Displaying posts categorized under

ISRAEL

RAY COOK ON ANTI-SEMITISM DISGUISED AS ANTI-ZIONISM *****

‘…. There is an almost obsessive antagonism to Israel and to Jews, making an exception for Jews who actively denounce Israel; Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and the late Hajo Meyer being much cited.

These views do not usually get challenged by other members.

They are permitted by the administrators. Calling the Talmud Satanic is not reasoned criticism of Israel.

The administrators post articles and videos, usually from Mint Press, Russia Today, Palestinian news channels, Evolve, Mondoweiss and Skwawkbox which are universally hostile to Israel.

Within a short space of time, these posts attract comments denigrating Jews in general.

If anyone disagrees, they are abused by other members of the group.

On the few occasions when I have posted something questioning the totally negative coverage of Israel, my comments were deleted by administrators.

The Al-Jazeera film ‘the Lobby’ is posted most days as an educational resource.

The literacy of forum members is diverse. I find it hard to imagine that Tories and Zionists would infiltrate these forums and employ so many different levels of orthographic competence.

It is argued every day on the forums that Israel is murderous, sadistic, criminal and internationally puissant. The videos are not usually clear and one cannot see what is happening in them, so a member will insert a tagline, explaining that the video depicts some monstrous behaviour inflicted on Palestinians by Israelis. I’m not saying that this never happens but that, in the videos shown, anything could be happening. It is like looking at an abstract painting. The explanatory text next to it tells you that the painting shows the artist’s inner turmoil when choosing between a tuna baguette and an avocado wrap. Without the text, one would not know….’

‘It seems the more we Jews complain about antisemitism the more people reveal their distaste for Jews and make every excuse to pooh-pooh, dismiss, ridicule and trash our fears.

If you are Muslim, gay, black, trans, disabled, the same people are tripping over themselves to stand with you to signal their virtue. All the more reason to cherish those who are not Jews yet stand with us in these troubled times.

Pigs in Palestine: Anti-Israel Left Spreads Anti-Semitic Boar Libels Who let the pigs out? According to the Left, the Jews.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271199/pigs-palestine-anti-israel-left-spreads-anti-daniel-greenfield

Combatants for Peace, an anti-Israel group widely touted by the media, has been accusing Jews of attacking Muslim settlers in Israel by releasing the pigs.

Or the boars.

An undercover video by the pro-Israel group Ad Kann showcased a Combatants for Peace tour that included claims that Jewish “settlers” ship in wild pigs by trucks to Muslim settlements in Israel.

“We saw the truck bringing pigs. An Israeli truck carrying boars,” was the claim.

The pigs were allegedly coming from the town of Alei Zahav (Golden Leaves), which has a population of 1,643 people, and about half of them are Orthodox Jews, who are unlikely to harbor many pigs. Its Facebook page features horses grazing in a paddock without so much as a pig in a poke.

But while Alei Zahav’s residents busy themselves with community events and charity projects, a Bar Mitzvah and a children’s dance recital, a multinational conglomeration of radical groups has been accusing them of building a “giant settlement” and now of shipping around trucks full of wild pigs.

Combatants for Peace is funded by the Swiss government, a German foundation named after Rosa Luxemburg, a co-founder of the Communist Spartacus League, and the New Israel Fund. That may seem like an odd bunch to get together and fund accusations of Jewish pig warfare, but it isn’t really.

Israel’s motley of wealthy anti-Israel groups are funded by the Europeans and the New Israel Fund. The NIF basically operates as a slush fund for a variety of hostile groups that range from supporting BDS to involvement in terrorism.

And who funds the NIF? George Soros, Obama’s State Department and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Palestinian Refugees: Trump’s Reality Check by Ruthie Blum

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12942/palestinian-refugees-unrwa-reality

“They are not necessarily doing things that would cause peace…” — US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.

