[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 09/29 Links Pt2: Lady Gaga: World is wrong about Israel; Abbas Finds a Friend in The NYTs ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Pop star Lady Gaga says the world’s image of Israel is inaccurate, calling the country “a beautiful place.”
“Oh it was fantastic!” said Lady Gaga in an interview published Friday by The Independent, talking about her September 13 performance in Tel Aviv. “Tel Aviv was magnificent. The world view of Israel is just not reality. It’s in a beautiful place, the people are in good spirits.”
“I had a very emotional show with those fans. It was wonderful,” she said.
The 28-year-old singer also said her duet at the Tel Aviv show with famed crooner Tony Bennett was not planned, but was rather his idea.
“And I was very overwhelmed when Tony surprised me there. I knew he was coming in [to Tel Aviv] for a show, but he came a day early and he said: ‘Hey, you wanna sing “Anything But Love” at the ArtRave?’ And I thought: ‘Gosh, how magnificent! To bridge the jazz and the pop world at the same time.’ And at that show there were 25,000 people singing every word.”

Outrage over top German politician comparing Hamas to Israel

The Social Democratic Party of Germany has stepped up the rhetoric against Israel. Rainer Arnold, a defense expert and deputy for the SPD, told the SPD party newspaper Forward in September that “radical forces in both camps” - meaning Israel and Hamas - were fueling the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor and political science professor at Bar-Ilan University, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Arnold “has displayed a disturbing inability to distinguish between the aggression of Hamas and the defense by Israel.”
The SPD is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner in government. Dr. Elvira Grözinger, a member of the German branch of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told the Post that “some people in the SPD like Arnold seem to be totally ignorant of the fact that Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and Israel. Israel has not only the right but a duty to defend itself and its citizens.”
She added, “Whoever denies Israel this right [self-defense] is an anti-Semite willing to eventually approve the destruction of the Jewish state. It is high time for this party [SPD] to repudiate such opinions and take measures against its members who belittle terror.”

'Lancet' Editor Visiting Israel Amid Anti-Semitism Uproar

As the scandal over The Lancet's recent article, "Open Letter for the People in Gaza," grew at week's end, following NGO Monitor's discovery that two of the primary authors promoted an anti-Semitic video by white supremacist David Duke, NGO Monitor called on Dr. Richard Horton to take responsibility for his decisions as editor of the journal.
NGO Monitor noted that, rather than retracting the letter and apologizing, Horton is coming to visit Israel this week.
"The trip will not provide Horton immunity from the justifiable moral outrage of Israelis, the Jewish community, and medical professionals," said Yitzhak Santis, Chief Programs Officer at NGO watchdog group, NGO Monitor. "Nor will it absolve Horton of his responsibility to correct his politicized, non-scientific editorial distortions. If he cannot do so, he should resign," Santis said.

Denationalisation of Jews in Egypt

Jews have had a presence in Egypt since the dawn of civilisation. The modern community was made up of indigenous Jews (Rabbanites and Karaites) and more recent arrivals from elsewhere in the Ottoman empire. Here is a timeline showing how Egypt's Jews were stripped of their rights, beginning with the right to nationality in the 20th century:
1880: 'Real Egyptian' cabinet formed. In spite of Tanzimat reforms, Jews still considered dhimmis. The middle and upper classes sought European consular protection and passports under the capitulations regime.
1914: 10, 000 'foreign' Jews expelled from Palestine arrive in Egypt.
1918: 80 - 100, 000 Jews in Egypt. Ethnicisation of Egyptians into separate 'races.'
1927: First nationality law. Individual citizens required to apply.

An Irish view of Israel’s ‘Troubles’

When asked if there is a lesson for Israel, the delegation was not enthusiastic. “Peace is trumpeted the most, by those who did the least,” Copeland argues. “I think we could learn from here, because people here are very positive and they take negative issues and make them positive,” says Floyd. McKenna said that seeing the hardships Israelis face makes her more thankful for what they have back home.
“The buzzword today is ‘equality,’ until everyone is equal, no one is equal,” Copeland says. “We started a journey in our country,” Knight concurs. They all think it is a work in progress.
At the end of the day, as the sun sets on the Dan Panorama Hotel where the group was staying in Jerusalem, and we moved out to the veranda for a cigarette, the group relaxed and debated how they felt about the trip so far. “When we go back we can say we have seen a lot of things,” said Floyd. “It was mostly ignorance [what we have back home], I expected to come to a conflict, but it is a beautiful country.”
Copeland has taken away a very pro-Israel message. “Israel is a western democracy that happens to be geographically in the Middle East and the nations around Israel who complain about human rights don’t extend human rights to their citizens… Any state under attack has a duty to defend its citizens within the confines of the laws of war.” The others nod in agreement. “What we have seen here has been very emotional, and the people we have met have been very inspiring. The fact that Israelis don’t give up in the face of their trauma[s] has given me a lot of hope for what we can accomplish in Northern Ireland too,” says McKenna.

