Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

12/15 Links Pt1: 22 dead, 252 injured in 3 months of terror; Abbas: ‘Justified popular unrest’

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas: Palestinians attacking Israelis because 'they see no solution ahead'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that the current wave of attacks against Israelis was the result of the “despair” of Palestinian youths and Israelis’ visits to the al-Aksa Mosque.
Abbas said that continued settlement construction and Israeli military checkpoints were also responsible for the habba jamahiriya (popular puff).
In a speech marking International Anti-Corruption Day [!] in Ramallah, Abbas said he was unable to “ask the Palestinian youths why they are setting out” to attack Israelis.
Abbas, however, did outline what he thought were their grounds for violence. “They set out for several reasons,” he said, referring to the assailants behind stabbing, vehicular and shooting attacks.
“They set out because they have begun to feel desperate about the two-state solution. They wander around and see no logical basis for two states. Our state is non-existent – settlements and checkpoints. They see no solution ahead of them.”

Poll: 2/3 of Palestinians back stabbing attacks, armed uprising

Two-thirds of Palestinians support the current wave of stabbings against Israelis, with the same percentage backing a larger armed uprising, according to a Palestinian poll released Monday.
Sixty-seven percent back the use of knives, while 66% of those asked said an armed intifada or uprising would “serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not,” according the survey by the respected Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR).
At the same time, nearly three-quarters said they opposed the involvement of “young schoolgirls” in stabbings.
Asked whether they backed continued attacks on soldiers, 79% said yes and 10% no.

Netanyahu: Given Abbas' incitement, no surprise majority of Palestinians support stabbing attacks

Polls showing that some 60% of the Palestinians support current stabbing attacks on Israelis should come as no surprise, given Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' continued incitement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu, at a visit at the IDF's southern command headquarters with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, was referring to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showing that two-thirds of the Palestinians support the current violence. Another two-thirds said that a two state solution is no longer viable.
“This is not surprising because Abu Mazen [Abbas] continues to incite with lying propaganda about Al-Aksa, lying propaganda about executions and by rejecting all true efforts to come to negotiations,” the prime minster said.
Netanyahu said it was time for the international community to understand that “the reason there is no negotiations and no progress toward peace is not to be found on the Israel side, but on the Palestinian one.”

In numbers: 22 dead, 252 injured in 3 months of terror

Arab terrorists launched no fewer than 169 terror attacks against Israelis in 120 days - killing 22 people and injuring 252.
Of those, 21 were injured seriously, 7 suffered from 'serious to moderate' injuries, 36 were injured moderately, and 177 suffered from light injuries, Magen David Adom (MDA) stated late Monday.
MDA also treated 95 people for anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
The 169 attacks included 74 rock-throwing attacks, 68 stabbings, 19 car attacks, and 8 shootings.
MDA has called on the general public to donate blood in light of the high demand.
"MDA has been on high alert in the last three months, due to the wave of terrorist attacks across the country," MDA Director Eli Bin stated to Channel 2. "We are ready and prepared for any scenario or incident."

UCLA SJP students: "Hating Israel is necessary for my health"

The College Fix reports:

UCLA – ground zero for vehement debates between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students – saw its student government recently pass a new bylaw which ostensibly prohibits it from taking a side in controversial global-political issues such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The new bylaw restricts the current Undergraduate Students Association Council to only weighing and voting on “matters directly and substantially pertaining to student welfare issues,” defined as “issues pertaining to student (health), resources, education, safety.”

The student government adopted the resolution by a 9-4 vote on Nov. 17 after a lengthy debate, with some students who supported it saying they were elected to fight for students’ immediate concerns, not get bogged down by divisive global issues.

“USAC is not the United Nations and you weren’t elected to take stances on geopolitical issues that experts can’t solve,” said a student prior to the vote.

It is reasonable to say that the student government should concern itself with things happening on campus and not opine on every issue worldwide. But, of course, many students were offended by this idea, including, of course, Israel-haters.

Members of Students for Justice in Palestine came up with a new reason to oppose this bylaw: not being allowed to spout anti-Israel rhetoric at student government events affects their "wellness." From the minutes of the meeting:

Arnie is the vice president for Students for Justice in Palestine and an Armenian student on campus. "I am here to call you all out on petty bullshit as a clear attempt to undue [sic] the resolution from last year. First you all want to do resolutions that have to do with wellness. For some students that has to do with wellness, who are you to tell them what is their wellness."

