11/20 Links Pt2: How did Arafat get so rich? Netanyahu: Islamists taking us to the Dark Ages

From Ian:

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Netanyahu: Islamists taking us back to the ‘Dark Ages’

“Radical Islam wants to take us to the past,” he said. “We march toward the future; they, to the Dark Ages. We aspire to open our society to everyone — men, women, minorities, to the right to be different. They want oppressive uniformity, rigid doctrine.
“And they want to support all this with weapons of mass destruction,” he added, alluding to Tehran’s alleged attempt to produce nuclear weapons. “We cannot allow them this. I think it would be a grave mistake to repeat the mistakes made with North Korea, another closed society with tough and aggressive doctrine.”

Hollande visits graves of French school attack victims

French President Francois Hollande visited the Jerusalem graves of the victims of the attack on a Toulouse Jewish school.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accompanied Hollande to the cemetery on Tuesday. They were joined by members of the Sandler and Monsonego families, who recited Kaddish.

Palestinian Incitement’s Exposure Seen as Israel’s ‘Front Offense Around the World’

Also in October, Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministers Yuval Steinitz penned a New York Times op-ed titled “How Palestinian Hate Prevents Peace,” focusing on anti-Israel messages in the PA’s television and radio stations, public schools, summer camps, children’s magazines, Web sites, and Facebook pages.
Steinitz’s angle was no coincidence. His article was “virtually completely based on material that we have supplied his office,” says Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). While top Israeli officials attribute a lack of success in the current negotiations to PA incitement, the exposure of that incitement in the PA’s official media outlets is “Israel’s front offense around the world,” Marcus tells JNS.org.

Frederick Forsyth: So exactly how did Yasser Arafat get so rich?

I have seen acres of breast-beating journalism about the Palestinian misery but never an examination into where all the donated money has gone over the years. For this is certain: Arab donors and a generous non-Arab world have donated many billions to the Palestinian cause.
Take the Gaza strip. It is a bloc of land 25 miles long and six miles wide on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.
Its northern and eastern borders are Israel, its 11-mile southern border is Egypt and its western border the glittering Med. Over the years since the founding of Israel in 1948 literally billions of pounds have been donated to help its people have a decent life.
If it had been invested shrewdly and well Gaza today could be a mini-Monaco. It could have a deepwater freight port, a flourishing fishing port and a leisure harbour crammed with the yachts of wealthy visitors. It could have resort hotels on the sea and farms, ranches and orchards in the hinterland producing nutritious food.

Elliott Abrams: Palestinians from Syria: The worst treatment of all

But there is another story here: the way UNRWA's special treatment of Palestinians has backfired. It is not just a whim that the government of Egypt does not allow UNHCR to treat Palestinians the way it treats all other refugees, for in fact Palestinians are the only refugees over whom UNHCR has never had jurisdiction. When those fleeing Syria attend UNHCR or UNRWA schools, or receive medical attention at UNHCR or UNRWA clinics, that division is perpetuated and deepened. Once upon a time, Palestinians thought this special status was a great boon. For Palestinians fleeing Syria it's hard to see it that way today. UNRWA can now add to its achievement of perpetuating "Palestinian refugee" status the achievement of separating Palestinians from all other Syrian refugees. And now we can use the word refugee without quotation marks, for we are speaking of people born and raised in Syria and now driven from their homes there. This is just another piece of evidence that UNRWA has outlived its usefulness and is doing more harm than good for Palestinians.

Georgetown University to Host Member of Egypt’s Nazi Party

Georgetown University’s Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Center for Christian Muslim Understanding is scheduled to host a Dec. 5 event on “Egypt and the Struggle for Democracy.”
The event features a slew of speakers sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Coptic Christian Ramy Jan, who cut his teeth on the Egyptian political scene as a member of the country’s Nazi Party, according to multiple sources.
The event is scheduled to take place all day at Georgetown’s ICC auditorium and feature a keynote address by Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.).

Terra Incognita: The Haniyeh family health plan in Israel

The story sent shockwaves through Israel’s media and abroad. It was paired with the usual responses of “look at Israel, Israel treats the children of its enemies and its enemies only want to kill Israel’s children.” One writer noted, “it’s what they [Israelis] do; it’s who they are.”
But there is something off about this story, and others like it. The reports of Israel’s medical care for Palestinians, including Palestinians involved in violence against Israel, goes back many years. Alan Dershowitz highlighted it in his book The Case for Israel.

'Hamas PM's granddaughter returns to Gaza 'clinically dead' after Israeli doctors unable to save her'

The one-year-old Amal Haniyeh was admitted in serious condition to Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in Petah Tikva on Sunday after being diagnosed with an acute digestive tract infection, source in Gaza said.
Israeli doctors reportedly deemed her chances of survival as slim and returned her to a hospital in Gaza City.

The Guardian Walls Out Israelis, Suicide Bombers, and Balance

An interactive feature at The Guardian look at walls and barriers around the world. From the US-Mexico border, to the 2,500 mile barrier separating India and Bangladesh, along with 99 walls separating Belfast’s Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, call it “wall-to-wall coverage.”
Israel’s security barrier is featured too.
Harriet Sherwood (with some credited assistance from B’Tselem) has plenty of comments, photos and videos of Palestinians talking about how the wall impacts their lives.
Left outside The Guardian gates, unfortunately, are Israelis sharing how the security barrier impacts their lives. That would mean addressing the deadly Palestinian suicide bombers who wreaked havoc in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the second intifada.

What about the Grand Mufti’s desire to ‘liquidate the Jews’ doesn’t Robert Fisk understand?

His claim that the pro-Nazi Haj Amin was merely attempting to “help the Palestinians” represents an extraordinary obfuscation.
As a CAMERA report (based on documentation in a book by Jennie Lebel titled ‘The Mufti of Jerusalem: Haj-Amin el-Husseini and National-Socialism‘) makes clear, Haj Amin’s desire to ‘help the Palestinians’ was superseded by a greater passion – to annihilate the Jews.

Funniest Temple Mount Propaganda Video Ever

This PressTv clip can only work with an audience that can’t tell the difference between the Temple Mount compound and the Western Wall plaza. Anyone who does know that those are two sites, each with its own distinct appearance that look nothing alike, realizes that this 2 minute clip which offers lavish descriptions of how the Jews are storming Temple Mount every day, with the support of police – has not a shred of a film to back it up.

