Christmas spirit: UN quietly appropriated money on Christmas eve to create a blacklist of Israeli companies to target for BDS
Thanks to Barack Obama and John Kerry, the United Nations quietly appropriated $138,000 on Christmas eve to create a blacklist of Israeli companies for boycotting, divestiture and sanctions (BDS).
Lost amid the angry words that followed the Dec. 23 UN Security
Council vote that critics called an American betrayal of Israel was a
Christmas Eve appropriation of $138,700 to fund a database of companies
doing business in the West Bank. The measure puts UN prestige behind the
anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, say
critics.
“The types of data they are talking about acquiring
would be to form the basis for future sanctions against companies that
did business on the West Bank,” Fox News contributor and former U.S.
Ambassador to the UN John Bolton told FoxNews.com. “That’s the only
purpose of it that I can see.”
The request for funding, first adopted last April,
would “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the
civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the
Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” which
extends to East Jerusalem, and would “produce a database of all
business enterprises” working in territories disputed between Israel and
the Palestinians.
Bolton said the database is an “effort to lay the
groundwork” for the UN Security Council to follow up on its
anti-settlement declaration by imposing costly economic sanctions.
The US opposed the appropriation, but in the General Assembly, it does not have a veto. This appropriation is yet another consequence of Obama-Kerry stabbing Israel in the back on the Security Council vote. The only thing Congress can do in response is to stop funding the UN.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, BDS, Donald Trump, John Bolton, John Kerry, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334
Obama's hatred of Israel isn't just personal animus against Netanyahu
When Barack Hussein Obama ordered his UN ambassador to abstain in Friday's vote against the 'settlements' at the United Nations,
it wasn't just personal animus against Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Mr. Obama’s animus toward Prime Minister Netanyahu is well known.
Apparently Mr. Obama took it as an affront that the President-elect
would express an opinion about this week’s U.N. resolution.
It
is important, though, to see this U.S. abstention as more significant
than merely Mr. Obama’s petulance. What it reveals clearly is the Obama
Administration’s animus against the state of Israel itself. No longer
needing Jewish votes, Mr. Obama was free, finally, to punish the Jewish
state in a way no previous President has done.
What Obama did on Friday went against the views of the vast majority of the US Congress, the vast majority of the American people, and of course, the vast majority of Israelis - including the sane part of the Israeli Left.
For those who speak Hebrew, there's a video of Lapid blasting the resolution on Saturday
here.
What Obama did on Friday will permanently cloud the possibility of any kind of peace. This is from the first link, a Wall Street Journal editorial.
No effort to rescind the resolution, which calls the settlements a
violation of “international law,” will succeed because of Russia’s and
China’s vetoes.
Instead, the resolution will live on as Barack
Obama’s cat’s paw, offering support in every European capital,
international institution and U.S. university campus to bully Israel
with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Here in Israel, there's a palpable fear that the mamzer in the White House isn't done '
punishing' us yet.
At the cabinet meeting yesterday the experts on foreign affairs
presented a scenario in which Obama could even on his last day in office
cause harm to Israel.
The concern is that Obama may promote a move in the UN Security
Council giving guidelines for a peace agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel would
find it hard to present an alternative model after these guidelines are
set.
The experts on foreign affairs also posed another concern regarding
the Paris conference which is supposed to take place during the course
of February. At the conference a pro-Palestinian peace initiative may be
presented and could be viewed as authoritative if it is adopted.
I'm less concerned about what could happen in February - when Donald Trump is President - than I am about what could happen in the next three weeks.
Obama has earned the title ימח שמו וזכרו - may his name and memory be obliterated. May God Bring that about speedily and in our time.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, BDS, Binyamin Netanyahu, China, Russia, two-state solution, United Nations Security Council, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, Yair Lapid
Awesome: I've been blocked by Steve Salaita UPDATED
I am sure that many of you remember Steven Salaita, the professor whose
offer of a tenured position at the University of Illinois was withdrawn
after
the trustees discovered his Jew-hatred. The University was eventually
censured by the American Association of University Professors, and Salaita landed at the
American University in Beirut.
Earlier today, Salaita tweeted
this (which I can no longer see, but if someone wants to send me a screen cap, I'll add it to this post without disclosing who you are),
and I responded with this:
Gee, I was such a naughty boy today.
Those liberal academics are just so open to criticism.
Now, if only I knew why Jeffrey Goldberg blocked me. Took me over a year to notice.
Labels: academic boycott, anti-Semitism, BDS, Beirut, Hezbullah, Lebanon, liberal academia
#BDS_Fail: Citibank, American Express pull support from Roger Waters concert tour
Both Citibank and American Express have
withdrawn their support for former Deep Purple lead guitarist Roger Waters' concert tour over Waters' support of the BDS movement.
Citibank announced Tuesday that it was not sponsoring the upcoming
concert tour of Pink Floyd co-founder and Israel-boycott advocate Roger
Waters, adding that the bank had “no plans to work with this artist in
the future,” the Algemeiner reported.
The banking giant issued the denial in a letter responding to a
shareholder concerned about its relationship with Waters, who was accused by the Anti-Defamation League in 2013 of having “absorbed classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.” The New York Post reported last
week that American Express had refused to sponsor Waters’ North
American 2017 tour, but that Citibank would be sponsoring it instead.
