Leftist professor subverts Wikipedia to attack his enemies - and promote himself

An Israeli student sent this to me. Some of the information is a little dated and Wikipedia's internal attempts to stop abuse seem to have softened some of the specifics noted here over time, but it shows in great detail how people try to use Wikipedia not only as a weapon against those they disagree with, but as an advertising medium for themselves!

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The Wikipedia editor “Newmanthfc” has made approximately 80 edits to a number of Wikipedia articles since April 2008. As acknowledged by “Newmanthfc,” he is David Newman, originally from the UK and today a professor of political geography at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel.

The vast majority of Newman’s edits involve self-promotion, particularly regarding his academic career and ideological causes. Despite a warning from an administrator that “You have an obvious conflict of interest with this, suggesting that you are not the best person to write the article,” he created his own Wikipedia article. Unsurprisingly, initially it read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.” He presented himself as “A noted peace activist in Israel and international expert on borders”, and lavished praise on his own work (“The most comprehensive analyses of Gush Emunim have been carried out by David Newman”), celebrating what he claims is activity to counter UK academic boycotts of Israel, and referencing his own academic writings in a number of Wikipedia articles.

He even listed himself as amongst the notable alumni of two British schools.

He has also vandalized the articles of ideological opponents and academic rivals, copying content that appears repeatedly in his Jerusalem Post column. Newman has focused this activity on the Israeli political advocacy organization Im Tirzu, as well as Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University and head of NGO Monitor.

Newman’s editing of his personal Wikipedia entry, as well as NGO Monitor’s, resulted in an edit war, in which Newman blatantly violated Wikipedia rules, and he was sanctioned with a 48-hour ban. However, he continues to refer to himself in the third-person in his edit summaries (short descriptions of edits that appear in the history pages of articles), suggesting that he is seeking to obscure the clear conflict of interest.This is reminiscent, albeit on a smaller scale, of the Wikipedia behavior of another Israeli professor, Amiram Goldblum.

A repeat offender: Edit wars and other Wikipedia troubles

Newman was called out for an “obvious conflict of interest” already in September 2008, although no sanctions were administered at that time.

 

In November 2008, it was recommended that the David Newman article be deleted from Wikipedia because, as written by Newman, it read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.” During the deletion discussion, the article was changed, and remained on Wikipedia.

More egregiously, Newman also engaged in “edit warring” - a serious violation of basic Wikipedia rules and norm of etiquette. The edit war took place on both the David Newman and the NGO Monitor articles on January 8, 2011.

The edits included Newman’s removal of any factual material that criticized Newman, even though it was sourced to reliable online publications, as per Wikipedia standards and rules. He also added unreferenced editorial comments in order to support his cause.

 

Newman, using the Newmanthfc username, was joined in by an anonymous internet user (194.90.167.222), whose internet address is assigned to Ben-Gurion University, where Newman works.

Both Newmanthfc and the anonymous user were warned about their abusive and unproductive edits and were reported to the Wikipedia Administrater’s noticeboard on January 10. Administrators decided on a 48-hour ban (though most first time violators receive a 24-hour ban).

Edits promoting Newman’s academic work

The very first edits made by Newmanthfc (April 19, 2008) were to Wikipedia’s Gush Emunim article, engaging in self-promotion (“The most comprehensive analyses of Gush Emunim have been carried out by David Newman”) and adding references to four of his own publications on the subject.

In September 2008, Newman listed himself in the Border article as a “leading scholar in the contemporary study of borders,” as part of “a renaissance in the study of borders in the past two decades.”

In April and June 2009, and then again in February 2011, Newman made edits to the Academic boycotts of Israel article. In April 2009, he first added a reference to an article he wrote in the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs; seven minutes later, he included a paragraph (with a typo) on the substance on attempts to boycott Israel.  On June 20, 2009, Newman added a number of sentences, basically repeating the argument of his Jerusalem Post column of June 6.

His February 2011 edits to that page consisted of more self-promoting, adding

This was particularly the position taken by the representtaives (sic) of Israel's universities in the UK, Professor David Newman who, while countering the attempts at academic boycott, did not see all such activity as being inherently anti-semitic. Newman, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, focused his activities on strengthening scientific and academic links between Israel and the UK, and was influential in creating the BIRAX research and scientiric (sic) cooperation agreement between the two countries - an agreement which was promoted by successive British Ambassadors to Israel, Tom Philips and Matthew Gould, and which has been funded, amongst othersm (sic) by the Pears Foundation in London.

Creation of and edits on the “David Newman” article

In October 2008, Newman created the article “David Newman (geographer),” subsequently moving it to “David Newman (Professor of Geopolitics)” because it is a “more accurate description of a person who was a geographer but has moved into the field of political science.” (Newman’s claims of expertise in this field are not supported by any evidence, such as a degree in political science.) It appears that he had tried to create a page about himself in September 2008, but was rebuffed by an administrator because “You have an obvious conflict of interest with this, suggesting that you are not the best person to write the article. This shows in unsourced claims... and non-encyclopaedic non-neutral phrases...”

Newman tried again, producing, as noted above, an article that read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.”

After the deletion controversy, Newman did not edit his article again until July 2009, when he made an insignificant edit related to an academic journal he edits. But, in May 2010, Newman added the following, without providing a reference, “In March 2010, Newman was elected Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for the period 2010-2013.”

Newman’s next edits involved the abovementioned edit war, when he removed a criticism section from his own article.

His latest edits were on July 7, 2013, when he added two paragraphs, again without any citations, on “information about david Newman relating to the past 4-5 years.” As with his other Wikipedia editing, his addition included self-promotion and ideological attacks.

He writes a weekly oped column in the Jerusalem Post. Many of these articles touch on issues relating to Israeli politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the interface of politics and academia. During 2012-2013, Newman was active in defending his University and Department against attempts at right wing political intervention on the part of Israel's Council of Higher Education (the CHE).

He represented Israel's universities in the UK. Despite this, he has been subject to attacks by extremist right wing organizations in Israel, such as Isracampus, Academic Monitor, Im Tirzu, and the NGO Monitor, for his founding and leadership of the Department of Politics and Government at the University and for his left of center political positions on the Arab-Israel conflict. This has not prevented him from being elected, almost unanimously, for a second term of Faculty Dean for the period 2013-2016.

At the time of his edit, he promised, “references will follow in due course.” To date, references have not been added.

Attacks against ideological opponents and academic rivals

Newman’s edits have targeted Im Tirzu repeatedly, and these appear in his Jerusalem Post column as well. For instance, on January 8, 2011, Newman vandalized the Im Tirzu entry, labeling the organization as “ultra right wing anti-Zionist” and claiming that “Its objectives are to impose constraints on the freedom of speech and opinion within the Israeli academic community, through the use of threats against the faculty which do not share their extremist views.”

He has also attacked NGO Monitor, an organization headed by academic rival Gerald Steinberg, from Bar Ilan University. Newman’s violations in these edits resulted in a 48 hour ban (see below). Also on January 8, Newman sought to delegitimize NGO Monitor by labeling the think tank as “an extreme right wing NGO”, adding (with no specifics):

NGO Monitor has been responsible for indiscriminate attacks on all left wing pro-peace NGO's which support human rights and Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. They have focused their attacks on NGO's funded by the European Union, but have refused to display a balance by investigating right wing NGO's or organizations funded by American donations, for fear of annoying their own North American right wing supporters. NGO Monitor has been responsible for damaging the image of Israel internationally and raising serious questions concerning Israel's continued comitment (sic) to values of democracy and free speech.

Similar statements were made in Newman’s January 10, 2011 column in the Jerusalem Post.

