Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: BDS

Showing posts with label BDS. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

#BDSFail Roundup (Zvi) (updated)

From Zvi:

#BDSFail

#BDSFail: Swedish led group raises capital for super-fast Internet network in Israel

Consortium raises NIS 100 million in capital and NIS 200 million in bank guarantees needed for the joint venture, which will enable Internet speeds of one gigabit per second - 100 times more than what is available now.

#BDSFail: China seeking technological edge in Israel

"Three years ago there was no activity whatsoever, and this year there will be more activity than with countries such as the United States, Italy and Germany. Not a week goes by that I don't host a Chinese delegation," Hasson says.

"In Israel, the Chinese are looking for technology and don't care much how they get it. They want to invest, buy the technology and collaborate …. We're not a threat to the Chinese and make a natural partner. The Chinese are aware of the Israeli story and hold our abilities and culture in tremendous esteem," he adds.

#BDSFail: Israel a destination for Chinese tourists

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of Chinese visitors to Israel increased by 27 percent during the first five months of 2013 versus the same period last year. In 2012, more than 20,000 visitors from China arrived in Israel.

#BDSFail: Michigan's Governor Snyder and Bibi Netanyahu

the two men locked into a detailed exchange when the topic of cyber-security came up. Snyder talked about using a “cyber-range” to let hackers attack your systems to find out where weaknesses are.Netanyahu grabbed a piece of paper, jotted down some notes, “and the whole tone of the conversation changed,” Kinsler said. They talked about the economy, about approaches to governing — Snyder handed Netanyahu one of his cards with his 10 priorities for reinventing Michigan and talked about working in dog years.“It was just the two of them connecting,” as if others weren’t in the room, Kinsler said.“It was pretty amazing,” Finney agreed.

[EoZ]: Also:

Department store Hamashbir 365 Holdings Ltd. (TASE:MSAH) is teaming with e-commerce giant eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), in its first collaboration with an Israeli retailer. Hamashbir will set up a website by the end of the year with eBay, for the sale of Hamashbir products, from perfumes and cosmetics through household goods, to online shoppers worldwide. This is Hamashbir's first online venture.

And:

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is acquiring Herzliya-based CSL International, which provides virtualization management technology for IBM's zEnterprise system. Financial terms were not disclosed but market sources believe IBM is paying about $10 million. The Israeli company has eight employees.

This is IBM's twelfth acquisition in Israel.

Plus:

Fox-Weizel Ltd. (TASE: FOX) will launch the US label The Children's Place in Israel in March 2014, it said at an analysts conference on Sunday. Altogether, Fox plans to expand its stores by 52% from the 293 stores at the end of 2012 to 447 stores by the end of 2015.

[Zvi] I have been posting a lot of #BDSFail's recently [in the comments at EoZ]- and explicitly labeling them as such - to give everyone a sense at how absolutely, miserably, pathetically BDS is failing every single day. The Bigotry and Double Standards "movement" uses underhanded tactics, procedural tricks, Saturday votes, non-democratic means, lies, prejudice, intimidation, threats and distortions, and still struggles frantically to get an extreme-left union or a left-elitist food coop to stop buying from Israel. It takes them weeks or months to make this happen.

Meanwhile, hundreds of presidents, governors, mayors, CEOs, students, innovators and tourists visit Israel, work together with Israeli counterparts for the common good, buy Israeli products, benefit from Israeli experience, use Israeli technology, receive advanced medical treatment in Israel and ultimately live better lives because of Israel.

BDS's biggest triumphs are shouting down the piano concert of a man who lives in Berlin, destroying democratic process in British academic unions, making up fake victories and picketing Australian-owned chocolate shops.

Every single week, BDS fails.

Every single week, BDS falls further and further behind.

UPDATE: Today is apparently BDS' 8th anniversary, so I made a condolence card:

Hizballah under pressure from its own people to quit Syria

From Asharq Al Awsat:

Mounting casualties among Hezbollah fighters in the fighting in Syria has led some Lebanese supporters of the organization to petition its leaders to scale back its involvement in the Syrian conflict.

A source with knowledge of the petions, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said that the increasing numbers of Hezbollah soldiers killed in Syria, including some senior commanders, has raised concerns among the Lebanese Shi’ites, prompting some of them, especially residents of Ba’albak, to visit Hezbollah Shura member, Mohamed Yazbek, demanding a halt on deployments of their men to Syria.

The source added that the residents stressed during the meeting that their children had fought the Israelis in 2006 and other wars between the party and Israel, in response to the call for resistance against Israel.

However, they said their men’s participation in the fight against the Syrian people, in defense of the Syrian government, was shameful and that it was unacceptable to embroil their men in a war in which they had no interest at all.

The source further added that Hezbollah was going through difficulties because it could not withdraw from fighting alongside the Syrian government, especially at this time.

This has prompted leading figures within Hezbollah to hold high-level meetings, to discuss the issue and agree on a delegation to be sent to Iran, in order to explain the difficulties faced by the party in the fighting in Syria, and explain to the Iranian leadership that the party was no longer able to bear the burden of supporting the Syrian government alone by sending fighters from Lebanon, and that Iran had to send more Iranian fighters than it did before.

The source said the numbers of Hezbollah fighters participating in the fight alongside the Syrian government had increased noticeably. Following Hezbollah leader’s visit to Tehran and Damascus three months ago, more than 20 units were sent to Syria from the Bekaa by Hezbollah, each battalion consisting of approximately 100 men.

Its always tempting to joke that things never change in the Middle East, but the sea change in attitudes against both the Islamists in Egypt and those in Lebanon - even for different reasons - is quite remarkable.

