Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 13, 2013

Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Israel Fights America’s Battles
Why the U.S.-Israel alliance may be returning to its Cold War roots

The United States has long had moral, emotional, and domestic political reasons to support Israel. The return of the American-Israeli alliance to its Cold War foundations will aid both countries in overcoming their disagreements and coordinating their efforts in Syria and across the Middle East. Just as Israel downed Soviet-made Syrian jets in the Cold War, it will now destroy Iranian-made missiles, bolstering U.S. deterrence as Washington’s proxy war with Tehran approaches its climax.

Accepting 'Arab Initiative' is Suicide, Says Diplomat

The so-called "Arab initiative" or "Arab League peace plan" that has been gaining currency in recent months is "a recipe for Israel's suicide," according to Israel's former representative in Washington, DC, Yoram Ettinger.
Ambassador Ettinger told Arutz Sheva that the plan is no more than "a honey trap" that misguidedly seeks to force reality to fit some people's imaginings.

Hawking, Goldstone and political warfare

In the short term, it is important to show Professor Hawking the contradiction between the moral language of the delegitimizers and the immoral substance of their campaigns. In this process, perhaps Hawking will follow the Goldstone precedent, and recognize that he has been used as part of the ongoing war against Israel. Until he does, the moral stain caused by his actions will continue to spread.

Conference boycotted by Hawking has hosted Palestinian speakers every year

The Israeli Presidential Conference that Stephen Hawking is boycotting in solidarity with the Palestinians has featured a succession of prominent Palestinian speakers among its participants over the years, including key members of the Palestinian Authority.
This year’s conference is again set to include at least one prominent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and the gathering has been attended in each of its previous four years by leading Palestinian figures including top Palestinian Authority officials, negotiators, academics, and the man helming development of the first planned Palestinian city.

CAMERA Toronto Star Claims Bruce Willis is a BDSer

Finally, given the fact that Mr. Willis has come out in the past publicly expressing strong support for Israel, by signing, for instance a 2006 ad (below) in the Los Angeles Times condemning Hamas and Hezbollah, on what basis does the Star allege that his 2010 cancellation was intended to promote the anti-Israel boycott?

Spanish left-wingers seek boycott of Israeli singer

Left-wing parties from the Spanish autonomous region of Galicia are demanding their local government launch a boycott of Israel by canceling a concert by Israeli singer and peace activist Noa, also known as Achinoam Nini.

Pope Francis Canonizes Several Hundred Christian Martyrs Who Refused to Convert to Islam

Pope Francis on Sunday announced the canonization of new saints to the Catholic Church, including several hundred 15th-century Christian martyrs who were killed for refusing to convert to Islam.
The “Martyrs of Otranto” were 813 inhabitants of the southern Italian city of Otranto who were beheaded in 1480 by Ottoman Turkish invaders after they refused to convert to Islam.

Warsaw Synagogue Replica Would Make Nazis 'Turn in Their Graves'

A miniature replica of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw will be installed on the site of the original, almost 70 years to the day after it was leveled by the Nazis, an architect for the project said Sunday.

After the survivors, only the stones will tell stories

The two Hebrew words for cemetery — beit-kvarot (house of graves) and beit-olam (eternal home) – exist in a deliberate but uneasy tension. The former evokes the past, conjuring images of headstones made of concrete, while the latter suggests there is more to the place than its infrastructure. A cemetery is a reminder of the lasting, ongoing influence of those who came before us.

Dairy diplomacy yields stronger ties with Vietnam

After suffering decades of civil war and foreign incursions, as well as a decade of Stalinist rule that ended only in 1986, Vietnam has become one of the better-performing economies in the developing world, especially in agriculture, and Israeli technology has been a cornerstone of that progress.
The two countries are currently working on a free trade agreement, and to date Israel has trained hundreds of Vietnamese in agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, dairy milk production and education.

More accolades for Israeli maker of top online game

Funtactix is a portfolio company of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), an Israeli VC that has made a commitment to content development, seeing content as emerging as a strong growth sector for Israeli companies in the coming years. Among the other content companies that JVP has invested in are Animation Lab, which develops animated films, and AnyClip, which lets users search in a database for their favorite movie clips.

Black Jazz Musician Encounters Mixed Reactions to Subway Renditions of Hatikvah, Hava Hagila

At first you may be skeptical of Isaiah Richardson Jr. He doesn’t look like somebody who would be playing Hava Nagila for passengers waiting for their train in the subway. Firstly, he seems too young, and secondly, he’s a black kid from the Bronx, dressed sharply, derby hat and all. But when upon meeting Isaiah, the 32-year-old ticked off “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem,” “Bashana Haba’ah,” and “Zum Gali Gali” as some of his favorite songs to play passing crowds, I knew he was serious about his Jewish music.

UNRWA rep poses with map of "Palestine" and "Al Quds" handbag

From Palestinian Media Watch:

At the official launch of two German-funded UNRWA projects in southern Lebanon, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, posed with a map that erases the State of Israel and presents all of it as "Palestine."

The map includes both the Palestinian Authority areas as well as all of Israel. Above the map is the Palestinian flag and the inscription "Arab Palestine." The text at the bottom of the map also says "Palestine." The neighboring countries Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are all named on the map as is the Mediterranean Sea. Israel is not mentioned or designated anywhere. Several places and cities, both in Israel and from the Palestinian Authority, are included on the map of "Palestine": The Negev desert, Be'er Sheva, Rafah (Gaza), Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Tiberias and the Dead Sea.

