יום שבת, 28 בדצמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Exclusive: Columbia U joins the chorus denouncing the ASA boycott of Israel

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST

This was received from a faculty member at Columbia University. It is planned to be posted at the Columbia website later today or tomorrow.

I have made my opposition to academic boycotts of Israel emphatically clear over the years, most prominently in my 2007 letter that was signed by some 400 of my fellow college and university presidents speaking out against the British University and College Union's boycott of Israeli scholars and universities. I stand by that statement today when considering the recent vote by the American Studies Association for just such a boycott. To be sure, it is entirely appropriate for our campuses to provide a forum for discussion and debate about the policies of any government, including our own. But the ASA's vote runs counter to this essential academic and political freedom and, taken to its logical conclusion, would necessarily result in boycotts of fellow scholars and peer institutions from many nations around the world. I reject the ASA's position which would compromise an essential value of universities in an increasingly global society-and we look forward to continuing to Columbia's long history of engagement with our peers from Israel.

- Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University

Columbia now joins dozens of other universities who have denounced the ASA boycott.

The latest list from Avi Mayer:

The following is a list of institutions whose presidents or chancellors have publicly rejected the academic boycott of Israel in recent days. The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 top institutions in the U.S. and Canada, has also expressed its strong opposition to the boycott, as has the American Association of University Professors, which counts more than 48,000 members.
In addition, the following institutions' American Studies programs have withdrawn their membership in the American Studies Association (ASA) following last week's boycott vote:
Furthermore, the following institutions have flatly denied being institutional members of the ASA, though the organization lists them as such:
There have also been lots of articles denouncing the ASA.

I'm wondering if any universities, at all, will publicly side with the ASA.

Egyptian banner calls to kill all Jews in Egypt

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 12:00 PM PST

Seen on Twitter, from a Facebook posting:
This is in response to the bombing that killed 16 on Tuesday morning.

Think about this for a second: Someone in Mansour went to a print shop and paid to create a large anti-semitic banner (or the print-shop owner did it himself.). It then took considerable effort to hang the sign in a public street. It was that important for someone or some group to put out a public antisemitic message in Egypt.

Jews are always the scapegoats. Although in modern times it is more fashionable to use the Jewish state to fill that role.

12/27 Links: NYTs Dishonest Reporting, Sabeel Hosts Falk, Atzmon rages against Bugs Bunny