Aide Who Removed ‘Jerusalem’ from DNC Platform to Advise Biden on National Security

Colin Kahl, a former Georgetown University professor and adviser to President Obama’s reelection campaign, was reportedly responsible for removing pro-Israel language from the Democratic Party’s 2012 platform, including the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The removal of the language, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, sparked considerable controversy at the time and led to a contentious vote at the DNC convention over whether to put the pro-Israel statements back into the platform.
Kahl also authored a 2013 blueprint for containing a nuclear-armed Iran.
While at the Center for a New American Security, Kahl authored a paper titled “If All Else Fails: The Challenges of a Nuclear-Armed Iran,” which proposed how the United States could handle the Islamic Republic if it obtained nuclear weapons.
The Obama administration has repeatedly denied that it favors a containment strategy, with the president vowing to use military force if necessary to prevent an Iranian bomb.
Kahl has also worked closely with the National Iranian American Council, a lobbying group that has advocated for policies that support the Iranian regime, and has spoken at NIAC events.
In 2009, emails obtained by the Washington Times indicated that NIAC helped arrange meetings between members of congress and Iran’s then-United Nations ambassador Javad Zarif, who now serves as foreign minister.
The story prompted allegations that NIAC was skirting lobbying rules, including foreign agent registration requirements. In 2007, NIAC sued Iranian-American activist Hassan Daioleslam for libel after he accused it of lobbying for Iran.
NIAC lost the libel case in 2012, and a judge ordered it to pay over $180,000 to Daioleslam to compensate his legal expenses.

No Solidarity in Oakland, as protesters bully Longshoremen

It did not compute. There were only two-dozen protesters at the Oakland docks for the September 27th morning protest, yet activists claimed their picket line was honored "in solidarity" by the ILWU
I decided to see for myself, arriving at the Oakland docks in time for the evening shift. There were only 6 people lolling around at 4:30, so I drove around a bit. The whole area is a red zone- with no parking. The nearest legitimate parking was nearly a mile a way. But it was obvious that the protesters were ignoring the red zones, and as more and more came and parked in the red, I finally did the same.
Jack Heyman (a retired longshoreman from the ILWU, and an organizer /instigator of block the boat campaign) came up to me, oblivious to the fact that I was holding an Israeli flag and an "Israel wants peace sign" and asked me to use my car to block the ILWU parking lot entrance.
Um, I don't think so, Jack.
I couldn't help but wonder, if the union stands in "solidarity" with your cause, why is it necessary to block their egress?
Oakland Block the Boat featured a motley collection of career activists, wacky conspiracy theorists and Occupy Oakland leftovers.

Maserati Jews?

Annie Robbins, an editor-at-large of the anti-Zionist website Mondoweiss, displays her keen knowledge of Israel and worldwide Jewry by referring to “jews ‘of color’” as “maserati.”
I’m going to guess she means “Mizrahi.” But who knows? Some people think we have all the money in the world, but I only wish I was rich enough to be a Maserati Jew.

Competing accounts of Amira Hass’s departure from Birzeit

At the very least it seems that the problem was the fact that Hass was representing an Israeli institution, not her nationality or ethnicity per se, although Hass still identifies a problem here.
The claim that the law applies to me because I am representing an Israeli institution is a shaky one: Palestinian citizens of Israel who teach at Israeli universities are not subject to the same policy. If I had known about the existence of such a law, I wouldn’t have come to the conference. I have other places to invest my subversive energies.
If Hass is correct in still asserting she has been subjected to double standards – will anyone be calling for a boycott of Birzeit? To end on a less snarky note, her expulsion was actively opposed by many (pro)Palestinian voices.

