11/12 Links: Prince Charles blames ‘foreign’ Jews for Mideast turmoil; BBC Erases Jews from Ancient Israel ~ EoZ

From Ian:

In 1986 letter, Prince Charles blames ‘foreign’ Jews for Mideast turmoil

In a newly revealed letter from 1986 , the UK’s Prince Charles implied that the “influx of foreign, European Jews” to Israel was to blame for fueling the Israeli-Arab conflict, and lamented that US presidents were unwilling to take on the American “Jewish lobby.”

The November 24, 1986 letter was written to a friend, explorer Laurens van der Post, after a visit to the Gulf with Princess Diana. It was published by the Mail on Sunday. Charles wrote that he now had a greater insight to Arabs’ hostility towards Israel following the trip.

“Also begin to understand their point of view about Israel. Never realized they see it as a US colony,” he wrote. “I now appreciate that Arabs and Jews were all a Semitic people originally + it is the influx of foreign, European Jews (especially from Poland, they say) which has helped to cause great problems.”

Charles, who was 38 at the time, then suggested the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel was a root cause of terrorism that needed to be addressed.

“I know there are so many complex issues, but how can there ever be an end to terrorism unless the causes are eliminated?,” he wrote.

It was not clear from the letter whether he was referring to European Jews immigrating to Israel before or after the Holocaust and the country’s establishment in 1948.

Prince Charles must repudiate 1986 letter demanding someone “take on the Jewish lobby” and claiming “influx” of Holocaust survivors to Israel caused terrorism and are a problem to be “eliminated”

This letter is disturbing. It appears that our future king believed in 1986 that the “influx” of Holocaust survivors to Israel were not “Semitic”, “cause great problems” including terrorism, and should be “eliminated”, presumably through their removal. The letter also appears to endorse the view that Israel is not simply the result of Jewish self-determination in the historic Jewish homeland, but the result of bullying by an all-powerful “Jewish lobby” which holds US presidents in its clutches. We view these comments as unmistakably antisemitic.

However, since the letter was written, the Prince of Wales appears to have warmed to the Jewish community and we note his friendship with the former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, as well as his attendance at the inauguration of the present Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis.

In order to reassure the worldwide Jewish community, including Jews living in Israel, that the heir to the throne has changed his views, these historic remarks must urgently be repudiated by Prince Charles.

BBC Erases Jews from Ancient Israel

An initially positive feature on the BBC Travel website focuses on the Israel city of Caesarea, specifically the discovery of 2,000 gold coins on the ocean floor, the largest stash ever found in the region.

The author of the piece covers Caesarea’s fascinating ancient history, referring to Phoenicians and Greeks and eventually the Romans:

By 6AD, Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judea and was not known as “Roman Palestine” or “Palestine.” It was only later, following the suppression of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt in the year 135AD that the Romans changed the name of the province to Syria Palaestina.

And who were the “native people” who revolted against Roman rule between 66 and 70AD?

They are the one people who are not mentioned by name in the BBC Travel article – THE JEWS.

Melanie Phillips: Our crazy world: The Jewish diaspora failed to take the opportunity of the Balfour Declaration centenary to make the points that need to be made.

Please join me in this video clip as I observe to Avi Abelow of Israel Video Network that Israel and the Jewish diaspora failed to take the opportunity of the Balfour Declaration centenary to make the points that need to be made.

Melanie Phillips: Our crazy world: The west cannot grasp that my enemy’s enemy may be my friend but still simultaneously remain my enemy.

Please join me in this video clip as I suggest to Avi Abelow of Israel Video Network that the west is being hopelessly out-played by its Islamist enemies, because the west cannot grasp that my enemy’s enemy may be my friend but still simultaneously remain my enemy.

Matti Friedman: My Forgotten War and Their Forgotten Graves

It’s not that today’s Middle East would be unrecognizable only to the soldiers of 1917, like those buried in my neighborhood. Today’s Middle East would be unrecognizable to the younger version of me who reported to a draft office 20 years ago.

The closest thing to a memorial for my little war exists in a field near Israel’s northern tip. It consists of 73 jagged pieces of limestone around a pool, on which 73 names are inscribed: Avi Ofner, Dotan Cohen, Shai Abukassis. These are soldiers who died when two helicopters crashed en route to my outpost and a neighboring army position in Lebanon one night in February 1997. The stones are roughly the size of human beings, and if you stand there, it feels as though those men are surrounding you, as though you’re one of them.

