Swedish police criticized for including Palestinian flag on list of terrorist symbols

In light of several Swedish teenagers becoming radicalized and traveling to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS,  Swedish police recently distributed a list of terrorist logos to high school principals so they could be on the lookout for early signs of potential trouble among their student populations.

A controversy has erupted because one of the terror logos listed, that of the Abu Nidal Organization, uses the PLO flag as its logo.

Jonas Hysing, director of the National Tactical Council that shared the list with the schools, noted that it was not uncommon for terror organizations to use symbols that have been used in other ways, for example ISIS using Mohammed's creed.

Green Party member Niclas Persson is the mayor of Orebro, one of the towns that distributed the list to school principals. He said "It is important that this is accurate. The material is of course designed to warn us if an organization's symbol is being used. The biggest problem is linking the Palestinian freedom struggle with terrorism. It's very unfortunate."

Jonas Hysing said "It is possible that we add some text that the symbols are often used in multiple ways. But the symbol is used by a designated terrorist organization, and it is up to the Swedish police to inform their employees about it."

The list of logos came from the US National Counterterrorism Center. However, their list of logos are not comprehensive - they list 52 terror groups and only 40 logos.

Among all the hand-wringing over how unfortunate it is that the PLO flag is listed under Abu Nidal Organization, no one in Sweden seems to upset that two flags over is the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which Mahmoud Abbas apparently has no problem with even though they are part of the Fatah party that he heads. He claimed that it was dismantled years ago, but they are still alive and kicking and publicly walking around the West Bank with masks and weapons.

And the PLO flag, as well.

Palestinian Arabs don't blink when their flag is associated with terror groups. Which means that the inclusion of the Palestinian flag in a list of symbols for teachers and law enforcement to look out for as an indication of potential terror activity is quite appropriate, despite the politically correct crowd.

After all, when you see a PLO flag in Europe, 90% of the time it is meant to call for the destruction of Israel, not for any "pro-Palestinian" reason.

"Pro-Israel" J-Street tries to raise funds by saying Israel is racist

By now you have read the story about the shelved plan to force West Bank Arab workers to go back to their homes using buses that stop at checkpoints.

After criticism from the left and the right, much of which was misinformed by the original Haaretz story, Netanyahu himself said he would not implement the plan.

On one level at least, Israel proved that it is against discrimination in buses against Arabs, even Arabs who are not citizens.

That should make leftist groups that claim to be pro-Israel very happy, right? The democratically elected government chose not to implement this plan.  Even though there were serious security issues that the plan was meant to address, the Government of Israel overrode the plan. Everyone should be happy.

But that isn't what happened.

J-Street sent out a fundraising email that tries to use this episode to paint Israel has a terribly racist society, and claiming that only pressure from American Jews can get Israel to be less racist, which it naturally is if it wasn't for the wonderful people at J-Street:

Last year, Israel's government considered a proposal that would have segregated key bus lines in the West Bank -- some for Jewish settlers, some for Palestinians. The American Jewish community spoke up, and with so many voices opposed, the proposal was cancelled.

Or so we thought.

Now, with Israel's new government, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon is once again advocating rules that would result in segregation. He wants to separate Jewish Israelis and Palestinians as they go from Israel back into Occupied Territory.

Under Ya'alon's plan, Palestinian workers going home at the end of the day would have to travel through the same checkpoints they used to enter Israel, forcing many far out of their way and onto Palestinian-only bus routes. His proposal is currently on hold, but he and others in Israel's new government are pushing to reinstate it -- permanently. That's why we have to raise our voices once again.

Our values matter, and so do our voices. If we remain silent, the costs are high: further erosion of democracy, and even more international isolation. For Israel's sake, it's critical that the American Jewish community speak out again.

Add your voice and stand up for the Israel we believe in: one that supports our Jewish and democratic values.

Segregated buses? That's just not okay.

- Jeremy Ben-Ami>

Of course, Israeli Arabs could ride on these buses, just as in last year's plan. No Israeli citizen is being discriminated against. But because Jeremy Ben Ami wants to use this episode to cynically manipulate his audience, he consciously compares this story with segregated buses in the US in the 1950s.

That's just not OK. And it proves that Ben-Ami does not love Israel at all, but instead goes out of his way to paint it in as horrible a light as possible.

That's just not OK.

Amnesty International says I acted "deplorably"

On Monday, I noticed that the murdered terrorist supporter Vittori Arrigoni's girlfriend worked for amnesty International but she seems to have had close relationships not only with Arrigoni but also with other rabid haters of Israel. I asked:

Isn't it interesting that Amnesty (and HRW's) activists are so much more friendly with people who want to destroy Israel than they are with people who love Israel?

A reader sent that link to Amnesty for a response. Their answer:

We reject absolutely any suggestion that our organisation has a bias against Israel. As you will see from reading our report (attached) on the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, for example, we condemned the human rights violations and possible war crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups as well as by Israel. It is also worth noting that this is the only report prepared by human rights researchers who were on the ground in southern Israel and in Gaza during the fighting.

Indeed the first report from Amnesty International’s researchers was to expose extrajudicial killings carried out by Hamas under cover of the Israeli offensive. We have condemned on numerous occasions rocket attacks by Hamas and others against Israeli civilians targets in southern Israel and just last month profiled the case of Gilad Shalit as our prisoner of the month in a national newspaper (attached).

Our concern is solely the protection of human rights. We have condemned, and will continue to condemn, the Israeli state and its armed forces for repeated, gross violations of the human rights of Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories and in Israel. Likewise, we have condemned, and will continue to condemn Hamas, Fatah and other armed Palestinian groups for deliberate attacks on civilians and for failures to protect human rights in those areas of the Occupied Territories they are responsible. Protagonists on both sides would do well to examine what they are doing rather than assume any criticism of them is motivated by bias or prejudice.

Finally, if I could say this. It is absolutely legitimate to raise questions about Amnesty International's policies and priorities, indeed we welcome it as a valuable contribution to our own thinking. However, I think the site you link to is acting in a deplorable manner by using the tragic death of Mr Arrigoni to personally target his girlfriend, a woman who is right now coping with the loss of a loved one in unbelievably tragic circumstances. I realise it is not your site and you merely wished to raise a legitimate point, to which I am happy to respond, but I wished to place that on the record.

Yours,



Justin Moran
Communications Co-ordinator
Amnesty International Ireland
E-Mail: jmoran@amnesty.ie
Tel: 01 863 8300 Ext. 8334
Mob: 085 814 8986
www.amnesty.ie

Of course, Mr. Moran did not address the main thrust of my question: why do so-called "human rights" organizations' members seem to have closer relationships with activists whose focus is to destroy Israel than with anyone who could be remotely described as Zionist?

Arrigoni was not, as I have written, a human rights activist nor a peace activist by any definition of the term. Obviously Amnesty's employees can have relationships with whomever they want. But Arrigoni was a supporter of Hamas and an avowed anti-Zionist. Are any Amnesty employees friends with members of Likud, or with Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria?

Somehow, I doubt it.

In fact, Amnesty itself has no problem partnering with organizations that are explicitly dedicated to Israel's destruction. If Amnesty accepts ab initio that the destruction of the Jewish state is a legitimate position, it is difficult to accept their argument that they are not biased against Israel. There s no real difference between organizations that advocate replacing Israel with another de-facto Arab state and those who want to ethnically clean the Middle East of all Jews, no matter what word games they play with liberal-sounding concepts like "one state for all people."

If Amnesty supports the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, let them say so explicitly. If they do that, they'd lose a lot of their "friends" very, very quickly.

(As far as my acting "deplorably," I had never heard of Claudia Milani until Monday, and I simply looked at her history once I saw her name. I would have done the same had I known about her while Arrigoni was alive. I see no reason why her previous activities should be off-limits once she becomes a public personality, just because she is grieving over the death of her Hamas-loving boyfriend. Amnesty being more concerned over my blog post than over the relationships their employees have with people who want to see Israel wiped off the map seems a bit misplaced.)

UPDATE: Harry's Place notices Arrigoni's relationship with Milani as well, and acts equally "deplorably." (h/t habibi)

Mike Lumish's column is on hiatus

Mike Lumish has decided to put his weekly column on hold, saying it is on hiatus.

05/08 Links Pt1: Glick: Siding with the victims of aggression; Honig: Salami slices some salami

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: Siding with the victims of aggression

There is a third, more general reason that we recoil from the thought of blaming rape victims for their suffering. One of the foundations of liberal societies has always been that victims of aggression are not to blame for their attackers’ behavior.
Over the past few days, we have witnessed a dangerous erosion of this principle among American elites.
Last Sunday two Islamic terrorists armed with assault rifles tried to massacre participants at a Muhammed cartoon drawing contest in Garland, Texas.
The goal of the contest was self-evident. The organizers wished to defend the freedom of speech – and the right to life – of critics of Islamic totalitarianism.
Rather than standing with the contest’s organizers and participants, the US media from MSNBC to Fox News attacked Pamela Geller, the event’s main organizer and accused her of responsibility for the attack.

Sarah Honig: Salami slices some salami

Who says history has no sense of humor? Just as US President Barack Obama seeks to hide away the salami slices shaved off his deal with Iran, an Iranian named Salami exposes an extra-thick and very telling slice.
Without much ado, the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, gave the lie to one of Obama’s most significant contentions about the deal that America’s Commander in Chief is cooking up with the nuke-craving ayatollah regime.
Significantly, Salami didn’t whisper off the record. He didn’t speculate about hearsay in a back room. He didn’t impart hints given to conflicting interpretations. Salami said his piece openly on state TV. He announced out loud that, contrary to American claims, there would be no foreign inspections of Iranian military sites. Period. End of. No quibbling.
Inspections, railed Salami, would be “selling out.” To hear him, “a tour of military facilities by foreign inspectors is to be equated with the occupation of a country. Iran will not become a paradise for spies. We will not roll out the red carpet for the enemy… They will not even be permitted to inspect the most normal military site in their dreams.”

JPost Editorial: Palestinian elections

A “government of war which will be against peace and stability in our region” was the way chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat chose to describe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s newly formed narrow coalition.
This was hardly an auspicious start to renewing relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Erekat does not surprise with his criticism, made to an AFP reporter Thursday, but he does open himself up to painful comparisons with his Palestinian government.
Disparage it as you will, our incoming government came into being through a fair, democratic process; it represents the will of the majority of Israeli voters; and it is a legitimate political leadership.
The same cannot be said about Erekat and his political cronies in the PA.
Take Mahmoud Abbas, for instance. Among the hats he wears, which include chairman of the PLO and president of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas also calls himself the second president of the “State of Palestine,” taking over from the late Yasser Arafat.
He was sworn in as president of the “State of Palestine” on May 8, 2005 – exactly 10 years ago. But what was supposed to be a four-year term has stretched to a full decade.

Majority in hand, Cameron promises to govern as PM of ‘one United Kingdom’

The Conservative Party swept to power Friday in Britain’s Parliamentary elections, winning an unexpected and resounding victory that returns Prime Minister David Cameron to 10 Downing Street in a stronger position than before. The win led Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to announce his resignation as party head.
Cameron went to Buckingham Palace on Friday afternoon to tell Queen Elizabeth II that he has enough support to form a government.
Shortly after meeting the Queen, Cameron spoke to the media, signaling a conciliatory tone by congratulating former coalition partner Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and opposition leader Ed Miliband. He promised to govern as the party of “one nation, one United Kingdom.”
Friday’s results bring the election to a much quicker than expected conclusion. Polls ahead of Election Day showed Conservatives locked in a tight race with the opposition Labour Party, raising the possibility of days or weeks of negotiations to form a government.

Anti-Israel firebrand Galloway loses seat in UK vote

The far-left politician nicknamed “Gorgeous George” Galloway is a firebrand campaigner known for his championing of pro-Palestinian issues — to the point of declaring his city of Bradford off limits to Israelis. He was for years an outspoken supporter of Syrian president Bashar Assad and a critic of Western military interventions in the Middle East.
Galloway lost his seat to a candidate of the center-left Labour Party.
A stony-faced Galloway glowered from under a trilby hat as Labour rival Naz Shah won by 19,977 votes to his 8,557 in the northern English constituency of Bradford West.
“There will be others who are already celebrating: the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating,” Galloway said in his defeat speech. “The hyena can bounce on the lion’s grave but it can never be a lion and in any case, I’m not in my grave. As a matter of fact I’m going off now to plan the next campaign.”

