[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/11 Links Pt2: Syrian vs Palestinian Refugees; Why a student switched to anti-BDS; Zohar Argov! ~ EoZ

From Ian:

New York Times "Correction" Fails to Correct Blumenthal Error

After publishing Max Blumenthal's anti-Israel rant, The New York Times unsurprisingly had some errors to correct. But at least one of the corrections failed to redress the error, and only served to put the newspaper's own fingerprints on Blumenthal's misinformation.

3) After correspondence with CAMERA, a third "correction" was made to Blumenthal's article.

Original: Marzel is a leader of Lehava, a group funded in the past by the Israeli government that campaigns against romantic relationships between Jews and Arabs.

Amended: Marzel is a leader of Lehava, a group indirectly funded in the past by the Israeli government that campaigns against romantic relationships between Jews and Arabs.

Editors updated the correction line to note: "Correction: An earlier version indicated that the Prawer Plan had been fully implemented and that Lehava had been directly funded by the government."

But the Israeli government has never funded Lehava, either directly or "indirectly." It has funded Hemla, a separate organization with a separate mandate, and the funding was earmarked for a specific project at Hemla related to "treatment, support and personal and social rehabilitation" of at risk girls staying at the hostel.

MELANIE PHILLIPS: The ‘humanitarian’ weapon of war

The reality is that UNRWA simply could not operate in Gaza without mutual cooperation with the Hamas administration. And Gaza’s children are being indoctrinated into hatred and war by Hamas supporters teaching in UNRWA schools.
Mamoun Abunaser is a deputy principal at an UNRWA school in Syria. His profile picture on Facebook says: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” Luay Shehab is a UNRWA school principal in Nablus.
He shows photographs of Israelis in burial shrouds and coffins on his Facebook page, with a caption reading: “Oh Allah, make the number of their dead as [every time a Muslim says] “Amen”! And several UNRWA teachers are known to be highly connected Hamas supporters.
Gunness says UNRWA guards its neutrality.
Yet enraged by an article in this paper by Bassam Eid, Gunness last week tweeted a call to boycott The Jerusalem Post. Clearly, he employs as creative an approach to the word “neutrality” as he does toward the word “refugee.”

Rising above personal attacks, the time has come to examine UNRWA policy

Gunness categorically states there is no evidence that Hamas terrorists are on the payroll of the UN. Yet successive reports of the US Congressional Research also show that UNRWA, which receives $300 million per year from the US government, reports that UNRWA has never vetted its staff to see if UNRWA employs members of Hamas.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament funded a study that documented Hamas’s takeover of the UNRWA unions in March 2009. The pro-Hamas al-Resala newspaper, right before the September 2012 UNRWA union elections stated that, “It is noteworthy that Hamas has controlled the UNRWA staff union in the elections since its inception....”
Al Quds, a Fatah-leaning paper, wrote after the elections: “According to multiple sources within the Election Commission...that the ‘Professional’ slate of Hamas won 25 seats out of 27, divided by 11 seats out of 11 in the teachers’ sector and 6 out of 7 in the labor sector elections, and 8 seats out of 9 in the services sector election.”
Gunness states that whenever there are allegations of UNRWA employees violating UNRWA’s neutrality policy, “They are always investigated and disciplinary action is taken up to and including dismissal.”
Yet in March 2013, in my presence, Gunness told staffers of the US Congress that Hamas leader Suhail Hindi, head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Gaza, had been dismissed.
However, Hindi was suspended for less than a week. Hindi functions in his capacity to this day.
So much for removing Hamas on staff.

