Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 20, 2013

12/20 Links: PA Event Honors Terrorists and Glorifies Murder, Why the Palestinians keep losing

From Ian:

The following axioms of Palestinian Arab behavior guarantee that Israel will have little to worry about from them for the foreseeable future:
1. Honor is more important than life, and lost honor can’t be recovered except by violence.
2. It is always more important to hurt Jews than to help Arabs.
3. It is always a high priority for Arabs to hate other Arabs.
I thought hard about posting this. What if they take my advice? I can’t imagine that they will, though. They have been screwing themselves since the 1920′s; why should they stop now? (h/t NormanF)

‘Palestinian group carried out Lockerbie bombing’

Twenty-five years after Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, with the loss of all 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground, a former senior member of the Israeli security establishment said he was certain the bombing was carried out by Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
The Israeli source, who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, said Israel was “listening in” during the months prior to the December 21, 1988 bombing on preparations for what “we thought was a plan to target an Israeli plane” and that it was “clear that Jibril prepared the operation.”
The comments came ahead of Saturday’s 25th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever carried out on British territory, and the worst terror attack on American civilians with the exception of 9/11. The anniversary is prompting another slew of conspiracy theories as to who was responsible.

Alan Dershowitz: Is singling out Israel for boycotts anti-Semitic?

There are those who claim that the BDS movement against Israel cannot be anti-Semitic, because it is directed at a country and not at individuals. But by treating Israel as the Jew among nations – singling it out for condemnation when others are far worse by any relevant standard – the advocates of BDS are simply expanding the notion of anti-Semitism beyond the individual to the nation state of the Jewish people. When Nazis condemned “Jewish physics,” “Jewish art” and “Jewish business practices,” they too claimed that they were focusing on Jewish institutions rather than Jewish individuals. That defense won’t work. Treating the Jew among nations precisely the way classic anti-Semites have treated the Jewish people is simply a new adaptation of the oldest of prejudices.
So let the world condemn those who single out the nation state of the Jewish people for the application of a double standard. Let the world understand that bigotry is bigotry whether directed against the Jew among nations or the Jew within nations.

Europe's love-hate relationship with Israel?

Britain, for example, is pushing for closer commercial, academic and research ties with Israel all the time, yet simultaneously condemns “illegal settlements” and “breaches of international law”.
Anti-Israel political mutterings in Whitehall, however, are trumped by the need for economic growth -- with a view to a national election in 2015.
Even the Palestinians have come out in opposition to BDS campaigns. They are happy for settlement produce to be boycotted, but as long as Israel supplies construction materials for the new Palestinian city being built and as long as Israeli Shekels are coming into the Palestinian economy please don’t rock the boat, Mr BDS.
Europe will continue to both love and hate Israel. BDS claims will continue to fuel a degree of underlying anti-Semitism. But as long as Israel continues to outshine the rest of the world technologically, European trade and commerce will continue to beat a path to her door in search of the economic benefits she brings and the brains she has to offer.

Members Flee Academic Group Boycotting Israel, May Form New Group

In an exchange between Penn State’s Bronner and Prof. William A. Jacobson of Cornell Law School, Bronner hinted that alternative organizations for serious scholars in the discipline who want to concentrate on American Studies rather than contemporary politics may be forming.
The loss of membership and the launching of a competitor association, along with the legal challenge to the ASA’s tax-exempt status, may be the only real legacy of the ASA’s boycott of Israel.

University unions in shock move to boycott themselves (satire)

In a shock move America’s largest union of university professors – the Council of Research and Academic Professionals (CRAP) which along with the American Studies Society (ASS), had recently voted in favour of an academic boycott of Israel, has voted to extend the boycott to America and hence will be boycotting itself.
Over 80% of the Union’s members took part in the vote, with a massive 13 voting in favour and only 11 voting against. This came after an impassioned plea by CRAP member Professor Angela Ayers-Davis who said:
(h/t Bob Knot)

Jewish Group ‘Appalled’ by Huffington Post Article, SWC Says it Paints Jews as Warmongers

Both the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) criticized the article, headlined “Saboteur Sen. Launching War Push,” which featured a picture of New Jersey’s Senator Robert Menendez addressing pro-Israel lobby the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
In the article, the publication attacked Senate leaders who backed a bill which calls for new sanctions against Iran in response to the country’s nuclear program. The bill threatens “to push the United States toward war with Iran,” the paper claimed.

David Ward, MP sponsors almost comical anti-Israel motion in House of Commons

The following motion, sponsored by Israel hater Jeremy Corbyn and David Ward (whose animosity towards Jews, and not merely Israelis, is well documented) and signed by 41 other MPs (including George Galloway), in the House of Commons is an almost comical example of the anti-Israel double standards often employed by a vocal minority of British politicians.
It seems that Ward and Corbyn woke up in the morning, and shuffled off to Westminster determined to convince their fellow MPs that Israel – which, per Freedom House, ”enjoys the freest press in the region” – urgently needed to be condemned for their record on press freedom.

Un Watch: Australia condemns UN official’s ‘disgraceful’ comments on Israel

UN Watch applauds Australia for joining Canada in condemning the “disgraceful” comments this week by UN official Richard Falk. Australian Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma stated on Twitter (see below) that he was “appalled” by Falk’s comments calling Israel “genocidal.” But the PLO defended Falk today.

PA promotes murder as positive act at cultural event

At a Palestinian Authority event under the auspices of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, with the participation of the Minister of Culture, the Palestinian Authority portrayed murder as a positive act.
The event started with PA Minister of Culture Anwar Abu Aisha honoring a number of released terrorist murderers by inviting them on stage and awarding them PA plaques of honor. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA uses cultural events to honor terrorists.

