Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Another scandalous session of the UNHRC By Anne Bayefsky

It is opening week of another session of the UN’s top human rights body, the UN Human Rights Council, and anti-Semitism will once again be promoted around the globe via an organization built on the ashes of the Jewish people and sworn to hatred’s eradication.

Fighting anti-Semitism with subtlety - and vision

Analyzing this soft anti-Semitism, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former US ambassador to the UN and New York’s liberal Democratic Senator for 24 years, lamented decades ago that “anti-Semitism has become a unifying global ideology of the totalitarian Left. An intense propaganda campaign, begun in the Soviet Union in the 1970s... was designed to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel by explicitly compar[ing] Zionism to Nazism.”

PM lashes out at ‘anti-Semitic’ Israel critics

“What is fashionable today is to say: ‘Well, I don’t hate Jews – I just don’t think they should have a state’ or, effectively, that their state is an illegitimate one that doesn’t have a right to exist,” said Netanyahu, asserting that to deny the Jewish people’s right to a state was anti-Semitic.

France arrests six in connection to Toulouse shooting

French police on Tuesday arrested six men suspected of being accomplices of Islamist terrorist Mohammed Merah.
Four of the suspects were arrested in Toulouse, where last March the 23-year-old radical shot and killed a rabbi and three Jewish children outside their school, just days after killing three French soldiers

French university slammed for play featuring Goldberg, the greedy money dealer

She was reacting to a statement by Richard Prasquier, former president of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jewish communities, who said a theater play entitled “Your Children’s Role in the Global Economic Recovery” was “grossly anti-Semitic.”
“How else would one describe a play in which a greedy money dealer called Goldberg presses a family to invest their life savings in repugnant causes,” Prasquier wrote. He added that the play included a reference to two Nazi-hunters named “Cohen 1 and Cohen 2,” who abandon their cause for cash.

Robert De Niro to visit Israel in June

Robert De Niro, considered one of the greatest American actors of all times, will arrive in Israel next month to attend the Israeli Presidential Conference and take part in President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday celebrations, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned.

Anything’s possible

Yityish “Titi” Aynaw was crowned this year as the first Ethiopian-born Miss Israel.
She was also picked by The Jerusalem Post last week as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. Aynaw joins a list that includes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the US Treasury Secretary, the founder of Google, and supermodel Bar Rafaeli. The fact that Aynaw appears on this list is proof that immigrants are successfully integrating into Israeli society.

University of Haifa to mark Christian, Arab holidays

The University of Haifa will become the first Israeli university to give days off to the student body for Christian and Arab holidays.
The university senate voted Sunday to give off for Christmas; Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan; and Eid al-Adha, the Druze Feast of the Sacrifice, Haaretz reported. A special committee with student representation had recommended the action.

Righteous Gentile Honored Following Work of Kansas Teens

A walkway in Warsaw has been named in honor of a Polish woman who is credited with saving 2,5000 Jewish children during the Holocaust, after students in Kansas succeeded in bringing the story of the righteous gentile to the attention of Polish officials.

Jewish Writer Howard Jacobson Presented with a Pig at Literary Festival (VIDEO)

Jacobson, who is British, was presented with a pet pig at the Telegraph Hay Festival as part of his winnings for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction.
Speaking to a reporter, Jacobson said that as a Jew, he took no umbrage with the Festival’s choice of gift.

Top 12 new fruit and vegetables species developed in Israel

Since the first half of the 20th century, Israeli agricultural wizards have been partnering with Mother Nature to bring new fruit and vegetable varieties to the global market, from vividly colored squash to seedless peppers.
Every year, Israel exports more than $2 billion worth of produce – tomatoes are its fourth-largest commodity — and is among the world’s top developers of better-looking, better-tasting, disease-resistant and more nutritious varieties.

Qatar seeking to bolster trade ties with Israel

Coming to promote high-tech cooperation, Prince Khalifa Al-Thani’s upcoming visit will mark the first official stopover in Israel by Qatar royalty.

Controlling Emergency Relief from the Sheltered War Room

However, there is another side to air raid drills, and that is a practice session for the emergency services that would be needed in case the drills turned into reality.
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency rescue service, relied upon for ambulance and cardiac emergency needs, took the opportunity to practice their war routines very seriously. Arutz Sheva went to MDA's sheltered war emergency control room to see how the preparation for response to ABC - atomic, biological and chemical - attacks is organized.

IDF Blog: IDF Soldiers Assist Palestinian Farmers


Israel Daily Picture: Journal Article Abstract: The Zionist Message Hidden within Antique Pictures of the Holy Land

A 110-year-old trove of pictures taken by the Christian photographers of the American Colony in Jerusalem provides dramatic proof of thriving Jewish communities in Palestine.
Hundreds of pictures show the ancient Jewish community of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Jewish pioneers and builders of new towns and settlements in the Galilee and along the Mediterranean coastline. The American Colony photographers recorded Jewish holy sites, holiday scenes and customs, and they had a special reason for focusing their lenses on Yemenite Jews.