Syrian Refugees Get Resettled But Not Palestinians

Though UNRWA operates as if it is a humanitarian agency, its purpose has always been primarily political. The population of Arab refugees from the former Mandate of Palestine was created by the war waged by those acting in the name of those Arabs to strangle the State of Israel at its birth. Rather than accepting the UN partition of the land into what were explicitly called Jewish and Arab states, the Arab and Muslim world chose to wage war to prevent the creation of any Jewish state, no matter how small its territory. With a few exceptions, several hundred thousand refugees fled because of the spread of the war as well as the explicit instructions from some Arab leaders that they flee in order to ease the path of invading Arab armies. When the War of Independence ended with the new Jewish state alive, albeit existing in truncated and unsafe borders, the tactics of Israel’s opponents shifted. From that point on, their efforts sought to highlight the plight of Arabs who had fled in order to promote a military or diplomatic attempt to continue the war. Indeed, even as Syrian refugees in camps in neighboring nations are allowed to resettle elsewhere, Palestinians still stuck in Syrian refugee camps remain in place unable and unwilling to budge from the site of their misery.
The result of this policy was not merely to render all efforts to make peace between Israel and the Arab world impossible; it also ensured that the Palestinians would live in misery in increasing numbers and growing squalor. At the same time, a nearly equal number of Jews were forced to flee their homes in the Arab world as pogroms and discrimination made their plight intolerable. But while UNRWA kept the Palestinians in place to suffer, Jewish groups ensured that their refugees would not suffer in this manner and all were resettled in Israel or the West.

Israel in a changing Middle East

While regional threats remain real, Israel also has strong local allies, and the likelihood of a major security crisis in the near future remains reasonably low.
Since 2011, the Middle East has been engulfed by a process of profound political change. Long-established regimes have been swept away. New political forces have risen and sometimes rapidly fallen.
This process has lapped up against Israel’s borders. To the south, Egypt has undergone an astonishing process in which the old military regime was replaced by a popular revolt in 2011, which gave way to an emergent Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2012, which was itself then replaced in a coup by the military in 2013. To the north, Israel’s long-time rival Syria has collapsed into bloody civil war.
So how do Israel’s relations with its immediate neighbors appear at present? Is Israel a net winner from the process of regional change? Or is it bringing new threats to the doorstep of the Jewish state? The answer is a complex combination of the two.
Let’s take a closer look, country by country.

In Australia, Antisemitic Incidents Increase (video)

Jews have been in Australia since the first day of European settlement. The highly assimilated Anglo-Jewish community, which a century ago was shrinking inexorably owing to apathy and intermarriage, was augmented in the immediate prewar- and post-war decades by immigration from Central and Eastern Europe, which revitalised Australian Jewry. In the state of Victoria, with which this video is concerned, there is a particularly high percentage of Holocaust survivors' families, particularly of Polish background. This community continues to be highly Zionist in orientation. According to this ABC News report, antisemitic incidents are on the rise in Victoria, and have spiked since this summer's events in Gaza.

Spike in anti-semitic attacks in Australia

What Should French Jews Do?

The French Prime Minister at the time, Raymond Barre, assured the Jewish community that they had the sympathy of the entire nation. This statement, however was made only a few days after he had said on television, “This odious bombing wanted to strike the Jews who were going to the synagogue, and it hit innocent French people who crossed Copernic Street.” Barre, with what might have been a Freudian slip, had indirectly put forward one of the basic issues: Are French Jews seen as an integral part of the French people, or a people apart?
Such statements weren’t the only signs of where this Prime Minister had stood. In 2007, the filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, wrote a detailed article where he called Barre an anti-Semite. Barre had publicly defended the wartime French Vichy official Maurice Papon, who had sent many Jews to their death, and a National Front senior leader, Bruno Gollnisch, a Holocaust denier.
One might add that Barre had also been an anti-Semitism denier. As late as 2004, he and another senior French politician, Jacques Delors, answered in the negative when asked whether there was anti-Semitism in France.
In late summer 2000, shortly after the outbreak of the second intifada, a series of major anti-Semitic attacks broke out across France. The first one was one of vandalism and theft in a synagogue in Ris-Orangis, south of Paris, in September. Many others followed. The socialist Jospin government and right-wing French President Jacques Chirac denied the anti-Semitic reality and considered the attacks to be nothing but “hooliganism.”
French Jewry was on its own.

