UC-Irvine researchers excited by Israel's water management

From Zvi:

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We are accustomed to hearing bad news from UC Irvine. Last year, UC Irvine's student senate voted to join the ranks of the BDS (a.k.a. Bigotry and Double Standards) movement. UC Irvine allowed a group of hate-filled hooligans to repeatedly and aggressively attempting to silence Amb. Michael Oren.

Today, the news is of a very different kind.

A group of Irvine water researchers is visiting the region, exploring opportunities to share knowledge and to collaborate. I should say, first of all, that being water researchers, these visitors adhere to a point of view that is progressive and environmentally focused. For them, the water shortages in the middle east and around the world are looming crises that must be addressed soon in order to stave off disaster. They recently published a study on water losses in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran over the years from 2003 to 2009. The researchers were invited to Israel by Friends of the Earth - Middle East.

In National Geographic Water Currents, Prof. James Famiglietti, director of the Hydrologic Modeling Center at the University of California – Irvine comments on their recent visit to the Technion.

Technion University was our first stop on this water journey,, where we met with researchers at the Grand Water Research Institute (GWRI). During our conversation at Technion, we learned about the Israeli tools to allocate, reuse, and distribute water and how academic research improves these tools. Israel’s water monitoring and allocation system is phenomenal – every drop of water, from freshwater resources to desalinated water, is accounted for, priced accordingly, and delivered to the end-user. ....

For we Californians, it was surprising and inspiring to hear about the innovative strategies in place to meet agricultural water demands and, even more so, that the farmers were completely in support of these policies. ...

As our discussions at Technion illustrated, the support for such innovative management policies begins with knowledge transfer to stakeholders. For example, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture hosts annual meetings that farmers, academics, and decision makers attend with the goal of sharing their respective water experiences and to work toward more efficient water practices. A core aspect of that effective communication is creating practical, actionable results rooted in technical research. During our discussion at Technion, we repeatedly heard an emphasis on interdisciplinary research, bringing together economists, engineers, hydrologists, and politicians to guide those actionable results for water management. Technion is one of many universities that are part of the Middle East North Africa (MENA)Water Centers for Excellence project, sponsored by USAID. This platform provides the foundation for collaboration between researchers throughout the MENA region including in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan.

The concept of a “water research network” is lacking in the United States, as is the connection between researchers and decision-makers at the local, state, and national levels. In Israel, this model of collaboration has resulted in meticulous monitoring of water resources to inform water management policies and the subsequent support from all stakeholders. If we could shift our water management paradigm in the United States to effectively link researchers, policy-makers, and local stakeholders with open lines of communication, the outcome could be groundbreaking.

Our meeting at the GWRI at the Technion left us with many ideas for potential collaboration between our research center at UC Irvine and the Technion. On a technical level, we discussed a wide variety of potential research topics, ranging from the development of a 3D groundwater model; the evaluation of the linkages between water and soil management at a global scale; the use of enviromatics to better manage and monitor regional water systems; and optimization of land-surface and water management models to better reflect the reality of water demand and supply. On a broader level, our meeting provided a glimpse at new strategies and tools that we, in California, can use to more effectively manage water resources, link stakeholders, communicate knowledge, and develop policies to sustainably manage our resources.

This Israel-California knowledge transfer model is an exciting venture, and we hope that over the duration of our trip we will find more ideas, collaboration opportunities, and links with civil society, academic, and governmental agencies.

Universities and researchers around the world need to reject bigotry, double standards and lies, and instead actively support collaboration with Israeli researchers. They do not need to do this for the sake of Israel; rather, they should do it for the sake of their own societies.

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Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Norwegian minister admits Palestinian incitement funding
The Norwegian Secretary of State has stated on national television that Norway helps fund Palestinian incitement

The Norwegian government appears to be one of the first European countries to be reconsidering its untargeted aid to the Palestinian territories on the basis of recent reports into incitement and anti-Semitism.
The issue, covered in depth by The Commentator, arises from the fact that Western governments give money often without conditions, to fund the budget of the Palestinian Authority. This has led to reported abuses of the cash, including the paying of terrorist salaries, rabid and frequent anti-Semitism and incitement in school textbooks, and the dedication of cultural events and organisations to known terrorists.

