08/06 Links: Israel slanderer waits for Israeli transplant; Stone-throwers ambush bus filled with children ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Israel slanderer waits for Israeli transplant

Legal human rights organization Shurat Hadin, joined by 50 IDF reserve officers and soldiers, wrote to the Health Ministry and the National Transplant Center requesting that PA diplomat Saeb Erekat be removed from the waiting list for transplants in Israel.
About 50 soldiers and officers who fought in Operation Defensive Shield and who hold organ donor cards today petitioned the Health Ministry and the National Transplant Center to immediately remove Saeb Erekat from the list of transplants in Israel, due to the fact that Erekat has repeatedly slandered IDF soldiers, called for the boycott of the State of Israel, campaigned for sanctions against it, and led the BDS movement to isolate and harm the State of Israel.
Yesterday the media reported that an application had been filed on behalf of Saeb Erekat, a senior PA official, for a lung transplant in Israel.
In the wake of Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and the reserve soldiers battle in Jenin in which 13 IDF soldiers were killed, a propaganda film by director Muhammad Bakri, entitled Jenin Jenin, was released. The film purports to provide prima facie evidence of war crimes committed by the IDF in Jenin which turned out to be wholly spurious, as was decided by the Central District Court.
Erekat took a large part in disseminating the blood libel embodied in the film, which portrayed the story as if a massacre took place in Jenin. He appeared at the time in the various media, mainly on foreign television channels, and disseminated the lie of the massacre.
In addition, in November 2010, Erekat wrote a letter praising the planner of then Minister Rechavam Ze'evi's assassination, and in December 2015 he paid a condolence visit to another terrorist family who carried out a shooting attack against IDF forces.
In addition, Erekat is an enthusiastic supporter of the boycott movement against Israel - BDS. He has visited EU representatives in the past because they did not support BDS, and asserted that all their support for the two-state solution is meaningless if they do not support the boycott of Israel.

Seth Frantzman: Israel is at its most and least integrated moment in the Mideast

The discussion in Israel, from the Right to the Left, is primarily an internal one. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has shared interests in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Egypt, it isn’t because he enjoys meeting with leaders from there, it’s simply a statement of fact. One gets the feeling that previous generations of Israelis, with the exception of the cultural Eurocentric elites, felt more a part of the Middle East, more comfortable in it. That is ironic, since Israel was more isolated in the 1950s, surrounded by real Arab armies. Today Israel has peace with two Arab countries, and relationships with others, yet it is less integrated in the region in some ways.
Israel was always going to be a janus-faced country because of its nature. Founded primarily by Eastern European Jewish nationalists, it was a gathering place for Jews from the Middle East and has the food, music and culture of the region ingrained in it. Many of its cultural elites still see the region as “primitive” and their cultural leanings are toward Europe. It’s no surprise some of them and their children emigrate to places like Berlin.
In the 1960s many Arab nationalists believed Israel was a colonial implant in the Middle East and would go the way of Algeria. They didn’t understand that it was not colonial in foundation, but seeking to reconnect an indigenous people with their land. The problem the indigenous people have had is that some of them do not feel comfortable in the land.
Ben-Gurion thought the problem was an education system in need of modernizing “primitives.” He was wrong. The problem was creating an education system that roots people in the Middle East and makes them feel a part of it and teaches them to respect and be interested in it. After all, Israelis are all supposed to learn Arabic in school, but few of them actually end up understanding it.
That in itself is a symbol of how it is more integrated, but also less integrated.

Forward: ZOA head more worrying for Jews than Linda Sarsour

A recent piece published by the Forward claims that Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton Klein is more worrying for Jews than controversial Palestinian Arab-American firebrand Linda Sarsour.
"As leader of the Zionist Organization of America, Klein has embraced and defended alt-right figures like Bannon and Gorka for their unabashedly pro-Israel-at-any-costs position, cozying up to anti-Semitic forces if it advances the ZOA’s ardent Zionist goals." wrote Forward editorial fellow Steven Davidson in an article titled "19 People Jews Should Worry About More Than Linda Sarsour."
"It would require a book replete with exclamation points to fully explain the dangers of an ostensibly Jewish organization aligning with xenophobic elements to accomplish narrow political goals."
Also present on Davidson's list are Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah,and former KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke. Bottoming out the list was United States President Donald Trump, whose campaign Davidson wrote "either rode the coattails of the alt-right or allowed the alt-right to follow his nativist coattails."
Davidson had penned the article as a defense for Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian Arab-American activist who has turned into the face of the anti-Trump movement. Many of her comments have made Jews uneasy, such as saying that "nothing is creepier than Zionism" and claiming that supporting Israel and being a feminist are incompatible.