Anti-Israel politician loses UK parliament seat in election

The newly ex-politico is in hot water for a number of reasons, including recent allegations that he misused government funds, such as for his private charity Viva Palestina, which was recently frozen by the UK's Charity Commission.
His former parliamentary assistant Aisha Ali-Khan lodged a legal complaint against Galloway, filed on her behalf by Asserson Law Offices, over allegations that she was paid during her work hours to organize Viva Palestina's fundraising events, organize its media coverage, organize and promote a "Women's Convoy" to Gaza, recruite Viva Palestina volunteers and prepare promotional material.
"During her employment, Ms Ali-Khan was instructed to carry out a number of activities which were clearly not parliamentary and some of which were expressly prohibited...except when on leave," according to the legal statement. Ali-Khan also alleged in the statement that she was charged with helping to plan Galloway's wedding and assisting his soon-to-be bride.
In the six months that she worked as Galloway's assistant, she claims that 75 percent of her work time was spent on non-Parliamentary matters. British law puts the onus on parliament members for making sure that funds, such as salaries for assistants, are used only in relation to governmental matters.

Respect leader George Galloway 'broke election law'

He is said to have retweeted his party's own exit poll before voting ended.
Bradford Council's returning officer made the report to police, according to BBC Radio Leeds.
Mr Galloway lost his seat to Labour candidate Naz Shah, who said his campaign "demeaned democracy".
It is against the law to discuss voting while polls are open, under section 66 of the Representation of the People's Act.
A spokesman for Mr Galloway told the BBC: "The returning officer is wasting police time. It's a storm in a thimble."
West Yorkshire Police said it would be reviewing the matter.

Virulent Anti-Israel MPs Ousted in UK Election

Another anti-Israeli MP lost his post as well, with David Ward of the Liberal Democrat party falling in Bradford East.
Imran Hussain of Labor ousted him with 19,312 votes, as opposed to Ward's 12,228, and Iftikhar Ahmed of the Conservative party trailed with 4,682.
Ward's Liberal Democrat party was soundly routed in the elections, only winning a total of eight seats out of a total of 650 seats according to late vote counts on Friday morning ahead of the announcement of final results.
"Jew-baiting doesn't pay"
Arutz Sheva English Managing Editor Ari Soffer, who is British-born, dissected the results, saying "defeats for Galloway and Ward are very important in showing that Jew-baiting doesn't pay off as a political strategy. The results reflect well on the British people."
"It's true there are plenty of other anti-Israel MPs out there, but these two in particular often crossed the line by openly flirting with anti-Semitism. Their defeat is important at a time of anxiety for British Jewry, who are facing a worrying rise in anti-Semitism," noted Soffer.

David Ward absent as he loses seat by over 7000 votes

The defeat marks the end of a controversial five years in Parliament for Ward, who was suspended by the Lib Dems in 2013 after he refused to apologise for questioning Israel’s right to exist.
His suspension was just one of a number of notorious incidents in a stint as MP marked by incendiary rhetoric on Jews and Israel.
Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive Karen Pollock accused him of “deliberately abusing the memory of the Holocaust” with “sickening” comments he made about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians on Holocaust Memorial Day 2013.
He courted further controversy in July 2014 by suggesting that he would fire rockets at Israel if he lived in Gaza, and in January was criticised for making “a disgraceful attempt to delegitimise Israel” by ambassador Daniel Taub.
Ward had tweeted ‘Je suis #Palestinian’ in the aftermath of an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris.

Cartoons, Muslim Anguish, and Modernity

Today's New York Times editorial on the Garland, Texas affair protests a bit too much.
One might expect liberal journalists to express solidarity with their murdered colleagues at Charlie Hebdo. Instead, the Times offers outright condemnation:
Some of those who draw cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad may earnestly believe that they are striking a blow for freedom of expression, though it is hard to see how that goal is advanced by inflicting deliberate anguish on millions of devout Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism. As for the Garland event, to pretend that it was motivated by anything other than hate is simply hogwash.
Not to quibble, but a cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, like the 2005 Mohammed caricatures in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and the 2014 Charlie Hebdo depictions, only reached a large Muslim audience because Muslim organizations chose to make an issue of images that appeared in obscure publications with a small circulation. The cartoonists did not cause the anguish of millions of Muslims: Muslim authorities of various sorts elicited the anguish of their constituents by denouncing them. If Muslim leaders had ignored the cartoons, the millions of devout Muslims cited by the New York Times would have gone about their daily lives suffering anguish from another source: the cruel and inevitable encroachment of modernity on traditional life. (h/t Think of England)

New York Times: Nothing Can Ever Justify Provocations of Islam

If the topic were rape, domestic violence, or even the intentionally provocative “slutwalks” that were popular a few years ago, no one at the Times would countenance this logic. Anyone suggesting slutwalk attendees had achieved their goal when a pair of men tried to rape them would, at best, be seen as intentionally obtuse.
The concept of slutwalking was premised on the idea that victims were being blamed for their own sexual abuse. Incredibly, the Times says there is nothing — not 9/11 and not even ISIS’ violence — that can justify Geller making her point.
Those two men were would-be murderers. But their thwarted attack, or the murderous rampage of the Charlie Hebdo killers, or even the greater threat posed by the barbaric killers of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda, cannot justify blatantly Islamophobic provocations like the Garland event.
As it happens, that’s exactly what the would-be assassins thought.

The Press Love Freedom of Speech, Right?

The Media Research Center has released another devastating video today, showing just exactly how much the mainstream press in America love free speech. Hint: not that much. Not your free speech, anyway.
One talking head after another pays lip service to the notion of free speech for the first half of the video, BUT ...
In the United States, we have always understood, philosophically and as a matter of law, that freedom of speech is vital to the functioning of our democratic republic, that it is a critical underpinning that ensures every other freedom we enjoy. There is a reason it is the First Amendment. As such, it is every American's duty to defend it. Not just in word, but in deed. That is the truth about the contest in Garland, Texas. That is the truth about America.

The Media Love Freedom Of Speech... But


AP Slams Pam Geller as Having 'No Regrets' That Two Terrorists Died in TX

The Associated Press appears to be siding against free speech with its latest tweet attacking free speech advocate Pamela Geller by knocking her as unapologetic that two terrorists were killed during her weekend event.
To flog its latest story on Geller, the AP’s tweet pointedly notes that Geller has “no regrets” over the death of the two Islamists.
The article the tweet links to is no better with its title: “Activist: No Regrets About Cartoon Contest Ended by Gunfire.”
Note that the AP seems to be more worried about the deaths of the terrorists than in free speech, here. All the negative focus is on Geller somehow being uncaring that the Islamists were killed.
“Does Pamela Geller regret organizing the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest that ended in gunfire?” the AP tsk tsks in its very first sentence.

FBI Warned Local Police Gunmen Had Interest in Texas Cartoon Event

The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned police in Garland, Texas, about three hours before a shooting at an exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that a gunman who launched a failed attack was interested in the event, FBI Director James Comey said on Thursday.
The FBI issued a bulletin to the police department saying Elton Simpson had an interest in the event held in the Dallas suburb but gave no indication that he planned an attack, Comey told reporters in Washington, according to an FBI spokesman.
Garland police were not immediately available for comment.
Authorities said roommates Simpson and Nadir Soofi of Phoenix were fatally shot by a police officer when they opened fire with assault rifles outside the cartoon event organized by a group that had sponsored anti-Islamic campaigns.

Texas Attackers Honored as Martyrs in Pakistan

Some 100 Pakistanis gathered for a memorial service this week to honor the two Islamic terrorists who attacked a "Draw Mohammed" event in Texas.
The two were killed by an alert traffic policemen armed only with a pistol, whose police car they first shot at. Within 15 seconds, they were both dead – still wearing their body armor, and with their assault rifles lying nearby.
The two terrorists were attempting to get past the policemen in order to attack participants at the event, which they felt was unbearably "anti-Muslim." None of the 200 people at the event was hurt.
Islamic State (ISIS) sources took credit for the attempted attack against the "Draw Mohammed" event.
A Muslim cleric delivered a eulogy at the ceremony in the city of Peshawar, saying, “the exhibition of the blasphemous caricatures was unbearable for Muslims. It was shocking, sad, tragic and intolerable. We have gathered here to pay tribute and to carry out the Islamic rites for the Muslims who tried to stop it and sacrificed their lives, and they will now be called ‘Martyrs for the prophet’s honor.’”

The immorality of the two-state principle

A keen awareness of the futility and moral bankruptcy of the two-state paradigm has led me to propose what I call the “Humanitarian Paradigm” for the resolution (or rather dissolution) of the conflict with the Palestinian- Arabs, involving the generous funding of their voluntary relocation and rehabilitation in third-party countries.
I have been excoriated for daring to raise such a “monstrously unethical” initiative. But in light of the forgoing discussion, who really has the moral high ground? Those who promote the establishment of (yet another) Muslim-majority tyranny, with all the attendant detriments and dangers described above? Or those who advocate providing non-belligerent Palestinian individuals the opportunity to build a better life for themselves elsewhere, out of harm’s way, free from the cycles of death, destruction and destitution that have been brought down on them by the cruel, corrupt cliques that have them astray for decades.
After all, if proponents of the two-state principle find no moral blemish in advocating the funded evacuation of Jews to facilitate the establishment of an entity that would, in all likelihood, become a bastion of radical Islamist terrorism, what moral principle would cause them to shrink in horror at the suggestion of funded evacuation of Arabs from their homes, to obviate the establishment of such an entity? I leave the readers to ponder the question.

New E. J’lem homes ‘damaging, disappointing,’ US says

Washington on Thursday called Israel’s approval of building 900 apartment units in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem “damaging and inconsistent” with its commitment to a two-state solution.
The condemnation of the move by the State Department came less than a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the formation of a new governing coalition.
“This is a disappointing development, and we’re concerned about it just as a new Israeli government has been announced,” US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a press briefing. “Israel’s leaders have asserted that they remain committed to a two-state solution, and we need to see that commitment in the actions of… the Israeli government.”
Rathke said that the US government would “continue to make our position clear that we view this as illegitimate.”

Elliott Abrams: Reminders about Iran

During the three-month period between April 2 and June 30, Iran and the P5+1 are ‎supposed to negotiate a comprehensive agreement about Iran's nuclear program. The ‎United States has been careful not to exacerbate relations with Iran, with the Obama ‎administration trying hard not to upset any apple carts. The theory seems to be that there ‎are hardliners in Iran (who are just like our own hardliners, the administration appears to ‎believe) and we mustn't annoy them.‎
So it is interesting to see how Iran is conducting itself during this period. The answer is ‎clear: It is practicing no restraint whatsoever. The best example of this may be its seizure of ‎the cargo ship Maersk Tigris, which was plying the waters of the Gulf. This seizure has ‎forced the United States to provide naval escorts to some American and British ships, and it ‎served notice on the world that Iran would use military force when it pleased, negotiations ‎or no negotiations.‎
A second example is the espionage charge against the imprisoned Washington Post ‎reporter Jason Rezaian. He has been in an Iranian jail since July, 2014, and the ludicrous ‎espionage charge is not simply a reminder of the nature of Iran's "legal" system; it is also a ‎slap to the face of President Barack Obama. There was really no reason for Iran to charge an ‎American journalist with espionage during these three months except to show ‎Americans and their president how little they think of us -- and how confident they are that ‎nothing, nothing at all, will lead Obama to back away from this nuclear ‎deal.‎

US Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Bill Giving Congress Oversight of Iran Deal

The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which would give Congress a 30-day period to review a final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, in a 98-1 vote.
The only senator to vote against the bill was U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who objected on the grounds that the legislation does not require a final nuclear agreement to be submitted as a treaty requiring Senate approval. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer was absent for the vote.
President Barack Obama is expected to approve the bill, which is authored by U.S. Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Robert Menendez (D.N.J.), after initially vowing to veto a version of the legislation that gave Congress twice as long—60 days—to review a nuclear deal.
As part of a bipartisan compromise with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Corker had also agreed to modify the bill’s language on terrorism. The legislation originally called for the president to certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran was not involved in terrorism against Americans, with sanctions being re-imposed if Iran was found complicit in terror. Under the new language, the president would need to send Congress periodic reports on Iran’s involvement in terrorism and on its ballistic missile program, but the details of those reports would not set off the renewal of sanctions that were lifted under the nuclear deal.

