Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Why anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic
The proposition that anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic does not mean that anti-Zionists necessarily hold classically anti-Semitic beliefs: anti-Zionism is a variant of anti-Semitism, even if it sometimes also manifests itself as a cover for a more traditional variety of anti-Semitism. Many anti-Zionists are probably sincere, therefore, when they deny accusations of anti-Semitism. That is irrelevant, however, because their agenda can be anti-Semitic in deed if not in intent. The bearer of prejudiced views may still be prejudiced even while ignorant of the nature of his offence: one need not be a wife-beater to be a misogynist, if one also believes that a woman’s place is in the home.A Disingenuous Defense of Hate Speech
Once one accepts that anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic, the world presents itself as a much darker and more sinister place. It means that people to whom we were previously willing to give the benefit of the doubt should now be taken to task. It requires the sober realisation that colleagues whose anti-Israel prejudice we could previously isolate as a merely political difference, are part of a malicious historical trend of treating Jews as politically inferior, whether they know it or not. (h/t NormanF)
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the disturbing decision of the influential New America Foundation to host and promote Max Blumenthal’s new book calling for Israel’s destruction. As I wrote then, and in a previous post noting the civil war that has broken out on the left about it, any discussion of this piece of trash need not detain us long. It is an ignorant piece of agitprop the purpose of which is to depict the State of Israel as comparable to Nazi Germany....Eugene Kontorovich: New EU/Morocco fisheries deal and its implications for Israel
That issue has now been addressed by the group’s founding director James Fallows, who not only defended the book and its author but seemed to think my piece and another that inspired it by historian Ron Radosh was a campaign aimed at suppressing free speech. This is nonsense. As Radosh has noted in a response, no one is stopping Blumenthal from writing a book and speaking about it. But we do have a right to ask why the New America Foundation thinks it is worthy of being given their imprimatur. The problem with engaging Fallows’s argument is that he is being completely disingenuous. In order to defend Blumenthal and his book he has to completely misrepresent it and the discussion that he says is worth having about it. (h/t NormanF)
The positions adopted by the EU in its negotiations with Israel over grants and product labeling are inconsistent with those it has taken at the same time in its dealings with Morocco. While the EU does not recognize Israel’s control over the territories, and opposes it, the same is true of its policy toward Morocco in Western Sahara. Yet this policy does not require, nor does international law, the punitive measures adopted toward Israel.Dutch FM: Europe judges Israel by a different standard than other Middle East countries
In particular, the EU has used entirely fabricated international law claims in its dealing with Israel, claims contradicted by its own practice and official legal advice.
Europe judges Israel by a different standard than other countries in the region because it is seen as a “European country” that should be judged by European standards, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said Monday.UK trade agency discourages business with settlements
“There is no way we can disentangle the destiny of Europe from that of Israel, and we better face that fact,” said Timmermans during a lecture at Beit Hatfutsot, sponsored by the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress.
Timmermans said that it was hard for some in Europe to deal with a strong Israel. “It is easy to be Israel’s friend as an underdog,” he said, adding that was something “cultural, part of our heritage.”
It was “more than strange” that a UK government agency last week issued a report assessing overseas business risks associated with dealings with Israel that discouraged British firms from doing business with West Bank settlements, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.Elliott Abrams: Obama: Silent on Ukraine
The agency, UK Trade and Investment, warned businesses of the “clear risks related to economic and financial activities in the settlements,” which are “illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.”
Where is U.S. President Barack Obama? Rice last week repeatedly assured us of the administration's commitment to human rights ("advancing democracy and respect for human rights is central to our foreign policy. It's what our history and our values demand, but it's also profoundly in our interests") but neither she nor the president nor the secretary of state has said much about the extraordinary events in Kiev. It's time for them -- personally, not through nameless spokesmen -- to offer at least moral support to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians out in the streets, and to denounce the suppression of dissent by the Yanukovych government. It is not in the interest of the United States for Ukraine to fall back into the Russian orbit -- nor for our top officials to remain indifferent and near silent in the face of the largest manifestation of a demand for freedom to occur in years in Europe.The dark side of Roger Waters
Waters has been calling for a boycott of Israel for years already. He turns to various artists who are planning to perform here and urges them not to come, not to lend legitimacy to our existence. It is likely that he expresses himself to them in the same biting and hurtful manner as he does in the quotes above, a contribution to the brainwashing of those who do not know the truth.What Boycott? Major Musicians Rock Israel
If Waters was loyal to the facts, then, in contrast to the complex music he has written, he would refrain from objective superficiality. For the sake of his own self-respect, he would admit that apartheid does not exist in a country where Arabs have equal rights (and obligations). An Arab can stroll through any mall he wants, receive treatment at any hospital and work everywhere.
Speculation about whether or not stars will cancel, or the latest commentary from Roger Waters (formerly of Pink Floyd and now a boycott spokesman) can give the impression that musicians teeter on the verge of agreeing with BDS. But BDS does not argue particular policies; they advocate for the elimination of the Jewish state, demanding all of Israel for Palestine.Chris McGreal story on Mandela omits his (discredited) Guardian ‘expose’ on SA nukes
Some with this view send death threats, like Islamist cleric Omar Bakri who broadcast before Paul McCartney’s concert, “If he values his life, Mr. McCartney must not come to Israel.”