Israel offers asylum to Iranian blogger from Turkey

Israel on Sunday offered asylum to a Turkey-based Iranian blogger who it said faced forcible deportation to Iran, where she would be at risk given her work for an Israeli news website.
Neda Amin, an Iranian women's rights advocate, a journalist and a U.N. refugee was scheduled to be deported to Iran by Turkish authorities over the weekend.
Amin, 32, fled Iran in 2014 after having been arrested several times over her articles and books. One of her books, "The Chain," on women's oppression in Iran, has since been banned by the ayatollahs.
She has been writing from Turkey for The Times of Israel's Persian website for the past two years, and blogs about her country on her personal website.
While in Turkey, Amin was interrogated by the Turkish Intelligence Organization several times over her affiliation with the Israeli newspaper. On July 5, the Turkish immigration authorities notified her that her refugee status had been revoked and that if she did not leave the country by Aug. 5, she would be deported back to Iran.

Trump's Tough Talk Triumphs: U.N. Votes 15-0 To Smash North Korea With Heavy Sanctions

President Trump has taken a lot of grief about his tough talk on North Korea, especially from liberal mainstream media outlets.
Trump went all in, even getting all up in China's grill — something few U.S. presidents are wont to do.
But it turns out all the critics were wrong and Trump was right.
On Saturday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose new sanctions on North Korea, with both China and Russia joining to vote for the U.S.-proposed sanctions. The sanctions are estimated to cut the rogue state's $3 billion annual export revenue by as much as $1 billion.
"The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood," Reuters reported. "It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures."
Before the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council: "We should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem. Not even close. The North Korean threat has not left us, it is rapidly growing more dangerous."

Jewish man stranded in Iraq pleads to be rescued

A 39-year-old Jewish man stranded in Iraq is pleading to be rescued, saying he fears for his life.
"I love Israel more than life itself. I am asking that they get me out of here. I'm a Jew with all my heart. All I want is to make aliyah to Israel and be reunited with my family," the man -- who identified only as "Ziv" -- told Israel Hayom in a telephone interview on Friday.
"I'm living in the Kurdish part of Iraq. Recently, a lot of refugees have been arriving from Mosul, and I'm afraid that some of them belong to Islamic State. They've been brainwashed, and they're not human. They're extremists and I'm afraid they'll kill me because they know I'm a Jew. There are terrorists there. I'm asking to be rescued," Ziv said.
"I feel like a stranger here. All I want is to live in the Jewish state, like everyone. I need help now. I want to keep Shabbat and celebrate the holidays in Israel," he said.
Ziv has already lived in the Jewish state. He and his parents arrived in Israel in 1994 from Iraqi Kurdistan. For reasons that are unclear, Ziv, who was 16 when he moved to Israel with his family, received permanent residency status rather than full citizenship. He remained in Israel until 1999, then left. His parents live in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion‎, which has been their home for the past 23 years. Ziv's brother also lives in Israel, as do other relatives.
At age 21, Ziv left Israel for Denmark He married a Danish woman and the couple had a child. The marriage failed, and after the couple separated, Ziv, who did not have Danish citizenship, moved to Norway. Three years ago, the Norwegian authorities deported him to the country of his citizenship, Iraq.

Jordan said to launch diplomatic offensive over Israeli Embassy shooting

Jordan is reportedly taking diplomatic action against the Jewish state in response to a deadly shooting last month at Israel’s embassy compound in Amman.
The July 23 episode, in which Israeli embassy guard Ziv Moyal shot to death two Jordanians, sparked a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Amman. The guard said he was attacked by one of the two with a screwdriver, and Israel said he opened fire in self-defense. Under pressure from Jordan, Israel last week opened an investigation into the incident.
The tussle worsened after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office published photographs of the premier warmly hugging Moyal upon his return to Israel, with Jordan’s King Abdullah warning of diplomatic repercussions.
Abdullah said that Jordan was “infuriated” by the matter, calling it “unacceptable and provocative behavior.”
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, has yet to allow Israeli Ambassador Einat Schlein to return to her posting along with the rest of the embassy’s staff, all of whom left the country, according to a Sunday report in the Jordanian al-Ghad daily.
According to the outlet, considered close to kingdom’s Hashemite rulers, Amman is studying possible “diplomatic options” it can take against Israel over incident.

