יום שבת, 3 באוגוסט 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Weekend open thread

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 03:00 PM PDT

Have fun, but be careful out there.

8/02 Links Part 2: Terror Threats Against US Embassies, No Fox Store in Ramallah - 150 Jobs Lost

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 01:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
Barry Rubin: America's Real "Dangerous Slide" is to be on the Wrong Side in the World
Would you ever imagine that the leading American newspaper would openly advocate siding with radical Islamist forces in the Middle East against all of America's allies and friends, and I mean with eyes wide open and with full awareness that it sought to overthrow them? Well, the day has come.
How has the argument for this strategy, which the Obama Administration is already pursuing being made?
A New York Times July 30th editorial entitled "Egypt's Dangerous Slide" shows a real catastrophe for the United States. What is amazing is that it takes less than five minutes to deconstruct Obama Administration's Middle East policy.
US embassies to shut down Sunday due to terror threat
US embassies and consulates across the Middle East and Asia — including in Israel — will be closed on Sunday due to an al-Qaeda-related terror threat, officials said Thursday.
The US has been "apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations, that indicates we should institute these precautionary steps," said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
Senate Confirms Power as UN Ambassador
She has also been criticized for past statements against Israel, including a 2002 interview in which she said that "external intervention" may be necessary to prevent "genocide" and "major human rights abuses" in the "Palestine/Israeli situation".
During that interview, Power responded to a hypothetical question and said that if given the opportunity she would advise the president to sacrifice billions of dollars of aid to the Jewish state, allocating the funds instead to "the new state of Palestine."
Two weeks ago she appeared to have done a complete 180, slamming the UN's "unacceptable bias" against Israel and pledging to lobby hard to get Israel a seat on the Security Council in 2018.
Power said at that time that America enjoys a "special relationship" with Israel, whose "legitimacy should be beyond dispute, and its security must be beyond doubt."
She added, "Within this (UN) organization built in the wake of the Holocaust... we also see unacceptable bias and attacks against the state of Israel."
Antisemitic Perdana Global Peace Foundation from Malaysia Added to Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
Contrary to the requirements of the UN Charter and the supposed criteria for UN accreditation - which preach "respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion" - Mohamad has a long history of antisemitism.
As far back as September 1986, he gave a speech at meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, in which he stated: "the expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land 2,000 years ago and the Nazi oppression of Jews have taught them nothing. If anything at all, it has transformed the Jews into the very monsters that they condemn so roundly in their propaganda material. They have been apt pupils of the late Dr. Goebbels."
Today, his antisemitic (anti-American and anti-Israel) diatribes continue unabated on his "chedet" blog - conveniently available directly from the website of the now UN-accredited "Perdana Global Peace Foundation" - which he controls.
Israeli Arab businessmen backtrack on Ramallah 'Fox' store following protests
Fox is an Israel-based clothing store that has many stores around the country, including in the Arab sector.
One of the businessmen is from east Jerusalem, while the second is from the North.
The two won the franchise to open a Fox store in Ramallah, the first of its kind in the Palestinian territories.
The new project was supposed to provide jobs for nearly 150 Palestinians, some of whom had already received training to start working in the Ramallah branch.
Although the owners had obtained permission from the PA Ministry of Economy to open the clothing store, Palestinian activists and journalists launched a campaign against the opening of the store in Ramallah.
EXCLUSIVE: SWC's Rabbi Cooper Responds to Roger Waters's Open Letter: 'He Needs a Reality Check'
"I'm representing an institution that represents the reality, not the cultural imagery, of anti-Semitism and Jew hatred. So whatever his motivation, it is the impact of the things he is doing: the images he uses, his affiliation with the BDS movement," said Cooper, who referred to Waters as an "open hater of Jews" after footage of the pig balloon was initially released.
Rabbi Cooper explained that the real dangers posed to Jews in Europe are manifold, and that Waters's imagery is toxic and incendiary: "The reality of 2013 means he needs a reality check and to rate that over his cultural and political viewpoint."
"Every Jewish institution in Europe has armed guards in front of it. And this guy has the chutzpah to float a pig that has the Star of David on it. It's an update of the classic Jewish stereotype that goes back to the middle ages. You can't get a more fundamentally anti-Semitic symbol than that," Cooper said.
Netanyahu: Rouhani reveals true face sooner than expected
Rouhani spoke in Tehran Friday — just two days ahead of his inauguration — after attending International Quds Day events in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying: "The Zionist regime has been a wound on the body of the Islamic world for years and the wound should be removed."
