יום שבת, 14 בדצמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

12/13 Links Pt2: The legal case for Judea and Samaria, EU official defends paying Palestinians not to work

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST

From Ian:
The legal case for Judea and Samaria
If we were to make a gross generalization, the world has adopted the Palestinian narrative as it relates to the legal status of the territories. Even those who negotiate on behalf of the State of Israel, men and women who officially adhere to the party line that Judea and Samaria, the cradle of Jewish civilization and peoplehood, is not occupied territory, have long ceased to make this statement publicly, just as they haven't even bothered to make use of a long list of legal and historical arguments that support this position.
While it may seem that this train has long left the station, we were surprised to suddenly learn that for months now a counterattack has been waged over "the historical, legal truth." This is a campaign that is being waged by hundreds of jurists from Israel and abroad who aren't making do with the usual "rights of our forefathers" or "Zionism" rejoinders which are now devoid of currency in the international arena and the High Court of Justice.
Why Israel is boycotted
The attempts to boycott Israel or mark its products, interfere in its ancient geography or mark it as racist, fascist or Nazi are the current political expression of Israel's ancient characterization as "a nation that dwells alone." The return to Zion is the Jewish nation's return to history, to life as a sovereign people in its ancient homeland. Calls for boycott were made even before the establishment of the state. While these calls came from the extremist factions at the time, they moved toward the center as the years went by, particularly after 1967. That was when we came back to the cradle of our nationhood, to the historical places most closely connected with our identity. Most important, we came back to Jerusalem, which is also linked with the identity of the world's nations. The fight against Israel -- which is a fight against history's law of the return to Zion -- is evidence of how hard it is for Israel's opponents to deal with the Jews' return to life after having been in a state of living death for so long. That is why we and our products are marked, why the badge of shame is being placed upon us once again, why we are being isolated and boycotted. This is our adversaries' way of saying: "You are not one of us."
EU shows it's unhappy to fund divided, dysfunctional Palestinians
But stopping funding for Gaza may just be a prelude to much broader measures. European officials have been mulling the possibility of cutting funding to the PA altogether if talks between Israel and the Palestinians fail to bring about tangible results. This is a possibility not all officials like mentioning; some prefer to present the cup half full: Europe will significantly increase funding if talks succeed, one diplomat said.
A key word in the new European report is "conditionality." Europe feels it has been doling out billions of euros in aid to the Palestinian Authority with no mechanism of checking its impact or benefit. That, it seems, is about to change; Europe will demand more accountability from the Palestinian Authority and stop treating the Fatah-Hamas schism as a temporary situation.
Idiotic EU official defends paying Palestinians not to work
The story was widely reported and brought the following letter to the editor of The Financial Times, from an EU official:
Sir, While I appreciate the welcome coverage given to the vital work being done by the EU in Palestine, your report "Brussels criticised for paying Gaza civil servants who no longer work" (December 11) is misleading. Indeed, it would have been useful to remind your readers that the existence of the Palestinian Authority, and its ability to provide basic services to its citizens, is a precondition for a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This has been the cornerstone of EU policy on the conflict, fully supported by all member states. In this context, the European Commission and the member states have considered it vital that the Palestinian Authority is able to support its workers in the West Bank and in Gaza as a key element of a future Palestinian state.
Jerusalem slams Dutch water company's 'self-righteous hypocrisy'
Israel on Thursday condemned the "self-righteous hypocrisy" of Dutch government-owned water company Vitens, after it emerged that the company still cooperates with the water authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, Vitens had announced it would cease working with Israel's national water supplier Mekorot because it provides water to Jewish communities in the West Bank.
"This only confirms yet again that Vitens' move regarding Mekorot is heavily tainted with self-righteous hypocrisy and has nothing to do with international law," the spokesperson of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Yigal Palmor, told The Times of Israel Thursday. "Cowardly caving in to pressure by radicals and extremists will only encourage more iniquitous actions, and Vitens's verbose moralizing will bring them more of this kind."
