03/05 Links: PLO names children's camp after terrorist who murdered 37; US delegation studies relocation of embassy to Jerusalem ~ EoZ

From Ian:

PMW: PLO names children's camp after terrorist who murdered 37

The PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports has announced it is naming a youth camp after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, in which terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, including 12 children.
District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam, a Palestinian Authority official, praised the initiative for "remembering the pure-hearted Martyrs":
"Dr. Ghannam... welcomed [the delegation's] efforts to hold a camp named after Martyr Dalal Mughrabi. She praised the creative initiative and its goals, and particularly everything connected to remembering the pure-hearted Martyrs... She also ordered all of the parties involved to do all that is necessary so that the solidarity rally will take place in a fashion worthy of Martyr Mughrabi, her comrades (i.e., the other terrorists participating in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre), and all of Palestine's Martyrs."
[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Feb. 27, 2017 and official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 28, 2017]
It is far from surprising that the PLO Council for Youth is naming a youth camp after a terrorist murderer, as the council is headed by terror supporter Jibril Rajoub, who explicitly promotes and endorses terror, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented in its report The Rajoub File.

US delegation in Israel to study relocation of embassy to Jerusalem

An official United States delegation led by Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is briefly visiting Israel on Saturday and Sunday to study the possibility of relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"The delegation is in Jerusalem to learn first hand what it will mean to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” said Ruth Lieberman, a friend of DeSantis and a political advisor in Israel.
“Its leadership intends to return to Congress with a report and a deeper understanding of what to expect, and of some of the decisions that have to be made as well,” Lieberman said.
DeSantis chairs the subcommittee for National Security for the US House Oversight Committee.
The delegation will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli political leaders during their visit.
US President Donald Trump had promised to relocate the embassy during his campaign for the White House. But since his January 20th inauguration, his lukewarm statements about the matter led many to speculate that he would not make good on his pledge.
The delegation’s visit is the first sign that there might be some movement on the issue.

Crescent Magazine's May Cover Is a Doozy

Israel-hate: check. Traditional tropes about sinister, hidden Jooos pulling the strings of the powerful: check.
But wait--May brings us a zany twist. As the Khomeinist rag sees it, the Jooos are now collaborating with--wait for it--Nazi-esque "White Racists." Their joint project: putting threatening words into Trump's mouth.
Not that the Khomeinists thought any better of Obama, even though he sucked up to 'em endlessly and embarrassingly.

Springfield, Massachusetts JCC evacuated after bomb threats

A Jewish Community Center in Massachusetts was evacuated after a bomb threat was found written on the wall of the men’s locker room.
The Springfield Jewish Community Center was evacuated at about 3 p.m. on Friday. The city’s Arson and Bomb Squad, as well as police and firefighters, searched the building but did not find anything, according to reports.
JCC officials decided to keep the facility closed for the rest of the day following the incident.
“Our Jewish Community Center stands for inclusiveness, diversity and community. We are the living room of the community, and we will remain the living room of the community,” Springfield JCC Assistant Executive Director Rabbi James Greene told local media.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said in a statement that he and the local police commissioner will “continue to work with state and federal authorities to pursue the individual or individuals who perpetrated this dastardly crime in hopes to bringing the person or persons to swift and just punishment. The recent rash of bomb threats and vandalism to Jewish centers and vandalism to cemeteries is absolutely unacceptable and terrible and will not be tolerated. It must be swiftly dealt with. Anything that I or our Police Department can do for our Jewish community will be done.”

Brooklyn cemetery vandalized amid spate of anti-Semitic attacks

The New York City Police Department is investigating reports of vandalism at a local Jewish cemetery. On Sunday, a police spokesman announced that the department was investigating a possible hate crime, apparently involving the smashing of gravestones at the Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind tweeted photos of the smashed gravestones on Saturday, with some stones seen strewn on the ground.
"I received a call after Shabbos from the Boro Park Shomrim that some tombstones at Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn were down," Hikind said Saturday. "I've spoken with the police who are investigating. They've found a cut in the cemetery fence and are taking the matter very seriously."
This incident comes on the heels of a string of acts of vandalism targeting Jewish cemeteries in recent weeks. Over the last two weeks, a cemetery in Philadelphia and another in St. Louis were targeted. In addition, five headstones were found toppled at a Rochester, New York cemetery last Thursday.

