06/14 Links Pt2: Zionism didn't cause the Farhud, Israel didn't cause Sarona; NYTs Launches a Shavuot Attack on Israel ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: Zionism didn't cause the Farhud, Israel didn't cause Sarona

75 years later on, the motives behind the pogroms on Baghdad's Jews are the same as the Sarona Market and Orlando attacks: murderous hatred; Huldai is presumptuous and erroneous to justify terrorism.
It happens again and again. Last week at Sarona Market, Saturday in Orlando, and exactly 75 years ago, June 1941, during the Shavuot holiday, in Baghdad, Iraq, when a mob set out on a pogrom against the Jews. Some 180 Jews were murdered in the "Farhud," the Iraqi version of Kristallnacht. That isn't a mistake. It was a night of bloodshed preceded by Nazi propaganda directed by the German ambassador in Baghdad, Dr. Fritz Grobba.
Iraq was in those days an independent country. Grobba's influence on the local elite was large. Inter alia, he sent delegations to Berlin, bought a newspaper and took pains to publish therein Hitler's Mein Kampf in installments. The hatred of Jews was not because of Zionism. The majority of Iraq's Jews were not then Zionists. They were, precisely like the Jews of Germany, part of the backbone of the economy, development and progress. During those years, Grobba ensured a steady and virulent drip of anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda. The drip worked: The government took a series of steps against Jews, and their situation worsened.
Later, after having successfully spread the al-Aqsa plot hoax throughout Palestine and after getting into trouble with the British Mandate authorities, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, came to Baghdad and added fuel to the fire. Two months before the Farhud, a pro-Nazi coup took place in Iraq, headed by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani. The Second World War was at its height, and the British were advancing on Baghdad. Al-Gaylani and the mufti, the largest inciters, fled to Berlin, where they were received as heroes. The two left the massacre of the Jews of Baghdad to the incited local crowd.

Jennifer Rubin: Israel makes do without a steady U.S. ally

The situation is far from ideal. The U.S.-Israel relationship, rooted in common values and interests as well as mutual foes, has been beneficial to both sides. Autocratic regimes that have no particular attachment to the idea of a Jewish state are not the most reliable of allies, and the degree of cooperation Israel can expect from them in the intelligence realm, for example, is limited.
Ironically, as Kramer points out, the “status quo is unsustainable” narrative that Western diplomats repeat ad nauseam to justify fruitless attempts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian solution does not take into account just how sustainable the status quo has been and may continue to be with Israel’s multifaceted alliances. (“Israel is well positioned to sustain the status quo all by itself. Its long-term strategy is predicated on it.”)
One should not, however, make the mistake of concluding that the U.S.-Israel relationship has been irrevocably changed. One president does not remake decades of policy, especially given the bipartisan support for Israel in Congress and among American voters. Moreover, whether the U.S.-Israel relationship is permanently transformed will depend on the next president. Kramer writes that Hillary Clinton has added a caveat to the “status quo is unsustainable” line. He quotes her as saying “Now, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be sustained for a year or a decade, or two or three …”
In short, President Obama’s departure may repair much of the damage done by his effort to put “daylight” between the United States and Israel and his desire to retreat from the region, provided that the next president returns to the bipartisan policy in place before Obama. If, as an added bonus, Israel can also maintain and bolster its new relationships despite an unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the latter will seem more sustainable than ever before. At the very least, it will convey that Palestinians’ dream of eliminating or wearing down the Jewish state is a fantasy — one not shared by the United States, China, Russia or even Israel’s Arab neighbors. (h/t Alexi)

UK aid 'indirectly spent on Palestinian terror groups' former Cabinet minister warns

