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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

An oldie but goodie (Purim joke)

Some more Jewish humor for Purim:

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In the 1970's, a Russian school inspector is questioning the children. He points to one of the boys and says, "Who is your father?" 
The boy replies, "The Soviet Union." 
He then asks, "Who is your mother?" 
"The communist party," came the reply. 
"And what do you want to be when you grow up?" 
"I want to be a Stankhanovite worker for the glory of the state and the party." 
The inspector then points to one of the girls and asks, "Who is your father?" 
The girl answers, "The Soviet Union." 
"Who is your mother?" 
"The communist party." 
"And what do you want to be when you grow up?" 
"A heroine of the Soviet Union raising lots of children for the state and party." 
The inspector looks round and sees a Jewish boy tucked away at the back trying to look inconspicuous. He points and says, "What's your name?" 
The boy replies, "Mendel Abramovitch." 
"Who is your father?" 
"The Soviet Union." 
"Who is your mother?" 
"The communist party." 
"And what do you want to be when you grow up?" 
Mendel replies, "An orphan."

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

02/28 Links Pt2: BDS: Free Speech Hypocrites; Farrakhan Rails Against Jews, Israel and the U.S. Government ; Twitter suspends anti-Semitism watchdog Canary Mission after campaign by anti-Israel activists

From Ian:
Free Speech Hypocrites
Supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel frequently complain about a “Palestinian exception” to free speech. Never mind that whole, albeit small, segments of the academy are openly committed to the view that Israel is America’s accomplice in crimes of imperialism. People who criticize Israel, they say are not allowed to speak—often they make this point at university-sponsored events, or during “Israeli Apartheid Week,” a yearly ritual on many American campuses.

The claim, to be sure, refutes itself. But it is nonetheless heartening that an article in InsideHigherEd, a mainstream higher education website with no dog in the hunt, recognized that it is pro-Israel speakers who are uncommonly subject to disruption by—you guessed it—“pro-Palestinian” activists. Just last Thursday, at the University of Virginia, a panel of Israeli military reservists was interrupted by a group “shouting anti-Israel slogans through a megaphone, preventing the speakers from being heard.” Rabbi Jake Rubin, executive director of UVA’s Brody Jewish Center, which sponsored the panel, invited the protesters to stay and ask questions, but the “protesting students refused to do so and continued to shout at the speakers, making it impossible for the event to proceed as planned,” until the police arrived.

As Scott Jaschik, the author of the report and co-editor of InsideHigherEd, observed, this is hardly an isolated incident. He detailed seven instances of disruption, and he could have named many more. For example, he described a 2016 incident at UC-Irvine in which “protesters disrupted a screening of a film Beneath the Helmet, about the lives of five Israeli soldiers. The protest involved shouting that made it impossible for people to hear the film.” But he did not describe another incident at UC-Irvine in 2017, also featuring Israeli reservists, which earned the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine two years of probation.

Anti-normalization—in this case the attempt to render Zionism unspeakable—is the raison d’etre of the BDS movement, and shutting down speakers is one of its primary techniques. Before activists looked to shut down genuine white nationalists, like Richard Spencer, BDS was shouting down people like Bassam Eid, a Palestinian whose primary thought crime is denying that Israel is demonic. I guess there is a Palestinian exception to free speech after all.
Farrakhan Rails Against Jews, Israel and the U.S. Government in Wide-Ranging Saviours' Day Speech
On February 25th, Nation of Islam’s longtime leader Louis Farrakhan spoke at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago. As in previous Saviours’ Day speeches, Farrakhan used the opportunity to rail against the Jews, Israel and the U.S. government.

Before Farrakhan’s keynote address, fellow Nation of Islam principals Ava Muhammad, Nuri Muhammad and Ishmael Muhammad shared remarks. In a short speech, Ava Muhammad warned the crowd that the end of days is imminent, and they should heed the words of Farrakhan:

“If we think we can act crazy. If we think we can be plagues in our own community. If we think we can make mockery of the servant. If we think we can run away from Minister Farrakhan because you’re afraid of white people. Or if you think you can be used as a mouthpiece of the slander of the Jewish controlled media think again. Because while Allah’s whipping their behind he will ask you, did you hear my reminder calling you?”