Government shelves Prawer Plan on Bedouin settlement
The controversial Prawer Plan to solve the issue of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev will be scrapped, one of the bill's chief architects announced Thursday.
Former minister Benny Begin, who worked on the bill with Ehud Prawer, head of policy planning in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, told reporters at a press conference that "the prime minister accepted my advice to delay bringing the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev to a Knesset vote."
Another missed opportunity
All of this would be acceptable if nixing the law actually served the interests of one side. But this is not the case. Most of the Bedouin who hope for economic and social advancement understand that Begin-Prawer's land settlement could have solved their problem. But in the Arab sector a pattern of behavior has been established where nothing reasonable or effective can be undertaken if it involves cooperating with Jews.
After CounterPunch Interview ADL Accuses Roger Waters of 'Conspiratorial Anti-Semitism'
After formerly defending rock star Roger Waters from charges of anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has concluded that the former Pink Floyd bassist is an anti-Semite.
The latest stance from the ADL follows the publication by CounterPunch magazine of an interview with Waters in which he compared Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, and referred to the "Jewish lobby" as the reason why so few celebrities have joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Roger Waters: The professional liar
The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is the most prominent anti-Israel movement in the West. It is neither a peace movement nor an anti-occupation movement. It is a movement that supports the destruction of the State of Israel in order to establish a single state in its stead. The BDS movement's leaders declare this openly and publicly. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame has in recent years become one of BDS's most important and celebrated spokespeople. Waters gives frequent interviews to explain his position. It is important to pay attention to what he says in order to expose how this industry of lies works.
The anti-Semitic stench of Pink Floyd
I've read some heavy-duty attacks on Israel and Jews in my time, but they pale beside the anti-Semitic diatribe recently offered by Roger Waters, Pink Floyd's co-founder and former front man. In an interview with CounterPunch online magazine, Waters experienced a Jew-hating colonic where he purged himself of all the racist refuse that had accumulated in his putrid system and clearly required release.
Good people opposing academic boycott of Israel
I don't know what the outcome will be regarding the proposal by the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions. The membership voting ends December 15.
While the proposal took pro-Israel and/or pro-Academic Freedom academics by surprise, it was years in the making by devoted the BDS activists who now run the ASA and some other academic associations.
The vote will not be the end. Pro-Israel and/or pro-Academic Freedom academics and groups will need to assess how to oppose the mob rule that increasingly determines the very thing that should not be subjected to mob rule, academic freedom.
American Studies Association purges their Facebook page of critical comments
If you visit the site today (at least as of this morning) you will see that it has been cleansed of every posting relevant to the boycott posted yesterday (December 11).
Under normal circumstances, I'd take solace in the notion of hypocrisy being the complement vice pays to virtue. But what are we to make of an organization that, in attempting to shut down inquiry with their Israeli colleagues is ready to first shut it down among its own members while simultaneously sending out e-mails urging people to participate in "discussion and healthy debate"?
The Disinformation Age
Around the time the Newseum announced it would put members of a designated terrorist organization on the Journalism Memorial Wall, we learned that Ahmed Haidar, an employee of al-Manar, was already there. It's unclear when he was so honored. What is clear is that the Newseum knows al-Manar is owned by Hezbollah -- and that both are designated terrorist entities.
As with the al-Aqsa employees, it is not certain that Haidar ever actually contributed to any journalistic products whatsoever. In its designation of al-Manar, the U.S. Treasury Department noted that some of those on the organization's payroll are "engaged in pre-operational surveillance for Hezballah operations under cover of employment by al-Manar."
In other words, "just because you carry a camera and a notebook doesn't make you a journalist."
A Tour of New York Times Editorializing
A brief CAMERA video documents a number of recent examples of anti-Israel editorializing in the supposedly impartial New York Times news pages.