UK aid money is indirectly funding Palestinian terrorism, a former Cabinet Minister has warned.
Sir Eric Pickles claimed financial assistance sent to Palestine by the British Government is being used to free up money to pay prisoners who have committed crimes in the conflict with Israel.
The former communities secretary also warned there are "worrying reports" that some NGOs supported by UK taxpayer's money are "promoting violence on social media pages" and called on Ministers to investigate urgently.
International Development Minister Desmond Swayne denied the claims, insisting money given to the Palestinian Authority funds specific civil servants and cannot be misused.
ODI Statement: Daily Telegraph article on links between terrorism and UK Aid to the Palestinian Authority citing ODI research ‘factually inaccurate

The New York Times Launches a Shavuot Attack on Israel

The New York Times marked the holiday of Shavuot — a holiday that celebrates the covenant between God and the Jewish people, a covenant in which the Jews get a land in return for following the law — by publishing an attack on the Jewish state.
The attack came in the form of an op-ed piece by one Daniel Sieradski. Perhaps the Times chose to publish it on a Jewish holiday to prevent observant Jews from challenging it in real-time. Kind of an opinion journalism version of the Yom Kippur War.
But the Times article would be nonsense no matter when it was published.
The article is headlined “Andrew Cuomo’s Anti-Free Speech Move on B.D.S.” It makes the argument that somehow it violates the First Amendment if the state of New York decides not to do business with those promoting an economic boycott of Israel.
It’s a foolish argument on several grounds. First, the Times editorial page and the political left of which Mr. Sieradski is a part have been campaigning tirelessly for the reversal of the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. In that case, the Supreme Court overruled a law that would have prevented the mass distribution of books or movies critical of a political candidate in the six months prior to an election.
In other words, the New York Times doesn’t give a fig about the First Amendment when it comes to Congress actually banning political campaign speech here in America. In fact, the paper is actively hostile to the First Amendment when it comes to campaign speech by the non-Sulzberger rich. But when Governor Cuomo moves to protect Israel, then, all of a sudden, the paper starts to voice sentiments of First Amendment absolutism.
Don’t be fooled by what the Times pretends. This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. It has to do with Israel.

Holy war: 1948 call for holy war against the nascent Jewish state

Nothing quite like looking at original documents to get to the heat of the matter.
From the May 15, 1948 Los Angeles Times, issued on the day of Israel's independence.
The war against Israel was not a territorial dispute- it was jihad- a holy war.
Sheik Mamoun Al Shinawi, rector of the 1000 year old Alazhar University and spiritual leader of Moslems throughout the world called today for a jihad (holy war) against the Jews of the new state of Israel.
"The decisive hour has come," Shiek Shinawi said in a radio address.
"Come to war and struggle for the sake of Allah"
"Today is your day," the rector told Moslems. "The whole world is watching you. Unless you rise to defend your rights,unless you fight your enemy and are ready to die for Allah and your countries, humiliation will be your lot"
There is no mention of the "Palestinian" people in this article, or in any newspaper article written in 1948.

The Shapes of Casual Western Anti-Zionism

Those that criticise Israel particularly harshly over the Jewish State’s handling of the conflict, often argue that ‘Jews should know better’ or words to the same effect. This stance appeals to a protracted history of persecution and genocide in Europe, which reached a peak with the Holocaust.
This seemingly reflexive bias can find expression in some unexpected places. Godfrey Graham, a seasoned cameraman who worked in current-affairs programming at RTE, since the early period of the Broadcaster’s transmission service, described several filming engagements in Israel for his memoir ‘Forty Years Behind the Lens at RTE’, published by Ashfield Press (Dublin).
This relatively detailed article focuses on a number of paragraphs in Graham’s memoir — a book that was clearly not intended to be an exposition of the conflict. There does not appear to be a substantive animus held by the author toward Israel, for he describes his general experiences in quite positive terms. Yet the relevant paragraphs present a clear narrative, which forcefully asserts that the Jewish people of Israel are morally blameworthy, while the Arabs of the region are not. Thus, it represents a good example of the commonplace casually anti-Zionist views often expressed in the West today.
What Israeli-Jews ought to do
Of a visit to Israel in the early 1980s, Graham described (pages 142–144) a pleasant meeting with Chaim Herzog (President of Israel between 1983 and 1993), who was born in Belfast and had strong links with Dublin which were discussed in a convivial atmosphere. However, Graham’s tone darkened when it came to the matter of the conflict:

Ryan Bellerose: Telling The Story

How we talk about Israel matters.
The biggest reason we are losing the war of perception is that we aren’t fighting it.
Our sides best known advocates are dry, boring lecturers who say the same things over and over, who really on stats and facts, and who are not really very engaging to anyone who has not already “drunk the koolaid” so to speak. I know because I watch the difference between what I as an engaged pro-Israel person sees and feels and what some of my friends that I drag with me see and feel.
I first got a great view of this when I sent a video that I genuinely enjoyed of Dershowitz telling off an Arab woman who literally said she was for the idea of genocide against the Jews. A buddy yawned and said “Yeah she hates Jews, BOOORING”. A few days later I sent a video made by my buddy Joni Versity that mocked some Arab women who had made a video “refuting” a video made by an Israeli politician. Not only did he laugh, but he actually watched a much longer video and even references it sometimes now.
The Joni Video is here

You see pro-Israel advocates often talk like mothers, they never swear, they sound proud at awkward times and embarrassed at others, they are overly verbose and concentrate on minutiae and details that don’t matter to anyone but them or people like them. They are not engaging even if they are clearly invested in the subject.

Clinton: Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar must stop citizens from funding extremists

White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Monday issued a pointed warning to US allies in the Middle East, saying countries like Saudi Arabia must crack down on citizens supporting extremism.
Following the weekend massacre at a gay club in Orlando by a gunman who the FBI says may have been radicalized, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee vowed to step up efforts to stop so-called lone wolf attacks, and said Americans should unite to defeat domestic terrorism.
But she also called on other governments to reconsider policies that allow extremism to thrive, calling out three US allies which already have sensitive ties with Washington.
“It is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris, and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations,” Clinton said in a national security speech in Cleveland, Ohio.
“And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path toward extremism.”

Duckworth Skips Vote to Help Holocaust Victims for J Street Fundraiser

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) skipped a congressional vote to help Holocaust victims on Tuesday so that she could fundraise with the liberal Middle East lobbying group J Street, which has a reputation for promoting an anti-Israel agenda.
Duckworth ditched a Tuesday evening vote on legislation that would ensure “all Holocaust victims live with dignity, comfort, and security in their remaining years,” according to the official vote tally, which showed the lawmaker was one of 70 members to not vote on the measure.
The measure also encouraged Germany to reaffirm its commitment to providing the remaining survivors, many of who live below the poverty line, with financial aid and healthcare resources.
Duckworth, who is locked in a battle to unseat Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, appears to have missed the vote to attend a 6:00 p.m. fundraiser organized by J Street, which is backing the Duckworth’s Senate bid.
The fundraiser encouraged supporters to donate anywhere from $250 to $2,700 to Duckworth, according to promotional materials circulated by J Street.
Duckworth’s absence drew criticism from Kirk’s campaign, which told the Washington Free Beacon that this is becoming a pattern for the Democratic candidate.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Study: Some Of Sanders Best Friends Jewish (satire)

A recent examination of the various social relationships involving Senator Bernie Sanders indicates that a number of his more intimate acquaintances have Jewish ancestry or faith.
The challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination for November’s presidential election has faced persistent accusations that he associates with antisemites and with figures known for their antipathy for Israel. Sanders himself has repeated or amplified false casualty statistics from Israel’s offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip two summers ago, and often relies on information from sources tainted by anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudice. However, the statistics borne out by the study could shield the candidate from further such aspersions, now that it is known some of his best friends are Jewish.
Researchers from the Brookings Institute, a think tank, documented and identified the one hundred closest friends in the life of Bernie Sanders. To do so, they relied on video footage, documents disclosed to the public, leaked phone records, and other sources of information to triangulate which of the many people surrounding the candidate can reliably be deemed his friends. The records and documentation covered the last eighteen months, such that the researchers are confident the data provide an accurate picture of the Vermont senator’s friends.
“We made rough ranking of the senator’s non-campaign and non-government contacts with whom he maintains a connection and makes attempts to visit or otherwise spend time with outside the scope of his official or campaign duties,” said lead researchers Asa Joo. “We did so by cataloging the amount of time Mr. Sanders spends with such individuals, either in person or via the internet, and established a case for each of those people being called his friend. What we discovered was that of the top twenty people ranked for friendship in the life of Bernie Sanders, four are Jewish, with one of the four even attending a synagogue on the High Holidays every few years.”

