Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Jewish Leaders Applaud Hezbollah Terror Designation by France

“We welcome the French government’s decision to support the designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization by the European Union. This follows the declaration by the Bulgarian government of Hezbollah’s responsibility for the attack in Burgas in July, 2012 and the conviction of a Hezbollah operative in Cyprus,” Richard Stone, chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement.

How Canada should conduct its inquiry into the PA

This week, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has announced that he will visit areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority to inquire as to how foreign aid funds are being spent, in order to determine whether Canada should renew foreign aid to the PA.
While it would seem natural for the foreign minister of a respected democracy to ask for an accounting of how foreign funds are being spent by a nascent entity, Canada is the first government to officially engage in an accountability process with the PA.

Arab MK Denounces 'Israeli Apartheid' During Toronto Lecture

MK Jamal Zahalka, elected to the Knesset, claimed there is no democracy in Israel and that Arabs are victims of Israel’s “apartheid” policy.
An elected Arab Knesset member who visited Toronto last week claimed that there is no democracy in Israel and that Arabs are victims of Israel’s “apartheid” policy.

BBC again blindly repeats PA accusations regarding dead prisoner

Were the BBC to investigate the background to the claims made in this and other cases, it would know that PA representatives have a history of accusing Israel of (among other things) stealing organs from dead terrorists, conducting experiments on prisoners which cause cancer, deliberately neglecting sick prisoners as part of a “policy of slow death” and intentionally killing sick prisoners.
That history of unfounded allegations should be ample reason for any self-respecting media organisation to thoroughly check any current accusations or claims before blindly repeating them – let alone a media organization committed to accuracy and impartiality in its reporting.

Abbas: Freeing Terrorists is Our Priority

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that the freeing of terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons was a "priority" for his leadership.
"The Palestinian leadership gives priority to the prisoners issue and ending their suffering," Abbas said in a speech to a meeting of his Fatah party in Ramallah, according to AFP.

Antisemitism at the UCU: David Hirsh responds to Tribunal ruling against Fraser

Astonishingly, not only did the Tribunal rule that these incidents did not represent antisemitism, but, in a close approximation of the Livingstone Formulation, outrageously accused Fraser and his 34 witnesses of trying to ‘intimidate’ and ‘silence’ critics of Israel with an invented accusation of antisemitism.
May the examples cited above, of the undeniable racism suffered by Jewish members of the UCU, serve to shame those who have been critical of Fraser and his supporters – some of whom have even suggested that the UK Jewish community should never have taken on the fight in the first place.

IDF Perfects Selective Hearing with Combat Earplugs

The devices reduce background noise and completely block anything louder than 80 decibels. They are tuned in to communications devices, allowing soldiers to continue to hear orders.

BDS Tries, But Can't Break Dead Sea Product Sales
The Dead Sea products business is alive and well, despite the best efforts of the BDS crowd

Undeterred, loyal fans of Dead Sea products, from America to Singapore and from Italy to South Korea turn to the Internet to find their favorite products. Arik Barel, CEO of Jerusalem-based Judaica Webstore, says that the harder the forces of BDS work, the more business gets sent his way. Whether it’s the publicity the products receive from the BDS movement or the desire to fight against the BDS movement itself, business just isn’t drying up for Dead Sea cosmetics.

BGU, University of Michigan partner to develop renewable energy technologies
Partnership aims to solve major challenges in advanced vehicle fuels, solar energy.

BGU has been at the forefront of the energy research for more than 30 years, BGU Vice President and Dean for Research and Development Moti Herskowitz said. The university previously has hosted a joint workshop with U-M on renewable energy with an emphasis on solar energy, liquid fuels and thermoelectricity.

Go the distance with Israel’s revolutionary MUV-e scooter

Commuters who face the daily grind of getting to work on time will be happy to hear about a new invention from Israel: an all-electric scooter called the MUV-e that helps people go the distance between the commuter bus, car park or train to the office and home again.
It was those last five miles commuting inside cities where he worked –– congested cities like Tel Aviv, Milan, Rome and Torino –– that put a strain on Amir Zaid when he was working for Fiat and Ferrari as an interior and 3D automobile designer.

UK's Stephen Hawking set to visit Israel in June

The British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, 71, will arrive in Israel this coming June to take part in the fifth President’s Conference, which features the tagline “Facing Tomorrow,” it was announced on Wednesday.

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Amsterdam fined Jews for not paying taxes - while they were in concentration camps

From JTA:

The City of Amsterdam fined hundreds of Jewish Holocaust survivors for failing to pay taxes while they were in hiding or in concentration camps.