“UNRWA has, instead of resolving the problem, done everything in its power to perpetuate it. Instead of peace and coexistence, it teaches hatred and incitement. Instead of fighting terrorist organizations, it collaborates with them…” — Ron Prosor, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN.

“Responsibility for the Palestinians and the UNRWA budgets could be transferred to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which looks after the rest of the world’s refugees and, unlike UNRWA, works toward solving the refugee problem instead of perpetuating it.” — Ron Prosor.

The Trump administration’s reported plan to overturn US policy on the issue of Palestinian refugees is long overdue. According, initially, to media reports, the new policy — scheduled to be unveiled in early September and based on sealed classified information from the US State Department — will reduce the number of Palestinians defined by the UN as “refugees” from five million to 500,000, thus refuting the figures claimed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The UN figures include descendants (not only children, but grandchildren and great grandchildren) of Palestinians across the world who have never even set foot in Israel, the Gaza Strip or the Palestinian Authority (PA). The new plan will also apparently include a rejection of the Palestinians’ so-called “right of return” to Israel of refugees and their descendants.

Washington also announced that it is cutting all US funding to UNRWA, and will reportedly “ask Israel to ‘reconsider’ the mandate it gives UNRWA to operate in the West Bank.”

This reining in of UNRWA operations — which began in January 2018, when President Donald Trump imposed a $65 million freeze on America’s annual funding — is significant, as it is the first time an American administration has actually sought out and acted upon evidence about the Palestinian refugee organization. Until now, the US has continued to provide billions of dollars to UNRWA, even as monitoring organizations – such as UN Watch, Palestinian Media Watch and NGO Monitor – have repeatedly exposed the complete and ongoing abuse of its mandate, which is already rather a marvel:

“A more precise working definition of a mandate is difficult but necessary to determine how UNRWA’s mandate is derived. The Secretary-General recently discussed the meaning of the term for the purposes of identifying and analysing mandates originating from resolutions of the General Assembly and other organs. The Secretary-General referred to the nature and definition of mandates for the purpose of his exercise:

“…Mandates are both conceptual and specific; they can articulate newly developed international norms, provide strategic policy direction on substantive and administrative issues, or request specific conferences, activities, operations and reports.

GOOD NEWS FROM ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

An Israeli-developed molecule destroys Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
The UN’s most empowered female entrepreneur in Western Europe is an Israeli.
An Israeli company is protecting both UK and Australian armies.
Intel Israel has developed even faster computer processors.
An Israeli rescue robot is virtually unstoppable.
Israel’s SodaStream is bought by PepsiCo for $3.2 billion.
An Israeli gymnast won two World gold medals and broke a world record.
Readers can help launch a film that aims to give a huge PR boost to Israel.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Another leukemia success. I reported previously (see here) on new Israeli treatments for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Now the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and US biotech BioTheryX are developing a single molecule that attacks multiple leukemia proteins simultaneously. Lab tests show a 50% success rate.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-drug-brings-hope-in-acute-leukemia-battle-hebrew-u-researchers-say/
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/hebrew-u-drug-trials-show-50-cure-rate-in-lab-mice-acute-leukemia/2018/08/27/

Breathalyzer for Parkinson’s and much more. I reported previously on the breath analyzers to detect cancer developed by Ben Gurion University (see here) and Na-Nose from Technion’s Dr Hossam Haick (see here). Now Dr Haick’s team has a handheld device to detect early Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and 16 other diseases.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/researchers-say-breathalyzer-can-be-used-to-flag-early-onset-parkinsons/
https://cdn-pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acschemneuro.8b00245
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VtDzt8H8H3E?rel=0

US approves Teva’s generic EpiPen. The US FDA has approved Israeli biotech Teva’s generic version of the EpiPen auto-injector for emergency treatment for those suffering with “anaphylactic” allergic reactions. Frantic parents in the US have been reporting a nationwide shortage of the original Mylan NV “brand” EpiPen.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/teva-shares-skyrocket-after-fda-approves-us-subsidiarys-generic-epipen/2018/08/20/