(h/t Yoel)

Again, Gaza farmers cooperate with Israel, while BDSers pretend otherwise

From COGAT:

Last Wednesday and Thursday two groups of Palestinian farmers (60 persons in total) had left the Gaza Strip in order to attend an agricultural seminar in northern Israel, designed to further facilitate the Gaza agricultural sector. Farmers, heads of agricultural associations and merchants had arrived at the conference sponsored by Origins Seeds Company, a company which exports cucurbitacae (pumpkins, squashes, etc.) and field cultivation seeds to 17 world countries, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Last years, the farmers had purchased seeds from the company and were pleased with their quality, and so it was important for them to attend the seminar and learn more about the product they're using. During the seminar, the farmers completed several workshops on cultivation methods, planting schedules, soil preparation, proper use of irrigation and fertilizer and disinfestations methods.

In addition, the farmers focused primarily on watermelons, and had stated that this year, owing to the training programs conducted frequently in Israel; growers had achieved unprecedented crop yields – 11 tons of produce for each decare of cultivated fields – A twofold increase compared with the preceding year.

Meanwhile, the BDS movement puts together lists of "agricultural organizations" that probably have no members as "proof" that Arab farmers in the territories want to shun any cooperation with Israel.

As I summed up earlier this year:

The BDSers want Palestinian Arab farmers to lose millions of dollars that they are making today by cooperating with Israeli exporters.
The BDSers want Palestinian Arabs to stop working for Israelis that pay them double the rates they would get from Arab employers.
The actual farmers in the territories are happy to work with Israel to make money.
The actual workers in the settlements are happy to get more money for their families by legally working for Israelis.

While Europe dawdles, Gulf states discuss sanctions against Hizballah

The Daily Star (Lebanon) Monday reported on Monday:

The European Union is unlikely to make a decision on blacklisting Hezbollah for “a least five [or] six months,” Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Development Cooperation Lapo Pistelli said Wednesday. Pistelli spoke to The Daily Star as he rounded out a three-day visit to the country with a brief tour of the National Museum, which included sneak peeks at a selection of exhibits not yet on public display.

The deputy minister listed the debate between member states over evidence of Hezbollah’s involvement in a terror attack in Bulgaria in July 2012 as one of the main reasons he believed the organization, or part of it, would not be added to the bloc’s terror list in the immediate future.

“At the preliminary discussion in Brussels [earlier this month] there were some arguments raised by the Bulgarian government and the Cypriots about the proofs and evidences [pertaining to] blacklisting the organization ... so it seems to me this decision will require time,” Pistelli said.

The EU has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. and some of its members to add Hezbollah, or at least its military wing, to its terror list.

Pistelli described this debate as “very sensitive,” and was clear that, regardless of discussions in Europe, Hezbollah is a very “relevant player” in Lebanon and could not be excluded from a “real national unity government.”

More details on the opposition within Europe to declaring Hizballah a terrorist organization can be seen here.

While Europe effectively legalizes the terrorist organization, the Gulf Arabs in the region are moving forward with sanctioning it:

Senior Gulf Cooperation Council officials met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement over its support for the Syria regime.

The meeting was “to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hezbollah,” said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi.

The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group’s armed intervention in Syria.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Of course, it isn't that the Gulf countries are suddenly more sensitive to terror than Europe. They would never sanction Hamas or any other Palestinian terror group. It is that they are Sunni and they hate Shiites, represented by Hizballah, and the organization's adventurism in Syria is giving them the excuse they want to sanction it.

Even so, it is jarring to see Muslims in the forefront of taking actions against other Muslims while Europeans can't figure out what to do.

The strange case of the Palestine Sunbird (updated)

Gulf News has an exclusive:

The Palestine Wildlife Society, a signatory of the International Convention for the Protection of Birds, has urged the Palestinian President and Prime Minister to approve and officially announce the Palestine Sunbird as the national bird of the state of Palestine after the failure of a major Israeli international campaign to change the name of the bird.

According to Ebrahim Fawzi Awdah, who heads the Awareness Department of the society, the organisation had caused the failure of a major Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird from the Palestine Sunbird to the Orange Bird. “The bird’s name contains the name of Palestine and that was the reason for it being the subject of a major Israeli campaign aiming to change the official bird’s name,” he told Gulf News.

“The Israeli campaign targeting this bird which holds the name of Palestine had reached all the world institutions and bodies.”

“Now we need for a Palestinian move to officially recognise the Palestine Sunbird as the national bird of Palestine,” he stressed.

He explained that the bird was registered with world bodies with this name and that Israel had not been able to change the name. “We have successfully halted the Israeli campaign and the bird’s name cannot be changed for the sake of an Israeli demand which is based on the Israeli hatred for the name of Palestine,” said Awdah.

He said Israel fights the Palestinians environmentally and in all aspects of life and the Israeli occupation handles the Palestinians brutally and aggressively. He highlighted the importance of the Palestinian presence on international bodies to confront the Israeli campaigns to fight the state of Palestine. “Israelis are the enemies of the Palestinian natural life and environment,” he said.

“The Israelis have not been able to accomplish their goal and change the bird’s name with the international institutions,” he said. “We cannot however claim that we have won the confrontation unless the Palestinian Presidency and premiership approve and announce the bird as the national bird of Palestine,” he said. “Only then we will be victorious in our environmental confrontation with the Israelis.

Awdah said the Israelis would not give up their attempts to change the bird’s name but that there will be no chance for them to win.

Funny. I cannot find a single article, or webpage, about this supposed huge Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird.

If it was such a major international campaign, wouldn't someone have written about it?

I am trying to imagine the conversation as "Israel" approaches a world bird body:

"Hey, could you change the name of the Palestine Sunbird to 'Orange Bird?'"
"Um, why do you want us to do that?"
"Because we hate the word Palestine so we want to erase it from the world's consciousness."
"You do realize that the bird is blue, right?"
"Oh, sure. We just want to show how powerful we Zionists are by not only changing the name of the bird, but changing its color too!"

As far as Israeli hating animal names with the word "Palestine" in them, a quick trip to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo finds that it lists in English the Palestine Gazelle and the Palestine Viper ("the most dangerous snake in Israel"). Why didn't they change the names there, where they have control over what to call these animals, if Israelis hate the word "Palestine" so much?

