Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, June 21, 2013

Something new to boycott: Israeli company to market generic Viagra

From Globes::

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) will soon launch a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra in the UK and other European countries, sources inform "Globes." The impotence treatment is one of the world's bestselling drugs. Pfizer's Viagra sales reached $2 billion in 2012, half of this in the US.

In the UK and other countries Viagra's patent expires this weekend, allowing Teva (and other generic manufacturers) to launch a generic version. Teva has confirmed that it plans launching a generic version called Sildenafil in the European countries where the patent expires.

In the US, Teva has been prevented from launching a generic version of Viagra by a court ruling that the patent is valid until 2020. However, Teva did launch a generic version in Canada several months ago following a positive ruling after five years of legal proceedings.

According to reports in the UK, in 2012 alone, 2.3 million prescriptions were written for the drug, costing the National Health Service £40 million. The price of the drug will be reduced from £10 to £1 when generic versions are launched.

This will give the Palestinian Arabs more potential conspiracy theories. Remember sex gum?

Then again, Hamas has more than a passing familiarity with Viagra.

Poor Gazans will now have a legal way of getting the impotence drugs they crave so much.

The market for this is obviously only going to grow.

(h/t NotAntiSemitic)

Saudis committing to beat the Shiites in Syria

A very interesting analysis by Michael Weiss in Now Lebanon:

Last Friday, King Abdullah cut short his summer vacation in Morocco and flew back to Riyadh not only to meet with his national security advisors but to coordinate a new strategy for winning the war in Syria, one that encompasses a unified regional bloc of Sunni-majority powers now ranged against Iran, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime. The Wahhabi kingdom has exhausted its patience with miscarried attempts to resolve the Syria crisis through diplomacy and it will not wait to see the coming battle in Aleppo play out before assuming control of the Syrian rebellion. State-backed regional efforts to bolster moderate Free Syrian Army elements will thus be joined with the fetid call to jihad emanating from clerical quarters in Cairo, Doha, Mecca, and beyond. The mullahs have only themselves to blame. “Nasrallah fucked up,” one well-connected Syrian source told me recently. “He awakened the Sunni giant. The Saudis took Hezbollah’s invasion of Qusayr personally.”

Although long in coming, and evidenced in the recent contretemps between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, this grand realignment has been unmistakably solidified in the last week. A day after the Saudi king returned to Riyadh, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi severed all diplomatic ties with Damascus and called for a no-fly zone in Syria, leaving no mystery as to reason behind this decision. “Hezbollah must leave Syria – these are serious words,” the Islamist president said. “There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria.”

Then, on Monday, June 17, it was Jordanian King Abdullah’s turn to strike a minatory, albeit more nationalistic, note. Ostensibly addressing cadets at a graduation ceremony at Mutah Military Academy, the Hashemite monarch was in fact speaking to Barack Obama and Bashar al-Assad: “If the world does not mobilize or help us in the issue [of Syria] as it should, or if this matter forms a danger to our country, we are able at any moment to take measures that will protect our land and the interests of our people.”

...According to Elizabeth O’Bagy, the policy director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force and a senior research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, the Saudis had a closed-door meeting with Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Command, a few days ago, at which they offered to do “whatever it takes” to help Idris defeat Assad and his growing army of Shiite-Alawi sectarian militias. Though, this being a Saudi promise, “whatever it takes” can still be defined relatively: the discussion was limited to weapons, more resources and logistical support, O’Bagy said, though some of the hardware has already begun to materialize.

One unnamed Gulf source cited by Reuters has claimed that the Saudis have begun running shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADs) into Syria. Furthermore, at least 50 “Konkurs,” Russian-made, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, have also turned up in Aleppo in the last week, as confirmed by the Daily Telegraph’s Mideast correspondent Richard Spencer (Konkurs are especially useful in destroying T-72 tanks, the most recent Soviet-era model that the Syrian Army uses.)

More intriguing still is the Western power evidently facilitating this campaign – France. Israeli Army Radio reported this week that French intelligence officials are working with their Saudi counterparts to train up rebels on tactics and weaponry, in concert with the Turkish Defense Ministry (no doubt because Turkish supply-lines to Aleppo are now even more crucial.)

There's lots more, and it is very good reading.

