12/16 Links Pt2: The ASA Advances the Longstanding Anti-Zionist War on Academia

From Ian:

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Gil Troy: The ASA Advances the Longstanding Anti-Zionist War on Academia

The American Studies Association’s rushed deadline of December 15 to vote on boycotting Israeli universities has provoked intense debate about the move and the manipulative tactics deployed, including exploiting this time of year when professors are busy grading. But the boycott is one skirmish in a larger fight. In their sustained war against Israel, anti-Zionists have launched a war against academia itself, repeatedly desecrating academic ideals.
The academic world is majestically broad. Scholars delight in our range of disciplines, methodologies, and approaches. Still, despite our delicious chaos, most of us leave graduate school with certain guiding principles. Most academics remain committed to intellectual processes that: ensure information’s accuracy; appreciate the world’s complexity; defend ideas’ permeability; applaud diversity; and preserve scholarly objectivity. Since the 1970s, campus anti-Zionists have violated these standards – while trying to enlist organizations like the ASA as allies in this unscholarly war.
“Israel Apartheid Week,” the annual anti-Israel festival on dozen of campuses, is particularly outrageous. Israel’s critics could use many words to express their disapproval. However, all academics, wherever we stand politically, should object to the sloppy, demagogic use of “apartheid” to describe the national not racial conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. South Africa’s apartheid system was rooted in racial distinctions, defining individuals and determining their rights -- or lack thereof – based on skin color. By contrast, there are dark-skinned Israelis and light-skinned Palestinians. No Israeli legislation has ever been based on race or any biological difference.

American Studies Association about to pass odious equivalent of Zionism is Racism resolution

The U.N. General Assembly in 1975 passed the odious Zionism is Racism resolution, which has since been rescinded.
Voting closes today at the American Studies Association on an equally odious resolution singling out Israel, and Israel alone, for academic boycott. It is, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers notes, “anti-Semitic” in its effect “if not in intent.”
The resolution has been harshly criticized by the American Association of University Professors and eight Past Presidents of the ASA as an abominable attack on academic freedom, among many other denunciations:

DivestThis!: Proposed ASA boycott of Israeli academics is a guaranteed moral fail

Perhaps it is the sheer number of pathologies on display that forced me out of hiatus to comment on the recent BDS outburst having to do with the American Studies Association’s upcoming vote on an academic boycott.
First, you’ve got the usual breathless “This time for sure!!!” BDS bombast radiating out from the Israel-hating press, regardless of the fact that practically no one outside of the field of American Studies had even heard of ASA before they put themselves on the map by announcing their intention to flush the organization’s commitment to academic freedom down the toilet in order to strike a political pose.

Schooling the ASA on boycotting Israel

Shurat HaDin — the Israel Law Center, is a non-governmental organization that brings together a network of lawyers from across the world to prosecute institutions, governments and private companies responsible for abusing the human rights of Jews, Israelis and others.
Such a boycott and the intended curtailing of the academic freedom of Israelis and others who study in Israeli academic institutions would be high on our list of priorities. Indeed, only recently, in Australia we brought a case under the Racial Discrimination Act against a professor at the University of Sydney who voiced support for boycotting Israel.
The members of the ASA need to school themselves on the legality of their proposed anti-Israel boycott before they further embarrass themselves. The implementation of a boycott of Israel’s academics is as illegal as it is morally repugnant, and we will not hesitate in seeking all legal avenues against those who employ discrimination against the Jewish State in this way.

Europe is impinging on Israeli sovereignty

More than legislation, we should focus on international activities against European countries, speaking openly against the gall and absurdity inherent in jeopardizing our sovereignty and interfering in the conflict in favor of one side, which represents a new kind of European neocolonialism. Only Israel is treated with such unique norms, especially by Europe. Meddling in our affairs impinges on our democratic values and does nothing to advance peace. Why do the Palestinians even try? The Europeans are helping lay the pressure on Israel, mudslinging and supporting boycott movements.
When all is said and done, instead of responding through legislation, we should broaden the purview of conservative Zionist organizations. That would be a substantive answer to the organizations trying to rip us apart.

Sanctions against Israel are a crime

The 70 nations ignore, for some reason, the fact that the Land of Israel was our home at a time when most of them -- the Palestinians included -- lived in tents and caves. They seek to use the crime of sanctions, the new face of anti-Semitism, as their weapon of destruction. Just like in Alterman's poem: "We are upon you with 70 decrees and 70 hatchets." This is a belligerent attempt to force us back to "that" death house.
In our world, power is the only thing of significance. When the nations, including Iran, come to realize just "how great the strength of Avraham is" they will relent, and that is word enough to the wise.

NGO Monitor: Response to Proposed Restrictions on Foreign Government Funding for Israeli Political Advocacy NGOs

Extensive foreign-government funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that lead international campaigns demonizing Israel is a serious source of concern. The false allegations and immoral exploitation of universal human rights, in order to promote “lawfare” (efforts to arrest elected leaders and IDF soldiers abroad) and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), warrant widespread condemnation across the Israeli political spectrum.
However, as NGO Monitor has repeatedly stated, legislative proposals that go beyond democratic transparency and accountability for these NGOs are ill advised, not enforceable, and damage Israel’s vital national interests.
NGO Monitor notes that in February 2011, the Knesset adopted the NGO Funding Transparency Law. Both the secrecy of funding procedures and the external manipulation of civil society were understood to violate the accepted norms and practices among sovereign democratic nations.

SWU: Why Does the Myth of Apartheid Persist in Israel?

Meshoe [fmr. S.A. MP] told the story of young man who needed special lenses to see. His doctor ordered them. When they didn't arrive he contacted the customs officials in South Africa only to be told that they had been refused because they had been manufactured in Israel.
Meshoe suggested that in order to continue to rationalize the 40-year policy of shunning Israel, leaders have promoted the false accusation of Israeli apartheid. They play on the memories of apartheid which are still strong and painful. By attaching the label apartheid to Israel, these leaders can justify denying their people access to innovative Israeli technology and assistance that can lift Africa out of poverty.
Politics prioritized over people.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

UK: Women barred from speaking at university seminar

Female students were banned from speaking during a seminar run by an Islamic society at a leading university.
They were also forced to walk through a “sisters only” entrance to attend the event at Queen Mary University of London, and were segregated from men by being seated at the back of the lecture theatre.
Men were able to ask questions by raising their hands but female students had to write down their queries for Ustadh Abu Abdillah, the speaker of the event, which was hosted by the Queen Mary Islamic Society, and pass them to the front.

