יום רביעי, 5 בפברואר 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

SodaStream CEO destroys Oxfam official on BBC

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 05:34 PM PST

This is so great:




I also like when the clueless BBC host says that Judea and Samaria is "territory seized from another country." Which country was that, again? And were that country's claims on the West Bank legal under international law?

Another point that I've been noticing lately is that the Israel haters - and I'm including the Oxfam representative here - purposely conflate "settlements" with Area C. The two are not identical. Settlements take up perhaps 4% of Area C, which, as Birnbaum points out, is administered by Israel under existing agreements with the PA.

The disingenuous statement of  Oxfam that it is not against Israel is also fairly bogus, because it funds many organizations that advocate a total boycott of Israel. It has an "ambassador" who also advocates BDS.

If Oxfam supports Israel's right to exist as much as it opposes the "settlements" then it should distance itself from Desmond Tutu as much as it distanced itself from Scarlett Johansson. Yet - it wouldn't ever do that. Which speaks volumes as to how much it believes that Israel is legitimate within the "1967 lines."

The video, however, is priceless.

02/04 Links Pt2: Wiesel- People are no longer ashamed to be anti-Semites; A PA BDS Fail

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Elie Wiesel: People are no longer ashamed to be anti-Semites
"The Holocaust is a unique event, but it has a universal significance which must be memorized incessantly," he says, voicing concerns over the temptation of Iran's nuclear ability and the civil war in Syria, which has already claimed a price of 150,000 deaths. And the world is silent.
The unstoppable conversation between us has been going on for several years now, but the murky wave of anti-Semitism sweeping over the Western world, as well as Eastern Europe (with the recent incidents in Hungary and Ukraine), are fresh and extract statements with despair running through them.
"Unfortunately, anti-Semitism still exists," Wiesel says. "It has been alive for more than 2,000 years, and will likely continue living. I thought that the memory of the Holocaust would shame those boasting anti-Semitic opinions. I was wrong. It still exists in different countries, and it seems people are no longer ashamed to be anti-Semitic."
At SodaStream, Palestinians hope their bubble won't burst
"There are no job opportunities in the West Bank," Fares told The Times of Israel. "Even the jobs that do exist pay no more than NIS 1,500-2,000 ($430-570) a month." Fares now earns triple those sums.
Many educated women like Fares were forced to seek work outside the home following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000 to support the household as the Palestinian economy collapsed, she explained.
Fares's husband, a first lieutenant in the Palestinians' prestigious Preventive Security Force, earns NIS 2,000 ($570) per month after 10 years of service.
PA Report: Palestinians Prefer to Buy 'Blue and White'
Last month, BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) activists slammed Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas for not joining in with them to boycott Israel – and on Monday, the PA revealed just how uninvolved it was in the BDS movement. According to a PA report, 70% of the PA's imports were from Israel, with imports worth $3.5 billion entering the Authority from Israel.
It should be noted that Israel generally does not restrict imports of consumer goods to the PA, and that Israeli goods compete on Palestinian store shelves with goods from Arab countries and Europe as well as from the PA. Rather, it is the Palestinian consumer who is driving the push for Israeli goods in the PA, Palestinian merchants said. (h/t Bob Knot)

Financial Times has a meltdown over SodaStream model of co-existence
First, the SodaStream factory is located in an industrial park within greater Ma'ale Adumim and, even according to Peace Now, only 0.5% of the settlement territory was built on Palestinian land. Additionally, while the fate of the disputed territory will be decided by negotiations between the two parties, it's important to note that Ehud Olmert's generous offer to Mahmoud Abbas in 2008, which included a contiguous Palestinian State in 93% of the West Bank, included Ma'ale Adumim as part of Israel.
Further, the phrase "Arab East Jerusalem" is of course a misnomer, as the only time "East Jerusalem" was 'Arab' (that is, 100% Jew-free) and separated arbitrarily between "East" and "West" in its entire history was between 1949 and 1967, the short period when Jordan controlled that part of the city (after expelling all the Jews).