At Yad Vashem, NY governor vows zero tolerance for anti-Semitism

Visiting Jerusalem, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday decried the recent wave of anti-Semitic acts in the United States as “reprehensible” and vowed his state was employing “extraordinary measures” to combat the phenomenon.
During his quick trip to Israel, Cuomo made his first comments following the toppling of headstones at a Jewish cemetery this weekend in Brooklyn.
It followed a series of vandalism attacks at Jewish cemeteries, including one in Rochester, New York, and more than 120 bomb threats to Jewish organizations in three dozen states since early January. In New York City alone, ant-Semitic hate crimes nearly doubled in the past year.
Cuomo has described his one-day visit as an act of solidarity in the face of the uptick of anti-Semitic incidents in the US.
Speaking at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum, Cuomo said the incidents “violated every tenet of the New York State tradition.” He said the state has posted rewards and put together a special police unit to address the incidents.

JPost Ed: Israel needs an 'antisemitism czar'

Amid daily news of bomb threats to Jewish institutions and desecrations of Jewish cemeteries throughout the United States, these outer manifestations of a resurgence of latent antisemitism have naturally prompted calls for intervention by the governments of both Israel and the US. Unfortunately, both governments already have departments that deal with antisemitism, but do so ineffectively due to a lack of coordination.
Israel has half a dozen agencies charged with fighting antisemitism wherever it manifests itself and does so in numerous arenas, but these scattered efforts are unnecessarily duplicative and, in the Israeli nature of things, involve unproductive bureaucratic struggles for power.
Ironically, while the Israeli front in this world war against resurgent antisemitism needs a single, unifying command to direct these essential efforts, US President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to retreat from the battlefield by eliminating the State Department’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, as part of his plan to raise funds for a massive hike in defense spending.
It seems the war against antisemitism holds as much promise of success as the so-called war against terrorism – both of them irrational phenomena that involve contempt for human life. There is no way to completely eliminate them, but there must be a better way of fighting them.
Israel’s response to antisemitism would be made more productive by combining its agencies under a single “antisemitism czar” who would direct their efforts, instead of the current situation where responsibilities are split. For example, that czar would have authority over the Diaspora Affairs Ministry’s division for combating antisemitism.

Is the ‘Rising Tide’ of US Antisemitism Only a Surge in Reporting?

While news headlines and politicians decry the “rising tide” of hatred against Jews, the Pew Foundation recently published a report, titled “Americans Express Increasingly Warm Feelings Toward Religious Groups,” which belies such claims. Between June 2014 and January 2017, non-Jewish Americans’ feelings toward Jews grew warmer, from 63 to 67 “degrees,” according to the survey, conducted last month.
Friedman, meanwhile, said he sees a silver lining in the possible uptick in the reporting of antisemitic incidents — that it encourages Jewish institutions to be forward-thinking and proactive.
Though there has been a groundswell of anger directed at President Donald Trump for allegedly failing to swiftly or sufficiently denounce antisemitism — and some critics have labeled the president an antisemite and claimed he is responsible for unleashing a wave of religious hatred — the White House has condemned the recent acts. The president began his Tuesday speech to Congress by calling attention to the “recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries.”
So is there really a surge in antisemitism, or just a rise in the coverage of an old problem?