On January 8, 2011, Newman made a petty edit to the NGO Monitor page, changing the description of Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s president.

Edits on Newman’s personal life

Newman’s self-promotion extended to articles related to his personal life. He added himself to the list of notable alumni of Dame Alice Owen’s school (“Prof [[David Newman]], Professor of Political Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at [[Ben-Gurion University in Israel]], and editor of the International Journal of [[Geopolitics]]. A noted peace activist in Israel and international expert on borders.”), as well as the Hasmonean High School.

Newman also added a reference in a Wikipedia article to one of his columns on his fandom of Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club (which explains his Wikipedia username).

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Hamas terrorists to begin "new media" push

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades, yesterday met with new media activists to explain how important electronic media is to the terror group's strategy.

The conference on new media was organized by Hamas' interior ministry and its national security ministry; the terror arm of Hamas seems to have been invited to speak.

Abu Obeida also said that the Brigades is ready to counter any aggression on Gaza. It is interesting to note that Arab media for the previous day talked about rumors that Egypt was prepared to attack Gaza if need be, so it is possible that this was not just one of Hamas' usual blustery warnings to Israel.

The conference was held at the five star Commodore beachfront hotel in Gaza City.

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Sometimes you just have to go it alone (Tower)

A long but excellent essay by Benjamin Kerstein:

On October 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly. His topic was, unsurprisingly, the Iranian nuclear program and the need for the world to act in order to stop it. “I want there to be no confusion on this point,” he told the assembled delegates. “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

Immediately, and again unsurprisingly, he was dismissed as a global spoiler...

In 2002, with Israel deep in the horrors of the second intifada and Ariel Sharon’s Operation Defensive Shield at last fighting back against Palestinian terrorism, international condemnation of the Jewish state reached a fever pitch. Then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summed up the general attitude by asking, “Can Israel be right and the whole world wrong?”

This was a fairly ugly question in and of itself, given that there is something unseemly about the leader of an international organization pitting the entire world against a single nation. It is also worth pointing out that even a first-year philosophy student knows that truth is not determined by crowd size.

Yet few can deny that there was something in what Annan said. Israelis, Diaspora Jews, and people from all communities who harbor pro-Israel sentiments are constantly challenged by the fact that, quite often, it seems that practically everyone in the world believes Israel is wrong. One often has the sense that politicians, NGOs, intellectuals, artists, professors, students, activists, diplomats, and experts of all political stripes agree on only one thing: Israel’s policies, society, culture, politics, and even very existence are deplorable, offensive, or evil.

As an Israeli, and thus something of an object—albeit a decidedly minor one—of all this opprobrium, I can testify to the fact that it is not an easy thing to deal with. After all, if everyone in the world tells you that you are a horrible person, sooner or later you will probably start to believe it. However strong our convictions may be, we have all, at one time or another, found ourselves asking Annan’s question: Is it really possible, we wonder, for us to be right when everyone is telling us we are wrong or worse?

For myself, I was gratified to discover that this question had already been asked and answered over a century ago, when the State of Israel was still a dream in the minds of a small group of activists and thinkers. And in one of the acerbic little ironies history periodically throws our way, it had been asked and answered in Mr. Annan’s own words.

...In the 1892 essay entitled “Some Consolation,” Ahad Ha’am asked Annan’s question in practically identical terms. “Since everybody hates the Jews,” he wrote, “can we think that everybody is wrong and Jews are right?” And like today, Ahad Ha’am noted that the question could not be easily dismissed. “There are many among us Jews,” he wrote, “on whom a similar question half-unconsciously forces itself.”

Ahad Ha’am’s answer was a simple one, but he used a very singular proof to make his case—the blood libel. It was indisputable fact, he noted, that for centuries, the overwhelming majority of the non-Jewish world believed that the Jews held hideous ceremonies in which non-Jewish children were murdered and their blood used in unspeakable demonic rites. And it was equally indisputable that, throughout all those many centuries, every Jew in the world knew this was a deranged fantasy.

“Yes,” Ahad Ha’am concluded, “it is possible” for the Jews to be right and the entire world wrong. “The blood accusation proves it possible. Here, you see, the Jews are right and perfectly innocent.”

As the title of his essay suggests, Ahad Ha’am took “some consolation” from this fact, and with good reason. But there is a darker side to this consolation, because it also reminds us that, although we may know that we can be right while the world is wrong, it does nothing to prevent the world from continuing to believe otherwise.

Everyone reacts to this in different ways. In the Diaspora, it often means a perpetual struggle against those who believe that because “the whole world” believes the worst of Israel, it must be true. A small minority simply gives in and, effectively, joins the other side, concluding that “the world,” if only by virtue of superior numbers, must be correct. Others defy it outright, insisting instead that Israel is always right while the world is always wrong. Still others simply trudge quietly on, keeping their heads down and hoping for the best, occasionally making small and private expressions of their Zionism.

For those who support Israel publicly, it is rarely much easier. Activists and members of pro-Israel groups do their best to use reason, logic, and public relations to change people’s minds, often thanklessly. ...

But perhaps the harshest effect is on Israel itself. From the average man in the street to the prime minister’s office, Israelis are, for the most part, convinced that the world has never and will never accept Ahad Ha’am’s argument. This has resulted in one of modern Hebrew’s most popular but depressing expressions: kol ha’olam negdeinu. “The whole world is against us.”

...The role of the prophet is one of the most revered in traditional Judaism, and it is, of course, the role of the prophet to stand against social consensus, denouncing injustice, idolatry, and evil however powerful its practitioners may be. Many cultures have similar archetypes, but in Judaism it is notably, perhaps uniquely emphasized. Indeed, without becoming unduly mystical, it is difficult to ignore the fact that, for the entirety of its history, the Jewish people have tended to keep their own counsel, to be a people apart, to not apologize for being different, and to “go it alone” despite the opposition and even hatred of the rest of the world. Perhaps the hope that a modern Jewish state would not have to do the same is asking too much.

But it must be admitted that there is a heavy psychological cost to never being able to fully trust other people. And having to go it alone, however necessary, is a lonely fate.

Read the whole thing. I edited out some caveats and counterexamples to keep this as brief as I could but it is really good.

I think that this dovetails with the previous link, about how Israel naturally has better intelligence on Arab matters than the US intel agencies due partially to the ability to have analysts who truly understand Arab language and, by extension, culture.

Now, Israel's critics could argue that paranoia can skew one's perspective as well. It can and does. However, as the joke goes, it is not paranoia if the world really is out to get you.

Obviously some in the international community are more sympathetic (and, more rarely, empathetic) to Israel's plight than others. The major point that Israel's well-meaning critics need to understand is that for them, being wrong is not an existential issue. For Israelis, it often is.

And that is true both when the decision is to act or not to act, whether to react or not, to decide whether a verbal threat is real or rhetoric. Israelis are keenly aware of the downside of going it alone; they have felt the consequences of their unilateral decisions for over six decades.

Critics consider Israel a cowboy, itching to pull the trigger, but they choose to forget that the calculus against action - and the international isolation that results - is factored in as part of the decision as well. Israel sometimes has to go it alone because only Israel has to suffer the consequences of choosing not to.

Conversely, critics conveniently forget that Israel sometimes chooses not to act, and it has paid the price for inaction as well. That is in Israel's DNA, but it doesn't make it into Western history books.

The antisemitic critics of Israel will never be mollified by whatever Israel does. The more friendly nations, along with organizations like J-Street, prefer to infantilize Israel as if Israelis aren't mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions, and therefore need to be pressured to do the right thing. These "friendly" critics choose not to realize that Israelis have thoroughly considered the next twelve chess moves while they are struggling to look past only one.