Another Israeli treatment for head lice. I reported previously (see here) on two innovative Israeli treatments for removing head lice. Now there’s a third – Israel’s Sphinx Smarthead Technologies is developing a device that destroys lice and their eggs in a 5-minute procedure that can be performed by children aged 7 and over.
https://www.oktopuscloud.com/terralab-sphinx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwnpVctnboM?rel=0

Soil bacteria cures fungal infections. Researchers at Israel’s Technion have cured fungal infections using bacteria commonly found in the upper layers of soil. They used a gel and an innovative “factory” formula to produce Bacillus subtilis bacterium, more commonly found on plant roots, to rapidly heal infected skin.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/technion-researchers-use-soil-bacteria-to-tame-fungal-infections/

An app to help you sleep. Israeli startup Dayzz is launching an app for self-insured employers to offer their employees. The app uses big data and an algorithm to diagnose each user’s specific sleep problem and devise a personalized sleep-training plan. The employer enhances the sleep quality of its staff and reduces healthcare costs. https://www.israel21c.org/app-helps-fulfill-dreams-of-a-good-nights-sleep/ https://dayzz.com/

New medical school inaugurated. I reported previously (10th Sep) when the building of Ariel University’s new medical school began. It has now been officially opened in a ceremony attended by the Israeli President and several ministers. 70 students enrolled in its first class which is open to all citizens and Palestinian Arabs.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/overcoming-opposition-to-west-bank-location-ariel-u-inaugurates-medical-school/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZIWi2MJJrg

Glucose meters for Vietnam. (TY Rachel) I reported previously (7th Jan) that Israel’s GlucoMe was shipping its glucose monitors to 200,000 Indian diabetics. Now Germany’s Merck KGaA is trialing GlucoMe’s monitors to help many of the 3.5 million Vietnamese suffering from diabetes – some 5.5% of the entire population.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-glucome-joins-merck-in-venture-to-battle-diabetes-in-vietnam/
https://www.idf.org/our-network/regions-members/western-pacific/members/119-vietnam.html

UK PM honors fundraiser of 11 MDA ambulances. Retired UK surgeon Norman Rosenbaum received the Points of Light Award from UK Prime Minister Theresa May for helping to buy 11 ambulances for Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA). I was lucky to be present at the dedication of the 10th one.
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/pensioner-who-raised-funds-for-11-mda-ambulances-honoured-by-prime-minister/ https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk/magen-david-adom/
https://netanyareflections.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-gift-of-life.html

Why Israel needs its new nation-state law Jonathan Neumann

http://standpointmag.co.uk/features-september-2018-jonathan-neumann-jeremy-corbyn-antisemitism

Benjamin Netanyahu and Jeremy Corbyn don’t have a great deal in common. But one thing they do share is recognition that the essential character of the State of Israel is its Jewishness. They offer, however, opposing responses to this fundamental. For Netanyahu and the Zionist movement, Israel’s Jewishness is something to affirm and celebrate; for Corbyn and his allies, it represents Israel’s intrinsic evil and it is the reason they are fixated on this tiny plot of land.

Netanyahu’s position was articulated by a law recently passed by his government — a law that Corbyn opposes — that defines Israel as a Jewish State, the expression of the self-determination of the Jewish People. This legislation has provoked a negative reaction both in Israel and around the world. But to appreciate the nuances and significance of that reaction and the position of the Labour leader, one must first understand the provenance and purpose of the law.

The nation-state law was originally introduced as a Knesset bill in 2011 by a member of the centrist Kadima Party, which at the time was led by Tzipi Livni (now the leader of the Opposition and, rather cynically, a critic of the law), and had support from parts of the Israeli Left. The draft legislation went through various iterations and was debated by successive governments, and indeed was watered down from earlier versions, before being passed as a Basic Law in July of this year.

