[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 08/14 Links Pt2: Obama Admin Moves to Block Restitution for U.S. Terror Victims ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Obama Admin Moves to Block Restitution for U.S. Terror Victims

Ron Gould, a plaintiff in the case, told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview that there was no reason for the Obama administration to intervene.
“There was really no reason for them to even get involved,” said Gould, whose daughter Shayna was shot in the chest and nearly killed by Palestinian terrorists. “For the Obama administration to stick their fingers where they don’t belong is unconscionable.”
The PA “still seems to have the money to pay the families of the terrorists on an ongoing basis,” Gould said. “They do have the money to pay the piper for losing the court case.”
Shayna Gould welcomed the administration’s filing in the case, saying it reaffirms the rights of terror victims to have a fair day in court.
However, she called the argument that the PA could be bankrupted as a result of the suit “ironic, considering they pay terrorists on a monthly basis.”
Shayna Gould said the PA had been hinting that the U.S. government would get involved for quite some time
“It was a fear. It was a huge fear,” she said, adding that the PA should be forced to finally pay up.
“They, with pride, give money and rank of the highest honor to terrorists and people who commit murder,” Gould said. “Does that sound like clipping coupons and saving pennies?”
“I have to deal with [the impact of their violence] in my life on a constant basis,” Gould added, explaining that she deals with physical pain on a daily basis since the attack. “There is no limit to our suffering.”
Jewish human rights group B’nai B’rith was also critical of the administration’s intervention.
“There needs to be a price paid for committing acts of terror and the means available to prosecute those responsible,” the group said in a release. “While the victims’ families cannot bring their loved ones back, they can go to the courts to achieve redress.”

Obama Stands With Terrorists Against Terror Victims

You might call it a new low, but as with a lot of "lows," the Clintons were there first.
Alisa Flatow was a New Jersey college student murdered in a bus bombing in 1995. When the Flatow Amendment that would hold Iran accountable came up, President Clinton’s Secretary of State threatened to shut down the government if the amendment wasn’t dropped.
When Congress stood up to Clinton, he instead threw in a signing statement claiming that allowing terror victims to collect judgments against Iran “would encroach on my authority under the Constitution to ‘receive Ambassadors and other public ministers.’"
The Clinton administration fought the Flatows every step of the way to protect Iranian properties in the United States. It dispatched fourteen lawyers to fight the family’s lawsuit. When a US company was sending money to Iran, Clinton blocked efforts by terror victims to seize the money. He even blocked attempts to seize the New York building owned by the Alavi Foundation, Iran’s arm in the United States.
The Alavi Foundation would later become a donor to the Clinton Foundation.
Congress stood up to Clinton over Iran. It’s time for Congress to stand up to Obama and end funding for PLO terrorism once and for all with no loopholes, excuses or waivers.

Trivializing ‘terror’

Hysterical attempts to equate ideologically driven crimes by fringe Jewish extremists with Arab/Muslim terrorism are substantively wrong and strategically detrimental.
They reflect neither moral merit nor pragmatic prudence.
They fly in the face of common sense, rational self-interest – and the truth. It will not mitigate the censure of Israel’s detractors. To the contrary, it will be seized upon to justify – and intensify – it.
It diverts the focus of attention from real existential threats to Israel’s survival and blunts the effort against the Iranian deal.
But perhaps worst of all, by obfuscating what should be a razor-sharp distinction between a society that condemns murder and societies that commend it, between a country that castigates murderers and countries that celebrate them, it gravely undermines Israel’s claim to the moral high ground, crucial in its fight for its international legitimacy and its rightful place in the community of nations.
That, then, is the trouble with trivializing “terror.”

Stand With Us: Israel must defend its citizens as any country would

After winning another defensive war in 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza and offered to trade the land for peace. The Arab League, meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, responded “no.” No peace treaty. No direct negotiations. No recognition of Israel.
Palestinian leadership rejected every subsequent Israeli proposal, most without a counteroffer — at Oslo, at Camp David, in secret negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas. Each time, Israel offered the Palestinians essentially everything they asked for, including removing settlements and half of Jerusalem. Each time, the Palestinian leadership walked away.
Not once have the Palestinians made a serious peace proposal or initiated direct negotiations.
When Israel believes that Palestinians seriously want peace with a Jewish state of Israel, and when the Palestinian leadership commands the respect of its own people and can enforce a peace agreement with Israel, there will be peace.
The Palestinian Authority has little support. Hamas has more support, but continues to reject Israel’s right to exist. Schools in the West Bank and Gaza actively teach Palestinian children to hate Israel and Israelis. Sports competitions, streets and schools are named after terrorists who killed innocent civilians. Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have distributed candy to children when terrorists kill Israelis.
That needs to change before there can be a real peace. And columns that misrepresent the facts on the ground do nothing to promote that change.