"Even if others hasten to deny his remarks, this is what the man thinks and this is the plan of the Iranian regime," said Netanyahu, adding, "his statements should shake the world from the reverie some have found themselves in since the [June 14 presidential] elections. There's a new president, but the intentions of Iran remain the same — to obtain nuclear weapons that will threaten Israel, the Middle East and the peace and security of the entire world.
Iranian Supreme Leader's Twitter Feed: Western Governments Under Zionist Control, Will Soon Be Overthrown
The official Twitter feed of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei today lashed out amid renewed peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials, emphasizing instead that Israel must be destroyed to make way for a Palestinian state.
Top Iran Official Calls for Israel's Destruction, Blames Muslim Violence on Jewish State
Iranian state media reported this week on statements made by Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi in which the powerful Iranian official – Naqdi is the commander of the Basij paramilitary force – explained the sources of regional instability and how to solve them. A lot, it turns out, hangs on the Jewish state's existence and elimination:
Top Iran leader issues edict on Bahai faith
The fatwa, or religious edict, by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is his latest against the group. It supports similar fatwas in the past by other clerics.
An Iranian news website, Tasnim, reported Wednesday that Khamenei called the Bahai "deviant and misleading."
Bahai followers are frequently under pressures from Iranian authorities, which has prompted outcry among international human rights groups.
Kerry: The Egyptian Army 'Saved Democracy'
Kerry made the remarks in a interview in Pakistan, where he earlier congratulated the new government on an historic transition of democratic power in a country long dominated by the military.
He was asked by Geo television why the United States had not taken a clear position on military intervention against Morsi's democratically elected government.
Report: Egypt Coptic Christians Have One of Their 'Worst Months'
According to the report, April was "one of the worst months for Christian Copts." On April 5, six Christians were killed near Cairo after a dispute between local Muslims and Christians escalated. Afterwards, what the report called a "collective punishment" spree against Christians resulted in "the injury of at least 20 other Copts, an Evangelical church being set on fire, and an attack on a Coptic church."
Egyptian Athlete's Public Anti-Israel Display Condemned
On Thursday, the British Jewish News website reported how Egyptian-born Mohamad Salah, who plays for Switzerland's FC Basel, found himself at the center of controversy after it emerged that he refused to shake hands with Maccabi Tel Aviv players during this week's Champions League qualifying game.
Former ThyssenKrupp Chairman Who Saved Hundreds of Jewish Oil Workers During Holocaust, Dies at 99
In a statement, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lehner, chairman of ThyssenKrupp's supervisory board, said: "During World War 2, together with his wife, he set an impressive example of courage and humanity by saving hundreds of persecuted Jews from the SS, risking his own life in the process. He played a key role in the post-war reconstruction of Germany. He is held in high esteem both in Germany and abroad."
Eric Burdon rocks Israel — no misunderstanding
Turns out, he was just a boy whose intentions were good. Clearly, he had just been misunderstood. Because here in the flesh, following local fave T-Slam's opening act at a jam-packed Zappa Shuni Amphitheater in Binyamina, was Eric Burdon.
Less an Animal, more a stomping grandpa with a comfortable paunch, Burdon belted through a tight, blistering mix of greatest hits and newer recordings Thursday night, and was plainly enjoying himself from the get-go. The relentless death threats that led his manager to announce two weeks ago that he'd be canceling this Israel trip? Not a mention. The subsequent cancelation of that cancelation? Not a word. Just a big smile from behind his shades at the start, a "thank you, you've been a great audience" at the end, and half a century's controlled musical mayhem in-between.
Does the new iPhone feature Israeli start-up's eye-tracking tech?
Whenever rumors about new iPhones abound, they tend to focus on what tech advances those phones will include. The latest spate of (persistent) rumors on an upcoming Apple release feature technology developed by an Israeli company, uMoove, which allows devices to respond to the movement of a user's eyes and face.
Called eye-tracking, the technology is already available to an extent in Samsung's Galaxy S4 device. With the S4, users can pause a video by looking away from the screen while it's playing. The phone "knows" when to pause playback because of the eye-tracking technology built into it; if the front-facing camera detects that a user's eyes have moved, the video stops playback.
EyeYon's noninvasive answer to a common eye problem
You may not have heard of corneal edema, but this painful eye condition caused by accumulation of fluids is not uncommon as a result of eye surgery, trauma or aging. The edema (swelling) causes the cornea to lose its transparency, affecting vision and leading to irreversible scarring of the cornea.
Until Israeli startup EyeYon Medical invented its patented therapeutic contact lens, Hyper CL, there was no effective way to relieve symptoms of the condition – which can be cured only with a donor cornea from a deceased person.