Veteran French Jewish Leader Roger Cukierman Warns That ‘France Will Fall Into the Hands of Either Shari’a Law or the Front National’

“Jews will leave in large numbers and France will fall into the hands of either Shari’a Law or the Front National,” Cukierman declared at a rally against anti-Semitism in the suburb of Creteil last Sunday, to loud applause from the assembled crowd.
The rally was called in response to last week’s chilling assault on the home in Creteil of a Jewish family by three anti-Semitic thugs. Claiming that the family had been targeted because “Jews have money,” one of the assailants forced them to hand over credit cards which he then used to extract money from a nearby ATM. At the same time, the young man who answered the door was held hostage while his 19 year old girlfriend was raped.
Also appearing at the Creteil rally was French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who declared that the fight against anti-Semitism in France, which has risen dramatically since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas over the summer, was a “national cause.”
But it is the comments of the traditionally cautious Cukierman that will attract the most attention. When I interviewed him during a visit to New York last May, he did not seek to play down the threats which French Jews face, but he also emphasized that Jews had lived in France “for the last 2,000 years,” adding, “We are still here. And we are not the only country where anti-Semitism is developing. It may develop in America also.”
However, since the war in Gaza, Cukierman has sounded a more apocalyptic note. Interviewed by French television journalist Claude Askolovitch last weekend, Cukierman said that in France today, “the word ‘Jew’ is used as an insult in school.”

Lawfare Project Warns of the Islamist Supremacists' Campaign to Silence US

The Lawfare Project video explains that, for the most part, people are free to harshly criticize whichever religion they choose, except one that is exempt to this de facto rule.
“We see art that critiques Christianity, musicals that satirize Mormonism… they’re all open to criticism,” says the narrator. “Commentary, even ridicule… Virtually every religion is open to a conversation… Every religion, except Islam,” the video narrator explains.
He adds: “Talk about Islam, particularly militant Islam, and its no longer a conversation. It’s met instead with censorship, intimidation, lawsuits, and even violence.”
The Lawfare Project cites the tragic retaliatory actions faced by Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali after they made the film Submission. Van Gogh was brutally murdered, while Hirsi Ali now lives under constant security protection.

Join the Conversation

Ryan Bellerose: Colonizing “Settler Colonialism”

I recently attended an “Open round table” discussion at the University of California at Davis. I went to listen to a professor from Bir Zeit University who was teaching a class in the United States. I thought the event was a panel on “settler colonialism,” and we would discuss “settler colonialism.”
I won’t go into everything, and to be honest, having to listen to people taking about how the “Zionists” oppress not only palestinians but all “Arabs in the region” was enough bullshit for me to listen to once anyway.
I had an Arab descendant of colonizers question MY validity as a person who has actually experienced settler colonialism firsthand. When I questioned the narrative he is teaching, and pointed to some of the fallacies, he became very upset, and his brainwashed little toadies tried to shout me down. Of particular humor to me was when Magid said “The Jews have no connection to the city of Hevron.” I responded “They absolutely do! Anyone who goes to Tel Rumeida can see for themselves it is the city of King David.” He responded “Jewish scientists have shown that the Jews aren’t connected to the land,” to which I replied “You mean Shlomo Sand?” He answered “Yes”, to which I responded “You know Shlomo Sand was thoroughly debunked right?” He smiled and said “Yes, by Zionists.” I laughed and said “No, by scientists.” Even a couple of the students there laughed; that’s why Magid got so pissed off – the students were actually asking me questions and not sucking up to him.
That’s when two women asked me to leave! They said I was dominating the discourse. I laughed and said that this was ridiculous; I was merely answering questions that were asked of me. The Native woman said I was being too forceful, at which point I said “I’m not the one trying to deny a peoples’ history.” She responded “Yes you are,” to which I replied “I can’t believe you are a teacher. You need to read some history books.” I got up to leave and picked up my iPad. That’s when one girl said “Make him delete the video.” I laughed and said “Not likely.” I started walking to the door, and a tall Arab man with a beard stepped in front of me. I walked up closer to him and he stepped backwards. I opened the door and laughed again. He said “You can’t leave with that.” I asked him who was going to stop me and he said “ I better not see you on the street bro.” I laughed again and said “Whatever, little man. I’m right here.” I don’t think he really wanted to fight me once he realized that I was willing to throw fists. I left shaking my head.