BBC displays its campaigning colours in SodaStream story coverage
That specious portrayal again completely neglects to inform audiences that the end game of the BDS movement (led by its guru Oxfam Connolly artorganization PACBI) is not the dubious labelling of soda making machines or tomatoes based on the postcode and ethnicity of their producers, but the denial of national rights and self-determination to the Jewish people by means of delegitimisation of Israel. Connolly's description conceals the fact that the BDS movement rejects the existence of Israel as the Jewish state, opposes 'normalisation' of relations between Israelis and Palestinians and demands the 'right of return' to Israel for millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees.
Ha'aretz Tweets Anti-Johansson Meme, Issues Clarification After Readers Protest
Israeli daily Ha'aretz tweeted an altered photo of Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson as celebrity spokeswoman for Israel's SodaStream to its 122,000 followers on Sunday, offending readers whose complaints prompted the newspaper to issue a clarification, though it stopped short of a formal apology.
With the caption,"The sip heard around the world," Ha'aretz posted a screenshot of the actress, posing with a soda straw and carbonated beverage in hand, superimposed in front of a chain link security fence enclosing a group of Arabs.
Daniel Pipes: Pretending Tel Aviv is the Capital of Israel
Some, especially in the mainstream media, pretend that not Jerusalem but Tel Aviv serves as the capital of Israel. (Tel Aviv hosts the Ministry of Defense but not much else of the central government.) This parallels a tendency lately to pretend there's a country called Palestine. The weblog entry documents some of those delusions, which are appearing more often, in reverse chronological order:
NY Times Op-Ed About Anti-Israel "Propaganda War" Ignores Key Antagonist: The Times Itself
There could be no more convenient a climax by the newspaper's opinion page editors. After a month of battering Israel by focusing obsessively on its problems, real and invented, without even one column dedicated to Palestinian faults, and after many prior months of the same, their final jab at the Jewish state not only strikes at the country's reputation, but also feigns innocence, ignoring their own major role in the battle to poison public opinion about Israel. It's a clever twist. Not only are New York Times opinion editors trying to harm Israel's reputation, but to the extent that they have succeeded, this is cast as yet another reason to dislike the country.
While the New York Times propaganda war needs to be taken seriously, it is worth remembering that, in fact, Israel does not seem to be losing that war at all — at least not in the United States, the subject of a Gallup headline in mid-2013 that read, "Americans' Sympathies for Israel Match All-Time High." (h/t Yenta Press)
75% of January terror activity on Israel's southern borders ignored by BBC
In other words, the BBC's record of reporting terror attacks on Israel originating in the Gaza Strip and northern Sinai throughout January (even in the form of a brief mention in an article relating to another subject) stands at 25%, with 75% of the attacks having been completely ignored.
That of course means that BBC audiences have been denied three-quarters of the data, are thus unaware of the steep rise in missile attacks from the Gaza Strip in January compared to previous months and hence lack the necessary context which is essential for them to be able to reach informed opinions on the subject of Israel's responses to the activities of terror organisations on its southern borders.
Terrorism is a bigger threat than economic boycott
The expected impact on preventing terrorism is much more concerning than the concomitant economic damage of any boycott, because the ramifications of terrorism are far more acute, even in economic terms. At the moment, we have maintained control, but according to the Kerry document, that control will either disappear or dwindle dramatically.
The American proposal is difficult in an ethical sense as well. The secretary of state intends to legitimate Palestinian claims for a capital in east Jerusalem, a city which, in the past, barely played a role in Arab political or cultural life. Islam's upgrade of the city in recent times has woven an intricate tapestry of lies and deception, rewriting Jerusalem's history by insisting that Muslims were here before the Jews ever arrived. Jerusalem is the justifiable embodiment and memory of the Jewish people. Israeli acquiescence to the Kerry proposal's Jerusalem clause is nothing less than denial. (h/t Bob Knot)
An Open Letter to Actress Emma Thompson, Boycotter of Israel
That, Ms. Thompson, is what I fear will happen to you if you throw in your lot with the haters and boycotters of Israel. The radical chic that is so appealing to you today will be revealed as a horrible mistake soon enough. You will, eventually, recognize the true nature of the tyrants and terrorists of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. But how much must Israel suffer until you, like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, finally stop romanticizing dictators?
Yes, there are evil regimes that deserve to be boycotted. The apartheid regime of South Africa deserved it. So do the terrorists who rule Gaza. But democratic, peaceful, egalitarian Israel does not.
A "Correction" Obscuring Real BDS Goals
Actually, the original statement, which can be read to suggest BDSers target all of Israel in their boycott demands, was right on the money. The correction, which gives the impression the movement only targets companies with West Bank interests, distorts BDS goals. As the BDS Movement itself states:
Boycotts target products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions. Anyone can boycott Israeli goods, simply by making sure that they don't buy produce made in Israel or by Israeli companies. Campaigners and groups call on consumers not to buy Israeli goods and on businesses not to buy or sell them.
Why is Facebook Enabling Anti-Semites?
Anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala was banned from entering Britain on Monday, and he responded by giving his reverse Nazi salute to Queen Elizabeth II, AFP reports.
The comic, who has a string of convictions for hate speech in his homeland, performed the stiff-armed gesture after naming the queen in a rant during a show in the Swiss town of Nyon.
Dieudonne Gives 'Quenelle' to Queen After British Ban
Anonymous (and sometimes not-so-anonymous) lunatics post hateful pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic stuff on Facebook.
People dutifully complain about the stuff they see.
Facebook responds by telling people that the imagery does not violate the company's community standards, (which includes bans on hate speech and the promotion of violence).
Who at Facebook sends out these messages? Really!
Israel Emerging as Cybersecurity Powerhouse With Investor Kramer
Israel's campaign to become a cybersecurity powerhouse, an effort trumpeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, owes a debt to entrepreneur and investor Shlomo Kramer.
Over more than two decades, Kramer has founded or backed six Israeli online-security companies, amassing a personal fortune of about $800 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 47-year-old has taken the money earned from deals and initial public offerings and plowed it back into new startups and technologies, developing fresh ways to fend off virtual enemies.
IBM, Cisco next big players in Israeli cyber-security
IBM and Cisco became the latest multinationals to announce major investments in Israel's new cyber-security technology park in Beersheba. IBM said it would work with Ben Gurion University to establish what it called a Center of Excellence for Security and Protection of Infrastructure and Assets, where students and workers will learn cyber-security skills to ensure the safety of the digital future, the company said.
The new project "reinforces IBM's commitment to accelerate innovation that meets the industry's most pressing long term business requirements," said Steve Mills, senior vice present and group executive, IBM Software & Systems. Speaking at the recent CyberTech 2014 event in Tel Aviv, Mills said that "our ongoing investments and rich history of patent leadership is helping our clients secure and protect their infrastructure and data in today's new era of Big Data and Cloud Computing. Our partnership with Ben-Gurion University will help extend innovation not only in Israel but around the world."
US approves Israeli pill camera to screen colon
A kinder, gentler approach to one of the most dreaded exams in medicine is on the way: US regulators have cleared a bite-size camera to help screen the large intestine of patients who have trouble with colonoscopies.
The ingestible pill camera from Given Imaging is designed to help doctors spot polyps and other early signs of colon cancer. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the device for patients who have had trouble with the cringe-inducing procedure, which involves probing the colon using a tiny camera on a four-foot long, flexible tube.
Jewish 'refugee day' proposal advances in Knesset
A bill to establish an official day for commemorating the fate of Jewish communities who fled Arab lands and Iran passed its first of three readings in the Knesset plenum on Monday, and looks set to become law in the coming weeks.
The Bill to Commemorate the Flight and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands and Iran, proposed by Morocco-born MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu), would designate November 30 — the day after the November 29 commemoration of the 1947 United Nations partition vote that gave formal international recognition to Jewish statehood — as the day for commemorating the former Jewish communities of Muslim lands and the tribulations they endured with their flight and expulsion from those lands in the 1940s and 1950s.
Portman joins Israeli aid effort to Syria
Hollywood actress Natalie Portman has joined an Israeli initiative to send aid to Syrian refugees, it was announced Monday, donating money and clothes to a cause which she said "deeply moved" her.
Operation Human Warmth was launched by several Israeli organizations in January as an effort to collect winter clothes and supplies for Syrian refugees who have been displaced by the civil war in their country, and who often lack basic necessities to survive the cold.
British deserter who stole tanks for Haganah dies
Mike Flanagan, a former British soldier who smuggled two Cromwell tanks to the Haganah in 1948, passed away on Friday at the age of 85. Flanagan was buried in the Sha'ar HaAmakim cemetery alongside his wife and son on Sunday, and will be honored by the IDF for his contribution to fledgling Israel's war efforts during the War of Independence.
"We owe Flanagan a debt of honor," said Lt. Col. Michael Mass, the vice president of the Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum. "The two Cromwells helped us greatly in the battles of the War of Independence and he himself fought bravely in our ranks. Today we will take our leave of him and salute his memory."
Flanagan, an Irishman, fought in the British army during World War II and participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. After the war, he was stationed in British Mandate Palestine as a technician in the armored forces. On June 29, 1948, Flanagan, alongside his friend and tank commander Harry McDonald, broke into a military base near the Haifa airport, stole the two tanks and drove them to Tel Aviv where Hagana operatives were waiting.
IDF Blog: Female Arab Soldier: "I Would Sacrifice My Life for Israel"