Norwegian State-Owned TV Links Country’s Funding of PA to Promotion of Hatred Towards Israel (VIDEO)

Norwegian state-owned TV, NRK, recently aired a 10-minute report on the PA’s incitement against Israel through hate speech in government sanctioned media. The report followed on the heels of a report by Palestinian Media Watch which drew a direct connection between the PA’s promotion of hatred and terror glorification and the Norwegian funding of the PA, at 300 million kroner a year ($52,628,700).

The PA promotes terror, the UK pays for it

While PA officials readily speak to Western audiences of their determination to reach peace with Israel, a very different story is presented to their domestic audience.
The imagery and language of hate broadcast in the Palestinian Authority’s name is well documented. From maps replacing the State of Israel with “Palestine”, to images of children carrying weapons, and cultural events named in honour of notorious Palestinian terrorists. And this has all been done with very little condemnation from the international community, including the United Kingdom.
This litany of inflammatory material fundamentally harms the peace process and hopes for a two-state solution. Ignoring incitement and hate education because we do not want to ‘rock the boat’ will not help us along the path to peace and it does not provide the steady foundations needed for peaceful co-existence.

A Web of Hate: European, U.S. Laws Clash on Defining and Policing Online Anti-Semitism

European laws on the issue, however, are not uniformly applied across the EU. Even the European Court of Human Rights does not offer an accepted definition for “hate speech,” instead offering only parameters by which prosecutors can decide if the “hate speech” is entitled to the protection of freedom of speech. Prosecutors therefore exercise a great amount of discretion, as do policemen, who must classify the act as a hate crime or not, and judges, who must assess which action or speech is likely to disturb public order. “That assessment can be subjective,” Naamat said.

Breaking the Silence leaked EU report on Israel
Left-wing NGO behind leak of annual EU report that slams Israel for its Jerusalem and settlement policies.

The far-Left NGO Breaking the Silence was behind a leak on Wednesday of the annual report put together by heads of EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah, which blasted Israeli policies, saying “settlement construction remains the biggest single threat to the two-state solution.”

As is the case each year, one diplomatic official said, the damning report generates headlines, but does not have much of an impact on overall EU policy. Nevertheless, he added, even if the findings and recommendations don’t become official policy, that they are leaked to the press ensures they will be “picked up by the chattering classes, and become accepted as conventional wisdom.”

MK Ben-Dahan: Stop EU’s Pro-PA Endeavors
MK Ben-Dahan slams EU report on settlements, suggests Israel respond by stopping Europe’s pro-PA building in Judea and Samaria.

MK Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) had strong criticism Wednesday for a European Union report that recommended a boycott targeting Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. The EU also condemned construction in majority-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
“We are again witness to blatant interference in internal Israeli policy, in such a way as to give one-sided support to the Palestinians,” he said. EU consuls should be reminded that the British Mandate has been over for some time, he added.

Neo-Nazi Parties Threaten to 'Upend European Parliament'
Anti-Defamation League urges United States Congress to mobilize a united voice against the return of political anti-Semitism.

Calling the election of neo-Nazi parties to European parliaments “one of the most alarming setbacks in the fight against anti-Semitism,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged members of the United States Congress to mobilize a united voice against the return of political anti-Semitism.

Isi Leibler: Germans lurching toward anti-Semitism
There is growing resentment against Jews, who are blamed for imposing excessive emphasis on collective German guilt for the Holocaust.

Benz equates Islamophobia with anti-Semitism, alleging that critics of Islamic practice are reminiscent of Nazi anti-Semites attacking the Talmud. He recently challenged the fact that the Muslim terrorist murders in Toulouse had an “anti-Semitic dimension.” He dismisses concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood as being reminiscent of anti-Semitic phobias like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and bizarrely complains that drawing attention to the fact that Muslims comprise 70 percent of Berlin prison inmates is comparable to Hitler’s ravings over “the fact that 89% of Berlin pediatricians in the 1930s were Jews.”

For Jews, the positive side of Germany is the evident abundance of pro-Israeli and even philo-Semitic rank-and-file Germans in all walks of life. Yet simultaneously, the intensifying efforts by left-wing activists uniting with Muslim extremists, and occasionally even Nazis, to demonize Israel and promote anti-Semitism, provide valid grounds for concern about a future for Jews in Germany.
The situation is likely to further deteriorate drastically after the culmination of Angela Merkel’s term as chancellor.

