[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 02/12 Links Pt2: A special thank you from Scarlett Johansson; Israel a Sanctuary for Migrating Birds

From Ian:

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A special thank you from Scarlett Johansson to YOU

Thousands and thousands of you rose to the occasion and CCFP cannot express our thanks deeply enough. And we’re not the only ones. We have been given a note from Mr. Marcel Pariseau, Scarlett Johansson’s publicist, thanking her fans for their support. This note of appreciation is from Scarlett to all of you:

Scarlett would like to extend her most sincere thanks to the many thousands of people who have supported her these past weeks. Your emails, comments, and tweets have been truly overwhelming and inspiring. It has been wonderful to receive messages from people all over the world who firmly believe that peace is possible.
And a big thank you to Creative Community For Peace for building a bridge between Scarlett and her fans.
Marcel Pariseau
TRUE PUBLIC RELATIONS

Scarlett Johansson to receive honorary French Oscar

The American star, who is engaged to French journalist Romain Dauriac, will receive her “Cesar” at French cinema’s annual gala awards ceremony in the capital on February 28.
Johansson, 29, is being recognized for a career in which she has already made nearly 35 films, having first come to the world’s attention as a 14-year-old in Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer.”

Major South American Trading Bloc Accepts Israel as Observer State

The Pacific Alliance is a bloc of five Latin American member states – Costa Rica just joined the initial four members of Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico – designed to promote economic growth specifically by focusing on trade liberalization. Geopolitically, it sits opposite another South American bloc – the “Common Market of the South” (Mercosur) group – which includes Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil, and which has political ambitions that often align poorly with American interests.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today that the Jewish state has been accepted as an observer state of the Pacific Alliance. The move has benefits that go beyond the merely economic, and will see Israel strengthening its overall ties in the region: (h/t MtTB)

Netanyahu to Make Rare Visit to Colombia, Mexico

Netanyahu accepted the invitations of both Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to visit their respective countries.
The Pacific Alliance countries are considered pro-United States, anti-Iran, and friendly toward Israel. Among Netanyahu’s goals for the visit is to strengthen ties between Israel and Hispanic communities, both those in their home countries and those in the U.S.

Israel joins Western states at UN human rights forum

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor praised Israel’s inclusion in the JUSCANZ group at the UN’s Third Committee. The caucus is a subgroup of Western states that include Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, among others.
“It’s repairing a historic injustice,” he said in a statement. “It’s a day of celebration not just for Israel, but for all who hold human close to their hearts. Israel’s joining the group is another expression of international appreciation for Israeli democracy.”

Power Promises to Fight to Get Israel on Security Council

Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, promised on Monday that she would fight and “not give up” to get Israel a seat on the UN Security Council.
Speaking to the AJC (American Jewish Committee) Board of Governors, Power said that the U.S. “strongly supports Israel’s candidacy” for a seat on the Security Council.
“We have pushed relentlessly for the full inclusion of Israel across the UN system,” Power said, according to a statement provided by AJC.

Pro-BDS Jewish-American: I’m on UN shortlist to replace Falk

In her article on Saturday for the Real News Network, Bennis, a native of California, listed under her description of good news “Oxfam’s decision to sack[sic] superstar Scarlett Johansson because of her high-visibility endorsement of SodaStream.”

Times reporter Catherine Philp falsely claims Oxfam cut ties with Johansson

Of course, the claim that Oxfam “parted company with Scarlett Johansson” is not true.
As statements by both Oxfam and Johansson - and every other media outlet and blog we are aware of – made clear, it was Johansson who ‘parted company’ with Oxfam after the highly politicized NGO criticized her decision to become the global brand ambassador for SodaStream.
We contacted editors at The Times concerning this false claim and are awaiting a reply.

Anti-Israel, Anti-UKIP, Anti-Thatcher Activist to Receive Taxpayer Funding

O'Hare, a student and unsuccessful student union presidential candidate at the University of Edinburgh, is known for his "direct action" which led to an Israeli diplomat having to cancel a speech at Edinburgh University in 2011.
Ismael Khaldi, a Bedouin Arab diplomat from Israel, was subjected to abuse when speaking at the university, being shouted down and called a "Nazi." O'Hare and his group, the Radical Independence Campaign, were also responsible for the disruptive, mob-type behaviour during UKIP leader Nigel Farage's visit to Scotland last year.