AP badly misrepresents Israel's role in Gaza exports

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:00 PM PST

From AP:
Gaza farmers have begun growing mint, basil and coriander, saying such herbs can serve as a remedy for some of the blockaded Palestinian territory's economic woes.

Looking for blockade loopholes, five Gaza farmers began growing herbs a year ago, most in greenhouses on land where Jewish settlers used to raise the same crops until Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. "The motive ... was to find new products that we can grow here in Gaza and that return a good income and can employ more people," said farmer Jamal Abu Naja, 47.

...Some argue that cultivating fresh herbs makes more sense economically because they require less water, grow more quickly, cost less to ship and are always in high demand.

"This can elevate the Gaza economy," said Mohammed Abu Ouda, an expert in agricultural development.

Even if herbs offer a new opportunity, Israel's export policies make it harder for Gaza farmers to make a profit.
AP makes it sound like enterprising Gaza farmers, within the past year, have found a way to get around those evil Israeli restrictions on exports, and their success is in spite of Israel's desires to keep them poor and destitute.

Let's see what the IDF's COGAT unit had to say about the first spice export in 2012:
In addition to the usual exported agricultural goods- peppers, a variety of tomatoes, strawberries and flowers, for the very first time, Gaza farmers are exporting spices.

This represents a significant accomplishment for Gaza farmers and merchants, as the average revenue per spice truck is roughly 40,000 NIS, compared with approximately 25,000 NIS per truck with other produce.

The entire project was initiated by the ICLA Gaza [Israeli Coordination & Liaison Administration] and coordinated with the Khan Younis Association and the Arava Export Growers as part of the continuous support for agricultural development in the Gaza Strip.

Farmers in Gaza were given tutorials on how to grow spices and they were then provided the seedlings from Israel. This morning, Sunday, 21 October 2012, the inaugural export through Kerem Shalom proved a success. Special arrangements at the crossing were made to accommodate the needs of the exported spices, including capabilities to perform refrigerated quality and security inspections.
Spice exports from Gaza was Israel's idea! From conception through training through giving the seeds and working with the Gaza farmers on export requirements, everything was initiated by Israel!

AP's misinformation don't end there:
Israel only permits the farmers to export abroad, but not to Israel and the West Bank, traditionally Gaza's main markets. Gaza's agricultural exports are trucked through Israel to Jordan and from there flown to far-flung destinations, including Europe, the United States and Russia.
No. Most of the exports go through Israel's port in Ashdod, sometimes they are flown out of Ben Gurion airport, and sometimes they go through Jordan - whichever makes economic sense.  So exports of produce to Saudi Arabia probably go through Jordan, but most of the exports to Europe and the US go through Ashdod.

It is also interesting that in an article about how supposedly difficult it is to export through Israel, for some reason, no one seems to ask about why Gazans can't export goods to or via Egypt.

Do you think that AP's Ibrahim Barzak has a bias?

(Information verified with COGAT)

Arab American group takes credit for Coke "It's Beautiful" Super Bowl commercial

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 11:00 AM PST

Last year, Coke gave out this teaser for their Super Bowl ad:



Arabs were furious:

"Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?" said Warren David, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC.

Coca-Cola released an online teaser of the commercial last week, showing the Arab walking through a desert. He soon sees cowboys, Las Vegas showgirls and a motley crew fashioned after the marauders of the apocalyptic "Mad Max" film race by him to reach a gigantic bottle of Coke.

In its ad, Coke asks viewers to vote online on which characters should win the race. The online site does not allow a vote for the Arab character.

"The Coke commercial for the Super Bowl is racist, portraying Arabs as backward and foolish Camel Jockeys, and they have no chance to win in the world," Imam Ali Siddiqui, president of the Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies, said in an email.

"What message is Coke sending with this?" asked Abed Ayoub, ADC's director of legal and policy affairs. "By not including the Arab in the race, it is clear that the Arab is held to a different standard when compared to the other characters in the commercial," he said.
Guess who got the Coke in the end?



But that didn't stop the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee from continuing their complaint with Coke.

Now, they are taking credit for this year's Coke Super Bowl commercial.

After the Coca-Cola Company has depicted Arabs in a stereotypical fashion in its last year Super Bowl advertisement provoking protest by Arab Americans, it promoted this year a more balanced ad showing diversity in American society, a press release by an Arab American group said on Tuesday.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) commended the Coca-Cola Company for airing an ad during Sunday night's Super Bowl which celebrated America's diversity.

"Over the course of the past year ADC has partnered with Coke to promote diversity," it said. "The partnership developed out of concerns ADC shared with Coke in regards to its 2013 Super Bowl ads."
Coke ended up being a sponsor of the ADC convention in 2013.

This year's Coke commercial showed "America the Beautiful" being sung in seven languages.



Ironically, none of them appear to be Arabic. (According to this site, the languages were English, Spanish, Keres Pueblo, Tagalog, Hindi, Senegalese French, and Hebrew. Many of the commenters, experts in world languages, had trouble picking out the languages being sung because they were all done with heavily American accents.)

The Arabic version was filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor.

(During the game, some people tweeted some really racist things reacting to the commercial, but that's a different story.)

Here are screen shots of the Jewish guys in the commercial.

