04/18 Links Pt2: Jordan abandons Temple Mount camera plan; ~ EoZ

From Ian:

After attack, Netanyahu vows to ‘settle score’ with bus bomber

Gaza Strip-based Palestinian terror group Hamas praised the attack but did not claim responsibility in a statement on its website.
“Hamas welcomes the Jerusalem operation, and considers it a natural reaction to Israeli crimes, especially field executions and the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Other Palestinian groups similarly applauded the bomb attack without claiming any hand in it. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad “welcomed” the bombing as did the Popular Resistance Committees, which also called for more attacks.
The bombing was a stark reminder of an attack method commonly used during last decade’s Second Intifada, but which has since become rare as so-called lone-wolf attackers have assaulted Israelis using simpler weapons, such as knives, guns and cars.
Police did not say if they had any leads on who was responsible for the bombing of the number 12 bus, which wounded 21 people, and no terror group took responsibility for the attack in the immediate aftermath.
But Netanyahu said Israeli forces would locate and punish those responsible.
“We will find out who placed the bomb, we will reach those who dispatched them and we will also get to those who stand behind them, and settle the account with these terrorists,” he said.
The prime minister also sent wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured in the bombing.

Jordan abandons plan to install cameras on Temple Mount

Following fierce Palestinian protests and threats, Jordan said on Monday that it has abandoned its plan to install security cameras at the Temple Mount.
The decision to drop the plan was announced by Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.
The security cameras were supposed to be installed at the Temple Mount in accordance with an agreement reached late last year between Israel and Jordan under the auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Ensure said that Jordan would “always remain at the forefront of those defending Palestine, its cause, people and holy sites.”
Last week, Palestinian activists distributed leaflets at the Temple Mount warning Jordan against the installation of the security cameras. The leaflets urged Palestinians to break the cameras when and if they are installed.
The Islamic Movement - Northern Branch in Israel, headed by Sheikh Raed Salah, has also voiced strong opposition to the installment of the security cameras at the Temple Mount.
The Palestinians argue that the cameras would be used by Israel to identify and arrest Muslim worshipers and activists opposed to visits by Jews to the Temple Mount. In recent months, scores of male and female activists calling themselves murabitoun and murabitat have been harassing non-Muslims touring the Temple Mount under police protection.

False Moral Equivalence as a Tool to Demonize Israel

False moral equivalence is one of a series of major fallacies. False moral equivalence comparing Israel's actions to those of the Nazis was used by several prominent social-democratic politicians, including French President François Mitterrand, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme and Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.
Another example of false moral equivalence is calling Israel an Apartheid State. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter made this comparison in his 2006 book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid -- which incorporates the false moral equivalence in its title.
The false comparison between Zionism and racism has been repeated countless times through United Nations and UN-sponsored declarations and conferences.
Another category of moral equivalence pretends that the intended murder of innocent civilians is equal to the accidental deaths of civilians in targeted assassinations.

Top international law expert takes down "Occupied Palestinian Territories" meme

Amb.Alan Baker, who participated in negotiations on the Oslo Accords and today is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs explains how the OPT concept has no basis in international law.

JCPA: Does UNESCO’s resolution to condemn Israel conflict with its mission? - Amb. Alan Baker

Q: The UN agency UNESCO voted last week to condemn Israel for actions on the Temple Mount and Western Wall Plaza. Does UNESCO's resolution conflict with its mission?
Amb. Alan Baker: Absolutely, it 100% undermines the purpose of the organization, as established in its constitution that was adopted in 1945. The constitution basically sets up an organization that is intended to act against ignorance as a cause for suspicion and mistrust between peoples, against the denial of dignity, equality and mutual respect, against ignorance and prejudice, in favor of the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind, and in favor of the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth. All these basic constitutional principles, which are the mission of UNESCO, have been undermined, upturned, and violated by this absurd resolution which is exactly the opposite. It's based on lies, it's based on mistruth, it sows disrespect and denial of dignity, and it does everything that UNESCO isn't supposed to do. In legal terms, it's ultra vires the very existence of UNESCO. UNESCO is serving, in a very similar way to the UN Human Rights Council, as a propaganda body which has been hijacked by a majority of like-minded states who have a political agenda which is principally against Israel but also against the West. It's undermining the reputation of the United Nations and causing a lot of harm.

