Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Hamas leader Haniyeh calls for worldwide terror intifada - and thanks Rachel Corrie

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya said “The Palestinian prisoners’ file will remain open and will not close until all of the prisoners are released”, calling on the Islamic peoples "from Tangiers to Jakarta to participate in the Great Aqsa Intifada.”

In a speech on Saturday marking the two-year anniversary of Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange deal, Haneyya vowed to liberate all the prisoners from Israeli prisons, saying that their release is on the top of his government's priorities.

Haneyya renewed the Palestinian adherence to the national constants and fundamental rights despite all difficulties and plights, saying that resistance is the strategic option to the conflict in the region.

The Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza Strip affirmed that thousands of resistance elements above the ground and under the ground are preparing for the liberation battle of Palestine.

PM Haneyya stressed his trust in the Arab peoples who broke the silence and refused the injustice and supported al-Aqsa mosque and Jerusalem. “Our greetings to the activists all over the world who support the Palestinian people, especially Rachel Corrie”, he said.

Haneyya called for intensifying the Palestinian presence in al-Aqsa mosque, praising the Palestinian popular and armed resistance in the West Bank.

He strongly condemned all forms of security coordination and the persecution of resistance elements in West Bank, praising the latest resistance activities in West Bank.

“There will be no security or stability in the region as long as Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger," he affirmed.

The ISM movement that Corrie was a part of has not distanced itself from this speech, even though they claim that they are against violence.

Arab media is quoting AP as saying that the family of Dr. Mohammed Helmy, who was recently recognized by Yad Vashem as a "righteous among nations" for saving a Jewish woman in Berlin and helping three others hide from the Nazis, is refusing the award.

The reason? Because Yad Vashem is in Israel.

From AP:

A member of the family of the first Arab honoured by Israel for risking his life to save Jews during the Holocaust says the family isn't interested in the recognition.

The Egyptian doctor Mohamed Helmy was honoured posthumously last month by Israel's Holocaust memorial for hiding Jews in Berlin during the Nazis' genocide, but a family member tracked down by The Associated Press this week in Cairo said her relatives wouldn't accept the award, one of Israel's most prestigious.

"If any other country offered to honor Helmy, we would have been happy with it," Mervat Hassan, the wife of Helmy's great-nephew, told The Associated Press during an interview at her home in Cairo this week.

Typically, the museum tries to track down living family members to present the award in a ceremony, but in the case of Helmy, who died in 1982 in Berlin, Yad Vashem said it had not been able to find any living relatives.

With the help of a German historian, the AP obtained the certificate of inheritance of Helmy's wife Emmi, who died in 1998. The document contained the names of three relatives in Cairo and when contacted by the AP, Ms Hassan agreed to share her memories of Helmy.

Ms Hassan said the family wasn't interested in the award from Israel because relations between Egypt and Israel remain hostile, despite a peace treaty signed more than three decades ago. But, she cautioned, "I respect Judaism as a religion and I respect Jews. Islam recognises Judaism as a heavenly religion."

Karl Vick's revisionist history of Oslo (updated)

Karl Vick in Time does what he always does:

Two decades ago, the word Oslo evoked everything the Middle East normally refuses to provide: hope, trust and compromise. Israelis and Palestinians, two peoples claiming the same biblical lands, had rarely talked peace with each other before in a serious way. Then, in the space of four months, their leaders secretly agreed upon a set of plans — the Oslo accords — that promised an end, once and for all, to the violent conflict between them. The diplomatic achievement was sealed on the White House lawn on Sept. 13, 1993, with a signing ceremony and a handshake between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The reality came home nine months later, in July 1994, when Palestinian guerrillas led by Arafat ended 27 years of exile by rolling into the Gaza Strip escorted by Israeli soldiers. "From the moment we entered Gaza, it looked like, my God, really peace has come," says Nabil Shaath, one of Arafat's lieutenants. "We were doing things fast."

The momentum ended on Nov. 4, 1995, when a radical right-wing Jewish settler shot Rabin dead at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. In that moment, many historians have argued, the Oslo accords suffered a fatal blow. Without Rabin to reassure a nervous Israel that Oslo was a genuine path to peace, extremists quickly began to drive events on both sides.

Were things wonderful and peaceful and hopeful between July 1994 and November 1995?

During that time there were dozens of drive-by shootings of Jews on the roads, as well as stabbings. On August 26, 1994 - Shlomo Kapach, age 22, and Gil Revah, age 21, were killed at a Ramle building site, and the PA protected their killers.

On October 19, 1994, a Hamas bomb killed 22 people on a bus in Tel Aviv.

On January 22, 1995, a double suicide bombing at the Beit Lid junction near Netanya killed 21 others.

On April 13, 1995, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Hadera Central Bus Station, killing 5 and injuring 30.

On July 24, 1995, 6 civilians were killed when a terrorist blew himself up on a bus in Ramat Gan.

On August 21, 1995, three Israelis and one American were killed when a terrorist blew himself up in an attack on a Jerusalem bus.

But none of those deadly attacks - and these are only a few of scores of them - are considered by Vick to have harmed the Oslo process. No, Arab violence is never the problem. Only Jews are responsible for ruining "peace." The dozens of Israelis killed before Rabin's assassination weren't killed by Arab extremists, according to Vick - their extremism only started after Rabin's assassination.

Beyond that, Vick is clearly unaware that Rabin never advocated a Palestinian Arab state. He never advocated dividing Jerusalem. His last speech in Knesset before his assassination described his red lines:

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.