Polish Forbes sorry for defaming Jewish groups

The Polish edition of Forbes magazine apologized for three articles about the restitution of prewar property of Jewish communities that targeted the leaders of Poland’s organized Jewish community and several Jewish organizations.
The apology for the articles published in September was published Monday on the magazine’s website.

Pope Francis Condemns Kristallnacht Memorial Protests

During a special memorial ceremony on Nov. 12 attended by Catholic, Jewish and Protestant leaders in Buenos Aires to mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a small group of protestors from the ultra-traditionalist Catholic group Society of St. Pius X disrupted the proceedings, shouting “followers of false gods must be kept out of the sacred temple.”
Pope Francis told a group of Latin American religious leaders visiting the Vatican that preaching intolerance “is a form of militancy that must be overcome.”

German university opening Europe’s first school of Jewish theology

In what is being called a landmark moment for the Continent’s Jewry, Europe’s first university-level school of Jewish theology is set to open Tuesday at the University of Potsdam, situated just outside Berlin.
“The opening of the School of Jewish Theology marks a historical milestone in the training of liberal and conservative rabbis and is unique both in Germany and Europe,” university president Oliver Günther said in a statement.

David's Sling shoots down ballistic missile in trial

The Ministry of Defense and the US Missile Defense Agency (MSA) held a successful test of the David's Sling air defense system on Wednesday morning, in which a ballistic missile was shot down and destroyed.
David's Sling is designed to intercept intermediate and short-range rockets and cruise missiles, and should be effective against a good portion of Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.

Israeli-Palestinian Arbitration Center Opens

Given the political disputes and the apparent lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, some are surprised to learn that the volume of trade between Israel and the Palestinian territories is $4 billion annually. Yet, there has been nowhere to turn in cases of commercial disputes.

Gomez Mill House, Oldest Jewish Site in North America, Approaches 300th Anniversary

The oldest Jewish site in North America is not Newport’s famed Touro Synagogue, or any other synagogue. Rather, it is a stone structure tucked away on the west side of the Hudson River, about 60 miles north of Manhattan.
Due to its multiple uses and inhabitants over the centuries, the Gomez Mill House—built in 1714 in Marlboro, NY—is one of the best-kept secrets in American Jewish history, and also holds a unique place in greater American history. With its 300th anniversary approaching, its story may very well become familiar to a much broader audience.

18th Century Haggadah, Found in Garage, Expected to Sell for £500,000 at Auction (VIDEO)

An 18th-century Haggadah found by chance in a Manchester garage is promising to offer a huge payday for its owner, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
Created for the Oppenheimer banking dynasty in 1726, the auction house handling the sale says it could fetch up to £500,000, or $805,000.

Ancient Jewish Altar Found in Shilo

An ongoing archaeological dig in the ancient Jewish village of Shilo in Samaria (Shomron) has turned up a stone altar dating back thousands of years.
The altar is believed to date back to the period from roughly 1,200 BCE to 600 CE known as the Iron Age.

The magnificent Maccabee mansion found under a home

Underneath the four-story modern house, 18 years of digging revealed what Siebenberg calls “the perfect continuation of Jewish history in one place.” The base layer has emptied burial caves from the era of King David and King Solomon some 3,000 years ago.
Above that are the remains of a Hasmonean mansion inhabited by children of the Maccabees – the heroes of Hanukkah fame — who ruled Judea from 142-63 BCE after liberating it from the Syrian-Greeks.

Israel Daily Picture: Another Photographic Treasure Trove Discovered: 120-Year-Old Colored Slides from Chatham University, Part 1

In the need for library and archival preservation, modern technology is certainly a friend of antiquity. Vintage photographs, some stored for over a century in old libraries, are now being digitized and often posted Online. Such is the case with this treasure of "Holy Land Lantern Slides" we found in Chatham University's archives.
Chatham University, a 150-year-old women's undergraduate school in Pittsburgh, digitized their slides in 2009. According to Rachel M. Grove Rohrbaugh, the school's archivist and public service librarian, "most of the slides roughly date to circa 1880-1900. We don’t have specific information on the photographer(s) or how they were used here at Chatham, but they were likely used for instruction in world history or cultural studies."

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EoZNews: Interview with Dexter Van Zile

Dexter Van Zile is the Christian Media Analyst for CAMERA. He has done some great research and debunked  many outrageous claims by anti-Israel Christian groups, and he speaks to audiences in the US about the dangers to Christianity in the Middle East.

We had a nice discussion last night, before he was to speak at a function in New York. We spoke about supersessionism, the belief that some Christians have that they have replaced Jews in God's universe which naturally leads to the belief that Jews do not deserve their own state.

Other topics included the hypocrisy of some Christian groups in holding Jews to an impossible standard while not asking anything from Israel's enemies (often citing scripture,) Palestinian Christian anti-semitism and the psychological curse of dhimmitude.

He's a very nice guy, too.

The video is 17 minutes, longer than I would prefer, but I think you will learn something.



He mentions Mark Durie, you can see more about him here. (h/t Ian)

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SFSU "MY HEROES KILL COLONIZERS" followup: President wimps out, haters double down

Yesterday, I noted that at a pro-Palestinian Arab rally at San Francisco State University the organizers handed out stencils to people could paint placards saying "My heroes have always killed colonizers."

I have since found out that they also handed out stencils of a picture of Leila Khaled, the PFLP terrorist who was involved in two plane hijackings and several other terror attacks.

The president of SFSU, Les Wong, issued a statement that pretty much says that he won't bother to do anything about incitement to murder on his campus. You know, free speech and all that. But he is disturbed. Oh, yes, there is concern.He will hold meetings. Everything will be fine.

San Francisco State University is recognized worldwide for making social justice a strategic priority; it is an integral part of our DNA. As president, I was deeply disturbed by incendiary language that marred an annual commemoration of a cultural mural on campus.

On November 7, 2013 members of the campus community gathered to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the installation of a mural honoring Edward Said. Nearby, several student organizations were staffing tables to raise awareness of their groups' activities. One table was set up to allow passers-by to create their own placards with a pre-made stencil, which read, “My heroes have always killed colonizers.”

