[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 02/24 Links Pt2: S.A. MP Meshoe -Israeli Apartheid Week is a Scam; Israel-EU Exports up 6.3%

From Ian:

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Vicious and Deceptive anti-Israel Propaganda Hate Week starts

“Israel Apartheid Week” as part of the BDS movement is the direct by-product of the Durban anti-Jewish hatred — a history few of its participants probably realize.
In reality, Israel is nothing like South Africa under Apartheid.
First and foremost, Israel is a majority rule democracy. South African Apartheid was the subjugation of the majority by the minority based on racial classifications — the exact opposite of Israel.
Israel is a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society in which the dividing lines, as in many countries and certainly all Mideast countries, is religion not race. In Israel the religious minority has full voting rights, members in the parliament and in the Supreme Court, and all the civil freedoms of the majority. Even the Jewish majority (about 80%) is multi-racial and multi-ethnic, including half the population being refugees and their descendants from Arab countries, Ethiopia, and other non-Western places.

South African MP Kenneth Meshoe: Discover the Scam Israeli Apartheid Week 2014

Palestinian Refugees Welcome Arab Apartheid; ‘For Our Own Good’ (satire)

In the Palestinian-administered territories themselves, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has made it clear that for their own good, refugees would not be granted citizenship in the eventual State of Palestine, because that might imply acceptance of Israel’s refusal to be inundated with a population that would erase the Jewish identity of the world’s only Jewish State. It would be better for everybody, explained Abbas, to create yet another Arab country instead of somehow absorbing Palestinian Arabs into the 22 Arab states in the region.
“I know the surveys say only a minority of refugees are actually interested in returning to their ancestral homes,” concedes Abbas, “but do the refugees really know what’s best for them? I mean, we’re talking about people holding on to the house keys of places destroyed ages ago. Talk about unrealistic.”

The threat of Israel boycotts more bark than bite

However, divestment moves by the likes of Danske Bank appear to be the exception rather than the norm.
Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank AG denied reports last week that it was set to boycott Israeli banks, while the giant Dutch pension fund ABP announced this month that after a review, it saw no need to cut ties with Israeli banks.
All the while, foreign firms continue to pour into Israel. According to the latest Bank of Israel data, direct investment was $10.51 billion in the first nine months of 2013, up from $9.5 billion for the whole of 2012. Exports to Europe rose 6.3 percent last year.
Global brands such as Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Twitter, Apple, AOL and Facebook have all invested in Israel, so, like it or not, users of computers, smartphones and apps could well be supporting Israeli engineering.

PFZW to review Israeli divestment after allegations of pro-Palestinian bias

Further, Cees Flinterman, who is a member of PFZW’s ethical board, is also a board member of The Rights Forum, as well as a member of the Support Committee of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, organisations that have been accused of having an anti-Israel agenda.
Since then, Borgdorff has confirmed in his blog that pro-Palestinian organisations Cordaid, ICCO, IKV PaxChristi, Oxfam Novib, Watershed Working Group and the Dutch Palestine Komite, among others, had been actively lobbying the pension fund for “several years”, and that it incidentally provided pension funds to “some of them”.
IPE understands that PFZW was lobbied by pro-Palestinian NGOs only. (h/t Yenta Press)

NGO Monitor: German Funding for NGOs that Demonize Israel

German NGO funding is officially dedicated to “... establishing peace, freedom, democracy and human rights…,” and many projects are devoted to these important goals.
However, the German government also funds organizations that contribute to the growing demonization of Israel and BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, in direct contradiction to German foreign policy. These NGOs oppose peace and negotiations, and promote narratives that reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state.

BDS is all wet in California.

About two-thirds of California is facing “extreme” or “exceptional” drought with this years' cumulative rainfall at an historically low level. In troubled times like this, California water authorities have turned to the world's expert on water issues- Israel. In Israel, desalination provides about one-quarter of the country’s water supply. 75 percent of the country’s sewage is reclaimed, the highest percentage in the world, and over 50 percent of water used in agriculture comes from treated sewage.
An Israeli company is currently involved in building what is expected to be America's largest seawater desalination plant The $922 million plant is being developed by Israel's IDE Technologies working alongside a local company, Poseidon Resources Corp. By its completion in 2016, the plant in Carlsbad, California will be able to provide 50 million gallons of potable water a day. 15 additional plants have been proposed. Ultimately, desalinated water is expecting to provide about 10 percent of the county’s supply.