“I want to let you know that Citi is not a sponsor of Roger Waters’
upcoming tour,” a Citibank official said in the email. “Two weeks ago,
Citi offered a limited time pre-sale of tickets for cardmembers for
select shows, as we do for thousands of concerts by different artists
every year. While advertised as the ‘official card’ for payment
purposes, the pre-sale was in no way an endorsement of the artist’s
personal views. The pre-sale has ended and we have no plans to work with
this artist in the future.”
A number of artists who were planning to play in Israel last year said that they felt threatened by proponents of the Palestinian-led boycott campaign against Israel. Despite these threats, major artists such as Alicia Keys, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Bon Jovi have
performed in Israel in recent years. Typically, when entertainers
announces plans to perform in the Jewish state, boycott supporters make
public appeals and send private messages to try to pressure them to
cancel the concert; if a particularly prominent artist is involved, they
may receive an open letter from Waters.
Waters' recent performances have
veered into anti-Semitic
territory.
Labels: anti-Semitic stereotypes, anti-Semitism, BDS, Roger Waters
Political correctness on American college campuses is manifest anti-Semitism, but can it be fought?
Nearly thirty years ago, I had a business trip to San Francisco that required me to spend the Sabbath in the Bay Area. I only knew one Orthodox Jew in the area: Someone from the class behind me in both high school and college (Columbia) was at the time the rabbi in Berkeley. He arranged for me to stay with one of his congregants - he was in the process of leaving the community to move on to 'bigger' things. I won't mention his name because I'm still friends with many of his relatives, but that Sabbath was a real eye-opener. My friend had become what we would today term 'anti-Israel' and a 'Jewish anti-Semite.'
I was floored.
What I'm about to describe was probably inevitable. The fight for 'safe spaces,' BDS and political correctness on American college campuses has morphed into blatant anti-Semitism. The role that prominent Leftist Jews has played in making this happen will not shield them from the monster they created. See Germany (which will be insulted if you say so, but remains anti-Semitic more than 70 years after Hitler's death) and Stalinist Russia. Different campuses are at different stages, but most American college campuses appear to be heading inexorably toward anti-Semitic group think.
This report that I saw on Facebook comes from a current student at my alma mater, Bir Zeit on the Hudson.
Rochman is describing a university course calling for the 'elimination' of Israel taught by what we would call an 'as a Jew' (someone who uses the accident of his birth to permit him to blatantly incite to anti-Semitism) using terms not much different from the terms that Hitler used to describe the elimination of Jews 70 years ago. As I have mentioned several times in the past couple of months, the role of Germany in financing the
continued prominence of the 'Palestinians' in world affairs reflects the continued anti-Semitism in Germany (I am now reading an earlier book by Tuvia Tenenboim about anti-Semitism in Germany today - that book's publication was nearly blocked!).
Let's start with what should be obvious: Being 'anti-Israel' or subjecting Israel to double standards in 2016 is no different than being anti-Semitic in the 1940's. Saying you're 'only against Israel' but 'not against Jews' is putting a politically correct cover on an ancient hatred.
At Berkeley, the cradle of the false distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, things have
only gotten worse. This article discusses a 'for credit' course on the Berkeley college campus.
According to Tammi Rossman-Benjamin,
co-founder of the AMCHA Initiative — which combats, monitors and
documents antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America —
the course in question, titled “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis,” is a “classic example of antisemitic anti-Zionism.”
“Based upon the syllabus, the class
treats Israel as a settler colonial state and Zionism and Israel as
illegitimate,” Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeiner,
adding that “a goal of the class appears to be talking about ways to
decolonize Palestine, which essentially means to eliminate the Jewish
state.”
“This is clear eliminationist
anti-Zionism, which is not just criticism of Israel, but opposition
to the existence of the Jewish state with efforts to eliminate that
state,” she said.
Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish UC
Berkeley student who serves as a CAMERA Fellow and is the co-vice
president of the campus group Bears for Israel, told The Algemeiner that she became “very upset” after seeing posters advertising the class.
“It’s one thing to have a political
group like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on campus, but
teaching material that is so biased and factually inaccurate in a
classroom setting violates academic integrity,” she said.
“Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis” is being offered as a “DeCal” course,
which is part of a program of student-run classes that falls under the
jurisdiction of UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate. According to a
description of the course — which acknowledges “contentious” material
will be taught — the class will:
…[E]xamine key historical developments that have taken
place in Palestine, from the 1880s to the present, through the lens of
settler colonialism…we will explore the connection between Zionism and
settler colonialism, and the ways in which it has manifested, and
continues to manifest, in Palestine. Lastly, drawing upon literature on
decolonization, we will explore the possibilities of a decolonized
Palestine, one in which justice is realized for all its peoples and
equality is not only espoused, but practiced.
Students are also required to attend at least one event, on or off campus, “relating to Palestine.”
The faculty sponsor of the course, Dr. Hatem Bazian,
is the co-founder of SJP and a major supporter of the US Campaign for
the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). Bazian is a
former fundraising speaker for the anti-Israel organization KindHearts,
which was shut down by the US government in 2006 for its alleged ties to
Hamas.
You might think there's nothing wrong with that because college campuses are supposed to facilitate 'the free exchange of ideas.' But that's not what's going on here.