What is a Basic Law? Israel has no constitution. The State’s founders expected one to be written, but it has yet to materialise, due to disagreement over the content and even desirability of such a document. Instead, the Knesset has over the years passed a series of Basic Laws, which are designed to function as clauses of the eventual constitution. Most of them legislate how the Knesset and other branches of the state are to operate. Some Basic Laws are more than functional, however: one, passed in 1980, annexed the eastern portion of Jerusalem; another, passed a few years ago, requires a large Knesset majority or a national referendum on the surrender of any annexed territory.

Jerusalem: Why Palestinian Leaders Say Don’t Vote by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12915/jerusalem-arabs-election-boycott

Palestinian leaders do not want to see any improvement in the lives of the Arabs in Jerusalem so that they can continue to incite against Israel and accuse it of discriminating against its Arab population.

Palestinian leaders and their religious clerics do not want to see Arabs live a comfortable life under Israel. They are afraid that the world would see that Arabs can have a good life under Israeli sovereignty.

They are also afraid that Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will start envying the Arabs living in Israel — and then demand from their leaders similar conditions.

Ramadan Dabash wants to help the residents of his village of Sur Baher in particular, and east Jerusalem in general, improve their living conditions. He wants them to receive better services from the Jerusalem Municipality. The 52-year-old businessman and social activist, however, has been facing a campaign of threats by several Palestinian leaders and administrative bodies over his decision to run in the municipal election, slated for October 2018.

Recently, Dabash announced his decision to run in the upcoming election at the head of an Arab list called Jerusalem for Jerusalemites. He has repeatedly made it clear this summer that his decision is not politically motivated and that his only intention is to seek improved municipal services for the Arab residents of Jerusalem. Dabash has also called on Arab voters to end their boycott of the municipal election because they are the only ones who stand to lose from such a move.

Facing threats and pressure from various Palestinian factions and leaders, most of the Arab residents of Jerusalem have been boycotting the municipal election under the pretext that participation in the vote was tantamount to recognizing Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem, which was annexed to Israel in 1980. This boycott has hurt the Arab residents themselves, who were left without representatives in the municipal council, someone who would fight for their rights. The Jerusalem Municipality has, despite the absence of Arab representatives, continued to provide various and basic services to the Arab residents of the city.

Israel Wrestles With Nationalism and Freedom By Peter Berkowitz

TEL AVIV — In mid-July, by a vote of 62-55, with two abstentions, the Knesset passed the Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. The legislation — Basic Laws in Israel enjoy constitutional status although only a simple parliamentary majority is needed to pass or repeal them — reaffirmed principles set forth in the country’s May 1948 Declaration of Independence. Nevertheless, the nation-state law has occasioned bitter controversy here. With a nationalist-infused populism roiling the United States, Britain, and Europe, the Israeli debate over the aspiration, inscribed in the country’s founding, to combine nationalism and liberal democracy has implications that transcend the Jewish state.

On Aug. 13, Haaretz contributor Uzi Baram excoriated the new law and its architects. “The nation-state law is not only an unnecessary law, it is an abhorrent law,” he stated, speaking for many on the left. It “was the product of an ultranationalist government, led by the religious right,” and was intended “to divide the public, exclude minorities and undermine the Arabic language.”

On Aug. 16 in Haaretz, Haim Ramon, a man of the center-left, published a sharp reply that gave expression to a Zionist sensibility that extends beyond Israel’s center-right. A former vice prime minister and minister of justice, he emphasized that Israel’s 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty “granted equal rights to every person in the state of Israel in the spirit of Israel’s values as a Jewish and democratic state.” But it was incomplete: “whereas the law on human dignity and liberty elaborated the individual’s rights in a democratic state, it did not elaborate the practical significance of the state’s Jewish character.” The nation-state law remedies that deficiency. It “does not come to bury the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty but to complete it.”