The affair was exposed in an article in Het Parool, a local daily, on March 30. Many of the houses in question were confiscated and used by members of the NSB Dutch Nazi party while the Jewish owners were in hiding or in camps.

The city went after survivors as late as 1947, the report said. Other Dutch municipalities waived such debts, Het Parool reported. The following year the city agreed to reimburse half of what it charged to some Jews who were taxed in absentia. The city’s archives contain 342 requests for reimbursement, Het Parool reported.

The documents about this taxation were discovered by Charlotte van den Berg, a 23-year-old university student. She said she found them bundled with an elastic band in the archive section of one of the city’s departments while conducting research on Jewish home owners.

The mayor of Amsterdam called this a serious matter and said "we will see how we can put right that which must be put right."

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Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Former German Defense Minister: Germany Must Have Israel's Back

Berlin should also start thinking about how to support Israel in the wake of potential air strikes on Iran. It is better to develop a plan now than to engage in hectic ad-hoc decision making once the crisis has erupted. Germany's first priority should be to offer Israel civil and military assistance to defend against potential counterattacks. This could be by offering medical equipment or reconnaissance specialists for weapons of mass destruction, or by shoring up the Bundeswehr's naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean. The deployment of Patriot antimissile batteries, though logistically challenging, should also be considered.
Even if Israel's actual needs are limited, offering quick, tangible support is a powerful show of solidarity and demonstrates that Israel is not facing this crisis alone.

Palestinians fire rocket, mortars into Israel

Gazan terrorists shot a rocket and three mortar shells at Israel early Thursday morning, marking a third straight day of projectile fire after several months of calm.
Initial reports indicated that the rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol region, as did one of the mortar rounds. Two of the shells fired failed to cross the fence into Israel and landed in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Reports: Egypt Slams Hamas Over Rocket Attacks on Israel

Egypt has demanded explanations from Hamas as to how it is allowing terror groups to fire rockets into southern Israel, months after the truce that ended Operation Pillar of Defense last November.

BBC resumes ‘last-first’ reporting from Gaza area – and then changes tack

As we see, the BBC was back to its old habit of ‘last-first’ reporting, with the headlines on the Middle East home page and the article itself highlighting the last in a sequence of events and creating an impression of Israel as the initiator of violence and violator of the ceasefire. Only in the third paragraph of this seven paragraph article were readers given some sort of clue that there might have been prior incidents (not reported by the BBC at the time, incidentally) which prompted the event described in the headline.

Honest Reporting: CNN: Just a Steady Drip of Irksome Projectiles

Nothing that a little Valium can’t fix, right?
“The steady drip of projectiles has irked the Jewish state, which Tuesday conducted its first airstrikes into the Palestinian territory since the cease-fire that ended eight days of raging hostilities in November.

French court postpones verdict in al-Dura libel trial

The verdict in the libel case against French media analyst and critic Philippe Karsenty, sued by France 2 for accusing the network’s Jerusalem bureau chief Charles Enderlin of fabricating parts of a segment showing the reported death of 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura from IDF fire in Gaza in September 2000, has been postponed to May 22.

MEMRI: Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments: The Muslims Will Kill the Jews on Judgment Day




Former Egyptian MB Member: The MB Is a Fascist Group that Wants to Take Over Egypt VIDEO

Egypt Denies Hamas Man Wanted Over Border Attack

An Egyptian intelligence officer on Wednesday denied media reports that a top Hamas military commander was wanted by Cairo in connection with the killing in August of 16 border guards.

Breaking the ‘Jew taboo’

The film took three years to make. Ramses has rightly been acclaimed for bravely tackling a ‘taboo’ subject: the Jews. So poisoned are Egyptians with anti-Jewish hatred that the word Jew is an insult and a provocation. Jews are malevolent, a curse, a cancer, the ‘enemies of Islam’. When informed that Leila Murad, one of Egypt’s most popular film stars in its 1930s heyday, was Jewish, one man in the film instantly loses his enthusiasm for her.

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Yeshiva U law school to give award to Israel-hater Jimmy Carter (updated)

This is unbelievable: (Sent via email)

The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution is honored to present the
2013 International Advocate for Peace Award to

Jimmy Carter

39^th President of the United States
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
3:30 p.m.

Jacob Burns Moot Court Room

Reception to follow in the lobby
Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
The Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution is honored to present President Jimmy Carter with its annual International Advocate for Peace Award. President Carter will speak on "America as Global Mediator."  Jimmy Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981. During his time in office, he oversaw significant foreign policy accomplishments, including the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. 
In 1982, President Carter and his wife Rosalynn reinvented the American "post-presidency" by founding the Carter Center. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. Specifically, the center works to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. President Carter and the Carter Center have engaged in conflict mediation in countless areas around the world, including Ethiopia and Eritrea (1989), Bosnia (1994), the Great Lakes region of Africa (1995-96), Sudan and Uganda (1999), Venezuela (2002-2003), Nepal (2004-2008), and Ecuador and Colombia (2008). 

