| Reuters says Israel breaks truce - after Hamas rockets Posted: 22 Jun 2012 11:51 AM PDT You've got to see it to believe it: Reuters says Israel broke the truce - right after Hamas shot two rockets at Israel. Someone asked the reporter about it on Twitter: I guess the style guide at Reuters says that only Israel can break a truce. The whole "cycle of violence" thing does not exist when it is in Reuters' interests to pretend that Israel is always the instigator. Oh, and that person killed was preparing to shoot another rocket at Israel, a rocket that would not have broken the truce either. (h/t Jed Galilee) 
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| There is no Zionism without Jerusalem (video) Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:05 AM PDT This was a nice video by Im Tirtzu; I made the subtitles using an excellent translation done by Nevet Basker of BroaderView.org. 
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| Another fake BDS "victory," Forward falls for it Posted: 22 Jun 2012 08:54 AM PDT Earlier today, the Forward reported: Pension Giant Dumps Caterpillar Over Israel Ties TIAA-CREF Boots Company From Responsible Investing Fund
By Blair Thornburgh
Published June 21, 2012.
Retirement giant TIAA-CREF has dumped Caterpillar from a socially responsible investment fund after over two years of pressure from human-rights groups that say the company bolsters Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
The pension fund had held $72 million in Caterpillar shares in its Social Choice Funds portfolio.
The Illinois-based construction company sold bulldozers to the Israeli government, which critics say are used in the destruction of Palestinian homes and buildings.
The move comes after campaigning against TIAA-CREF spearheaded by the We Divest Campaign in 2010 and a high-profile call to action by Archbishop Desmond Tutu last July.
The U.S. group Jewish Voice for Peace initiated the We Divest movement and gained support from the Palestinian BDS National Campaign and over 30 other organizations worldwide with petitions and grassroots activism. It turns out that the truth is quite different. As Divest This! reports: Once more, a hoax tale seems to be centered on TIAA-CREF. If you recall, the boycotters were caught red-handed several years ago trying to pass off a generic business decision by the retirement giant as a response to their request to get the organization to divest from Israel.
Rather than simply act as though the whole incident never happened, the BDSers took the unusual step of launching a multi-year campaign to get TIAA-CREF to actually do what they had simply pretended they did the year before.
The response to date from CREF has been a series of polite "please piss off" messages. Which is why this recent announcement that their divestment campaign has borne fruit seems mighty suspicious indeed.
To begin with, the story is not accompanied by any statement from TIAA-CREF itself that it has taken any action that could be described as political in nature. Which makes sense once you realize that CREF is still heavily invested in the company the boycotters are claiming as a divestment win (the long suffering Caterpillar Corporation).
In fact, if you dig a little deeper it looks like CREF did not make any politically related investment or divestment decision at all, but rather that one of its funds (one targeting social investors) was following the lead of an independent research firm (MSCI) which generates an index which many "Social Responsibility" investment funds use to determine what will and will not be included in their portfolios.
Now earlier this year, MSCI downgraded and eventually removed Caterpillar from their index, which means that CREF was just following along with a decision made by an independent researcher, not making a judgment regarding Caterpillar on its own (as reflected by the fact that other funds managed by CREF still hold millions in Caterpillar stock).
Indeed, we can see that TIAA-CREF still has tens of millions invested in Caterpillar in other funds: $21 million in their Growth and Income Fund, a similar amount in their Large Cap Growth Fund, and $10 million more in their Enhanced Large Cap Growth Fund. Doesn't sound like divestment, does it? In fact, TIAA-CREF has explicitly said why they won't divest from Caterpillar: While TIAA-CREF acknowledges participants' varying views on Israeli and Palestinian policies and the Gaza Strip and West Bank, we are unable to alter our investment policy in accordance with those views. Our responsibility to earn a competitive financial return on the retirement savings entrusted to us by 3.7 million participants obliges us to invest in a diverse line-up of companies across all sectors of the global economy. The Forward simply believed the false press release of the "Jewish Voice for Peace," complete with lots of quotes from the usual suspects praising this "victory": the Corries, Omar Barghouti and others. As soon as The Forward was told that they were duped, they silently removed the article, although at the moment you can still see that they index it in their search page. (h/t DK, CHA) 
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| Friday Links Posted: 22 Jun 2012 07:45 AM PDT |
| Sexual assaults in Tahrir Square keep getting worse Posted: 22 Jun 2012 06:25 AM PDT From Bikya Masr: The month of June has seen numerous reports of sexual violence in Egypt's iconic square, highlighting that women's rights and ending harassment continue to be on the outside looking in as political tension in the country amps up.
Last Friday was the worst day, with women, both foreigners and Egyptians, reporting that they had been sexually assaulted in the square take place following the disbanding of Parliament on Thursday evening.
"I was walking in the square and was hoping to be part of the calls for the SCAF to leave power when a man behind me grabbed by butt and started saying disgusting things to me," one woman told Bikyamasr.com on Friday afternoon, asking that their identity remain anonymous.
"He asked if I was a slut and then swore at me when I yelled at him," she added.
Others also reported being harassed on social media networks, highlighting the growing concern facing women in the country and specifically in Tahrir Square, where masses are gathering.