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Iran's PressTV finds pro-Assad protesters in Tunisia

I found this report from Iran's PressTV to be amusing:

Tunisians have held a demonstration in the capital, Tunis, in protest against the presence of foreign-backed militants in Syria, Press TV reports.

Politicians, students and human rights activists as well as the family members of young men recruited by foreign-sponsored armed groups in Syria gathered in front of the foreign affairs ministry building to voice support for Damascus.

The protesters slammed foreign countries for “interfering” in Syria’s internal affairs.

“Qatar is the base for this Zionist project. It is financing terrorists while Saudi Arabia is arming them. They are killing innocent civilians in order to empower Israel and its allies,” a protester said.

The demonstrators also called for the resumption of diplomatic ties between Tunisia and Syria.

“The Zionist imperialistic project is clear. Israel and its allies want to divide the Muslim world and to occupy Syria, but this scenario will never happen. We call for the return of the Syrian ambassador to Tunisia,” the Popular Committee to Support Syria’s Khadija Belhaj said.

Another demonstrator asked the Syrian government to release his mentally-retarded son who was recruited by militants in the Arab country.

Demonstrators also expressed their support for resistance against Israel.

“Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria are the last line of resistance against the Zionist enemies. Israeli conspiracy will not break the will of freedom fighters…,” Tunisian scholar Mohamed Abdel Adhim said.

Those Qatari and Saudi Zionists strike again!

It is telling that Iran's major rhetorical weapon is still using anti-Israel feeling, clueless that most Arabs have higher priorities nowadays.

Notice also that Hamas is off Iran's list of "resistance" to Israel. It is only a matter of time before they are considered Zionist as well.

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Report :Saudi businessman offers $10 million to kill Nasrallah

Assabeel and other Arabic media are reporting that a wealthy Saudi businessman has offered $10 million to anyone who killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Abdullah Mohammed Al Anzi, who is a supporter and financier of the Syrian rebels, has already reportedly donated some 30 million Saudi rials to the rebels. The reports say that Anzi offered the bounty for Nasrallah's head, and will even pay up if the killer is a Shiite.

I don't know if he would pay the IDF for assassinating Nasrallah. Some things are beyond the pale, after all.

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Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Problem of Muslim Leadership

I've seen this before. A Muslim terrorist slays a non-Muslim citizen in the West, and representatives of the Muslim community rush to dissociate themselves and their faith from the horror. After British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death last week in Woolwich in south London, Julie Siddiqi, representing the Islamic Society of Britain, quickly stepped before the microphones to attest that all good Muslims were "sickened" by the attack, "just like everyone else."
This happens every time. Muslim men wearing suits and ties, or women wearing stylish headscarves, are sent out to reassure the world that these attacks have no place in real Islam, that they are aberrations and corruptions of the true faith.

Dutch school stalls Shoah memorial to avoid vandalism

Last week, the De Telegraaf daily reported that the school dropped the plan following objections by local residents who said a Holocaust plaque might not be acceptable to some members of Schilderswijk’s sizable Muslim population, but Brasjen said he was not aware of such objections.

Barry Rubin: Can the U.S. Government Buy Moderation in the Middle East? No!

Can the Obama Administration turn radicals into moderates with money?
Way back in 1979, shortly after the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said that people in the West didn't understand revolutionary Islamism. "They think," he explained, "the revolution is all about the price of watermelons. It isn't." In other words, this is an ideological cause not a money-making attempt where people can be bribed.

Netanyahu: We Anticipate a Deterioration

Israel is gearing up for a deterioration in the regional situation, with a growing number of new threats facing the Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports.
Netanyahu made the comments as he watched an exercise simulating the response to a chemical attack on a residential neighborhood in Jerusalem as part of an annual civil defense drill.

92nd St. Y to Embrace Another Israel Hater: Alice Walker

In addition to lots of other anti-Israel activity, Alice Walker was front and center with Roger Waters as the two of them attempted to block Carnegie Hall from hosting the Israeli Philharmonic in October, 2012. Now Alice Walker is scheduled to appear at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday, May 30.

Guardian provides PR for failing BDS campaign against EU football championship in Israel

Whilst this campaign, like so many other abysmal attempts to isolate Israel by the anti-Zionist left, will certainly fail, it’s important to contextualize BDS in all of its manifestations as the political derivative of various Arab (and Soviet) led boycotts which have been used for many decades as weapons in the war against Israel. In its modern incarnation BDS represents the main component of the “Durban strategy” – adopted by the NGO Forum of the UN’s Durban Conference (2001) – adopted by pro-Palestinian groups to completely isolate Israel by promoting economic, academic, cultural and even (as in this case) sporting boycotts of Israel.

CAMERA: Financial Times Fantasy Air Strikes in Ramallah

You don't need to live in Ramallah, or travel weekly to Gaza, Hebron, Nablus and Jerusalem, to know that there have been no air strikes in Ramallah -- random or otherwise -- in something like 10 years. And with all due respect to Hill, his "good perspective" does not stretch back that far. According to the article, he and his wife arrived in Israel in May 2012, moved on to Ramallah sometime later. A photo caption at the top of the article (see screen capture below) repeats the false claim that there are air strikes in Ramallah.