The map was presented at the launch of an UNRWA project to improve the water supply network and rehabilitate shelters in the Rashidieh Camp, and was a gift from the "Palestinian Women's Union," the Palestinian news site pn-news.net reported.

Here's the photo:

Notice that UNRWA's smiling Ann Dismorr is also carrying a handbag or souvenir bag depicting a Judenrein Jerusalem surrounding the Dome of the Rock, with a decorative keffiyeh pattern that symbolizes "resistance:"

Très chic!

People may want to tweet @UNRWA or go to one of their Facebook pages to ask if this is appropriate behavior for a supposedly non-political organization.

Then again, maybe this is an admission that when UNRWA energetically supports the mythical "right of return," that this map and painting of Jerusalem is what would inevitably result.

Video of Syrian rebel cutting out, eating soldier's heart (graphic videos)

And these are the "good guys"...

A video of a Syrian rebel commander cutting the heart out of a soldier and biting into is emblematic of a civil war that has rapidly descended into sectarian hatred and revenge killings, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The New York-based group said an amateur video posted on the Internet on Sunday shows Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade who is well known to journalists as an insurgent from Homs, cutting into the torso of a dead soldier.

The video has caused outrage among both supporters of President Bashar al-Assad and opposition figures.

“I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,” the man says to offscreen cheers of his comrades shouting “Allahu akbar (God is great)”.

Just for balance, when Bashir Assad's father was in charge and Jimmy Carter felt particularly close to the dictator, Syrian soldiers would strangle puppies and drink their blood at military parades, and girls would rip apart live snakes with their teeth, to the applause of Syria's leaders, as the first minutes of this video show:

Either way, the enemy of my enemy is a sick, perverted POS.

Maybe we can hope they all kill each other and the Kurds can take over Syria?

(h/t EBoZ)

Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Muhammad Al-Dura: The boy who wasn't really killed
Defense Minister formed secret investigative committee that concluded Al-Dura had not been hurt and the video was staged.

Not only was 12-year-old Gazan Muhammad al-Dura not killed by IDF fire in 2000 – he was not even hurt.
That was the preliminary finding of a special commit- tee formed several years ago by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and headed by Brig.- Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of the Research and Analysis Division of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, and the current director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry.

BBC whitewashes Islamist antisemitism with semantics

According to the BBC, if Tunisian Islamists (and presumably any elsewhere too) chant “Killing the Jews is a duty” or “Khaybar, Khaybar ya Yahud” or ”the army of Mohammed will return”, then local Jews have nothing whatsoever to worry about because in fact they are not referring to them – or indeed to Jews at all – but to Israel, which should apparently be perfectly understandable. And the BBC website’s Middle East desk is quite sure of that because a prominent Salafist – who obviously thinks it unremarkable to chant hate speech relating to “the Zionist entity’s policies” in front of a synagogue in Tunisia – told them so.

More revealing BBC replies to audience complaints

Evyatar Borovsky was murdered for no other reason than the fact that he was an Israeli citizen. The terrorist did not request information regarding his postcode before deciding whether or not to stab him to death at a bus stop. It is high time the BBC brought itself up to speed with that unpleasant reality and ceased its offensive, dehumanising and misleading habit of dividing Israelis into ‘good’ ones who live where it thinks they should be allowed to live and ‘settlers’ who do not – according to the BBC’s own partisan and politically motivated interpretations of “international law”.

PMW: PA pays 5 million shekels per month to 4,000 released prisoners

International Red Cross plants trees to honor Palestinian terrorists

In a ceremony celebrating its 150th anniversary, the International Red Cross together with the Palestinian Red Crescent planted 150 trees bearing the names of "veteran prisoners." The Palestinian Authority uses the term "veteran prisoners" to refer to those who have been in jail the longest, and in most cases are serving life sentences for murder or multiple murders. Giorgio Ferrario, representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, participated in this ceremony honoring terrorists, which was named "My Honor is My Freedom."

Leftist Glee over Terror Murder Earns Police Complaint

Gad Di'ee of the grassroots Samaria Residents Council has filed a police complaint against leftists who expressed glee after the stabbing murder of a Jew, Evyatar Borovsky of Yitzhar.
The complaint accuses the leftists of incitement to violence or terror, a punishable offense.
One leftist activist, Hila Shifman Galant, put up a link on her Facebook page to a photograph of Borovsky's son hugging his father's body at the funeral and wrote: "Daddy went to a place where he can't burn fields or poison sheep anymore. Don't take it so hard, sweetie."

Carter urges EU to label settlements products

Former US president Jimmy Carter is pushing the European Union to implement a law forcing products coming out of the West Bank settlements to be labeled as such, according to a report in the Irish Times.

Arab Breaks Chair on Elderly Jew's Head

A large-bodied Arab man attacked an elderly Jew in Jerusalem's Old City last Saturday. The victim's daughter, Tali Hoffman, told Arutz Sheva that her father was making his way to Shacharit prayers, as he does every Sabbath, from his home in the Muslim Quarter to the Kotel

'Turkey closer to energy agreement with Israel'

The paper quotes top Turkish officials as stating they are moving to be in favor of “extensive cooperation” with Israel and Cyprus. Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz were said to have discussed the issue on Friday at an energy conference in Istanbul. Gul said at the conference that Turkey is “ready to contribute to any constructive project,” according to the report.

BCF: Egyptian man disguised as woman gets sexually harassed

"As he strolled, Hammad, who wore light makeup to conceal hints of facial hair and accentuate his eyes, was hissed at and verbally abused. In one instance — when he was wearing a head veil — he was taken for a prostitute and offered up to 4,000 Egyptian pounds ($575) for one night."