Whatever the actual legislative intentions and legal implications, the new Basic Law aggravated a sense of second-class citizenship among Israel’s minorities. This month Arabs, who constitute a little over 20 percent of the citizenry and who rarely serve in the army, and Druze, who represent about 1.5 percent and generally serve, attracted tens of thousands of protesters to separate political rallies in downtown Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square — the country’s premier venue for demonstrations— to decry the law.

Taking an Axe to ‘Peace Processing’ By Shoshana Bryen

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/taking_an_axe_to_peace_processing.html

The Trump administration has restored the United States to the position of honest broker – emphasis on “honest” – and taken a hatchet to a series of fantasies underlying the notion of an Israeli-Palestinian “peace process.” Twenty-five years after the Oslo Accords ushered in radical, despotic, kleptocratic Palestinian self-government, the Accords are dead. And that’s good.

The new construct is as follows:

The U.S. is not neutral between Israel, America’s democratic friend and ally, and the Palestinians, who are neither.
Everybody has a “narrative,” a national story. Not everyone’s narrative is factual. The U.S. will insist that there are facts, and that history – both ancient and modern – is real and knowable. The American government’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel is simply the acceptance of the truth of history. The city was the capital of the Jewish people and never, ever the seat of government for any other. In this assertion, the president was joined by many members of the U.S. House and Senate, irrespective of party – although some had more trouble saying so than others.
The U.S. will not pay for fraud, mismanagement, or support of terrorism by the Palestinians or the United Nations. Repeat the comment about congressional support.
Neither will we fund two Palestinian governments simply because it is easier than figuring out what to do with Hamas and Fatah, who are fighting a civil war and agree on little besides the need for Israel’s ultimate demise. Repeat the comment about congressional support.

In the new game, the Palestinians have something to lose – the sine qua non of successful negotiations.

Trump Cuts Palestinian Funding No more unconditional aid to corrupt, terrorism-enabling Palestinian leadership. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271162/trump-cuts-palestinian-funding-joseph-klein

The Trump administration will not continue subsidizing the so-called “moderate,” “non-violent” Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership clique in the vain hope that throwing more good money after bad will help bring about real peace or provide genuine help for the Palestinian people. This clique is made up of lying hypocrites, who fund and glorify terrorists while corruptly diverting aid money and donations to their own personal benefit.

Last Friday, a State Department official announced to reporters that it would redirect U.S. financial assistance of more than $200 million originally intended for the Palestinian Authority and projects in the West Bank and Gaza. This cut in bilateral aid is on top of the previously announced cut of nearly $300 million in U.S. financial support for the discredited UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) denounced the Trump administration’s latest funding cut decision. “The rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale,” PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement. “There is no glory in constantly bullying and punishing a people under occupation” through what she characterized as “economic meanness.”

US Aid, Palestinian Wakaha by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12918/us-aid-palestinians

It is clear that the Palestinian boycott of the US administration did not include receiving funds from the Americans.

The Palestinians are entitled to voice their anger at the US. However, if they are so fed up with the US that they are even boycotting US administration officials, why are they demanding that the Americans continue to supply them with hundreds of millions of dollars each year?

The Palestinians are trying to blackmail the US by claiming, absurdly, that the recent US decisions jeopardize the two-state solution and prospects for peace in the Middle East. These are the very Palestinians, however, who have refused to resume peace talks with Israel for the past four years, since long before Trump was elected as president.

The question of Palestinian responsiveness is once again on display as Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his senior officials in Ramallah step up their verbal attacks on the US administration after its decision to cut $200 million in American financial aid to the Palestinians.

Abbas and the PA leadership are again behaving like spoiled, angry children whose candy has been taken away from them, hurling abuse at the Trump administration. Recall that earlier this year, Abbas called US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman a “son of a dog.”

For the past 9 months, the Palestinian leaders have been waging a massive and unprecedented campaign of incitement and abuse against Trump and his administration. This campaign began immediately after Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, and the campaign is continuing to this day as a reply to the US decision to slash $200 million from the American financial aid to the Palestinians.