6/21 Links Part 1: Lebanese Apartheid and Carter wants to teach Terrorists Humanitarian Law

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Lebanon's Apartheid Laws

The Lebanese, who have always despised Palestinians, are afraid of incorporating them into their economy and workforce. Many Lebanese hold the Palestinians and the PLO responsible for destroying their country, especially during the civil war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people during the 1970's and 1980's.
What is disturbing about the Apartheid laws in Lebanon and the mistreatment of Palestinians by Arab countries is the silence of the international community and media.
Even UNRWA, which is supposed to look after the well-being of Palestinian refugees, continues to turn a blind eye to Lebanon's Apartheid laws.
When contacted by The Daily Star for comment on the plight of the Palestinians in Lebanon, UNRWA's public information officer Hoda Samra said she had "no public statement to make regarding this particular issue."

CAMERA: Al-Jazeera English Airs 'Nakba' Myth

There is little doubt that this "Nakba" production is a preview of the type of slick propaganda that can be expected from al-Jazeera when it replaces the programming on Current TV network later this year. At that time, the number of potential viewers will be greatly multiplied since Current TV, unlike al-Jazeera English, is carried by major providers such as Comcast, Verizon, and DirecTV. It's doubtful from a business model viewpoint that providers will chose to cancel Current since al-Jazeera network, in all likelihood, will provide the channel either free or at minimal cost to the providers. The Arab network states that “Al Jazeera English is available free-to-air through satellite and cable providers around the world.”

Are we there yet? BBC improves its accuracy regarding Hamas designation

No context is offered concerning the fact that Zaboun was in fact detained due to his membership of a terrorist organization or that the arrests followed the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip.
Neither is any mention made of the fact that Zaboun has headed the ‘charity’ Al Islah in Bethlehem for many years – an organization known to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority due to its history of channelling funding to Hamas’ terrorist-supporting infrastructure from abroad.
And yet, the BBC provides Zaboun with a platform from which to sanitize the activities of his terrorist organization and present himself as a beleaguered parliamentarian:

Ex-President Carter Seeks Weakened Sanctions on Terror Groups

Former President Jimmy Carter is spearheading an effort to convince the United States to weaken sanctions on terrorist groups, The Hill reported.
Carter and other foreign policy experts sent a petition to Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, asking him to exempt peace groups from policies that make it a crime to offer negotiation training and humanitarian law classes to terror groups.

ADL Voices Concerns Over Anti-Israel ‘Summer Camps’ for Children as Young as 8

The Anti-Defamation League voiced its concern Wednesday that three groups with anti-Israel agendas will stoke anti-Israel sentiment in children during “summer camps” and “summer institutes” they are planning to establish in New York and Chicago this summer.

Two weeks after appointment, Palestinian PM resigns

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah tendered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, just two weeks after his swearing in, Ma’an News Agency reported.
According to the report, Hamdallah resigned due to “differences over his authorities.”

Two tweet legacy reveals dysfunctional Palestinian leadership

These two tweets, the only ones issued by newly appointed (and freshly resigned) Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah give more away about the dysfunctional nature of the Palestinian leadership than Mahmoud Abbas might hope.

Electric Company Suggests: Cut Off Power to PA

The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has put together a list of sanctions that it could impose on the Palestinian Authority (PA) if it does not pay its debt to the IEC, which currently stands at 820 million shekels.
The PA acquires 95% of its electricity in Judea and Samaria and 75% of its electricity in Gaza from Israel.

Ashton Calls on Israel to End Gaza 'Siege'

Ashton praised UNRWA's work and pledged that the EU would "continue to be the strongest supporter, that we will give the financial support that is needed, but also the political support."
Hamas officials, with whom Ashton did not meet, urged her to "act immediately to lift the siege of Gaza" and "remove Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations" of the EU, arguing that Hamas simply “defends its people and believes in democracy and openness to the world."

Hamas Sentences 'Collaborator' to Death by Hanging

The defendant, identified only by his initials KC, was "condemned to capital punishment by hanging for collaborating with the Zionist occupier," ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan announced on Facebook.

Bulgaria reveals new evidence on Hezbollah-Burgas link

Bulgaria claims it has previously undisclosed evidence that further implicates Hezbollah in a deadly terrorist attack last year on Bulgarian soil, JTA has learned.
A Bulgarian representative to the European Union said Wednesday that investigators have discovered that a Hezbollah operative was the owner of a printer used to produce fake documents that facilitated the July 19, 2012 bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Burgas. Five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the attack.