Israel has to think that far ahead  in order to survive to the next match. And she can't choose not to play.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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The USA-Israel intelligence gap on Arabs

A short but must-read piece from Spengler:

One in five applicants for jobs at the Central Intelligence Agency have ties to Muslim terrorist organizations, according to the latest round of Snowden leaks. And Israel is a major target of American counterintelligence. Washington is insane.

Three years ago, the Washington Post sketched the elephantiasis in the U.S. intelligence establishment without, of course, access to the detailed numbers leaked by Edward Snowden last week. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend if you can’t hire people you can trust. If you spend $52 billion in the “black budget,” you create so many conflicting bureaucratic interest groups as to cancel out any possible signal with a wave of noise.

As I pointed out in a 2010 post at First Things, at last count there were fewer than 2,500 Americans studying Arabic at advanced university courses (not counting, of course, the internal training of the U.S. military). Fewer than 250 were studying Farsi. The total pool of truly competent Arab speakers coming out of American universities per year probably is in the low hundreds. How many of these can U.S. intelligence agencies recruit? If we can’t recruit translators among Americans whose background is verifiable, we rely on first- and second-generation immigrants from Arab countries whose background is not verifiable. We should assume that our intelligence services are riddled with hostiles. We are Gulliver tied down by Lilliputians.

Israel, by contrast, has a surfeit of Arabic translators — the language is taught in every Israeli high school, and is easy for Hebrew-speakers to master. Israeli friends of mine who were trained as Arabic translators for intelligence work were sent to guard duty in the Negev because the military had too many skilled linguists.

The U.S. has relied extensively on friendly Arab intelligence services, above all the Egyptians, to fill the gap — except that the Obama administration did its best to bring down the Egyptian military in 2011 and install the Muslim Brotherhood. The Israelis have plenty to tell, but little that Washington wants to hear: Israel never fell victim to the mass delusion about the so-called Arab Spring, and has warned throughout (along with Saudi Arabia) that Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be crushed. Israel therefore is treated as an intelligence target rather than as a collaborator, while the Arab intelligence services who most might help us — Egyptian and Saudi — must regard us with skepticism in the best of cases and hostility in the worst.

America is flying blind into a hurricane. Americans who write about the Middle East now depend on what other countries choose to leak to us. Washington isn’t in the loop any longer.

(h/t Herb)

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Egypt sends back 100 Gaza Hajj pilgrims

Ma'an reports:

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday forced over 100 Palestinian pilgrims to return to Gaza after having entered the country to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage.

Egyptian security officials said that the 100 or so pilgrims had entered Egypt via the Rafah land crossing and were forced to return to the Gaza Strip for security reasons, without providing further details.

Egyptian director of the Rafah terminal, Sami Mitwali, told Ma'an that around 680 Palestinian Hajj pilgrims have entered Egypt via Rafah.

In 2007, under Mubarak, Egypt allowed terrorists to go on Hajj, over Israeli protests - but gave them a hard time before allowing them back into Gaza. There were reports that Hamas members went to Iran for terrorist training and cash after the pilgrimage.

In 2008, Hamas itself banned Fatah members from going.

In 2010, Egypt banned Hamas leaders from going on Hajj.

There is a lot of history there about how Egypt and Hamas have used Hajj for political purposes, rather than it just being the purely religious experience they pretend it is.

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10/03 Links Pt2: The Big Hamas Elephant, EU Funds Right of Return NGO's, BDS Fails in the UK

From Ian:

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Danny Danon: Israel must be wary of those lining up to give advice

So many today treat “two states for two people,” Israel and Palestine, as a sacrosanct mission carved in stone, its outcome inevitable. I challenge these counselors to look around at how much our region has changed and ask themselves, might not fresh approaches be wiser than ritualistically repeating old slogans?
The path of least resistance always beckons Israel to take the first step, to hope that surrendering territory might result in actual peace. Yet our experience in withdrawing from Gaza has resulted only in continuous rocket attacks on innocent civilians, and our presumed negotiating partners are divided into the rejectionists of Hamas in Gaza and the feckless chiefs of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, neither group even agreeing on how or when to speak to each other.
At the end of the day, Israel has but one course – to shun the current conventional wisdom and the echo chamber of pundits and instead search for pragmatic, workable solutions to our challenges. It is the only way to ensure both the security of our people and the vibrant democracy of our society.

‘Our margin for error is so small’: An exit interview with Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren

On Tuesday, Israel’s long-serving ambassador to Washington officially stepped down after a term that witnessed the Arab Spring uprisings and most of President Obama’s first five years in office. During his tenure, Michael Oren presided over periods of unusual strain between top U.S. and Israeli officials, as well as moments of close cooperation in defense and counterterrorism. In between, the telegenic, U.S.-born historian and author was a faithful spokesman for Israeli interests on op-ed pages, Sunday talk shows and even Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”
I sat down with Oren during his final week on the job to talk about the Middle East and U.S.-Israel relations. At one point, he pulled out a copy of his 2007 best-selling history of U.S. adventures in the Middle East, provocatively titled, “Power, Faith and Fantasy.” Here are some excerpts from the interview.

The Big Hamas Elephant

Should it do so, it will be forced to make some bold and difficult decisions. But these decisions are absolutely necessary for the West to accomplish its professed goals. If the Obama administration and other Western leaders do indeed believe that a final status agreement ending all mutual claims is the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then they have only two policies to choose from: Pressure Hamas to recognize Israel, or remove it from power. Whichever path they choose, clarity and honesty about the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be infinitely preferable to the West’s current policy of self-deception.

Alan Dershowitz: Netanyahu’s Powerful UN Speech is Being Distorted by the Media

I was in the General Assembly when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his speech about Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iran’s nuclear program. I heard a very different speech from the one described by The New York Times and other media outlets. Not surprisingly, the Iranians described it as “inflammatory.” More surprisingly, the Times described Netanyahu’s speech as aggressive, combative, sarcastic, and sabotaging diplomacy, while the only expert it quoted called the speech ineffective and pushing the limits of credibility.
What I heard in that chamber bore little relationship either to the Iranian or the Times characterizations. What the people listening to Netanyahu heard was a compellingly persuasive speech using Rouhani’s own words to prove convincingly that his friendly smile is a cover for far more malignant intentions. Herein are a few excerpts not quoted in the Times report.

Bolton: Rouhani is Playing Obama

Monday ends the worst month of the Obama presidency. The Syrian diplomatic and political debacle was bad enough, but last week at the United Nations President Obama embarked on a campaign for “progress” with Iran that will prove much more dangerous for American interests. Just as Vladimir Putin had played him for a fool over Syria, Mr. Obama was initially snubbed by Iranian President Hasan Rouhani despite frantic White House efforts to produce a handshake.

Israeli Group Supporting Palestinian ‘Right of Return’ is Funded Primarily by Europe

Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor revealed that a Tel Aviv conference held Sept. 29-30 by Zochrot, an Israeli NGO promoting Palestinian narratives including the “Nakba” (“catastrophe,” referring to Israel’s victory in the 1948 war) and the “right of return,” was funded primarily by European organizations.
On its website, Zochrot states its belief that peace will come only after Israel is “decolonized.” Conference funders from Europe included Christian Aid, CCFD, Broederlijk Delen, Oxfam GB, and others. “As an organization engaging in development and peace-building… refugee rights… are of utmost importance to us,” CCFD said in a statement.
According to Chief Programs Officer for NGO Monitor Yitzhak Santis, Zochrot’s one-state vision amounts to “a call for the elimination of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Britain's failing Israel boycott campaign

Ever keen to boycott Israeli goods, even at the expense of the Palestinians they claim to support, Britain’s anti-Israel BDS groups planned a nationwide “day of action” against the popular Sodastream last Saturday (28 September), to mark a year since the flagship “Ecostream” store opened in Brighton stocking the full range of Sodatream products.
Demonstrations were scheduled at John Lewis in London’s Oxford Street and stores in Sheffield and elsewhere, besides a march and some speeches at the Brighton store.
Maybe the supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and their companions in boycott were all busy that day, or maybe the steam is running out of any enthusiasm for boycott campaigns that have zero effect on Israel’s economy! Whatever the reason, Saturday turned out to be a day of supreme inaction everywhere.