3-Year-Old Critically Wounded in Rock Attack Released from Hospital

Three-year-old Adelle Biton of the West Bank Jewish community of Yakir, who was critically wounded in an Arab rock attack two-and-a-half months ago near the city of Ariel, was released from Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikva on Sunday, Israel International News reported. According to the report, her life is no longer in danger, though she is only partially conscious.

Abbas’ Adviser Calls Israel-PA High-Tech Meeting ‘Unacceptable’

The adviser, Sabri Saydam, told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency that Palestinian Authority companies should reconsider their participation and “give priority to Palestinian interests.”
He added that the companies should not act independently of the PA union of high-tech firms.
What could be wrong about Israeli and PA high-tech companies talking to each other, especially since officials from 11 high-tech companies, including Microsoft and Cisco, are to attend?

Hamas to Abbas: ‘Abducting soldiers is at the heart of our culture’

The kidnapping of IDF soldiers is at the heart of Palestinian culture, a military Hamas spokesman said on Tuesday, responding to a speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in which Abbas called such abductions alien to Palestinian norms.

Report: Obama Asks for Plan for No-Fly Zone Over Syria

The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria that would be enforced by the U.S. and other countries such as France and Great Britain, two administration officials told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Report: 'Solid Proof' of Assad's Chemical Weapons Use

Reporters working with the French paper Le Monde may have solid proof that chemical weapons were used in Syria. The reporters spent several weeks with rebels on the front lines of Syria’s bloody civil war, and returned with samples of weapons used by President Bashar Assad’s army.

Syrian rebels near Israel border stole UN’s armored trucks

A Syrian rebel group that twice abducted United Nations peacekeepers near the Israeli border in the past three months stole several UN vehicles, a UN Peacekeeping spokesperson acknowledged to The Times of Israel — including at least two sophisticated armored personnel carriers.
An Israeli expert warned that the sophisticated UN-marked vehicles could be used in surprise border attacks on IDF targets.

BBC trumpets Hizballah narrative of ‘resistance’

The move by EU countries to finally designate Hizballah as a terrorist organization is, of course, both necessary and long overdue. Whilst Jonathan Marcus’ analysis of the reasons behind that shift may be useful, the fact that he is apparently unable to avoid the temptation of adopting and promoting the terrorist organisation’s own narrative with regard to the euphemism of “resistance” does not enhance BBC audience’s understanding of Hizballah or the basis for its designation.

Nasrallah's worn out rhetoric

Now, as Assad, the Iranians and Hezbollah slaughter Syrians and Palestinians, Nasrallah has become a farce whose time is over. The Sunni Arabs expect the West to eliminate Iran, Assad and Nasrallah for them. Israel must not intervene because there is a good chance that this axis will crumble on its own.

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World's oldest complete Torah scroll discovered in Bologna

A fascinating story:

A professor at the University of Bologna has discovered the oldest complete Torah scroll in the world in the University Library of Bologna.

The document, "Rotolo 2" (Scroll 2), which contains the complete text of Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy - was handwritten on sheepskin parchment between 1155 and 1225 AD.

Mauro Perani, professor of Hebrew studies at the University of Bologna, was examining the manuscript for the library's new catalogue when he realised that even though it was dated 17th century it was, in fact, much older.

He came to that conclusion, he said, because the handwriting "was very old and of oriental origin".

"[The text] did not respect the basic rules of Maimonides, who in the 12th century fixed the rabbinic legislation as far as Pentateuch writing is concerned," he said, according to local reports.

According to the professor, the document, which measures 36cm x 64cm [this is a typo, they meant 36 meters - EoZ], contains "letters and signs prohibited" after Maimonides' codification. He confirmed that the manuscript's value amounts to €1m.

Further authentication tests with Carbon-14 by the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Department of Engineering of Innovation at the University of Salento confirmed the professor's conviction.

The document had been mistakenly catalogued by Leonello Modona in 1889 as belonging to the 17th century due to its "awkward handwriting".

The library has started implementing measures to preserve and safeguard the manuscript. It will be photographed and handed over for further studies to experts in a digital form.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Maimonides' laws of writing a Torah to know what rules were violated.

From the poor quality images, though, it is clear that the Torah looks fundamentally like the Torahs in use today.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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Bizarre "Palestinian history" argument between Arabs

In Assabeel, Abdullah Azzak quotes a paper by Muslim Brotherhood personality Professor Abdel Fattah Dukhan. Given at a conference on Palestinian Arab issues, Dukhan argues that the ancient Canaanites were Arabs who fiercely defended their land from the invading Hebrew hordes and held off the invasion for 140 years before David conquered Jerusalem and the Jews occupied this Arab land (way before the Arabs came from, um, Arabia.)

Azzak is pained at this view of history, especially coming from the Muslim Brotherhood. To him, this argument ignores the holiness of the Land of Palestine and Dukhan is ignoring the Quran.

