06/18 Links: German TV will show ‘censored’ antisemitism documentary; PA turns murderers into victims; Media, Murder and Israel ~ EoZ

From Ian:

After pressure, German TV will show ‘censored’ antisemitism documentary

German public broadcaster ARD’s announcement on Friday that it will air a documentary about the outbreak of antisemitism in Europe and the Middle East comes after weeks of harsh criticism, including from Israel’s government, for allegedly censoring the widely praised film.
Volker Beck, a Green Party deputy in the Bundestag, who urged the Franco-German culture station ARTE to show the film, said on Saturday: “I welcome ARD’s willingness to show the antisemitism documentary. Now everybody can form an opinion. And that is good.”
ARD – the German association of public broadcasters that collectively is the world’s largest publicly funded broadcaster – said it will show the German- language film Chosen and Excluded – The Hate for Jews in Europe, on Wednesday evening.
Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, “Israel believes the film should be shown and we find the decision not to show it very disturbing. Bild is to be congratulated for its initiative. The European public opinion should know the truth.”

Slain soldier Hadas Malka laid to rest

Thousands of friends and family attended MSG. Hadas Malka's funeral Sunday, two days after she was murdered in a terror attack near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City.
Officials who attended the funeral included Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, Border Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai and other ministers and Knesset members.
Hadas' brother, Guy, eulogized her, saying, "You had so many dreams, we wanted to see you get married. Get up, please say this is a dream. Say this isn't you. A damn terrorist ruined our dreams. We will never forget you as our hero sister who defended Jerusalem. Watch over us from above, we love you forever."
Commissioner Alsheikh also spoke at the funeral, praising her for her courage and determination to serve the country. "You fought for the border police out of a deep sense of mission and desire to contribute. Your friends have said that you are full of values and loved your country and its people," Alsheikh said. "They say that in addition to being a professional and a patriot you were a great sister to all the other fighters, always worrying about everyone's wellbeing, always smiling, always willing to lend a helping hand."
Turning to the attack itself which ended Hadas's life, Alsheikh said, "You fought against a terrorist who attacked you, but unfortunately, we are standing here today seeing the cost: a fresh grave and pain for your family, the border police, the Israel police and the entire nation. I call upon all Israeli citizens to remember you, not just as a fighter against terrorism, but also as a fighter in the police's war for Israeli society, a war which isn't always given its proper recognition."

Benjamin Netanyahu slams Palestinian Authority after Jerusalem attack 'No limit to lies, brazenness'

The international community must demand that the Palestinian Authority end payments to the families of terrorists, “something that only encourages terrorism,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu's comments came in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Damascus Gate on Friday night that killed Border Police officer Hadas Malka. Netanyahu noted that not only did the Palestinian Authority not condemn the murder, but Fatah – which is headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas – issued a statement condemning the Border Police for killing the terrorists.
“Apparently there is no limit to lies and brazenness,” he said.
Netanyahu said that the the same PA that refused to condemn the attacks will now pay salaries to the families of the murderers.
"I call on the nations of the world to condemn the murder and those who praise it, and to demand the immediate ending of Palestinian Authority payments to the families of terrorists,” he said.

PMW: PA turns murderers into victims

On Friday, Hadas Malka, a 23-year-old Israeli policewoman, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist on Friday near the Old City of Jerusalem's Damascus gate. Armed with guns and knives, the terrorist, part of a group of three, was planning a large terror attack. However after the young Israeli woman was murdered, police immediately shot and killed the three terrorists.
Fatah and the PA immediately and repeatedly condemned Israel's cutting short the Jerusalem terror attack, and honored the terrorist murderers calling them Shahids - Islamic Martyrs.
Fatah Movement:
"The Fatah Movement called on the entire world and its international institutions to condemn the war crime that the Israeli occupation forces committed on Friday in Jerusalem, a short time before the meal to break the [Ramadan] fast, against three young Palestinians."
Fatah spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi:
"The silence of the international community in light of the continuation of the occupation and its crimes, which have not stopped for even one moment, encourages Israel to permit [the spilling of] Palestinian blood. The despicable crime that was committed today in cold blood and claimed the lives of three Palestinians is nothing but proof of that." [Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, June 16, 2017]
PA Minister of Education and Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam:
"May Allah have mercy on the Martyrs (Shahids) of Jerusalem and all of Palestine." [Facebook page of PA Minister of Education and
Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, June 16, 2017]
PA Ministry of Health:
"The [PA] Ministry of Health announced yesterday evening [June 16, 2017] that three young people were shot by occupation forces and died as Martyrs."
"[Fatah] demanded that the international community seriously examine providing international defense to the defenseless Palestinian people." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 17, 2017]