I suppose it is possible that some third grader wrote to some international organization, but I cannot find it plausible that there was any sort of Israeli campaign to change the name of the bird.

The projection given by Mr. Awdah in his description of Israelis is classic.

This great "victory" on the part of Palestine Wildlife Society seems to be on par with the many BDS fake victories.

(h/t Ash)

UPDATE: The source for the rumor seems to be this - from Haaretz in 2007 (h/t Dorith)

The Palestine sunbird, a small songbird known in Hebrew as tzufit, was almost crowned the national bird, but its English name kept it out of the running.

So Israel's reluctance to name the tzufit its national bird has morphed into a crazed Zionist demand to rename the bird in English!

Now, just imagine if Israel did choose the tzufit - then the Arabs would be complaining that Israel is stealing their national heritage!

UPDATE 2: Correspondent Stefano points me to the Encyclopedia of Life, which gives many names for this bird, indexed under "Northern Orange-tufted Sunbird."

He also notes that "there's absolutely no official body issuing a list of "official" English names for birds or any other animal or plant! There is indeed an "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" and an "International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature" but if you just have a look at their wikipedia pages you'll see these rules apply only to the scientific, latinized, names and not to the "common" names. In fact the binomial name of the Palestine sunbird is Cinnyris osea, with no mention of Palestine in it, and no "need" to change if for some crazy reason you're bothered by this name.

Perhaps the best part of the Encyclopedia of Life entry is that the bird is given two names in Arabic, one trusted and the other untrusted. The untrusted name translates to "Palestine sunbird." The trusted name is (according to Google) "Arabic Tamir."

Consumer Electronics Show coming to Israel

From YNet:

The international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is coming to Israel. The major technology-related trade show, which takes place each January in Las Vegas, is also held in a smaller format in New York, Paris and London – and now in Tel Aviv too.

The CES exhibition is the central stage for displaying the year's most significant technological innovations in the world of electronics. It includes phones, computers, cameras and a slew of other technological devices, and is attended by more than 150,000 participants from all over the world.

According to CES representatives in Israel, the Tel Aviv exhibition will display 40 companies from Israel and the world and will include launches and announcements, the scale of which remains unclear.

The CES Unveiled Tel Aviv event will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Monday, October 7. Admission is free, although the event will only be open to members of the local high-tech industry and the media.

It appears that the major point of the show is to attract Israelis to CES Las Vegas in January 2014. 40 company exhibits is not very large compared to the 2000 that exhibit at the main show.

Even so, it is yet another BDSFail.

(h/t Herb)

Zvi's #BDSFail roundup

From Zvi:

Emina Ibrahim speech against BDS at British UNISON Union Conference

We should be supporting progressive forces in Israel, not boycotting them

She calls upon British trade unions to reengage with the Histadrut.

It is also an irony that the Histadrut is now being ignored when it has a history of achieving free democratic trade unionism and last year alone it negotiated a seven per cent pay rise for all public sector workers over two years. I repeat conference seven per cent! Not the derisory one per cent we have on the table. The Israeli trade unions have also managed to secure recognition and bargaining rights at IKEA and McDonald’s, notorious anti-trade union multinationals.We should be learning lessons – they have something to offer us and we have something to offer them. This must include playing a constructive and facilitative role in bringing together Palestinian and Israeli workers in the spirit of workers solidarity.Ibrahim is a devoted leftist and clearly not a supporter of the Israeli government. But she seems to be one of those devoted leftists who is at least - seemingly very rare, nowadays - free of anti-Semitism.We cannot continue to obstruct the ability of our fellow workers in the Middle East to work together toward a just and progressive peace in the region which ensures justice for Palestine and security for Israel.Our message from Unison Conference 2013 must be a message of hope, that we want them to and are willing to help them to work together. We must also send a message of support in their struggle on both sides for fair and just labour rights and ultimately a fair and just solution.

It's a shame that she doesn't know how corrupt and enslaved to kleptocratic/terrorist Fatah the Palestinian "labor" movement is. It's a shame that she doesn't get that "justice" for Palestinians, translated into the language of Palestinian society, means the genocidal obliteration of Jews.

But if she doesn't know as much as she probably should, at least her heart seems to be in a pretty good place. That is so rare, these days, among British leftists who talk about Israel.

#BDSFail:

French Green Party visits Israel

"Until recently it was common to obey the unwritten orders of pro-Palestinian groups and not talk to the Israeli side, but I think that's totally illogical," Place said. "The Israeli left is also very pleased with our visit."

(Their positions are still naive in various ways. I mostly posted this because of the statement by Mr. Place; in so few words, Mr. Place manages to speak volumes about what has been going on among leftists in the west).

#BDSFail:

Cyprus signs Liquified Natural Gas Plant Deal with Israel

Actually, with Israeli companies. Still #BDSFail.

#BDSFail:

Georgia PM dreams of strategic relationship with Israel

#BDSFail:

India Seeks Water Management Lessons From Israel

Last week, a delegation of 16 high-ranking Indian officials of the water authorities of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa and Haryana arrived in Israel for a seven-day visit.

#BDSFail:

Israel's Blue Water Technologies offers Clean Water Solutions to China

#BDSFail

Israel, Colombia sign free trade agreement

#BDSEchoesAntiSemitism

BDS is a recast version of the Arab Boycott of Israel, which itself is a recast version of the Nazi boycotts of the Jews.

By the way, a low level war has erupted in Lebanon (video)

Clashes broke out in in Abra, east of the southern Lebanon city of Sidon on Sunday, claiming the lives of at least five army soldiers and stoking fears that violence triggered by the war in Syria will increasingly engulf its smaller neighbor.

Two gunmen loyal to an anti-Hezbollah sheikh were also killed in the clashes , security sources said, in an act the Army deemed as a cold-blooded attack on the military which called for an “iron fist” approach to deter further aggression.
The army said the fighting began when supporters of Shiekh Ahmed Assir, an outspoken Sidon cleric, launched a surprise attack on one of its checkpoints in the Abra neighborhood of the city, 25 miles south of the capital. Lebanese television said that the army had earlier arrested several of his supporters.

