Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 17, 2013

10/17 Links Pt2: Fearing anti-Semitism 22% of EU Jews hide identity, The Palestinian Grievance Industry

From Ian:

Fearful of anti-Semitism, 22% of European Jews hide identity

Almost a quarter of respondents in a major survey of Jews from nine European countries said they avoid visiting places and wearing symbols that identify them as Jews for fear of anti-Semitism.
Fear of wearing a kippah and other identifiably Jewish items was especially strong in Sweden, where 49 percent of 800 respondents said they refrained from such actions, in a survey conducted this year among more than 5,100 Jews by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
In France, 40 percent of approximately 1,200 Jews said they avoided wearing such items in public, followed by Belgium with 36 percent, according to preliminary results from the survey, obtained by JTA.
In total, 22 percent of respondents said they avoided “Jewish events or sites” because of safety concerns.

Rising Tide of Hate for European Jews

If Jews don’t think it is worth it to report even physical assaults, it can only mean one thing: that they believe such behavior is no longer considered beyond the pale or even frowned upon by mainstream European opinion. Given the drumbeat of incitement against Israel, which serves as a thinly veiled excuse for traditional anti-Jewish attitudes, throughout Europe, it is little surprise to see that this is being reflected in such incidents.
After a period during which Jewish life revived there in the aftermath of the Holocaust, it is obvious that much of the continent is in the process of reverting to its pre-World War Two attitudes. At the very least, surveys like this call into question the future of Jews in Europe. At worst, it portends worse to come. But either way, the lack of security for Jews in supposedly enlightened Europe makes the defense of Israel all the more important.

The Palestinian Grievance Industry

History will record that the Palestinian Cause was the single most destructive political issue in Arab history. Instead of focusing on building Arab societies by pressuring 21 Arab rulers, tens of millions of Arabs funneled their attention to a lost Cause the Palestinian themselves have turned into an ATM machine. The Arab Spring, sparked by economic deprivation, killed the Palestinian Cause and it is about time. Who would believe Israel is the enemy after watching the Assad resistance gassing Syrian children and women? The message is if you do not resist, we will kill you. Assad did a great favor for Israel here.(h/t Norman F)

New Amazon shame: Holocaust denial

...even more shocking still is the revelation today, following a third Kernel investigation, that Amazon, along with its rival bookstore, Barnes & Noble, are selling vile works of Holocaust denial, even in countries where Holocaust denial is against the law, such as France, Germany and Austria.
To reduce the company’s exposure to tax, Amazon’s European headquarters are in Liechtenstein, where it is also illegal to deny genocide according to section 283 of that country’s criminal code.

Jihad and terror: listen to what they're telling you

A recent Arabic article appearing in Egypt’s Al Ahram newspaper titled “Is Terrorism Jihad?” written by Islamic law expert Dr. Abdul Fatah Idris offers important lessons -- from the fact that jihad does involve subjugating non-Muslims to why the Western mentality is still incapable of acknowledging it.
Idris, professor and chairman of Al Azhar University’s Department of Comparative Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Sharia Law, is a well-reputed legal scholar. He begins his article by defining terrorism and quoting several international bodies that, in his words,

Ban Ki-Moon: Anti-Semitism Has No Place in the 21st Century

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the U.N. shares common goals with American Jewry in pursuit of “peace and human dignity for all” at the 50th anniversary tribute gala of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Tuesday in New York.
Ban praised American Jews for their efforts in fighting injustice and extremism.

Here’s How the IDF Blows up a Terrorists’ Tunnel (Video)

The latest tunnel that was discovered will be blown up because it was obviously a clear and present danger to Israelis, but no one the Defense Ministry has ever explained why there are no orders to the IDF to blow up all of the other tunnels that are known to exist. If the IDF were to be too aggressive, it might upset the United Nations. Gen. Edelstein tried to reassure Gaza Belt Jews by saying that the military considered the construction of the tunnel an “extreme violation” of the ceasefire following the Pillar of defense counter terrorist operation last year.

Ein Hashlosha: 'Calm Despite Discovery of Terror Tunnel'

Danni Cohen, Head of the Emergency Response team at the kibbutz told Arutz Sheva that kibbutz residents were calm after the discovery of the 2.5 kilometer tunnel.
"We weren't surprised by the discovery of the tunnel. Unfortunately, we have lived with a security problem for many years now because of the kassams and mortars, we know the Palestinian Arabs are constantly trying to dig tunnels." Cohen said.

The duplicity of the British Methodist Church

Instead of coming out publicly and saying that Israel shouldn’t exist, as they do theologically behind closed doors, they try to wrap themselves with a cloak of public opinion support for their consumer questionnaire.
They think they are being clever by implementing such tactics, but they are not talking about rights, they are talking about destroying Israel. Their claim to be agnostic about Israel is a lie, told because they know their support would dwindle if they were to openly say that according to their religious beliefs, Israel has no right to exist.

England’s Cooperative Wholesale Society and the Israel Boycott

Some Coop members have decided to fight back, which is exactly what happened at the North London meeting held on October 12. There were various placatory statements from the committee, but no intention has been displayed by the Cooperative movers and shakers to reverse the boycott policy. Again, the boycotters denied they are operating a boycott, and even claimed that they continue to trade with Israel in other fields.
Meanwhile, the Coop’s trading figures go from bad to worse. Perhaps a curse (or some other Higher Power) has overtaken the Coop. Only the funeral service has done well, and the Cooperative Bank is about to go bust. In fact, to its utter shame, the Bank will not be honoring its full debt to its bond-holders and has been forced – against every tenet of the Cooperative Movement – to offer shares in the Bank on the Stock Exchange!
Is this bad luck, mismanagement –– or divine intervention?