David Singer: Two-State Solution? The West Must Practise More Straight Talking, Less Doublespeak

Those do-gooders, particularly in the European Union and the United States, still supporting the “two-state solution” seem to have lost sight of this clearly agreed democratic destination.
Democracy in any projected Palestinian State has been shoved under the carpet and out of sight – without a whimper from the world’s democracies.
Any signs of democracy are noticeably absent in both the West Bank and Gaza – where elections for the President have not been held since 2005, parliamentary elections were last held in 2006 and no single government exercises authority in both areas.
Tongue-tied Western democracies make no objection to this farcical state of affairs – guaranteeing continuing negotiations remain a diplomatic joke.
Another Israeli reservation consigned to the garbage bin by Abbas was allowed to pass without comment or objection by the Western democracies:
“The character of the provisional Palestinian state will be determined through negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel."
The Palestinian Authority no longer exists – having been disbanded on 3 January 2013.

In UNRWA’s financial crisis, a looming risk for Israel

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by the US ($130 million annually) and the European Union ($106 million annually), with Arab states contributing just two percent of the organization’s annual budget.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said that some 240,000 pupils in Gaza rely on the UN for education. Protests have already broken out in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave over the issue, with parents and students hurled eggs and shoes at the gates of the local UN office on Tuesday.
“The relationship between a fully funded UNRWA and regional security has never been more clear,” Gunness said in a written response Wednesday.
Israeli officials were reluctant to speak openly about UNRWA, exposing the state’s ambivalence towards the UN agency. On the one hand, official Israel considers UNRWA a major stumbling block to solving the Palestinian conflict because it inflates the refugee issue; but on the other is reluctant to bear the financial responsibility for costly medical and educational services for thousands of Palestinians.
“Israel tends to accuse UNRWA of perpetuating the refugee problem rather than being part of its solution,” said Ido Zelkovitz, a Palestinian history lecturer at Haifa University’s Ezri Center. “But I say unequivocally that Israel found it convenient to use UNRWA financially and educationally. UNRWA schools have saved the Civil Administration [Israel’s administrative branch in the West Bank – E.M.] huge funds that should have been allocated to the Palestinian education system.”
Zelkovitz warned that Palestinian school strikes have historically been the precursors to popular violent uprisings, be it during the Arab uprising of 1936-39 or the during the First Intifada that erupted in 1987.

Intelligence sources assess: Mashaal asks Erdogan to let key terrorist operate from Turkey

Western intelligence sources asses to a very high degree of likelihood that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has officially requested from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow top Hamas operative Salah Aruri to return to Turkey. The sources added that they believe, relying on Intelligence, that Erdogan will turn down the request due to US pressure on Ankara.
The two leaders discussed the matter in a bilateral meeting that was conducted Wednesday in Ankara. The intelligence sources added that Hamas wants master terrorist Aruri to continue directing terror in the West Bank from Turkish soil.
Channel 10 reported earlier this month that the Turkish government ordered Aruri, whom Israel accuses of organizing terrorist attacks in the West Bank, to leave the country.
Aruri, a top Hamas operative who was released from an Israeli prison a few years ago, is in charge of rebuilding the Hamas infrastructure in the West Bank a year after Israeli security forces dismantled it prior to the war in Gaza.
According to Channel 10, the Ankara government, which has been sympathetic to Islamist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, agreed to Aruri's ouster, which was one of the prerequisites for Turkey's entry into the Western coalition against the Islamic State.
In recent months, Israeli officials approached Turkey and, despite the bitter relations between the two countries, asked Ankara to crack down on Hamas operatives there.