Trial set for terror compensation from Arab Bank

A New York judge set a trial date on Wednesday to decide how much the Arab Bank is liable to pay in damages after it was found to have provided support to Hamas for attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Jury selection for the trial was scheduled for May 18 by US District Judge Brian Cogan, Reuters reported.
In September a New York jury found the Jordan-based multinational financial house liable on 24 counts of supporting terrorism by transferring funds to Hamas.

Why one student switched sides over BDS

Five months ago, I blindly supported the BDS movement on our campus, I was one of them. I discussed my support of BDS on the radio, many of my friends were in SJP, and the many minority communities I was in, were fully invested in BDS. I even planned last summer to join the campaign against Israel. I was emblematic of many college students across the U.S, being anti-Israel in the name of social justice and equality.
Over the summer, a violent and hateful picture posted to the SJP page was brought to my attention. It was in response to our school’s decision to turn down Divestment and it stated “Ethnic Cleansing Starts Here” a mockery of our school motto and a sign of disrespect to our student body.
In the instant I saw the picture, I questioned it’s hateful motive, so as an opinion writer for the school paper, I set out to interview various Jewish students on campus to get their perspective on the issue. As students opened themselves up to me, I saw that they felt attacked, and isolated on a campus where they should feel safe. I knew in the testimonies I heard, that they felt voiceless.
I published the article, stating my change in stance regarding Divestment and condemned the organization for being hateful. I condemned them for reducing Israel to a caricature specific to their narrative. I condemned them for marginalizing students on our campus.
In just 2 days after publishing, I received over 30 messages, calling for my resignation from the paper, calling me a baby killer, a racist apartheid supporter, and other hateful slurs I can’t mention right now. I have been threatened on campus and off, online and offline and have lost friendships I valued in the process.

Shmuley Boteach: Six Ways to Fight BDS Lies on Campus

The sole purpose of BDS is to destroy Israel. It has no interest whatsoever in Palestinian rights. If it did it would be boycotting Egypt for destroying hundreds of Palestinian homes on the Gaza border last October to stop Hamas from smuggling weapons.
BDS has no interest in protecting Arab life. If it did it would be boycotting Syria for murdering 150,000 Arabs.
BDS has no interest in protesting an occupation. If it did it would be boycotting China for occupying Tibet since 1950.
BDS has no interest in promoting Arab human rights. If it did it would be divesting from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, and every other Arab country where Arabs are denied the most basic rights like freedom of press, freedom to protest their government, and the freedom to vote, all of which are guaranteed to Arabs only in Israel.
BDS trades in anti-Semitism with its primary objective being the economic destruction of the world’s only Jewish state and the Middle East’s only democracy.
So why isn’t Hillel fighting BDS on campus?

Spanish University Dismantles Anti-Israel Exhibit

A public university in Spain dismantled an exhibition in which false quotes about killing Palestinian children were attributed to late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported Wednesday.
Following a number of complaints from Spain's Jewish community, the exhibit - displayed in the economic department of the Autonomous University of Madrid - was taken down last week.
The exhibition featured several posters, including one with an undated quote attributed to Sharon.