SS officer’s son: Bury my father in Israel

The son of a former SS officer provoked a storm of outrage by suggesting his father be buried in Israel, after a number of countries refused to inter the Nazi’s remains.
“Where should my father be buried?” asked Jorge Priebke, whose father, Erich, died last week at the age of 100 after serving a life term for a 1944 massacre near Rome. “For me, even in Israel. That way they’d be happy,”

Muslims launch massive legal assault on free speech in France

The weekly satirical magazine is accused of "provocation to discrimination, hated or violence with regard to a person or a group of persons because of their origin or their belonging or not belonging to an ethnicity, a nation, a race or a given religion". In July 2013, Charlie Hebdo published on its front page a drawing supposed to represent a Muslim declaring: "The Koran, it's crap, it doesn't stop bullets."

DNA testing on your smartphone just a download away

Genetic sequencing is no longer for the uber-wealthy and uber-patient: If a decade ago it cost $3 billion and took 8 years to sequence the human genome, that option is available to anyone today who has $3,500 to spend and is willing to wait the 24 hours it takes to do the job. Pretty soon, experts say, the cost for sequencing is going to come down to about $1,000.
So what can you do with your genomic DNA sequence? Soon you will be able to whip out your smartphone and analyze it, using an app developed by researchers at Tel Aviv University.
Their app (and website) GeneG makes genetic analysis as simple as sending a text message or making a phone call.

Chinese Family Seeks Owner of Books Hidden During Holocaust

A Chinese family is seeking a former Jewish refugee in Shanghai to return 2,000 of his books they kept safe for 70 years, media reports said Thursday.
Shanghai was home to tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi persecution in Europe from the 1930s.
One of them, a Jewish schoolteacher, left books with Lin Daozhi for safekeeping when he left China in 1943, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Government Approves New Aliyah for Indian 'Lost Jews'

The cabinet has voted to allow nearly 900 “lost Jews” from India to make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel over the upcoming months.
The new immigrants-to-be are members of the Bnei Menashe, a group of Indian citizens who trace their roots to the Jewish tribe of Menashe (Manasseh) – one of the ten “lost tribes” exiled by the Assyrian regime over 2,700 years ago.

Report: ‘Troubling Reactions’ From Jewish, Christian Audiences to Test Screenings for Hollywood’s Take on Noah’s Ark

Hollywood is finally taking on the full tale of Noah’s ark, but the film, directed by Darren Aronofsky, has not been received kindly in early previews, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
THR said ”test screenings for key groups that might take a strong interest in the subject matter: in New York (for a largely Jewish audience), in Arizona (Christians)…have generated troubling reactions.”

Facebook VP on Onavo Buy: ‘Amazed’ by Talent in Israel

Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the social media company was “amazed” by the talent resources in Israel, which is why it acquired Israel’s Onavo on Monday for some $150 million and announced plans to build its first overseas research and development center in Tel Aviv.

Open thread time

Super busy at work, and no time for my usual new post at this time, especially since the last one took me a bit of time to write.

So here's a place where all you commenters can go at it.

By the way, an August blog post of mine was published in three Southwest Florida Jewish Federation papers. For example, see page 22 here.

If you need some more recent news, read about the foiled tractor terror attack today.

EU project lists indicate Israel is less liberal than any Arab country

The EU publishes a list of projects that it is implementing or funding in many countries.

Based on its priorities, it looks like the EU thinks that Israel really has major problems in conflict prevention, democracy, governance and human rights - compared to its Arab neighbors.

Here is a chart showing the number of projects the EU is funding, by their categories, in four Middle East nations:

	Israel	Egypt	Jordan	Yemen
Conflict Prevention	17	0	0	2
The environment /natural resources	1	0	0	1
Governance, democracy, human rights and support for economic and institutional reforms	38	6	2	5
Human development	7	3	2	1
Multi-sectors	2	2	26	21
Rural development, territorial planning, agriculture and food security	2	2	0	4
Social cohesion and employment	5	2	1	2
Infrastructure, communications and transport	0	2	0	2
Trade and regional integration	0	1	0	1
Water and energy	0	5	0	0

These webpages are truly mind-blowing. While the EU spends, for example, €149,914 to teach highly educated Russian immigrants in Israel to be more supportive of the "peace process," it does not spend a dime on specifically teaching Egyptian Muslims that Copts are human beings. (To be fair, there is a €17,000,000 program in Egypt simply called "Promotion and protection of human rights" which gives no details as to what exactly it does. Maybe it mentions Copts. Who knows?)

€247,668 goes to an Israeli NGO to promote women's rights " in accordance with international commitments made by the state of Israel." Jordan gets €200,000 for its women's rights program, Yemen gets €33,498 and Egypt - where essentially every woman is sexually harassed - gets nothing.

There is an EU project in Israel, costing €130,625 to promote freedom of expression. Because that is a major problem in Israel, apparently. There are no similar projects in the three Arab countries I looked at. In fact, not one of their projects included the word "freedom."

Another EU project in Israel is to support anti-racism education. The other countries? Nada. Racism among Arabs? Not a problem to the EU.

The list of EU projects in Israel goes on and on...two programs protecting rights for asylum seekers, four separate programs against alleged Israeli torture, and every single left wing NGO you can think of (Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence, B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Gisha, Rabbis for Human Rights...) is getting hundreds of thousands of euros.

Arab anti-Israel organizations get funded through the EU-Israel program as well, such as Shabab "to mainstream human rights to face racist trends in Israel."

Very little can be found to help poverty-stricken Jews in Israel, however.

Nothing is being spent in Egypt or Jordan about strengthening their peace treaties with Israel. Nothing that promotes normalization (with one tiny exception.) Nothing addressing Arab anti-semitism. Nothing about incitement in Arab media. These aren't problems, you see.

The EU is making clear that it believes that Israel is the Middle East country that needs its wisdom and influence the most. It is even clearer, based on these projects, that the EU considers Israel and only Israel to be the obstacle to peace in the Middle East, and that Israeli Jews are the most racist and intolerant group in the entire region.

