http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-future-of-terrorism-ushering-in-the-new-year?f=must_reads “In the soil of hatred and despair sprouts the seed of violence” As the year draws to a close many pause to reflect on the past and what the future may bring. Terrorists are no different. They, like the average individual, have aspirations and make resolutions for the future. Their ultimate goal can often […]
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/novelists-view-world/2013/dec/31/veteran-next-door/ I ran into this guy I had not seen in quite some time and we got to talking about the horses, as what else is there to talk about? So after all the bad news, like the chumps and bums who’d left us over the past year, we switched to something pleasant, like our […]
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6881 The sky is once again falling over Europe’s Jews. An ominous cloud of anti-Semitism is moving in and darkening the horizon. Eternal hatred of the eternal people is again rearing its head. From academia’s ivory towers to the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the cities, the slogans that led the troops as they carried […]
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14323 One does not need to be especially intelligent to draw parallels and to understand why the rate of terrorists resuming their activities is also high when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian story. In a week in which the United States was slightly embarrassed by revelations that American intelligence agencies were engaged in surveillance of […]
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2014/01/he-said-she-said-good-bad-perplexing-of.html
A Jewish Chronicle editorial (22 November) regarding the unconscionable leniency of the Lib Dems towards antisemitism in the party, following another whiff of judeophobia by yet another of its parliamentarians, David Ward:
‘….The real issue here is not his antisemitism. It is his party’s reaction to it. To say the LibDems have a track record of excusing antisemitism barely comes close to the reality. It took years for the party to remove Baroness Tonge, despite her form of antisemitic Tourette’s. But its treatment of Mr Ward takes its acquiescence in race hate to another level.
When the LibDems finally decided to act against the Bradford East MP they suspended him over the summer recess, then swiftly readmitted him in time for the party conference. It was a ‘non-punishment punishment’ and implied the party did not believe any serious action was really necessary. That impression has now been confirmed by the LibDems’ refusal to utter even a word of criticism against Mr Ward for his latest outpouring of hate, despite it being a clear restatement of the most basic antisemitic theme of all — that wealthy Jews buy up power.’
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Jill, the indefatigable poster-wielding heroine from Sussex Friends of Israel, in her customary sock-it-to-’em-with-a-smile pose:
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Sir Tom Jones, on completing a concert tour of Israel (where he memorably sang “My Yiddishe Momma”):
“I was in Israel … where a lot of singers won’t go. I don’t agree with that. I think entertainers should entertain. They should go wherever – there shouldn’t be any restrictions. I did two shows in Tel Aviv, and it was fantastic….
I wanted to go, because the Israeli people asked me. They would like me to sing, and I don’t see any problem in doing that. I don’t see why anyone would mix up the two things – entertainment and politics.”
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/
As we enter the UN-declared Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, here’s a brief round-up in snippet form of some items I didn’t have time to mention before.
Some are good, some bad, and two of the latter type are perplexing.
I list them under the names of the chief actors, in alphabetical order, naturellement.
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Woody Allen, publicly getting it at long last:
“I do feel there are many people that disguise their negative feelings toward Jews, disguise it as anti-Israel criticism, political criticism, when in fact what they really mean is that they don’t like Jews.”
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Bill Anderson, non-Jewish Aussie academic, in a letter to The Australian (20 December 2013) concerning anti-Israel Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon:
‘…. Rhiannon and other extremists in the Greens have frequently indulged in intemperate and ill-informed attacks on Israel. The NSW Greens conference in 2011 passed a proposal to “boycott Israeli goods, trading and military arrangements, and sporting, cultural and economic events as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territory, the siege of Gaza and the imprisonment of 1.5 million people and Israel’s institution of a system of apartheid”.
This radical anti-Israel policy is at odds with the policies of both main parties in Australia and the majority of the Australians. It is also at odds with the federal Greens, which voted against a similarly worded proposal.
The NSW Greens policy is so one-sided and extreme that it could have been written by Hamas. Given that Hamas is recognised and listed by most democratic governments as a terrorist organisation, one can hardly be surprised that this position of the NSW Greens would cause concern.’
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Association of American Universities (quoted here) regarding the reprehensible Academic Boycott:
“The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities strongly opposes a boycott of Israeli academic institutions…. Any such boycott of academic institutions directly violates academic freedom, which is a fundamental principle of AAU universities and of American higher education in general.
Academic freedom is the freedom of university faculty responsibly to produce and disseminate knowledge through research, teaching, and service, without undue constraint. It is a principle that should not be abridged by political considerations. American colleges and universities, as well as like institutions elsewhere, must stand as the first line of defense against attacks on academic freedom.
Efforts to address political issues, or to address restrictions on academic freedom, should not themselves infringe upon academic freedom. Restrictions imposed on the ability of scholars of any particular country to work with their fellow academics in other countries, participate in meetings and organizations, or otherwise carry out their scholarly activities violate academic freedom. The boycott of Israeli academic institutions therefore clearly violates the academic freedom not only of Israeli scholars but also of American scholars who might be pressured to comply with it. We urge American scholars and scholars around the world who believe in academic freedom to oppose this and other such academic boycotts.”