02/04 Links Pt1: Iran FM Denies He is Opposed to a 2nd Holocaust; Syria’s Israeli Guardian Angel

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Iran Foreign Minister Denies He is Opposed to Second Holocaust
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif vehemently denied on Monday reports that he is opposed to a second Holocaust of Jewish people, according to Iranian media reports.
Some media outlets reported over the weekend that Zarif had stated, the "Holocaust should not happen again" and that "the extermination of Jews by the Nazi regime was tragically cruel and should not happen again."
However, Zarif maintains that this is not the case, according to top Iranian lawmakers who have spoken to the foreign minister about his remarks.
Caroline Glick: Kerry's Israeli supporters
Once again, on Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to extort Israeli concessions to the PLO by threatening us with a Western economic boycott.
Kerry is obsessed with Israel's economic success. Last May he told us that we're too rich to surrender our land.
Now he's saying we'll be poor if we don't do so.
The anti-Semitic undertones of Kerry's constant chatter about Jews having too much money are obvious. But beyond their inherent bigotry, Kerry's statements serve to legitimize the radical Left's economic war against the Jewish state. Administration supporters and fundraisers from Code Pink and other pressure groups, as well as the EU understand that if they escalate their economic and political persecution of the Jewish state, their actions will be met with quiet understanding, and even support from the Obama administration.
PM: Without recognition, there will be no peace deal
Netanyahu said it would be "absurd" to expect Israel to recognize a nation state for the Palestinian people without reciprocal recognition of Israel as the nation state for the Jewish people.
"Let's see if the same international actors who until now have put pressure on Israel will make clear to the Palestinian Authority what exactly will be the consequences for the Palestinians if there is no agreement," Netanyahu said. "Because, unless the Palestinians understand that they will pay a price if the talks fail, they will prefer to not continue the talks."
"No pressure will cause me to abandon the vital interests of the State of Israel, first and foremost the security of the citizens of Israel," Netanyahu said.



