Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, June 21, 2013

6/21 Links Part 2: Latma interviews the new moderate Iranian President.

From Ian:

LATMA: Latma interviews the new moderate Iranian President and celebrates Shimon Peres

Vice-Chair of UN Rights Panel Works for Saudi Gov’t, Defends Misogyny

What the UN forgot to mention today is that the Vice-Chair of the committee accusing Israel of violating children’s rights works for the Saudi government and has a despicable record of apologetics for her country’s misogyny.
About half the members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child come from non-democracies, many of whom take unfriendly or hostile positions against Israel at the UN, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Russia.
On professional human rights expertise, Mrs. Al-Shehail has a shameful record of telling lies to protect Saudi Arabia’s gross and systematic violations of women’s rights.

New Study Concludes that ‘Italian Schindler’ Actually Helped Murder Jews During the Holocaust

Giovanni Palatucci, a wartime police official, has been honored by Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations and by the Pope, but the Centro Primo Levi at the Center for Jewish Studies in New York stated that a research panel of more than a dozen scholars has concluded that for six years, Palatucci was “a willing executor of the racial legislation and — after taking the oath to Mussolini’s Social Republic, collaborated with the Nazis.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has responded by removing an exhibition celebrating Palatucci and an official at Yad Vashem told the Times they had “commenced the process of thoroughly examining the documents.”

MK Ohayon: UN 'Refugee Day' for Jews From Arab Lands, Too

As the United Nations urges countries to do more to help refugees – and castigates countries that create the refugees who are unable to live in their home countries – on World Refugee Day, commemorated Thursday, MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu) had a message for the UN: Don't forget the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, far more numerous than the much-worried over Arab refugees who fled the Land of Israel before Israel's establishment in 1948.
While those Arabs for the most part left their homes voluntarily, on the recommendation of Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan(, Syria and the other four Arab countries that declared war on the nascent state – in order to “clear a path” for the “victorious Arab armies” as they “slaughtered the Jews” - the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were thrown out of the countries they and their families had lived in for hundreds of years, just for the crime of being Jewish, and thus suspected Zionists.

N. Korean camp survivor urges world’s attention

To date, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has convened 19 special sessions, none on North Korea. Israel has been the subject of six — more than the Syrian civil war, in which 90,000 people are believed to have died, or the genocide in Darfur, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, according to some estimates.
“Shin Dong-hyuk doesn’t touch on our agenda, he is our agenda,” said Hillel Neuer, the director of UN Watch, “drawing attention to major human rights abuses that do not receive the attention they merit.”

North Korea Officials Threaten to Kill Source of Mein Kampf Story Leak, Call Culprit ‘Human Scum’

Officials in Pyongyang also described the defector’s report as a “thrice-cursed crime” which was aimed at belittling Kim, The Daily Mail reports.
“We are determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Turkish Reporters Suggest Conspiracy Theory

Turkish reporters loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have claimed that the anti-government protests currently gripping the nation have been carefully orchestrated and planned by prominent Jewish officials and a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank.

Israelis find way to preserve fertility after chemotherapy

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine (published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science), the authors describe how adding an Israeli-synthesized compound, AS101, to the chemotherapy regime successfully prevented infertility.

Chinese Fund to offer scholarships to Chinese students at Technion

The Hanqing International Education Foundation agreed this week to offer $8 million in scholarships to Chinese students at the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology.
The agreement, which is valid for 20 years, was signed in the presence of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Technion president Peretz Lavie, donor Chinese businessman Zhao Hanqing and Handan Mayor Hui Jian, from the donor’s birthplace.

Yuri Foreman Film Earns Plaudits at Cannes Film Festival (VIDEO)

A short film highlighting the career of Jewish boxer Yuri Foreman screened at the prestigious Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity this past week.
The Boxer, a commercial collaboration between Chevrolet and MOFILM, tells the story of “an immigrant boxer who never gave up on his dream and eventually became a world champion,” according to the video’s YouTube page.

‘Hostages’ is latest sabra TV export

Time for another first in the Israel-US small screen relationship.
“Hostages,” the latest Israeli pilot to get purchased by an American television station, will air in the US before it gets seen in Israel.

Cisco CEO: Super-fast Internet will make Israel ‘test case’ for digital world

A new, super-fast fiber-optic system to be installed across Israel will turn the country into the world’s first digital state and serve as a test case for the world, Cisco CEO John Chambers said.
The cable system, based on technology developed by Cisco, will offer speeds several magnitudes faster than anything the country has seen before, and will link up nearly all facets of the state into a revolutionary network.

James Gandolfini's Israeli Ad

In the outpouring of obituaries and appreciations of actor James Gandolfini, who died yesterday at age 51, there’s been a tendency to confuse the man with his most famous character, Tony Soprano.
Here, for example, he appears basically as Tony Soprano, in an ad for the Israeli satellite channel YES. So here’s to you, James Gandolfini.

Something new to boycott: Israeli company to market generic Viagra

From Globes::

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) will soon launch a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra in the UK and other European countries, sources inform "Globes." The impotence treatment is one of the world's bestselling drugs. Pfizer's Viagra sales reached $2 billion in 2012, half of this in the US.

In the UK and other countries Viagra's patent expires this weekend, allowing Teva (and other generic manufacturers) to launch a generic version. Teva has confirmed that it plans launching a generic version called Sildenafil in the European countries where the patent expires.

In the US, Teva has been prevented from launching a generic version of Viagra by a court ruling that the patent is valid until 2020. However, Teva did launch a generic version in Canada several months ago following a positive ruling after five years of legal proceedings.

According to reports in the UK, in 2012 alone, 2.3 million prescriptions were written for the drug, costing the National Health Service £40 million. The price of the drug will be reduced from £10 to £1 when generic versions are launched.

This will give the Palestinian Arabs more potential conspiracy theories. Remember sex gum?

Then again, Hamas has more than a passing familiarity with Viagra.

Poor Gazans will now have a legal way of getting the impotence drugs they crave so much.

The market for this is obviously only going to grow.

(h/t NotAntiSemitic)

Saudis committing to beat the Shiites in Syria

A very interesting analysis by Michael Weiss in Now Lebanon:

Last Friday, King Abdullah cut short his summer vacation in Morocco and flew back to Riyadh not only to meet with his national security advisors but to coordinate a new strategy for winning the war in Syria, one that encompasses a unified regional bloc of Sunni-majority powers now ranged against Iran, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime. The Wahhabi kingdom has exhausted its patience with miscarried attempts to resolve the Syria crisis through diplomacy and it will not wait to see the coming battle in Aleppo play out before assuming control of the Syrian rebellion. State-backed regional efforts to bolster moderate Free Syrian Army elements will thus be joined with the fetid call to jihad emanating from clerical quarters in Cairo, Doha, Mecca, and beyond. The mullahs have only themselves to blame. “Nasrallah fucked up,” one well-connected Syrian source told me recently. “He awakened the Sunni giant. The Saudis took Hezbollah’s invasion of Qusayr personally.”

Although long in coming, and evidenced in the recent contretemps between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, this grand realignment has been unmistakably solidified in the last week. A day after the Saudi king returned to Riyadh, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi severed all diplomatic ties with Damascus and called for a no-fly zone in Syria, leaving no mystery as to reason behind this decision. “Hezbollah must leave Syria – these are serious words,” the Islamist president said. “There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria.”