“What happened today in Sidon went beyond all expectations,” the army said in a statement. “The army was targeted in a cold blooded and deliberate attack.”

Assir, known for his tirades against Iran-backed Hezbollah’s influence over the Lebanese state and army, posted a video online Sunday calling for Sunni soldiers to defect from the army, which he lambasted as “Iranian and Shiite”.

“To all our partisans, we are being attacked by the Lebanese Army, which is Iranian and Shiite,” Assir said in the video. He claimed the Army belonged to the “shabiha [thugs]” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Amal Movement.

Here is some of Sunday afternoon's fighting in Sidon:

Also in Lebanon:

Initial investigations have determined that the only forces that possess 122mm Grad rockets that were discovered in Ballouneh in Lebanon’s Kesrouan region on Friday are Hezbullah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command PFLP-GC informed sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) according to a report by An Nahar newspaper.
Both Hezbollah and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) are staunch allies of the Syrian regime of president Bashar Al Assad

An Nahar reported that the investigations are currently focusing on how the rockets and their launch pads were placed in the region and what their target was.

Sources told the daily that the incident was aimed at intimidation and creating confusion in Lebanon.

This is in addition to the fighting that has been going on for months in Tripoli between Shiites and Sunnis, and the rockets that have been fired from Syria towards Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, or Syrian Army forays into Sunni areas of Lebanon.

You just know the Zionists are behind it. After all, if you ask the Shiites, they would tell you the Sunnis are Zionist, and if you ask the Sunnis, they would insist the Shiites are Zionist (or, sometimes, even Jews.)

They can't both be wrong!

COSATU dicks: "Penis infections preferable to safe Israeli medical devices"

From BDLive:

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has taken its anti-Israeli campaign a notch higher, threatening to boycott the use of the newly approved PrePex circumcising device, which it says is made in the Jewish state.

The introduction of PrePex — a nonsurgical circumcising device given the green light by the World Health Organisation — was announced this week during the sixth South African Aids Conference taking place in Durban.

The device was described as cheap, safe and easy to use and would replace the controversial Malaysian-made Tara KLamp during the government’s medical male circumcision campaign.

The Department of Health said the PrePex would be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

HIV/AIDS activist organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign have given PrePex a nod of approval saying it is much safer than the Tara KLamp, which is widely used in KwaZulu-Natal’s health facilities to circumcise men as a way of reducing their chances of contracting HIV.

But Cosatu on Wednesday signalled it would be a spanner in the works for the PrePex’s introduction. The federation’s spokesman Patrick Craven said while it was behind the government’s drive to circumcise men to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the federation would not relent on its longstanding call to boycott all Israeli-made products.

Mr Craven said the federation would call for a similar device to be made in South Africa.

"The point is not whether this device (PrePex) is the best or not. What we are saying is that there should be a wholesale boycott of all products from Israel, including this one. We cannot have exceptions," he said.

The existing Tara KLamp has caused serious problems, with some 21% of men using it in trials reporting damage to their penis and bleeding, 32% getting infections and 37% reporting complications. Health officials have been complaining about that device for years. Officials have described it as a "horror."

Some horrific photos of damaged penises from the Tara KLamp can be seen linked here. This is what Cosatu prefers.

The Israeli PrePex device, on the other hand, has been clinically tested to be highly effective even compared to surgical circumcision:

The PrePex device, manufactured by the Israeli company Circ MedTech, works by using an elastic band that compresses the foreskin against a rigid plastic ring that is placed on the inside of the penis's foreskin. The elastic band cuts off the blood supply to the foreskin, which becomes harder, loses sensation and dries out. According to a technical expert from the US government's Office of the Global Aids Co-ordinator (the president's fund headquarters), Dr Jason Reed, the process is similar to that of an umbilical cord clamp.

"Once the foreskin has 'died', a client returns a week later to have the device removed and the hardened skin is then easily cut away," he said.

Although a local analgesic ointment is applied when the inner ring is inserted beneath the foreskin, no local anaesthesia – and thus no needles – are required, as with surgical circumcisions. And because live tissue is not cut, a sterile environment and stitches are not needed. There is usually no bleeding and research studies have shown that pain levels are comparable with, or in some cases lower than, those involving surgical circumcisions.

A study conducted in Rwanda last year found that the PrePex procedure could be performed in one-fifth of the time (three minutes) of an average surgical procedure (15 to 30 minutes). The study also found that most participants using the PrePex device were able to return to work within three hours after the device had been put on, whereas those undergoing surgical circumcisions often needed a few days to recover. Another Rwandan study has shown that the PrePex procedure can be carried out by "low-cadre nurses", unlike surgical circumcisions, which require skilled surgeons or surgical nurses.

Reed said: "Most African countries have a shortage of healthcare providers with surgical skills, particularly doctors, which makes it challenging to perform high volumes of surgical circumcisions. A medical device that would eliminate the need for such constrained resources could help to speed up the process greatly."

Yes, Cosatu prefers that tens of thousands of men be exposed to penis infections, bleeding and pain instead of using a safe Israeli product that could help stem AIDS and other problems in Africa.

Do you think any of them will volunteer to use the Tara KLamp to show their commitment to their sacred anti-Israel cause?

There is no better example of Israel Derangement Syndrome than this. In fact, it is probably a good idea to tweet all the BDS idiots and ask them straight out if they agree with Cosatu here, and believe that the danger to thousands of men's penises (and, indeed, public health) is a small price to pay to avoid using an Israeli product.

(h/t IAcquisitive)

Pet Shop Boys slap down BDS liars

The Pet Shop Boys are playing in Israel next week, which naturally means that Israel haters pulled out all the stops to try to pressure them to cancel.