Rare Israeli-Palestinian Shouting Match at UN Security Council

The Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to the United Nations had a heated exchange on Monday during a monthly meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which descended into a shouting match over the recent wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians and the Jewish state’s response to the violence.
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon broke away from his address to the council to scold Riyad Mansour, the permanent Palestinian observer to the U.N., for “paying the families of the terrorists” and asked, “Will you condemn Palestinians who commit terror attacks against Israelis?”
Mansour’s initial response could not be heard because his microphone was off, but he then replied, “We condemn the killing of all innocent civilians including Palestinian civilians. Do you do the same?”
“You glorify terrorism,” Danon said. “Shame on you for doing that.”
“We don’t do that,” Mansour said. “Shame on you for killing thousands of Palestinian children.”
After Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi, president of the council this month, called on both men to maintain order, Danon said to Mansour, “You cannot say it here. Palestinian children are looking at you right now.” He then added, “I condemn all acts of terrorism – one sentence you cannot say. Shame on you for that.”

Swedish housing minister to resign after comments on Israel

Sweden's Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan will resign following comments where he likened Israel's treatment of Palestinians to what happened to Jews in Nazi Germany, the prime minister said on Monday.
The comments that daily Svenska Dagbladet first reported last week were made in 2009, before Kaplan entered the newly formed center-left government to represent the minor coalition partner the Green Party in 2014.
The resignation comes amid reports of tensions within the center-left minority coalition government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's Social Democrats and the Green Party.
Kaplan, who was born in Turkey, has also been criticized for appearing on pictures from a dinner where representatives from an ultra-nationalist Turkish organization attended.

Sweden’s Islamist Housing Minister Resigns — Finally!

The Housing Minister, an avowed Islamist whose only action thus far after 18 months in the government is to announce that he will “liberate Jerusalem”, has resigned following a series of revelations about his long-term and intimate links with fascist Islamist groups closely allied with Turkey’s dictator Erdogan.
Kaplan also has the dubious distinction of having been deported from the territory of a Swedish ally, Israel, for subversive activities including failing to enter the country legally, a claim to fame that he shares with his Green Party government colleague Gustav Fridolin. They were both deported for illegal activities linked with the illicit Ship to Gaza terrorist campaign a few years ago.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has signally failed to act in any way whatsoever throughout this growing debacle, waiting for his antagonistic, racist Housing Minister to resign rather than kicking him out of office.
It should be noted that during his tenure at the helm of the housing ministry, during a period that saw more than 200,000 mostly Muslim migrants enter Sweden, many of them illegally and without adequate grounds for asylum, the Housing Minister has failed to build a single apartment for them or for the indigenous Swedish population.
Instead, he has spent all his time – and Swedish taxpayers’ hard-earned tax revenues – jet-setting to Turkey and working for/with the Islamist dictatorship there against the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel – a country that is a staunch ally and major trading partner of Sweden.

Pollard lawyers mock US intel chief's warning that ex-spy still poses threat

Lauer and Semmelman wrote that it is "inconceivable" that anyone could memorize the details of the kind of documents he retrieved at the time of their disclosure, let alone remember meaningful details 30 years later. They wrote that Clapper did not explain how Pollard's parole conditions could prevent him from disclosing information.
"The special conditions would not have prevented Mr. Pollard from committing his underlying offense, nor would they have aided law enforcement officials in detecting his criminal activity," they wrote.
"They would similarly have no impact on Mr. Pollard’s ability to disclose any information he might retain today, even though he has no such information and has no intention of jeopardizing his freedom."
For example, Lauer and Semmelman wrote that Pollard’s GPS device allows the probation office to watch a blip of his location move around the Southern District of New York, but does nothing to physically prevent or deter him from having a conversation at a coffee shop, within the confines of his apartment or in a public park.
They wrote that the conditions' only effect is to burden and stigmatize Pollard and impair his ability to reintegrate into society. "There simply is no relationship between the underlying offense and the need to monitor Mr. Pollard’s whereabouts, where the commission’s supposed concern is a conversation that could theoretically occur anywhere," they wrote.