-Annie is Arnie’s sister is here on behalf of Armenian Student Association and JSP [sic] and behalf for humans in general. "...You are in a place of privilege and we don’t have the power and this resolution is just really frustrating that we have to constantly reaffirm and what student wellness affects us. If we tell you something is our student wellness you have to believe us you cant [sic] pick and choose. I strongly urge all of you to think about the 28,000 students you represent and think of a different understanding of student wellness."

You cannot parody these idiots; they do such a nice job by themselves.

This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 11 years and over 22,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

US started funding Miftah AFTER I exposed its antisemitism and extremism

In March 2013, I revealed that Miftah, a Palestinian NGO, founded and headed by Hanan Ashrawi had published an Arabic article that said that Jews use the blood of Christian children for Passover matzah. After the issue was publicized Miftah took it down and eventually apologized in English after defending it and attacking me for publicizing it.

Of course, the blood libel is not the only problem at Miftah. I documented that they supported terror attacks and they are explicitly against peaceful coexistence with Israel.

Miftah is also one of the signers of the original 2005 Call for BDS.

At the time, Miftah enjoyed monetary support from Oxfam, NED, Norway, Austria, the Anna Lindh Foundation and others.

But since I exposed their hate and lies, they have gained another funder.

The US Consulate.

The very year that Miftah was in the newspapers for pushing the blood libel is when the US decided to give them $175,000, paying that sum over two years.

This was noted in a recent report about BDS from the Congressional Research Service (I could not find it online):

US taxpayers are funding a hate organization.

Did Israel help create Hamas? Jim Clancy thinks so!

Yesterday I decided to check on my old pal, Jim Clancy, formerly of CNN, who now is free to express his hate fearlessly since, as far as I can tell, he's still out of a job. He tweeted:

Worth noting Hamas given license to operate by #Israel in '79 -- because pols wanted "anybody but Yasser Arafat!" https://t.co/o4r0IbYPRG
— Jim Clancy (@ClancyReports) December 14, 2015

I've seen this claim before from Israel haters, so I checked it out.

Unsurprisingly, it is not true.

The first hint comes from the fact that Hamas is celebrating its 28th anniversary, but Clancy is referring to an event from 1979 - 8 years before Hamas was founded..

All of these stories come from a quite good 2009 article by Andrew Higgins in the Wall Street Journal. The title seems to be what caused the Israel haters to have a field day: How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas. Based on that title, articles in other anti-Israel media like WRMEA

The article says not that Israel gave a license to a terror group in 1979, but that it did support a Muslim Brotherhood charitable organization that turned into Hamas.

In Gaza [after 1967], Israel hunted down members of Fatah and other secular PLO factions, but it dropped harsh restrictions imposed on Islamic activists by the territory's previous Egyptian rulers. Fatah, set up in 1964, was the backbone of the PLO, which was responsible for hijackings, bombings and other violence against Israel. Arab states in 1974 declared the PLO the "sole legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people world-wide.

The Muslim Brotherhood, led in Gaza by Sheikh Yassin, was free to spread its message openly. In addition to launching various charity projects, Sheikh Yassin collected money to reprint the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian member of the Brotherhood who, before his execution by President Nasser, advocated global jihad. He is now seen as one of the founding ideologues of militant political Islam.

Mr. [Avner] Cohen, who worked at the time for the Israeli government's religious affairs department in Gaza, says he began to hear disturbing reports in the mid-1970s about Sheikh Yassin from traditional Islamic clerics. He says they warned that the sheikh had no formal Islamic training and was ultimately more interested in politics than faith. "They said, 'Keep away from Yassin. He is a big danger,'" recalls Mr. Cohen.

Instead, Israel's military-led administration in Gaza looked favorably on the paraplegic cleric, who set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library and kindergartens. Sheikh Yassin formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islamiya, which was officially recognized by Israel as a charity and then, in 1979, as an association. Israel also endorsed the establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which it now regards as a hotbed of militancy.