Anti-Israel academic boycotters rig debate at American Anthropological Association

It is no surprise that one of the leaders of the academic boycott movement was Steven Salaita, the professor who was denied a tenured position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after months of bizzare tweets in which, among other things, he denied that those who disagreed with him even deserved to be heard.
But there is good news emerging. Those who oppose the hijacking of academia by the anti-Israel faculty crowd are beginning to come forward. This is a big deal because in my experience, those opposed to academic boycotts are not as politically involved as those who favor them. That’s how professional organizations can be taken over by a relatively small number of faculty activists.
Last Sunday I wrote how a Petition against the academic boycott of Israel had gathered over 500 signatures, mostly from faculty.
That Petition just passed 1000 signatures, and hopefully more will step forward.

South Africa delaying green-light for Israel-made circumcision ring

The South African Department of Health is holding off on green-lighting an Israeli-made circumcision device, though it denies the move is tied to efforts to boycott the product by anti-Israel activists.
Trade unions in South Africa have put pressure on Pretoria not to okay PrePex, touted as a nonsurgical, safe and inexpensive medical device designed to facilitate voluntary medical male circumcision of adults while reducing the spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We know what it can and cannot do, but we have not come to any conclusion on it yet,” Health Department spokesman Joe Maila said, according to South African news outlet Business Daily. “We are under no pressure from anyone, but I can’t say when we will take that decision. When we do take that decision we will tell the nation about that decision and why we took it.”

Still Ever The Antisemitic KOK

Still on the subject of Mavi Marmara passengers, Ken “KOK” O’Keefe is still around, showing what a vile antisemite he is.
Here he is addressing what seems to be a neo Nazi group. You need just listen to the first few minutes of this speech to get the idea.
This is certainly not the first time he has shown what motivates his “pro-palestinian activism.” So much so, that some pro palestinian groups have distanced themselves from him.

Muslim women invite Israeli-born writer to speak at Bradford Literary Festival

Muslim women invite Israeli-born writer to speak at Bradford Literary Festival
Sarah AB, September 26th 2014, 8:29 am
In the light of George Galloway’s hateful assertion that Bradford should be an ‘Israel free zone’ it was heartening to read this news.
Now, two Muslim women have invited an Israeli-born poet to take part in Bradford’s literature festival this weekend. The festival will also feature a walking tour highlighting the city’s Jewish heritage, which includes the poet Humbert Wolfe and the artist Sir William Rothenstein. Bradford’s Jewish population has now dwindled to 299, according to the 2011 census, compared with 129,041 Muslims.

Yale to Host Radical Terror Sheikh Who Advocated Killing of U.S. Soldiers

A radical Tunisian sheik who has called for the murder of U.S. troops abroad and was banned from the United States for supporting the terror group Hamas is scheduled to headline an event on Tuesday at Yale University focusing on Islamic law and civilization, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Sheikh Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the head of Tunisia’s controversial Islamist Ennahda Movement, is scheduled to head a lecture Tuesday afternoon Yale’s Law School, according to the school’s website.
Al-Ghannouchi’s upcoming appearance at the Ivy League school could become controversial given the sheik’s longtime support for radical terror groups and his past calls for Muslims to wage “unceasing war against the Americans.”

Washington Post New Year Op-Ed Calls For End to Jewish State

The Washington Post has chosen the day of the Jewish New Year to publish one of the most disingenuous opinion pieces we’ve seen in a long time. While Patricia Marks Greenfield sounds eminently reasonable in calling for equal rights for all in Israel, she stops short of telling the reader what she is really calling for – the end of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
In fact, Israel’s citizens, irrespective of their religion or ethnic background are equal in the eyes of the law. In addition, there are many countries around the world that have a state religion. Why should Israel, as the only state for the Jewish people, be singled out?
But Marks Greenfield goes further:
Gaza and the West Bank must inevitably become part of Israel; there can be no two-state solution. And Israel must leave behind its official Jewish identity to acknowledge its multiethnic, multireligious character by providing equal treatment for all.
Having explicitly rejected a two-state solution, the call for Gaza and the West Bank to become part of an Israel without a Jewish identity is a call for a one-state solution.