You see, Allah did promise the land to Abraham - who was, of course, Muslim. All the prophets who followed him - Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jesus - were Muslim too, and they understood the importance of Palestine to the Muslim people. The Hebrews were an Arab tribe and their language is just a variant of Arabic.

The Quran says that David was not a Jewish king but a Muslim as well, and it describes his conquering Palestine as a great event. How can Dukhan ignore this clear Quranic fact??

Today's Jews are not the descendants of the holy prophets of old. Today's Jews are all Khazars, as everyone knows. Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, and Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shikaki, and Fatah leader Abu Jihad, are the real descendants of Abraham and the other prophets who Allah promised Palestine to, says Azzak.

You see? It is a fundamental disagreement between people who believe history from a book of myths and those who create their own modern myths.

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The PLO was founded as an antisemitic movement

Ma'an reports:

President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday hailed the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the most significant event in Palestinian people's history.

"(Ahmad) Shuqeiri was asked to figure out what the Palestinians wanted, and he returned with the convention for the PLO," Abbas said at a meeting to mark the 49th anniversary of the PLO's founding.

"We should remind ourselves that this is the most important and significant event in the history of the Palestinian people," the president added.

It is nice that Abbas is admitting that the "Palestinian people" aren't very ancient. What other people who have been around for millennia would say that their most significant event was the founding of an organization in 1964? Imagine the Greeks saying that the most important event in their history was something so trite and recent.

However, this anniversary gives us the opportunity to revisit the original PLO charter, which stated:

Article 24: This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area.

According to the PLO, areas occupied by Arabs were already "liberated." Only the parts controlled by Jews were meant to be targeted to obtain their goals. 

Curiously, the words "state" and "independence" are also missing from the charter in relationship with its goals. So is any mention of an ancient and historic Palestinian Arab people.

If the original goal of the PLO was not to create a state, not to be independent, and not even to re-establish an ancient homeland, then what was its raison d'être?

The answer can be seen in Article 18:

Article 18:...The claims of historic and spiritual ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism, because it is a divine religion, is not a nationality with independent existence.

All this is proof positive that the establishment of the PLO, the "most important and significant event in the history of the Palestinian people," was not concerned with creating a nation - but in denying one from the Jewish people. And this stance continues to this day by Palestinian Arab leaders.

In other words, the founding principle of the PLO was not nationhood, it was not independence, it was not an appeal to historic ties of a "people" to the land.

It was simple antisemitism.

And the mindset that created that document has not changed one bit since then.

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Video: Fistfight in Jordan's parliament (updated)

The argument was over electricity subsidies should be reduced, which was the topic being covered at the podium.

UPDATE: Husam points to a better angle:

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Partying naked "Satanists" arrested in Saudi Arabia

Emirates 24/7 reports:

Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police arrested 30 people, including Westerners and Saudis, after they were caught having a mixed-gender party involving nude persons, alcohol, drugs, sex and “Satanic rituals,” a newspaper reported on Monday.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided a night camp outside the capital Riyadh lit by movie-inspired fire torches and seized 30 people from 11 nationalities, some of whom were totally naked.

Sabq newspaper, quoting a Commission member, said three men were caught having sex with women inside a tent while others were seized with drugs.

“They were having drugs and alcoholic drinks and some of them were moving and dancing to strange music,” the paper quoted the unnamed member as saying.

“Many of them were dancing around a fire as part of their Satanic rituals. Unfortunately, some of them were Saudis.”

The paper said those arrested were from the United States, Europe, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

The English version might have downplayed it, but Arabic versions of the story are emphasizing the "Satanist" angle.

Nudity? Alcohol? Drugs? Satanism? Strange music?

Sounds like a college party circa 1986.

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Tuesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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The Resurgence of European Antisemitism
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the age-old pathology of anti-Semitism, but a good place to start is to acknowledge the problem.

It sounds obvious, but such acknowledgement encounters resistance. Some European officials prefer to believe that attacks against Jews are acts of “hooliganism,” not anti-Semitism. Some spend endless hours questioning the methodology of polls, rather than digesting the consistently worrisome results. And some would rather debate ad nauseum where the line between “legitimate” and ‘illegitimate” criticism of Israel lies, instead of recognizing the stark fact that anti-Semitism has all too often been transferred from the individual Jew to the Jewish state of Israel.

Isi Leibler: Candidly Speaking: A global tsunami of anti-Semitism

The greatest outpouring of anti-Jewish hatred emanates from the newly empowered Muslim countries, with their combined population of 1.6 billion. In conjunction with their diasporas in Western countries, they frenziedly promote a devilish brew of unique Islamic anti-Semitism combined with the traditional Western varieties. They depict Jews as vampires; descendants of apes and pigs; evil creatures disseminating AIDS; the masterminds behind 9/11; etc. Their incitement is at least as potent as the worst Jew-hatred promoted during the Nazi era. In addition, the jihadist component has been the principal element stoking the escalation of global violence, terror and murder against Jews.