President Carter's post-presidential peace-building efforts were recognized in 2002 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." He is the only American president to receive the Nobel Prize for work done primarily after his time in office.

I couldn't find any press releases but it was confirmed on some ancillary Cardozo sites. Here is the main site for the award, which does not yet mention this .

Perhaps Carter deserves an award for some of his work in Africa and South America, but it is unconscionable for a Jewish - and Zionist - school to honor someone who is so thoroughly anti-Israel and, arguably, anti-semitic.

Shall we go over Carter's ignominious record?

1987: Carter intervened to help a Nazi war criminal.

2006: Carter says that pressuring Hamas economically is immoral - but pressuring Israel economically is desirable.

2006: Jimmy predicts that Hamas will be a peaceful party and that they hadn't had any terror attacks on the previous 18 months, an out and out lie.

2007: Carter quotes a fake Nelson Mandela letter to"prove" Israel is an "apartheid state"

2008: Carter claims that Palestinians in Gaza were being "starved to death" and received fewer calories a day than people in the poorest parts of Africa.

2008: Jimmy entreats Europe to ignore the official US position on Gaza terrorists and embrace them instead.

2009: Carter says Gazans are "literally starving."

2009: Jimmy reportedly asks Hamas to "Help us to help Obama to overcome the Zionist lobby"

2009: Carter was revealed to have been against a separate Israel/Egypt peace agreement.

2010: Carter praised Palestinian Arab "democracy" but casts doubts on Israel's democracy

2012: Carter blames the Jews for the Christian exodus from Palestine."

2012: Liberal Jimmy Carter has no problem with Islamists in power in Egypt where they can implement misogynist and discriminatory laws according to their religious duties.

2012: Carter says that if Iran has one or two nuclear weapons, it is no big deal.

There's lots more, of course, but the idea that YU's Cardozo should honor Carter is simply sickening.

UPDATE: The contact email for the journal is eic@cardozojcr.com .

The editor-in-chief is here.

UPDATE 2: I found the original notice on Google's cache of the Cardozo site - but it is no longer there. Perhaps they came to their senses before I was sent this? Or were they trying to downplay it? (I just heard that the entire website was re-done, so that might explain it.)

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Video: Hamas school principal strikes student with offensive hairstyle

According to the (anti-Hamas) Palestine Press Agency, this video shows the headmaster of the Khaled bin Walid School Secondary School for Boys in the Nuseirat camp in Gaza, Abdul Majeed Isa, slapping a student for having a Western-style haircut.

This past week Hamas announced that boys and girls will be separated in all Gaza schools from the age of nine and above - even in UNRWA and Christian schools. They also are forbidding male teachers in girls schools.

Hamas also announced a crackdown on certain Western-style trouser styles as well as offensive haircuts seen in the street, with some arrests reported.

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PHOTOS: Moderate Palestinians regularly stone Israeli ambulances

The Muqata has the story:

In what has become a daily occurrence, Palestinians are routinely throwing rocks at Magen David Adom ambulances, smashing windshields and seriously endangering the MDA medical crews.

Despite that MDA ambulances and medics treat wounded without bias to race or religion, Palestinians target these life saving efforts, even when the wounded are Palestinians.

Over the past few days:
April 2, 2013, 17:15 - Palestinians stone MDA ambulance on the Jerusalem - Hevron highway #60, near the community of Karmei Zur.
April 3, 2013 15:43 - Palestinians stone MDA ambulance on Halhul bypass road, part of the Jerusalem - Hevron highway #60.
April 4, 2013 11:27 - Palestinians stone Neve Zuf community MDA ambulance near the Abud village on road 465.

The thing is that this is so expected, so routine, that even the Israeli media ignores the story. Yet in a sane world this would make world headlines, especially among Western nations that fund the people doing this at a higher rate per capita than any other people.

These are war crimes by any definition. But the PA and too much of the world, including so-called "progressives," glorify it as "resistance."

Of course, Amira Hass and Ha'aretz can feel proud for their contributions to making this all seem somehow a "right."

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The inner syntax of Ha'aretz encouraging Arab terrorism

Amira Hass in Ha'aretz not only justifies Arab terror, but suggests that it be taught in Palestinian Arab schools!

Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule. Throwing stones is an action as well as a metaphor of resistance. ...