...First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty, while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths, Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.

The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term...

(UPDATE): Moreover, as Soccer Dad reminds me, within two months after Rabin's assassination Israel left every single major Palestinian city except for Hebron. In other words the peace process accelerated after the assassination. It was only after the terror attacks of Feb-March 1996 that the peace process went off track.

So who are these anonymous historians that Vick confidently quotes, and what are their credentials?

Vick goes on:

Violence erupted in 2000, and Israel's peace camp was destroyed in the face of the ensuing wave of Palestinian suicide bombings. The center of Israeli politics shifted firmly to the right.

"Violence erupted" as journalists have done hundreds of times, Arab terror is something that simply happens by itself, without any responsibility.

Most outrageously, to Vick, the tragedy of the second intifada wasn't that Arabs were slaughtering Jews by the hundreds - it was that their deaths killed the Israeli peace camp.

Vick, of course, doesn't mention that prime minister Olmert went way beyond the Israeli offer in 2000, showing that even with so many murdered killed during the PLO's and Hamas' terror spree, Israel still wanted peace. That narrative doesn't make it into the mainstream media which is wedded to the lie that Jews are the only people responsible for setbacks to peace.

Then Vick just makes things up:

Two decades after the White House signing, Palestinians have less income, less land and much less freedom than they did in 1993.

The implication is that this is all Israel's fault. They may have less income and less freedom - but that is because of the terrorism that forced Israel to separate Arabs from Jews. Does Vick think that an international border between Israel and "Palestine" would allow workers to freely enter Israel?

But how can Vick say they have "less land"? There was no Palestinian Arab autonomy before Oslo, but now 100% of Gazans and about 97% of West Bank Palestinian Arabs live under Arab rule, with Arab security forces, Arab infrastructure and in what are virtually two separate Arab states, one of which is recognized by most of the world's nations.

Vick's bias is once again obvious. Yet these lies are the accepted conventional wisdom, and Time doesn't even bother to fact check it.

Accompanying the story is a photo essay that is even more biased than this piece, if that is possible. It portrays Arabs as eternal victims does not show a single Jew living in Judea and Samaria who is not represented as an aggressive interloper on Arab and Muslim land. Muslims work fields or are victims of Jewish terror; Jews are not shown as normal human beings.

(h/t Phyllis, AR)

Last synagogue in Basra on verge of collapse

Al Sumaria TV reports that the last remaining synagogue in Basra, Iraq, is in danger of collapse.

The synagogue was looted in 2003 with the fall of the former regime, and it had been converted into a warehouse for construction materials.

However, but there are still some indications of its former use.

The walls are cracking and the owners of surrounding shops are alarmed that its collapse will affect the structural integrity of their stores.

The synagogue was built in 1915 when this was a Jewish neighborhood.

The last Jew in Basra, an elderly woman who lived in an apartment adjacent to the synagogue, left in 2003.

As of 2009, there eight Jews left in Baghdad.

10/19 Links: The Video Pro-Israel Students Need to See; Iran stalls while centrifuges spin.

From Ian:

Stand With Us: Pro-Israel Students Need to Watch This
YT video has been taken down due to a "copyright" claim by Ali Abuelhassan
Alternate Video at Vimeo (h/t AlexandreM)

Missing Peace: What’s behind the new talks about Iran’s nuclear weapon program?

It is clear from earlier leaked details that Iran’s offer in Geneva was a far cry from what Cottler summed up in his op-ed.
The question is why in light of the real meaning of the Iranian offer in Geneva the US and EU hailed the talks as a new beginning?
Israeli commentators think they have the answer. The US and EU have in fact changed their game in order to trap Israel into inaction, they say. Israel cannot take military action against Iran’s nuclear program as long as talks in Geneva continue. The West fears an Israeli strike more than an Iranian nuclear weapon since such a strike would have a disastrous affect on the price of oil and on the world economy.

Caroline Glick: Israel and the new Munich

And now he is involved in negotiations with Iran that will necessarily lead to Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power.
From Netanyahu’s repeated declarations that Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, it is unclear whether he realizes what is going on. More than anything else, those statements represent an attempt to negotiate with Obama. Netanyahu is still trying to win Obama over.
If there was ever an argument to be made in favor of Netanyahu’s pleading, their time is long past. In nothing else, the obscene diplomatic theater in Geneva this week made that clear.
Israel is alone. We have no diplomatic option.

Iran stalls, centrifuges spin

That’s the mindset of many eager in the media to help the administration paint a picture of progress at the nuclear arms talks just concluded in Geneva, Switzerland. In fact, in the words of an official of a pro-Israel organization, “Nothing — nothing has changed.” Iran is still enriching, the centrifuges are spinning and Iran is still insisting it has a “right” to enrich and has no nuclear arms program. As the official put it, “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this rodeo.” The regime has spent all of Obama’s first term and some of George W. Bush’s talking, but not deviating one iota from its nuclear weapons plans.

Report - Source reveals details of Iranian offer at nuclear talks

Despite the various ideas presented, Al-Monitor stated that the plan did not meet various demands made previously by the United States, such as its insistence that Tehran to remove its stock of 20% enriched uranium from the country.
The Middle East news site listed other calls made by the US that the plan did not address, like the complete suspension of activity at Frodow and Arak, and the country's increasing production of low-enriched uranium.