Grandson of Alfred Dreyfus Asks Not to Auction Off His Letter

A grandson of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army captain wrongly accused of treason over a century ago, on Monday urged a private collector not to allow a letter penned by his grandfather to go under the hammer in Paris this week, AFP reports.

From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, the Jews, and Israel, by Robert Wistrich (REVIEW)

The book is divided into three sections : The Antisemitic Question; Nationalism and Internationalism; Anti-Zionist Mythologies. They include short intellectual biographies (of Marx, Bernstein, Mehring, Lazare, Kautsky, and Trotsky, among others); histories of movements and ideas (social democracy, nationalism , internationalism) and deconstruction of grotesque “ideologies” such as Marxist- Islamism and Jewish anti-Zionism. “Ideology,” said Lionel Trilling, “is not the product of thought: it is the habit or the ritual of showing respect for certain formulas to which, for various reasons having to do with emotional safety, we have very strong ties of whose meaning and consequences in actuality we have no clear understanding.”

The Fear of Causing Offense by Douglas Murray

The whole country honours Drummer Rigby. But it not only dishonours him, but dishonours our nation, to see in his brutal death not an aggressive ideology with clear aims, but a mere nothingness. This was not an attack that made "no sense." It was an attack that made plenty of sense and had been whipped up, as well as aspired to, by others for many years. What makes "no sense" is for a country to continue to ignore that fact, and hope, by ignoring it, to pretend it away.

Melanie Phillips: To defeat Islamic terror, we must first acknowledge what it is

It is those who refuse to acknowledge the true nature of this threat who are doing the terrorists' job for them.
And unless Britain finally wakes up from its self-destructive torpor, all who love civilised values — Muslim and non-Muslim alike — will be the losers.

Guardian deletes ALL reader comments from Glenn Greenwald’s Woolwich related posts

So, did the Guardian remove all of the comments beneath Greenwald’s commentary – and turn off comments for the other Woolwich related CiF pieces – for fear of prejudicing the future trial of Michael Olumide Adebolajo and the other suspects?

Ali Abunimah goes to Gaza

Obviously, during his stay in Gaza, Ali Abunimah will do his very best to come up with many reasons to blame Israel. Indeed, his popular “narratives” about the bottomless evils of Israel and Zionism have presumably led to his invitation to the currently ongoing Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) – though it is a bit strange that an activist who likes to present himself as a serious reporter and political commentator would be invited to a festival that is supposedly devoted to literature and the arts. But perhaps Ali Abunimah’s advocacy should indeed be regarded as an art form that deserves to be featured in an event supported by organizations like the British Council and the Arts Council England?

Michigan Man Arrested Over Swastika Surge

A 58-year old man from Lansing, Michigan was arrested early Saturday in connection with several swastikas that have been found spray-painted on community grounds in recent weeks.
Undercover detectives reportedly caught a suspect using black paint spray to vandalize a sign at Old Town Temple, said Lansing police Capt. Daryl Green, according to Lansing State Journal.

IDF Blog: A Hero with Flying Colors: Meet the Founder of the IAF’s International Squadron

As a child, his life was saved by a Dutch family who hid him from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Today, he is an Israel Air Force hero responsible for having saved the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Read the remarkable story of Lt. Col. (res.) Arieh Oz, the founder of the IAF’s International Squadron.

Meet Israel’s Under-21 Soccer Team with Players of Jewish, Arab, Druze, Russian and Ethiopian Origin (VIDEO)

Israel’s official YouTube channel has begun to publish videos introducing members of the country’s Under-21 National Team ahead of the UEFA Under-21 Championship, to be held in Israel this June. In the below video coach Guy Luzon talks about his team’s chemistry and its unique cultural makeup, with players of Jewish, Arab, Druze, Russian and Ethiopian origin.

Dutch province wants Israeli tech, BDS be damned

Israeli start-ups seeking a home in Europe might want to have a look at the Netherlands — specifically, in the southern Brabant area of the country. There, start-ups will find a good location and infrastructure, motivated partners and maybe some working capital, according to Ben Engel of BOM Foreign Investments, a government-sponsored venture capital firm dedicated to attracting business to the region.

Israeli MD proves dogs can sniff out cancer cells

Israeli internist Dr. Uri Yoel, 43, has demonstrated that dogs are indeed capable of differentiating between the scent of cancer cells and non-cancerous cells.
“Our research proves that dogs can smell cancer cells in vitro [in lab cultures], and that different types of cancer share the same smell print,” says Yoel, who practices at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva and teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

Israel Daily Picture: The New Old Train Station in Jerusalem

A new cultural and entertainment center just opened in Jerusalem and it's called the "First Station." With a farmers' market, restaurants, crafts stores and a children's play center, the First Station promises to be a busy hub for Jerusalem activity.
Just like it was when it first opened in 1892, more than 120 years ago, when the first train from Jaffa pulled into Jerusalem's new train station.

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Miftah's double standards for Jews and everyone else

Miftah, the Western-funded NGO that refuses to condemn the medieval Jewish blood libel in Arabic, has another article filled with lies - this one about Jerusalem:

Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.