Labour's Antisemitism Problem

Here’s a fresh conspiracy theory, for those who need such things: what if Livingstone started the whole mishagas on purpose to galvanise the anti-Semitic extremists into voting — and voting his way? Some sacrifice. He gets to potter around his newt pond for nine months until Corbyn quietly brings him back into the arena.
The fact is that nobody cares about the Jewish vote. We are 240,000 people in Britain. The more anti-Semitic Labour’s private agenda is, the more votes they get from those millions who are programmed to hate and fear us. Corbyn and Sadiq Khan and Livingstone have embraced and entertained those who incite the murder of Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state. Corbyn knew the provocateurs, extremists and infiltrators in his party but prevaricated in warning themto stop their racist behaviour and in denying them platforms.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning TV, the most hate-filled studio “discussion” took place between Israel bashers and defenders, hand-picked, it would seem, by Katie Hopkins. Lunatic, petrifying, anti-Semites — the worst being self-hating Jews who prefaced each remark with “I’m Jewish myself, but . . .”. Shame on the researchers. It made me feel sick all day.
The Palestinian cause is as important a cause as the occupation of Tibet, Chechnya, Crimea, Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus. I won’t go on because they will accuse me, as they always do, of “what-about-ism” and never, never give me an answer as to why they don’t give a flying fart about the “right to return” of any of these other oppressed peoples. So, as I said, I did not respond. I am too tired. I am 4,000 years too tired.

Exclusive: Second largest German bank shuts anti-Israel BDS account

The international banking giant Commerzbank closed a boycott Israel account in Germany, The Jerusalem Post has learned. A highly reliable source told the Post that the account has been “dealt with” and the bank notified the account holder over a month ago.
The closure of the anti-Israel account because of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) activity targeting Israel is believed to be the first instance of a German-owned bank taking action against BDS.
"I welcome and commend the decision by Commerzbank and other European banks to close the accounts of BDS organizations. This is the right thing to do from both a legal, financial and moral perspective. The BDS campaign, which seeks the destruction of Israel, is discriminatory, anti-Semitic and anti-peace, and often has connections to extremist and terrorist groups,” Gilad Erdan, the public security minister, told the Post on Tuesday.
Erdan, who is tasked with combating BDS for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, added “I call on other banks to follow Commerzbank's example, particularly those with connections to official state bodies which claim to oppose BDS. I will continue to work to expose the true face of the BDS extremists and their supporters, and to ensure that they face the full consequences of their actions."
The anti-Israel and pro-BDS website “Der Semit” lists its account in a small town in the state of Hesse, where Commerzbank’s headquarters are located in Frankfurt. BDS seeks to pressure Israel to make concessions to the Palestnians.
(h/t Yenta Press)

IsraellyCool: Indians Reject Israel Boycott Calls, Point Out Hypocrisy

But just as you start thinking this place must be the pits, along comes a glimmer of hope.
Meanwhile, buyers of dates from Karachi Bakery are unperturbed by the boycott call. “Dates are made by Allah and grow on trees. It doesn’t matter which country they are grown in. This is a mischief by a handful of politicians, who want to get political mileage during this time. Next time, they may ask to boycott Irani dates alleging that they are grown by Shias,” said Md Sajid of Afzalgunj, a regular buyer of dates from Karachi Bakery.
“If they want to boycott Israel, why don’t they boycott all their products, including medicines and the ventilators in hospitals? Many medicines manufactured by Israel are used by Hyderabadi Muslims. Where does hatred go then? Is it selective as per our comfort? Islam doesn’t preach hatred sahab,” said Yusuf Ismail, a resident of Fateh Darwaza of Old City.
Ah yes, the sweet smell of common sense.