'Damascus Gate attack was a major operational failure'

Brigadier General Aryeh Amit, the former commander of the Jerusalem District, spoke with Arutz Sheva about police security operations in Jerusalem in light of the terrorist attack in which Border Police officer Hadas Malka was stabbed to death Friday night.
"Although in our arrogance we think that in recent years we're the ones who affect [the rate of terrorist attacks], the only thing we know how to do - especially the Shin Bet security service, and then the police and then the army - is to use intelligence," Amit said.
"But it is the Palestinian street that determines the pace," he added. "It decides when to [escalate the conflict] and when not to, based on mood swings and political events...and the month of Ramadan has been prone to trouble for years."
During the month of the Ramadan daily fast, Amit continued, "the religious tension rises and their nerves become more frayed, and the restrictions we impose on them because we have no choice incense the youth even more than normally, because they prevent them from reaching the Temple Mount and the result is attacks and riots on the Temple Mount and in East Jerusalem."
"Let's remember that the terrorists who killed our lovely soldier came here without permission. They crossed into the city illegally and made themselves at home," he said.

After attack, PM revokes some Ramadan entry permits for Palestinians

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday evening revoked the entry permits given to Palestinians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to visit their relatives in Israel, following a terror attack in Jerusalem in which Border Police officer Hadas Malka was killed.
Israel had eased restrictions on the entrance of Palestinians from the West Bank for Ramadan, including permitting daily family visits during Sundays through Thursdays.
Following the attack, Netanyahu held a phone consultation with Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, and decided to cancel the family visits, according to a police statement.
Netanyahu, however, did not revoke the permission given to Palestinian men aged over 40 from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers, police said.
“During Ramadan there are large numbers of (Palestinian) youths who enter without permits, they take advantage of Ramadan to be in Jerusalem,” Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy told media at the scene of the attack outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate in which Malka was stabbed to death.

Measures against Palestinians preventative, not retaliatory

The concern now is that this relative calm will give way to a new wave of terrorism, and the defense establishment will undoubtedly focus its counterterrorism efforts on massive activities across Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem.
As part of this, it was decided to focus counterterrorism efforts on the area around Damascus Gate, a permanent point of interaction between Jews and Palestinians and a popular target for terrorist attacks. The defense establishment is considering turning the area surrounding the gate into a sterile zone, at least in part, subjecting anyone passing through to more rigorous security screening.
Employing this measure will require allocating additional resources and personnel to security forces, and the Israel Police will have to ensure that the move does not backfire and lead to increased friction and Palestinian attempts to harm Israelis.
The most prominent feature of the wave of terrorism that has plagued Israel for the past two years is the copycat element, in which Palestinian youths try to replicate attacks carried out by neighbors, friends or relatives.
Already on Saturday morning, there was an attempted stabbing of a security guard near the Samaria community of Elon Moreh, northeast of Nablus. Security forces are certain to focus their efforts on preventing other terrorists from carrying out attacks during the volatile last days of Ramadan.

6 Arab suspects arrested for throwing firebombs at Jewish homes in Old City

Six Arab residents of the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, including five minors, were arrested Sunday morning on arson charges for allegedly throwing several firebombs at Jewish homes in the area.
Police said the arrests were carried out after obtaining search warrants to each suspects’ home following an ongoing investigation.
The six suspects attacked Jewish homes with petrol bombs in the Muslim Quarter over the last few weeks and were arrested for arson and attempted arson,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
“They were arrested in their homes overnight and taken in for questioning at the Jaffa Gate police station,” he added, noting that the homes targeted sustained serious damage from the attacks, although none of the residents were injured.