Often hurling stones is borne of boredom, excessive hormones, mimicry, boastfulness and competition. But in the inner syntax of the relationship between the occupier and the occupied, stone-throwing is the adjective attached to the subject of “We’ve had enough of you, occupiers.”

Even if it is a right and duty, various forms of steadfastness and resisting the foreign regime, as well as its rules and limitations, should be taught and developed. Limitations could include the distinction between civilians and those who carry arms, between children and those in uniform, as well as the failures and narrowness of using weapons.

It would make sense for Palestinian schools to introduce basic classes in resistance...So why are such classes absent from the Palestinian curriculum? Part of the explanation lies with the opposition of the donor states and Israel’s punitive measures. But it is also due to inertia, laziness, flawed reasoning, misunderstanding and the personal gains of some parts of society. In fact the rationale for the existence of the Palestinian Authority engendered one basic rule in the last two decades − adaptation to the existing situation. Thus, a contradiction and a clash have been created between the inner syntax of the Palestinian Authority and that of the Palestinian people.

Thus, not only does this writer for Ha'aretz demonstrate support for terror, but she also is actively against the Palestinian Authority and, frankly, peace.

Not only that, but she writes this disgusting screed at the very same time that an Israeli court convicted a man
of murder - for throwing stones that caused the fatal car crash of Asher Palmer and his baby son Yonatan.

And at the very same time that  Adele Biton is still fighting for her life after a rock was thrown through the windshield of her mother's car.

How is Ha'aretz' article anything less than incitement to murder?

Her own logic, sick as it is, would also allow Molotov cocktails, Katyusha rockets, and even suicide bombings, as long as they can be justified to support the "resistance." Only when they are judged counterproductive - because of the non-Ha'aretz media denouncing them as immoral - might she agree to draw a line.

Indeed, already the Palestinian Arab media has been  copying this story on their websites. Including the website of the "moderate" Fatah terror group.

Ha'aretz is actively aiding and abetting the enemy.

Luckily, at least some people are considering legal action:

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel on Wednesday contacted Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, asking that he launch an investigation against Haaretz writer Amira Hass on suspicion of incitement.

The request was made after Hass, an Israeli radical leftist who lives in the PA city of Ramallah, wrote in a column on Wednesday, “Throwing stones is the right and the duty of anyone living under foreign rule.”

Yesha Council head Avi Ro'eh and Chairman Ron Shachner have already sent a letter to the Jerusalem Police, accusing the newspaper of incitement to violence.

Attorney Hila Cohen, writing on behalf of the Legal Forum, wrote in the letter to Weinstein that Hass’s comments were serious and constitute an incitement to violence and terrorism, while encouraging murderous terrorism.

"In determining that it is the right and duty of the Palestinians...she legitimizes the violent terrorist acts, encourages them and even incites them when she calls to expand them into other areas,” wrote Cohen.

The Legal Forum said that "throwing stones at Israelis should be called by its real name - an act of terrorism. Treating it any other way may cause an escalation in the phenomenon, which is supposedly justified.”

It is worth noting that the real "inner syntax" of stone throwing at Jews predates "occupation" by centuries:

In former times--and in remote places even today--it was common for Muslim schoolboys to stone Jews. When the Turks conquered Yemen in 1872, an envoy was sent from the Chief Rabbi of Istanbul to inquire what grievance the Yemenite Jews had against their neighbors. It is indicative that the first thing of which they complained was this molestation by the schoolboys. But when the Turkish Governor asked an assembly of notables to stop this nuisance,there arose an old doctor of Muslim law and explained that this stone-throwing at Jews was an age-old custom (in Arabic 'Ada) and therefore it was unlawful to forbid it.

Hass probably isn't aware of this, or she would have added that it is a venerable Arab tradition that must be preserved at all costs.

I really hope that she gets arrested and deported. Amira Hass deserves no less.

(h/t Eric, My Right Word, Daled Amos)

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Pseudo-academics to hold "Right of Return" conference at Boston U

This weekend, a conference is being held at the Boston University Law School Auditorium advocating the Palestinian Arab "right to return" to destroy Israel demographically.

Of course, there is no such "right" and the papers being presented are a far cry from scholarly. I discussed this conference briefly in February.

The roster of speakers include Joseph Massad, who I have dismantled a few times, and Salman Abu Sitta, the author of the "Atlas of Palestine 1948" that Benny Morris comprehensively demolished.