According to Rossman-Benjamin, “You
just need to take a look at the instructor, facilitator, authors of the
reading materials and listed guest speakers to see that the course is
biased and presents an egregious framework against Israel.” Furthermore,
she noted, “Not one reading or guest lecturer isn’t a virulent
anti-Zionist, absolutely opposed to the existence of the state of Israel
and supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
Reading material includes selections
from works by anti-Zionist Israeli historian Ilan Pappe; the late Edward
Said, a fierce Israel critic; and Saree Makdisi, an advocate of the
elimination of Israel as a Jewish state. Also, there are testimonies
from the controversial and widely debunked Israeli group Breaking the Silence.
“As seen from the syllabus, the class
doesn’t look at Israel and ask if it is a settler colonial state or if
Zionism is a legitimate ideology,” Rossman-Benjamin said. “The starting
point is that it is illegitimate. This is completely one-sided and has a
clear anti-Zionist bent, to the extent that it opposes the existence of
the Jewish state.”
And if you still think this course is anything other than a 'safe space' for anti-Semitic rants....
She also told The Algemeiner
that she finds it “concerning” that the course has “a strict
no-technology policy — no phones, voice recordings or photographs —
which makes me worried that some of the content will be inherently
anti-Israel and as such, the facilitators don’t want to make it public
in any way.”
By the way, if you pay taxes to the State of California, you're supporting this.
Is there any way to fight back? Here's one promising story from
Miriam Elman, an Associate Professor at Syracuse University.
A brief recap: [Israeli Filmmaker Shimon] Dotan [of New York University's Graduate School of Journalism] was invited by a University of Nebraska colleague to screen the film at SU. A tenured professor in SU’s Religion Department, M. Gail Hamner, then rescinded the invitation on account of warnings from colleagues that the “BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant” for her and Dotan if he came. Bottom line: Hamner was reluctant to bring Dotan to the conference because she felt intimidated by a faculty caucus who wouldn’t be happy about the screening of a well-received Israeli film.
SU responded admirably by reasserting the university’s commitment to free speech and its opposition to “any boycott of Israeli academic institutions or faculty.” An invitation to Dotan to present his film at a later time this year was also extended. On her part, Hamner issued an apology and reaffirmed her own support for academic freedom. To my mind, this rings hollow. A true defender of campus free speech actively solicits diverse viewpoints, and doesn’t surrender to peer pressure to conform. Still, Hamner’s expression of regret seems sincere and heartfelt.
All’s well that ends well? Not quite. Lingering questions remain: did Hamner have to “vouch” in the same way for other films in the conference – or was it just the product of an Israeli national that required special scrutiny? Are a group of anti-Israel colleagues exercising subtle veto power when it comes to academic programming related to Israel?
To get answers to these questions, and assess the magnitude of the problem, I and other SU faculty are now urging the administration to undertake a comprehensive and transparent investigation. Supported by the Academic Engagement Network, a new national organization committed to opposing BDS on campuses and to preserving academic freedom and free speech, we believe that only a full exploration as to why Dotan’s invitation was withdrawn will both lay this incident to rest and ensure that something like it won’t happen again.
This inquiry shouldn’t be construed as a witch hunt, nor is it likely to reveal a campus awash in anti-Israel animus. SU is generally a welcoming place for Israeli scholars and students. An exploration of the matter may also show that Hamner panicked unnecessarily and that her fears of the “BDS faction” were overblown. But it’s possible too that the inquiry will uncover more evidence of stealth boycotting.
Three lessons about these silent boycotts and how to defeat them can be learned from my university’s “Dotan Affair.”
First, administrators need to recognize that just because their schools are on record opposing academic boycotts of Israel doesn’t mean that individual faculty members are adhering to that institutional policy in their personal instructional practices. Administrators must make school policy crystal clear, but they also have to institute mechanisms to ensure that faculty members comply with it.
Second, the case highlights that successfully confronting silent boycotting ultimately depends on whether individual faculty are willing to take a stand. Like all bullies, stealth boycotters get away with their bigotry and intimidation because most faculty aren’t as honest and forthright as Hamner was about the pressures they’re facing, and because the vast majority of professors prefer to do their research and teaching and hesitate getting involved in "campus politics." The now multiplying anti-BDS organizations operating on campus are going to have to figure out a way to incentivize more faculty to engage proactively – and get those feeling cowed by BDS harassment to go public.
Lastly, the “Dotan Affair” shows that BDS, which bills itself as a human rights movement aimed at ending the Israeli "occupation," is in fact pure racist hatred, from which even famous anti-occupation, progressives Israelis – like Shimon Dotan – aren’t immune. To put a stop to stealth boycotting on campus and prevent more Israeli scholars from being privately shut out of academia, Zionists from across the political spectrum – left, center, and right – will need to fight together to ensure that all their voices can be heard on campus.
This battle is far from over. But I sure would not want my children or grandchildren on an American college campus today.
Labels: Adolph Hitler, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, BDS, Bir Zeit on the Hudson, Columbia, German anti-Semitism, Germany, Jewish anti-Semitism, University of California at Berkeley
Brussels Air abandons BDS
Almost as quickly as it started, Brussels Air's cooperation with the BDS campaign has stopped. The airline has gone back to
serving Achva halva bars (the fancy flavor pictured is not one I have found on most airlines) to its passengers. Achva is manufactured in the Barkan Industrial Zone in Ariel, Samaria. And just to make the sacrilege complete, the picture above came from the website alibaba.com.
