Video: Anti-Semitic gang attacks Stamford Hill (London) yeshiva
An anti-Semitic gang stormed a Stamford Hill yeshiva on Saturday night, but was beaten off by Jews inside the synagogue. Stamford Hill is a heavily Jewish neighborhood of London.
According to the YouTube posting, the attack by a gang of 20 men took place at Yeshivas Ahavas Torah in Stamford Hill.
There were armed police CO19 units on scene, and a MPS helicopter above (but you won't see them in this video).
A group of approximately 20 youths attacked a local synagogue in the
London suburb of Stamford Hill over the weekend, yelling threats,
beating worshipers and vandalizing property, according to
IsraelHatzolah's official twitter account.
One witness belonging
to the "Ahavat Torah" congregation described the mob as shouting "we
will kill you" as they proceeded to physically assault the worshipers
inside the synagogue and tear apart prayer books.
Another Jewish
local who had passed by the scene rushed inside, grabbing one of the
suspects with the intention of bringing him to the police, but was
quickly overwhelmed by the other attackers and suffered strikes to the
face, losing a tooth.
A spokesmen for local law enforcement said
that the police views the assault on the heavily Jewish populated
Stamford Hill community gravely and that they have already detained
four suspects who say they were involved in the incident.
The
assault on the north London synagogue comes days before the opening of a
hotline dedicated to providing advice and support to victims of
anti-Semitism.
The Charlie Hebdo cover — in which a tearful caricature of Muhammad
is shown below the phrase “Tout est pardonné,” or “All is forgiven” — was posted Monday night in Comic Riffs,
a Post blog. The cover cartoon shows the turbaned, bearded figure
holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie,” the global
rallying cry following an attack on the French publication last week
that left 12 dead in Paris.
Washington Post Executive Editor
Martin Baron approved publication of the image on The Post’s blog and in
the newspaper. It is apparently the first time a Muhammad depiction has
appeared in The Post’s news columns. Baron said last week that
the paper’s policy was to avoid publication of material that is
“deliberately” offensive to religious groups but said Monday that the
new Charlie Hebdo cartoon did not meet that criterion.
“We’ve
never maintained that simply publishing an image of Muhammad itself was
offensive,” Baron said. “Our policy has been to avoid publication of
material that is pointedly, deliberately or needlessly offensive to
members of religious groups. That remains our policy, but this doesn’t
fall into that category.”
Charlie Hebdo’s attorney, Richard
Malka, told a French radio station that the new issue — to be published
Wednesday — would contain images of Muhammad. “We will not give in,” he
said. ‘The spirit of ‘Je suis Charlie’ means the right to blaspheme.”
Meanwhile, the London Telegraph has published the ravings of Islamist preacher Anjem Chaudhary who called the Charlie Hebdo cover 'an act of war.'
Any image of Mohammed is considered blasphemous by Muslims, and Anjem
Choudary, an extremist preacher, described the latest Charlie Hebdo as “an
act of war”.
He said: “I'm sure there's someone somewhere who will take the law into his
own hands. It's inevitable.”
Mr Choudary, a lecturer in Shariah law who was arrested and bailed in
September as part of an investigation into Islamist terrorism, said the
magazine’s publishers “know exactly what they're doing and they know the
reaction of the Muslims. It's blatant provocation.
“It’s not just a cartoon…it's insulting, it's ridiculing, it's provoking. I
think it's an act of war, quite frankly.”
Supermarket terrorist mentor's wife living in 4-bedroom UK house on government tab
Sylvie Beghal, the French-born wife of Islamist preacher Djamel Beghal, who mentored one of the Charlie Hebdo terrorists and the Paris Kosher supermarket terrorist, is living in a four-bedroom house in England on the British government's tab according to a report in Saturday's London Telegraph (Hat Tip: Tom Gross). Beghal himself is banned from the UK.
He has also been described as being too extreme for Osama Bin Laden....
No one should be surprised if Britain is the next country (after France) to go Islamic....
The British supermarket chain Sainsbury's has apologized on its website for removing Kosher food from the shelves of its Holborn branch in central London. This is from the first link.
"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience or offence caused," the company said on its website.
"The decision was taken in one store only to move these chilled
products to cold storage elsewhere in that store for a short period on
Saturday as a precautionary measure during a demonstration close by."
The company added that "as a non-political organisation, Sainsbury's
would never take such a decision on grounds other than ensuring the
quality or safety of our products."