I wonder if anyone audits these funds at all. What are the success criteria? Where is the transparency? Or do the anti-Zionist NGOs have a free annual income from the EU in perpetuity, as long as they put the right code words in their descriptions ("justice," "anti-racism," "rights"....)?

Well, that's not quite true. These NGOs also have to churn out reports that prove Israeli Jews are bigots. The smallest incidents must be magnified and exaggerate and documented in excruciating detail, in order to ensure that the EU money spigot flows forever.

(h/t Irene)

10/17 Links Pt1: Turkey blocking Israel-NATO cooperation, Who Let Iran Get So Close to a Nuke?

From Ian:

Palestinian Corruption -- Again

If the Palestinian movement believes it lives outside the laws of politics, nature and economics, it may be right.
The PA and Hamas occupy a split territory with two feuding governments -- both dictatorships with all the arbitrariness and lack of accountability implied by that; multiple armed services that fight each other and, occasionally, kill Israelis; a school system that teaches children that the IDF ate Mickey Mouse and Jews have no history in the land of the Bible; a civic culture that venerates suicide bombers and the mothers who seem to revel in their children's bloody demise; and an economy that produces nothing of export value. Yet it operates on the principle that it will be bailed out by European and American political support and international largesse. And that Israel will be blamed for the Palestinian failure to thrive.
Two stories this week, however, may challenge endlessly naïve European and American fealty to the Palestinian narrative.

Al-Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood hold secret meeting in Jordan

The meeting focused on the conflict in Egypt and Syria and an altercation broke out between a Brotherhood member and jihadist leader Mohammad al-Miqdad, and the latter asked the Brotherhood not to publicly denounce the actions of the jihadists.
The jihadists discussed their plans to start moving Syrian and Iraqi jihadists into Egypt in order to carry out terror operations there after the Eid al-Adha festival, which falls on Tuesday.

Experts Warn of Al Qaeda Biological Weapons Threat

Experts from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) have issued a stark warning over what they say is the "clear and present danger" of Al Qaeda gaining possession of the Assad regime's stockpile of biological weapons, claiming to have substantial evidence that Al Qaeda-linked groups may already have possession of toxic agents.
Unlike chemical weapons, which utilize chemical agents to poison victims, biological weapons make use of diseases, toxins and other contagious agents. Biological weapons have the potential to kill far greater numbers, and are also far harder to detect or protect against.

Visualizing anti-Zionism: Site used by Guardian data blog calls Haifa “Palestinian”

Yesterday, we posted about an extraordinarily misleading Guardian data blog entry on the Palestinian economy – a piece by Mona Chalabi titled ‘How does Palestine’s economy work?‘, Oct. 14 – which assigned blame for Palestinian economic woes almost entirely on Israel, and never once so much as mentioned the injurious economic impact of Palestinian terrorism.
Many of the claims made by Chalabi were quite specious, including her reference to a report which purported to quantify the number of olive trees “uprooted by Israeli authorities since 1967″. To illustrate the number of olive trees allegedly destroyed by “Israeli Authorities” – which Palestinians have evidently methodically been counting over the past 46 years – she referred readers to a site called ‘Visualizing Palestine‘.

Following CiF Watch post, Guardian amends ‘terrorist sperm’ story

We demonstrated, per Israeli court records, that Za’anin not only belonged to a terror organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but volunteered for their military wing (Al-Quds Brigades), and was convicted after pleading guilty to four counts of being an accessory to attempted murder, a plea bargain in which he admitted his active participation in several terror attacks.
Today, we noticed that the article was amended (on October 15) to include details of Za’anin’s criminal record.

CNN’s Holocaust-revisionism: It isn’t “piffle.”

NPR knows it. NBC knows it. Even Iran’s Fars News Agency knows it.
CNN seriously mistranslated its interview with new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, and it’s turning into a scandal that won’t go away.

Brighton University lecturer calls for abolition of Sussex University’s Israel Studies course.

Tom Hickey, a Brighton University lecturer, speaking at the start of Sussex University’s Palestine Awareness Week on Monday night called for the abolition of Sussex University’s newly established Yossi Harel Chair in Modern Israel Studies until questions relating to its “external sources of funding” and the process that established it are “satisfactorily answered.”
He also attacked already established Israel Studies courses at SOAS, Leeds University, Manchester University and Oxford University.
Hickey is a senior member of University and College Union’s National Executive Committee and a member of BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine).

World Bank Report on Palestinian Economy Full of Holes

Yet a close look at the report reveals that it makes numerous assumptions about Palestinian aspirations and behavior patterns, establishes a series of questionable multipliers, and downplays the significance of complex political factors and security realities, according to Steven Plaut, Professor of Economics at the University of Haifa.
“I think the World Bank doesn’t fully understand the Israeli economy or the Palestinian economy. What’s worse, they have a political agenda. They produce findings to match their political agenda,” Plaut told JNS.org.
“I think they are making it up as it goes along,” he said.

Is Hamas to mend ties with Assad?

Hamas' Deputy Politburo Chief Moussa Abu Marzouk interviewed for Assad affiliated channel Al Mayadeen on Monday, saying Khaled Mashal was wrong in raising the flag of Syrian opposition, and that Hamas had no official ties with any rebel organizations.
Last June a dramatically important meeting was held in Lebanon concerning the shaken relationship between Hamas and some of the Arab and Muslim world. Group senior Moussa Abu Marzouk conferred there with officials from Iran and from Hezbollah to work out differences that have occurred between Hamas and then in the past two years over the Syrian civil war.

Hamas TV Airs Cartoon Lauding its Military Wing, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades

US says nuclear talks more substantive than ever; Israel mum

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the talks contained a “level of seriousness and substance that we have not seen before.”
While cautioning not to expect a prompt breakthrough, Carney said the US “found the Iranian presentation very useful.”
The sides released a statement at the end of two days of talks calling the meetings “substantive and forward looking.”

Who Let Iran Get So Close to a Nuke?