Despite Trump claim, Lebanon fighting alongside, not against, Hezbollah

As US President Donald Trump recently stood beside the Lebanese prime minister praising his government for standing up to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed organization was busy demonstrating just how wrong he was. It was clearing the country’s eastern frontier of al-Qaeda fighters in a sweeping offensive and negotiating a complex prisoner deal with the Sunni group.
Far from being an ally in the fight against Hezbollah, the Lebanese government headed by Saad Hariri is based on a partnership with the Shiite terror group, whose clout and dominance in the tiny country is on the rise.
“Lebanon is on the front lines in the fight against [the Islamic State group], al-Qaeda and Hezbollah,” Trump said at the press conference in Washington, lighting up social media with comments from Lebanese who ridiculed his perceived ignorance of Lebanese politics.
Trump aside, there is much about Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon that can be difficult for outsiders to understand.

Eiffel Tower Evacuated After Knife-Wielding Man Shouts 'Allahu Akbar'

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated shortly before closing Saturday night after a knife-wielding man tried to force his way into the Paris landmark.
The incident took place around 11:30 p.m. local time and the suspect was “very quickly overpowered and arrested,” the company that runs the tower said in a statement. The man reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as he tried to make his way through the entrance, according to Radio France Internationale.
Nobody was hurt and authorities believe the suspect acted alone. The incident took place about half an hour before the monument stops admitting visitors. Police moved to evacuate the building 15 minutes before it usually closes as a cautionary measure.
RFI reports that the suspect is a French citizen born in Mauritania in 1998. He reportedly left a psychiatric hospital in July.
More than 230 people have been killed in terror attacks across France since the start of 2015, which has scared away many tourists from the capital. The Eiffel Tower is one of myriad tourist attractions that have received heightened security in recent years.

Indian PM’s security goes to the (Israeli) dogs

Post-army Israelis have long made India a favorite destination after completing their service, but another kind of IDF veteran has also been heading to the south Asian nation — attack and sniffer dogs trained by the army’s Oketz canine unit.
Over the past year India has taken delivery of some 30 security dogs to amplify protection for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top figures, The Telegraph India reported Saturday.
A security official, not named in the report, explained that “because of a heightened threat perception, we wanted to beef up the Prime Minister’s security.”
“They are part of the Israeli defense forces’ ace canine unit,” he added.
The official would not discuss the cost of the dogs, but local Israeli media estimated in the past that each pooch costs tens of thousands of dollars to train.

Stone-throwers ambush bus filled with children

Stone-throwing terrorists ambushed a civilian bus full of children leaving a protest rally on the ruins of the town of Sa-Nur in northern Samaria Thursday.
Arutz Sheva spoke with Rochel, the mother of 10 year old Shmuel-David, who was struck in the head by a large rock when the bus was attacked. Shmuel-David remains in the hospital for further treatment following the discovery of minor internal bleeding in his head.
"We were on our way to the center of the country. When we left Sa-Nur we passed an [Arab] village, and at the entrance to the village we saw that Arabs were burning tires, and we saw youths standing with rocks in their hands by the side of the road," Rochel said. "The driver told us before we left that it was a very hostile village and we were going to be attacked by rock-throwers, so we knew what it was going to be like."
Rochel was used to the drivers' instructions when encountering rock throwers, having grown up in Kiryat Arba near Hevron. However, her children, who have lived their entire lives in Kiryat Ono near Tel Aviv, had never heard such a warning from a bus driver before.
Rochel described how the adults on the bus prepared the children for the rock-throwers. "We told the children that the bus is protected and that we have an army jeep with us, so we will pass through the village and it will be okay. We asked them not to stand up and raise their heads because the upper windows were not reinforced."