In first visit ever by Singapore PM, leader thanks Israel for defense aid over the years

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Israel Monday for a four day visit, the first ever visit to Israel by a Singapore prime minister since the country was established in 1965.
During a speech at Hebrew University where he received an honorary doctorate, Lee noted with gratitude the defense aid and advice Singapore has received from israel over the years.
“In August 1965, when Singapore unexpectedly became independent, the Israel Defense Forces helped us to develop the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF),” he said. “We asked a number of countries, but only Israel responded to us, and it did so very promptly.
“Without the IDF, the SAF could not have grown its capabilities, deterred threats, defended our island, and reassured Singaporeans and investors that Singapore was secure and had a future,” he said. “We will always be grateful that Israel helped us and stood by us at our time of great need.”
Israel and Singapore established diplomatic ties in 1969, four years after Singapore gained independence, and in recent years the country has emerged as a significant trading partner for Israel.

Monaco’s Prince Albert II gets Friends of Zion award

Former president Shimon Peres awarded the Friends of Zion Award to His Serene Highness Prince Albert II, crown prince of Monaco.
The award is presented by the Friends of Zion Heritage Center, which operates a museum in Jerusalem and is part of a global initiative of building a bridge to millions of friends of the Jewish state worldwide to counter BDS and anti-Semitism.
Albert was bestowed the award on Friday as part of his activities as a significant voice for strengthening world support for Israel and the Jewish people.
“I speak for the Grimaldi house when I say here how proud and privileged I feel to accept this award as a symbol of the strong relations between Israel and Monaco.
It is an honor to have you as our guests,” Albert said at the ceremony.

UN refugee camp chief: We wasted millions. Why? Because - reveals whistleblower in a stunning admission - we were obsessed by photos of stars in our T-shirts

Shocking multi-million-pound waste and paralysing bureaucracy at the United Nations have been exposed by a former senior official from the organisation – which receives vast sums from the British taxpayer each year.
Killian Kleinschmidt was the manager of a sprawling camp for Syrian refugees in Zaatari, Jordan.
A veteran of 25 years with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Austrian aid expert has revealed how the organisation was dogged by infighting and an obsession with celebrities.
And he has exposed how senior aid bureaucrats lied about caring for thousands more children than they actually did.
His concerns will again raise serious doubts about why the UK is spending 0.7 per cent of its wealth – £12 billion last year – on aid, funding many questionable projects and unaccountable multi-national organisations.
The Zaatari camp houses about 79,580 displaced Syrians and costs about £320,000 a day to run.

Synagogue Attack Terrorist To Judge: ‘Suck My Circumcised C*ck You Nazi Wh*re’

A terror-trial following the fatal 2015 Copenhagen shootings at a free speech event and a synagogue has witnessed a shocking outburst by the defendant as he called the judge a “Nazi”.
31 year old Mahmoud Rabea is one of four men now being tried for aiding and abetting terrorist killer Omar el-Hussein, who went on a shooting rampage with a stolen army rifle, killing two civilians and wounding five police officers.
Sitting in his preliminary trial on Friday, Mr. Rabea spoke to his girlfriend, who had come to support him from the public gallery. He was warned by the female judge this was against Danish court rules, to which he made an angry outburst.
Although his exact words could not be heard over the already loud courtroom, Danish newspaper Ekstrabladet reports he could clearly be heard inviting the judge to suck his “circumcised cock”, and insulting her by calling her a “pig” and a “Nazi whore”. Mr. Radea is now to be charged with insulting Jugde Marianne Madsen, a crime which if convicted could add a further six months to his anticipated terror sentence.
The rest of the trial will now be conducted in his absence, with Mr. Radea contributing by link from a separate room when required.