Statement from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition: Open GazaPort

In the shadow of these circumstances the Freedom Flotilla Coalition met in Athens on December 6th and 7th to follow up and revise plans for the upcoming flotilla: Freedom Flotilla III: Open Gaza port.
In this meeting, following the previous meeting in Istanbul last August, details were finalized for “Open Gaza Port” (OGP) to sail during the first half of 2015 with a flotilla of at least 3 ships, reflecting the urgency, wide interest and diverse public support to the project and taking into account the above mentioned grave situation in Gaza.
More details about OGP will be released over the coming weeks.
Freedom Flotilla Coalition members:
Canadian Boat to Gaza
European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza
Freedom Flotilla Italia
Gaza’s Ark
IHH*

No, Rasmea Odeh wasn’t targeted for isolation in St. Clair County jail

As with much of the pro-Rasmea propaganda campaign, the accusations take a kernel of truth (she was in lockdown) and then weave paranoid conspiracy theories around it.
I have obtained Odeh’s St. Clair County jail disciplinary records pursuant to a FOIA request. The reasons for her lockdown were simple: She was disruptive and uncooperative with prison guards, which resulted in her initial lockdown. Then she began to receive threats from other prisoners who read about her in the Detroit Free Press and on social media, so she was kept in lockdown as part of protective custody.
Here are the relevant records, with the names of jail employees redacted:

Will the Guardian update their report on Ziad Abu Ein to note he died of a heart attack?

The report, by Peter Beaumont, almost entirely focused (and lent substantial credibility to) Palestinian claims that he died as the result of a strike – alternately explained as either a punch, kick or gun butt to the head, or by the impact of a tear gas canister – administered by an Israeli soldier.
Well, about 30 minutes ago it was reported that a joint Israeli-Palestinian autopsy of Abu Ein – a former terrorist convicted of planting a bomb that killed two Israeli teens in the late 70s – concluded that he indeed died from a stress-induced heart attack.

More BBC wind in the sails of NGO’s lawfare campaign

On December 9th the BBC News website published an article titled “Amnesty: Israeli strikes on Gaza buildings ‘war crimes’” on its Middle East page. Ninety-one of the article’s 535 words are devoted to BBC produced background information. Of the remaining 444 words, two hundred and eighty-three are repetition or paraphrasing of Amnesty International’s claims and one hundred and sixty-one represent Israel’s response to the report.AI report
Whilst the article uncritically repeats the various claims made by Amnesty International – including that of “collective punishment” – it does not inform BBC audiences of the dubious methodology used in the report’s compilation. Neither are readers informed that the report was written without AI having access to information regarding the military value of the sites beyond the hearsay its unnamed researchers gleaned from members of the public in the Gaza Strip and cherry-picked quotes from media reports.

Antisemitic comments (again) on BBC WHYS Facebook post… about show on antisemitism

The first half of the programme was devoted mostly to the topic of the personal experiences of members of the panel whilst the second part addressed the issue of the causes of rising antisemitism in Europe. Among the factors identified were the conflation of Jews and Israelis (blaming European Jews for perceived Israeli wrongdoings), the demonization of Jews and the rise of hate speech on the internet.
As usual, the programme’s host invited listeners to comment on the topic under discussion on the WHYS Facebook wall. Given the subject matter, one might perhaps have expected that a particular effort would have been made this time around to avoid the appearance of antisemitic comments, defamation, demonisation and hate speech – as has been the case on that programme’s Facebook wall (as well as other BBC discussion boards) in the past.

Farah Stockman Demonstrates the Double Standard

Other times, though, the double standard is glaring. Such is the case with Boston Globe columnist Farah Stockman's recent two-part series about Jerusalem.
In article number one, Stockman derisively dismissed the idea that Palestinian incitement could be linked to Palestinian acts of violence. "Netanyahu blames the attacks on 'incitement' by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, a claim so disingenuous it was contradicted by his own intelligence chief," she stated. Instead, the violence against Israelis is framed as being Israel's fault. (Stockman explained away the murder of four Jews praying in a synagogue as being "what separation sows.")
But in article number two, published less than two weeks later, it's a whole different story. In fact, a main theme of the piece is the idea that the "toxic atmosphere" created by the words of Jewish radicals is a cause of an attack by Jews on a Jewish-Arab school.