Then, on Monday, June 17, it was Jordanian King Abdullah’s turn to strike a minatory, albeit more nationalistic, note. Ostensibly addressing cadets at a graduation ceremony at Mutah Military Academy, the Hashemite monarch was in fact speaking to Barack Obama and Bashar al-Assad: “If the world does not mobilize or help us in the issue [of Syria] as it should, or if this matter forms a danger to our country, we are able at any moment to take measures that will protect our land and the interests of our people.”

...According to Elizabeth O’Bagy, the policy director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force and a senior research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, the Saudis had a closed-door meeting with Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Command, a few days ago, at which they offered to do “whatever it takes” to help Idris defeat Assad and his growing army of Shiite-Alawi sectarian militias. Though, this being a Saudi promise, “whatever it takes” can still be defined relatively: the discussion was limited to weapons, more resources and logistical support, O’Bagy said, though some of the hardware has already begun to materialize.

One unnamed Gulf source cited by Reuters has claimed that the Saudis have begun running shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADs) into Syria. Furthermore, at least 50 “Konkurs,” Russian-made, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, have also turned up in Aleppo in the last week, as confirmed by the Daily Telegraph’s Mideast correspondent Richard Spencer (Konkurs are especially useful in destroying T-72 tanks, the most recent Soviet-era model that the Syrian Army uses.)

More intriguing still is the Western power evidently facilitating this campaign – France. Israeli Army Radio reported this week that French intelligence officials are working with their Saudi counterparts to train up rebels on tactics and weaponry, in concert with the Turkish Defense Ministry (no doubt because Turkish supply-lines to Aleppo are now even more crucial.)

There's lots more, and it is very good reading.

6/21 Links Part 1: Lebanese Apartheid and Carter wants to teach Terrorists Humanitarian Law

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Lebanon's Apartheid Laws

The Lebanese, who have always despised Palestinians, are afraid of incorporating them into their economy and workforce. Many Lebanese hold the Palestinians and the PLO responsible for destroying their country, especially during the civil war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people during the 1970's and 1980's.
What is disturbing about the Apartheid laws in Lebanon and the mistreatment of Palestinians by Arab countries is the silence of the international community and media.
Even UNRWA, which is supposed to look after the well-being of Palestinian refugees, continues to turn a blind eye to Lebanon's Apartheid laws.
When contacted by The Daily Star for comment on the plight of the Palestinians in Lebanon, UNRWA's public information officer Hoda Samra said she had "no public statement to make regarding this particular issue."

CAMERA: Al-Jazeera English Airs 'Nakba' Myth

There is little doubt that this "Nakba" production is a preview of the type of slick propaganda that can be expected from al-Jazeera when it replaces the programming on Current TV network later this year. At that time, the number of potential viewers will be greatly multiplied since Current TV, unlike al-Jazeera English, is carried by major providers such as Comcast, Verizon, and DirecTV. It's doubtful from a business model viewpoint that providers will chose to cancel Current since al-Jazeera network, in all likelihood, will provide the channel either free or at minimal cost to the providers. The Arab network states that “Al Jazeera English is available free-to-air through satellite and cable providers around the world.”

Are we there yet? BBC improves its accuracy regarding Hamas designation

No context is offered concerning the fact that Zaboun was in fact detained due to his membership of a terrorist organization or that the arrests followed the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip.
Neither is any mention made of the fact that Zaboun has headed the ‘charity’ Al Islah in Bethlehem for many years – an organization known to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority due to its history of channelling funding to Hamas’ terrorist-supporting infrastructure from abroad.
And yet, the BBC provides Zaboun with a platform from which to sanitize the activities of his terrorist organization and present himself as a beleaguered parliamentarian:

Ex-President Carter Seeks Weakened Sanctions on Terror Groups

Former President Jimmy Carter is spearheading an effort to convince the United States to weaken sanctions on terrorist groups, The Hill reported.
Carter and other foreign policy experts sent a petition to Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday, asking him to exempt peace groups from policies that make it a crime to offer negotiation training and humanitarian law classes to terror groups.

ADL Voices Concerns Over Anti-Israel ‘Summer Camps’ for Children as Young as 8

The Anti-Defamation League voiced its concern Wednesday that three groups with anti-Israel agendas will stoke anti-Israel sentiment in children during “summer camps” and “summer institutes” they are planning to establish in New York and Chicago this summer.

Two weeks after appointment, Palestinian PM resigns

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah tendered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, just two weeks after his swearing in, Ma’an News Agency reported.
According to the report, Hamdallah resigned due to “differences over his authorities.”

Two tweet legacy reveals dysfunctional Palestinian leadership

These two tweets, the only ones issued by newly appointed (and freshly resigned) Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah give more away about the dysfunctional nature of the Palestinian leadership than Mahmoud Abbas might hope.

Electric Company Suggests: Cut Off Power to PA

The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has put together a list of sanctions that it could impose on the Palestinian Authority (PA) if it does not pay its debt to the IEC, which currently stands at 820 million shekels.
The PA acquires 95% of its electricity in Judea and Samaria and 75% of its electricity in Gaza from Israel.

Ashton Calls on Israel to End Gaza 'Siege'

Ashton praised UNRWA's work and pledged that the EU would "continue to be the strongest supporter, that we will give the financial support that is needed, but also the political support."
Hamas officials, with whom Ashton did not meet, urged her to "act immediately to lift the siege of Gaza" and "remove Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations" of the EU, arguing that Hamas simply “defends its people and believes in democracy and openness to the world."

Hamas Sentences 'Collaborator' to Death by Hanging

The defendant, identified only by his initials KC, was "condemned to capital punishment by hanging for collaborating with the Zionist occupier," ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan announced on Facebook.

Bulgaria reveals new evidence on Hezbollah-Burgas link

Bulgaria claims it has previously undisclosed evidence that further implicates Hezbollah in a deadly terrorist attack last year on Bulgarian soil, JTA has learned.
A Bulgarian representative to the European Union said Wednesday that investigators have discovered that a Hezbollah operative was the owner of a printer used to produce fake documents that facilitated the July 19, 2012 bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Burgas. Five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the attack.

Hosni Mubarak fortune estimated at $1.3bn USD

Egyptian authorities released the information at a time when around 40 per cent of the Egyptian population is living below the poverty line.
Public attorney Mahmoud Al Hefnawi told a Cairo criminal Court on Thursday that the estimated wealth includes 3 billion Egyptian pounds in cash, corporate stakes worth 5 billion and real-estate assets worth 1 billion.

Syria and Egypt Can’t Be Fixed

Egypt remains a pre-modern society, with nearly 50% illiteracy, a 30% rate of consanguineal marriage, a 90% rate of female genital mutilation, and an un- or underemployment rate over 40%. Syria has neither enough oil nor water to maintain the bazaar economy dominated by the Assad family.
Both were disasters waiting to happen. Economics, to be sure, set the stage but did not give the cues: Syria’s radical Sunnis revolted in part out of enthusiasm for the ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and partly in fear of Iran’s ambition to foster Shi’ite ascendancy in the region.

Egypt's Coptic Christians say they are 'no longer safe'

Heba Morayef, Regional Human Rights Watch director, worries that extremists are now free to encourage discrimination on TV. “It’s very scary because of the sudden uptick in violence, compounded by the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has in no way tried to reign it back and has at times participated.”

New Iran leader a ‘change in style, not of substance,’ Netanyahu says

Iran’s new leader presents a smiling face, but does not represent a change in policy for the regime in Tehran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his address to the closing session of the 2013 Israel Presidential Conference on Thursday evening.
The Islamic Republic must not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon, the prime minister said, speaking to a packed crowd of dignitaries on a wide range of topics currently facing Israel.

Iran Neighbor Accepts First Israeli Ambassador

The Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, which shares a 1,000 kilometer border with Iran, has accepted the credentials of the first ever Israeli ambassador to the country, state media said Wednesday.