Washington Post: Forget Iran, Israeli Nukes are the Issue

Having made a false moral equivalence between Iranian and Israeli nuclear weapons, Pincus then goes on to do the same between Syrian chemical weapons and alleged Israeli chemical capabilities.
To back up his arguments, Pincus relies on quotes from Russian President Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. Since when are these two international actors such paragons of virtue?
Referring to disarmament, Pincus asks: “Will Israel take that first diplomatic step?” Is he really so naive as to serious think that Israel proposing its own disarmament will do anything other than encourage radical forces in the Middle East to revisit their dreams of the destruction of Israel?

The LA Times' Ongoing Assault on Israel

The editorial pages of the Los Angeles Times continues its ongoing assault on the legitimacy of the state of Israel with an Op-Ed yesterday by radical academic Neve Gordon arguing for the replacement of the Jewish state of Israel with a bi-national state ("Rethinking the two-state solution"). The Times has long held that Israel's right to exist is a topic for debate. Earlier pieces arguing for the one-state solution and the dismantlement of the Jewish state include those by Jonathan Kuttab, Saree Makdisi (here and here), Tony Judt, and Ben Ehrenreich.

Thousands Gather in Jerusalem, Tell Government to Build

Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday evening at the Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem for the “One State for One Nation” convention. Arutz Sheva was there.
The participants, which included the heads of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria as well as prominent MKs, called on the Israeli government to ignore the pressure and threats from the world and to continue to build new communities in Judea and Samaria.

Jews Down Under: Knocking out antisemitism on Facebook

Elimihate is not your average grassroots movement.
In addition to reporting online antisemitic hate speech, we seek to question who should be held accountable for the vilifying content in an era of digital convergence.
Elimihate started as a university assignment for Sydney University but the cause swiftly turned into something much larger than we had previously anticipated.
Established in 2013, Elimihate’s key focus lies in exploring the difficulties of holding social media platforms responsible for hate speech.

Tunisian Activists Blast Government 'Harassment' of Jews

A Tunisian rights group on Wednesday accused the police of harassing the tiny Jewish community on the southern island of Djerba, whilst turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism, saying Jews there had come under a string of attacks.
"Tunisian Jews feel in danger, they are really afraid," Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Association Supporting Minorities, told a news conference after visiting Djerba.

Why is the World Silent as Christians Are Persecuted?

Yes, it is to the credit of democratic nations that they judge themselves by how they respect minorities. When we fall short, we know we must improve.
But, as former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting a delegation of Arab ambassadors who complained about the treatment of Muslims in France, France must do better, but France also expects “reciprocity.”
In other words, it is the height of hypocrisy for Arab leaders to criticize Western countries for perceived injustices, while perpetrating those very injustices – and more – in their own lands. If a mosque can be built in Paris, surely a church should not be banned in Riyadh.

'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker Planning New Film About Islamic Terrorism

Mark Basseley Youssef, whose Innocence of Muslims video initially was blamed for riots and the death of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is searching for partners to make a new movie and a TV show about the roots of Islamic terrorism. In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Yousseff says that the entertainment industry is too timid to honestly explore the issue.

Israeli start-up presents an online ulpan

One method of learning Hebrew that has had some limited success has been the ulpan, the total immersion language-learning system popular in Israel. But the technique is far from ideal; a recent government study showed that as many as 60 percent of immigrants who go through the system can’t read, write, or speak Hebrew very well when they finish.
Perhaps what’s needed is something even more engrossing — like the online immersion users of Lingua.ly get when they surf the web. Using quizzes, voice-overs, practice exercises, games, and constant reinforcement, Lingua.ly — according to its developers — is a better and more effective way to learn languages.

Israel's PointGrab wins innovation prize

Israeli company PointGrab has won the 2013 European Technology Innovation Award handed out by the by Frost & Sullivan business consulting firm for its achievements in "gesture recognition for consumer electronics."
The startup develops gesture control solutions which enhance the functional capability of consumer electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones and televisions, including Samsung’s Smart TVs, Acer and Fujitsu PCs.

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Five ways Egypt's closure of Rafah hurts Hamas

Pan-Arab paper Al Hayat describes five different ways that Egypt's closure of Rafah, which for some reason is never called a "siege," is significantly hurting Hamas:

1. Loss of tax revenue. Hamas taxed all the goods coming from the tunnels, but the PA taxes the goods that come in from Israel. Hamas was receiving some $12 million in revenues every month from taxing smuggled goods. As a result of the closure, Hamas has cut paychecks and delayed payments to its 40,000 employees in Gaza.

2. Higher prices. Goods that come from Israel are at market prices, while many of those that come from Egypt are subsidized by the Egyptian government. Construction material in particular have doubled in price and Gaza's Federation of Contractors has called to stop all work for its 60,000 members until prices stabilize. Fuel prices as well have gone up to what Israelis are paying.

3. The end of cash being smuggled to Hamas. Banks refuse to transfer money to Gaza out of fear of running afoul of anti-terrorism laws, and Hamas had received a significant part of its cash from people smuggling cash through the tunnels (from Iran and elsewhere.) This has all but ended.

4. Weapons smuggling has gone way down. Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad depended on the smuggling trade from Sinai jihadists and middlemen to get their weapons and ammunition, and Egypt is not going to look the other way any more.

5. Hamas leaders cannot easily travel any more. Only last year Hamas leaders were touring Arab nations, asking for money and acting like heads of state. That seems to have largely ended.

According to the article, Hamas doesn't see any way out of this predicament right now, so it has decided to tolerate it until the political situation changes. But meanwhile Hamas is saying that Fatah no longer wants to talk to them since the hope is that an internal uprising in Gaza is coming soon.

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Controversial British Islamic public school closed for health violations

From the Derby Telegraph, last week:

WOMEN teachers at Al-Madinah School in Derby claim they are being told to cover their heads and shoulders with a hijab – an Islamic scarf – whether or not they are Muslim.

This is one of several complaints made by staff to their unions at Al-Madinah School, which is currently under investigation by the Education Funding Agency for alleged irregularities over its grants.

A member of the teaching staff told the Derby Telegraph that women were being told to sign new contracts that say they must wear hijabs and that girls are told to sit at the back of classes.

It is understood that the new contracts for staff also include rules about not taking non-halal food into the school and not being allowed to wear jewelry.

Mr Raine added: "There are worries over practices concerning the discrimination between male and female pupils in the school, with the girls being told to sit at the back of the class regardless of whether they can see the board properly."

The school, which occupies space at Norman House, Friar Gate, where primary-age children are taught, and Midland House, Nelson Street, for secondary children, was set up in September 2012.

The then head teacher, Andrew Cutts-Mckay, who has left after less than a year in post, said at the time that the school was being set up so that "the timetable will be flexible with time for Islamic teaching but pupils will be able to opt out of this and there will be a chance to learn about other faiths".

He said the school would "honour all faiths" and that he envisaged a school where 50% of pupils are Islamic and the other half were not.

Sue Arguile, branch secretary of Derby National Union of Teachers, said: "This school was first launched as based on Muslim principles and not as a Muslim school.