So far, we have little indication as to whether the U.S. is willing to accept the sort of “bad deal” that Secretary of State John Kerry, let alone Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, has warned against. But there is one thing that we know. The reason why the negotiations are so critical is that over the past several years Iran has made so much progress toward the completion of a bomb that there isn’t time for a long drawn out diplomatic process. As the New York Times reports:

On Monday, a senior American official said that the United States wanted Iran to take steps that were “transparent and verifiable” to constrain its program and to assure the West that it was not intending to produce a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s nuclear efforts had advanced so much, the American official added, that Iran needed to take stops now to halt or even reverse its nuclear program so there was time to negotiate a comprehensive agreement.

John Bolton: With Iran, We Can’t Verify or Trust

Tuesday’s opening of yet another round of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear-weapons program creates enormous risks for America’s anti-proliferation efforts. Tehran’s extensive propaganda campaign, stressing the “moderation” of its new president, Hassan Rouhani, seems to be working, softening up the gullible in the United States and Europe.
As in previous iterations of the charade now reopening in Geneva, Iran’s bargaining position benefits from our own repeated mistakes. The ayatollahs need only take advantage of these unforced errors, and success may well fall into their undeserving hands. Consider the most blatant errors that Iran is eager to exploit.

Russia: Lift Iran sanctions in exchange for int’l control of nuke program

Speaking in Geneva, after the wrap of a 2-day meeting between the P5+1 and Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov alleged that sanctions “undermine” attempts to solve the diplomatic crisis, reported Russia Today.
“The beacon, the main arrangement that we follow is the proposal by [President] Vladimir Putin that the recognition of Iran’s right to [uranium] enrichment as part of its inseparable rights under the Non-proliferation Treaty should be accompanied by the introduction of full comprehensive international control over the Iranian nuclear program,” Ryabkov told reporters.

Taliban Assassinate Afghan Governor With Exploding Koran…

When someone in America mishandles a Koran the Islamic world riots for days.
Via Khaama Press:
"Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Wednesday announced that militants had placed explosives inside the Holy Quran, which left Logar provincial governor Arsala Jamal dead."

Turkey and Israel: A ‘what next?’ mindset

As PM Netanyahu pointed out immediately after he initiated the US-brokered rapprochement, the most critical strategic priority would be Syria’s prolonged civil war. Within this context, Turkey and Israel have to get ready to secure the Baathist tyranny’s chemical and allegedly biological weapons arsenal along with other strategic weapons systems in case of an uncontrolled regime collapse. Furthermore, we also need to carefully watch for any mass transfer of game-changing weapon systems in asymmetric conflicts, such as man portable air defense systems (MANPADS), and antitank guided missiles (ATGM) into the hands of non-state groups that might target Turkey or Israel. In a moment of irrational shock, Assad or members of the elite surrounding him might attempt to ignite a regional war by provoking Turkish or Israeli administrations. In this case, the two nations need to be prepared to act in coordination, to nip the threat in the bud.

Erdogan’s Turkey: Less nationalism, more Islam

An op-ed published in the New York Times last week by Turkish researcher Halil M. Karaveli, claimed that far from helping Turkey’s minority, Erdogan was increasingly playing with sectarian fire.
“Erdogan is turning Turkey into a powder keg in an attempt to shore up his own political base,” Karaveli wrote. “He is intentionally activating the longstanding fault lines separating religious and secular Turks — and most dangerously the divide between the country’s Sunni majority and its Alevi minority. If he continues to do so, Turkish democracy itself could become a casualty of his confrontational policies.”

Greek ambassador: Despite apology, Turkey blocking Israel-NATO cooperation

Lampridis said he was surprised by the continued Turkish opposition, especially since practical cooperation between Turkey and Israel was taking place on a daily basis, “like where Turkey has an advantage, of course, and Israel is demonstrating goodwill.”
For example, since Turkish goods can no longer be transported overland through Syria to the Persian Gulf, every week hundreds of Turkish trucks arrive via ferry to the Haifa Port where they then proceed across the country to the Jordan border crossings, carrying millions of dollars worth of goods to Jordan and onward to the Gulf.
“If Israel behaved in the same negative way that Turkey was behaving, it could have said ‘no’ to Turkey, told them, ‘This is your problem. I don’t need these trucks blocking my highways.’ But Israel is cooperating, and Turkey is deriving great benefit from this.”

B'Tselem: If Arabs treat Gazans like dirt, blame Israel

B'Tselem has called for Israel to allow Gazans to travel abroad - going through Israel.

The reason? Well, Egypt is treating Gazans like potential terrorists, and is restricting their travel through Rafah. So, naturally, this is Israel's responsibility.

Really.

In early July 2013, with the onset of the events that led to the overthrowing of Muhammad Morsi, Egyptian authorities limited passage through Rafah Crossing, and the number of persons using it dropped radically. From July to September 2013, the crossing was open only intermittently. When open, Egyptian authorities only permitted the passage of limited groups, such as foreign nationals, the gravely ill, and students (the latter excepting those studying in Egypt, most of whom were allowed through only at the end of September). To date, people who had planned to travel abroad for meetings, family-related matters, professional courses or vacations, have been unable to do so.

...Data published by the World Health Organization indicate that, during the same period, Israel doubled the number of patients allowed to pass through Erez Crossing for medical treatment in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and in Israel. The objective was to grant access to medical treatment to patients who were to have been treated in Egypt. For example, in August, requests for passage through the Erez Crossing were submitted for 1,023 patients; 932 were granted permission. In contrast, only 585 such requests were made in August 2012, of which 543 were approved.

However many other Gazans scheduled to travel abroad for other purposes have been left with no recourse. Students studying outside of Gaza have had great difficulty getting through Rafah Crossing over the last three months.

...The closure of Rafah Crossing has had financial repercussions for merchants in the Gaza Strip. At present, only a limited number of merchants are permitted into Israel and the West Bank via the Erez Crossing, whereas many merchants had been traveling abroad through Rafah Crossing to buy goods for sale in Gaza. However, since July the Egyptians have not been permitting merchants through Rafah Crossing.