Modern day Nazi salute sweeping Europe, expert warns
A neo-Nazi gesture, regarded by anti-Semitism researchers as a modern day Nazi salute, is rapidly spreading among anti-Semites in Europe and is being used by individuals to fly under the radar of strict anti-hate speech laws in parts of the continent.
The "quenellle" signal, extending one's right hand toward the ground while the left hand grasps the shoulder, was devised by Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, a controversial French comedian who has been condemned in court several times for anti-Semitic remarks.
Simon Cowell's Syco Investigating Lebanese 'Arabs Got Talent' Judge Who Admires Hitler's 'Persuasive' Speeches
The Lebanese host of 'Arabs Got Talent,' an international franchise of Simon Cowell's Syco television empire, is in hot water with the UK parent company for saying how much she admired the public speaking abilities of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in an interview on Lebanese MTV, the UK's Jewish News reported on Thursday.
Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, who has sold 50 million records and was the Arab face of the L'Oreal cosmetics line until last year, when asked on the Arabic-language interview program 'Talk of the Town,' in an episode aired on June 28, 2012, if she could choose attributes from six famous men to create the "ideal man" the first idea to pop into Karam's head was Hitler's "persuasive" speaking ability.
Romanian FM: 'Burn kike' song merits prosecution
Romania's foreign minister has called on his country's judiciary to prosecute the parties responsible for the airing of a Christmas carol about burning Jews.
Titus Corlatean made the statement Thursday following international uproar over the public broadcasters TVR3's television transmission last week of a song by the Dor Transilvan ensemble, which celebrated the Holocaust.
Pakistani Blogger Calls For Reform In Textbooks:
Recently, Pakistani blogger Bakhtawar Bilal Soofi examined the influence of school textbooks on young children in Pakistan and they subtle ways in which they come to imbue negative ideas about other religions and communities.[1]
Soofi, whose blog post titled "An Intolerant Educational System Made Me Indifferent To The Death Of Non-Muslims" was published on the website of The Express Tribune daily, suggested ways to inculcate pluralistic thinking among Pakistani youth.
IDF Blog: 5 Technologies that Keep the IDF on the Cutting Edge
Groundbreaking technologies are advancing the IDF's capabilities and eliminating threats. With these advanced tools in the hands of its soldiers, the IDF protects the people of Israel.
In a major speech last October, IDF Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz described the wide-ranging threats facing Israel in the near future. According to the Chief of Staff, the IDF could be forced to contend with anything from missile strikes on military sites to large-scale battles and cyber attacks that would paralyze Israel's infrastructure.
A Clean Tech Air Force By 2033: That's the IAF's Green Goal
In the past two years, the Israel Air Force has been undergoing a huge change for the greener, and is using clean technology from around the world to become a net-zero-energy air force by the year 2033.
With the dramatic increases in the prices of gas, water and electricity in the past few years, coupled with military budget cuts, the Israel Air Force has been doing everything possible to switch over to systems that will bring significant energy savings over the next few years and into the future.
States hope to repeat Mass.-Israel tech success
Overall, job growth at the Israeli companies grew five times faster than the state's overall employment growth rate from 2010 to 2012. Over that period, revenue at Israeli-founded companies in the state grew three times faster than in the Massachusetts economy overall, with revenue growth double that of the state's most important IT and professional services sectors, including life sciences, the study showed.
The data explains the rush of US states to set up deals with Israel, organizing partnerships with government and academic institutions. The study identified 16 governors and nine mayors who have conducted trade missions to Israel since 2010, all of them touting their state as the best destination for Israeli start-ups seeking to expand to the US.
Part 2: The Church of Ireland Library's 115-Year-Old Photographic Treasure
We present here Part 2 from the Church of Ireland Library's photographic collection of pictures taken by David Brown in 1897.