While Brussels Airlines said last week it did not order the halva and
the snack was served on its flight by mistake, the airline now
called the food manufacturer Achva “one of our trustful suppliers” in a
statement to the Israeli Foreign Ministry quoted by The Times of Israel.
“It is clear that Achva remains one of our trustful suppliers and
without any distinction related to the origin of the product, and
therefore we will continue to accept Achva’s products on board our
flights, especially given its positive role in the community,” the
Brussels Airlines statement read.
...
The change came about through “the quick work of the Foreign
Ministry, at the direction of Dore Gold, the deputy head of public
advocacy and the advocacy unit, and our embassies in Brussels and
Berlin,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Last week, Brussels Airlines stopped serving
its passengers the halva snack following complaints by the Palestine
Solidarity Movement, a proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement. A passenger had alerted the group about the snack.
“We’re an airline catering to a large international audience, it’s
our responsibility to offer products that please all,” the airline said
in its earlier statement on pulling the halva.
“Therefore, we decided to
take the halva bars off the menu and replace it with another product.”
Another #BDS_Fail....
Labels: BDS, Belgium, Dore Gold
Israelis in Germany spearhead anti-BDS movement
I'm about three quarters of the way through Tuvia Tenenboim's
Catch the Jew, in which, among other things, he uncovers anti-Israel activity by Europeans - especially by Germans - in Israel. Because of what I have read about the Germans, I was especially pleased to read
this article by Benny Weinthal about an anti-BDS group operating in Germany.
Israelis along with Germans launched the Action Forum group, which
included a protest against BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)
activists targeting Jewish state products in front of a Berlin
department store
on Thursday.
The
group’s goals are to counter “one-sided and wrong information” about
Israel in the German media, as well as to combat BDS, Gaby Spronz, an
Israeli engineer working in Germany and one of the founders of Action
Forum, told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday The group has 1,500 members,
most of whom are in Germany, Spronz said.
Action Forum (Aktionsforum Israel) jump-started its
activity with 20 activists distributing flyers against BDS at Alexander
Square in front of the Galeria Kaufhof department store on Thursday.
“BDS is against Israel’s right to exist and for a Jew-free
Palestine from Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea,” the Action Forum flyer
read.
“They are anti-Semites who are calling for a ban of Jewish
products,” activist Jan Zimmermann told the Post at the
demonstration.
Zimmermann was referencing a group of roughly 20
BDS supporters who circulated flyers in front of Galeria Kaufhof
calling for people to boycott the Israeli carbonated drink maker
SodaStream.
SodaStream has moved its plant from Mishor Adumim to the Negev,
costing over 500 'Palestinians' their jobs. But that's not enough for the BDS movement. If any of you think the Action Forum is exaggerating the threat,
please consider this from an editorial in the New Jersey Jewish News (New Jersey outlawed BDS last week).
Like the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, aka Durban I, from
which BDS originated, rather than fulfilling its stated goal of fighting
racism, the movement itself is peddling lies and racist ideology masked
as the good fight. Though supporters have been led to believe that they
are advocating for the peaceful coexistence of Israelis and
Palestinians living side-by-side, that’s not what BDS leaders appear to
have in mind. By including the “Right of Return” — an often-invoked
misnomer, as the language in UN General Assembly Resolution 194,
established in 1948, states that Arab refugees “should” be allowed to
return to their homes, not “must” — as one of their objectives, they’ve
made it clear that they envision Palestinians living by themselves. Just
listen to BDS founder Omar Barghouti:
“If the refugees were to return, you would not have a two-state
solution. You would have a Palestine next to a Palestine,” he once said.
He also wrote, “A return for refugees would end Israel’s existence as a
Jewish state.”
The obvious conclusion: BDS is not about human rights, and Barghouti
has acknowledged as much by saying the movement would continue even if
the “occupation” were to end. BDS is rather a shrewd public relations
strategy designed to draw intelligent, honorable individuals into the
movement’s racially motivated struggle to forcibly dissolve the Jewish
state.
Meanwhile, ordinary Germans are wising up to what's really behind BDS. This is from Weinthal's article:
The Action Forum equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. BDS is widely
considered to be anti-Semitic in Germany among experts on modern
anti-Semitism. The prominent German political scientist Samuel Salzborn
said BDS is “an influential anti-Semitic campaign against Israel.”
The
student council at Leipzig University approved an anti-BDS resolution
in early August. The resolution states: BDS “connects seamlessly to the
anti-Semitic boycott campaigns of decades past and explicitly to the
National Socialism” and to “the Nazi slogan ‘Don’t buy from Jews.”’ The
student council document noted: “In light of the Hamas, Hezbollah and
Iranian regime’s open and relentlessly expressed threats to destroy not
only Israel, but Jews worldwide, the BDS campaign presents an
existential threat to the Jews.”
Having experienced anti-Semitism, ordinary Germans are probably better able to identify it than anyone else. Too bad their government buries its head in the sand.
Labels: BDS, Benjamin Weinthal, German anti-Semitism, Germany, New Jersey
That very special brand of UK anti-Semitism
Can you imagine something like this happening at any sporting event in the United States? (The only country in which I attend sporting events).
