right to vote, but it’s not about us, for them. We’re tools. We know that because they haven’t taken a single step toward really integrating us into their organization. The hypocrisy reeks.”
CAMERA: Has Coverage of Israel’s Nation-State Law Been Sober and Factual
It comes as no surprise that the recently passed nation-state law declaring the State of Israel the national home of the Jewish people evoked frenzied condemnation by Israel’s enemies. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria, Iran, Hamas, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas all used the opportunity to attack Israel as “racist,” “fascist,” and Nazi-like. More disturbing is that many media outlets provided one-sided and biased coverage of the issue.

Some of Israel’s supporters have questioned elements of, and the need for, the Jewish nation-state law, while others have endorsed it. Some who oppose the law believe it needlessly alienates minority communities living in Israel and provokes Israel’s enemies. Supporters of the law contend that it is, at essence, a reaffirmation of the principle of Zionism — the establishment of Israel as a Jewish democratic state akin to the many other liberal democracies established by national groups in Europe and beyond. They point out that this law does not infringe on the individual rights of any of its citizens and argue that it is necessary to validate the Jewish state at a time that its enemies are working so hard to erode its legitimacy.

One can debate the merits and demerits of passing such a law, while presenting the facts accurately. Indeed, that’s the role of a journalist. Both news stories and opinion columns should be based on accurate facts without overstatement or distortion. Unfortunately, many in the mainstream media have failed in these respects.

Below are a few examples of the distorted, inaccurate, or one-sided pieces that have come out in the past weeks.
BBC WS radio listeners told Israel prevents Gazans from getting fresh air
With no challenge whatsoever from Donnison, listeners then heard Hamad repeatedly – and inaccurately – describe the Hamas organised, funded and facilitated ‘Great Return March’ agitprop as “peaceful” and a “protest”.

Donnison: “Hamas has been in power in Gaza now for more than ten years. Three wars during that time. Close to 3,000 Palestinians killed in those wars. Unemployment at 44%. Youth unemployment at 60%. Only 3 to 6 hours of power a day. Hamas has failed as a government and failed the Palestinian people living in Gaza, hasn’t it?”

Hamad: “The question [is] why Hamas failed. Because Hamas is [in] a big prison which is called Gaza. Gaza is about 360 kilometers. It’s closed from all sides by the Israeli occupation. They prevent export, import, free access. Prevent us from even having fresh air, fresh water, electricity. Everything is closed. So after that you come and blame Hamas that they are responsible for this. Now if Israel, now if the occupation, if Israel end that blockade, if Israel give the Palestinians a freedom of access, I think the situation is getting better in Gaza. Now if you ask now international organisations including UN, UNRWA, UNDP – these people will say very frankly that who is responsible for the blockade in Gaza is Israel. Israel is still controlling all the borders around Gaza. Now we ask people now to give us chance now to establish airport or sea port or to open the crossing around Gaza but Israel they don’t want. They want to punish people; to punish Hamas and to punish also the ordinary citizen.”


Making no effort to inform listeners that the claim that Israel ‘controls all the borders’ is untrue because the Gaza Strip has a border with Egypt, failing to clarify that goods and people enter and exit the Gaza Strip on every working day and refraining from challenging even the supremely absurd lie that Israel prevents Gazans from having “fresh air”, all Jon Donnison had to say after that tirade of falsehoods was:

Donnison: “Hamas’ deputy foreign minister in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad.”

Apparently the BBC World Service believed that those four minutes of barely challenged lies and propaganda from a terrorist organisation could be passed off as “accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial standards“.
Poland: Israeli students targeted by explosive
An explosive was thrown at Israeli students visiting Janusz Korczak's orphanage in Warsaw, Poland, Maariv reported.

The explosive was thrown on Wednesday from a neighboring building at students of Arad's Ort School who were touring Poland on their annual trip.

None of the students or staff members were hurt, and both the students' parents and the Education Ministry were informed of the incident.

The security officer accompanying the group informed local police of the incident.