Quran theme park being built in Dubai

From IBTimes:

Dubai has spent the past decade creating a playground to match the tastes of the West, much to the chagrin of many of the region’s stricter Muslim nations. By the end of next year, however, the glitzy emirate plans to open a unique public park project called Holy Quran Park to cater to its regional base.

The DM said in a press release that the proposed park, to be located in Al Khawaneej, had been designed “from an Islamic perspective to introduce the miracles of Quran through a variety of surprises for the visitors.” Designs include an outdoor theater, fountains, lake, walking and biking tracks, children’s play area, Umrah corner and “areas for showing the miracles of the Quran.”

The 60-hectare park will also include a series of Islamic gardens featuring many of the 54 plants and trees mentioned in the text of the Quran, including fig, olive, leek, garlic, tamarind, basil and pomegranate. "A glass building will accommodate 15 items of plants, and other items will be planted in different specific gardens. These plants are expected to stimulate the visitors to think about the reason behind mentioning the names of these plants in the Quran," Mashroom told the Emirates News Agency. The space allocated for the “miracles of Quran,” he added, would include an air-conditioned tunnel with stories on the walls.

The initial site preparation, including tracks and service buildings, has already been completed, according to DM. The second phase will begin in July 2013, while the third and final phase will last just one month between August and September 2014.

Will there be a Gharqad tree so the Jews can hide behind it?

Egyptian opposition readies for massive protest with the ultimate insult to the Muslim Brotherhood

Al Mogaz reports on a meeting of Egyptian opposition group Tamarod (Rebellion) in Alexandria as it is gearing up for massive anti-government protests set for June 30, the anniversary of President Morsi's taking office.

During the meeting, the participants chanted a variation of the famous "Khyber, Khyber ya Yahud" insult to Jews, but this one was aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood.

They said "Khaybar, khaybar, ya ikhwan, a-shar'iyya fil midan!" which means "Khaybar, Khaybar, o Brotherhood, our legitimacy is in [Tahrir] Square!"

Remember that when the protests against the Mubarak regime started in Tahrir Square, it was spearheaded by secularists. The Islamists joined the protests much later when it looked like the protesters were going to win, and then they co-opted the entire revolution with their superior organization and media skills.

Here, the original protesters are equating the Muslim Brotherhood with the hated Jews, which is as bad an insult as one can hurl in Egypt.

The anticipation in Egypt before the protests is already sky-high, and the next nine days will be very interesting.

UNRWA school in Syria hit by mortars, five Palestinian Arabs killed

From UNRWA:

At around 10:00pm on 19 June 2013, at least three mortar shells struck Khan Eshieh Palestine refugee camp just outside Damascus. It was not clear which party to the conflict fired the shells. One shell hit an UNRWA school accommodating 260 displaced Palestine refugees. At least five Palestine refugees, including two children and two women, were killed inside the school and eleven sustained serious injuries including an UNRWA staff member.

Really? Five Palestinian Arab civilians - including two children - are killed at a UNRWA school and no media reported it yet (as of this writing)?

Ah, it must be because Israel cannot be blamed!

According to the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, some nine Syrian Palestinians were killed yesterday, including three children. The total number of Palestinian Arabs killed so far in the civil war is 1377.

Bet you haven't read that statistic in the media, either.

Video: Hezbollah forcibly tattooing Shiite slogan on Syrian refugee in Lebanon - as a warning

If true, this is gruesome:

A disturbing video has surfaced on the Internet.... It appears to show an alleged Hezbollah supportet forcibly tattooing the phrase, “Oh father of Abdullah, Hussein,” a reference to the revered imam of Shia Islam, onto the forehead of an unidentified man who appears to be Syrian.

The person who posted the video – which could not be independently verified - claims that the tattoo artist is a Hezbollah supporter.

The man receiving the tattoo – apparently by force – looks subdued and can be seen being slapped in the face several times during the video. Below is a translation of what the tattoo artist can be heard saying as he inks the man’s forehead:

“This is the father of Abdullah. This is Hussein, this is Hussein. If he [Allah] loves you, he will take you to heaven. I’m trying to make a Muslim out of you. Not with the regime or against the regime.
For those who sent you, [send them this message] tell them, “look what they’ve done to me?”
Say this to them: this is a message to those who hate Shia.

They sent me to you alive saying, Father of Abdullah (Hussein) if you try to come close to us Shia, we will f*ck your mothers…

I will even put a conjugation (the hamzeh) on it for you.

Say ‘hi’ to [Salafist Lebanese Sheikh Ahmed] al-Assir.”

The shocking footage comes amid reports by local media that an estimated 37,000 Syrians have left Lebanon in the last three days. (as of June 5)

As the linked report alludes to, it’s unclear what sparked the abrupt mass exodus, but if Syrians in the country feel they’re being harassed because of tensions over the current uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, that’s impetus enough to want to leave.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Return to Auschwitz: How Israel keeps Holocaust memories alive (BBC)

The BBC has an excellent, very long magazine piece - including videos - about how Israel keeps the memory of the Holocaust alive as the remaining survivors dwindle.

The Israeli delegation is marching in the footsteps of the many Jews who took their last steps here.

This is the spot where German SS officers rapidly assessed which prisoners looked fit and strong enough to be sent to the wooden blockhouses where the slave labourers lived. The Germans had taken a timber building originally designed to house about 50 cavalry horses and adapted it to the demands of the prison camp. Four hundred prisoners were crammed into the same space, packed on to double-decker bunks. In freezing rooms on starvation rations only a few lived for more than a few months.

The rest were herded towards the gas chambers.

It was murder on an industrial scale - whole communities perished together within hours of climbing down from the trains.

So the most moving moment in the Israeli soldiers' journey comes inside one of the old blockhouses, where a handful of them read out loud lists of the names of family members who died in the Holocaust.

Sometimes almost nothing is known to tell the stories of lives that were not lived, except a name.

As Yishai Szekely - a doctor who serves as a reserve officer in an artillery unit - explains, in some families first-hand memories are passed down. There are photographs or books and ornaments with stories attached, that make the dead seem real.

Here, the reading of the names is the only way to reclaim the dead from the anonymity of genocide.

"Six million is such a huge number, even to think of 1,000 it confuses you," Szekely says. "The power is in the name because we don't have much left. That's the only thing we can touch or understand or imagine, our only connection that we could start to make to our past… When you connect to one name, one person to one name, it makes it easier for you to understand."

When the last name has been read, I stroll between the blockhouses with Yechiel Aleksander, who was brought to Auschwitz as a teenager in 1944, on one of the Eastern Transports - the trains that carried the Jews to the selection process between life and death.

He survived of course and went to Israel after the war.

This is his 35th trip back to Poland with Israeli delegations to deliver lectures about what life was like here and to answer questions when he can.

The first nine or 10 trips back here affected him very badly, he says. For a moment, switching between Hebrew and the fluent Polish he still remembers from childhood, he is lost for words. He describes how the visits depressed him, by holding his hand out straight and level and then suddenly bringing it down in a plunging, swooping motion.

He still comes, though. He believes that those who know what it was like here have a special responsibility towards those who do not.

He remembers discussing the expulsion of the Jewish community from Spain at the end of the 15th Century with a group of Israeli schoolchildren and realising that most didn't know anything about it.

What, he wondered, if the Holocaust were to be forgotten in the same way, two or three generations from now?

"In 1994 I promised that all this must remain for future generations. I thought [if things remained the way they were] that in two generations from now no-one would even know that this place existed. It's much easier now that I know I'm passing things on to youngsters. Perhaps it will stick now and each generation will pass it on to the next generation."