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 10:30 AM PST

From Ian:
Khaled Abu Toameh: What the Palestinians and Arabs Think of Kerry's New Ideas
In an interview with Voice of Palestine radio, Abed Rabbo continued his unprecedented criticism of both Kerry and his proposals. "Washington does not have the right to determine where our borders would be," he declared. "We won't allow Israel to slice off any parts of our land. If the Americans want, they can give Israel parts of California and Washington. This land belongs to the Palestinians."
The Arab League's rejection of Kerry's ideas not only complicates his efforts to achieve a deal between Palestinians and Israelis, but also ties Abbas's hands. It is hard to see how Abbas would be able to retract his position now that the Arab League has also rejected Kerry's ideas.
Kerry will now have to launch a new diplomatic campaign to convince the Arab League to change its position. And for the Arab countries to do that really would take a miracle.
A Year of Biased Reporting: Why the New York Times Won
When HonestReporting readers were asked to choose the "winner" of the 2013 Dishonest Reporting Award, the prevailing displeasure was best summed up in a one-line email:
"The NY Times bludgeoned Israel all year."
Much of the resentment focused on the paper's op-ed section. A steady parade of commentaries disdainfully dismissing Click here for the runner up Dishonest Reporting Awards Israel's Iranian anxieties certainly cemented the Gray Lady's award in the latter part of 2013. This wasn't surprising. HonestReporting's long-term study of the Times's opinion section found similar problems in 2012.
But the NY Times built up a bona fide case to win this award even without the issue of op-eds.
'Tis the season to bash Israel
This is an ugly attempt to apply replacement theology (in which Christians are said to have superseded the Jews in a covenant with G-d) to the Palestinian assault on Israel. In Abbas's reversed and warped world, the Jewish and Christian Jesus has been replaced by a Palestinian Christ, and Christianity is under attack by the Jews, not by the Arabs and Muslims.
Few Christian leaders, and no prominent Western journalists, publicly took Abbas to task for arrogating Jesus to Palestinian propaganda.
Turning the other cheek, they apparently thought, alas, that challenging Abbas just wouldn't be in the Christmas spirit of justice, peace, charity and love.
Unfortunately, Abbas's perverse and perfidious statement is in keeping with the Palestinian Authority's ongoing denial of Jewish history and rights in the historic Land of Israel. It doesn't augur well for the peace process.
American Studies Association Members Defend Israel Boycott by Citing Anti-Semitic 9/11 Truther
It appears no one told the American Studies Association that when attempting to fend off accusations of bigotry, it's best not to cite a bigot.
In a sign that the organization is feeling the heat from outside opprobrium, the ASA's Caucus on Academic and Community Activism has posted a defense of its Israel boycott. The statement offers tacit acknowledgment of the fact that over 40 universities–including almost the entire Ivy League–have condemned the ASA's action. In response, the ASA Caucus lists other academics who have endorsed the boycott and calls for supporters to renew their membership or join the ASA. Unfortunately for those attempting to exonerate the ASA from charges of prejudicial treatment of the Jewish state, one of the six scholars the ASA Caucus cites is Richard Falk, a known 9/11 truther and promoter of anti-Semitism.
By day, Falk serves as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, where his support for the terrorist group Hamas has been so blatant that the Palestinian Authority tried to get him fired. The United States and Canada have also called for him to be dismissed, and he has been censured by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But Falk's most objectionable conduct has actually taken place outside the U.N.'s halls.
Sabeel Hosts 9/11 truther Richard Falk
What does a promoter of antisemitism, a shill for terrorists and a conspiracy theorist do when his UN position expires?
Apparently, he goes on a speaking tour for Sabeel
Academic boycotters don't want done unto them what they did unto Israelis
Professor Lynch has been in a public battle with the Coalition since May, when then opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said a Coalition government would ensure "no grants of taxpayers' funds are provided to individuals or organisations which actively support the BDS campaign".
Professor Lynch's support for BDS became headline news last year when he boycotted Israeli academic Dan Avnon, refusing to help the Hebrew University academic with his application for a Sir Zelman Cowen fellowship.
This year Professor Lynch submitted an application to the federally funded ARC for $290,000 to study the work of journalists in South Africa, Nepal, Australia and Britain.
The ARC recently rejected his application. "It could be, of course, that it was simply adjudged not quite good enough by the assessors," Professor Lynch told The Australian. "But the Bishop statement, and the earlier evidence that AusAID … improperly took my support for BDS into account, leaves me with suspicions that this has happened with the ARC too….
Non-settlement Israeli fruit exporter faces boycott pressure in Europe
Despite the fact that its executives insist that its products are from Israel proper, and not produced at settlements or on land over the Green Line, the demonstrators call for a general boycott of its goods.
The BDS movement promotes blanket boycotts of Israel, not just Israeli settlements, with the stated goal of ending the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and granting a "right of return" to all Palestinian refugees — a position that would mean an influx of millions to Israel, and the end of Israel as a predominantly Jewish state.
IAF strikes Gaza following second rocket fired at Israel in 24 hours
The Israel Air Force struck two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel on Thursday. The targets struck were a weapons manufacturing site in central Gaza and a weapons storage site in the North of the Strip.
Two Palestinians were wounded by the air strikes, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The IDF also said the targets were struck accurately, adding that all planes returned to base safely.
Four times less BBC Online coverage of Arafat 'not poisoned' stories
Previously, two reports were published on the subject of the French findings and thirteen related articles appeared on the BBC News website's Middle East page in a 48 hour period on the subject of the Swiss findings, nine of which also amplified the conspiracy theory surrounding Arafat's death.
In other words, the BBC News website devoted over four times the number of articles to the coverage of findings interpreted as moderately supporting the theory that Arafat was poisoned than it did to the two other sets of findings which found that Arafat died of natural causes.