Their answer is short and shows that at least some pop stars have a degree of intelligence:

I don't agree with this comparison of Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. It's a caricature. Israel has (in my opinion) some crude and cruel policies based on defence; it also has universal suffrage and equality of rights for all its citizens both Jewish and Arab. In apartheid-era South Africa, artists could only play to segregated audiences; in Israel anyone who buys a ticket can attend a concert. Neil x

The graphic that the haters used to try to demonize the duo from playing reveals a lot about how Israel haters simply make up "facts" whenever they feel like it.

1 child killed every 3 days? 2 kids "caged" every day?

These statistics are anti-Israel fantasies.

There have been no Palestinian Arab children killed by Israel in the past five months (the last one was throwing rocks and bottles at the IDF in January.) Even during the second intifada, from 2000-2005, the number of children killed did not reach this level.

Similarly, the idea that 2 children are arrested every day is equally ridiculous.

How many people would even bother to question statistics shown on a poster like this? To do so, you must assume initially that the BDS crowd is filled with liars, and most Westerners tend to trust seemingly authoritative "facts" that come their way.

The lies of the Israel haters are insidious, and of course the more "honest" ones will not bother to correct their co-haters - because there are no consequences to lying.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

BDS is against peace

One of the major symbolic victories of the anti-Israel BDS movement was in 2010 when the University of Johannesburg decided to boycott Ben Gurion University of Israel.

Zvi just found this speech by H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Hadid, President of the Jordan National Red Crescent Society and Chairman of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. It shows the reality of what BGU stands for, and it also shows that the BDS crowd has no interest in peace.

Which brings up the question of what kind of people support a movement that is against the ideals being advanced here by this prominent and well-respected Arab physician? If BGU incontrovertibly supports a culture of peace and a society where everyone is equal, then those who are against it must also be against peace and equal rights.

Here is the beginning of Dr. Al-Hadid's speech. The full program can be seen here.

70 Gaza farmers attend Tel Aviv agriculture exhibition, in yet another #BDSFail

Palestine Today quotes Reshet Bet radio as saying that 70 farmers from Gaza attended a Tel Aviv agriculture conference and exhibition this week.

The report says that there is currently NIS 1.6 billion ($450 million) in trade between Israel and Gaza.

JPost adds:

An opportunity to once again export fruits and vegetables to the Israeli market could be game-changing not only to Gazan farmers but also to the larger relationship between the Gazan people and their Israeli neighbors, farmers from the territory told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

“We want to sell in Israel,” said Mahmoud Ikhlain, chairman of the Beit Lahiya Cooperative.

“The market in Israel is a good market. All the time, we and Israel are in contact.”

“We are neighbors,” Ikhlain added.

There was a similar exhibition last January, where 30 Gaza farmers attended.

All this is very confusing, because we are constantly told that "Palestinian civil society" supports boycotting Israel.

Could it be that the BDS movement is lying, and most real Palestinian Arabs don't have a problem working together with Israel?

Nah, they wouldn't lie. Never. Perish the thought.

Report: Israel sold military equipment to Arab and Muslim countries (updated)

From Haaretz:

Israel has exported security equipment over the past five years to Pakistan and four Arab countries, according to a British government report. The report, which deals with British government permits for arms and security equipment exports, says that in addition to Pakistan, Israel has exported such equipment to Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

The report was released by Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees security exports and publishes regular reports on permits granted or denied to purchase arms, military equipment or civilian items that are monitored because they can be put to security uses.

From January 2008 to December 2012, British authorities processed hundreds of Israeli applications to purchase military items containing British components for use by the Israel Defense Forces, or to go into systems exported to third countries.

The British reports also list the countries to which Israel sought to export the items. Among Israel’s clients are Muslim countries with which it does not have diplomatic ties. According to the report, in 2011 Israel sought to purchase British components to export radar systems to Pakistan, as well as electronic warfare systems, Head-up Cockpit Displays ‏(HUD‏), parts for fighter jets and aircraft engines, optic target acquisition systems, components of training aircraft, and military electronic systems. In 2010, Israel applied for permits to export electronic warfare systems and HUDs with components from Britain to Pakistan. Also in 2010, Israel sought permits to supply Egypt and Morocco with Israeli electronic warfare systems and HUD systems that use British parts.

Here's Haaretz' graphical summary of the article:

Although at first glance it sounds a little alarming for Israel to sell to countries that consider it an enemy, I think it is a reasonable assumption that the Israeli government is careful not to give away any technologies that would hurt Israel's defense.

Which means that this is about as massive a BDSFail as can be imagined!

Already the Arabic media are reporting this, so we can expect a backlash any moment now and the denials from Muslim countries will follow soon afterwards.

UPDATE: The first denial, from Pakistan.

UPDATE 2: #2 from Egypt. (h/t IranAware)

EU chickens out, won't label Hizballah as terrorist

From Naharnet:

Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avigdor Lieberman slammed the European Union on Monday for failing to label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

He labeled the move as “ultimate hypocrisy."

Israeli media quoted Lieberman as saying that Israel must convey to the EU that failure to blacklist Hizbullah in an upcoming discussion on the topic in two weeks "will make the EU irrelevant to us."

Last week, several EU governments expressed concern that a British request to add Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations would increase instability in the Middle East.

At a meeting in Brussels, the governments also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence to link Hizbullah to an attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
s
Britain has argued that Hizbullah should face EU sanctions over its alleged role in the bus bombing in the resort of Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.

Maariv adds that although Bulgaria's investigation in the Burgas bombing concluded that Hizballah was behind it, the new socialist Bulgarian government does not want to stand behind the report. Furthermore, it says that Bulgaria was actually the force behind the move, as it fears that accurately labeling Hizballah as terrorist would hurt Lebanese/EU relations.

This means that Gulf Arabs are more willing to label Hizballah to be a terror group than Europeans. While this is more a function of the extreme hatred that Sunnis have for Shiites, it is still astonishing that the EU is coddling a group whose ties to terror are impossible to ignore - and that Muslims who cheered 9/11 are more hawkish on Hezbollah terror than Europeans are.