...

A few years ago the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot published the extraordinary story of a photograph which hung on the wall of the office of Meir Dagan, who rose to become head of Mossad, Israel's external intelligence agency.

It is a slightly battered black-and-white print showing a scene from 1942 in the village of Lukow in central Poland. An older Jewish man is kneeling on the floor surrounded by German soldiers.

It is Meir Dagan's grandfather, who is known to have been murdered a short time later.

The picture came to light when Dagan's father returned to his home village after the war, to look for Jewish survivors.

They asked a local Polish man to take some photographs. When he handed over the film roll and they eventually had it processed, they discovered at its start the picture of the Germans surrounding the helpless old man. The photographer must have been taking photographs for the newly-arrived Nazis too.

The photograph is appalling, but it's historically interesting too.

The young Germans are not Aryan supermen but ordinary soldiers called up into their reserve infantry battalions for service in Poland.

It's worth examining the soldier's attitudes - they do not look to me like men who feel they've been caught doing something reprehensible. They look like men posing for a photograph which they intend to display on the mantelpiece in years to come.

Meir Dagan rose to become one of the most powerful men in Israel and throughout his career he had the photograph of his grandfather and the Germans on the office wall.

The lesson he reads into it is simple: "We have," he tells me, "no choice but to rely on ourselves... and there's a hard moral lesson from the Holocaust that anyone could become a murderer. The killings weren't carried out by fanatics but by what might be called normal men."

Read the whole thing.

(h/t Zvi)

IDF soldiers swear allegiance to Israel - on a Koran

From the IDF Blog:

Over the next few minutes, the Golani Brigade’s soldiers who drafted in March of this year will swear allegiance to the State of Israel and commit to do all they can to protect it. Muhammad, an Arab Muslim resident of the Galilee village of Dabburiya, is one of them. Like his friends, he’s excited for the ceremony to begin.

The ceremony begins. As the brigade commander finishes his speech, the soldiers quickly run to their commanders, their families and their friends who have come to show their support and encouragement.

When Pvt. Muhammad Atrash's turn comes, he doesn’t look for anyone in the audience. “My parents wanted to come, but I convinced them not to,” he explains. “Jerusalem is very far from our home, we don’t have a car and it’s an hour-long drive.”

The commander tells Muhammad to stand in front of him. Instead of the Hebrew Bible, the young soldier picks up a Quran, decorated with gold ornaments. He swears his allegiance to the State of Israel, holding the book tightly and smiling.

“I’m mostly trying to feel the experience, because It’s my first time ever in Jerusalem,” he says.

For Muhammad, 18, this is an important step in his unique relationship with the Israel Defense Forces – which began a year and a half ago, when his older brother, Milad, 19, chose to enlist.

“While still in high school I asked my family, ‘Why don’t we, the Muslims, enlist?’” Milad recalls. “‘Why do the Jews, the Druze and the Bedouins enlist, while we don’t?’ They explained to me that Jews serve because it’s their country, that the Druze [community] had signed agreements with the IDF and that we have a lot of Islamic movements that oppose military service in the IDF.”

Milad’s response? “I told them I don’t care about that. I want to join the army to protect my village, my country,” he says.

Read the whole thing.

6/20 Links Part 2: De Niro likes tough Israel, Praise for U21 Tournament and The Arabs of Israel

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Arabs of Israel

The Arab citizens of Israel are not fighting for political rights, which they already enjoy -- otherwise, there would not be so many Arab political parties, or Arab Members of Parliament in the Knesset. Rather, they are fighting for better services and equality. They want more jobs in the public and private sectors and equal distribution of public funds.
Any attempt to politicize the case of the Arab Israelis will only cause damage to Arab citizens, most of whom remain loyal to Israel.
The sharp rise in the number of Arab volunteers for national service is an encouraging development that shows many Arab citizens have lost faith in their representatives, particularly those who are trying to incite them against Israel.

Putin Perpetuates Antisemitic Lie of First Soviet ‘Mostly Jewish’

Some antisemitic lies just don’t die, but it is incumbent on Jewish reporters to refute them every single time, especially when they’re being espoused by a brutal Russian politician with the capacity to inflict a lot of pain on the Jews in his country.
According to a JTA report, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the world last week that at least 80 percent of the members of the first Soviet government were Jewish.

Barbra Streisand butt of Dutch singer’s anti-Semitic joke

Singer Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth, better known as Gordon, said on the air last week that Streisand, a famous Jewish-American actress and singer, had come to the Netherlands to perform on June 6 because “she wants to earn money, which is a Jewish trait.”

Jewish Group Responds to 'Little Jewboy From Gestapo' Attack

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the verbal attack on Jewish journalist Flor Mizrachi Angel, labeled “That little Jewboy from the Gestapo” by the Governor of Panama, Omaira Mayin Correa.

2 Arrested in Plot to Use X-Ray Weapon in Lethal Radiation Attacks

Two upstate New York men, one who prosecutors say is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, are accused of conspiring to develop a portable X-ray machine capable of emitting lethal doses of radiation that they intended to use against Muslims and "enemies of Israel."
Crawford allegedly sought financing from the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina, and approached two Jewish organizations saying he wanted help targeting Muslims. The two Jewish groups both called the FBI and the investigation began.

Israeli Consul General Responds to Author's Boycott Calls

Israeli consul general in New York Ido Aharoni has responded to American novelist Alice Walker’s overt calls to boycott the Jewish state, noting that there is a “strange twist” is her efforts to undermine freedom and pluralism.
In an open letter to Walker published Wednesday in the New York Post, Aharoni defended the state of Israel in the face of such anti-Israel calls, which often border on blatant anti-Semitism.

Israeli Food Exports to U.S. Grow 50 Percent Since 2008

This rise in Israeli food exports to the U.S. resulted from a “more aggressive marketing strategy at all levels by the Israeli manufacturers and their US representatives,” sources told KosherToday.

Rwanda and Israel to Forge Closer Ties

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame arrived in Jerusalem, Israel, on Monday to strengthen ties between the Middle East nation and his country at the fifth Israel Presidential Conference.
Kagame hopes to posit Rwanda's economic security in line with that of Israel's at the 2013 Israeli Presidential Conference, The Africa Report said. (h/t Zvi)

Tough guy De Niro likes tough Israel

American actor Robert De Niro praised Israeli aggressiveness during a talk at the President’s Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“I always enjoy coming to Israel. Israelis are warm, they’re energetic people. Forthright. Very smart. I always like smart people. They’re nice people, you know. Aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation,” he said.

Baird: 'Israel Has No Greater Friend Than Canada'

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, who is in Jerusalem attending the 2013 Presidential Conference, spoke to Arutz Sheva regarding the strong ties that exist between the two countries.
Barid called the conference an “exciting opportunity to strengthen [the] relationship” between Israel and Canada.

Israel to be First in World with F-35 Fighter Jets

Lockheed Martin Aircraft Industries has announced that Israel will be the first nation to receive its F-35 stealth fighter jets, the most expensive weapon in U.S. history.
The company’s vice president, Steve O’Bryan, made the announcement Tuesday at the Paris Air Show.

US cites Israel among countries fighting human trafficking

A State Department report published Wednesday places Israel in the top tier of countries fighting human trafficking, while downgrading Russia and China for violations and placing them in the same tier as North Korea, Iran and others.