PA glorifies murder in play under auspices of Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas guards intervene in confrontation between senior Palestinians

Jamal Abu al-Rab, a parliamentarian, and Jibril Rajoub, a top Fatah official and a former major general in the security forces, were among VIPs at a Ramallah hotel, welcoming Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on a visit.
Abu al-Rab - a former militant leader from the Fatah-aligned al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the city of Jenin, widely known by the nom de guerre "Hitler" - slapped Rajoub in the face, witnesses said.
Al-Rab then fled and Rajoub summoned his armed guards to pursue him, said witnesses. Al-Rab sought refuge in the parliament building and Abbas's forces formed a cordon around it, sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Haniyeh Invites Abbas to Discuss Unity Government

Hamas’s Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, on Thursday invited Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to a meeting to discuss the formation of a unity government, reports the Ma’an news agency.
Abbas heads the Fatah movement, a longtime rival of Hamas. The two movements have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas violently took control of Gaza, setting up its own government there and cracking down on Fatah officials who reside in the territory.

Iran stages war games as nuclear talks resume

The Iranian Air Force was set to launch large-scale drills Friday, as part of “annual exercises aimed at testing indigenous air defense systems, improving the units’ combat readiness and displaying the country’s military might and achievement,” according to a report in Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
The drills involve “different types of interceptor fighters, bomber fighters, transport aircraft and reconnaissance planes,” the air force’s deputy commander, Brig.-Gen. Alireza Barkhor, told Fars.

White House vows to veto new Iran sanctions bill

If Iran sanctions legislation introduced Thursday were to pass Congressional hurdles, President Barack Obama would veto it, White House Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. Speaking an hour after senators announced the bipartisan Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, Carney slammed the legislation, describing it as potentially “damaging and destructive to the diplomatic effort.”

France Throws Doubt on Whether Iran Committed to Genuine Nuclear Concessions

"We have to implement honestly the first phase,” Mr. Fabius said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Then my main concern is the second phase. It is unclear if the Iranians will accept to definitively abandon any capacity of getting a weapon or only agree to interrupt the nuclear program.”
Mr. Fabius played a central role in toughening terms of the first deal with Iran. His warning that world powers risked being drawn into a “fool’s game” by Iran nearly derailed the talks in November. Mr. Fabius said Western powers need to focus their efforts on how to deprive Iran of “breakout capacity,” the ability to restart a bomb-making program from dormant nuclear sites and make a quick dash to a weapon before world powers can react. “What is at stake is to ensure that there is no breakout capacity,” Mr. Fabius said.

'Iran has nuclear fuel reserve to last four years'

Iran has a reserve of nuclear fuel that would last four years, the head of the country's Atom Energy Organization said, as technical talks continued in Vienna Friday on the implementation of a deal meant to freeze the Islamic Republic's nuclear program for six months.
Ali Akbar Salehi stressed on Thursday that Tehran will not be losing anything in the November 24 interim deal, meant to allow a window to negotiate a permanent agreement in the nuclear dispute between Iran and world powers.

Iran Rejects UN Condemnation, Says it is 'Biased'

According to the report, Iran’s foreign ministry said that the resolution was biased.
The resolution, which was approved Wednesday with 86 votes in favor, expressed concern over serious ongoing abuses in Iran, but also acknowledged pledges by Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, on human rights issues such as eliminating discrimination against women and members of ethnic minorities and promoting freedom of expression and opinion.

UK Foreign Office Slams Khamenei’s Twitter Support for Holocaust Denier: ‘We Deplore the Tweet’

The UK Foreign Office slammed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei for offensive online behavior, with a harshly worded statement, after The Algemeiner on Tuesday published an article on the Twitter account believed to be run by his office, tweeting support for a noted French anti-Semite and Muslim convert, Roger Garaudy, whose books have been banned as hate speech.

Russia blocks UN action against Syria air attacks

Russia objected to a proposed UN Security Council statement expressing outrage at Syrian government airstrikes, especially this week’s indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in Aleppo that have killed more than 100 people, UN diplomats said Thursday.
The statement, proposed by the United States, required approval from all 15 council members.

Syria: Horrific Abuse in Secret Al Qaeda Prisons

Syrians are being tortured and killed in secret prisons run by an Al Qaeda affiliated group, Amnesty International has warned in its latest report.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which has seized control of territory in northern Syria, has reportedly committed horrific abuses in its prisons in the region.
Sources told Amnesty that some of those imprisoned by ISIS are as young as eight years old. Witnesses reported seeing teenagers being tortured, including a 14-year-old boy who was given 90 lashes during an interrogation.

German town strips Hitler of honorary citizenship

A Bavarian town council voted unanimously to strip Adolf Hitler of honorary citizenship bestowed 80 years ago, after an outcry prompted by their decision last week not to adopt a resolution denouncing the 1933 decision.
The issue came up after an archivist discovered documents showing both Hitler and the president who appointed him, Paul von Hindenburg, had been given honorary citizenship of Dietramszell.

Cologne museum to return Nazi-looted artwork

The city of Cologne agreed to return six valuable drawings looted by the Nazis from a Jewish art collector.
The drawings will be restituted from the Ludwig Museum to the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, the German museum said Wednesday. They will remain on public display in the museum, according to Mel Urbach, one of the attorneys representing the heirs.

Israeli Medical Innovation Will Help Broken Bones Heal Faster

Israeli biotech firm Regencure is working on a special “wrapping paper” that, when applied to fractures, will hasten the process of healing, the NoCamels website reported Thursday.
The RegenCure product, the company says, consists of a strong, flexible membrane that can be shaped into any geometrical shape to provide complete containment of the damaged bone, preventing cells and soft tissue from penetrating but allowing fluids in, a process that the company says is crucial to the healing process.