The bases they were flying to are gone. Few remember why they were going there at all. The political lines that shaped and ended their lives are already blurring in our memories. What will these stones say to a visitor who passes by and pauses a century later? Who will that visitor be?

When I pass the Indian cemetery, I try to think of two or three names and imagine their owners. I wish they weren’t here, that they’d made it home to tell stories of adventures in faraway places: They saw the Mediterranean and the Dome of the Rock, and heard strange languages. Instead they lie in my neighborhood where No. 26 should be. What their loss has meant in the world is suggested less by the stone markers than by the absence on this lot of an apartment building full of families.

They’re still telling a story, though, and after pausing here dozens of times I think I know what it is. It’s a soldier’s lesson, whether your war was in Afghanistan or Iraq or Lebanon or on the Western Front: that victory and defeat never mean what you think, that with all of your weapons and illusions of power, you’re simply borne this way and that by tides beyond your grasp, and that all anyone can safely say about the future is that it’s nothing we can picture from where we stand.

Report: White House begins drafting new Mideast peace plan

After months of preparation, U.S. President Donald Trump and his advisers have advanced to the "next phase" of Middle East peace efforts, promising "tangible steps" toward ending the long freeze on negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the New York Times quoted White House officials as saying Saturday.

According to the report, Trump and his designated team of peace process advisers have begun drafting the outline for an ambitious plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, purported to "go beyond" the scope of previous American peace efforts.

Trump's Special Representative for International Affairs Jason Greenblatt, who visited the region recently, was quoted by the paper as saying, "We have spent a lot of time listening to and engaging with the Israelis, Palestinians and key regional leaders over the past few months to help reach an enduring peace deal."

The draft, expected to be unveiled early next year, will reportedly include concrete stipulations, but the paper did not specify what those will be.

According to the report, regional issues could massively affect the possibility of peace, including the growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran in light of the latter's increasing support of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Let’s stop normalizing the Palestinian movement

In the 1990s, the U.S. helped establish the Palestinian Authority, a transitional quasi-state designed to become fully sovereign. It was supposed to be a step toward a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Its first "president" was the arch terrorist Yasser Arafat, who led the Palestinian movement. With an indifference to genuine moral judgment, the Clinton administration brushed aside Arafat's heinous crimes and militant agenda, embraced him as a peacemaker, and white washed his vicious record.

Why? The Palestinian movement claimed it would recognize Israel and end the campaign to destroy that country, the region's only free society. Those promises were empty, yet Arafat became one of the most frequent foreign visitors to the White House and co-winner of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Instead, since its birth the Palestinian quasi-state has been yet another brutal, militant Mideast dictatorship, mocking the rule of law and methodically violating the individual rights of its own subjects. It has enabled and sponsored Palestinian attacks on Israel. In the first decade of its existence, more people were injured or died in Palestinian attacks than in the preceding quarter century. By a factor of two.

Despite these facts the United States and European patrons played down the regime's authoritarianism and militancy, and continued backing it. Washington has lately given it about $400 million a year.

George W. Bush's administration compounded the problem. President Bush, like President Clinton, endorsed the goal of a fully sovereign Palestinian state. While the U.S. had for years given de facto backing to that goal, Bush was the first formally to go on the record in support of it. And despite his reputation as a morally principled leader, we have Bush to thank for handing Palestinian jihadists greater power.

Ultimately Bush was embarrassed into admitting the obvious fact that Arafat was a "committed terrorist," when the Palestinian Authority, in the midst of waging a terror war on Israel, was caught smuggling in a fifty-ton arsenal of weapons and explosives aboard a freighter.

Israel says US-Russia deal in Syria does not meet demands

Israel signaled Sunday it will not be bound by a reported ceasefire deal in southern Syria reached by the United States, Russia and Jordan, with ministers indicating Israel will continue to operate across the border when it deems it necessary.

The agreement, announced in a US-Russian statement Saturday, affirms a call for “the reduction, and ultimate elimination” of foreign fighters from southern Syria.

According to reports, the deal includes Iranian proxies fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, which would be required to leave the border area and eventually Syria.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told The Associated Press the agreement is a positive development. But he stressed that Israel is not a party to the agreement and will defend its interests.

“We have proved that before and we will prove it again in the future,” Katz said.

While the agreement seeks to remove Iranian-backed militias from near the border, a key Israeli demand, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said it did not go far enough.

The pact “does not meet Israel’s unequivocal demand that there will not be developments that bring the forces of Hezbollah or Iran to the Israel-Syria border in the north,” Hanegbi told reporters Sunday, according to a Reuters report.