Juan M. Thompson Came Out of the Left's Anti-Semitic Swamp

Juan M. Thompson, the radical leftist charged with some of the Jewish center bomb threats, may have been a copycat trying to frame an ex-girlfriend, but you don't terrorize Jewish organizations without anti-Semitism in your system.
And Thompson's bigotry stretches back to the anti-Semitic fever swamps of the left. His most notable moment came when he worked for The Intercept, co-founded by terror apologist Glenn Greenwald. The Intercept is a sewer of hatred aimed at the Jewish State.
The Intercept is obsessed with Israel to a deranged degree. Glenn Greenwald had defended Hamas and Hezbollah, genocidal anti-Semitic organizations, saying that they were dedicated to protecting their citizens against the State of Israel. He complained, “and yet it is criminal in the United States to do anything that is deemed to be material support for Hamas and Hezbollah."
That same hatred is reflected in Thompson's Twitter feed.
Thompson retweeted Max Blumenthal, a Nation man whose anti-Semitism had crossed the line even by the standards of many opponents of Israel. The JCC Jihadist retweeted Blumenthal's claim that Keith Ellison's anti-Semitism had been invented by the ADL. This was the second time that an anti-Semitic bigot had cited Blumenthal's attacks on Jews and the Jewish State.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Synagogue Bombs Just Attempt To Make Impressive ‘Haman’ Noise (satire)

Police believe the recent spate of bomb threats against Jewish places of worship was a misunderstanding, a department spokesman announced today, with the explosive devices intended not to wreak mayhem, but to produce noise in response to the mention of the villain’a name during the reading of the Scroll of Esther this coming weekend.
NYPD Community Relations Supervisor Daniella Ortiz called a press conference this morning to advise the public that the incident, in which multiple synagogues received warnings of bombs on the premises, will no longer be classified as a hate crime. Instead, she informed the attendees, police representatives will visit area synagogues in advance of the Purim holiday to engage communities in discussion of proper safety while using devices that make noise.
For several centuries, the reading of the Scroll – Megilah – of Esther on Purim has featured the custom of making noise after every mention of Haman, the highest-ranking official in the Perso-Median Empire of the time who convinced the king to sanction a genocide of the Jews. While primarily the children’s department, the noise-making is but a more recent manifestation of fulfilling the Biblical commandment to wipe out the memory of Amalek – the people to which Haman belonged and the existential and ideological nemesis of Israel.
Ortiz explained that Juan Thompson, the suspect in the case, was attempting to help celebrate Purim. “People are tired of the same-old, same-old,” she reasoned. “For some folks, doing exactly what you did last year, or the way it’s always been done, isn’t compelling. So of course there will be those who try to outdo what came before. Can you imagine the excitement of an explosion going off in the synagogue instead of those silly rattle-things? Groggers? Is that what they’re called? You hear what I’m saying.”

On March 8, remember victims of #DayWithoutAWoman co-organizer Rasmea Odeh (#DayWithoutEdwardandLeon)

March 8 is being organized as “A Day Without A Woman,” and promoted by the people behind the highly-organized Women’s March.
The March 8 protest asks women not to work and to otherwise go on strike.
It was conceived by a small group of radicals, including convicted terrorist murderer Rasmea Odeh.
Rasmea was one of the first female military members of the marxist terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The evidence is overwhelming of Rasmea’s involvement in the February 21, 1969 bombing of the SuperSol supermarket in Jerusalem that killed to Hebrew University Students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner.
Rasmea’s defense, that the only reason she was convicted was that she gave a false confession after 25 days of sexual torture by the Israelis, is demonstrably false. In fact, Rasmea confessed in writing just one day (not 25 days) after arrest and there were multiple independent sources of evidence of her involvement, including bomb-making material found in her bedroom.
Rasmea’s two co-conspirators have spoken on film of Rasmea’s involvement as part of pro-Palestinian documentaries, with one of them terming Rasmea the mastermind of the supermarket bombing.

‘Settlements law could open Israelis to war crimes prosecution’

The Settlements Law could place individual Israeli politicians, military personnel and civilians before the International Criminal Court at The Hague on war crime charges, 13 NGOs told Israel’s High Court of Justice on Sunday.
It was one of a long line of arguments the Israeli NGOs, led by Yesh Din and Peace Now, made as they petitioned the court to reject the newly-approved law, which retroactively legalizes some 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian property.
The NGO petition is the second one to be filed against the law.
In asking for an immediate injunction against the law’s implementation, the NGOs cited what they said was the criminal nature of the bill under international law and argued that it constituted annexation of portions of Area C of the West Bank.
“The petition stresses that the implementation of the provisions of the law may serve to incriminate Israeli citizens and security personnel who would implement it, as well as the MKs who voted in support of the law, as their actions may be considered war crimes according to international criminal law,” the NGOs said.