Brig. General Yosef Kastel, Gaza's Israeli governor at the time, is too ill to comment, says his wife. But Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who took over as governor in Gaza in late 1979, says he had no illusions about Sheikh Yassin's long-term intentions or the perils of political Islam. As Israel's former military attache in Iran, he'd watched Islamic fervor topple the Shah. However, in Gaza, says Mr. Segev, "our main enemy was Fatah," and the cleric "was still 100% peaceful" towards Israel. Former officials say Israel was also at the time wary of being viewed as an enemy of Islam.

Mr. Segev says he had regular contact with Sheikh Yassin, in part to keep an eye on him. He visited his mosque and met the cleric around a dozen times. It was illegal at the time for Israelis to meet anyone from the PLO. Mr. Segev later arranged for the cleric to be taken to Israel for hospital treatment. "We had no problems with him," he says.

Some moves that Israel made clearly backfired in hindsight:

In 1987, several Palestinians were killed in a traffic accident involving an Israeli driver, triggering a wave of protests that became known as the first Intifada, Mr. Yassin and six other Mujama Islamists launched Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas's charter, released a year later, is studded with anti-Semitism and declares "jihad its path and death for the cause of Allah its most sublime belief."

Israeli officials, still focused on Fatah and initially unaware of the Hamas charter, continued to maintain contacts with the Gaza Islamists. Mr. Hacham, the military Arab affairs expert, remembers taking one of Hamas's founders, Mahmoud Zahar, to meet Israel's then defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin, as part of regular consultations between Israeli officials and Palestinians not linked to the PLO. Mr. Zahar, the only Hamas founder known to be alive today, is now the group's senior political leader in Gaza.

In 1989, Hamas carried out its first attack on Israel, abducting and killing two soldiers. Israel arrested Sheikh Yassin and sentenced him to life. It later rounded up more than 400 suspected Hamas activists, including Mr. Zahar, and deported them to southern Lebanon. There, they hooked up with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed A-Team of anti-Israeli militancy.

Many of the deportees later returned to Gaza. Hamas built up its arsenal and escalated its attacks, while all along maintaining the social network that underpinned its support in Gaza.

So Israel supported Islamist charities - indeed, as a counterweight to the Fatah terror group - at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood had not yet emerged as a terror threat.

In fact, if you claim that Israel's support of Mujama al-Islamiya translates into "Israel helped create Hamas," then you have to say that the US helped create Al Qaeda. After all, Al Qaeda also started as a Muslim charity, Maktab al-Khidamat, which at one point opened 33 fundraising offices in the US under the name "Services Bureau." These charities received tax exemptions and, apparently, official recognition. (Not to mention the CIA's role in funding the mujahadeen, again without the benefit of hindsight.)

Imagine the outcry from the hypocritical Jim Clancys of the world if the US or Israel would shut down an Islamic charity before any ties to terror were known! Yet these moral midgets now claim that Israel is responsible for Hamas terror by not being clairvoyant in the 1970s.

Perhaps Jim Clancy can inform us of which charitable organizations exist today that will become fronts for terror organizations in eight years, so we can shut them down now, since according to him it is so damned obvious.

Despite Clancy's obvious disregard for the truth, there is a lesson here that he and many like him will never accept. As the WSJ article notes, Israeli leaders at the time were willing to overlook troubling signs about Sheikh Yassin and early Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Islamism partially because of Israel's desire not to seem Islamophobic.

That is a mistake that should only be made once - but the rest of the world has not yet learned from it.

Work accident! (senior edition)

Arab media are reporting on the death of two Hamas members "while on a mission of jihad."

The Al Qsssam Brigades released a statement saying that Khalid El-Arini and Abdul Ghani Hamdan were killed in the jihad event, which is usually a code word for "they accidentally blew themselves up" or "a rival shot him but we want to pretend he is going to Pradaise."

According to Hamas, Hamdan was 61 years old. while El-Arini was 24.

I have not seen anyone that old being killed in a "work accident" that I can recall. But clearly Hamdan was a Hamas member, so he must be a recipient of their wonderful charitable networks designed to recruit jihadists.

May many more Hamas terrorists speedily achieve their dream of martyrdom without hurting a single innocent person.