Israeli official on BBC headline gaffe: These mistakes happen way too often

While acknowledging the BBC's clarification of a badly misleading headline about the terrorist attacks in Jerusalem Friday night, Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem on Sunday warned BBC consumers to be aware, because these mistakes happen “way too often.”
Following an outcry from everyone from the Foreign Ministry to US President Donald Trump's son over an initial headline on Friday that read, “Three Palestinians killed after deadly stabbing in Jerusalem,” the news organization changed the headline to, “Israeli police woman stabbed to death in Jerusalem.”
Diplomatic officials acknowledged that a tweet about the misleading headline that was posted by US President Donald Trump's son, Donald Jr., likely had an influence on the BBC's decision to retract the first headline, and then issue an apology. Trump Jr. has 1.69 million followers on his Twitter account.
Rotem retweeted a tweet from the spokesman at the Israeli embassy that displayed the apology, and wrote this comment: “BBC World admits mistake, but such mistakes happen way too often. #BBC consumers beware.”

Media, Murder and Israel

On Friday terrorists shot and stabbed Israelis in Jerusalem, and managed to kill 23 year old police officer Hadas Malka before being shot by police. The headlines? "Palestinians killed." Really?? Donald Trump Jr. and Prime Minister Netanyahu were furious. Everywhere in the world the media focus on the VICTIMS and CALL it TERROR. Why the double standard? Why only in Israel?

BBC News changes headline, deletes Tweet after anger at portrayal of terror attack in Jerusalem

As we see, that headline and sub-heading both fail to inform BBC audiences that the “Palestinians killed” were the terrorists who carried out the “deadly stabbing”.
As a result of public pressure, the BBC deleted that Tweet and posted a replacement some 24 hours after the attack took place. Readers may recall that this is by no means the first time that a BBC headline concerning a terror attack in Israel has prompted public outrage.
As is inevitably the case in BBC coverage of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel – and in stark contrast to BBC portrayal of similar attacks in Europe – the article does not describe the incident as a terror attack.
Moreover, in the later version of the report readers found the following representation of a statement from Israeli officials saying that there was no indication that the terrorists were connected to ISIS:
“Police said there was “no indication” of a link between the suspects and a terror group.”
In fact – as the Times of Israel reported:
“All three of the assailants were members of Palestinian terrorist organizations, according to… Israel’s Shin Bet…

Trump's son: BBC coverage of Jerusalem attack 'misleading'

The British news network BBC once again sparked controversy on Friday with its coverage of an event in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following an attack in Jerusalem in which three Palestinian terrorists attacked and killed an Israeli policewoman and wounded an Israeli policeman before being killed themselves, the BBC tweeted a laconic "Three Palestinians killed after deadly stabbing in Jerusalem."
The tweet infuriated Donald Trump Jr., son of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"You mean after they stabbed a female Israeli police officer to death ... right? This is as close to being misleading as possible," Trump tweeted in response.
"Need a new term for this nonsense. Sort of the opposite of victim blaming. How about Culprit Coddling? Maybe Criminal Cozying? Thoughts???" he tweeted.

Globe and Mail Turns Palestinian Terrorists into Victims

On June 16, Globe and Mail editors published an Associated Press report where its editors wrote the following headline: “Three Palestinians killed after attack on Israeli officers”. In so doing, the Globe turned Palestinian terrorists into victims.
Untold in the headline, is the fact that the 3 dead Palestinians had carried out the stabbing and shooting attacks on Israeli officers (which killed a female Israeli officer) in the Old City in Jerusalem.
As is, this biased headline turned the attacker into the victim and the victim into the attacker.
This headline (which was also posted to the Globe’s Twitter account) was terribly misleading and unfair.
In sharp contrast, the National Post and NBC News gave this same AP report the following fair and accurate headlines which identified the Palestinians as “attackers”:

PreOccupiedTerritory: Palestinians Angry Israel Put Password On Wifi (satire)

Palestinians accustomed to receiving free benefits protested today at Israel’s decision to secure its wireless network with a password, local sources have reported.
Israel imposed a security code on its WiFi over the weekend, prompting Palestinian officials to complain to the United Nations and human rights groups to denounce the move as a violation of Palestinian rights.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the password imposition a war crime, and vowed to take Israel to the International Criminal Court over the measure. Other Palestinian officials voiced forceful objection, and compared the need to pay for their own WiFi signal to Russians in besieged Leningrad during World War II.
“It is immoral and brutal to deny us our basic needs,” asserted Saeb Erekat. “Israel must restore free WiFi at once, or face the consequences of its actions. This is merely the latest in the abuse we have faced for decades already under brutal military occupation.”
Israeli officials defended the move. “They can pay for their own WiFi signal,” insisted Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Hotovely. “They already pay nothing for electricity, health care, and other services, despite all the fancy mansions you can see in and around Ramallah. And don’t get me started on the leaders of Hamas in Gaza lining their pockets with international aid money.”