Al Qaeda training in South Africa - and authorities stopped the investigation

The Daily Maverick has an astounding scoop of secret Al Qaeda training bases in South Africa - and an apparent cover-up.

The police’s specialised unit, Crimes Against the State (CATS) and the State Security Agency (SSA) have been monitoring the training of al-Qaeda terrorists in South Africa for several years, without taking any action. A year-long investigation by the Daily Maverick’s DE WET POTGIETER has revealed surprising inaction by police despite incriminating evidence about secret military training camps and sophisticated sniper training at three well-documented locations as well as several others across South Africa. These subversive activities have taken place at a farm near the notorious Apartheid police hit squad camp at Vlakplaas outside Pretoria, as well as a secluded farm in the mountains of the Klein Karoo.

The SAPS top-secret, deep-cover operation – Operation Kanu – was driven by crime intelligence, and was launched shortly after the 9-11 World Trade Center terror attacks to investigate extremist Muslim activities in the country. Operation Kanu began at the same time as the parallel investigation into far right-wing activities called Operation Waco.

Operation Waco resulted in the marathon Boeremag trial. The right-wingers were dubbed Al-Cadac by a police wit, as the Afrikaners’ plot was often discussed over a braai. Yet Operation Kanu resulted in no action from intelligence agencies, and no arrests of the alleged trainees or the masterminds.

All spying activities in connection with Operation Kanu were abruptly halted at the beginning of 2010 under yet-unexplained circumstances. The teams of intelligence operatives were recalled from the operation sites, all visual material seized and laptops with the surveillance data and situation reports of deep-cover agents taken away from them. The men were told by their superiors that the orders for the cessation of the surveillance operation had come “from the top”. No other explanations were given and they were re-deployed to other assignments.

In the wake of the cessation of Operation Kanu, British and US intelligence agencies began to pressurise the South African government to act against any possible Muslim terrorist threats emanating from within South Africa.

Top-level intelligence sources confirmed that representatives from both those countries’ intelligence services have been in the country for negotiations regarding the al-Qaeda operations here.

US and British intelligence have warned the South African authorities to stop “pussyfooting” with intelligence regarding international terrorists activities in South Africa. “The fact that no bombs have gone off to date in the country doesn’t mean that the threat doesn’t exist within South Africa’s borders,” they warned.

They have been frustrated for some years with the South African authorities for not taking action against perceived international terrorist threats.

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations resolution against international terrorism and is thus obliged to act against any such threats.

Despite overwhelming intelligence information gathered well before the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, no action had been taken to date.

The cause of the anxiety stems from the fact that thousands of illegal immigrants from Pakistan manage to cross into South Africa, while the government appears to turn a blind eye.

Says Professor Hussein Solomon from UFS in Researching Terrorism in South Africa: More Questions than Answers:

“Pretoria’s ambiguous response to terrorism also extends into the international sphere. In October 2006, during his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former president Thabo Mbeki spoke of the need for international co-operation in the area of counter-terrorism. When such co-operation, however, is needed from the South Africans, they baulk. In January 2007, when South Africa was informed that the US intended to place two South Africans – the Dockrat cousins – on the UN Security Council’s list of terror suspects, South Africa was vehemently opposed to this. Needless to say, relations between Washington and Pretoria soured. These incidents raise the question of whether South Africa is prepared to walk the talk in the global fight against terrorism or not. Put differently, is South Africa a credible partner in the fight against terrorism?”

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION

At the centre of this alleged terrorist network are several members of the well-known and influential Dockrat family.

The family was catapulted into the world focus in 2007 when US terrorism financing trackers have noted suspicious financial transactions coming out of South Africa that appeared to benefit al-Qaeda.

...

To all intents and purposes, it would appear that police crime intelligence as well as the specialised police unit, Crimes Against the State, and the State Security Agency had carried out a competent and at times inspired intelligence-gathering operation without being detected. Yet they were surprisingly forced to stop their monitoring by operatives of an unidentified state agency.

In his already quoted story, Prof Hussein has this to say:

“Reports of paramilitary training camps have also surfaced periodically. As early as 1996, Israel lodged a formal complaint with the South African government regarding the existence of five Hezbollah training camps in the country. In March 2007, Barry Gilder, the former head of the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (Nicoc), acknowledged the possible existence of small-scale training camps used by terrorists in the country. Most of these trainers it would seem came from Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh and Jordan. In the same month, a Johannesburg magazine exposed the existence of a jihadi facility outside Port Elizabeth, where instructors provided students with combat training, as well as training in illegal high-calibre handguns, R1 rifles and AK-47s. The camp became operational in the mid-1990s with Nazier Desai as the head trainer and his cousin Ahmed Seddick Desai running the finances.

“More worrisome is the existence of terrorist training camps on isolated farms – with the knowledge of certain people in the South African government. Clearly, these government officials believe that South Africa will not be targeted by these elements. Unfortunately, the available evidence does not support such wishful thinking. When the US, for example, was targeted on foreign soil, as in the East African US embassy bombings, there were 5,000 casualties – overwhelmingly local Kenyans and Tanzanians. Likewise, the redoubtable Richard Cornwell has noted that there is nothing preventing South Africa’s own citizens from becoming “collateral” in the pursuit of other targets. Unfortunately, this belief that South Africa will not be targeted could also account for the fact that, despite monitoring these camps for a number of years, no action has been taken.”

The reporter was interviewed on this radio show.