20 French theaters to host comedian’s anti-Semitic show

The umbrella group of French Jewish communities condemned 20 theaters that plan to host the overtly anti-Semitic one-man show of comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala.
The CRIF umbrella issued the condemnation on Tuesday in connection with the show by Dieudonne, who has been convicted multiple times for inciting hate against Jews. He intends to take his newest act, titled “The Impure Beast,” on the road later this month.
Among other anti-Semitic references, it features dirty jokes about Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who was tortured and murdered in 2006 because he was Jewish.
“CRIF deplores the many theaters that chose to offer him a podium to disseminate to an instrumentalized audience his hatred of Jews and of those who dare criticize him,” reads CRIF’s statement about the six-month tour, which is due to begin on December 27 at Zenith Nantes Metropole, one of the largest event halls in western France.

Hitler appears in Thai video to promote ‘values’

The short propaganda film commissioned by Thailand’s military rulers was supposed to promote the “12 core values” every Thai student must now learn. But there was one scene the junta has had trouble explaining: a grinning schoolboy painting an image of Adolf Hitler while his smiling classmate applauds.
The video, which has been screened before movies in major theaters since Saturday, has been met with ridicule on social media and condemned by the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok.
On Wednesday, a senior official in the prime minister’s office, Panadda Diskul, called the uproar a “misunderstanding,” but said the Nazi imagery in the cartoon scene would soon be replaced. The clip has since been removed from YouTube.
The 11-minute film tells the story of two young kids learning about life and loyalty, and Panadda told The Associated Press that the boy shown merrily painting an image of Hitler saluting beside a swastika was trying to compare his mother to a dictator, in essence a rebellious jest.

IsraellyCool: Rosie O’Donnell Screws Up With Anti-Israel Artwork

In case you were not aware where comedienne Rosie O’Donnell stands on Israel, this “art” she designed, drew and is now hawking on her website should clarify things: Israel Begins Bombing Gaza Acrylic Print
My first reaction was equal parts disappointment and “WTF?”
Then I looked closer at the images and did the investigative thing.
Not surprising, it turns out the photo of the man holding the child wearing a red dress is not from Gaza at all, but rather Syria (and her store contains no Syrian civil war-related products, naturally).

British PM Cameron filled with grief during Auschwitz visit

Cameron said, "While I have talked to many Holocaust survivors about their experiences before, coming here has really brought home the terror and torture they faced. As I walked around the gas chamber, past the children's shoes and down the railway tracks, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of grief for all those who were killed simply because of their faith, their beliefs or their ethnicity."
Cameron also left a message in the Auschwitz memorial book and placed a candle in memory of the victims.
"I wanted to come and see for myself this place where the darkest chapter of human history happened," Cameron wrote.
"The survivors have done so much to tell us about what took place. Today they are becoming fewer in number so I hope the Holocaust Commission we have established will teach future generations what took place -- and that we must never forget all those who were murdered here and at other camps and at other places. We must always remember what happened."

The Israel We Should Be Talking About

At age 66, Israel is the world’s 100th smallest nation. It has less than 1/1000th of the world’s population. Despite having to spend more per capita on defense than any other country, its citizens have accomplished more than most in virtually every field. Israel developed the cellphone, voicemail technology, drip irrigation, the pill cam, the first solar window, Windows NT and XP operating systems, the Centrino Processor, AOL Instant Messenger, the airline industry’s most impenetrable flight security system, and the Iron Dome Defense system, which saved countless Israeli and Palestinian lives in the recent conflict. Israel is the world’s foremost immigrant-absorbing nation and the only country that entered the 21st century with a net increase in trees. Home of 12 Nobel laureates, it leads the world on a per capita basis in museums, newspapers, home computers, theater attendance, university degrees, scientific papers, biotech startups, and scientists and technicians in the workforce. It ranks second in books published, startup companies, and venture capital invested. Israel is simply amazing. It is a marvel. It is a miracle!
In the biblical book of Nehemiah, we learn that Ezra the Scribe gathered our ancient ancestors at Jerusalem’s Water Gate on Rosh Hashanah and read the Torah aloud to the gathered assemblage, perhaps for the first time. As they listened, the people wept. But Ezra declared, “Do not mourn or weep…Do not be sad, for rejoicing in the Lord is the source of your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:9-10) Though they lived in times incomparably and inconceivably more difficult than ours, our ancient ancestors found ample reasons for rejoicing. So should we. However formidable the challenges facing the Jewish state and the Jewish people, they are dwarfed by our abundant blessings. Renewed in gratitude, revived in hopefulness, fortified in our pride in the State of Israel and confident in its future, let us declare: Blessed are You, Eternal One, Guardian of Israel.