Boston Bombing Anniversary: Denying the Obvious

As Boston prepares for the 2016 marathon, memorials have been organized across the city. Three years later, however, have the authorities really learned anything from the horrors of the bombings?
Judging by the support for Muslim Brotherhood institutions in Massachusetts offered by politicians, law enforcement, and journalists, it would seem not.
Three years ago, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lay wounded, hiding from police in the city of Watertown, a leafy suburb of Boston. On April 15, he and his brother, Tamerlan, had bombed the Boston marathon, murdering three and injuring hundreds. Over the next few days, Dzhokhar would kill MIT police officer Sean Collier, take a hostage, wound police officers in a firefight, and run over his dying brother.
By April 19, the injured Dzhokhar awaited his inevitable capture, bleeding in a Watertown backyard. As law enforcement closed in, Dzhokhar scribbled text on the walls of the boat where he hid.
For a terrorist who had just murdered in the name of Islam, some might expect his parting message to be a litany of Quranic verse. But the writings on the wall of the Watertown boat mostly comprised quotes from Islamist political tracts, written by the Islamist luminaries of the 20th century – Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami ideologues such as Sayid Qutb, Hassan Al Banna, Fathi Yakan, and Abul A’la Maududi.

Top expert on Islamist radicalisation is investigated by university for saying slain Muslim shopkeeper was 'not a real Muslim'

A top expert on Islamist radicalisation is being investigated for saying that a slain Muslim shopkeeper was 'not a real Muslim', it has been reported.
Shiraz Maher, a researcher at King's College London, wrote on Facebook that he does not 'regard Ahmadis as Muslims' - days after a taxi driver admitted killing Asad Shah because he 'disrespected' Islam'.
Mr Shah, part of the Ahmadiyya community, was knifed to death in his shop in what was feared at the time to have been a sectarian attack against the peace-loving branch of Islam he followed.
Earlier this month, taxi driver Tanveer Ahmed, accused of his murder, said through his lawyer that he killed the much-loved family man because he had claimed to be 'a prophet'.
Days later Mr Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, reportedly wrote on Facebook: 'I really wonder if I'm missing something here but I don't regard Ahmadis as Muslim.'

Daniel Pipes: Does Israel need US Jewish support?

Jewish support for Israel has weakened primarily because Jews are solidly on the liberal-left of the political spectrum (these days symbolized by Bernie Sanders), the side most critical of Israel.
From Israel's point of view, the fact that American Jews are losing their ardor for Israel is a distinct loss. But it is made up for by American conservative support for the Jewish state.
The conservative-moderate-liberal spectrum of opinion is consistent in poll after poll (I have collected a decade’s worth of them here) and it shows a large and growing conservative support for Israel. For example, the Gallup poll in February 2016 found Republicans favoring Israel over the Palestinians by 79% to 7%, or a margin of over 11-to-1. With such political backing, Jews have lost their primacy in pushing the U.S. government to a favorable policy toward Israel.
To be sure, this support could one day erode too but it looks solid for now, being a core issue of the conservative outlook. As one proof, note how a Republican politician (Charles Boustany) who associated with J Street felt compelled publicly to apologize for this step ("I had been deliberately misled.")
Conservative support includes self-professed Christian Zionists, of course, but it also comprises many others (such as defense hawks or those worried about Islamism) who do not have a religious outlook.

Bernie Sanders and his strange take on Israel

No, Bernie Sanders is not a self-hating Jew. Nor are members of the organization J Street because its leader Jeremy Ben-Ami has told us so.
Yet, it remains a puzzlement that these self-proclaimed supporters of Israel, indeed many vitally concerned about the proper “soul” of Israel, are constantly scolding the Jewish State for alleged misbehavior and rarely, if ever, utter a word about its accomplishments or its crucial need for security.
Of course, we know from numerous organizations such as the Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as from Middle East experts such as the novelist Alice Walker and the sanctimonious Archbishop Desmond Tutu much more about the shortcomings of Israel than of the paradise to be found in Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Burundi.
To the delight of the U.S. mainstream press, above all the New York Times, Bernie Sanders, the candidate for President has now joined the chorus of those who tell us we must speak the truth about Israel.
His critical remarks of Israel in the debate on April 14, 2016 have been heralded as “breaking a taboo” on critical comments, and so important that they could now lead others to follow.