Welcome to Scotland where Celtic - one of the local soccer teams and NOT related to my beloved Boston Celtics - has just been fined by UEFA, the European soccer governing body for the
eighth time in the last five seasons for their fans' insistence on showing their love for the 'Palestinians,' especially at games involving Israeli teams (this one was against HaPoel Beer Sheva). The fans' response has been to raise more than the amount of the fine (£136,000) through GoFundMe in just two days.
The fans waved more than a 100 Palestinian flags at the match last week
in spite of prior warnings, breaching UEFA rules on political statements
at matches.
The online 'gofundme' fundraising page was launched shortly
after the charge from UEFA and shared via social media as
#MatchTheFineForPalestine.
UEFA considers the Palestinian flag
an "illicit banner" and according to the group's rules and regulations,
bans all messages that are of a "political, ideological, religious,
offensive or provocative nature."
According to the BBC, the club has been penalized at least eight times in the past five seasons for fan misconduct.
The
Celtic group affiliates itself with the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions Movement, which it hails as “inspiring and unstoppable.”
According
to the Facebook page which organized the protest, an Israeli soccer
team should not be allowed to participate in the soccer competition “due
to the system of apartheid laws and practices including religious- and
ethnic-based colonization, military occupation and segregation of what
remains of Palestinian land and over 90 laws which discriminate against
indigenous Palestinians who make up 20 percent of the population of
current-day Israel.”
The soccer club is due to present their case at a disciplinary hearing on the 22nd of September.
What do soccer fans (who from what I hear from friends in the UK often come to games drunk out of their minds) care about the 'Palestinians'? It's not about the 'Palestinians.' It's about hating the Jews.
Labels: anti-Semitism, BDS, British anti-Semitism, Scotland
Israeli-Arab MK calls for boycotting Israel, says entire country is 'occupied'
At the World Social Forum in Montreal, Israeli-Arab MK Basel Ghattas said all of Israel is 'occupied' and called for a
boycott to be applied to the entire country.
The MK from Balad, one of the parties making up the Joint List, called
Israel an oppressive, racist and apartheid state, saying he is
pessimistic that there will be peace soon and international sanctions
were the most effective way to combat Israel.
“The only way for
this society to change is the way of South Africa … international
pressure, international sanctions, saying one basic elementary thing:
Justice for Palestine,” he stated. “Without boycotts and sanctions,
Israel will not do and comply with international law.”
Ghattas
said international pressure is “the only mechanism Israel is afraid of,”
and the only way “to force Israel to comply with international law.”
“I
can promise you one thing, that it will not take time like in South
Africa for Israel to change. Israelis are very connected to the world
and very sensitive to the world and once serious action is taken by the
international community, Israel will obey,” he argued.
Ghattas
added that “BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] and popular
movements are the major and the most elementary step that have to be
taken in order to make governments and international bodies held
accountable.”
The Joint List MK argued that the “occupation” and
is not only of the West Bank but that all of Israel is “settler
colonialism” and an “apartheid regime.”
“When we say colonial
settlers … this is the right description for Israel as a whole, Israel
dominating what was called Israel in the 1967 borders and all the other
areas that were in the 1967 war occupied by Israel. We, as Palestinian
citizens that have Israeli citizenship after 1948 are still victims of
this colonial settler regime,” he said.
At another point in the
speech, he said that when it comes to the “apartheid regime, the
differentiation as if inside 1967 borders [or out] – this
differentiation does not exist, actually. Perhaps in some aspects the
level … of the racism or apartheid is different, but the same colonial
settler apartheid reality is all over Palestine.”
All of Israel, Ghattas argued, has been taken over by “settlers.”
Never heard of the World Social Forum? Neither had I. But it sounds like it ought to be renamed the World Conference of Anti-Semites.
Ghattas made the statements last week at the World Social Forum in
Montreal, which is meant to be a far-left alternative to the annual
World Economic Forum in Davos. The Canadian federal government revoked
its partnership with the forum, because of anti-Semitic content,
policies and promotional materials, including excluding Jewish Israelis
and supporters of Israel and a session blaming worldwide terrorism and
imperialism on Zionists, which was promoted with a caricature featuring
classic anti-Semitic imagery of a hook-nosed man with forelocks, a beard
and a black hat controlling Uncle Sam. The session was later canceled
and the caricature removed from the website.
And Israel allows this anti-Semite to serve in its Knesset. What is wrong with us?
Much more on Sabeel, which sponsored Ghattas' appearance at this conference,
here and
here.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Balad, Basel Ghattas, BDS, Israeli Knesset, Israeli-Arab
Germany (and Europe): The more things change....
NGO Monitor reports that the German government spent millions of dollars between 2012 and 2015 supporting Israeli groups that support boycotting Israel and
negating the Jewish state.
The NGO Monitor watchdog group has found that between 2012 and 2015,
Germany funneled at least $4.4 million to some 15 Israeli organizations,
and 42 percent of the donations went to groups supporting an
international boycott against Israel and policies negating Israel’s
existence as a Jewish state.
The report found that the German Economic Cooperation and Development
Ministry operates a Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst)
project in Israel, but in fact, on the ground the project is headed by a
different German group, KURVE Wustrow, which has partnered with two
local organizations—the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace and the
Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
NGO Monitor argues that the Coalition of Women for Peace actively
supports the BDS movement, including heading a project titled “Who
Profits from the Occupation,” a database of potential boycott “targets.”