One foreign correspondent, a female, said she would not head down to Tahrir when it gets dark for fear of being attacked and groped. She said on the side streets of the square, she was grabbed numerous times this past week.
If women cannot walk their streets freely, without fear of being assaulted, harassed and raped, how can the country move forward on a revolution that has been stalled by the military power in control of the country?
While there are a number of activists who have apologized for sexual violence against women, these apologies and anger toward sexual assaults against women in Egypt are usually forgotten within 24 hours, with many activists claiming there "are more important issues" to be discussed.
This misses the point facing more than half the country. As Nawal Saadawi, the prominent Egyptian feminist, told us recently in her Cairo house, "women are the revolution and without women you cannot have a future."
...This is the current, modern Egypt that exists. And one where women are silenced from public. The use of violence and harassment against all women in this country is the main social problem that is barring any real and viable change from occurring.
If Egypt is to see the success of the revolution then women, and violence against them, must be battled at every step.
A constitution and election are important. But a country where women live in fear of walking down their streets, anywhere, is not a country that has a bright future. 
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| Syria round-up: 170 killed yesterday; Russia admits sending helicopters; new defections Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT From Al Arabiya: Clashes in Syria on Thursday killed nearly 170 people, mainly civilians, on the deadliest day since a ceasefire came into force, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as Russia acknowledged that it was trying to send repaired combat helicopters to Syria.
"It's the bloodiest day since the start of the ceasefire (on April 12) and one of the bloodiest since the start of the revolt against the Syrian regime," Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP.
The day's violence had killed at least 104 civilians, 54 soldiers and 10 rebel fighters, according to the toll compiled by the London-based organization, based on the reports of activists inside the country.
Aid workers hoping to evacuate trapped civilians and the wounded were unable to enter hard-hit areas of the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday due to shooting and an "unclear" security situation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
Government forces and rebels had both agreed on Wednesday to an ICRC request for a truce for humanitarian reasons after more than 10 days of intense fighting.
Meanwhile, Russia acknowledged on Thursday that it was trying to send repaired combat helicopters to Syria and said it would continue to carry out arms contracts with President Assad's government despite Western and Arab criticism. Today, the rebels struck back: Twenty six men believed to be pro-government "Shabbiha" militiamen have been killed in Syria's northern Aleppo province, an activist monitoring group said on Friday.
A video link sent by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights showed several men covered in blood and piled on top of each other on the side of a road. Many wore army fatigues but some were just wearing t-shirts. And there may have been some high-level defections: A Syrian activist group says four senior army officers have defected and joined the opposition.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights provided a video Friday purporting to show two brigadier generals and two colonels. They declared they were defecting.
The group said the defections came Thursday — the same day a Syria fighter pilot flew his MiG-21 warplane to neighboring Jordan, where he was given asylum. Speaking of defections: Members of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle are secretly making plans to defect to the opposition should the Syrian regime become critically threatened by the rebellion, US officials have told The Daily Telegraph.
Senior military figures are understood to be laying down "exit strategies" and establishing lines of communication with the rebels to discuss how they would be received if they deserted. And the Golan Druze leaders, who normally can discern the political winds, have abandoned a long-standing ban for their people to become citizens of Israel. Up until now they excommunicated any people who became Israeli citizens, but they no longer feel that they have any loyalty to the Assad regime. (h/t Yoel) 
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| The other "price tags" that the media ignore Posted: 22 Jun 2012 03:23 AM PDT From Arutz-7: Residents of the small agricultural community of Maor, east of Hadera, went to their synagogue Friday for morning prayers and were appalled to find that it had been vandalized overnight.
The vandals sprayed the walls of the building with the words of Muslim prayers, written in Arabic, and with praise for Mohammed, who Muslims believe was a prophet. Last month: Israelis who went to pray at an ancient synagogue near Jericho were appalled to find that the building had been vandalized. Swastikas and pro-Palestinian Authority slogans had been painted on the gate of the building and on an ancient mural.
The synagogue, in Naarin, has been desecrated in the past. However, residents of the region said, the latest incident shows that vandals have "crossed a red line."
"The historic mural that was desecrated is an important testimony to our people's history," said heads of the Jewish community in the Jericho region. "A people that does not protect its past has no future." And deliberate arson attacks, seemingly by Arabs in the Jerusalem area have mushroomed: A rash of suspected arson attacks in open areas around southeast Jerusalem has firefighters scrambling to find a way to stop the fires, believed to have been set by area youths.
In the month of May, firefighters dealt with 1,759 blazes in open areas around that part of the capital, according to Jerusalem Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Asaf Abras. Considering that the Jerusalem district usually deals with about 8,000 such events during the entire year, the number is staggering.
Abras said firefighters had opened 200 investigations into suspected cases of arson since May, and in half of the cases were able to positively identify the source of the fire as having been arson. Sometimes multiple fires are considered part of the same investigation.
Most of the blazes are around the Arnona, Armon Hanatziv, Jebl Mukaber and Sur Bahir neighborhoods. Abras said the fires were so frequent that firefighters often were called back to the same area less than 15 minutes later to deal with another outbreak. But desecrating synagogues and setting fires aren't newsworthy when they are done by Arabs. 
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