Sanders: Obama not far enough on the Palestinians' side

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC, Sanders was asked about his debate with frontrunner Hillary Clinton last Thursday, in which he attacked Israel for taking "disproportionate" measures in defending itself from Hamas terrorists in 2014 Operation Protective Edge.
Stephanopoulos showed a clip from the debate in which Sanders called for the US to take an "evenhanded" approach vis-a-vis Israel and the Palestinians, and then asked, "do you (see) that kind of evenhanded approach under President Obama?"
"I think he’s done much better than his predecessors, but I still think we have a ways to go," Sanders replied, indicating that he views Obama as being too supportive of Israel.
That statement comes despite the open hostility Obama has been criticized for showing Israel on several key occasions, such as during Protective Edge when he canceled a routine Hellfire missile shipment in the middle of the war and ordered greater scrutiny on future weapons transfers to Israel.
Sanders continued discussing his comments in the debate, saying, "I was not criticizing President Obama; I was criticizing (former) Secretary (of State) Clinton. She gave a speech to AIPAC. It was a long speech. There was only one sentence I believe that even mentioned the Palestinians.”
In her AIPAC speech, Clinton slammed the Palestinian leadership for actively inciting terrorism and paying rewards to the families of terrorists. However, her stance on the conflict has been viewed as troubled by many as well - in her latest debate with Sanders she called for a two-state solution establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, even while noting how Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza left Hamas in control.

Sanders: Clinton Has Ignored the Palestinians, Israel Overreacts to Terrorism

Haaretz Validates Bernie with Bad Information

Bernie Sanders’s anti-Israel comments at April 15’s presidential debate -- he insisted that Israel’s military action in Gaza in 2014 was “a disproportionate attack” -- were met with a media storm of praise. From Vox to The New Yorker, Sanders was praised for “breaking the taboo” on the approach of the United States to Israel. Perhaps most egregious in its coverage was Haaretz, stating flat-out and erroneously in the headline, “Bernie Sanders Got It Right. Israel Did Use Disproportionate Force in Gaza.” The article was riddled with factual misrepresentations and inaccuracies that seek to validate Sanders’ comments.
Proposing to detail "What really happened in Gaza,” Haaretz leans on sources that are less than credible:
According to the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), a coordination body of over 80 international NGOs, Protective Edge "caused the most acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza in at least the past 50 years.” In 2015, the Associated Press looked into 247 Israeli airstrikes that hit residential compounds during the war, and found that over 60 percent of those killed during the attacks were children, women and older men, all of them most likely civilians. The airstrikes devastated Gaza to such a degree that in September a UN report warned that by 2020 Gaza could become “uninhabitable.”
A number of hospitals were indeed bombed during the war, as Sanders points out. Israel claims they served as Hamas strongholds, and were used as launch sites for rocket attacks. Schools were also hit, as were refugee camps. (Gaza itself, crumbling under the weight of a suffocating eight-year blockade and three devastating wars and 50 years of occupation, is arguably the world’s largest refugee camp.)
AIDA states its mission is to “better address the rights of the Palestinian people,” but harbors the broader goal of demonizing and delegitimizing Israel in the international arena, as the NGO Monitor reveals. Many of the organizations on AIDA’s member list are active BDS supporters and known for having a distorted perspective on Israel. One member, Islamic Relief Worldwide, was declared to be illegal by Israel’s Defense Minister due to its financial support of the terrorist organization Hamas. Other well-known anti-Israel organizations that are part of AIDA include CARE International, Oxfam, and the Carter Center. As CAMERA has reported, these NGOs and their leadership do not take a balanced, truthful approach when it comes to Israel. Yet, Haaretz cites as evidence the statement made by AIDA.