‘Split personality’ phone solves major security breach
Red Bend’s new dual-persona Android OS platform for Samsung phones provides a better solution to the ‘BYOD dilemma’

When employees were using their company-issued devices strictly for company work, system administrators had a large measure of control over how that data could be used — a crucial security feature, especially nowadays, as cyber-attackers and hackers develop ever more sophisticated tactics to steal data. There are many solutions out there to ensure data safety on dual-purpose devices, but few are as elegant as the one that data security company Red Bend has developed for Samsung, which was introduced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
There’s a golden rule among network security administrators: the more exposed a device is to the Internet, the less secure it is. When a device is used strictly to interface with a company’s mail or data server, it’s easy to set up a secure data pipe for communications that is unlikely (or at least less likely) to be compromised by hackers.

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Egypt searching for Hamas terrorists in Sinai

Isn't this interesting?

The Interior Ministry is searching for 500 Palestinian citizens who are allegedly Hamas members, and who are accused of illegally entering the country in between 14 and 24 February, security sources said.

Three of the individuals are suspected of terrorist activities, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

The ministry allegedly received intelligence that Palestinians were staying in apartments and hotels in Cairo’s Azbakeya district, but left two days ago after being tipped off prior to a police raid.

Police found four weapons in the apartments and two Palestinian passports, one of which allegedly belonged to an individual who had previously been arrested for ties to a Lebanese terrorist cell.

Egypt isn't embracing Hamas in the manner that Hamas expected. There were (probably false) rumors yesterday in the Egyptian press about Hamas threatening the Egyptian army over demolishing some of the Rafah tunnels.

But hard evidence of Hamas terrorists in Egypt is not going to help matters for the Islamic movement in Gaza.

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"Price tag" attack last week was fabricated by Arabs

From Ma'an last week:

Armed settlers attacked a village south of Nablus overnight Wednesday and torched six cars, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, said dozens of residents of the Esh Kodesh settlement outpost entered Qusra village firing heavily.

They torched six cars, belonging to Raed Musbah, Abed Taher, Yousef Odeh, Yasser Abu Rida, and Nashat Fawzi, Daghlas told Ma'an.

Villagers confronted the settlers, Daghlas said. A large force of Israeli soldiers entered the village and also clashed with locals, he added.

An investigation has determined that the Palestinian Arab claims are fabricated.

A police investigation revealed that residents of the village burned the vehicles, and accused the residents of the nearby outpost, Esh Kodesh, of the act. Six vehicles were burned a day after severe clashes erupted between residents of Korsa and residents of the nearby outpost, and the Palestinians were quick to also invite the media and human rights organizations who expressed shock at the act attributed to settlers.

Police said that the “evidence” supplied by Arabs that Jews had undertaken the attack – an Israeli identity card left at the scene – was fabricated. The ID card belonged to a soldier who, on the night of the attack, was stationed far from the Arab village. He had apparently lost the ID card, with Arabs finding it and holding onto it, apparently for an event just like the one that occurred in the village last week.

(h/t None)

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"Right of Return" conferences in Boston - and Rafah

Anti-Israel activists are organizing a "Right of Return" conference at Boston University for April.

They will be presenting pseudo-scholarly papers discussing how to legally destroy Israel. The conference materials themselves say this:

While asserting the inalienable right of Palestinians to return to and live in their homeland, we also principally affirm the right of Israelis to live in Palestine as well.

Assuming, ab initio, that there will be no Israel after "return."


In case anyone is fooled by the seeming gravitas of papers submitted to the conference at Boston U., we can see in the abstract linked things like

Application of international law on refugee rights and internally displaced persons indicates that Palestinian refugees have valid restitution claims to land and property located in present-day Israel. UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions further reaffirm the refugees’ right of return.

This is simply false. While there was one UNSC resolution (237) that called on Israel to facilitate the return of any Arabs who fled in 1967, Israel did so. The word "right" was never mentioned in UNGA 194, and indeed it was interpreted by the UN itself in 1950 as not to apply to the situation today.

But why expect honesty in a paper designed to facilitate the destruction of the Jewish state?


Luckily, Hamas doesn't try to clothe their desire to destroy Israel in faux academic garb. Here are photos from their recent "Right of Return" conference in Rafah:

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EoZNews Video: A hareidi response to the Israeli draft

This week  I was given the opportunity to be given a personal tour of the headquarters of the Belzer Hasidic movement in Jerusalem.