Netanyahu: Putin meeting to focus on averting Iranian entrenchment in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to address developments in Syria and how to combat Iran’s military presence in the war-torn country.
Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Iran was seeking to exploit recent attempts to reach a political settlement in Syria in order to cement its military presence there.
“There is an attempt by Iran to entrench itself permanently in Syria, with a military ground and naval presence,” he said, adding that even without an agreement guaranteeing its long-term military presence in the country, Iran will seek to ensure it retains a foothold there.
Netanyahu also said: “There is also a gradual attempt to establish a front against us in the Golan Heights.” He would “express to President Putin Israel’s strong and resolute opposition to this possibility” when he goes to Moscow on Thursday, he said.

The Second Palestinian Nakba: Kuwait and the Iraq War

The Palestinians use the word “nakba” (catastrophe) to describe the exodus of Palestinians before and during the 1948 war against Israel. After the conflict, there were approximately 700,000 refugees who did not return to their homes in Israel. Many remained in exile of their own volition, and today they and their descendants still claim a “right of return.”
In 1990, when Iraq was in an economic crisis, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi Army to invade Kuwait. We know the rest of the story — how the West rallied to Kuwait’s defense (in part to protect its oil interests), and pushed Saddam back into Iraq.
During the conflict, the Palestinians were divided into two camps: those who supported Iraq and those who supported Kuwait. Some leaders, like Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat, supported Saddam. But others did not.
Their resistance led to Iraqi persecution of Kuwait’s Palestinian community. Due to Iraqi massacres and other violence, approximately 200,000 Palestinians were forced to flee Kuwait, leaving their homes and possessions. The rest of the Palestinian community in Kuwait suffered heavy persecution, unemployment and hunger.

IsraellyCool: New Poll Results: Only About Half of “Palestinians” Polled Identify As Such

The Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre, which was established in 1988 by a group of Palestinian journalists and researchers seeking to provide information on what was happening in what it calls the “occupied Palestinian territories”, has released a new poll. It is based on a random sample of 1199 people over the age of 18 interviewed face-to-face throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip between the 17th and 21st of February 2017.
There are some very interesting results. Very interesting.
Only a little over half define themselves as “Palestinian”
I think this is rather damning. While a majority (52.5%) define themselves as “Palestinian”, this is a rather low percentage considering how this identity has been rammed down the world’s throat for the last half century. 21.7% identify as “Muslim”, 5.3% as “Arab”, 8.2% as “Other definition” and 4.5% did not know!
More palestinians polled blame electricity problems in Gaza on Hamas and PA than on Israel
Despite the narrative being peddled by many, a majority of those polled (53%) believe Hamas and the PA are more responsible for “the aggravation of the electricity crisis” in Gaza than Israel (42%). Maybe B’tselem and others need to get on their case.
Almost a third of palestinians polled support terrorism
While the poll reveals more (38%) supports peaceful negotiations, almost as many (30%) support “armed resistance.”
Way more support laws based on Sharia Law than on Civil Law
The largest percentage of those polled (42.5%) said they would support laws based on Islamic Sharia, as opposed to 14.7% who said they should be based on Civil Law.

Missing soldiers: 'Israel does not forget Oron and Hadar'

President Reuven Rivlin and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman attended this morning (Sunday), together with IDF leadership, a state memorial ceremony for Israel's fallen soldiers whose resting place is unknown.
"Here, with you, dear families, we feel the worst pain of all. It is the pain of doubt, the pain of the unknown. This mount is full of pain, but in most cases it is the pain of certainty. The crushing certainty of death, the tragic news. Here, we mark the pain of uncertainty. Your sons, your loved ones, family members, dear and beloved friends, gone, never to return. Never to return literally. And in the absence of a grave and a tombstone we bring our pain here, to the edge of the ground of the missing," said President Rivlin.
"These days, when the State Comptroller's report on Operation Protective Edge shakes us all, we can not forget for a moment those for whom the battle is not over. Bereaved families. Soldiers who were wounded physically and mentally. As well as families whose sons never returned home. Families carrying doubt that tears their hearts," the President said, stressing: "The State of Israel and Israeli society do not forget and will not to forget Oron and Hadar. Israeli society and the Israeli government will do everything possible to return Hadar and Oron home. Hamas must internalize that humanitarian demands can not be directed only against Israel."