Roger Waters’s Anti-Jewish Paranoia

Waters has not been adequately coached. In the BDS movement, you are supposed to refer to your targets as “Zionists” (because it is all right to view people who support Israel’s national project as proto-Nazis) or as “pro-Israel.” With that one “Jewish lobby,” the mask slipped. One does not have to think that Roger Waters dislikes Jews to think that his general way of thinking, along with the way of thinking of many of his comrades in arms, is infected with anti-Semitic mythology. To repeat: Roger Waters thinks that there is a powerful Jewish lobby in the music industry that may just be out to kill him.
Waters has not apologized for these remarks, and his fans in the pro-boycott community remain “comfortably numb” about Waters’s record. They continue to regard his support as a great blessing.

Pigs are flying! And Norwegian NGO criticizes red-green govt’s political agenda in humanitarian aid

Doctors Without Borders believe several states receive more humanitarian aid than the actual needs would suggest. This applies to the Palestinian territories, which have played a central role in Norwegian foreign policy since Norway’s participation in the negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords .
Critical to aid for Palestinians
The report points out that health indicators in Palestine is good , with a life expectancy on par with Hungary.
- A child in Chad is over six times as likely to die before the age of five , as a Palestinian child. Nevertheless Palestine received 3.5 percent of the total humanitarian aid from Norway in 2012, while Chad received 0.00022 percent.

I'm Dreaming of a White Jesus

The most recent manifestation of the desire to de-Judaize Jesus has come not from European Christian churches, but from anti-Israel activists in the Arab world, who have engaged in a campaign to assert that Jesus was, in fact, a Palestinian (in other words, a member of a people that did not come into being until roughly 100 years ago), and that the Jews are guilty of deicide and genocide, among other -cides.
The most famous proponent of this idea has been the Reverend Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, which was established to argue against the historical and theological claims of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Ateek foments anti-Semitism by making terrible accusations such as this one: “Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. … The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily.”
Aslan is a critic of Israel, and he gave a telling answer when Fisher asked him to describe what Jesus might have looked like. “Well, what we know about him is that he was a Galilean. As a Galilean, he would have been what is referred to as a Palestinian Jew.
He would look the way that the average Palestinian would look today. So that would mean dark features, hairy, probably a longer nose, black hair.”
Aslan is not in the camp of those who deny, or minimize, Jesus’s connection to Judaism, but in this answer, he made an obvious attempt to associate Jesus with the Palestinians, rather than with the Israelis of today.

Swedish police detain 28 after neo-Nazi attack

Swedish police detained 28 people Sunday after a group of neo-Nazis attacked an anti-Nazism demonstration in a Stockholm suburb by hurling bottles, torches and firecrackers.
Two people were hospitalized and a policeman was injured in the back after being hit by a heavy object, police spokesman Sven-Erik Olsson said.

Despite ban, institute vows to publish Mein Kampf

The Institute for Contemporary History vowed to press ahead with the publication of an annotated version of “Mein Kampf” despite a ban by the Bavarian state.
In a statement, the institute said it would not abandon the project, which it considers an “important contribution toward historical-political education” and the book’s “demystification.”

Holocaust conference in Tunisia commemorates forced labor, deportations

Historians, scholars and authors spoke at Saturday’s conference, which remembered the 5,000 Jews subjected to forced labor in Tunisia during a six-month Nazi occupation of the country in 1942-43. Some were deported to Nazi death camps on the European mainland.
It was among the first events focusing on the Holocaust to be held in an Arab country.

Exclusive: Hungary seeks Israeli gas as alternative to Russian supply

Hungary is looking to Israel and its newfound natural gas to help it shake its dependency on Russian energy, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview in Tel Aviv on Friday, following a two-day visit.
“Hungary is very dependent on Russian gas. We heat 80% of our houses with gas and import 90% of our gas from Russia,” Szijjártó said. “Being so dependent means that you’re quite defenseless."

Frutarom buys Hagelin for $52.4 million

Israel’s Frutarom Industries, one of the world’s 10 biggest companies in the flavors and fine ingredients trade, recently announced its fourth acquisition this year of 100 percent of the share capital of US-based Hagelin for a cash consideration of $52.4 million. The acquisition strengthens Frutarom’s foothold in the world’s biggest flavor market.
“The acquisition of this lucrative company will intensify Frutarom’s technological capabilities, especially in the growing and profitable beverage flavors sector, and adds to its R&D capabilities, sales and marketing infrastructure and cross-selling opportunities. In this acquisition, we will enjoy a significant reinforcement of excellent managers, R&D, sales and marketing personnel,” said Ori Yehudai, President and CEO of Frutarom.

Shark Tank’s Daymond John Invests in Jewish Decorations for Christmas Trees (VIDEO)

A Jewish entrepreneur, whose marriage to a Christian woman prompted him to start selling Jewish decorations for Christmas trees, won a deal with fashion mogul Daymond John, in the latest episode of the hit TV series “Shark Tank.”
In the show, which features pitches from businessmen to the investor “sharks,” Morri Chowaiki introduces his product with a decidedly Jewish themed pitch, opening with “hello gefilte sharks.”

Ritz-Carlton opens its doors in Israel, eyes more branches

Ritz-Carlton cut the ribbon of its first hotel in Israel Sunday at the Herzliya Marina, featuring the branch’s first kosher restaurant, after over four years of preparation and NIS 600 million of investment.
“The Ritz-Carlton chain is happy to open its first hotel in Israel and provide its guests from all over the world the opportunity to enjoy the service whose name precedes it and the award-winning guest experience,” said Ritz-Carlton president Hervé Humler.
The Ritz-Carlton is the first of a wave of international luxury hotels slated to open in Israel, including a Waldorf-Astoria in Jerusalem and a W Hotel in Jaffa.

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Watch out for the Supreme Council of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought

I found this amusing:

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) Supreme Council of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought held its hundred and seventy eighth meeting in the holy city of Mashhad warning against provoking activities of the Zionist regime in al Quds Mosque in the occupied territories.

Grand Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, Secretary General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought in this meeting warned against provoking activities of the Zionist regime in Al Quds Mosque and noted,” Threats of the Zionists in Al Quds Mosque has increased and the US and west are trying to finish the issue of Palestine to the benefit of the Zionist regime and this can be a proper ground for formation of Union for Resistance Clerics.

He added,” Muslim clerics have to be aware of this plot and unite over the issue of resistance.”

Secretary General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought referred to the meeting of Islamic Peace Committee in Lebanon and Turkey and noted,” In regards to the crisis in the world of Islam, this committee can play an important role in confrontation with these crises.”