Yavneh stabbing victim regains consciousness

An Israeli man who was critically wounded in a stabbing attack in the central Israeli city of Yavne last week regained consciousness on Sunday, the hospital said.
Niv Nehemiah was stabbed by a Palestinian teenager in a supermarket last Wednesday morning.
The Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot confirmed Sunday that Nehemiah, 43, was awake and his condition was improving.
Nehemiah, who worked at the supermarket, was stocking shelves when the attacker suddenly took out a knife and stabbed him in the upper body.
Though injured, the victim fought off the terrorist and wan away, blocking the aisle after him with a handcart, his assailant hot in pursuit.
He suffered stab wounds to the chest, neck and head, according to medical officials.

Jewish man beaten in Old City of Jerusalem

A Jewish man was injured Sunday afternoon during a violent assault by an Arab man in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The victim, roughly 50 years old, was attacked as he made his way to a yeshiva in the Old City.
While walking through the Old City, the victim was attacked by a young Arab man, who struck the 50-year old man in the head repeatedly, injuring him.
Police officers passing by spotted the assailant beating the man and ordered him to halt. When the attacker fled, the officers pursued and caught him. The assailant was taken into police custody and brought in for interrogation.
The victim filed a formal complaint against his attacker at the local police station before being evacuated for medical treatment.

In first, court revokes citizenship of Arab Israeli car-ramming attacker

The Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Sunday revoked the citizenship of an Arab Israeli man convicted of carrying out a combined stabbing and car-ramming attack that seriously injured an IDF soldier as well as three others last year.
The ruling marked the first time Israel has stripped an Arab Israeli of citizenship over terror charges, activists said.
The court was responding to a request from Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.
Alaa Raed Ahmad Zayoud was convicted of four counts of attempted murder after he rammed an Israeli soldier, seriously injuring her, and then stepped out of the car to stab three others, causing them light to moderate wounds, on October 11, 2015.
The attack took place on Route 65 near the entrance to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, northeast of Hadera, in the midst of a wave of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June last year.
The court ruled that after Zayoud’s citizenship is revoked in October he will be given a temporary status, as exists in citizenship laws, and that it will be extended from time to time at the discretion of the interior minister after he has completed his sentence.

Palestinian charged with murdering pregnant Israeli girlfriend

Israeli prosecutors charged a West Bank Palestinian over the killing of a pregnant Israeli woman, but said Sunday the murder was a domestic dispute and not nationalistically motivated.
Muhammad Harouf of Nablus was charged in Tel Aviv’s Magistrate Court with murder in the death of Michal Halimi, from the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem. Halimi was eight months pregnant at the time of her death, according to investigators.
The indictment also included charges of car theft, conspiracy to commit a crime, trading in a stolen vehicle, entering Israel without a permit, and attempted credit card fraud.
Police say Harouf and Halimi, both 29, were romantically linked, a claim denied by both Harouf and Halimi’s husband.
According to the indictment, Harouf worked in Israel without an entry permit and had maintained a relationship with Halimi for some time. In May she told him that she was pregnant.

Yavneh stabbing victim regains consciousness

A drone flying from the Gaza Strip fell in Israel on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The army said that the drone, which it described as a multicopter, was “infiltrating” Israeli airspace.
The drone was picked up by the army and taken for further examination, the IDF said.
It was not immediately clear who sent the drone and for what purpose, or how it fell. The Hamas terror group has in the past said that it possesses unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel has intercepted a number of drones dispatched from Gaza. In February, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet shot down a Hamas drone flying from Gaza toward the Mediterranean Sea.
A similar incident also occurred last September. In that case as well, IAF jets were scrambled to shoot down a Hamas-launched drone off the Gaza coast.

Small drone from Gaza falls in Israeli territory

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pledged Saturday to keep cutting support payments for Hamas-ruled Gaza despite what he said was US criticism of such tactics.
“While there is a severe electricity crisis in Gaza, Hamas provides light for its underground tunnels and the homes of its officials around the clock,” Abbas told a group of prominent visitors from East Jerusalem at his Ramallah headquarters.
Abbas’s government in the West Bank began earlier this year to scale back electricity payments and other financial support in an effort to force Hamas to cede ground in Gaza. Such cuts have exacerbated blackouts.
The Islamic terror group seized the territory in 2007 after defeating forces from Abbas’s Fatah faction. Reconciliation attempts failed.
Abbas told the gathering that the PA would “continue the cuts in Gaza, gradually, unless Hamas accepts the requirements of the reconciliation.”