Tour group to use Google Glass to broadcast Israel to friends abroad

What with school, work, and other commitments, not everyone can manage a trip to Israel. But with the arrival of Google Glass, anyone can take a virtual trip to the Jewish state.
In fact, that is exactly what is set to take place next week, as seven families arrive in Israel as part of a mission sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America. The families hail from Seattle, New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC, and all will come equipped with Google Glass, the search company’s wearable computer that lets users interact with the web without the aid of a keyboard or mouse.
Using Glass, members of the mission will be able to broadcast their experience so those connected to them back home can share in their adventures.

Outrageous anti-Israel article in The Independent

An unbelievable column from Mira Bar Hillel in The Independent:

The Prince of Wales has often spoken of aspiring, when he is King, to be known not as Defender of the (Anglican) Faith, but “Defender of Faiths”. His open attitude towards other religions has been established long enough for him not to need to worry of being accused of Islamophobia.

But recent events in the Middle East have forced him into an intervention he would have been happy to avoid.

“Christianity was, literally, born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ”, he said at an interfaith gathering in Clarence House. And he urged Christians, Muslims and Jews to unite in “outrage” as he warned of the elimination of Christianity in much of the region in which it developed.

The problem is becoming especially acute in Syria and Iraq, where the West appears powerless to help beleaguered Christians. But is the Prince aware of what is happening in the actual places where Christ was born and grew up, and where international pressure could be very effective?

Oh boy - here it comes:

When I was in Israel a year ago there was talk of an passing urgent bylaw which would have criminalised the placing of anything resembling a Christmas Tree in or near restaurants or places of entertainment. This did not actually happen, but it is typical of the Jewish State’s attitude to Christians.

Someone proposed a law, it was defeated, and this is evidence of Jewish hate for Christians!

But now Mira needs to make it sound scientific:

In 2012 there were 125,000 Palestinian Christians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem (excluding the West Bank and Gaza), or 2 per cent of Israel’s population, down from 8 per cent in 1946, just before the end of the British Mandate in 1947.

See her sleight of hand? She is comparing the Christian population as a proportion of the British Mandate areas - 8% in 1946 - to the percentage of Christians in the Green Line today! This makes it sound like Israel has decimated its Christian population by 75%!

The truth is that the Christian population of Israel has always been in the 2% range. This is the worst kind of misuse of statistics.

In that year, Christians made up 85 per cent of the population of Bethlehem, but by 1998 the figure had declined to 40 per cent. Most left for the lack of economic and educational opportunities, exacerbated by draconian Israeli travel restrictions, and the exodus continues.

The majority of Christians have left Bethlehem while it was under Arab rule, both Jordanian and Palestinian. But Bar Hillel blames only Israel, as if it treats Palestinian Christians differently than Palestinian Muslims in Bethlehem.

Bar Hillel goes on to say that Israel is threatening Christians in Nazareth, using bizarre evidence. Here's the truth:

A senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land says the Christian community is in danger of dying out in Nazareth, an Israeli Arab city where Christians believe Jesus spent his youth. Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo says many of Nazareth's minority Christians began emigrating more than a decade ago largely because of tensions with local Islamists who tried to build a mosque next to the city's main church. ....

The bishop says the main cause of that emigration is a campaign by Islamists to boost their political power in Nazareth at the expense of Christians and moderate Muslims.

Then, Bar Hillel talks about illegal African immigrants and implies that Israel persecutes them because so many are Christian!

In a sane world, such a column would be laughed out of the editor's office. But we live in a world where basic fact checking is nonexistent when the Jews are the ones who can look like racists.

Egyptian MB members admit going to Gaza for weapons training

This video, from Egyptian newspaper Al Watan, has footage of Muslim Brotherhood members going through tunnels to Gaza last March, before the coup.

The interviews have some of them admitting that they went to Gaza for training in weapons and meeting Hamas officials. There is video, reportedly from Gaza, showing this training as well as their return from the tunnels last year.

No wonder Egyptian security was so keen in closing the tunnels.

In 2012, Qatar shipped 30 million liters of diesel to Egypt that was meant to run the Gaza power plant during a previous Hamas-engineered power crisis.

The fuel was held in Egyptian tanks, but Egypt kept delaying sending the fuel to Gaza (via Kerem Shalom.) Israel had no problem with transferring the fuel from Egypt, but Hamas refused to import fuel from Israel, causing the crisis.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, only about half that fuel ever reached Gaza.

Finally, Egypt says it will send the remaining fuel to Gaza - some 18 months later.

The funniest part is that the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Badr Abdel-Ati, said "Egypt will always remain ready to provide all ways to support the Palestinian people." Fuel might be subsidized in Egypt but talk is even cheaper.

(One more tidbit from my visit to Kerem Shalom this week: It has been many months since Egypt shipped anything to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which sits at the intersection of Gaza, Israel and Egypt. Since Israel is concerned for the safety of her people, the entrance from Egypt is blocked with large concrete barriers to stop any crazy suicide attack. However, I was told, it would only take a half hour to dismantle it if there was a need to bring in goods from Egypt again. Looks like this will actually happen, at least for this earmarked fuel.)

Donkey Kong sighted in Jerusalem

At Ben Yehuda Street on Thursday night, people could play a huge Donkey Kong game that was projected on two walls of a building.

The old 8-bit sounds of the game were amplified as well.

Rafah closed again. Gazans can't go to school. Will ASA boycott Egypt?