Iran presented ‘no serious proposals’ at nuke talks, US officials tell Israel

Iran made “no serious proposals” during the two days of talks on its nuclear program in Geneva this week, senior US officials reportedly told their Israeli counterparts. The talks were “exploratory” rather than substantive, the US officials told Jerusalem, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported Friday night.

US said to weigh gradually unfreezing Iranian assets

The plan calls for a graduated unfreezing of Iranian oversees assets without rescinding the sanctions themselves, affording US President Barack Obama the capacity to respond to offers made by Iran in the course of negotiations without undoing the years-long effort to put the existing sanctions regime into place, a unnamed senior official in the Obama administration told The New York Times late Thursday.

Most Israelis support Netanyahu over Iran, according to poll

Some 58 percent of respondents to the question "how would you rate Netanyahu's recent performance in the global arena vis-a-vis Iran?" said it was good (41 percent) or very good (17 percent), according to the poll published in the Haaretz newspaper.

The Israeli-Palestinian “Distraction” Fallacy

Western countries primarily fund both the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, the agency that deals with Palestinian refugees. Wealthy Arab donors haven’t built state-of-the-art hospitals in Palestine like Hadassah or Laniado in Israel; Palestinians seeking top-notch medical care still go to Israel for it. They haven’t founded schools like the ORT network or daycare centers like the WIZO network, which still serve thousands of Israelis today.
And if Arabs haven’t done this in 65 years, when so many other peoples have, there’s no reason to think a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would suddenly make them start. This failure is entirely a product of their own culture. And therefore, change can only come from within.

Study - Arab Towns Bad for Arabs

The concentration of Israel’s Arab population in Arab towns and cities is bad for Arabs, and creates mistrust and passivity, Maariv/nrg reports. The report was based on new research from Ariel University.
Researcher Dr. Yael Brender-Ilan sought to resolve a dispute between two views on ethnically homogeneous towns.

Germany urges settlement ‘restraint,’ pledges aid to PA

Merkel also vowed to provide continued financial succor to the perennially cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.
“We have always advocated a two-state solution. We have always advocated aiding and supporting the Palestinian territories, advancing the peace process, advancing economic development, and I am pretty sure we will conduct our foreign policy with this continuity,” Merkel was quoted as saying.

Euros Don’t Care PA Steals Their Money

The question is, why does a nation like Germany, that was rightly prepared to pull the plug on a debt-ridden fellow EU member state like Greece unless they got their fiscal house in order, not care that the Palestinians are stealing their money?
Merkel, who in many ways functions as the financier of the continent, is not as hostile to Israel as many of her European colleagues. But like everyone else in the EU, she thinks nothing of pouring her people’s money down the rat hole of the PA. The reasons for this are not hard to figure out.

IDF Officer - Latest Terror Attacks 'Very Alarming'

The officer said that the latest attacks are an alarming sequence of events which show that Palestinian Authority Arabs are very much motivated to carry out attacks.
"We view the attempted attack tonight very seriously and are prepared for future similar incidents,” said the official, referring to the tractor attack that was thwarted near Jerusalem on Thursday evening.

Terrorist's Uncle - He Didn't Mean to Attack

"He got lost, the soldiers did not wait, they should not have shot him right away," the uncle of Younes al-Ubeidi was quoted by Channel 2 News as having said.
The uncle added that despite the death of his older brother Marai, the terrorist who tried to carry out a similar attack in Jerusalem in 2009, "Younes had nothing against Jews."

Haniyeh calls for ‘popular uprising,’ praises recent terror attacks

Urging a renewal of intifada “resistance,” Haniyeh praised the “heroic martyrs” responsible for a series of recent terrorist attacks in the West Bank, in which two soldiers were killed, a retired army colonel was bludgeoned to death, and a nine-year-old girl was shot and lightly injured. In the latest suspected terrorist attack, on Thursday, a Palestinian man rammed a tractor through the gate of an army base north of Jerusalem and was shot dead by IDF forces.
Speaking at celebrations marking the second anniversary of the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, Haniyeh said the deal was a “historic achievement” for the Palestinian people but charged that more needed to be done to free “all the prisoners.”

Top 10 Non-Jews Positively Influencing the Jewish Future 2013

Since publishing my first annual list of non-Jews who have wielded significant positive influence over the Jewish future, it seems that the popularity of the practice of list-making has ballooned. It is my sincere hope, however, that this list merits special attention, both in the Jewish world and beyond, as the individuals who are featured herein are truly worthy of recognition.

Israel Daily Picture: The Walls & Gates of Jerusalem -- More Pictures from the Emory University Collection, Part 3

In this feature we present the pictures of Jerusalem's walls and gates. By comparing the photos to the photo essays presented here over the last two years we are able to date the pictures.
Damascus Gate 1: The shops on the right of the square belonged to a Jewish banker name Chaim Aharon Valero (circa 1905). The domes of the Hurva and Tiferet Yisrael synagogues are on the horizon on the left of the picture. Both were destroyed by the Jordanian Legion in 1948.

World’s Oldest Holocaust Survivor Finally Gets Her Close-Up

At 109 years old, Alice Herz-Sommer can make multiple claims: she is the world’s oldest pianist, as well as its oldest Holocaust survivor. Now she’s also a leading lady, the centerpiece of a film charting her remarkable life, “The Lady in Number 6.”

No wonder college students can turn against Israel

If they don't know the basics about the Holocaust, how can they be expected to know anything about Israel besides the poison that they are exposed to on campus?

A Pennsylvania woman set out with a video camera to learn what college students in her state know about the Holocaust — and discovered an incredible lack of knowledge not only of the genocide of the Jews, but of basic facts about U.S. history and World War II.