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee promotes violent riots
across Judea and Samaria, and its Twitter account often features posts
encouraging violence, the report said.
The German Embassy in Israel said that Germany “remains committed to
the two-state solution and devising sustainable peace in the Middle
East. The German government opposes any boycott of Israel, including BDS
activities, as such action undermines the peace process. The German
government’s funding policy seeks to support selected projects via
earmarked funds. Germany will continue to invest in projects and
initiatives that can promote and increase awareness to the two-state
solution.”
Still reading
Catch the Jew, and this is totally consistent with it. Hitler must be feeling proud.
And then there's the European Union, which despite all its problems still
focuses hatred on Israel.
Yes, that's an EU sponsored caravan for 'Palestinians' in Area C (which under the Oslo accords is totally controlled by Israel) and yes, it's illegal. This one is right next to the Jewish town of Carmel in the Mount Hebron region.
Israel has been
demolishing these illegal structures despite
European protests, but cannot do so
quickly enough.
I understand that Israel
Labels: BDS, European anti-Semitism, European Union, German anti-Semitism, Germany, home demolitions, Judea and Samaria construction
Monday, the Rabbi demonized Israel
A devastating letter written to the board of directors of a Raleigh, North Carolina conservative synagogue was shared with me yesterday by
Richard A.
Devastating Letter sent to Synagogue board. This Rabbi
partners with terror organizations and BDS organizations to indoctrinate
Jews against Israel.
Esteemed Board of Beth Meyer,
Good
morning. We are a young Jewish family
here in the Triangle and recently learned of Rabbi Solomon's Behind the
Scenes Tour of Israel. The rabbi says his goal with the trip is to
raise the awareness American Jews to the realities on the ground in
Israel so they can form their “own positions that
are based on fuller, more complex information.” However, according to
the online trip guide, most of the sources of information during Rabbi
Solomon’s trip, will come from the most radical proponents of
BDS, and even pro-Islamic terror sources.
I
hope that Rabbi Solomon is
being honest about his intentions with this tour and it’s objectives.
As you will see below, it will appear to most that the Rabbi intends to
stir hatred for Israeli Jews and fro the IDF, who is sole guarantor of
the Jewish State.
To begin, the most troubling
aspect of MEDJI Tours is that they partner with the Holy Land Fund, a designated terror group who
has provided funding and support to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood according
to the U.S. Justice Department. That a Rabbi from Raleigh is partnering with a Hamas terror
financier is alarming and it must be investigated by the community and others.
The other partners and teachers of this trip include
a sundry list of the most vile haters of the Israeli Jewish people and avid promoters of BDS.
Examples:
- All that’s Left - They
report to be a collective unequivocally opposed to the occupation and committed to building the diaspora angle of resistance. taking to the streets with visual and educational strategies to reshape how visitors
think about Israel, which includes total, one-sided demonization of the IDF. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.528285
- Mahmoud Darwish Museum
- who partners with BDS group IACHD to sponsor anti-Israel propaganda tours to gin up hatred of Israeli Jews. http://www.summerinpalestine.org/2015/blog.html In
fact, Mahmoud Darwish was a poet who not only called for all living
Jews to leave "Palestine" , but to take with them also their dead
ones!!!
- Yassar Arafat's Tomb - the father of modern
terrorism deserves respect with a visit to his gravesite? Arafat
is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Israeli
citizens,
the deaths of untold numbers of Arabs and the killing of more than 100
U.S. citizens and the Rabbi pays his respects thereby validating his
muderous acts??
- Combatants for Peace – partner of pro-BDS movement, anti-IDF
activists who
utilizes highly demonizing language, accusing Israel of “ethnic
cleansing,” “genocide,” “collective punishment,”
and “apartheid”; promotes BDS campaigns against Israel; and explicitly
advocates for the end of the state of Israel as the nation state of the
Jewish people.
- Even the Bait al Karama Culinary School and the Birzeit
Brewery company travelers will visit for pleasure are known anti-Israel BDS activists whose companies were created for this purpose
- Rabbi Solomon’s ittenerary also includes a stop where travelers will “Learn the story of Open
House Ramle where the non-fiction story Lemon Tree took place.” According to Stand With us, “Lemmon Tree” is pure fiction and it’s a propaganda piece that presents
the extremist Palestinian case against Israel and says we should be
“deeply concerned” that some secondary schools are using the book. https://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=256
These
are but a sampling of the details of this trip, which promotes hatred
towards Israeli Jews from beginning to
end. This tour should be led by either the Palestinian Authority,
Hamas, or the Muslim Brotherhood; not by the Rabbi of a Conservative
synagogue in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I am
asking today that you look into this trip further and to ensure that
all consumers understand clearly the pro-BDS
and anti-IDF education this trip will offer. And above all, consumers
should be well informed of the Islamic terror-supporting partners of
this trip. Many
are now researching whether it's legal to financially partner with
foreign terror sponsors and with companies who organizes boycotts
against Israeli Jewish citizens.
Thank you for your consideration in this troubling matter.
J. Sloan Rachmuth
Writer's contact information was redacted.
Labels: BDS, Islamic terrorism, Jewish anti-Semitism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat
The day the Republican party moved squarely into the pro-Israel corner
Yes, it's late again.