The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt has been closed for seven consecutive days.

Egypt "promises" it will open Rafah up next week for a few days.

Here is the calendar of Rafah's closings since late October:

S	M	Tu	W	Th	F	S
Oct 27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Dec 1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

Gisha's report from November gives some numbers:

Travel via Rafah Crossing has dropped dramatically, while there has been little change in travel through Erez. In November, 5,502 exits by Palestinians were recorded at Erez Crossing - a 7% drop from the number recorded in October. However, this figure still represents a 33% increase in the number of exits compared to the monthly average during the first half of 2013.

Rafah Crossing was closed for 20 days in November, 66% of the time. There was an 85% drop in the volume of travel, in both directions, compared to the monthly average during the first half of 2013. Travel in November was the lowest of the year.

Gisha is one of these NGOs that feels Israel is responsible for Egyptian human rights abuses:

On November 20, Gisha received the Defense Ministry's response to its request to allow Palestinians to travel via Erez, given reduced activity at Rafah. The Ministry of Defense rejected the request, stating that: "[C]urrent Israeli policy on travel by Gaza residents within the territory of the State of Israel satisfies the requirements of the law, including those of international law, and we see no room to introduce any arrangements in addition to those currently in effect".

I plan to get into the nitty gritty of Gisha's complaints against Israel's actions in Gaza in upcoming posts.

Still, major "human rights" NGOs are all but ignoring Egypt's role in limiting Gazans from being able to go to school or get medical treatment.

It's funny, because the American Studies Association falsely claims that Israel is stopping Palestinian Arabs from attending school and therefore (for some reason) Israeli universities must be punished. Yet here, Egypt is explicitly denying Palestinian Arabs from attending Egyptian schools that they were already accepted in, and there is not a word!

12/19 Links Pt2: UK: Charities for Terrorists, Europe Turns Blind Eye to Anti-Semitism, Fire Falk

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: UK: Charities for Terrorists

Bad charities use the "halo effect" as a kind of smokescreen. Sometimes -- as in questions of ethical investment -- there are questions about the input of the charity's trustees. On other occasions the abuses are so serious that they should really be a matter for the police.
To take just the most serious example, there are organizations that still enjoy all the tax and other advantages of charitable status in this country, but that are actually banned as terrorist entities in some of our nation's closet allies. Sometimes this is deliberate, sometimes accidental. Just recently it was revealed that money from UK charities may have been filtered to the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab. Such activities – covering a range of communities – are a national disgrace. Yet they continue.

Europe Turns Blind Eye to Anti-Semitism

The central part of OSCE's mission is the requirement for member states to collect information and monitor anti-Semitic incidents in their home states. Yet, in its most recent annual report for 2012, also released last month, only 27 of the 57 OSCE Member States submitted official statistics. Among the countries that did not submit the required official statistics include: France, Hungary, Greece, Russia and Belgium -- some of the very countries identified by FRA as having the highest levels of anti-Semitism.
Quite simply, without reliable data on anti-Semitic incidents, how can governments and Jewish communities properly assess levels of anti-Semitism or propose remedies?
With anti-Semitism in Europe having reached a level unprecedented since the end of the Holocaust, serious questions must be asked of the EU about its resolve to tackle this oldest and most enduring form of hatred, when it cannot even agree on how to define anti-Semitism or comply with the most elementary laws to help combat it.

Elliot Abrams: Fire Falk

The special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories of the United Nations Human Rights Council is an extremist named Richard Falk. Falk is an embarrassment to the council and the U.N. whose only activity is to use violent and extreme language to denounce Israel -- most recently for "a criminal intention that is genocidal."
Canada has denounced Falk for these remarks and Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said this: "Canada completely rejects and condemns the appalling remarks made by Richard Falk, United Nations special rapporteur to the Palestinian territories, in which he accused Israel of 'genocidal' intentions.

UN Watch: PLO mocks Canada for calling on UN to fire Falk—even though it did the same in 2010, secret cable reveals

This morning it tweeted: “Canadian FM Baird says that UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk makes ‘anti-Semitic’ statements. Does Mr. Baird know that Mr. Falk is a Jew?”
Yet only three years ago it was the PLO itself which, as Wikileaks reveals, secretly asked the U.S. government for help in firing Falk. The “visibly upset” PLO delegate objected not only to Falk’s support for Hamas, but also to his penchant for Holocaust comparisons.

It’s About the Settlements, Stupid

The hold of traditional Muslim society on young Palestinian Arabs, especially young women, is deteriorating: as they gain access to secondary and tertiary education, young Arabs have fewer children and more careers. And the most effective agency for the emancipation of young Arab women is the settler movement. Ariel University across the so-called Green Line is full of young Muslim women in headscarves studying computer science, and the leaders of the Ariel community–Haredi Jews–work with local Arab leaders to recruit talented students.
There is a parallel to what I called the “peace of the aging” in Ireland. The Irish got older. The drunken IRA killers I met in Belfast in 1970 as a student journalist had no intention of making peace. They were having too much fun at war. By 1996, when former Sen. George Mitchell presided over the Good Friday Agreement that formally ended the low-intensity civil war in Northern Ireland, those who were left had families and mortgages.(h/t NormanF)

For first time, Palestinians back framework peace agreement

Erekat said that based on the July 29 start of negotiations, they are to end on April 29. “We are not talking about a peace treaty on the 29th of April. We are talking about a framework agreement,” he told journalists.
He described a framework deal as a comprehensive agreement that could be turned into a detailed peace treaty in six to 12 months.