PA Says it Will Continue to Investigate Arafat's Death
The Palestinian Authority (PA) said Thursday it would continue its investigation into the death of its former chairman Yasser Arafat, even after a team of Russian forensic experts said that he died of "natural causes", and ruled out radiation poisoning as a cause of death.
"I can only say that there is already a decision to continue (the investigation)," the PA ambassador to Russia, Faed Mustafa, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Kerry concerned by Egypt crackdown on Muslim
Brotherhood
Kerry and Fahmy "agreed that there can be no place for violence in Egypt and that the Egyptian people deserve peace and calm," Psaki said.
But the secretary of state also "underscored the need for an inclusive political process across the political spectrum that respects the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians in order to achieve political stability and democratic change."
A US official told Reuters that Egypt was going "way too far" in the crackdown, adding that the Obama administration had no intention of taking any action against Cairo in response, or following suit in labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Lebanese politician among at least 5 dead in Beirut bombing
Lebanon's former finance minister Mohammed Chatah, an adviser to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was among the five people killed Friday in a large car bombing targeting his convoy in Beirut, Lebanese state media reported.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for an emergency cabinet meeting following the blast.
Huffington Post Serves as Promoter for Iranian Front Group
The Huffington Post not only never ran a news story revealing the shocking facts concerning Parsi and the NIAC, but it has published sixteen of Parsi's articles since the Federal court's September 2012 ruling (it's been running his editorials since April 2012). And as HUFF-WATCH documented here, even after the court's ruling, Huffington Post has continued enabling the NIAC to spew its pro-Iranian, anti-Israel propaganda.
On December 18, the Huffington Post gave Parsi the top spot on "blogger's row" on its front page, a space normally reserved for Arianna Huffington, and her newspaper's most prominent opinion writers.
The very next day, on December 19, Huffington Post published the inflammatory headline story alleging that Menendez and AIPAC were "saboteurs."
How does one reconcile these acts and omissions with the public statements that Huffington has made about her "newspaper's" journalistic integrity and principles?
Iran develops new generation of uranium centrifuges
Thursday's announcement came following a push by a significant number of Iranian lawmakers to legislate the enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity — 12 times the cap Iran agreed by Iran as part of a deal reached with the US and world powers in November.
At 60% pure uranium 235, Iran could quite quickly convert its stockpiles of enriched fissile material to weapons-grade uranium, a major concern of Israel and the United States. Iran contends, however, that its nuclear weapons program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
No halt to executions while EU delegation visits Iran
The five-member delegation was led by the chairwoman of European Parliament's friendship delegation with Iran, Tarja Cronberg from Finnish Greens and included Cornelia Ernst, German communist; Isabelle Durant, Belgian Greens; Marietje Schaake, Dutch Liberals; and Josef Weidenholzer, Austrian Social Democrats.
During their Dec. 13-18 visit at least 38 death sentences were carried out official Iranian media sources said. This while many executions in prisons are conducted in secret and news of those is rarely released.
News that Bugs Bunny may be Jewish sends Gilad Atzmon into a rage
Writing at Veterans Today, an aggregator for conspiracy-oriented and right-wing extremist websites, Atzmon wrote the following:
I guess that when we talk about Hollywood's indoctrination in the context of Jewish Power, we should feel free to refer to the Zionist outlet as well as the 'noted Jewish cinematic historian'.
Of course, Atzmon's response to Ben-Zvi's article wouldn't come as a surprise to readers of this blog. As we've noted previously, Atzmon is a prolific anti-Semite who has engaged in 'Holocaust Revisionism' while simultaneously arguing that, if Hitler's genocide did occur as historians "claim", the mass murder of six million Jews can at least partly be explained by Jews' villainous behavior. On this latter note, he's claimed that Hitler's views about Jews may one day be vindicated.
Sweden has failed to condemn and act against all anti-Semitism
If we do not have politicians in Sweden who can admit the existence of obvious anti-Semitism and act against it where will it end? Are we now not able to act upon anti-Semitism and racism wherever it may be found and whatever the consequences are of doing so? Are we then still in Sweden? I do not believe so. I want the old Sweden back that firmly and consistently stands up against anti-Semitism and corrupt leaderships and I want a new Sweden that can really understand the situation Israel is in. I want a Sweden where our politicians can admit they have made a misstake funding the PA. That would be the Sweden I would be proud of. Now I can not be proud.
Israel's Christian Population Continued to Rise in 2013
According to recent figures released by Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, there are roughly 161,000 Christians living in Israel, equaling about 2 percent of the population and an up from 158,000 in 2012.
Nearly 80 percent of these Christians are Arab, while the majority of the remaining 20 percent are largely from the former Soviet Union.
Muath from Hebron recovers after surgery, next to kids from Ghana, Gaza
"A child with a serious heart defect who isn't treated is sentenced to death," Berlowitz said, beaming with pride when he mentioned that, to date, SACH has treated and saved the lives of 3,300 children from 48 countries.
Of those, roughly half were Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, SACH Executive Director Simon Fisher said. He said the organization's operations, including the Heart of the Matter project with the Palestinian Authority, has had a beneficial influence on Israel's image among the Palestinians by facilitating day-to-day positive interactions.
Abu Danash told this reporter that his neighbors and family raised no objections when they heard his child was to receive treatment in Israel, because they knew medical care was better there and that the Israelis — the Jews — were helping them. He said that there were two different stories of Israeli-Palestinian interaction — one of intifada and violence, and the other of cooperation. He gave a strong indication he favored the latter.