Nuri Muhammad made a financial appeal, and announced that a $5000 donation from longtime Farrakhan ally and music producer Russell Simmons. Ishmael Muhammad, meanwhile, alleged that the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan are “miracles,” since many have tried to stop them:

“If God was not with him and the Nation of Islam we could not have survived the constant and ever increasing assault of the United States government and those who say they are Jews, but are of the Synagogue of Satan.”







MEMRI: BDS Coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa In Interview On Palestinian Authority TV: A Nobel Prize For The BDS Movement Would Offset Its Reputation For Being Awarded To War Criminals
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Nawajaa, the general coordinator of the BDS Movement, said that although it was unlikely that the Nobel Prize, which is "notorious for having been awarded to war criminals," would be granted to the BDS movement, such a win would "balance out the scales, which have been skewed," and would perhaps "somewhat rehabilitate this reputation." Nawajaa, who was interviewed by the official Palestinian Authority TV channel on February 6, cited "a U.S. government report" according to which the BDS movement "to a large extent controls the universities," and added: "Its authors expect the next U.S. president to be one of the BDS activists."

"If The BDS Movement Wins The [Nobel Peace] Prize, It Will Balance Out The Scales"


Mahmoud Nawajaa: "If the BDS movement wins the [Nobel Peace] Prize, it will balance out the scales, which have been skewed, and have damaged the reputation of the Nobel Prize, when it was given to the war criminals you mentioned. So perhaps this will restore the reputation of the prize, although it is hard to imagine that the prize will be awarded to the BDS movement.

"This would cause great fear in the occupation government, making it very difficult for it to confront the movement. They exert every effort and spend millions of dollars to confront the BDS movement. The Nobel Prize is notorious for having been awarded to war criminals. Perhaps if the BDS movement wins it, this would somewhat rehabilitate this reputation, and would restore the Nobel Prize to its true role as a prize awarded to resistance fighters and to fighters for peace, and not to war criminals, who destroy peace, and carry out the ethnic cleansing of our Palestinian people, through colonialism and the entire Apartheid regime of racial segregation against our people."
Seth Frantzman: How Israel, the Diaspora and Poland can overcome Holocaust debate
The constant threats to take away “money” from Poland, or end the March of the Living, are not helpful. It is not Poland’s fault the death camps were built there, so “punishing” Poland is a sick response. Poland should not be treated as a museum of death.

Too often some in the Diaspora view the Holocaust as central to our identity. The Holocaust is a tragedy, but Jews existed thousands of years before it and will exist for thousands of years after. The Polish-Jewish relationship should not hinge on the death camps. The death camps should be the focus of a German-Jewish discussion, not a Polish one, since Poland was not responsible for German planning that situated the death camps there.

Poland has one of the lowest levels of antisemitic attacks in all of Europe (101 in 2016 compared to 1,300 in Germany). However, there are increasing numbers of voices online and in media attacking Jews, partly in response to the latest crisis. Some of them blame Jews for Soviet communism. This is a mistake. If Poles do not want to be blamed as a group simply because some were complicit in crimes against Jews, then the attempt to attack Jews as a group for Communist crimes is illogical and disgusting.

Israel and Poland can work together on issues related to the Holocaust. What would be good is a meeting at the highest levels to issue a joint statement condemning the crimes of the Nazis and memorializing Jewish and Polish victims. There should be an acknowledgment in Poland about the antisemitism that existed in the 1930s and the tragic cases of Poles who turned on their neighbors. At the same time Israel should ensure that children learn about the Home Army and the resistance to the Nazi hordes.

For many decades ignorance and even hateful views against Poles were allowed to grow unchecked and this burst forth in February 2018. At the same time there are antisemitic tropes that exist in Poland. The communities should confront these stereotypes. Israel and the Diaspora should relate to Poland as a living country with a complex past, and not as a museum of the Holocaust to be bashed as perpetrators. Taking time to listen to Poles who agree and disagree with the current law would be a good first step as well.
Europe's Telling Silence on Polish Anti-Semitism
Given Western Europe's open aversion to the rise of right-wing parties in Eastern Europe, the EU's silence in the face of Poland's behavior politically makes no sense.

Ever since Poland's far-right Law and Justice Party (PiS) took control of both the presidency and the parliament in November 2015, and quickly changed the rules for public media, the secret service, education, and the military, the European Parliament has been claiming that Warsaw is putting the "rule of law and democracy" at risk.