(h/t Steven Z)

Newseum takes terrorists off honoree list

As those who read Ian's linkdumps know:

The famed Newseum, the museum of journalism and news located in Washington, D.C., has found itself in the middle of a major argument over the honouring of two dead Hamas terrorists that some claim were simply journalists in the Palestinian territories.

The Newseum plans to add Mahmoud Al-Kumi and Hussam Salama to its "Journalists Memorial" which honours those killed while reporting the news. But the two men were cameramen for Al-Aqsa, Hamas's propaganda network, and thus qualify as Hamas operatives and therefore terrorists.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation in the United States, Canada, the European Union, Jordan, Japan, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

"Mahmoud Al-Kumi and Hussam Salama were Hamas operatives and cameramen for Hamas’ Al-Aqsa television network, which regularly features programming that encourages and praises attacks on Israeli civilians. The IDF targeted Al-Kumi and Salama on Nov. 20," says the Israel Defense Forces website. Palestinian media confirm that the two men were indeed Hamas operatives.

There was a large backlash from many quarters, pointing out that honoring terrorists is hardly honorable. Even if they were not actively fighting (and that is by no means a given,) there should be a difference between a legitimate journalist and someone who peddles terrorist propaganda.

Even though it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference.

The good news came this morning:

A few minutes ago, the Newseum’s manager of media relations sent out this statement:

Serious questions have been raised as to whether two of the individuals included on our initial list of journalists who died covering the news this past year were truly journalists or whether they were engaged in terrorist activities.

We take the concerns raised about these two men seriously and have decided to re-evaluate their inclusion as journalists on our memorial wall pending further investigation.

Terrorism has altered the landscape in many areas, including the rules of war and engagement, law, investigative and interrogation techniques, and the detention of enemy combatants. Journalism is no exception.

To further our First Amendment mission to provide a forum where all may speak freely, the Newseum will establish a new initiative to explore differing views on the new questions facing journalism and journalists.

The names of the two Al-Aqsa TV ‘journalists’ have also been removed from the Newseum website.

I previously discussed how terrorists use journalists as cover here.

Now is a good time to repost my video about one of Al Aqsa TV's programs, Pioneers of Tomorrow, with its curiously short-lived mascots:

Ahmadinejad to get 74 lashes for election law violation?

Probably not, but the idea is attractive, isn't it?

After accompanying his former chief of staff to register for June’s presidential vote, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may face punishment if charged with breaking electoral

rules, the country’s electoral watchdog said.

The president had accompanied Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie on Saturday to register at the Interior Ministry.

Photographs in the Iranian media showed them gripping hands and making peace signs.

Abbas Ali Kadkhodai, a spokesman for the Guardian Council, said the council’s supervisory board unanimously agreed “the...actions of the president in introducing an individual as an election candidate constituted a violation and were criminal,” according to Khabar.

“We reported the facts to the judiciary,” Kadkhodai said.

The Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists, vets all candidates for elections.

Iranian electoral law forbids the use of state resources on behalf of or against any candidate, and bans individuals from supporting candidates in an official capacity.

A conviction could bring a maximum punishment of six months in jail or 74 lashes, according to local press reports.

For years Ahmadinejad has claimed that Iran's human rights record was better than that of any Western nations, so he should volunteer to be flogged just to prove how wonderful Iran's justice system is.

Abbas calls Jews visiting Temple Mount "attacks against Al Aqsa"

The "moderate" president of the Palestinian Authority has made it crystal clear that he would not tolerate freedom of religion in his purported "state."

At his opening speech at the PLO Executive Committee meeting last night, Abbas said that "attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque cannot be tolerated."

Abbas added that it is unacceptable for such "attacks" to continue, and that "if Israel is dreaming as such daily attacks that attack the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites can change the situation on the ground they are disillusioned."

"East Jerusalem as our capital, and Al-Aqsa is ours, and the Church of the Resurrection is ours, and we will not allow them" to perform these "attacks."

Abbas ended by saying "we call upon the Arab and Islamic countries and the international community in general to act to stop these tragedies perpetrated in the name of the Israeli occupation."

Keep in mind that during Jordan's brief period of sovereignty over the Old City, Jews were barred from praying not only on the Temple Mount but at the Kotel as well. Not Israelis - Jews.

This is the "status quo" that Abbas would consider ideal, along with a Judenrein Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and a Tomb of Rachel that is converted into a mosque.

Yes, under any "peace plan" this most moderate of all Palestinian Arab leaders in history would grudgingly allow limited busloads of Jews to occasionally visit some specific sites for short periods of time, but inevitably those visits would cause riots and he would stop even this allowance. For "security" reasons.

Every clear thinking person knows that this is the best that can be expected under a Palestinian Arab state. Yet no "human rights" group seems to mind that freedom of religion for Jews would simply not be tolerated under the Palestinian Arab state they believe is the key to "peace."

And the Western media will refuse to publish that their "moderate" hero is openly lying about peaceful visits to Judaism's holiest site and trying to get them banned, today.

Stephen Hawking is only a symptom

As Zionists gnash their teeth over Stephen Hawking's embrace of BDS, and Israel-haters celebrate their victory, it it worthwhile to take a step back to understand how Hawking might have come to such a position.

After all, as smart as Hawking is, his ability to access original information about the Middle East is quite

limited. Almost certainly a large percentage of his time online is simply dealing with email, and his assistants are almost certainly filtering even that. It is not like Hawking can take a few weeks off to double-check the veracity of articles about the Middle East in British media, or even the many emails he was probably bombarded with from the BDSers when it was announced that he would attend a conference in Israel.