Some
witnesses, however, said that the food was removed not as a precaution
but in support of the protesters, with one Sainsbury's staff member
reportedly saying "We support Gaza."
On social media, the supermarket chain was accused of racism and anti-Semitism.
Former Tory MP Louise Mench tweeted: "Dear @Sainsburys kosher is JEWISH
food. Israel is a COUNTRY. How DARE YOU equate Jews' food to ISRAEL,
how dare you #EverydayAntisemitism."
Colin Appleby, the witness who heard the Gaza comment, also posted a
picture of the empty kosher section, adding: "I didn't try to point out
that kosher goods were not Israeli goods but they walked away."
Another
customer, Gavin Platman, complained on Facebook that the supermarket
was "not making a political statement against Israel but instead are
targeting a group based on race – i.e. Jews."
On Saturday, demonstrators in Birmingham attacked police and threw food products on the floor while calling on a local supermarket to stop selling Israeli goods.
About
100 demonstrators had gathered for a protest of Israeli food products
outside the Tesco supermarket in Hodge Hill. A smaller group of
protesters, holding Palestinian flags, then entered the store and
started pushing over piles of food products.
When we stand up to the BDS'ers, we win. When we don't, they win. It's that simple.
Audio: Jewish man calls Sainsbury to complain about Kosher products' removal
After a Sainsbury’s Supermarket in the UK removes all Kosher food from its shelves because of a threat of a demonstration outside the store,
Jonathan Sacerdoti calls Sainsbury’s Careline to ask what happened.
Some of you might recall that back in January of 2007, I spent a long weekend in London with Mrs. Carl (although I didn't mention my travel companion at the time).
One of the things we enjoyed was being able to go into Sainsbury's and buy Kosher sandwiches which were in the refrigerator alongside all their other sandwiches. The sandwiches were made in England by a company called DD's, and to this day, when I change planes in London, I often go through passport control rather than take an airport bus from one terminal to the other, so that I can buy a DD's sandwich or two, and then take the underground to whatever terminal I need to reach.
Unfortunately, as you can see from tweet above, Sainsbury's has now removed all Kosher food from its store in Holborn, which is in the center of London where Mrs. Carl and I hung out seven and a half years ago. Yes, that includes Kosher food not made in Israel, which is most of what Sainsbury's sold.
Anyone still think BDS is something other than anti-Semitism?
UPDATE 9:37 PM
I guess Sainsbury was afraid of something like this.
If Britain cannot protect its populace, perhaps the British government should turn over the reigns to someone who can.
London Holocaust Day speaker admires Hitler, hates Jews
I'd like you all to meet Hassan Farooq. Farooq was a Holocaust Day speaker in London in 2013.
Let's go to the videotape.
But a British organization called Stand for Peace has done an investigation into Mr. Farouq and has found some very disturbing things.
Hassan Farooq is a a “senior member” of the Newham Dawah Team, an East
London-based organisation which attempts to spread the message of
Islam. Newham Dawah Team is part of the Islamic Education and Research
Academy (iERA) Network, and its officials regularly liaise with iERA officials such as Abdurraheem Green. The iERA is an extremist Salafi group, some of whose officials have been banned from the UK. Abdurraheem Green talks of a Jewish “stench” and advocates the killing of homosexuals.
Here are some choice tweets from Mr. Farooq's Twitter account.
London's Saint James Church promotes Christian torment in 'Palestine'
London's Saint James Church is running something called the 'Bethlehem Unwrapped' festival in the heart of London. As I have noted previously, the festival includes what claims to be a replica of Israel's 'security fence,' on which visitors are invited to scrawl graffiti.
The decision by a Christian church to cooperate with Muslim
Palestinians in an anti-Israel Christmas exhibit focusing on Bethlehem
will be seen as incongruous by some, given the record of oppression of
Christians by Palestinian Muslims in that city and elsewhere.
Under the Fatah and Hamas regimes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the
resident Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights
abuses including “intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of
churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment,
economic boycott, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual
harassment, and extortion,” notes writer Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld.
As a result of this persecution, the Christian population of
Bethlehem went from a 60 percent majority in 1990 to a 40 percent
minority in 2000, to about 15 percent of the city's total population
five years ago.
It was estimated that in 2000-2007, more than one thousand Christians
emigrated from the Bethlehem area annually and that only 10,000 to
13,000 Christians remained in the city by 2008.
...