Someone wants to suppress this video of vile BDS shoutdown of Professor

I responded to YouTube as follows:
Regarding the notice of privacy complaint below, the complaint is without any justification. The person in the video engaged in conduct at a public event, and his actions have received widespread public attention. The person in the video also is a political activist to calls attention to himself and has received substantial news coverage for his actions. See, e.g., this Google search, http://ift.tt/1USqAUK
This video is proper reporting and in the public interest. To take it down over a privacy concern does not comply with YouTube’s own Privacy Guidelines, which state “We also take public interest, newsworthiness, and consent into account when determining if content should be removed for a privacy violation.” This video is of a news event that took place in public, there is no expectation of privacy for such public conduct.
Moreover, the person in the video is not even identified by name in the video and no private information about him is contained in the video.
The attempt to cause the take down of this video is an attempt to suppress legitimate journalism and news reporting. YouTube should not become a party to that. Please deny the privacy complaint, and inform me of that outcome.
Thanks,
William Jacobson
I don’t know how YouTube will rule. If the video is taken down from YouTube, it will be a blow to the public’s right to know about the true face of the BDS movement.
The video will not disappear completely, as I have uploaded it to out own server, but But in any event, I have also uploaded the video to our own server, but given the huge viewer base of YouTube, damage will have been done.

Widespread Fraud in Jewish Voice for Peace's Airbnb petition

The Stolen Homes Coalition which includes Code Pink, American Muslims for Palestine, the US Palestinian Community Network, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Jewish Voice for Peace has launched a campaign against Airbnb and Fidelity investments to pressure them to exclude vacation rentals in Judea and Samaria. A June 3 “day of action” included protests at Fidelity offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and several other cities qnd culminated in the dramatic presentation of a petition allegedly signed by over 150,000 people.
Allegedly.
Activists on Social media have exposed widespread fraud in the petition drive. Turns out the JVP and friends claims were a bit exaggerated.
A petition hosted at Sum of us has no precautions in place to prevent multiple entries per IP. There is no verification mechanism in place, and no restrictions on the number of times a single computer can "sign".
Its no wonder the petition has over 150,000 "names" listed .
Word to the wise: Take any JVP sponsored "petition" with a grain of salt.

The Gaza electricity stories the BBC reports – and the ones it doesn’t

Since the end of the summer 2014 conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, that same power plant has again stopped functioning on several occasions. Those stories had nothing to do with Israel and were not reported by the BBC.
BBC silent on latest Gaza power plant shut down
No BBC reporting on latest power crisis in the Gaza Strip
BBC News passes up the chance to set the record straight on Gaza shortages
One result of the ongoing dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which has brought about regular power shortages and stoppages is the failure to treat sewage and the consequent flow of untreated waste into the sea.
Israel recently announced that it will increase the supply of electricity it provides to the Gaza Strip in order to enable the recently completed sewage treatment plant there to operate effectively.
To date BBC audiences have not seen any coverage of this particular Gaza Strip electricity story.

AFP/Getty Images Blames Israel For Surviving 1967 War

In a jaw-dropping example of total ignorance of basic history, AFP/Getty, one of the world’s largest news photo banks, published the following photo caption which was picked up by newspapers around the world:
An Israeli soldier prays Sunday at the Western Wall in the Old City during Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s 1967 seizure of the Palestinian-dominated eastern half of the city. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War and latter annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Here’s what AFP/Getty hid from news audiences:
1. The Six Day War was a defensive war in which Israel fought for survival against multiple armies who had declared their intent to “wipe Israel off the map.”
2. Jews were living in eastern Jerusalem long before 1967, until Jordan invaded and occupied in 1948. Jordan’s occupation included the historic “Jewish Quarter” and Jewish holy sites such as the Western Wall.
3. Jordan ignored Israeli pleas to stay out of the war, and instead used its occupation of eastern Jerusalem as a base from which to pound Israel with rockets and ground forces. Had Jordan not forced Israel to defend its very existence, Jordan would very likely still be in control of eastern Jerusalem today.