Hawking is a product of his environment, and his ability to go beyond the conventional wisdom in anything besides physics is severely constrained. Which means that Hawking's knowledge of Israel is filtered through the conventional wisdom of Britain.

In the most recent Pew Global Attitudes poll, we see that 44% of the British have an unfavorable attitude towards Israel, and only 34% have a favorable attitude.

When asked which side they sympathize with more, 19% were on the Israeli side and 35% sympathized more with the Palestinian Arab side. Even more telling, in 2002, while Israelis were being blown up every couple of days from suicide bombs, the British were only 17% sympathetic towards Israel compared to 28% for Palestinian Arabs.

A most telling episode occurred in 2001, when the French ambassador to England referred to Israel during a dinner party as "that shitty little country." The British, rather than being upset at the ambassador, tended to rally around him, with an op-ed in the Independent supporting the statement and other in the Guardian and the Observer all far more angry at the Jewish woman who revealed the comment than the French ambassador who made it.

This was hardly an anomaly. Only days after 9/11, Richard Ingrams wrote in The Observer:

The mountain of words and pictures last week mirrored the piles of rubble in New York. Like the rescue workers there, one waded in trying to find something that was alive, that would illuminate and explain what had happened.

Noticeable was the reluctance throughout the media to contemplate the Israeli factor - the undeniable and central fact behind the disaster that Israel is now and has been for some time an American colony, sustained by billions of American dollars and armed with American missiles, helicopters and tanks.

Such has been the pressure from the Israeli lobby in this country that many, even normally outspoken journalists, are reluctant even to refer to such matters. Nor would you find anywhere in last week's coverage, any reference whatever to things I have mentioned here in recent issues of The Observer: the fact, for example, that Mr Blair's adviser on the Middle East is an unelected, unknown Jewish businessman, Lord Levy, now installed in the Foreign Office; the fact that this same Lord Levy is the chief fundraiser for the Labour Party; unmentioned also would be the close business links with Israel of two of our most powerful press magnates, Rupert Murdoch and the newly ennobled owner of the Telegraph newspapers, Lord Conrad Black....

Yes, Ingrams' first reaction to the 9/11 attacks was that it must obviously be Israel's fault.

There is no shortage of writings about British anti-Zionism and, yes, the related British anti-semitism. From the pages of The Guardian to members of the Church of England, virulent anti-Israel and more subtle anti-semitic statements have been becoming more and more mainstream and accepted. The fact is that the environment in Great Britain is turning increasingly toxic against anyone showing sympathy, or empathy, with the Jewish state.

No doubt, the genesis of this hate is complex, from historic British antisemitism through antipathy towards Zionist Jews during the last years of the British Mandate of Palestine, plus the increasing influence of socialism and its concomitant anti-Zionism.

In a nation that has embraced the false themes of unlimited Israeli evil and absolute Palestinian Arab victimhood, can we expect people to suspect that they are being fed a diet of lies? Finding out the truth takes time; it takes effort, and it takes commitment, all resources that most people cannot be bothered with. If their newspaper says that Israel is the intransigent party, who will spend the time to research the other side? Who would even consider that there is another side?

We read reports about British anti-Zionism and think that it is a shame, but they are abstract. It takes a Stephen Hawking for us to realize that the torrent of lies and half-truths about Israel does affect and poison the minds of real people, even smart people.

In such an environment, how could we expect Stephen Hawking to think differently? Why would he doubt the hundreds of emails he probably received, many illustrated with seemingly authoritative maps showing Zionist expansionism and fake quotes showing Zionist depravity? He simply has little or no exposure to anything but anti-Zionism and no real ability to check the veracity of the propaganda he and his fellow countrymen have been force-fed for decades.

Hawking isn't the problem. His decision is the result of a much bigger problem, of an entire nation - actually, an entire continent - that cannot be bothered with the truth because of years of being brainwashed with simplistic and false notions of an evil Jewish Goliath and the saintly Arab David.

South Africa haters upset that students who disrupted concert are being charged

Remember the concert by pianist Yossi Reshef that was stopped by Israel-haters who broke into the concert hall and jumped on the stage? A reminder:

Guests and the audience arriving for the concert, were manhandled, shoved by the student protesters and utterly traumatised - some were in tears and shaking.

What values do we espouse at Wits? We talk glibly about freedom to express oneself. A protest does not mean freedom to smash windows to get into the basement, nor does it mean breaking the door to the Atrium, so that a mob can break through into the hall where a civilised classical music concert was in progress.

The music department was assured that the public and the students at the concert would be protected. A group of wellmeaning but utterly helpless security guards could not control the mob.

Our music students were traumatised by the swearing, threats and intimidations in the Atrium when the mob burst in screaming and with vuvuzelas and went berserk.

Is this the kind of freedom for which Wits stands? Is this the kind of message that Wits sends out to the public - that if we don’t like something we are entitled to disrupt and destroy it? Of course the concert had to stop. This was not a political rally - it was a concert.

The haters, naturally, are being brought up on charges by the university for their crimes. But their comrades seem to feel that violently stopping a pianist from playing is considered "free speech" and is something to be admired!

From Business Day Live (South Africa:)

CONGRESS of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Friday added to a call for the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) to drop charges of violating its code of conduct against students who disrupted a concert by an Israeli pianist.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the Wits campus in Johannesburg on Friday to demand that the university’s management call off disciplinary hearings, scheduled for next week, against 11 current and former members of its Students’ Representative Council (SRC) who disrupted an on-campus concert by Israeli pianist Yossi Reshef in March.