According to international human rights lawyer Justus Reid
Weiner, the crimes committed against Christian Arabs reflects their
inferior social status in Islam, known as dhimmitude.
"As dhimmis, Christians living in Palestinian-controlled territories
are subjected to debilitating legal, political, cultural, and religious
restrictions. Muslim groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have built a
culture of hatred upon the age-old foundations of Islamic society.
Moreover, the PA has adopted Islamic law into its draft constitution.
"In such an environment, Christian Arabs have found themselves
victims of prejudice and hate crimes," he explains. "Tens of thousands
of Palestinian Christians have left their ancestral homes and emigrated.
They flee to almost any country that will issue them a visa."
Weiner points out that the first Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman,
Yasser Arafat, determined the policy that led to this demographic
shift. "After the PA gained control of Bethlehem, it redistricted the
municipal boundaries of the city. Arafat also defied tradition by
appointing a Muslim governor of the city. The Bethlehem City Council,
which by Palestinian law must have a Christian majority, has been taken
over by Muslims. Eight of the fifteen seats on the Council are still
reserved for Christians, but Hamas controls the City Council with some
Christian allies. Arafat crowned his efforts when he converted the Greek
Orthodox monastery next to the Church of Nativity into his official
Bethlehem residence.
The church's behavior is completely in keeping with the spirit in London. Here's a letter that our ambassador, Daniel Taub, recently had published in the Times of London (the paper is behind a paywall and all I have is the letter, which someone sent me by email).
‘Jack
Straw refuses to countenance the possibility that anyone other than
Israel might have a part to play in the plight of the Palestinians’
Sir, Jack Straw (Opinion, Dec 26)
asserts that Palestinian shacks in the South Hebron hills are being
gratuitously demolished by Israel while their residents are charged
exorbitant sums for
water.
In
fact, although these structures were built without regard to planning
permission, the Israeli authorities, which under the Israeli-Palestinian
agreements are charged with responsibility for planning regulations in
the area, invited the residents to submit a master plan to regularise
the situation.
The
proposed master plan which was submitted was rejected. Not, as Straw
suggests, because of gratuitous harassment, but because the planning
committee found that it did not provide adequately for welfare services
for the residents, and in particular would deprive Palestinian women
of access to educational and professional opportunities. The committee
has invited the residents to make an amended application.
The
price of water is determined by the Palestinian Water Authority, not by
Israel. Jack Straw refuses to countenance the possibility that anyone
other than Israel might have a part to play in the plight of the
Palestinians. Far more damaging than the castigation of Israel, however,
is the effect of such condescension and low expectations on the
Palestinian side.
Ultimately,
the most effective way of dealing with the issue of the South Hebron
hills is for
the two sides to reach a final status agreement. But ignoring the fact
that the Palestinians too have responsibilities will not help bring that
agreement closer.
On the London-Tel Aviv leg of my flight on Tuesday, I was sitting next to a Leftist, professor-looking type (so I conclude from the facts that he spoke unaccented Hebrew, read English and had a very different meal than mine) who was reading an article in the Financial Times about Britain's intent to become the largest Islamic banking center in the world outside the Middle East.
The latest pro-City move will be unveiled on Tuesday at the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum, known as the “Islamic Davos”. The Treasury hopes to launch a bond-like sukuk worth about £200m next year.
The plan – which has been worked on for many years – will be announced by David Cameron and is endorsed by Mr Osborne in the Financial Times as a means of stimulating Islamic investment in London and Britain.
“While others in the western world resist change, this government is
embracing it: banging the drum for British businesses, seeking out new
markets, welcoming overseas investment with open arms,” the chancellor
writes.
Mr Osborne hopes that corporate institutions will follow suit and issue sukuk bonds, promoting Islamic investment and generating more cash to fund British infrastructure.
Mr Cameron will also tell the London conference of plans for a new
Islamic index at the London Stock Exchange as a means of identifying
Islamic-compliant business activities.
However the Treasury is conscious of the possible political
ramifications of the plan, notably any suggestion that the issuance of a
sukuk bond might require the British government to restrict its dealings with Israeli-owned businesses.
But what does it mean when the British government is creating a huge bond issue that's designed for Muslim investors? Soeren Kern believes that the British government is on a path to establish two parallel financial systems - one like every other western economy and one that is Islamic. and this quote from British Prime Minister David Cameron sounds downright ominous.