Minister Danny Danon Named Israel’s Next Ambassador to UN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday that Science, Technology and Space Minister Danny Danon is slated to become Israel’s new ambassador to the United Nations.
Danon has been a Knesset member for the Likud party since 2009 and chairs the Likud Central Committee. He will be replacing outgoing Ambassador Ron Prosor and is expected to begin his new role in the fall.
“The United Nations is an important platform at this time, and I am sure that Danny will fight with all his might to present the truth in the international arena,” Netanyahu said.
Danon — a former deputy defense minister who is known to be unafraid to speak his mind — said, “I will do everything possible to promote Israel’s positions to the world.”
The U.N. has a longstanding reputation of bias against Israel, particularly regarding its disproportionate amount of resolutions targeting the Jewish state.

PM’s spokesman said tapped as new ambassador to UK

The report, which claimed that Regev was the leading candidate for the job, could not be independently confirmed.
Melbourne-born Regev is a well-known face on international television screens, where he defended Israel’s position during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and during the IDF’s Gaza campaigns in 2008, 2012 and 2014.
Regev joined the Foreign Ministry in 1990, and formerly served as spokesman for the Israeli embassies in Washington and Beijing. In 2004, he became the Foreign Ministry spokesman, a position he held until 2007. Regev then moved to the Prime Minister’s Office, under then-premier Ehud Olmert.
Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, vacated the position in July. British-born and educated, Taub assumed office in 2011.

Israeli parents inspired by Protective Edge for baby names

A year after Operation Protective Edge, the Population Authority has reported a 25% increase in baby boys named "Eitan" after the Hebrew name of last summer's campaign, "Tzuk Eitan," according to IDF magazine Bamahane.
Tzuk Eitan literally translates to a strong or steadfast cliff. The name Eitan, which signifies strength, is a common Hebrew boys' name.
According to the report, in the year since Operation Protective Edge, 1,593 babies were named Eitan.
Population Authority officials believe the jump is not only due to the campaign's name, but also in honor of Lt. Eitan Fund, who led the rescue attempt of fallen soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin in Gaza, following him and his captors into a terror tunnel.
Another name that has become more popular since the campaign, this one by about 100%, is Benaya, after Maj. Benaya Sarel, the commander of the Givati Reconnaissance Company, who was killed in Rafah last summer.

Audiences Abuzz About Israel Film Festival’s Breakout Hit “Netanya”, an Urban Horror about a City Slowly Turning……French (satire)

Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center: The entire city is chattering about the Summer’s hottest film, “Netanya“, a chilling film seen through the eyes of the heroine as she watches her friends, family, and neighbors slowly turning into Francophones. The movie, set in the seaside city of Netanya north of Tel Aviv, was filmed using handheld cameras with unknown actors on a limited budget. Daily Freier’s Arts and Entertainment Reporter talked to moviegoers as they exited the theater last night.
“Oh my God, when she sat down with her husband at their favorite hummus place, and he smiled at the waiter and ordered bouillabaisse in perfect French, and then she started screaming, I jumped 5 feet out of my seat.” said an excited Rachel G.
Rachel’s friend Danny R. was equally enthused. “When she escaped the restaurant and ran into her parents’ house, and she sees them in the living room eating brioche and watching a Jerry Lewis movie, and then her dad locks the door behind her……..scared the living heck out of me.”

Israel’s Minister of Education Boycotts American Jewish Extremists

Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Minister of Education recently noted he urged a boycott of the extremist American Jewish organization The New Israel Fund, which sends $30 million annually to Israel – and openly boycotts Israel.
He explains why:
“Naomi Chazan, while she was still President of the New Israel Fund, called the start of the Operation Cast Lead an IDF “slaughter” (!) of the Palestinians, which “caused the deaths of hundreds”. Please note, a Jewish Israeli woman called the actions of our soldiers in Gaza, while our soldiers were still risking their lives fighting in Gaza, a “slaughter”.
Hassan Jabarin, CEO and founder of “Adalah”, an organization of “New Israel Fund”, and a graduate of their law program, sent an expert opinion (!) to the Spanish court to back up claims of war crimes against Israeli officers, including Dan Halutz, Moshe Ya’alon, Giora Eiland and other high-level Israeli security officials.
Dr. Yishai Menuhin, CEO of the Public Committee Against Torture, another organization of the New Israel Fund, said: “IDF soldiers are committing war crimes – and all those who take part should wait for his time in court, and if not this country so he should be put on trial abroad.”