The concert, which took place during international "Israeli Apartheid Week", was cancelled after 15 minutes after students from, among other organisations, the SRC and the African National Congress Youth League took to the stage in solidarity with Palestinians.

Speaking at the protest, Mr Vavi said that former president Nelson Mandela "would be shocked to hear that students were harassed and now charged by this university". Wits had a proud history of not being intimidated by the apartheid regime and now risked being an instrument of "Zionist racists", he said.

Protesters on Friday handed over a memorandum demanding an immediate end to the charges to Wits management.

In Vavi's memo, we see a master of Orwellian rhetroric:

We stand here, in a free, democratic and post-apartheid South Africa, to affirm our unequivocal support for the right of all people to engage in peaceful resistance in defence of their rights and those of others.

We therefore condemn in the strongest terms the fact that Wits University has charged 11 students (9 of them SRC Members) for participating in an SRC-led protest at the Israeli Embassy-sponsored piano concert in which an Israeli (publicly admitted Zionist) was performing. [The concert was not sponsored by the Israel Embassy, by the way - EoZ]

This concert, and the protest, happened during the Israeli Apartheid Week campaign, which the SRC participated in and endorses. Now, the charges have left our comrades in great fear of being expelled and thus losing their careers. Students learn not only academically, but also through their active participation in extra-mural and political or social mobilisation for the cause of the greater society in which they live. They can't isolate themselves from the conditions surrounding them and their people, within and outside their own immediate boundaries.

The university seeks to demobilize the growing BDS movement and opposition to its silence and complicity with Israel and its actions. We should applaud the student leadership of their bravery and conviction to defend and fight for justice, in particular their opposition to Israeli Apartheid, and voicing their frustration when any complicity is shown by the university authorities on their own campus.

We condemn the university's response of targeting student leadership by charging them. This is not only wrong and undermines the fundamental right to protest, but an indication that the university dismisses the legitimate claims and demands of the students.

Get that? Israelis, and Zionists, have no right to speech, to play music publicly or indeed to be treated like human beings. The students who broke through police lines, broke windows and doors to force themselves in, violently disrupted the concert, intimidated the audience and guests, and terrorized the artist should not only not be charged - they should be admired! But they must not suffer any consequences for breaking the law. That would be wrong.

How liberal!

Luckily, some students at Wits are not falling for this hypocrisy:

Dear Wits Student

I love my University , but I do not love what is happening to it.....

I love my University so much I spent two years homeless and hungry trying to raise money to continue my education, and now I am worried about this great institution, I am sure you are too....

The student representative council, has chosen to ignore the 'R' in SRC, they have chosen to turn our University into their political playground at the expense of our issues.

To be blunt, I do not care about Israel and or Palestine, I am a hungry poor black man and I have more immediate issues that bother me, issues like my inability to buy text books, my inability to raise printing money, issues such as the crowded libraries with few computers, issues such as the Kudu buck machines with no coin slots for the poor students.

I have not heard the SRC speak of these issues for the past three months, all they have been making noise about is the Israel Palestine issue, which is not immediate to me.

Other students have different issues,...

Today the SRC tells us they are fighting for us, for the right to protest, yet the truth is they are telling half the story. They may have a right to protest, but the jewish students also have a right to congregate without being bullied or disrupted. JEWS ARE STUDENTS TOO, THEY DESERVE REPRESENTATION TOO....

Representation requires listening and speaking for all students!

The SRC is not the toy of political parties to be used to divide us and to advance your personal ambition. Your job is not to serve some of us , but all of us.

You do not represent yourselves, or only the palestinian students, your job is to represent all of us....and you have not done that. ...

As a student I feel unrepresented by you, I feel ignored by you, but more importantly I feel like you have come to harm the institution I have sweated blood and tears to be a part of....

You have eroded unity, you have disrupted peaceful gatherings and caused commotion at our University....and you have done this in my name as a student....but I NEVER GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO ....

With love
a Concerned Wits student

We live in a Bizarro world where up is down, black is white, free speech is oppression and violent oppression is freedom.

I have a feeling that the students will not be punished at all. Bullying Jews and Zionists will be considered a human right in parts of South Africa.

Kristallnacht cannot be far behind.

(h/t StevenZ)

Arab Muslim girls enjoying river rafting in Israel (poster)

Latest in my "Apartheid?" poster series:

(h/t Israel Muse)

Fifth anniversary of the death of a woman who saved thousands of Jewish lives

Exactly five years ago today, Irena Sendler passed away at the age of 98.

If you have never heard of this remarkable woman, here is a description from AP upon her death:

[Irina] Sendler was a 29-year-old social worker with the city's welfare department when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, launching World War II. Warsaw's Jews were
forced into a walled-off ghetto.

Seeking to save the ghetto's children, Sendler masterminded risky rescue operations. Under the pretext of inspecting sanitary conditions during a typhoid outbreak, she and her assistants ventured inside the ghetto -- and smuggled out babies and small children in ambulances and in trams, sometimes wrapped up as packages.

Teenagers escaped by joining teams of workers forced to labor outside the ghetto. They were placed in families, orphanages, hospitals or convents.

"Irena was truly a noble lady and a great humanitarian who helped save thousands of children," said Stanlee Stahl, executive vice president of the New York-based Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

Records show that Sendler's team of about 20 people saved nearly 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto between October 1940 and its final liquidation in April 1943, when the Nazis burned the ghetto, shooting the residents or sending them to death camps.

"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory," Sendler said in 2007 in a letter to the Polish Senate after lawmakers honored her efforts in 2007.