In this meeting a report on proximity news in domestic and international arena as well as proposals and options for the World Day of Proximity were given.

Promoting the plans, list of guests for the international Islamic Unity Conference and also discussing the statute for the World Union of Resistance Clerics were among the other topics discussed in this meeting.

In the meeting of the Supreme Council of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, necessity of using the regional opportunities to promote the objectives of the world Forum, confrontation with expansion of Wahhabism in Europe and increasing programs on proximity and Islamic unity in state television were also discussed.

Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, Molavi Mohammad Es’haq Madani, Ayatollah Mohammad Vaez Zadeh Khorasani, Hujjat-ol-Islam Mohammad Hassan Akhtari and Molavi Nazir Ahmad Salami were among the participants in this meeting.

Yes, until Israel abandons the Temple Mount, we can expect to see more and more and more Muslims forming committees and forums and unions and conferences!

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"Masada was a Jewish myth to invent their presence in the area"

A few months ago, there were some articles casting doubt on the Masada suicide story, as the narrative given by Josephus was cast in doubt by some archaeologists. The Guardian wrote:

Guy Stiebel, professor of archaeology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and Masada expert, said the evolution of myth is common in young nations or societies. "In Israel it's very typical to speak in terms of black and white, but looking at Masada I see a spectrum of grey.

The left regard Masada as a symbol of the destructive potential of nationalism. The right regard the people of Masada as heroes of our nation. For me, both are wrong.

"If you put me in a corner and ask do you think they committed suicide, I will say yes. But this was not a symbolic act, it was a typical thing to do back then. Their state of mind was utterly different to ours.

"The myth evolved. All the ingredients were there. At the end of the day, it's an excellent story and setting, you can't ask for more."

Yadin Roman, the editor of Eretz magazine, who is compiling a commemorative book on the Masada excavation, said some archaeologists had posited alternative theories, involving escape, although in the absence of evidence many were now returning to the suicide theory.

Ma'an Arabic, showing its lack of basic journalistic standards yet again, takes this doubt about one detail of Masada and extends it to pretend that Jews were never in the area to begin with!

Ma'an deliberately twists the words of the doubters of the suicide story:

But it turns out the story of martyrdom is just a myth created by the Jews in order to demonstrate to their people that they have a history similar to the peoples of the region and they are there since ancient times. Experts say "there was no proof that this story has taken place in spite of searches by the Antiquities Authority in the fortress in order to find a single piece of evidence that legend has taken place. "

No one doubts that Jews lived, and were under siege, in Masada. The Romans didn't build their ramparts for fun. The only question is what happened to them.

As Haaretz wrote last month:

It looks like an ordinary lice comb, with wider teeth on one side for untangling knots and finer teeth on the other for removing nits. Except that this one happens to be made of wood, rather than metal. And it also happens to be about 2,000 years old.

Holding the recently unearthed artifact in the palm of his hand, archaeologist Guy Steibel notes that these are his favorite sort of finds, the ones that provide a glimpse into the other Masada story − not the classic narrative of death, destruction and suicide pacts, but the one about real people doing ordinary things, as ordinary as combing nits out of their hair.

“Yes, we have proof that the rebels who lived here, their heads were absolutely infested with lice, and not only their heads,” he says. “In fact, we’ve discovered in this comb remnants of lice eggs, strands of hair and the oldest louse in the world.”

Steibel, the head of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Masada excavation team, proceeds to pull out some other recent finds from a little plastic box, among them a piece of rope made out of date tree fibers and a shard of a clay pitcher that has the name of its owner inscribed in it in Hebrew letters: Shimon Bar-Yoezer.

“Seeing these Hebrew words pop out of the earth, words that my own children can read, that’s the most exciting thing in all of this for me,” says Steibel, who has been digging and researching at Israel’s most famous archaeological site for almost 20 years now.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the big excavations at Masada, led by the legendary Yigael Yadin, Steibel is guiding a group of Israeli journalists through what he describes as a “backyard tour” of the site to meet some of his “friends” who once lived here. “By now, I know many of them by name, and I also know where exactly they lived and how they made a living,” he says. “For me it’s the little things, like the child’s toy we found, the Roman soldier’s wage slip, the seal used by the baker to mark his loaves − these are the things that make this place so alive for me.”

Ma'an is getting worse and worse. And it is still better than practically every other Arab news source in the region.

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12/16 Links Pt1: IDF Soldier Killed on Lebanese Border, Why anti-Zionism is still anti-Semitic

From Ian:

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Why anti-Zionism is still anti-Semitic: reply to critics

If anti-Zionism wants to be an intellectually respectable position, it needs to directly address the charges against it by answering these questions:
1. Which other nations have lost their right to self-determine through their conduct, or are the Jews singularly evil? Alternatively, which other countries that should not have been created should also have their independence reversed?
2. With the horrors of persecution fresh in living memory, is it reasonable to expect Jews to exchange the sovereign equality they presently enjoy for permanent subordination to the very states that once persecuted them?
3. How will anti-Zionists fully guarantee Jews’ personal safety from anti-Semitic persecution after they revoke the right of Jews to be the ultimate guarantors of their own security?
It’s just not good enough to fall back on the old canard that Jews only equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism in order to to silence dissent. Far from it: I want to hear these people account for themselves. Anti-Zionists must answer these three questions head-on if they are to purge the stench of anti-Semitism that is so redolent in their ideology.

Israel Has the Right to Exist – Now the Left Must Defend It

Israel is fighting for its right to exist with one hand tied behind its back. The left hand.
Conservatives strongly support Israel. We have won that battle. Only on the extreme right wing, the lunatic fringe of fascists and skinheads, do we find Israel haters and Jew bashers on that side.
But it’s a different story on the left. One needn’t travel far from the center of conventional liberal opinion to find anti-Israel sentiment—even virulent anti-Israel sentiment—on the left.
Among otherwise sensible liberals, the question of an entire nation’s existence is an acceptable subject of polite conversation.
‎That state of affairs would be shocking if we weren’t so used to it. But, as a liberal, I will never get used to it, because it is a perversion of everything liberalism stands for.

Palestinian red line

Despite the image of untrustworthiness, Palestinians give great importance to the language used in the documents they are asked to sign. Yasser Arafat, generally viewed by most Israelis as an accomplished liar, refused to sign an agreement in 2000 that included a clause about an end to all demands. For him the conflict could end only by the eventual demise of Israel. Similarly, Abbas cannot bring himself to put his signature to a document which says that the Jews have returned to their homeland. We know that the perception of Jews being foreign invaders of Palestine is a fundamental widespread Palestinian attitude, which is instilled in the younger generations in the PA-run schools.