Reverse Apartheid: Police Charging Attorneys over Land Deal that Didn’t Disclose Buyers Were Jewish

Israeli Police has recommended to the State Prosecution to indict two main suspects in what it termed a land purchase swindle in Judea and Samaria, Makor Rishon reported Friday.
The two attorneys, a Jew and an Arab, are suspected of using fraudulent means to transfer 15 parcels of land from private Arab ownership in Judea and Samaria to Israeli buyers.
The investigation was launched following an appeal to the Supreme Court by left-wing NGOs.
The investigators questioned the former Arab land owners, who claimed they had been misled to believe they were selling to Arab, rather than to Jewish buyers. They told investigators that had they known the lands were going to Jews they would not have sold them.
It should be noted that, in October 2014, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas toughened the penalty for PA residents selling their lands to Jews.
According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, Abbas imposed a sentence of hard labor for life on “anyone diverting, renting or selling land to an enemy state or one of its subjects.”

In rare disclosure, IDF sets out its strategy, admits flawed response to Hamas

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday released the so-called “IDF Strategy,” an unclassified document that sets out the army’s overall goals and methods to achieve them.
Among the imperatives: safeguarding Israel’s international status, correcting an inadequate response to terror groups, and fending off cyber attacks.
The release of the approximately 30-page document is virtually unprecedented, although certain elements of the IDF’s strategy have — unsurprisingly — still been kept top secret. It appears to serve as a response to the demands the Israeli people and government have made of the IDF over the past ten years for greater transparency.
The IDF’s wastefulness, previous unpreparedness for cyber warfare, logistical failings in the Second Lebanon War and once-antiquated tactics are all referenced obliquely in the document, not in the forms of problems to solve but as plans for future change.
The need for efficiency and logistical support, a recognition of the current threats facing Israel and a newly added fourth front — land, sea and air are joined by cyber — are all mentioned in the strategy guide in response to those claims.

Official: Iran, Hamas conduct cyber-attacks against Israel

The attempted hack attack against the Defense Ministry that was revealed this week is only manifestation of the ongoing cyber-war that Israel faces every day. In an exclusive interview, an IDF major who insisted on anonymity for security reasons said that Israel has been attacked by enemies of all kinds – and in all kinds of ways.
“While we’ve had cyber attacks all along, it really picked up last year, during Operation Protective Edge, when we were faced with new challenges that we have not faced before,” he said. “Attacks were conducted by all the players – Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian hacker groups, and Iran, and they displayed strong capabilities that have gotten considerably better over the years.”
Many of the attacks against IDF servers, and Israeli networks in general, are DDOS (denial of service) attacks, where hackers try by sheer quantity of Internet connections to slow or halt operations on systems. But the past year especially has seen some very sophisticated attacks. Some of those attacks, said personnel in the C4i corps, were true zero-day attacks – brand-new viruses or Trojan horses – and were apparently designed specifically with the intent of attacking Israeli defense servers.
How close hackers got to taking down a crucial server is a secret the army would never reveal, but when a usually tight-lipped figure in the IDF’s C4I telecommunications corps admits that Israel faces a cyber-security problem, it stands to reason that the threat is a substantial one. And indeed it is, said the IDF major – but fortunately, the army has been able to defend its systems.

304 Gazan Residents To Pray at Temple Mount Today, Zero Jews

Israel gave permission for 304 Gazans, ages 50 and over, to come to Jerusalem and pray at the Al Aqsa mosque, located on the Jewish Temple Mount.
The Israeli police allowed exactly zero Jews to pray on the Temple Mount this year.

Islamic Jihad: If hunger-striker dies, the cease-fire with Israel is over

The armed wing of the Gazan terror outfit the Islamic Jihad warned Friday that if one of its imprisoned operatives currently on a hunger strike in Israel should die, the group would break the cease-fire and resume hostilities against the Jewish State.
The statement came after Muhammad Allan, in the 61st day of a hunger strike in protest of his being held without trial in an Israeli prison, lost consciousness Friday morning and was in danger of dying, according to doctors at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon where he is currently being held.
"After the deterioration in the condition of the heroic prisoner Muhammad Allan, to an unconscious state, after 61 days of hunger strike - in the event that he should fall as a shahid (martyr), as far as we're concerned the cease-fire is over," the statement from Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades read.
"The Al Quds Brigades, the armed branch of the Islmaic Jihad, announces that if Allan falls as a shahid, it will be a crime of the occupation toward our prisoners and our people that will force us to respond forcefully, ending our obligation to the cease-fire," the group added.