I looked a little more at Abu Sitta and found this piece where he claims that some secret Red Cross documents prove Jews poisoned Arabs in Acre in 1948 with typhus:

Acre was to be the next Zionist target. The Zionists besieged the city from the land side, and started showering the population with a hail of mortar bombs day and night. Famous for its historical walls, Acre could stand the siege for a long time. The city water supply comes from a nearby village, Kabri, about 10kms to the north, through an aqueduct. The Zionists injected typhoid in the aqueduct at some intermediate point which passes through Zionist settlements. (see map)

The story can now be told, thanks to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) files which have now become available, 50 years after the event. A series of reports, under the reference G59/1/GC, G3/82, sent by ICRC delegate de Meuron from 6 May to about 19 May 1948 describe the conditions of the city population, struck by a sudden typhoid epidemic, and the efforts to combat it.

Of particular importance are the minutes of an emergency conference held at the Lebanese Red Cross Hospital in Acre on 6 May, to deal with the typhoid epidemic. The meeting was attended by: Brigadier Beveridge, Chief of British Medical Services and Colonel Bonnet of the British Army, Dr Maclean of the Medical Services, Mr de Meuron, ICRC delegate in addition to other officials of the city. The minutes stated that there are at least 70 known civilian casualties, others may not be reported. It was determined that the infection is "water borne", not due to crowded or unhygienic conditions as claimed by the Israelis. It was decided that a substitute water supply should now come from artesian wells or from the agricultural station, just north of Acre (see map), not from the aqueduct. Water chlorine solution was applied, inoculation of civil population started, movement of civil population was controlled (lest refugees heading north towards Lebanon will carry the typhoid epidemic with them, as intended by the Zionists).

In his other reports, de Meuron mentioned 55 casualties among British soldiers, who were spirited away to Port Said for hospitalisation. General Stockwell arranged for de Meuron to fly on a military plane to Jerusalem to fetch medicine. The British, who left Palestine in the hands of the Jews, did not want another embarrassing incident to delay their departure.

Brigadier Beveridge told de Meuron that this is "the first time this happened in Palestine". This belies the Israeli story, including that of the Israeli historian Benny Morris, that the epidemic is due to "unhygienic conditions" of the refugees. If that was so, how come there was an almost equal number of casualties among British soldiers? Why did such conditions not cause epidemic in such other concentrations of refugees, under far worse conditions, in Jaffa, Lydda, Nazareth and Gaza?

A quick look at the Palestine Post archives reveals that the epidemic was due to the chlorination in Acre having broken down the previous month, before the influx of refugees.

Now, why didn't other refugee populations come down with typhoid? Well, they did; this article is from August 1948:

And was this the first outbreak of typhoid in Palestine? Not even close; typhoid was common in the 1930s and 1940s. Here's just one of many articles about typhoid, this one in Haifa:

It takes literally minutes to expose Abu Sitta as a liar. 

Which makes him a fitting speaker at a conference for a "right" that is as fake as his academic honesty is. 

See also Richard Cravatt's analysis of this conference. 

(h/t Dan)

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Man injured in Mavi Marmara to donate compensation to terror groups

From Hurriyet Daily News:

One of the victims of the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla has announced that he will .
donate the compensation to Hamas and Islamic Jihad

Activist Mehmet Tunç said he would donate the compensation to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine himself, adding that he would not touch even “one Turkish Lira” of it at a press conference today.

Isn't that special?

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Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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The blood-libel sisterhood

This is why Ashrawi must have realized that she was going to be in financial hot water if MIFTAH didn't issue an apology: "It has become clear to us after investigating this incident that the article was accidentally and incorrectly published by a junior staff member. The said staffer has been reprimanded and all our staff has been informed as to the disgusting and repulsive phenomena of blood libel or accusation, including its use against Jews."
Now there's remorse for you — Palestinian-style, that is.

Israel: Marmara Apology Tied to Iran Nukes
Deputy Foreign Minister Elkin says restoring relations with Turkey is at top of government's agenda.

According to a report by defense analyst Anthony Cordesman, quoted by the Brookings Institution's Noah Shachtman in Wired Magazine last year, while a U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear weapons program would be launched primarily from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, an Israeli strike would require using a quarter of the Israel Air Force’s fighters. "The jets will have to hug the Syrian-Turkish border before flying over both Iraq and Iran. And that is not exactly friendly territory," wrote Shachtman.

'You Can Fool Some People Sometime': BS Gets BDS a Win at UC Riverside

As some of you might know, the student senate at UC Riverside voted on March 6 to divest from companies doing business in Israel. You'd think that the UCR students had risen up in outrage at supposed Israeli "apartheid". That is, after all, what "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) --sponsors of the divestment motion -- want you to think.
But don't be fooled. The UCR senate did not pass the divestment bill because UCR students agree with the SJP. The senate passed the divestment bill, quite simply, because it was swindled. Because the SJP orchestrated it so that opponents of the bill did not get their say.