Waze president aims for 30% of worldwide driving market

Speaking publicly for the first time since inking a deal with Google to sell the traffic application Waze for $1.3 billion last week, one of the firm’s founders said there was still much work to do.
“We only have 51 million users. There are a billion cars in the world so we have a long way to go,” Waze co-founder and president Uri Levine told the Globes financial daily on Wednesday.

Cisco to Open Cyber Research-and-Development Laboratory in Israel

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Cisco Chairman and CEO John T. Chambers Wednesday to discuss a host of new Cisco initiatives meant to spotlight the expanding ties between the Jewish state and the multinational American company.

Platini lauds Israel at end of Euro U21s

Israel came in for warm praise from European football's supremo Michel Platini as the Euro Under-21 football championships ended with Spain thrashing Italy 4-2 to retain the title.
"The stadiums were wonderful and well-organized, the pitches excellent and the atmosphere in the stadiums was great with many families with young children attending. That is exactly the type of tournament that I like to see," Platini told a news conference. (h/t Zvi)

Poland’s Jewish Renaissance Brings to Light ‘Underpinnings’ of Judeo-Christian Western Culture

June 28 will mark the start of the 23rd annual Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland, whose closing event is a concert that routinely draws 20,000-25,000 people and exemplifies the re-emerging broad appeal of Jewish culture in a country that was home to 3 million Jews who died during the Holocaust.

UNESCO adds Yad Vashem testimonials to world heritage list

Holocaust survivors' testimonials, as archived by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, are among the 54 new additions to the UN educational and cultural agency's Memory of the World Register.

Return to Auschwitz: How Israel keeps Holocaust memories alive

The number of people who survived the Holocaust is dwindling - they are all now old men and women. But the Holocaust carries a special importance for Israel. Can it ensure that the next generation knows, and does not forget, what happened in Europe seven decades ago?
Under a lightless Polish sky as dull and flat as a sheet of beaten lead the Israeli flag flutters listlessly in the light wind.
There are not many touches of colour to be seen at the gates of Auschwitz and the blue Star of David stands out on its crisp white background. (h/t Zvi)

Many Jordanian teens justify "honor killings"

From AFP:

Belief that so-called honor killings are justified is still common among Jordanian teenagers, a Cambridge University study revealed on Thursday.

The study by researchers from the university's Institute of Criminology found that almost half of boys and one in five girls interviewed in the capital, Amman, believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonored" or shamed the family is justified.

"Researchers surveyed over 850 students, and found that attitudes in support of honor killing are far more likely in adolescent boys with low education backgrounds," a statement said, adding that the research is published in the criminology journal Aggressive Behavior.

"Importantly, the study found that these disturbing attitudes were not connected to religious beliefs."

Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called "honor" murders each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Keep in mind that the same Arab attachment to "honor" that justifies murdering their own daughters and wives also justifies lifelong dedication to destroying Israel. Erasing shame is the most powerful motive in the Arab world, and nothing short of annihilation of the source of the shame can be effective.

Which is reason #7492 why peace is impossible.

Khaybar antisemitic series update

We're getting some momentum....

The Blaze reports:

A new Arabic-language television series, “Khaybar,” scheduled for broadcast in the Muslim world during Ramadan next month is raising alarm among Jewish groups due to the deeply anti-Semitic messages it reportedly conveys.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday denounced the content of two of the episodes which were posted online this week.

“The episodes, which series producers reportedly claim have been leaked, reveal the degree to which classical anti-Semitic narratives are being promoted in the program,” the ADL writes.

The Zionist Organization of America is calling on President Barack Obama to pressure Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to stop the broadcast of the multi-million dollar production. It writes:

The television series, Khayber, celebrates the victory of Muhammad’s Muslim army over the Jewish tribes living in northern Arabia in the battle of Khaybar in 629 C.E. [A.D.] According to most Islamic sources, the Khayber story ends with the slaughter of thousands of Jewish men, women and children. The vanquished Jews were forced thereafter to hand over half their produce to the Muslims until later expelled by the Caliph Umar.

The pro-Israel blogger who writes under the pen name Elder of Ziyon is so concerned that “hundreds of millions of Arabs will be exposed to antisemitism and incitement” that he’s started a petition calling on human rights organizations to condemn the series.

6/20 Links Part 1: New Iranian Pres Implicated in Argentina Bombing, Rubin on the New Moderates

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: New Moderates! Syrian Rebels, Iranian President, and the Taliban!

It is surprising that it doesn't seem to bother a lot of people to support an antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-woman, anti-gay movement that has already committed atrocities, whose leading organization also once collaborated with the Nazis, and about 20 percent of which consists of al-Qaida supporters?
Also we have just seen the proliferation of weapons and terrorists following the U.S.-sponsored support of Islamists after the Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan wars.

Fatah warns US not to pressure PA to resume talks

The Fatah leadership warned the US administration on Wednesday against exerting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to resume peace talks unconditionally with Israel.
The warning came as US Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to return to the region next week to continue his efforts to revive the stalled peace process.

Reports: Angry Demonstrations Forced High-Level Hamas Delegation to Flee Cairo

Arabic media outlets are now suggesting that the popular anger directed against the delegation was more substantial than originally reported, and that the delegation was forced to leave Egypt ahead of schedule for safety reasons.
Reports describe thousands of students and veterans attempting to storm the hotel, with hotel workers succeeding in closing the doors only after some protesters broke through. Other sources had Hamas political bureau Khaled Mashaal escaping the hotel via the back door, leaving behind Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the rest of the delegation. Demonstrators called for the delegation to be tried and arrested.

Netanyahu: Iran’s ‘feet should be held to the fire’

Netanyahu told Ashton — who heads the international community’s nuclear negotiations with Iran — that he expected the EU to demand a complete cessation of Tehran’s uranium enrichment and to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

PM to EU Chief: Iranian Issue Not Spin, It’s Spin of Centrifuges

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Jerusalem that recent elections did not change the Iranian nuclear threat to the world.
"The elections in Iran will be tested by whether Iran changes its policies and stops all enrichment, takes out the nuclear material and shuts down the illicit nuclear facility in Qom," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting Thursday between the two leaders.

Iran’s president-elect implicated in 1994 Argentina bombing

Iranian president-elect Hasan Rowhani was allegedly involved in plotting the deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, according to the indictment filed in the case. The attack, attributed to Iran and carried out by the terrorist group Hezbollah, killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
The 2006 indictment names Rowhani as a member of the committee headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that planned the bombing, the deadliest attack of its kind in Argentinian history. Rowhani’s name in the indictment was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

Efforts to blacklist Hezbollah in Europe curtailed by Bulgaria

“London, Berlin and Paris decided to nail Hezbollah for the Burgas attack because of Hezbollah’s role in the Syrian civil war,” a Western European diplomat told JTA.
But Bulgaria, which provided the strongest case for blacklisting Hezbollah, has gone wobbly. In February, its interior minister at the time, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said he had “well-grounded reasons to suggest” that two Hezbollah operatives were behind the attack. Since then, however, the country has appeared to backtrack.

Lebanese president urges Hezbollah to leave Syria

"If they take part in a battle for Aleppo, and more Hezbollah fighters are killed, it will lead to more tension," Suleiman told the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir in an interview published on Thursday.

Syrian Rebels Murder Hizbullah Men in Lebanon

A group of Syrian rebels claims it killed four Hizbullah terrorists across the border in Lebanon this week. The "Syrian Mujahedeen Unit" posted a video on the Internet Tuesday, featuring one fighter saying his unit killed the men as they were crossing the border into Syria.
The Sunni Islamist rebel group claimed the victims were Shi’ite members of the Hizbullah terrorist organization now fighting alongside loyalists defending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Free Syrian Army Accuses Hizbullah of Using Chemical Weapons

According to Al Arabiya, the town of Zamalka, outside of Damascus, was targeted by chemical weapons, which caused victims to choke and led to a number of casualties, opposition activists said.

