Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, May 23, 2014

05/23 Links Pt2: BDS to Boycott Soros over SodaStream; Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue to be rebuilt

From Ian:

BDS Movement to Boycott Billionaire George Soros for Investing in SodaStream

Yesterday the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement called for a boycott of billionaire investor and activist George Soros.
The statement appearing at the BDS Movement website began:
"The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society that is leading the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights, called today for a boycott of the Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Foundations due to the recently announced – first-quarter 2014 — investment by Soros in SodaStream stock and increased investment in Teva Pharmaceuticals, both Israeli companies that are deeply involved in violations of international law."

Top Chinese official: Arab boycott fears over

Official China is very impressed with Israel, officially. According to Yongjie Chen, deputy general secretary of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s ruling body, the Politburo, Israel is “the best place in the world for China to invest” to acquire the technology the country needs to solve its environmental and social problems.
If China was reluctant to fully embrace Israel in the past for fear of angering Arab countries, things have changed, said Chen. Speaking to the Times of Israel in an exclusive interview, Chen said that there had been a significant change in the Chinese approach to the Middle East in the past 10 years.
“It’s true that, in the past, the government favored the Arab side more, but in recent years the emphasis of the government has been on rapid technology development,” said Chen, “and that is why cooperation with Israel, which has that technology, is growing.” Chen could not promise that China would always vote Israel’s way on UN Security Council resolutions, “but you can see that, in recent years, we have conducted a much more positive political policy towards Israel.”

The numbers behind BBC promotion of the ‘Israel lobby’

Now a study on lobbying of the US government has been published which might be of help to members of the public making similar complaints in the future and, as Yair Rosenberg explains, the results are very interesting.
“If you estimated the amount of money a country spends on lobbying the United States based on critical media coverage of that lobbying, you’d probably put Israel at the top of the list. But a new study by the Sunlight Foundation reveals that not only isn’t Israel a big spender, it practically doesn’t even make the list. Of the 84 countries surveyed, Israel ranked 83rd, spending just $1,250 to lobby America in 2013. (The only country that ranked lower was Mali, which spent nothing at all.) By contrast, other key American allies unloaded massive sums to influence the U.S. government. Topping the list is the United Arab Emirates with $14.2 million. It is followed by Germany ($12 million), Canada ($11.2 million), and Saudi Arabia ($11.1 million).”
Readers may be interested to learn too that the eternally cash-strapped, donor supported Palestinian Authority spent $1,110,769.59 on lobbying the US via the PLO in 2013.

Direct incitement against Jews and demanding the destruction of the Jewish state - on Judaism's holiest spot.

I only found this story in one place, Wattan TV, but according to that article there was a massive rally on the Temple Mount today from Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist group that wants to reinstate the caliphate. In fact, this rally was meant to mark the 93rd anniversary of the caliphate being dismantled.

Thousands of members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir gathered in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque to participate in the appeal to "the Islamic nation and the Muslim armies in order to establish the caliphate and move armies to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque and the rest of Palestine from Jewish occupation."

Crowds estimated in the thousands participated in response to an invitation from Hizb ut-Tahrir in Palestine in order to focus this appeal within its activities in all the cities of the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the 93rd anniversary of the demolition of the Islamic Caliphate, under the slogan "Al-Aqsa Mosque is crying out to the nation and their armies for the establishment of the Caliphate and the cleansing of the blessed land," The crowds chanted slogans and raised banners agitate the Nation of Islam and the Muslim armies for the victory of religion and the establishment of the Caliphate and the cleansing of the occupation of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Preachers spoke among the masses, who cheered during their appeal, for the crimes of the Jews towards the Al-Aqsa Mosque...The preacher appealed of the armies of Egypt, Pakistan and the countries of the Maghreb, Yemen, Turkey and the forces of the Levant, and all the Muslim armies, instigating them to the victory of religion and the establishment of a succession of Muslims to crawl toward the Al-Aqsa Mosque for cleansing and removal from the occupiers, usurpers of Palestine... calling to cleanse the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the abomination of Jews.

This Australian Hizb ut-Tahrir site mentions that this demonstration would happen this month.

