http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2013/05/survey_says_islam_is_a_global_menace.html In an exclusive for the German conservative newspaper Die Welt on April 26, 2013, the German Bertelsmann Stiftung released international survey results concerning popular perceptions of Islam. The polling of 14,000 people in 13 countries during November and December 2012 indicates broad-based concerns about the compatibility of Islamic beliefs and behaviors with free societies. […]
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/05/libyas_classical_liberal_sharia_supremacist_leader.html
This past week’s Benghazi hearings [2] re-focused attention on statements made by Libyan leader Muhammad al-Muqaryaf [Magariaf] in the immediate aftermath [3] of the murderous 9/11/2012 attacks on the vulnerable US Benghazi diplomatic mission compound. Al-Muqaryaf, head of Libya’s National Congress, reiterated (and elaborated upon) his contentions to Al-Hayat’s Raghdah Durgham during an interview [4] published October 1, 2012.
[Durgham] Were you the first to make the mistake of considering what happened to be among the reactions to the anti-Islam film, instead of considering it a terrorist operation?
[Al-Muqaryaf] Since the first seconds after this incident happened on 9/11 I was completely convinced that this act was a premeditated and intentional terrorist act. This video (film) was not disseminated before [could be typographical error for “was disseminated before” as stated in an answer to the question following next], but it is possible that it was taken as justification and pretext. Still, the truth of the matter is that what happened was premeditated and planned according to previous arrangements.
[Durgham] When did you say this to the Americans?
[Al-Muqaryaf] From the first seconds, in my first reaction to what happened.
[Durgham] Then they chose not to believe you?
[Al-Muqaryaf] They certainly have their own way of calculating, assessing, and viewing matters. One can only respect this. But for me, as soon as I learned that this video was disseminated six months ago, it became clear to me that the issue was contrived and that the timing was chosen.
[Durgham] But you told the Americans from the beginning that this was a terrorist act. Why then did they not believe the official word from Libya instead of…
[Al-Muqaryaf] They have their reasons. I do not know these reasons and I have no knowledge about them. But I completely rule out the possibility that this might have been due to a specific intention. I have knowledge and information of course about the presence of these elements in Libya, elements linked to Al-Qa’idah since an early stage, since the days of the revolution itself and the days of the war. I also have information about the presence or infiltration by non-Libyan elements with certain ideological affiliations during a phase months prior to it [revolution].
Al-Muqaryaf’s candor [4] has proven to be a useful adjunct to the concrete e-mail evidence which emerged from the Benghazi hearings [2] (and beyond, see here [5], here [6]) exposing the Obama Administration’s deliberately mendacious narrative. But notwithstanding Al-Muqaryaf’s steadfast refusal [4] to abide the Obama Administration’s deceitfully redacted, false scenario—constructed to uphold its politically-contrived Big Lie about “the demise of Al Qaeda”—unwarranted hagiographic assessments of the Libyan leader have been put forth by typically informed conservatives. For example, although nested within a harsh overall critique of the Libyan intervention, this romanticized assessment of Al-Muqaryaf himself was provided by National Review’s Andrew McCarthy [7]:
He [Al-Muqaryaf ] was among Qaddafi’s most prominent enemies, and is reputed to be a liberal in the classic sense, supporting free elections and free speech, as well as equality among citizens and between the sexes.
Bengazhi: the honor of the American military is hanging in the balance Despite the distractions of a continuing unemployment crisis and the media’s concentration on stories of human depravity, the scandal of the death of four Americans including an ambassador in Bengazhi — “a long time ago” according to the Administration’s spokesman — will […]
IRS Punished Conservative Non-Profits, Perhaps Also Pro-Israel Groups After repeatedly denying it was targeting conservative groups for unfair treatment, the IRS admitted it was treating politically conservative groups in inappropriate ways. A pro-Israel group sued the IRS in 2010 for the same (and worse) conduct. For more than a year the U.S. Congress has been […]
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348013/irs-inquisition-update
Along with targeting tea-party groups, the IRS may also have given extra-special attention to the tax-exempt status of some Jewish groups for political reasons.