Anti-Israel BDS Can’t Get No Satisfaction

For promoters of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement together with the clueless multitudes who are just along for the ride on the Hate the State of Israel bandwagon, time is not on their side—no, it isn’t.
As public and political awareness of the BDS movement increases, the credibility of the BDS brigade and its proponents is falling flat. Bi-partisan voices in Congress and in state legislatures have discredited the effort as “anti-Semitism.”
As for the entertainment industry, one would expect this bastion of Progressiveness to embrace the BDS movement with a hearty, 'bravo!' Yet, sounding a sour note for the BDS movement, calls for artists to refuse to perform in the Jewish state have in many cases fallen on deaf ears.

BDS Lie Week

The week is based on lies, twisted historicism, and deception. According to the declaration on the movement's website, Zionism is defined as "racism," Israel is considered Palestine, Arab Israelis are defined as Palestinians and as having fewer civil rights, and Israel is characterized as an apartheid state.
The demands of the apartheid week leaders are based on the Durban strategy and call for Israel to end its occupation of "Arab land," release what they characterize as "political prisoners" (that is, Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails), and promote the so-called "right of return" for Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants.
It is time to acknowledge that an international PR campaign is being waged against Israel, one that is based on words, slogans, and mainly on lies. It is time to start an opposition campaign, called "BDS Movement Lie Week."

If BDS wins, the Jews are next

The odious BDS aims for the “euthanasia” of the Jewish state, in the words of founder Omar Barghouti. But it also directly threatens Jews worldwide who refuse to jump aboard the anti-Israel bandwagon: not just Zionists, but those who refuse to convert to anti-Zionism. Jews who believe they can afford to let a boycott of Israel become the norm, while still freely retaining personal ties to Israel, are embracing an illusion. It could soon be rudely shattered.

Israel’s First-Ever Zombie Movie Kills It With Cholent Joke

How great is Cannon Fodder going to be? Here’s all you need to know: when shooting a zombie early on in the film, one of the brave Israeli he-men looks at the creature’s exposed entrails and quips what is probably the greatest line in any horror movie ever: “Looks like kishke. Cholent for Shabbat.”
I don’t need anything else, and I can’t wait to see Cannon Fodder, which, hopefully, will find American distribution soon.

Israeli Cyber Exports Three Times Greater Than United Kingdom’s

Exports by Israeli companies in the cyber field were estimated to be three times greater than the United Kingdom’s totaling approximately $3 billion in 2013, the head of the Israel National Cyber Bureau (INCB) said Sunday.
Dr. Eviatar Matania told ministers at a Cabinet meeting that the Israeli exports constitute about 5 percent of the $60 billion global market.
Israeli companies also raised $165 million last year, which constitutes up to 11 percent of total funds raised worldwide in the cyber field. He added that 14.5 percent of companies that raise funds in the field are Israeli.

Israeli battery science expert wins prestigious IBA Yeager Award

An Israeli professor and battery science pioneer is the winner of this year’s prestigious IBA Yeager Award for his work in advancing battery technology. The International Battery Association will present the award to Prof. Doron Aurbach, credited with developing the first rechargeable lithium and magnesium batteries, at its annual convention on March 3-7, 2014 in Australia.
Aurbach, of Bar Ilan University, runs a laboratory that specializes in novel devices for energy storage and conversion, rechargeable lithium and Li-ion batteries and super (EDL) capacitors as well as rechargeable magnesium batteries.
“The Awards recognize significant contributions to battery research and technology development that have impacted the advancement of energy storage systems,” reads the IBA website.

As countdown looms, Israel’s moon bid already a winner

Daniel Saat, business development manager for SpaceIL, is reasonably confident that the lunar lander the Israeli spaceship organization is working on will beat out the competition and reach the moon, winning the big $30 million prize being offered by Google in its LunarX challenge. “Our intelligence sources tell us that Israel’s LunarX satellite is one of the two or three top contenders to win this contest,” Saat told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
And he’s also pretty certain the 140 kilogram spacecraft will actually land safely on the moon and perform the stunts Google requires to award the prize — move across the lunar surface, and beam back pictures of the event, instead of burn up in orbit over earth. “We’re 90% sure this is going to work,” said Saat. “Unfortunately it’s impossible to fully test the propulsion system on earth, because you can’t duplicate the conditions of space completely, and the amount of pollution released would be too high.”