Hosni Mubarak fortune estimated at $1.3bn USD

Egyptian authorities released the information at a time when around 40 per cent of the Egyptian population is living below the poverty line.
Public attorney Mahmoud Al Hefnawi told a Cairo criminal Court on Thursday that the estimated wealth includes 3 billion Egyptian pounds in cash, corporate stakes worth 5 billion and real-estate assets worth 1 billion.

Syria and Egypt Can’t Be Fixed

Egypt remains a pre-modern society, with nearly 50% illiteracy, a 30% rate of consanguineal marriage, a 90% rate of female genital mutilation, and an un- or underemployment rate over 40%. Syria has neither enough oil nor water to maintain the bazaar economy dominated by the Assad family.
Both were disasters waiting to happen. Economics, to be sure, set the stage but did not give the cues: Syria’s radical Sunnis revolted in part out of enthusiasm for the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and partly in fear of Iran’s ambition to foster Shi’ite ascendancy in the region.

Egypt's Coptic Christians say they are 'no longer safe'

Heba Morayef, Regional Human Rights Watch director, worries that extremists are now free to encourage discrimination on TV. “It’s very scary because of the sudden uptick in violence, compounded by the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has in no way tried to reign it back and has at times participated.”

New Iran leader a ‘change in style, not of substance,’ Netanyahu says

Iran’s new leader presents a smiling face, but does not represent a change in policy for the regime in Tehran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his address to the closing session of the 2013 Israel Presidential Conference on Thursday evening.
The Islamic Republic must not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon, the prime minister said, speaking to a packed crowd of dignitaries on a wide range of topics currently facing Israel.

Iran Neighbor Accepts First Israeli Ambassador

The Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, which shares a 1,000 kilometer border with Iran, has accepted the credentials of the first ever Israeli ambassador to the country, state media said Wednesday.

Quran theme park being built in Dubai

From IBTimes:

Dubai has spent the past decade creating a playground to match the tastes of the West, much to the chagrin of many of the region’s stricter Muslim nations. By the end of next year, however, the glitzy emirate plans to open a unique public park project called Holy Quran Park to cater to its regional base.

The DM said in a press release that the proposed park, to be located in Al Khawaneej, had been designed “from an Islamic perspective to introduce the miracles of Quran through a variety of surprises for the visitors.” Designs include an outdoor theater, fountains, lake, walking and biking tracks, children’s play area, Umrah corner and “areas for showing the miracles of the Quran.”

The 60-hectare park will also include a series of Islamic gardens featuring many of the 54 plants and trees mentioned in the text of the Quran, including fig, olive, leek, garlic, tamarind, basil and pomegranate. "A glass building will accommodate 15 items of plants, and other items will be planted in different specific gardens. These plants are expected to stimulate the visitors to think about the reason behind mentioning the names of these plants in the Quran," Mashroom told the Emirates News Agency. The space allocated for the “miracles of Quran,” he added, would include an air-conditioned tunnel with stories on the walls.

The initial site preparation, including tracks and service buildings, has already been completed, according to DM. The second phase will begin in July 2013, while the third and final phase will last just one month between August and September 2014.

Will there be a Gharqad tree so the Jews can hide behind it?

Egyptian opposition readies for massive protest with the ultimate insult to the Muslim Brotherhood

Al Mogaz reports on a meeting of Egyptian opposition group Tamarod (Rebellion) in Alexandria as it is gearing up for massive anti-government protests set for June 30, the anniversary of President Morsi's taking office.

During the meeting, the participants chanted a variation of the famous "Khyber, Khyber ya Yahud" insult to Jews, but this one was aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood.

They said "Khaybar, khaybar, ya ikhwan, a-shar'iyya fil midan!" which means "Khaybar, Khaybar, o Brotherhood, our legitimacy is in [Tahrir] Square!"

Remember that when the protests against the Mubarak regime started in Tahrir Square, it was spearheaded by secularists. The Islamists joined the protests much later when it looked like the protesters were going to win, and then they co-opted the entire revolution with their superior organization and media skills.