Hamas Asks You to Buy a Dam in the Negev

Thus, rather than dismiss this story or laugh it off, serious observers of the Middle East ought to be paying more attention to it. Until Palestinian factions stop blaming Israel for the weather, purveyors of Jew hatred will continue to dominate their politics and keep alive false hope about Israel’s eventual destruction. Rather than worry about enticing Abbas back to the negotiating table where he will continue to prevaricate and try to avoid making a decision about ending the conflict or Fatah-Hamas unity, Kerry should realize that an Arab and Muslim world that is willing to believe such hateful nonsense is not likely to accept a Jewish state in their midst no matter where its borders are drawn. (h/t Bob Knot)

Murdered Israeli fails to evoke the Guardian’s sympathy

Whilst the report itself is relatively fair, it’s nonetheless troubling that in two stories devoted to an incident which clearly began when an Israeli soldiered was killed by a Lebanese soldier, neither the titles nor accompanying photos convey any information about the Israeli victim. Additionally, in looking back at prior Guardian reports on lethal Palestinian terror attacks over the past two years, we weren’t able to find even one which included a photo of the Israeli victim.
The Guardian’s failure to humanize Israeli victims of terror stands in stark contrast to their often fawning coverage of Palestinian terrorists and their families.

Dead Gaza BDS Advocate Sought Israeli Medical Care

Eyad El Sarraj, a prominent psychiatrist in the Gaza Strip, died on Wednesday, Dec. 18. El Sarraj was 70 years old. He died of complications from Leukemia.
Throughout his professional life, Sarraj was a fierce proponent of resistance to the “Israeli Occupation” and vigorously promoted boycotts of Israel. But when his health failed, Sarraj sought medical care in Israel. He died at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he had been receiving treatment for more than a month.

US, Germany Threaten IDF Not to Move Academies to Mt. Scopus

The United States and Germany have issued an ultimatum to the IDF, a report Thursday said: No American or German army officers will work with IDF training academies if the army goes ahead with plans to relocate them to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.
The ultimatum could explain why Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced earlier this week that the plan to move them was to be delayed. Sources said that the IDF has begun looking for other sites for its military program as a result.
It should be noted that Mt. Scopus is under complete Israeli sovereignty, and has been since the state was declared in 1948. Mt. Scopus was assigned to the Jewish state as part of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, but was occupied by Jordan until the 1967 Six Day War, when it was liberated by Israel.

Political Correctness Blamed for Hebrew U Violence

The Knesset's Internal Affairs and Environment Committee discussed the worrying situation at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University, where students are exposed to daily harassment by local Arabs, who act with apparent impunity.

College Group Uses ‘Game Show’ to Dehumanize Israel

I attended “Battle of the Bulls” hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of South Florida. In this game-show style competition, participants from seven student organizations were asked to answer highly skewed, dehumanizing questions about the state of Israel.
SJP said the purpose of this event was to educate students about the Israeli “occupation” in an entertaining manner. In actuality, this event did not educate, but rather spread blatant falsehoods to audience members.

Anti-Semitic attacks drive record levels of French aliyah

In an overcrowded conference room in the heart of Paris’ 14th arrondissement, a hundred French Jews are losing their patience.
They have gathered at the Paris office of the Jewish Agency for Israel for a lecture on immigrating to Israel, but the agency staff is running behind. Its 20 staffers are coping with a 57 percent jump in the number of French Jews moving to Israel over the last year and a surge of applications. In addition to four weekly public talks, they are struggling to finish 30 applicant interviews each day.

Growing anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish hatred in the Netherlands

This article discusses increasing anti-Jewish hatred in the Netherlands, in particular due to the growing Muslim immigrant population there. Though the Dutch government has been traditionally friendly to Israel and there has been proportionately less antisemitism there compared to in other European countries, shocking slanders appear about Israel in the mainstream Dutch media and there has also been an academic boycott of Israel. In addition, Dutch politicians have been afraid to address this rising antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred for fear of losing the Muslim vote. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Jews to remain in the country, making the future of the Dutch Jewish community uncertain.

After six-year hiatus, Israeli planes to fly to Turkey again

The director of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, Giora Romm, on Tuesday signed a document with his Turkish counterpart at the end of bilateral talks that took place in Turkey, according to TheMarker business newspaper. Israeli airlines reportedly expect to resume landing in Turkish destinations starting next summer.
Israeli airlines had been unable to fly to any destination in Turkey since 2007 because Turkish authorities refused to cooperate with Israel’s special security requirements. With Tuesday’s agreements, a way has been found to sort out the disagreements, effectively enabling Israeli airlines to compete for the Tel Aviv-Istanbul and other lucrative routes, the paper reported.

Israel Set to Sign Lucrative Deal With India's Gujarat State

Israel will soon be signing a deal with the Indian state of Gujarat to develop an industrial investment fund, Israel's Consul General in Mumbai, Jonathan Miller, said in an interview with Indian media. India TV quoted Miller as saying that a memorandum of understanding to open the fund be signed with top Gutjarat officials soon.
"Gujarat is a business-oriented state and this MoU will help both Israeli and Gujarat-based companies in developing and strengthening the industrial relationship,” Miller was quoted as saying.

Canada, Israel And Switzerland Are America's Top Innovation Partners

In an attempt to quantify that transnational cooperation, the US-Israel Science & Technology Foundation (USISTF) has created a “U.S.-Israel Innovation Index” to measure bilateral research and development between the U.S. and other countries.
“We picked 16 countries that were geographically diverse, had links to US, and had strong innovative tech companies,” USISTF Executive Director Ann Liebschutz told me. “The Index measures cooperation between US and Israel as well as other countries.”

