Ambassador who once blamed Muslim antisemitism on Israel reportedly has a thing for hookers

Remember Howard Gutman? He is the US ambassador to Belgium who made an outrageous and ignorant speech in 2011 saying that Muslim antisemitism is nothing like the traditional European type, because it is really a result of Israeli policies.

It is easy enough to prove him wrong, as I did then.

Unfortunately, his deeply flawed thinking is almost certainly part of the reason why HRW and Amnesty will be quick to condemn traditional antisemitism in Europe but remain stubbornly silent on Arab and Muslim antisemitism.

Anyway, even though I am fully aware that it is a cheap shot, this is irresistible:

A DS [Bureau of Diplomatic Security] agent was called off a case against US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman over claims that he solicited prostitutes, including minors.

“The agent began his investigation and had determined that the ambassador routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children,” says the memo.

“The ambassador’s protective detail and the embassy’s surveillance detection team . . . were well aware of the behavior.”

Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy ordered the investigation ceased, and the ambassador remains in place, according to the memo.

Gutman was a big Democratic donor before taking the post, having raised $500,000 for President Obama’s 2008 campaign and helping finance his inaugural.

If the report is true, it looks like Gutman put as much thought into his personal actions as he did in his revelation that centuries-old Muslim Jew-hatred was postdated to 1967.

(h/t Elliott)

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6/11 Links Part 1: EU Slams Falk, Ha'aretz Lies Again and 15 Mil Signatures To Oust Morsi

From Ian:

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EU slams Falk’s Israel report as biased at UNHRC

The European Union took a strong stand against United Nations Human Rights Council special rapporteur Richard Falk, denouncing as inaccurate and biased a report against Israel which he delivered to the body in Geneva on Monday.
“The EU continues to regret the unbalanced mandate of the Special Rapporteur and is also concerned that parts of the report include political considerations.
In the past, the EU emphasized that future reports should be based on a more factual and legal analysis, and we regret to see no genuine progress in that direction,” it said.
“The council needs to be provided with accurate, factual information and solid allegations to fulfill its role and address the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory,” the EU said.

Ha'aretz Manipulates Child Casualty Figures

B'Tselem's full data, which Ha'aretz cites selectively and manipulates to smear the Israeli army, indicates that in fact, the situation for Palestinian children and teens is steadily improving. The number of fatalities has sharply declined, especially during periods in which there are no large scale army operations. The decline underscores the fact that the army does, in fact, draw lessons from prior failures, and does make an effort to reduce the number of innocent deaths. Children and teens in other areas of conflict around the world can only dream of such a high level of personal safety.

Four Billion Dollars to the Palestinian Authority? Not by Arabs!

A December 9, 2011 article by Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News highlights a World Bank report: ”Arab countries have cut aid to Palestinians substantially, despite their rhetoric of supporting Palestinian rights…. Arab donors provided less than $80 million in the first half of 2011, compared to $231 million in 2010, $462 million in 2009 and $446 million in 2008…. Arab countries have committed to billions in aid in past years that never materialized…. One reason could be that the Arab world has become fed up with the Palestinian problem.”

Palestinians call for right of return at UNHRC

The PLO called for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to Israel during a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Israel "contributes" to increase in drug addicts in the PA - PA TV News


Gaza govt plans to execute more collaborators

The Hamas-run government in Gaza plans to execute a number of collaborators with Israel in an attempt to "eradicate" collaboration this year, a security official said Monday.

With ties to Iran in shambles, Hamas finds new ways to rearm

The reasons for the organization’s current restraint are threefold, he said. Hamas is still recuperating from Operation Pillar of Defense, building its political and military strength back up; it is “very occupied with the internal struggle” against Fatah for leadership among Palestinians; and its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egypt, counterintuitively, act as a restraining device and a useful channel of information.

Hamas and Hezbollah Remain Allied Over Mutual Hatred for Israel, Says Former Hezbollah MP

Despite tensions between Hamas and Hezbollah over Syria, the lynchpin keeping the two allies relatively civil towards one another is their mutual hatred of Israel, according to a former Hezbollah official.
“What brings us together, in terms of our hostility toward the Zionist entity, is greater than a dispute over the […] situation in Syria,” former Hezbollah MP Hassan Hoballah, said Friday.

Europe’s historic responsibility: Proscribe terror

From the Nazis to Stalin, and now to the Sunni Islamists of Hamas and the Shi’ite Islamists in Iran, we can see that the exponents of Jew-hatred are also brutal and bloodthirsty oppressors of their own people. The lessons of history are inescapable: The Jews may be the first victims of such ideologies, but they are rarely the last.

Original Thinking: Good Hezbollah, bad Hezbollah

With a rampant Islamist shift across the region, it is plain that the extremist and violent political/religious firebrands will carry the people with them. It doesn’t matter whether it is out of fear or out of fondness, they are all part of the whirlwind that endangers those who do not share their agenda. When they strike on your soil, or on your street, the position you take will decide your future fate. There is no moderation in the seriousness of their mission.
There is no such thing as a benign sect of Hezbollah, or Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, or the Salafists, or al-Qaida. Their mission and their aim are plain for all to see. It’s just a question of who can face the truth.