Netanyahu vows to remove Arafat street sign in Arab village

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday he will seek the removal of a street sign in the northern Israeli-Arab village of Jatt bearing the name of former Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.
In a post on his Facebook page, Netanyahu said the issue was brought to his attention following the complaints of wounded IDF veterans.
“No street in the State of Israel will be named after Yasser Arafat,” Netanyahu wrote, adding that “we will work to remove the sign.”
Netanyahu also said he discussed the issue with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas), who told him the Interior Ministry did not approve the decision to name the street after Arafat, as is required for all street names.
The street name first garnered attention after a group of wounded IDF veterans asked Deri to address the issue, after learning of its existence through the navigation application Waze, according to Channel 2.

Al-Aqsa preacher: 'Palestinians' will stand strong

Al-Aqsa preacher Sheikh Yousuf Abu Senina said during his lecture on Friday that the human rights violations Israel commits against "Palestinians" are a "tax" the "Palestinians" pay for standing firm against "occupying" Israel.
"Despite all of the invasions, the daily arrests, the continued destruction of homes, the expulsion of residents, the break-ins at al Aqsa mosque, the siege on Gaza, the torture our prisoners go through in Israeli jails - despite all of this, our Palestinian nation still stands strong and stands up to the suffering," Abu Senina said.
In fact, while illegally built Jewish buildings are almost always destroyed, illegal Arab buildings rarely suffer the same fate. On Routes 25 and 80, dozens of illegal Arab buildings are built every day, and despite complaints, the Israel Land Authority has not yet demolished any of them.
In addition, not every Arab terrorist serves a prison sentence, and those who do enjoy VIP conditions. Jews who visit the Temple Mount must be accompanied by security personnel, find their movements severely restricted, and are often harassed by Arabs.
While the IDF and Israeli Police do arrest Arabs on a daily basis, those arrested are all terrorists or involved in terror activities.

Promotion of Terrorism Against Israel at Birzeit U Highlighted in Profile of Palestinian Institution of Higher Learning

In a Financial Times Friday feature on the Palestinian university Birzeit near Ramallah, students and faculty voiced their support for violence against the Jewish state.
“The Israelis never give us anything without a confrontation,” said Jihad Hassan Manasar in the piece, titled “Young Palestinians start to lose faith in two-state solution.” Mohammad Makhalfeh concurred, explaining that armed “resistance,” not compromise, is the path to attaining “our land.”
Professor Ghassan Khatib pointed to the terror group Hamas’s recent victory in the school’s student elections — for the second time — as an illustration of Birzeit’s “civilized debate” and democratic traditions. He noted, however, that students may “sometimes ‘overdo’ their activism at the expense of their studies.”
According to FT, Birzeit administrators estimated that, at any given time, 60-70 of their 12,000 students are imprisoned for “security offenses.”

'No more concessions to Zionist enemy,' Hamas deputy warns

Hamas over the weekend indicated it was prepared to take a tougher approach toward Israel, warning that it would no longer be making any concessions. The Gaza Strip-based terrorist group has already threatened a security escalation if Israel continues targeting its posts in the enclave.
"The policy of concessions against the Zionist enemy will not repeat itself again," Hamas deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya said at a press conference in Gaza on Friday.
Hayya's comments came in the wake of speculation in the Palestinian media that "the equation has changed, and perhaps will be predicated on the principle of an attack for an attack."
During the press conference, Hayya reiterated the organization's goals and policies under its new leadership in Gaza.
"Hamas will contend with the Israeli occupation with all the means at its disposal," Hayya continued.