I am dismayed by the glorification of violence that this message conveys. There is no place at SF State for celebrating violence or promoting intolerance, bigotry, anti-Semitism or any other form of hate-mongering. We are a university community committed to furthering civil dialogue. Each of us must remain vigilant in working to achieve this goal.

The university is a place where dialogue, debate and the marketplace of ideas are cherished. We must also maintain a safe environment. Engaging in expressions that threaten and intimidate are counter to these goals. In addition to conveying my firm commitment to a safe and civil campus environment directly to any students involved, I will be meeting with members of the campus community to express my concerns, and to learn more about their perceptions of our current campus climate. University leadership will continue to gather information about this occurrence and address it appropriately. We prize our role as a forum for open discourse and we will continue to work toward a campus culture that cherishes civility.

You see the concrete steps he is taking? He'll talk to people and express concern! With luck, in a few months people will forget the whole sorry business.

Meanwhile, the groups that sponsored the disgusting display are going ballistic that anyone could dare criticize them: (UPDATE: They took down the FB page. Others have made copies, as did I, screen shot to the right.)

Zionists: Hands off our San Francisco State University Students!

Support AMED and GUPS against a Zionist smear campaign/charges of Anti-Semitism

Dear Friends of AMED and GUPS:

This is an urgent message to make you aware of and call upon you to support the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED) and the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) at San Francisco State University. We have been subjected to a smear campaign by Tammi Benjamin and AMCHA Initiative.

...Aiming at invoking xenophobia and enlisting the “war on terror” in order to portray Palestinian campus activism as dangerous, illegal and outside the bounds of acceptable discourse, Benjamin refers to Leila Khaled as “a member of the U.S. State Department-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)…. responsible for several plane hijackings, suicide bombings that killed several Jews, and the assassination of a Jewish member of the Israeli Knesset.” Had she done a quick search as academics usually do, Benjamin would have found that Leila Khaled’s image is a popular icon frequently used by Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike to symbolize Palestinian women’s roles in anti-colonial resistance and to counter Orientalist and racist portrayals of Arab (and Muslim) women as docile, oppressed and unable to speak for themselves.

See? They aren't celebrating a terrorist, they are celebrating a symbol of female empowerment through terrorism! How dare anyone criticize their feminism!

As for the second stencil MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS, contrary to Benjamin’s claim, Palestinian students were not calling for the murder of Jews or Israelis. In fact, the implication of Benjamin’s argument --that all Jews have the same political stands vis-à-vis Israel or that all Jews are colonizing Palestinian lands, lends itself to anti-Semitism. And notwithstanding her simplistic linkage of Said’s anti-colonial intellectual work, the Palestinian Mural anniversary, Palestinian students, and AMED, the stencil was not originally created to specifically target Israel. It was more inclusive of the plight of Indigenous people and their historical resistance everywhere.

How dare anyone criticize a call to murder that was meant to be inclusive! It was originally meant against all white people - how can anyone object to that!

Sure, in this case, it was being pushed by the Palestinian Arabs and its only possible interpretation is to murder Israeli Jews. But don't call them antisemitic! Calling them antisemitic only increases antisemitism!

This response is an almost comedic example of what Richard Landes calls "demopathy," the usurping of the language of human rights and democracy when it suits one's political purposes, no matter how much those purposes are against human rights. I recently proved that BDS advocates do this quite consciously.

The GUPS invoking feminism and inclusiveness to justify calls to terror and murder is worthy of a master satirist.

And their demopathy don't stop there. Check out their petition to President Wong, insisting that he condemns those who condemn terrorism:

We are concerned over our own safety and the safety of our friends, allies, and all those standing in solidarity with our movement, especially when their photos and names have been posted online as if to make them a moving target for violence.

This belligerent smear campaign meant to slander the Palestinian movement on campus has directly created a hostile environment that makes it impossible for us to express our views and exercise our academic freedom.

We call upon you, President Wong, to:

Condemn this smear campaign

Uphold our academic freedom as a core value of SFSU

Ensure our safety and the safety of all

It is very interesting that they object to the publicizing of the photo above, when they are the ones who  originally posted  it on IndyMedia!

(h/t Pro Israel Bay Bloggers, Bob Knot)

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Al Quds University has partnerships with MANY other universities worldwide (UPDATED x4)

As I reported on Monday,  Brandeis University cut ties with Al Quds University over its shameful tolerance of hate on campus and its blaming "extremist Jews" for bringing it to light.

The question is, what other universities does Al Quds partner with?

In its 2006 annual report, Al Quds wrote:

In the field of academic cooperation and scientific research, the (Al-Quds) university continued to open new horizons of cooperation with numerous international universities in the US. These include: Columbia, Brandeis, Dearborn, Wayne State University, MIT, Tufts, George Mason, and Leslley. The (Al-Quds) university has excellent ties with numerous German universities like Heidelberg, Hohenheim, Karlsruhe and the Berlin Free University. The same is true regarding French universities like Paris 4, Paris 8, Bordeaux University and Lille University. We also have agreements with the Ricardo Palma University in South America, and more.

With regard to Canadian universities, especially Toronto and McGill and other universities, the (Al-Quds) university has had good ties with them for some time.

In addition, Al Quds has a partnership with Bard College, written up in the New York Times and funded by USAID and George Soros' Open Society Foundation.

USAID seems to do a lot with Al Quds.

York University in Ontario has expanded agreements with Al Quds.

George Washington University Medical school has a joint program with Al Quds.

Rutgers  worked on a joint brain research study with Al Quds funded by National Institutes of Health..

Harvard has jointly published an anti-Israel report with Al Quds.

Oberlin created a joint program with Al Quds and Tel Aviv University.

Purdue has a water resource management program with a number of schools, including Al Quds and Technion.

American Universiy Law School partners with Al Quds.

The New School has a "co-existence initiative" with Al Quds.

Smith College.

Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and the National Technical University of Athens in Greece partner with Al Quds and two other Palestinian Arab universities on environmental issues.

(h/t @afagerbakke, Ibn Boutros, Josh R.)

UPDATE: I found Al Quds 2011 annual report. It also mentions Syracuse U, Montana U, Tufts U, Drexel U, Berkeley U and Babson College in the US; Western Ontario U, British Columbia U, McGill U and Toronto U in Canada, and many European universities including and Napoli University, Santa Anna University, Turin U, Ferrara U, Verona U, Antwerp U, Marie Curie U, Renne U, and Bordeaux U.