In hopes of one day uniting the children with their families -- most of whom perished in the Nazis' death camps -- Sendler wrote the children's real names on slips of paper that she kept at home.

When German police came to arrest her in 1943, an assistant managed to hide the slips, which Sendler later buried in a jar under an apple tree in an associate's yard. Some 2,500 names were recorded.

"It took a true miracle to save a Jewish child," Elzbieta Ficowska, who was saved by Sendler's team as a baby in 1942, recalled in an AP interview in 2007. "Mrs. Sendler saved not only us, but also our children and grandchildren and the generations to come."

Anyone caught helping Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland risked being summarily shot, along with family members -- a fate Sendler only barely escaped herself after the 1943 raid by the Gestapo.

The Nazis took her to the notorious Pawiak prison, which few people left alive. Gestapo agents tortured her repeatedly, leaving Sendler with scars on her body -- but she refused to betray her team.

"I kept silent. I preferred to die than to reveal our activity," she was quoted as saying in Anna Mieszkowska's biography, "Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Story of Irena Sendler."

Zegota, an underground organization helping Jews, paid a bribe to German guards to free her from the prison. Under a different name, she continued her work.

After World War II, Sendler worked as a social welfare official and director of vocational schools, continuing to assist some of the children she rescued.

"A great person has died -- a person with a great heart, with great organizational talents, a person who always stood on the side of the weak," Warsaw Ghetto survivor Marek Eldeman told TVN24 television.

In 1965, Sendler became one of the first so-called Righteous Gentiles honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem for wartime heroics. Poland's communist leaders at that time would not allow her to travel to Israel; she collected the award in 1983.

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said Sender's "courageous activities rescuing Jews during the Holocaust serve as a beacon of light to the world, inspiring hope and restoring faith in the innate goodness of mankind."

Despite the Yad Vashem honor, Sendler was largely forgotten in her homeland until recent years. She came to the world's attention in 2000 when a group of schoolgirls from Uniontown, Kan., wrote a short play about her called "Life in a Jar."

It went on to garner international attention, and has been performed more than 200 times in the United States, Canada and Poland.

Amazingly, this isn't everything. Even before the Warsaw Ghetto, at the outbreak of the war, Sendler created some 3000 false documents to save Jews.

Her story was dramatized in this movie:

The story of the play about her, Life in a Jar, written by high school students in Unionville, Kansas who researched her in the 1990s, is also very worthwhile reading. Here is a 2002 news report about the play:

The Irena Sendler Project which includes information about her life and the play is funded by the Lowell Milken Center.

Sunday Links

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: If You Think America Should Go to War in Syria You Haven't Been Paying Attention

Don’t get me wrong. On balance, I’d like to see the Assad regime fall and to see an end to the suffering of Syrian civilians. From a strategic standpoint, though, the fact that the Sunni and Shia Islamists—who both want to destroy U.S. interests and wipe Israel off the map—are battling in Syria may not be the worst thing in the world.

Prosor warns UN to rein in Hezbollah

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor on Friday warned that the transfer of “game changing weapons” from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon threatens to “plunge the entire region into instability and violence.”
Addressing a UN Security Council meeting on counter-terrorism, Prosor further lambasted several European countries for refusing to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, saying that “one does not need to be Mother Theresa to realize that [Hezbollah] is not a social organization.”

EU threatens pullout of south Lebanon peacekeepers

The European Union has threatened to remove its troops from UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, unless the Lebanese government improves the security situation in the area.

UN says 4 peacekeepers held by Syria rebels freed

Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino UN peacekeepers they abducted last week, a military spokesman in the Philippines said.
The four, seized Tuesday, were apparently unharmed, but will undergo a medical checkup and stress debriefing, said Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan.
Al-Jazeera reported on Sunday that the men were transferred to Israel.

Galloway: Israel supports Al-Qaeda
British Member of Parliament chirps up conspiracy crackpottery from his Press TV pulpit

Apparently, Israel is working with Al-Qaeda to help bring down the Assad regime. Yes. Apparently Israel is stupid enough to arm a terrorist group that would arguably work much harder to wipe the Jewish state off the map than Assad's lot ever did.

IRS Punished Conservative Non-Profits, Perhaps Also Pro-Israel Groups

After repeatedly denying it was targeting conservative groups for unfair treatment, the IRS admitted it was treating politically conservative groups in inappropriate ways. A pro-Israel group sued the IRS in 2010 for the same (and worse) conduct.
For example, in 2010, the passionately pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was “connected to Israel,” its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny. This admission was made in response to a query about the lengthy reveiw of Z STREET’s tax exempt status application.
In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.”

Soldiers: We've Capitulated to Rock Throwers
Report: number of soldiers injured by rocks is soaring but they are not allowed to open fire.

Writing in the web magazine Mida, Erez Tadmor says that in the past week, since the grave injury of Yaakov Zlatkin at the hands of an Arab mob, he has spoken with dozens of officers and soldiers who all said the same thing: The health and security of Jews who live in Judea and Samaria, as well as those of the soldiers who are supposed to guard them, have been left to the mercy of the enemy.

American stabbed in Cairo for "Being American" identified as lefty anti-zionist academic Chris Stone

Stone is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and writes frequently against Zionism

Cairo says thwarts suicide attack on embassy

Egyptian security forces thwarted an al-Qaida-linked group's plan to carry out a suicide attack on a foreign embassy and captured several militants, the interior minister said on Saturday.
Mohamed Ibrahim, speaking in a televised news conference, declined to say which embassy had been targeted. He named three suspected members of the cell now under arrest.