Saudi paper blasts Hezbollah as "ruthless terrorist organization"

It is truly scary when Gulf Arabs have a better sense of how to characterize Hezbollah than Europeans do.

This op-ed from the Saudi Gazette last week is perhaps a tad overly optimistic, but at least it gets one thing right:

THERE will be those who wonder why the GCC did not declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization long ago. Hezbollah rode high in the opinion of some after it threw back the 2006 Israeli assault on southern Lebanon. However, the reality has always been that this is a group that is entirely preoccupied with its own agenda and has no interest in promoting the unity and reconstruction of Lebanon.

Indeed, in order to protect its mini-state within the country, the Hezbollah leadership has been prepared to act as an agent for Iran and its Syrian ally Bashar Al-Assad. In return for dancing to Tehran’s tune and seeking to carry out the disruptive interventions desired by the Iranian leadership, its militiamen have been armed and trained and the movement as a whole has seen many millions of Iranian dollars poured into its coffers.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah may, however, have now overreached himself. Some wonder if he has not become a victim of his own propaganda about a militant and victorious organization and really believes that his forces are actually capable of turning the tide of defeat that is engulfing the Assad regime. Not only this, but he clearly had little idea of how, by throwing in its lot with the hated Assad, Hezbollah would unmask itself in the Arab world as an Iranian cipher. Even the leadership of Hamas, with which Hezbollah once had close relations, recoiled in disgust when it threw in its lot with the Assad dictatorship.

In recognizing that Hezbollah, for all its attempts to portray itself as a responsible political movement, is in fact simply a terror group, the GCC member states have taken a bold and decisive step. No longer will Hezbollah be able to present itself convincingly as a champion of any Arab cause. No longer will it be able to pretend that its men are dying for the rest of the Arab world.

Indeed, by rushing to fight alongside Assad’s faltering army and Shabiha militiamen, this terror group has allied itself with a government that has sought and failed to terrorize its own people into obedience.

It must be wondered if some Hezbollah leaders do not already appreciate the considerable risks of rushing to the aid of a doomed regime. Once Assad is gone, there will be no easy supply line to Hezbollah-occupied areas of Lebanon. Nasrallah might have argued that it was for this very reason, plus the need to keep Iranian support, that its commanders simply had to send young Lebanese to Syria to fight and die alongside Assad’s forces. But it will prove to be a desperate move.

When Syria is free, Hezbollah will be alone and isolated in its south Lebanon territory. Its murderous and malign influence in the country will be challenged by moderate Lebanese, who are fed up with its strutting thugs and the obstruction of its leaders in the country’s delicate political process. The time is past when the Hezbollah leadership can pose as a champion of the Arab cause. Thanks to its slavish support for Iran and Syria, it has actually defined itself as an enemy of the Arab world in general and the Palestinian cause in particular.

Hezbollah needs to be seen for the ruthless terrorist organization that it really is and the GCC’s decision to call it such is surely a crucial nail in the terror group’s coffin.

(h/t Arsen)

BDSMers force PA minister to flee conference; PA responds by beating BDSMer

From JPost:

Palestinian Authority Economy Minister Jawad al-Naji was forced to walk out of The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Conference on Saturday after participants demanded that he leave for insulting a man who asked a “provocative” question.

The man was later severely beaten by PA security officers accompanying the minister and taken to hospital.

Eyewitnesses reported that one of the participants, Nizar Banat, asked the minister why the PA and President Mahmoud Abbas were continuing to conduct security coordination with Israel while fighting “normalization” with Israelis.

In response, the angry minister called on the activist to to “stop barking.” The minister’s remark drew sharp criticism from the participants, who demanded that he leave the conference instantly.

When the moderator asked the minister to apologize, al- Naji walked out of the conference.

One of the participants said that PA security officers and Fatah “thugs” later beat Banat as he exited the conference.

Banat was taken to the hospital, where he was being treated for bruises, the participant said.

He said that at least seven men attacked him shortly after he left the conference hall.

“They tried to pull me out of a car,” he said. “When I resisted, they dragged me out and beat me.” He added that some of the attackers were aides to the minister.

The participant said that PA security officers also started searching the cellphones of some participants to make sure they had not filmed the confrontation between Banat and the minister.

“What happened today at the Bethlehem University conference is very serious,” she said. “The activist only asked the minister why he and President Abbas were campaigning against normalization with Israel while at the same time conducting security coordination with Israel.”

She insisted that the minister was “expelled” from the university and did not voluntarily walk out.

Here's video of al-Naji walking out, as the haters cheer:

We have seen before that the BDS movement is far more radical than even the PA and is against any two-state solution.

The PA, for its part, acts like a dictatorship in response to even the slightest criticism.

Thomas Friedman thinks "Palestine" could be a "model" for how other Arab regimes act. It already is!

And it would only be a matter of time before it is replaced with a leadership that's even worse!

NGO Monitor has just revealed that the BDS movement is funded, in part, by the EU - which officially supports a two-state solution.

If the rules can't be used to hurt Israel, just change the rules (Kimberley Process)

What is The Kimberley Process?

The Kimberley Process started when Southern African diamond-producing states met in Kimberley, South Africa, in May 2000, to discuss ways to stop the trade in ‘conflict diamonds' and ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments.

In December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution supporting the creation of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds. By November 2002, negotiations between governments, the international diamond industry and civil society organisations resulted in the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) . The KPCS document sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade. The KPCS entered into force in 2003, when participating countries started to implement its rules.
...
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free' and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade.... Participants can only legally trade with other participants who have also met the minimum requirements of the scheme, and international shipments of rough diamonds must be accompanied by a KP certificate guaranteeing that they are conflict-free.

The Kimberley Process is chaired, on a rotating basis, by participating countries. So far, South Africa, Canada, Russia, Botswana, the European Union, India, Namibia, Israel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United States of America have chaired the KP, and South Africa is the Chair in 2013.