12/14 Links Pt2: BHL: Jews, Catholics Must Confront ‘Looming Barbarism’; WH Smith & 'Mein Kampf'

From Ian:

Bernard-Henri Lévy Says Jews, Catholics Must Cooperate to Confront ‘Looming Barbarism’ (INTERVIEW)

Following a meeting with Pope Francis I, and ahead of his upcoming trip to New York to speak at a United Nations event dedicated to Catholic-Jewish relations, famed French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy spoke with The Algemeiner, in an exclusive interview, about the Church’s relationship with Jews.
The Algemeiner: You will be at United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday for an ecumenical meeting of Christians and Jews, is that right?
Bernard-Henri Lévy: “Ecumenical” is not the right word. The event is a celebration — open to the public, including your readers — of the 50th anniversary of the remarkable revolution within the Catholic Church that brought about the decision to move beyond antisemitism. And it was indeed a revolution — one of the few successful revolutions of the 20th century. At the end of it, the church banned antisemitism. That is a far cry from the fancy phrases and hollow dialogue that often fall under the heading of ecumenism.
The Algemeiner: Who conceived the idea of the meeting at the United Nations?
Bernard-Henri Lévy: The Vatican, in part. But also the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), which I think is accurately described as a coalition of the major Jewish groups in the United States. The architect of the event is Michael Landau, a leader in the American Jewish community. One thing of which I am completely certain is that the two sides have an equally strong interest in seeing the alliance prosper, something that is really critical in the terrifying world we now live in. Together Jews and Catholics will have to confront the looming barbarism. And not just us, of course; we are going to need millions of practitioners of other religions, too, as well as nonbelievers. Joining me at the UN on Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the past half-century and look forward to the next will be Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, as well as prominent Jewish leaders, among them Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom.

German newsweekly owner compares Israel to National Front, fascists

Jakob Augstein, a partial owner of and columnist for German newsweekly Der Spiegel, drew parallels last week between the Netanyahu government and historical European fascism, France’s National Front party and the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
Volker Beck, the Green Party spokesman for interior affairs and religion, in what appears to be the first public criticism of Augstein on the issue by a Bundestag deputy, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that in the publisher’s eyes, “Israel is to blame for everything – somehow also still for the right-wing populists of the AfD. Mr. Augstein is once again on the wrong track with his Israel obsession.”
In a column subtitled “Fascism is not a phenomenon of the past,” Augstein wrote, “so right-wing like the German right-wing populists is the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.” Augstein discussed Israel’s government within the context of the National Front.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Post on Sunday, “Sadly, Augstein’s anti-Semitism is not a phenomenon of the past. Unfortunately, his latest article dumping the democratically elected Israeli government in the same basket with far-right and xenophobic parties confirms an anti-Israel bias so extreme that he merited criticism from a leading member of Germany’s Green Party.”

France says ad calling Jerusalem site ‘Palestinian territory’ a mistake

France has hurriedly backtracked after calling a site in west Jerusalem “Palestinian territory” in a recent job advertisement, saying the statement was “a mistake.”
In a recent post to Careerjet.com, a job search engine, the French Consulate wrote that it was looking for a new employee in the French Institute of Jerusalem, located in Safra Square (which also houses City Hall) near the Old City.
Though Safra Square is indisputably a part of western Jerusalem, under the job’s “location” the ad said: “Jerusalem (Palestinian Territories).”

Reuters reports the "Israel changed the status quo" lie

It is fascinating, and frightening, to see how Palestinian Arab lies start to get accepted by the mainstream media.

From Reuters, adding background information to an article about recent violence:

A campaign of stabbings, shootings and car-rammings by Palestinians has killed 19 Israelis and a U.S. citizen since the start of October. Israeli forces have killed 109 Palestinians, around two-thirds of whom the army identified as assailants.

Palestinians are frustrated at the failure of long-running peace efforts with Israel and its 48-year occupation of the West Bank. Many sympathize with Hamas calls for Israel's destruction.

The bloodshed has also been fueled by Muslim agitation over stepped-up Israeli access to Jerusalem's al Aqsa mosque complex, which many Jews revere as a vestige of their biblical temples.

Exactly how has Israel "stepped up" access to the site compared to 2013? 1998?

They haven't, but Arab media have been plastering articles about every single visit by Jews to the area on their front pages for months as a reason to incite violence. And it has worked. The articles often report supposed Israeli plans to build a Temple or divide the site so that only Jews can ascend at certain times. All of them have been false.