Unqualified amplification of Abbas’ ‘genocide’ agitprop on BBC News website

If – as one sincerely hopes is the case – it can be assumed that BBC staff are sufficiently well-informed to be able to recognize Mahmoud Abbas’ inaccurate and repeated use of the term ‘genocide’ to describe this summer’s conflict in his recent speech at the UNGA as nothing more than the agitprop that it is, then one must necessarily ask why BBC editors considered it appropriate to plaster that and additional defamation on the pages of the BBC News website.
One must also ask why the September 27th article titled “Palestinian leader accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ at UN” makes no effort to clarify to readers that the accusation amplified in its headline and in the body of the report is entirely baseless and that Abbas’ additional accusations of “war crimes” have not been proven in any legal forum.Abbas UNGA art
The BBC’s report on Abbas’ polemical speech is highly selective, dealing only with specific parts of its content.

Abbas Finds a Friend in The New York Times

The Times Opinion page that day provided the opportunity for a deservedly unknown Israeli-American writer to explore “How Israel Silences Dissent.” Mairav Zonszein was perfectly qualified. Her career as an aspiring journalist has been devoted to an array of left-wing, peace-now organizations in Israel. These include the Association for Civil Rights; the Union of Progressive Zionists; Ir Amim (a left-wing group that focuses on Jewish construction, home demolitions and evictions, and the security barrier in Jerusalem); and Ta’ayush, self-described as “a grassroots organization” of Palestinians and Jews whose goal is “to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.” Ms. Zonszein is also a former editor and contributor to +972, which describes itself as an “independent” blog magazine established in 2010 to present “a new and mostly young voice” – the better to launch tirades against Israel.
Living in perhaps the world’s most loquacious nation, where animated conversation, vigorous challenges and contradictory opinions blanket the media, Ms. Zonszein seems unable to discover dissent. She cites “extremist Israeli Jews” who attacked anti-war protesters in Tel Aviv and Haifa at the beginning of the Gaza war. She concludes that “the vilification of the few Israelis [really?] who don’t subscribe to right-wing doctrine” has escalated into “acts of incitement.” Indeed, “the aggressive silencing of anyone who voices disapproval of Israeli policies or expresses empathy with Palestinians . . . has been simmering for decades.”
That seems rather odd coming from a left-wing political activist whose shrill voice seems to enjoy a multitude of opportunities for expression – including self-preening about her article on Facebook and Twitter. She rants against “an exclusivist ethno-religious nationalism that privileges Jewish citizens and is represented politically by the religious settler movement and the increasingly conservative secular right.” Clearly, their “aggressive silencing” has not squelched Ms. Zonszein – nor any of her fellow true believers.

The New York Times’ Obsessive, Unsubstantiated Criticism of Israel Reaches New Depths

If the Op-Ed in yesterday’s The New York Times is correct (“How Israel Silences Dissent”), Israel is not the one “free state” in the Middle East, a designation it received from Freedom House.
Rather, it is descending into the surrounding undemocratic Middle Eastern abyss. The Jewish state, one would conclude from The Times opinion piece, joins the likes of Egypt, where over 1,000 demonstrators were killed this year, and Libya, which saw the killing of 43 demonstrators last November in Tripoli.
“The aggressive silencing of anyone who voices disapproval of Israeli policies or expresses empathy with Palestinians is the latest manifestation of an us-versus-them mentality that has been simmering for decades,” laments Mairav Zonszein in her Times Op-Ed.
Zonszein’s hysterical polemic about new heights of “radical nationalism” and “erosion of Enlightenment values” (language which she attributes to Israeli political scientist Zeev Sternhell) suggest the mass killing of demonstrators like in Egypt or Libya, the widespread arrest of journalists like in Turkey, and the total crushing of dissent as in Syria.

Why Does the Guardian Portray Hamas as a Victim of Israeli Aggression?

As Jews in the U.K. and across the world were welcoming in the new year on Wednesday evening, the Guardian Group published yet another official editorial reminding readers which party was to blame for the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.
Whilst nobody familiar with the political leanings of the media group would be surprised that they judged the Jewish State guilty, their September 24th polemic (The Guardian view on the human, economic and political costs of the Gaza war) is noteworthy as a reminder that their top editors in London believe that even the most extreme elements within Palestinian society aren’t responsible for their actions.
The Guardian editorial parrots Hamas talking points in claiming that the movement was strengthened by the war; sows doubt over Hamas culpability for the murder of three Israeli teens, despite a claim of responsibility from one of Hamas’ leaders as well as an admission by the cell’s ringleader that Hamasniks in Gaza funded the “operation;” characterizes Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli cities as a “response” to Israeli aggression; and challenges “Israel’s reasons for going to war,” completely erasing the history of the conflict.