...At present, people who must travel abroad for professional seminars and work-related meetings are not allowed through Rafah Crossing.

...even when Rafah Crossing is functioning regularly, going through it is subject to arbitrary restrictions imposed by the Egyptian authorities, and travel abroad requires a long, dangerous journey through the Sinai desert. Therefore, the passage into Egypt cannot be considered an absolute solution for travel for Gaza residents to other countries.

Israel’s policy prevents Gazans from fulfilling their right to freedom of movement. Even now, eight years after Israel completed its Disengagement Plan from the Gaza Strip, the extent of its control over access to Gaza means Israel is responsible for enabling residents to fulfill their right to freedom of movement and its attendant rights, including the right to earn a living, the right to an education and the right to sustain family ties.

You see? If Egypt restricts Gazans from travel, Israel must compromise its security to allow foreign Arabs to go through its territory!

Egyptian sovereignty and its right to police its borders is sacrosanct. Israeli sovereignty, however, is nonexistent to B'Tselem. Perhaps Israel should be a superhighway for Gazans to travel to Jordan, Syria, maybe even Iran if they so choose.

When Hamas stops Gazans from traveling, as it has done, maybe B'Tselem would insist that IDF helicopters grab the poor people whose freedom of movement is being restricted and take them out. If Israel is responsible for Egypt's border policies, then obviously it is responsible for Hamas' travel restrictions as well.

Obviously, Arabs cannot be held responsible for anything. I guess B'Tselem thinks of them as somehow less than human.

Do you think for a second that B'Tselem is in contact with Egyptian NGOs on opening Rafah for Gazans?

They cannot even find a negative word to say about Egypt's siege of Gaza - it is just a fact of life. Arabs screw Arabs all the time, no big deal. Israel is the one who must fix intra-Arab problems now.

The Daily Mail looked at the recycled "evidence" that the Lancet published that had already been revealed last year. The writer noticed that elevated levels of polonium was found on the souvenir Arafat toothbrush that Suha kept all these years.

So the only logical conclusion is that Israel poisoned his toothbrush with polonium!

I admit, I first saw this patently ridiculous theory in Al Quds, and thought it was just another Arab conspiracy flight of fancy. Now I see it was originally published in The Daily Mail - in an article so dumb that it pretends that the Lancet piece reveals new information. (Of course, Arab media is enthusiastically republishing it.)

The Swiss scientists tested for polonium levels in a lot of objects, some that belonged to Arafat and some control items that didn't. Arafat's toothbrush had slightly higher concentrations of polonium than the urine stain in his underwear. But the sample that had the third highest concentrations of polonium did not come from Arafat.

It came from a toothbrush of control subject.

As the scientists wrote then:

Bristles from toothbrush present another problem. They appeared clearly contaminated when sampled from Mr Louvet [Arafat] belongings (54 mBq/g). Nevertheless a control measurement carried out on a toothbrush from IRA collaborator 1 also shows a significant activity (21 mBq/g) while a second control measurement on a toothbrush from IRA collaborator 3 presents only a background value (1.0 mBq/g). Thus the measurement of Mr Louvet [Arafat] toothbrush is not conclusive and only the further determination of supported 210Po will give an answer concerning a possible contamination of the toothbrush by unsupported 210Po.

Even without this, the theory is beyond dumb. Wouldn't one expect significantly higher concentrations remaining on the item that was used for poisoning, versus the very much watered down bodily fluids? It is as if the "reporter" cannot see beyond a Hollywood version of events - "ooh, the camera focused on the toothbrush in an early scene, and I'm smart enough to have noticed it!"

No theory is too stupid as long as Israel can be blamed.

(Interestingly, the Lancet article appendix shows completely different concentrations of numbers than the original report, and the IRA toothbrush suddenly had almost no polonium. Not sure why. Were their methods flawed during the original Al Jazeera media blitz? Perhaps the science of detecting and measuring trace amounts of plutonium after 20 half-lives is not as advanced as they pretend?)

(corrected IRA ref, h/t Ian)

The week in #BDSFail

From Zvi:

* Amazon opening Tel Aviv office

* El Al launches flights to Venice, Larnaca

* Israeli startups raise $660M in Q3, most since 2000

* Facebook buys Israel's Onavo

* Malta, Israel sign health, medical sciences action plan

"It is with satisfaction that we have signed an action plan with Israel, which is known for its world-class health service, and we will be collaborating with Israel on specialized cases like cancer treatment," the Prime Minister said.

...

Muscat is the first Maltese Prime Minister to visit Israel. Describing it as "well overdue", Muscat said he was very proud to be the first Maltese prime minister to visit Israel.

"We are deeply committed to strengthen Malta's relations with Israel and collaborate together on the key areas relating to both countries," he added.

* Israeli wins Public Speaking competition at World Universities Debating Championships

* Israel, Arab states work together on Iran

"Israel is a steady anchor to quite a few countries who consider it as reliable and standing behind red lines it has set," the [Israeli] source said.

A quiet dig at Obama, there :-)

* The Nigerian president will lead 30,000 pilgrims to Israel, as noted by EOZ.

* Coach of Tunisian tennis player slams order to boycott match with Israel, as noted by EOZ.

* Israel, US profs win 1st Mathematical Neuroscience Prize)

And then there is this.

Israeli student confronts anti-Semitic MP Galloway at Oxford

On Monday, speaking first in Hebrew, Hunter described his family background and identified himself as Israeli.

Galloway said he felt threatened.

Asking Hunter to back off, he said he was “causing a lot of harm.”

This is so incredibly characteristic of Bigotry and Double Standards advocates like Galloway!