Iranian general: War with the US would be ‘no big deal’

Two top Iranian generals on Thursday taunted the United States, saying the much-discussed military option to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities is “ridiculous,” that Washington knows it can’t be done, and that their country “welcomes war with the US.”
The saber rattling came as Western powers prepared to sit down for another round of negotiations with Iran to reach an agreement on putting curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.
Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in an interview on state-run television that a battle with the US would only serve to highlight Iran’s strengths.
“We welcome war with the US as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power,” he said, according to a report by the semi-official Fars news agency. “We have prepared ourselves for the most dangerous scenarios and this is no big deal.”
Salami threatened that Iran would strike any airbase used as a launch-pad for a strike on his country.

Saudi Advisors: If Iran Goes Nuclear, Saudis Will Too

The terms of the emerging nuclear deal with Iran is causing so much concern in Saudi Arabia that influential advisors in the kingdom are growing increasingly vocal about their desire to create a nuclear deterrent of their own, The Wall Street Journal reported today.
While Saudi Arabia has long advocated a nuclear-free Middle East, its leaders are doubtful that the completed accord on limiting Tehran’s nuclear program will stop Iran from becoming a threshold nuclear-weapons power when proposed restrictions on is number of centrifuges and uranium stockpiles expire in 10 years. They also aren’t willing to bet that the regime in Tehran will somehow become more moderate and responsible by then, a hope entertained by many in the West.
“Our leaders will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon while we don’t,” added Ibrahim al-Marie, a retired Saudi colonel and a security analyst in Riyadh. “If Iran declares a nuclear weapon, we can’t afford to wait 30 years more for our own—we should be able to declare ours within a week.”
In addition to the future nuclear threat presented by Iran, the Saudis have increased fears about aggression from Iran and its proxies, which will be fueled by the freeing up of billions of frozen Iranian assets.

IDF Ordered: Avoid Killing Roadside Terrorists

IDF soldiers have been instructed by their commanders to avoid killing terrorists, even if they spot them as they are about to throw a firebomb or rock at a car, reports Yohai Ofer in Makor Rishon. The only time soldiers may shoot to kill are when there is “real danger of loss of life” – but the parameters of this situation are not clearly defined.
The newspaper cited S., a combat soldier who was stationed near Ramallah a few weeks ago, as saying that rocks are not necessarily defined as life-threatening weapons in IDF orders. If the rocks are being thrown at Israeli cars on a main road, soldiers may fire at the legs of the terrorists, and only with the approval of a company commander. In other cases, the company commander is only allowed to authorize firing rubber-coated bullets.
"They want us to hit a knee or two, to achieve deterrence,” S. summed up.
R., another warrior who was recently stationed in the Binyamin area, told the paper that in briefings by commanders at the outset of his battalion's stint, the soldiers were told that the commander of the Regional Regiment, Col. Yisrael Shomer, thinks that an Arab who is killed becomes a martyr, whereas one who is wounded returns home and serves as a warning to others not to engage in terrorism.
These instructions are usually spoken and not written, explains the journalist Ofer.

Human rights group accuses PA of silencing student dissent

A leading international rights group voiced concerns Thursday that the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, was increasingly clamping down on freedom of expression by arresting students for political affiliations or comments made on Facebook.
Human Rights Watch said dozens of students have been arrested by PA security forces in the territory for criticizing PA President Mahmoud Abbas, or for expressing support for the terrorist Hamas group, which runs the Gaza Strip.
The New York-based watchdog said it was "deeply worrying" that students were detained by Palestinian forces for their views.
Palestinian police arrested two students over their Facebook posts, it said. One student was detained for 30 days for criticizing an official on social media.
HRW quoted journalism student Ayman Mahariq from West Bank's Al Quds University as saying that plainclothes policemen asked him to come to a police station, where they beat him and showed him a printout of his Facebook posts. He said he has since deleted the posts, including those calling for an end to "military rule."

Pope Francis to Canonize First 'Palestinian Saints'

Pope Francis is set to canonize two Arab nuns who lived in Israel during the Ottoman empire as Catholic saints, making them the first "Palestinian saints."
According to a report on Wednesday by the Lebanese LBCI News, the Marie Alphonsine Ghattas of Jerusalem and Mariam Bawardy of the Galilee will be canonized at the Vatican on May 17.
The two lived during the 19th century CE, when Israel was under Ottoman Turkish rule and was considered part of greater Syria by the empire. Despite claims to the contrary, historical records definitively show that a state of "Palestine" never existed in the region, the name being applied later in the British Mandate when the Ottoman rule was overthrown in World War One.
The Lebanese news channel showed footage of an announcement regarding the canonization later this month being made at the Christian Media Center based in Jerusalem.

ISIS-linked group claims responsibility for attack on Hamas base in Gaza

A jihadist group with Islamic State ties claimed responsibility for a Friday mortar attack at a Hamas base in the Gaza Strip.
According to AFP, witnesses at the scene said they heard explosions at the base, close to Khan Yunis. Information of any damage or injuries was not reported.
The group, which calls itself "Supporters of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jerusalem," said in an online statement that the rockets it fired were aimed at a base occupied by Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam
The attack comes amid mounting tensions between Hamas and Islamic State supporters in the Gaza Strip. Hamas arrested dozens of Salafi-jihadists who are affiliated with Islamic State, sources in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday. They said the arrests came following a series of bombings, which were reportedly carried out by the Salafi-jihadists in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, Hamas demolished a mosque frequented by Islamic State supporters in Deir el-Balah.

Mordechai Kedar: The Last Battle?

The Kalamon mountains range from Mount Hermon northwards for tens of kilometers, overlooking the Lebanon Valley to the west. The official boundary between Lebanon and Syria runs along the crest of the mountain range, with the western slopes of the mountains part of Lebanon and the eastern slopes part of Syria. The Beirut-Damascus highway serves as the northern edge.
The location of the range has strategic importance, because whoever controls it controls what lies to the east – and can exercise that control with firearms or binoculars – as well as the roads that connect Damascus with central and northern Syria, enabling him to cut off Damascus from the rest of the country. Westwards, he who controls the mountains controls the southern Beqaa vally and its populace, most of them Shiites.
The Kalamon mountains, like Mount Hermon at their southern end, are covered with snow in the winter. That prevents most wide-ranging or significant military activity involving the transportion of soldiers and either heavy or medium sized weapons. Infantry, however, carrying light arms, can move around the area fairly easily. As a result, a double massing of forces has occurred there in the past few weeks: from the east, from inside Syria, fighters sent by various Sunni organizations, Jabhat el Nusra being the first, have appeared on the scene in order to built fortifications, take positions and prepare for a westward offensive push into Lebanon. From the west, Hezbollah has been streaming forces to the area in order to block the rebels and force them out of Lebanon.

Saudi Arabian Airlines Denies Plane Landed in Ben Gurion Airport Despite Claims by Israeli Officials

Saudi Arabian Airlines on Thursday denied reports that one of its jets landed in Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport despite contrary claims by Israeli officials, Al Jazeera reported.
The airline claimed on its official Twitter account that “None of Saudi Arabian aircrafts [sic] landed in the airport mentioned in the viral tweets,” referring to Ben-Gurion Airport. “We are currently investigating whether any of the contracted companies violated their contract with Saudi Arabian Airlines.”
The company continued: “Contracts of leased aircrafts [sic] prevent them from landing or transiting in countries that do not have relations with the Saudi Kingdom.”
The airline issued the denial after David Dadonn, Israeli ambassador in the Foreign Ministry’s Middle East Department, tweeted on Wednesday a photo of what he said was a Saudi Arabian Airlines passenger jet taxiing on the tarmac at Ben Gurion. Dadonn said that the aircraft landed for technical repairs.

PreOccupied Territory: Zionist-Controlled Media Somehow Unable To Control Israel Coverage (satire)

Analysts at the United Nations held a meeting today to discuss the curious phenomenon of the Zionist-controlled international media somehow being unable to prevent the media from indulging in nearly continuous criticism of Israel.
A team of experts met at the UN headquarters in New York this morning (Friday) to share information and analysis regarding an industry proven to be thoroughly under the boot of Jewish moguls. Jewish control of the media, which has been documented for more than a century – notably in he groundbreaking Russian work The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion – has been spectacularly unsuccessful at the one task a Jewish-controlled global media should be expected to focus on: silencing exposure and criticism of its flagship enterprise, Zionism. In fact Israel attracts such a disproportionate amount of opprobrium in the Jewish-controlled media that an observer might conclude no such control exists at all.
In fact, say experts, in the Middle East, the one region where the Zionist-controlled global media should be most necessary and effective, there appears to be no effort at all to counter the blatantly anti-Israel, and often antisemitic, tropes that are a staple in Arabic and Farsi media. “It’s quite surprising to note the frequency and intensity of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish ideas and sentiments in Arab media – I would never have assumed the Jewish media overlords would permit such things to happen. But here we are,” said UN adviser Richard Falk.

Egypt rejects USAID money

Al Masry al Youm reported last month:

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that its annual assitance program in Egypt, sheduled to be implemented in mid 2011, should satisfy the direct needs of Egypt in the fields of employment, economic development and combating poverty.

USAID allocated a significant portion of its assistance over the past years to bolstering democracy in Egypt.

In a statement, USAID said the program will be implemented with the help of NGOs, Egyptian, American or international, and the private sector.

USAID also said it is seeking to respond to the needs specified by the Egyptian community in the field of democratic development.

Indeed, the USAID Egypt site says:

The U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has made significant contributions over the past 30 years to help improve the quality of life of all Egyptians. Nationwide programs in health, education, trade facilitation, small and micro-enterprise, tourism, and infrastructure development have benefited Egyptians acrosscountry, especially those in under-served areas. US economic assistance to Egypt through the United States Agency for International Development has totaled more than $28.6 billion since 1975.

The Egyptian government has formally rejected this aid - saying that it included too many conditions.

From Ikhwanweb (there are a number of Egyptian newspapers in Arabic reporting the same thing):

Egypt has officially rejected conditional US aid worth USD 150 million in light of US economic support to Egypt, helping it overcome its economic woes and support the process of democratization in the post-January 25 revolution.

The US embassy in Cairo has received a formal letter from the Egyptian Foreign Minister that the Egyptian government rejects US conditions on aid and unilateral coercive economic measures by the US Agency for International Development.

Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga and Finance Minister Samir Radwan visited Washington last month, asking the US to cancel a debt amounting to about $3.6 billion to help the country's new government restore growth and create jobs for young people, but Washington refused.

The cabinet says the US aid is unnecessary and rejects US unilateral resolutions with regard to the US direct funding assistance mainly to the Egyptian private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and NGOs, arguing social justice is one of the more prominent roles that the country and businessmen should be committed to.

So far, no word from USAID about this.

Egypt closes Rafah. No one cares.

This week, Israel severely restricted Palestinian Arabs from crossing the Green Line for Passover, as it does every year. The chance for terror attacks increases greatly during Jewish holidays, as we had seen in the Park Hotel Passover massacre of 2002 that killed 30, 21 of whom were over 70 years old.

Anti-Israel sites are keen on pointing out how horrible Israel is for doing this, and how especially delicious the irony that Israel seems to celebrate its holiday celebrating freedom by restricting the freedom of Palestinian Arabs.

It just so happens that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed since last night and will continue to be closed from now through Tuesday. It is also closing it for a national holiday.

Not one English-language news source is mentioning this story.

And what holiday is Egypt celebrating?

"Sinai Liberation Day", April 25th, is the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Sinai in 1982.

I guess that irony that Gazans are imprisoned during Sinai Liberation Day (and the days before and afterwards)  is not the right kind of irony.

