[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 01/15 Links Pt2: Law Frim Drop ASA or face Civil Rights suit, Neil Young Tours Israel

From Ian:

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Walt Disney's Anti-Semitism, and Modern Day Bias Towards Israel

The irony is that while Meryl Streep was condemning Walt Disney for associating with extremists, she herself was doing the very same thing. The actress to whom she gave that award when she made her anti-Disney speech, her close friend Emma Thompson, is active in the anti-Israel boycott movement.
Streep hailed Thompson as "splendid, beautiful, practically a saint… a living, acting conscience." Yet this 'saint,' together with other British actors, publicly urged a boycott of Israel's Habimah theater troupe when it participated in a festival in England. Habimah, of course, has nothing to do with Israeli government policies or any political issues. Its only "crime" is that it's Israeli.

Employment Law Firm: Drop American Studies Assn membership or risk Title VII liability

While over 190 university presidents have denounced the ASA academic boycott of Israel, many have decided either to keep the membership or to leave the decision to individual American Studies Departments. Some others are switching the membership listing to their American Studies Departments, rather than the full University name.
Anything other than a full termination of Institutional Membership, however, opens up the universities to legal liability for national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
That potential liability is explained in a recent article by two attorneys at the Seyfarth Shaw law firm.

Has your Rep signed Congressional letter against Israel academic boycott?

I reported last Friday on the draft Bipartisan Congressional letter to denounce academic boycott of Israel.
As of Friday, there were 36 signatories. As of yesterday, the number had risen to 57.
The final signature list should be released later this week.

Pro-Israel Christians Protest Dutch Pension Giant's Divestment From Israel

Hundreds of Dutch Christian activists demonstrated outside the headquarters of Dutch pension giant PGGM, to protest the pension company's recent decision to divest from Israeli banks.
The protesters, members of the pro-Israel group Christians for Israel, held up Israeli flags and banners saying "Stop the Boycott of Israel."

Understanding B.D.S. (h/t Daphne Anson)


Did the Indy get it wrong again? G4S denies being investigated over West Bank contracts

More recently, the Indy published an article by Business Editor Jim Armitage (based on an unnamed source) claiming the UK security company G4S "is facing an investigation by international authorities into its alleged activities in…the occupied Palestinian territories". However, this also may be completely inaccurate.
Though, according to Armitage, the "Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) UK staff have indicated that it will be investigating the company's work supplying Israeli security services," according to a story in The Jewish Chronicle (The JC), a G4S spokesperson said that the Indy report was 'wrong'. The spokesperson further said that "the firm was not under investigation and that it had not been contacted by the OECD or any government department."
Further, per The JC, the "OECD said it was not directly involved with any such inquiries."

BBC Radio 4 reinforces political narrative through drama

From Selma Dabbagh one does not expect anything other than this kind of agitprop; she has, after all, built a career around producing literature with explicitly political messaging. What is notable is that a BBC employee responsible for the training of journalists found it appropriate to commission, produce and direct such an obviously political piece of drama – with public funding, of course.

'10-year max sentence for Iranian spying on US proves Pollard must be set free'

The 10-year maximum sentence set for an Iranian spy charged with spying on the US raised new questions about why Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard is still in prison, Labor MK Nachman Shai said Tuesday.
Mozaffar Khazaee, an Iranian engineer who worked with US defense contractors, was arrested Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey as he attempted to fly to Tehran via Germany.
He was charged in Connecticut with "transporting, transmitting and transferring in interstate or foreign commerce goods obtained by theft, conversion, or fraud."

A history lesson from David Ward MP

And then comes the history lesson. Brilliant. Cutting. Incisive. Like you've never heard before, Ward tweets: "Sharon's death makes you think. The brutal, genocidal treatment of Jews must never be forgotten but….the Palestinians were not responsible".
Ack!
Why did they never teach us this at school?! The Palestinians were NOT responsible for the Holocaust! Amazing insight. Brilliant. Totally relevant. And of course somehow related to Ariel Sharon's death.

British soccer bosses stay on sidelines with quenelle

The nonprofit Kick It Out, which partners with the FA in fighting racism, issued a statement on Dec. 28 saying only that it was aware of the incident and offered its support to the Football Association in any investigation.
Kick It Out spokesman Richard Bates declined to comment further, telling JTA that the matter is under investigation. A spokesman for the Football Association also declined to comment.
"Not good enough," John Mann, the chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism at the European Parliament, tweeted last month. "You should be leading on challenging this racism. Your statement is weak and puny."

ADL fumes as Polish soccer fans' anti-Semitic chants go unpunished

The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday called on the Polish authorities to reverse a decision by prosecutors not to bring forth charges against fans of the Lech Poznan soccer club who were heard making anti-Semitic chants during a September match against Widzew Lodz.
The ADL cited local media reports which claimed fans chanted "Move on, Jews!" and "Your home is at Auschwitz!" among other incendiary remarks.