8/02 Links Part 1: LATMA, Pal NGO's Condemn Talks, Is The NIF/Indyk Promoting Arab Riots?

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 11:00 AM PDT

From Ian:
LATMA: Flock Builder on how to conduct a National Referendum and simulation of the peace talks


Sarah Honig: Another Tack: Who's the sucker?
We'd therefore do better to go back to basics, proclaim loud and clear that we are in our historical homeland by right; that we were attacked; that the Arabs only conjured Palestinian nationality in order to stake rival claims; that a Palestinian state never existed (i.e. we certainly didn't conquer and subjugate it); that we didn't drive out hapless refugees (who themselves launched the war); that they caused their own downfall by plotting genocide and ethnic cleansing against us; that our only sin is surviving. We can even remind the world of the Nazi legacy of "Palestinian hero" Haj Amin al-Husseini.
Admittedly, we may not convince anyone. The cards are stacked against us. But we've nothing to lose by rediscovering our defiant spirit and lost Zionist ideals. Excessive pragmatism – the sacrifice of national honor for temporary gain – will lose us everything, from our own sense of justice to the souls of our youngsters.
Only if Israel gives a bit more...
Two decades ago they told us that only if Israel agrees to talk directly to the PLO could peace become a possibility, despite that organization's monstrous terrorist record. Then we were informed that only if we allow the creation of the first self-governing authority in Palestinian history, in Gaza and Jericho, could peace ensue.
And we said fine – we've had enough of the conflict; we will live with this, for the sake of peace.
But the Palestinian Authority could sustain itself, we were then told, only if Yasser Arafat got himself a police force with tens of thousands of rifles and other military equipment. Even when this "police" force and other PA security forces mushroomed far beyond the numbers permitted by accords with Israel, and even when these "police" fired on IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians, we said fine – somehow we will live with this. Peace requires us to look the other way.
Israel – Palestinian Authority Negotiations 'Dangerous,' Palestinian NGOs Say
A group of 133 Palestinian NGOs based in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem said in a statement Wednesday that renewing Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks would be "dangerous" after a three-year hiatus.
The Palestinian NGO Network believes renewed negotiations are unwise because Israel has refused to return to its pre-1967 lines, freeze construction in Judea and Samaria, and release Palestinian terrorists incarcerated in Israel jails. The Israeli cabinet, however, agreed on Sunday to free 104 Palestinian terrorists imprisoned before the 1993 Oslo Accords as a goodwill gesture for the start of negotiations.
Irish Times fawns over mother of an Arab who murdered a Holocaust survivor
Ateya Abu Moussa, as we noted in our post, was convicted of murdering Isaac Rotenberg with an axe in 1994. The terrorist attack on Rotenberg was carried out by Abu Moussa and an accomplice as a precondition (an initiations of sorts) of their entry into a terrorist organization – information evidently not deemed interesting by Indy editors.
As we noted, Rotenberg was a Polish Jew, born in 1925 (alternately listed as 1927), who survived the Sobibor Nazi extermination camp during the Holocaust. (With the exception of Isaac, who miraculously was able to escape during a revolt, the entire Rotenberg family perished in the camp.)
Rotenberg reached the Land of Israel in 1947, joined the IDF a year later and fought in the War of Independence.
Karl Vick Emphasizes Palestinian Narrative of Imprisoned Terrorists as National Icons
The sad thing about Karl Vick's Time piece on Israel's release of 104 Palestinian Arab criminals as a gesture to restart peace talks is that the article is probably not intended to be a partisan pro-Palestinian piece. Rather Vick evidences a journalist so immersed in Palestinian victimization that he has adopted its corrupt moral universe as the central narrative of the conflict.
Fund Chaired by Indyk Promoting Arab Rioting?
Social Television, a web channel sponsored by the New Israel Fund, has been encouraging its viewers to take part in protests against the Praver plan for legalizing Bedouin communities in the Negev. The pre-planned riots took place Thursday and had an extremely violent nature. They were led by radical Arab MKs Hanin Zouabi and Jamal Zahalka (Balad) at Wadi Ara in Israels north-central region, and also took place at Lehavim Junction in the Negev.
In Wadi Ara, 18 rioters were arrested because of violence. In the Negev, two Arabs were arrested after rocks were thrown.
'US leaks on alleged Syria strikes could be attempt to harm Israeli interests'
"The mere fact that such leaks happen often indicates that the Pentagon leadership does not have Israel's interests at heart," Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post. "It is difficult to assess the motivation of such leaks."
Inbar listed several possible motives, including the wish to prevent future Israeli action.
Other possibilities include an attempt by Pentagon sources to embarrass US President Barack Obama, by pointing out the "ease" with which Israel allegedly operates in Syria at a time that the White House says US intervention is too complex and risky.
Lawyers: EU Has No Right to Determine Israel's Borders (VIDEO)
Over 1,000 international lawyers, ambassadors, and professors from 30 different countries signed a petition protesting the European Union's recent funding ban on Israel's settlements.
Israel's former ambassador to Canada and legal advisor, Alan Baker, who heads the Legal Forum for Israel's International Action Division, initiated the petition and an accompanying letter, which drew widespread support across the world.