There has been no increased Jewish access to the Temple Mount. But there has been a marked increase in Muslims violently opposing any Jews visiting peacefully.

Today, the head of the "Arab Parliament" condemned Jews visiting the Temple Mount yesterday, claiming that their purpose is to provoke the feelings of Muslims worldwide and that any Jews on the Temple Mount is pouring fuel on the fire of Arab resentment. This incitement is constant in Arab media and governmental pronouncements.

And Reuters gives it credence.

The supposed Israeli plans to take over the complex is in fact the entire stated reason for the stabbings and shootings and stonings and rammings. Nothing about "frustration" with the peace process. It is called the Al Aqsa Intifada in Arab media. And it is based on lies.

But Reuters will never say that.

(h/t Meryl)

(Part 1 here)

In my investigation into why UNICEF over looks Palestinian child abuse there is finally some movement on their website addressing the word “violence.” I have kept up my many attempts to contact Monica Awad and Catherine Weibel and there has been continued silence on their part to maintain a dialogue. I’m hoping since it was respectful, they will answer me. A well meaning dialogue that would include my traveling to their offices in Shuafat in east Jerusalem to get some answers.

In the meantime, UNICEF has finally updated their page on the current post-2014 Gaza war situation for children in that region. It says that recovery is slow since the August ceasefire. They are reporting basic needs such as food, water and hygiene are substantial but more than 300,000 children are in need of psychological and emotional support. Nothing more is written on their emotional well being and if this damage is actually PTSD. There is only mention of 258 schools and kindergartens damaged and 26 schools beyond repair. UNICEF is also looking to provide nutrition and the restoration of access to water. Fruits and vegetables are delivered daily too.

No mention of the possible psychological damage inflicted on these children from Hamas placing rockets in the UNRWA schools or children being placed by or near rocket launchers. No mention of children forcibly detained in buildings by Hamas as human shields. No mention of children suffering emotional turmoil at the loss of family members.

There is, however, one tiny mention that UNICEF is providing child protection programs. It is unclear what type of protection they are providing. Are they removing children from homes where terrorists reside? Are they providing psychologists for therapeutic purposes or is it volunteers delivering board-games door to door so children have something to play with?

UNICEF falls short in mentioning that Hamas is entirely to blame for the economic blockade they put on Israel since taking control of Gaza in 2007. Gaza farmers saw an Israel that allowed tractors to let them farm their own food and boost the economy. The export of foods between Gaza and Israel would boost health and economy as noted by Tahseen Al-Saqqa, Marketing Director of Gaza Agriculture. Again, no mention that it is Israel doing more than Gaza leaders to help the well being of Gazans affected from last year’s war.

So many questions need answering, and it’s impossible to get any answers from the Jerusalem office. Here are their goals for 2015 which is soon coming to a close:

UNICEF and partners plan for 320,000 people to have access to water, improved hygiene. Is Israel including water bottles for drinking and bathing in their weekly aid delivery? If so, UNICEF is not mentioning it.

170,000 children (50% girls) and caregivers (I think that means parents and/or guardians?) benefit from protection and/or psychological support activities. This sounds very evasive. What exactly is the nature of this benefit?

250,000 children and 100,000 women have access to life saving medicine and consumables. It is unclear if this is due to Israel allowing Gazans to come to Israeli hospitals or if doctors from around the globe have offered their services to heal the sick in Gaza.

This is all very evasive. I hope for a peaceful resolution and dialogue. in the meantime, my part III excursion to Shuafat is in the early stages of planning.

12/14 Links Pt1: ‘Breaking the Silence’ is financed by Palestinian funds; 14 injured in ramming attack

From Ian:

Zionist NGO: Leftist groups sabotaging Israel 'from within'