Dumbed down BBC reporting on the Palestinian Unity Government continues

Despite that very clear writing on the wall, the BBC obviously does not see the necessity of making audiences aware of the fact that if Hamas and other terrorist organisations are not disarmed by the PUG and the territory not brought under the sole control of PA security forces, then the Gaza Strip – along with the rest of the PA-controlled areas – will find itself in a ‘Lebanon-style’ situation whereby the actions of a foreign-sponsored terrorist organization can continue to spark conflict whenever that suits its own (or its sponsors’) agenda.
Additionally, the obviously relevant topic of the recent exposure of a planned Hamas coup against the PA is once again ignored by the BBC in this report.
Nearly four months since the Palestinian Unity Government came into existence, the BBC has still not met its obligation to “build a global understanding of international issues” by providing audiences with anything more than superficial reporting on the topic. That failure clearly not only hampers audiences’ ability to understand current events, but also means that they will be ill-equipped to comprehend any future developments.

European Leaders Speak Out Against Increasing Anti-Semitism

Possibly fearing the increasing loss of their Jews as European Aliyah escalates, European leaders and communities are taking steps to combat local anti-Semitism.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited the Great Synagogue in Paris just before Rosh Hashanah, and declared, "Denying the existence of Israel is the first step towards anti-Semitism."
Speaking to more than 1,000 representatives of the French Jewish community, Valls assured them that the fight against anti-Semitism is a national cause. 'To be a Jew, to be French, French and Jewish identities are inseparable,’’ he said.
In Italy, the Jewish community announced the launch of a special hotline by which victims of anti-Semitic attacks - and witnesses thereof - can report the incidents.
Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, explained that the goal is "to nullify any threat of hatred and discrimination." He added that the hotline would have great benefit "especially now that old biases are back even in the most advanced and democratic societies."

Top PR Firm Claims No Policy on Israel After Signing Muslim Brotherhood-Tied Client

A major international public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller, in a rejoinder to an oped critical of what the author charged was a refusal to work with Israel, on Friday declared that it had never ”had a policy about whether or not to represent Israel.”
Writing in The New York Observer, Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations contended that, “the firm refused to work with the democratic nation of Israel to help the tiny Jewish state improve its image.”
The firm was, however, open to being “hired to improve the foreign image of Tunisia’s Ennahda Party, the Muslim Brotherhood of Tunisia. They will ‘arrange meetings between Ennahda representatives and stakeholders’ and provide Ennahda ‘support on media and stakeholder outreach in advance of upcoming elections.’ In sum, this Washington, D.C. PR firm will not work with Israel – but will represent Tunisia’s Muslim Brotherhood Party,” Torossian fumed.

Betrayal: FDR and the Jews

All those memories were rekindled while I watched “The Roosevelts,” Ken Burns’ new documentary. As a professional historian, mentored by one of the commentators, I had long ago come to realize that FDR hardly was the saint that my parents, extended family, and virtually every American Jew outside privileged German Jewish circles, had worshipped. So I took with many grains of salt, but rising anger, the whitewash of FDR’s indifference to the plight of European Jewry that I was witnessing, even though I knew that disgraceful story all too well.
But not until I read (or reread) some of Roosevelt’s most despicable statements about Jews, extensively documented in a series of on-line commentaries by Rafael Medoff, founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, did the depths of Roosevelt’s loathing for Jews, and refusal to lift a finger (which, unlike his legs, was not paralyzed) to rescue them, fully penetrate. As far back as 1920, when FDR was the Democratic party candidate for vice president, he had proposed that “the greater part of the foreign population of the City of New York” should be “distributed to different localities upstate” so as to feel pressure to “conform to the manners and customs and requirements of their new home.” As a member of the Harvard board of directors he supported a Jewish admissions quota.
In 1941 he told his Cabinet that too many Jews were federal employees in Oregon. One of his grandsons recalled that the protagonists in FDR’s jokes “were always Lower East Side Jews with heavy accents.” At a wartime White House luncheon with Prime Minister Churchill, he suggested “the best way to settle the Jewish question” was “to spread the Jews thin all over the world.” Indeed, enlightened Hyde Park residents surely would not object to adding “four or five Jewish families.” At the 1945 Yalta conference, FDR indicated to Stalin that as a concession to the king of Saudi Arabia he would “give him the six million Jews in the United States.”