UPDATE 2: After Brandeis cut ties, Al Quds' president condemned the rallies when asked explicitly by Times of Israel. In English, naturally.He's nervous. (h/t Bob Knot)

I found the original outrageous statement in Arabic on the Al Quds site.

UPDATE 3: Syracuse U has cut ties with Al Quds. (h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE 4:  Bard said it will maintain ties; GW Medical School said it will re-evaluate ties. (h/t Bob Knot)

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11/20 Links Pt1: IDF hits Gaza Weapons site, AQ Cmr: Target American Civilians in Attacks.

From Ian:

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NYT: Where are your bloody photos?

Public Editor of the New York Times, Margaret Sullivan took the bold, and important step in acknowledging the volume of reader outrage following the cold blooded murder last week of 19 year old Eden Atias as he slept. The NYT admitted an error of judgment. So why have they chosen to leave the offensive news item unchanged?
Sullivan was responding to our collective horror at not only the newspapers inability to frame the report around the appropriate context of the murder (we had to suffer much ink decrying settlements as the catalyst for current tensions and the cloudy outlook for peace) but the lead photo was not related to the victim as would be expected in any news environment when reporting such an event. The photo editor’s choice? The murderers’ mother surrounded by supporters at home.

PA TV aired encrypted message from soldier’s alleged killer

According to a translation by the watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch, on May 16, the presenters of the Palestinian TV show “For You” read the following statement during a segment dedicated to messages for security prisoners held in Israel:

Before we end, we have greetings for Nour Al-Din Amar from his brother Abu Wasim [Nidal Amar] and from the family. They say to you that they are well, and that your mother is healthy again. They tell you that “the calf will soon be in the cage, and we’ll celebrate the freedom of all prisoners.”

“For You” is the most frequently watched show among Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails, according to Walla.

Terrorist sent coded message via official PA TV about planned kidnapping of soldier


IDF Strikes Terror Tunnels, Weapons Factory in Gaza

The IDF carried out multiple airstrikes Tuesday evening in the Khan Younis area in Gaza. IDF sources say the strikes hit their intended targets – a weapons factory and two tunnels built by terrorist groups.
So far, Gaza media outlets have not reported casualties as a result of the attack.

IDF Targets Weapons Manufacturing Facility in the Gaza Strip


IDF Blog: First-Person Testimony: I Watched a Firebomb Aimed at a School Bus Fly Towards Me

Shoval is a combat photographer for the IDF. It’s his job to document the IDF’s activities in Judea and Samaria, and terrorist attacks committed against Israeli civilians in the area. In a terrifying moment last week, he found himself caught in the middle of one of those attacks.
Last week, I saw my life flash before my eyes, and felt the terrible fear of dying.

Report: Israel Defense Forces Searching Northern Border Towns for Hezbollah Tunnels

A senior security source told the website that Israel, citing the recent discovery of two tunnels from the Gaza Strip, is increasingly worried that Hezbollah might have established a passage connecting south Lebanon to northern Israel.
Israeli concerns prompted a survey of the village of Metula, located near the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, the source said.

Hamas Tunnel-Digging Unit Uncovered

Al Jazeera, the Arab media network based in Qatar, sent a correspondent to accompany a group of Hamas diggers who were filmed below ground preparing infrastructure for firing rockets. Using electric jackhammers to dig a tunnel through the packed rock, sand and soil, the Hamas operatives described their preparation for the inevitable next round of hostilities with Israel. They can spend weeks at a time underground without being detected, one operative explained.

Gazan Lion Cubs Named After Missiles, Fighting

The male and female cubs were born Monday, reports AFP.
One is named "Fajr (dawn)" after the Fajr missiles Hamas fired at Israel, while the other is named "Sijil (clay)" after the Hamas name for Pillar of Defense, "Operation Stones of Clay." (h/t Bob Knot)

Ramallah shooting targets car of top Fatah official

Unidentified gunmen in Ramallah opened fire Tuesday morning at the car of Sufian Abu Zaida, a senior Fatah official.
Abu Zaida, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, was not in the car when the attack took place, shortly before 7 a.m. At least 20 bullets hit the vehicle.

There is no credible US military option, and 9 other pointers from Jerusalem

As has been publicly unmistakable for the past 10 days, Israel and its key ally the United States are deeply at odds over the terms of an interim deal that may well be concluded shortly between the P5+1 countries and Iran. As talks on that deal resume in Geneva on Wednesday, the following are 10 pointers and insights on Israel’s assessments, positions, and possible actions.

US Military Chief: We Would Back Israel in Event of Iran Strike

According to the International Business Times, Dempsey noted that the US still has a 'deep obligation' to Israel in the event of a military conflict with Iran. Dempsey declined to give details, but emphasized that the two countries still have a special alliance during this period of heightened tensions in the region. "That is why we are in constant contact and collaboration with them," he confirmed.
CNN notes that Dempsey also credited Israel with being "an example of what could be" in the Middle East. "If we had one of my Israeli counterparts sitting here, they would tell you that most of the Arabs living in Israel have a better life than the Arabs living in the rest of the region and that is true," he said.

Negotiation 101: Democracies Keep Agreements, Dictatorships Cheat

President Barack Obama will attempt to convince Senators from both parties today that Congress should not slap new sanctions on Iran for failing to halt nuclear enrichment. But there are many reasons to reject the president’s request, especially the fact, noted today by former Bush administration official Douglas Feith, that while democracies tend to keep agreements, dictatorships like Iran and the Soviet Union routinely violate them.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Feith warned Americans not to trust Obama’s promises that sanctions, once relaxed, could be strengthened again:

Iran concedes recognition of its ‘nuclear rights’

Since the start of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, Iran has asserted it has a right to enrich uranium — and the United States has disagreed. Both have refused to budge over nearly a decade of negotiations. Until now.
Iran has suddenly gone public with a significant concession on the eve of a new round of talks with six world powers this week in Geneva. It still insists that it has a right to the program, but it now says that the six no longer need to publicly acknowledge its claim,[!] opening a way to sidestep the dispute and focus on more practical steps both sides can agree on.

France says Iran comments on Israel complicate nuke talks

Hollande was referring to comments attributed earlier to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaking to a gathering of the Basij force, which is controlled by Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.
In them, the Iranian leader referred to Israel — “the Zionist regime” — as “the rabid dog of the region.”
Speaking to some 50,000 members of the paramilitary volunteer militia, Khamenei also said Israel was ripe for collapse.

