[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 11/24 Links: BDS is just the same old, same old hate, IDF restores eyesight to blind Filipinos

From Ian:

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BDS is just the same old, same old hate

The BDS movement is particularly strong on campuses in part because of the support from anti-Israel faculty and outside groups that target campuses.
This video explains how it's nothing new.
The speaker is Chloé Simone Valdary promoting the Declare Your Freedom festival in New Orleans next year (h/t HenMassig):

These days, Israel is often mocked and ridiculed on school campuses. From Israel Apartheid Week to the ever popular BDS movement, the university has not historically been a pro-Israel environment. However we're working to change that! We spend the entire year fighting slander, writing publications, and holding events, and this Spring will be the LARGEST event of the school year, put together by the University of New Orleans, Tulane University, and McNese State! It will illustrate our strength, solidarity, and perseverance as supporters of Israel.

Pro-Israel Festival in New Orleans this Spring.


Breaking the Silence: Group's message emboldens enemies, delegitimizes Israel

NGO Monitor's detailed analysis of the book shows that Breaking the Silence tailored the anecdotal and unverifiable accounts of low-ranking soldiers to fit a predetermined conclusion that Israeli policy is the "intimidation, instilling of fear, and indiscriminate punishment of the Palestinian population." In fact, many testimonies contradict this harsh claim, explicitly noting that incidents of individual misconduct were opposed and punished by officers.
Audiences, then, are hearing personal political perspectives on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and not the unfiltered words of ordinary Israelis.

British university heads back Islamists in pro-segregation scandal

Outrage is sweeping across Britain's higher education sector after it emerged yesterday that Universities UK (UUK), an organisation constructed of university vice chancellors from around the country, has caved to Islamist demands to encourage gender segregation of events on university campuses.
Against the backdrop of a wave of segregation cases on university campuses, wherein women are forced to sit separately or even in different rooms to men, the group of academics has stated that segregation is acceptable as long as men and women are seated side by side and one party is not at a disadvantage. The news has shocked anti-extremism campaigners, as well as those who believe in Western liberal values.

Brandeis president 'reaches out' to al-Quds counterpart in row over Jihad rally

In a statement, Lawrence said Nusseibeh had "made a number of remarks and serious accusations to the media that have not been conveyed to me personally or through my staff. I am reaching out to President Nusseibeh today and hope that he will be open to that discussion." (h/t Bob Knot)

Incitement: The oxygen keeping the conflict alive

With such ferocious hatred being disseminated by the PA, it is little wonder that Palestinians find it hard to see an end to this conflict. Incitement is the oxygen keeping the conflict alive.
By demonising Jews and Israelis and portraying them as killers, thieves and liars, Abbas is entrenching a mindset of war among his people.
Equally, by failing to demand an end to incitement, Obama is ensuring that these peace talks, like the others, end in failure.

Iran nuclear agreement a 'historic mistake,' Netanyahu says

"What was accomplished last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement; it's a historic mistake," Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday morning's weekly cabinet meeting. "Today the world has become much more dangerous, because the most dangerous regime in the world took a meaningful step toward acquiring the most dangerous weapon in the world."

Israeli Ministers Line Up to Lambast Iran Nuclear Deal; Choice Was Between 'Plague and Cholera' Says Lapid

In an interview on Israel Defense Forces radio, Israel's Finance Minister, Yair Lapid, widely believed to be the second most influential politician in the country, sounded a bitter tone.
"We had a choice here between the plague and cholera. We were left alone explaining the truth, and all of our options were bad," he said. "I don't understand how the French Foreign Minister can call an agreement that doesn't involve the dismantling of one centrifuge a 'victory.' I can't understand the world's failure to notice the nineteen thousand Iranian centrifuges."

Trumpeting deal, Iranians say agreement stymies 'Zionist plot'

The agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, represented "a big success for Iran" and an indication that "all plots hatched by the Zionist regime to stop the nuclear agreement have failed," according to a report from state-sponsored Islamic Republic News Agency.

MEMRI VIDEO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani: Iran's Enrichment Activities Will Proceed Similar to the Past
The art of hiding nuclear enrichment facilities

Foreign intelligence would thus prefer to keep mum on its knowledge of an attempted hidden facility, so as not to induce the country in question to increase its on-site defensive capabilities or construct another hidden facility.
Both proliferators and external intelligence organizations are faced with several dilemmas. For a proliferator, the most important ones would be to decide where the facility should be located and what defensive measures should be implemented (if any).
For external intelligence agencies, the main problem would be how to use their limited assets in the most efficient way.

Iran announces plan to build two more nuclear power plants

Iran is expected to build two new nuclear power plants in the near future, an Iranian official said Saturday.
"The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has put construction of the second and third [nuclear] power stations on its agenda due to the government's programs and the emphasis laid by… President [Hassan Rouhani]," AEOI Deputy Chief Hossein Khalfi said, according to the Fars News Agency.

Saudi Arabia: We Won't 'Sit Idly By' if West Fails with Iran

Ambassador Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, who was speaking to the British Times, called the Obama administration's "rush" to embrace Tehran "incomprehensible."
"We are not going to sit idly by and receive a threat there and not think seriously how we can best defend our country and our region," Prince Mohammed, who is Saudi King Abdullah's nephew, said.