"If the school is not sticking to the original reasons behind why it was set up, then it does call into question whether public money is being used properly and for its intended purpose."

The Daily Mail adds:

Jane is a good school teacher and proud of it. She lives in a handsome, detached house surrounded by neatly mowed lawns on the outskirts of Derby, with her husband and three pet cats.

For nearly 20 years, she has taught history, geography and religious studies in schools throughout the East Midlands city. In all that time, there has never been one word of complaint against her from head teachers, parents or pupils.

‘I feel I do a good job and always wear a business suit with trousers or a sensible skirt in school. It is a sign of respect for my profession and sets a good example to the children.’

Yet, one day in October last year, she returned home from the classroom in tears to her husband, a successful businessman. To her horror, she had become embroiled in a furious row at her school over what she wore to work.

The Islamic Al-Madinah school in Derby, one of the newest of the Government-sponsored free schools, had asked her to dress modestly, covering her hair and ensuring she did not show any flesh apart from her face, hands and feet.

She abided by the request — or so she thought.

For earlier that October day, wearing a grey suit with a skirt well below the knees, thick knitted black stockings, calf-length boots and her long brown hair completely covered, she stepped into a lift at the school with a male teacher.

To her shame, he looked her up and down and told her that she had failed to observe ‘common decency’. The two inches of leg hidden in the 100 denier stockings which showed between her boots and the hem of her dress were ‘abhorrent’, he warned. Her discreet outfit was, he deemed, ‘figure hugging’ and immodest.

‘That encounter in the lift with this Muslim male teacher made me feel like a slut,’ Jane says today. ‘It was the final straw. '

The webpage for the school says, improbably:

The entire idea of a public Islamic school seems odd, but one where even the basic principles of society are spurned is outrageous.

Anyway, the school was just closed, at least temporarily, after a health and safety inspection.

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EoZ, StandWithUs Khaybar petitions delivered to Amnesty, HRW

Over the summer I blogged extensively about the antisemitic Arab TV series "Khaybar" that was being broadcast during Ramadan, and I created a petition for Amnesty and HRW to condemn Arab antisemitism.

Yesterday and today, my petitions along with those from StandWithUs were delivered to AI and HRW.

Here is the press release from StandWithUs:

Delivery of petition to AI in London

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2013
On October 2, 2013, StandWithUs, in partnership with Israel activist blogger Elder of Ziyon, delivered petitions to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in London, asking them to support tolerance and human rights by condemning and exposing anti-Semitism in Arab media. The petitions, “Condemn Khaybar”and “End Bigotry and Incitement against Jews on Arab Television,”  were delivered by Irene Naftalin, Community Director of StandWithUs UK, together with Luke Akehurst, Director, We Believe in Israel.  The petitions were delivered to Amnesty International in New York on October 3, by Avi Posnick, Regional Coordinator, New York Chapter, StandWithUs East Coast.  They have over 6,000 international signatures.

    StandWithUs and Elder of Ziyon contacted the two human rights organizations, urging them to use this opportunity to expose, condemn and end anti-Semitic programming in the Arab world. Both organizations have previously pledged to oppose anti-Semitic discrimination. This summer, Human Rights Watch called for an end to religious hate speech in the Arab world. At past conferences, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned all manifestations of anti-Semitism  and called for swift and thorough investigations into incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination.

Delivering petitions to HRW in NYC

  The petitions focused on a Middle Eastern television series, "Khaybar," which promoted hatred and glorified violence against Jews.  The show’s title alone memorialized the massacre of Jewish people in the city of Khaybar during the time of Mohammed. The program was broadcast to millions of people this summer during Ramadan and also was available to many more outside the Arab world via the web. It is representative of the kind of anti-Semitic broadcasts airing regularly throughout the Arab/Muslim world.

    “We hope that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recognize this opportunity to join the effort to oppose anti-Semitic bigotry,” stated Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.

Elder of Ziyon is one of the world's most popular bloggers. His scoops have been reported in major media worldwide. Visit: elderofziyon.blogspot.com

StandWithUs (SWU) is a twelve year-old, international, non-profit Israel education organization that supports people around the world who want to educate their campuses and communities about Israel. Based in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters throughout the U.S., Israel, Toronto and the UK including New York.

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10/03 Links P1: The Arab Springs Big Winner, Egypt Planning Gaza Strikes?, Dalal Mughrabi Ping Pong

From Ian:

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The Real Big Winner of the Arab Spring

Finally, analysts tend to overlook the most important factor: Israel’s overwhelming military superiority. The Arab states have fought four major wars against the Jewish state, all won convincingly by Israel. In the intervening 40 years, the IDF has only gotten stronger while Arab armies have petrified. Israel currently maintains a massive qualitative edge over its potential enemies, honed over decades of battle experience. The Egyptian and Syrian armies, untested since the Yom Kippur War, are not even capable of controlling their own territories, while Jordan has not gone to war since 1967. The Arab states know full well that they would be decimated in any large-scale conflict with the Jewish state.
Obviously, none of this should be taken as cause for sanguinity with regard to the long-term threats to Israel’s survival and prosperity. But the Arab Spring has compromised strategic rivals and devastated a number of these threats. While its neighbors are roiled by chaos and violence, Israel remains strong. By exercising restraint, keeping a low profile, and strengthening its defenses, Israel is in a better position now than it was several years ago. In fact, Israel may be the only real long-term winner of the Arab Spring.

JCPA: After the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Is Hamas in Gaza Next in Line?

Indeed, Egypt has finally decided to tackle the security threat from the Sinai Peninsula, a region that was nearly under the control of jihadist organizations with links to al-Qaeda and Hamas. The Egyptian army has massed troops, deployed combat helicopters, dispatched navy patrol boats, and is carrying out coordinated attacks against concentrations of terrorists in Sinai.
The Egyptian army’s ultimate goal is clear: to recover Egypt’s sovereignty in Sinai. In order to succeed in its mission, the Egyptian supreme command understands that it must neutralize Hamas, which it sees as partly responsible for the security situation in Sinai during the last few years.

Egypt drafts plans to launch strikes on Gaza terror targets

Military sources told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that the new Egyptian plans call for attacks on specific targets in the Strip, and that Egyptian unmanned aerial vehicles recently overflew the territory and photographed a number of sites.
According to the report, the UAVs’ mission was focused on Rafah and Khan Yunis, cities along the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt.
These statements were made following Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy’s warning his country could take military action against Gaza terrorist groups last week. The warning was issued in light of continuous attacks against the Egyptian army in Sinai, particularly in the areas of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, also adjacent to the Gaza border.

Soldier’s killer still at large 10 days later

Nearly two weeks after Kobi’s death, however, the shooter remains at large. According to the Maariv daily, the IDF and Shin Bet security service believe the gunman acted on his own — and have no real leads in the case. Among the indicators supporting this theory is the fact that no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. The fact that the killer likely acted alone has made it harder to gather intelligence and crack the case, unnamed sources told the paper.

Jerusalem Councillor: Time to Stop Illegal Mosque Noise

Despite their many protests, residents of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem have still found no relief from the ongoing din made by mosque muezzins who issue the call to Muslim prayer at all hours of the day – and the night. Especially at issue is the first call to prayer of the morning that is made – very loudly – at dawn.

Arab Witness 'Lied' Over Cemetery Vandalism; Suspects Released

The four argued that they had been in the area only because they were walking to the mikvah (ritual bath), and that they had no connection to the vandalism.
“The only one who testified against us was the Arab man, a man we know who had a clear interest in doing us harm,” one of the suspects said Thursday morning, following his release.