Iran’s State-Owned Natural Gas Company Faces Collapse

Iran’s state-owned gas company said over the weekend that it is facing collapse, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The chief executive officer of state-owned National Iranian Gas Company said the company has declared bankruptcy with a debt of $4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Ronald Lauder Says ‘Only France Stands Between Us and a Nuclear Iran,’ Mocks Wendy Sherman

Lauder also mocked the U.S. point person in the negotiations, Wendy Sherman.
“The chief U.S. negotiator in Geneva is a person named Wendy Sherman, she was the point person who negotiated with Kim Jong-il to keep North Korea nuclear power free, and we all know how well that turned out,” he said.

For Obama, Iran Talks Are Also About Testing the Limits of American Jewish Power

Not only has the White House defined Israeli concerns as manipulative and deceptive, but they have also gone a step further, by identifying the threat to global peace as Israel’s temerity in voicing such concerns, rather than Iran’s decadelong push for a bomb. AIPAC’s push for another round of sanctions, administration officials say, will limit President Barack Obama’s diplomatic flexibility with the Iranians and set the United States on “a march to war.” Further congressional pressure on the Iranians, the New York Times says, is “urged on by Netanyahu.”

Israelly Cool: Iranian Jews Thank Khamenei For Non-Existent Anti-Nuclear Fatwa

The Iranian Jews are a persecuted minority that will do whatever it takes to keep living, and openly supporting Iran and Khamenei like that is expected. I cannot blame them for the useful idiots they have become.
The media and anti-Semitic online hacks , however, will push this story as far as they can in an attempt to discredit Israel by claiming that “Real Jews support Iran”. (h/t Bob Knot)

What was the true target of the Beirut bombing?

Solomon suggested that the Iranian cultural attaché at the embassy in Beirut, Sheikh Ibrahim Sayyed Ali Ansari, who appears to have been killed in Tuesday’s blast, may yet prove to have been a high-level target. For one, he said, he worked in the same part of the embassy as Shateri, and, as was the case in Argentina during the 1994 AMIA bombing and Mohsen Rabbani’s involvement there, the cultural attaché is frequently a Quds Force member. Moreover, he said, over the past month alone Ansari had met with Sheikh Hashem Safi al-Din, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and the heir apparent to Nasrallah, should his life unexpectedly end; Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy Sec. Gen. of Hezbollah; and Muhammad Raad, the ranking member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary delegation.

Car bomb in Sinai kills at least 10 Egyptian police

The officials said the car bomb struck the bus on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. The soldiers belong to the 2nd Field Army, which is doing most of the fighting against militant Islamists waging an insurgency against security forces in Sinai. The bus was on its way to Cairo, the officials said.

Al Qaeda Commander Clarifies: American Civilians Fair Game

His clarification of Al-Zawahiri's fatwa does appear to be consistent with recent statements by the Al Qaeda chief in which he praised the Boston Bombing - which specifically targeted American civilians - and called for more "lone-wolf" attacks of the same kind.
Al-Aanisi also reaffirmed Al Qaeda's opposition to participation in democratic political processes, saying that it would be an implicit acceptance of the very western systems the group is fighting to destroy.

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Researcher: Swiss Arafat report cannot support its conclusions

Joods Actuel reports that a researcher has asked for more details from the Swiss institute that tested Yasir Arafat's remains for signs of polonium poisoning, but the answers place the entire report into question.

Dr. Rudi Roth asked Professor François Bochud, director of the research center of the University Hospital in Lausanne (CHUV) that did the tests, why the report didn't publish the margins for error as is standard scientific practice. He also asked why reverse-calculating the original concentrations of polonium based on the Swiss numbers yield obviously incorrect results. Director Bochud replied via email, "Because of the large uncertainties in the models and the measured values, an inverse calculation would not be not meaningful" and the researcher confessed: "Our conclusions were not based on any specific evidence but the consistency of all of the observations."

"The polonium that we did measure is actually the supported kind of polonium, the same kind of polonium that you would find naturally," admitted Bochud.

Independent scientists who looked at the Swiss report concluded that its conclusions appeared to be subjective and not based on the data contained in the report. Dr. Roth quotes Professor Atie Verschoor, Expertise Centre Environmental Medicine (ECEMed) in the Netherlands, who says, "Indeed, Bochud confirms there are important uncertainties in the model used and for that reason, and several others, no conclusions at all can be taken. That had to be the conclusion of the report."

Verschoor further said, “The error-margins are very high and caused by the fact that the material has not been kept in a controlled environment (8 years in a tomb), the decontamination operation and the calculation trying to eliminate the Po-210 quantity caused by radon in the soil. There are a lot of assumptions and they creates important inaccuracies. The researchers must have noticed it but did not document it.”

In addition, Professor Nicholas Priest, who formerly headed the biomedical research unit of the Atomic Energy Authority in Britain and who is familiar with the Litvinenko case, said that there is no real confidence interval provided by the report. He told The Independent that it is “far too dangerous and scientifically unjustified” to calculate how much polonium was in Arafat’s body on the basis of such tiny concentrations of polonium." When asked specifically whether the list of arguments in the report that support poisoning lack scientific credibility, his answer was “yes."

Priest added, "I think the study is seriously done, but their conclusions were to my mind somewhat biased as to please the people who were paying for the report."

Here is Dr. Roth's report summarizing the opinions of several experts that he spoke to along with some who were quoted in the media.

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To protest UNRWA cutbacks, PalArabs shut UNRWA offices

I'm sure there is a logic to this, somehow:

The popular service committees of Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank will shut down all UNRWA offices and programs, except clinics and schools, Wednesday and Thursday.

In a joint statement, the committees said the move was part of ongoing protests against "UNRWA's systematic reductions" in services provided to Palestinian refugees in the region.

The decision came following a meeting Tuesday at the headquarters of the refugees' affairs department in Nablus in the northern West Bank. Representatives of the services committees and northern West Bank districts attended the meeting.

The participants agreed that protests for next week would be determined after a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Ramallah with the director of UNRWA operation in the West Bank.

The committees will decide whether to carry out further protests and when depending on the outcome of the meeting.

One of the UN's oldest agencies, UNRWA faces a $36 million deficit.