Hunter pulled an Israeli flag from his shirt and turned to the MP saying, “I think you did a lot of harm by not speaking to my friend Eylon [Aslan-Levy, the student who had debated with Galloway in February] and not having a constructive dialogue with him” before saying he did not have a question for him “because I don’t debate with racists.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Hunter said that while he recognizes Galloway’s right to free speech and supports constructive dialogue, the MP denies his very existence and is racist to the core.

“Mr. Galloway refuses to recognize my national and civic identity, he denies my cultural existence,” Hunter said. “In essence, like his pals in Hamas, he seeks the destruction of the State of Israel. He is a vile racist of the worst kind.

This is an awesome response. Straight to the heart of the matter in language that the left understands.

I couldn’t just allow him to return to Oxford and pretend as if nothing happened last time. By looking him in the eye, and speaking to him in Hebrew, I wanted to show my fellow students that Galloway’s continuing behavior is completely inexcusable.”

Hunter questioned why such a respected institution had invited Galloway to speak at all.

An excellent question!

“It is truly perverse that for its first event this term, a debating chamber internationally renowned for its love of free speech, invites a man who denies that right to others on the basis of their nationality. Not only is Galloway a racist, but he epitomizes everything the Oxford Union stands against,” he said.

Yes!

Galloway declined to comment or respond to the accusation of racism.

In a visit to the Oxford Union last year, Galloway was confronted by feminist protestors following his comments that the charges brought against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Sweden do not amount to rape.

Galloway, who famously met with Saddam Hussein in 1994, was expelled from the Labor Party in 2003 for calling former UK prime minister Tony Blair a liar. He has paid homage to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and “the resistance,” supported Syrian President Bashar Assad and donated money and vehicles to Hamas.

And that is the week so far in BDS Land.

Turkey blew Israeli cover for Iranian spy ring

Amazing story from David Ignatius in WaPo:

The Turkish-Israeli relationship became so poisonous early last year that the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to have disclosed to Iranian intelligence the identities of up to 10 Iranians who had been meeting inside Turkey with their Mossad case officers.

Knowledgeable sources describe the Turkish action as a “significant” loss of intelligence and “an effort to slap the Israelis.” The incident, disclosed here for the first time, illustrates the bitter, multi-dimensional spy wars that lie behind the current negotiations between Iran and Western nations over a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program. A Turkish Embassy spokesman had no comment.

Israeli anger at the deliberate compromise of its agents may help explain why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became so entrenched in his refusal to apologize to Erdogan about the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident . ...

Israeli intelligence had apparently run part of its Iranian spy network through Turkey, which has relatively easy movement back and forth across its border with Iran. The Turkish intelligence service, known as the Milli Istihbarat Teskilati, or MIT, conducts aggressive surveillance inside its borders, so it had the resources to monitor Israeli-Iranian covert meetings.

U.S. officials assessed the incident as a problem of misplaced trust, rather than bad tradecraft. They reasoned that the Mossad, after more than 50 years of cooperation with Turkey, never imagined the Turks would “shop” Israeli agents to a hostile power, in the words of one source. But Erdogan presented a unique challenge, as he moved in 2009 to champion the Palestinian cause and, in various ways, steered Ankara away from what had been, in effect, a secret partnership with Jerusalem.

It's not like Turkey loves Iran so much - they exposed the network just for spite.

Hizballah replacing "Israeli" with "Zionist" in wire service stories

Al Manar is the Hezbollah newspaper in Lebanon. On Sunday, for fun, I ran a story from it about how a "Zionist" company was chosen to make heads-up display helmets for the F-35 fighter jet:

An Zionist company has been selected to take part in manufacturing hi-tech helmets for pilots of the US F-35 stealth fighter, Zionist Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday.

Commenter Zvi noticed the strange use of "an" in "An Zionist company..." and surmised that Al Manar just copied the text from another media source, replacing "Israeli" with "Zionist."

Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. The original story was from AFP.

Today, we see a similar story of another successful Israeli venture in Al Manar:

Facebook has agreed to purchase Onavo, a Zionist data compression developer for mobile applications, Facebook confirmed Monday.

...Under the agreement, Onavo's office would remain in Tel Aviv, a move which will give the Zionist entity its first Facebook research and development center.

Onavo is based in Palo Alto, California and employs 40 workers, 30 of whom work in the occupied territories of Palestine. ...This is the third large acquisition by the world's largest social network company in the Zionist entity.

In this case the original story was from Xinhua, word for word except for the bolded portions. Al Manar didn't give Xinhua credit, merely giving "agencies" as the source.

I wonder if wire services are OK with having their words mangled to be politically correct in Hizballahstan.

Al Manar did make one mistake, though: the headline today is "Facebook Acquires Mobile Israeli Startup: Onavo."

I hope the headline editor isn't beheaded. It must be painful enough to have to report how successful "Zionist" companies are without having to worry about accidentally saying "Israel."

10/16 Links Pt 2: NGO Monitor-EU Funded Lawfare, Tunisia Tennis Star Slams Order to Shun Israeli

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Manipulating Israeli Justice: An Analysis of Yesh Din´s EU-Funded Lawfare Report

On October 10, 2013, the Israeli NGO Yesh Din published a report, “Lacuna: War Crimes in Israeli Law and Court-Martial Rulings,” labeling Israel’s legal system “defective” and calling for the adoption of legislation to “criminalize war crimes in Israeli law.”
EU funding
Yesh Din’s report was financed by the European Union, as part of a three-year, €150,000 grant “to change Israeli policy vis-à-vis criminal accountability of Israeli Security Forces Personnel” (emphasis added). In this instance, the foreign government funding is being used to “draft a proposed law” and lobby the Knesset for specific legislation.
In funding a project using NGOs to “change Israeli policy,” in particular through legislative processes, rather than engaging in direct diplomacy, the EU is violating Israel’s democratic integrity and accepted norms between states.