Scientists from Tel Aviv University take part in international space project

Prof. Shay Zucker – of the geophysics and atmospheric and planetary science department – who, with colleagues, will analyze data collected from the unmanned space ship. Zucker said that the “data that it will send back to Earth will be as accurate as determining the location from Earth of a grain of sand on the Moon with a millimeter’s accuracy.”
Gaia will carry a telescope and other equipment that will map with unprecedented accuracy more than a billion stars and receive a 3-D map of the Milky Way, the galaxy in which our solar system is located. The space vehicle was built by the European Space Agency at a cost of more than two billion euros.

Israeli aid workers airlifted from South Sudan

The workers, employees of IsraAID, “left with the UN yesterday and are on their way to Israel,” IsraAID director Shachar Zahavi told The Times of Israel on Thursday, adding that they were not harmed in the fighting.
The workers, along with members of other international NGOs, had been sheltered in a closed compound in the capital of Juba on Monday after a group of soldiers attempted to stage a coup d’etat.

IDF, PA Coordinate Christmas Merriment

IDF officials announced Wednesday that security restrictions will be relaxed during Christmas to allow Palestinian Authority residents who celebrate the holiday to enjoy the festivities, and to visit family in Israel.
The decision was coordinated with Palestinian Authority officials, PA security personnel, and representatives of various international bodies.

Philippines, Recovering From Typhoon, Honored by JDC for WWII Rescue Effort

Thanking one Asian country for its kindness towards Jews faced with annihilation 75 years ago and warning another not to even think about harming Israel, top Jewish officials at a Dec. 11 dinner wrapped up three days of meetings that marked the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
José L. Cuisía, Philippine ambassador to the United States, accepted the JDC’s Or L’Olam Award on behalf of his country for giving refuge to 1,305 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during World War II. At the same event, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob “Jack” Lew—the highest-ranking Jew in the Obama administration—cautioned any CEO, general counsel or business executives to “think again” before trying to evade international sanctions against Iran or helping the Islamic Republic acquire nuclear weapons.

Israel Museum obtains world’s ‘first Jewish coin’

The coins, dated to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE when the region was controlled by the Persian Empire, constitute “the largest collection in the world of Persian-period coins.” The collection includes a number of previously unknown varieties, the museum said. Chief among the rare artifacts is a silver drachm, an ancient coin based upon the Greek drachma, which, in clearly legible Aramaic script, bears the word yehud, or Judea.
“It’s the earliest coin from the province of Judea,” the museum’s chief curator of archaeology, Haim Gitler, said in an interview with The Times of Israel, calling the 5th century silver drachm the “first Jewish coin.”

The truth about Christians in Bethlehem (video, repost)

I made this video last year by superimposing some facts on top of a PA propaganda video about Christians in Bethlehem.

It is as relevant now as ever.

Gaza construction materials get diverted to the black market

Palestine Press Agency has an extensive and surprisingly candid interview laddin Rafati, Hamas' economy minister.

Rafati says that there are still a significant number of secret terrorist smuggling tunnels into Gaza, and Hamas maintains a closed-eyes policy. "The work of the resistance must be secret and Hamas does not have the authority to question the ability of these factions for obtaining the arms for their work."

He is saying that Hamas fully supports the other terror groups in Gaza and their right to smuggle weapons - but it knows that Egypt will hold it responsible if any Gaza jihadists attack in the Sinai. So Hamas is trying to have it both ways and have deniability about its knowledge of what these other groups do.

When asked if construction materials from Qatari projects (that are sometimes allowed to pass through Rafah from Egypt to Gaza) are sometimes diverted to the black market, Rafati admitted it was possible - and then added that the same thing happens to goods going to international NGOs in Gaza.

The civilian head of the Kerem Shalom crossing confirmed this to me on Wednesday.

UNRWA, for example, doesn't directly import construction materials to Gaza. They hire contractors to handle the purchases. The Kerem Shalom official told me that he knows these contractors personally because he deals with them every day, and he has no doubt that some of the materials are diverted away from the official projects.

I said that I assumed that the specifications of the approved buildings are known by Israel and they are only allowing what is specifically approved. He answered that there is no way for anyone to know if the estimate is exaggerated and no one is really double checking that every ton is necessary.

In the end, everything is about money, and if there is an opportunity for people to make more of it, they will take advantage.

Of course, this means that Hamas is probaly getting some of the "approved" materials as well.

12/19 Links Pt1: Brandeis Univ. drops ASA, Iran nuke deal quietly collapses, Jordan shuts out Hamas

From Ian:

Brandeis Univ. drops American Studies Association membership over Israel boycott

Brandeis University becomes the second confirmed university to drop its Institutional Membership in the American Studies Association over the anti-Israel academic boycott.
Earlier we reported that Penn State Harrisburg would be dropping its membership. The real key will be whether universities also will refuse to allow university funds to be used to subsidize attendance at ASA events, which is how ASA makes most of its revenue.

Reader crowdsourcing project to fight American Studies Assoc anti-Israel boycott

I have received a surprisingly large number of emails of support from people outraged at the anti-Israel academic boycott passed by the American Studies Association. Almost all of those emails come from new readers.
The question many of them ask is what they can do to help me not only in the challenge to ASA’s tax-exempt status, but also to oppose the boycott.
Readers can take action themselves by contacting University Presidents and Trustees for those 83 universities who are Institutional Members of the ASA, as well as the head of the university sytem for state institutions.