Here's video from Tuesday Republican national party platform committee meeting in which what is almost certainly the most pro-Israel platform ever by a US political party is adopted.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip:
Roseanne Barr).
Labels: BDS, Jerusalem, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Judea and Samaria, one-state solution, two-state solution, US presidential campaign 2016
Breaking: Republican platform dumps 'two-state'
Received from Mark Zell of Republicans in Israel:
This is a scoop: the Republican National Platform Committee a few
moments ago unanimously adopted the Clemmons Amendment changing in one
fell swoop 25 years of standard language and putting the Republican
Party squarely behind the unity of Jerusalem, against BDS, removing the
label of "occupier" from Israel for returning to Judea, and much more.
The amendment was adopted with a standing ovation by the Platform
Committee and tears from us in the audience. Please check YouTube to see
Alan Clemmons stirring remarks introducing the Amendment. And see this
page for the text of the Amendment that was drafted with the active
participation of Donald Trump's Middle East advisors.
The text of the amendment is above (unless it changed since last night).
A good reason to vote Republican.
Labels: BDS, Donald Trump, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, one-state solution, two-state solution, US presidential campaign 2016
Jewish woman forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at UC Irvine
You all remember the University of California at Irvine, the place where then-Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren was
heckled and forced to stop speaking? Well, it happened again. Last week, a Jewish woman was forced to hide from anti-Israel 'activists' at Irvine outside a meeting at which a movie about the IDF was being screened.
Let's go to the videotape.
Here's how the woman, Sophomore Eliana Kopley, was
trapped outside.
Sophomore Eliana Kopley had just left a Holocaust-related event when
she was walking toward the facility featuring a screening of “Beneath
the Helmet,” a documentary about the Israel Defense Forces. As she
arrived at the event hosted by Students Supporting Israel, Ms. Kopley
was met by an angry crowd pounding on the doors and windows—engaged in
violent chants targeting the Jewish state.
“I was terrified. There is no other word to describe how I felt,” Ms. Kopley told the Haym Salomon Center.
As the mob tried to gain entrance to the event, one protestor shouted, “If we’re not allowed in, you’re not allowed in!”
With the crowd physically forbidding Ms. Kopley from attending the
event and chants inciting violence against Jews and Israel such as
“Intifada, Intifada—Long live the Intifada!” and “F**k Israel!” Ms.
Kopley walked away from the scene.
But she was not alone. A group of female students followed her as she escaped to safety in the room nearby.
“When I turned back, at that moment, I looked at one of the girls and wanted to hide and cry,” Ms. Kopley said.
Throughout this entire time, Ms. Kopley never hung up the phone with
her mother, who was anxiously fearful on the other end of the line.
“My mom keeps asking what’s going on. But I couldn’t even say
complete sentences. All I managed to say was ‘protesters’ and she
started yelling at me to call the cops,” Ms. Kopley said.
So she did. As the chanting heightened, Ms. Kopley remained on the
line with 9-1-1 until an officer found her shortly after. Two officers,
who decided it would be best to put on black rubber gloves to protect
them from sharp objects, escorted her through the crowd of protesters to
the nearby film screening safely.
There's more.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: anti-Semitism, BDS, Michael Oren, pro-Israel students, Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California at Irvine
#Twitter suspends account exposing hatred and #anti-Semitism in the #BDS movement
Yes, they did.
Labels: anti-Semitism, BDS, censorship, Jew hatred, Twitter
Maybe she's on to something... but not for the reasons she thinks: SUNY Plattsburgh prof compares 'Israeli apartheid' to campus rape
An
Israeli-born professor (link in Hebrew) of Gender and Women's Studies at the State University of Plattsburgh has
compared 'Israeli apartheid' to campus rape in an interview with the online publication Alternet.
The Professor's name is Simona (Sima) Sharoni. Her academic credentials are
here. This is from the second of the three links above.
Sharoni, a professor at the State University of New York at
Plattsburgh in the Gender and Women's Studies Department, said that both
the conflict and campus sexual assault feature institutionalized
disparity of power as a linchpin.
Sharoni articulated that the
pro-Israel narrative embraces a victim-blaming narrative akin to "she
was asking for it" allegations common in rape culture. "The assumption
that Palestinians bring the violence on themselves...it's similar to
telling a survivor that it's what she was wearing," Sharoni said.
Additionally, she asserted that supporters of Israel engage in a
behavior analogous to discrediting rape victims in their repudiation of
Palestinian claims.
"Palestinians are not believed, which is the
same with survivors [of sexual assault]. It's very similar to saying,
'No, he's actually a nice guy,' about a man accused of rape," Aharoni
remarked.
The professor concluded her interview by explaining
that drawing parallels between campus rape and the "Israeli apartheid"
is strategically advantageous for both the BDS movement as well as
sexual assault survivors groups because it serves as "a means to an
end...to create a just and equal society."
Well, Israel's treatment of 'Palestinians' does have something in common with campus rapes. It's widely exaggerated in the media, and the media reports about it (as well as the crimes themselves) are often based on lies by people who want to
create abuse that doesn't exist. Often, both are based on fiction.
Labels: BDS, Israeli apartheid, Jewish anti-Semitism, Leftist anti-Semitism, rape
Bernie's 'Jewish Outreach' Director: F*** You Bibi
Greetings from... well, you can guess where.