UK Media Watch prompts correction to Daily Mail “apartheid wall” caption

On June 7th, we posted on the following photo caption from a June 6th Daily Mail article about the ‘radical’ British graffiti artist known as Bansky:
We complained to Daily Mail editors, arguing that characterizing Israel’s security fence – erected in response to Palestinian suicide bombings during the Second Intifada – as an “apartheid wall” is an egregious distortion of the truth, and parrots the incendiary rhetoric of extremist anti-Israel activists.
Daily Mail editors replied to our complaint that same day, and agreed to correct the caption. The word “apartheid” was removed from the caption.

Fox Sports reporter fired after slurring Jews, Mexicans

A Fox Sports sideline reporter has been fired for making racist and anti-Semitic comments on a live Facebook broadcast.
In the broadcast Thursday on Barstool Sports’ Facebook Live, Emily Austen, 27, said Jewish people are stingy and expressed surprise that a Mexican immigrant was a high school valedictorian because, “I didn’t even know Mexicans were that smart.” She also made a stereotypical remark about Chinese Americans.
Citing an unnamed source with the Tampa Bay Rays, who Austen covers, Business Insider reported Friday that Austen had been fired for the comments and will not appear on any future game broadcasts.
In a statement first published on Deadspin, Fox Sports Florida senior vice president Steve Tello said: “We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with FOX Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of FOX Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming FOX Sports Florida or FOX Sports Sun broadcasts.

Belfast memorial to ‘godfather of Israeli army’ vandalized

In what is being treated as a hate crime, a Belfast mural honoring a local Christian citizen who led a historic Jewish legion in World War I and then advocated for the creation of the State of Israel was vandalized.
The memorial to Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson was damaged early Thursday morning after two containers were set ablaze nearby, the Irish News reported. Belfast is in northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
An officer in the British army, Patterson during World War I commanded the Zion Mule Corps, the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia, which fought in the Gallipoli Campaign. He went on to become an ardent supporter of the creation of a Jewish state.
His remains were moved to Israel last year and buried alongside the Jewish soldiers, belatedly fulfilling a wish he had expressed before his death in 1947, one year before the establishment of the State of Israel. At the 2015 burial ceremony in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Patterson “can be called the godfather of the Israeli army.”

Hungary: One-third of population shares the most widespread anti-Semitic beliefs to some degree

Approximately one-third of the Hungarian population shares the most widespread anti-Semitic beliefs to some degree, a study on the prevalence of anti-Semitic prejudice in Hungarian society shows.
The survey by Median Opinion and Market Research Institute was commissioned by Action and Protection Foundation (TEV). It shows that the level of anti-Semitism has grown somewhat over the last year and that prejudices against Jews are closely related to xenophobia in general.
Median researchers gathered information on opinions and beliefs related to Jews, the frequency and strength of anti-Semitic prejudice,and perceptions of anti-Semitism and associations related to Jews.
Founded in 2013, Action and Protection Foundation (TEV) is a body monitoring anti-Semitism in Hungary and chaired by Daniel Bodnar, a member of the executive board of the Chabad-affiliated Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation.
“It is the mission of TEV to survey the state of anti-Semitic prejudices in Hungary year after year. Our purpose is to get a clear picture of this phenomenon through fully objective research, and not think about it based on subjective impressions,'' said Bodnar.
Around 100,000 Jews live in Hungary.