Boycott of Israel a ‘Big Mistake,’ Says Former American Studies Association President

Former American Studies Association (ASA) president and Stanford University Professor of English Dr. Shelley Fisher Fishkin said she believes the ASA’s boycott of Israeli universities is a “big mistake.”
“As a scholar, I deeply value the free exchange of ideas,” Fishkin told JNS.org. “Academic boycotts make the free exchange of ideas impossible. For that reason, I think the ASA’s endorsement of the boycott was a big mistake.”

Indigenous? Native American Studies and Big Lies About Israel

By attempting to portray the Palestinians as the “indigenous people” of the territory on which the State of Israel and the administered territories exist and the Jews as the colonial settlers, they are perpetrating the big lie of Palestinian history. Jews are not foreigners in Israel as Europeans were in Africa. They happen to be the indigenous people of their ancient homeland and efforts to deny this isn’t scholarship. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and those who would deny them the same rights accorded other peoples are practicing bias, not scholarship. As with Palestinian attempts to deny the Jewish connection with the country or with Jerusalem and ancient Jewish holy sites such as the Temple Mount or the Western Wall, attempts to cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one between foreign occupiers and natives is revisionist myth recast as left-wing politicized scholarship.

MLA to join fray as academic boycott debate heats up

The MLA, a professional organization of language and literature scholars, will hold a panel discussion on ”Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine” at its Delegate Assembly in Chicago on January 9.
The boycott panel is to consist of a group of prominent academics who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, movement, as well as BDS founder Omar Barghouti, but will not have a dissenting or pro-Israeli voice.
The group will be led by University of Texas Professor Samer Ali.

What leftists believe (with respect to Islam and Israel) (satire)

So the American Studies Association has voted to boycott Israeli academics (based largely on the 'testimony' of the racist communist terrorist "Professor" Angela Davis). Just in case anybody was thinking that leftists sometimes act in a hypocritical way, especially with respect to Islam and Israel, I want to make it crystal clear that this is not the case. As you will see from this list, there is absolutely no inconsistency in what leftists believe. (h/t Bob Knot)

Hamas man killed, 6 injured, in Jenin firefight with IDF

The man killed was identified as Nafa Jamil A’sadi, a Hamas operative, according to Israel Radio.
Palestinian sources said seven people were injured, including five who were in moderate condition.
An IDF spokesperson said the firefight began when Palestinians opened fire on the troops.

Second Palestinian killed during firefight in Qalqilya

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man who opened fire on them during operations in the West Bank city of Qalqilya early Thursday morning, the second such incident in several hours.
Israeli paratroopers entered the city to arrest a man and came under fire, shooting back and killing the wanted man, the Israeli military said. The military said they only heard of his death through later reports.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said the wanted man, a member of the Palestinian security forces, was suspected of shooting at Israeli soldiers in the past.

Security Council Condemns Syrian Violence in the Golan

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force operating in the Golan Heights, while strongly condemning all military activity on the Golan Heights by the Syrian army and opposition fighters.
The Council warned that this activity could "jeopardize the ceasefire" between Syria and Israel, according to The Associated Press.

US adds al-Qaida-linked Palestinian to list of terrorists

A statement issued Wednesday by the State Department said Usamah Amin al-Shihabi was an associate of Fatah al-Islam, “a Lebanese-based militant group formed in 2006, whose ultimate goal is the institution of Islamist sharia law in the Palestinian refugee camps and the destruction of Israel".
Media reports have identified al-Shihabi as part of an al-Qaida vanguard in Lebanon and as having plotted attacks against Americans.

Report: Jordan closes its doors to Hamas leaders in solidarity with Egypt

According to the report, "a lot of doors of Arab capitals are closed to Hamas to show solidarity and support for the new Egyptian regime."
Tensions between Egypt and Hamas have been intensifying since the toppling of Mohammad Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party from power by Egyptian army commander General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July.

Egypt: Morsi Accused of 'Terrorist Plot' With Hamas, Hezbollah

The charges against Morsi and 35 other Islamist co-defendants include passing state secrets to a foreign country, sponsoring terrorism, and carrying out military training and other acts that undermined Egypt's stability and independence.
Specifically, Morsi and a number of other senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders stand accused of revealing state secrets to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, and forging an alliance with Hamas and Hezbollah - both of whom are close to Iran - to provide military training for Muslim Brotherhood supporters, who would launch attacks against Egypt's interim government upon their return to the country.

Iran nuke deal quietly collapses

Less than a month after it was hailed as “a great diplomatic coup,” the so-called Geneva accord to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions seems to have come unstuck.
The official narrative in Tehran is that Iran signed nothing. “There is no treaty and no pact,” says Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, “only a statement of intent.”
Originally, Iran’s official media had presented the accord as a treaty (qarardad) but it now refers to a “letter of agreement” (tavafoq nameh).

Iran FM: We can resume 20% enrichment within a day

“The structure of our nuclear program has been maintained and the 20 percent enrichment can be resumed in less than 24 hours,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told a gathering of Iranian students in Tehran.
He added that “the structure of the sanctions and the antagonistic atmosphere created by the West against Iran is falling apart,” according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran Sanctions Are a Thing of the Past

Past comments and more recent reports have strongly indicated that the U.S. has warned Israel against moving without its approval. But the fact that Obama himself has said that he “would not expect the prime minister (Netanayhu) to make a decision about his country’s security and defer that to any other country,” means that the administration has accepted this position at least for the purpose of public posture.
The more that Administration officials are confronted on this point, and the more they are challenged to reinforce it, the harder it will become for them to back away from it if an Israeli strike becomes a reality.
Additionally, for Iran, which has shown just how seriously it takes Israel’s red lines by being so careful not to cross the threshold Netanyahu announced at the UN in September of last year, the military threat will begin to return. The mullahs are operating on the assumption that the U.S. will never strike their reactors, but if they get the impression that it may allow Israel to do so, they may be forced to reevaluate their estimations.