Kerry Says No Deaths From West Bank Terror in 2013, Just Days After Shin Bet Lists Fatalities
"Last year, not one Israeli was killed by a Palestinian from the West Bank," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told guests at a Munich conference on Saturday, according to a U.S. State Department transcript. His comments however, came just days after Israel's Shin Bet security service listed Israeli deaths from terror originating in the territory in 2013. (h/t Bob Knot)
Israeli Minister of Communications: 'Kerry Inciting Economic Blackmail Against Israel'
The Minister also called into question U.S. motives in backing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "You would expect an honest and objective broker to turn to the Palestinian side and assert that there will be a price to pay for continuing to deny the Jewish people's right to their own state, for continuing its policy of rejectionism and for continuing to use official [Palestinian Authority] media outlets and the education system to incite against Israel," he said.
"We see the United States applying pressure only on Israel's Prime Minister and his cabinet," Erdan concluded.
Abbas's NATO Gambit Is a Nonstarter
It would be quite an irony if the Obama administration, which has already withdrawn all U.S. troops from Iraq and may yet withdraw all of them from Afghanistan, while refusing to become heavily engaged in Syria or Libya, were to cap its tenure by dispatching U.S. troops to guard a new Palestinian state in the West Bank. It would also be pretty unlikely. It would be downright miraculous if troops from other NATO nations were to join U.S. troops on the front lines of what amounts to a fight against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and myriad other radical groups. (h/t Norman F)
Khaled Abu Toameh: Jordan Says No to Kerry "Conspiracy"
Jordan's government officials and ordinary citizens have come out against U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's proposals for reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Jordanians fear that such an agreement would be concluded at their expense and undermine King Abdullah's rule.
The Jordanians' biggest fear is that Kerry is seeking to "resettle" Palestinian refugees in their country, effectively turning the kingdom into a Palestinian state. Palestinians constitute more than half of Jordan's population.
More than 2,000 Jordanians from various political groups gathered in Amman on February 2 to condemn Kerry's "malicious conspiracy."
Fearful of becoming 'Palestine,' Jordan chimes in on peace talks
Since relinquishing its claim over the West Bank in 1988, the Jordanian government has stealthily revoked the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians who originated from the area through a series of sophisticated bureaucratic measures. (Some additional 200,000 refugees originating from Gaza never received Jordanian citizenship.) Ever-mindful of a demographic takeover, Jordan has recently begun blocking the entry of Palestinian refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.
Now, official Jordan is concerned that defining Israel as a Jewish state may eventually lead to the forced deportation of Palestinians eastward across the Jordan river. As early as 2003, King Abdullah II conveyed to then-president George W. Bush his fears that Ariel Sharon may take advantage of the turmoil in Iraq as an opportunity to deport hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Jordan.
US National Security Advisor Rice: Attacks on Kerry in Israel are unfounded, unacceptable
Following Kerry's remarks Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett said: "We expect our friends in the world to stand by our side against anti-Semitic boycott efforts against Israel, and not be their trumpet."
Rice, who was the US envoy to the UN before her current post, tweeted "Personal attacks in Israel directed at Sec[retary] Kerry [are] totally unfounded and unacceptable. The US government has been clear and consistent that we reject efforts to boycott or delegitimize Israel."
ADL raps Kerry, says talk of boycott invites anti-Israel backlash if peace talks fail
In a letter to Kerry, ADL chief Abe Foxman said that while he appreciated Kerry's efforts to move the peace process forward, the remarks about Israel's likely ostracism in the event that no deal is reached will only spur the pro-boycott elements and the Palestinians to become further entrenched in their positions while being less likely to compromise.
"In speaking about the price Israel will pay if the peace talks break down and Israel is blamed, you may have thought you were merely describing reality," Foxman said. "But as the key player in the process, the impact of your comments was to create a reality of its own."
'Boycotting Israel will Only Hurt the Palestinian Arabs'
"The boycotts will hang over our heads, but would really threaten the Palestinian Arabs working in Judea and Samaria," Res. Colonel and former MK Moshe Peled stated to Arutz Sheva Tuesday. "This is true coexistence with the thousands of Palestinian Arabs who work with us. Go check with the SodaStream factory in Mishor Adumim; what would the Palestinian Arab workers there do if they had to return to Jericho without a job?"
He added that US Secretary of State John Kerry, who made the boycott threats Saturday, has proved once again that he in incapable of being an intermediary in negotiations. "It is unthinkable that he has strengthened the Palestinian Authority (PA), that he has chosen the anti-Israel side," Peled stated.
MK Attacks US's Use of Jewish Refugees to Gain Land Concessions
MK Nissim Ze'ev slammed what he said was an attempt by the US to encourage Israel to "sell out" Judea and Samaria by agreeing to include a clause by agreeing to include a clause compensating Jewish refugees from Arab lands into an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Ze'ev himself has been a longtime advocate for the rights of Jews who fled or were forcibly expelled from Arab lands in a concerted campaign of ethnic-cleansing by Arab states following the establishment of the State of Israel.
However, he noted that the clause does not make the framework deal, which calls for massive territorial concessions by Israel, any more palatable for the Jewish State.
Islamic Jihad threatens to torpedo peace talks
In a statement from his base in Gaza on Monday, Medlal said a peace agreement would legitimize Israeli control of the territory it currently holds — including all of pre-1967 Israel, Israel Radio reported.