Hundreds turn out for anti-Israel march in London

Several hundred people took part in the "Al Quds Day" March in London on Sunday. Waving Palestinian flags and shouting cries of "end the occupation" and "Boycott Israel," the participants came out to express their rage at the Jewish state's treatment of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The crowd, made up of local Muslims, ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to the anti-Zionist Neturi Karta sect and left wing activists, marched down the road, carrying signs and banners accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing, all under the watchful eyes of scores of police officers.
A smaller counter protest was held by Israeli supporters, mostly members of the local Jewish and Israeli community, but also included right wing activists who yelled "terrorists" towards the marchers. Police managed to keep the sides separated in order to prevent clashes.
Israel advocates had called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to cancel the rally in the British capital due to concerns that the march propagates displays of antisemitism and terrorism. Nearly 10,000 people signed a petition to have the march canceled.

IsraellyCool: Al Quds Day: Political Expression Of Religious Desire To Murder In The Name Of Allah

Al Quds day is fundamentally religious. Holding what the west would consider to be a political rally, based on this, shows the inextricable link between Islamic theology and the Islamic political desire to conquer and rule the world as commanded by their god and their prophet.
There is no separation of “church and state” with this event. There is no way to separate the relentless violent Jihad against the Jews and Israel from the clear and unequivocal commandments of their god through their prophet.
When this march takes place in London or elsewhere they are using the hard-won political protections of freedom of speech and assembly that grew from the Judaeo-Christian traditions in the West. They are perverting those traditions with a religious call to murder in the name of god. There is no question that the event is entirely grounded in what the west erroneously protects as a religion yet in this event is a religion of blood and war that is utterly inverse to Judaeo-Christian religion. It is also at odds with just about every other eastern religion. They claim a freedom of religion to make everyone unfree.
Until we recognise our western tolerance has been abused we are powerless to resist this invasion. London will fall, just as Constantinople and Jerusalem once fell.
How long will it take the British to recover their capital after it has fallen or will they wake up and understand the threat they’ve allowed in and now nurture in their lands?

Bennett submits bill to make it ‘impossible’ to divide Jerusalem

Education Minister Naftali Bennett formally proposed legislation Sunday that would require a special two-thirds Knesset majority on any decision to divide Jerusalem under a future peace deal with the Palestinians, saying that the bill would effectively make such a move “impossible.”
Bennett, who leads the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, is seeking to amend the Basic Law on Jerusalem so that any future vote to divide the city would require the approval of 80 of the 120 MKs to pass, as opposed to a regular majority.
“The purpose of this law is to unify Jerusalem forever,” Bennett said of his legislation in a statement. “Reaching a majority of 80 MKs in order to divide Jerusalem is impossible and has no feasibility in the Knesset, which is why this law is so important.”
Currently the Jerusalem Law, passed in 1980 and amended in 2000, states: “No authority that is stipulated in the law of the State of Israel or of the Jerusalem Municipality may be transferred either permanently or for an allotted period of time to a foreign body, whether political, governmental or to any other similar type of foreign body.”

Family of man held by Hamas receives video of his entering Gaza

The family of an Ethiopian-Israeli man held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after he voluntarily crossed the border fence was given a copy of video footage showing his crossing.
Avraham Abera Mengistu, 30, of Ashkelon, is believed to have voluntarily climbed over the security fence between Israel and Gaza in September 2014, and since then has not been heard from. He suffers from mental illness, according to his family.
Mengistu immigrated with his family to Israel in 1991 when he was 5 years old.
The IDF turned the security video footage over to the family on Saturday night, the Times of Israel reported. The family reportedly saw the footage in the months after Mengistu went missing, but in January requested a copy of it. The handing over of the footage reportedly was approved by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.