Honest Reporting: The Hypocrisy of a Black Miss Israel?

Yes, Israel, like all countries, has its unfortunate problems of racism. But the problems described by Australian feminist columnist Ruby Hamad don’t justify The Hypocrisy of a Black Miss Israel. Hamad has a big-time problem with the Miss Israel crown going to 21 year-old Ethiopian-born Yityish Aynaw:
"It is a mistake to assume, when an individual belonging to a marginalised group manages to break through the barriers barring them to success, that suddenly these barriers no longer exist."
First of all, Hamad botched the facts on what she thinks is her strongest part of the condemnation:

BBC yet again promotes the notion of Israel as a racist society

But when an Ethiopian-born Israeli woman became Miss Israel and when an Arab-Israeli woman won the local version of ‘The Voice’ singing the same song as Alexandra Burke, the BBC found it insufficient to concentrate on their personal achievements alone.

CAMERA: Where is Amnesty Stat Gideon Levy Cites?

Not for the first time, Ha'aretz's Gideon Levy plays fast and loose with Palestinian casualty figures.
In his March 31 column, Gideon Levy attributes a Cast Lead Palestinian casualty figure to Amnesty International, though a thorough search of the organization's materials does not turn up any such figure.

2 rockets fired from Gaza explode in southern Israel

Projectiles hit near Sderot after overnight IAF strikes; defense minister in Jerusalem warns Israel won’t tolerate renewed missile fire

First time since Pillar of Defense: IAF carries out strikes in Gaza

Following two incidents of mortar fire from Gaza, Palestinian sources report that IAF carries out air strike against Gaza targets. Earlier, IDF tanks returned fire after mortar lands in Golan Heights

Israel hits Syrian outpost in response to cross-border fire

Army post at Tel Hazeka targeted by IDF tanks after patrol comes under attack by light arms and mortar lands in Golan; no injuries or damage on Israeli side

Galloway tweets Hamas some love
Why hasn't Khaled Meshal retweeted him yet?
Israel honored with tough-to-land medical conference invite

An Israeli delegation will be attending TedMed in DC, and a TedMed conference will be held in Israel – the first time this prestigious conference has been ‘exported’

IBM Research celebrates 40 years in Israel

IBM celebrated its hundredth birthday last year. And for 40 of those years, the international technology leader has maintained a research lab in Haifa, Israel, its largest one outside the United States.
While today it seems obvious that major corporations with heavy investments in R&D would want to have a division in Israel, in 1972, when IBM Research opened its Israel office, that was hardly the case. In fact, it was more a matter of IBM not wanting to lose one of its top scientists, Israeli-born Prof. Josef Raviv, who wanted to move back home.

Tale of the ‘50 Children’ to Debut This Holocaust Remembrance Day on HBO

Journalist Steven Pressman first learned of the 50 children rescued by Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus in 2002 from his wife Liz Perle, the Krauses’ granddaughter, who had possession of a formerly hidden and unpublished manuscript written by Eleanor decades earlier.

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Egyptian media, president upset at Jon Stewart

Egyptian newspaper Rassd shows a video clip of Jon Stewart talking about Egypt's problems today, saying that he is "insulting Morsi". Here it is, subtitled in Arabic, and it is pretty funny:



This clip is being embedded in many other Arab news sites, although they are not nearly as upset.

The good news is that the YouTube video is getting a lot of "thumbs up" from the Arab audience.

The video was posted by the US Embassy in Egypt, drawing a reprimand from Morsi:

Egypt's Presidency accused the US Embassy in Cairo of engaging in "negative political propaganda" after the embassy posted an episode of the Daily Show in which the show's host, well-known American comedian Jon Stewart, slammed President Mohamed Morsy and expressed solidarity with Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef, who presents an Egyptian show modeled on Stewart's.

"It's inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda," stated the official Twitter account of Egypt's presidency in reply to the US Embassy in Cairo.

(h/t Ian)

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Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Where Is the Feminist Outrage Over Discrimination in Gaza?

Refreshingly, the feminist writers from The Nation and Ms. Magazine did not openly come out and lay the blame for this public relations debacle at the feet of Israel.
But I will buy a free dinner at the vegan, slow food, locavore restaurant of your choice, in the city of your choice, if you can find one article in either publication by a feminist writer that explicitly and substantially criticizes Hamas and the Palestinians for their terrible and discriminatory mistreatment of women in Gaza. And especially this most recent incident of discrimination against Palestinian women.