Syrian Rebels: We've Received Heavy Weapons from Saudis

The first delivery of heavy weapons has arrived on Syria’s front lines following President Barack Obama’s decision to put Western military might behind the official opposition, rebels told the British Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.
The sources told the newspaper that Russian-made “Konkurs” anti-tank missiles had been supplied by America’s key Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia. They have already been used to destructive effect and may have held up a promised regime assault on Aleppo, the report said.

Rebel group won’t fight Israel if it enters Syria

A rebel group that operates on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights stated Thursday that it would not fight Israel if Israel sends forces into Syria. A spokesman for the rebel group, which is based in Quneitra, made the comments to Al-Jazeera.
“We’ll leave the fighting to Hezbollah and to [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s men,” said Abu Jafar. “We won’t fight Israel.”

Former PM: Lebanon On Brink of “Collapse” as Hezbollah Stokes Sectarian Conflict

“Hezbollah is serving Syria and Iran at the expense of the Lebanese,” ex-Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters. He said President Michel Suleiman should launch an initiative “to stop the state’s collapse and give the Lebanese hope. Siniora, head of the Future Movement that is part of the “March 14” coalition opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon, said March 14 had sent a memorandum to Suleiman calling for the deployment of the army on the northern border with Syria, and suggesting a role for United Nations peacekeepers there.

E.U. Tells Turkish PM To Learn “How to Deal With Criticism”

Turkish security forces have widened a broad arrest sweep targeting anti-government protesters. Hundreds of people are continuing to gather in silent vigils across the country.
The ongoing demonstrations have eroded Ankara’s legitimacy domestically and abroad. The European Union issued a declaration expressing concern over the government’s heavy-handed response. Erdogan reacted to the resolution by lashing out. Today the European Union told Erdogan’s to grow up:

Turk-Friendly German Green Politician Gets Brutalised By Police In Istanbul

This is Claudia Roth, a German Green, one of the most pro-Islam, pro-Turk, pro-multicult politicians you can imagine. She thought she'd go on a jaunt to Istanbul to show her support for her beloved Turks. This is what comes of it. She can no longer see because of the tear gas. But could she see before?

In Turkey, ‘World War Z’ is no World War Zion

According to the bilingual Istanbul-based film critic Ali Arikan, the Turkish version changes spoken references of the word Israel to read “Middle East” in the subtitles.
They still land in a recognizable Jerusalem (the movie was actually shot in Malta, but inserts make it appear as Jerusalem) but when the English supertitle reads “Jerusalem,” the Turkish one beneath it again repeats the phrase “Middle East.” The shot of the Israeli flag remains, but even when the action is in Jerusalem and someone refers to Israel it is just called “Middle East.”
Arikan reached out the company distributing the film in Turkey (United International Pictures, which is co-owned by Universal Pictures and Paramount), which said that the subtitles and translation came its way from Paramount.

War of words between Egypt and the UAE

Al Masry al Youm reports:

Emirati judicial authorities on Wednesday referred thirty Emirati and Egyptians citizens for trial on charges of founding a branch of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

UAE State Security Public Prosecutor Ahmed Rashed al-Dhanhani said, in a statement, that according to investigations, some of the defendants founded and ran a Muslim Brotherhood branch in the UAE without obtaining a license from the concerned authorities in the country.

They formed an administrative structure to attract new members, maintain the entity within the UAE, and preserve loyalty and financial support to the main organization in Egypt, said Dhanhani. They also collected donations and subscriptions without obtaining permission from the state.

Investigations claimed that the defendants received financial support from a secret organization made up of over 100 Emirati citizens in an effort to seize power in the UAE. Members of that organization have already been arrested and are facing trial, he said.

The Emirati prosecution also accused the defendants of publishing confidential documents, photographs, and maps that belong to the UAE government.

In January, the UAE said it had arrested several Egyptians who belonged to the Brotherhood on charges of forming a new cell in their country.

The Muslim Brotherhood's FJP party vice president added fuel to the fire:

During a debate on Arab relations in the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, FJP MP El-Erian warned that “Egypt has lost its patience” over Egyptians being detained in UAE prisons, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Speaking to Deputy Foreign Minister Ali El-Esheiry, El-Erian added, “Tell [the UAE] that nuclear Iran is coming...The Persians are coming, not the Egyptians, and you will become slaves of the Persians.”

“People's patience has run out concerning the way they treat Egyptians in a disgraceful and illegal manner that violates human rights and traditional Arab ethics,” Erian had said.

Columnists at UAE newspapers are furious, denouncing El-Erian and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Almost invariably, they mention El-Erian's statements in December saying that when Palestine is "liberated" the Jews who live in Israel should be allowed to return to Egypt. Those comments caused a huge uproar at the time. They are using it to make it appear as if Erian loves Jews, which is clearly unacceptable behavior.

So the UAE is denouncing the Islamists of Egypt by pretending that they love Jews.

The FJP is distancing itself from El-Erian's comments, trying to calm down a new intra-Arab squabble.

New UN anti-Israel report even slams Jewish circumcision!

Reuters reports:

A United Nations human rights body accused Israeli forces on Thursday of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.

From what I can gather, the UN committee did no original research on this report, but instead relied on anti-Israel NGOs like Adalah and DCI. It is filled with unfounded rumors and long discredited arguments.

But if you doubt for a minute that this is anything but a hatchet job aimed at Israel, here is one section of this report that has nothing to do with Palestinian Arabs:

Harmful practices
41. The Committee expresses concern about reported short and long-term complications arising from some traditional male circumcision practices.

42. The Committee recommends that the State party undertake a study on the short and long-term complications of male circumcision.

Sure - a Jewish religious rite that has been taking place for thousands of years is suddenly a concern for the UN which calls for a "study" to see whether hundreds of generations of Jews have complications.

Perhaps they are referring to the practice of metzitzah b'peh, which has been marginalized in recent years after reports of health issues, but their recommendation indicates that the UN is taking aim at Jewish circumcision altogether - and only Jewish circumcision! The committee has no such recommendations for the Palestinian Authority or Hamas to study complications that result from Muslim circumcision.

A quick search through the UN domain finds a number of criticisms of female "circumcision" and many plaudits for male circumcision as a means of controlling AIDS, but at least at first glance I could not find a single negative mention of male circumcision - except here.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that the UN has crossed the line from virulent anti-Zionism into real anti-semitism.

COSATU dicks: "Penis infections preferable to safe Israeli medical devices"

From BDLive:

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has taken its anti-Israeli campaign a notch higher, threatening to boycott the use of the newly approved PrePex circumcising device, which it says is made in the Jewish state.

The introduction of PrePex — a nonsurgical circumcising device given the green light by the World Health Organisation — was announced this week during the sixth South African Aids Conference taking place in Durban.

The device was described as cheap, safe and easy to use and would replace the controversial Malaysian-made Tara KLamp during the government’s medical male circumcision campaign.

The Department of Health said the PrePex would be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

HIV/AIDS activist organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign have given PrePex a nod of approval saying it is much safer than the Tara KLamp, which is widely used in KwaZulu-Natal’s health facilities to circumcise men as a way of reducing their chances of contracting HIV.

But Cosatu on Wednesday signalled it would be a spanner in the works for the PrePex’s introduction. The federation’s spokesman Patrick Craven said while it was behind the government’s drive to circumcise men to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, the federation would not relent on its longstanding call to boycott all Israeli-made products.