"JIHAD WILL CONTINUE UNTIL JUDGMENT DAY" - EGYPTIAN HISTORIAN

Egyptian historian Mohamed Elhamy said that Jihad was established in Islam in order to "transfer the believers from weakness and enslavement to strength and empowerment" and that it would continue until Judgment Day. "The occupiers, the oppressors, and the tyrants are well aware... of the importance of Jihad for the sake of Allah," he said, speaking on the Turkey-based Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood channel Mekameleen TV on May 27.
Mohamed Elhamy: "Jihad has been established (in Islam), and it will continue until Judgment Day. Jihad was established in order to transfer the believers from weakness and enslavement to strength and empowerment. Truth by itself is weak. It needs force. It was through Jihad that the Muslims transformed from a state of weakness and enslavement in Mecca into power and sovereignty in Medina. Jihad was established also in order to save humanity, in order to save the subjugated and the oppressed. Therefore, Jihad is the enemy of injustice and tyranny.
There is not a single tyrant or oppressor who does not fight the principle of Jihad, just like the occupiers did, when they invaded our countries. They even created Islamic sects and movements that would repudiate Jihad. They tried to secularize Islam, and thus to eliminate the notion of Jihad from Islam, so that the (occupied) countries would stay calm. The occupiers, the oppressors, and the tyrants are well aware – even more than those who are on the side of Truth themselves – of the importance of Jihad for the sake of Allah. They know they cannot subjugate the people unless they remove their (notion) of resistance, and remove the will to wage Jihad for the sake of Allah from the people’s hearts and minds. Through its Jihad, which will continue until Judgement Day, the Islamic nation represents the cultural alternative, and the hope of supporting the subjugated and the oppressed all over the world."

PreOccupiedTerritory: I Take It All Back. I Am So, So Sorry. by Muhammad The Prophet (satire)

I should have foreseen how my system in the inevitable wrong hands would produce such horrors.
It’s been more than a thousand years since my followers swept across the Middle East and North Africa, even into Europe, and down into Southeast Asia. My teachings have spread far and wide, reaching even the distant lands of Chile, Russia, and Northern Europe. While for a long time I gloried in the temporal success of my movement, it has become clear what a tragic, historic mistake I made in launching it. I hereby retract it all, and apologize to all who were hurt. I am so, so, sorry.
The list of victims owed an apology or two of course begins with the Jews, who by some miracle are still around despite my followers’ – and their Nazi allies’ – best efforts. The chants of “Khaybar, Khaybar” still echo through the Islamic world, each time filling me with increasing shame. I created a monster. Hundreds of millions of monsters through the centuries. Jews, nothing can expiate my wrongs, but at least now I acknowledge them.
Non-Muslims in general, not just Jews, have fallen victim to our supremacist ideology, as have homosexuals, women who demand rights, and political opponents who can conveniently be labeled heretics. For this, I apologize. I should have foreseen how my system – any system – in the inevitable wrong hands would produce such horrors. So drunk with my own vision was I that I could not give proper attention to that eventuality.

Banking on nothing but bias

One of Sweden's largest banks, SEB, recently decided to initiate a boycott against 40 international companies it believes "are in breach of global norms and traditions."
Three of those companies are Israeli banks, which are being blacklisted by SEB because of the "occupation," and a fourth is Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which delivers technical equipment used by the Israeli police and military for security procedures at various roadblocks and checkpoints.
SEB has clearly stated that the boycott of the Israeli banks and Hewlett Packard is a statement against the "crimes against international law" perpetrated by Israel and that it is supposed to be an incentive for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, and through this measure SEB is taking an unusual stand in a major international conflict. It may seem odd and random, but a little bit of digging reveals that there is nothing random about the list at all.
Like many other large companies in these times of political correctness and heightened sensitivity, SEB has hired a consulting service to keep it on the right ethical track when it comes to international investments and partnerships. SEB's consulting company is ISS-Ethix and the liaison working directly on the SEB blacklist is Michele Prisco, a man with some fascinating alliances. Prisco is a member of the Swedish Christian Council, an organization of major Swedish Christian communities with strong left-leaning and pro-Palestinian sympathies that has made a big business out of criticizing and attacking Israel. Every year, this council receives large sums in Swedish foreign aid for its work, predominantly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. According to his own public information, Prisco is an "ecumenical accompanier in Israel and Palestine." It would not be a radical stretch to assume that his views on Israeli politics and security are severely skewed in one direction.