Polish court overturns ban on ritual slaughter

The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the protection of animals could not take precedence over the guarantees of religious freedom. Though the judges did not rule unanimously, it is nonetheless a victory for Poland’s small Jewish and Muslim communities and for the agricultural industry, which in the past profited from the production of meat for export to Jewish and Muslim communities.
Ritual slaughter, which involves the killing of livestock without stunning them first to reduce their pain, has been illegal since January 1, 2013, due to a ban that the same court imposed after a campaign by animal rights activists.
Wednesday’s ruling came in reaction to a complaint lodged by Poland’s Jewish community, which argued that the ban violated guarantees of religious freedom enshrined in Poland’s constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.
Poland’s top Muslim leader, Tomasz Miskiewicz, and Jewish officials in and out of Poland welcomed the decision.

Israeli airport safety system beats back the birds

Between 2004 and 2013, US statistics show, there were 14,571 bird strikes, as the incidents are known, most of them low-risk. But according to Alon Nitzan, CEO of Israel’s Xsight Systems, any risk is too risky. “Runways are the production line of the airports – they demand streamlined, efficient and safe operations”
Xsight’s BirdWize, he said, would supply the necessary technology to reduce and even eliminate that risk.
Xsight specializes in systems that ensure safe takeoffs and landings at airports. The company’s basic technology is called FODetect, a system based on radar-optical sensing technology that enables pilots and control tower personnel to detect if there is anything in the way – or on the way – that would interfere with a plane’s safe departure or arrival.

Iconic Israeli Architect Designs Breathtaking Singapore Airport Terminal (VIDEO)

Noted Israeli-born, US-based architect, Moshe Safdie has received the go-ahead to design a massive and dramatic addition to Singapore’s Changi Airport, entitled “Project Jewel,” Israel’s Walla News said Wednesday.
The new 134-thousand sq.-mtr. facility will include shops, leisure and entertainment facilities, and will be located adjacent to the three existing terminals at the airport, which currently attract more than 53 million passengers a year.
Safdie previously designed Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, which also features a central waterfall surrounded by duty-free shopping and dining courts – but on a far smaller scale.

Rare Litter of Sumatran Tiger Cubs Born in Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo (PHOTO)

“Hannah,” a Sumatran tiger at Jerusalem’s Biblical zoo, recently gave birth to two healthy cubs, and began taking care of them, unlike previous litters, NRG News said Wednesday.
Hannah’s mate, “Avigdor,” while nearby, was unavailable for comment on the happy occasion.
There are only some 400 of the endangered breed left in existence, and, besides captivity, are only found on the eponymous Indonesian island.
This is Hannah’s fourth litter – in previous tries, she abandoned the cubs at birth, leaving them to be raised and cared for by zoo staff.

Rusty's waltz wednesday presents: Badad, by Zohar Argov

An Israeli Jew of yeminite descent, he rose to prominence as the first "Mizrachit" ("Eastern music") star in 1982 by winning a major Israeli song competition with the brilliant (but not waltzy) "Haperach Be'Gani" ("The flower in my garden").
Mizrachi music was a marginalized music form coming from a marginalized segment of society, made up of Jews who were relatively newer immigrants and refugees to the young country from such countries as Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Zohar Argov was the seminal artist who brought Mizrachit to everyone's attention; today, he is simply referred to as "Ha'Melech" ("The King").