Here, the original protesters are equating the Muslim Brotherhood with the hated Jews, which is as bad an insult as one can hurl in Egypt.

The anticipation in Egypt before the protests is already sky-high, and the next nine days will be very interesting.

UNRWA school in Syria hit by mortars, five Palestinian Arabs killed

From UNRWA:

At around 10:00pm on 19 June 2013, at least three mortar shells struck Khan Eshieh Palestine refugee camp just outside Damascus. It was not clear which party to the conflict fired the shells. One shell hit an UNRWA school accommodating 260 displaced Palestine refugees. At least five Palestine refugees, including two children and two women, were killed inside the school and eleven sustained serious injuries including an UNRWA staff member.

Really? Five Palestinian Arab civilians - including two children - are killed at a UNRWA school and no media reported it yet (as of this writing)?

Ah, it must be because Israel cannot be blamed!

According to the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, some nine Syrian Palestinians were killed yesterday, including three children. The total number of Palestinian Arabs killed so far in the civil war is 1377.

Bet you haven't read that statistic in the media, either.

Video: Hezbollah forcibly tattooing Shiite slogan on Syrian refugee in Lebanon - as a warning

If true, this is gruesome:

A disturbing video has surfaced on the Internet.... It appears to show an alleged Hezbollah supportet forcibly tattooing the phrase, “Oh father of Abdullah, Hussein,” a reference to the revered imam of Shia Islam, onto the forehead of an unidentified man who appears to be Syrian.

The person who posted the video – which could not be independently verified - claims that the tattoo artist is a Hezbollah supporter.

The man receiving the tattoo – apparently by force – looks subdued and can be seen being slapped in the face several times during the video. Below is a translation of what the tattoo artist can be heard saying as he inks the man’s forehead:

“This is the father of Abdullah. This is Hussein, this is Hussein. If he [Allah] loves you, he will take you to heaven. I’m trying to make a Muslim out of you. Not with the regime or against the regime.
For those who sent you, [send them this message] tell them, “look what they’ve done to me?”
Say this to them: this is a message to those who hate Shia.

They sent me to you alive saying, Father of Abdullah (Hussein) if you try to come close to us Shia, we will f*ck your mothers…

I will even put a conjugation (the hamzeh) on it for you.

Say ‘hi’ to [Salafist Lebanese Sheikh Ahmed] al-Assir.”

The shocking footage comes amid reports by local media that an estimated 37,000 Syrians have left Lebanon in the last three days. (as of June 5)

As the linked report alludes to, it’s unclear what sparked the abrupt mass exodus, but if Syrians in the country feel they’re being harassed because of tensions over the current uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, that’s impetus enough to want to leave.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Return to Auschwitz: How Israel keeps Holocaust memories alive (BBC)

The BBC has an excellent, very long magazine piece - including videos - about how Israel keeps the memory of the Holocaust alive as the remaining survivors dwindle.

The Israeli delegation is marching in the footsteps of the many Jews who took their last steps here.

This is the spot where German SS officers rapidly assessed which prisoners looked fit and strong enough to be sent to the wooden blockhouses where the slave labourers lived. The Germans had taken a timber building originally designed to house about 50 cavalry horses and adapted it to the demands of the prison camp. Four hundred prisoners were crammed into the same space, packed on to double-decker bunks. In freezing rooms on starvation rations only a few lived for more than a few months.

The rest were herded towards the gas chambers.

It was murder on an industrial scale - whole communities perished together within hours of climbing down from the trains.

So the most moving moment in the Israeli soldiers' journey comes inside one of the old blockhouses, where a handful of them read out loud lists of the names of family members who died in the Holocaust.

Sometimes almost nothing is known to tell the stories of lives that were not lived, except a name.

As Yishai Szekely - a doctor who serves as a reserve officer in an artillery unit - explains, in some families first-hand memories are passed down. There are photographs or books and ornaments with stories attached, that make the dead seem real.

Here, the reading of the names is the only way to reclaim the dead from the anonymity of genocide.

"Six million is such a huge number, even to think of 1,000 it confuses you," Szekely says. "The power is in the name because we don't have much left. That's the only thing we can touch or understand or imagine, our only connection that we could start to make to our past… When you connect to one name, one person to one name, it makes it easier for you to understand."