Terra Incognita: Why Hezbollah gets away with it

THE EXTRAORDINARY thing about the Wikileaks cables is that they reveal that most EU governments know Hezbollah is dangerous; they prefer to leave it be because they fear to provoke it. The Italian claim that the mere mention of “terror” would cause Hezbollah to terrorize Italian troops is like the boy who is afraid of calling the bully a bully because he might be bullied. How can an organization like Hezbollah intimidate the entire EU? Perhaps because Hezbollah operates as far away as South America and its agents have been detained in Spain, Cyprus, Texas in the US, Nigeria, and its operatives were involved in the Burgas bombing in Bulgaria in 2012.

Lieberman: If EU Won't Blacklist Hizbullah, it's Irrelevant

The European Union is irrelevant when it comes to dealing with the Middle East because of its failure to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, MK Avigdor Lieberman (Likud-Yisrael Beytenu) said on Monday.

Former Lebanese President Warns Mideast Christians Face ‘Existential Crisis’

Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel warned that Middle East Christians face an “existential crisis” due the threat of “religious cleansing” in the region, at a speech sponsored by Christian Solidarity International.
Gemayel, a Maronite Christian who was president from 1982-1988 after taking over for his brother Bashir, who was assassinated during the bloody Lebanese Civil War, said Christians “are often victims of persecution by both the state and society in the Middle East.”

Haroon Siddiqui Syria in danger of becoming Somalia or Afghanistan

It turns out that even Obama’s “red line” on Syrian chemical and biological weapons is flexible. After reports of Assad’s use of sarin and chlorine gas, Obama made clear he had only been referring to a “systematic” use of such weapons. Spraying on civilians here and there doesn’t count. Washington would worry only if the weapons were in danger of falling in the wrong hands. (That presumably won’t happen as long as Assad is in charge.)
Only Israel has adhered to its red lines. It has bombed Syria thrice, to stop the flow of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Perversely, all the reasons cited for not intervening militarily have come true because of not intervening militarily.

Anti-Morsi Petition Claims Nearly 15 Million Signatures

The opposition campaign called Tamarod, which means “rebel” in Arabic was launched in early May with the aim of collecting 15 million signatures to outnumber the votes gained by Morsi in last year’s presidential election.
Spokesperson Mahmoud Badr said the opposition is campaign “studying the possibility of confidentially submitting the forms to the Supreme Constitutional Court” before June 30.

25 years on, Saddam’s Kurdish victims seek justice

Twenty victims of Saddam Hussein’s 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja requested a judicial investigation of French suppliers on Monday, saying executives knew what they were sending to the Iraqi dictator and bore some responsibility.
An Iraqi official said the case serves as a warning to anyone who may still try to sell chemicals to tyrants, touching on a central concern in Syria’s civil war.

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Egyptians starting to talk about war over Ethiopia dam issue

Over the past couple of weeks, Egyptians have been surprised and upset over the announcement from Ethiopia that they are building a hydroelectric dam that will temporarily divert water from the Nile.

The rhetoric level has been increasing.

Last week:

The head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Mohamed El-Katatni told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website on Wednesday that a military response to Ethiopia's Nile dam project "cannot be taken without the consent and support of the Egyptian people."

Tension between Egypt and Ethiopia escalated last week after the latter began diverting the course of the Blue Nile – the source of the lion's share of Egypt's Nile water – as part of a project to build a series of dams along the river.

Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government, which fears that the project – if completed – could negatively impact Egypt's traditional share of Nile water.

"Egyptians are peaceful by nature, but they have a historical entitlement to Nile water," El-Katatni, a former parliamentary speaker, was quoted as saying. "And it is their right to defend it by any means necessary."

Also last week:

Last night:

Egypt does not want war with Ethiopia but will keep "all options open," President Mohamed Morsy said on Monday, piling pressure to an ongoing dispute over the giant dam Addis Ababa is building across the Nile.

In a televised speech to cheering Islamist supporters, Morsy voiced his understanding for the development needs of poorer nations upstream in the Nile basin, but deployed emotive language to claim Egyptians would not tolerate any reduction in water supplies.

Hot-headed rhetoric, including whispers of military action, by Egyptian politicians last week has raised concerns of a so-called “water war” between Africa’s second and third most populous states.

But Morsy, for whom the dispute provides ample opportunity to rally Egyptians behind him after a divisive first year in power, also seemed to leave room for compromise.

He did not renew an Egyptian call - flatly rejected by Ethiopia last week - for work to stop at the dam but said further study on its impact was needed.

"Egypt's water security cannot be violated in any way," Morsy said. "As head of state, I confirm to you that all options are open." He later added: "We are not calling for war, but we will never permit our water security...to be threatened."

Drawing on an old Egyptian song about the Nile, he said: "If it diminishes by one drop then our blood is the alternative."