We must speak louder than ever against BDS

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement held its annual “Israel Apartheid Week” on Columbia University’s campus last week, spreading violent antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda. Nevertheless, Apartheid Week is just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the year, the BDS movement has gained momentum across the United States, and life on campus is becoming increasingly difficult for Jewish and Israeli students who are being silenced by its lies, bullying and vicious acts.
Even before applying to Columbia Law School, I had heard about the anti-Israel atmosphere on American campuses and in my previous position as a senior adviser to an Israeli minister, was familiar with the BDS movement. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the intensity of the anti-Israel propaganda and the actual experience of being an Israeli-Jewish student on an American campus.
When I got to campus, I decided to see for myself what BDS was really like and went to the first BDS event. We were told that all audio and video recordings were strictly forbidden. The facilitators then gave a presentation that was nothing short of propaganda and indoctrination. We were told that Israel was established by “colonialist Jews” who destroyed the existing Palestinian state. One of the organizers, from Students for Justice in Palestine, told us that terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens were justified, adding that “this is what you get when you choke a people for 69 years.” All around me, the crowd of about 50 students clapped and cheered.
I left the lecture shaking, terrified. I knew that BDS spread lies and misinformation about Israel and Jews, but it was the first time I had witnessed firsthand a dynamic group of educated and ambitious young people cheering and celebrating the murder of innocent people. I knew then we must save our campus from this violent group and expose it for what it is.

Something Is Rotten In The State Of Academia

Having attended three IAW meetings this week (UCL, KCL, Brunel), blogged about two of them and taken an early bath from the third, I have been thinking hard about various aspects of this annual hatefest.
The most obvious observation is that if IAW was a brand, it would be judged to have failed long ago. It is clear that its main aim is to boost support for BDS. But BDS has failed miserably. Israel’s GDP rose an estimated 3.5% in 2016 and annual growth since 2009 has averaged 3.8%. Neither is BDS gaining followers. I see the same Israel haters at anti-Israel meetings now as I saw five years ago. Neither is the law going their way – in fact, the opposite – in the UK the government has made it absolutely clear that in local authority purchasing decisions and investment decisions, a boycott of Israeli goods and services is not acceptable (in truth in public procurement decisions, it never was). And in the US many State have passed laws which discourage BDS. At the Federal level this is also the case. So IAW has very little impact on Israel. Its main impact is on Jews in the Diaspora – particularly students.
The second response is how shocking that with only one exception (the University of Central Lancashire), Vice Chancellors appear studiously indifferent about hosting these hatefests of lies and demonisations of Israel. In the Medieval Disputation a Jew was required to defend a philosophical position. But the contest was rigged. The only way for the Jewish side to ‘win’ was to force a draw by drawing the Christian side into a position in which it was necessary to deny the Old Testament to win, committing heresy. IAW is much the same. For a Zionist, either (i) you stay away completely or (ii) you go and wait until the Q+A to speak or (iii) you go and make your voice heard in response to the lies as they are voiced. In every case the dice are loaded against you.

Jewish Student at Ohio State U Says Upcoming Vote on BDS Motion Likely to Usher in Antisemitic Attacks

A Jewish student at Ohio State University (OSU) told the Cleveland Jewish News on Thursday that an anti-Israel resolution being put to vote on campus Monday through Wednesday this week is likely to usher in antisemitic attacks.
Responding to a proposed divestment motion placed on the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) ballot, Brandon Weisman — a former OSU student government senator and member of Solon Chabad — said, “A lot of other hatred boils into this initiative that is not necessarily sentiment against Israel. There becomes a Jewish-Muslim divide on campus.”
The motion, sponsored by the campus coalition OSU Divest: Buckeyes for Human Rights, calls on the undergraduate student government to “cease and/or prohibit any investments in G4S, Caterpillar, CoreCivic, The GEO Group and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise until they are no longer engaged in the violation of human rights [of Palestinians] and other practices deemed unethical by the Buckeye community.”
According to Weisman, OSU Divest’s framing of the motion in the lens of human rights has brought in support from otherwise non-allied groups on campus. “It absolutely adds different elements into the mix that have not been there before,” he said.