When the last name has been read, I stroll between the blockhouses with Yechiel Aleksander, who was brought to Auschwitz as a teenager in 1944, on one of the Eastern Transports - the trains that carried the Jews to the selection process between life and death.

He survived of course and went to Israel after the war.

This is his 35th trip back to Poland with Israeli delegations to deliver lectures about what life was like here and to answer questions when he can.

The first nine or 10 trips back here affected him very badly, he says. For a moment, switching between Hebrew and the fluent Polish he still remembers from childhood, he is lost for words. He describes how the visits depressed him, by holding his hand out straight and level and then suddenly bringing it down in a plunging, swooping motion.

He still comes, though. He believes that those who know what it was like here have a special responsibility towards those who do not.

He remembers discussing the expulsion of the Jewish community from Spain at the end of the 15th Century with a group of Israeli schoolchildren and realising that most didn't know anything about it.

What, he wondered, if the Holocaust were to be forgotten in the same way, two or three generations from now?

"In 1994 I promised that all this must remain for future generations. I thought [if things remained the way they were] that in two generations from now no-one would even know that this place existed. It's much easier now that I know I'm passing things on to youngsters. Perhaps it will stick now and each generation will pass it on to the next generation."

...

A few years ago the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot published the extraordinary story of a photograph which hung on the wall of the office of Meir Dagan, who rose to become head of Mossad, Israel's external intelligence agency.

It is a slightly battered black-and-white print showing a scene from 1942 in the village of Lukow in central Poland. An older Jewish man is kneeling on the floor surrounded by German soldiers.

It is Meir Dagan's grandfather, who is known to have been murdered a short time later.

The picture came to light when Dagan's father returned to his home village after the war, to look for Jewish survivors.

They asked a local Polish man to take some photographs. When he handed over the film roll and they eventually had it processed, they discovered at its start the picture of the Germans surrounding the helpless old man. The photographer must have been taking photographs for the newly-arrived Nazis too.

The photograph is appalling, but it's historically interesting too.

The young Germans are not Aryan supermen but ordinary soldiers called up into their reserve infantry battalions for service in Poland.

It's worth examining the soldier's attitudes - they do not look to me like men who feel they've been caught doing something reprehensible. They look like men posing for a photograph which they intend to display on the mantelpiece in years to come.

Meir Dagan rose to become one of the most powerful men in Israel and throughout his career he had the photograph of his grandfather and the Germans on the office wall.

The lesson he reads into it is simple: "We have," he tells me, "no choice but to rely on ourselves... and there's a hard moral lesson from the Holocaust that anyone could become a murderer. The killings weren't carried out by fanatics but by what might be called normal men."

Read the whole thing.

(h/t Zvi)

IDF soldiers swear allegiance to Israel - on a Koran

From the IDF Blog:

Over the next few minutes, the Golani Brigade’s soldiers who drafted in March of this year will swear allegiance to the State of Israel and commit to do all they can to protect it. Muhammad, an Arab Muslim resident of the Galilee village of Dabburiya, is one of them. Like his friends, he’s excited for the ceremony to begin.

The ceremony begins. As the brigade commander finishes his speech, the soldiers quickly run to their commanders, their families and their friends who have come to show their support and encouragement.

When Pvt. Muhammad Atrash's turn comes, he doesn’t look for anyone in the audience. “My parents wanted to come, but I convinced them not to,” he explains. “Jerusalem is very far from our home, we don’t have a car and it’s an hour-long drive.”

The commander tells Muhammad to stand in front of him. Instead of the Hebrew Bible, the young soldier picks up a Quran, decorated with gold ornaments. He swears his allegiance to the State of Israel, holding the book tightly and smiling.

“I’m mostly trying to feel the experience, because It’s my first time ever in Jerusalem,” he says.

For Muhammad, 18, this is an important step in his unique relationship with the Israel Defense Forces – which began a year and a half ago, when his older brother, Milad, 19, chose to enlist.

“While still in high school I asked my family, ‘Why don’t we, the Muslims, enlist?’” Milad recalls. “‘Why do the Jews, the Druze and the Bedouins enlist, while we don’t?’ They explained to me that Jews serve because it’s their country, that the Druze [community] had signed agreements with the IDF and that we have a lot of Islamic movements that oppose military service in the IDF.”