The building complex is very impressive and I plan to post a video of the tour of the huge synagogue itself soon.

While being showed around, I spoke to the Belzer representative, Yechezkal Friedman, about the major issues being discussed today concerning the hareidi community in Israel today, specifically the idea of being drafted for army or national service, the perception that the hareidim are freeloaders off of Israeli society and the hareidi economic model.

Whether you agree with the haredi movement or not, it is worthwhile hearing their point of view, which is a little more nuanced than how it is reported in most Israeli and world media. (One point that Friedman made that I didn't follow up on was that the Belzer opposition to national service was specifically for those who are young, 18 or so; he said that he did not know whether the Belzer Rebbe opposed older members - say, 27 year olds - doing some sort of service. This might point the way towards an agreement of sorts.)

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Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Oxford students overwhelmingly vote down Israel boycott
Jewish groups hail 69-10 tally, but motion will still likely appear on agenda at national student union confab next month

Aslan-Levy, who was also present at the vote Wednesday night, said he hoped that other British universities would follow Oxford in voting down BDS measures.
“Tonight Oxford students showed that their commitment to intellectual freedom is unshakeable. In rejecting calls for a boycott against Israel by a seven-to-one margin, we demonstrated resoundingly that we want Oxford to continue to cooperate with Israeli academics, trade with Israeli businesses and — yes — debate with Israeli debating societies,” he said.
He told The Times of Israel that students had been puzzled about why they were being asked to support a motion promoting an academic boycott.
“Students don’t think the role of a student union is to be making foreign policy,” he said. “They were confused why they were asked to embrace a boycott of Israeli universities – they were confused about the point. There was a strong belief that such motions are divisive.”

Video: Zionist Student Protest Counters Pro-Arab Demonstration

Arabs and leftists held a protest outside the Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, in support of the terrorist prisoners in Israeli jails.
The protesters called out racist remarks against Jews.
They were countered by Jewish students and activists of the Im Tirtzu movement, who held a counter-demonstration at the same time in support of the activities of the IDF and the Israeli security forces.
The counter-protesters made ​​it clear that supporting terrorists is a moral deformity, as they put it, and that anyone who supports terrorists being held in prisons “supports terrorism in general and those who act to harm innocent civilians.”

CiF Watch complaint to PCC prompts Guardian to begrudgingly revise Rachel Corrie op-ed

After many months, and a series of correspondences between Sela, the PCC and Guardian editors stubbornly resistant to admitting error, the Guardian begrudgingly agreed to amend their editorial to acknowledge that the Israeli court ruling contradicted claims that Corrie was preventing a home demolition on that day.

MEMRI: Lebanese Lecturer Hassan Jouni: Rich Jews Sent Poor Jews to the "So-Called Holocaust"


Saudi Cleric Saleh Al-Maghamsi: In His Death, Bin Laden More Honorable Than Any Infidel VIDEO

Syrian tank shell lands in Israeli Golan Heights town
Amid reports that Assad’s forces have left the Syrian side of the Golan, errant fire is first spillover incident since mortars fell over the border in November

A tank shell fired from Syria landed in the Golan community of Alonei Habashan late Wednesday morning, the first such incident since several mortars landed in the Golan in November.
No damage was reported. The shell, believed to be an errant shot from a battle between Syrian government forces and rebels, landed in an open area and did not explode. Sappers later disarmed it.

Report: Nasrallah's Hizbullah Deputy Injured or Killed in Syria

The second-in-command to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has been injured -- and may have been killed -- in an attack on a convoy by Syrian opposition forces.
Naim Qassem, deputy to Nasrallah, was wounded Tuesday in the blast along with several high-ranking Syrian officers, according to the Lebanon-based al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

Iranian Officials: The Jews Are Responsible For The Massacre Of Muslims In Myanmar

As part of the demonizing of Jews and Judaism in Iran, officials and mainstream media have accused the Jews of playing a considerable role in the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar in the summer of 2012. This report will review some of these statements, as well as Iranian cartoons conveying the same message.