Rhonda Fink-Whitman visited college campuses in Pennsylvania this fall, including the venerated Ivy League institution the University of Pennsylvania, where she was repeatedly faced with a remarkable ignorance about events that took place in the last century.

Students didn’t know where Normandy was, why U.S. forces landed there, why the U.S. even entered the war or who was president at the time. (Wilson, Eisenhower and JFK were among the guesses.) One student didn’t know who Anne Frank was, because he said he never read the book.

Another student thought African Americans may have been targeted in the Holocaust.

Fink-Whitman started her interviews with the simple question, “What was the Holocaust?” Here are some of the answers she heard:

“Uh, I’m on the spot now.”
“It was a, uh, I don’t know how to say it like. It was something that happened in. Oh my God, I know the answer but I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I have no idea.”
“I have no idea … is it Europe? I don’t think so.”
She also asked which country Adolf Hitler was the leader of:

“Amsterdam?”
“I forget.”

10/18 Links Pt2: Why Israel Can't Trust UN for Protection, Hecklers Flee Israeli Speaker

From Ian:

Why Israel Can't Trust UN for Protection

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), a pre-eminent Israeli think tank, has produced and published a historical/topographic video explaining the basis for Israel's rejection of the idea that international peace-keeping troops can be introduced into Judea and Samaria, to offer Israel protection if it withdraws its forces in a "peace treaty."
The Jerusalem Center is headed by Israel's former ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, who has been a long-time security advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Hecklers Flee Israeli Speaker at U of Florida

“You think the IDF kills children? You should go to Syria, where everyone knows they are murdering thousands of children with gas and other cruel weapons! Go to Syria where there are actually thousands of real refugees. They need you to demonstrate in Syria, go!” Berko lectured the SJP hecklers.
And with that, the hecklers left the room and Berko continued her lecture. The people who came to hear about what could possibly motivate women and children (that’s the “smart bomb” Berko means) to want to kill themselves were able to hear from her first hand observations and watch video clips of many who attempted to be smart bombs.

'Stop Being Afraid'

At one point, Galloway can be heard saying that he felt "threatened" and demanded to known what Hunter was hiding under his sweater - at which point the 19 year-old student pulls out an Israeli flag, to Galloway's obvious bemusement.
Before being escorted out by security, Hunter parodied Galloway's own remarks to Aslan-Levy that "I don't debate with Israelis," by declaring: "I do not have a question for you, because I do not debate with racists," before unfurling the Israeli flag and making his exit, to applause from members of the audience.
In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, Hunter explains why he decided not to stay silent - and relays an important message to British Jewry and fellow pro-Israel activists.

Comedy Half Hour: BDSers confounded in Oxford Street (video)

A young man of unmistakable Middle Eastern appearance approaches a gaggle of bourgeois-looking BDSers on Oxford Street who are protesting SodaStream outside the John Lewis department store.
One of the protesters hands him a leaflet. After all, the young man's sure to be receptive to material demonising the Zionist Entity, right?
Wrong! The young man in question, from Iraq and of mixed Iraqi and Iranian parentage, is in fact a staunch and well-informed supporter of Israel, and superbly capable of challenging the BDSers' nonsense (in which that infamous set of Four Maps plays its mute mendacious part).

The ultimate in Muslim victimhood mythology: 'they were victims of the Nazis, just like Jews were'

There can be no ambiguity in what the artist is claiming here: Jews, gays, and ... Muslims (dressed in concentration camp outfits) were equal victims of the Nazi holocaust. The myth of Muslim victimhood and 'Islamaphobia' is one that is now constantly pushed not just by the Muslim Brotherhood, but even more so by their useful idiot leftist allies, like the 'guerilla artist' here. To cast Muslims as equal victims when they were actually among the most enthusiastic participants in the Nazi persecution of Jews takes the myth of Muslim victimhood to a whole new level; and as with most Muslim propaganda it is a perfect inversion of reality.

Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, or al-Quds?

Well, maybe we should call Yerushalayim “al-Quds.” Why not? Western liberal Jews have so capitulated to the “Palestinian narrative” that they think within terms created by the enemies of Israel. That is, most western liberal Jews have, over the years, adopted the language that the enemies of the Jewish people use to describe the alleged atrocity which is the existence of the Jewish state..
This is what I refer to as the Palestinian Colonization of the Jewish Mind. It is the unconscious embrace of terminology developed by the enemies of the Jewish people that suggests Jewish guilt and aggression in stark contrast to supposed “Palestinian” innocence and victim-hood.

Family of Girl Hurt by Terrorist Gives Thanks

Two weeks ago, nine-year-old Noam Glick was attacked by a terrorist as she played on the balcony of her family home in Psagot, north of Jerusalem. On Thursday, her family gave thanks for her survival with a celebration.
Among those who came to celebrate with the family were Members of Knesset Yariv Levin (Likud Beyteinu) and Orit Struk (Bayit Yehudi/Jewish Home), both members of the Knesset’s Land of Israel Lobby.

Jordanian Minister: No Israeli Flag on Temple Mount

Hael Abd-el Hafiz Daud, the Jordanian Minister for Sacred Properties and Islamic Holy Sites, warned this week of unspecified diplomatic consequences to the fact that the “Israeli occupation” allows “settlers” to enter the area of the Al Aqsa Mosque and hold up the Israeli flag. This happened, he accused, with the protection of Israeli security forces, who prevented faithful Muslims and Waqf guards from taking the flag down.