China firm to build new Ashdod ‘union buster’ port

A Beijing-based contracting firm, China Harbor, has been chosen to build a new port in Ashdod — a facility Israel expects to be an important link in a new east-west trade route, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the gala signing of the deal Tuesday, but setting up a potentially ugly confrontation with local labor unions.
The new South Port will cost Israel NIS 3.3 billion ($930 million) – and it will be worth every shekel, said Netanyahu, because it will improve the lives of Israelis, providing new job opportunities, more access to trade, and lower prices on a wide range of goods by injecting an element of competition in Israel’s current shipping infrastructure.
The new port will be built about a kilometer north of the current Ashdod Port. It will consist of a 1,000-meter pier and 2,800-meter breakwater. The pier will have facilities for loading and offloading ships, warehouses and storage areas, office space, and more. Construction is set to begin at the end of the year and will take about seven years to complete, officials said. The government is also planning to build a new port in Haifa, and the decision on a contractor will be made in about a month, the officials said in a statement.

Landmark Visit by Vietnamese Minister Hails Eastward Shift

Israel continues its push for allies in the Far East in a landmark visit next week by Vietnamese Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan, in the first visit by a Vietnamese high-ranking official since the two countries established diplomatic ties 20 years ago.
Quan will lead a large delegation of senior Vietnamese government officials who will be in Israel for five days starting next Sunday, in a visit that comes as bilateral trade has reached a high of $1 billion per annum in recent years, and as both governments are discussing a free trade agreement.
For the first time since joint relations were established, a joint economic committee will be held between the Vietnamese officials and their Israeli counterparts led by Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home).

Idan Raichel on stage in Central Park

Pianist and singer Idan Raichel performed Saturday in Central Park with singer Alicia Keys and Palestinian singer Ali Amr at the Global Citizen Festival.
Introduced by actor Ryan Reynolds, who had a hard time pronouncing Raichel’s name — the three sang Keys’ new song, “We Are Here,” each singing in their native language, and with Keys and Raichel on separate pianos.
The song is about peace and the various regions of the world that seek solutions to their ongoing conflicts. The festival, which is in its third year, celebrates peace and draws a primarily young, student crowd. Besides Keys, other performers included Jay-Z, Beyonce, Sting, Carrie Underwood and The Roots.
Keys performed in Israel in July 2013, and wrote on her Facebook page that when she visited Israel and Palestine, she spoke to many people on both sides, and “most everyone” wants peace.

Israel wins historic silver in rhythmic gymnastics

Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team won the silver medal in the clubs exercise at the World Championships in Izmir, Turkey, on Sunday, the country’s best showing ever in the sport.
The five-woman team secured its spot in the final round with an outstanding performance in the preliminary round, giving them the fifth spot heading into the finals.
They made no mistakes in their performance in the final round, giving them a score of 16.983, behind only Spain’s 17.433.
Belarus came in third with 16.6.

Archaeological findings shed light on massive 363 CE earthquake in Galilee

University of Haifa archaeologists announced Monday that they have recently discovered items which have shed light on an earthquake that occurred in 363 CE in the ancient city of Hippos which overlooks the Sea of Galilee.
Hippos, near modern-day Kibbutz Ein Gev, was the site of a Greco-Roman city-state. Archaeologists digging at the Hippos excavation site, known as Susita in Hebrew, uncovered a woman's skeleton and a gold dove-shaped pendant under the tiles of a collapsed roof. In addition, they found the marble leg of a statue and artillery from some 2,000 years ago.
"Finally the findings are coming together to form a clear historical-archaeological picture," Dr. Michael Eisenberg, the head of the excavation said.

Israel Daily Picture: World War I in the Middle East I'd Walk 100 Miles with My Camel

The scope of the World War I battles in Palestine are simply not understood by most students of the Middle East today. The Turkish, German, Austrian, British, ANZAC and Indian forces numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
To provide some perspective, we present pictures of one of the most utilized tools of that war -- the camel. Tens of thousands were used in the war in Palestine.
The difficult terrain of the Sinai, the Jordan Valley, and the Samarian/Judean hills required extensive use of the sturdy and powerful four-legged "supply truck."
Consider this report by a New Zealand officer in his book With the Cameliers in Palestine:
"In the advance up the coastal plain in Palestine, in November, 1917, General Allenby used thirty thousand (30,000) camels for carrying food, water and ammunition to the troops of one portion of the eastern force of his army."

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 9/29/2014 06:00:00 PM