Cameron said the new Islamic bond index on the London Stock Exchange
(LSE) would help stimulate fixed-income investments from Muslim
investors -- especially investors from oil-rich Persian Gulf countries
-- by helping them identify which listed companies adhere to Islamic
principles.
Investors who practice Islamic finance -- which is said to be
structured to conform to a strict code of ethics based on the Koran and
Sharia law -- refuse to invest in companies that are linked to alcohol,
gambling, pornography, tobacco, weapons or pork. Islamic finance also
forbids collecting or paying interest and requires that deals be based
on tangible assets.
And unlike the Financial Times, Kern believes that Israeli companies that hope to list in London might be hurt by this as well.
The Treasury also said some sukuk bond issues may require the
British government to restrict its dealings with Israeli-owned companies
in order to attract Muslim money.
Oh, and by the way, Islamic money is already a powerful force in London.
Britain is already the leading Western center for Islamic financial
and related professional services. It is a leading provider of
Sharia-compliant finance, with reported assets of $19 billion, according
to Islamic Finance 2013, a new report published by The City UK, a financial sector lobby group.
Britain is home to 22 Islamic banks, of which six are fully
Sharia-compliant. This is substantially more than in any other Western
country or offshore center and is more than double the number in the
United States.
In addition, 25 law firms are now supplying services in Islamic
finance, which is increasingly being used for major infrastructure
projects in London.
Islamic investment has financed London's Shard skyscraper -- the tallest building in the European Union -- and the 2012 Olympic Village. Middle Eastern investors own Harrods, London's most famous luxury department store, and the Manchester City football team.
Qualifications in Islamic finance are being offered by four
professional institutes and at least 16 universities and business
schools.
London is also a leader in Islamic retail banking services, with
institutions offering a range of Islamic banking products, such as
mortgages and car loans.
The growing demand for Islamic retail banking services is being
propelled by the demographic transformation taking place in Britain. The
Muslim population of Britain will top 3.3 million sometime before the
end of 2013 to reach around 5.2% of the overall population of 63
million, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe.
This demographic earthquake -- which is being attributed to
large-scale immigration, coupled with high Muslim birth rates and
growing numbers of British converts -- is transforming the country's
business landscape.
The Guardian notes that the British government has already had to step in once to ensure there was no discrimination against Israel.
The government moved on Monday night to offer assurances that the
Islamic bond, or Sukuk, and the Islamic index would not encourage
investments that discriminate against Israel. Boris Johnson was forced
to order Transport for London to rewrite the contract for the Emirates
Thames cable car in the summer amid fears that Israeli companies could
have been blocked from involvement in the project. The United Arab
Emirates does not recognise the state of Israel.
The Emirates Thames cable car is a cable car that crosses the Thames River near Greenwich, and is included in the Oyster card, the London public transport card.
But if you're a Brit, here's what ought to sound most ominous.
Speaking on a stage that included Jordanian King Abdullah and the Sultan
of Brunei, Cameron dismissed criticism of increasing foreign ownership
in Britain: "I know some people look at foreign companies investing in
our businesses, financing our infrastructure or taking over our football
clubs and ask, shouldn't we do something to stop it? Well, let me tell
you, the answer is no."
I guess Cameron thinks he won't be around by the time they say 'convert or die.' What could go wrong?
What is it exactly that drives her opponents
so crazy? Many of her views are politically incorrect, but she is not
the only one to hold them. Perhaps it is her blunt style; she is
routinely accused of hyperbole, hysteria and anger.
Phillips thinks she is hated because she is an “apostate.”
“I was considered to be a signed-up member of the liberal left. I departed and they won’t forgive me,” she says.
Her journey makes the left feel insecure about its own positions, she adds.
“The left is obsessed by me because it knows
this right-wing label they’ve pinned on me isn’t true,” she says,
settled into a large armchair in her central London apartment. “Where I
stand is the true left. I remain where I was originally – standing for a
better society, standing up for the vulnerable, fighting oppression and
tyranny, standing up for truth against lies. The change was that I came
to believe that the people who I thought were on my side in that great
battle were on the other side, keeping the poor mired in disadvantage.”
She wrote “Guardian Angel” to show that she wasn’t the creature of caricature.
“It was important to set the record straight,”
she says. “I was being so misunderstood and misrepresented, it was
getting in the way of my ability to convey what I was trying to say.”
I've met Melanie several times here in Israel (and I once met her getting off a British Airways flight from London in Tel Aviv - she walks so fast it was difficult keeping up with her on the way to passport control :-). She's definitely not 'mad' as the British Left likes to call her. She's very sharp and quick, but her opinions are well thought-out.