Revealed: How Richard Silverstein was duped again by a phony “source”

Richard Silverstein not only devotes his blog to smearing the Jewish state – while defending even the most openly malevolent extremists – but routinely spreads wild claims and, at times, false information under the veneer of promoting “liberal” values and social justice.
The strange phenomenon of mainstream media sites taking Silverstein’s rumor mill seriously was best summed up by the following cheeky Twitterer back when the BBC cited Silverstein’s “scoop” about Israel’s “secret” Iran attack plans.

Analysis: Turkey's unprecedented act of betrayal against Israel

This strategic alliance is manifest in the biannual meetings between the heads of Mossad and MIT and between intelligence analysts and experts on both sides. The two countries’ relationship is characterized by frequent exchanges of information about common enemies and adversaries in the region, including Iraq, Syria and post-Islamic Iran.
Even during the most tense periods in relations between the two countries, intelligence ties remained intact, even if they did cool somewhat. While intelligence work is often interest-driven and unsentimental by its nature, there are still unwritten rules of conduct that govern relationships.
If it is indeed guilty of blowing the cover off of the Israeli spy network, then Turkey blatantly violated these codes.

'Turkish exposure of Israeli spies directed at Kurdish nationalists'

Meanwhile, an Israeli official said Thursday that if the report was true, it had to do with the strained ties between Turkey and the National Kurdish Nationalist Movement. The Turks and the Iranians have been working in tandem for some time against the Kurdish nationalists both in Turkey and in Iran.
Former Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon urged the government to file an official complaint with NATO and demand Turkey's removal from the organization over the incident.

Time to go cold turkey

The problem is that Erdogan does not share Netanyahu's sense of realpolitik; he does not consider Turkey to have common interests with Israel. He most certainly isn't going to assist Netanyahu in an operation against Iran. As the Ignatius article illustrates, Ankara is happier helping Tehran than Jerusalem.

Body of dead Nazi Priebke goes missing

Family lawyer Paolo Giachini said he and the former SS captain’s family lost track of Priebke’s casket Tuesday night, when they tried to celebrate a funeral Mass for him in a church compound in Albano Laziale, south of Rome.

Belgian ‘Holocaust ad’ against ritual slaughter riles Jews, Muslims

A Belgian radio ad that is accused of drawing on Holocaust themes to promote a ban on ritual slaughter has drawn sharp criticism from Jewish and Muslim representatives.
The ad, which the Antwerp-based animal welfare group Gaia produced for airing on national radio and sent Monday via email to 200 politicians, delivers a mock testimony told from the perspective of a lamb waiting for slaughter.

Christian Journalist Who Posed as Jew in Malmo: ‘I’m Optimistic Things Will Get Better’

Reilly says that a concern for safety among the Jewish community is understandable and suggests Jews wishing to visit the country be vigilant.
“Jews who are considering visiting here, my advice would be to do your homework and as I said in the article, be prepared for stares at least and violence at worst if you make your Jewish beliefs visible.”
Still, despite his experience and evidence to the contrary, Reilly believes that there’s reason to remain optimistic that a turnabout is on the horizon.

Israeli bird researcher derides spy bird ‘nonsense’

“The whole field of conservation is based on regional cooperation and not this nonsense,” said Leshem, who collaborates on several projects with Palestinian and Jordanian scientists. “It’s not enough that they kill people; now they are killing birds too.”

Pope Francis Appoints Israel-Friendly Archbishop Pietro Parolin as New Vatican #2

Archbishop Parolin, 58, who was papal nuncio in Caracas prior to this appointment, will become the youngest cleric to occupy this post since 1939.
The BBC said cardinals welcomed the choice, as Archbishop Parolin is seen as a reformer and is known for his efforts to improve relations with China and Israel.

In Tel Aviv’s Silicon Wadi, the focus is on brain gain

Ronak Kumar Samantray, co-founder and chief software architect of NowFloats.com, a Hyderabad, India-based start-up, has only been in Israel for three days. But says he never wants to leave.
“The best part of Israel is how open it is. I just love this country. I wish I was born here,” says Samantray — whose business helps small companies get online — during a meet and greet at the annual DLD Innovation Conference in Tel Aviv. He was rushing between conferences and thrilled, he said, because later in the day he had landed a face-to-face meeting with the CEO of Wix.com, the free website software company that is lauded as one of Israel’s most successful examples of a start-up. “It’s just brilliant,” he says of the culture of the city. “I can just pick up the phone and call a CEO, and they’re so approachable.”

Israel shows the way for Irish hi-tech start-up scene

THEY may share the same first letter but that is where the similarities between Ireland and Israel's start-up scene currently begin and end.
Indeed, while Ireland has struggled to produce large, home-grown hi-tech companies, the Jewish state boasts the highest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ outside of North America, the world's highest gross expenditure on R&D and highest level of venture capital as share of GDP.
However, five up-and-coming Irish hi-tech firms arrived in Tel Aviv this week hoping to rapidly learn the lessons from the small country that has been dubbed the 'Start-up Nation'.

Fatah poster shows diplomacy is a tactic, just like terror. When will the West wake up?

Palestinian Media Watch has been monitoring Fatah's official Facebook page, and it seems that every day Mahmoud Abbas' party shows its support for terrorism.