IDF helping West Bank, Gaza Arabs during storm

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST

From the IDF:
As a result of the weather and a request by representatives of the United Nations to the head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Major General Eitan Dangot, the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing was opened specially this morning in order to transfer gas for home heating. Additionally, as the day goes on, four water pumps will be transferred to the Gaza Strip due to heavy flooding.

The additional activities at the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing, as well as the transfer of additional water pumps is being made possible by the COGAT, the Ministry of Defense and the company Mekorot, in coordination with UN agencies.

COGAT is in communications with the Palestinian Authority and the international community, updating them on the situation. The IDF emphasizes that Israel will do everything that is necessary to assist the civilian populations in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on providing electricity to the power plant in Gaza.

Furthermore, COGAT has opened a shared Israeli-Palestinian situation room with the goal of assisting civilians in distress in Judea and Samaria, with an emphasis on transportation and electricity.
Kerem Shalom is normally closed on Fridays.

The pumps for Gaza are being paid for by the PA.

The flooding in Gaza is serious:

12/13 Links Pt1: The Neo-Mandate Solution, Palestinian refugees - a reality check

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Barry Rubin: Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Neo-Mandate Solution
For example, is the U.S. air force going to bomb a building in Gaza that is an open headquarter for Gaza rocket and terrorist attacks? Will it aggressively go after foreign fighters, even if those foreign fighters have attacked Americans? Will it send them to Guantanamo Bay? Will it respond to criticism in the UN? May I point out that U.S. counterterrorism policy has not been very aggressive of late.
Think about Benghazi.
The United States will then have two choices:
1. The U.S. helps Israel, albeit with constant opposition, and alienates the Arab and Iranian and Turkish world.
2. The United States will gradually get tired of the burden and walk away from it.
In other words, Israel would not benefit from what can only be called "ObamaStrategicCare."
If you like it, no matter what you've heard, you can keep your strategic patron or plan, you can keep your ally (Obama), and you'll save money. No one will be able to take that away from you. (h/t NormanF)
Israelis and Palestinians Don't Share Kerry's Optimism on Peace Talks
While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry returned from his Middle East trip last week with an optimistic message, following his latest attempt to foster progress in Israel-Palestinian peace talks and the presentation of a security proposal to both sides, Israelis and Palestinians aren't sharing his positive outlook.
From Dec. 4-6, Kerry accompanied in Jerusalem and Ramallah by retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Allen presented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with what Kerry and the State Department have carefully described as only "some thoughts" on the resolution of security issues that have been obstructing progress in negotiations.
Open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry
Dear Mr. Secretary of State,
We don't know each other personally, but in my position as assistant to the IDF chief of General Staff, I have been closely following your every move. When you met, as a senator, with Bashar Assad in Damascus, I was flabbergasted when you proclaimed that this was a great opportunity to make peace with Syria's modern and moderate leader.
Over the past few months, I've been listening very closely to your speeches and statements about events in the Middle East and what actions you think Israel should take. I would like to describe to you a slightly different reality, one which I've experienced through the various senior IDF positions I've held, through the military reserve duty which I still actively carry out and from living with my family in Beit Horon, a community situated between Jerusalem and Modi'in (you'd probably call it a West Bank settlement) where we have been living alongside Palestinian neighbors for many years.
Abbas Rejects Israeli Security Presence in the Jordan Valley
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said that if Israel insists on maintaining security presence in the Jordan Valley, there will not be a peace agreement.
Abbas added in the interview that all the Israeli "settlements" are located on "Palestinian land" and must be evicted in order for an agreement to be signed. He added that the PA leadership would agree to extend the current talks by one month, if serious progress is made during the nine-month period that was allocated by the Americans for the talks.
The Palestinian refugees -- a reality check
According to an August 1971 Ford Foundation report, by 1950 the majority of the Palestinian refugees began evacuating the camps and non-refugees moved in to benefit from UNRWA's services. For example, half of the population in the Jalazone refugee camp, near Ramallah, settled there after 1950.
A November 17, 2003 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office documented that less than 33% of registered Palestinian refugees live in refugee camps.
Palestinian teen killer of IDF soldier indicted
A 16-year-old Palestinian was indicted on Thursday for the stabbing death of IDF soldier Eden Atias a month ago.
Hussein Sharif Rawarda, a resident of the West Bank city of Jenin, stands accused of stabbing 19-year-old Atias multiple times in the neck on November 13. The attack took place on a bus in the northern town of Afula.
Baby Avigail's Attackers Charged
The indictment states that the seven youths attacked the car in which toddler Avigail Ben-Tzion was travelling, along with her mother and siblings, in a brutal attack on November 28.
Avigail suffered serious head injuries and was admitted to Jerusalem's Hadassa Ein Kerem hospital. She was discharged three days later after her condition improved, and is currently recovering at home.
Exclusive: Israeli, Palestinian officials to coordinate civilian emergency responses
Israeli and Palestinian officials held a meeting in Hebron this week, the first of its kind, to improve joint coordination in responding to civilian emergencies such as fires and accidents, and to figure out ways to protect the local environment together.
The understandings reached by the participants found expression already on Thursday, when two Palestinian bulldozers joined Israeli bulldozers in clearing routes 36 and 60 after a heavy snow storm blocked the two roads that serve Palestinian and Israeli drivers.