Text of Hamas/Fatah agreement: Vagueness defined (updated)

I had mentioned that the draft text of the Hamas/Fatah unity agreement was extremely vague so as to ensure that any substantive decisions are pushed off as long as possible, probably until at least September.

Here it is in its entirely,  in English, so you can see how Hamas and Fatah studiously avoided agreeing on anything real:

1. Elections

A. Election Committee:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to identify the names of the members of the Central Election Commission in agreement with the Palestinian factions. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President who will issue a decree of the reformation of the committee.

B. Electoral Court:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree on the nomination of no more than twelve judges to be members of the Electoral Court. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President in order to take the necessary legal actions to form the Electoral Court in agreement with the Palestinian factions.

C. Timing of Elections:

The Legislative, Presidential, and the Palestinian National Council elections will be conducted at the same time exactly one year after the signing of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.

2. Palestine Liberation Organization

The political parties of both Fatah and Hamas agree that the tasks and decisions of the provisional interim leadership cannot be hindered or obstructed, but in a manner that is not conflicting with the authorities of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

3. Security

It was emphasized that the formation of the Higher Security Committee which will be formed by a decree of the Palestinian President and will consist of professional officers in consensus.

4.Government

A. Formation of the Government:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to form a Palestinian government and to appoint the Prime Minister and Ministers in consensus between them.

B. Functions of the Government:

1. Preparation of necessary condition for the conduction of Presidential, Legislative and the Palestinian National Council elections.
2. Supervising and addressing the prevalent issues regarding the internal Palestinian reconciliation resulting from the state of division.
3. Follow-up of the reconstruction operations in the Gaza Strip and the efforts to end the siege and blockade that is imposed on it.
4. Continuation of the implementation of the provisions of the Palestinian National Accord.
5. To resolve the civil and administrative problems that resulted from the division.
6. Unification of the Palestinian National Authority institutions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
7. To fix the status of the associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and charities.

5. Legislative Council:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to reactivate the Palestinian Legislative Council in accordance to the Basic Law.

It took three years for Egypt to convince Hamas to sign this wishy-washy document.

Not only that, but some of the smaller factions that signed the document did it with reservations on some of its contents.

The entire exercise in "unity" is a scam meant to fool the West long enough to get the issue of statehood in front of the UN.

Paragraph 2 is part of the scam. It is meant to placate the West by saying that the PLO, which runs the PA, is not bound by any Hamas decisions not to recognize Israel. However, as I have pointed out, as soon as "Palestine" is declared, the PLO will disappear and Hamas can fully participate in foreign affairs.

Security is the main sticking point between the parties, as they derive their power from their security forces. Yet only one sentence talks about this topic, and that sentence is pretty much "to be defined later."

As anyone can see, there's no "there" there. This unity government legitimizes terror but keeps its intentions fuzzy so that the US, UN and EU won't notice it.

The Arabs are counting on one basic fact, one that has rarely let them down:

Western leaders tend to be eternally optimistic, they have short memories, and they are mesmerized by such nice sounding words as "unity."

(h/t Zach, source: Rafah Today.)

UPDATE: Here is the list of groups that signed the agreement:

— Fatah
— Hamas
— Islamic Jihad
— Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
— Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
— Palestinian People’s Party
— Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
— Palestinian Liberation Front
— Arab Liberation Front
— Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command
— Dzb Baath Arab Socialist Party (Syria)
— Palestinian Arab Front
— Popular Resistance Committees
— Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA)

(h/t George Hale)

Arab writer admits Arabs must take their share or responsibility for "Nakba"

Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar has an article by Majed Kayali that is highly unusual in the Arab world.

While it of course blames Israel for the "nakba" in 1948, this is the first time I've seen an Arab columnist admit that Arabs must take some responsibility for the Palestinian Arab situation today.

Excerpts:

Since the beginning we have regarded the Nakba as the product of a Zionist colonial act, and this is true, but it is not the whole story, or does not explain the truth of what happened.

In particular, the Nakba didn't happen suddenly, but it came within the framework of a series of events and developments, related to the establishment of the Zionist movement, and directing Jewish immigration to Palestine, and the establishment of the nuclei of political, military and economic and educational entities to Israel, before 1948.

The talk about the Nakba raises the question year after year, as to how the Arab reality not only could not do anything for the Palestinians, but for that very reason the Nakba continues. With all due respect to talk about the centrality of the question of Palestine, the love of Palestine, this has not translated in a practical way that makes it easier for the Palestinians, who have been the subject of all kinds of discrimination and extortion and being used in the Arab world.

In addition to all the above, the Arab system is responsible for preventing Palestinians from statehood. Arabs aborted the "All-Palestine Government" [puppet government in Gaza in the 1950s], and they annexed their land, which did not fall under Israeli control, namely the West Bank and Gaza.

Under the Arab system, Palestinian refugees have no rights, no power, under the pretext of maintaining their unity.

So you can not talk about the Nakba without a critical review of history, because history is written recounted a particular story, focused on the creation of Israel, and history is withholding of stories on the responsibility of Arab nations for the Nakba, within which they facilitated the migration of Jews from Arab countries to Palestine / Israel  to the extent that this State doubled its population within three years, and 80 percent of Jewish immigrants came from Arab countries.

Did Abbas and Meshal sign the unity agreement? (UPDATE)

From Al-Quds al Arabi (Arabic), discussing the Hamas/Fatah unification ceremony in Cairo:

Notably, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not sign the agreement, as expected, and neither did Mr. Khaled Meshaal of the Islamic Resistance Movement 'Hamas'...

It may be possible that I am interpreting the autotranslation incorrectly, but I don't think so. The writer goes on to mention the other disagreements Abbas and Meshal had as far as protocol, seating, speaking and so forth.

I know that representatives from Hamas and Fatah signed the agreement a few days ago.

I cannot find any photos or videos showing Abbas or Hamas leaders actually signing anything, at a ceremony that was specifically meant to celebrate exactly that!

There's a story here.

UPDATE: ChallahHuAkbar tweeted George Hale from Ma'an this question after my blog entry (so did NGO Monitor), and he answered:

According to this report, no. It says assistants signed on behalf of both officials.

So why didn't Abbas sign....and why is no one asking him about this?

Latest Latma (4/29/11)

A bedtime story about moral purity.

04/30 Links Pt2: Israel Does Not Owe Its Existence to the United Nations; Roger Waters, Bully

From Ian:

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Israel Does Not Owe Its Existence to the United Nations

Contrary to what many believe, the UN 1947 partition plan did not set the legal groundwork for the creation of the state of Israel. Rather, Eugene Kontorovich explains, Israel was created “despite the UN.” Kontorovich also discusses the potential impact of future UN resolutions. (Interview by Yishai Fleisher; audio, 25 minutes).

UN announces “review” of bookstore after protest over books targeting Jews and Israel

The head of the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva has initiated a review of its concession arrangement with the bookstore operating next to the Human Rights Council in response to allegations over book displays that deliberately target Jews and Israel.
The world body announced the action in response to a March 26th protest by UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights monitoring group in Geneva, over the bookstore’s display of a series of books such as “How I Stopped Being a Jew,” which accuses the Jewish religion of being “genocidal.” The controversy was reported in a major Israeli newspaper article.
“We welcome this prompt action by the United Nations, which is founded on the principles of equality and tolerance,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer.
“At a time when Jews across Europe are being targeted by violent attacks and incitement, it is deeply distressing that the UN Headquarters in Europe would promote books on ‘how to stop being a Jew.’ It’s impossible to miss that no other books in the shop target or even criticize any other religious or ethnic group,” he added.

The Hallelu Foundation (with Hebrew subs)




Jimmy Carter cancels Gaza Strip visit

A delegation led by former US President Jimmy Carter said it has called off a planned visit to the Gaza Strip.
Carter had planned to make the visit on Thursday in an attempt to draw attention to the humanitarian situation in the war-battered territory. The trip included planned meetings with Hamas, the Islamic terror group that controls Gaza.
But late Wednesday, the Elders, the group sponsoring the visit, expressed regret that it would not take place. It gave no explanation.
“[The Elders] remain concerned at the slow pace of reconstruction and the continued closure of Gaza, and will work with the international community to improve conditions for its people,” a spokesperson for the group stated.
The spokesperson also expressed the group’s commitment towards Palestinian reconciliation and reaffirming “their belief in a just and viable two-state solution for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Fareed Zakaria and Haim Saban Spar Over Views on Israel

Fareed Zakaria and media mogul Haim Saban butted heads over Israel at an event on Monday night, after Saban said Zakaria has an anti-Israel point of view.
“Your point of view is so anti-Israel, I’m banging my head against the wall every time I watch you,” said Saban, who is Jewish and grew up in Israel.
“Your program is very, very unbalanced,” he said according to comments published in The Hollywood Reporter.
Saban offered to personally educate Zakaria on what he said was the truth regarding Israel: “I think you need to go through some change — I need to convert you.”
Responding to Saban’s accusation, Zakaria described the current political situation in Israel as a “creeping cancer that has grown larger and larger and larger.”

Scott Walker planning to keep press away during Israel trip

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will visit Israel this May, but will do so without press coverage, according to a report Wednesday.
AshLee Strong, a spokesperson for Walker’s political action committee, Our American Revival, told Buzzfeed last week that Walker’s visit to Israel will be aimed at getting the possible Republican presidential contender up to speed on the country.
“He is interested in hearing first-hand Israel’s concerns about the future of our alliance and identifying ways to restore the ruptured bonds between our two countries,” Strong said.
“He is very concerned about the rise of Iran, the spread of radical Islamic terrorism, and the turmoil in Syria and Iraq, and is interested in understanding the views of the Israelis on how we confront these shared challenges,” she added.
The trip to Israel is seen as key for Walker to burnish his foreign policy credentials ahead of an expected bid to run for the Republican nomination for the White House.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman is no Theodor Herzl

Argentine Foreign Minister,Hector Timerman, has demonstrably and “irrevocably” excommunicated himself from the AMIA – Argentina’s premiere Jewish welfare, education and burial society – demolished by an Iranian Jihadist bomb in 1994, leaving 85 dead and 300 wounded.
By this personal act, he has rejected his Jewish education values and destiny — among them burial in a Jewish cemetery — and has, apparently, abandoned the Argentine victims of this Tehran-sponsored aggression.
By publicly announcing this action and reportedly charging the AMIA with obstructing Argentine national interests — in other words treason — it could be argued that he has exposed Argentina, once again, to grave threats from reactivated Iran-sponsored Hezbollah sleeper cells on Argentine soil, as were identified by the commonly presumed slain AMIA Prosecutor, Alberto Nisman.
Timerman has now invidiously compared himself with the Zionist champion and visionary, Theodor Herzl.
Herzl sacrificed himself in defence of the Jewish people and is buried among them in Jerusalem.

Sources: Nisman Supporters Cancel US Trip

An Argentine delegation was forced to cancel a scheduled appearance in Florida this week following new accusations by a federal prosecutor that the delegation is working to undermine the Argentina’s relationship with Iran, according to sources apprised of the situation.
Laura Alonso, a legislator in Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies, and Julio Schlosser, president of the Delegation of Argentine-Israeli Associations (DAIA), were scheduled to appear on Monday at a gathering of Latin American leaders and U.S. elected officials organized by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF).
Alonso and Schlosser were expected to present information regarding the recent death of Alberto Nisman, an Argentine prosector who had been investigating the Iranian-orchestrated 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires.
The accusations against Alonso and Schlosser were issued just days before the duo was scheduled to appear at the IAF summit. They canceled their trip and did not appear at the conference, prompting speculation that the accusation is part of a larger effort by the Argentine government to prevent further investigation into Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing.
Many suspect that Nisman was assassinated due to his investigation of the bombing.