Europe’s strange bedfellows

On its face, the grant appears to be part of the EU’s longstanding lobbying efforts to get countries to join the International Criminal Court or at least to adopt the provisions of the Court’s Rome statute into their domestic legislation. The EU is highly invested in the ICC project.
European countries were the strongest advocates for the creation of the Court and almost all have signed on. Yet, to date, the ICC has not been particularly successful. The ICC’s annual budget is more than $100 million, but in the past decade, the court has only completed two trials (one ended in acquittal). Due to perceived bias and other problems, African ministers even threatened to vote on pulling out of the court at the latest meeting of the African Union.

Caroline Glick: The bothersome, annoying truth

Last month Theater J announced its Spring 2014 schedule. The schedule includes a play called The Admission.
Authored by an Israeli named Motti Lerner, the play is a dramatization of what is euphemistically known as the “Tantura Affair.”
In 2000, Maariv published an article describing the Master’s thesis of a student at the University of Haifa named Teddy Katz. Teddy Katz’s thesis purported to document a previously unknown massacre during Israel’s War of Independence. He alleged that in May 1948 the IDF murdered 250 Arab civilians after winning a battle in the town of Tantura.
The article caused an uproar. Veterans of the battle sued Katz for libel. They won. Indeed, in testimony before the district court judge Katz admitted his thesis was a fabrication.

The Islamist Trojan Horse

The Gulf states spend enormous amounts on the Islamists in the West, financing their social activities and research funds, buying university chairs and founding libraries and universities. They acquire people with influence, recruit lecturers and students, rewrite history and fashion the America of the future. Qatar, a sponsor of the murderous Muslim Brotherhood, brought Al-Jazeera TV to the United States. Al-Jazeera broadcasts pure propaganda and does not adhere to any of the parameters of responsible journalism, and its only objective is eventually to brainwash the American public with the Islamist agenda. Thus, by using legitimate means, and America's freedom of expression, the Muslim Brotherhood has evaded security filters and infiltrated a genuine Trojan Horse of subversive propaganda through open gates directly into America's hearts and minds.

CAMERA Monograph: Indicting Israel: New York Times Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

A new monograph about CAMERA's six-month study of The New York Times details how the newspaper treats Israel with a harsher standard, omits context, and shows a clear preference for the Palestinian narrative.

Rights to the Temple Mount

The fear that the police have of the Arabs on the Temple Mount is palpable. When we were verbally assaulted by the Arabs upon our entry, the police made not the slightest effort to quiet them, this in marked distinction from their immediate and angry silencing of any form of Jewish prayer. Rather, their response was to quickly move us past the hateful bigots. And when we were again cursed near the end of our visit, the sole and frightened response of the police was to ask us to leave.
It is time the police start enforcing the most basic of religious rights, for Jews as well as Muslims, that our law enforcement authorities cease cowering in the face of Arab violence and stop their shameful hiding behind Muslim religious terror as an excuse for their failure to uphold the law.

Report: Israel, PA Peace Talks Face Implosion Over Jordan Valley Buffer Zone

The current ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in jeopardy, Ma’ariv reported on Tuesday, after the PA scoffed at the idea of Israel maintaining a military presence in the Jordan Valley, an Israeli requirement to establish a buffer zone before creating a Palestinian state.
According to the Israeli daily, PA negotiators in a recent meeting demanded that only its forces should be placed in the Jordan Valley, along what it would like to see as a Palestinian state’s eastern border, allowing for each state to retain independent boundaries. The Israelis refused, maintaining their insistence that a future Palestinian state be demilitarized and that Israel have control of the airspace, maritime traffic and border crossings to guarantee security.

Iran the main obstacle to peace with Palestinians, PM says

Iran’s leaders “have no interest in compromise or an agreement,” Netanyahu added. “They have the power to control any territory we withdraw from. Their goal is to remove us from here. That’s their publicly stated agenda.”
When Israel “withdrew from Gaza, they took over. When we withdrew from Lebanon, they took over. They don’t want peace. They’re the dominant power” in the region.
The consequences of Iranian expansionism for peace are profound, he said.

Lithuania Trying to Cash in On Poland's Kosher Slaughter Ban

Lithuania on Tuesday took a step towards legalizing the ritual slaughter of livestock for food, seeking to expand its exports after neighboring Poland imposed a ban.
"Arab countries and Israel represent new opportunities for meat exporters," lawmaker Vytautas Gapsys, who tabled the draft legislation, told parliament, according to AFP.

Spanish Jews ask Catholics to return ancient synagogue

The building, which is owned by the Spanish Catholic Church, “is not being used as a house of worship of any kind these days,” FCJE’s communications director, Maria Royo, told JTA. She said the federation has not received a response from the Church.
Originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, the 833-year-old building is one of Spain’s most popular museums. It drew some 300,000 visitors in a recent year, half of them locals.

Priebke lawyer calls off funeral amid protests

The bitterly protested funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke was called off hours after it was to have taken place Tuesday by his lawyer, who said police prevented friends and family members from attending amid a noisy protest against the planned religious ceremony.

World Jewish Congress Commends Blocking of Nazi War Criminal’s Funeral

“We commend the government of Argentina, the Mayor of Rome, and the Church for refusing to give Erich Priebke posthumous rehabilitation and credibility. His corpse should be cremated and its ashes scattered in an unknown location, as was done with Adolf Eichmann and Osama Bin Laden,” Lauder said in a statement.

Tunisia tennis star's camp slams order to shun Israeli

The brother and manager of Tunisian tennis star Malek Jaziri on Monday slammed as "shocking" the political pressure to boycott a match with Israel's Amir Weintraub from the authorities back home.
This decision is "shocking, because it brings politics into sport... We are totally against that. And Malek is the first victim, because tennis is his career, his bread-winner," Amir Jaziri told AFP.

BrainGate team wins $1 million B.R.A.I.N. Prize

The BrainGate Research and Development team led by Dr. John Donoghue is the winner of the $1 million B.R.A.I.N. (Breakthrough Research And Innovation in Neurotechnology) contest at the inaugural International Brain Technology Conference.
The BrainGate team, based at Brown University with collaborators at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Providence, Rhode Island), Case Western Reserve University, and Stanford University, triumphed over nine other B.R.A.I.N finalists. The collaborative has demonstrated the first human uses of an implanted neural sensor and neural interface system to control robotic and prosthetic arms in three-dimensional space.