From the Jewish Press:
The passionately pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was “connected to Israel,” its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny. This admission was made in response to a query about the lengthy reveiw of Z STREET’s tax exempt status application.
In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.” . . .
And at least one purely religious Jewish organization, one not focused on Israel, was the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel. Those questions also came from the same non-profit division of the IRS at issue for inappropriately targeting politically conservative groups. The IRS required that Jewish organization to state “whether [it] supports the existence of the land of Israel,” and also demanded the organization “[d]escribe [its] religious belief system toward the land of Israel.”
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
–ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Another clue in the battle against Alzheimer’s. Researchers from Tel Aviv University believe they may have uncovered the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. They injected the protein Tomosyn into the brains of mice, and produced Alzheimer-like syndromes. Tomosyn exists in the brain but excess damages inter-cell communication.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-may-be-closing-in-on-cause-of-alzheimers/
Israeli post-trauma team in Boston. A team from the Israel Trauma Coalition has gone to the Boston suburb of Watertown to help develop “a recovery process” for the local school system. Watertown was the epicenter of the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. Children in the area are still reeling from the event.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-team-to-bring-hard-earned-post-trauma-expertise-to-boston/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-team-helps-boston-plan-attack-on-trauma/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3D5YGZ8StIc
Israeli program to help children of AIDS patients. Professor Pnina Klein of Bar-Ilan University has developed an innovative in-home training program for caregivers and HIV-infected mothers. Children in their care gained significantly improved language skills, memory and cognitive abilities.
http://www.shalomlife.com/health/19217/bar-ilan-university-program-improves-lives-of-children-of-aids-patients/
Stopping bugs in hospital beds. Reuth Medical Center in Tel Aviv announced that, following a six-month trial of Cupron’s anti-bacterial copper-embedded linens, it will be the world’s first hospital to fully deploy copper-embedded textiles in all its patient-related hospital textiles. (see current JPost blog)
http://www.cupron.com/sitefiles/1/39/10206.asp
Eat three Israeli dates a day. All nine varieties of dates grown in Israel are better than other varieties at helping protect those who consume them against cardiovascular diseases. Researchers from Haifa’s Rambam hospital and Israel’s Technion have proved this in a study published in the prestigious Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry. Three dates a day reduce triglycerides and improve cholesterol.
http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Science/Local-dates-are-best-variety-to-fight-disease-312149
Education for all children – even in hospital. World ORT Kadima Mada in Israel now provides educational facilities in all 35 Israeli hospitals with children’s units. The Swiss-based SASA Setton Foundation has just made a $3.2 million investment to cover youngsters at psychiatric hospitals and mental health units.
http://www.ort.org/news-and-reports/world-ort-news/article/no-child-is-left-behind-in-israeli-hospitals-thanks-to-the-sasa-setton-kav-or-initiative/
Israel’s center for MS patients. The Grabski Multiple Sclerosis Center in Migdal HaEmek is Israel’s first and only dedicated residential and outpatient center devoted exclusively to patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. It provides a full home environment for 32 live-in patients and serves 35 daily outpatients.
http://www.colelchabad.org/Grabski_Multiple_Sclerosis_Center.bp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGxPRb83ARY
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Israel’s street-lab in Manhattan. 15 scientists from Israel, aged 16-18, are to present Israeli technological advancements in a “street lab” tent in Manhattan’s Union Square. The inventions include a handicapped parking protection system, a seizure-alerting cell phone app and a drunk driving prevention system.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4376515,00.html
Glowing plants. (Thanks to NoCamels.com) No need for electric street lighting in the future – the trees will glow. Israeli-American company Genome Compiler is working to synthesize the DNA of an Arabidopsis plant with genes from a firefly that cause natural luminosity.
http://nocamels.com/2013/05/record-breaking-kickstarter-project-will-put-light-emitting-plants-into-your-homes/
Grasping the opportunity. (Thanks to Israel21c) Israel’s Omek Interactive has taken the new Gesture Technology to a different level in order to manipulate PC, mobile and gaming screens. Omek’s “Grasp” follows 22 points along each hand and fingers to open a whole new world of possibilities.