Charlie Hebdo Artist Will No Longer Draw Mohammed Cartoons

Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Renald “Luz” Luzier, who drew the toon of Mohammed holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign for the record-breaking post-massacre comeback issue of the French magazine, says he is done drawing pictures of Mohammed.
“I will no longer draw the figure of Mohammed. It no longer interests me,” Luz said in interview with Les Inrockuptibles magazine, as transcribed by Reuters. “I’ve got tired of it, just as I got tired of drawing Sarkozy. I’m not going to spend my life drawing them.”
Luz explained that he was not retiring Mohammed from his repertoire as a response to the terrorist attack on his magazine that killed numerous high-ranking editors. “They will have won if the whole of France continues to be scared,” he declared.
At least Luz spares us the nauseating sanctimony of his fellow cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, who prefers to hide his cowardice behind arrogant pronouncements about the nature of satire while sacrificing the free speech rights of other people. At least we don’t have to listen to blather about how the writers who withdrew their support from the PEN Freedom of Expression Courage prize, awarded this year to Charlie Hebdo, are actually protecting free speech by throwing it away. Luz has the grace to stand down without hectoring those who refuse to join him.

Why Is the Green Party So Obsessed with Jews?

As it turns out, the Green Party has its own rather sorry record of an Israel obsession that has repeatedly crossed the line into outright Jew hatred. There have been reports of anti-Semitic posts and literature being circulated within the Green’s online forums, and of party members with Jewish sounding names being repeatedly subjected to abuse from others in these forums.
Then there is Pippa Bartolotti, the Green leader in Wales, who has wheeled out the age old trope that Jews have dual loyalties—something she claimed to have learned from the “university of life”. While in 2009 the Green’s deputy leader Shahrar Ali was filmed giving a viciously anti-Israel speech in which he derided “the niceties” of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Back in 2011 the Greens did establish an internal working group that was supposed to be grappling with the problem of anti-Semitism in the party, but the head of that investigation soon resigned claiming “it has become clear that the Green Party is institutionally anti-Semitic”.

Roger Waters, Bully

In his phenomenal and classic song, Another Brick in the Wall, Roger Waters called out defiantly and with great passion: “Teacher! Leave them kids alone!” It’s a great moment in music. The song is incredibly infectious. The line captures the raw emotion young students can feel in the presence of a rigid authoritarian figure at the helm of his or her class.
Roger Waters, I’m sure, sees himself as a defender of the defenseless, as one who has the courage to stand up for the downtrodden. But, as I see it, Roger Waters is simply a bully.
Pop star Robbie Williams is scheduled to perform this Saturday, May 2 in Tel Aviv. As an ardent supporter of the BDS movement (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions), Roger Waters has sought to convince Williams to cancel his upcoming concert.

Robbie Williams arrives in Israel ahead of concert

Amid public calls to back out of his performance Saturday in Tel Aviv, British crooner Robbie Williams touched down in Israel Thursday evening.
Accompanied by his wife and an entourage of over 50, the singer landed in Ben Gurion airport aboard his private jet a day and a half early, allowing plenty of time to see the best of the holy land’s sites.
Williams will spend Shabbat dinner with local pop star Ninet Tayeb, who will warm up his Saturday night performance in the White City’s massive HaYarkon Park, Channel 2 reported.

Jewish Student Calls on Hitler-Loving Wits Council President Simply ‘to Love’ Instead

A Jewish student at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwaterstrand wrote an impassioned letter to Student Representative Council president Mcebo Dlamini, who prompted outrage over writing “I love Adolf Hitler” in a Facebook post.
“The only offence I have committed against you is simply being Jewish,” wrote the student in a letter published by South African news portal Times Live.
“I have never met you, and most likely we have much in common yet you HATE me with so much unbridled passion – if only you could express that passion in standing up for those that have suffered from xenophobic violence,” the student said.
Dlamini raised eyebrows when he wrote “I love Adolf Hitler” as part of a Facebook post last Saturday.
“What about our Jewish brothers and sisters who fought side-by-side together with their oppressed fellow South Africans to bring down the evil Nationalist regime – people like Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Denis Goldberg, Lionel Bernstein, Arthur Goldreich, Harold Wolpe, Helen Suzman and so many others?” wrote the student. “All I ask is for you to love us – as Jews – for being South Africans and the many commonalities we share, rather than hating us for the few differences we possess.”
The student recalled Hitler’s policy of sterilizing what the Nazi regime called “Rhineland Bastards,” the children of mixed African and German couples.
To conclude, the student called on Dlamini simply “to love.”

NY bans political ads on transit after judge okays pro-Israel poster

The US’s largest mass transit system is preparing to ban all political advertising on its subways and buses after a judge ruled that a pro-Israel group was allowed to display an advertisement containing the phrase “Hamas Killing Jews” on New York City buses.
The resolution is expected to pass Wednesday at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board meeting after the finance committee approved it earlier in the week. The cash-strapped agency says such advertising only accounts for less than $1 million of its annual advertising revenue of $138 million.
“Advertisements expressing viewpoint messages, regardless of the viewpoint being expressed, would no longer be accepted,” the MTA’s general counsel, Jerome Page, told the committee on Monday.
New York is following in the footsteps of cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, which already have banned political ads on public transit, Page said.

UC Riverside official: Decision to stop selling Sabra hummus a 'mistake'

UC Riverside’s recent decision to stop selling a brand of hummus partially owned by an Israeli company because of a student group’s request was a “mistake,” school officials said Wednesday.
University spokesman James Grant Jr. said campus leadership became aware only Wednesday that the school’s dining areas had stopped selling Sabra hummus and replaced it with Tapaz2Go, a gluten-free, Mediterranean-inspired brand hummus.
The university has reversed itself and will sell both brands, Grant said.
In a letter sent to the school’s vice president of internal affairs and student government leaders, Students for Justice in Palestine said campus restaurants selling Sabra brand hummus violated the university’s "Tartan Soul" – a reference to the values of integrity, accountability, excellence and respect associated with campus mascot the Scotty Highlander.
“The product was changed due to consideration for student preferences without consideration of the political issues raised,” the university’s statement said. “However, we made a mistake in agreeing to replace one brand with another.”

NGO Monitor: Danish-Palestinian Friendship Association and Demonization

- On April 27, 2015, the Dansk Palæstinensisk Venskabsforening (Danish-Palestinian Friendship Association – DVP) launched an advertising campaign, “No Thanks to Settlement Products,” promoting an anti-Israel agenda on 35 bus lines in Copenhagen.
Text: “Our conscience is clear! We do not buy products from Israeli settlements or invest in settlement industry.” Website: “No Thanks to Settlement Products.” Source: Facebook
On April 27, 2015, the Dansk Palæstinensisk Venskabsforening (Danish-Palestinian Friendship Association – DVP) started “a large-scale advertising campaign on 35 bus lines in Copenhagen and the surrounding area.” This “No Thanks to Settlement Products” campaign, which calls for the labeling of Israeli products from the West Bank, is part of DVP’s wider anti-Israel demonization agenda, as demonstrated by the misleading maps on the posters.

Danish Bus Agency Removes Ad Against Israeli Settlements

Copenhagen's public transport agency on Thursday ordered the immediate removal of posters opposing Israeli settlements on the capital's city buses after getting "a considerable amount of complaints."
Movia, owned by eastern Denmark local authorities, said the campaign by the Danish Palestinian Friendship Association was "unnecessarily offensive."
The campaign that started Monday was calling for labels on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
"Our conscience is clean. We neither buy products from the Israeli settlements nor invest in the occupation industry," the advertisement text read next to photos of two women only identified by their first names.
The company that runs the bus routes must remove the advertisements immediately from the 35 vehicles that displayed the posters, said the agency that is in charge of buses in Copenhagen.
"We got somewhere between 75 and 100 complaints, most of them in English," Movia spokeswoman Camilla Struckmann told The Associated Press.

I’m a Progressive Liberal Who Supports Israel, And Here’s Why (Part I)

For the past twenty years I have worked on social justice issues in the U.S. I have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to social justice and equity for all people. Thus, many of my friends and colleagues are surprised to find out about my support for Israel. I do not share those beliefs openly with colleagues, because it is not central to my everyday job (I work on poverty issues in the U.S.). The only time I offer up my opinion is when others go first. I know that supporting Israel is frowned upon in progressive circles. However, I think that it is a perfectly progressive value. This belief is built on a set of foundational ideas:
- Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people, whence they were exiled.
- In every place in which they have lived, Jews were/are treated as foreigners, or tolerated as a lower class of people.
- Zionism, as an idea, is a 2,000+ year old belief that Jews have the right to live in their ancient homeland as a nation — a right that was taken from them by force.
- Opposing the idea of Zionism is, literally, to oppose the right of the Jewish people to live, as a nation, in their ancient homeland, and thus it leads to Antisemitism.
- Antisemitism predates the re-birth of the nation of Israel by more than one thousand years.
- Opposing Israel (I mean, its very existence) is to advocate for the annihilation of an entire people.
- Unwavering support for the continued existence of Israel doesn’t equate to unwavering support for the Israeli government. I support the nation of Israel, but will offer constructive criticism when I see fit.

I’m a Progressive Liberal Who Supports Israel, And Here’s Why (Part 2): Israel as an Apartheid State

In 2001, just prior to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, some of my friends and colleagues attended the World Conference on Racism, Xenophobia, and Discrimination held in Durban, South Africa. It was an amazing experience for them, and for us, a great honor to send representatives from communities of color in the U.S.A, calling attention to all these issues in the Land of the Free.
Unfortunately, my friends brought back lots of anti-semitic literature they picked up from the Palestinian representatives. At a conference where the world was supposed to make a united stand against racism, anti-semitism was rampant. My colleagues eagerly showed me books full of anti semitic cartoons — hardly distinguishable from Nazi-era cartoons — which they saw as examples of media as a tool for speaking truth to power.
Needless to say, I consider that 2001 conference an utter failure.
And so, four years before the launch of the Israeli Apartheid Week actions, anti-semitism became permissible under the pretense of raising awareness about Israeli oppression. It was thanks to this conference that I became politically aware about anti-Israel ideology.

IsraellyCool: Palestinian West Bank: Occupation Growing

Don’t worry, I haven’t lost my marbles, I know it’s Judea and Samaria but I can’t pass up using the other side’s malicious terms purely as title click bait sometimes.
From the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) comes this press release about hotels in the PA administered parts of Judea Samaria in 2014. And business is up!
- More than 0.6 million guests spent more than 1.5 million nights;
- During 2014, 610,347 guests stayed in hotels in the West Bank;
- 32% were from European Union countries and 9% were Palestinian, 10% were from the United States and Canada.
- The number of hotel guests was 2% higher than in the previous year.
Wow! I wonder how that compares to Syria, or Libya or even Egypt. Unfortunately we have no confirmation of figures from Gaza as yet though of course we have plenty of pictures of the many hotels in concentration camp Gaza which the foreign press like to stay in.

BBC amends online profile of Manchester constituency after complaints

By way of comparison, the constituency which the BBC defines as “the richest place in Britain” – Kensington – is described as “well-to-do” and no mention is made of its ethnic or religious make-up.
The BBC has now amended the profile of Blackley & Broughton.
“A BBC spokesperson said: “These profiles aim to portray every constituency in a few sentences. We regret part of our description of Blackley and Broughton did not accurately reflect the area and we have now changed the wording accordingly.””
Once again the BBC chooses to miss the point.

Western Media Confused After Discovering Israel Not Involved in Most Middle East Conflicts (satire)

Due to escalating tensions in Middle Eastern countries, arriving Western journalists were shocked to discover that the Middle East has a ton of conflicts, and very few are even remotely related to Israel.
“I always write about the ‘Middle Eastern’ conflict being Israelis vs. Palestinians, but it turns out, the Middle East is a huge, complex, messed up region,” a BBC journalist exclaimed. “Who knew?”
Despite heavy media attention on Israel, a deeper analysis has uncovered that the Middle East / Northern Africa geographic areas are, to use a technical term, ‘ridiculously f__ked up’. Between the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, a Syrian civil war, a Yemeni civil war, a failed Libyan government, two ousted Egyptian leaders, a FUBAR-Iraq, and Iran funding proxy terror organizations while marching toward nuclear arms, the Elders of Zion apparently had their hands quite full over the past several years.
“Let’s take what’s going on in Yemen for example,” a New York Times reporter said. “It gets super complicated when you have a predominantly Muslim country that’s fractured along sectarian lines, with Saudi Arabia and Iran, two other Muslim countries, arming the two opposite sides…… yada, yada, yada, my brain is starting to hurt. It’s a lot simpler to just reinforce the Judaism vs. Islam narrative, so historically, that’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Upon learning about the range of problems facing the Middle East, leaders of the BDS movements said, “Well, we can still blame it all on the Jews, right?”