In Tel Aviv, Sir Paul told the press, “My little bit is to try to bring people together through music…It seems to me that most of the people are quite moderate and would like a solution…They want the governments to decide quite quickly on two states, on two nations rather than this conflict.”
The anti-Zionist malice of Guardian “journalist” Chris McGreal has been the subject of many posts at this blog. Indeed, the error-prone propagandist – who seriously fancies the idea that Israeli snipers target Palestinian children, and is characteristically obsessed with the power of the Israel lobby – has achieved the rare status as one of the few Guardian reporters singled out by the Community Security Trust in their annual report on antisemitic discourse.Human Rights, anti-Israel campaigners and the BBC
Though McGreal has been keeping away from his Israel obsession of late – and only sparsely reporting for the paper – he took time out of his busy schedule re-Tweeting Glenn Greenwald and Michael Moore to pen a ‘Comment is Free’ piece titled ‘Mandela: never forget how the free world’s leaders learned to change their tune‘.
One simple litmus test for ‘pro-Palestinian’ organisations is the examination of their activity in the field of women’s rights. Do they speak out on subjects such as enforced dress codes and ‘modesty’ patrols, inheritance and child custody laws, domestic violence and lenient sentences for so-called ‘honour’ killings? Do they promote women’s education and financial independence? Or do they – as is now sadly so often the case in the ‘liberal’ West – regard issues such as polygamy, gender segregation, forced marriage and female genital mutilation as part of the untouchable ‘culture’ of a patriarchal society which their own cultural relativism prevents them from criticizing?Bulk of a BBC report is a B’Tselem press release
No attempt is made in this article to provide audiences with information regarding the political views, aims and sources of funding which stand behind B’Tselem’s campaigning and hence audiences are once again rendered unable to form their own opinions regarding the reliability and impartiality of claims made by that organisation.CBS orders miniseries based on ‘The Dovekeepers’
The repeated practice of failing to disclose the political motivations behind NGOs promoted and quoted by the BBC continues to do serious damage to the BBC’s reputation for impartiality in its Middle East reporting.
The makers of “The Bible” on TV are going back again in time for a CBS miniseries.Dutch company buys into Channel 2 concessionaire
The network announced that it will air a four-hour miniseries based on the historical novel “The Dovekeepers,” sometime in 2015. Actress Roma Downey and her husband, veteran television producer Mark Burnett, will make it. The couple scored a major hit with their miniseries “The Bible” on the History channel earlier this year.
The novel is about four women who work to save 900 Jews being attacked by Romans in a fortress in Masada.
Endemol, a Dutch company owned by Italian media conglomerate Mediaset, produced a number of successful reality programs and created the “Big Brother” format.US to add $173 million for Israel missile defense
The company signed a deal last Thursday in which it paid NIS 100 million ($28.56 million) for one-third of Reshet’s stock.
This is not Endemol’s first major purchase in the Israeli market. In April, it purchased a controlling share in Kuperman Productions, which it relaunched as Endemol Israel.
Funding for several Israeli defense systems will be affected by the legislation.Israel’s virus-killer Vecoy gets an outer-space research prize
Israel employs a layered defense system, with Iron Dome covering rocket launches from four to 70 kilometers away and Arrow 2 addressing threats from 300 to 1700 kilometers away. Neither the mid-range David’s Sling, which was successfully tested in November, nor the long-range Arrow 3, are operational yet.
The Israeli company Vecoy Nanomedicine became a media sensation last year after ISRAEL21c covered the company’s virus “decoy” designed to outwit the world’s worst viral enemies before they do any damage.Israeli chemists to receive Nobel prize in Stockholm
The biomed technology platform tricks a virus into committing suicide, a tactic which could eventually neutralize viral threats like Ebola, hepatitis, HIV and scary chemical and biological warfare.
Now, researchers from the American space and startup community have taken notice. In an upcoming space mission, the Vecoy platform will be tested to see how it works in zero gravity.
The two Israeli scientists and their Jewish American colleague who were named as winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry are set to receive their awards at the Stockholm City Hall on Tuesday. The Israeli laureates join 10 other Israeli Nobel Prize winners.Israel Daily Picture: The Church of Ireland's Library Uncovered a Photographic Treasure 115 Years Old
Professor Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California and Professor Michael Levitt of Stanford University, who worked together at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, were set to receive the award along with Professor Martin Karplus of Harvard University and the University of Strasbourg.
In 2011, Rev. Stephen White brought to Dublin several old cardboard boxes found in the old Church of Ireland Killaloe deanery in Limerick. He brought them to Dr. Susan Hood, the archivist for the Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library.
Last year, Dr. Hood and BBC undertook an investigation into discovering the name of hitherto anonymous photographer. They were able to identify him as David Brown, a soap manufacturer from Donaghmore who was also an amateur photographer. In 1897 he joined a pilgrimage led by his brother in law, a Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland.