I had no idea Hizb ut-Tahrir has such a large following among Palestinian Arabs. Since they aren't affiliated with any Hamas, Fatah or any other Palestinian Arab political movement, it may be that none of the partisam PalArab media bothered to cover this.

If this isn't proof that Israel is more permissive about access to holy places than Muslims are, I don't know what is.

University divestment scorecard, 2014, shows BDS losing badly

The Mike Report asked me if I had a scorecard of how resolutions to divest from Israel have been doing on university campuses this year. I knew that most had failed but I didn't have all the details, so I asked StandWithUs, who have been very involved in the issue, if they could help.

Their beautiful chart that they sent is too nice to keep to myself:

UCLA	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	February, 2014
Loyola University of Chicago	Divestment	Student Government	Passed, but vetoed	March, 2014
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	March, 2014
University of Michigan - Dearborn	Divestment	Student Government	Passed	March, 2014
Arizona State University	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated (tabled indefinitely)	March, 2014
University of New Mexico	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	April, 2014
Arizona State University, Downtown Campus	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	April, 2014
UC Santa Barbara	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	April, 2014
UC Riverside	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated in February, brought back and passed by one vote in April	February-April, 2014
Cornell University	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated - tabled indefinitely	April, 2014
San Diego State University	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	February-April, 2014
Wesleyan	Divestment	Student Government	Passed	May, 2014
University of New Mexico	Divestment	Graduate Student Senate	Passed, then rescinded	April-May, 2014
UC Davis	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	April-May, 2014
University of Washington	Divestment	Student Government	Defeated	May, 2014
DePaul University	Divestment	Referendum	TBD	April-May, 2014
UC Santa Cruz	Divestment	Student Government	TBD	May, 2014

This means nine times divestment failed, either by a direct vote or by a vote to table the motion indefinitely, which is effectively the same thing. Twice it passed only to become rescinded or vetoed.

It only passed for real three times out of fourteen.

So when I say that BDS on college campuses has run out of steam - this is what I mean.

My guess is that the Israel haters, consistently losing on campus, will next start to resorting to online polls in student newspapers to "prove" that they are still relevant.

H/t Mike Report and StandWithUs. Here's a cartoon in Mike Report than sums it up:

05/23 Links Pt1: Hamas: We'll Move Terrorism To WB; PA TV Teaches Kids The Way to ‘Jihad Street’

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas: We'll Use Unity Accord To Move Terrorism To West Bank

Hamas, on the other hand, considers the unity agreement with Fatah an opportunity to extend its control beyond the Gaza Strip and use the West Bank as a launching pad for more terror attacks against Israel.
The international community does not seem to be listening to what Hamas is saying.
Ignoring Hamas's declared intentions will pave the way for the movement to use the unity agreement to seize control over the Palestinian Authority and many parts of the West Bank. It will also facilitate Hamas's plans to launch terror attacks from the West Bank against Israel.
It now remains to be seen whether the U.S. Administration and EU governments, by blindly endorsing the new unity government, will help Hamas to achieve its goals.

Palestinian TV Teaches Kids The Way to ‘Jihad Street’

Every day, hundreds of millions of children in more than 120 countries settle in to watch their local versions of “Sesame Street” or similar shows inspired by the Muppet model. They learn to read, to write, to count. They learn about things like “sharing,” and “friendship,” and how to be kind to others. They learn what it is to love.
Except in Palestine, where the lessons from Hamas children’s television are aimed at something else: to kill.

Abdulateef Al-Mulhim – a voice to be heard

I only got to know Abdulateef a few days ago. And honestly, as one who prides myself to be on top of everything related to the Palestinian/Arab – Israeli conflict, shame on me. Abdulateef’s articles have been around for a few years and he’s one of the few voices of reason in the Arab world, one that is not insulated within a bubble of ignorance and hatred.
I would imagine that the same way I came across his article by chance, there might be others who have not heard of him, so I want to share his name and thoughts with the readers, so that you too, can enjoy his writings and spread the word about him.
The article that prompted me to contact and initiate a dialogue with him, was “May 15:Nakba or Defeat?” published May 14th at Arab News, a Saudi internet news outlet. Abdulateef is a retired Commodore in the Royal Saudi Navy and a journalist. After I exchanged a couple of emails with him, he directed me to additional articles of his, published in outlets including Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.