The KP has had some problems but it has gone a long way to ensure that the source of each rough diamond can be traced back to its origin to ensure that it wasn't used to fund terror groups.

Now, anti-Israel groups in South Africa are attempting to completely redefine the KP to destroy Israel's diamond polishing and cutting business.

Here is how the BDSM bizarrely tries to justify this initiative:

According to the UN based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), only “rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments” can be classed as conflict or blood diamonds.

The KPCS classifies all other diamonds as “conflict free” regardless of what human rights violations they may be funding. Israel is the world’s leading exporter of diamonds, where approximately 50% of all gem-quality diamonds in dollar terms are processed.

Israeli companies import rough diamonds from around the world, and then process them for cutting and polishing, adding significantly to their value. The diamonds are then exported globally via distribution hubs in Antwerp, London, Hong Kong, New York and Mumbai.

Israel is the world’s leading diamond exporter, with exports valued at nearly $20 billion in 2008, accounting for over 30% of Israel’s exports.

These de facto blood diamonds are sold worldwide as conflict free diamonds to unsuspecting consumers who are unaware that their purchase is funding gross human rights violations in Palestine.

Israel helps fund the atrocities and human rights abuses that Kimberly Process is supposed to prevent being funded by revenue from diamonds.

Of course, Israel is not a producer of rough diamonds, so their initiative would completely change the very foundation of the KP and effectively destroy any good it has done. If their initiative would succeed, many more lives would be lost in Africa.

But their hate for Israel is so all-consuming that to them, destroying the Jewish state justifies any number of human rights abuses.

(From their tweets, it is also apparent that South Africa wants a piece of the diamond cutting and polishing trade, so hurting Israel would have presumed economic benefits for SA. The free market doesn't work for inferior work, so a pretense to care about human rights is the next best thing.)

Beyond that, this initiative reveals how sick the minds of anti-Israel activists are. If existing rules (or crazed misinterpretations of existing rules) do not do enough to marginalize Israel for their tastes, then they must change the rules.

But only for Israel!

The logic, that somehow Israel's diamond industry funds the IDF and therefore must be destroyed, would also mean that any service or product from any country that does anything that can be construed as unpalatable must be stopped.

Let's pretend for a moment that someone would start a campaign to stop Gaza exports of strawberries to Europe, because taxes paid for the product helps fund Hamas human rights violations (which they undoubtedly do.)

These same BDSMers would be the first to say that this is "collective punishment" against all Gazans.

However, there is no such thing as "collective punishment" for Israelis. They all deserve punishment, when you are an Israel-hater. The rules for Israel are unique and cannot apply to any other country or entity.

That's how twisted the haters of Israel are.

Israel-hatred is truly a psychosis. And when it is this single-minded, this divorced from reality, it resembles nothing so much as traditional antisemitism.

(h/t Steven Z)

Report :Saudi businessman offers $10 million to kill Nasrallah

Assabeel and other Arabic media are reporting that a wealthy Saudi businessman has offered $10 million to anyone who killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Abdullah Mohammed Al Anzi, who is a supporter and financier of the Syrian rebels, has already reportedly donated some 30 million Saudi rials to the rebels. The reports say that Anzi offered the bounty for Nasrallah's head, and will even pay up if the killer is a Shiite.

I don't know if he would pay the IDF for assassinating Nasrallah. Some things are beyond the pale, after all.

Nasrallah 1988 video: "Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic"

In light of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech on Saturday where he said he group will do whatever it takes to save Basahr Assad's regime, his opponents have released a MEMRI video showing Nasrallah's real goals:

A video in which Hassan Nasrallah spoke about his dream goal in Lebanon before he became Hezbollah leader is being circulated again on social media following a speech on Saturday in which he officially admitted engagement in the Syrian civil war.

The video being circulated online reportedly dates back to 1988 and shows a younger Nasrallah saying: “Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state under the rule of Islam.”

“Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler, Imam Khomeini,” he said.

MEMRI's full text:

Hassan Nasrallah: What is the nature of the regime that Hizbullah wants for Lebanon at present, in light of the state of the country and the numerous sects? The preceding lectures have answered this question. Right now, we do not have a plan for a regime in Lebanon. We believe that we should remove the colonialism and the Israeli [occupation], and only then can a plan be implemented.

Our plan, to which we, as faithful believers, have no alternative, is to establish an Islamic state under the rule of Islam. Lebanon should not be an Islamic republic on its own, but rather, part of the Greater Islamic Republic, governed by the Master of Time [the Mahdi], and his rightful deputy, the Jurisprudent Ruler, Imam Khomeini.
[...]
[I was asked] about Hizbullah's relations with Iran and with the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. As far as we are concerned, these relations... I am one of the people working for Hizbullah and its active apparatuses. I would not have remained for a single moment in any apparatus of Hizbullah if I were not absolutely convinced that these apparatuses are connected, through a certain hierarchy, to the Jurisprudent Ruler and Leader, whose decisions are binding.

As far as we are concerned, this is axiomatic. Diplomatic and political statements are not what is important in this case. Ayatollah Karroubi cannot simply admit: Yes, Hizbullah are our people in Lebanon. This is inconceivable, both politically and media-wise. Our essential and organic relation with the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Rule of the Jurisprudent is axiomatic, as far as we are concerned.

We belong to this path, we make sacrifices for its sake, and we expose ourselves to dangers, because we are convinced that the blood we shed flows for the sake of the Rule of the Jurisprudent.
[...]
Should the Jurisprudent Ruler be the one to appoint the leaders, and bestow legitimacy upon them, in all Muslim countries? Yes, because his jurisprudence is not limited by geographical boundaries. It extends to wherever Muslims may be.

Of course, Hamas shares that exact same goal of "Palestine" being part of an Islamic 'ummah and not an independent state except as a stage. The only difference is whether this pan-Muslim state would be Shi'ite or Sunni.