And the inevitable fallout:

Dozens of Ethiopian refugees protested on Sunday outside the Egypt office of UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cairo's 6 October City to demand protection from what they describe as increasingly frequent xenophobic attacks by Egyptians.

Protesters, mostly from the Oromo ethnic group, said that members of their community had faced several violent attacks in Egypt in recent weeks.

The apparent trend comes against the backdrop of mounting tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt over a plan by the former to build a dam on the Blue Nile.

"We have some reports of people being attacked just because of their nationality," protest organiser Jeylan Kassim told Ahram Online.

"We need the UNHCR's protection; and we need the UNHCR to raise the awareness of the Egyptian community [about our plight]."

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Jerusalem, 1962

People who want to redivide Jerusalem - to get back to the anomalous situation that occurred for a mere nineteen years - rarely give a real reason why such a move would not entail, well, a situation very close to how life in Jerusalem was during those years.

Here is just one reporter's description of Jerusalem from January 1962:

Today, Jerusalem is the opposite of what is described here - it is a beautiful, thriving, and growing city. Anyone who wants to divide Jerusalem wants to kill it.

And don't try to argue that "this time will be different." No peace plan can impose security for Jews on the Arab side, and any forays by Jews to their holy spots would be similar to the monthly visits some Jews make to the Tomb of Joseph near Nablus today - at midnight, in heavily armored buses, under IDF protection from a hostile population.

Under Israeli rule, Muslims have access to their holy spots. Who can credibly claim that the converse would be true under Arab rule? We already know how it was the first time.

If Jerusalem is split again, it means that the split will be an international border. Walls and fences would be built, checkpoints erected, buildings and streets divided, and people forced from their homes. This is inevitable, and anyone who believes that people can stroll from one section to another freely is lying.

Who in their right mind thinks that this is better than Jerusalem is today?

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Report: Israel sold military equipment to Arab and Muslim countries (updated)

From Haaretz:

Israel has exported security equipment over the past five years to Pakistan and four Arab countries, according to a British government report. The report, which deals with British government permits for arms and security equipment exports, says that in addition to Pakistan, Israel has exported such equipment to Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

The report was released by Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees security exports and publishes regular reports on permits granted or denied to purchase arms, military equipment or civilian items that are monitored because they can be put to security uses.

From January 2008 to December 2012, British authorities processed hundreds of Israeli applications to purchase military items containing British components for use by the Israel Defense Forces, or to go into systems exported to third countries.

The British reports also list the countries to which Israel sought to export the items. Among Israel’s clients are Muslim countries with which it does not have diplomatic ties. According to the report, in 2011 Israel sought to purchase British components to export radar systems to Pakistan, as well as electronic warfare systems, Head-up Cockpit Displays ‏(HUD‏), parts for fighter jets and aircraft engines, optic target acquisition systems, components of training aircraft, and military electronic systems. In 2010, Israel applied for permits to export electronic warfare systems and HUDs with components from Britain to Pakistan. Also in 2010, Israel sought permits to supply Egypt and Morocco with Israeli electronic warfare systems and HUD systems that use British parts.

Here's Haaretz' graphical summary of the article:

Although at first glance it sounds a little alarming for Israel to sell to countries that consider it an enemy, I think it is a reasonable assumption that the Israeli government is careful not to give away any technologies that would hurt Israel's defense.

Which means that this is about as massive a BDSFail as can be imagined!

Already the Arabic media are reporting this, so we can expect a backlash any moment now and the denials from Muslim countries will follow soon afterwards.

UPDATE: The first denial, from Pakistan.

UPDATE 2: #2 from Egypt. (h/t IranAware)

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In 2010, the PA asked Richard Falk to step down from the UN because he was too pro-Hamas

A Wikileaks cable from the UN, February 16, 2010:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000043

SIPDIS
AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PASS TO AMCONSUL AMSTERDAM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/16
TAGS: PHUM [Human Rights], PREL [External Political Relations], UNHRC-1 [UN Human Rights Commission]
SUBJECT: Palestinian Ambassador on Goldstone, 4GC, HRC

CLASSIFIED BY: Douglas Griffiths, Charge d'Affaires, a.i., State;
REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

...

PA May Call for Special Rapporteur Falk's Dismissal

¶8. (C) Also on February 16, in a separate conversation with Charge
and PolCouns, PA DPR Zuhairi was visibly upset by Special
Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT Richard Falk's reference to
Hamas in his draft report. In para 8, Falk states that UNGA
resolution 64/10 calls on Hamas - vice the PA - to undertake
investigations. Zuhairi argued that he had too often corrected
Falk's many errors and that this latest misguided effort by Falk
had gone too far. Zuhairi said he might use the February 18 HRC
organizational meeting to seek to block Falk's report from being
presented to the HRC on the grounds that Falk overstepped his
mandate, had addressed issues outside his brief, and had failed to
appropriately recognize a UNGA resolution (not to mention the
legitimate authority of the Pa). Zuhairi also said he wished Falk
would drop his repeated suggestions that Israel's actions in the
OPT be equated with the Holocaust. Such language has allowed
Israel to justify its refusal to allow Falk to visit, and has
limited his usefulness as a rapporteur.