Dismantle the EU's "Political Wing"
While Egypt's Muslim Brothers are told that they can count on Europe's support and friendship, Jewish sportsmen, artists and scientists no longer get any EU support if they are Jewish and live beyond the 1949 armistice lines. The EU wants "every significant group" included in the Middle East peace process -- except Jews who happen to live beyond the 1949 Green Line. The Muslim Brotherhood is embraced as a friend and partner of Europe, but Jewish sportsmen, artists and scientists are considered a dangerous threat to peace in the Middle East.
Will Baroness Ashton visit Jewish settlers when she happens to be in Judea and Samaria? Obviously not, since the EU advocates their discrimination and impoverishment. But in Egypt, she rushes to the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi to wish them well.
The EU's double standards are also apparent from its decision to cut all financial and commercial links to the Jews beyond the Green Line, while at the same time it refuses to include Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations by making a hypocritical distinction between the so-called "military wing" of the organization and its "political wing." This way, it remains possible to raise funds for Hezbollah -- both its "wings" -- in the 28 EU member states.
Ron Prosor: Hezbollah's partial isolation
It is for good reason that the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands long-ago labeled Hezbollah a terrorist group — and did so without distinguishing between the political and military wings.
Until Sept. 11, 2001, Hezbollah held the distinction of being responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist organization. In 1983, Hezbollah orchestrated the truck bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, which resulted in the death of 241 U.S. servicemen, mostly Marines. They were also responsible for an attack a few months earlier on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 60 people.
Time to discuss controlling Hezbollah arms: Sleiman
Controlling Hezbollah weapons needs to be discussed because of the party's military intervention in Syria, President Michel Sleiman said Thursday during celebrations to mark Lebanon Army Day.
"It has become urgent that we review and approve the National Defense Strategy in light of developments in the region," Sleiman said.
A Glimpse of Things to Come: Arab Press Protesting Hamas Repression
Head of the journalists syndicate Abdul-Nasser Najjar addressed the protesters and expressed astonishment over the ongoing assaults against journalists in Gaza.
"We were surprised as Hamas continued with assaults against Palestinian media organizations, shutting down offices of Ma'an News Network and some other media offices. This is part of an ongoing practice," Najjar said. He highlighted that "since Hamas staged its coup in Gaza, the main three Palestinian daily newspapers were banned in the Gaza Strip."
But, you know, only a year ago, in July 2012, Abdel Nasser Najjar called for boycotting a meeting between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Arab journalists. Najjar, an old PLO hand, warned that punitive measures would be taken against journalists who attended the meeting in Jerusalem.
It must be embarrassing, if not outright infuriating, for a journalist who spends half his day working like a serious professional in a Western democracy, vilifying Jews and whatnot, and then, at night, crossing over to the Heart of Darkness that is the Palestinian-run areas.
Syrian Rebels Strike Back with Massive Homs Bombing
Syrian rebels carried out a large-scale attack in the al-Nuzha district of the hotly-contested city of Homs on Thursday, hitting a weapons depot in the government-held city. At least 40 people were killed in the subsequent explosion, human rights groups reported.
Rockets Explode Near Lebanon's Presidential Palace
It was not immediately clear who fired the rockets or from where. Eyewitnesses said one rocket fell only a few meters from an entrance to the presidential palace, according to the Associated Press.
Jordan stops large arms transfer from Syria
The spokesman says the group arrested late Thursday included Jordanians and other Arab nationalities.
The official said the arms included mainly machine guns. He said an investigation had begun.
Syrian Rebel Leader Urges Attacks on Russia
The Islamist rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad have been helped by thousands of foreign terrorists, from elsewhere in the Middle East and from as far as the United States. A significant portion have come from the Caucasus, even forming their own rebel battalion.
Now the leader of one Islamist group is telling them to stay home – and attack there.