Professor Strips Thesis of Judith Butler Sourcing, Calls for RDS – ‘Retractions and Disavowals in Scholarship’ – to Oppose BDS

Israeli artist, playwright and professor Dahn Hiuni on Tuesday said he launched a new movement called RDS – Retractions and Disavowals in Scholarship – to encourage academics to revisit their work to excise references from scholars who have since lost credibility as public intellectuals because of their bias against Israel and support of BDS, the boycott, divestment and sanction movement, that threatens to isolate and punish Israel.
In Hiuni’s case, his attempt to remove any mention of University of California at Berkeley professor Judith Butler from his 2005 doctoral thesis at Penn State was met with resistance by the school — “though, they had probably never had such a request,” he admitted to The Algemeiner in an interview — so he began circulating a strongly-worded addendum via email and on the Internet, where it has received echo from other scholars also fed up with the anti-Israel tone from reflexively left-wing colleagues on campus.

New Princeton program subject to American Studies Assn Israel boycott

The American Studies Association has committed itself by Resolution to the full international boycott of Israel, but defends itself by saying it only actually will boycott Israeli academic institutions, their representatives, and their programs.
Even that purported scaled-back boycott includes boycotting individuals, both those who represent institutions and those who participate in the Israeli or joint programs (like the Cornell-Technion campus being built in NYC).
Here’s a new joint program just established by Princeton that also will be subject to ASA boycott, as reported by The Tower:

A new program announced today will see the Woodrow Wilson School of Government at Princeton University launch a joint program with the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC).

A View from Down Under: Australia frontline of BDS campaign

This Wednesday a lawsuit will resume at the Federal Court in Sydney against Jake Lynch of Sydney University, who is a prominent supporter of the BDS campaign against Israel. The lawsuit was filed by Israeli legal center Shurat Hadin on behalf of an academic Dan Avnon from the Hebrew University. Avnon wanted to do research in Australia but Jake Lynch refused to sign the application, stating his support for the BDS movement. The lawsuit alleges that Jake Lynch is violating Australia’s racial discrimination act by discriminating against Dan Avnon based on his ‘Israeli national origin and his Jewish racial and ethnic origin’.
In a lawsuit like this, there are Jews in Australia who are for it and who are against it. Perhaps much of Jewish mentality throughout the ages has been to keep a low profile in the diaspora, but I believe that Jews need to fight back against the racist campaign of the BDS movement.

"Four Corners" Fudges Footage

"Four Corners'" decision to cut the footage of 11-year-old Karim throwing a rock is consistent with the broadcast's overall theme: Palestinian children and adults alike are merely non-violent victims, and not particularly responsible for having any role in the conflict. For example, Lyons falsely depicts the weekly violent clashes at Nabi Saleh as "non-violent":
"It quickly becomes clear that what the authorities really want is information about the non-violent protest movement in the town [Nabi Saleh], including Bassem Tamimi."
Yet, as the New York Times reported about Islam's interrogation, and the nature of the Nabi Saleh clashes:
"The young man, who seemed eager to please his interrogators, described how village youths were organized into nine “brigades,” each assigned tasks like throwing stones, blocking roads and hurling unexploded tear-gas canisters back at the soldiers."
Moreover, according to a report in Ynet, Palestinian activists pay youths in Nabi Saleh and nearby villages to throw rocks at soldiers.
Bassem Tamimi's own daughter A'hd, 11, has taken an active role in the violent confrontations, for which she was honored by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

False Charge of 'Palestinian Kids in Cages' Lives On in Australian Documentary

For the past six weeks, since the Jerusalem Post article was originally published, CAMERA has appealed repeatedly to the newspaper's journalists and editors, urging them to correct the misleading story, but to no avail.
Unfortunately, the Jerusalem Post's inexplicable refusal to set the record straight has opened the door to the ongoing perpetration of an egregious falsehood, as evidenced by a vitriolic Australian documentary yesterday. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, "Four Corners," promoted a narrative of brutal abuse by Israel of Palestinian children. It included the Jerusalem Post's story of holding children overnight in outdoor cages. At approximately 32 minutes into the broadcast, the documentary zooms in on the Post's print story, graphically underscoring just how much damage the uncorrected report inflicts:

Israeli Embassy in London responds to Harriet Sherwood feature

In her feature on Palestinian children, Harriet Sherwood writes at length about protests in Nabi Saleh (Weekend, 8 February). She mentions that at least 140 people from the village “have been detained or arrested as a result of protest activity”, neglecting to mention terrorists, such as Ahlam Tamimi, who led a suicide bomber to a restaurant where he murdered 16 people, commenting later that she had hoped for a “larger toll”. When she was released as part of the Gilad Shalit deal, there were celebrations in Nabi Saleh.
Sherwood concedes that Palestinian stone-throwing causes Israelis to die, and then claims that Nabi Saleh’s protest leader Bassem Tamimi “neither advocates nor condemns it”. Yet he is on record in boasting that “we see stones as our message” and “our sign is the stone”. He was not arrested simply for “protesting”; he was accused of attempting to lead soldiers into an ambush, to be pelted with stones.

Alison Weir on Munich 1972

The Stop the War Coalition has republished an article by Alison (Blood Libel) Weir at the antisemitic website Counterpunch blaming Israel for the terrorist operation which killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics and complaining that the Palestinian “victims” (i.e., terrorists) deserve to be remembered as well– “not just the 11 preferred ones.”

Aboard Belgian train, Jews asked to get off and shower at Auschwitz

Unidentified passengers aboard a Belgian train used the speaker system to urge Jews to get off at Auschwitz and shower at the concentration camp.
The incident of Jan. 31 prompted the Belgian rail company SNCB to file a complaint with police over incitement to hatred, the RTL broadcaster reported Tuesday. (h/t Yenta Press)

Presbyterians Declare War on the Jews

Unlike past controversies in which Jewish groups sought to bridge the divide between the two communities, the distribution of a publication that is driven by sheer hatred and a determination to see Israel destroyed requires a more forthright response. The response to this screed should be unequivocal. Any Presbyterian Church USA that chooses to distribute it is not merely offending supporters of Israel. It is endorsing hate speech and seeking to spread a doctrine that seeks Israel’s destruction and views Jews who do not reject Zionism as guilty of complicity in the “crimes” of the Jewish state. With this publication, the PCUSA has crossed a line that divides people of good will from those who promote racism or anti-Semitism. The many decent members of congregations affiliated with the PCUSA can no longer stand by mutely while the good name of their church is sullied in this manner. They must either actively reject this ugly publication or forever be tainted by association with the vile hatred to which their leadership has committed them. (h/t NormanF)

Enrico Macias to make aliya

The Jewish French-Algerian singer Enrico Macias announced on Monday that he will apply for Israeli citizenship and settle in the country permanently.
“I feel free, I feel babayit sheli [at home],” Macias told Channel 2.
The 75-year-old explained that the increased threat of European anti-Semitism spurred his decision to relocate to Israel.

Oramed announces successful oral insulin clinical trials

Oramed Pharmaceuticals has announced successful results from its Phase 2a clinical trial for its ORMD-0801 oral insulin capsule for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The trial – which met all primary and secondary endpoints — was conducted under a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug protocol.

Wheelchairs of Hope, from Israel with love

Virtually every household in Israel has a few Keter brand plastic chairs, so why not use a similar seat as a base for lightweight, inexpensive but sturdy kid-friendly wheelchairs?
After 30 years as a Keter executive, Pablo Kaplan decided to do just that. With his life partner and former coworker, Chava Rotshtein, in 2009 Kaplan founded the nonprofit Wheelchairs of Hope.
The couple aims to provide colorful, maintenance-free wheelchairs to the estimated five million children in the world who cannot attend school because of mobility handicaps. Central and South America, Africa, Asia and other Middle East countries are target markets.

Watch half a billion birds find peace in the Middle East (VIDEO)

Now Hula functions as a much-needed way station for cranes, which travel about 6,000 miles between their winter and summer homes. In the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean, the birds are shot at for sport, and in some cases for food. "In Malta and Cyprus you can buy pickled wild birds in jars on the streets,” [Naday] Israeli says. People show off their killings on Facebook pages. "Since UNESCO declared the sport of falconry a protected part of "living human heritage " two years ago, Israeli says, "it’s a massacre."
"Israel is the only place along the entire route where it is safe for them to land now," he adds. “In places where humans are killed, who cares about birds?”
When flying north over Israel, the cranes now rise up to 10,000 feet into the sky at the Lebanese border, to escape being shot.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 2/12/2014 08:00:00 PM