Region will lose sleep over Iran deal -Saudi adviser

"The government of Iran, month after month, has proven that it has an ugly agenda in the region, and in this regard no one in the region will sleep and assume things are going smoothly," Askar said.
In the hours before Sunday's deal was sealed, Gulf Arab leaders, including Saudi King Abdullah and the rulers of Qatar and Kuwait, met late on Saturday night to discuss "issues of interest to the three nations".

Al-Hayat Editor: We Are In The Midst Of A Regional Sectarian War That Threatens The National Cohesion Of Countries Near And Far, Especially Lebanon

In a November 20 article in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat, the daily's editor, the Lebanese Ghassan Charbel, wrote that the war in Syria poses a horrific threat to the entire Middle East, since it has sparked a region-wide sectarian war in which Sunnis and Shi'ites travel to Syria from other countries in order to fight each other there. This, he says, has virtually eliminated the boundaries between countries and shattered their internal cohesion, creating a conflagration of unprecedented severity that cannot be controlled or contained.

Palestinian identified as 2nd Iran embassy bomber in Beirut

Lebanese authorities identified the second man involved in the deadly attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday which killed 23 people as a Palestinian with ties to a fugitive Lebanese cleric, Reuters reported Saturday.

'Father of Suicide Bombing' Reportedly Injured in Iran Suicide Bomb

In a he-had-it-coming-to-him-moment, the self-proclaimed father of suicide bombing appears to have been injured on Tuesday in Beirut, where the Iranian embassy was targeted by an Al-Qaeda faction, The Times of London reported. 23 people were killed in the attack, including an Iranian diplomat, and 140 were injured.
The Times said 67-year-old cleric Issa Tabatabai is a close ally of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a key go-between for Iran and its Lebanese proxy militia, Hezbollah. It cited website Ayandeh as reporting that the cleric's wife and daughter were also wounded, and that all three were in hospital in Beirut.

Lebanese Army Defuses 250-Pound Car Bomb, Averting Major Terror Attack

The Lebanese army prevented another massive bomb attack Friday, diffusing a 250-pound car bomb just three days after twin suicide bombings targeting the Iranian embassy in Beirut killed 25 people.
The incident took place in the Bekaa Valley, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization. The official National News Agency reported that the bomb was meant for Beirut.

Jordan's king and the Islamists: In one boat?

In a congressional hearing, US Senator Lindsey Graham said Jordan's king had told him he "did not think he would be in power within a year from now" because of the crisis in Syria. To which US Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey responded: "Yes, that is basically his fear."
The weekly anti-regime protests in Jordan have almost stopped; this has been celebrated by some of the pro-king journalists in the West. Nonetheless, they have celebrated too early, because Jordanians have switched from peaceful protesting to violence.

Turkey Gives Seized Media to Erdogan Ally

Last spring, as President Obama stood beside his good friend Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden, Turkish officials were raiding the media assets of the Çukurova Group, one of the last business conglomerates whose media outlets maintained an independent rather than hagiographic take on Turkey's prime minister. Obama, of course, was silent. Not only did Obama not speak up in defense of media freedom, but he chose Sabah, a once-independent paper seized by Erdogan's administration and transferred to Erdogan's son-in-law for an op-ed about Obama's love for Turkey.

Israeli agritech IPO could be first of a controversial wave

The Evogene IPO could have an a major impact on these and other agritech start-ups, said Kardish. "Evogene is such a great example of Israeli 'Ag Valley,' our agricultural version of 'Silicon Valley.' Evogene started out as a small company with a combination of plant genetics science and hi-tech software, and now it is providing cutting edge solutions for all the big industry players worldwide. Although GMO is considered a controversial topic, I believe that to feed the growing population we'll have to use methods that increase crop productivity, and this is what GM eventually does," Kardish said.

Israeli delegation restores eyesight of blind Philippines residents

The Israeli medical delegation to the Philippines has managed to restore the eyesight of four residents of the Philippines, aged 40 to 74, who were blind as a result of pterygia – growths in the eyes, associated with ultraviolet-light exposure, low humidity and dust.
The patients suffered from pterygia before Typhoon Haiyan hit the islands. "Many locals had this disease, but those who are poor couldn't afford surgery," Lt.-Col Dr. Erez Tsumi told Ynet.

IDF treats 2,000th patient in the Philippines

Another baby was named for the Israeli doctors over the weekend. Louis, the head of security in Cebu, named his daughter Shai, after IDF Military Attaché to the Philippines Col. Shai Brovender. Baby Shai was born in the IDF field hospital.
The Israeli doctors and nursing staff have been treating all Philippine patients wanting to see a doctor – whether they were affected by Typhoon Haiyan or not. For many, this was the first medical care they ever received.

Duluth nurse joins Israelis to offer aid to Filipinos recovering from typhoon

The IDF has essentially turned a developing world, rural hospital into a fairly modern-day medical facility in just 48 hours, all in the context of a major disaster. They have integrated electronic records, ultrasound, digital X-ray, a fairly sophisticated laboratory, an active surgery suite and incredible medical staff with varying specialty backgrounds. I've been mainly working with the orthopedic specialists and surgeons. We have been treating a lot of septic wounds, fractures and fresh wounds from falls, motorcycle crashes and — particularly — soft-tissue wounds sustained in the process of the local residents' cleanup efforts; machetes, axes, things falling, the list goes on.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 11/24/2013 01:00:00 PM