BBC whitewashes Iranian desire to destroy Israel

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT

The BBC writes:



Iran's Rouhani calls Israel occupation 'old wound' on Islamic world

Iran's President-elect Hassan Rouhani has denounced Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas as an "old wound on the body of the Islamic world".
The BBC is making it sound like Rouhani is only talking about the territories captured in 1967, not all of Israel, especially when it calls them "Palestinian areas." This is the terminology the BBC uses to refer to the territories. (See here, for example, where they explicitly say "Palestinian areas of the West Bank," or here, "the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority controls Palestinian areas."

While it appears that Rouhani used the word "occupation," the BBC is - seemingly purposefully - misleading its readers into believing that he is only talking about the hated "occupation" but has no problem with Israel. Iran, of course, considers all of Israel to be "occupied" so this terminology in the headline and subhead is deceptive - and seemingly purposefully so.

Rouhani makes it clear that he is referring to all of Israel in the part quoted later on:
"There is an old wound on the body of the Islamic world, under the shadow of the occupation of the holy lands of Palestine and Quds [Jerusalem]."
AP and others correctly reported Rouhani's meaning:
Ahead of his inauguration, Iran's new president on Friday called Israel an "old wound" that should be removed.
Yet the BBC chose deliberately to downplay Rouhani's remarks, seemingly in order to push the idea that Rouhani is a "moderate."

Indeed, the BBC did take pains to point out that Rouhani did not say that this wound must be "cleansed" as other media apparently incorrectly reported.


The BBC is proud that is can detect any nuance that would make the new Iranian president seem to be conciliatory, but it can overlook any clear evidence to the contrary.

(h/t Simon)

Jordan treats Palestinian Syrian refugees "worse than dogs"

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 07:00 AM PDT

From Amnesty:
Cyber City is an unusual camp beside a desolate crossroads outside Irbid, in northern Jordan. Hidden behind a wall and some pine trees, a dreary six-floor block looks out over rusting machinery and a dry plain. Formerly for migrant workers, it now hosts around 500 refugees from Syria.

After passing security checks I bump into Abu Alaa, a dignified 60-year-old refugee whose two sons are missing in Syria. "No news still," he sighs, holding my hand warmly. "I was just calling again." His phone shows repeated unanswered calls to numbers back home. He says his two grown-up sons had tried following him into Jordan but were refused entry due to their Palestinian origin. On separate occasions over the coming months, each appears to have been detained by the Syrian security forces and Abu Alaa fears they may not be alive.