Polish church to show painting depicting Jewish killing of Christian children

An 18th-century painting depicting the ritual murder of Christian children by Jews will be uncovered and available for viewing at a Polish cathedral.
The Charles de Prevot painting "Mord Rytualny," or "Ritual Murder," will go on display Thursday at the cathedral in Sandomierz as the Catholic Church marks its International Day of Judaism.
A plaque next to the painting will inform viewers that the Jews did not actually commit ritual murder because it is prohibited by their faith. The information on the plaque was prepared by the Polish Episcopal Conference's Committee for Dialogue with Judaism, according to the Polish daily Gazeta.

"Let's Burn the Jew" is not Anti-Semitic?

Anti-semitism sank to a new low in Canada after a Winnipeg judge ruled that grabbing a Jewish classmate, flicking a lighter to her hair and saying, "Let's burn the Jew," was not anti-Semitic. The incident took place between two fifteen-year-old classmates, where the defendant pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon. The lawyer for the defendant implied that it was the girl's fault that her hair caught fire -- because she pulled away. Then Manitoba Provincial Court Judge Robert Finlayson agreed with the defense that the action was one of teen impulsiveness.
The victim not only stated that the incident "changed her world upside down," but that she needed therapy to deal with her fears and felt that she was blamed by some people in the school for making too much out of the incident.

Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren Joins CNN

The American-born Oren, a noted historian, served as Israel's top envoy to the U.S. from 2009-2013. He has already appeared on CNN several times, and penned an obituary for Ariel Sharon for the network.

'You Have to Fight the Battle for Israel in the Fight for Truth'

"15 years ago when the founders of Tagit-Birthright Israel came to me with the idea is to bring young Jews from around the world for 10 days to Israel, I thought these people were crazy, mushugana, loco," said Netanyahu.
"And then I thought, this country was founded by dreamers, great dreamers, and I said to myself, if you're crazy, I'm crazy to, and we are going to do it," he added.
"Taglit-Birthright Israel promises the future of the Israeli State and the Jewish Nation. When you go back to your countries, I want you to keep close to your heart everything you see here, but also share it with your friends, families, with your communities and with college friends because you have to fight the battle for Israel in the fight for truth, and I am counting on you to do it," said the Prime Minister.

Raised Muslim in Gaza, now bar mitzvah in Israel

Until four years ago, D. lived in Gaza with his Jewish mother and Arab father, with no connection to or knowledge of Judaism. L., his mother, moved to Israel from Uzbekistan when she was 14 and rented an apartment in Ofakim with her mother and sister. At 16, she went to work at a packing house in the area to support her family. There, she met A., a 17-year-old from Gaza working illegally in Israel.

German Anne Frank Miniseries To Air Next Year

Next year is the 70th anniversary of Anne Frank's death at 16 in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, and there will likely be a number of major events and projects to commemorate the life of Frank, whose diary, written while her family was in hiding in Amsterdam, has come to symbolize young people's literary introduction to the Holocaust.
One of the projects is a two-part miniseries from the German production company Constantin Film and public broadcaster ZDF, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Moove over touch: Control your iPhone via head movements

Israeli start-up uMoove released on Tuesday the first and so far only, head and face tracking-based app for iPhones and iPads, opening up a new world of interaction with handheld devices, said CEO Yitzi Kempinski. "uMoove's 'Flying Experience' is the only app for iOS that uses the camera and reads head movements to execute commands in a game," he told the Times of Israel in an exclusive interview on the eve of the game's official introduction in the App Store.

Pamela Anderson's holy honeymoon

After quietly remarrying former husband Rick Salomon on Sunday, the 46-year-old actress boarded an El Al flight headed straight for the Holy Land. She is staying at a suite in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
The newlyweds have already taken a trip down to the Dead Sea, reported Ynet.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse lead pack of veterans on the way to Israel

First and foremost, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young and his longtime garage rock backing band Crazy Horse will fill Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv with squalls of amplified grunge on July 17 in a show entitled 'The Past, the Present and The Future with Neil Young and Crazy Horse.'
It will be Young's second performance in Israel, following a 1993 show at the Caesarea Amphitheater with Pearl Jam following their collaboration on the Young album Mirror Ball.
With reports of shows by The Rolling Stones, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga still in circulation, 2014 is shaping up to be one of Israel's most active for musical imports. Did someone mention boycott?

The Everyday Life of Jews in Jerusalem's Old City 120 Years Ago

The oldest pictures of Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City date from the 1850s, such as this photo taken by Mendel Diness.
In his 1871 travelogue, Travels around the World, former U.S. Secretary of State William Seward described the prayers of the Jews at the Western Wall (Kotel) -- "pouring out their lamentations over the fall of their beloved city." He reported the Jewish population of the city was 8,000, twice the number of the Christian or Muslim residents.
Many of the century-old photos of the Jews of the Holy Land were taken during their prayers at the Kotel. Far fewer were the less formal pictures of their everyday life in Jerusalem. We present such pictures here.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 1/15/2014 06:00:00 PM