He added that his organization was capable of reaching all of Israel, a reference to the group's recent attempts to carry out terror operations in Israeli cities and civilian centers and its efforts at launching rockets at Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip.
IDF officer slain by friendly fire in Gaza
The slain officer was identified as Capt. Tal Nachman, 21, from Nes Ziona.
Based on initial reports, the incident occurred when a force from the Givati Brigade was providing security to a vehicle from the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps just inside the border fence opposite Kibbutz Be'eri, according to Israel Radio.
IEC Head: We Intend to Collect PA's Electricity Debt
Israel Electric Company chairman Yiftach Ron-Tal said Monday that the Palestinian Authority owes the IEC NIS 1.2 billion ($375 million).
The PA is the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars of international assistance, but somehow has been unable to come up with the money to pay its electricity bill. Once in awhile, the PA pays down some of its debts, but the IEC has been trying for years to get the Authority to pay the full amount – to no avail.
"We are doing our best to collect the debt," Ron-Tal said. "I would sorely love to shut off their electricity, as I would for any customer who refuses to pay his bills." (h/t Bob Knot)
UN "Expert" Richard Falk Glorifies Ayatollah Khomeini as a "True Revolutionary"
Richard Falk is a UN "expert," antisemite, Boston-marathon apologist, and 9/11 conspiracy advocate. Now added to that list, Falk writes of his fond memories of meeting Ayatollah Khomeini, the glorious Islamic revolution, and his own time in Iran. What does Falk remember about Iran? The revolution was a time of "the largest mass display of joy that I have ever witnessed." Mass murderer and genocide advocate Khomeini, has "shining eyes." He was a religious man who would just "resume the religious life" upon his return to Iran from Paris. The place of Jews in Iran? The familiar antisemitic trope: pay to get out. "Minorities felt uncomfortable living in an Islamic theocracy, and if they possessed the resources, mainly emigrated to friendlier national habitats." Falk's offers the ultimate excuse of a bigot to bigotry: it's the victim's fault, in particular, the fault of the United States. "...[I]t seemed rather obvious why the regime resorted to rough justice. Many of those who had shaped the revolutionary process had studied in Europe or America, and were recipients of economic assistance from Western governments and maybe performed political roles." That Richard Falk has been a UN "human rights expert" for six years, is a testament to the sickness of the UN "human rights" system. That he has been the "expert" on Israel, is a testament to the overt antisemitism behind the UN's war on the Jewish state.
Nuclear Talks Set for February 18 as Analysts Double Down on Minimal Requirements Tehran Must Meet
An analysis published this month by the U.S.-based Institute of Science and International Security (ISIS) calculated that – in order to put its nuclear program verifiably beyond use for weaponization – Iran would minimally have to remove 15,000 centrifuges, shut down its uranium enriching underground military bunker at Fordow, downgrade the reactor at its plutonium-production facility at Arak, and agree to a 20-year inspection regime. The Wall Street Journal noted that the "prescriptions aren't viewed as particularly harsh or hard-line," and quoted ISIS head David Albright describing how the study had been developed partly in light of "extensive discussions in recent months with Obama administration officials working on the Iran file."
New U.S. Intel Report Fuels Demands Iran Nuclear Deal Include Limits on Iran-North Korea Cooperation
The Daily Beast on Friday conveyed analysis from a new U.S. intelligence report warning that North Korea may resume its export of nuclear technology and material, noting further that "the comprehensive nuclear deal Iran is negotiating with the West could be undermined by increased Iranian cooperation with North Korea." Citing diplomatic and intelligence sources, the Daily Beast outlined a scenario under which Iran would continue to bolster its ballistic missile program – which it is not only doing, but is allowed to do under the current interim agreement – while forgoing the production of highly enriched uranium. Tehran would under this scenario construct a missile-deliverable nuclear weapon with ballistic missile technology it built and nuclear material that it bought off the shelf from North Korea.
Kerry admits administration has fumbled Syrian conflict, senators say
A pair of Republican senators told reporters that Secretary of State John Kerry admitted to them he lacks confidence in the administration's Syria policy, the peace talks have produced no viable results and the Obama administration's foreign policy initiatives, to the extent which they exist, are failing in the country.
Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham told The Daily Beast, The Washington Post and Bloomberg News, that the secretary of state acknowledged as much Sunday in a private, off-the-record meeting with 15 members of Congress.
"[Kerry] acknowledged that the chemical weapons [plan] is being slow-rolled, the Russians continue to supply arms, we are at a point now where we are going to have to change our strategy," Graham said. (h/t Yenta Press)
Up to 350 UK recruits among 2,000 Westerners now fighting in Syria
Calling the issue of foreign fighters "a global problem shared by the West, Israel and the Arab-Muslim world," the authors wrote that international agencies have so far not developed effective methods to monitor, prevent and punish the volunteers.
"The returning foreign fighters are a ticking time bomb," they wrote, "which can only be defused by international cooperation and joint systems to neutralize their terrorist-subversive potential."
Syria's Israeli Guardian Angel
Asked if she's ever been tempted to tell anyone who she really is, Anat says yes. Once. After handing out packages in a refugee camp, someone in the crowd asked her if she was Italian. For some reason she decided to tell the truth. The reaction, she said, was mixed. An elderly woman gave her a hug and told her, "It doesn't matter, God bless you and anyone willing to help." But more than a few people walked away in protest.
"I don't take it personally," she said. "All their lives, they've been taught that Israel is the devil. Finding out there are Israelis willing to risk their lives to help them goes against everything they've come to believe about us. It's a lot to take in."