Abbas vows to keep up financial pressure on Hamas

Logistics personnel handling the hundreds of tons of foodstuffs, commercial goods, medical supplies, and other essentials that move into the Gaza Strip each day from Israel remain oblivious to the fact that the Gaza Strip is under siege, with nothing allowed in or out, local sources are reporting.
Truck drivers, fork lift operators, and other cargo delivery and processing professionals on the Palestinian side of the facility handle hundreds of incoming truckloads of such goods and materials each day from Israel, receiving delivery and coordinating further distribution of the cargo throughout the coastal territory. However, not a single member of the staff at the facility, nor a single driver, clerk, or other functionary appears to know about the cruel Israeli siege that is stifling Gaza’s economy, causing shortage of medical and other crucial supplies, and threatening the entire population of almost 2 million Palestinians with starvation. Instead, they continue to process the importation of thousands of tons of goods per day to deliver, to supermarkets, warehouses, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, luxury boutiques, and other establishments that have imported the goods from or through Israel, as if no siege is underway.
“I don’t know how they can be so ignorant,” remarked Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch. “Don’t they get their news from the same sources as the rest of us, according to which Israel’s blockade and control of the border with Gaza are causing rampant malnutrition, power outages, and other disasters?”

PreOccupiedTerritory: Truck Drivers Unloading Tons Of Food In Gaza Unaware Of Brutal Siege (satire)

Logistics personnel handling the hundreds of tons of foodstuffs, commercial goods, medical supplies, and other essentials that move into the Gaza Strip each day from Israel remain oblivious to the fact that the Gaza Strip is under siege, with nothing allowed in or out, local sources are reporting.
Truck drivers, fork lift operators, and other cargo delivery and processing professionals on the Palestinian side of the facility handle hundreds of incoming truckloads of such goods and materials each day from Israel, receiving delivery and coordinating further distribution of the cargo throughout the coastal territory. However, not a single member of the staff at the facility, nor a single driver, clerk, or other functionary appears to know about the cruel Israeli siege that is stifling Gaza’s economy, causing shortage of medical and other crucial supplies, and threatening the entire population of almost 2 million Palestinians with starvation. Instead, they continue to process the importation of thousands of tons of goods per day to deliver, to supermarkets, warehouses, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, luxury boutiques, and other establishments that have imported the goods from or through Israel, as if no siege is underway.
“I don’t know how they can be so ignorant,” remarked Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch. “Don’t they get their news from the same sources as the rest of us, according to which Israel’s blockade and control of the border with Gaza are causing rampant malnutrition, power outages, and other disasters?”

Philadelphia Inquirer: Is Roger Waters an anti-Semite?

Waters denies being anti-Jewish, but sometimes makes me wonder. When he used an inflated pig with a Star of David and dollar signs on it flying around the concert hall, that is religiously offensive and promotes the slur that the only thing Jews care about is money.
When he says American musicians are “scared” to join him in BDS because they fear that it would end their careers, when it hasn’t ended his, that isn’t directed against Israel but against American Jews.
Waters occasionally walks and quacks like a duck, but does that make him a duck?
I regard “anti-Semitism” (like “racism” and “Islamophobia”) as a word so toxic as to require lead-pipe proof.
Fans manage to separate the artist from the politics. Gov. Christie remains a Bruce Springsteen devotee even though the Boss loathes the chief executive.
Waters is a zealot, he’s misguided, but free societies ask us to tolerate the intolerable, or at least the awful.
I won’t stoop to his level and try to shut him down.