City University of NY doctoral students back boycott of Israel

A group of doctoral students at the City University of New York passed a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel.
The Doctoral Students’ Council resolution, which called to “boycott Israeli academic institutions for as long as the Israeli state continues to violate Palestinian rights under international law,” passed on Friday afternoon with 42 students voting in favor and 19 opposed, with 9 abstentions. The council represents nearly 5,000 graduate students.
The resolution also expressed support for the campus organization Students for Justice in Palestine, the New York Daily News reported.
Jack Martins, a Republican state senator representing Nassau County, called the resolution “hate speech.” He added that the group stacked the deck in favor of the resolution by calling the vote so close to the Jewish Sabbath.
“Their effort to silence any opposition by scheduling the vote for this Friday during the Sabbath, when observant Jews cannot attend to voice their concerns, is no coincidence,” Martins wrote in a letter to CUNY Chancellor James Milliken, adding that the resolution was “disgusting and shameful.”
Milliken has said he opposes an academic boycott of Israel.

BDS and Socially Responsible Investment

Last weekend’s StandWithUs anti-BDS conference made clear that the BDS threat – despite recent setbacks – remains potent, but that the forces arrayed against it (including all those who attended this year’s SWU confab) are ready to meet the challenge.
As much as I’d like to run down each and every event I attended, I’m instead going to focus on a new front that’s opened up in the propaganda war against the Jewish state.
Actually, the front is not that new. Rather, it’s another community that the boycotters have been playing under the radar, hoping their opponents wouldn’t spot what they were up to: socially responsible investors (SRI).
According to a breakfast speaker at the SWU event, the global capital investment market tops 241 trillion dollars, with an increasing percentage of those investments being managed by firms specializing in “socially concerned” or “ethically aware” investing.
Social concern and ethics are, of course, in the eye of the beholder. During its infancy, SRI was able to identify obvious companies likely to generate controversy, such as tobacco firms and weapons manufacturers. But as the SRI market gropes towards adolescence, other issues (such as care for the environment or treatment of workers) have emerged as consensus criteria to determine who is in and who is out of SRI-managed funds.

Help us Roger Waters, You’re our only Hope! (satire)

Dear Roger,
We know that we may not have started off “on the right foot” together. But that was the past. It doesn’t make any sense to dredge up “old hat”. Like the time we said you got hired by MSNBC. Or the time we said that you were no Syd Barrett. Or the time we said you were a dick….. No, it is time to move past old conflicts. To let go. To throw off the past (Hey, how do you say ‘throw off‘ in Arabic? A bit rusty over here).
So, here’s the thing. There’s no easy way to say this. We Need Your Help. We’re going to say two words. BARRY. MANILOW. In Concert. Tel Aviv. June 30th (OK, that’s like 8 words). Which has left us in the uncomfortable position of rethinking our stance on the BDS Movement. Like maybe we can meet you guys half-way.
Bottom Line: You need to stop this sh!t. NOW.

Reminder to Times of London: Jews can certainly be antisemitic

An article in Times of London on April 2nd, titled ‘Labour welcomes back blogger who compares Israelis to Nazis‘, included the following about the “socialist, anti-Zionist, anti-racist” blogger in question, Tony Greenstein:
An activist who has referred to his critics as “Zionist scum” and claimed that the state of Israel has informally forbidden mixed-race couples has been re-admitted to the Labour Party.
…
Tony Greenstein, a campaigner from Brighton, was allowed back after Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in September despite having been barred during an attempt to join the party in the summer.
…
On his blog, Mr Greenstein refers to himself as a “socialist, anti-Zionist, anti-racist” and accuses the state of Israel of “wanton murder of Palestinian civilians”. He also compares Israelis to Nazis, saying of a proposed military award for an Israeli soldier: “It is the honour that used to attach to the SS.”
In a post in November entitled “When Nuremberg Came to Israel”, Mr Greenstein wrote: “Israel is a Jewish racial state and miscegenation, the mixing of the races, is strictly forbidden in Israel. Not legally of course, because Israel has to formally adhere to western values, but in the accepted and unwritten Zionist consensus.”