BDS Austria barred from holding event at Vienna cultural institution

A Vienna cultural institution barred BDS Austria from holding an event, the WUK cultural center told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday.
“The WUK distances itself clearly from ‘Israel Apartheid Week Vienna 2017’ and its organizer, BDS Austria, and there is no place for any form or statement of antisemitism,” Christine Baumann, a spokesperson for the WUK, told the Post.
She added that the “Israeli Apartheid Week Vienna 2017” was not planned as a WUK event. “In the concrete case of BDS Austria, the use of the room was approved because the organizer was mistakenly believed to be for equal rights and against repression and far removed from antisemitism.”
BDS Austria wrote on its Facebook page that the WUK cultural center prevented a discussion and “jumped on the comfortable train of general propaganda and agitational mood against the BDS movement.”
The BDS Austria event was slated to take place at the WUK on March 15.

Texas, Spanish banks slammed over Israel-boycott accounts

Two giant financial institutions – Dallas-based Comerica and Spain’s La Caixa – are caught in the crossfire of criticism from politicians and human rights organizations over a fiercely anti-Israel legal group’s accounts with them.
Texas State Sen. Brandon Creighton told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, “The International Association of Democratic Lawyers [IADL] supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to boycott Israeli products. I do not agree with that stance and I have authored legislation to prohibit Texas from investing public funds in companies that boycott Israel.”
He added, “That [closure of the account] is unfortunately not up to the Texas legislature to decide. As a public official and voice for my constituents, my concern is to ensure that the State of Texas does not support organizations engaged in these discriminatory trade practices.”
Texas State Rep. Phil King, the author of another anti-BDS bill, told the Post that “financial institutions and companies, just like state governments, should be encouraged by their stakeholders to exercise their freedom and moral obligation to carefully choose the parties with whom they do business.”

You Can’t Expect Children to Fact Check News

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is to be commended for making current affairs accessible to children, with its “Behind the News” (BTN) series of videos. However, given the relative lack of sophistication and maturity of the intended audience, the journalists at BTN have an extra responsibility to ensure that their presentations are accurate and balanced.
But with the recent video “Israel and Palestine History,” attempting to give the background to PM Netanyahu’s visit to Australia,” they have failed.
The “hook” for the story was that “the visit came with a lot of controversy,” referring to the protests staged by small groups of anti-Zionists. But the visit was not controversial anywhere except the far fringes of politics; Netanyahu was effusively welcomed by the leaders of both Australia’s government and opposition. ABC’s desire for “controversy” will have misled children into thinking that the protests were significant. They were not.
More concerning was the presentation of what was described as “fighting between Palestinian and Israeli people for many, many years over land.” As we sadly expect from the ABC, history began in 1948. In 1948 the young viewers are told, “there was no Israel. All this area was known as Palestine and it was under the control of Britain.”
No mention of the Jewish communities that have lived continuously in the land for more than 3,000 years; no explanation that mandatory “Palestine” was the name for an administrative area and has no relation to the recently confected concept of a “Palestinian state”; no mention of the anti-Jewish riots in the 20’s and 30’s and the Arabs’ longstanding and bloody opposition to the re-birth of Israel.

Israeli tech to protect Mars astronauts set for moon mission trial

A vest designed to shield astronauts from deadly solar particles in deep space is set for trials on a lunar mission ready for deployment on any manned mission to Mars, its Israeli developers said.
The AstroRad Radiation Shield has been devised by Tel Aviv-based StemRad, which has already produced and marketed a belt to protect rescue workers from harmful gamma ray radiation emitted in nuclear disasters, such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.
The vest will protect vital human tissue, particularly stem cells, which could be devastated by solar radiation in deep space or on Mars, whose sparse atmosphere offers no protection, StemRad's CEO Oren Milstein said.
The vest is made of layers that look like a contoured map and will be tailor-made for each astronaut. Non-metallic protective materials will be positioned on each shield to cover the organs of each astronaut.
"This product will enable human deep space exploration. Our breakthrough has come in creating the architecture of the multi-layered shield to accurately cover the most important organs," Milstein said.