“There’s reflection here of the understanding that Israel has set red lines, and will stand firm on this,” Hanegbi said.

IDF Blog: Blue Flag 2017: Israel’s largest international aviation exercise

This past Sunday, November 5th, 2017, the “Blue Flag” exercise took off. This is the largest international aviation exercise that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has hosted to date. Throughout Blue Flag, air forces from the United States, Poland, Italy, Greece, India, France, and Germany will simulate intense combat scenarios in realistic settings with the IAF.

Blue Flag, which is a two-week-long exercise, is broken up into two stages. The first stage allows the air forces to acclimate themselves to the environment and each other. The second stage is where the complicated combat scenarios begin. Part of the exercise will include the IAF’s “Flying Dragon” Squadron. This squadron specializes in imitating enemy planes and will do so during the exercise.

The drills, including those with the “Flying Dragon” Squadron, are designed to sharpen the air forces’ skills and strengthen cooperation, making Blue Flag both a unifying experience and strategically beneficial.

A German Eurofighter Typhoon pilot next to the Blue Flag 2017 logo

The Blue Flag Exercise

Netanyahu warns terror groups: Don’t even think about it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that the country would respond harshly to any attack against it no matter where it comes from.

Netanyahu’s comments appeared to be prompted by blustery statements from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, which is threatening Israel with retaliation for the destruction of a terror tunnel it dug under the border into Israel, but they also came amid increasing tension on Israel’s northern borders.

“These days, there are still those who toy with trying renewed attacks on Israel,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “We will take a very strong hand against anyone who tries to attack us or attacks us from any sector.”

“I say this to every entity, rogue faction, organization — every one. In any case, we see Hamas as responsible for every attack that emanates from, or is planned against us in, the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Is war between Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah an impossible scenario?

MBS no longer hides the war going on between the Sunni and Shiite factions in the Middle East. He has done more than a little to emphasize it and demonstrate it. It is no longer games and diplomatic statements in the name of “Muslim brotherhood.”

MBS understood this week the great danger that Iran has created on Saudi Arabia’s doorstep, after the missile was fired at the airport.

For bin Salman this was a provocation to war, a casus belli.

However, we are desperately looking for the lines that connect the steps against Iran and Hezbollah to his second move, against some 200 members of the royal family and most senior businessmen. And his third track, preserving the Israeli-Palestinian political process.

It is possible that these are three parallel paths which will not converge quickly. In other words, (and not specifically in this order,) bin Salman may be first working to reform the inner processes of Saudi Arabia, for example the status of women in the kingdom, by fighting corruption and purging pockets of resistance within the royal court. Second, he is working actively against Iran and Hezbollah, which we may soon witness more tangibly. And third, he is giving backing to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in order to show the Western world and the Arab nations that he still wants to help the Palestinians.

There are the strong connections between Israel and Saudi Arabia in various fields. Who provided the Saudis with the relevant information about Hezbollah’s involvement in firing the missile, for instance? Was it Saudi intelligence alone? So perhaps it is possible to understand why it is important to bin Salman to justify his connection with the Israelis.

Why is Saudi Arabia so determined to destroy Hezbollah?

Saudi Arabia is declaring war on Hezbollah, not for its love of Israel as much as for its hatred of Iran. Not a day has passed in the past few months without the Saudi press attacking the Lebanese organization and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

A red line was crossed last week, as far as the Saudis are concerned, when Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. What does Hezbollah have to do with the Houthis? Lebanon and Saudi Arabia don’t share a border, and the Shiite organization is threatening Israel, not the Saudi kingdom. So why is Saudi Arabia so determined to destroy the Lebanese organization?

Hezbollah is everywhere in Syria
If we thought Hezbollah was deployed primarily in western Syria to defend Lebanon’s border, images released Thursday morning reveal the true story behind the war in Syria: The al-Mayadeen newspaper published “joyful” photos of Iraqi and Syrian fighters meeting on the border between the two countries after conquering the town of al-Bukamal in the Deir al-Zour Governorate. The article’s title, “Restoring the borders to their pre-ISIS condition” is misleading. That’s not the case at all.

The fighters in the picture are not soldiers in the Syrian and Iraqi armies. They are waving flags of Hezbollah and Shiite organization al-Hashd al-Shaabi (the Popular Mobilization Forces). In other words, the fighters meeting and celebrating the “victory” are actually two Iranian-controlled militias.