Senior Hamas official arrives in Israel for medical care

Nayef Rajoub, a senior member of Hamas and the brother of senior Palestinian Authority figure Jibril Rajoub, is currently recuperating in a private hospital in Tel Aviv, apparently after having undergone spine surgery. Rajoub, who is expected to stay in the Assuta Medical Center's Ramat Hahayal hospital for the next few days, has been assigned a security detail. The hospital said it could not confirm or deny the reports on Rajoub's hospitalization, citing privacy concerns.
Nayef Rajoub's brother, Jibril, is a senior Palestinian Authority figure and the head of Palestinian Football Association.
Nayef Rajoub, 57, has had multiple run-ins with Israeli security forces. He was first arrested in 1989 and was subsequently convicted of several terrorism-related charges, among them being a member of Hamas. In 1992, he was among the hundreds of Hamas terrorists who were deported to Lebanon after the organization killed an Israeli police officer. While in Lebanon, Rajoub began climbing the rungs of the organization until he attained a leadership position.

This is not the first time Israeli hospitals have treated or operated on a high-ranking Palestinian officials. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' wife, Amina Abbas, underwent an operation in Assuta Medical Center in June 2014 and was there on the day the three teens were abducted. In February 2015, a Fatah official was treated at the Rabin Medical Center. In 2013, Haniyeh's granddaughter was also treated for a rare disease at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel.

Survey for Sinai buffer zone’s third phase completed for evacuation

North Sinai Governor Abdel Fattah Harhour announced Tuesday that buildings and facilities located in the area of the buffer zone’s third phase have been completely surveyed in preparation for evacuation, state media reported.
The first and second phases have been completed, with each phase covering 500 metres. It is believed that the third phase will cover an additional 500 metres.
The first phase involved the displacement of more than 1,000 families, whilst the second phase involved the evacuation of 2,044 families from the area. The third phase will involve approximately 1,215 houses and 40 governmental facilities. The compensatory value for the buildings is currently being surveyed in order to be disbursed to the families.
The buffer zone is amongst the security measures taken by the armed forces in order to destroy smuggling tunnels connecting North Sinai with the Gaza Strip. The tunnels were used to smuggle “terrorists and weapons” into the restive Sinai Peninsula.
Harhour said that the new Rafah city will be constructed behind the buffer zone, which is set to be 5 km in depth along the border with Gaza.

Time to Reassess Sinai Peacekeeping Force

More than three decades after the establishment of the Multinational Force and Observers, which includes two American Army battalions, fighting is raging in the vast, largely desolate peninsula, with groups of Islamist extremists clashing with Egyptian security forces.
The violence, which has endangered and significantly restricted the mobility of the peacekeepers, is good reason to consider pulling them out of Sinai. An attack on the multinational force of more than 1,600 troops could open a new front in the American-led war against the Islamic State, or ISIS, which has an offshoot in Sinai.
The mission of the peacekeepers has become increasingly obsolete in recent years as Egypt, with Israel’s consent, has deployed its own troops and heavy weaponry in Sinai to fight the militants. The 1979 treaty imposed strict limits on troop deployments in the area by Egypt and Israel, but it allows for mutually agreed upon exceptions. Over time, the two governments have developed a functional, cooperative relationship. They share a deep concern about the threat posed by Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip and stretches of the Egyptian side of Sinai along the Israeli border.
In its most recent annual report, issued last fall, the multinational force outlined steps it had taken to protect its personnel, including using armored vehicles and fortifying the defenses of its camps. “We continue to face the risk of being caught in a crossfire — ‘wrong place, wrong time’ — or of becoming an intentional target of militants,” the report says.

US prof: I would say ‘dirty Jewish Zionist thug’ again

Kaukab Siddique, an associate professor of English at Lincoln University, the historically black public university outside of Philadelphia, has once again raised the ire of the Jewish community for racist epithets and remarks questioning the veracity of the Holocaust.
A Daily Beast article from last month renewed interest in Siddique for a number of his inflammatory comments on recent events. After activist Pamela Geller staged an event in Texas that showcased cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, Siddique called her a “dirty Jewish Zionist thug” and told fellow Muslims to prepare to protect themselves if “Zionists” like Geller get their way.
Commenting on the Bill Cosby rape scandal, Siddique questioned why it took years for the comedian’s victims to come forward. A list of possible explanations Siddique posted on Facebook included “Many women are sluts” and “American women are slaves of rich men.”
And regarding the rise of the Islamic State over the past year, Siddique questioned whether the radical Islamist terrorist group actually does some of the horrible things it purports to do, such as rape women and murder Yazidis.
In light of the Daily Beast article, the Anti-Defamation League “strongly condemned” Siddique’s comments, including those not directed at Jews.
Siddique had raised flags in the Jewish community before. In 2010, at a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, DC, he called Zionism a “hydra-headed monster” and called on Muslims to “defeat, to destroy, to dismantle Israel.” When his university distanced itself from his comments, Siddique cited his right to academic freedom.