Bernie Sanders has appointed a 'Jewish outreach' director. He need not have bothered. In a March 3, 2015 Facebook post, the director, one Simone Zimmerman, threw a slew of expletives - including
the "F" word - at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Here's the original unedited post:
Zimmerman later edited the post to replace 'a-hole' with 'politician' and 'F-you' with 'shame on you.' But the internet has a long memory, and as Noah Pollak points out, the edits won't help Sanders much.
The choice of Zimmerman, a young anti-Israel activist with a history
of support for the BDS movement, signaled that the Sanders campaign was
not retreating from recent campaign behavior that many in the pro-Israel
community viewed as hostile.
Sanders turned down an invitation to speak at the annual AIPAC
conference, a bipartisan campaign stop for Republican and Democratic
politicians. Zimmerman condemned
Hillary Clinton’s speech to the AIPAC conference as “racist and
orientalist.” Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer on Sunday called Sanders’s recent comments about Israel’s conduct during fighting with the Hamas terrorist group “libelous.”
Zimmerman comes to the Sanders campaign after a stint as an
undergraduate at Berkeley, where she headed the campus chapter of J
Street, an anti-Israel lobbying and activist group.
Last year, Zimmerman promoted
a play called Martyr’s Street, whose plot compares an Israeli settler
to a Hamas bomb-maker. While a student at Berkeley in 2012, she signed a letter
criticizing the University of California system for issuing a report
about anti-Semitism on UC campuses. The next year, Zimmerman wrote an op-ed
calling on Hillel International, a national Jewish student
organization, to sponsor campus events promoting the BDS movement, which
seeks Israel’s destruction.
Maybe Bernie doesn't want any Jewish votes. He certainly doesn't want any pro-Israel votes.
Labels: BDS, Bernie Sanders, Jewish anti-Semitism, liberalism, US presidential campaign 2016
Leader of self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah' backs BDS (in Judea and Samaria)
President Hussein Obama signed into law today a bill that includes extensive provisions targeting the boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) movement that seeks to destroy trade with Israel. However, in a signing statement (of the type to which he objected during the Bush administration and vowed that his administration would never issue), Obama objected to language that referred to 'Israeli controlled territory' and announced that
his administration would not enforce the law against companies and countries that boycott the 'settlements.'
“I have directed my administration to strongly
oppose boycotts, divestment campaigns, and sanctions targeting the
State of Israel,” Obama said in a signing statement. “As long as I am
president, we will continue to do so. Certain provisions of this act, by
conflating Israel and ‘Israeli-controlled territories,’ are contrary to
longstanding bipartisan United States policy, including with regard to
the treatment of settlements.”
Obama further said in the statement that
“consistent with longstanding constitutional practice” the
administration would negotiate with other countries under the law “in a
manner that does not interfere with my constitutional authority to
conduct diplomacy,” language used in signing statements to signal that a
president will not apply a part of a law that does not comport with US
foreign policy.
The BDS portion of the law, backed by the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was authored by Rep. Peter
Roskam, R-Ill. and Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif.
There are multiple bills under consideration
in Congress and in over 20 state legislatures targeting BDS. Many of the
state bills mandate the divestment of state funds, including pensions,
from entities that boycott Israel and a number of those bills extend
protection to the settlements. Illinois and South Carolina have passed
into law in recent months anti-BDS bills that include protection for
settlements.
The Florida legislature this week passed a law
that includes settlement protections, and it awaits signing by Governor
Rick Scott. A similar bill was introduced this week in the Ohio
legislature.
'Most pro-Israel administration evah'? Hardly.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, BDS, Judea and Samaria, signing statements
Old friend introduces bill to bar State of California from doing business with companies that boycott Israel
How many of you remember
Travis Allen? Travis
won that election in District 72 in California, and has now used his position to
strike a blow at the boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) movement, which is strong on many California college campuses.
Travis Allen, of Huntington Beach in southern California’s Orange
County, introduced the bill – called the California- Israel Protection
Act – to “require the State of California to divest from companies that
boycott Israel.”
Allen said in a statement that the US and Israel
“have historically stood together as allies due to our unique bond
founded on shared values, a bilateral trade relationship, and our
unwavering commitment to freedom and democracy.
Any company that
is intentionally inflicting economic harm upon California’s trading
partners weaken our ability to conduct business and harm the vital
economic interests of our state. Further, boycotts of countries often
derive from ethnic, religious, racial, or nationality discrimination,
which directly contradicts the values of California citizens.”
The
bill would also penalize companies boycotting products made in the
settlements, east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights, since it would
prohibit California from investing in any company that is “engaging in
actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize,
inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with
the State of Israel or companies based in the State of Israel or in
territories controlled by the State of Israel.”
Allen said it is
“unconscionable for our state to do business with companies that play
politics and boycott our critical allies. California has developed
long-standing social, political, and economic partnerships with the
State of Israel that should not be cast aside by politicians.”
According
to Allen, in 2014 California exported over $2.3 billion in goods to
Israel, making Israel the state’s 18th largest export destination and
its largest market in the Middle East.
South Carolina became the
first US state to pass a similar bill in June, and this was followed by a
bill approved by the Illinois legislature in July.
Here's hoping Travis comes back to visit us again soon.
Labels: BDS, California