'Israel may attack Iran's heavy-water reactor'

S. Fred Singer, a physicist who was formerly chief scientist of the U.S. Department of Transportation, wrote in The Washington Times on December 15 that the Geneva Interim Accord on Iran's nuclear programs may trigger Israeli military action.
"As these talks continue and drag on, look for a startling development: Israel may attack Iran's heavy-water reactor -- now being completed near Arak -- arguing that Iran does not need to manufacture weapons-grade plutonium if its nuclear programs are truly peaceful as claimed. Not being involved in the interim agreement, Israel would be free to act," Singer writes.

Elie Wiesel Says ‘Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Remain Nuclear’ in Full Page Ads in NYT, WSJ

In the ad, Prof. Wiesel asks “should the civilized nations of the world trust a regime whose supreme leader said yet again last month that Israel is ‘doomed to annihilation,’ and referred to my fellow Jewish Zionists as ‘rabid dogs?’”
He tells readers that we must “appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand, as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the regime’s public and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent against Israel. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanctions against Iran until these conditions have been met.”

UN General Assembly condemns Iran, Syria for rights abuses

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday condemned Syria for widespread human rights abuses and expressed concern about such violations in Iran and North Korea, but it welcomed pledges by Iran's president to improve in some areas.
The resolution on Iran was approved with 86 votes in favor, 36 against and 61 abstentions, and the draft on Syria was adopted with 127 votes in favor, 13 against and 47 abstentions. The resolution on North Korea was passed by consensus, but some states publicly disassociated themselves from the text.

U.N. Adopts Iran’s ‘World Against Violent Extremism’ Act

The United Nations overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to adopt an Iranian and Syrian authored resolution that calls on nations across the globe to denounce violence and extremism.
The U.N.’s General Assembly voted by consensus to approve the “World Against Violent Extremism” (WAVE) Act, which critics lambasted as hypocritical, given Iran’s designation as one of the global leaders in executions and state-sponsored terrorism.

Iran: Bomb Attack Kills Three Revolutionary Guards

The men, who were travelling in a car at the time, were working on a "construction project" near the city of Saravan, in the southeastern "Sistan-Balochistan" province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to Tasnim news agency.
It is the latest in a string of attacks by Sunni groups against Iranian authorities in the region, which is a hotbed of ethnic and religious separatism and opposition to the regime in Tehran.

Report: Iran, Syria smuggling weapons to Hezbollah through Iraq

According to the report, this method of smuggling arms has been agreed on by the two sides two months ago.
A source in the Iraqi ruling party told the paper that while senior Iraqi officials aide Tehran and Damascus in smuggling weapons to Hezbollah, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is unaware of it.

Will Tehran step up its covert war?

There is no telling what else these groups may do to attack Saudi Arabia or its allies under the banner of defending their financial, ideological, and military patrons in Tehran.
Amid the flurry of debate over Iran’s trustworthiness and willingness to transform itself into a responsible regional power, the destabilizing presence of the Quds Force cannot be ignored. Rapprochement with Iran cannot go handin- hand with ignoring the promotion of violent Shi’ite Islamic extremism. Anyone who allows Iran to enrich uranium without demanding that Tehran reign in the Quds Force will be complicit in placing the tentacles of terrorism within reach of the world’s most dangerous weapons.

The Zionist Pigs are back and forcing Arabs to shoot each other!

From Gulf News (h/t Israellycool via Bob K)

A Palestinian youth was accidentally shot and killed by his cousin on Saturday night as a group of young Palestinians attempted to defend their village against a herd of wild pigs released by Israeli colonists during the snowstorm that has hit Palestine since last Tuesday.

19-year-old Yousri Mohammad Nayef Al Deek, from the village of Kafr Al Deek, near Salfit, was shot in the heart by a bullet fired by his cousin and neighbour Majd Ahmad Abdul Karim Al Deek.

Local sources in Kafr Al Deek told Gulf News that Israeli colonists have used the bad weather to set free a group of the wild pigs to attack the Palestinian farms and properties in the village.

The sources added that a group of Palestinian youngsters armed with old rifles rushed to fight the wild pigs but the rainy and snowy weather did not give them clear vision. During the frenzy, the victim was fatally shot.

The sources maintained that it was an accidental death and that the killer was getting ready to receive his father who is scheduled to be released from Israeli prison on Sunday after serving years of imprisonment.

The sources allege that Israeli colonists normally use such weather conditions, during which Palestinians remain indoors, to release wild pigs in Palestinian neighbourhoods to ensure maximum damage to Palestinian farms.

Yes, Jews raise wild boars and wait for a once in a hundred year snowstorm to release them to damage crops that are inaccessible in the snow. But the boars also cause Arabs to go into a frenzy with old rifles and start shooting wildly, and of course some will end up dead.

The Zionist Pig ethnic cleansing project is a success!

Just another day in the peaceful PA:

Unknown assailants opened fire at the office of the minister of Islamic endowments Mahmoud Habbash on Wednesday evening.

Witnesses told Ma’an that masked and armed men fired heavily at the minister’s office in al-Jinan neighborhood in el-Bireh minutes after he arrived.

Guards responded by shooting at the assailants, who fled the scene in a private car.

Habbash is essentially the minister for Islam in the PA.

Palestine Today adds that some bullets were shot from a neighboring building through his window, so this was a serious assassination attempt.

Now, who would want the PA's Islamic minister dead? Palestinian Christians - or Islamist extremists?