Replica of Nazi Gas Chamber on Display at Architecture Exhibit in Venice

A team of architectural historians created a replica of a Nazi gas chamber that is now on display at the 15th International Venice Architectural Biennale, Wired.com reported.
The reconstruction, called “The Evidence Room,” comes with a full-scale gas column, door and a gas-tight hatch. Robert Jan van Pelt, an architectural historian at Canada’s University of Waterloo, along with other professors and students from the university, built the exhibit to work with the Biennale’s theme of “Reporting from the Front.”
“It is a profound experience for all of us,” said van Pelt in a statement, “and, in design terms, a radical, unprecedented investigation into the possibility to represent something unrepresentable: the architectural evidence of a factory of death.”
The design for “The Evidence Room” was taken from actual evidence Van Pelt presented in court when he was called to defend writer and historian Deborah Lipstadt, after Holocaust denier David Irving sued her for libel in 1996.

Austrian minister: Hitler birth house may be demolished

Austria’s interior minister says he can imagine having the house where Adolf Hitler was born demolished, calling it “the cleanest solution.”
The Austrian government wants to expropriate the house in Braunau am Inn on the German border where the future Nazi leader was born in 1889 to ensure that it doesn’t become a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.
The Interior Ministry has rented the house since 1972 to prevent its misuse, subletting it to various charitable organizations. The building has stood empty since a care center for adults with disabilities moved out in 2011.
Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told ORF television late Saturday that the expropriation is “necessary.” He said that “we have tried to clear up all possibilities for using it and buying it with the owner, but with no results.”
“For me, a demolition … would be the cleanest solution,” Sobotka said.

Elbit tunes in to Europe and unveils next-gen defense products

As Europe contends with its huge influx of refugees and terror incidents, Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel’s largest non-government owned defense company, is tuning in and proposing new technologies that have the potential to meet the growing and changing security needs of the continent.
“After many years of hibernation, there is reawakening” of defense spending in Europe, Ran Kril, executive VP of international marketing and business development at Elbit, said at a press conference in Netanya, Israel, ahead of the Eurosatory defense and security exhibition in Paris next week.
“The security needs of Europe are growing” as the continent contends with issues such as an refugees, terror, and Russia and Ukraine, Kril said. “All these are leading to renewed defense spending. Elbit’s portfolio of products knows how to meet these needs.”
Defense spending in Europe is forecast to rise in 2016 for the first time in years, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with the Financial Times in May. In 2015, NATO’s European partners spent $253 billion on defense, equivalent to 1.43 percent of gross domestic product and well below the 2 percent guideline set by NATO.

Israeli firm creates tiny, terrifying pistol-packing robot

The tiny robot looks like your average autonomous vacuum cleaner — just another little black box rolling on the floor, until you realize: this Roomba-like creature is packing heat.
An Israeli company has created a small remote-controlled robot designed for law enforcement and military use that is capable of firing a pistol, specifically for use in hostage rescue and counterterrorism operations.
The Dogo, as the 26.5 pound (12 kilogram) robot is known, was created by the Israeli corporation General Robotics Ltd. and will be formally debuted at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris later this month, the company announced in a statement.
The gun-toting bot is named after a vicious dog breed, the Dogo Argentino or Argentine Mastiff, a large white hunting dog. However, unlike the canine Dogo, which stands at over two feet (60 centimeters) tall, the robotic Dogo is just 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) tall while in “stealth mode” and 11 inches (28 centimeters) tall when fully deployed, according to the company.