Sweden: Jewish teacher says he gets death threats from students

The article is titled "Swedish Jews suffer from hate against Israel", but the article doesn't really explain how the hatred is related to Israel and isn't just regular Muslim antisemitism.
Henry Grynfeld is a teacher in the Rosengård district of Malmö. As a Jew he's often experienced harassment from his Muslim students.
"I was called 'Jew'. I was threatened. I was told things like "We'll kill all the Jews and you too". As soon as something doesn't go the way these young people had in mind, they have an argument ready in their back-pocket, and that's that you're a Jew."
"I feel safe as long as I do not show who I am - I wouldn't run around here with a kippa or a Star of David."
YLE did not meet many people who wanted to comment on antisemitism in the neighborhood. A few said that Muslims themselves are targeted by Islamophobia and hate-crimes.

New solution to keep veggies fresh for a month, sans fridge

A new technique developed by Hebrew University researchers that extend the life of vegetables for weeks without refrigeration could help break the cycle of poverty among rural farmers in the developing world, with.
There are dozens of technologies that can help farmers grow healthier, hardier and better-tasting fruits and vegetables – many of them developed in Israel – but there are few technologies to extend the life of produce. While some fruits and vegetables can be kept in cold storage for months, others – like leafy vegetables – have to be brought to market within days, before they begin to wilt.
It’s a problem for farmers all over the world, especially in the developing world. Farmers who have no access to refrigeration – because of a lack of electricity, inability to afford equipment, infrastructure problems, or other reasons – are basically at the mercy of local wholesalers who offer them far less than their produce is worth.
Instead of taking their produce to the cities, where it can fetch the market price, farmers in rural India and Africa have to sell at below market prices locally, because by the time they get to the city, their produce will have gone bad. Selling their produce for subsistence wages, farmers get barely enough to live on and replant for the next season – and prolonging the cycle of poverty.

Drones – the future of precision agriculture

Combining a drone-mounted sensor with analytic software, the Israeli company Sensilize is launching what it calls the future of precision agriculture.
The emerging field of precision agriculture is based on observing, measuring and responding to crops with smart technology. Drones — also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – are giving farmers new possibilities, such as crop-dusting without a plane, but can also be integrated with smart technology.
Sensilize uses a micro-UAS platform to map fields with an integrated application-driven sensor called Robin-Eye, whose eight-band calibrated sensor provides ultra-high-resolution multispectral images of vegetation in almost all light conditions.
Sensilize’s cloud-based Robin-Mind software automatically analyzes these images and then – within 24 hours — provides the farmer with a true color image of the area as well as interpreted maps to enable optimal decisions to enhance efficiency, maximize yield and minimize resources.

Israeli Start-Up Partners With Samsung on Health Monitoring System for Elderly

The Israeli start-up Mybitat and Samsung have joined forces to develop technology to help keep senior citizens safe at home.
The technology would utilize sensors and cloud-based software to monitor seniors’ daily routines, and would be able to recognize any changes in clients’ behavior and health, in which case the system would call for help.
“Samsung believes the senior population can benefit from new technologies to improve their quality of life,” said Curtis Sasaki, a senior vice president at Samsung, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “Our work with Mybitat has the potential to make key elements of the aging process significantly easier on individuals and families.”
“We believe current systems for managing aging require significant improvement,” said Mybitat founder Mati Kochavi.

India minister praises Israel’s ‘more crop per drop’ farm model

The business of government is politics, but there’s a time to put politics on the shelf, according to Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra in India. “Everybody has to eat,” Fadnavis told The Times of Israel in an exclusive interview. “Israel’s agricultural and water technology is helping to satisfy global hunger. Who could disagree with that?”
India’s strategy in the past has been to keep Israel at arm’s length so as not to aggravate its relationship with the Arab world and its large Muslim minority. But that strategy goes out the window when it comes to engaging with Israel for its agricultural technology. Israel and India have extensive ag-tech ties, with government-level projects to improve growing techniques for a wide variety of crops, to dozens of business collaborations between private companies.
In fact, one of the biggest irrigation solutions firms in the world – NaanDanJain – is an Israeli-Indian firm, created in 2007 when Israeli irrigation tech firm NaanDan merged with India’s Jain Irrigation Systems. “India is an agricultural country, and we are helping India bloom with our affordable drip irrigation, filter, and fertilizer technology,” said Amnon Ofen, director of NaanDanJain. “There is no question that our firm has been responsible for the green revolution in India. I would estimate that NaanDanJain products have helped increase India agricultural output by tens of percent. Millions of Indian farmers are using Israeli equipment and technology, and they are producing more from their land.”

‘Emergency tech’ firm ClickSoftware sells for nearly $500m

Israeli workforce management technology firm ClickSoftware is being acquired by California-based investment firm Francisco Partners Management. The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $438 million.
Currently a NASDAQ publicly-traded firm, ClickSoftware will see its stockholders sell their holdings to Francisco Partners, with each outstanding share to be sold for $12.65 – 45% over the stock’s average closing over the previous 90 days. The deal must still be approved by stockholders, but ClickSoftware’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the sale in a recent meeting. Francisco Partners, which focuses strictly on technology investments, aims to buy all outstanding shares of the company, turning it into a private firm, and ClickSoftware will recommend that all shareholders sell.
With over 700 employees, the Petah Tikvah-based firm is the world’s largest service management company, with its software helping hundreds of utilities, police and fire departments, and emergency rescue organizations to help them prioritize work orders, repairs, and emergency responses, ClickSoftware CEO Moshe Ben-Bassat told The Times of Israel in an interview.
ClickSoftware’s system is especially useful in emergencies, said Ben-Bassat – like the snow emergencies that became a routine event in many US cities last winter. When such events take place, utilities, emergency services, police, fire, food delivery personnel, and many others need to be ready operate in crisis mode, said Ben-Bassat.

Israeli restaurant in London tops GQ food and drink list

London-based Israeli-owned restaurant The Palomar -- known for its modern Jerusalemite cuisine -- won "Best Restaurant" at the inaugural GQ Food and Drink Awards on Wednesday.
The well-known international monthly men's magazine chose The Palomar from among a pool of nominees that included a restaurant with two Michelin stars.
The Palomar is the sister restaurant of the popular Machneyuda restaurant in Jerusalem. The competition's judges praised not only the food but the unique atmosphere at Palomar.
One of the restaurant's owners, chef Assaf Granit told Israel Hayom on Wednesday that the award meant a lot to him and his partners in the restaurant. "Just being nominated was flattering," he said. "It's like being a film director nominated alongside Martin Scorsese or Robert De Niro.

Elie Weisel: Being Jewish is Not ‘Simply a Matter of Birth’ (VIDEO)

Author and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel on Wednesday said being Jewish “is not simply a matter of birth,” and called on Jews to “do something about their Jewishness.”
“We believe that to be Jewish is not simply a matter of birth. We must do something with it, with ourselves,” Wiesel told a crowd at the Bloomberg Philanthropies townhouse office on New York’s Upper East Side.
“It doesn’t mean that the Jew is better than anyone else,” said Wiesel. “It simply means, because I am a Jew, I have to do something with my Jewishness. It is the Jew in me who works for human rights … the Jew in me who believes that racism is stupid. Not only evil, but stupid.”
Wiesel was speaking to an audience after former mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the winners of his Genesis Generation Project, which awarded nine $100,000 grants from Bloomberg’s own Genesis prize award money for projects providing a “sustainable and scalable solution to an important problem.” Actor Michael Douglas, who won this years Genesis prize, was also present.

Disgusting, intimidating behavior against a Jew at a Scotland university

From The Courier (UK):

Two St Andrews University students have appeared in court following allegations they indulged in anti-semitic behaviour.

Samuel Colchester and Paul Donnachie are charged with fondling their genitals before rubbing their hands on a flag of Israel. It is claimed they were intending to cause "alarm or distress" to Jewish man Chanan Roziel Reitblat.

Colchester (20), of Andrew Melville Hall, and 18-year-old Donnachie, of McIntosh Hall, both deny the allegations.

Colchester and Donnachie face a charge alleging that, on March 12 at a building owned by the university in Links Crescent, they acted in a racially aggravated manner intended to cause alarm or distress to Mr Reitblat.

The charge states they placed their hands inside their trousers and on to their genitals before rubbing them on to a flag of Israel. It is also alleged they made comments of an offensive nature within Mr Reitblat's presence, contrary to the Criminal Law Act.

An alternative charge states the pair behaved in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by acting in the manner described, contrary to the Criminal Justice Act.

Donnachie's reactions on his Facebook page:

Chanan Reitblat, the victim, tells me that this did not happen in a public area, like at a campus Zionist organization. The events happened in Reitblat's dorm room where he had put up an Israeli flag on his own personal bulletin board!

Reitblat emailed me that they told him...

...that I support terrorists and should be held liable for putting up a "terrorist symbol" in my room- pretty much that I deserve what's coming to me.

After they left my room, they went on an hour long rant throughout the hall about how Jews have no claim to Israel and that Israel is a terrorist, Nazi state.

Reitblat is traumatized by what happened in his own room, as one can imagine, telling me that this was an "awful month" for him.

This is what happens when anti-Israel hate is allowed to fester - it emboldens the haters to take things further and further.

And things are pretty bad in universities in Scotland nowadays.

UPDATE: Commenter Elise notes that this is the school that the new royal couple attended. Wonderful.

The last gasp effort to make the UNHRC relevant

A very interesting dispatch from AP:

Several members of the U.N.'s top human rights body are pressing for an emergency meeting to examine the government crackdowns against popular protests that have swept the Middle East and North Africa, Western diplomats said Wednesday.

The countries, from Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia, are trying to collect 16 signatures necessary to force a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council next week, the diplomats said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, which was underlined by the innocuous title proposed for the meeting — "Promotion and protection of human rights in the context of recent peaceful protests."

The title was chosen to avoid singling out particular countries, the diplomats said. But they confirmed that Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria would be among the nations whose violent suppression of protests would be on the agenda.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference, whose members carry significant weight in the 47-nation Human Rights Council, said it wouldn't consent to holding such a meeting.

"We think that the events that are taking place do not merit some kind of a special session," said Zamir Akram, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva.

He accused those advocating a special session of double standards, and said the OIC would use any such meeting to focus on human rights abuses by Israel instead.

We already know that the UNHRC is a joke. (Leading UNHRC advisor Jean Ziegler edited a book that likened Libya's dictator Moammar Gaddafi to philosopher Jean Rousseau.) Yet there are those who cling to the idea that it has some relevance; pointing to the very few non-Israeli statements it has made or to the fact that it finally, belatedly kicked Libya out.

The UNHRC's actions over the next few days should be the final nail in the coffin of this thoroughly corrupt institution as well as proof positive that the Organization of Islamic States has an agenda that is fundamentally opposed to human rights.

And how much more proof do you need that Israel is used as a scapegoat for Muslim human rights abuses than the statement by the Pakistani ambassador to the UN?

05/09 Links: Brainwashed at Bowdoin; Bye-Bye, George Galloway, David Ward and Natalie Bennett

From Ian:

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William Jacobson: Brainwashed at Bowdoin: Anti-Israel Boycotters Miss a Teachable Moment

Bowdoin College in Maine recently held a student-body referendum for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel. Unlike more common student-government resolutions seeking “divestment” from a handful of companies, the Bowdoin referendum sought an unprecedented cutoff of all academic and cultural ties. The referendum was initiated by Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), part of a growing national SJP movement on campuses.
I have covered SJP antics at Vassar (the picketing of a classroom because a course involved a trip to Israel, and later posting of a Nazi cartoon), Cornell (a protest leads to physical and verbal harassment of pro-Israel students — and me!), Northeastern University (a protest over suspension included chants of “Long live the intifada,” the bloody suicide-bombing and terrorist campaign), and New York University (the posting of mock eviction notices), and elsewhere.
Wherever I see SJP, I see a messianic absolutism directed at the deligitimization and demonization of every aspect of Israeli society. It is a view that presents Israel as uniquely evil, and Palestinians as uniquely pure victims.
The most messianic of all are some (not all, by any means) left-wing Jews who lead SJP chapters or are fellow travelers like the members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). For that sub-group of left-wing Jews, demonizing Israel has become a religion.