"UNRWA will be unable to adequately fund its core services -- especially in education, health and poverty mitigation -- and will be unable to pay December salaries of its 30,000 teachers, medical personnel and social workers," under secretary general Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council.

To protest cutbacks in services they shut down those very services?

Hey, if they do this a couple of times a week, then UNRWA might meet its budget! Everyone will be happy!

By the way, here's what the kids in Balata are being taught by that wonderful agency UNRWA:



UNRWA is reason #4,934 why peace is impossible.

(h/t Israel Muse)

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Tom Friedman says Congress more interested in Jewish votes than supporting Obama's wonderful Iran plan

Thomas Friedman, in the New York Times, defends the Obama administration's offering concessions to Iran and has this to say about those who disagree:

Never have I seen Israel and America’s core Arab allies working more in concert to stymie a major foreign policy initiative of a sitting U.S. president, and never have I seen more lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans — more willing to take Israel’s side against their own president’s. I’m certain this comes less from any careful consideration of the facts and more from a growing tendency by many American lawmakers to do whatever the Israel lobby asks them to do in order to garner Jewish votes and campaign donations.

He's certain that members of Congress care little about Iran and are more loyal to the almighty Jewish dollar than to their own country.

Because how can any thinking person possibly believe that giving concessions to Iran is a bad deal? It must be the Jewish money that corrupts their mindset!

Of course, Friedman admits:

If you’re not skeptical about Iran, you’re not paying attention. Iran has lied and cheated its way to the precipice of building a bomb, and without tough economic sanctions — sanctions that President Obama engineered but which Netanyahu and the Arab states played a key role in driving — Iran would not be at the negotiating table. I also understand the specific concerns of the Gulf Arabs, which I’d summarize as: “It looks to us as if you want to do this deal and then get out of the region — and leave behind an Iran that will only become economically more powerful, at a time when it already has enormous malign influence in Syria, Iraq, in Lebanon through Hezbollah, and in Bahrain.”

But our greedy members of Congress aren't thinking that deeply. Only Friedman is, just enough to dismiss it:

I get it, but I also don’t think we’d just abandon them.

You see? Friedman doesn't think anything bad will happen, and by gosh, that's all anyone needs! On the basis of his wonderful track record, Congress should do what he says, not what logic dictates!

There is plenty more to criticize in this column - Friedman makes a bizarre comparison between negotiating with Iran and Israel building "more settlements." Really. He exaggerates the Israeli position in order to pompously dismiss it: "While, Netanyahu believes more sanctions will get Iran to surrender every piece of its nuclear technology, Iran experts say that is highly unlikely." However, Netanyahu never demanded that - no one ha a problem with a peaceful nuclear energy program. And there are plenty of other factoids that Friedman knows he can get away with, because New York Times op-ed fact checkers are not exactly known to care too much about facts.

The bottom line is, though, that Thomas Friedman is insulting hundreds of democratically elected members of Congress, essentially accusing them of disloyalty to their own country. While dismissing any real concerns about Iranian nuclear weapons and how they would affect the world.  All  in order to defend a single elected president's inconsistent and frightening Middle East policy.

And he does it using an antisemitic "Jews control America" canard.

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Iraqi official makes a plea for tolerance: "Baghdad used to be 20% Jewish"

Aswat al-Iraq reports that Iraqi Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture Fawzi Al Atrushi, at a conference on the rights of minorities in Iraq, said that 20% of the population of the city of Baghdad in 1921 were Jews, but now they are just footnotes in archives. He also warned that the same could happen to Iraqi minorities like Christians, whose rights continue to be restricted.

In a speech at the opening of the conference in Baghdad yesterday that "tolerance is not just a word to be thrown around."

"When King Faisal I entered Baghdad in 1921 some 20% of the city's population was Iraqi Jews, and now we are in the year 2013, this component of the Iraqi has turned into a mere archive we are trying to retrieve from the United States after they were repaired and restored."

Al Atrushi ccontinued, "The rights of minorities and tolerance among factions is part of culture and education and must reflect conduct on the ground, and not mere meetings and slogans and allegations about a reality does not exist."

"[Tolerance and coexistence] are the common ground and the common denominator between all religions and laws and international conventions, and it requires first and foremost the concrete embodiment on the ground. "

He said, "Indeed, majorities still prey on minorities, and males dominate, prey and marginalize women because violence is the dominant language among us."

Al Atrushi warned that "minorities in Iraq are in danger, and this is our challenge for advancement of all of us to build a civilized country linked to the world today, not in the past. "

He added that Iraq is "at a crossroads. Either live and come to terms with a state of citizenship and civil rights and democracy, or a divided nation, as happened in Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and other countries."

He warned that Christians, who are at "the root of the historical identity of the nation, are diminishing daily. The Mandaeans, who make up one of the oldest peoples of Iraq, are subjected to exclusion and marginalization, and other Iraqi factions as well."

"Even the Kurdish people were threatened by the former regime by a most heinous racist war that threatened their existence."

Atrushi said, "We in the Ministry of Culture are interested in maintaining diversity and pluralism and coexistence between the segments and the components of the Iraqi people, whether ethnic, religious, sectarian or intellectual, because that is the way to weave a national identity of an Iraqi culture of diversity rather than a culture of one type. "

He stressed that for tolerance to be a reality it "must be accompanied by an apology, an apology from the majorities to the minorities, which provides a clean atmosphere and environment for reconciliation, all experiments done by civilized peoples prove it."

I'm not familiar enough with that part of the world to know how anomalous these words are. I have not stumbled onto many speeches like this in Arabic media. Icoul dnot find any mention of this speech on either Iraq's Ministry of Culture website nor on Atrushi's own personal website.

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11/19 Links Pt2: LATMA returns?, Bennett schools Amanpour, Fisk turns on Arafat, Gasoline from water!

From Ian:

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At Last? Channel 1 to Sign Contract with 'Latma' Satire

The Chairman and the Director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) promised the Knesset's Education Committee Monday that the IBA will sign a contract with nationalistic satire Latma in two months' time, for production of a weekly program.
The satire ran successfully on an internet platform for three years but negotiations with IBA's TV Channel 1 dragged out and came to nothing, until Latma's production was halted in July due to budget limitations. The program is the brainchild of Caroline Glick, who is also Deputy Editor of the Jerusalem Post.