Palestinians have been heavily affected by the violence in Syria. Almost half of the 500,000 or so Palestinian refugees in Syria have been displaced. Refugee camps and other areas in which they live, including Dera'a Camp, and Yarmouk and Sayida Zaynab in Damascus, have witnessed heavy fighting. Some 6,000 residents were forced out of Ein al-Tal Camp in Aleppo in April 2013. Sbeineh Camp in Damascus was reportedly hit by a ground-to-ground missile in May 2013, killing at least five people. Two children and two women were among at least five others killed by mortar shells fired into Khan Eshieh Camp near Damascus in June 2013.

Yet Abu Alaa's sons are among hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria who are believed to have been turned away at the Jordanian border, in violation of international law. While Jordan is hosting around half a million people from Syria, it is generally not allowing access to Palestinian or Iraqi refugees...

Of some 7,000 or more Palestinians who did manage to enter Jordan, either before the country denied all access to them early last year or as a result of using false documents, some were later forced back to the border, also in violation of international law.

Bilal, who entered Jordan ahead of other family members, tells me his father and brothers were detained in Amman and escorted to the border in December 2012. "One night my elder brother rang and told me they had been taken there at gunpoint. My younger brother had been pulled by his hair and forced into the security vehicle that took them there. They waited three days just 100 metres beyond the Jordan border post, with fighting nearby, hoping to be allowed back, until my elder brother was injured and they realized the only option was to seek aid inside Syria."

A worse fate befell Mahmud Merjan, who Cyber City residents say was killed on a Syrian street in late 2012, three weeks after being forced to sign a "voluntary" paper that he would go back to Syria. "It wasn't an arbitrary killing," says one man who knew him well. "He was known and wanted by the regime."

All those in Cyber City have fled from Syria. But while the Palestinians from Syria used to be the majority, I am told, their numbers have dwindled as many got fed up with conditions and returned to the conflict zone. "I prefer to go back and die in Syria with some dignity rather than live without it here," many say.

Complaints about the conditions here are many. Palestinians are not officially permitted to leave Cyber City. Now and again informal permission is granted to visit relatives in Irbid and Amman and so on, but mostly they are confined to the building and the immediate vicinity. Such conditions amount to arbitrary detention. "I'm sorry, but a dog can come and go more easily than we can," says a very frustrated Ali, who has been here for more than a year.

The closed border to Palestinians and the arbitrary detention of Palestinians is further dividing families, whose identities reflect decades of turmoil and flight. Sena, a Syrian woman, is here with her children while her Palestinian husband is unable to enter Jordan. Ziad is in Cyber City while his Syrian wife and children are in a Jordanian town. Elderly Abu Khaled has to stay here while family members holding Jordanian nationality do not.

While Syrians and Palestinians from Syria appreciate being in safety in Jordan, they struggle to make ends meet. Individuals are entitled to a monthly coupon worth 24 Jordanian dinars (about US$34) which they exchange for food in a small shop next to Cyber City. This works out as a mere 0.80 dinars per day, it is repeatedly pointed out. A 160g tin of tuna on the shop's shelves costs more than that.

"It is 100 per cent worse for Palestinians here than for the Syrians," says Ziad. "One, they are allowed to leave this place while we are not and, two, when they go out they can visit charitable organizations, show their UN refugee agency card" – which Palestinians do not have as they fall under the mandate of [the UN Relief and Works Agency] instead, although they should receive the same services – "and collect further relief."

"Every day here is the same," Bilal continues. "Eat, sleep, eat, sleep." With others, he counts off the names of families who have decided to risk their lives to go back into Syria. "Yes, this is what the Jordanian government wants, for us to go back. But what is the alternative? We live without purpose here. This is not life."

A friend of the deceased Mahmud Merjan summed up the despair: "It was one of our life's dreams to visit Jordan, but we came and encountered such hate. Let's hope there are no more refugee camps for Palestinians in heaven."
Even Lebanon, which has anti-Palestinian laws and severe restrictions on what Palestinians are allowed to do, allows refugees from Syria of Palestinian ancestry to go to overcrowded UNRWA camps there to get services. Jordan isn't even allowing that, preferring to send them to their possible deaths in Syria.

