[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 01/17 Links Pt2: Why can’t Arab armies be more humane like Israel’s? The Shame of Academia.

From Ian:

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Al-Jazeera: Why can't Arab armies be more humane like Israel's?
Among the questions posed on air:

"Why don't they learn from the Israeli army which tries, through great efforts, to avoid shelling areas populated by civilians in Lebanon and Palestine? Didn't Hezbollah take shelter in areas populated by civilians because it knows that Israeli air force doesn't bomb those areas? Why doesn't the Syrian army respect premises of universities, schools or inhabited neighborhoods? Why does it shell even the areas of its supporters? …

Al Jazeera Arabic admits France, Israel better


Iron Dome: A new idea for a St James' Church Stunt (Satire)

This morning the peace-loving Palestinians fired numerous rockets into Israel - including five targeted at Ashkelon that were all intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Given how ugly the Iron dome system is - and how its only purpose is to save the lives of Israelis targeted by Palestinian terrorists, this surely is a perfect subject for the next Christmas stunt by the St James' Church Piccadilly: Build a life-size replica of the Iron dome and demand it be torn down.
In fact, to save much time and effort I have prepared the Press Release for the event

UN Watch: UNESCO reneges on Israel exhibit, surrenders to Arab pressure

Rather, the only surprises here — for an organization that up until several weeks ago grotesquely featured Bashar al-Assad's Syria on its human rights committee — are that Bokova ever gave her approval in the first place; and that it took this long for the Arab states to go ballistic, given that the Wiesenthal Center, back in 2012, had been loud and clear that the exhibit would counteract "malicious lies being spread, particularly in the Arab world," and would be shown "not in a synaogue or Jewish community center, but rather at UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the United Nations where this historic truth [the Jewish connection to Israel] is too often buried under an avalanche of lies."

United Nations launches biased "International Year of Palestinian Solidarity" campaign

When asked about the announcement for the Palestinian Solidarity Year, British Member of Parliament Robert Halfon told TrendingCentral.com, "One day the United Nations might even have an annual day to commemorate the many Israeli victims of terrorism, and actually stand up against fanaticism, dictatorship, Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
Last November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, and requested the Committee to organise activities around the observance.
General Assembly President John Ashe told today's meeting that he hoped the Year leads to "robust" support for the people of 'Palestine'. No mention was made in the UN press release of support for the State of Israel and its embattled people.

Prosor: UN a tool of Palestinian propaganda

"The UN is used as a tool in the service of Palestinian propaganda. Instead of trying to end the campaign of Palestinian incitement against Israel, the UN provides a stage for Palestinian productions for the media," Prosor said.
"While the Palestinians seek UN solidarity, they continue to educate an entire generation to hate Israel and deny the connection between the Jewish people to their homeland," he added. "It's time to stop the hypocrisy and ask, where is solidarity with the victims of terrorism in Israel and their families?"

Palestinian Film Demonizing Israelis Gets Oscar Nomination

Hollywood, replete with those whose leftism fuels their anger toward Israel, has honored the Palestinian film Omar with a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.
The director, Hany Abu-Assad, previously helmed Paradise Now. That film, about two would-be suicide bombers, garnered a Best Foreign Language Film nomination in 2005 but did not win.

Italian Delegation Awards PA Leader for Supporting 'Resistance'

A group of left-wing delegates from Italy has caused upset by awarding the governor of the Hevron district, Kamel Hameid, for his commitment to "resistance."
The Italian delegation gave the award on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement and a Palestinian organization called Youth Against Settlements, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reports.

"No force... can remove the weapon from my hand" - PA TV music video on Fatah's anniversary


"We replaced bracelets with weapons" and attacked the Zionists - PA TV


Demonizing Irish Times Columnist Crosses the Line

McCann has already distinguished himself with his particularly vicious writing on Israel, two articles of which have been critiqued by HonestReporting over the past several months.
In his latest screed, McCann compares Sharon to a controversial and also the former Northern Irish politician, Ian Paisley, whose policies were guided by his religious beliefs. However, claiming that Sharon's politics and principles were governed by biblical fundamentalism is wholly inaccurate. While Israel's former PM and military giant was certainly a Jewish nationalist who felt a deep connection and love of the land, Sharon was essentially a secular Zionist.

AIPAC root cause theory: 'CiF' again blames Israel lobby for…stuff they don't like

Indeed, if Kinzer would see past his characteristic Israel lobby obsession, he'd note recent polling data which shows that "lopsided majorities of Americans from both political parties" are distrustful of Iran's intentions during the nuclear talks, and "overwhelmingly favor deepening sanctions against the Iranian government, regardless of current negotiations." That is, the support in Congress for the proposed sanctions bill is thoroughly consistent with US public opinion on the issue.
But, of course, who needs empirical research and critical thinking when you can fall back on lazy, disproven arguments which assign blame to the usual suspects.