¶9. (C) In light of the reference to Hamas, Zuhairi said he had
called Falk personally and asked him to step down, something Falk
angrily rejected. Zuhairi sought our advice on how best to
approach the issue, particularly in light of currently OIC and
African Group attempts to censure the secret detention study.
Charge and PolCouns, while acknowledging the problem of recognizing
Hamas, told Zuhairi that the U.S. defended the independence of the
special procedures mandate holders and that we objected to state's
use of the code of conduct as a means to muzzle rapporteurs.

There ya go - Falk is too extreme even for the Palestinian Arabs!

(h/t Hillel Neuer)

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Arabs livid over German soccer shirts with Hebrew phrase

Times of Israel last week reported:

German’s under-21 squad will wear special shirts dedicated to Israel as it warms up for its
match against Holland’s team Thursday, in a tribute to the tournament’s host country.

The shirts read “we feel at home” in Hebrew, and wearing them is a rare move by a visiting country in an international tournament. UEFA’s Under-21 Championship is the most prestigious sporting competition to be hosted by Israel since the 1968 Paralympics.

At a pre-game press conference, international midfielder Lewis Holtby spoke warmly of the welcome the German team received in Israel. “The hospitality in Israel is great, the weather is better than in England or Germany,” he said, adding his club, Tottenham Hotspur, had a Jewish background, which made the experience “interesting.”

It was, of course, inevitable that Arabs would be upset that anyone could express happiness at visiting the Jewish state.

Elaph reports that

There was a state of anger and extreme indignation among Arabs and Palestinians on websites and social networks, especially Facebook and Twitter, because this move was "provocative" to the feelings of the victims and the wounded and injured by the brutality and racism of the Israeli occupation forces.

Activists on social networking sites said that Germany is trying to ingratiate themselves to the Israelis as atonement for what they suffered during the rule of Nazi leader Hitler; they are trying to make friends and get closer to the Jews at the expense of the just Palestinian cause.

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6/10 Links Pt2: Consolidation or Disintegration in Syria, Glick at JPost Conf and Old spice Israeli men!

From Ian:

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Sykes-Picot and Israel

The political order artificially constructed in the Middle East by the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement is disintegrating. As the Syrian civil war rages, the borders drawn nearly a century ago are becoming blurred.
Syria is gradually splintering into three different entities: one region along the coast is loyal to the Alawite regime of President Bashar Assad; another yet-to- be-determined swath of territory might fall under the control of Sunni opposition forces; and a Kurdish enclave with ties to northern Iran and Kurdish groups in Turkey is also emerging. Perhaps this is the inevitable demise of a state populated by a Sunni majority that is ruled by an Alawite minority.

Dore Gold: The Arab World Fears the ‘Safavid’

In an interview on Al-Jazeera this past May, the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, explained that the diversion of Hezbollah forces from Lebanon to Syria to take part in the civil war was part of a “Safavid” plan for the Middle East region.
This past January, an article in the influential Lebanese daily As-Safir accused Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of receiving assistance from his “Safavid allies.” After the powerful Sunni Muslim leader, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, condemned Iran for its actions in Syria, the Muslim Scholars Association of Lebanon warned that the Sunni Arabs were facing “the spreading Safawi project.”

Caroline Glick Speaks at the 2013 Jerusalem Post Conference


Golda Meir: Israel would not withdraw to 1967 lines

Anyone who creates illusions among the Arabs that it is possible to impose an Arab- Israeli solution from the outside is pushing off peace, then-prime minister Golda Meir told German chancellor Willy Brandt 40 years ago, in words that Israeli leaders continue to say to European counterparts today.
The comment was contained in one of the 28 documents that the Israel State Archives released on Sunday to mark 40 years since Brandt’s historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a German chancellor. The visit took place from June 7-11, 1973, some five months before the Yom Kippur War.

'Occupation'? Not Necessarily

Israel has a very good case regarding its sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and should not accept its classification as “occupier,” say two participants in a conference on the subject.
Prof. Jeremy A. Rabkin of George Mason University and Prof. Avi Bell of the University of San Diego and Bar Ilan University weighed in on the matter.
Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law hosted the conference on “International Law and Israel,” the first in a series of annual conferences aimed at exploring the growing gap between international law as it is often applied to Israel vs. how it is understood in the rest of the world.

Gaining national sovereignty

Our achievements can largely be traced back to those six days in June. Those miraculous days, largely unprecedented in the annals of military warfare, not only gave us our ancient lands, but our long-term future.
Our victory and the liberated territories are eternally bound with our modern achievements and endurance. While the War of Independence in 1948 gave us a state, and the Suez Crisis in 1956 gave us independence, the 1967 war gave us sovereignty, and no state can consider its abjuration.
These were some of the best days of my life, and the most essential for our nation.