The Alarming Rise of Campus Anti-Semitism

The 3D’s, coupled with physical intimidation, make up the toxic mix that confront Jewish students on too many U.S. campuses today. University presidents must take personal charge of campus-wide campaigns to push back. In addition to promptly disciplining those who engage in harassment of Jewish students, university administrators from the top down should work hard to foster “an environment of civility,” according to Kenneth L. Marcus, President and General Counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law and former Staff Director at the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Administrators should not take the politically safe route, he advises. Speaking out publicly against campus anti-Semitism is more effective “than taking a quieter approach” that sweeps the problem under the rug. They should explain, Marcus recommends, how anti-Semitic incidents on campus “resemble other ugly incidents which the administration has addressed with equal seriousness” and explain “the future and ongoing policies and practices which will prevent recurrences.” (h/t Bob Knot)

Mohammad Hammad issues a personal statement. Hint: its not an apology

The vast majority of the organizations charged with protecting the safety of the Jewish community have condemned Mohammad's words. The vast majority of the organized Jewish community and the blogsphere also expressed their collective outrage. What Mohammad describes as a "smear campaign" against him, characterized by "selective quotations and other misrepresentation" was the unified gasp of revulsion at his words by those who genuinely feared for the safety of Jewish students on campus.
To Mohammad- in what context would this EVER be acceptable? (h/t Bob Knot)

Israel holds Lebanon responsible for soldier's shooting death

Israel Defense Forces Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen, 31, from the northern town of Afula, was killed Sunday night by Lebanese sniper fire while driving alone near the Israel-Lebanon border in an unarmored military vehicle.
The Israel Defense Forces returned fire after the incident, hitting a Lebanese army position across the border, and troops converged on the area and canvassed it to ensure that the border had not been breached. Military spokeswoman Lt. Libby Weiss said Israeli forces identified "suspicious movement" along the border just after midnight, and shot two members of Lebanon's armed forces. She said the shooting occurred near where Cohen was killed. Weiss had no details on the condition of the Lebanese soldiers.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said an investigation into the incident was continuing and that "the IDF reserves the right to react at a time and place of its choosing. A grievance has been filed with the U.N."

Soldier’s killer surrenders to Lebanese authorities

The Lebanese serviceman who killed IDF Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen in a cross-border attack on Sunday night turned himself in to authorities in Lebanon on Monday morning, Lebanese media reported.
IDF officials were set to meet with UN personnel and Lebanese Army officers early Monday afternoon. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel would request an explanation from the Lebanese army about whether the soldier acted on his own, without orders, and what the Lebanese army would do to prevent such incidents in the future.
Ya’alon took a combative tone on Monday morning when he blamed the Lebanese government and military for the attack, asserting that “Israel will not abide violations of its jurisdiction along any border, and certainly not the Lebanese border.”

Lebanon Border Incidents Expose Poor Journalism

While the full details of the incident are still unfolding, some of the reporting leaves a lot to be desired.
The Independent stated:

It is not clear what the target of the shooting was although local media reports speculated that Israeli troops had crossed the border.

What exactly were the “local media reports?” They certainly weren’t Israeli as none of these were reporting anything other than an unprovoked attack from the Lebanese side.
So it seems that the journalist did not want to admit that his “local media reports” were probably taken directly from a terrorist organization’s propaganda outfit rather than a credible news source.

BBC’s Knell ignores Israeli aid to flooded Gaza Strip

Knell makes no attempt to inform viewers why “border restrictions” are necessary, scrupulously avoiding any mention of the important context of terrorism. She also neglects to inform audiences of the reasons behind Gaza’s electricity crisis: once again it is presented it in vague terms which do nothing to explain the dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which brought about the crisis.
Both the above reports were produced late on Saturday night – December 14th. That fact is relevant because over twenty-four hours beforehand, Israel began facilitating the supply of water pumps and fuel to help ease the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Jordanian stability, Israel, and the Dead Sea water deal

Jordan’s public debt is equivalent to around 76 percent of GDP, according to a 2012 estimate by the CIA World Factbook. It puts the official unemployment for 2012 at around 13%, though an unofficial rate is approximately 30%.
Israeli opponents of the deal “fail to see this agreement for what it is – a camouflaged aid agreement to Jordan, in exchange for the very significant benefits which Israel gets from this country,” Sowell said.
“Jordan is a socioeconomic shock-absorber for the Palestinian territories. Jordan would have gone insolvent and imploded some time ago were it not for massive amounts of aid,” he said. “If Jordan implodes, the West Bank implodes. But Israel can’t just give Jordan money directly or open projects here, for obvious reasons.”

Dershowitz: Ignore International Law

International law is “a construct in the mind of a bunch of left wing academics,” he said, in a lecture at the Institute of National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv last week “There is no basis for international law in any reality. It's not based on legislation. Much of it is not based on treaty. It is the ultimate exercise in elitist nondemocracy.”
Iran does not believe that its nuclear weapons program is in danger of being attacked, he estimated. It wrongly believes, he said, that Israel will not attack it unless the US gives it a green light.

Iran Foreign Minister says nuclear talks will continue despite pullout from implementation meeting

Iran's foreign minister said Sunday his country will continue nuclear negotiations with world powers, even after pulling out of expert-level talks to protest the U.S. targeting companies it says evaded current sanctions.
Writing on Facebook, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed "improper actions" by the U.S. for Iran pulling out Friday. Technical experts from six world powers and Iran -- which negotiated a deal in November to freeze Iran's nuclear activity for six months in return for no new sanctions -- had been meeting in Geneva to discuss implementing the arrangement.

Plundered Syrian Torah scrolls said held by Al-Qaeda-linked rebels

Torah scrolls and other Judaica plundered from an ancient Damascus synagogue are being held by an Islamist group inside Syria, which is demanding the release of prisoners captured by the Assad regime in return for the items, The Times of Israel has learned.
Reports on the destruction and looting of the millennia-old Jobar synagogue in Damascus emerged as early as March, but those responsible for the theft have never been clearly identified, as government and opposition forces traded accusations.