Expert: Stuxnet part of long-term effort to stop Iran nukes
New evidence shows that the virus has been active in Iran’s Natanz facility almost since the day it opened in 2007

Researchers at antivirus company Symantec said they had gathered evidence that earlier versions of the code, which they called Stuxnet 0.5, was already seen “in the wild” as early as 2005, although it wasn’t yet operational as a virus. Stuxnet, said Symantec Tuesday, was the first virus known to attack national infrastructure projects, and according to the company, the groups behind Stuxnet were already seeking to compromise Iran’s nuclear program in 2007 — the year Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, where much of the country’s uranium enrichment is taking place, went online,

Gaza’s massive haul of devil rays sparks big fish story
Palestinian fishermen catch hundreds of the endangered species and lay them out on beach, prompting absurd online feeding frenzy

The Giant Devil Ray, indigenous to the Mediterranean Sea, is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The reason Gaza fishermen said that the fish had not been seen in these numbers in several years may have been a result of overfishing in the Mediterranean and a subsequent ban on fishing that would further endanger the species.
The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean — to which Israel is a party, but the Palestinian Authority is not — issued a ban on trawling below 1,000 meters and driftnet fishing, likely significantly reducing bycatch fishing of devil rays.

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Ethiopian woman chosen as "Miss Israel"

From JTA:

Yityish Aynaw, a former Israeli army officer, became the first Ethiopian-Israeli to win the Miss Israel pageant.

A panel of judges awarded the title to Aynaw, a 21-year-old model who came to Israel about a decade ago, at the International Convention Center Haifa on Wednesday.

"It's important that a member of the Ethiopian community wins the competition for the first time," she was quoted by Israeli media as telling the judges in response to a question. "There are many different communities of many different colors in Israel, and it's important to show that to the world."

In the interest of fully informing my readers of all relevant background information, without the slightest hint that I have any gratuitous motives, here is Aynaw together with her competition:

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Praising Palestinian Arabs for not lynching an Israeli doctor

The bigotry of soft expectations:

An expert anesthesiologist from Israel secretly visited a Palestinian hospital in the occupied West Bank to treat a man injured by Jewish settlers, Israeli media reported Wednesday.

Micha Shamir, of Hadassah Resuscitation School and Service, and an Israeli nurse went to Nablus on Sunday to move a 27-year-old Palestinian who was seriously injured by settlers in Qusra, the Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported.

"Going to Nablus was dangerous and I had several moments of fear," Shamir told Maariv.

The patient was being treated in a local hospital but his life was in danger and the hospital sought medical help from Israel. Officials contacted Shamir to ask if he would go to Nablus without a military escort.

"I did not think twice before I agreed," the anesthesiologist said.

A Palestinian vehicle waited at the entrance to Nablus, and the driver sped past Palestinian protesters who were clashing with Israeli troops near a military checkpoint.

Shamir spent over an hour examining the patient before they could move him, Maariv said.

The injured man was then evacuated by ambulance to a nearby Israeli military base where a helicopter was waiting to take him to hospital in Israel, according to the report.

As they left the Nablus hospital, the Israeli medics saw dozens of Palestinians gathering near the hospital.

"The way we were escorted was praiseworthy. The Palestinian security used an ambulance and some security patrols for camouflage to secure our mission."

It goes without saying that an Israeli doctor publicly going to Nablus to save an Arab life would be in danger of being lynched by the people he is trying to help. Otherwise, this wouldn't be a news story.

But lets give kudos to the PA for not allowing Shamir to be brutally murdered. Yay!

The double standard isn't only that Israel is expected to act in ways that no other Western country is; it is also that the Arabs aren't expected to even act like responsible adults. As I said in my talk last week, until the world starts expecting Arabs to act more maturely than toddlers with guns, they won't.

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Erdogan calls Zionism a "crime against humanity"

From Hurriyet Daily News:

Islamophobia must be recognized as a crime against humanity in the same fashion that Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism should be, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday.

Speaking at the “Fifth Alliance of Civilizations Forum” in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, the prime minister underlined the rising trend of fascism across the Europe. “We are facing a world in which racist attacks have gained momentum, terrorism has claimed more lives, and religions and sects treat each other with less understanding,” Erdoğan said.

“Just like Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it becomes unavoidable that Islamophobia must be regarded as a crime against humanity,” Erdoğan said.

UN Watch slammed the comparison at the UN-sponsored conference, and notes the irony that Erdogan's statement itself is anti-semitic:

"We remind secretary-general Ban Ki-moon that his predecessor Kofi Annan recognized that the UN’s 1975 Zionism-is-racism resolution was an expression of anti-Semitism, and he welcomed its repeal." [UN Watch said.]