Arafat death conspiracy theory featured in BBC WS 'Newshour' live coverage of Sharon funeral

The most notable part of this programme, however, was the editorial decision to provide a platform for the head of the Fatah political committee Abdullah Abdullah during a live broadcast meters away from an ongoing funeral.
When asked by Doucet why the Palestinians do not give Sharon credit for the Gaza Strip disengagement, Abdullah said:
"Credit for what? Credit for the massacre of Qibya in 1953? Credit of the Sabra and Shatilla in 19…eh…82? Credit for ….eh…the continued…probably he is one of the top accused of the assassination of President Arafat. Credit for…" [emphasis added]

Brandeis, Al-Quds talk about re-establishing ties

The president of Brandeis University is in talks with officials at the Palestinian Al-Quds University to re-establish a partnership between the schools that was suspended over an Islamic Jihad rally.
Frederick Lawrence and Al-Quds leaders are discussing "next steps" with the "ultimate goal of re-establishing a partnership," the Brandeis student newspaper The Justice reported this week, citing an email from the university's senior vice president for communications, Ellen de Graffenreid.

Are only Israeli scholars complicit in the actions of their government?

Making academics responsible for—even complicit in—the machinations of the current government, and justifying a boycott as a result—as if Israeli academics, in this instance, even have the collective power to influence and change the status of the occupation and other aspects of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict—is normally an anathematic proposition for professors, just as it would have been for the patriotic Professor De Genova if Columbia University had been boycotted for the perceived excesses of the Bush White House during the invasion of Iraq.

Incoming ASA Chief Accuses Forbes Writer of Homophobia After Scathing Critique of Her Anti-Israel Stance

orbes magazine's Contributing Editor of Investigations, Richard Behar, who this week published a scathing 15,000-word indictment of the American Studies Association's vote to boycott Israeli universities, was accused of homophobia by Lisa Duggan, the NYU professor elected to head the ASA and a new voice demonizing Israel that he profiled in the article.
In an interview with The Algemeiner, Behar said that he found her accusations, in a back-and-forth email conversation, confounding and beside the point.

Propagandists with Ph.D's: Month One of the anti-Israel academic boycott

Researching the numerous articles I have written this past month has been an eye-opener — and that from someone whose eyes were already wide open as to the nature of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement. The hatred of Israel among the academic boycotters is beyond anything you can imagine.
The hatred of Israel is visceral, and beyond reason. Everything good about Israel is turned into a negative.

The ASA, NYU, and the Shame of Academia

As Behar also notes, NYU bears a special responsibility for speaking about discrimination against Israel, because of its decision to open a campus in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. While that principality has welcomed business with the West and its leaders have been showering NYU and other American partners with generous donations, it has also been notorious for its discrimination against Israel, Israelis and Jews. Just this past a month a Dutch soccer team invited to play in the country was forced to leave one of its members at home because he was an Israeli citizen if the team was to be permitted to play in Abu Dhabi.

Polish Catholic Church Unveils Blood Libel Painting

The Catholic Church of Poland unveiled a painting on Thursday that had been kept hidden since 2006, after protests from both Catholics and Jews opposed the depiction of Jews murdering Christian children in the classic anti-Semitic blood libel trope.
The painting, an 18th century CE work by Italian painter Charles de Prevot called "Mord Rytualny (Ritual Murder)," has been mounted on a wall at the cathedral in Sandomierz but hidden behind a red curtain for the past 8 years due to its contents.

Poland dismisses soccer fans' anti-Semitic chants

The Poznan fans shouted to the Lodz fans: "You belong in Auschwitz," "Ride on, Jews" and "Into the ovens," according to Glos Wielkopolski. The daily also reported the Poznan fans shouted, "Go to the gas, RTS" — an acronym that refers to the Lodz squad.
The Poznan prosecutor's office decided to drop the charges because the chants were directed at fans rather than Jews, and therefore were not intended as incitement to racial hatred, according to Mazur-Prus.

Israeli Start-Up Solves Cut Fruit Going Bad

A new Israeli start-up company has decided to tackle the age-old problem: how do you stop cut fruit from going bad quickly? SPRESH's new all-natural spray does just that, preventing the deterioration of cut fruit's taste, color and texture for up to 24 hours.
On the start-up's Kickstarter campaign page, where the company is looking to build funds to expand their production, SPRESH founder Aviad Mozes writes he started the project to stop fruit discoloration after having to throw out left over browned fruit that his son wouldn't eat.

Israel's Tower Semiconductor Shares Jump on Jim Cramer Recommendation

Shares of Israel's Tower Semiconductor surged 6.1% on the Nasdaq and 10.7% on Tel Aviv's TASE on Wednesday, following similar steep gains on Tuesday, after TV stock pundit Jim Cramer advised tracking the stock in his "4 Under-$10 High Tech Stocks to Watch," online investment website Stockpickr reported.

Eight scientists awarded 'Pre-Nobel' Wolf Prize

On their way to the Nobels, many scientists and researchers take a detour to Israel in order to pick up a Wolf Prize, a $100,000 award given out for excellence in five areas — agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, and the arts. Originally endowed in 1978 by Dr. Ricardo Wolf, a German-born inventor and former Cuban ambassador to Israel, the Wolf Prize has gotten a reputation in the scientific community as a "pre-Nobel" award, second only in importance worldwide to the Swedish-awarded prizes.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 1/17/2014 04:00:00 PM