PLO Flag Flies over Homesh

Palestinian Authority resident Arabs took over the town of Homesh on Thursday morning, just two weeks after a government order supported turning the Jewish community over to PA hands.
Pictures showed Arab men celebrating at the scene by waving PLO flags and holding up signs with what appeared to be anti-Semitic images, including a depiction of a religious Jew being speared through the head.
The men painted over the picture of a menorah on the local water tower that had been Homesh’s trademark, replacing it with PLO images and slogans in Arabic.

PMW: Terrorist Dalal Mughrabi glorified in ping pong tournament sponsored by Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub

On the same day that Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas spoke about the Palestinians' desire to live in peace with Israel and their "rejection of terrorism in all its forms," Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Olympic Committee, glorified terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history in 1978, when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Rajoub chose to sponsor "The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Table Tennis Tournament." At the closing ceremony, Vice President of the Palestinian Table Tennis Association, Radwan Al-Sharif, honored terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, when he "mentioned the glorious deeds of hero Martyr Dalal Mughrabi."

Top minister: Makes sense for Israel, Arabs to cooperate on Iran

Israel has held a series of meetings with prominent figures from a number of Gulf and other Arab states in recent weeks in an attempt to muster a new alliance capable of blocking Iran’s drive toward nuclear weapons, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday. An Israeli minister said Thursday that it made sense for Israel and worried Arab states to work together, though he did not confirm the specifics of the report.
According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been supervising a series of “intensive meetings” with representatives of these countries. One “high-ranking official” even came on a secret visit to Israel, the report said.

Israel no longer certain Obama would ever use force against Iran, Likud MK indicates

Speaking to The Times of Israel in New York in the wake of Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Hanegbi said “the most dramatic part” of the prime minister’s address was the passage in which he warned, “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
Why was this so dramatic, Hanegbi asked rhetorically? “Because it marked the first time it was said in public, and not behind closed doors, that Israel will act even if stands alone.”

Netanyahu: Ayatollah Khamenei ‘heads a cult’

Netanyahu dismissed the notion that Rouhani was freely elected, saying Iranians would topple the regime if they could.
“These people, the Iranian people, the majority of them are actually pro-Western,” he stated, adding, “But they don’t have that. They’re governed not by Rouhani, they’re governed by Ayatollah Khamenei. He heads a cult. That cult is wild in its ambitions and its aggression.”

New sanctions likely despite thaw in US-Iran ties

In July, the House approved tough new sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and other industries. The bill blacklists any business in Iran’s mining and construction sectors and commits the United States to the goal of ending all Iranian oil sales worldwide by 2015. It also builds on US penalties that went into effect last year that have cut Iran’s petroleum exports in half and left its economy in tatters. China, India and several other Asian nations continue to buy billions of dollars of Iranian oil each month, providing Tehran with much of the money it spends on its weapons and nuclear programs.
No bill would likely be finalized before November. That gives the administration at least several weeks to see whether Iran changes course under Rouhani.

Video: Testimony on Prison Conditions in Iran

In her first, full-length witness interview since her escape from Iran, former political prisoner Zaynab Bayazidi--a Kurdish women's rights and children's rights activist--describes her multiple arrests, interrogations and imprisonment in exile in Maragheh Prison in Iran. In her statement, Bayazidi explains in careful detail the substandard health and sanitation conditions in prison, sexually coercive practices in interrogation, suicide attempts of inmates, the treatment of children in prison, sexual abuse of female inmates, violence in prison and other prison circumstances and practices that she herself experienced or to which she was a first-hand witness.

Egypt Cancels all Flights, Tourism Ties with Iran

The announcement came Tuesday, with Egypt stating it has ordered an end to all tourism activities with Iran. These had increased considerably during the yearlong rule of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Whereas deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi tried to improve relations with Iran, seeing it as a natural ally, the new regime is trying to distance itself from Tehran.

Egypt’s Liberals Can’t Get a Break. Will They Ever?

I came looking for the country’s beleaguered secular liberals, hoping to find out what they think about the difficult situation in which they and the people of Egypt now find themselves: Two years after the Egyptian revolution ended President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years in power, the country’s liberals, who bitterly opposed Mubarak, are now largely aligned with another military-dominated regime.
Is this a betrayal of the revolution’s core principles, or the only way Egypt’s secular democrats can eventually triumph over the theocratic forces of the Muslim Brotherhood who seek to create a coercive sharia-based state? Are Egypt’s liberals simply rebooting their revolution after the failure of Morsi’s government, or is their tolerance of the new military-backed government a strategic error?

John Greyson and Tarek Loubani: Egypt considering murder charges against Canadians

For the first time, the Star is publishing a detailed list of the intended charges the authorities are pursuing against them. Similar charges are also being sought for 140 Egyptians scooped up during demonstrations in the heart of Cairo that left dozens dead.
The most serious allegations against the Canadians include murder, “intention to kill,” aiding and abetting murder, and “using explosives against the Azbakiya police station” in central Cairo. At least one of those allegations — murder — carries a potential death sentence in Egypt.

Islamist Group Tied to Obama Downplays Violence Against Coptic Christians

Dalia Moghaed, credited with helping President Obama draft his June 2009 Cairo speech about American relations with the Islamic world, recently downplayed attacks against Egypt’s Coptic Christians on a Facebook page.
More than 80 Coptic churches were burned by Brotherhood supporters after the Egyptian military’s crackdown last month on Muslim Brotherhood encampments in Cairo. A local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party appeared to sanction violence in retaliation for the Coptic Church’s backing of the Egyptian military.

Amnesty International accuses Turkey of gross rights violations

“The attempt to smash the Gezi Park protest movement involved a string of human rights violations on a huge scale,” Amnesty International’s expert on Turkey, Andrew Gardner, said. ”They include the wholesale denial of the right to peaceful assembly and violations of the rights to life, liberty and the freedom from torture and ill-treatment.”
Protests broke out at Gezi Park in June over government plans to redevelop Istanbul landmark Taksim Square and build a replica Ottoman-era military barracks at Gezi, one of the last green areas in the city. The public rallies then evolved into an outpouring of discontent with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which many have accused of becoming authoritarian, and spread to other cities in Turkey.

Daniel Pipes: U.S.-Turkey Partnership is a Gigantic Blunder

A headline declaring “U.S. and Turkey to Create Fund to Stem Extremism” may look like a parody headline but it’s the entirely serious title of a New York Times article by Eric Schmitt. Some details: John Kerry and Ahmet Davutoğlu announced recently at a meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum

Future says Hezbollah’s arms reason behind Lebanese emigration

Lebanon’s Future bloc said on Tuesday that non-state arms, in reference to Hezbollah’s weapons, are why the Lebanese people are emigrating from the country.
“The arms which are not under the state’s authority are the reason behind the Lebanese people’s emigration [legally] and illegally,” the Future bloc said in a statement issued following its weekly meeting in reference to the recent incident of the sinking of a boat carrying Lebanese asylum-seekers.
At least 29 Lebanese asylum-seekers are missing after their boat capsized off Indonesia on its way to Australia, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Hezbollah Withdraws 1,200 Troops from Syria

The fighters were sent in to help Assad retake the city of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon, which they did in early June. They were accused of murdering women and children during the fighting, which exacted a heavy toll on both sides.
Hebollah then redirected its efforts towards Homs, to help Assad’s troops retake that area, and intended to move on afterward to Aleppo.
However, instead of quickly retaking the area, the Hezbollah and Syrian soldiers, and their Iranian advisors, found themselves increasingly trapped in endless bloody skirmishes in the region. Not only did they not retake land from the rebels, but they found themselves suffering heavy losses.
The losses lead to increasing division within Hezbollah, with many criticizing the group’s head, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for spending Hezbollah lives in a foreign country. Nasrallah's own brother Khader was among the dead.