UN Watch urged all members of the Alliance’s High Level Group, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “to denounce remarks that fundamentally contradict the very purpose of a forum supposedly dedicated to mutual tolerance.”

“Erdogan’s misuse of this global podium to incite hatred, and his resort to Ahmandinejad-style pronouncements appealing to the lowest common denominator in the Muslim world, will only strengthen the belief that his government is hewing to a confrontational stance, and fundamentally unwilling to end its four-year-old feud with Israel.”

Erdogan is saying that Jewish national self-determination is a "crime against humanity," which is by any yardstick an anti-semitic statement.

 Will NATO or the UN condemn this vile expression of hate given at a UN-sponsored conference?

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

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Muslim Brotherhood member appointed to lead an Egyptian state TV channel

From Egypt Independent:

Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsoud, a known Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer, has appointed a Brotherhood member to take over as chief of state-owned Nile News Channel, according to anonymous sources Wednesday.

The sources from State Television said Yasser Al-Dakany has taken the top job at Nile News and will be in control of its programming and news bulletins.

Dakany is the head of the Brotherhood's satellite channel Egypt 25. If confirmed, Dakany will replace Ahmad Sharaf, who accuses the minister of turning the channel into a Brotherhood mouthpiece.

On Wednesday, Sharaf told Al-Masry Al-Youm “Everyone knows that the minister fears my tendencies, whether professional or political, especially because I am against the brotherhoodization of the media owned by the state, while he wants to control the news sector,” Sahraf added.

Another wonderful Spring feeling.

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Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Talk of dual-citizen disloyalty in Zygier affair simply irresponsible by Gerard Henderson

If the likes of Saul or Walker had specifically referred to the (alleged) dual loyalty, or divided loyalties, of any other group or nationality they almost certainly would have been publicly rebuked. But it seems a different standard applies when accusations are made against Jewish Australians and Australian/Israeli dual nationals.
The Jewish community in Australia spends considerable funds guarding its synagogues and schools from attack. Some costs are also borne by state and federal police. In such an environment, it is irresponsible in the extreme for prominent Australians to imply some of their fellow citizens are disloyal.

Barry Rubin: Who Will the Muslim Brotherhood Heed: Allah or Tom Friedman (and such people)? No Contest

Sigh. Forgive me. I really don't want to write this article but it is too good a case study of the contemporary Western foreign policy reporting, debate, and elite attitudes toward international affairs. And doing a better job is vital because this task involves the fate of millions of people; matters of war and peace; the most basic interests of the United States; and the decency of intellectual discourse.
I refer of course to: Thomas L. Friedman's latest effort, "The Belly Dancing Barometer." Hey, tens of millions of lives are at stake so that's worth a flippant title and a goofy concept, right?

Hamas warns Obama against Temple Mount visit
Trip to Jerusalem’s holiest site would be ‘a diplomatic catastrophe,’ Islamists declare; mufti sets three conditions for presidential tour

Responding to unconfirmed rumors that US President Barack Obama intends to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during his trip to Israel next month, the Hamas terror group warned the American leader against the idea on Tuesday, calling it “a diplomatic catastrophe,” and local Muslim leaders set stiff conditions for a presidential tour there.
A statement issued by Hamas called Obama’s potential visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located at the southern perimeter of the Mount, “an imminent danger which the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem have never faced.”

Palestinians: Boycott Jerusalem marathon
PLO says route through eastern part of city is an attempt to assert Israeli sovereignty; municipality calls it a ‘symbol of co-existence’

‘Spontaneous’ Arab Riots a Message from PA to Obama
Former IDF general says ‘spontaneous rage’ riots are a message to Obama and Netanyahu, aiming at restarting Israel-PA talks.

Two Arrested For Suspected Links to Toulouse Gunman
French police arrested two men in city of Toulouse in connection with Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah's March killing spree.

The pair, aged 23 and 20, were being held in detention and questioned over their links to the self-proclaimed, Al-Qaeda inspired shooter who killed a rabbi, three Jewish children and three French paratroopers in and around Toulouse.
They are suspected of providing "logistical help" to Merah, who was shot dead during a police siege.

German soccer squad battles neo-Nazi violence
Extreme right-wing fans increasingly use Borussia Dortmund games to attack enemies and spread messages of hate

Dealing with a surge of right-wing extremism among its fans, Borussia Dortmund has long used social workers at games to defuse tense situations and help promote tolerance.
This month, however, the social workers themselves ended up being attacked by a group of neo-Nazi fans, with one of them beaten badly in a stadium bathroom.
It was one of many recent incidents that highlight how Germany — and Dortmund in particular — is still dealing with grim reminders of its dark days of racism, intolerance and violence.

Dutch TV program prompts call for anti-Semitism probe
Interviews with immigrant students showed admiration for Hitler and hatred of Jews

“The interviewees appear to be partly aware of the Holocaust, but approve of the mass murder of Jews,” the Hague-based CIDI wrote.
One of the interviewees said on camera: “I am more than pleased with what Hitler did to the Jews.” Another said: “I hate Jews, period. Nothing you do will make me change my mind.”

New implant is alternative to spinal fusion

The Israeli company Premia Spine is offering a unique and – it believes – better option. Its trademarked TOPS (Total Posterior Solution) System aims to revolutionize the spinal implant market in the same way that total hip and total knee replacement systems made hip and knee fusions a thing of the past.

Waze named world’s best mobile app
Israeli navigation app steered itself to the industry’s top honors at the Mobile World Congress.

Mobile navigation and traffic community app, Waze, is definitely headed in the right direction. The Israeli startup has been named Best Mobile App for 2013.
The world’s fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app triumphed over the likes of Flipboard, Square and Dropbox to take the “Judges Choice – Best Overall Mobile App” prize at the 18th Annual Global Mobile awards.

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Wow - a PalArab video that demands the end to Arab discrimination against them

I have noted throughout the years the official Arab discrimination practices against Palestinian Arabs.

An apparently Palestinian Arab YouTube channel called "Palestinian Refugees" made a professional  video about this problem, and demands full citizenship rights for Palestinians in Arab countries.

As the channel description says:

Since the Naqba, Palestinian Refugees mainly settled in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Over the decades we have been denied citizenship of our host countries, we have been denied the ability to own property and work in numerous professions. This channel is dedicated to our silent human rights crisis - perpetrated by our own brothers.

This type of criticism of Arab states for their systematic discrimination against their Palestinian Arab brethren is practically unheard of as Arab and PalArab leaders use these people as pawns against Israel and ignore their own human rights.

Unfortunately - probably out of fear - the person or people behind this initiative are anonymous, although apparently Jordanian.

I can only recall one Arab researcher who has ever looked at this problem as honestly as this film does.

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Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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In the Apartheid Oscars, Arab states win hands down

Those who berate the West for its orientalism towards the Third World, quoting the late Edward Said‘s eponymous book, ignore the fact that much of society under Muslim domination was built on the exploitation of women, Jews (and Christians) and blacks. Not only are all Arab countries strong contenders in the Apartheid Oscars, but Saudi Arabia would win hands down. At the bottom of its obscene pecking order are women, non-Muslims and slaves.

Pink Anti-Semitism Is No Different from Brown Anti-Semitism by Alan Dershowitz

Now this pinkwashing campaign is coming to the City University of New York. A pinkwashing conference is being sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Studies Center at The Graduate Center on April 10-11, 2013. It will be yet another hate fest against Israel, but this time it will cross the line into classic anti-Semitic tropes. Don’t be fooled by its benign pink hue, or its academic pretext. At its core, the newly-fashioned charge of pinkwashing is little different from the old-fashioned charges leveled by brown-shirted anti-Semites—namely, that neither the Jews nor the Jewish state ever does good things without bad motives. And this time, the hate conference is being cosponsored by the Philosophy and Psychology Departments and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York—as well as by the Center for The Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University.
Shame on anyone who exploits his or her sexual orientation to promote anti-Semitic bigotry. And shame on anyone who sponsors those who practice pink anti-Semitism.

Palestinians Exporting Terrorists to Syria Where Next? by Khaled Abu Toameh

In contrast to claims by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaderships to the effect that the Palestinians are not taking sides in the conflict, Palestinians are involved in the fighting in Syria.
The Palestinians who are heading to Syria have been told their ultimate mission is to liberate Palestine "from the river to the sea."Once they get rid of Assad, they are told, they will move to their next station -- Jordan. From there, their jihad will take them to Israel, where they and their friends in Jabhat al-Nusra [The Support Front] hope to create a pan-Islamic state ruled by Sharia laws.