The group left the site immediately, continuing with the rest of their tour.
Swastika found flying in Wyoming public park in place of US flag
A swastika flag was discovered on a flagpole in Wyoming this week in place of the United States flag, with local authorities and a Jewish organization expressing strong condemnation of the act.

The switch was discovered Monday morning in a public park in the city of Laramie, US media reported.

Police officers quickly removed the Nazi flag and restored the Stars and Stripes to its previous position after it was found crumpled next to the pole, police official Gwen Smith told CNN.

But she added that there was no evidence of a crime, since neither the US flag nor the flagpole were damaged. The public display of Nazi imagery is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Israeli firm creates particles to kill germs on contact, fight bacterial disease
An Israeli startup, Nobio Ltd., says it has developed particles that, when infused into a surface, kill germs as they land on that surface.

The technology will help fight bacterial infectious diseases, which account for 15 percent of global deaths, the company said.

The startup is seeking to use its technology initially in the dental industry, creating materials for dental fillings or so called dental restorations.

The company intends to apply for FDA approval for its first products by the end of August, said Nobio CEO Yoram Ashery in a phone interview, and is looking to set up a manufacturing plant.

“Dentistry is the first area in which we are placing a product on the market,” he said. “Dental caries are the most common reason for which we go to the dentist.”

Caries (tooth decay) are caused by the effect of acids produced by sugary food on the enamel surface of teeth. The acid is produced when sugars react with bacteria present in the dental plaque on the tooth surface.
Top Ugandan Official Praises Israel for Support of Her Country’s Health System
A top Ugandan government official praised Israel this week for its backing of her country’s health system.

“The collaboration between Israel and Uganda is not limited to medical supplies but has been extended to capacity building, including the ongoing works at the Intensive Care Unit for Mulago National Referral Hospital,” Ugandan Health Minister Dr. Jane Aceng said at the commissioning of a diabetes clinic at Kiboga Hospital, the Daily Monitor reported. “The Israeli medical volunteers have been with us for a long time and we appreciate the support for the health care system.”

Israeli Ambassador to Uganda Noah Gal Gendler said his country would make further contributions to the Ugandan health sector.

“We also hope to scale up medicines supplies,” he stated. “Our medical volunteer teams are committed and are available to boost health service delivery. It is unfortunate that diabetes is not only in Uganda but a global challenge, which has no borders.”
Maori Group Holds Apology Ceremony Over New Zealand’s Opposition to Israel at UN
A group representing the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand held this week a traditional ceremony of apology for the country’s opposition to Israel at the UN.

According to local Jewish publication J-Wire, the whakapāha ritual particularly emphasized New Zealand’s co-sponsorship of UNSC Resolution 2334, which labeled all territory captured in the Six-Day War in 1967 as “occupied Palestinian territory,” including eastern Jerusalem and the Old City.

J-Wire reported that in recent years “increasing numbers of Māori have become more vocal and active in their support for Israel.”

For example, Maori leader Pat Ruka sought to offer a welcome to the Israeli ambassador when he returned after a rift in relations over Resolution 2334, as well as affirming Maori support for Israel.

Ruka cited the pro-Israel beliefs of his ancestors, or “tapuna,” who also advocated Jewish immigration to their lands after World War II. The offer was rejected.
Going Postal: The latest BDS Fail
The latest BDS Fail will have the Israel haters going postal

This years Hanukkah stamp will be offered as a joint issue with Israel, with an Oct. 16 ceremony in Newport, R.I. It is based on a beautiful paper-cut design by Tamar Fishman.

According to the Postal Service:
“Fishman made a pencil sketch of the design then cut the two-dimensional image on white paper with a fine blade. She chose blue-purple and green papers for the background to highlight the central design. Behind the menorah is a shape reminiscent of an ancient oil jug that represents the heart of the Hanukkah miracle. Additional design elements include dreidels — spinning tops used to play a children’s game during the holiday — and a pomegranate plant with fruit and flowers.”
The stamp designer is USPS art director Ethel Kessler



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