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Irish Times columnist shows anti-Jewish-Israeli bigotry (updated)

Here are the first paragraphs of a new column from Eamonn McCann in Irish Times:

The late Mary Holland once explained to me why she had changed sides on the Israel-Palestine issue after spending just a few hours in the region. She had arrived as a supporter and admirer of Israel, looking forward to experiencing the ways in which people who had survived one of the most appalling atrocities in all of human history were gathering in their ancestral homeland to envision and create a state of their own.

As soon as you walked out of the hotel, she recalled, you could see something was terribly wrong. Arabs shrinking back on the pavements to allow Jews to pass, being literally, physically pushed out of their way if they didn’t move fast enough, and, worst of all in her account, the Arabs’ heads-down acceptance of it all.

My old political mentor, Tony Cliff, born Yigael Gluckstein, founder of the Socialist Workers’ Party, recounted a similar sort of epiphany. A teenage member of the socialist Zionist group Hashomer Hatzair in the 1930s, he discarded the Zionist component of his belief “in one go” after watching a group of Jewish settlers moving through a market in Haifa systematically pouring kerosene over the produce on display on Arab fruit and vegetable stalls.

"Settlers" in Haifa? It looks like accuracy is not exactly McCann's forte.

I wrote in the comments:

Funny; I have visited Israel frequently and have not seen any such incidents. Arab schoolgirls walk fearlessly in Jerusalem, giggling amongst themselves like any other kids. Jews and Arabs shop together in the malls, Arab and Jews work together in the hotels and hospitals.

There are some problematic incidents, as there are every other place in the world, including Ireland. They should be denounced but to generalize them to judge an entire people is...what's that word again? - oh, yeah, bigotry.

By the way, according to Shin Bet, in August alone there were 72 firebomb attacks by Arabs against Jews recorded. Should you judge all Arabs by those standards? Or is it only Jews that are damned by the small-minded thinking of today's politically correct bigots?

(h/t DM)

UPDATE: By sheer coincidence, it appears that the late Mary Holland had two children. The father? Eamonn McCann!

There's journalistic integrity for you!

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"Jewish UN wants to destroy Syria to fulfill Isaiah prophecy, take over world"

Here's a new twist on the usual Arab antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The official Syrian RTV agency says that Syria is the last obstacle for Jews to finally take over the world.

All you need to do is read the Bible, the Talmud, and (of course) the Protocols of the elders of Zion, and it all makes perfect sense.

The pre-war on Syria, and the current war on Syria, is World War III. We live the war and pay for it and most of us do not know the reasons for it. ...The real reasons for war are written in the folds of old yellowing books.

What is happening today is not caused by the desire to establish democracy or freedom, or concern for the interests of the Syrian people. Control of the oil resources is the economic engine of the war prior to the final declaration of victory for Israel over the world and the establishment of a global state, which is the United Nations and its Supreme Council and the International Court of Justice, which brings together presidents and leaders to establish this state. To those who think this is just a conspiracy theory I invite them to read the Torah and the Talmud and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and specifically to read the policies included in the book of Isaiah 16: [sic - it is 17:]

1. The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

(Apparently, Aroer is similar sounding to another Syrian city.)

The article goes on to claim that other prophecies say that every Jew will have 2300 non-Jewish slaves, and all of the wars in the world are meant to fulfill that promise to enslave a good part of the planet.

The reason America went to war in Iraq? Well, there is another [Koranic?] prophecy that Iraq would destroy Israel, so the Zionist puppets in the US moved to destroy Iraq before that could happen.

But America is also $15 trillion in debt, and that is how the Zionists plan to take over the US, that is already under their control. Or something like that.

In the end, the Jews were behind the destruction of the Soviet Union, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Syria is the last piece of the massive puzzle before Jews can exert total global domination.

Again, this is in official Syrian government media.

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Egyptian paper compares Islamists, unfavorably, with Jews

An article in al-Mogaz looks at the supposed similarities between Islamists and Israel.

After a brief history of how Arabs grabbed Jewish-controlled cities in Arabia ( if I am reading it correctly, he seems to imply that their actions were illegitimate!) he discusses how Israel exists, in his mind, by using religious justification and a feeling of superiority to justify its creation.

He then says that the Islamists, like the Muslim Brotherhood, have the exact same mindset of being always right and relying on their interpretation of religion to justify the creation of Islamist states.

However, there the comparison ends. Because, he says, Israel is a democracy, with among the best educational system in the world, a leader in information technology and in weapons development, and in agriculture. It is a society that does not interfere with people's faiths, and the State does not impose the lifestyle of "certain ideological members." It is also a free society for its citizens, all equal before the law.

The Islamists' idea of nationalism includes none of these.

It has really been amusing over the past few months to see how many articles discuss how the authors' ideological enemies are "even worse than the Jews." Here we have one of the biggest backhanded compliments I've ever seen in Arabic media towards Israel.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Iranian cyberwar chief assassinated (update)

Because firewalls cannot stop bullets....

Mojtaba Ahmadi, who served as commander of the Cyber War Headquarters, was found
dead in a wooded area near the town of Karaj, north-west of the capital, Tehran. Five Iranian nuclear scientists and the head of the country’s ballistic missile programme have been killed since 2007. The regime has accused Israel’s external intelligence agency, the Mossad, of carrying out these assassinations.

Ahmadi was last seen leaving his home for work on Saturday. He was later found with two bullets in the heart, according to Alborz, a website linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps. “I could see two bullet wounds on his body and the extent of his injuries indicated that he had been assassinated from a close range with a pistol,” an eyewitness told the website.

The commander of the local police said that two people on a motorbike had been involved in the assassination.

Western officials said the information was still being assessed, but previous deaths have been serious blows to Iran’s security forces. Tighter security measures around leading commanders and nuclear scientists have instilled a culture of fear in some of the most sensitive parts of the security establishment.

The last victim of a known assassination was Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemist who worked in the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, who died when an explosive device blew up on his car in January last year.

The death of Ahmadi, a leading specialist in cyber defences, could be an extension of this campaign of subterfuge. Iran has been accused of carrying out a number of cyber attacks detected in the West.

The Revolutionary Guard has also been accused of lending its expertise to Syria’s regime, helping it to hack Western targets through a body known as the Syrian Electronic Army.

It wasn't the Mossad. It was Twitter!

(h/t Elder Of Lobby)

UPDATE: Iran's Revolutionary Guards are denying it was an assassination, calling the bullets in his heart an "accident."

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10/02 Links Pt2: Biden's Profound Ignorance, Arafat's Bolonium tests 'delayed', Clinton on Rowhani

From Ian:

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Lapid Denounces Anti-Semitic Incidents in Hungary

Speaking during a conference on European anti-Semitism in the Hungarian parliament, Lapid said today's politicians must ensure such tragedies did not happen again.
He recounted the story of his father, former MK and government minister Tommy Lapid, who narrowly escaped being killed along with thousands of other Jews who were taken to the banks of the Danube and shot in public in the winter of 1945.(h/t Yoel)

Palestinian Propaganda Invades the Arts in Canada

Palestinian propaganda has been ramped up a notch, using the prominent Toronto Film Festivals, in a manipulation of the arts to emotionalize its message. The Sixth Annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) opened on Saturday September 28th, on the heels of the renowned Toronto International Film Festival . Although described as "dedicated to bringing Palestinian cinema, live musical performances, cuisine and art to audiences," it is more accurately a propaganda fest that promotes Palestinian victimhood and paints Israel as a criminal. The event is promoted by the Canadian Arab Federation, which has been condemned by the Canadian government for its support of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

CiF Watch prompts correction to false Guardian claim about SodaStream

As Guardian reports on fledgling BDS efforts against Israel go, Benedictus’s article isn’t too bad. However, the strap line falsely claimed that SodaStream’s company headquarters was in “the occupied West Bank”, when in fact only one of their factories (in Mishor Adumim) is in the disputed territory. The company’s corporate headquarters is located in Airport City, adjacent to Ben Gurion Airport and not on the “wrong side” of the green line.
After contacting Guardian editors the strap line was corrected, and the false claim about SodaStream’s company headquarters was removed.