Raping Women in the Name of Islam by Khaled Abu Toameh

What happened to the two women in Libya is a big disgrace not only to Islam, but to all those who sympathize with fundamentalists and terrorists, including the "scholars" and "sheikhs" who authorize such crimes.
Moderate Muslims who fail to strongly condemn the Muslim terrorists and rapists also bear responsibility for the crimes that are being committed in the name of Islam.
The gang rape in Libya will also cause tremendous damage to the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. As of now, families of "pro-Palestinian" activists around the world will have to think ten times before sending their daughters on humanitarian aid convoys.

New Fatwa permits rape of non-Sunni women in Syria

Jordanian Sheih Yasir al-‘Ajlawni is certainly not the first cleric to legitimize the rape of infidel women in recent times. Calls to capture and rape non-Muslim women are appearing with increasing frequency and from all corners of the Islamic world.

Court finds stone-thrower guilty of murder

In a groundbreaking decision, a military court found a Palestinian man guilty of murder for throwing a rock at an Israeli car, causing it to crash and killing the driver and his infant son.
The court at Ofer military prison on Tuesday found Wa’al al-Araji, 25, from Halhul, to be directly responsible for the deaths in 2011 of Asher Palmer and his 1-year-old son Yehonatan.

Is Norway funding the murderers of Israelis?

"The country’s 3 largest opposition parties have asked for an investigation into Norwegian financing of the PA".

Too much of a good thing? Palestinians realize downsides of foreign aid boom

With food insecurity soaring and GDP declining, Palestinians in the West Bank are waking up to the fact that their foreign aid dependent economy is unsustainable.

The Tunnel Economy

Commercially speaking, these tunnels offer an opportunity to smuggle subsidized Egyptian goods and commodities that are banned from being exported, such as petroleum products or certain food items. Successive Egyptian governments have failed to find ways to reduce these subsidies—which deplete their budgets—for fear of social unrest. Likewise, these tunnels also represent an opportunity for more clandestine trades such as arms dealing.
The biggest beneficiaries of the tunnel trade may be the select group of families on both sides of the border, some of whom have transformed into millionaires, in addition to the Hamas government and what it collects from tax on smuggled goods.(h/t Zvi)

MEMRI: Egyptian Author Alaa Al-Aswany On Situation Of Copts In Egypt

In an ironic article, Egyptian author Alaa Al-Aswany describes what it is to be "a Muslim in Britain," metaphorically referring in fact to the state of the Copts in Egypt, who suffer from severe persecution and discrimination. The following are excerpts.

ElBaradei slams ban against Iranian tourists in (Egyptian) mosques

On Twitter, ElBaradei wrote, “How come we, Sunnis and Shias, perform pilgrimage together yet we talk about preventing Iranians from visiting some of the houses of God?”

Saudi man who paralysed his best friend in knife attack faces having his spinal cord severed in 'eye-for-an eye' punishment

The ultra-conservative desert Kingdom enforces Islamic law and on rare occasions issues punishments based on the ancient code of an ‘eye-for-an-eye’.
Ali Al-Khawahir was 14 years old when he stabbed his friend in the backbone and has been imprisoned for 10 years.

Lego denies discontinuing Jabba's Palace over race claims

Toy manufacturer Lego has denied claims by Austria's Turkish community that it is withdrawing one of its Star Wars products because of allegations it was riddled with racist stereotypes.

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Also:
The Jewish “Occupation” of Judea?

One has to wonder why the international community decided to use the term West Bank even after the area was liberated. And the fact that all Jews were forced out of Judea and Samaria during Jordan’s illegal occupation is something you rarely hear in the media or anywhere else. I guess people want to maintain the false image of Jews in Judea and Samaria as “foreign occupiers”? Well, they are not foreign occupiers. Jews lived in the so called “West Bank” for ages…. That’s until all of them were either killed or forced out of the area after Jordan’s occupation started in 1948.

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Child on PA TV: Jews "murdered children, raped women in city squares, defiled the Quran"

From PMW:

Earlier this month, Palestinian children were taught Islam-based hatred of Jews on the weekly PA TV children's show The Best Home. A young girl recited a poem filled with both Islamic hate messages and other libels demonizing Jews.