Saudi university displays model of Hamas rocket for "cultural festival"

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST

Palestine Times reports that Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia has displayed a model of Hamas' "M75" rocket at a "cultural festival" at the school.

The "Third Festival of Cultures and Peoples" started on December 17 and was organized by the Dean of Student Affairs at the Islamic University of Medina and featured a "Palestine" suite which saw a large crowd.

The festival sheds light on the cultures of the students of the Islamic University, who come from over 100 different countries.


This rocket, meant to kill Jewish civilians, is part of "Palestinian culture" - according to the Palestinian Arab students who organized this exhibit.

Fifth anniversary of Hamas' forgotten declaration of war

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 06:30 AM PST

From Ma'an, December 25, 2008:
The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassa Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."
This was Hamas' declaration of war - on Wednesday, December 24, 2008, three days before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead.

On Thursday, Hamas shot 7 Qassam rockets and 7 more mortars into Israel.

On Friday, Gaza terrorists shot some 25 mortars and rockets into Israel. One fell short and killed 2 Gaza girls.

For a full week, after Israel's counterattack, Hamas continued to refer to the war as Operation Oil Stain. Afterwards they changed it to "Battle of the Criterion."

But you will be hard pressed to find any mention of Hamas' declaration of war today, the fifth anniversary of Israel's response. (Wikipedia is one rare exception.)

Just like five years ago, today Israel is responding to attacks by Gaza on Israeli civilians. And just like then, the media is reporting Israel's response as if Israel initiated the fighting.

Fatah sniper left Gaza for eye treatment to better shoot Jews

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST

From YNet:
An indictment was filed Thursday with the Beersheba District Court against Muhammad Abu Amshah, a terror activist who planned a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Amshah, 32-year-old from Beit Hanoun, was given a humanitarian permit to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive medical treatment in his eyes at a Ramallah hospital. However, in his Shin Bet interrogation, it became clear that the medical condition in his eyes was in the way of his scheme to shoot IDF forces patrolling along the Gaza Strip border fence.