German cop orders rabbi to erase pics of attackers

A German police officer and security personnel ordered a rabbi to delete photographs of the suspects who engaged in an alleged violent anti-Semitic attack on him in a shopping center last week in Offenbach, a city near Frankfurt.
New details have since emerged, including that the youths shouted “Viva Palestine” during the attack on Rabbi Mendel Gurewitz.

Australia offers large reward for 1982 bombers of Israeli consulate

Police in Australia say they now have four primary suspects in the 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club, and offered a $100,000 reward to help flush them out.
Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Gordon, the commander of the terrorism investigation squad, told reporters Thursday in Sydney that he hoped the money would entice the public or the alleged perpetrators to come forward.

Dutch school to commemorate Holocaust despite vandalism concerns

A Christian school in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood has resumed a plan to unveil a plaque in memory of Holocaust victims, despite concerns of anti-Semitic vandalism.
The board of the Paul Kruger School in The Hague said last week that it would move ahead with the plan, which was shelved in recent years because of what school officials said were “concerns that youths would destroy the monument.”

Rambam Hospital: Saving Patients, Uniting People

David Ben-Yair added, "Here in our country and in the world, we need to understand the power we have to save people, all people. Donate. Help. We got another chance. Give it to others."
David Ben-Yair’s message runs true. Rambam has a history of providing medical care to diverse populations. Last fall, during Operation Cast Lead, Rambam, the second largest transplant center in Israel, took care of four seriously ill Gazan children who were awaiting kidney transplants despite Israel being subjected to continuous rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Photo brings desperate hope for a Holocaust miracle

Picking up her mail about a year ago, 88-year-old Rose Goteiner stopped in her tracks upon seeing the photo on a newsletter cover.
Posing shortly after the Holocaust ended, 21 people were standing before a truck marked “American Joint Distribution Committee” — the relief organization later known as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. There were young children and teenagers, plus a few adults.
In the middle of the front row was a girl wearing a light-colored dress, hands at her sides and staring into the camera.
Goteiner believes it is her sister, Ruth Konigstein. And now Goteiner is hoping against hope that Ruth is still alive and that the sisters might miraculously reunite in their twilight years.

Middle East Gay Pride and LGBT Safety Exist Only in Israel

Sexual minorities are as unwelcome in the Middle East as are religious minorities. Just as the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East are generally hostile to Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Zoroastrians, and other religious minorities, they are even less welcoming of non-heterosexuals. Except in Israel. And yet it is Israel — absurdly enough — that is consistently singled out for excoriation by human rights groups, college campus activists, and other ostensibly well-meaning individuals.

English, Israeli players give red card to racism

At the training grounds in Netanya, girls from a program promoting women’s soccer and empowerment in Ra’anana took the pitch alongside boys from Bnei Sakhnin’s youth department; Jewish and Arab players from neighborhood leagues played with members of Tel Sheva’s local Bedouin team; and players from both national teams ran with the kids on the field.

The woman turning wave technology into electricity

It was a twist of fate that not only introduced Inna Braverman to a passion for green energy, but reconnected her to Ukraine, where she spent the first four years of her life.
Braverman, 27, is the co-founder and marketing director of Eco Wave Power (EWP), an Israel-based company whose innovation in wave technology for the production of electricity has catapulted it to the top tier in the field worldwide.
And it is Braverman’s key role in the endeavor that led to her nomination as “Young Sustainability Executive of the Year” in the 2013 Business Green Leaders Awards, to be held in London on July 3.

CallApp is like global caller ID on speed

Mi ze? (“Who is this?”) asked Oded Volovitz, the CEO of CallApp, when ISRAEL21c cold-called him recently.
The tech tastemaker site TechCrunch touts CallApp as a disruptive technology, and if Volovitz has his way, his company will become the Wikipedia of phone calls.

Google reportedly acquiring Waze app for $1.3 billion

After dating at least three of the biggest tech companies in the world, it appeared Sunday night that Waze was finally getting the ring — one worth $1.3 billion, according to a report in the Israeli business newspaper Globes.
That’s the sum Google has reportedly agreed to pay for Waze, the Ra’anana-based crowdsourced driving and navigation app with 50 million users around the world. The figure is $300 million higher than Facebook reportedly offered to pay for the firm earlier this year.

Israeli men - Old spice

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The Economist keeps making up facts to demonize Israel

Here is the beginning of a new Economist article:

BLESSED are the meek. While Israel’s 1.4m Muslim citizens vociferously champ for the right to return to the lands they fled in 1948, when Israel was created, the Christians, ten times fewer, have begun quietly tiptoeing back. In what was once the Galilee village of Maalul, Christians displaced to nearby Nazareth have carved a path through the forest of pine-trees that were planted to hide it, and have cleared the bracken to expose two churches, one Greek Orthodox, another Catholic, where they have begun celebrating festivals such as Easter.