During his weekly general audience, Francis asked for prayers. "It will be a strictly religious trip," he said.

Not if the Israel haters in Middle East churches have anything to do with it.

From the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem site:

An interview with Bishop William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, about the families who will have lunch with Pope Francis in Bethlehem after Mass in Manger Square.

1 – Why did the Pope choose to lunch with Christian families? What is his reason for doing so?
Pope Francis wants to spend a little time with the poor families in the Bethlehem and their children to listen to them, permitting them to feel his closeness and tenderness. He did not want to have lunch with the cardinals, bishops and politicians, but with poor families. It took time to understand the reasons for this gesture. It really makes the Pope admired: how Jesus wants to stay close to the poor.

2 – How were the families chosen who will share the meal?
The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, which oversaw the organization of the entire trip of the Holy Father appointed a committee for the task of choosing. The Committee established criteria for identifying “categories” of poverty. Each family was then selected to represent a certain category of need. The poor who have no daily bread or living on the street have not been selected.

Oh, okay. The pope asks to have lunch with the poor and the committee deliberately excludes the truly poor.

So who do they choose instead?

Our poor are those who suffer for humanitarian reasons, political and social. We contacted the parishes and consulted many people. Many lay people offered us names. We discussed together and finally arrived at a final list. Many would have liked to be selected, but it was not possible to please everyone. It was a tough choice!

3 – Can you give us some examples of families that you have chosen?
A family from Ikrit, a village in northern Galilee that was evacuated and razed in 1948 by the Israeli Army. Only the church was spared. Although there have been court decisions, Christian Arab inhabitants were never able to return to their village.

Another family from the group of 58 families who have land in Cremisan area of Beit Jala. According to the planned route of the separation wall built by Israel, the land will be on the other side of the wall and therefore inaccessible for the owners. There are ongoing negotiations with the legal authorities that we hope will have a positive outcome.

Also a family that represents those who struggle for a family reunion. One spouse living in Jerusalem, the other in the territories. Under Israeli law, it is difficult for the Palestinian spouse to obtain a permit for permanent residence in Jerusalem.

Another family has a son sentenced to life imprisonment, another a son exiled to Gaza for political reasons. Another one comes from the Gaza Strip, which is a big prison. These are the families selected for this occasion.

...5 – Pope Francis, where he visits, always wants to share a meal with simple people, the poor and marginalized. What are the lessons for the Church in Jerusalem?
This is a lesson for us bishops and priests. We need to get closer to the suffering people of God, and not live isolated in our homes. The Pope says we are always to go out, to go to the others, to go in search of the sheep and not wait until the sheep seeks the shepherd. This is a great example for us. The Pope will not see all the misery of the Holy Land. He only meets five families, and giving us a good boost, it inspires us to continue our mission.

Gee, what mission is that? Ignoring the homeless?

The pope asks for poor families to have lunch with, and the church leaders ignore his request and instead choose families that they can use as props to slam Jewish Israelis!

After all, it is not like the Pope will tell them to cut the crap. They know exactly what they are doing and they are using Francis as cynically as they are using the people they chose for the honor of meeting him.

(h/t Irene)

New "Apartheid?" Poster: Jerusalem Light Rail

This photo has been floating around social media. So I added it to my viral poster series.

(h/t Gabi Shainin who took the original photo., and Israel Muse who informed me of that fact.)

CNN footage shows Israeli troops firing rubber bullets, not live fire, in Beitunia

This is Israel's Channel 2 analyzing video released by CNN yesterday that appeared to show the Israel border police officer firing the gunshot that felled Nadim Nawarah at the "Nakba Day" protest in Beitunia.

While Nadim and the other youth have had funerals and Palestinian Arab medical reports indicating bullets that tore through their bodies, the CNN footage actually shows without a doubt that the border police bullet that was shot at the time Nawarah fell came from a gun equipped with the extension used to fire rubber bullets. (The bullet that Nawarah's father says he found in the backpack simply could not have killed him, as the expert in the video notes - a bullet that hits a target does not look like that.)

Here is what an M16 looks like.