The left-wing Israeli group Breaking the Silence, which publicizes former IDF soldiers' testimonies about misdeeds of the Israeli military, is heavily funded by a Palestinian organization, as is a lobbyist for another left-wing group, B'Tselem, a report issued Sunday by the right-wing Zionist group Im Tirtzu reveals.
In its report, titled "Shtulim 2015" -- a reference to foreign bodies "planting" representatives in Israeli organizations -- the group argues that "there are Israeli organizations perceived by society as 'leftist' or 'human rights' groups but in fact they are not as such. They are plants, extensively funded by foreign governments, and operating from within against Israeli society, against IDF soldiers and against Israel's ability to defend itself in the war on terror," the group said.
The organizations labeled as "plants" by Im Tirtzu are Breaking the Silence, whose work has been accused of being vastly detrimental to the IDF; B'Tselem -- a human rights organization that focuses on the rights of Palestinians; Adalah -- the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; Yesh Din -- a volunteer organization working to defend the human rights of the Palestinian civilian population and a long list of others.
According to Im Tirtzu, the common denominator between all these groups, aside from being funded by foreign bodies, is the "public relations and financial support they receive from the American organization the New Israel Fund."
Of the 20 Israeli organizations named in the report, 15 are directly funded by the New Israel Fund. Four of the organizations have legally defended terrorists or families of terrorists, some of them even terrorists who participated in the most recent surge of violence, which is still ongoing. Four of the organizations employ 15 national service volunteers under the auspices of the state.

Report: ‘Breaking the Silence’ is financed by Palestinian funds

The grassroots Zionist organization Im Tirtzu has revealed that the New Israel Fund (NIF) is behind the funding of numerous organizations that are involved in anti-Israel activity.
One of these organizations, Breaking the Silence (Shovrim Shtika), is also funded by Palestinian beneficiaries.
The report further reveals that in 2016, The Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat - a Palestinian foundation - is due to fund some 10,000,000 NIS (2,600,000 USD) to bolster the activities of foreign organizations against IDF soldiers and in favor of Palestinian terrorists. In addition, the report reveals that the Palestinian foundation funds a lobbyist in the Knesset by means of the B’Tselem organization.
Im Tirtzu commented: “The President of Israel cannot partake in this event following the revelation of this information. This is the most severe report to ever be compiled against Israeli organizations. It turns out that while we are fighting terrorism – these foreign agent organizations are fighting us. We will urgently consider our next steps, including in the Knesset, in order to eradicate this phenomenon.”

Ya'alon bans 'malicious' NGO Breaking The Silence from IDF events

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has banned the Breaking The Silence Group from taking part in any IDF activities, describing the organization as having malicious motivations.
In a statement posted on the defense minister's official Facebook page on Sunday night, Ya'alon said Israel "supports the combat soldiers and commanders who go out and fight for it, and we will know how to protect every soldier if any element persecutes or tries to harm them during visits abroad."
Breaking The Silence describes itself on its website as "an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories."
"We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population’s everyday life," the organization says.
Ya'alon said he was aware of the "foolish attempts by various organizations to slander us and slander IDF soldiers around the world."

Peace Now accuses right-wing NGOs of lack of transparency

At the heart of the foreign-funding transparency debate is the relevance of distinguishing between donations from foreign governments and those from private donors. Proponents of Shaked’s bill have argued that the delineation is significant and that the foreign-funded groups scrutinizing Israeli policy violates its sovereignty, while some of the left-wing groups have attempted to expand the debate to transparency in general, arguing that the legal standards of scrutiny should be equal for all.
“While the law today requires every organization to publicize each quarter the donations [it has received] that come from the budgets of foreign states, receiving a donation from the budget of the State of Israel, at the expense of the Israel tax-payer, does not require publication, and can remain hidden from the public,” the Peace Now report said.
According to figures by Peace Now, in 2012, the left-wing organization received over NIS 1 million ($259,000) from the Norwegian Embassy, some NIS 500,000 ($129,000) from the Belgian Foreign Ministry, over NIS 350,000 ($90,000) from the British Foreign Office, some NIS 224,000 ($58,000) from the Swiss Foreign Ministry, and NIS 136,000 ($35,000) from the Dutch Embassy.
By contrast, NGO Monitor maintained state funding is “entirely different” than private funding, in part because foreign governments are not transparent.“States exercise sovereign power on an exclusive basis, and state interference or manipulation of civil society organizations in other states violates that sovereignty. In addition, while private individuals and funds distribute their money as an expression of free choice, governments do not consult their citizens before deciding on grants to selected foreign NGOs,” it said.

May a robot light Chanukah candles?