Guardian Letters Page Throws Up a Surprise

I’m not sure I can remember seeing a newspaper publish a letter so overtly hostile towards and critical of the newspaper itself as one in today’s Guardian. It begins with the following sentence:
The reason that you receive letters exclusively from people (including Jews) who are hostile to Israel is that no one who supports Israel bothers to read the Guardian any more. That is why your circulation is dwindling to zero, by the way.

BBC’s Marcus promotes ‘moderated’ Iranian Holocaust denial

For some reason, Jonathan Marcus seeks to persuade BBC audiences that Israel should be gratefully giving out “brownie points” to any Iranian official who does a mealy-mouthed makeover on Ahmadinejad’s previous performance. The waters of that “wave of euphoria” appear to have turned Mr Marcus’ critical and analytic faculties rather soggy.

Fisk Losing Touch With Reality

No surprise that serial Israel-basher Robert Fisk takes a typically snide and bitter view of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN. His latest in The Independent includes the following:

Now, with the pleasant smile of President Rouhani gracing their television screens, fully accepting the facts of the Jewish Holocaust – unlike his deranged and infantile predecessor – the Americans (75 per cent, if we are to believe the polls) don’t want to go to war with Iran either.

Exactly when did Rouhani “fully accept” the facts of the Holocaust?

Bill Clinton on Rowhani: Interesting That Admitting Holocaust Occurred Qualifies Him As Being A Moderate


Biden’s ‘hawkish’ speech garners mixed reviews at J Street

US Vice President Joe Biden came directly to the J Street conference in Washington, DC, from a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He brought with him a no-nonsense message that emphasized Washington’s support for Israel’s security and a strong stance against Iran. The message might have been coolly received had it been delivered by someone else, but J Street’s largely Democratic supporters welcomed the vice president like a rock star.

Biden Criticized for Calling Palestinians ‘Least Ideological and Sectarian’ Mideast Arabs

“In light of all these problems, some people ask us: Why Biden, why, why Obama. Why are you so set on trying to resolve the peace process?” Biden said.
“The Palestinian-Israeli issue involves the least ideological and least sectarian Arabs in the Middle East,” he said in an answer to his rhetorical question.
Dr. Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, said Biden’s characterization of the Palestinians revealed the Obama administration’s “profound ignorance—or willful denial—about the Middle East.” He said the Palestinians, contrary to Biden’s assessment, have “shown themselves over the last century to be the most radicalized of populations not just in the region, but globally.”

Overheard at the 2013 J Street Conference

The evening also featured an unannounced appearance by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who called the two-state solution “essential to U.S. national security.”

J Street and the Decline of American Power

Nonetheless, J Street’s moment in the sun is the result of fortuitous political circumstances, rather than any ingenious strategy on its part. As the Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo reported last week, the group has spent $100,000 reaching out to lawmakers to look kindly upon both Iranian diplomatic entreaties and Palestinian efforts to secure unilateral recognition—a stance that directly contradicts the administration’s commitment to direct talks.

J Street Lobbied Congress, But Did They Listen?

But with the government shutdown in effect, and members of Congress shuffling in and out of the chamber trying to reach a solution, meetings were being cancelled and moved, staged and re-staged. The schedule was completely in flux. While still going out of their way to make time for J Street’s activists, there was a sense that the priorities of those on the Hill might just be elsewhere.

Experts late with test results in Arafat death case

Informed Palestinian sources told the newspaper that there was fear among the Palestinians that the delay was the result of an “official decision” to procrastinate. Forensic investigators from the three countries took samples from Arafat’s body last November for tests to determine whether he had been poisoned by polonium – a toxic, radioactive element found on some of his personal belongings.
Palestinian officials expressed fear that the Arafat death probe has entered the process of a “differential calculus” between Western and Russian intelligence agencies, in wake of the Syria crisis and the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the PA.
The officials said that the delay may be designed to prevent the emergence of any issues that could have a negative impact on the peace talks.

Sheikh Salah’s ready-made solution

Islamic Movement head Sheikh Raed Salah and his friends are in a bind. Radical Islamists like them have become pariahs in Arab nations and around the world as a result of their peers' acts of terror against innocent civilians.
The Islamist movements, their funds and their dawah (proselytizing) activities have now become a target for intelligence and counterterrorism agencies worldwide, and the source of primal fear in the West. Radical Islam is now perceived as a threat against freedom and normalcy.

Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council - men and women should only talk on social network sites if they are seeking marriage.

"The main purpose of the conversation should be marriage through legal ways, and it shouldn't have any other goals which could mark a violation of Sharia law. Any personal details, which could arouse lust, must not be addressed during the conversation."
The second precondition states that women must avoid describing themselves physically to men on social network sites or display any photos.

The Church of Sweden used as a weapon against Israel

Today the Church of Sweden is a big critic of Israel and high-ranking bishops refer to the Israeli presence in the West Bank as a “sin” and an “abomination against God.” On their website the Church of Sweden recommends that their congregations “suspend investment, impose sanctions and boycott companies and products from the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories.”
There is clearly nothing spiritual about the views of the Church of Sweden regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is politicians who are using one of Europe’s biggest churches as a weapon against Israel. Sadly enough the anti- Israel rhetoric in Sweden often spearheaded by the Social Democratic Labour Party has infiltrated the Church of Sweden in a nasty way.

Dutch PM to Peres: 'We Never Even Considered Yesha Boycott'

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has said in a joint press conference with Shimon Peres, that the Netherlands is opposed to boycotting goods from Israel and that the issue had not even been considered within the country.

Cal State University-Northridge Says Anti-Israel Prof Klein Does Not Have Permission to Use School Servers to Advance Boycott

After an intense letter-writing campaign and in-person pleas by AMCHA Initiative, a national organization fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses, California State University’s interim general counsel, Andrew Jones, has affirmed that CSU-Northridge mathematics professor David Klein has not been granted express permission to use school email and web hosting to support a boycott of Israel.

New morphing glass can be dimmed, frosted or see-through

As you enter the elevator at the Aish HaTorah yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, you’d never suspect that you were about to experience the future of glass technology. But as the car rises from the first to the fifth and final floor, its walls gradually transform, from what seemed at first to be solid and opaque to entirely transparent.
When the elevator ultimately comes to a halt on the rooftop of the building, you are surrounded by clear glass – and a stunning view of the Western Wall.
The glass used in Aish HaTorah’s morphing elevator is super-charged with next-generation liquid crystals developed by Gauzy, an Israeli firm that is revolutionizing the way glass can be used in all manner of construction projects – from windows in offices that can be dimmed with the touch of a button, to eco-friendly refrigerators that go transparent so you can see what’s inside without opening the door and wasting energy.

Israeli Holocaust historian Israel Gutman dies

Israel Gutman, who survived the Nazi atrocities of World War II and dedicated his life to researching the Holocaust, has died. He was 90.
Estee Yaari, spokeswoman for the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, said Gutman died in his sleep late Monday in Jerusalem.
Gutman was born in Warsaw in 1923. He was wounded during fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943 when a few hundred poorly armed Jews put up resistance to Nazi troops who were rounding up residents and sending them to death camps.

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