This graphic they posted is pretty clear:

Under the headline "Fatah - All means of struggle until statehood" the administrator of the Fatah Facebook page posted three pictures showing different "means of struggle." One picture represents diplomacy as a "means of struggle," exemplified by a picture of PA Chairman Abbas speaking at the UN. The other two pictures represent the use of different kinds of violence as a "means of struggle." One shows a man wearing an Arab headscarf throwing a stone, while the other shows a man holding a rifle.

(no link, I received this via email and it does not seem to be posted yet.)

There is no abhorrence for violence - it is a necessary tool. The Western world can be duped by seeing the Fatah-dominated PLO talk to them only about peace and diplomacy while in Arabic there has been no change of heart regarding terror.

It isn't like we didn't know that they regard diplomacy is a tactic, not a strategy. Fatah has said it many times, and it is part of its official platform - a document that has been utterly ignored by the Western world. (I'm not aware of anyone who translated it into English besides my excepts.)

In that same platform, Fatah calls for relationships with Israel's "peace camp" but emphasizes that this is in no way "normalization" with the enemy. It's just another tactic - weaken Israel with words that fools gullible US, UN and EU officials all the while celebrating terror.

Hell, even Arafat swore that he gave up terror in 1993, and then he directed the suicide bombing spree of the 2000s.

These are basic facts that can be checked by anyone. It is the willful blindness of diplomats, pundits and the media, combined with the willful lies spouted by the Israel-haters, that tells the world a story that is much different from the truth.

10/18 Links Pt1: Ha’aretz- “Why Shouldn’t Hamas Dig Tunnels?”, PLO Battle for Succession

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: PLO: Battle for Succession Has Begun

Several PLO and Fatah officials have recently been talking about the need for "leadership change." They maintain that it is time for the Palestinians to start thinking of replacing Abbas's old-guard regime with young and fresh leaders.
However, as of now Abbas, whose term in office expired back in January 2009, has shown no sign that he is willing to accept the principle of power-sharing. The battle for succession is therefore likely to intensify in the coming weeks and months, casting a shadow not only over his regime, but also the peace talks with Israel.

Palestinians very serious... about stealing aid billions

Though the international community, much of the mass media, the World Council of Churches, as well as the Palestinian leaders may persist in blaming Israel for this state of affairs, their views are belied by the voices of Palestinians themselves over the last few years. In June 2012 the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research issued the result of a poll showing that a majority of the Palestinian population thought that the Palestinian authorities were corrupt and that freedom of the press did not exist under Palestinian rule.
The result showed that 72.9 percent believed the administration in the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas was corrupt, and 61 percent of those in the Gaza Strip believed the rule of Hamas there was corrupt. Also, only 23 percent believed freedom of speech existed in the West Bank, and only 15 percent believed it did in Gaza. Another poll by the Palestinian Center in September 2013 showed that 79 percent believed the Abbas administration was corrupt.

US ambassador denounces Gaza terrorist tunnels

“US condemns terrorist tunnels, supports Israel’s right and ability to self-defense, and is focused on advancing negotiations for peace,” tweeted the American ambassador following the tour.
Shapiro called the recently discovered tunnel in the fields of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha “simply shocking,” adding that the tunnels’ “sole purpose is to conduct violent attacks on Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers.”

‘Humanitarian Aid’ Enables Palestinian Terrorism

In June 2010, Israeli intelligence issued a warning that “Hamas uses cement for military needs,” especially in the construction of munitions supply tunnels.
Yet in November 2011, the Israel Civil Administration, which reports to the Israel Ministry of Defense, approved the shipment of massive cement supplies for the construction of 75 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school buildings in Gaza.

Amira Hass: “Why Shouldn’t Hamas Dig Tunnels?”

Ha’aretz’s Amira Hass is clearly unable to recognize intent or any moral distinction when it comes to Israel and Hamas. In her latest piece, she asks:

"Why shouldn’t Hamas dig tunnels? What makes a tunnel more “terrorist” than a navy boat firing on fisherman, or less of a security need than unmanned aerial vehicles? Each to his own resources in the arms race."
Intent is a key concept in both the laws of war and the criminal justice system.

Another ‘last-first’ BBC headline in report on attack on Israeli soldier

The official PA news agency Wafa reported that the man was thirty year-old Yunis al Radeideh from Bet Hanina, referring to “the martyrdom of Citizen Radaideh”. According to reports, al Radeideh’s brother carried out a similar terror attack using a bulldozer in 2009 in Jerusalem, injuring two police officers.
The BBC’s short report on the incident appeared on the Middle East page of the BBC News website on the evening of October 17th. In line with usual BBC practice, the report’s headline presents the last in a series of events first: “Israeli troops kill Palestinian who rammed army base“.

Iran slashed Hamas funding, senior official admits

“Iran used to be the most supportive state to Hamas in all aspects: money, arms and training. We don’t deny this,” Abu Marzouk said. “Our position on Syria affected relations with Iran. Its support for us never stopped, but the amounts [of money] were significantly reduced.”

Canadian Woman Sues Iran Over Hamas Terror Attack

Dr Sherry Weiss, a 43 year old dentist from Vancouver who was injured in a 1997 suicide bombing by Hamas in Israel, has submitted a damage suit against Iran, Shalom Toronto reports.
Weiss claims that the Iranian government was directly responsible for the attack, in September that year at the Mahane Yehuda open-air market in Jerusalem, in which she was badly wounded by the explosive device detonated by a suicide bomber.