Gazans scam UNRWA, UNRWA scams the world

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST

Amer Kamal Ali Chinbari lives in the  UNRWA camp Beit Hanoun, in Gaza. He is a recipient of UNRWA's Relief and Social Services Plan, and as part of his benefits he gets free food. So Chinbari, along with hundreds of thousands of other family heads, gets a food ration card showing how many dependents he has so UNRWA can give him the proper amount of food.

Chinbari's ration card registration number is 1-00608901.

And, according to UNRWA records, Chinbari's family has 27 members.

Another Chinbari, named Fatmeh Mohad, has a family of 25 members. Mond Ulayan Chinbari has a household of 22, and Khaled Ibrahim Chinbari has 21. Antar has 16, Mohd and Ramadan have 15 each.

Those Chinbaris are really fertile, right?

UNRWA has a database of Gaza food ration registration cards online that, given not too much time, could be completely reproduced because of a pretty bad search algorithm. As it is, I easily took a sample of nearly 40,000 Gazan families representing over 220,000 people.

Within this sample I found 200 Chinbari households, virtually all living in Beit Hanoun, and 42 of them have household sizes of 10 of more. In total, over 1300 Chinbari family members are counted.

I find the Chinbari clan to be fascinating. Either they are scamming UNRWA, which seems likely, or they feel confident enough in UNRWA's services that they have no problem churning out lots and lots of kids despite their presumed poverty. Remember, food ration cards are only given to the poorest people.

27 kids is not out of the question if someone has four wives, but in Islam multiple wives are frowned upon if one doesn't have the means to support them. A successful scam that is being shared with family members seems more likely. (Not that there aren't other families with 25 or so members, but the Chinbaries are the only extended clan to have so many large families listed.)