Milad’s response? “I told them I don’t care about that. I want to join the army to protect my village, my country,” he says.

Read the whole thing.

6/20 Links Part 2: De Niro likes tough Israel, Praise for U21 Tournament and The Arabs of Israel

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Arabs of Israel

The Arab citizens of Israel are not fighting for political rights, which they already enjoy -- otherwise, there would not be so many Arab political parties, or Arab Members of Parliament in the Knesset. Rather, they are fighting for better services and equality. They want more jobs in the public and private sectors and equal distribution of public funds.
Any attempt to politicize the case of the Arab Israelis will only cause damage to Arab citizens, most of whom remain loyal to Israel.
The sharp rise in the number of Arab volunteers for national service is an encouraging development that shows many Arab citizens have lost faith in their representatives, particularly those who are trying to incite them against Israel.

Putin Perpetuates Antisemitic Lie of First Soviet ‘Mostly Jewish’

Some antisemitic lies just don’t die, but it is incumbent on Jewish reporters to refute them every single time, especially when they’re being espoused by a brutal Russian politician with the capacity to inflict a lot of pain on the Jews in his country.
According to a JTA report, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the world last week that at least 80 percent of the members of the first Soviet government were Jewish.

Barbra Streisand butt of Dutch singer’s anti-Semitic joke

Singer Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth, better known as Gordon, said on the air last week that Streisand, a famous Jewish-American actress and singer, had come to the Netherlands to perform on June 6 because “she wants to earn money, which is a Jewish trait.”

Jewish Group Responds to 'Little Jewboy From Gestapo' Attack

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the verbal attack on Jewish journalist Flor Mizrachi Angel, labeled “That little Jewboy from the Gestapo” by the Governor of Panama, Omaira Mayin Correa.

2 Arrested in Plot to Use X-Ray Weapon in Lethal Radiation Attacks

Two upstate New York men, one who prosecutors say is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, are accused of conspiring to develop a portable X-ray machine capable of emitting lethal doses of radiation that they intended to use against Muslims and "enemies of Israel."
Crawford allegedly sought financing from the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina, and approached two Jewish organizations saying he wanted help targeting Muslims. The two Jewish groups both called the FBI and the investigation began.

Israeli Consul General Responds to Author's Boycott Calls

Israeli consul general in New York Ido Aharoni has responded to American novelist Alice Walker’s overt calls to boycott the Jewish state, noting that there is a “strange twist” is her efforts to undermine freedom and pluralism.
In an open letter to Walker published Wednesday in the New York Post, Aharoni defended the state of Israel in the face of such anti-Israel calls, which often border on blatant anti-Semitism.

Israeli Food Exports to U.S. Grow 50 Percent Since 2008

This rise in Israeli food exports to the U.S. resulted from a “more aggressive marketing strategy at all levels by the Israeli manufacturers and their US representatives,” sources told KosherToday.

Rwanda and Israel to Forge Closer Ties

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame arrived in Jerusalem, Israel, on Monday to strengthen ties between the Middle East nation and his country at the fifth Israel Presidential Conference.
Kagame hopes to posit Rwanda's economic security in line with that of Israel's at the 2013 Israeli Presidential Conference, The Africa Report said. (h/t Zvi)

Tough guy De Niro likes tough Israel

American actor Robert De Niro praised Israeli aggressiveness during a talk at the President’s Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“I always enjoy coming to Israel. Israelis are warm, they’re energetic people. Forthright. Very smart. I always like smart people. They’re nice people, you know. Aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation,” he said.

Baird: 'Israel Has No Greater Friend Than Canada'

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, who is in Jerusalem attending the 2013 Presidential Conference, spoke to Arutz Sheva regarding the strong ties that exist between the two countries.
Barid called the conference an “exciting opportunity to strengthen [the] relationship” between Israel and Canada.

Israel to be First in World with F-35 Fighter Jets

Lockheed Martin Aircraft Industries has announced that Israel will be the first nation to receive its F-35 stealth fighter jets, the most expensive weapon in U.S. history.
The company’s vice president, Steve O’Bryan, made the announcement Tuesday at the Paris Air Show.

US cites Israel among countries fighting human trafficking

A State Department report published Wednesday places Israel in the top tier of countries fighting human trafficking, while downgrading Russia and China for violations and placing them in the same tier as North Korea, Iran and others.