Nashville Tennessean: Roger Waters shouldn't be welcome in Nashville

Roger Waters always takes the low road and encourages other prominent musical performers to refuse to perform in Israel. For example, he tried to persuade The Rolling Stones and more recently Radiohead to cancel performances in Israel. Fortunately, most musicians have ignored, and some vocally and forcefully rejected Waters and they have been warmly and enthusiastically received in Israel. Who knows, maybe Waters is doing us a favor by creating more Israel advocates to counter his campaign of bigotry.
So, what shall we do about all this? We could join Waters on the low road and encourage you to boycott his concert that will be staged at the Bridgestone Arena. But then we are reduced to his level. If you want to waste your money to support a bad dude that’s your business.
But if you go to the concert, make your own sign and hold it up during the performance — let it clearly state that there is no room for hatred and bigotry in our great city. Inform Waters that Israel shares democratic values with our country that support human rights while Arabs across the Middle East continue to slaughter each other at an alarming rate. Tell Waters to take his pig back to the poke where it belongs.
Finally, be in touch with the officials of Bridgestone Arena and the concert sponsors, letting them know that by welcoming and supporting a Roger Waters performance sends the wrong message in a city that promotes diversity and respects people of all backgrounds and faiths.
Roger Waters has dubbed his tour “Us + Them." My view is he is very much wrapped up in his “Us” and somehow he manages to send the message that the “Them” deserve scorn and condemnation. It’s all very sad and by standing together we can do much better.

Linda Sarsour Links To Antisemitic Piece By Hate Site Mondoweiss

Naturally, Sarsour’s post attracts antisemitic comments, like this one from someone using the infamous ((())) designation of Jews, which originated with Neo-Nazis.

Note Sarsour’s response – she does not castigate the commenter for the antisemitism, or delete the comment. Rather, she tries to distance herself from the stench of antisemitism from the piece and his comment, by claiming not all the money is Jewish (just some of it).
She also has this to say about the same commenter.
With many people of the opinion Sarsour is an antisemite, her conduct here will do little to dispel that notion.
Update: It might be that the commenter was using the ((())) just to point out the article was antisemitic, and not because he is antisemitic himself. I apologize if I misread his intent. Nevertheless, the article itself is most certainly antisemitic.

Democratic Socialists of America vote to endorse BDS on Shabbat

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) voted to endorse a BDS motion at their biannual convention in Chicago on Saturday.
The vote, which took place during Shabbat, when many Jews would not be in attendance, passed in a landslide, with a 90% approval.
Following the motion's passing, the crowd enthusiastically chanted ''from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,'' a refrain popular among pro-Palestinian activists. The chant suggests a future Palestinian state that would knock Israel off the map entirely.
The decision to hold the BDS vote on Shabbat or other Jewish holidays is not a new tactic for activists seeking to disavow Israel and any institutional contact with the Jewish state.
Earlier this year, the student senate at Tufts University held a BDS vote just before Passover, when many Jewish students had already left campus. Some trustees of Tufts, angered by the sly attempt to exclude Jews from the vote, pulled their monetary contributions from the school.

Far-Left Activist Jackie Walker Gets Standing Ovation for Antisemitic Play

Far-Left activist and former vice-chair of British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Momentum movement Jackie Walker opened a one-woman show over the weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in which she received a standing ovation for defending her claims that the Jews financed the African slave trade and that Holocaust Memorial Day is exclusionary.
The UK’s Jewish Chronicle reported that Walker performed her show The Lynching beneath a banner saying, “Anti-Semitism is a crime. Anti-Zionism is a duty.” The show’s title refers to what she says was unfair treatment by her opponents, which ultimately led to her suspension from the Labour party amidst accusations of antisemitism.
At one point in her performance, Walker took on the character of her own mother speaking in Walker’s defense, in which she stated, “First, she [Walker] said Jews financed the slave trade. …The Jews were coming away from persecution from the Christians. They got involved in the slave trade, but what else were they supposed to do? This is not Jackie hating Jews. You can say this is Jackie showing off, showing how well she knows her history.”
Regarding the Holocaust, Walker’s character charged that it is wrong to mark the genocide of the Jews alone, asking, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Holocaust Memorial Day could be opened to all people. What a terrible thing… People say it is open to everybody. Others say, no it doesn’t include the terrible things that went on before the Nazis, things in the Belgian Congo when they killed 12 million …none of that is in Holocaust Memorial Day.”