Here we have systemic and institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians by their fellow Arabs, far worse than anything Israel does, and the world media is silent. I cannot find a single English language media outlet to report this story from Amnesty even though it was published on Monday.

 Just yesterday, five more Palestinians in Syria were killed, including two children. The media silence is deafening.

Similarly, so-called "pro-Palestinian" groups say nothing.

The reason is because so-called "pro-Palestinian activists" who are brilliant at getting press coverage for anti-Israel stunts don't really give a damn about real Palestinians - when their suffering cannot be blamed on Israel. The media similarly doesn't consider Arab hate for Palestinians to be newsworthy.

The double standards applied to Israel are crystal clear.

Morocco's king honors Israel's outgoing chief rabbi

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 05:10 AM PDT

From L'Observatour, translated at Point of No Return:
Casablanca-born Rabbi Amar received the Ouissam Alaoui 'exceptional class' award from King Mohammed Vl as Palestinian and Israeli neogtiators sat down in Washington to resume peace talks.

In an interview with L'Observateur du Maroc, the rabbi said he was immensely moved and happy. "It's a great day for me, and a great day for the Moroccan-Jewish world, which like me remains deeply connected to Morocco. I am also happy to see that his Majesty the king is wisely leading his country in the best possible way.

"It is G-d's will that I should have received this honour from the hands of King Mohammed on the day that Israel and Palestine should resume their dialogue for peace. This is a process which his Majesty has never ceased to call for, as one who is deeply attached to the values of peace and brotherhood between peoples and religions. I see a message in this...Like the King we wish with all our heart that peace should reign not just between Israelis and Palestinians but throughout the world."

Shlomo Amar will be succeeded as Sephardi chief Rabbi of Israel by Yitzhak Yosef, who won last week's rabbinical elections.
This was covered in Arabic media as well, which reported that Rabbi Amar met with the king in Tangier ten years ago and had always wanted to return to visit his original hometown in Casablanca.

So far I have not found any negative coverage about an Arab king honoring a Zionist Jew.

(h/t Norman)

#BDSFail-ures admit they will claim victory even if it isn't true

Posted: 02 Aug 2013 02:00 AM PDT

I had missed this story two weeks ago at the BDSMovement site:
Victory! US pension fund giant TIAA-CREF drops SodaStream stock

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed the increasingly controversial Israeli company SodaStream (NASD: SODA) from its portfolio. As of March 2013, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF's website valued shares in SodaStream at $9,444,292. According to financial data available today, it is zero.
But did TIAA-CREF say they sold the stock because they intend to divest? Of course not. There could be many reasons for them to sell.

Even the BDSers are tacitly admitting that they will claim victory no matter the reality:

"No matter the reason TIAA-CREF dropped SodaStream, we view this as a conscientious decision." said Sydney Levy of the We Divest Campaign.
Hater Anna Baltzer says something similar:

Well, we cannot be sure of the reasons why TIAA-CREF divested from SodaStream. We do know that SodaStream has performed very well over the last 12 months, market-wise; well above average. And yet TIAA-CREF decided to divest.

Regardless of TIAA-CREF's reasons, I think what we're seeing is that it is increasingly unacceptable to associate in any way, to invest in, to sell products that are produced in illegal Israeli settlements. And we're seeing this as part of that trend.
Perhaps the age old financial advice of "buy low, sell high" is too difficult for BDSers to fathom.

It is nice to see that even the BDSers admit that they are more than willing to lie and declare victory when the evidence is lacking.

One thing that is very certain is that the sale of SodaStream stock was not because they are divesting from Israel. As noted recently in a linkdump:

For the fourth year in a row, the TIAA-CREF Board refused to put divestment from Israel to a vote at its annual share holders' meeting. TIAA-CREF, the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields and a Fortune 100 financial services organization was supported by a recent ruling of the Securities and Exchange Commission in choosing not to plunge its four million investors into the controversial geopolitical issue of sovereignty of disputed areas in the West Bank/ Judea Samaria.

(h/t Lianne)
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