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Frank Baigel, who sits on the Jewish Leadership Council as president of the Manchester Jewish Representative Council, responding here to JLC chairman Mick Davis’s latest cheap shot at Israel, an article in Haaretz here:
“As Israel continues to be under continuous existential threat, I always — as all diaspora Jews should — support Israel, whichever party is in power. Until I go to live in Israel myself, I will not publicly express any reservations about the government’s policies.”
(Image at right: a cheap shot from Mick in 2010)
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Martin Bright, the Jewish Chronicle’s first non-Jewish political editor, on leaving the paper to take up another appointment:
“I have learnt much over the past few years. I have begun to understand the umbilical relationship between many British Jews and Israel, and their visceral reaction when it is attacked. I have grown to appreciate the many subtle and ingenious ways that antisemitism can express itself.”
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Pat Condell, with a chilling warning about the astonishing state-sponsored appeasement of Islamism in Sweden and all it portends for Jews (and for women); this video has had many thousands of hits, so chances are you’ve already seen it:
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/367254/print All things considered, it was a year without shame. It was the year that Miley Cyrus French-kissed a sledgehammer in the music video for her song “Wrecking Ball,” and cavorted naked on said wrecking ball. The former Disney star popularized the act of twerking in a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards that […]
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/367296/print The Beltway consensus seems to be that 2013 was a bad year for the same reason nearly every other recent year was bad: polarization and partisanship. Personally, I can think of plenty of more important things to worry about than partisanship. Democracy is about disagreements, and partisanship is often a sign of healthy disagreement. […]
FEISTY SWEDEN FIGHTS BACK BY SERVING WATER INSTEAD OF VODKA- Swedish pub serves pure water as vodka, and not completely by mistake http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4532/swedish_pub_serves_pure_water_as_vodka_and_not_completely_by_mistake
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4534/government_over_regulation_threatens_danish_pastry
Earlier this year New York City voted 8-0 to limit sugary drinks over 16-ounces. The purpose, argued by public health experts, is to prevent obesity and the diagnosis of type II diabetes.
Local businesses and national chains, such as Starbucks, were concerned with government regulation intruding on their business. New York City is known to be a dining capital and regulation will have an impact on their bottom lines.
A petition to block the plan was approved by New York’s Supreme Court calling the ban “unprecedented interference” and ruling it arbitrary and capricious. There is no research to prove that sugary drinks cause obesity or diabetes and the regulation was concentrated on certain businesses rather than being inclusive and citywide. A win for liberty and freedom from government regulation in New York City.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, the CATO Institute reported a proposal to limit the coumarin level found in the Danish pastries due to new European Union regulations. Denmark is famous for the kanelsnegler, or cinnamon swirls, containing high amounts of cinnamon. Hardy Christensen from the Danish Bakers’ Association explained the pastries have been made for 200 years and making them differently will “change the distinctive flavor and produce less tasty pastries.”
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4529/tables_turn_us_university_boycotts_palestinian_university
THE AUTHOR, HIGHLY REGARDED MICHAEL CURTIS CALLS SARI NUSSEIBEH “A WELL KNOWN AND RESPECTED INTELLECTUAL”…..HUH? NUSSEIBEH IS AN INVETERATE LIAR, BIGOT, AND PLAIN OLD ANTI-SEMITE. I HAVE HEARD HIS “MODERATE” RANT IN NEW YORK AT ONE OF THOSE LEFTY/TRENDY SYNAGOGUES THAT JUST LOVE INTERFAITHING…..THE PA AND ABBAS SHARE THE NAZI ASPIRATIONS WHICH ALWAYS START WITH THE 2 STATE DISSOLUTION OF ISRAEL….RSK
What goes around comes around. A celebrated US university suspended relations with Palestinian Al-Quds University. But that boycott was justified. Nazi salutes and paramilitary dress decorated a rally on their campus
In light of the recent demonstrations of ignorance, bigotry, and possibly anti-Semitism exhibited by the members of the two academic bodies — the Association of Asian American Studies in April 2013 and the American Studies Association in December 2013 — who voted in favor of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions — it is a seemingly ironic twist of fate that on November 18, 2013, Al-Quds, an Arab University, was suspended by an American university, Brandeis, from continuing the partnership arrangement between the two institutions.
Al-Quds, now with 12,000 students, Palestinians, and residents of Jerusalem, was set up in 1995 in the village of Abu Dis, just east of Jerusalem. Its chief source of funding has been the Ford Foundation; recently it has received funding from the Bronfman Foundation. Its president since 1994, Sari Nusseibeh, a professor of philosophy, is a well-known and respected intellectual, partly educated at Harvard and Oxford, who has established academic relationships with Israeli universities.
Regarded by most people as a political moderate, he has publicly called for a peace process leading to a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and for the renunciation of the Palestinian demand for the “right of return.”