Mr Craven said the federation would call for a similar device to be made in South Africa.

"The point is not whether this device (PrePex) is the best or not. What we are saying is that there should be a wholesale boycott of all products from Israel, including this one. We cannot have exceptions," he said.

The existing Tara KLamp has caused serious problems, with some 21% of men using it in trials reporting damage to their penis and bleeding, 32% getting infections and 37% reporting complications. Health officials have been complaining about that device for years. Officials have described it as a "horror."

Some horrific photos of damaged penises from the Tara KLamp can be seen linked here. This is what Cosatu prefers.

The Israeli PrePex device, on the other hand, has been clinically tested to be highly effective even compared to surgical circumcision:

The PrePex device, manufactured by the Israeli company Circ MedTech, works by using an elastic band that compresses the foreskin against a rigid plastic ring that is placed on the inside of the penis's foreskin. The elastic band cuts off the blood supply to the foreskin, which becomes harder, loses sensation and dries out. According to a technical expert from the US government's Office of the Global Aids Co-ordinator (the president's fund headquarters), Dr Jason Reed, the process is similar to that of an umbilical cord clamp.

"Once the foreskin has 'died', a client returns a week later to have the device removed and the hardened skin is then easily cut away," he said.

Although a local analgesic ointment is applied when the inner ring is inserted beneath the foreskin, no local anaesthesia – and thus no needles – are required, as with surgical circumcisions. And because live tissue is not cut, a sterile environment and stitches are not needed. There is usually no bleeding and research studies have shown that pain levels are comparable with, or in some cases lower than, those involving surgical circumcisions.

A study conducted in Rwanda last year found that the PrePex procedure could be performed in one-fifth of the time (three minutes) of an average surgical procedure (15 to 30 minutes). The study also found that most participants using the PrePex device were able to return to work within three hours after the device had been put on, whereas those undergoing surgical circumcisions often needed a few days to recover. Another Rwandan study has shown that the PrePex procedure can be carried out by "low-cadre nurses", unlike surgical circumcisions, which require skilled surgeons or surgical nurses.

Reed said: "Most African countries have a shortage of healthcare providers with surgical skills, particularly doctors, which makes it challenging to perform high volumes of surgical circumcisions. A medical device that would eliminate the need for such constrained resources could help to speed up the process greatly."

Yes, Cosatu prefers that tens of thousands of men be exposed to penis infections, bleeding and pain instead of using a safe Israeli product that could help stem AIDS and other problems in Africa.

Do you think any of them will volunteer to use the Tara KLamp to show their commitment to their sacred anti-Israel cause?

There is no better example of Israel Derangement Syndrome than this. In fact, it is probably a good idea to tweet all the BDS idiots and ask them straight out if they agree with Cosatu here, and believe that the danger to thousands of men's penises (and, indeed, public health) is a small price to pay to avoid using an Israeli product.

(h/t IAcquisitive)

This article is from Addustour, a major newspaper in Jordan, written by columnist Rashad Abu Daoud.

How I wish that that moment in Davos never happened. How I wish we hadn’t been fooled by Erdogan’s “heroic” deed when he insulted Shimon Peres, threw his papers away and left the podium at the convention. Because we Arabs are hungry for honor, we applauded the man and granted him the Arab citizenship in our hearts which are thirsty for glory. Just like when we were fond of the "CheGuevara-ishness" of Chavez when he stood up against Zionism and supported Palestine . But the man died of cancer, like others died… by poison. [Possible reference to Arafat?] It seems that the pure ones die and the filthy ones spread corruption in history as a service for Zionism.

Between one tragedy and another one, let us return to that little booklet, full of poison, which disappeared from the Arab markets, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Despite all that has been said about it and the attempts to cast doubt about its authenticity, what has been going on in the world, specifically in our Arab homeland and its surroundings, seems like an implementation of what’s in the Protocols to the letter.

Basically the Jews see themselves as “God’s Chosen People”, and the other peoples are nothing but nations divided into groups and classes, that should be exploited to serve the Chosen People.

More specifically, exploiting some goys to serve the Jews, after influencing them through methods which have been known to the Jews - and known about the Jews - for 3,000 years. The methods consist of money, media and women. They are the first ones who invented the stock exchange in the global economy, the first ones to create the cinema and to establish media companies. As for women – they reproduced the personality of Salome, who tempted the Emperor so that he brought her the head of Prophet Yahya – St. John the Baptist – on a silver plate [St. John the Baptist is holy for Muslims as well, under the name “Yahya”].

There is much contemporary evidence. Those who want details should read what was written about them in the global literature. Perhaps “Shylock” by Shakespeare is the best example of usury in history. Although Shylock is a Shakespearean character, but the most famous English poet didn’t invent the idea of usury – it is a Jewish custom. European society suffered at their hands for ages. It was through money that they tempted Balfour to grant them a national homeland in Palestine.

Modern times witness advanced implementations of the Protocols. Raisa, Gorbachev’s wife, the Gorbachev who destroyed half the world and handed it to the other half in order to upset the global balance, and the wife of an Arab president who was murdered on the podium of a military ceremony [Sadat, presumably], and what is said about many influential women in the world now is that they are Jewish or gentiles who were exploited in the service of the Zionist enterprise. And let’s not forget the anti-semitism which is attached to anyone who is bold enough to question the “God’s Chosen People” ideal!

We see in our times people also entangled in the same service [i.e. in the service of Zionism]. Recep Tayep Erdogan is an example. They [i.e. the Jews] gave him a role which is way too big for his size, in order to exploit him afterwards in the role he is supposed to play in the scheme to sow civil strife, the scheme that is being carried out right now in the Arab homeland. Otherwise how is it possible that Ataturk's republic is over and the military's rule, which lasted 70 years is finished just like that, in a moment, through the so-called democracy? And how could the Islamists of Turkey, after all these years, turn from reticent oppositionists to rulers who don't shy away from marketing ideas, which they know full well that are not suitable for Turkish society?

Erdogan already played a dubious role in the beginning of his rule, when he mediated between Syria and America. We said that the man is honest in standing by a geographical neighbor and brother in religion and history. But in no time he turned his back on history, religion and geography and put Turkey in one basket with Israel and America, naturally under the banner of democracy, of which we have actually not seen anything but the fragmentation of the Arab countries along sectarian, class and political lines.

Today Erdogan is falling into the same pit that he dug for Syria . There you have Turkey on its way towards a rift, which will turn into a tool of destruction, so the Turks are going to yearn for the days of the military [rule].

If you think that Abu Daoud is some crackpot writing for a fringe newspaper, his CV lists that besides this newspaper column ("Constitution") he has been the managing editor of the Khaleej Times, assistant managing editor of Basma magazine in Jordan, editorial director of the Journal magazine (Saudi Arabia,), and author of several books.

Oh, and the antisemite is a Palestinian Arab, born in Nablus but educated in Damascus.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Dave Barry in Israel

From JPost:

“We’re doing the Disney World version of Israel,” Dave Barry says as he sits down in an overstuffed chair in the lobby of Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel.

Speaking with The Jerusalem Post on the final evening of his first trip to the region, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and best-selling author says that he is “loving” his time in the Middle East.

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Barry cheerfully admits that while he is “not a Jew myself,” he has had been called to the Torah several times in the Reform congregation to which he belongs, adding with a laugh that he is working his way up to performing a circumcision.

“My wife is [Jewish],” he explains, noting that their trip, organized through Temple Judea of Coral Gables, Florida, is in honor of his daughter, who recently had her bat mitzva.

Upon landing in Tel Aviv, he was immediately struck by the fact that the city is “a lot like Miami, right down to the fact that nobody is speaking English.”