Three more injured Syrians treated at Nahariya hospital

Three Syrians injured in the brutal civil war raging between troops loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebel forces were brought to Western Galilee hospital in Nahariya in northern Israel Sunday.
Their injuries were moderate to serious, according to Israel Radio. It remains unclear who they are or how they were injured.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon face bitter winter

Some one-third of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million has been displaced, with 2.3 million now refugees, mostly in neighboring countries.
“This is the biggest winterization effort that the UN and partners have ever done in the world,” said Roberta Russo of the UN’s refugee agency. “But still, the scale of the crisis and the number of people coming is so much,” she said.
Some 1.4 million Syrians live in Lebanon, including 842,500 officially registered with UN, charities who are rushing to distribute aid to the most vulnerable — around half a million people.

France Pessimistic About Syria Peace Talks

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday that the moderate opposition to the Syrian regime was in "serious difficulty" and that long-delayed peace talks aimed at ending the crisis were in trouble.
"On Syria, I'm unfortunately rather pessimistic," Fabius said, according to the AFP news agency.
"The moderate opposition that we support is in serious difficulty," he said, voicing "doubts" over the prospects of peace talks known as "Geneva 2" that mediators have been trying to organize to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Why Is Saudi Arabia Buying 15,000 U.S. Anti-Tank Missiles for a War It Will Never Fight?

No one is expecting a tank invasion of Saudi Arabia anytime soon, but the kingdom just put in a huge order for U.S.-made anti-tank missiles that has Saudi-watchers scratching their heads and wondering whether the deal is related to Riyadh's support for the Syrian rebels.
The proposed weapons deal, which the Pentagon notified Congress of in early December, would provide Riyadh with more than 15,000 Raytheon anti-tank missiles at a cost of over $1 billion. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance report, Saudi Arabia's total stockpile this year amounted to slightly more than 4,000 anti-tank missiles. In the past decade, the Pentagon has notified Congress of only one other sale of anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia -- a 2009 deal that shipped roughly 5,000 missiles to the kingdom.

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"Israel Apartheid" video by Ari Lesser

From the guy that brought you the Hasby-award nominated "Boycott Israel"



(h/t Ian)

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The earliest Arab boycotts? (updated)

Here are the two earliest mentions I could find of Arab boycotts of Jews from the Chicago Sentinel. For some reason the JTA article is not listed in the JTA archives.

January 6, 1921 in Nablus, then known as Sichem (Shechem):

August 31, 1922:

UPDATE: There was a call to boycott Jews in 1920 - from Arabs who didn't want Palestine to be separated from Syria, which was pretty much all of them.

(h/t @mpitkowsky)

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Using legal means against the ASA

Sunday night was the American Studies Association full member vote for whether they would boycott Israel as their council unanimously recommended. Early indications are that the ridiculously biased resolution would pass.

William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection is doing something about it:

As I have previously indicated, I believe the anti-Israel academic boycott resolution of the American Studies Association calls into question ASA’s 501(c)(3) tax exemption.

Voting on the resolution ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, December 15. If the resolution passes, I intend on challenging ASA’s 501(c)(3) status through IRS procedures.

To that end, I have retained one of the leading practitioners in the field of charitable organizations, Alan P. Dye, Esq., to file a challenge to ASA’s 501(c)(3) status if the resolution passes. We expect to file the challenge prior to year end, if not sooner.

ASA’s anti-Israel academic boycott resolution calls ASA’s 501(c)(3) status into question for many reasons, including but not limited to the act of engaging in an academic boycott not satisfying the requirements of 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that an organization must be “organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable,…or educational purposes…” An academic boycott, which clearly is a substantial activity of the ASA and will be for the coming years, does not satisfy this test.

In addition, the anti-Israel boycott arguably exceeds ASA’s legal purpose as set forth in its bylaws, among other places, used to obtain that tax exempt status:

The object of the association shall be the promotion of the study of American culture through the encouragement of research, teaching, publication, the strengthening of relations among persons and institutions in this country and abroad devoted to such studies, and the broadening of knowledge among the general public about American culture in all its diversity and complexity.

The ASA boycott also arguably is unlawful under the NY State Human Rights law, and possibly other anti-discrimination laws, in that it discriminates on the basis of national original and religion. Indeed, a letter opposing the resolution signed by numerous ASA members including 7 past Presidents notes:

In no other context does the ASA discriminate on the basis of national origin—and for good reason. This is discrimination pure and simple. Worse, it is also discrimination that inevitably diminishes the pursuit of knowledge, by discarding knowledge simply because it is produced by a certain group of people.

Adopting an unlawful and/or discriminatory academic boycott resolution and acting on that resolution calls ASA’s 501(c)(3) status into question under IRS guidelines.

Interesting!

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Trip to Israel delayed a day

Mrs. Elder and I were in the air on our way to a European city with a quick connecting flight to Tel Aviv. Two and a half hours into the flight, the plane dropped to 10,000 feet and the captain told us that one of the two air pressure thingies (he may have had a more technical term) had failed so they had to descend to where there was actual breathable air outside.

Quickly switching the entertainment display to the world map, we saw that we were heading right back to where we started. Since we didn't quite make it to the Atlantic Ocean the pilot decided not to risk it.

So we had a 5.5 hour flight to literally nowhere.

No new flights available until tonight, so we've lost a day. Bummer.

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Iran's Khamenei accuses West of attacking the Farsi language

From Ayatollah Khamenei's Twitter account:

#Farsi was once the language of #science frm Constantinople to India;It was the official #language in Ottoman capital for a long time. When #British 1st came to #India,1 of their 1st measures was to impede #Farsi; they stopped Farsi w/their own particular tricks and deceits. Some ppl use #foreign expressions & feel disgraced to use terms in their mother tongue; they feel mortified! They write their mother tongue in English letters! Why? Why should we perish our mother tongue with our own hands?

Poor Khamenei. If he would venture out to a Tehran shopping mall he would have an aneurysm.

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What are all the Prawer protesters doing about this?

From the Council on Foreign Relations in a backgrounder:

The peninsula's native Bedouins bear longstanding grievances stemming from economic deprivation and political alienation. Since 1979, tribal chiefs have been appointed by the region's governors, military officers chosen by the central government. But the capital's drive to centralize control was never fully realized.

Bedouins were excluded from tourism and energy development projects championed by Hosni Mubarak, experts say. The North was starved of investment while Mubarak sought to establish a Red Sea Riviera in the more sparsely populated South, particularly Sharm el-Sheikh, where he had his summer villa. Cairo encouraged labor migration to the Sinai from the Nile Valley, Pelham writes, offering these internal migrants preferential access to land, irrigation, and jobs, while denying native Bedouins such basic services and rights as running water and property registration. They were blocked from jobs with the police, army, and the peninsular peacekeeping force, the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO), which is one of the region's largest employers. In North Sinai, schools and hospitals were left unstaffed.