Across the valley, in what was once the Palestinian village of Safuriya, renamed Tzipori by the Jews who moved in after the conquest of 1948, two Franciscan friars are renovating the dilapidated Crusader chapel of Qadissa Hanna, where they now say mass every Sunday. They hope to mend the roof to let a congregation regularly attend.

Is it true that 1.4 million Muslims were internally displaced in 1948 Israel?

Of course not. There weren't that many Muslims in all of Palestine. The Economist obviously means those who were displaced, plus their descendants.

Would that make the statement accurate?

Not in the least. Most Arabs who remained in Israel stayed in their own homes. In fact, out of the 160,000-170,000 Arabs in Israel after the 1948 war, less than one third - between 46,000 and 48,000 - fled their homes in the fighting.

Not all of them were Muslim, either, so the Economist is wrong by a factor of perhaps 4 in its breezy attempt to demonize Israel. Even their descendants are nowhere close to the 1.4 million The Economist claims. But 1.4 million sounds so much better than 48,000 who actually fled from their homes, doesn't it?

The Economist's biased reporting and inaccuracies don't end there, though.

Then the Economist decides that Safuriya is the real name of an Arab village, while the evil Jews renamed it Tzipori.

Tzipori was, obviously, the original name of the town. Josephus referred to it as Sepphoris from which it became Arabicized to Seffurieh many centuries later, after the Romans burned it to the ground in the wake of a Jewish revolt. (See Edward Robinson 1841 and Karl Baedeker's travel handbook 1894, plus Jewish Encyclopedia 1906.) Yet The Economist - which prides itself on its supposed accuracy - says that restoring an original name, one that never fell into disuse among Jews, is "renaming."

Remember how upset the Economist was the last time my readers asked them to uphold their own stated standards of accuracy? They referred to you as a "pro-settler group," which is in their world about the biggest insult one can hurl at another.

It would be a shame if we upset them even further by pointing out their latest errors and insisting that they correct them, wouldn't it?

(h/t Elliott)

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Latest Hamas woes: Interior minister in trouble

Asharq al-Awsat (via PalPress) reports that there are increasing calls in Hamas to dismiss interior minister Fathi Hammad after a series of bungles, including a security officer killed during a drug raid last week.

Seven Gazans have been killed in the past two weeks, including the policeman, as Hamas security is seen to be acting recklessly. (Although the reports aren't clear, it seems that the policeman was killed by "frienndly fire." He is still honored as a "martyr" on the Al Qassam Brigades webpage, indicating that he was a member of that terror group as well.)

Hammad is also seen as responsible for travel restrictions in Hamas and unwillingness to take responsibility for the excesses of Hamas security. In addition, he is close with the Qassam Brigades and it is possible that he is pushing for closer ties to Hizballah, in contrast to the Haniyeh/Mashal "political wing." This indicates that the friction between the Qassam Brigades and the rest of Hamas is increasing.

Other criticisms of Hammad include his recent crackdown on Western-style clothing and hairstyles, on women smoking water pipes in public, and the escape of murderers (probably Qassam members) from prison.

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6/10 Links Pt1: Incitement, Rejection, Hizbullah the Party of Satan and Gaza’s Tunnels of Terror

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: The Radicalization of Palestinians Kerry Has Not Heard About

Kerry, who is returning to the Middle East later this week in yet another bid to revive the "peace process," is probably unaware that Abbas, Rajoub and other Palestinian Authority leaders have radicalized Palestinians to a point where many do not want to hear about peace with Israel.

Meretz's 'Peace Partner' Rajoub: All of Israel is 'Occupied'

Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub, who was touted last week as a “man of peace” by the leftist Meretz party, is continuing his incitement against Israel.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research organization exposed on Sunday yet another controversial statement by Rajoub, who this time said during an interview, which aired last week on an Arab sports television channel, that all of Israel is “occupied Palestine”.

Abbas rejected Netanyahu offer to free 50 pre-Oslo prisoners for new talks

Today, a senior Palestinian official told The Times of Israel, the Palestinians might agree to renew talks with Israel if Netanyahu releases all 107 of the pre-Oslo veterans still in jail, most of whom have blood on their hands.

State Compensates PA Arab Victims of Hamas Rocket Attack

Last week, reported Channel 10, the state transferred a sum of 1.7 million shekels to the families of the two Arabs. The money was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the families through the Israeli lawyer who represents them. He transferred the money through a bank in New York, as direct transfers from Israel to Gaza are prohibited by law.

Arabs Cause Destruction in Hevron Fields

Arabs are the culprits behind the destruction Saturday of agricultural fields operated by the Jews of Hevron, say the local Jews. According to a resident of Hevron, Haim Bleicher, some of the Jews discovered the destruction, which included the uprooting of saplings, during their Sabbath family outings.

Gaza terror tunnel network branches out

The tunnels serve several purposes: As hiding places for terrorists, as storage locations for weapons and basic supplies, and as a place for long stays in times of emergency. They are camouflaged for deception during combat and ready for service in the scenario of an Israeli ground invasion. In recent years, some of the tunnels were converted for use as hidden rocket launchers. When necessary, a window opens and the launcher emerges, returning immediately inside its camouflaged window after shooting.