German specialized unit for political extremism investigates BDS activists

A criminal complaint filed against three BDS activists who allegedly launched physical and verbal tirades at MK Aliza Lavie and an Israeli survivor of the Holocaust at a June event in Berlin has been sent to a police division responsible for political extremism, a spokeswoman for the authorities told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday.
The criminal allegations were leveled against Ronnie Barkan, Majed Abusalama and Stavit Sinai, who face charges of trespassing for their activity at the Humboldt University event with Lavie.
A spokesman for Yesh Atid’s Lavie told the Post on Wednesday that the MK “expects there will be some sanction against them, not only because of the offending behavior in this case, but mainly as a message against this type of violent discourse, whose consequences may be dangerous.”
According to the complaint, a female BDS activist, who is believed to be Sinai, “swung [her fists] wildly around her and attendees” as she was escorted from the university room for disrupting the event. She “continuously attempted to reenter the lecture hall and pounded on the door.”
Barkan runs a group called “Boycott from Within” in Israel and has been barred from delivering BDS talks in municipal buildings in the northern German city of Oldenburg.

BBC Travel yet again dishes up political narrative in a food item

August 3rd saw the appearance of yet another BBC Travel article belonging to the genre of ‘food as a hook for political messaging’ on the BBC News website’s Middle East page and – like the previous example – this one too was written by a freelancer – Miriam Berger – rather than by BBC staff.
Titled “The Palestinian dessert few can enjoy“, nearly half of the article’s 1,037 words are devoted to political topics rather than the Middle Eastern sweet (confusingly presented in this piece with three different names: knafa, kunafa and knafe) that is supposedly its subject matter.
That becomes rather less surprising when one is aware that the quoted ‘culinary expert’ Laila el Haddad is in fact a long-time anti-Israel activist who has used food for the promotion of her political narrative in the past – including at the BBC.

Sky News (in Arabic) falsely claims ‘1,000 settlers stormed al-Aqsa mosque’.

Sky News Arabia, launched in 2012, is a joint venture between UK-based Sky News and Abu Dhabi-based Media Investment Corporation. In addition to their website, Sky News Arabia has a news network available to 50 million homes in the Middle East, and a strong social media presence, with over 3 million Twitter followers and more than 11 million Facebook ‘Likes’.
In June we posted about a Sky News Arabia report which falsely claimed a group of “Israeli extremists stormed the mosque” while obfuscating the fact that Muslim worshipers taunted peaceful Jewish visitors and then, when police arrived to restore order, began pelting the officers with stones.
A Sky News Arabia story published on August 1st made a similarly fictitious claim about Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. (Translation by CAMERA’s Arabic Department)

Antisemitic graffiti painted on Colorado Springs synagogue

Antisemitic messages and a swastika were spray-painted on the building and sign of a synagogue in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The messages were discovered on Friday morning at the Temple Beit Torah. In addition to the synagogue, nearby cars, homes and buildings also were vandalized, the Colorado Spring Gazette reported.
In addition to a swastika, the words “sig heil,” a misspelling of the Nazi salute sieg heil, was painted on the synagogue’s sign, according to the report.
“I’m deeply saddened, and yet I’m not surprised,” the temple’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Steven Kaye, told the Gazette.
“America has come so far in diversity and including people, but in the last year, we’ve seen a lot of hate talk about people who don’t fit what they think Americans should look like,” he said.

US T-shirt company sells swastika design as ‘symbol of love and peace’

The US-based clothing design website Teespring is selling T-shirts and sweatshirts branded with swastikas, aiming to make them a “symbol of love and peace”.
The designs, created by KA Designs and sold on the site, all display large swastikas in the front. One shows the Nazi-associated symbol in rainbow colors with the word “Peace”, another one with the word “Zen”, one reading “Love” and a third design, in black, shows a spiral of swastikas. They range in price from $20 to $35.
US T-shirt company sells swastika design as ‘symbol of love and peace.’(Screen Capture)US T-shirt company sells swastika design as ‘symbol of love and peace.’(Screen Capture)
“Here at KA we explore boundaries. We push them forward.” the company wrote as a description for the products. “Let’s make the swastika a symbol of Love and Peace. Together, we can succeed.”
Before being used by Hitler’s German Nazi regime, swastikas were commonly known as an ancient sign used by Hindus and Buddhists carrying positive associations such as auspiciousness and good fortune. KA Designs is attempting to relate the now negative sign to its origins.
The company even made a promotional video claiming that the Nazis “took the swastika, rotated it 45 degrees, and turned it into a symbol of hatred, fear, war, racism, power.”
“They stigmatized the swastika, they won, they limited our freedom, or maybe not?” the video continues. “The swastika is coming back.”
On some of the tee shirts sold by KA Designs, the swastika remains turned by 45 degrees, similarly to the Nazis’ use of the symbol.