Tel Aviv versus Gaza on the banks of Paris' Seine river

The tension was palpable along the Seine River on Thursday, where at least 500 policemen were deployed to protect an Israeli beach festival.
Part of the river was dedicated – for one day – to the Tel Aviv-Sur-Seine (Tel Aviv on the Seine) happening. But after weeks of protests on social media and among politicians, the event was accompanied by a raucous anti-Israel demonstration.
Some 200 pro-Palestinian supporters gathered alongside the festival, flying a Palestinian flag and wearing green T-shirts reading “Free Palestine” and “Boycott Israel.”
“This [festival] is part of the Israeli propaganda to show an Israel that is different from the bombs, soldiers, checkpoints, etc. And the ‘cool,’ ‘fun,’ ‘gay friendly’ Tel Aviv is fully part of the Israeli communication system,” said Nicolas Shahshahani, vice president of the CAPJPO EuroPalestine Association.
Due to hostility, the police authorized people to cross from “Tel Aviv beach” to “Gaza beach” but not from vice versa.

Jeremy Corbyn: Crap Liar

Here’s a fresh lie from the Corbyn camp:

Jeremy’s very strongly-held view is there should not be any anti-Semitic, Islamophobic or racist slogans or banners at any demonstration, ever.
Er, here he is at the Khomeinist hatred festival known as Al Quds Day in London in 2012. A Hezbollah banner is the backdrop for his idiot grin.
You can see his Quds Day speech here. He opens with a “thank you friends” salute to the “we are all Hezbollah” crowd.
Here are some of his “friends” at Al Quds Day:

Have the Guardian and Corbyn finally fallen out over anti-Semitism?

In the run-up to the election of a new head of the British Labour party the Guardian appeared to back Jeremy Corbyn, a 66 year-old Marxist Seamus Milne clone still fighting the CND wars. Typically, far from coming from the working class, he is a graduate of Adams’ Grammar School (“a selective boys’ grammar school in Newport, Shropshire, England”).
It appears to have dawned on the Guardian’s editorial staff that there is a large proportion of the British electorate who may not accept “The Guardian View” on how to dispose of their hard-earned wealth in a new Marxist paradise. In that case Labour, the working-man’s party backed by the horrendously over-paid Oxbridge pseudo-left pen-pushers at the Guardian, will not be in a position to grasp the reins of power.
In the true tradition of the ultra-left, the knives have now come out to rid the Guardian of any connection to its former candidate. He must be totally disposed of so that the new leader may arise.
Amazingly, to achieve their goal they are now correctly pointing out Corbyn’s closeness to a list of anti-Semites and those less than lovable characters and organizations that hate and make war against Israel. Since I share their views for once, we make strange bed-fellows.

West Ham decide not to offer contract to Hamas-supporting thug Joey Barton

A piece of good news. Apparently pressure from fans has led to West Ham refusing to offer a contract to Hamas-supporting thug Joey Barton - although the complaints focused on his criminal record and not his antisemitism. Why a club with a Jewish chairman (David Gold) should have even entered into negotiations with Barton in the first place is a bit of mystery. After his criminal convictions Barton tried to reinvent himself as a working-class philosopher and what better way to gain credibility than becoming an obsessive Israel-hater (of course this was sufficient to get him invited on to BBC's Question Time). The 'quality' of the thoughts and writing of this self-appointed Hamas spokesman can be seen here which includes gems such as
".. those innocent children, women and men were being killed in Gaza because of a largely interpreted book that was written more than 2,000 years ago,...there are a group of Jews out there, with extreme beliefs, that think the Old Testament is all fact, which means that Israel belongs to the Jews and the Palestinians must give all of the land back to them".