Ben-Dror Yemini: A manipulation of human rights

The IDF is not perfect, and some of Breaking the Silence's claims on the fighting in Gaza may be true, but these deviations have been put on display, without any context or proof.
The report released by Breaking the Silence is already making waves around the world. Isn't it simply wonderful to preach human rights? It's a position in high demand. The thing is, we're dealing here with another piece of major deception, another link in the chain of effort to turn Israel into a living monster, and more help for the BDS campaign.
Why deception? First, when Israel is accused of harming civilians, or when people talk about proportionality, one has to ask: What are the proportions? It turns out there aren't any – and not by chance either. Because every comparative review definitively shows that Israel causes less civilian casualties than those witnessed on other similar battlefields.
Second, a country like Britain also has anti-war organizations. But no foreign country supports exposing the testimonies of British troops who have returned from conflict zones. So why the hell does Britain allow itself to finance Breaking the Silence? Why do the British think their dual morality is morality?
Third, four other countries – Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark – are funding a Ramallah-based organization, the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, which also aids Breaking the Silence. HR IHL funds a series of groups such as Al-Haq, BADIL, Al-Mizan and others, which are a part of the BDS campaign network.
We're not dealing with criticism of Israel, but an ideology that opposes the very existence of Israel. This is the ideological environment of the Breaking the Silence report.

Bye-Bye, George Galloway

Within that big picture are some huge specific wins. Specifically, the losses by anti-Israel maniacs George Galloway, David Ward and Natalie Bennett.
George Galloway is the poster child for anti-Israel hate, an obsessed creep who spews anti-Israel conspiracy theories, regularly appears on Iranian Press TV, attacks critics of the Mullah regime, and Jew-baits under the guise of anti-Zionism, British MP George Galloway storms out of debate when finds out opponent is Israeli:
Also losing was Liberal Democrat Party member David Ward, who had previously been suspended by his own party for his anti-Israel comments. Ward notoriously demanded that Holocaust Remembrance Day include remembrance of Palestinian refugees, and tweeted that if he lived in Gaza he would fire rockets at Israel. Ward’s reaction to the Paris unity march after the Charlie Hebdo massacre was to say he was “sick” that Benjamin Netanyahu was in attendance.
Rounding out the threesome, Natalie Bennett, Chair of the Green Party, also lost. Bennett is a big supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Bennett’s fanaticism was just the tip of the iceberg, England’s Green Party Has an Anti-Semitism Problem:

Denmark Jewish Leader: Way We Want to Live Our Lives Not Possible

“The way we want to live our lives is no longer possible,” said the vice president of Denmark’s Jewish community at an annual conference of the American Jewish Committee on Tuesday, reflecting on the state of security for Europe’s Jews.
Jonathan Fischer was one of many speakers to address the discomfort of European Jewry as antisemitism is on the rise across the continent.
Such fears are exacerbated by the fact that European governments will ultimately move to scale back around-the-clock protection that has been provided since deadly attacks at a kosher supermarket in Paris and the Great Synagogue in Copenhagen in January.
“We can’t count only on security services, on intelligence services. Today makeshift jihadists are asked not to communicate, so intelligence services can’t spot them,” said Fischer, adding that the European Jewish “mindset” must adapt.
“Europeans have to adopt the ‘see something, say something’ policy, like in the US,” suggested Rutgers University law professor John Farmer, according to the British Jewish Chronicle, referring to a common security policy present not only at Jewish communities, but in public zones, such as New York’s subway system as well.

Bill Whittle: I Support Free Speech, But...

Speech is either free or it isn't! The attack in Texas wasn't against Conservatives--it was against every American. Check out this important Afterburner to find out why Bill says you're DEAD wrong if you think the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo or attendees at the free speech event in Texas had it coming to them for being too "provocative" by drawing Mohammed.

Report: US, EU pressing for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

A senior Palestinian official claimed Saturday that the US and the European Union were urging the Palestinian Authority to resume peace negotiations with Israel, according to a report in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that Western diplomats had proposed to organize an urgent meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, either in a European country or in Washington.
The Palestinian official’s claims were not confirmed by Israel or the PA, according to Israel Radio.
Washington on Thursday called Israel’s approval of building 900 apartment units in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem “damaging and inconsistent” with its commitment to a two-state solution. The condemnation of the move by the State Department came less than a day after Netanyahu announced the formation of a new governing coalition.

'Obama mulls veto of French proposal for Palestinian state in UN Security Council'

US President Barack Obama has told associates that he intends to veto the French proposal for a UN Security Council resolution mandating the creation of a Palestinian state and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank within two years, Channel 10 is reporting on Friday.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said this past March that Paris planned to start discussions with partners in the "coming weeks" on a United Nations Security Council resolution to lay out the parameters for ending the Middle East conflict.
"I hope that the partners who were reluctant will not be reluctant anymore," said Fabius, referring to the United States, which has traditionally shielded its ally Israel from any action at the United Nations.
The United States has said it would "reassess" its options on US-Israel relations and Middle East diplomacy after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a stand against Palestinian statehood during his election campaign.

United States taxpayers on hook to the United Nations for approximately $3.024 billion in 2015

The United States taxpayers will pay the United Nations approximately $3.024 billion in 2015, according to testimony by Brett Schaefer, a Heritage Foundation fellow, before the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee responsible for multilateral institutions on May 6, 2015. This total accounts for $621.9 million toward the UN regular budget and $2.402 billion toward the UN peacekeeping budget. In contrast, 35 nations will pay less than a total of $29,000. Schaefer testified that the US' contributions continue to rise due to the UN's runaway budget which increased from nearly $15 billion in 2002 to nearly $41.5 billion in 2012. A major factor behind that increase is the "failure to arrest growth" in UN personnel costs which accounts for 70% of UN spending.
Schaefer pointed out that US contributions to the UN may be higher than reported: "there is also a lack of transparency and analysis on the U.S. side...(the) 2006 report confirmed that actual U.S. contributions to the U.N. were higher by about 25 percent than previously reported by the State Department. The reporting requirement lapsed in 2011. As a result, a comprehensive accounting of U.S. contributions to the U.N. system after FY 2010 is not available and the last reliable accounting by the OMB was for FY 2010, which reported contributions totaling $7.692 billion."
This figure is more than double today's figure, raising the question of what exactly is the true cost of US' membership to the UN.

White House hopeful Jeb Bush turns to George W. for Israel advice

Jeb Bush said he was likeliest to take advice on Israel from his brother, former President George W. Bush.
“If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it’s him,” the former Florida governor and likely contender for the GOP presidential nod was quoted Thursday by the Washington Post as telling a group of potential campaign funders from the pro-Israel community.
Bush faced questions at the meeting Tuesday in New York City, organized by Paul Singer, about including on his team James Baker, the secretary of state under Bush’s father, President George HW Bush.
Baker had tense relations with the Israeli government at the time, led by the late Yitzhak Shamir, and more recently criticized the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for his policies toward the Palestinians.
Republican Jews are fond of the younger former President Bush, seen as among the friendliest presidents to Israel, but are wary of associations with the brothers’ father.

Santorum to Obama: ‘Iran, enemy. Israel, friend’

Rick Santorum hinted Saturday in South Carolina that he is close to announcing whether he will again run for president, telling a gathering of conservative activists he’s driven by what he called President Barack Obama’s failures on national security.
“Russia, China and yes, radical Islam, is threatening our country,” the former Pennsylvania senator said. “Heck, I would just be happy if our president would be able to tell the difference between our friends and enemies.
“Let me give our president a primer: Iran, enemy. Israel, friend.”
Santorum said he had the experience to articulate a “vision of keeping America strong.”
He told the crowd: “I’ve been clear about the threat of radical Islam. This isn’t a war on terror. It’s a war on radical Islam.”

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Says Joint Arab Force to Combat ISIS, Iran Will be Ready Within Four Months

The idea of the Joint Arab Force was first introduced by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who said it was a necessity to combat the expansion of the Islamic State, which currently has strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The rising threat of Iranian regional influence also adds urgency to the Arab countries’ plan, particularly as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fight to take over Yemen, and the Saudi-led intervention to roll them back advances.
“The need for a unified Arab force is growing and becoming more pressing every day,” said Sisi back in February. The Egyptian president said he had received offers from both Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to help in the endeavor by sending troops.
“The challenges in the region and those facing our countries are huge … We can overcome those challenges once we are together,” said Sisi.
Last month, Shoukry said that the joint Arab force was necessary to combat the threats of extremism in the region, and that this force would undertake ”quick and effective missions” aimed at rebuffing growing threats to regional stability.
In late March, Arab foreign ministers assembled at an Arab League summit in Egypt’s Sharm Al-Sheikh adopted a draft resolution in support of the force’s creation.
The proposed force will be twice the size of NATO’s Response Force, at 40,000 men, according to an Arab League source. It will be based in Egypt, and will be led by a yet-to-be-determined Saudi officer.

IDF posts footage of medics saving Syrian rebel in Golan

The IDF on Saturday released rare footage of its medics performing a life-saving procedure on one of the most severely wounded Syrian combatants medical personnel have encountered in the Golan Heights, according to an assessment by the IDF chief medical officer in the area.
The man, a Syrian rebel who belongs to an unnamed organization fighting against the Assad regime and its allies, received treatment at the border and then inside Israel, and was ultimately able to return to Syria. It was not immediately clear when the incident occurred.
The IDF maintains a field hospital on the Syrian border, and has also treated hundreds of people wounded in the Syrian civil war at hospitals inside Israel.
The casualty in this case was transferred to an undisclosed location along Syria’s border with Israel by rebel forces working in conjunction with the IDF. He was treated by combat medics of the Givati infantry brigade.

CAMERA: A Closer Look at Who Funds Breaking the Silence

A previous post on May 6 observed that Breaking the Silence, the Israeli group that uses alleged soldier testimonials to accuse the Israeli defense forces of misconduct toward Palestinian civilians, is amply funded by European "humanitarian" organizations.
This raises the question as to why these European donors dedicate so much funding to exposing alleged misconduct by a few Israeli soldiers when the money would have greater humanitarian impact if it were used to sustain the countless victims of Islamic extremism and societal breakdown in the surrounding region. What makes the European fixation on Israel so baffling is that Israel already has in-place institutions to deal with such misconduct. The Israel Defense Forces enshrined a rigorous moral code to which its soldiers and officers are accountable. After every significant military operation, as a matter of routine, investigations into allegations of misconduct are pursued.
The largest donors to Breaking the Silence include European religious-based organizations and governmental groups who justify their support for Breaking the Silence, and other groups that seek to undermine Israel's standing, on humanitarian grounds. But are these groups fully forthcoming about their motivations? Is there more to this than just empathy for Palestinians, who are already at the top of the list as beneficiaries of financial and political support from western governments and non-governmental organizations and who enjoy the unique privilege of having a UN organization, UNRWA, solely dedicated to their needs?
One of the largest donors to Breaking the Silence is a Catholic organization from the Flemish portion of Belgium. A little history here is revelatory.

Wits University Vice Chairman Rebuffs ‘Jewish Puppet’ Critics: ‘It’s Racist and Antisemitic’

The vice chancellor of a major Johannesburg university struck back on Thursday at critics who claimed he had bowed to Jewish pressure over the sacking of student president Mcebo Dlamini, saying he is critical of Israel.
“I am a critic of the Israeli state,” said University of Witwatersrand Vice Chancellor Adam Habib, who had arrived at a debate on the subject of Dlamini’s dismissal to a chorus of boos.
“I was the only VC to write about the incursion into Gaza,” he said, referring to last summer’s IDF ground invasion of the Gaza Strip during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. “How did we go from the critique of Israel … to talking about all Jews? It’s racist and antisemitic.”
The vice chancellor had been labeled a “puppet” to Jewish donors by an alumni group and others for leading the panel that ultimately removed Dlamini, shortly after the student president with a knack for controversy posted to Facebook: “I love Adolf Hiter… There is an element of Hitler in every white person.”