"The U.S. and Israel were telling Mubarak for years that neglect of the Sinai was going to come back to haunt them," says CFR Senior Fellow Steven Cook. High-profile bombings of resorts between 2004 and 2006, which had a combined death toll of about 130, as well as a spate of clashes between Bedouins and police, tourist kidnappings, and other smaller attacks occurred after two decades of what were seen as malign policies.

Under the three-decade–long emergency law that was in place until 2012, security forces under the Ministry of the Interior responded to the emerging terrorist threat with dragnet arrests, detaining and torturing thousands, human rights observers say. The indiscriminate state response fed a cycle of political violence and further alienated Sinai's Bedouins from Cairo.

The article goes on to say that because of their mistreatment, some Bedouin are turning to crime and how they partnered with Hamas in smuggling.

But for some reason, no one is protesting or writing articles about the Sinai Bedouin.

No, the only Bedouin the world pretends to care about are the ones who are a few kilometers away, over a border that the Bedouin themselves don't recognize.

Funny, that.

(h/t PMB)

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Going to Israel

I'm on my way to the Holy Land.

(Are we still allowed to call it that? It's not a violation of any British advertising laws or anything, is it?)

I think most of the snow will be melted by the time I get there, though...

A have a couple of posts queued for the trip , but even after I land, there will not be much time for blogging.  Maybe Ian can break up his excellent linkdumps into smaller chunks...

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Unraveling the story behind a 5th century Jewish tombstone

From NYT:

They figured out her first name, but not her father’s. They know where and when she died, but not her age or the cause of death. They could not tell whether she was married.

This is a detective story, but not the ripped-from-the-headlines kind. The woman died more than 1,600 years ago, in what is now Jordan. The detectives are a few students at Yeshiva University in Upper Manhattan and a professor who is sometimes called the Jewish Robert Langdon, referring to the fictional Harvard professor of iconology in the Dan Brown books and the movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

All they had to go on was the woman’s tombstone. And at first, they did not even have that, just photographs of it.

Here are the facts of the case:

In March 2012, the professor, Steven Fine, who is also the director of Yeshiva’s Center for Israel Studies, wrote an article for the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review about Jewish tombstones in the ancient city of Zoar, which most scholars say was on the Dead Sea. It was such an oasis, according to one account, that a sixth-century mapmaker drew a grove of palm trees as a symbol for it.

Dr. Fine soon heard from one of the magazine’s readers, the Rev. Carl Morgan of Woodland United Fellowship, a church in Woodland, Calif.

Pastor Morgan, who also has a doctorate in archaeology, emailed a tantalizing photograph: an image of a tombstone like the ones Dr. Fine had discussed in his article. Pastor Morgan said it was in the collection of the Woodland Museum of Biblical Archaeology, which occupies part of the church’s campus, about 20 miles from Sacramento. A private collector had given it to the museum, Pastor Morgan said.

“It had not been translated,” he recalled in a recent telephone interview. “I knew Dr. Fine could translate it.”

...From the beginning, the Yeshiva students were confident they could make sense of the Aramaic inscriptions; Talmudic Aramaic is virtually the same as the Aramaic on the tombstone. They also know Hebrew. Mr. Friedman said the first few words were straightforward, and Ellie Schwartz, a senior, recited them: “ ‘Here rests the soul of Sa’adah, daughter of something.’ We don’t know the ‘something.’ ”

Going by the format of other ancient tombstones, they felt certain the missing word was the name of the woman’s father and wondered if it was Phineas, but they said they could not be sure. “We have the P,” Dr. Fine said. “We thought there was an N, but we’re stuck because whatever it is, it’s been scratched away. You get to the point where ‘I can’t know’ may be the most learned answer you can give.”

If the father’s name was elusive, so was another basic fact about the woman, whose name means “divine help.”

“They don’t mention her age,” Mr. Friedman said. Dr. Fine said Christian tombstones from that area carried ages, but Jewish tombstones did not. That was simply the custom of the day, he said.

But the students could date the stone, based on the parallel dating systems inscribed on it. One referred to the Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. (That system was used by Jews in Greece until World War II, Dr. Fine said; the last place the system was used, he said, was Corfu, before the Nazis rounded up the Jews who lived there and sent them to Auschwitz.) The other system was based on the number seven. By comparing the two systems, they could say with certainty that she died 362 years after the destruction of the temple.

And then there were the symbols painted on the tombstone. Mr. Schwartz said the group assumed one was the Ten Commandments, because in the photographs from the museum, it looked like a tablet with writing on it. Dr. Fine knew better. “It’s an incense shovel,” he said — a symbol of ceremonies in a temple.

Yes, there were once Jews in Jordan. Not a single one today, though.

(h/t Ronald)

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12/15 Links: Why “Palestine” will not be an ‘Rainbow Nation’, Israeli/Chinese Car on Sale in EU

From Ian:

---

Linkage, Ltd.

Obama believes that if the U.S. were to create a stable Middle East and forge a wide cross-Arab partnership of moderates -- which would supplant the dwindling U.S. presence -- the Palestinian issue must be addressed. Only by removing this stumbling block from the Arab world's agenda will key players such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt be able to increase their political and defense-related cooperation with Washington without undermining their stability.
But the linkage policy in this region has been a bitter disappointment. The American cold shoulder during the early Eisenhower years did not stop the USSR from setting foot in the region. The Baghdad Pact did not meet its objective and was never as big as it was supposed to be (see what happened to Egypt and Iraq). The economic incentives aimed at seducing the Soviets were an utter failure when it came to the East's activities in the Middle East and in Angola's civil war.
As for the Obama administration, even though Israel agreed to halt settlement construction in 2009 for a 10-month period, this did not help create the much-anticipated Sunni coalition. The legitimacy of the Sunni regimes in the area (and chiefly among them is Egypt) was eroded and ultimately imploded, but this was not a result of the impasse in the peace talks with the Palestinians. It was a consequence of the Arab Spring that reshuffled the deck.

The Spirit of Apartheid: Why “Palestine” will not be an ‘Rainbow Nation’

In contrast with South Africa, which – consistent with Mandela’s vision – largely embraces its mix of whites, blacks, coloured, Asian and Indian populations (as well as Jews, Christians, Muslims and African ethnic groups such as Xhosa and Zulu), the new state of Palestine will almost certainly be entirely Arab Muslim. There will of course be no Jews and (if trends throughout ‘Palestine’ and the Arab Middle East continue) almost no Christians.
All of this leads us to conclude that while Palestine will likely not become an apartheid state – as such state codified racism first requires the critical mass of racial diversity which they will not possess – it will become the kind of racial exclusivist state which Mandela and South Africa’s liberals found so abhorrent.