Arabs have a history of inflating the number of members in their families for UNRWA ration cards that go back to the beginnings of UNRWA itself. The UNRWA reports in its first years note a flourishing trade in forged ration cards and mentions that deaths are never reported, but births are, so families can get more free food.

UNRWA, which was a somewhat worthwhile organization in the early 1950s, attempted to eliminate fraud and perform censuses on the Arab refugees - but they were stymied by the Arabs themselves, who refused to cooperate. That's one reason why, today, UNRWA counts of so-called refugees are wildly inflated.

Today, UNRWA is complicit in this population inflation. Even though a little seen UNRWA report estimated that some 200,000 Lebanese "refugees" left Lebanon long ago, UNRWA continues to count them to extort more money from the international community.

UNRWA today is doing to the world what the Chinbaris are evidently doing to UNRWA.

None of UNRWA's funders are calling for UNRWA to finally do a real census of the people they have been supporting for over 60 years, which is a fairly basic requirement for any social service agency  No one is mining the data in UNRWA's databases to find anomalies like I just found about the Chinbaris. UNRWA's donor countries happily give more and more without demanding the most basic auditing.

If I can uncover apparent fraud (or, at the very least, a red flag) in a few minutes without direct access to the database, imagine what anomalies a real auditor could find out about UNRWA with full access.

37% of Gaza rockets fell short last month

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST

During the two week period from January 9-22, Gaza terrorists fired 30 rockets and 6 mortars towards Israel.

Of the 30 rockets, according to the Gaza NGO Safety Office, 11 of them either fell short in Gaza or exploded during the launch. That's a failure rate of nearly 37%.

We have seen in the past that several Gaza children have been killed by rockets meant to kill Israelis, including two or three children killed by Hamas rockets during Operation Pillar of Defense. Two children were killed by a single rocket during Hamas' Operation Oil Stain, a day before Israel launched Cast Lead. A two-year old girl was killed by a rocket explosion in Gaza in 2012.

In most of these cases, Hamas spokespeople, the media and many NGOs blame Israel. Because, to many, the truth isn't as important as anti-Israel propaganda.

If you aren't Jewish, BDS won't boycott you

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 02:00 AM PST

Ha'aretz has a very nice article about their visit to the Mishor Adumim Industrial Park, where they spoke with happy Arab employees from many companies that work there.

But one part was especially interesting:

The Shweiki glass factory, with its sleek outer façade and interior, stands out among the mostly shabby-looking low-tech plants, carpentries, workshops and garages that populate this industrial zone just outside the Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

But there's something even more fundamental that sets it apart: Shweiki is an Arab-owned enterprise.

Its ultra-modern glass factory is just a few hundred meters down the road from SodaStream, the company that recently thrust this small industrial park into the international limelight when it hired American celebrity Scarlett Johansson to serve as the global ambassador for its soda machines – at a time when the movement to boycott goods made in the occupied territories is gathering momentum abroad.

But the managers at Shweiki, established in 1936 by an East Jerusalem family, insists that they get an even worse rap than their Jewish counterparts. On the one hand, the Israeli Ministry of Defense refuses to give its seal of approval to the company's shatterproof glass, while on the other, the Palestinian Authority boycotts its products.

"The Palestinians in Ramallah say we're no better than the settlers," explains Amran Shaloud, production manager at the plant, which moved to Mishor Adumim seven years ago.

..."It's hard for us to hire Jews here because we're closed on Fridays, but open on Saturday, and that wouldn't be comfortable for them," explains Shaloud, whose factory is right next door to Jewish-run Emesh.

Shaloud is taking a late-afternoon break, talking to a friend, Samih Owweida, who runs an aluminum factory down the road.

"As Arabs, we get it from both ends," gripes Owweida. "I want to sell my stuff in the West Bank, and nobody will buy from me there."

And then, with a big sigh, he throws up his hands in despair and utters a small prayer: "Let there just be peace already, so we can finish with this whole mess."
Here's where it gets good.

The bible for BDS is the website Who Profits, which has an extensive database of all companies in Judea and Samaria that they want people to boycott. (They also list an Israeli companies that sell to Jews in Judea and Samaria, and even one that has the audacity to sell bullet-proof glass to Jews who live in the Gilo neighborhood where there used to be lots of sniper fire.)

Who Profits has hundred of companies in their database.

But they don't list the Shweiki Glass Factory.

A quick look through a phone book finds another Arab-owned company in Mishor Adumim - Khaled Ali Metals Ltd. It is not listed by Who Profits.

Nor are the carpenters in Mishor Adumim named Mahmoud Naeel or Abu Asab.

Isn't it interesting that only Jewish-owned businesses are being targeted by the BDS crowd?

(UPDATE: Bob Knot points out that Owweida's whining about being boycotted by the PA is not quite true; on their webpage they show many projects in the West Bank that they completed.)
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