Why you should not be surprised that LBC is employing George Galloway

I've been tracking LBC's anti-Israel obsession for a few years now - so I thought it was worth providing a set of links to previous postings (I have actually given up complaining** to them now):
LBC: a platform for the propaganda of Hizb ut Tahrir (2005)
How LBC reported the massacre in Jerusalem (2008)
LBC's Andrew Pierce: "Not enough dead Israelis for me" (2009)
LBC's Nick Ferrari: "Not enough dead Israelis for me" (2012)
LBC's 'pro-Israel' Nick Ferrari cannot understand why Israel picked on Hamas (2012)
Why LBC's James O'Brien (like many other liberal commentators) is an antisemite (2014)
More on LBC's James O'Brien and his claim not be an antisemite (2014)
LBC's war against Israel (2014)
LBC responds to my complaint about their war against Israel (2014)

Christian Zionist Group Fights Anti-Semitism on UN’s Global Stage

The Christian Zionist organization Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) convened a special session at the United Nations in New York City on Aug. 11 to help Christians learn more about the impact of genocidal anti-Semitism.
“Our goal for the program was to reach ambassadors of predominately Christian nations and to help them understand anti-Semitism and how to deal with it,” Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of PJTN, told JNS.org.
The session was attended by diplomats from 13 countries: Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, Panama, Cyprus, Israel, Canada, Palau, Poland, Japan, and the Holy See.
PJTN is a non-profit that seeks to educate Christians about the biblical responsibility to stand with their Jewish brethren and Israel. The group was recently behind an effort to get the Tennessee General Assembly to became the first state legislature in the U.S. to formally condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Further, PJTN is in the midst of a national campaign to get legislatures in all 50 U.S. states to formally oppose BDS.
According to Cardoza-Moore, anti-Semitism—and by extension, anti-Zionism—is a growing problem within many Christian denominations.
“We have seen anti-Semitism within the mainline churches and have expected that,” she said. “But unfortunately, we have seen a growing movement within the Evangelical world now as well.”
While Evangelical Christians have traditionally been some of the most fervent supporters of Israel, Cardoza-Moore said they are also being strategically targeted by anti-Semitic/anti-Israel advocates with replacement theology, which teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan and that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people.

Bid to keep pork substitutes in French schools rebuffed

A leader of France’s top Muslim organization is criticizing a court decision that could jeopardize a decades-old policy in which public schools offer substitutes to pork when the meat turns up on lunch menus.
Abdullah Zekri of the French Council of the Muslim Faith said Thursday he is worried that the ruling a day earlier in eastern Dijon could sow discord in France — a country that in recent years has struggled to find a balance between its secular principles and its respect for religious beliefs.
A legal defense team for Muslims had sought to block application of an order earlier this year by Gilles Platret, the conservative mayor of nearby Chalons-sur-Saone, to pull pork substitutes from school menus. Such substitutes are offered across France, in addition to vegetarian alternatives.
Lawyers on both sides said the ruling was not final, and was based more on procedural grounds than a full debate on the issue.
But on Twitter, Platret called the ruling a victory for secularism in France. Many French defend a strict separation of religion and state as laid out in a 1905 law to guarantee secularism. The law has underpinned moves by recent French governments to pass bans on face-covering Muslim veils as well as headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and overly visible Christian crosses in public schools.

Drones Being Tested To Fight Against Farm Pests

When you think of Australian animals, you are likely thinking of a cute koala or a kangaroo jumping around. What you don’t think of are the infestations of feral dogs, pigs, deer and rabbits. To farmers these animals are invasive pests that cause billions of dollars of damage to farmland and animals like sheep and cattle.
Currently the solution is more preventative in the form of baiting pests or attempting to block them out with fencing. But in an attempt to tackle this major agricultural problem more proactively, Australian start-up, Ninox Robotics is using military-grade surveillance drones to locate these pests and allow the farmers to deal with them. In many cases, it means eradicating them.
Beyond a financial burden of more costs and lost revenue, these pests are destructive to the country’s unique biodiversity. During their research, Ninox Robotics found some farmers have lost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sheep and some spend four hours of every day defending them.
Ninox Robotics itself does not manufacture the drones. They are supplied the drone and technology from Bluebird Aerosystems from Israel. Instead, Ninox provides the service of operating the drone and associated technology. The company is also developing machine-learning algorithms to detect pests. Ninox Robotics plans to charge AU$3,000 per flight. For that money, a team would be dispatched to the farm to set up and operate aerial surveillance with one drone.