How Medicine is Used to Promote the Demonization of Israel

Furthermore, two of the pro-Horton group leaders are also co-authors of the Gaza “open letter”—Drs. Iain Chalmers and Mads Gilbert. Chalmers has been caught on tape repeating David Duke-like hate rhetoric, referring to how “Zionists” exert “control in so many different domains,” labelingThe Lancet as one publication “they (Zionists) cannot suppress.” For his part, Gilbert is on record as a 9/11 apologist.
But these facts are erased as Horton and his team use their media connections to advance the attack. On April 24, 2015, the U.K.’s The Independent published a news story that completely sidesteps the ethical issues in the Gaza “Open Letter” and minimizes Manduca’s and Swee Ang’s blatant anti-Semitism. The article quotes unnamed “observers” who view the criticism of The Lancet as no less than “the most serious threat to The Lancet and free speech in academia” in almost 200 years.
While these lapses might merely suggest unprofessional journalism, the author—Jeremy Laurance—has a clear conflict of interest that was not disclosed. His brother is Tony Laurance, CEO of the U.K,-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), whose founder is none other than Swee Ang—one of the David Duke supporters and authors of the Gaza letter. MAP also partners with The Lancet in the Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance, a platform for anti-Israel political views under the guise of health advocacy.
As Horton and The Lancet’s refusals to genuinely address the issue of anti-Semitism, their position as ethical exemplars becomes increasingly tenuous. The contrast between their moral language and immoral actions could not be clearer. This discrepancy tarnishes The Lancet’s reputation as an academic journal as it demonizes Israel, Israeli academia, and Jews.

UK Jews condemn upcoming play on Second Intifada siege

British Jewish groups are “extremely concerned” about a new play set to premiere in England about a terrorist siege during the Second Intifada.
“The Siege,” which will open at the Lowry Theater in Manchester on May 13, is a re-telling of the April 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Over the course of a 39-day standoff, Palestinian terrorists holed up in the church, taking clergy and civilians hostage. Eight Palestinian gunmen were killed.
The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland told the London Jewish Chronicle that the play is a “whitewashing of the Second Intifada,” and the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that it would be “extremely concerned if it turned out to be the case that British taxpayers were funding a play that promoted terrorism as positive and legitimate.”

Saudi Arabia cancels contract with company that flew airliner to Israel

Saudi Arabia has terminated its contract with the Portuguese airline Hi Fly after it flew an empty jumbo jet marked with the logo of the kingdom’s national carrier, Saudia, to Ben-Gurion Airport for repairs.
The announcement was reported in the Twitter feed of a Saudi news agency.
The arrival of the jet with the logo to Ben-Gurion Airport overnight Tuesday generated a stir in the Israeli media on Wednesday after surprised airport workers spotted the plane.
The plane in question, an Airbus A330-300 devoid of passengers, arrived from Brussels to Tel Aviv for routine maintenance work with the Bedek Aviation Company, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), officials said.
A European client that works with Bedek for plane maintenance happens to lease its jets to various corporations, including Saudia, they explained.

Mubarak sentenced to 3 years in prison for corruption

Egypt’s deposed leader Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were sentenced Saturday to three years in prison and a fine in a retrial on corruption charges they faced earlier. It wasn’t immediately clear whether it will include time he’s already served since his country’s 2011 revolt.
The corruption case — dubbed by the Egyptian media as the “presidential palaces” affair — concerns charges that Mubarak and his two sons embezzled millions of dollars’ worth of state funds over the course of a decade. The funds were meant to pay for renovating and maintaining presidential palaces but were instead allegedly spent on upgrading the family’s private residences.
Mubarak was sentenced to three years, his sons to four in the case. He later appealed, sparking the retrial.
Supporters shouted in anger as Judge Hassan Hassanin announced his verdict, which included a 125 million Egyptian pound ($16.3 million) fine to be paid among the three men, as well as the return of 21 million Egyptian pounds ($2.7 million) they embezzled.

Inspectors Find Chemical Weapons at Undeclared Site in Syria

Inspectors from the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found traces of the deadly nerve agents sarin and VX at a research facility in Syria that had not been publicly declared, Reuters reported today.
Samples taken by experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in December and January tested positive for chemical precursors needed to make the toxic agents, the sources told Reuters on the condition of anonymity because the information is confidential.
“This is a pretty strong indication they have been lying about what they did with sarin,” one diplomatic source said. “They have so far been unable to give a satisfactory explanation about this finding.”
Syria pledged to rid its of its deadly chemical agents, as well as eliminate the ability to manufacture them, in a deal to avert a military strike in the wake of a deadly chemical attack against residents of a Damascus suburb in August 2013. The OPCW was charged with certifying Syria’s compliance.
Even after Syria was declared to be free of chemical weapons last year, there were doubts that Syria had fully complied with its obligations. A few months later, Syria admitted to four more chemical weapons facilities that it had not previously declared.

More Evidence Turkey Supports Al Qaeda

First, there’s the passive support. If Turkey wanted to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, it could simply tweak its visa rules for those countries that are the source to require visas for those under the age of 40. This wouldn’t impact most businessmen, but would stop the impulsive Jihadi. It could stop allowing thousands of foreign fighters to traverse its territory virtually unmolested. Stopping two dozen, when more than 100 times as many get a free pass, isn’t counter-terrorism; it is optics, equivalent to when Pakistan arrests a Taliban shadow governor, all the while supporting the rest. It could stop extending its medical services to wounded terrorists, all the while denying care to pro-democracy protestors beaten by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Brown Shirts.
Then, there is more active Turkish support, including allegations that Turkey has armed and supplied al Qaeda elements in Syria. These accusations are now more fire than smoke. One Islamic State commander, for example, has acknowledged Turkey’s material help. There is also documentary evidence about the relationship.
Last month, Turkey arrested 17 Turkish soldiers who intercepted an arms shipment destined to radicals in Syria. The arms shipment had been authorized by Turkish intelligence. Now, a Turkish judge has issued an arrest warrant for five more who sought to prevent the Turkish supply of weaponry to al Qaeda. So, here we have a titular NATO ally, which instead of arresting al Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists instead throws the book at those seeking to stop their supply. Welcome to the reality of Turkey, an undeniable sponsor of terror and a force for instability and sectarian hatred throughout the region. Diplomats can put lipstick on a pig, but there’s no denying this pig.

Turkey's Angry Reactions To Mounting International Recognition of Armenian Genocide Continue; New Voices in Turkey Demand The Country Face Up To The Past

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, AKP government officials, and pro-AKP partisan Islamist media continue their attacks against the Vatican, the European Parliament, France, Austria, Germany, and Russia for their official and unofficial recognition of the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks as genocide on the events' centennial, new voices in Turkey's anti-AKP media are advocating for Turkish recognition of the events as genocide.
Also on April 24, 2015, Turkey celebrated the centennial of its victory at the Battle of Gallipoli with grand ceremonies, with the participation of British Crown Prince Charles and Prince Harry, prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand, and dignitaries from a number of Middle Eastern and African countries. The same day, a solemn ceremony in the Armenian capital of Yerevan commemorated the massacred Ottoman Armenians, attended by, inter alia, French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Turkish leaders expressed their displeasure at these leaders' attendance in Yerevan; President Erdogan said that at the ceremony they would "get together, play, and dance to their own music" and that he wished that they had not gone there. He also boasted that while two heads of state had gone to Yerevan, "thanks to Allah, 20 came to Turkey" for its Gallipoli centennial.
This year, U.S. President Barack Obama again refrained from using the word "genocide" in his annual statement on the Armenian commemoration of the 1915 events, enraging Armenian-Americans, but that did not stop Turkish criticism of the U.S., as well as of other Western countries.

Turkey Recalls Luxembourg Envoy Over Armenian Genocide

Turkey on Thursday recalled its envoy to Luxembourg to Ankara for consultations, after that country’s parliament recognized the mass killings of Armenians in World War I as genocide, AFP reported.
The recall of the envoy is the latest such move by Ankara after it withdrew its ambassadors to the Vatican and Austria over the same controversy last month.
“We condemn and strongly reject the unfair resolution the Luxembourg parliament has adopted by distorting the historical facts and the law,” the foreign ministry said in a statement quoted by AFP.
It said it had summoned the Luxembourg ambassador to Ankara to protest the resolution, which it said was “far from understanding” the role of parliaments in such issues.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s ambassador to Luxembourg Levent Sahinkaya “has been recalled to Ankara for consultations,” it added.

Austrian Catholic, Protestant churches apologize to Jews

Austria’s Roman Catholic and Protestant churches have apologized for their anti-Semitic attitudes before and during World War II.
The separate apologies were issued Friday, a day of nationwide commemorations of the end of World War II 70 years ago.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said the Catholic Church “must acknowledge its share of responsibility for the creation of a climate of disdain and hatred” for Jews before the Nazi era. He spoke of a lack of “pity and solidarity with our Jewish fellow citizens” during the Holocaust.
Austria’s Protestant Council of Churches expressed “particular shame” for “complicity against Jews and other groups … that were considered ‘unfit to live.'”

US, EU reps concerned with anti-Semitism to partake in 'Solidarity Shabbat'

Twelve members of the US Congress and a number of European ambassadors will attend synagogues this month and participate in other activities to show their concern about anti-Semitism.
Among 11 Democrats and the Republican pledged to observe the May 22 “Solidarity Sabbat” is Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate minority leader and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), one of two Muslims in Congress. The sole Republican so far pledged is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).
Also pledged to participate, according to the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, which is organizing the event, are ambassadors to Washington from Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Georgia and Cyprus. Noted human rights activists Chen Guangcheng, formerly of China, and Paul Rusesabagina, formerly of Rwanda, also are signed on.
In addition to visiting synagogues, options for participation include hosting a Shabbat dinner and organizing a meeting on religious intolerance.

New Birthright-Inspired Program Set to Bring Young Christians to Israel

The Covenant Journey, a new initiative inspired by the popular Taglit-Birthright Israel program, is set to bring young Christians to Israel this summer in order to strengthen their faith and encourage them to become goodwill ambassadors for Israel.
“There’s one thing better than standing with Israel, and that’s standing in Israel,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer said Thursday at the annual Christian Solidarity Event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, where the new program was announced. “It is critical to bring the next generation of leaders in the Christian community to Israel. If they walk in the places where the patriarchs and the prophets and the kings and that young rabbi from the Galilee walked, then they will stand with Israel here and they will strengthen their Christian identity.”
The program will bring hundreds of Christian students to Israel on a Birthright-style trip at a cost of only $500 per person, thanks to donors including the Museum of the Bible and the Philos Project. (Birthright trips for Jews ages 18-26, by comparison, are free.) Students are selected for the Christian program based on their leadership roles on campus as well as their desire to advocate for Israel and strengthen their Christian faith.

Israeli invention to end cooking, hunger?

Plenty of mobile apps help consumers order meals for delivery or offer recipes.
But a new app developed by Israeli entrepreneurs will actually prepare the food for you on your kitchen counter.
While not quite as fantastical as it sounds — to use the app you also need a coffeemaker-sized appliance called The Genie — the invention promises to prepare mess-free, all-natural, healthy food in just seconds.
Described by one writer as “like a Keurig [coffeemaker] for food,” the device, which looks sort of like a fancy rice cooker, uses Keurig-like single-serving, disposable (but in this case recyclable) pods.
Genie creators Ayelet Carasso and Doron Marco told Reuters the food in the pods will be nutritious and free of preservatives, the ingredients kept fresh simply through freeze-drying technology.

BBC report on Israeli field hospital in Nepal

It is always a pleasure to be able to note the appearance of accurate and impartial BBC produced content on Israel-related topics and just such reporting appeared on the BBC News website’s Asia page on May 1st in the form of a filmed report which was also shown on BBC television news.
The BBC’s Clive Myrie visited the IDF’s field hospital in Nepal and filed the following report.
The IDF field hospital has already treated more than a thousand patients and also in Nepal are a team of Israeli medical clowns and an IsraAID delegation which is offering medical care in more remote areas.

Nepal earthquake Inside Kathmandu field hospital BBC News


Around the Clock Action of our Field Hospital in Nepal