Technion just released this video for the last day of Chanukah:

Another way to light the Hanukkah candlesHope you had a great Hanukkah. Computer Science students in Prof. Ron Kimmel's lab taught their robot to light the Hanukkah candles this year.
Posted by Technion Live - Technion ~ Israel Institute of Technology on Sunday, December 13, 2015

In this case, the robot is set up to mimic the actions of the human, and is not acting on its own, to light the candles.

So would this be halachically acceptable? (Assuming that the human and the robot light the candles in the correct order, that is!)

Is the robot like a utensil - for example, like a long stick to reach the candles but still considered under the control of the human, or are its actions too far removed from the human's movements to qualify?

If a robot was built that could perform the actions based on specific or general human instruction, would the answer be different?

Bot Mitzvah from Futurama

Robots are a fascinating issue in Jewish law. There was some controversy last year when a rabbi seemed to suggest to CNN and JTA that a robot that could pass a Turing test could potentially be counted in a minyan [prayer quorum] (he later clarified that he was saying no such thing.)

I recently read an emotional science fiction story about a Jewish scientist/widower who built a humanoid robot to replace his dying daughter by electronically replicating her brain. In the end, the replacement (who looked and acted exactly like a human) lit Shabbat candles.

Jihadist left note saying that he is going to Paradise after stabbing Jews

Many Westerners try very hard to distinguish between the Muslims who stab Israeli Jews and the Muslims who perform terror attacks in the rest of the world.

The Arabs in Israel aren't motivated by jihad or Islamism, they say - unlike Islamists in Europe or the US.

A couple of days ago,this video was released showing a horrific attack by an Arab against two Israelis last Wednesday in Hebron.

It turns out that he left a note for his parents before his attack:

In the name of Allah the Compassionate and Merciful

"Think not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision."

By Allah, I yearned for Paradise, don’t be sad, I only set out (to stab) in order to support and elevate the Word of Allah and in order to take revenge for the martyrs. Don’t be sad, don’t be sad, we will meet in Paradise, your son is a martyr Allah willing, we will meet in Paradise, Allah Akbar, praise be to Allah

(ineligible word) Allah be praised

Allah Akbar

The Lion of Allah (?)

Abd Al-Rahman Maswada

Hamas, also a jihadist group that people like to pretend has nothing in common with the groups that are sending jihadists to Europe, issued a martyr's poster for Maswada.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Haaretz-NIF conference proves how craven they are

Some interesting things occurred at the "HaaretzQ" conference in New York yesterday.

It was sponsored by an assortment of leftist Israeli and non-Israeli organizations, many of which claim to be fervently Zionist.

As can be expected, the speakers ranged from the liberal to the loony Israeli Left and PA. Unhinged self-hating Haaretz columnists like Amira Hass and Gideon Levy were featured.

Roger Waters, the washed-up former member of an influential 1970s band, attended and was treated like, well, a rock star. Why would someone who actively boycotts Israel appear at a conference sponsored by an Israeli newspaper? The reason is obvious.

The most emblematic event that occurred at the conference was when Saeb Erekat, the PA's liar-in-chief, appeared.

Erekat refused to ascend to the stage if an Israeli flag was visible at a conference that is about Israel. So HaaretzQ organizers obediently removed the flag so they could bask in the presence of someone who can't stand Israel.

This was not mentioned by Haaretz in its own coverage of the event.

Another anecdote from the conference was that Ayman Odeh, who is revered by the Israeli Left as a man of peace and tolerance, appeared for his speech.

MK Ayman Odeh gets the biggest standing ovation of the day, he's the official rock star of #HaaretzQ
— Allison K. Sommer (@AllisonKSommer) December 13, 2015

Unlike Haaretz, Odeh has pride - he refused last week to speak to a major American Jewish organization because it shares an office building with the Jewish Agency, a Zionist organization that he regards as racist even though it helps Arabs as well.

Which sums it up nicely. Arabs who hate Israel have pride in their hate, and Haaretz and its fans care more about respecting Arab hate than about their own country. They cannot tolerate Israel, but they have nothing but tolerance for Arab intolerance.

Haaretz, the New Israel Fund, J-Street and the other sponsors who claim to be Zionist showed that their pride in Israel is non-existent and that their opinions are as far from the Israeli mainstream as possible.

No wonder then that President Obama, who addressed the conference remotely, said that he relies on this island of self-hate for his views about Israel.