No one seems too bothered by Hamas' identical hypocrisy, though. From their charter:

As for the objectives: They are the fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail, homelands be retrieved and from its mosques would the voice of the mu'azen emerge declaring the establishment of the state of Islam, so that people and things would return each to their right places and Allah is our helper.

(Note to MEMRI: Please don't flag me on YouTube for uploading your video that is already pirated by Al Arabiya. We're on the same side, and I will happily encourage my readers to donate to you. )

Hezbollah lashing out in Syria but feeling squeezed at home and in Europe

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech on Saturday where he, for the first time, admitted that Hezbollah is all-in to keep Bashar assad in power:

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday vowed "victory" in Syria, where militants of his powerful Lebanese Shiite movement are fighting alongside regular troops against rebels trying to topple the regime.

"I say to all the honorable people, to the mujahedin, to the heroes: I have always promised you a victory and now I pledge to you a new one" in Syria, he said at a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of Israel's military withdrawal from Lebanon.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah would always stand by its allies in the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, stressing that its own interests were at stake.

"We will continue along the road... bear the responsibilities and the sacrifices," he said in a video-link of a speech delivered live on a huge screen.

"This battle is ours... and I promise you victory," he said.

"Syria is the rear guard of the resistance (Hezbollah's fight with Israel), its backbone, and the resistance cannot stay with its arms folded when its rear guard is exposed.

"We are idiots if we do not act," said Nasrallah who avoids appearing in public for security reasons.

He is bizarrely trying to justify this by playing the Israel card, one that the Arab public is increasingly sick of:

In a televised speech marking the 13th anniversary of the Israeli pullout from southern Lebanon, Nasrallah also said that "if Syria falls, so will Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. We will enter a very dark phase."

He also spoke about Israeli preparations for a possible conflict with Hezbollah and said that Israel formed a new government portfolio dedicated to protecting the home front. "In Israel everything is geared up for a conflict year round and all year they hold maneuvers. Israel fears rockets, because we have no air force. The Israelis built towns along its borders. They are bringing in Jews from Ethiopia, Romania, and Argentina, and placing them by our borders and providing them with money and arms. On our side of the border, our towns are nearly empty."

Nasrallah did not present the fighting as a conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but rather as one waged between heathens serving a Western Zionist agenda and the Syrian resistance that refuses to accept the dictates of the West.
Nasrallah unequivocally stressed that the fall of the Syrian regime would be a blow to the "resistance." "Syria is the backbone of the 'resistance,' that cannot sit still and wait while its backbone is being broken," he said. "If Syria falls in the hands of the Americans and the Israelis and the American representatives in the region, the 'resistance' will be isolated and Israel will enter Lebanon and force its laws upon it. Lebanon will return to the Israeli era."

In his speech, Nasrallah tied the U.S. and Israel to Jihadist organizations working under the aegis of al-Qaida in Syria: "These combatants coming from many countries received many allowances to leave their countries and arrive at Syria, this is the American method of destabilizing Syria from the inside, using these organizations that brand everyone is heathens, those organizations that had killed more Sunni Muslims than anyone else. An example of this is what is happening in Iraq, Pakistan, and Somalia. We think that the armed forces taking over Syria are a great danger to Lebanon and all the Lebanese, not only Hezbollah or the Lebanese Shiites."

Lebanon's majority non-Shi'ite population is not happy at being dragged into a war they have nothing to do with:

Al-Mustaqbal Party leader Saad Hariri stated on Saturday that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is demanding the recognition of the “State of Hizbullah," considering that the resistance has announced its “suicide" in the Syrian border town of al-Qusayr.

“You have announced yourself the end of the resistance on Liberation's Day,” Hariri addressed Nasrallah in a released statement in which he responded to Hizbullah leader's speech in the commemoration of the liberation of the South earlier on Saturday.

“You have announced the resistance's political and military suicide in al-Qusayr.”

Hariri accused Nasrallah of releasing a Fatwa that calls on the Lebanese to get involved in a war on Syrian territories.

“Your speech has no value to us, to most Lebanese and definitely to the Syrian people in all political, national, ethical, legal, religious and human measures.”

The opposition to Hezbollah's Syrian adventure was apparent this morning, as a group fired rockets at Hezbollah positions in Lebanon itself:

Rockets slammed into a Hezbollah stronghold outside Beirut, injuring at least four people, hours after the Lebanese militant group’s leader declared he could mobilize thousands of fighters to help Syria’s rulers beat an insurgency.

As many as three rockets hit a southern suburb of Beirut this morning, damaging homes, Al Jazeera satellite TV said, showing shrapnel-damaged walls and cars. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called the spillover from Syria’s civil war an act of “terrorist saboteurs” who do not want peace and stability for Lebanon, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah's willingness to bet Lebanon on Assad has pushed some European states to declare it a terror group:
At the beginning of this week, the United Kingdom submitted an official request to the European Union to list Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization. The move was shortly followed by supportive statements from both France and Germany.

"Given the decisions that Hezbollah has taken and the fact that it has fought extremely hard against the Syrian population, I confirm that France will propose to place Hezbollah's military wing on the list of terrorist organizations," French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday after the Friends of Syria meeting in Amman.

The move from the EU Troika also comes almost a year after a suicide attack attributed to Hezbollah left 6 dead in the Bulgarian sea side resort town of Burgas in July 2012. At the same time that the Bulgarian investigation into the Burgas attack was underway, Cyprus was dealing with the case of Taleb Hussam Yacoub, a Swedish-Lebanese national who admitted in court that he had been recruited by Hezbollah. The young man described his role as a courier in several European capitals, as well as his surveillance missions on Israeli tourists in Cyprus and Turkey. However, it was Hezbollah's involvement in Syria and its increasing evidence of support to Bashar al-Assad's regime that made France and Germany abandon their hesitation, analysts say.

Now Lebanon has a scorecard of Hezbollah's diminishing clout as a legitimate player in Europe: