Saturday Links

From Ian:

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‘Human rights’ are a weapon in the political arsenal of Israel’s enemies By Anne Bayefsky

Today at the United Nations in New York City, the UN’s top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women, will wrap up its annual session by condemning only one state for violating the rights of women anywhere in the world. Not Syria, or China, or Saudi Arabia. But Israel, for violating the rights of Palestinian women.
Next week, the UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, will end its session by adopting six resolutions condemning human rights violations by one state alone. Israel. And one resolution each on human rights violations in seven of the other 192 UN countries combined.

Ban Ki-Moon is wrong about Israeli settlements
Settlements not illegal under international law

There he goes again. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon erroneously has asserted, for the fourth time in two years, that “all [Israeli] settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, is illegal under international law.”
The Washington Post headlined its Feb. 1 Associated Press dispatch “U.N. panel criticizes Israel on settlements; Report says ‘creeping annexation’ violates rights of Palestinians.” AP noted that Mr. Ban was “reiterating his often-stated view.” He sure was.

Sarah Honig: Another Tack: Out of the box, Obama
Before Obama begins coaxing us with honeyed blandishments, he must take a long, hard and unbiased look out of the box.

That makes it all the more morally imperative that Obama remove his ideological blinders – before he begins coaxing us with honeyed blandishments – and that he take a long, hard and unbiased look out of the box. If he doesn’t, then his inability to shake off his affinities, orientations and inclinations should not only perturb Israelis and Jews.
If he claims that his two-state compromise and conciliation agenda can remain realistically relevant in the face of all the frenzied martyr-worshipping Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Salafist and al-Qaida zealots baying for the blood of Jewish infidels, then contrary to his electioneering rhetoric, Obama is insincere.

From Churchill to Assad
Toward a new Middle East order?

In conclusion, Robert Kaplan is of the opinion that there is still no solution to the problem of how to divide the former Ottoman Empire. No one knows yet who will have the power to control which territories, or whether there will be new tribal and sectarian lines. The Middle East borders are (along with the African ones) the most distorted in the world and, to quote Ralph Peters, “the greatest taboo in striving to understand the region’s comprehensive failure isn’t Islam but the awful-but-sacrosanct international boundaries worshiped by our own diplomats.” Correcting borders to reflect the will of all the different peoples may be impossible, but the opposite would probably lead to more violence and bloodshed.

Egypt: Will the army step in?

There are those who believe that President Mursi is slowly turning into another Mubarak; relying increasingly on the Ministry of Interior and the discredited police force. Some believe he is not ruling but takes his marching orders from the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially the powerful Khairat Al Shatter. It is in fact difficult to defend the president because every decision that he had taken in recent months has backfired and provided further evidence that he lacked leadership qualities.
It is almost impossible to imagine a scenario where the president and the opposition could work out their differences. Both have become hostage to their public positions and no side is willing to take a step back. It is no wonder that more people are looking toward the army for salvation!

Davutoglu Invokes Ottomanism As a New Order for Mideast

It’s time for the Erdogan government to listen to the critics of its policies, and at the very least begin toning down these arrogant suggestions that Turkey be the core country for setting a new order for those once-Ottoman lands.
That said, it may already be too late for Turkey to take a new direction.

Interpol won’t lift warrants for 6 Iranians in AMIA bombing
Arrest orders to remain active despite Tehran’s participation in probe of 1994 terror attack

Interpol will not lift the arrest warrants for Iranians suspected of involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, despite Tehran’s supposed cooperation with Argentina in investigating the event.
Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman cited a letter from the international police organization during a news conference on Friday in explaining that the arrest warrants would remain active. Six Iranians are wanted by Interpol in connection with the bombing, including Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

French Jews slam TV portrayal of school killer
Watched by millions, Mohammed Merah doc omits family testimony about anti-Semitism and portrays terrorist as mental health victim

Pierre Besnainou, a former president of the European Jewish Congress and president of the FSJU social and cultural arm of the French Jewish community, said “the film demonstrates a total misconception of the true nature of jihadist indoctrination.” And the CRIF’s Prasquier said the Jewish community must fight the tendency to portray Merah in a sympathetic light.
“The shootings were first and foremost part of radical Islam and its dangers,” Prasquier said.

Man sentenced to 10 years for NYC synagogue bomb plot

And he said that Ferhani’s conduct was deplorable, noting that almost any civilized person would have reacted with anger and outrage, rather than sympathy, to a proposed plot to blow up a building.
In a statement following the sentencing, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Ferhani posed a real threat to New York City’s Jewish community, and heralded the work of the NYPD Intelligence Bureau in ensuring the imprisonment of a “dangerous man.”

New Numbers Show UK-Israel Trade is Booming

Trade between Britain and Israel is booming. Last year’s two-way trade reached more than £3.81 billion ($5.77 billion), as compared with the £3.7 billion ($5.66 billion) recorded the previous year and on track for UK Trade and Investment’s target of topping £4 billion (roughly $6 billion) by the middle of the decade. Israel remains the UK’s largest individual trading partner in the near East and North Africa.

Passover Items from the Holocaust Discovered at Concentration Camp Site

The Israel-based Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute on Thursday showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals at the Chelmno death camp in western Poland. The items were discovered during excavations of the site in pits containing prisoners’ belongings.

Prague Schoolchildren Push to Have World War II Hero Given Nobel Prize

Sir Winton visited Prague, then a part of Czechoslovakia, in 1938 shortly after Britain and France had agreed to give the Sudetenland – the largely German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia – to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Appalled by the condition of refugees there, and certain that matters could only get worse for them and the Jewish population, he began organizing the transport of children out of the country, mostly to new homes in Britain. Over the next nine months – even after Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939 – special trains left Prague for London, carrying a total of 669 children to safety.

Americans’ sympathy for Israel at 22-year high
Ahead of Obama’s visit, Gallup poll finds 64% of Americans sympathize more with Israel, just 12% with the Palestinians

Americans’ sympathy for Israel is at a 22-year high, according to Gallup figures released on Friday, just five days ahead of Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel as president.
In figures gleaned from the polling organization’s early February World Affairs poll, 64 percent of Americans say their sympathies “in the Middle East situation” – Gallup’s term for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace talks – lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. Just 12% favor the Palestinians.

Using robotic device, paraplegic Israeli finishes Tel Aviv race

"This was my dream, and it feels great to achieve it,"’ said Kaiuf, whose spine was wounded in a 1988 firefight in Lebanon.
Using the ReWalk device, Kaiuf, who has been training for weeks, finished with a time of 3 hours and 55 minutes, nearly an hour below his target time.
Next week, Kaiuf is expected to demonstrate the device to President Obama during the American leader's visit to Israel, which is to include an exhibit of Israeli technological advancements. (h/t Jewess)

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EoZ getting some serious blog-lovin'

I just posted the video of Yossi Kuperwasser of Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry telling me that the ability to take dry facts and make them appealing to my audience is "some sort of a gift you were given."

The Algemeiner, in discussing the UN/BBC story I reported on last week, describes me as "eagle eyed anonymous super-blogger Elder of Ziyon."

Ben Dror Yemini, writing in Maariv and also discussing that story, says

In the last campaign of "Pillar of Defense," it was a Palestinian toddler, Omar, the son of BBC journalist Jihad al-Mishrawi, allegedly killed in an "Israeli bombing", who became a symbol of Israeli aggression against the Palestinian victimhood. And again "rights organizations" stood up to point their finger against Israel. Human Rights Watch (HRW) quickly wrote this up, supposedly after examination and collection of evidence, accusing Israel. There was only one website, Elder Of Ziyon, who mentioned that it's not only Israel bombing [Gaza.]. The site's claims were rejected outright, even by the BBC.

Now, a few months passed, and the UN report said this week that the baby and others who were killed in the same incident were hit by a rocket fired from Gaza itself. This was not the first time that the Elder Of Ziyon site revealed distortions. [As one of] those who debunk of lies, I take my hat off to this site. Now and then he leaves me out of a job.

If you agree that EoZ is doing valuable work, you can still send me donations...

Have a Shabbat Shalom!

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EoZNews: Yossi Kuperwasser, part 2: Getting Israel's message out (video)

This is part 2 of my video interview with Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in the Prime Miister's office.

In part 1, Kuperwasser gave a passionate defense of the building of Jewish communities on the territories reclaimed in 1967. Here. he discusses the bizarre conclusions of the Goldstone Report and the victory of Goldstone's recanting it. Kuperwasser states that he would like to get other Jews who hold the wrong opinions about Israel, like Walt/Mearsheimer and Thomas Friedman, to admit that they have been wrong as well.

He then goes on to talk about what bloggers can do to help, and he says that if any of us are not getting the proper information from the government of Israel then we should contact him. He also notes that I specifically have the ability to take the dry facts that Israel releases and put it into historical or emotional context, and that is something that the government cannot do.

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Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Latma: The Tribal Updates presents Bibi anticipating Obama's visit



UN Chutzpah and the Refugee Racket

That is, as long as the Arab states in the region mistreat them, the Palestinians will remain eligible for American “refugee” cash, which will be distributed by agencies who work with the regimes responsible for this racket. As you can see, it isn’t easy to justify making exceptions to American budget cuts to preserve cash that incentivizes and rewards Arab states’ abuse of Palestinian migrants and is distributed to and by Hamas and its allies. But I suppose you can’t blame UNRWA for trying.

Italian FM Giulio Terzi Why we can’t allow Iran to go nuclear

During my tenure as foreign minister, I have made it a point to place the Mediterranean and the Middle East at the forefront of Italy’s agenda.
Nuclear proliferation, and particularly Iran’s nuclear ambition, is the most pressing of these challenges. Rivers of ink have been spilled on how to tackle Iran’s nuclear aspirations. The debate seems to have polarized into two main positions. According to the first one, a nuclear Iran cannot be reliably contained because there is no guarantee that it will behave rationally; therefore, it must be prevented at all costs. The second is that Iran is a rational actor, and can be deterred and contained; hence, the risks of preventing it are not warranted for.

CIF Watch: The antisemitic reflex: A Jew-baiting Tweet by the Guardian’s Michael White

A reporter for The Times expressed surprise that news of a Labour Party investigation into racism against a member of Parliament was not in BBC radio news summaries.
A Guardian journalist, noting that Finkelstein was Jewish, immediately engaged in an ad hominem and completely irrelevant attack, raising the topic of settlements in the state of Israel.
The Guardian reporter’s ugly response to Finkelstein’s Tweet represents the classic antisemitic “reflex” of holding Jews collectively responsible for the perceived sins of the state of Israel – a bigoted association he’s made on at least one other occasion in a column at the Guardian.

PMW: Crossword puzzles in official PA daily - Safed and Haifa are Palestinian cities

In its weekly crossword puzzle, the Palestinian Authority daily presented the Israeli city of Safed as a "city in Northern Palestine." Another recent crossword puzzle defined the Israeli city of Haifa as a "Palestinian city."

ZOA Praises Walk-Out After Israel Accused of 'Genocide'
ZOA praises Obama Administration for walking out of meeting with Iranian diplomats after one accused Israel of "genocide."

“We applaud U.S. Ambassador McManus's principled walk-out from this meeting with the Iran ambassador,” said ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. "It is not a small matter when any country, let alone a rogue state like Iran, describes a fellow democracy and ally of the U.S. as guilty of 'genocide.' There is a fundamental breach of truth and morality in this claim that cannot be passed over.”

Chavez and the Jews: a Sorry Tale
Before Chavez came to power there were 30,000 Jews in Venezuela. The community has now dwindled to fewer than 9,000.

Yet there is another factor. The main ideological influence on Chavez was a relatively obscure Argentinian sociologist, Norberto Ceresole. A Holocaust denier and all-round conspiracy theorist, Ceresole’s theories became the basis for what Venezuelans know as chavismo, the matrix of social institutions and values created by the Chavez regime. The first chapter of a book in which Ceresole extolled the virtues of such a system, under which the relationship between the “leader” and the “people” is privileged, was titled “The Jewish Problem.”

Thessaloniki Jews to mark anniversary of deportations
Greek prime minister expected to participate in Holocaust commemorations

The Jewish community of Thessaloniki in northern Greece will hold a series of events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the first deportations of the city’s Jews to Auschwitz.
On March 15, 1943, the Nazis sent the first convoy of some 4,000 Jews from Thessaloniki to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. By August, 49,000 out of the city’s pre-war population of 55,000 Jews had been deported. Fewer than 2,000 survived.

Concern over Ed Miliband's Zionist credentials

Mr Miliband’s remarks were met with immediate angry responses from anti-Zionist Labour supporters. Critics took to social networking sites to claim it was “disgraceful” for the party leader to support an “extreme and nasty ideology”.
The following day his office issued a supposed clarification in an attempt to distance him from his own comments. The Labour leader’s team said he had “not used the word Zionist to describe himself”, but said he had “made absolutely clear that he is a strong supporter of Israel”.

Peres to New Pope: Come to Israel

Peres invited the new Pope to visit Israel and said, "I would like to take this opportunity to invite the newly elected Pope to pay a visit to the Holy Land at the earliest possibility. He'll be a welcome guest in the Holy Land, as a man of inspiration that can add to the attempt to bring peace in a stormy area. All people here, without exception, without difference of religion or nationality will welcome the newly elected Pope."

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Last week, Turkey sent aid to Gaza - through Israel

Not sure how I - and almost everyone else - missed this last week:

 Today (Wednesday March 6) a Turkish food donation including three trucks that crossed through Kerem Shalom into the Gaza Strip took place.

...As part of the crossing's operation, the arrival of more than 400 trucks into Gaza from Israel was coordinated, out of which three trucks were accompanied by the head of the Turkish Red Crescent. The 3 trucks included 60 tons of food and food in closed packages.

This is the first time since the Turkish flotilla to the Gaza coast, that the Turkish government sends aid to citizens of the Gaza Strip with Israeli recognition and coordination, through the port of Ashdod and Kerem Shalom.

The Turkish donation was made possible to transfer with hard staff work in the COGAT headquarters and coordination by the Gaza CLA.

Isn't it remarkable that no Turks were killed by the bloodthirsty Israelis when trying to bring aid to Gaza? Look - they are even smiling!

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Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Israeli lawyer goes after Abbas, Hamas in ICC
Files request to prosecute "Palestine," as a state; allege crimes by Palestinians against Israelis and Palestinians alike.

An Israeli law firm on Thursday formally announced its request to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensada, to open a criminal investigation into violations by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and nine members of Hamas for war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
The allegations include alleged war crimes against Israeli civilians and by the Palestinians against rival Palestinian groups, such as Fatah’s forces against Hamas’s sympathizers during rounds of in-fighting.

Israeli Director of Military Intelligence warns Iran and Hezbollah have established 50,000 strong army operating in Syria

Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the Israeli Director of Military Intelligence, today gave his analysis of the deteriorating situation in Syria, saying that “the damages of the imminent fall of Syria are very high for both Iran and Hezbollah.” Speaking at the annual Herzliya security conference held in Israel, he highlighted that Iran is losing its sole ally in the region surrounding Israel, and thus also the ability to transfer weaponry through Syria to Hezbollah.

UN says it’s worried about arms flow from Syria to Lebanon
Security Council ‘encouraged’ by calm along Israeli-Lebanese Blue Line, but says attempts being made to undermine Lebanese stability

The UN Security Council underscored its grave concern Thursday at the arms trafficking and repeated weapons fire across the Lebanon-Syria border, but said it was happy that arms had not been used against Israel.

IDF Blog: Two Years On: The “Victoria” Weapon-Smuggling Interception

Two years ago today, the Victoria set sail from a port in Syria, loaded with Iranian-made weapons bound for Gaza and the terrorist group Hamas.

Stone Throwing Arabs Cause Car Crash, Critically Injuring 3 Year Old Girl, 3 Others

Palestinian Arab stone throwing at a road near the Jewish community of Ariel in Judea and Samaria led to a car crash that critically injured a 3-year-old girl and moderately injured her mother and her two other daughters, ages 4 and 6.

Soldiers Shoot Terrorist, Discover Huge Cache of Firebombs

IDF soldiers shot a Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist on Thursday evening, after he threw a firebomb at them near Nitzanei Oz in the Sharon region.
The terrorist sustained moderate to severe wounds and was taken by a Red Crescent ambulance to a hospital in the PA city of Tulkarm.
After the terrorist was shot, the soldiers searched the area and discovered a huge cache of ready-to-use firebombs. It is believed that the terrorist had been planning to throw more firebombs at the soldiers, but his plan was foiled when he was shot by them.

CAMERA: Human Rights Watch Goes to Bat for Hamas's Al Aqsa TV

Are the activities of Al Aqsa TV as innocuous Whitson claims? And who is responsible for blurring the distinction between civilian and combatant, Israel or Hamas? Whitson blames Israel, relieving Hamas of accountability. HRW criticized the Israelis for failing to produce evidence of the station's direct support of Hamas's violent activities. However, Al Aqsa programs are well documented.

Hamas accuses Egyptian media of anti-Palestinian incitement
Press had reported that seven Palestinians detained in Cairo were planning to target local installations

Hamas leaders on Thursday attacked the Egyptian press for attempting “to sow strife between Egypt and Gaza” by reporting that seven Palestinians detained at the Cairo airport were planning to target vital infrastructures in the country.
Egyptian media reported the arrest of the seven, who arrived in Cairo on a flight from Damascus early Wednesday morning, after they were found carrying maps of installations and documents specifying ways of manufacturing explosives.

Saudi Arabia may stop beheading due to swordsmen shortages

Oil-rich kingdom mulls abolition of beheading in favour of firing squads for capital punishments due to reported shortages of government swordsmen, Saudi daily reports

University College London bans hard-line Islamic group which tried to segregate men and women at a debate held on university premises

A Muslim group has been banned from a university after segregating men and women during a debate.
Visitors to the event at University College London were told to use men’s or women’s entrances.
Organisers Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) told women to sit at the back, while men and couples were sent to the front. Three people who objected were ordered to leave.

Jewish group lodges complaint against South African minister
Deputy FM in hot water over ‘inflammatory remarks’ alleging foul play in awarding of building contracts to Jewish developers

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies lodged a complaint with the country’s Human Rights Commission over ”inflammatory remarks” made by Deputy Foreign Minister Marius Fransman.
In a radio interview last month, Fransman claimed that Jewish businessmen in the Western Cape region have benefited from contracts previously held by members of the local Muslim community. “We saw that the DA [Democratic Alliance party] had given over building contracts… that historically were in the hands of Muslim participants and now they have given it to people from the Jewish community,” Fransman said.

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Obama's itinerary in Israel

I saw this in an email but here is the only place I could find it online:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________

For Immediate Release
March 14, 2013

PRESS BRIEFING
BY DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR
FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS BEN RHODES
AND U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL DAN SHAPIRO
ON THE PRESIDENT’S TRAVEL TO ISRAEL, THE WEST BANK, AND JORDAN

Via Conference Call

4:08 P.M. EDT

MR. RHODES: Thanks, everybody, for joining this call to preview the President's trip to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. I'm joined on the call today by our U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, who is known to you all, as well. I'll make some opening comments and go through the President's schedule. Then Dan may add a few comments and then we'll take your questions.

First of all, let me just say that this is a very important trip for the President. It's his first trip to Israel since becoming President, and the first foreign trip of his second term in office. We felt like this was an important opportunity for the President to go to the region. In Israel, we felt that with a new Israeli government coming into place and a new U.S. term here, this is an important opportunity for the President to consult with the Israeli government on the broad range of issues where we cooperate.

We obviously cooperate very closely with Israel on security, intelligence and economic issues. And there will be a broad agenda for our governments to address while the President is in Israel, including our efforts to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, the ongoing situation in Syria, the developments in the wider region that pose both opportunities and security challenges, and efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace among the agenda.

More important than that, in some respects, this is an opportunity for the President to speak directly to the Israeli people. The President has a very strong record of support for Israel and its security, but we also understand that there is no substitute for the President of the United States going to Israel and delivering that message directly to the Israeli people. And so, he is particularly looking forward to the opportunity to spend some time with the people of Israel and to tell them directly about what guides his approach to this relationship.

Beyond that, it's a very important time for him to also reinforce U.S. support for the Palestinian Authority -- and I'll get to that in the schedule, but of course, the United States has made a significant investment in the Palestinian Authority as the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people. And we're very supportive of efforts, for instance, on the West Bank to develop Palestinian institutions and broaden opportunity for the Palestinian people, even as we continue to work for advancements in the peace process.

And then, of course, King Abdullah is a very close ally and partner of the United States and Jordan. We cooperate with Jordan on a broad range of security issues. That includes, of course, the peace process. It also includes addressing the very grave humanitarian crisis in Syria, including the significant refugee population within Jordan. And the U.S. is providing substantial assistance to Jordan and other international partners to help allay that refugee crisis.

We're also very supportive of the political reform efforts within Jordan. Recently, of course, there were parliamentary elections. We'd like to see continued momentum on the political reform agenda that the King has supported, so we will have an opportunity to address those issues.

Let me just go through the schedule now.

The President will arrive in Israel on Wednesday of next week. He will begin his program with an arrival ceremony at the airport with both President Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Following that arrival ceremony, where each of the leaders will speak, the President will view an Iron Dome battery. The U.S. investments in support for the Iron Dome System has been one of the clearest manifestations of our support for Israel and its security. We’re very proud that the Iron Dome System has saved numerous Israeli lives in helping to deal with the threat from rocket fire. The President's visit to the Iron Dome battery, again, is a signal of that continued support for Israel and its security, and the close relationship and partnership that we have on the security issues.

Following that, the President will have meetings throughout the afternoon with both President Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu. First, he will meet with President Peres at his residence. The two Presidents will have a chance to spend some time together and make statements as well. Following that, the President will go to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence, where he’ll have a chance to have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, followed by a press conference, and then followed by a working dinner.

The President and Prime Minister Netanyahu, as you’ve heard us say, have spent more time together one-on-one than, frankly, any other leader that the President has spent some time with since he came into office. They’ll have an opportunity to have a very wide-ranging discussion on the various issues -- security, political, and economic -- that I referenced earlier. And that will conclude the President’s first day there.

The next day, Thursday, the President will begin by going to the Israel Museum. At the Israel Museum, he will view the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are a testament, of course, to the ancient Jewish connection to Israel and, frankly, a marvel that the Israelis have restored within the Israel Museum in a very substantial, impressive way. So the President very much looks forward to the opportunity to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Following that, he’ll be visiting a technology exposition, also at the museum, in which he’ll be able to see some of the remarkable signs and technological progress that’s been made within Israel, some of the remarkable innovation that is helping to fuel the Israeli economy and, frankly, the global economy. And it’s also the foundation of significant U.S. and Israeli economic cooperation. And I think, again, seeing the ancient connection through the Dead Sea Scrolls and then the future that is being forged in Israel through the technology exposition I think will be a very powerful experience.

Following that, the President will travel to Ramallah. In Ramallah, he will have a bilateral meeting with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. And then the two leaders will have a press conference and then they’ll have a working lunch together. Again, the United States has supported the significant institution-building that the Palestinian Authority has undertaken in the West Bank. It’s a chance to discuss our continued support for the PA, as well as to discuss ways to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace going forward.

Following the working lunch, the President will join Prime Minister Fayyad at the Al-Bireh Youth Center, also in Ramallah. Again, this is an opportunity for the President to see firsthand some of the work that’s being done to develop institutions on the West Bank, and also to meet with a range of Palestinian young people and hear directly from them as well. So that will complete that portion of his time in Ramallah.

Then he will go to the Jerusalem International Convention Center later that afternoon, where he will deliver a speech to the Israeli people. The speech -- frankly, the President very much wanted to have the opportunity to speak not just to Israelis, but to Israeli young people, so we've worked to help build a crowd that will bring in a significant number of Israeli university students from the many universities that our embassy partners with within Israel.

The President's speech I think will focus on the nature of the ties between the United States and Israel, the broad agenda that we work on together on security, on peace, on economic prosperity. And I think he'll have a chance to speak to the future of that relationship, so discussing not just the nature of the challenges that we face today, but where the United States and Israel are working to move together as we head into the future of the 21st century.

Following that speech, later that night, the President will be hosted at a dinner by President Peres. And President Obama was honored to present President Peres with the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor, last year at the White House. Now he is very much looking forward to having a dinner with President Peres and a broad range of prominent Israeli leaders at the state dinner at the President's residence. And then, that will conclude the program on Thursday.

On Friday, the President will begin his day by going to Mt. Herzl, where he will lay a wreath at both the graves of Herzl and Rabin, speaking, of course, to the significant contributions that both of those huge figures in Israeli history and Jewish history -- to their contribution.

Following those wreath-layings, he will visit Yad Vashem and tour Yad Vashem, and have a chance to lay a wreath and make remarks there, of course, marking the very somber and powerful history of the Holocaust. The President was able to travel there previously in 2008 as a senator and was very deeply moved by that experience, and it's an important opportunity to once again mark that particular tragic element of our shared history.

Following the visit to Yad Vashem, the President will travel to Bethlehem where he will tour the Church of the Nativity. Both Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity are obviously very important sights in the West Bank -- important to the Palestinian people, also important to Christians in the region and around the world. And so it will be a very powerful experience for the President to be able to have the experience of touring the Church of the Nativity and observing firsthand that history and experience.

That will conclude the President's time in Israel and the West Bank.

He will then travel to Jordan. And that afternoon, after he arrives in Jordan, there will be an arrival ceremony. Then he will have a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah. The two leaders will have a joint press conference. Then that night, the President will be hosted at a dinner by King Abdullah. And he will be spending the night there in Amman.

Then the next morning, the President will travel to Petra, which is obviously a sight that the Jordanian people are very justly proud of. And so he'll have an opportunity to see something that is of great value to people all across the region and particularly in Jordan.

And I anticipate an agenda that will cover regional security issues, the situation in Syria, the very significant refugee challenge within Jordan, the Israeli-Palestinian issue and our ongoing support for political and economic reform in Jordan.

One interesting question:

Q: I understand that the President was invited to speak before the Israeli Knesset, but instead you guys chose to have the speech at the Convention Center. Can you explain the logic of that decision? I know that Clinton spoke in the Knesset in ’94; George W. Bush in 2008. Was this a conscious decision to avoid the Knesset, or was there another explanation?

MR. RHODES: Sure, Josh, thanks for the question. We had discussions with the Israeli government about where the President would speak and they discussed a range of options with us. So, first of all, they were open to a range of options and did not express a strong preference in that regard.

What we told the Israeli government is that the President was very interested in speaking to the Israeli people, and that, in particular, he wanted to speak to young people. We obviously have a deep respect for the Knesset as the seat of Israeli democracy, and in the past, the President, again, has made clear the very significant attachment that we place on the fact that both Israel and the United States are democracy. But you also know that the President, around the world, has often spoken to young people. He spoke to young people, for instance, when he traveled to Cairo. And in this instance, we felt like bringing together an audience of university students from a broad range of partners that our embassy has in Israel would allow him to speak, again, not just to political leadership, who he’ll be meeting with on the trip, but to the Israeli public and Israeli young people.

So as we put together the schedule, what you see is a significant amount of time that the President will be spending with Israel’s political leadership, a significant amount of time that he’ll be investing in some very iconic cultural sites with the Israeli people. But the speech is a moment where he’ll be in a room with the Israeli public, and that really was our priority as we thought through what would make the best venue for the speech.

So we're very excited about the crowd that is being put together. We know that it will represent a very broad range of views within Israel. We welcome the fact that Israel has a very broad spectrum of views that’s a testament to the democracy and diversity of opinion that exists within Israel. And it will be a very important event on the President's trip.

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Meanwhile, in Syria...

From AP:

Last week, the U.N. announced that the number of registered refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa had reached 1 million.

On Thursday, Reem Alsalem of the U.N. refugee agency said more than 121,000 refugees registered since then, a jump of more than 10 percent.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres noted that the average number of Syrians fleeing their country every day rose from 3,000 in December to 8,000 in February.

“This represents a staggering escalation,” he said in a visit to Lebanon on Thursday.

But Syria is claiming that the rebels have - Israeli weapons!

Syria’s Ikhbariyah TV on Thursday showed pictures of a truck full of weapons and reported that it was captured by the Syrian army.

The weapons included Israeli rockets and pictures were shown of weaponry, military jackets and binoculars.

The truck was reportedly headed to Sbeineh in southern Damascus, when the Syrian army captured it and seized the weapons on board.

I couldn't find any photos of "Israeli rockets," and while the article in A lArabiya is sourced to Reuters, I couldn't find it at Reuters either.

Meanwhile:
Syrian rebels released more elaborate documentation of a Damascus synagogue that was allegedly bombed some two weeks ago by Bashar Assad's forces.

The opposition uploaded to Youtube videos showing the damaged synagogue's interior, filming the rubble on the floors and the damage to the rooms. The previous video only showed the exterior of the synagogue.


In addition, six more Palestinian Arabs in Syria were killed yesterday, adding to a similar number Wednesday.

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"Marmara 2" land convoy stopped - by Arabs

A convoy of buses going across North Africa to Gaza has been stopped - by Libyan authorities.

For three days, the convoy has been halted at the Tunisia/Libya border because the activists do not have visas to travel through Libya.

From Anadolou Agency:

"Mavi Marmara convoy" carrying medical aid to the Palestinians suffering from Israel's latest attack on Gaza, was blocked at Libyan border gate, Ras Jdir, on Wednesday for activists' lack of visa.

"Mavi Marmara convoy" comprising 11 vehicles, loaded with medical aid for Gaza, faced a visa barrier at Tunisia-Libya border gate, after passing through France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Libyan customs officers told the British, US and Irish citizens in the convoy to return to Tunisia as they couldn't enter the country without visa.
Ihsan Semruh, one of the organizers of the aid convoy, spoke to the accompanying Anadolu Agency correspondent.

"We were totally disappointed with the attitude of Libyan officials. We expected a lot from Libya. We thought Libya would be the easiest stop en route. Aftermath of the revolution, it is really puzzling to witness such a day," said Semruh.

"Coming a long way through Britain, France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia with lots of difficulties, hunger and tiredness, we expect Libyan officials to allow the convoy to pass, loaded with medical equipment collected with several months' efforts, and we hope the aid would reach our Palestinian brothers and sisters safe and sound. This convoy carries a message for lifting of the embargo imposed on Gaza," Semruh also added.

The "Mavi Marmara aid convoy", named after the "Mavi Marmara ship", had departed from Britain on February 25 to breach the Israeli embargo on Gaza.

Accompanied by 25 activists in total, the aid convoy consists of 11 vehicles carrying medical aid, toys and computer materials.

I found the webpage of the organizers from this photo:

The webpage, however, is riddled with dangerous viruses, so don't go there!

It describes itself this way:

We are ordinary every day people that want to do something for the besieged people of Gaza. The team leaders and convoy organisers have participated in many aid convoys so we have plenty of experience in the planning and successful operation of this type of mission.

Um, apparently not.

The virus webpage is sponsored by the Wightman Road Mosque.

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Leftist repeatedly assaults pro-Israel activist in Oakland (video)

A leftist anti-Israel group that is trying to act like an "occupy" group set up a sparsely-attended anti-Israel rally in Oakland.

A couple of pro-Israel activists came to write chalk slogans on the same sidewalk that the other group had written their screeds.

You can see what happens afterwards.



The young woman being assaulted has a lot more patience than I would.

More details from Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers.

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Arabs continue to freak out over Peres serving falafel to Obama

I reported a couple of days ago about how some Palestinian Arabs are upset over the meal that president Obama will be served upon visiting the residence of Israel's President Shimon Peres next week - because it includes falafel and hummous.

Now I see an additional four articles about the same topic in Arabic media.

Palestine Today says "Falafel is one of the oldest foods of the Palestinian people, but Jewish groups struggled since the dawn of history and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories to prove and counterfeit that falafel and popular dishes of Palestine are part of Jewish food heritage, in a desperate attempt to sway world public opinion. When Israel occupied Palestine it stole the Palestinian cuisine heritage, and they boast and brag and claim that the hummus and falafel is a Jewish meal of Jewish heritage. After that they claimed that the holy sites in Jerusalem and the land of Palestine is part of Jewish history and Muslims are outsiders on the land and those sanctuaries..."

Al Quds says this is an "additional episode in the series of attempts to strip Palestinians of their identity and heritage, down to their falafel and hummus. This is similar to their changing the names of Palestinian cities and geography, through history, which is still the field of intense struggle, mixing allegations with facts, using food and clothes and handicrafts which are made in Israel and promoted globally as part of its heritage." It reluctantly admits that some Jews come from Arab lands and do eat chickpeas with tehina, but claims that the Israeli government is purposefully trying to steal Arab heritage.

Ramzi Shaheen Sadiq. writing at Balagh, has a full op-ed on this topic. He not only laments that Israelis are "stealing" falafel, but that Palestinian Arabs are starting to eat foods like pizza and sushi. Sadiq declares that Palestinian Arabs eating falafel is part of their "resistance."

Al Watan Voice laments that by Obama eating falafel in Israel is proves that the US is no longer interested in working with Arabs to achieve a solution.

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Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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New pope has history of good relations with Jewish community
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was first to sign petition demanding justice in AMIA bombing; rabbi calls him a ‘warm and sweet and modest man’

Rabbi David Rosen, the director of interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee, told JTA that the new pope is a “warm and sweet and modest man” known in Buenos Aires for doing his own cooking and personally answering his phone.
After the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994, he “showed solidarity with the Jewish community,” Rosen said.
In 2005, Bergoglio was the first public personality to sign a petition for justice in the AMIA bombing case. He also was one of the signatories on a document called “85 victims, 85 signatures” as part of the bombing’s 11th anniversary. In June 2010, he visited the rebuilt AMIA building to talk with Jewish leaders.

Jewish Leaders Praise New Pope

Jewish leaders praised the new Pope Francis, Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and expressed optimism for an improvement of Vatican-Jewish relations after he was elected Wednesday night to replace Pope Benedict XVI.
“We have every reason to be confident Pope Francis I will be a staunch defender of the historic Nostra Aetate, the declaration on the relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council, which forever changed the relationship of the Catholic Church and the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Palestinians: Ten Points The U.S. Needs To Considerby Khaled Abu Toameh

Even if a Palestinian state were established in the West Bank, Hamas and other groups would work to take control of it and, with the help of Iran and Al-Qaeda, turn it into a launching pad for attacking Israel and other neighbors. The Palestinian Authority is in power thanks to the presence of the Israel Defense Force in the West Bank. Ironically, ending Israeli "occupation" would also bring an end to Abbas's rule.

Thomas Friedman Labels Obama’s Visit a ‘Tourist Trip’

Thomas Friedman is ho-hum about Obama’s visit to Israel, calls him a “tourist” and calls the Palestinian Authority issue a “hobby” for US diplomats. But does anyone care what Thomas Friedman says?
Of course, Israel does not have one and does not need one. It leaves that to the Arab world, whose long-term strategy of destroying Israel through diplomatic means, if not through war and terror, is fading into oblivion, somewhat like Thomas Friedman’s self-assumed mandate to rule Israel and the Middle East.
As for Obama’s visit, Friedman forgot to mention one small issue that will be discussed with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but the Iranian nuclear threat apparently is not as dangerous as settlers.

British MP blames jail term on Jewish 'conspiracy'
Lord Nazir Ahmed, one of Britain's first Muslim peers, was jailed after causing deadly crash while texting and driving at high speed.

A British politician jailed for causing a deadly road accident while texting behind the wheel, has reportedly blamed his prison sentence on a Jewish conspiracy.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, 55, who became one of the first Muslim peers in the UK after former British prime minister Tony Blair appointed him in 1998, has said that his prison sentence was a result of pressure applied on the court by Jews “who own newspapers and television channels,” the Times of London quoted him as saying Thursday.

Fake bomb found near Jewish center in France
Those responsible ‘did everything they could’ to make device look real, official says

A store owner told police on Tuesday morning that while walking past the city’s Hillel Center, he found a contraption made of three metal cylinders connected with metal wires to what looked like a cellular phone, according to a report on the incident by the SPCJ security unit of France’s Jewish communities.

French mayor defends honoring minister’s assassin
Head of Bezons says outcry over honorary citizenship for Majdi Rimawi, jailed for killing Rehavam Zeevi in 2001, only strengthens resolve

Mayor Dominique Lesparre of the Paris suburb of Bezons said in a statement released Wednesday that his municipality’s vote last month to name Majdi Al-Rimawi an honorary resident was part of a “tradition of peace, solidarity and cooperation with the Palestinian people.”

Norway Admits It May be Funding PA Terrorists
Norway's Foreign Minister tells MPs they were misled when they asked for assurances about funding to the PA.

In a new reply to the Parliament, Eide writes:
"It is unfortunate that in retrospect, the information that was first communicated to the Parliament, which was in turn based on information obtained from the PA at the time, was imprecise."
Eide writes that the Norwegian authorities relied on information from the Palestinian Authority (PA), but that now they have been "made aware of the new information on this issue that differs from earlier information provided by the PA."
The Foreign Ministry will now investigate the question of where the money really goes, according to the report.

30 million fans of Israeli site builder can’t be wrong
Wix.com is one of the biggest Israeli Internet platforms in the world, thanks in part to its innovative App Market

Thirty-two new Israeli-made applications were born last weekend, as over 100 app developers participated in a 72-hour hackathon dedicated to developing new apps for the Wix.com platform. The apps will be included in the Wix App Store, and the winners will go on to fame, and a little bit of fortune.
Wix, with more than 30 million users worldwide (and growing at an average of a million more a month, the company says), is one of the most successful Israeli Internet applications. Wix provides a platform for the creation of websites without the fuss of high-level programming.

Eye-Tracking Tech Will Be Open to iPhones and Other Devices

Samsung Electronics won’t be the only company that gets a fancy eye-tracking feature. A start-up company called uMoove, which has been developing this type of technology for three years, says it will offer eye- and head-tracking to anyone, including device makers like Apple and software developers who make mobile apps.
Based in Israel, uMoove has been working on a technology for smartphones and tablets to track eye and head movements using a device’s front-facing camera. It said on Tuesday that very soon it would offer a software tool kit to apply its technology to applications.

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Be a mensch. Donate to EoZ!

It has been another eventful quarter here at International Zionist Central.

The biggest thing to happen over the past three months has undoubtedly been the huge coverage earlier this week as a result of my scoop finding that the UNHRC exonerated Israel in the death of baby Omar Mishrawi, an event I had questioned already last November (and predicted a few days before that.) While most media outlets didn't link back to me, there is little doubt that they would have missed the story without me, as the UN report did not name the victims of the rocket; I lined it up with the correct incident.

For the Zionist online crowd, this was a huge victory, as it re-opened the issue and gave publicity to the pro-Israel viewpoint that it rarely gets.

That was only one post in a busy three months, though.

I went to Israel for two weeks, mostly to create original video content for the blog. So for, some 13 videos have been produced and more are coming (when I find the time to edit them) Besides exclusive interviews with the mayor of Jerusalem, government officials and some pro-Israel watchdog organizations, I also reported exclusively on the Bedouin problem in the Negev, the Temple Mount, and (most popularly) the huge Belz Chassidic synagogue.

Also in Israel, I gave a talk about how Israel can win the information war. Feedback from people who listened to the online version has been very positive.

Back in the US, I gave a lecture at Yeshiva University on how to answer the top twenty anti-Israel arguments, which also received good reviews.

(If you want me to speak to your group, contact me.)

Another popular post that made a difference were my dismantling of Ha'aretz' claim that Israeli doctors were forcing contraceptives on Ethopian women (a claim that Ha'aretz later corrected).

My "Apartheid?" poster series grew, and grew in popularity; thousands more viewed it this year already.

This is besides my original cartoons, posters and one infographic that a number of commenters considered "brilliant." (I was pretty proud of it, too...)

More traditional media has been taking notice of my work. I was featured in an article in The Jerusalem Report. My blog was quoted in The Jewish Press, The Jerusalem Post, JNS, and many times in The Algemeiner, and one of my cartoons was even published in Forbes.

EoZ had visits from an almost unbelievable 193 countries! The message is getting out!

I'm not aware of any primarily single-person blog, on any topic, that includes the variety of original articles, original research, news scoops, digging up obscure news items, original graphics and videos as this one.

Since this takes a great deal of time - and, especially this quarter, money - I am asking again for donations. You can click on one of the two PayPal buttons on the upper right of the blog page, or just click here. For those who don't like PayPal, I am always happy to accept Amazon(US) gift cards which can be emailed to me.

Thanks as always for your support, for being there and for publicizing my posts via Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and elsewhere. I really appreciate it!

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Unbelievable pro-Israel article in Arab newspaper

This is fairly astounding.

Elaph, a pan-Arab newspaper that seems to be based in the UK and Saudi Arabia, has an article by Mahdi Majid Abdullah with the title "Arabs and Muslims must learn from Israeli morality." Here is my attempt to translate it, and this is most of the article:

I have suffered psychologically from the thinking of Arab Islamic society in which I lived quite a long period of time....It is obvious in our community that Jews are the most despicable people, they are hypocrites, they love only themselves, they are seeking to disrupt nations and peoples, they are people despised them by God, an envious people that does not like the goodness of humanity ... And so forth of all the bad qualities.

With the passage of time and after I began to know about Jews, these axioms went from being facts into lies I have. I regret with most remorse the daily hate I had of Israelis...

Israelis have morals and kindness, even with the Palestinians, who were shelling the capital Tel Aviv, and there are many examples that cannot fit in a single article or two articles or not even in books, of models and examples of Israeli ethics that Islamic Arab societies are trying to distort in the eyes of their citizens.

In 2008 144.838 Palestinians entered Israel for medical treatment, and by the end of 2009 the number was increased by 20 percent, up to 172.863 people, while the total in the following year reached 175.151 inhabitants. In the year 2011 the number has increased by 13%, reaching 197,713 people, then followed another increase in 2012, as 210.469 people required medical treatment for them in Israel.

I wonder would any Arab country deal this way with the Israeli people?

Of course, women and children who kill Palestinians in the defensive war led by the Israeli army against Hamas, are not targeting them, but this is one of the evils of war, and all war victims are innocent. Israel is well aware of this and it had issued a statement after every defensive military operation apologizing for innocent victims and compensating their families and loved ones financially and morally, and if it wasn't for Hamas operations and their constant, reckless shelling of Israeli territory [there wouldn't be any war,] and this is well known to you, O reader, that Israeli operations are only against the terrorists of Hamas.


The Israeli Foreign Minister said that "the Jewish state can not stand on the sidelines when they are committing atrocities in a neighboring country such as Syria, where people lose everything around them. Although Israel could not interfere in the events taking place in the state that it does not have diplomatic relations with, it is our moral duty to provide humanitarian aid and to suggest to the world that it put an end to the massacres. "

I have not heard in my life to this day any Arab official, small or large making a similar statement towards Israel, but rather insults and wishful thinking of death and destruction that stems from their hearts and goes to their tongues that need chlorine to clean them.

Since Israel was founded in 1948 it has been sensitive to ethnic and religious minorities living in its territory, and has stated in the Declaration of Independence issued at the time as follows: "The State of Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants without discrimination on the basis of religious or ethnic or gender, and will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture and protect the holy places of all religions, and will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations ".

Perhaps some believe that the Israeli declaration Israeli is like the Arab Islamic constitutions that are mere ink on paper, but what to watch sessions of the Israeli Knesset and see freedom enjoyed by Arab members who are in it and their severe criticism of the Israeli government ,and to see mosques and spread in Israeli spaces, and to see veiled women, and to see Arab schools, organizations and Arab institutions in the capital Tel Aviv and other Jewish areas, you know that the Israeli constitution is accurate, unlike Islamic Arab constitutions.

***
Israel democratic parliamentary system consists of three powers: legislative, judicial and executive...The system relies on the principle of separation of powers must be based on the authority of the executive (government) to obtain the confidence of the legislature (Knesset), and where the rule of law ensures the independence of the judiciary.

Arab countries in their constitutions have the same formula, but the pure reality is that they are dictatorships, the person sitting on the throne cannot be removed except through death or a military coup or other sudden cosmic miracle.

The Israeli regime is beautiful in that its system does not recognize persons as special, but considers every state official as a servant of the people, and when there is the slightest sin he is smoothly and easily tried m and disciplined and then expelled, and all this is happening in public inside and outside Israel, with Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman and other cases.

An Israeli head of state was guilty of sexual harassment but the state wasn't turned upside down when he was kicked out of his job, he was tried and imprisoned, - no military coups or revolutions or uprisings in the State of Israel.

In the Arab countries presidents have not only harassed but also raped and even beyond that, as well as tyranny and dictatorship and monopolizing power for decades, and we did not see any head prosecuted or expelled or affecting his reputation and his character survives without a scratch, and the catastrophe is that there are clerics to justify him and his actions and his outrageous corruption.

Needless to say, the comments are not very supportive.

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The new Malmo: Jews fleeing Brussels because of antisemitic Islamists

Malmo, Sweden, isn't the only place in Europe where Jews feel unsafe and are moving out.

A report this week in De Telegraaf includes a (Dutch language) video about the problem.

"We feel increasingly unsafe." More and more Jews swap Brussels for Tel Aviv in fear of the growing anti-Semitism in the city.

Betty, a real estate specialist, is seeing more and more Jews seeking to settle permanently in Israel. In Belgium they feel unsafe.

We can no longer wear the Star of David around our necks. We used to be able to without problems," she said.

The growing hatred for Jews, is the fault of the Belgian government, which does too little to combat Muslim extremism.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands has become one of the major exporers of jihadists. Nearly 100 Dutch Islamists are now fighting in Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan.

(h/t Robert, and an unregistered user)

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