High Court says it’s in favor of surrogacy for same-sex couples

The High Court of Justice has said gay people have the right to become parents through surrogacy, giving campaigners hope of amending legislation that makes only a man and woman eligible.
However, a final ruling has been delayed for six months.
Assistant Chief Justice Salim Joubran on Thursday told gay couples, single women and advocacy groups who petitioned the court that it was time for “widening access to surrogacy in Israel to additional family units which are not included today,” according to documents seen by AFP.
“I find it hard to agree with a situation which prevents single people and same-sex couples fulfilling their right to become parents through surrogacy agreements,” he said.
“I myself cannot see any justice in giving preference to heterosexual parenting over same-sex parenting,” added Joubran, whose comments in court came the same day as thousands attended a Gay Pride parade under police protection in Jerusalem.

New Israeli system capable of identifying explosive devices from afar

The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has recently completed the development of the Counter Improvised Explosive Device and Mine Suite (CIMS) mobile system, integrating optic sensors with radars to expose roadside charges before military forces ever go near them.
This new Israeli innovation will be able to protect soldiers against explosive charges as they cross hostile areas in times of battle or operations.
The system is mainly designed to be used by patrol forces undertaking routine security measures near the borders such as route openings and suspicious object inspections. In addition, the system can also assist armored and motorized infantry forces' land maneuvers.
The new hardware may be installed on a variety of vehicles, from hummers and soft defenders intended for routine patrol tasks, through gunfire-protected vehicles and ending with armored vehicles such as tanks and APCs.
The CIMS suite is comprised of radars capable of 270 degree reception and cameras that are able to automatically scan their surroundings. The combination of these two features allows the system to operate effectively and reliably in all weather conditions, at night and even under cover of fog and dust.

Where did Mark Wahlberg learn Hebrew?
Hint: he probably picked up the phrases from former co-star Gal Gadot.

It's enough to make anyone blush.
In a recent interview with an Israeli reporter to promote his new film, Mark Wahlberg revealed that he knows a handful of Hebrew words and phrases - the majority of which are curses.
"I only know bad words in Hebrew," said the veteran actor, who is promoting his film Transformers: The Last Knight. He then reeled off an impressive list, including "moron," "go f**k yourself," "son of a whore," and "piece of sh*t." For balance, he added in "come here, sweetheart" and "until the wedding."
"See, I could make it, right?" he asked.
In the clip, posted on the "Ba Li Seret" Facbeook page, Wahlberg didn't say where he'd picked up his impressive repertoire.
Despite having a "berg" in his name, the actor, producer and former rapper is not Jewish.

Rising Arab-Israeli star bucks negativity, joins Israeli opera

Nour Darwish, a 23-year-old Arab-Israeli music student, found herself thrown in at the deep end when she received a surprise call to take on the lead role in a production opening the fourth Israeli Opera Festival.
Nour was born into a Muslim family in the Arab-Israeli village of Iksal, near Nazareth, but was unperturbed by the prospect of defying cultural stereotypes to appear in an Israeli production.
She acknowledged that some in her community frowned upon her endeavor, but that it was not a problem for her, since she regards singing as a divine gift and enjoyed full support from family and friends in a potentially daunting move into professional opera.
"This is my first time singing at a real opera. It is a big challenge for me because I am still a university student and I just completed my first step as a singer, this is a big challenge and I am very happy," Nour said.
"There are some people who will not accept (me in) this role, but this is not a problem. Every person has their own thinking and I think that singing is a gift from God to me and I will work on developing this skill and see where signing will take me," she added.
As a result of an unexpected illness befalling the lead soprano in Handel's opera "Giulio Cesare in Egitto," Nour was asked to perform the demanding role of Cleopatra as a last-minute replacement, a role she had filled only two months before in the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music.
Despite the doubters, Nour told Reuters that she was inspired by music's ability to cross borders, and that she was very excited for the opportunity.

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