Amnesty says Egypt should stop arresting, deporting Syrian refugees

Officials also said 300,000 Syrians were living in Egypt, underlining that it was impossible to say that they were subject to any kind of harassment.
They added that legal procedures were only taken against those suspected to be involved in crimes, or participating in Muslim Brotherhood protests.
Syrian and Palestinian refugees were accused by Egyptian media of being supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and being complicit in political violence in the country, following the ouster of Islamict president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Syria conflict: Christians 'fleeing homes'

A senior Church leader in Syria has said almost a third of the country's Christians have fled their homes.
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham told the BBC that more than 450,000 Christians out of a total population of 1.75 million had been displaced or left the country.

Canadian UNDOF adviser released after 8 months in Syrian captivity

A Canadian legal adviser to the UN peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights was released after eight months in captivity, the United Nations announced Thursday.
Carl Campeau was kidnapped in February — reportedly by Syrian rebels — while working for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force.

US said to weigh gradually unfreezing Iranian assets

The plan calls for a graduated unfreezing of Iranian oversees assets without rescinding the sanctions themselves, affording US President Barack Obama the capacity to respond to offers made by Iran in the course of negotiations without undoing the years-long effort to put the existing sanctions regime into place, a unnamed senior official in the Obama administration told The New York Times late Thursday.
The official reportedly likened the plan – said to still be in debate in the White House and the State Department – to a “financial spigot,” which could be opened and closed at will.

Former Obama Advisor: Rouhani’s Nuclear Offer No Different Than Ahmadinejad’s

Iran continues to woo the West in talks over concessions vis-a-vis the country’s nuclear program. But Gary Samore, President of United Against a Nuclear Iran—which describes itself as a non-partisan, broad-based coalition committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons— and formerly one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s point men at the National Security Council on these issues, believes Iran is all style and no substance.

Iranian faces a second hanging

Amnesty International has urged Iran to stay the second attempt to execute a convicted drug dealer who survived a hanging.
The man, identified by Iranian media only as Alireza M., 37, was sentenced to death after he was convicted of possessing a kilogram of crystal meth.

Top Lebanese Shiite Cleric Calls For Hezbollah to Disarm

Now a top Shiite cleric in Lebanon on Tuesday called for groups within the country to completely disarm. Higher Shiite Council deputy head Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan is certainly not the first high-ranking Lebanese official to have criticized Hezbollah’s militarized state-within-a-state in recent months. But his status as a Shiite religious leader makes his criticism particularly relevant:

UN Watch: Saudi Arabia refusal to take seat on UN Security Council is “victory for human rights”

Saudi Arabia’s refusal to take its seat on the UN Security Council, announced today via the Saudi Press Agency, is a “victory for human rights,” said a Geneva-based human rights group today.
“A country whose legal system routinely lashes women rape victims rather than punish the perpetrators never belonged in the UN Security Council in the first place,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the non-governmental human rights group UN Watch, which has for years reported on Saudi Arabia’s oppression of women and its other gross human rights abuses.

Saudi Arabia rejects seat on UN Security Council

...the statement from Riyadh on Friday struck a dramatically different tone.
“Allowing the ruling regime in Syria to kill its people and burn them with chemical weapons in front of the entire world and without any deterrent or punishment is clear proof and evidence of the UN Security Council’s inability to perform its duties and shoulder its responsibilities,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.

Saudis, UAE to get US bunker-buster bombs, cruise missiles in deal worth $11b.

The US Pentagon said on Thursday it plans a large arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates worth $10.8 billion.
The weapons include bunker-buster bombs and air-launched cruise missiles that can hit targets from a long distance, AFP reported. The missiles can hit air defense systems from a safe distance, out of range of anti-aircraft systems.

Kuwait: Coffee shops 'corrupt morals' - MP

At least, that's what they're said to have told local media, while threatening to interrogate three ministers in parliament if they didn't close the "immoral" cafes within a month. The Kuwait Times says Askar al-Enezi was among MPs, religious figures and residents who rallied in Jahra, near the capital Kuwait City, claiming cafes promote vice and depravation. "Such coffee shops have no room in our society as they violate our very traditions and customs," al-Enezi said. Fellow MP Mohammad Tana told Al-Jarida newspaper: "There is a deep corruption of morals at these suspicious places."

Forget chemical weapons: Syria is also starving people to death

From Now Lebanon's Michael Weiss :

Children in Syria are now eating leaves for nutrition. Residents of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp are baking flatbreads made from “stale lentils.” A group of Muslim clerics has issued an Eid al-Adha fatwa allowing the hungry to consume cats, dogs and donkeys to survive. In Moadamiyah, one of the suburbs south of Damascus known as western Ghouta, gassed with sarin by the regime on August 21, residents subsist on a meager diet of olives, mint, grapevine leaves and figs. This is Assad’s terror-famine. It’s getting worse every day.

According to Qusai Zakarya, a rebel spokesman in the town, the regime cut all humanitarian supplies to Moadamiyah ten or eleventh months ago, and local stores ran out in March. So the people have had to rely mainly on the largesse of Syrians living in the countryside who ran basic staples into the town – and by “ran,” I mean they drove by it on the Damascus-Quneitra highway and tossed grocery bags from their moving cars in the general direction of Moadamiyah, which then had to be retrieved by the inhabitants, sometimes at great risk. “This was rice, olives and makdous [cured eggplants], which lasts one to two years,” Zakarya told me via Skype, with clear sounds of artillery fire in the background. “But three months ago, all this food ran out too.” Water pipes into Moadamiyah, he said, had also been “blocked” or destroyed by the regime, leaving residents to rely on a single unreliable source of hydration. “Within the past month, we lost over 11 women and children from malnutrition. There are about 100 more suffering from malnutrition.” Images and videos of starving children in the Damascus region, collected, verified, and mapped by my colleague James Miller, show a proliferation of tiny and emaciated corpses, starting in August and continuing to today.