http://israel21c.org/technology/shake-hands-with-omeks-man-machine-interface-of-the-future/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZrcZct3ol3c
It’s how you say it. Voice emotion recognition developer Beyond Verbal has launched a patented technology that can extract, decode, and measure a full spectrum of human emotions from a person’s raw voice. Based on 18 years of research, its emotional detection engines understand someone’s mood and attitude as they speak.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000843021&fid=1725
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aWFWIU9GXSw
52 Israeli designers. 52Designers is a project to showcase 52 of Israel’s most talented designers. Each week for a year a new Israeli designer will be featured.
http://52designers.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Cooperation with China is flourishing. As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu visits China, the Chinese Ambassador to Israel says that Israel is a stakeholder in helping China reform, open up and innovate.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-start-up-nation-and-the-Chinese-dream-312049
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-china-ink-400-million-trade-agreement/
And with India. Israel is to advance bilateral business, technology and economic relations with the Indian State of Karnataka. In the first-ever Research & Development agreement between Israel and an Indian state, Karnataka benefits from Israel’s innovations and Israel benefits from the Indian state’s resources.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000842945&fid=1725
Indian firm invests in Israeli hi-tech. Indian conglomerate Tata is contributing $5 million to Tel Aviv University’s Technology Innovation Momentum Fund. It is the largest single investment in Israel by an Indian group. TAU’s relationship with Tata, is via an India-Israel tech and business forum set up ago some years ago.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/100-billion-tata-shops-for-tech-innovation-in-tel-aviv/
More fizz for SodaStream. Israel’s home carbonated beverages maker SodaStream International announced its profits were up 19.5% and revenue up 34% in the first quarter of 2013.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000842701&fid=1725
Sony invests in Israeli medical fund. Sony Corporation has invested $10 million in Rainbow Medical, which invests in the medical device inventions of serial entrepreneur Yossi Gross. Rainbow Medical will effectively function as a kind of R&D center for Sony.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000843054
The “Inside” story on Israeli Start-ups. “Business Insider” yesterday listed Israel’s 20 hottest start-ups, and praised the country’s developed start-up industry. Israel is home to some 4,800 startups. It’s also home to least two dozen accelerator/incubator programs in the Tel Aviv area, alone.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000842585&fid=1725
“A lean, green manufacturing machine” That’s what Israel can become, according to the Washington Post, thanks to its huge reservoirs of natural gas discovered off the coast of Israel. It is “capable of supplying cheap, clean energy to its people, factories and vehicles for a generation.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-once-energy-dependent-is-new-big-gas-producer/2013/05/07/75be92f4-b410-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
With apologies to My Fair Lady….rsk
There’ll be spring every year without you. Israel still will be here without you.
There’ll be fruit on the tree.
And a shore by the sea.
There’ll be danish and tea without you.
Art and music will thrive without you. Hebron still will survive without you.
And there still will be rain on that Judean Plain
even that will remain without you.
We can do without you.
You, dear friend, who taught so well,
You can go to Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire.
We can still rule with land without you.
Jerusalem will still stand without you.
And without much ado we can all muddle through without you.”
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
CAFFEINE EVERYWHERE AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK
In true Obamaesque form, the FDA has put out a cheerful flyer warning that caffeine is everywhere. It’s in your jelly beans. It’s in your shoes. It might even be in the air you breathe. The flyer includes a bizarre Q and A with its own boss, echoing Obama Inc’s strategy of fake interviews that make it seem like they have their own in-house press.
“An instant oatmeal on the market boasts that one serving has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, and then there are similar products,” the flyer ominously informs us. I haven’t seen this over-caffeinated oatmeal anywhere, but maybe it’s sneaking up on me right now.
FDA Moving to Regulate The Deadly Menace of Caffeine
DON’T WORRY, BE SWEDISH
Majed, a 17-year-old Iraqi immigrant, stabbed his sister Maria to death inflicting 107 wounds with two knives and a pair of scissors. His sister had returned to Landskrona after she broke up from a forced marriage in Iraq. She was found dead in his apartment in Landskrona on the evening of 23 April, the day after her birthday.