Busted: Former Chair of Major UK Israel Boycott Group Caught Buying Crack, Crystal Meth

The former chairman of a British consumer cooperative known for its aggressive boycotts of the Jewish state is at the center of a major controversy after being caught on camera buying illicit drugs.
In a video acquired by the Mail on Sunday, Paul Flowers was recorded discussing the cocaine and crystal meth he wants from a dealer. He then counts out £300 in £20 notes and sends a friend to make the deal.

French Government Funding of Politicized NGOs Active in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: BDS and Demonization

Organizations receiving French funding engage in political activities and lead campaigns that are inconsistent with French foreign policy in the Middle East, which calls for a “two state” framework, and with French jurisprudence that considers anti-Israel boycotts to constitute incitement and discrimination based on nationality.

The Guardian AGAIN falsely suggests that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital

So, while reading the following opening passage, in a Nov. 8 article by the Guardian’s Middle East Editor Ian Black (Hawks squawk even before Iran nuclear deal is sealed), keep in mind that the paper has at least officially ‘acknowledged’ that Tel Aviv is NOT the capital of Israel and that the seat of government is located in Jerusalem.

Hardliners in Tehran, hawks in Tel Aviv and Washington, nervous Saudis and their Gulf allies are all alarmed at the prospect of a nuclear deal between Iran, the US and the international community.

Fisk says Yasser Arafat's real problem was that he was too trusting of Israel and America

The trouble with Fisk, like all such characters, is that once you've tried everything to discredit the Jewish state, where do you go next? In his latest article, Fisk gives us an answer: the real reason for the failure of a peace was that Yasser Arafat, the Godfather of modern terrorism, was just too generous and trusting:
"He made so many concessions to Israel – because he was growing old and wanted to go to “Palestine” before he died – that his political descendants are still paying for them. Arafat had never seen a Jewish colony on occupied land when he accepted the Oslo agreement. He trusted the Americans. He trusted the Israelis. He trusted anyone who appeared to say the right things."

Fisk Revives Uranium Charge?

Back in October 2006, Fisk was given the front page of the UK’s Independent to spread the libel that Israel had used uranium-based weapons in southern Lebanon. The charge was swiftly debunked yet Fisk and the Independent have never, to this day, retracted this libel.
Fisk still seems to be stringing along the story, despite the evidence, that Israel has used depleted uranium weaponry. Even after it is confirmed to him that no such weaponry is in IDF usage, Fisk still implies that these figments of his imagination have been deployed somewhere.
When will Robert Fisk give up his Israeli uranium charge?

Israel critics can’t handle “Brutal Honesty” about Lydda and refugees

In other words, Israel is a “do no right colonial monster.” Clearly, what Friedman means about the importance of Shavit’s book is that Netanyahu should be more forthcoming and give the Palestinians everything that they demand to make peace, because, in truth, Israel is truly responsible for the Palestinians’ suffering.
However, the story of Lydda (now called Lod) is not so simple. The residents of Lydda were not summarily expelled. The expulsion was a response to a massacre of Israeli soldiers, after the town had agreed to terms of surrender.

Laura Rozen Accuses Jewish Expert of Speaking at Instruction of Israeli Government

Foreign policy reporter Laura Rozen tweeted, and then deleted, a claim that a Jewish official at a prominent Washington think tank took positions on Iran at the instruction of the Israeli government.
Rozen, a reporter for the Middle East news site Al Monitor, tweeted the accusation on Friday as Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) executive director Mark Dubowitz was giving a radio interview about Iran’s contested nuclear program.

Netanyahu invites Abbas to Knesset ‘for sake of peace’

Netanyahu, speaking at a special session in honor of visiting French President Francois Hollande, said he would return the favor and speak in Ramallah in service of a two-state solution.
“Most of the Knesset members are unified: In order for the peace to be real, it must go in both directions. One cannot demand that we recognize a Palestinian national state without demanding of them to recognize a Jewish state,” the prime minister said.
“Mr. President, hours ago you met Mahmoud Abbas,” Netanyahu noted, addressing Hollande. “And I call on him today: Let’s break the stalemate. Come to the Knesset. I will come to Ramallah. Come onto this stage and recognize the historical truth.”

Ben-Gurion’s Legacy: Resisting U.S. Pressure

McDonald further wrote: “Two U.N. Security Council resolutions passed [with U.S. support] have implicitly threatened sanctions if Israeli troops were not withdrawn [from the 'occupied Negev'].” Ben-Gurion reacted defiantly: “Israel has been attacked by six Arab States. As a small country, Israel must reserve the right of self-defense even if it goes down fighting. … As Ben-Gurion once put it to me, ‘What Israel has won on the battlefield, it is determined not to yield at the [U.N. Security] Council table.’”
As a result of Ben-Gurion’s determined stance, “there was apparently indecision and much heart-searching in Washington…. Our [responding] note abandoned completely the stern tone of its predecessor. … Fists and knuckles were unclenched. … The crisis was past. The next few months marked a steady retreat from the intransigence of the United States’ May note. … Washington ceased to lay down the law to Tel Aviv.”

Minister Bennett: Now is Most Fateful Time for Israel Since Yom Kippur War

On a mission in the U.S. to represent Israel’s position on the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, the Jewish state’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett was blunt and to the point, speaking before a crowd at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y Sunday.
“It is the most fateful days since the Yom Kippur War in Israel,” he said, referring to the time since the founding of modern Israel that the country was most in peril.

Bennett: One Cannot 'Occupy' His Own Homeland

When Amanpour, however, used the term “occupied West Bank” in her question, Bennett held up a coin which, he pointed out, was “used by Jews 2,000 years ago in the state of Israel.”
Amanpour tried to interrupt Bennett by saying that “occupied West Bank” was “an international term” but Bennett continued, “I don’t accept it. This coin, which says in Hebrew ‘freedom of Zion’ was used by Jews 2,000 years ago in the state of Israel, in what you call ‘occupied’”.
“One cannot occupy his own home,” stressed Bennett. (7:30)

PA: No Peace Without Full 'Right of Return'

In a law approved by the PA parliament in 2008, and signed into law by Abbas, the “right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and property, along with compensation for their suffering, is a holy cornerstone of their rights that cannot be negotiated away. There will be no consideration of negotiation on this issue, nor will there be a referendum on it,” the law says.
A separate PA law states that “it is forbidden for Palestinian refugees to leave their current domicile as a solution for the 'right of return.' Anyone who acts against this law will be seen as a traitor, and will be subject to the penalties that this crime entails.” The law of the language is similar to that of the law against selling land to Jews. PA Arabs who do so are considered “traitors,” and their penalty is death.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon visits Auschwitz

Ban said "nothing can truly prepare one for this epicenter of evil, where systematic murder unique in human history reached its atrocious climax."
During his visit, Ban also saw exhibitions documenting the lives of the inmates and the conditions they suffered.
"The world must never forget, deny or downplay the Holocaust. We must remain ever on our guard," Ban said during his visit.