Elaborate surveillance operation raises concerns about broader Hezbollah attacks

While most of the attacks were thwarted or failed, the accumulated intelligence shows that Hezbollah is learning from its mistakes, employing the tactics of professional intelligence operatives to cover its tracks and expanding its threat, according to current and former U.S. officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing nature of the inquiries.
“In the beginning, they clearly emphasized speed over tradecraft,” said Matthew Levitt, a former counterterrorism official with the FBI and Treasury Department and author of the forthcoming book “Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God.” An analysis of the more recent plots shows a shift in tactics, said Levitt, who said the Cyprus case in particular “underscores a very patient, careful and calculated tradecraft.”

PMW: Norwegian TV reports on PMW documentation of PA hate incitement



An extremist named Sharmine Narwani finds a home at ‘Comment is Free’

It isn't an easy title to win, but Sharmine "Dignity Rockets" Narwani is probably the most loathsome of all the Huffington Post bloggers, past or present. We've documented in the past her hatred for America, Israel (of course), and Huffington Post bloggers who dare to say stuff that she doesn't like. She's a liar, an anti-Semite, and a propagandist, not to mention a proud terrorism supporter. If all that doesn't convince you, check out this page of quotes here.

Egyptian court orders Gaza tunnels destroyed
Porous border a threat to Egypt’s security and destabilizes the Sinai Peninsula, security official says

Hamas Calls to Kidnap IDF Soldiers
Hamas, taking advantage of the rioting in Judea and Samaria, calls on terrorists to kidnap IDF soldiers.

Gaza rocket hits Israel. Obviously Israel's fault.
BBC reporting on the Middle East is no longer even biased, it's just a joke...

Facade of Neutrality Masks UN Bias
UN condemned the firing of a rocket from Gaza into Israel, while blaming spur of violence on Jewish state.

‘Iranians in Gaza, guiding rocket development’
Revolutionary Guard officials are helping Hamas and Islamic Jihad extend their range, report says

For third time in 2 years, ‘Iran fails to launch satellite’
Report of latest setback comes a day after Israel successfully tests Arrow 3 missile interceptor

Syria Trumpets UN Election to Senior Post
Ban Ki-moon was silent at meeting that named Assad Rapporteur of Decolonization Committee

Syria claims Turkey enabling al-Qaida
Damascus complains to UN that Ankara enables terrorist organizations "to receive funding and arms, enter Syrian territory.”

Senior Turkish politician chooses Israel for stem cell treatment
Former Finance Minister hopes groundbreaking therapies will cure renal failure.

Morocco film searches out Jews who left for Israel
Once home to some 300,000 Jews — the largest community in the Arab world — Morocco is taking a fresh look at its long history with Judaism

Hundreds of members of Islamist and left wing political groups demonstrated outside the Tangiers Film Festival earlier this month against a documentary about Moroccan Jews living in Israel. They claimed that director Kamal Hachkar was promoting “normalization” with the Jewish state.

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Egyptian cleric: Christianity started as worshiping Jesus' penis, and it gets better

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an address by Egyptian cleric Abu Islam, which aired on Al-Omma TV (via the Internet) on Feburary 13, 2013.

Egyptian cleric Abu Islam: I swear to God the Almighty – and believe me, I am not lying – that the Church worship originated in the worship of the penis. I swear to God. This is documented in dozens of pictures.

Let me tell you something – it's indecent, but true. Take a look at a picture of Jesus, and you'll see a penis, right here. Or is it on this side? Oh, it's on the right side. A penis, right here. There are many pictures like this. They worship it.

[…]

[Christian women] raise cats and dogs as a substitute for husbands. They train their dogs to play the husband. I swear to God, I am not lying. They buy dogs for this purpose. They train dogs to play the husband on them. Christian women do that.

The face he makes when he conjures up a mental picture of Jesus' penis is nothing short of hilarious.

By the way, isn't there a law that Muslims like to demand that makes defamation of religions illegal? Anyone think Abu Islam has been arrested in the past two weeks?

Since I can't help myself, I looked up the actual image behind Abu Islam to see if I could discern a penis. I couldn't, but perhaps the more imaginative of my readers can find it (click to, um, enlarge.)

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