Waze president aims for 30% of worldwide driving market

Speaking publicly for the first time since inking a deal with Google to sell the traffic application Waze for $1.3 billion last week, one of the firm’s founders said there was still much work to do.
“We only have 51 million users. There are a billion cars in the world so we have a long way to go,” Waze co-founder and president Uri Levine told the Globes financial daily on Wednesday.

Cisco to Open Cyber Research-and-Development Laboratory in Israel

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Cisco Chairman and CEO John T. Chambers Wednesday to discuss a host of new Cisco initiatives meant to spotlight the expanding ties between the Jewish state and the multinational American company.

Platini lauds Israel at end of Euro U21s

Israel came in for warm praise from European football's supremo Michel Platini as the Euro Under-21 football championships ended with Spain thrashing Italy 4-2 to retain the title.
"The stadiums were wonderful and well-organized, the pitches excellent and the atmosphere in the stadiums was great with many families with young children attending. That is exactly the type of tournament that I like to see," Platini told a news conference. (h/t Zvi)

Poland’s Jewish Renaissance Brings to Light ‘Underpinnings’ of Judeo-Christian Western Culture

June 28 will mark the start of the 23rd annual Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland, whose closing event is a concert that routinely draws 20,000-25,000 people and exemplifies the re-emerging broad appeal of Jewish culture in a country that was home to 3 million Jews who died during the Holocaust.

UNESCO adds Yad Vashem testimonials to world heritage list

Holocaust survivors' testimonials, as archived by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, are among the 54 new additions to the UN educational and cultural agency's Memory of the World Register.

Return to Auschwitz: How Israel keeps Holocaust memories alive

The number of people who survived the Holocaust is dwindling - they are all now old men and women. But the Holocaust carries a special importance for Israel. Can it ensure that the next generation knows, and does not forget, what happened in Europe seven decades ago?
Under a lightless Polish sky as dull and flat as a sheet of beaten lead the Israeli flag flutters listlessly in the light wind.
There are not many touches of colour to be seen at the gates of Auschwitz and the blue Star of David stands out on its crisp white background. (h/t Zvi)

Many Jordanian teens justify "honor killings"

From AFP:

Belief that so-called honor killings are justified is still common among Jordanian teenagers, a Cambridge University study revealed on Thursday.

The study by researchers from the university's Institute of Criminology found that almost half of boys and one in five girls interviewed in the capital, Amman, believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonored" or shamed the family is justified.

"Researchers surveyed over 850 students, and found that attitudes in support of honor killing are far more likely in adolescent boys with low education backgrounds," a statement said, adding that the research is published in the criminology journal Aggressive Behavior.

"Importantly, the study found that these disturbing attitudes were not connected to religious beliefs."

Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called "honor" murders each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Keep in mind that the same Arab attachment to "honor" that justifies murdering their own daughters and wives also justifies lifelong dedication to destroying Israel. Erasing shame is the most powerful motive in the Arab world, and nothing short of annihilation of the source of the shame can be effective.

Which is reason #7492 why peace is impossible.

Khaybar antisemitic series update

We're getting some momentum....

The Blaze reports:

A new Arabic-language television series, “Khaybar,” scheduled for broadcast in the Muslim world during Ramadan next month is raising alarm among Jewish groups due to the deeply anti-Semitic messages it reportedly conveys.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday denounced the content of two of the episodes which were posted online this week.

“The episodes, which series producers reportedly claim have been leaked, reveal the degree to which classical anti-Semitic narratives are being promoted in the program,” the ADL writes.

The Zionist Organization of America is calling on President Barack Obama to pressure Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to stop the broadcast of the multi-million dollar production. It writes:

The television series, Khayber, celebrates the victory of Muhammad’s Muslim army over the Jewish tribes living in northern Arabia in the battle of Khaybar in 629 C.E. [A.D.] According to most Islamic sources, the Khayber story ends with the slaughter of thousands of Jewish men, women and children. The vanquished Jews were forced thereafter to hand over half their produce to the Muslims until later expelled by the Caliph Umar.

The pro-Israel blogger who writes under the pen name Elder of Ziyon is so concerned that “hundreds of millions of Arabs will be exposed to antisemitism and incitement” that he’s started a petition calling on human rights organizations to condemn the series.