Richard Gere coming for a movie premiere in Israel

Richard Gere is set to arrive in Israel next week for the premiere of his new movie, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.
The premiere will take place on March 8, a day before the film's release in Israeli cinemas. The film also includes Lior Ashkenazi, Steve Buscemi, Michael Sheen, Dan Stevens, Josh Charles, Neta Riskin, Dovaleh Glickman, Yehuda Almagor, Tali Sharon and others.
The film's hero is Norman Oppenheimer (Gere), a small cog on the margins of the powerful money-making machine that is New York, dreaming to make it to the top. On the way, he cultivates a network of contacts, which leads him nowhere.
He then meets an Israeli member of Knesset (Ashkenazi) when it seems his political career is coming to an end.
Things become complicated once the MK is elected prime minister and asks Oppenheimer to be his political adviser.

Trevor Rabin says ‘Yes’ to Israel

If anyone has the right to cringe when the dreaded “apartheid” term pops up in reference to Israel, it’s Trevor Rabin.
Growing up in a liberal Jewish household in Johannesburg in the 1950s and ’60s, the 63-year-old South African-born musician, singer-songwriter, producer and film composer was involved first-hand in the struggle against apartheid, with family members playing vital roles in the resistance efforts.
“I grew up pretty differently to most white South Africans, who were oblivious to the issue and thought that life there was kind of normal. I knew from an early age that it was a pretty foreign existence,” Rabin told The Jerusalem Post last week from his home in Los Angeles.
“I was in an anti-apartheid band called Freedom’s Children – and my family was very active in anti-apartheid efforts,” he added, listing a lawyer cousin, Sydney Kentrdige, who in 1978, pro bono, represented the family of anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko at the inquest following his death, and an uncle, Donald Woods, whose books on the subject forced him into exile and were eventually turned into the 1987 British epic drama film Cry Freedom directed by Richard Attenborough.
With that collective knowledge and experience deep inside him, Rabin’s reaction to “apartheid” being thrown at Israel is telling, and helps explain his appearance Tuesday in Tel Aviv at the Mivtach Menora Arena with fellow members of British Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Yes – Jon Anderson and Rick Wakemen – as part of an evening of Yes music under the banner ARW.

Pet Shop Boys due to perform at Tel Aviv Pride parade

British electro gods the Pet Shop Boys might be going Middle East, despite the fact that life is arguably not so peaceful here. Yedioth Ahronoth found that the duo is on the cusp of signing on to perform at a very gay bash at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park during the city's June's Pride Parade.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who make up the Pet Shop Boys, are to be the delicious crown jewel at the center of a DJ bonanaza celebrating the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, as well as those looking to explore.
The duo has already visited Israel three times, in 1999, 2009 and 2013.
Becoming a beacon of 80s magic, the Pet Shop Boys took their first steps in the music industry in 1981 and quickly rose to the top of the charts. Their hits include Go West, West End Girls, Love Etc., Always on my Mind, Domino Dancing and New York City Boy, as well as a truly superb cover to West Side Story's Somewhere. At present, they have sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

Massive 4,000-year-old Galilee tombs force rethink of Bronze dark age

Around 4,000 years ago, a man, a woman and a child were laid to rest in a barrow beneath a massive 50-ton slab of basalt on a hillside in the Hula Valley. Offerings in ceramic pots were laid by their sides, and above their heads mysterious symbols were etched into the stone.
This enigmatic discovery, detailed in an academic article published in PLOS ONE on Thursday, upends our understanding of a little-understood dark age in the Levant following the collapse of Early Bronze Age cities.
Their grave of boulders stacked to form a crude table, known by archaeologists as a dolmen, was one of a vast field of tombs recently excavated by archaeologists in what is now northern Israel. The multi-chambered barrow the three skeletons were found in, however, stood out from the rest.
The excavation of the dolmens, near Kibbutz Shamir in the Hula Valley (a stone’s throw from a Roman manor described in a recent Times of Israel article), commenced after Gonen Sharon, a professor at Tel Hai College and lead author of the study, discovered the rock drawings in 2012. The field was first surveyed in the 1950s.

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