Devastation? United Jerusalem today is more beautiful than at any time since 70 CE. So what is the devastation?

Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the subject knows that the Israel Antiquities Authority bends over backwards to save ancient artifacts - belonging to any religion. The Waqf, on the other hand, lies whenever it is convenient to do so, and has purposefully destroyed thousands of priceless ancient Jewish objects.

Condemning Jews acting responsibly to save antiquities while condoning Muslims destroying them is a bit of a double standard. There might be a term for that.

A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance.

Besides the small fact that there haven't been any graves in the area being dug for quite a while, Miftah's writer seems unaware that, in 1946, the Supreme Muslim Council approved the building of an office park directly on top of the cemetery - and their own offices would have been housed there! They justified it by citing Islamic precedent.

To Miftah, only Jewish actions are to be condemned.

There might be a term for that.

Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.

Miftah seems to believe that Jews should be forbidden to buy buildings in Jerusalem. Yet Arabs move to Jewish neighborhoods, and that is not a problem.

There might be a term for that.

The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.

I am not familiar with any demolition of historic Islamic structures since 1967.

Miftah's lies go beyond that, by pretending that Jerusalem has a primarily "Arab Palestinian character." They might want to explain exactly why there were no synagogues in the Old City between 1948 and 1967. I'm sure they can figure it out, even if they approve of the actions that burnt them down.

 Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center.

Legally buying buildings at hugely inflated prices is, in Miftah-speak, "wrestling." Even when the Shimon HaTzaddik portion of that  neighborhood was built by Jews who were violently attacked and ethnically cleansed in 1948.

And somehow Jerusalem's light rail, which serves Arabs and Jews equally, has only taken land from Arabs in its construction. Amazing!

On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.

Jews walking around with Israeli flags are "settlers" and "extremists." Arabs waving Palestinian flags - not being interfered with by the Israeli police - are "fearless" and "determined." Why is one group described as heroic and the other in a derogatory manner, when they were doing the same thing?

There might be a term for that.

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How will the GFCA address Arab and Muslim antisemitism?

The fourth Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism started today in Jerusalem. I am keenly interested in seeing what the conference will say about Arab and Muslim antisemitism.

There are some sessions and a working group at the GFCA on that topic. Here is their mission statement:

Arab and Muslim Antisemitism is growing and having a major impact on the Palestinian Authority, in Arab-Muslim countries and in the West. As a result of large-scale immigration that is changing the makeup of Europe, and through the widespread dissemination of hate messages by satellite TV and internet, Arab-Muslim Antisemitism is having an effect beyond the Middle East. Arab communities outside the Middle East are echoing the hate speech of radical Islam .

The hate messages of this Antisemitism are many and varied. Some of them are based on various classical sources from Islam that depict Jews as cursed by Allah, descendants of monkeys and pigs and destined for genocide. According to this Islamic-based Antisemitism, Jews at best are protected and must submit to Muslims, and at worst must all be killed to bring the “hour” of resurrection. Hating, fighting and killing Jews can be perceived as worship of Allah.

Other Arab – Muslim Antisemitism focuses on demonizing Jews because of so-called Israeli oppression of Palestinians. Jews all over the world are included in the collective blame for Israel's behavior. This often includes the attribution of demonic and evil acts to Israel, just as Jews were accused throughout history of poisoning wells and using blood for Matzah. Often the same people will quote both the Islamic-based and nationalistic-based hate speech.

Counter force
Alongside the Muslims who are screaming, “Kill the Jews,” however, is a small but increasingly vocal number of Muslims who are rejecting this hate speech. Muslims who themselves were brought up on the hate messages and were themselves disseminating them in the past have now rejected the hate speech and are rallying and speaking on behalf of Israel and Jews. These are the voices from the inside that must be tapped to seek the way to confront the current wave of Arab-Muslim Antisemitism ....

The goal is that the working group will produce a paper that defines the nature of Muslim-Arab Antisemitism, describes its means of transmission and creates a concrete plan to combat it, including combating the means of transmission.

I'm not sure that finding sympathetic Muslims to try to change things from the inside is the most effective way to combat this problem. I feel strongly that Muslim antisemitism needs to be exposed and condemned explicitly by Western nation-states, human rights organizations and the media. The only way to change the behavior is to shame the people who are engaged in it, and when they know that their hate makes them look bad to the West, they are embarrassed and at least make token attempts to soften the hate.

This is not in itself a solution, but it is a hugely important first step. Not only that, but it is a realistic step that the people attending the conference can implement, by using their connections with influential people.

I sincerely hope that the topic of the Khaybar antisemitic mini-series is addressed and condemned.

Here is the video message by PM Benjamin Netanyahu to the delegates of the GFCA where he speaks more about antisemitism disguised as anti-Zionism:

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Tuesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Palestinians reject Kerry’s new focus on boosting their economy

A day after US Secretary of State set out a vague but hugely ambitious $4 billion economic plan designed to drastically boost the Palestinian economy and help galvanize diplomatic efforts, the Palestinian Authority on Monday summarily rejected the idea of gaining economic benefits in exchange for political concessions.
Slapping down the notion that the PA might be appeased by Kerry’s focus on economic improvements, President Mahmoud Abbas’s economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, said ”The Palestinian leadership will not offer political concessions in exchange for economic benefits.” He added, in a statement reported by the Palestinian Ma’an news agency: “We will not accept that the economy is the primary and sole component.”