Rape Victim, Lost in Translation

Except the rape victim, a teenage girl, was not Palestinian. She was an Israeli Jew. The original Hebrew article did not make the false claim that the victim was Palestinian. The Hebrew states (CAMERA's translation):
“Yeshaya, a judge emeritus of a district court in Tel Aviv, said this week during a hearing that "some girls enjoy rape." He was the head of an appeals committee on national security which was ruling on the appeal of a female youth, now 19, who was raped six years ago by four Palestinians near the Hizma checkpoint.”

Guardian cartoonist draws upon antisemitic stereotypes in depicting Henry Kissinger

Now, here’s how Kissinger was depicted on June 8th by Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson, in a cartoon about the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group in Watford.

Letter to a new BBC ME correspondent

This region is saturated with journalists writing nearly identical reports which conform to an unquestioned political narrative and news consumers have no use for yet more of the same. What they do need however is objective, factual, innovative reporting from people curious enough to look behind the clichés and the obvious. That is a big challenge. Whether you decide to take it on or not will depend upon the route you choose to take.

Did They Stay or Did They Go?

An article on Christian Arabs in The Economist begins with the following:
“While Israel’s 1.4m Muslim citizens vociferously champ for the right to return to the lands they fled in 1948, when Israel was created…”
Evidently someone at The Economist must be confused. For starters, 1.4 million Muslims did not flee Israel in 1948 (the number was half that) and if they had, they would not be citizens as The Economist described them.

Hezbollah losses laid bare after victory in Syrian town

Hezbollah has sent some 3,000 of its elite fighters - who were reportedly trained by ally Iran - into Syria, a Hezbollah source said. Most of them were stationed in al-Kussair.
Hezbollah has stayed silent on its casualties in Syria. But sources close to the group told dpa that more than 100 fighters had been killed and as many as 200 were wounded.

Arm rebels or risk genocide, British Jewish MP pleads

A British Jewish MP from the governing Conservative Party, who has met frequently with Bashar Assad, warned that the Syrian president is “willing to destroy Syria completely” in his bid to protect his regime and his family, and said that Syrian rebels forces must be supplied with the weaponry needed to defeat him and avert genocide.

Egypt's Qaradawi: Hizbullah 'Party of Satan'

The highly influential Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, retracted his previous defense of Hizbullah and Iran, in an interview with Al Arabiya aired on Sunday.

Cairo demonstrators join 'Global March to Jerusalem' VIDEO

Demonstrators in Cairo staged a "Global March to Jerusalem". The march coincides with the 46th anniversary of the 1967 War when Israel took the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Iran says Arak reactor 1 step closer to completion

A heavy water reactor in Arak, Iran, came one step closer to completion after the installation of the “upper container,” according to a report by the Fars News Agency, a news site associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Iran’s apocalyptic policy makers

Two of the most lunatic and apocalyptic high-ranking figures in Iran are Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself and his now disgraced one-time protégé, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While Khamenei deeply believes his task is to prepare for Mahdi’s appearance, Ahmadinejad takes the apocalyptic narrative to an unprecedented level of lunacy and weirdness, even by the Islamic republic’s measures. He believes, for example, that the real reason behind the US invasion of Iraq was to search for the Hidden Imam and to postpone his appearance. Many observers believe Khamenei chose Ahmadinejad as president mainly because of their shared belief in this apocalyptic version of Islam.

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EU chickens out, won't label Hizballah as terrorist

From Naharnet:

Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avigdor Lieberman slammed the European Union on Monday for failing to label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

He labeled the move as “ultimate hypocrisy."

Israeli media quoted Lieberman as saying that Israel must convey to the EU that failure to blacklist Hizbullah in an upcoming discussion on the topic in two weeks "will make the EU irrelevant to us."

Last week, several EU governments expressed concern that a British request to add Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations would increase instability in the Middle East.

At a meeting in Brussels, the governments also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence to link Hizbullah to an attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
s
Britain has argued that Hizbullah should face EU sanctions over its alleged role in the bus bombing in the resort of Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.

Maariv adds that although Bulgaria's investigation in the Burgas bombing concluded that Hizballah was behind it, the new socialist Bulgarian government does not want to stand behind the report. Furthermore, it says that Bulgaria was actually the force behind the move, as it fears that accurately labeling Hizballah as terrorist would hurt Lebanese/EU relations.

This means that Gulf Arabs are more willing to label Hizballah to be a terror group than Europeans. While this is more a function of the extreme hatred that Sunnis have for Shiites, it is still astonishing that the EU is coddling a group whose ties to terror are impossible to ignore - and that Muslims who cheered 9/11 are more hawkish on Hezbollah terror than Europeans are.

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Egyptian Islamist antisemitic sketch - MUST SEE

Wow - its like looking into a mirror!