Girl: "Allah created me and formed me
He made me prouder and made me a Palestinian
He made defiance flow like blood in my veins
And I made the revolution burst forth like clay stones
I raised the flags of certain victory:
Allah's book [the Quran] and the tradition of the most esteemed among prophets [Muhammad].
I called in the voice of hidden justice
I lit a fire like volcanoes under their feet
I refused to be submissive and degraded
I rejected [everything] but dying with the honor that will give me life
From a nation that has forgotten the Muslims' heroism
- Omar ibn al-Khattab and Saladin - [Muslim fighters who conquered Jerusalem]
from between the whistles of the bullets I sing:
'Long live the nation of Fatah and Yasser Arafat'
Allah's enemies, the sons of pigs (i.e., Jews, in Islamic tradition)
Destroyed and uprooted the olive and fig trees
They murdered children with guns, like snakes
They cut off their limbs with stones and knives
They raped the women in the city squares
They defiled Allah's book [the Quran] in front of millions
Where is the nation of Islam?
Where are the nation of Islam and the Jihad fighters?
Where is the fear of Allah in Jerusalem, which has been defiled by the Zionists?"
PA TV host: "Bravo, applause, applause, applause to Hadeel."
[PA TV (Fatah), March 22, 2013]

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Oxfam covers for Miftah's doubletalk

So far, most of the NGOs that fund Miftah have been silent during the blood-libel controversy I discovered.

Oxfam, however, just responded to a couple of my readers' inquiries (and then to mine) with a canned response which illustrates a troubling downplaying of the issue:

Thank you for making us aware that a blog post published on the website of one of our partners, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), included reprehensible anti-Semitic statements.

MIFTAH has removed the offensive blog post and issued a public apology on its website. MIFTAH has assured Oxfam that the individual behind the post has been reprimanded. Oxfam Is clearly on record as opposing the use of language or acting in ways which promote hate or discrimination.

Oxfam has worked with MIFTAH since 2010. Currently, MIFTAH and three other partners are implementing Oxfam’s regional project Supporting Women’s Transformative Leadership in Changing Times. The project targets marginalized women and men to support women’s rights and gender justice with the goal of increased empowerment, self-confidence, and leadership roles for women in public and private spheres.

Oxfam is surely aware that the section of Miftah's site where the offensive article was published was not a "blog" but an essay section where they republish articles they think are interesting for their readers. They even index the section so their readers can read other articles from the same author, and Nawaf al-Zaru has been featured five times.

Oxfam should also be aware that the "apology" was not issued in Arabic, the language of the hateful essay, meaning that Arabic-language readers of Miftah have no idea what Miftah's opinion on the medieval blood libel is, and for all they know Miftah supports that heinous lie.

Moreover, Oxfam must also be aware that Miftah did not issue its English apology until it felt under pressure to do so.

Finally, this response did not even address one of the writer's points about Miftah, that they have praised suicide bombers.  And not in their "essay" section, either, but under their own name. (NOTE: Since that essay was discovered and publicized, Miftah has also silently removed that essay - but you can still find it archived at the UN!)

Clearly, Oxfam wants to find excuses for Miftah instead of holding it to a standard that it would hold any Western NGO.

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Miftah silently removes its essay praising suicide bombers

I noted last week that Miftah, the NGO that published the medieval blood libel as "open dialogue," also published an essay - under its own name - that praised female suicide bombers:

Fighting Back

Palestinian women have also participated in the resistance. As the conflict grew more intense and young men were recruited to carry out military operations against Israeli targets, several young women also decided to join the ranks of the resistance movement. In January 2002, 28-year-old nurse Wafa Idrees, detonated a bomb in Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street, killing one Israeli and injuring 150 others. She was also killed in the blast.

This marked the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause. Over the next two years, seven other women carried out similar operations, the most deadly of which was carried out by Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old attorney from Jenin. Hanadi detonated explosives strapped to her body in a busy Haifa restaurant, killing 19 Israelis and injuring 50 others.

As it initially did with the blood libel article when it was exposed, Miftah has now silently removed that piece as well.

No apology. No mention of why it published an essay that is purportedly against its own stated core values to begin with.  Once again, Miftah is acting like a child caught next to a broken lamp, football on the floor,  rather than an organization that takes responsibility for its actions.

In only one week, I am the one that prompted Miftah to remove the blood libel essay, I am the one that prompted Miftah to apologize for it, and I am the one that prompted Miftah to remove the essay praising terrorists (although NGO Monitor also called them on it.). If it wasn't for our shaming them, nothing would have happened. When is Miftah going to take responsibility for its own actions rather than waiting for "obscure websites" to "smear' them? I could find an encyclopedia of lies in the Miftah site - but why should I be the one doing this?

Miftah appears more concerned over Hanan Ashrawi's reputation than the truth. You can find the offensive essay archived at the UN's UNISPAL site (and, at the moment, in Google's cache.)

Miftah's problems are deeper than just one "junior level staffer" - they are systemic to the organization, and as long as its funding NGOs ignore the problem, things won't get any better.

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