Here it is with the attachment:

Here's the gun that fired the bullet at the time:

It is clear that this gun has the rubber bullet attachment.

Rubber coated bullets used in Israel are blunt cylinders. They cannot penetrate skin unless fired from very close range, although they could cause serious pain and injury. Even then - they wouldn't exit the body. They certainly could not go through Nadim's backpack the way it was described.

The CNN footage did not show what was happening around the corner from the building where Nawarah fell down, closer to the Israeli position, and from other footage we know that protesters were throwing and sling-shooting stones to the police from there (out of the view of the security camera footage.) We cannot tell where the police were firing towards.

Is it possible that Nawarah was hit by a misfired rubber bullet, or a ricochet? Did he fall as soon as he heard the shot? I dislike conspiracy theories on either side and the idea that the youths faked their falls to coincide with the shots and were then whisked away to replaced with similar dead bodies, or to be killed themselves as martyrs, seems far fetched. But no image or video released so far shows Israeli police using anything but tear gas and rubber bullet guns, and there is no way that the damage mentioned in the medical report matches what a rubber bullet could do. Also, there is no blood visible near the supposed wounds in any of the photos of the youths who were apparently killed.

My earlier post on the incident, along with the comments, is perhaps the single biggest repository of photo and video of the incident.

See also here.

(h/t CifWatch for the translation)

El-Al planes to be equipped with missile-destroying lasers

How cool is this? From Wired:

Israel is finally ready to combat shoulder-launched missiles and they’re going to do it with lasers.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that SkyShield, developed by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, had successfully completed testing and is certified for commercial use to combat the threat of man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (MANPADS) by combining advanced laser detection and disruption technologies.

C-MUSIC, the commercial version of SkyShield, integrates laser technology with a thermal camera to deflect incoming threats by jamming. After detecting incoming missiles with an infrared sensor, it fires a laser that disrupts the missile’s navigation system, taking it off course and detonating the missile a safe distance from the aircraft.

“SkyShield has been validated under the most complex and sophisticated testing conditions ever conducted in Israel and is now ready to protect Israeli airlines,” said Israel Air Force Brig. Gen. Eitan Eshel, director of research and development at Israel’s Defense Ministry.

The technological advancement is a direct response to the 2002 attempt by terrorists in Mombasa, Kenya in which two surface-to-air missiles were fired at an Israeli charter plane shortly after takeoff. The missiles missed their target and its more than 250 passengers, but the event prompted then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to call for an urgent defense response.

The system will first be implemented on all El Al airliners, but Elbit says it has contracts with several other countries around the world.

Will the BDSers boycott airliners that buy the system? I can imagine their lobbying that passenger lives aren't as important as those horrible houses Jews keep building.

I mentioned C-MUSIC last year, but hadn't seen this (somewhat dated) video before:

(h/t Ronald)

Whimsical, inexpensive Israeli household gadgets

I just found out about an innovative Israeli design company called Monkey Business, and their products will put a smile on your face.

For example, a mold to create sunny side eggs that look like this:

A yellow submarine tea infuser:

A lasso wine bottle holder:

These are great gifts that help out Israel but are appropriate for anyone.

They have lots more. Check it out!

05/22 Links Pt2: Why Are the Irish Anti-Israel?; BDS Fails Round-up; China buys control of Tnuva

From Ian:

Why Are the Irish Increasingly Siding With Palestine Over Israel?

As the Irish conflict has ended, or even as a result of it, Israel has become the favored target of an adventurous but ineffectual activist left in search of a cause that is both suitably righteous and distant. Unlike with other conflicts—say, the invasion of Western Sahara by Morocco—Israel’s modernity marks it as recognizably Western. It can easily be cast in the role of being little more than a U.S.-backed aggressor against the noble Palestinians unfettered by modern affectations.
Johnson say this does a disservice to Palestinians.
“When the Palestinians are anything other than [victims of Israel], when they’re being thrown off rooftops by Hamas or are being starved by Assad in Syrian refugee camps, [pro-Palestine activists] don’t have any interest in that,” he says. “They’re pro a certain kind of agency-less Palestinian. It’s politically useless.” (h/t MtTB)