“This is going to sound like a very stupid thing to say,” he cautions, “but [Israel is] more Middle Eastern than I expected.

"All the Jews I know, they are all from New York and New Jersey and I thought it would be kind of like that, except over here with guns and there are actually a lot of Jews over here that are not from New York or New Jersey.”

“Apparently, there is another source of Jews that no one had told me about,” he jests.

After receiving briefings on the political situation in Israel and the various regional tensions, Barry says that he “ came out of it more firmly convinced than ever that there will never ever be” peace.

“There will never be peace in this hotel in Jerusalem, let alone the Middle East,” he states.

“Since we’ve been here,” he says, his synagogue trip has run into “a group here from up the coast, like Boca, and there is already tension. It’s building; there could be fighting. There could be rioting in the Inbal.”

His blog has some funny stuff, including how phallic the YMCA building in Jerusalem looks.

He also visited the Golan and the Dead Sea, among other places.

Barry once wrote "Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally recover the Road Map to Peace, only to discover that, while they were looking for it, the Lug Nuts of Mutual Interest came off the Front Left Wheel of Accommodation, causing the Sport Utility Vehicle of Progress to crash into the Ditch of Despair.”

(h/t Gidon)

6/19 Links Part 2: Alan Baker on Preconditions, Rocket Attack and The Lost Music of the Holocaust

From Ian:

The Religious War in the Middle East

Given the ongoing chaos in the Middle East and the collapse of the artificial Arab states based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the proposal of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the creation of a new Palestinian state and a joint Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli policing mechanism in the Jordan Valley seems like a pipe dream. That sort of suggestion, disconnected from reality, clearly indicates a dangerous lack of awareness concerning the Middle East past, present and future, a kind of Lawrence of Arabia optimism and romanticism which allows him to ignore the emergence of the increasing militant Islamic aggression toward Israel and the West. All that is left is to hope that somewhere in Washington people are really paying attention and preparing to deploy for the real, first priority inevitable battle against Iran and its satellites, with their capabilities dramatically to influence world peace.

Alan Baker: Preconditions have no basis in law or fact

Nowhere in the history of the peace process negotiations is there any commitment to the “1967 borders.”
The opposite is in fact the case. All the agreements between Israel and the PLO, as well as the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, base themselves in their preambular paragraphs on the call by the international community, in UN Security Council resolution 242 of 1967, for “secure and recognized boundaries.”
Together with Egypt and Jordan, in their respective peace treaties with Israel, the Palestinian leadership in all its agreements with Israel has repeatedly committed and agreed to this formula, which basically means that the pre-1967 military Armistice Demarcation Lines – never intended to become borders – as well as any other pre-1949 lines, would be replaced by agreed-upon borders answering the Security Council criteria of being secure and recognized.

Blair: Israel's security is also security for Western world

Israel's security is also our security, in the whole of the Western world," Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the President's Conference opening plenary panel with President Shimon Peres and Rahman Emanuel, Blair said that it is worth trying to solve Israeli Palestinian conflict, as it is important for Israel's security as well as the security of the "whole of the Western world."

Clinton Admits 'No Perfect Solutions' in Israel-PA Conflict

Former President Bill Clinton told participants at Israel’s Fifth annual Presidential Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, "There are no perfect solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict."

PA Terror Rocket Attack Explodes in Gaza

An early morning attack intended for southern Israel following President Shimon Peres’s birthday bash fizzled with at least one – and possibly two -- of the rockets intended to kill Jewish civilians exploding instead inside Gaza. A total of three rockets were fired overnight, security officials said.
The third rocket reportedly landed on the Israeli side of the border in an open area, but no property damage was reported, and no one was physically injured, according to Israel state radio.

IDF Nabs PA Police who Murdered Young Jew at Holy Site

Israeli soldiers have arrested three Palestinian Authority police officers-turned-terrorists, who shot to death a young Jewish father as he returned from praying at the tomb of the Biblical Patriarch Joseph in Samaria (Shomron).
Arab media outlets reported the arrests in May, but the news was only officially confirmed by Israeli sources Wednesday after the removal of a gag order.

'Machsom Watch Shares IDF Weakness with the Enemy'

The Samaria Residents’ Council has filed a police complaint against the group.
Machsom Watch sends activists to watch IDF soldiers at checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. The group has been accused of harassing soldiers and of valuing convenience for Arab residents of Judea and Samaria over preventing terrorism. In one incident, Machsom Watch activists told soldiers to release an Arab teen who turned out to be an armed terrorist.

Jews Attacked in Jerusalem Say ‘This Will End in Murder!’

The two men stopped to call police, and immediately were set upon by dozens of Arab youth and men who began hitting them mercilessly.
The Jews managed to flee to a nearby junction, where their attackers gave up on pursuing them.

IDF general: Palestinians aiding US peace drive

The Palestinian administration in the West Bank has tried to help the latest US peacemaking drive by quietly cutting off funds for grassroots campaigners against Israel's occupation of the territory, a senior Israeli general said on Tuesday.

Spanish Gov't Funding Anti-Israel NGOs, Finds New Report

The report finds that between 2009 and 2011, approximately €15 million in Spanish government and regional funds were transferred to political advocacy NGOs promoting the boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) campaigns. Of these, €5 million were transferred to Israeli and Palestinian Authority-based NGOs, and €10 million were transferred to Spanish NGOs.
Among the groups that received the funding were, according to NGO Monitor: The radical Popular Struggle Coordination Committee whose "resistance" activities often become violent confrontations.

ADL: Alice Walker ‘unabashedly infected with anti-Semitism’

The book, which was published two months ago, features 12 essays in a section titled “On Palestine,” making up a quarter of the book, that are “rife with comparisons of Israelis to Nazis, denigrations of Judaism and Jews, and statements suggesting that Israel should cease to exist as a Jewish state,” the ADL said in a statement. “Walker’s book also attempts to justify terrorism against Israeli civilians, claiming that the ‘oppressed’ Palestinians should not be blamed for carrying out suicide bombings.”

On the road to recovering Spain’s Jewish roots

A conference titled “Zamora Jewish Life: History and Re-encounters,” will take place in early July, organized by Jesus Jambrina of Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Jambrina, who created the documentary Zamora Sefardi, believes the city may have been the greatest center of Jewish learning in Spain as the time of the expulsion decree drew near.

'Lost Music' of Holocaust Comes Alive Once Again

Nicholas Biniaz-Harris is a young American classical pianist who is more at home performing Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff than the obscure works of Nazi concentration camp inmates.
But as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, the 17-year-old Washingtonian felt a special attachment to the variations on a Polish patriotic theme that Leon Kaczmarek put together in Dachau during World War II.

El Al Tests Anti-Missile Defense System for Passenger Aircraft (VIDEO)

According to the website Defense-Update.com: “The system comprises a fiber-laser based DIRCM housed in a sealed turret for maximized reliability. A missile warning system provides the initial detection of incoming threats. When a threatening missile is detected, the warning is passed to the DIRCM that then directs a thermal tracker to acquire and track the threat. A powerful laser beam is then fired accurately at the missile causing it to be deflected away from the aircraft.”

Israel made Marvell more ‘marvelous,’ says co-founder

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of Israel in the high-tech world than Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell Technologies. With good reason: Israel has helped make the company she runs with her husband Sehat Sutardja and brother in-law, Pantas Sutardja, into one of the most important tech companies in the world. “No matter what device you open up, you are bound to find Marvell chips,” she told the Times of Israel in an interview — and the technology for many of those chips was developed in Israel.