Israeli firm eyes more wind farms after €24m Irish deal

An Israeli renewable energy company which has just closed a deal on a windfarm development in Ireland is aiming to establish 100 megawatts of wind power here in the coming years.
Enlight Renewable Energy specialises in initiating, developing, constructing and operating clean electricity production projects from renewable energy sources, and has solar and windfarms in Israel, below, and abroad. It has just closed a deal to build a windfarm in Ireland in a development worth 100m Israeli Shekel (€24m).
Enlight Renewable Energy is the renewable energy arm of Eurocom Group, one of the largest holding companies in Israel. The company has started work on the 14 megawatt farm, which is planned to be completed in the second half of 2016.
The firm would not reveal where the farm will be located, saying only that it will be in the north west of the country. The funding is expected to be made up of 80pc debt and 20pc equity.
Enlight's vice president of marketing and business development, Zafrir Yoeli, said: "We certainly have more developments planned, we are looking to identify and invest in additional products and the Irish market has a very good wind resource and equity resource.
"When we enter into a market we would always like to get to 100MW. We would like to increase by several tens of MW next year, it will depend on the market."

Shipwreck off Israel’s coast linked to early Zionist

A shipwreck discovered off Israel’s coast almost 40 years ago has been identified as likely a vessel belonging to Edmond James de Rothschild, a French Jewish banker and philanthropist.
Although discovered in 1976 off Dor Beach, near Zichron Yaakov, which is on the Mediterranean coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv, the shipwreck had not been studied until recently, when Haifa University archaeologists undertook the project, Haaretz reported.
“The ship we have found is structurally consistent with the specifications of the Baron’s ships, carried a similar cargo, and sailed and sank during the right period,” Deborah Cvikel and Micky Holtzman, who are investigating the shipwreck, said, according to Haaretz.
The archaeologists believe the shipwreck is the remains one of three ships dispatched by Rothschild for use in a glass factory near Zichron Yaakov, which he built more than a century ago.
Rothschild, who lived from 1845-1934, was a vocal Zionist and supported several projects in Israel, including the glass factory, helping to found the town of Rishon Lezion and establishing the still-operating Carmel Winery in Zichron Yaakov. Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv is named for him.

Blind Holocaust survivor, 91, wins int’l distance race

A 91-year-old Israeli Holocaust survivor won a world championship for senior runners of his age category in France.
Semion Simkin, who is legally blind, became world champion on Monday in Lyon after running 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, in 80 minutes. His impaired vision means he cannot identify objects that are farther away than nine feet, according to Yisrael Hayom.
Only one other runner in his age category, 90-95, finished the race. Lorenzo Juvenal Perez, 93 from Argentina, arrived at the finish line 21 minutes after Simkin at the World Masters Athletics Championship.
“This is a scenario I never even dreamed of. I hope that in the future I will still have the strength to continue and to bring honor to Israel,” Simkin told Yisrael Hayom.
Originally from what is today Belarus, Simkin has two children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and lives in Ma’aleh Adumim — a settlement near Jerusalem.

Israel’s Newest Postage Stamp, Inaugurated at United Nations, Honors a King of Persia

Anyone wandering into the UN Diplomat Dining Room looking for dinner on Monday might have thought they walked into a parallel universe.
Ambassador Ron Prosor, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was explaining the philosophy behind Israel’s newest postage stamp. “With this stamp, we give our stamp of approval” he said, “to the man who wrote the first known human rights declaration, a king who believed that all people can live side by side in peace, and that everyone is entitled to religious freedom. King of Persia, Cyrus the Great”.
Prosor continued as the new stamp, bearing the iconic Cyrus Declaration, went up on the media screens, “As we celebrate the great achievements of a Persian king here today, we can only regret that there is no king Cyrus sitting in Tehran today, and that the people of this great and ancient civilization known for tolerance and respect live under a ruthless, theocratic and regressive regime.”
The ambassador then introduced three renowned scholars, Dr. Irving Finkel of the Department of Middle East at the British Museum, Professor Faribortz Mokhtari of the Political Science and Economics Department at the University of Vermont, and Dr. David Menashri from the Alliance for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, who enlightened the audience about the extraordinary man who is an ancestor to the Iranian people and was king of the country that is predecessor to Iran.
Ambassador Prosor summed up, “I hope the people of Iran look to the principles of the Cyrus declaration to inspire them in the present and lead them to a better future, and one day the Iranians will return to the tolerance and freedom promised by the Cyrus Declaration, the most progressive statement of its time.”