Majed’s lawyer thought that the original sentence of 8 years in prison was too harsh. “I thought the sentence was very strong, it was a very tough punishment. I do not share at all the district court’s perception of the seriousness of the offense,” says the 17-year-old’s defense attorney, Mr. Jansson.
And the defense attorney got his wish. The 8 year sentence has been reduced to 4.
Swedish Court Sentences Muslim Who Stabbed His Sister 107 Times to 4 Years in Prison
THE ARMY OF TINY MINORITY OF EXTREMISTS
The tiny minority of extremists is so great that law enforcement officials are having trouble finding names in the tiny 875,000 names on the list. The number of names on a highly classified U.S. central database used to track suspected terrorists has jumped to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said. And worse still, this isn’t anything like a comprehensive list. These are just the names that came up and were entered into it. The actual list would be vastly larger than a mere 875,000 names. But even 875,000 names is the equivalent of an army. The United States Army only has 561,437 active duty personnel.
Terrorist Watch List of Tiny Minority of Extremists Approaching 1 Million
Friday Afternoon Roundup – Hearts and Minds
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
HEARTS AND MINDS
The Benghazi hearings sucked most of the oxygen in the room on the right, which is why the press conference on the next day by SEAL families and military experts on the Seal Team Six attack got little attention from the conservative media.
Those that did write about it focused mainly on the Muslim prayer, but not on the bigger issues involving the Rules of Engagement. And those issues, believe it or not, are bigger than Benghazi.
Let’s begin with Charles Strange, the father of Navy SEAL Michael Strange, calling out Biden and the administration’s Muslim appeasement in true Philly fashion.
“They hate us. They know our rules of engagement,” he tells the people, too many of whom aren’t listening. “After the crash, the Taliban came up with kids in front of them to see if they could skin our soldiers alive.” William and Karen Vaughn’s layout of the appeasement that got their son killed is even more important.
A FEARFUL SYMMETRY
According to Al-Ahram, Stone told prosecutors the attack took place while he was on his way to the US Embassy to finish some paperwork for his wife. A young man enquired about his nationality and stabbed him in the neck after he said he was American.
The man who stabbed an American in Cairo on Thursday says he was motivated by a hatred of the United States.
Ironically, hating the United States was something that Mahmoud had in common with Christopher.
When invited to a seven year old’s Israel themed birthday party, Stone declined by asserting that he didn’t just hate Israel… he also hated America, writing… “If she had invited me to a party celebrating the US I suspect my response would have been the same. This is not ONLY because of the odious behavior of the US and Israeli governments, but also because of the destruction wrought in the name of nationalism in general.”
American Professor Who Hates America Stabbed in Cairo by Muslim Who Also Hates America
PEACE IN OUR TIME
Whenever the media needed a “moderate” Palestinian Arab official to trot out, they would mention Jibril Rajoub.
CBS News describes him in its bio as “Rajoub, a moderate, was a longtime player in peace talks and truce negotiations with Israel.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348009/lying-state
My take on Benghazi developments can be found here, but there are any number of other pieces an informed person should take a gander at. I’d like to suggest reading the ABC News story and Steve Hayes’ Weekly Standard piece on the State-scrubbed talking-points in conjunction with Andy McCarthy’s column on the Libyan president Mohammed Magarief. Victoria Nuland and the State Department vacuumed any real “intelligence” out of the CIA talking-points like Dr Kermit Gosnell suctioning the brains out of Philadelphia babies. Why would they do this? The nearest thing to any genuine rationale that was offered was this:
The CIA version went on to say, “That being said, we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa’ida participated in the attack.” The draft went on to specifically name the al Qaeda-affiliated group named Ansar al-Sharia.
Once again, Nuland objected to naming the terrorist groups because “we don’t want to prejudice the investigation.”
In response, an NSC staffer coordinating the review of the talking points wrote back to Nuland, “The FBI did not have major concerns with the points and offered only a couple minor suggestions…”
In an email dated 9/14/12 at 9:34 p.m. — three days after the attack and two days before Ambassador Rice appeared on the Sunday shows – Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes wrote an email saying the State Department’s concerns needed to be addressed.
“We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.”