This is the reality the Arab Sunni world is dealing with right now. The Sunni battle against the Iranian takeover of the Middle East is being led by the Saudi kingdom, which is the strongest Arab country today both economically and militarily.

Iran rejects French call for talks on ballistic missile program

Iran rejected on Sunday a call by French President Emmanuel Macron for talks on Tehran's ballistic missiles, saying they were defensive and unrelated to a nuclear agreement with world powers.

On Thursday, Macron said during a visit to Dubai that he was "very concerned" by Iran's ballistic missile program, mentioning a missile fired from Yemen and intercepted by Saudi Arabia earlier this month. He raised the prospect of possible sanctions with regard to those activities.

"There are negotiations we need to start on Iran's ballistic missiles," Macron said.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected that possibility. "France is fully aware of our country's firm position that Iran's defense affairs are not negotiable," he said.

"We have told French officials repeatedly that the nuclear deal is not negotiable and other issues will not be allowed to be added to it," Qassemi said, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of supplying Yemen's Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable for violating two UN Security Council resolutions .

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Iran of supplying missiles and other weapons to the Houthis, saying the arms were not present in Yemen before conflict broke out there in 2015. Iran denies the charges and blames the conflict on Riyadh.

CORBYN’S RECORD ON IRAN

Jeremy Corbyn says on the front page of the Observer that Boris is “shaming our nation” over Iran. Is this a wind up? Let’s take a look at Jezza’s record on Iran:

Accepted £20,000 for appearing on the Iranian state TV channel Press TV, even after the channel had filmed and broadcast a torture victim’s confession

Agreed with a Press TV caller that Britain’s national broadcaster were “Zionist liars”

Attended a Press TV / Khomeinist event just 11 months ago, while he was leader of the opposition, posing for photos with an extremist author

Attended the Iranian regime’s Al-Quds Day event calling for the destruction of Israel

Attended event during which the Iranian regime’s British representatives called for a boycott of Marks and Spencer and others in attendance chanted about gassing Tel Aviv

Berlin mayor slams BDS rally on Kristallnacht remembrance day

Berlin Mayor Michael Müller issued a scathing condemnation of the anti-Israel boycott campaign because of its protest against the Jewish state on Friday, the memorial day for the Kristallnacht pogroms against Jews across Nazi Germany in 1938.

“It is intolerable that BDS carries out its Israeli-hostile antisemitic propaganda on the remembrance day of the November pogroms without consideration of the victims of the Shoah, their family members and the Jewish community,” he said.

Germans committed a wave of attacks on Jews, businesses owned by Jews, and synagogues starting on November 9, 1938. The destruction, murders and mass arrests were an early phase of the Holocaust.

The organization BDS Campaign in Berlin urged on its website people to participate in the boycott-Israel event at the city’s Potsdam Square under the slogan of “For A World Without Walls.”

The global protest action “For A World Without Walls” terms Israel’s West Bank security barrier an “Israeli Apartheid wall on Palestinian land.” Potsdam Square serves as a reminder of the East Germany’s wall that separated West Berlin from East Berlin during the Cold War. Chunks of the Berlin Wall are on display at the site.

Müller blasted BDS Campaign for a “reckless misrepresentation of history” for its likening of Israel’s anti-terrorism barrier to the Berlin Wall. It is unclear if Müller‘s strong words played a role in the low turnout at the rally.

Dutch anti-Semitism watchdog outraged by anti-Israel Kristallnacht speakers

Prominent Dutch Jews spoke out against what they called a new trend involving hosting activists against Israel at commemorations for the Kristallnacht pogroms of 1938.

The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, or CIDI, which is the Netherlands’ main watchdog on anti-Semitism, spoke out against the trend earlier this week ahead of the November 9 anniversary of the pogroms in Germany and Austria, which many historians view as the opening shot of the Nazi campaign of violence against the Jews during the Holocaust.

CIDI, whose then director in 2000 represented Dutch Jews in negotiations for Holocaust restitution, said it was “concerned over the trend in which anti-Israel individuals receive a podium at Holocaust-related commemorations,” according to the CIP website.

The statement followed the invitation to one commemoration of Dries van Agt, a pro-Palestinian former prime minister of the Netherlands who recently said that the Jews “should have been given a piece of land” in Germany instead of in the historic Land of Israel, and the hosting at another of Anne Dekker, an activist who promotes the boycott of Israel and who said that neither Israel nor CIDI legitimately represent Jews.