By far my favorite British columnist. I'm shocked to read that she used to write for al-Guardian....
Caroline Glick was in London last week to debate the proposition "Israel is destroying itself with its settlement policy. If settlement expansion continues Israel will have no future." Yes, the bias is already there in the question's phrasing.
Glick's debating partner was Dani Dayan, the former chairman of the Yesha council. Her opposition was J Street co-founder Daniel Levy and British philanthropist William Sieghart (whose charitable ventures support Hamas, among others). It wasn't pretty.
A couple of impressions I took away from the experience: First, I
can say without hesitation that I hope never to return to Britain. I
actually don't see any point. Jews are targeted by massive anti-Semitism
of both the social and physical varieties. Why would anyone Jewish want
to live there?
As to visiting as an Israeli,
again, I just don't see the point. The discourse is owned by anti-Israel
voices. They don't make arguments to spur thought, but to end it, by
appealing to people's passions.
For instance,
in one particularly ugly segment, Levy made the scurrilous accusation
that Israel systematically steals land from the Palestinians. Both Dayan
and I demanded that he provide just one example of his charge. And the
audience raged against us for our temerity at insisting that he provide
substantiation for his baseless allegation. In the event, he failed to
substantiate his allegation.
At another point, I
was asked how I defend the Nazi state of Israel. When I responded by
among other things giving the Nazi pedigree of the Palestinian
nationalist movement founded by Nazi agent Haj Amin el Husseini and
currently led by Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas, the crowd angrily
shouted me down.
I want to note that the
audience was made up of upper crust, wealthy British people, not
unwashed rabble rousers. And yet they behaved in many respects like a
mob when presented with pro-Israel positions.
I
honestly don't know whether there are policy implications that arise
from my experience in London last week. I have for a long time been of
the opinion that Israel shouldn't bother to try to win over Europe
because the Europeans have multiple reasons for always being anti-Israel
and none of them have anything to do with anything that Israel does. As
I discuss in my book, these reasons include anti-Semitism,
anti-Americanism, addiction to Arab oil, and growing Muslim populations
in Europe.
I was prepared to conduct a
civilized debate based on facts and reasoned argumentation. I expected
it to be a difficult experience. I was not expecting to be greeted by a
well-dressed mob. My pessimism about Europeans' capacity to avail
themselves to reasoned, fact-based argumentation about Israel has only
deepened from the experience.
In what could be the last straw for English Jewry (or at least for those Jews affiliated enough to send their kids to Jewish schools), the British government has decided to withdraw recognition from Hebrew as a 'foreign language.' Children between the ages of 7-11 in England must be taught a foreign language, and Hebrew no longer qualifies. Arabic anyone? (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).
The U.K. government has dropped Hebrew as an official recognized language for the purpose of teaching it to school children, according to press reports.
The government exclusion of Hebrew from the provided list of officially recognized languages for primary schools could damage Jewish education, the Board of Deputies warned this week.
Education Minister Elizabeth Truss last month announced plans to make it mandatory from September 2014, to teach a foreign language to children aged 7 to 11. Schools must offer at least one of seven recognized languages, excluding Hebrew.
Many elementary Jewish schools, who have to fit in Jewish studies, along with the national curriculum, are currently offering only Hebrew as a foreign language. According to the Board, they would be unable to continue their education if they were forced to offer another foreign language.
Hey guys - come to Israel, where English is the most commonly taught foreign language. Either that, or take lessons from Montreal, where the Jewish schools have to teach their children Hebrew, English and French. But Montreal hasn't gone Islamic yet like England has. No one there teaches their kids Arabic.
Buses in London are advertising an al-Quds day march by a group called the Islamic Human Rights Commission, a misnomer if there ever was one. The IHRC is an Iranian regime front group in the UK. The al-Quds march is an openly pro-Iranian regime parade through central London where Hamas and Hezbollah flags, pictures of the Iranian ayatollah and calls for Israel's destruction can all be found.
In an email, the Stop the Bomb project reports that it is speaking with CBS (the agency that manages the bus advertisements) and Transport for London in an effort to get the advertisements taken down.
They are also contacting the largest bus union, whom they're asking to join in with the outrage on the grounds that their fellow-unionists in Iran are so appallingly treated.
You can read all about it and see pictures from last year's al-Quds day rally here.