IsraellyCool: Israel Derangement Syndrome Gone Wild At Wellington Children’s Festival Artsplash

While I am glad Sir Tim Rice objected to the change, I don’t think “terribly meaningless and drippy” adequately describes it. In fact, it is a very meaningful change – an attempt to wipe out Israel’s existence in the hearts and minds of primary school children!
How sick is that?
And all to “keep life simple?!” Yes, I am sure life would be a hell of a lot simpler for some people if the Jews and Israel were not around or ever had been. You wouldn’t have ethical monotheism for a start, meaning subjective morality would be the order of the day, and people could do whatever made them feel good. Damn those pesky Jews for bringing ethics and morality to the world!
Note also their response to complaints is not to insert “Israel” back in, but to take out the entire song so as to “not look for trouble.” Apparently, the hurt feelings of Jews everywhere is ok, as long as the real important people are not offended (who I assume to be Israel haters, including a significant number of Muslims).
I am just surprised they stopped there and did not cancel the entire show – Joseph was one of the children of Jacob/Israel after all, and his existence is a reminder we have been around in this land of ours way longer than those who came later, the same people who have already shown their contempt for him.

Reem's bakery in Fruitvale. Mainstreaming Murder

Why is Reem's Bakery in the Oakland Fruitvale neighborhood promoting hate? Why is Reem's glorifying Rasmea Odeh, the confessed killer of 2 young students? Why is a bakery that claims to "connect people across culture" lionizing a murderer who targeted civilians in a grocery store?
Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner were best friends, murdered when members of the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine bombed a Jerusalem grocery store in 1969. Nine other people were injured.
Rasmea Odeh, a member of the PFLP terror group placed her bomb in a kosher grocery store in Jerusalem for one reason- to target and terrorize Jewish civilians. She was arrested and confessed to the murders after one day in custody. Physical evidence such as bomb making materials were found in Odeh’s home. Guy Wintelir, an observer from the International Red Cross attended the six month long trial and described it as fair. Rasmea was sentenced to life in prison over for her role in the attack.
In 1980, after serving only 10 years of her sentence, Odeh was released in a prisoner exchange
She immigrated to the United States in 1995, escaping detection by using a variety of aliases, but was found guilty in 2014 of lying on her immigration papers. She confessed after an appeal and is currently awaiting deportation.

Reem's bakery in Fruitvale: Gaming the system on Yelp

From Berkeleyside, writing about Reem's, a new bakery in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland:
Assil decidedly chooses to use “Arab” over “Middle Eastern” when describing her concept. “I wanted it to be political,” she said. “People are afraid of politics, but now more than ever people are asking. If my food can stir up a conversation — even if it’s a hard conversation — that’s what I want it to do. I welcome that in my space.”
Reem Assil 's commitment to open dialog and conversation apparently is limited to those who agree with her. On her Facebook page, she has urged her followers to rate down negative comments on Yelp, and to give her establishment positive reviews
Reem Assil, a local anti-Israel activist and member of the extremist Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC) solicited her political connections to shut down complaints about her new bakery. Anti-Israel activists from as far away as Texas, many who have never set foot in the bakery were quick to leap to her defense, sharing notes on how to game the Yelp review process, and chortling over their success in shutting down negative reviews.

Anti-Semitic messages painted on Romanian synagogue

Anti-Semitic messages were found painted on the wall of a synagogue in Romania.
“Holocaust Never Happened” and “All the Best” with a Star of David were painted in black and red on the outside of the Synagogue of Deportees Memorial Temple in Cluj-Napoca, in northwestern Romania.
Police were called about the graffiti on Monday by representatives of the city’s Jewish community, though the vandalism may have taken place over the weekend, according to local reports.
Though the synagogue is located on a main thoroughfare in the city, no witnesses have come forward with information about the vandalism.
Built in 1886, the synagogue was destroyed during Allied bombardments in June 1944. It was rebuilt and reinaugurated in 1947, when it was dedicated to the memory of the over 16,000 Jews deported from Cluj in May-June 1944 and exterminated in Auschwitz.