Van Agt — who has been fighting accusations of anti-Semitism since he declared in 1972 that he “is only an Aryan” in connection to his efforts to free Nazi war criminals – will speak at the main event organized by the Committee for the Commemoration of Kristallnacht, an NGO, at a theater in Amsterdam.

Protester flies flag of Palestinian terrorist organisation outside Royal Albert Hall during Balfour celebration, but police are not allowed to act

A protester has been sighted flying the flag of a Palestinian terrorist organisation outside the Royal Albert Hall during a concert celebrating the Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of the State of Israel.

While the concert took place on Tuesday evening, one protester brazenly flew the flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The group has committed numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue massacre in which four Jewish worshipers and a Druze Arab policeman were killed with axes, knives, and a gun, while seven were injured.

The protester was able to stand in full view of police, flying the flag and smiling, because the police officers did not have the powers to arrest him: a faction of the PFLP has been outlawed in Britain, but not the PFLP as a whole.

The fact that a protester can lawfully stand in central London in support of a terrorist organisation that seeks the slaughter of Jews makes an utter mockery of our counter-extremism and terrorism legislation. The PFLP as a whole should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

Cambridge University accused of censorship for threatening to cancel BDS event

The university sought to remove Professor Ruba Salih from her position as chair of the event. Salih, who is a lecturer in the School of African and Oriental Studies, is Palestinian; the university, in calling for her replacement, cited a need for ''open, robust and lawful debate,'' suggesting Salih would not be able to facilitate such a dialogue due to her background.

The student organizer of the event, Ed McNally, said that the university was ''bowing to external pressure from a pro-Israel lobby group.''

Student and academics from Cambridge and dozens of other British universities penned a letter to the university, disavowing what they call a ''threat to academic freedom.''

The petition, which has garnered hundreds of signatures in a matter of days, names StandWithUs as the 'pro-Israel lobby' that demanded the university cancel the event. The organization ''rests on a litany of potentially libelous and bigoted accusations of racism against Omar Barghouti'' and one of the panel speakers, National Union of Students President Malia Bouattia.

The petition defends Omar Barghouti and claims the Israeli government has waged a campaign of ''intimidation'' against him, including charges of ''civil assassination,'' detention and arrogation, which they term ''common practice for Israel in its treatment of human rights defenders.''

Barghouti, an Israeli resident and graduate of Tel Aviv University, is a founding member of a Palestinian organization that advocates a cultural and academic boycott of Israel. Often accused of antisemitism, Barghouti has equated Israel with an apartheid state. He was arrested in early 2017 on charges of tax evasion.

HonestReporting Prompts Guardian “Regime” Change

The Guardian profiled Priti Patel, the British politician forced to resign for undeclared meetings with Israeli officials. It included the following:

We contacted and tweeted The Guardian and the journalist responsible for the text:

Kansas City Star Purveyed Palestinian Anti-Israel Propaganda

The Star's October 17 Op-Ed, “Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian peacemaker,” contained numerous misleading and false claims, with the potential of inciting hatred against Jews and the Jewish state.

Melinda Henneberger, Star columnist and editorial board member, quotes Palestinian official Ashrawi, a notorious propagandist,“This is not a religious conflict” referring to the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Henneberger seems to endorse the claim. But it is contradicted by various realities. First, Muslims believe that Islam supersedes Judaism and Christianity. Among scholars understanding this is John L. Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, who is widely recognized as an expert on Islam. Accordingly, Palestinian leadership, including the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), has for many years repeatedly inflamed the passions of Palestinians and Muslims with battle cries like "Defend Muslim Holy Sites."

This is exemplified by P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas' 2015 declaration apparently triggered by a false rumor that Israeli officials planned to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque located on Israel's Temple Mount. The Wall Street Journal noted on Oct. 18, 2015: "Mr. Abbas, the PA president, said the following on Palestinian television on Sept. 16: ‘We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem. This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, every martyr [murderer of Jews] will be in heaven, and every wounded will get his reward.'"

Henneberger claims, “… it's true that the dominant media and political and religious narrative in this country is overwhelmingly Israel's view.” On the contrary, the dominant (or mainstream) media's widespread antipathy towards Israel has been documented. Examples are plentiful dealing with pillars of the news outlets such as Time magazine, New York Times and CNN.

Among numerous CAMERA online reports on the matter are these: “Time Magazine Ignores Facts to Denigrate Israel,” “New York Times Opinion Bias by the Numbers,” and “Amanpour Again Misleads CNN Viewers About Israel.”