BBC ‘moral debate’ contributor promotes conspiracy theory

Those familiar with the record of MPACUK are unlikely to be surprised by Raza Nadim’s employment of the pejorative term ‘Zio’, his conspiracy theory concerning a powerful Jewish lobby or his support for the NUS candidate who two months ago appeared at an ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ event but in 2014 opposed NUS condemnation of ISIS on the grounds that it was ‘Islamophobic’.
It is however worth reminding ourselves of the fact that this is a man the BBC saw fit to invite to participate in a “moral, ethical and religious debate” programme just over a couple of months ago.
Had the BBC addressed its own issues concerning ‘Jewish lobby’ conspiracy theories, that lack of discernment (and additional examples of the BBC’s showcasing of Nadim as the ‘British Muslim voice’– especially on its Asian Network) might perhaps have been avoided.

Context erased from BBC report concerning 2009 Gaza incident

On April 15th a filmed report made by Jane O’Brien and Bill McKenna for BBC World News and BBC News US was promoted on the BBC News website’s Middle East page under the headline “Palestinian doctor turns personal tragedy into dramatic play“. The synopsis tells BBC audiences that:
“The real life story of the Palestinian doctor who lost his children in Israeli air-strikes has been turned into a play.”
In fact, the tragic incident in which Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish’s three daughters and niece were killed in 2009 was not the result of air-strikes at all – as the subsequent investigation showed and as the BBC itself has previously reported.
“The IDF concluded Wednesday that Israeli tank shells caused the deaths of four Palestinian girls, including three daughters of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, when his house was accidentally attacked on January 16, during Operation Cast Lead. Following the investigation, the army confirmed that two shells had hit the building. […] The IDF said that a Golani Brigade force was operating near Beit Lahiya when it came under sniper and mortar fire in an area laden with explosives. After determining that the source of the fire was in a building adjacent to Abuelaish’s home, the force returned fire.

Texan Lutheran Pastor to Iranian TV: Israel Was Chief Player in 9/11

A Lutheran pastor and former U.S. Senate candidate told Iranian TV that Israel was “the chief player” in the September 11 attacks on the U.S.
Mark Dankof, who is also a broadcaster in San Antonio, Texas, was commenting on a report that Saudi Arabia played a supporting role in the 9/11 attacks.
“When we get to 9/11, there are series of clues and series of explanations that have been provided for us; they really get in the bottom of the fact that it was Israel that was the chief player in calling up 9/11,” said Dankof in a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday.
Evidence of Israel’s role, according to Dankof, is spelled out in a book called Israel Did It and in an article published by the Council of Foreign Affairs in 1998 that explains Israel’s motivations for being the “driving force” behind an attack of such proportions.

Bucharest mayoral candidate accuses Jewish community of lying about Holocaust dead

A Romanian watchdog group on anti-Semitism said it was worried by the mayoral candidacy of a Bucharest politician who said local Jews lied for money about the number of their brethren killed in the Holocaust.
Marian Munteanu of the National Liberal Party, Romania’s second largest, made the accusation in a press statement he co-signed in 1994, when he was part of the Christian-nationalist Movement for Romania organization.
Jewish groups put the number of Romanians killed in the Holocaust at 420,000 to “obtain illicit moneys from Romanian people through disinformation and manipulation of public opinion, with the complicity of treacherous elements who infiltrated the Romanian institutional structures,” the statement read, the online edition of Evenimentul Zilei reported on Thursday.
The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of Holocaust warned that Munteanu “presents a concern” not only because of his nationalist rhetoric and “statements minimizing or denying” the Holocaust, but also for “misrepresenting” reality today, according to the Agerpres news website.

Rio school named for Holocaust survivor who led Brazilian Jews

A Brazilian public school was named for Aleksander Henryk Laks, the late iconic president of the Brazilian Association of Holocaust Survivors.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, led the naming ceremony on April 14. Jewish and government officials were on hand.
"Mr. Laks' dedication to preserve the memory of the Shoah is the legacy he left for the Jewish leadership," Osias Wurman, Israel's honorary consul and a former president of the Rio Jewish Federation, told JTA. "We need to illuminate the past to lighten the future. He was an icon for a generation among Holocaust survivors."
The Aleksander Henryk Laks School, in Rio's Jacarepagua neighborhood, will house some 850 students aged 11-14.
Laks died last year at 88 of a lung infection. The Poland native lived in the Lodz ghetto and survived Auschwitz and other concentration camps between 1940 and 1945, the year he fled to Rio.