Defuse agriculture’s ticking time bomb

Therein lies the conflict: the pesticide is helping but hurting us at the same time. “On one hand, we need the pesticides to get the yield but on the other hand, we are facing environmental threats,” Nachshon points out. “If you take pesticides out, the yield will be decreased by 60 or 70 percent. It is not marginal. It is the heart of the matter, so we must use pesticides.”
Catalyst Agtech does not affect the mechanism of the chemical in the field. “After the job is done and the problematic molecules start migrating down to the groundwater, the trigger that we added starts a chemical reaction that breaks down the problematic molecule to something that’s harmless,” explains Nachshon.

Israel, Kazakhstan to Strengthen Economic Ties

Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Kazakhstan Thursday, according to Walla!, to strengthen Israel's economic ties with the Sunni Muslim-majority nation.
Barak met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the presidential palace in Astana, according to the daily. They reportedly sat for about an hour and discussed the possibility of further cooperation in regard to agriculture, health services, and industrial innovation.

India and Israel bond with technology, innovation

India will showcase its technology capabilities in Israel in May as relations between the two countries are getting redefined with enhanced cooperation based on innovation in high-tech, IT, biomed, energy and cyber security.
India will participate in the First Innovation Conference in Israel, MIXiii 2014, that will take place at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds May 20-22. The conference aims to introduce participants to the broad spectrum of activities and ecosystem that make Israel one of the largest global innovation hubs.

Lenny Kravitz’s Jewish Uncle and Namesake Among New Minority Medal of Honor Recipients

A ceremony scheduled for March 18 will honor the veterans who are mostly of Hispanic or Jewish heritage and who have already received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest military award. They were originally passed over for Medals of Honor, the highest commendation for combat valor, because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, the Associated Press reported.
Among them is Pfc. Leonard M. Kravitz, who was born in New York City in 1931, and was killed during U.S. combat operations in Yangpyong, South Korea, on March 6-7, 1951. His nephew, the famed singer-songwriter who was named in his honor, shares both a first and last name with his deceased uncle.

IDF Blog: IDF Diversity Week: the True Face of Israel

Today we begin IDF Diversity Week, a celebration of the differences that unite Israeli soldiers. Every year, thousands of minority recruits join the IDF. Israel’s military makes tremendous efforts to integrate minorities into the army and society in general, resulting in vast diversity among the IDF’s ranks.
Israel is a country known as “a nation of immigrants.” Soldiers come from all over the world to live in Israel and serve in the IDF, bringing their unique culture and traditions from their countries of origin. Other soldiers come from racial, national, cultural and religious groups that have lived in Israel for generations, including Bedouin, Circassians, Druze, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. The IDF acts to unite members of Israeli society, providing them with opportunities to serve their country.

Alice Herz-Sommer, oldest-known Holocaust survivor, dies at 110

Alice Herz-Sommer, believed to be the oldest-known survivor of the Holocaust, died Sunday morning in London at age 110, a family member said. Herz-Sommer’s devotion to the piano and to her son sustained her through two years in a Nazi prison camp, and a film about her has been nominated for best short documentary at next week’s Academy Awards.
She died in a hospital Sunday morning after being admitted Friday, daughter-in-law Genevieve Sommer said.
“We all came to believe that she would just never die,” said Frederic Bohbot, producer of the documentary “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life.” ”There was no question in my mind, ‘would she ever see the Oscars.’”

Alice Herz-Sommer: A true Hero

Alice summed up her life in a few sentences, and a pause for reflection is very much a must for anyone who reads it.
“I have lived through many wars and have lost everything many times – including my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet, life is beautiful, and I have so much to learn and enjoy. I have no space nor time for pessimism and hate.
“Life is beautiful, love is beautiful, nature and music are beautiful. Everything we experience is a gift, a present we should cherish and pass on to those we love.”
Thank you for your life, Alice. Baruch Dayan haEmet.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 2/24/2014 06:00:00 PM