Temple Mount high

The real negligence on the Temple Mount is the unwillingness of the State of Israel to assert its full sovereignty there. Ever since Moshe Dayan squatted down with the Wakf on June 17, 1967, together with David Farhi, and symbolically returned the keys to the gates, the state has sensessly kowtowed to the most fanatical behavior.
Only in August 1967 did Dayan take the key to the Muhgrabi Gate back from Wakf head Hassan Tahboub, and military police were stationed at the entrance to the gate. Later, regular police assumed supervision.

Palestine – European Union Embroiled In Financial Scandal…writes David Singer

Spending hundreds of millions of dollars supposedly supporting the salaries of public servants that no longer occupy those positions and doing nothing to arrest this expenditure – although knowing it was happening – indicates an appalling standard of financial irresponsibility for which the EU has become famous.
This financial gravy train seems set to continue whilst:
1 Hamas and the PLO refuse to reconcile their differences
2 The PLO rejects any kind of settlement with Israel that entails Israel obtaining sovereignty in any part of the West Bank.
The European Union is on a treadmill from which it must now extricate itself.
The obvious solution is to make sure EU money gets to the most needy – not phantom employees who have been having a financial feast at European taxpayers expense.

In Sydney, A Motion Most Foul

This picture shows a grinning trio making a salute outside the Sydney Jewish Museum that is definitely not the Aussie Salute.
While the arm motion made by this trio is undoubtedly inexplicable to most onlookers it appears that it is, as the Times of Israel explains here, an abominable racist gesture that has recently caught on bigtime among Jew-haters in Europe. It is the "quenelle signal," we're told,
The photo that I've reproduced above is one of the truly shocking collection shown here which demonstrate the depths of depravity to which some people will sink in order to mock and vilify the Jews.

A cynical disqualification

The University of Haifa decided not to give an honorary doctorate to Nobel Prize winner Professor Robert Aumann. The reason: His right-wing views, which contradict the left-wing, pro-Palestinian spirit of the university. We recently learned that the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee will reportedly discuss the university's law clinics' practices of late, a third of which have focused on Palestinian rights, including the rights of Hamas terrorists serving prison sentences in Israel.
Aumann, a leading scholar of mathematics and game theory, does not need the University of Haifa's respect. His academic excellence does not require the university's affirmation, which is rather small by comparison. Every important international institution has opened its doors to him. Students the world over have flocked to Jerusalem to study under Aumann, learning the basic tenets of human logic.

USF professor Stephen Zunes Duped

Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He is well known for his anti-Israel rhetoric.
You'd think the Chair of Middle East Studies in a large urban institution might have a working knowledge of the history, and geography of the region. After all, Prof. Zunes has traveled extensively in the area.
Yet Prof. Zunes recently posted this on his Facebook Page. Fail.
Umm, Stephen. One problem. Thats from Japan.
So there we have it - an " expert" in the Middle East mistakenly claimed photos from the Tobu World Square theme park in Japan (1/25 scale, incidentally!) were taken in Egypt

Fail: Palestine Online store celebrates British Colonialism

In their desperation to claim a cultural heritage, where none existed before, the Palestinian Online store is marketing jewelry created from "authentic" and "historic" British Mandate coins.
By selling the jewelry made with this coinage, the Palestine Online store is celebrating the British Mandate and the colonial history of the region, as well as the historical Jewish ties to this land. Nice.

British Pro-Jihad Islamist Anjem Choudary – Whose Network Is Regarded As 'Single Biggest Gateway To Terrorism'

In November 2013, the U.K. nonprofit group Hope Not Hate published extensive research revealing that British Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary – head and co-founder of the banned extremist U.K. group Al-Muhajiroun, spokesman for the banned Islam4UK organization, and spiritual advisor to the banned U.K. Islamist group Muslims Against Crusades (MAC – has been encouraging young British Muslims to go to Syria to fight for Al-Qaeda. The report stated that the network of Al-Muhajiroun and its European partners has become the "single biggest gateway to terrorism in recent British history" and the largest in Europe that is recruiting foreign fighters to go to Syria. It also estimated that the network has sent 200-300 people to Syria.

‘Tis the season for the BBC to avoid adopting other people’s anti-Israel memes

One of the less attractive features of the Christmas season in recent years has been its exploitation by politically motivated NGOs as a spring-board for augmented delegitimisation of Israel, with a dominant feature of those opportunistic campaigns being the deliberate conflation of present day Palestinians with the characters depicted in the Christmas story. For example, in recent years some charities have been selling blatantly political Christmas cards which portray Joseph and Mary as Palestinians and one-sided inaccurate representations of the anti-terrorist fence feature widely in seasonal merchandise.

Knesset Weighs Bill that would Tax Anti-Zionism

An anti-leftist, anti-boycott bill which was discussed under the previous Knesset will come to the fore again Sunday, according to Maariv. The Knesset hearing will be headed by MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi/Jewish Home) and Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu).
The bill has sparked controversy for imposing a 45% tax on foreign donations to leftist groups. The goal of the bill is to "reduce the involvement of foreign entities within the affairs of the state of Israel."

After storm and heavy flooding, Gaza receives fuel

While the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank can ship fuel to Gaza through Israel, Gaza’s Hamas rulers have refused to accept the shipments, saying they cannot afford a new tax.
Palestinian border official Raed Fattouh said Sunday’s fuel shipment was paid for by Qatar.

Appeasing Nuclear Tyrannies Doesn’t Work

But just as the megalomania of the North Korean leadership always trumped any idea of their nation’s economic interests, the Iranian theocrats will always prioritize their vision of regional hegemony in which nukes will be complimented by their thriving side business funding international terrorism and their alliances with the Assad clan in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and perhaps a renewed friendship with Hamas in Gaza. And at the pinnacle of the Iranian system remains an autocratic cleric who dreams of destroying Israel and has no interest in détente with the West. Appeasing him and his minions is just as futile a task as Sherman’s previous efforts in North Korea.
Laugh all you want about the craziness in North Korea and pretend, if you can manage it, that their nuclear arsenal doesn’t pose a threat to the U.S. But the cost of playing the same game in Iran will be even higher. Appeasing or containing a nuclear tyranny run by hate-filled theocrats is as hopeless as was the attempt to do the same thing with one run by a Stalinist family gang. Though Obama, Kerry, and Sherman want the nuclear deals signed with North Korea to be thrown down the memory hole, they stand as an indictment against the administration’s current Iran policy.