Palestinians slam Guatemalan president for visiting east Jerusalem
PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat expressed "strong dissatisfaction with the response given by the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry regarding complaints made by the State of Palestine on the issue," according to a statement issued by the PLO.
"We will not accept any attempt to legitimize Israel's occupation policies, particularly in East Jerusalem," Erekat was quoted as saying.
Egypt destroys Hamas arms depots in Sinai
The weapons depots constituted the Islamist group's logistic rear front, and the Egyptians reportedly also shut down arms workshops in Sheikh Zuweid which produced arms for Hamas.
Near those workshops, Hamas also operated firing ranges for testing rockets in the months before the Egyptian campaign, the officials said.
US Poll: 84% Think Iran Stalling to Build Nukes
Obama's move is in contradiction to the public will expressed in the poll, which revealed 77% of Americans support the ongoing 6 month negotiations "while imposing sanctions and increas[ing] financial pressure and sanctions." In fact, only 14% said they would vote for a senator that would reduce pressure on Iran during negotiations.
Furthermore, the poll discovered that there is deep-seated distrust over the intentions of the Iranian regime. Only 7% trust the Iranian claim that their nuclear program is peaceful.
US hits firms over Iran as sanctions debate goes on
The United States targeted more than two dozen companies and people on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran, an effort by the Obama administration to show it will enforce existing law even as it presses Congress to hold off on additional measures while world powers pursue a comprehensive nuclear deal with Tehran.
The action freezes the US assets of firms in Panama, Singapore, Ukraine and elsewhere for maintaining covert business with Iran's national tanker company. Other companies involved directly in the proliferation of material useful for weapons of mass destruction also were blacklisted from the US market. American citizens are banned from any transactions with the listed individuals and firms.
Iran halts nuclear talks for 'consultations'
"The Iranian negotiators interrupted the talks with the P5+1 [Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany] for consultations in Tehran," the Islamic Republic New Agency (IRNA) reported Friday.
AFP reported Friday that the decision to halt the talks came hours after Washington blacklisted a dozen overseas companies and individuals for evading US sanctions on Iran.
UN panel: Sanctions against Iran must be enforced despite Geneva deal
Australia's UN Ambassador Gary Quinlan told the 15-nation Security Council that a Nov. 24 interim deal between Iran and six world powers, which offers Iran limited sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, did not affect countries' legal obligations to implement UN measures.
"The Security Council measures ... remain in effect; and States have an obligation to implement them duly," Quinlan said in his latest 90-day report. "It is only by a Security Council decision that these measures can be modified or terminated, and, until then, member states are obligated to enforce them."
Iran Insists on Delivery of S-300 Defense System From Russia
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran will not drop its 2007 deal with Moscow to pay $800 million for the Russian-made S-300 air defense system missile shield, semi-official state news agency FARS reported on Thursday.
The deal was formally scrapped in 2010 by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, "who was unilaterally expanding on sanctions against Iran imposed by the UN Security Council," in the words of FARS. Iran filed a $4 billion lawsuit against Russia in the international arbitration court in Geneva, which is still pending.
Wife of Pastor Imprisoned in Iran Says U.S. Government Abandoned Her Husband
Naghmeh Abedini told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that she was dismayed after learning that her husband's imprisonment was not raised during the recent nuclear negotiations between Iran, the United States, and other world powers.
Saeed Abedini was detained last year for starting Christian house churches in Iran and was later sentenced to eight years in prison for "undermining the national security of Iran."
Final UN report confirms chemical weapons used multiple times in Syria
Chemical weapons were likely used in five out of seven attacks investigated by UN experts in Syria, where a 2 1/2-year civil war has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the final report of a UN inquiry published on Thursday.
The UN investigators said the deadly nerve agent sarin was likely used in four of the incidents, in one case on a large scale.
The report noted that in several cases the victims included government soldiers and civilians, though it was not always possible to establish with certainty any direct links between the attacks, the victims and the alleged sites of the incidents.
Al Qaeda Pushes Kurdish Population Transfer in Syria
The Syrian human rights organization Al Masrad reports that Al Qaeda affiliated Da'ash (the Islamic state in Iraq in Syria) fighters are expelling Kurdish families from their homes in a number of north Syrian communities, settling families of the organization's fighters in their stead.
According to eye witnesses, Da'ash fighters gave the families short notice to abandon their homes, leaving many of them without a roof over their heads and in difficult conditions.
Sharia Law Less Prominent, But Still in Egypt's Draft Constitution
The draft constitution eliminates the 2012 Muslim Brotherhood constitution's Article 219, which defined aspects of Sharia law on which legislation could be based. Article 219 and other aspects of the 2012 constitution led many liberal and Christian leaders to boycott the Muslim Brotherhood government, culminating in popular protests and the military's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
Nevertheless, remaining in the new draft constitution is Article 2, which states that the principles of Sharia "the main source of legislation."
Massive Explosion Rocks Egyptian Police Camp
On Thursday an Egyptian security forces camp in Ismailiya, near the Sinai Peninsula, was targeted by a massive explosion, leaving at least 35 policemen injured. Officials told Al Jazeera the bombing was followed by gunshots.
Ismailiya and the surrounding Sinai areas have witnessed regular attacks on police and military. In October, another security headquarters was attacked in Ismailiya, leaving 5 soldiers dead.