The activist was arrested earlier this month by the Shin Bet and police upon leaving, as part of his permit, from the Erez Crossing to Ramallah. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Amshah admitted in his questioning that was intended to be a sniper within the framework of a planned attack by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades against IDF forces near the Gaza border. He even underwent training exercises for the job. However an injury he sustained harmed his vision, and he planned to treat the injury prior to conducting the attack.
Note that he is a member of the Fatah terror group Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, not Hamas. Fatah in Gaza is not able to work independently because of Hamas restrictions so it seems more than plausible that his visits to Ramallah were not only to the hospital but to his commanders in Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah terror organization.

(h/t Yenta P)

The bigotry and lies of St. James Church in Piccadilly

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 02:36 AM PST

St. James Church in Piccadilly has spent a huge amount of time, money and effort for a naked anti-Israel stunt in central London:

St James's Church, Piccadilly, in London's West End has installed a life size 8 metre tall/30 metre long replica of Israel's security wall in its courtyard as part of its Bethlehem Unwrapped festival. The replica wall is so vast that it obscures the Church itself.
The replica wall will be lit up at night and for the next twelve days of Christmas (until 5th January) a montage of images and slogans will be continuously projected onto it. Scenes include parts of London with a wall passing through it.
What you won't see projected onto the replica wall are scenes of bombed out Israeli buses, hotels, pizza restaurants, bars and nightclubs that were ubiquitous in Israel before the wall.
Bethlehem Unwrapped has evening events with anti-Israel polemicists including comedians Jeremy Hardy and Ivor Dembina, musician Nigel Kennedy, columnists Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Mark Steel, Jeff Halper of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and War On Want's in-house poet Rafeef Ziadah.
The video that the church released reveals that the stunt took 8 months of planning and a "huge team of builders, designers, architects and scaffolders." And, of course, the narrator says that the wall is "surrounding" Bethlehem.



Here is a map of the separation barrier at bethlehem created by B'Tselem showing that the barrier (solid red line) does not come close to surrounding Bethlehem:


One of the supreme ironies of the St. James' description of the barrier is this:

The wall in our courtyard is a replica segment of the wall that surrounds Bethlehem. It is 8 metres tall because the real wall is 8 metres. It obscures the view of this historic church because that is what has happened to Bethlehem's holy sites and historic places.
Indeed, there is a wall that obscures and virtually separates a holy place in Bethlehem - the Jewish holy place of Rachel's Tomb, which has been the scene of numerous terror attacks against Jewish pilgrims and worshipers.

Here is the detail of B'Tselem's map showing how Israel had to surround Judaism's third holiest shrine with what indeed is an ugly tall wall - because that was the only possible way to protect Jewish visitors:


Here is what Rachel's Tomb used to look like before 1995:



And here is what its entrance looks like today:


Not only have there been numerous attacks at Jews visiting Rachel's Tomb in the past - but hundreds of  attacks continue today!

St. James Church doesn't give a damn.

Rachel's Tomb is an undisputed Jewish holy site. But in the 1990s, Muslims made up a fairy tale that it is actually a Muslim shrine, a lie purely meant to erase Jewish claims to the site.

St. James Church doesn't give a damn.

Now, let's look at some other Jewish communities that are forced to be far more surrounded by the barrier in order to protect human lives, more lives that St. James' Church doesn't give a damn about:

Elkana and surrounding areas:


Tal Menashe and surrounding communities:


Not to mention the Jewish communities who are not protected by the security barrier and that must build their own fences to protect themselves from murderous Arab terrorists.

How come no Arab communities feel it is necessary build fences to protect themselves from Israeli attacks?

Yes, there is a besieged people in the Middle East. A people who must build often ugly fences and walls to protect themselves. Those people are not the Arabs of Bethlehem.

And the charitable people at St. James Church don't say a word when those people are attacked, bombed, shot at and killed.

The hypocrisy is nauseating..
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