Israel turned deserts green, there is no reason Kenyans should go hungry

As Israeli Ambassador Yahel Vilan ends his two-year posting, Kenya is suffering from drought and food insecurity and has been forced to import food.
Israel, a tiny country of 21,000 square kilometres and a population of 8.7 million, is famous for turning the desert green with agricultural innovation, such as drip irrigation.
And it exports fresh produce.
Kenya with 48 million people covers more than 581,000 square kilometres, much of it arid and desert, some of it verdant, well-irrigated and perfect for agriculture. And yet it’s struggling.
In a wide-ranging interview, Vilan discussed Israel’s assistance to Kenya in agriculture, especially the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project in Tana River.
It is being developed with Israeli expertise and run by an Israeli company. It’s largely funded by Kenya.
Though the project has been criticised by some in Kenya for not producing enough, Vilan called the project — which is a pilot — a success that will help transform Kenyan agriculture.
According to chief engineer and project manager Thuita Mwangi, the third harvest from 2,500 acres delivered 93,860 bags. About 1,000 locals are employed.

Israeli scientists successfully regenerate damaged hearts

Israeli scientists have isolated a molecule that promotes heart cell regeneration, according to the results of a new study published in Nature magazine, a discovery that could offer hope to millions of sufferers of cardiovascular diseases around the world.
The study, led by Rehovot’s Weizmann Institute of Science in cooperation with several other schools in Israel and in the US, examined the effect of an embryonic protein on adult heart regeneration.
While heart regeneration in mammals has been observed during the prenatal stage, it is virtually impossible for the blood-pumping organ to heal after birth. Any damage to the heart from that point on, through heart attacks or other maladies, is there to stay.
Even worse, the healthy heart muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, are replaced by scar tissue that places further burden on the remaining healthy cells.
Thus, any damage to the heart only increases the risk of further degeneration and eventual failure.
Researchers studied a protein called Agrin, common in fetal hearts, which rapidly disappears after birth. They now believe Agrin, which resides in the space between prenatal heart cells, controls the process of cardiomyocyte regeneration.
The scientists extracted Agrin from the hearts of newborn mice, which retain the protein for about a week after birth, and tested it in various environments, to highly encouraging results.

Jordan won’t ban ‘Wonder Woman’ after all

Jordan decided not to ban the film “Wonder Woman” from the country’s movie theaters.
“The film was allowed to screen in Jordanian cinemas due to a lack of legal precedent to do otherwise, as outlined by Regulation No. 63 of 2004, on the Clearance and Control of Audiovisual Works,” Mohammed Qtaishat, director general of the Communications Commission, told Al Bawaba, an Amman-based news website.
The movie will be rolled out throughout Jordan over the next month, according to the report.
But at least one movie theater in Amman has apologized for showing the movie and canceled future screenings over the fact that the star, Gal Gadot, is Jewish, The Times of Israel reported.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement in 1994.
The Jordanian commission’s review of the “Wonder Woman” came after Lebanon banned the film as part of its boycott of all things Israeli. Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel.

Renana Meir celebrates wedding with members of bereaved families

Yesterday (Wednesday) the “OneFamily” hall in Jerusalem hosted a Sheva Brachot (festive meals held for the first week of marriagea at which seven blessings are said, ed.) for Renana Meir, daughter of Dafna Meir OBM, and Or Cohen, who were married on Sunday. Family members were present, headed by Dafna’s widower Nathan, Renana’s father, who remarried three weeks ago to Zohar Morgenstern.
Among the guests were representatives of bereaved families from all across Israel, including David Hatuel, whose four daughters and first pregant Tali were murdered in a shooting terror attach in Kisufim in 2004, and Meir Pavlovsky from Kiryat Arba, who was badly wounded in a stabbing attack in Hevron a year and a half ago, and after recovering from his injury – against all odds – married his sweetheart, Katya. “Today I found here a new home, warm and supportive,” he said.
Several weeks ago, Renana visited her mother’s grave and laid an invitation to the wedding next to the grave. She posted a photo of the tombstone with the invitation next to it and wrote: “Take me far, teach me to shout like there is no tomorrow, promise me that nothing ever ends, that God stays. I was never afraid of the sea, but now every wave is intolerable. We have put an invitation on your grave and I beg that you arrive. I leave one hand free for you on the way to the chupah, please come to hold it.”
The “Onefamily” Organization that organized the Sheva Brachot is an organization for supporting and helping rebuild the lives of terror victims in Israel with a combination of emotional, psychological and financial support. Today, the organization supports more than 3,550 families of wounded victims, bereaved families and trauma victims. After the terror attack in which Dafna Meir was murdered a year and a half ago, Renana joined the activity of One Family and is today a volunteer in the organization.

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