The Left’s Hatred Of Israel Has A Rich History

Communists saw no anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union; modern radicals deny Arab anti-Semitism.
Antisemitism and the American Far Left is the first systematic study of the American far left’s role in promoting anti-Semitism (and at times combating it). The book covers the Communist Party (CP) from 1920 onward, tracing all of its often sudden and dramatic shifts in approach and response to anti-Semitism and Israel; the role of Trotskyists; the new left and its black nationalist allies; and the contemporary remnants of the new left.
I analyze the deficiencies of the far left’s explanations of Nazism and the Holocaust, marred by its commitment to a simplistic class analysis. The far left ignored anti-Semitism’s deep roots in Christian theology and culture, claiming that the ruling class merely propagated it to deflect working-class anger and undermine unity among the masses.

Is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund consciously funding delegitimization of Israel?

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is one of the more august grant-making institutions in the United States. Founded in 1940 by the sons of legendary oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller—America’s first billionaire, and a man whose political reputation was distinguished by his support for the Union during the Civil War as well as his commitment to educational opportunities for African Americans—the fund has always been a progressive enterprise, with a current emphasis on good governance, environmentalism, and the promotion of peace.
It is in that latter category, an area that the fund calls “peacebuilding,” that serious concerns have been raised regarding its funding commitments to NGOs working on the Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor—an Israel-based organization dedicated to analyzing the activities of civil society groups working in the Middle East, along with those groups’ funders—has just published a report which casts doubt on RBF’s goal to promote a “more just, sustainable, and peaceful world,” for the simple reason that many of the Middle Eastern beneficiaries of its largesse demonize the state of Israel in stridently anti-Zionist terms.
For example, “Breaking the Silence,” a small group of left-wing former IDF soldiers who accused of Israel of committing war crimes during its 2008-09 defensive operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, has received $145,000 from RBF. A commentary and opinion website called +972 (named after the international dialing code for Israel) has received $130,000 from the fund. +972 regularly publishes articles endorsing the analogy between Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa, and recently plastered its front page with articles about the “Nakba”—the Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is employed by Palestinian propagandists to describe the creation of the state of Israel. Among +972’s contributors is the odious Yossi Gurvitz, who recently tried to persuade me via Twitter that Judaism is a racist religion, drawing on the discredited tropes of Soviet Communist anti-Jewish literature to make his case. +972 has also cross-posted content co-written by the anti-Semitic American writer Max Blumenthal.

Anti-Semitism is a perversion

Guess who said that strong sentence in the title.
It was Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan. It was not too long ago; June 10, 2005, at a ceremony organized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in New York, where ADL Chairman Abraham Fox presented a “Courage” award to Erdoğan for a “Better future for our children.” In his speech, Fox said Turkey, “which was established by the great Kemal Atatürk,” had been setting a unique model for Muslim countries with its “secular system.”
Accepting the ADL award on behalf of Turkey, Erdoğan said the following: “Anti-Semitism is a shameful mental illness; it is a perversion. The Jewish genocide [Holocaust] is the heaviest crime against humanity throughout history. Genocide, discrimination, Islamophobia, Christianophobia, ethnic cleansing are all different forms of the same illness.”
If anyone in today’s Turkey said the same words, they would not only be labeled a “Zionist,” but also be accused of being a “spy for Israel” by certain figures in Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) and pro-government media.

Child on Hamas kiddie TV: "I shall buy a bullet"

From MEMRI:

The Hamas TV children's show "Pioneers of Tomorrow" recently hosted a young Palestinian girl, who recited a poem to commemorate the Nakba. "I shall buy a bullet, at any price," proclaimed Zahra Zaed, and Nahoul, the giant bee character co-hosting the show, cried words of encouragement. The show aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 16.

Following is an excerpt:

Child TV host: Will you recite another poem for us – "The Bullet"?

Giant bee Nahoul: That's great. How wonderful, Zahra.

Zahra: I shall walk barefoot.
I shall walk in the pouring rain.
Through thorns, despite the fire,
Despite the pain...
I shall buy a bullet, at any price.
They dispersed my family,
They ripped apart my books,
And they stole my smile.
Do not ask me what there is between me and them.
Between me and them, there are wars and bloodshed.
So I shall buy a bullet, at any price.
I shall buy a bullet, at any price.