Start-Up GreenSpense Wins Prestigious International Cleantech Awards

12 billion aerosol sprays, gels and foams are manufactured annually; over 500,000 tons of gas (used as a propellant in aerosols) contribute to the expensive packaging and environmental danger of today’s aerosol canisters. An Israeli company, GreenSpense, has developed an eco-friendly solution to the challenges and dangers presented by aerosol containers.
GreenSpense’s Eco-Sleeve does away with the need for gas and pressurized-metal-canisters, used for sprays, gels and foam products, which make aerosols polluting, dangerous and expensive to pack. Made from innovative material using nanotechnology, GreenSpense’s Eco-Sleeve unleashes design creativity in packaging shapes and materials, providing a huge marketing and ecological advantage to producers, while reducing packaging and product costs and eliminating the use of harmful gas.

Hadassah develops new test for ‘Breast Cancer Gene’

Israeli researchers, led by Dr. Asher Salmon, then Senior Oncologist at the Hadassah Medical Center, developed a blood test that reveals it is possible to predict the presence of harmful BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in otherwise healthy women using a novel technology called gene expression profiling. Women with a mutation in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have a significantly increased risk for developing breast or ovarian cancer. For many of those at risk, the disease may develop at an early age.

Israel Corp.'s Qoros opens first European car showroom

Car manufacturer Qoros Auto Co. Ltd., a joint venture controlled by Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) and China's Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. has officially opened its first showroom in Europe in the Slovakian capital Bratislava.
In the first stage Qoros will sell just one model - a sedan with a 1.6 turbo engine and the highest level of accessories. The price of the Qoros will be €20,960 but at a later stage a more basic model will sell for just €20,000.

Israel’s folding car of the future

If you’re looking for the future of urban transportation, take a peek inside a workshop near Rosh HaAyin, where a trio of engineers is readying Israel’s entry into the folding-car arena.
The City Transformer (www.citytransformer.com) quadricycle is designed as an electric two-seater that folds down with the press of a button from 1.6 meters to just one meter (3.2 feet) in width. Its 2.2-meter (7.2 feet) length matches the size of a motorcycle parking spot.
The entire vehicle will weigh about 400 kilograms (880 pounds), quite a difference from the 1,543-kilo Renault Fluence electric sedan that was sold in Israel through the now-defunct Better Place recharging network.

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Amnesty International proven to lie again

In November, I noted that Amnesty International claimed that Israel was restricting fuel into Gaza, and their spokesperson insisted that this was true - that Israel does not allow industrial diesel for the Gaza power plant to be exported.

I showed then that the claims were completely false.

But today Arab media proves it as well.

From Ma'an:

Israeli authorities started to pump industrial diesel donated by Qatar into the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, a Gaza official told Ma'an.

The move is part of a temporary agreement to ease the blockade following days of record flooding that has devastated large swathes of the besieged coastal enclave.

Raed Fattouh, president of a committee that coordinates the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip, told Ma'an that 450,000 liters of diesel donated by Qatar was being shipped to the coastal enclave via Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday.

On Friday, Qatari authorities announced that they would donate $10 million to Hamas authorities in Gaza in the wake of the humanitarian crisis caused by severe weather since Thursday.

The donation was given to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to purchase diesel fuel from Israel, and on Sunday the first shipment of diesel fuel began arriving to fuel Gaza's sole power plant.

Oh, and also:

Eight truckloads of strawberries, flowers and spices are expected to leave the Gaza Strip to European countries through the same crossing on Sunday, added Fattouh, as Gazans take advantage of the temporary ease on the Israeli blockade to ship exports.

In addition, 100 truckloads of goods for commercial use and for agriculture will be allowed into the Gaza Strip as well as limited sums of cement and gravel for internationally-funded projects.

Again, there have been no restrictions on strawberries, flowers or spices from Gaza; indeed Israel helps Gaza farmers with those exports.

But when you hate Israel, facts just get in the way.

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Gulf study warns of Israel's economic power

A new report from the University of Kuwait is warning that Israel intends to grow its economic power. The study is called "Israel seeks to dwarf its neighbors and the Gulf states."

The report says that Israel seeks to accumulate its wealth to compete with the Arabs and especially the Gulf oil states. Allegedly, this is meant to increase the immigration of Jews to enlarge the settlements.

The study also says that Israel desires to compete with the Gulf countries on energy production "to play a more important role in the region in the future desire to stay forever as the biggest military and economic power in the Middle East. "

The report seems most alarmed at Israel's foreign currency reserves which hit a record high of about $81 billion at the end of November, compared to only $25 billion in 2004. These reserves can accelerate the production of natural gas in the Mediterranean which will in turn add more to Israels currency reserves and economic might.

The $81 billion is higher than the foreign reserves of oil-rich Kuwait and the UAE combined.

Israel is working on activating an economic stimulus plan to attract larger foreign investments and is actively pursuing them.

The report is clearly concerned with the potential of Israel becoming an energy exporter with its massive natural gas reserves that are comparable to the oil reserves in the Gulf. By 2018, Israel is planning to transfer the government's share of the profits from the sale of gas to a sovereign wealth fund, to ensure that the new cash is available for generations to come.

Israel's growth is supported by its very high investments in the area of research and development by Development Program Israel. 4.5% of its GDP goes to research and development, which is the highest rate in the world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Israel's investments are focused on high-tech and high value-added jobs. For example, Israel dwarfs the Arab Middle East and the Gulf by its number of inventors. Israeli Arabs are also far more creative and inventive than their counterparts in the Middle East and are increasingly coming to the global marketplace of ideas and creativity. Israel itself compares with European countries on the level of production and export of inventions. The Arab states aren't even in the same league.

The report says that with increased wealth, Israel will attract more Jewish immigrants especially from Europe.

The natural gas will cause friction with Israel's neighbors as Israel will use its defense forces to protect the Mediterranean drilling operations and Jordan and Egypt will be torn between accepting Israeli gas and continuing their strategic security partnership with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

It is interesting that even this relatively sober study still assumes the zero-sum mentality of Arabs. It would ever occur to any Arab that Israel wants to grow its eeconomy because it would be good for Israel; they must position it as if Israel wants to destroy or marginalize the Arab economies. While this would not be a bad thing - oil fuels Arab terror, directly or indirectly - Israel never looks at the region as zero-sum but as a win-win. That's why it wants real peace with normalization - and the zero-sum mentality is a lot of the reason that Arabs resist peace with Israel in any significant way.

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