When it comes to the issue of Polish anti-Semitism, Europe is suddenly at a loss for words. This suggests that it is not merely ineptitude at work.
Poland Postpones Debate on Commemorating Poles Who Saved Jews
The Polish parliament delayed a debate on Tuesday on whether to designate a day to remember Poles who saved Jews during World War Two, with the opposition saying it was bad timing as the country faces international pressure over a new Holocaust law.

The law, which imposes jail sentences of up to three years for suggesting Poland was complicit in Nazi German crimes, has drawn harsh criticism from Israel and the United States.

The ruling right-wing ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) says the law is necessary to protect national honor.

Marek Kuchcinski, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said he would discuss with President Andrzej Duda, who initiated the Remembrance Day proposal in October, the possibility of delaying the debate following the opposition’s calls.

“The timing is unfortunate, it would be better to wait until the situation with Israel calms down,” said Rafal Grupinski, a lawmaker from the centrist main opposition Civic Platform (PO).

Israel and the United States say the Holocaust law could criminalize truthful scholarship on the role some Poles played in German crimes. Opponents accuse PiS of politicizing World War Two to build a nationalist sense of grievance among Poles.
Twitter suspends anti-Semitism watchdog Canary Mission after campaign by anti-Israel activists (UPDATE)
Please see Update at bottom of post – The Canary Mission Twitter account has been restored

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Canary Mission is an anonymous group that monitors and reports on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel extremism by publishing the actual statements and social media postings of activists. Canary Mission has been under attack, and there have been multiple attempts to deplatform it, because is exposes the anti-Semitic, pro-terror rantings of the anti-Israel movement, particularly on campuses.

After what appears to be a coordinated campaign to report Canary Mission’s Twitter account to Twitter for abuse, the Twitter account of Canary Mission has been suspended.

At the time of the takedown, the Twitter account had over 20,000 followers.

Some of the tweets remain in the Wayback Machine, but the account is otherwise disabled as of this writing.

Canary Mission is Under Attack Because it is Effective

I addressed the controversy about Canary Mission in an August 2016 post, Anti-Israel blacklisters complain they are unfairly being blacklisted

The people behind Canary Mission are not known. Anti-Israel fanatic Max Blumenthal published research claiming the people behind Canary Mission are in Israel. Ironically, Blumenthal and his cohorts regularly engage in naming and shaming tactics of pro-Israel advocates, including in the same publication where Blumenthal published his Canary Mission research.

Canary Mission has been controversial from the start, with claims it was creating a blacklist. I’ve yet to see a claim that Canary Mission published false information; rather, the objection is that students may have their careers damaged if prospective employers found out about the outrageous conduct and rhetoric they have engaged in.

UPDATE 8:35 PM Eastern 2-27-2018
The Canary Mission Twitter account appears to have been restored. The most current tweet listed as of the restoration was February 25, the date it was suspended.
Twitter sanctions two pro-Israel accounts
Twitter sanctioned two controversial accounts this week causing an outcry in the pro-Israel social media community – suspending one and forcing another to delete its profile image before reversing its course.

On Monday, the people behind the GnasherJew handle, an account which says exists to showcase “the UK Labour Party’s antisemitism issues,” found themselves locked out. The only way they could get back in, Twitter said, was to delete their profile image which had been deemed to contain “hateful imagery.” That image was of a yellow Star of David emblazoned with “Jude.”

Separately, the Twitter account of the controversial organization Canary Mission was also suspended this week.
Organizers for the GnasherJew account, who choose to remain anonymous, said they “were shocked and quite frankly reduced to tears” to see the message from Twitter.

“We use the yellow star of David as our avatar, as a symbol of our resistance to the oppression and harassment of Jews within the Labour Party,” they said in a statement. “We have been constantly targeted by Labour Party supporters and members... We have been physically threatened, yet Twitter does nothing about these accounts, and our tiny symbol of resistance is taken as ‘hateful.’”
After Unite chief Len McCluskey calls on his followers to mass report it, Twitter suspends account which highlights antisemitism in Labour for using Nazi-era yellow star, calling it “hateful imagery”, then restores it
A Twitter account which highlights antisemitism in the Labour Party was suspended by Twitter, reportedly for using an image of a Holocaust-era yellow star.

The suspension of the @GnasherJew account followed an appeal by Unite the Union chief Len McCluskey to report the account to Twitter. Despite this account never previously having been censored by Twitter, it was taken down within 24 hours of Mr McCluskey’s request, referring to it as an account that is “spreading hatred”.