More Leftist intolerance: Haifa U refuses to give honorary doctorate to right wing Nobel laureate

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 07:00 AM PST


Haaretz (Hebrew) reports that the University of Haifa considered, and rejected, giving an honorary doctorate to Professor Robert Aumann, who won the Nobel prize in economics in 2005.

The reason? Because his political views are too right-wing!

Aumann is a supporter of  the basic human rights of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria, and he is against dividing Jerusalem.

The committee discussing who to give honorary degrees to considered Aumann but rejected him because his political opinions "do not reflect the values ​​of the university."

This apparently puts him beyond the pale from the progressive Haifa University leadership who have no problem inviting anti-Israel activists to speak on campus. It has also granted honorary degrees to far left activists like Shulamit Aloni, who defended Jimmy Carter calling Israel an "apartheid" state. At the time the university praised her for having "values entrenched in the University of Haifa ethos."

The University has also banned playing Israel's national anthem at its law school graduation ceremony, presumably because it mentions that Israel is a Jewish state.

The "big tent" we hear so much about apparently only has a door open to the Left.

(h/t Steven Plaut)

Mahmoud Abbas says "no" to BDS in South Africa

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST

From The Star (SA), courtesy of Electronic Intifada (I could not find this online):


The BDS crowd is, predictably, furious.

Abbas' comments conflict "with the Palestinian national consensus that has strongly supported BDS against Israel since 2005," Omar Barghouti told The Electronic Intifada.

A founder of the BDS movement, Barghouti emphasized that he was commenting in a personal capacity.

"There is no Palestinian political party, trade union, NGO [nongovernmental organization] network or mass organization that does not strongly support BDS. Any Palestinian official who lacks a democratic mandate and any real public support, therefore, cannot claim to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people when it comes to deciding our strategies of resistance to Israel's regime of occupation, colonization and apartheid," Barghouti said.
The truth is, as usual, the exact opposite of anything that comes out of Barghouti's mouth.

It is true that Abbas' words are a little suspect because under existing agreements with Israel he is not allowed to push any boycott of Israel within the Green Line. However, even his call to boycott settlements have been roundly ignored by his own people.

Abbas tried to ban any Arab from buying goods from Jewish-owned stories in the territories - and failed. His economic minister threatened PA residents by saying that their license plates were being recorded when they visit Jewish-owned shops. They kept coming to shop and work there.

The number of Palestinian Arabs employed by Israel and by Jews in Judea and Samaria has reached new highs - over 100,000 altogether.

Even in Gaza, storekeepers and shoppers don't boycott Israeli candies and ice cream - they advertise them prominently in their markets!

The funniest part of Barghouti's furious response is that he is saying that Abbas doesn't represent Palestinian Arabs because he lacks a democratic mandate. Yet who elected Barghouti to anything, ever? He is a self-defined leader of a group whose goals he himself flouts.

And the actions of ordinary Palestinian Arabs, day in and day out, show that they do not support any boycott of Israel. Like Barghouti himself and all the other BDS hypocrites, people decide what is best for themselves and resist being told what to do by others. It is easy for these hypocrites to insist that others boycott goods and services but they themselves have no compunctions to ignore their own call to BDS when it is convenient to them.

(h/t Lawrence)

Al Quds University to offer course on "hate speech"; Brandeis looks to re-engage

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 02:00 AM PST

Al Quds University is in full firefighting mode.