Israeli, US profs win 1st annual Mathematical Neuroscience Prize

Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Haim Sompolinsky and Columbia University Prof. Larry Abbott are the winners of the 1st Annual Mathematical Neuroscience Prize by Israel Brain Technologies (IBT). The two $100,000 prizes were awarded at the 1st annual BrainTech Israel 2013 Conference in Tel Aviv.
IBT’s Mathematical Neuroscience Prize honors researchers worldwide who have significantly advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms of perception, behavior and thought through the application of mathematical analysis and theoretical modeling.

10 Israeli Technologies That Are Changing The World

Israel has been coined the “Startup Nation”; the country with the highest concentration of startups in the world. Over the past 63 years, thousands of Israeli startups have given rise to innovations in fields as diverse as irrigation; GPS navigation; and cherry tomatoes.
But which are the Israeli startups that are truly changing the world?
We’ve picked 10 startups that we believe have impacted the world for the better or are in the process of changing lives forever. (h/t Jewess)

Nigerian President to Lead 30,000 Christian Pilgrims to Israel

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will lead more than 30,000 Christian pilgrims on an upcoming trip to Israel.
While in Israel, President Jonathan, who is the first sitting Nigerian Christian president to visit Israel, is expected to sign a Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Nigeria and Israel, making it easier for Christian pilgrims to visit, AllAfrica.com reported.

New Sigdiada festival celebrates Ethiopian culture

Top Ethiopian artists and celebrities are set to show off their culture at this week’s first Sigdiada event in Tel Aviv. Whereas Sigd – a holiday celebrated by the Ethiopian Jewish community – is usually a closed celebration for members of the community, the new happening is aimed at the general public.

PLO calls for Arabs to boycott Jerusalem elections, then complains that Arabs are disenfranchised

From official PA news agency WAFA last week:

The Arab Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization called in a statement on Tuesday for a boycott of Israeli municipal elections in occupied Jerusalem.

It said no Palestinian from East Jerusalem should participate in these elections either by voting or running for a seat.

The PLO said the municipality supports settlements in East Jerusalem and turning it into a Jewish city, “which is a national and political issue and not an issue of providing services.”

“Participating in these elections will be considered normalization with the Israeli occupation authority, which means legitimizing the annexation of Jerusalem,” said the statement.

Palestinians have regularly boycotted these elections, which this year are planned for October 22, since the occupation of their city in 1967 and its annexation shortly after.

While Palestinians in Jerusalem carry Israeli identity cards similar to the ones held by Israelis and can vote in municipal elections in the city, they nevertheless cannot vote in legislative elections because they are considered “residents” but not “citizens” of Israel.

That last paragraph shows how the PLO knowingly pursues policies to make their people miserable.

Most Jerusalem Arabs do have residence permits, and can vote in municipal elections. It makes no sense for non-citizens to vote in national elections! But, what the article pointedly fails to say, is that Jerusalem Arabs can become citizens of Israel if they want! In fact, many have!

The PLO tells Arabs not to participate in the political process, and in the next breath complains that Israel is disenfranchising them by not allowing them to vote in national elections.

Arabs complain that the Jerusalem municipality discriminates against them. But at the same time they threaten Arabs who want to use the political process to improve their people's lives.

By the way, the supposed discrimination against Arabs in Jerusalem is largely an illusion. I had the opportunity to interview Mayor Nir Barkat earlier this year, and I asked him about the gap in services. He admitted that things were bad in the past but the municipality had been pouring money into the Arab sector, adding 10,000 permits for apartments for Arabs as well as building more new schools and infrastructure in the Arab neighborhoods.

Hizballah's Al Manar breathlessly reports on yet another Israeli spy creature!

YNet gives the details:

Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV has published images of an eagle, allegedly armed with spy equipment inscribed with the word "ISRAEL."

According to the report, the alleged spy-eagle was captured in the Lebanese town of Achkout by amateur hunters and had transmission equipment tied to its leg which indicated a connection to the Tel Aviv University.

The Nature and Parks Authority said that the eagle was born in a breeding and reacclimation center in southern Israel, and was released into the wild some two years ago.

According to the Al-Manar TV report, the eagle had an external transmitter attached to its body and another internal transmitter planted into its body. According to the Lebanese station, recruiting spies from the animal kingdom is a well-known Israeli practice. According to report, wiretapped fowl have in recent years been found in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. ...

At Ynet's request, the Nature and Parks Authority examined the number inscribed into the bird's tag. According to them, the captured raptor is a Bonelli's Eagle, one of Israel's rarest and endangered birds of prey.

According to Ohad Hatzofe, the authority's chief avian ecologist, the bird hatched in the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve during the spring of 2011 and was released from captivity into December of the same year.

"The specimen is carrying a tiny radio transmitter, and in the picture you can see its feathers have already begun to change, and it is possible he will start mating in 2014 the spring when he reaches sexually maturity."

Tagging birds is a common practice in ornithology as it helps scientists track bird migration routes.

Last June, Turkish authorities claimed to have "cleared a renegade bird captured in the Ağın district of the eastern province of Elazığ on suspicions of working for Israel's state-of-the-art intelligence agency," the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

According to the report by the Turkish newspaper, residents of Altınavya village became suspicious that the little kestrel could be more than a bird that lost its way when they found it wore a metallic ring stamped with the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel," and delivered it to the district governorate.

Those crafty Jews, purposefully hiding "ISRAEL" on their spies so that they can deny they are spies later!

And to think its been less than a week since the last new member of the Zionist Attack Zoo, on top of two new Israeli animal operatives in September.

Things must be very busy at Mossad Animal Central.

(h/t EuroGirl, OBOZ)