Israeli Software Increases A/C Efficiency, Cutting Costs and Making Buildings Greener

Water chillers – essentially giant refrigerators that cool large buildings – consume a high percentage of all the electricity used in air-conditioning systems of commercial and industrial buildings. That’s not only a major environmental load, but a financial one as well.
The annual cost of cooling the Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv City Center, for example, was $150,000. The hotel slashed this bill by $50,000 after installing the Chiller Smart Management System (CSMS) from the Israeli company Elencon Systems.
Elencon CEO Dave Waimann has heard that the chiller bills run up by the mega hotels in Las Vegas reach into the millions, and hopes to help them save money too.
This dream is surprisingly within reach for Elencon, a seven-employee firm founded in 2012 by Izidor and Tamara Liberman, a husband-and-wife team formerly with energy-efficiency software company Comverge. Elencon already operates seven installations in Israel — including the Crowne Plaza, a hospital, office buildings and the Holon Institute of Technology — collectively saving around $180,000 on cooling costs each year.
The rapidly-expanding company signed an agreement with North Carolina-based Magellan, a consortium of HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) installers and distributors across the United States, to install its software in more than 100 sites. The company also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with France-based GE Grid, a unit of General Electric, on a long-term collaboration to incorporate CSMS in GE’s smart-grid software package for electrical utilities.

Netanyahu elections ad wins international award

An ad for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that ran during the run-up to national elections last year won an international award.
The Likud ad, a TV commercial that depicted Netanyahu as a qualified babysitter, or “Bibi-sitter,” a play on his oft-used nickname, won a Pollie Award handed out by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) for best political campaign of 2015.
Netanyahu’s political adviser, Aron Shaviv, also won a Pollie Award for best political strategist. The prize was presented to Shaviv by Mark Mellman, the president of AAPC, and a political strategist for Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who sits in the opposition.
The Netanyahu ad begins with the premier arriving at the door of a mother and father awaiting a babysitter.
“You asked for a babysitter, you got a Bibi-sitter,” Netanyahu says, making light of his oft-used nickname.

Security industry names Tiger by Lynx TFG Best New Product

Security Industry Association (SIA) – the leading trade association for electronic and physical security solution providers — has named Israel’s Tiger by Lynx TFG as the Best New Product in 2016.
The Tiger app allows any mobile device to stream video in real-time to a personal control center.
Tiger can help in medical emergencies or in disaster zones.
“Whether providing medical ambulatory services, road services, technical support teams or security and task forces – with Tiger, the control center will be equipped with the ability to monitor any event from any perspective and angle,” according to the company’s website.
“Tiger provides an instant solution to start live broadcast to a remote site. With a multitude of usage possibilities including: live view from a city marathon, ad-hoc security event, road accident, remote site maintenance or security patrol. Tiger adjusts to any scenario.”

Israeli aid teams join relief operations in Japan, Ecuador

Israeli relief volunteers joined the rescue efforts in Japan and Ecuador following devastating earthquakes that have resulted in hundreds of deaths and widespread damage throughout both countries.
Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID says that its delegation in southern Japan — Japan IsraAID Support Program (JISP) — is helping to distribute much-needed supplies in the affected communities.
Some 180,000 people are in temporary shelters after two powerful earthquakes rocked Japan on Thursday and Friday causing huge damage to roads, bridges and tunnels. The tremors also caused dangerous landslides. Japanese media reports say more than 62,000 homes remain without electricity and 300,000 homes have no water.
IsraAID’s delegation in southern Japan is the only foreign organization still on the ground after arriving in March 2011 to provide assistance in the wake of that year’s devastating tsunami. As such, its volunteers and workers were able to arrive already on Sunday in the worst affected area in Kumamoto city to offer emergency assistance.
“The devastation is beyond words and tens of thousands of people are taking shelter in the more than 600 evacuation centers,” says Yotam Polizer, IsraAID’s Asia Director.

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