From their website:
Al-Quds University, the Arab University in East Jerusalem, whose mission is the encouragement of an open and pluralistic cultural climate for its students, has come under criticism recently especially from some American Jewish sources, for the holding of an anti-Israeli para-military rally on its campus by one of the student groups. Countless articles and blogs from those sources have since accused the University (as well as its President, Sari Nusseibeh) of being tolerant of Nazi and Fascist views. Various Jewish-sponsored Schools in the United States with whom Al-Quds University has been building bridges over the past two decades have decided to cut their ties with the University as a result of the incident and its aftermath.

In the same spirit of bridge-building that has guided the University over the past two decades, Al-Quds University has decided to hold a special English-speaking summer course June/July 2014 to discuss ways of combating hate-speech and racism, with special emphasis on some of its gruesome consequences, such as wars, ethnic cleansing and genocide, for both its students as well as for a limited number of students from the United States and Europe. The University will invite prominent experts to deliver lectures in this course, and will extend an invitation to its critics, including the President of Brandeis, Dr. Frederick Lawrence, to participate. The University will be consulting with Professor Yair Auron from the Open University of Israel – a foremost scholar on genocide- to help prepare the curriculum for the course. It is hoped that such a course will sensitize all concerned –including the university community- to the fine line to be drawn between freedom of speech and the dehumanization of 'the other', especially in inflammable situations as those that exist in the region. Education experts will also be invited to discuss current school curricula in both Israeli and Palestinian schools.

The University therefore hereby asks of interested students from abroad who wish to take this course to correspond with Ms Rawan Dajani ( protocol@alquds.edu) to receive preliminary information about the course (travel, accommodation, fees, etc.), together with an application form, which has to be filled and received by 28th of February 2014 at the latest. A full announcement for the course will be made at that date.
Why is the course only going to be offered in English?

The bigger issue is that Al Quds is creating this course not to improve its own community but to make itself look better for the West. The fact is that it still allows Islamic Jihad and Hamas student groups to be accepted and supported like a book club or a Christian club might be. Offering the course for Westerners who already agree that hate speech is bad doesn't help things one bit, except for PR.

The discussion of current school curricula in Israeli schools sounds like an attempt to say that Israeli school textbooks are as bigoted as Arab textbooks are - which is provably false.

Meanwhile, Brandeis commissioned a study:
A Report to the Brandeis Community on the Events of November 2013 Involving Brandeis University and Al Quds University
December 9, 2013

Daniel Terris
Director, International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life

Susan S. Lanser
Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and Women's and Gender Studies and
Head, Division of Humanities

Daniel Kryder
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Politics

This document offers five principal findings, which we summarize here and explain at
length in the "Conclusions" section below:

1. The November 5 rally included glorifying portrayals of hatred and violence that
are antithetical to the institutional values of both Brandeis University and Al< Quds University.

2. Al Quds University officials responded promptly and appropriately to the November 5 rally by communicating to both internal and external constituencies that the rally violated university policies and principles.

3. While we understand the reasons why many people were disturbed or offended by Sari Nusseibeh's November 17 letter to his student community, the letter expressed neither intolerance nor hatred.

4. Al Quds University is playing a courageous frontline role in working for peace by engaging those minority factions in its midst that hold extreme attitudes.

5. Given the active role that the AlQuds University administration took in response to the event, and given the university's enduring and vital work in promoting cross cultural understanding and peace, we call on Brandeis University to resume and indeed redouble its commitment to this scholarly partnership.
And who are the people who Brandeis chose to pen this study - Daniel Terris, Susan S. Lanser and Daniel Kryder?

Why, they just happen - by pure coincidence - to be three of the recipients of the Bronfman Brandeis-Israel Research Collaboration grant earlier this year!

A collaboration between three Brandeisians and three members of the faculty and administration at Al-Quds University, in Jerusalem, to research the kinds of curricular and pedagogical frameworks that are most effective at fostering civic engagement in developing democratic societies. Collaborators include Daniel T. Kryder, associate professor of politics; Susan S. Lanser, professor of English, women's and gender studies, and comparative literature; Daniel Terris, Brandeis director of the existing Brandeis-Al Quds Partnership; Khuloud Khayyat Dajani, Al-Quds director of the partnership, Awad Mansour, chair of Al-Qud's Department of Political Science and Imad Abu Kishek, executive vice president of Al-Quds.
Nah, no conflict of interest there at all!

(h/t Bob  Knot)
פורסם על ידי zoom ב- 0:03

אין תגובות:

הוסף רשומת תגובה

הירשם ל- תגובות לפרסום (Atom)