Turkey arrests nine in connection to deadly bombings

46 reported dead and 50 still hospitalized from Saturday blasts; Turkish officials blame Syrian intelligence for attacks; Syria denies allegations

One arrested as plot to assasinate Patriarch Bartholomew uncovered

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I on the 560th anniversary of the conquest of İstanbul by the Ottomans, with police arresting one suspect and still seeking two others.

To get money, Marmara families must drop demands

Turkish Deputy PM says negotiators are trying to get up to 20 times the amount requested in court, but victims must waive civil suits

"Business Insider" names 20 hottest Israeli start ups

"Business Insider" yesterday listed Israel's 20 hottest start-up, and praised the country's developed start-up industry. "By some counts, Israel is home to 4,800 startups today. It's also home to least two dozen accelerator/incubator programs in the Tel Aviv area, alone, including some run by Microsoft and Google," it says, adding, "As a startup hub, Israel is second only to Silicon Valley

SodaStream raises guidance on strong Q1 results

SodaStream has raised its full-year revenue guidance to $554.1 million (27% growth over $436.3 million revenue in 2012) from $545.4 million ($25% growth over 2012). The company also raised its non-GAAP net profit growth forecast to 27% from 25%, to $63.5 million from $62.5 million, compared with a net profit of $50 million in 2012.

Morgan Freeman Presented With The Jake Eberts Key Of Knowledge Award By Canadian Friends Of The Hebrew University Of Jerusalem

Event raised $2 million for Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada
Last night Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman was honoured with the Jake Eberts Key of Knowledge Award at a gala reception hosted by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (CFHU). The award celebrates Freeman's dedication to combating racism and promoting knowledge and education worldwide. The gala was held at the Toronto Centre for the Arts and was attended by more than 700 guests.

Siege! Hamas blocks human rights workers from leaving Gaza

From PCHR:

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the decision of Internal Security Services (ISS), stationed at Beit Hanoun Crossing (Erez), to prevent lawyer Eyad al-Alami, PCHR's Deputy Director for Legal Affairs, and lawyer Mohammed Bseiso from traveling to the West Bank this morning. The two lawyers were leaving for an official mission related to PCHR’s Legal affairs. PCHR calls upon the government in Gaza to intervene in order to put an end to these illegal measures and unjustified decisions which restrict the constitutionally guaranteed right of civilians to freedom of movement, and to ensure respect for the right freedom of movement. PCHR also calls upon the Government to allow people to move freely, especially, in light of restrictions imposed on Palestinian civilians’ movement by the Israeli forces.

At approximately 11:00 on Sunday, 12 May 2013, Mr. Eyad al-Alami and Mohammed Bseiso arrived at the checkpoint of the Ministry of Interior near Beit Hanoun crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, and handed their ID cards to an officer in order to complete the procedures of traveling to the West bank. Al-Alami and Bseiso were on their way in an official mission related to following up legal cases of victims of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip; prisoners held in Israeli jails; medical referrals of patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment abroad, and; other humanitarian cases. The aforementioned officer asked the PCHR’s staff members to wait. After approximately half an hour he told them that they were prevented from traveling and that they had to refer to the Ministry of Interior in Gaza for obtaining a travel permit.

The evil Israelis gave them permission to travel through Israel to visit the West Bank. The "democratically elected" Hamas leaders of Gaza blocked them.

The "Free Gaza" movement is, naturally, silent.

VIDEO: Lebanese TV shows Gaza luxury, slams Hamas (EoZ exclusive)

Lebanon's OTV is owned by a Christian party that is allied with Hezbollah, so this very interesting video shows Iran's displeasure at Hamas' non-support of Bashir Assad's regime in Syria.

The report apparently aired May 9. It was publicized in anti-Hamas Palestinian Arab media.

Reporter: Those who don’t know Gaza don’t know that it has Movenpick, Rotana, and other expensive hotels. Those who don’t know Gaza don’t know that Western Union, Money Express and other financial and banking services are available for Gazans on every street. Those who don’t know Gaza don’t know that some fishermen have changed the flags from those of Palestine to those of Qatar. Those who don’t know Gaza don’t know that the price of some apartments in the Rimal neighborhood are the same as the price of an apartment in the Rauche neighborhood in Beirut (an upscale neighborhood in Beirut).

Woman in car: They came/returned from Syria and Lebanon.

Reporter: Here all pre-conceived notions are gone.

Reporter to worker: Where are those goods from?
Worker: Israel.
Reporter: You mean from occupied Palestine.
Worker: Yes, occupied Palestine.
Reporter: What are those goods?
Worker: Poultry.
Reporter: How does it arrive? Is it brought by Palestinian, “Palestinians of ‘48” [Israeli Arabs] or what?
Worker: No, directly from the Jews.
Reporter: Maybe they poisoned it.
Worker: No, no, no.
Reporter: What guarantees that they didn’t poison it?
Worker: We checked it.
Reporter: You "checked it” (sarcastic)

Reporter: Their cars, currency, their food and much of the things they need come from the factories of the Israeli occupier enemy, and they don’t object, and they don’t have a choice.

Reporter: You use shekels only?
Man: Yes. That’s what is used.

Reporter: Those who haven’t visited Gaza which is ruled by Hamas, haven’t seen the “shahids” and the people killed who died in Syria fighting the regime which protected, embraced and provided weapons to and helped Hamas previously. The Syrian regime has become a target which (Hamas) fights, while it promised the (Muslim)Brothers of Egypts to uphold the ceasefire with Israel.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)