[Elder of Ziyon] 6/23 Links: The Apartheid Lie, Contrarian Finkelstein, Morsi’s Jailbreak and Erdogan's Conspiracy

From Ian:

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The Apartheid Lie + EoZ Posters

People continue to accuse Israel of being an Apartheid State. I think people use the term without really knowing what "apartheid" means. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation used in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. This was an official policy that declared blacks second class citizens in every aspect of life. Blacks couldn't vote or hold political office. They couldn't marry whites and they couldn't use the same public restrooms as whites. These are just a few examples.
Let's take a look at Israel… Arabs in Israel can vote, they can hold political office, they work in professions alongside other Israelis, they can own businesses, they can be judges, lawyers, doctors, ambassadors… Does this sound like apartheid to you? The accusation is absurd, and I think everyone that has been to Israel can agree on that. (h/t Gnomercy9)

National service in Arab sector up 76% over past year

A ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Haifa Cinematheque to recognize the record-high 3,000 Arabs volunteering in the national service program this year.
This represents an increase of 76 percent over last year, when 1,700 participated.

Norman Finkelstein Throws Wrench In Anti-Israel Movement's Claim To A Rights-Based Agenda

Mem­bers of the audi­ence reacted hos­tilely to Finkelstein's pre­sen­ta­tion, talk­ing and shout­ing over him and even yelling at him dur­ing the ques­tion and answer period. While he spoke, two of the other pan­elists – Lamis Deek, a founder of Al-Awda; and Sherry Wolf, an avid BDS activist – who both later expressed sup­port for a one-state solu­tion, fre­quently rolled their eyes and put their heads down, dis­play­ing vis­i­ble dis­com­fort with his positions.
At one point, Deek and Finkel­stein engaged in a hos­tile back-and-forth exchange. After acknowl­edg­ing that she could never "rec­og­nize the right of the entity known as Israel" to exist, Finkel­stein chal­lenged Deek's use of the term "entity," stat­ing, "Israel is a state. It has the same rights and the same oblig­a­tions as the 190 other states." Deek coun­tered that she has "no oblig­a­tion to oper­ate strictly under the aus­pices or within the frame­work of inter­na­tional law despite the fact that Pro­fes­sor Finkel­stein or other pro­fes­sors would like me to do so because they don't make that require­ment of the Israeli entity."

Australia: Young Greens NSW Facebook poll questions Israel's right to exist

But Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) executive director Peter Wertheim said although Greens policy accepts Israel's right to exist, "they continue to be embarrassed by extremists in their own ranks, including some of their MPs, who are fixated on singling out Israel, among all the nations of the world, as a target of hatred and demonisation".
"Regardless of their personal views, their activities and rhetoric have time and again been magnets for gross expressions of anti-Semitism, both online and in public forums," he said. "The Greens as a party have a choice to make … They can speak and act as a party with mainstream voter appeal, or they can pander to the radical fringe of politics. With a federal election fast approaching, they can no longer do both."

IDF spokesman posts Facebook tirade against critical NGO

Barak Raz, spokesman for the IDF's Judea and Samaria Division — the unit responsible for most military activities in the West Bank — used Facebook and Twitter to launch a bitter and emotional attack on Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence for what he said was deliberately seeking to smear the IDF rather than genuinely trying to prevent abuses by the army.

MKs: Stop Terrorist Release as 'Good-Will Gesture'

The Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset, which reconvened less than two weeks ago, has sprung into action with a new proposal aimed at ending the phenomenon of prime ministers releasing terrorists from prison as a "good-will gesture."
The proposed law would strip the president, who signs off on prisoner pardons, of the right to release prisoners jailed for offenses motivated by nationalism.

Abbas accepts Palestinian Authority PM Hamdallah's resignation

A PA source said that Hamdallah, whom Abbas appointed on June 2, quickly found himself in the same situation as his predecessor Salam Fayyad.
"Hamdallah discovered that the Palestinian Authority president wants him to serve as a yes-man with no powers," the source explained. "Abbas wanted a prime minister who would play no role and only carry out orders from the president's office."