Kerry Huffs and Puffs and Abbas Blows Him Down

No one believes in Kerry more than Kerry. He blew into town a self-proclaimed “peace for money” program” bolder than Oslo.” Abbas has rejected land for peace. Now he rejects money for peace.

Palestinians: Kerry Trying to Bribe Us to "Sell Out" by Khaled Abu Toameh

In wake of the Palestinian reactions to Kerry's "bribes," it is hard to see how Palestinian Authority leader will be able to return to the negotiating table with Israel. If Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepts Kerry's economic plan and resumes peace talks with Israel, he will be accused of "selling out" to Israel and the U.S. in return for money.
Kerry's talk about boosting the Palestinian economy has only complicated his mission of seeking to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. It would be better if the Americans and Europeans started listening to what the Palestinians are telling them out loud and in public.

David Singer: Palestine? Beware the Snake Oil Salesman
Paul Larudee of ISM has manipulated language in his mendacious denial of any anti-Semitism in the Palestine Arab Liberation movement.

Larudee pleads to remove anti- Semitism from the discussion of Palestinian rights.
He should be encouraging Hamas and the PLO to remove their overt declarations of unabashed Jew hatred from their respective Charters as an essential first step.

The voices of BDS
Op-ed: Pro-Palestinian groups hijacked narrative of peace and justice, yet in reality they yearn for Israel’s destruction

The so-called “Palestinian global crisis” is only in the minds of those who propagate BDS rather than facts. For likeminded Jewish individuals such as Peter Beinart, Noam Chomsky, and many of JStreet and its followers, it boils down to them feeling uncomfortable with the measures Israel has taken in order to ensure its survival. The failure among such "open minded" Jews to understand the damage they do to the historical Zionist narrative by adopting the Palestinian one will only prolong the "occupation" they claim to stand up to rather than end it. Supporting any aspect of the BDS movement only makes the situation worse.

Australia: Libs to cut funding for anti-Israel activists

A Coalition (conservative) government would block all federal funds to individuals and institutions who speak out in favour of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

Barry Rubin: Obama's Seven Premises About Islamist Terrorism and Revolution

Here is how a Saudi writer analyzes the situation:
"Al-Qaida's former attacks were high-quality and were carried out be elite squads of fighters, [but these fighters] did not represent broad sectors of Arab society. The wars currently being waged in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, on the other hand, are frightening because they rely on [entire] social [sectors] that support [the fighters] and shelter them." That same point applies equally to the West in that individuals or small spontaneous groups are more dangerous than small groups of elite squads.

Steinitz savages Russia’s ‘totally wrong’ sale of missiles to Syria

Steinitz rebutted the claim that the S-300 missiles are purely defensive, saying that, for Israel, they are also “offensive.”
“Why? Because with range of up to 200 or 300 kilometers, you can attack all places, also the Ben Gurion Airport.” Jerusalem also worries about the missiles falling into the hands of Hezbollah or Iran, he said.

Average Palestinian Attacker Just 12-14 Years Old, IDF Colonel Says

IDF Colonel Yaniv Alaluf said that the average Palestinian attacker behind recent rock and firebomb attacks on Israeli drivers is only “12-14 years old,” Israel National News reported.

Arab 'Invasion' of Binyamin Town Thwarted

Arabs attempted to break into the town of Kochav Yaakov in the Binyamin region on Monday, and set fire to olive orchards owned by Jews that are outside the town. They also blocked the highway outside the town, preventing residents from entering or leaving.

Watch This Hezbollah Militant Hand an AK-47 to a Cute Litte Girl…Who Fires Several Rounds!

The man, who Business Insider calls one of several “Hezbollah militants,” leads the girl to the street corner reportedly in Lebanon, helps her hold the weapon, and the girl appears to fire off several rounds. (At what, if anything, is not known.)

Jordan Crushed by Debt while Helping Fleeing Syrian Refugees

Ensour outlined how Jordan, with a population of six million—most of them Palestininas—is having great difficulty dealing with about one million refugees. “You can imagine the burden,” he said. “The impact of the presence of so many refugees who have nothing in their hands and who need shelter, need food, need medicine: they represent pressure on our resources.”

Distorting NIAC’s Court Defeat

Lastly, Rosenberg claims that Mr. Daioleslam’s victory failed “to substantiate the accusation that NIAC was lobbying for the Iranian regime.” Yet the Washington Times reported in 2009 that law enforcement “experts” believed the emails between Parsi and the Iranian Ambassador to the UN, which were made public as a result of the discovery of the trial, offered “evidence that the group has operated as an undeclared lobby and may be guilty of violating tax laws, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and lobbying disclosure laws.”