Singaporean-Israeli image recognition startup Trax grabs $40 million investment

Trax announced on Wednesday that it scored a $40 million Series C funding round, bringing their total financing raised to date to $78 million. They did not disclose the names of investors, but a spokesman told Geektime that it includes many private investors and Broad Peak Investment Advisers, a hedge fund originally backed by Temasek upon its founding.
What makes Trax legitimately groundbreaking is that it uses image recognition to give back data feeds quickly on brands and recommendations for promotion. You use the Trax app to take photos of a given manufacturer or retailer’s product on a store shelf. The app then spits back sales data and recommends how to improve sales even by changing the placement of products relative to its environment in the store.
“We are incredibly excited to expand our footprint in North America, particularly with retailers in the United States. We have found the market extremely enthusiastic and eager to leverage our advanced machine learning technology and retail data science solutions,” said Co-Founder and Trax CCO Dror Feldheim in a press release. “Retailers turn our data and insights into broader market intelligence and highly accurate trend predictions that shine a light on new ways to improve their customer experiences in-store.”
The product is mainly for supermarkets, with special settings for shelves and coolers/refrigerators. But it pools selling data from a number of sources. Its so-called “real-time shelf analysis” is justifiably labeled a “corrective actions” tool. If your product is too low on the shelf or blends too much with the color scheme of another (an example I just made up), it’s worth moving it.

IsraellyCool: Delicious! Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall Slams BDS In Most Awesome Way

Simply Red are playing in Israel tonight – a clear loss for BDS.
But it gets better – way better.
Lead singer Mick Hucknall is slamming the BDS-holes on social media!
Ooh look! BDS Activists to Carlos Santana: Don’t Play in Israel
— Mick Hucknall (@mjhucknall) June 13, 2016
Phew! And yes, my maternal Grandmother was Jewish.. Goodnight all and shalom!
— Mick Hucknall (@mjhucknall) June 13, 2016

I see Madonna also recieved abuse from the self righteous
— Mick Hucknall (@mjhucknall) June 14, 2016
Mick, you truly rock!
P.S If your maternal grandmother was Jewish, that makes you Jewish. Glad to have you in the tribe!

Don't stop them now: Queen and Adam Lambert will rock Tel Aviv

Classic British rock band Queen will bring a “killer” show full of well-known and beloved hits to Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon on September 12, with American Idol alumnus Adam Lambert as lead singer. The concert will be Queen’s first in Israel. The band, featuring only two original members – guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor – had performed only sporadically since the death of iconic lead singer Freddie Mercury of AIDS in 1991. Bass player Roger Deacon retired from performing in 1997.
But after May and Taylor first performed together with Lambert in 2009 on American Idol, where Lambert was runner-up, they decided to take the show on the road and have been touring regularly since 2011. Lambert is one of the few contemporary front men who can do Mercury’s legacy justice.
Last month, the band began a tour of 15 music festivals in some of Europe’s largest stadiums.
In a possible indication of what Queen fans can expect, in recent shows the band played songs like “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Killer Queen,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Somebody to Love,” “Under Pressure,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “I Want to Break Free,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions” and more.

Buzzfeed: Gifted With Blessings: 7 Israeli Arabs Who Make Israel a Better Place

You’ve noticed it: your friends in Israel sending Ramadan Kareem greetings all around on Facebook. No, your friends are not exceptional: Arabs make up 20% of the country’s population and Arabic is an official language in Israel. In honor of Ramadan, the month-long fasting period marking the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, we present you with seven Israeli Arabs bringing positive change in their country and shattering stereotypes.

The Leica Freedom Train

The Leica is the pioneer 35mm camera. It is a German product -- precise, minimalist, and utterly efficient. Behind its worldwide acceptance as a creative tool was a family-owned, socially oriented firm that during the Nazi era acted with uncommon grace, generosity and modesty. E. Leitz, Inc., designer and manufacturer of Germany's most famous photographic product, saved the company's Jews.
And Ernst Leitz II, the steely-eyed Protestant patriarch who headed the closely held firm as the Holocaust loomed across Europe, acted in such a way as to earn the title, "The Photography Industry's Schindler."
As soon as Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, Ernst Leitz II began receiving frantic calls from Jewish associates, asking for his help in getting them and their families out of the country. As Christians, Leitz and his family were, of course, immune to Nazi Germany's Nuremberg laws, which restricted the movement of Jews and limited their professional activities.
To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established what has become known among historians of the Holocaust as "The Leica Freedom Train," a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas.

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