The punchline of this Egyptian sketch is at the very end - after it is over:

Following are excerpts from an antisemitic sketch, which aired on Al-Hafez TV, an Egyptian Islamist channel, on June 6, 2013:

An actor portraying a stereotypical Jew delivers an address to the Zionists, with posters of Theodor Herzl and Lord Balfour in the background, as well as Jewish symbols.

Jewish character: Cry out, oh Zionism, Egypt has had a taste of freedom. Anyone who comes near the fire of the revolution will be burned by it. You know full well, oh Zionists and lackeys of the accursed regime, that if the situation in Egypt improves, Zionism will go down the drain.

What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for [the Arabs] to enter Tel Aviv or to return to Jerusalem? If the revolution succeeds, they will be able to reconcile between Fatah and Hamas. They will stop giving us natural gas, and leave us with nothing but the shirts on our backs. Oh Lord, foil this revolution.

[...]
We should make the Egyptians dance to the drumbeat of Zionism. The best ploy everywhere is to instigate strife between the crescent and the cross. If you want this to end in tears, ruin Fridays and Sundays. Are you waiting for the Egyptians to awaken? If you want to make things worse, torch mosques and churches. Instigate strife between Muslims and Christians, between Sufis and Salafis, between fans of the Al-Ahli and Zamalek soccer clubs. What are you waiting for?

He "blows" a trumpet

[...]
Are we waiting for them to turn against us? If you can't beat them, pit them one against the other. If you cannot rip the strong fabric of this flag, unravel it.

What does not rip should be unraveled: Muslims and Christians, Salafis and Wahhabis, fans of Zamalek and fans of Al-Ahli, even between men and women.

Divide and conquer, oh Zionists. We want to instigate strife, we will not sit idly by. I swear by the Talmud, by the synagogue, and my own eyes that [Mubarak's] National Democratic Party will return.

[...]
Be prepared! Divide and conquer! Divide and Conquer!
[...]
Al-Hafez TV studio

Al-Hafez TV host Atef Abd Al-Rashid: This is a good effort. It involves art, values, as well as important warnings.

This is not parody! This is an accurate video representation of hundreds of articles I've seen in Arabic, portraying how many Islamists really think. As laughable and insane as the skit is, it happens to be the worldview of tens of millions of Muslims - a very conservative estimate.

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Syrian Islamists execute 15-year old for "blasphemy" for using common Syrian expression

From Al Jazeera:

Rebels fighting the Syrian regime have shot dead a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents and siblings after accusing him of blasphemy, an activist group said.

Al Jazeera was told that the boy, a street vendor selling coffee, was from the Shaar neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo. He has been named locally as Mohammad Kattaa.

Reports indicated that he was arguing with another boy on Saturday and used the name of Prophet Muhammad in a common phrase used by Syrians at which point he was picked up by fighters, beaten, and then shot.

"An unidentified Islamist rebel group shot dead a 15-year-old child who worked as a coffee seller in Aleppo, after they accused him of blasphemy," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Abdel Rahman said the rebel group likely comprised foreigners.

"They spoke classical Arabic, not Syrian dialect," he said.

"They shot the boy twice, once in the mouth, another in his neck, in front of his mother, his father and his siblings," he added.

It is thought Kattaa's customer was trying to get a free coffee and the boy responded "Even if Muhammad comes down, I will not give it as debt."

This was misinterpreted by the foreign fighters who took it for blasphemy.

Whose side are we on again?

(h/t Brenny)

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Abbas urges everyone to vote - for "Arab Idol" TV contestant (updated)

Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently in the ninth year of his four year term, has finally embraced the idea of voting.

President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday urged Palestinian communities across the world to vote for Arab Idol contestant Mohammad Assaf, the first Palestinian to reach the final of the pan-Arab show.

Abbas instructed the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact international Palestinian embassies in order to mobilize support for the Arab Idol star, and urged the Palestinian diaspora to vote for Assaf.

The president praised Assaf's creativity and powerful voice, calling him a son of Palestine who is bringing joy to his people.

Here's the contestant showing why Abbas cheers for him so enthusiastically, as PA TV has broadcast it numerous times since Assaf sang it first:

"Oh flying bird, circling round,
My eyes protect you and Allah keeps you safe
By Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy
My country Palestine is beautiful
Turn to Safed and then to Tiberias,
And send regards to the sea of Acre and Haifa
Don't forget Nazareth - the Arab fortress,
And tell Beit Shean about its people's return
By Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy
My country Palestine is beautiful."

Every single city he mentions is in Israel, not the territories.

This isn't a case of Palestinian Arab pride, but - as usual - an expression of their desire to destroy Israel.

Which is really what the entire purpose of Palestinian Arab "nationalism" is, and has been, since it started.

UPDATE: IDF Arabic spokesman Avichai Adraee on Facebook claims that Hamas is not happy with Assaf and demanded he quit the competition; also that Hamas is fining people who put his picture and posters about him in public.

Assaf denied this. I haven't verified one way or the other yet.

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