Knesset to Speak Up for Rights of Jews Expelled from Arab Lands

As the date for Israel's independence edged closer throughout the 1940s, Jews who had lived for centuries in Arab-majority countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and Libya found themselves increasingly persecuted by their Arab co-nationals.
When Israel was established, approximately one million Jews from Arab countries were forced to leave their homes due to pogroms, state discrimination and persecution. In many cases, such as the former Jewish community of Libya, entire Jewish populations were simply expelled in one go by the government.

Israel in the Philippines

Israel is so ready to extend aid in part precisely because we have grappled with and overcome so many difficulties. Our experiences give us so much to offer others. In dealing with our own unique challenges, Israelis have become experts at dealing with emergency scenarios; have the know-how to develop agriculture in deserts; and have developed water conservation techniques in a region that is desperately short of water.

Philippines ambassador joins Jerusalem youths in effort for typhoon victims

Philippine Ambassador Generoso D.G. Calogne rolled up his sleeves, along with 21 eighth-graders from Boys Town Jerusalem in the capital Monday morning, to pack much-needed relief supplies for Typhoon Haiyan survivors still reeling from the devastating tropical storm.
Working in coordination with the Philippine Embassy, Calogne and the students prepared 25 boxes filled with ready-to-eat food, blankets, pillows and other basic necessities donated by the school, located in the Bayit Vagan neighborhood.

IDF Home Front Command Repairs School in the Philippines



Christian IDF Recruitment Numbers Affirm Israeli Democracy

Over the summer, the Israeli media highlighted a phenomenon that is both intriguing and encouraging: a movement among Israel’s Christian Arabs advocating that their community be drafted, along with the country’s Jewish and Druze citizens, into the Israel Defense Forces.
Historically, Israel’s Arab citizens have been exempted from mandatory conscription. There have been exceptions—many Bedouin, for example, have served in the IDF with distinction—but those who actually volunteer are a tiny minority. At the same time, many Arabs have complained, not without justification, that the exemption marginalizes them from fully participating in Israeli life.

Fill ‘er up with a gallon of ‘water gasoline’

With a revolutionary system for making gasoline out of hydrogen extracted from water, and from carbon dioxide, two of the most common substances on earth, Herskowitz believes that he and his team at Ben-Gurion (including Prof. Miron Landau, Dr. Roxana Vidruk, and others at BGU’s Blechner Center for Industrial Catalysis and Process Development) have come up with the one alternative fuel that can succeed on a wide scale.
Herskowitz’s fuel is the realization of generations of inventors as well as environmentalists — a clean-burning fuel that that can replace refined oil in existing engines, saving society the huge cost, not to mention hassle, of changing everything to accommodate new fuel technologies.

TIME names ReWalk among ’25 Best Inventions of the Year 2013

Israeli-developed exoskeleton for paraplegics is one of TIME magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year 2013. The medical device developed by ARGO Medical Technologies is hailed for the autonomy it gives back to those who need it most.
“Call it an exoskeleton or a bionic suit, but for paraplegics, it’s freedom. This innovative device, developed by a quadriplegic Israeli scientist, relies on sensors that anticipate shifts in the user’s balance and translates them into movements like walking and standing,” writes the magazine about ReWalk.

In Israel, water where there was none

Israel, hoping to build on its home-grown success, is now turning to Massachusetts as an ally in this contest between nature and technology as rising temperatures, spreading deserts, growing populations, and pollution make water an increasingly precious commodity around the world. Attracted by the state’s technical know-how, innovative culture, and access to world markets, Israeli companies are investing, relocating, and seeking partnerships in Massachusetts to further advance their technologies and build a US platform from which to launch their global ambitions.
In Massachusetts, state officials and entrepreneurs see collaboration with Israel as an opportunity to build another world-class technology sector, one that will create potable water from the ocean; nurture crops with treated sewage; manage water quality with software; and mine for water in much the same way precious gems are unearthed. (h/t sophie44)

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SFSU Pal student group signs "My heroes have always killed colonizers" (UPDATE)

At San Francisco State University, the General Union of Palestine Students recently held a celebration of Edward Said, where they have a mural honoring him.

At the event, according to AMCHA, the GUPS students set up tables with stencils for making posters with images of known terrorists as well as with the words “MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS,” which students displayed in the campus square.

Yes, to SFSU, it is acceptable for Palestinian Arabs to call for the murder of Jews who live in Israel. Free speech, right?

The event was covered by the SFSU newspaper, but they didn't mention the hate posters. The comments do, though.

One fan of GUPS put the photo above on Indymedia, with the ironic subhead "Rejecting normalization is not incitement to violence." Well, this is.

Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers has been all over the story. And they have plenty of other examples of incitement and hate at SFSU.

Amcha has a sample letter to send to the president of SFSU. The only way that these disgusting actions can be banned is if there is enough pressure. It would be a very good idea to spend a couple of minutes to write to President Wong and cc: the appropriate California State University and government officials mentioned in the Amcha link.

UPDATE: Israellycool has the background on the slogan.

Bob K. in the comments identifies the person holding the sign as Hamdi Bazian.

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Islamic Jihad's latest terror/music video

As I was surfing terrorist websites I realized its been a while since I posted one of those terrorist music videos.

So here is the latest from Islamic Jihad:



Compare, if you will, with my classic 2008 work spoofing terrorist videos:




Clearly the terrorists have made video innovations in recent years:

• Use of fast motion (0:30, 4:45)
• A 38-second section just showing photos of dead terrorists in the clouds (3:12-3:50)
• Terrorists putting up posters of their dead founder before shooting rockets (2:18)

The videos are still interminable, though. 

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