Most incredibly, the Islamic Human Rights Commission is considered a charity in England.
British pro-Israel blogger assaulted for trying to film anti-Israel event
British blogger Richard Millett was assaulted on Monday night as he tried to film a public anti-Israel event in Londonistan. The full story with several videos is here.
Here's one of the videos. Let's go to the videotape.
Make sure to read the whole thing and watch all the videos. I guess this is what passes for free speech in Britain these days.
Two years after Labour's Stephen Timms was stabbed by a radicalised [Muslim] student, security remains a key concern, especially for MPs who are vocal about controversial topics such as Israel - and suffer threats as a consequence. Two weeks ago Conservative MP John Howell was forced to seek police protection after becoming the target of a campaign by pro-Palestinians.
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, has been dealing with death threats for a decade. The problem has worsened in recent years and she now receives emails as well as letters. "It's very unpleasant and I am concerned - so I take advice from the police and the CST," said Mrs Ellman. "You are vulnerable as an MP, people approach you and you're in public places."
Lee Scott, Ilford North MP, said he dealt with death threats and abusive communications "on a fairly regular basis", including a recent email that said he should be "stoned to death".
"At one stage I would do my surgeries with just one other person present. I don't do that any more," he said. He also no longer posts details of his surgeries in the local library and during the last election campaign had to be accompanied by police officers for security reasons.
Their cases are by no means unique. Former Labour MP Andrew Dismore also received death threats.
Mr Dismore, along with Mr Scott, Mike Gapes and Denis MacShane were all targeted at the last election by Muslim group MPAC for their support of Israel. Richard Harrington, now MP for Watford, also faced hostility during his campaign, while in October 2011 members of the now-banned group Muslims Against Crusades stormed Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer's constituency surgery shouting that he was a "Jewish homosexual pig".
Why does this keep happening? Because Britain cannot acknowledge that it has a problem. You won't find articles like this on the BBC or in al-Guardian. And that's where the US is heading too. Last week, there was a report on the radio here that the Obama administration has deleted hundreds of pages from FBI manuals(!!!) because they are 'offensive to Muslims.'
In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.
It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.
A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.
The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was another example of Christianity becoming sidelined in official life.
The Government’s refusal to say that Christians have a right to display the symbol of their faith at work emerged after its plans to legalise same-sex marriages were attacked by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain.
London Museum of Natural History tells BDS'ers to buzz off
On Wednesday, I reported that the London Museum of Natural History is under pressure to boycott a research project that includes Israel's Ahava Cosmetics company. If any of you are visiting London in the near future, you should go to the museum and thank them for having the courage to stand up to the BDS movement. In fact, you might want to give each museum employee an Ahava cosmetic product. The Museum has told the BDS'ers to buzz off.
On Thursday, Prof. Ian Owens, the museum’s director of science, said that the museum will not heed to any boycott calls and that it is dedicated to expanding and sharing knowledge. Academic freedom is an important principle in pursuing this goal, he said.
“In this respect we are in broad alignment with the wider UK academic community. We work within the legal and policy boundaries established by politicians and policy makers, and would not participate in any academic or educational boycotts that could restrict academic freedom,” he said.
...
The museum’s project involves 11 partners, including Imperial College London and King’s College, and goes through a European Union funded project called NanoRetox.
It is a four year collaboration with a budget of 300,000 euros. However the collaboration began in 2008 and will be completed at the end of 2012.
The Museum is lead partner in the project, which is working to identify the potential risks posed by engineered nanomaterial to the environment and human health.
Owens said that this is an area of scientific interest because, although nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of modern life, there are concerns about its potential for harming humans and the environment.
“To carry out this work we have assembled a team of experts from across the EU and the US whose combined expertise can address the toxicity of nanoparticles in a systematic way,” Owens said.
The director of science said that Ahava/Dead Sea Laboratories have proven to be an expert in this area and approved as a partner by the European Commission.
“When our research leaders were putting together the NanoReTox project they were missing expertise in specific nanoparticle techniques and analysis. Ahava DSL, who are based in Israel and have activities in the Occupied Territories, were found to offer this expertise through the EC research partner-finding scheme.
“As with our other collaborators on this project, the EC approved Ahava DSL as a partner when the contract was issued to the Natural History Museum. NanoRetox is funded by the EC within the Seventh Framework Program (FP7),” he said.
Owens said that two other UK-based organizations are also involved with Ahava DSL in two other FP7 projects.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