US Lawmakers Demand Iran Removal from UN Disarmament Leadership

“By allowing Iran to chair this Conference, the United Nations is legitimizing a tyrannical regime committed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction while delegitimizing the United Nations as a force to contain nuclear weapons,” the letter said, according to The Hill. “Indeed, a conference seeking nuclear transparency and disarmament will be led by a country operating a dangerous and covert nuclear program that threatens global nuclear instability.”

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Let's do some Al Durah face recognition algorithms (UPDATES)

Today, a correspondent sent me a screenshot from a 2008 Israeli Channel 2 report on the Al Durah case. I had never seen it before.

It shows a photo of Mohammed Al Dura from a family photo, and a photo of the dead child in the hospital identified as Al Durah.

I am not the best at face recognition, but it is not clear to me that these are the same person. On the other hand, I am not 100% convinced that they are not.

I played a little with rotating the faces and sizing them to make them as identical as I could:

Splitting the face to match up the eye and lip level:

(Not perfect, of course, because the corpse is leaning downwards.)

To my eye, they have only a slight resemblance to each other.

Another data point, the photo of the child on the stretcher:

I'm sure there exists software that could give a percentage match on the faces, so this part of the controversy could be ended.

I am certain that the IDF didn't kill Al Durah, based on the angles of the IDF position. I am  not as certain that Al Durah wasn't killed altogether, and I am afraid that spending so much time on that argument takes away from what we can say definitively. But if an algorithm could say that these two faces are, or aren't, the same person, we can hopefully put that part of the issue to rest.

(h/t Josh K)

UPDATE: Concerning a film Esther Schapira made on the case:

Schapira procured images from Mohammed al-Dura’s Gazan autopsy and hired German biometric facial imaging expert Kurt Kindermann to compare the autopsy, the funeral, and the France 2 images. Kindermann concluded that the boy at the funeral and in the morgue were most likely one and the same. They were not, however, the same boy seen crouching beside his father in the famous video sequence. “We tried to investigate if he died shortly after (the shooting), but the only proof was always the funeral scene,” Schapira said “It seemed to be clear that a boy was killed, but with this new evidence it is not clear anymore.”

Schapira presents these findings in her latest documentary along with an impossible timeline sequence: Mohammed al-Dura was shot at 2 p.m., but the Gaza morgue says he was brought in at 10 a.m. “I think it’s strong evidence that there is no proof that Mohammed al-Dura is dead,” Schapira concluded. “There’s no proof he’s alive but no proof either that he’s dead.”

(h/t Elihu) I don't know if Kindermann compared the two photos above, though.

UPDATE 2: It looks like the family photo is Al Dura but not the morgue photo http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/2.1756/im-gespraech-esther-schapira-was-geschah-mit-mohammed-al-dura-1922381.html and also this video:



Affaire al Dura : Itw de Kurt Kindermann... by philippekarsenty

(h/t Elder of Lobby)

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Sorry, Chris Gunness, but UNRWA really should be abolished

YNet published a nice op-ed by Yoni Dayan yesterday advocating the dissolution of UNRWA:

The time has come to admit the truth: The world cares more about the life of a Palestinian than the life of a Syrian, Sudanese, Kenyan, Colombian or Congolese.

This, quite simply, is an axiom, proven day in and day out since 1949, when the United Nations split the existing global refugee agency to created a special organization tasked with caring only for Palestinian refugees. To this day, the international community has two active refugee agencies: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

An in-depth look at these two agencies reveals the depth of the international community's preferential treatment of Palestinian refugees over other displaced people throughout the world. The UNHCR, which cares for 33.9 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) in more than 125 countries throughout the world, has a budget of just $3 billion. UNWRA, which cares for the five million descendents of Palestinian refugees, has a budget of over $1 billion. Per person, that is $88.50 for each refugee/IDP around the world, and $200 for each Palestinian refugee.

There is much more.

Chris Gunness from UNRWA responds with his usual hand waving, hoping that people don't notice that he is not addressing the real issues. For example, while it is true that UNRWA might vet employees for known terror ties, this by no means proves that UNRWA schools are neutral and do not teach hate for Israel. I have proven that they, in fact, do, along with support for jihad and "martyrdom."

My brief response in YNet:

Chris Gunness ignores a few facts. For one, unlike UNHCR, UNRWA has no means to remove refugees from that status. As a result we have an absurd situation where hundreds of thousands of citizens of a state - Jordan - are considered "refugees." [Note - actually, the number is 2 million.]

Similarly, all the "refugees" that live in the West Bank and Gaza would not be considered refugees by any sane definition, since they live in their own land, almost all under the rule of their own people.

Gunness also fails to explain why only Palestinian Arabs must wait decades for a political solution before the UNRWA tries to resettle them in other countries. Perhaps this isn't "preferred" but examples from Lebanon and Egypt show that huge numbers would choose to become citizens if only they were given the chance.

We've seen these justifications before for UNRWA's existence as a separate, unique agency for a single growing "refugee" population, and they do not hold water.

A more detailed post on why UNRWA needs to be abolished, using points that Gunness always ignores, is here.

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