To honor WWII vet, seafaring Torah scroll to sail on new US Navy supercarrier

As Americans give thanks to their military veterans, a unique Torah scroll aboard the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier will honor one veteran in particular — and it’s the centerpiece in remembering 100 years of outreach efforts to Jewish servicemembers.

On November 29, in Norfolk, Virginia, the JCC Association of North America will dedicate a Torah in memory of World War II veteran Jacob Kamaras aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.

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The ceremony will honor Kamaras, who served in the Army Air Corps, as well as recognize a century of the JCCA’s outreach to servicemembers — which began when it was founded in 1917 as the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), days after the US entered World War I. To celebrate its second century, the JCCA, in a historic partnership with the Kamaras family, created a customized Torah for the Ford.

The ceremony will take place just over two weeks after Veterans Day.

“It’s certainly appropriate timing. … It’s a significant time for our country,” said Jacob Kamaras, the grandson and namesake of the WWII veteran.

“This Torah will be an opportunity for tremendous benefit for members of the military,” said Kamaras, who never knew his grandfather. “For the timing to work out, to happen at a time veterans are honored, is fitting.”

IsraellyCool: WATCH: Enthusiastic Israeli Audience Singing Along With Alan Parsons

Music legend Alan Parsons and his band performed in Haifa a few nights ago and perform in Tel Aviv tonight.

The below video was taken from the Haifa concert. It is of the band performing their hit song Eye in the Sky. But notice just how much the crowd gets into it, singing along loudly.

You can tell Alan and the band really appreciate the audience and their enthusiasm. Probably not as much as we appreciate his outspoken support for us and opposition to BDS, though.

Israeli soccer star named China’s player of the year

Israeli soccer star Eran Zahavi was named the most valuable player in the Chinese Super League on Saturday after finishing the season as the top goal scorer.

Zahavi, 30, won the award in only his second year in the Chinese league, which has attracted dozens of top international players in recent years with huge salaries.

He was also awarded the Golden Boot, given to the league’s leading goal scorer. His 27 goals for the season were one short of tying the league record of 28.

Despite his individual success, Zahavi’s Guangzhou R&F club only finished fifth in the league.

Zahavi, who has a $7 million a year contract with the club until 2020, was coy on his future with the team at the awards ceremony, saying he would have to consider whether he would remain with the squad next season.

Israelis live 10 years longer than in 1970

Thanks to a more healthful lifestyle, better economic situation, improved education and a more advanced medical system, the Israeli life expectancy has increased by 10.3 years since 1970 – from 71.8 years to 82.1 years in 2015.

This has just been made public in “Health at a Glance 2017,” a comparative report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which Israel joined in 2010.

It pays to get a higher education in Israel: Men with bachelor’s degrees lived an average of 7.5 years longer than men with much less formal education, while the gap between better-educated and less-educated women was five years.

The average life expectancy increase in all 35 member countries was 10 years. The highest life expectancy was in Japan – 83.9, followed by Spain and Switzerland at 83 years. The lowest life expectancies among OECD countries were in Latvia (74.6 years) and Mexico (75).

According to the report, if the rates of smoking and drinking alcohol were 50% lower, life expectancy would have increased by 13 more months. In addition, a 10% increase in per capita health expenditure in real terms would have increased average life expectancy by 3.5 months. But not only total health expenditure has an impact on life expectancy; it is also according to the way resources are used. In the US, for example, health expenditure has risen more than in any other country since 1995, but the increase in life expectancy was relatively low.

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot threatens to pull out of sequel unless accused sexual harasser Brett Ratner is completely removed from project

Wonder Woman star Gal Godot has reportedly refused to sign on for a sequel unless accused sexual harasser Brett Ratner is removed from the franchise.

Ratner, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six women in recent days, helped finance the summer blockbuster, and took home a sizable stake of the $412million box office gross.

Ratner's production company Rat-Pac Dune co-financed the hit movie in an agreement with Warner Bros., and now Godot is insisting that the studio buy out his stake, Page Six reports.

'She's tough and stands by her principles. She also knows the best way to hit people like Brett Ratner is in the wallet,' a Warner Bros. insider told the outlet.

'She also knows that Warner Bros. has to side with her on this issue as it develops. They can't have a movie rooted in women's empowerment being part-financed by a man accused of sexual misconduct against women,' the insider continued.

'Brett made a lot of money from the success of 'Wonder Woman,' thanks to his company having helped finance the first movie,' the source said.

'Now Gadot is saying she won't sign for the sequel unless Warner Bros. buys Brett out [of his financing deal] and gets rid of him,' the insider said.

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