And it gets worse from there.

You can't make this stuff up.

A Fatah delegation met yesterday with Dr. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations and a Coptic leader.

After the meeting Gabriel told Egypt's Youm7 that "the Hamas movement committed massacres against the Palestinian people and opponents of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as many human rights violations that rise to war crimes in accordance with the laws and conventions and international treaties."

Then Gabriel added, "Fatah has many documents, photographs and audio recordings to prove Hamas cooperation with the Israeli Shin Bet and the Central Intelligence Agency in America," saying that millions of dollars from Israel are being used to pay Hamas leaders every month in exchange for cooperation in the implementation of Zionist schemes.

Gabriel will hold a press conference next week to discuss this evidence as well as show videos of Hamas massacring people in Gaza. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, in Jordan...

From Ammon News:

Riots erupted in night protest organized by youth pro-reform movement in Hay al-Tafaileh neighborhood in Amman, as police fired heavy tear gas to disperse the crowds and arrested four men.

Rioters set tires on fire, broke glass, launched fireworks at the police, threw explosive bottles, and attacked police cars expressing their anger at the arrest of 10 of pro-reformers in the past few weeks, according to Ammon News reporter.

Several of the detained activists were being tried by the State Security Court, Jordan's special military tribunal, on anti-regime charges.

Jordanian riots haven't quite made it on the radar, especially with what's going on in other Arab countries.

However, all it takes is one symbolic event that grabs people's imaginations, like the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia in 2010, and then all bets are off. If Jordanian police kill a protester, or rumors of torture start to spread, everything could change in an instant.

Funny Israeli Shabbat video

If you aren't a religious Jew you might miss some jokes, but it is still funny. English transcript below.

Narrator: Givat Shmuel, a heavily populated concrete jungle located in the heart of Gush Dan. A National Geographic camera crew is observing a typical pack of the wild “Dati” [Orthodox] tribe. It’s 5 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and the pack is preparing for its weekly gathering. The Sha–bat ceremony. The alpha male howls, apparently in order to signal that the time of the gathering is near.
Father to children: Tell me, are you normal?! Shabbat’s in one hour! Go take showers, you and your spacey brother!
Father to wife: Nechama, do me a favor, boil the water already. Come on!
Narrator: The female, Necha–Ma, defends the family nest by marking her territory [close-up on her sponja mop].
Mother: Nobody enters the hall now, I just washed the floor!
Narrator: It’s 8:30, and the pack gathers for the ceremony. Our crew must remain silent to hear the alpha male’s deep gutteral sounds aimed to prepare the pack for the upcoming meal.
[Father uses hand motions and sounds to request that somebody bring salt to the table for the challah]
Narrator: What’s that noise? Near the dati tribe lives a pack from a different tribe, the Chilonim [secular Jews]. This pack is also fascinating. Even though it’s a completely different pack, it also celebrates the Sha–bat ceremony.
Father:Shabbat shalom, family.
Daughter: [Making video with her phone] My mommy and daddy at the Shabbat table.
Father: Also film the kiddush cup!
Narrator: It’s 7 in the morning and the secular pack seeks grazing land to expand it’s territory. This is a demanding process requiring the pack’s approval.
[Mother suggests distant destinations around Israel for a family hike]
Mother: So, Chatzbani?
Children: Boring!
Mother: Yehudiya?
Children: Boring!
Mother: Ramon Crater?
Children: Boring!
Mother: OK, Nachal Amud?
Children: Boring!
Father: Honey, why don’t we just get out a movie?
Narrator: Much like the dati tribe, the female of the chiloni tribe clearly has the final say [mother leads family out to go to the hike]
Narrator: Suddenly, an astonishing thing happens. The Dati pack encounters the Chiloni pack. Each pack is fascinated by the other, and approaches it with its own dialect.
Religious mother: Shabbat Shalom. What do you say? Maybe we could sit together to eat one Shabbat in the evening.
Secular mother: You mean a meal on Saturday night?
Religious father: No, Erev Shabbat, on Friday at night.
Secular father: You mean a Friday-night dinner?
Religious mother and father: No, a Shabbat meal.
Religious father: Never mind…why don’t you come now?
Secular mother: With pleasure!
Religious father: Great! We live on the 13th floor.
Religious mother: Moti! The Shabbat elevator!
Religious father: The elevator! Run! Run! Come!
Narrator: These tribes share the same origin. And there’s more to bring them together than to set them apart.
Secular mother: What’s a Shabbat elevator?
[Both families crowd into small elevator]
Religious father: Only seven more flights to go!
Narrator: Our head researcher, Abba Kookoo, finds that they can even spend the Shabbat ceremony together.
[Around Shabbat table, religious father indicates for somebody to bring the salt for the Challah. Secular son starts drinking from the handwashing cup]
Secular mother: Yoni! What are you doing?! You don’t drink from that!
Religious father: It’s forbidden to talk right now…[they all start talking with hand motions and sounds]
Narrator: Nature is unpredictable and so are the animals trying to survive in it. It seems however that with tolerance and good will, the delicate balance of the circle of life is preserved.

This video is an advertisement for “Israeli shabbat”(October 25th) when religious families around Israel invite secular families to join them for a Shabbat meal.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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.