Fatah member: Haifa, Jaffa are Palestinian

Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are Palestinian cities and will remain so, Tawfik Tirawi, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, was quoted Saturday as saying.
Tirawi, who previously served as commander of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, said that the Palestinians have struggled since the Balfour Declaration and would pursue their struggle "until we achieve our national goals – the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. We will pass this goal from one generation to another."

Hamas executes two 'collaborators' with Israel

The Hamas government in Gaza executed two men on Saturday it accused of collaborating with Israel, the Hamas Interior Ministry announced.
The two men were killed by hanging in accordance "with what Palestinian law stipulates," the ministry was quoted by AFP as saying.

Melanie Phillips: How ignorant Britain sneers and sniggers at the threat from Iran

For a distressing snapshot of how Britain is steadily sliding into irrelevance and indeed civilisational defeat, take a look at this week's edition of BBC TV's Question Time where I was on the panel. My statement that Iran currently posed the greatest threat to the UK and the west provoked a display of truly shocking ignorance amongst the political class, as well as venomous imbecility and resistance to truth-telling amongst the public.

VIDEO: Melanie Phillips on Syria and Iran (BBC QT June 20th 2013)

Druze leaders ask Israel to take in Syrian brethren

In a further sign of the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria, leaders of the Druze community on the Golan Heights have asked Israel to take in their coreligionists living across the border in the war-torn country.
The request came in a letter handed to Prime Minister's Office Director-General Harel Locker at a meeting with Druze leaders on the Golan Heights Thursday. The letter included an unprecedented request for Israel to take in Druze students who had left the Golan and settled in Syria, Maariv reported.

Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah conspired in Morsi's jailbreak

An Egyptian court on Sunday said Muslim Brotherhood members conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including the future President Mohammed Morsi.
The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood — Ibrahim Haggag and Sayed Ayad — to be among the alleged conspirators in the attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.

Erdogan: Turkey, Brazil hit by same conspiracy

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has blamed a wave of anti-government protests in Turkey on a foreign-led plot to destabilize his government, suggested Saturday that protest-hit Brazil was the victim of the same alleged conspiracy.
Erdogan was addressing tens of thousands of his supporters in the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun, the latest stop in a series of rallies he has called to shore up his political support.

EMC buys Israeli storage startup ScaleIO for $200m

EMC, one of the world's leading data storage providers, has reportedly bought Israeli startup ScaleIO for US$ 200 million. Numerous media reports say the American company targeted the Israeli company's ECS software, which offers a way to scale network storage ability.
ScaleIO is known for its software that can change an application server to a virtual storage area network. According to the company, the ECS software "uses application hosts' local disks to realize a virtual SAN that is comparable to or better than external SAN storage, but at a fraction of the cost and complexity."

Israel's Blue I Water Technologies offers clean water solutions to China

In China, boiled or bottled water is suggested for drinking, and tap water may only be used to clean. The boiling of water is a cumbersome process and bottled water is expensive; hence, neither of the solutions is feasible.
An Israel-based company, Blue I Water Technologies, has presented a solution – Prizma. The device can be used in both household and industrial settings. It can identify, quantify and analyze chemical components of water and measure contents such as chlorine, pH and conductivity in water. This device, therefore, enables users to adjust and clean water for different uses, including drinking.(h/t Zvi)

Georgia's PM: My dream is for Israel as a strategic partner

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili will visit Israel next week. Before his arrival, he invited the 'Post' to Tbilisi for an interview in which he explained why Israel matters to his country, and why Georgia should matter to Israel.(h/t Zvi)

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Plus:

 Melanie Phillips gets booed and taunted by BBC audience and panelists for daring to say that Iran is a threat (h/t O)




Also, Dore Gold on Israel and a changing Middle East:



(h/t Jacques Y)

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Posted By Ian to Elder of Ziyon at 6/23/2013 01:30:00 PM