While it cannot be confirmed that the suspension was directly caused by Mr McCluskey’s appeal, we find it odd that as a so-called ‘anti-racist’ and a leading figure within a party with a serious problem with antisemitism, he would choose to pour oil on the fire by attempting to censor those pointing out the racism in its own ranks, or why he would characterise their posts as hateful. Mr McCluskey has previously disputed that Labour has an antisemitism problem at all, claiming allegations of antisemitism were just “mood music” to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and declaring that antisemitism is being exaggerated by the “right-wing media”.

Perhaps Mr McCluskey just could not stand to see the evidence posted day in day out by the @GnasherJew activists on Twitter who prove him wrong.

The account was suspended because Twitter claimed that it breached its rules over hateful imagery. In Nazi Germany, Jews were dehumanised by being forced to wear a yellow star in order to render them easily identifiable by the rest of the population. The activists behind @GnasherJew were told by Twitter that the account was suspended “Specifically for: 1. Violating our rules against posting hateful imagery. You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header.” Twitter added that “To unlock your account, you must do the following: Delete the Profile Field that violates our rules.”
IsraellyCool: Antisemites Again Target Israellycool
Twitter has suspended the account of Canary Mission, an anonymous group that “documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”

And the haters are celebrating it as a victory, with at least one now asking Twitter to suspend my account.

Leaving aside the facts that Canary Mission is not a terrorist group, and I do not work with them, I also do not target people who are merely critical of Israel. What I do is expose actual antisemites who claim to be only critical of Israel/anti-Zionists, by posting their own social media posts and tweets as proof. I do this to show how often anti-Zionism is motivated by actual Jew hatred.

It is actually these people who should have their accounts suspended, on the grounds of posting hating speech.
NGO Monitor: UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children
UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” violators of children’s rights.The list appears as an annex to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.
UNICEF-oPt’s partners (“working group”) for this campaign are radical advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These anti-Israel NGOs play an integral role in carrying out UNICEF’s campaign and receive substantial funding from UNICEF to do so.

The UN blacklist consists almost entirely of terror groups and militias from failed states. In essence, by pushing for the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) inclusion on the list, UNICEF and its NGO partners are claiming that Israel’s army is equivalent to ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda.

Several of the Palestinian groups – including Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), which plays a leading role in this campaign – have reported links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – listed as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. UNICEF-oPt states, “UNICEF has a clear policy that is does not fund support (sic) organizations which are listed as terrorist organizations by the United Nations” – a list that excludes Hamas, the PFLP, and Islamic Jihad.
Several UNICEF-oPt NGO partners recommended inclusion of the IDF on the UN blacklist, but absurdly claimed they lacked sufficient evidence to recommend inclusion of the PFLP or Hamas.
A key component of the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict campaign is to end the exploitation and use of children as combatants and child soldiers. Although Palestinian armed groups routinely use children in this way, there is little evidence that UNICEF-oPt funding is devoted towards exposing or ending this practice. In fact, a UNICEF Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) bulletin admits that “In Gaza, the Working Group was not in a position to document cases of child recruitment and use of children in armed conflict owing to a number of factors, including security and protection risks related to collecting comprehensive and detailed information” (emphasis added). This admission of an inability to carry out the core mission of its UN mandate in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza calls into question the necessity and utility of continued funding for the agency in the region.
NGO Monitor: [Opinion] How Int’l Aid is Shrinking Civil Space: Case of the Palestinian NGO Network
The international donor community, led by the EU, has expressed grave concerns regarding this troublesome trend. As described in a study commissioned by the European Parliament, “The shrinking space problem is on its way to being mainstreamed at the heart of EU foreign policy.” Marking International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2017, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini reiterated the EU’s commitment to protecting human rights defenders through its “multi-faceted response to the shrinking space for civil society.”

PNGO enjoys generous funding from the EU and other international donors, and is entrusted with the task of strengthening, coordinating, and networking amongst “civil society.” Together with the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), a European NGO network, PNGO also enjoys permanent representation in the UN’s Humanitarian Country Team, which coordinates all humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. This comes with a seat on the advisory board of the UN’s humanitarian pooled fund, which is designated for unforeseen emergency. This seat grants PNGO decision-making power in selecting the fund’s beneficiaries. In 2017, $3.1 million of the fund’s allocations was provided to member organizations of either AIDA or PNGO – meaning that these two networks ensured that their own member NGOs received roughly 40% of the total funding ($7.9 million as of October 2017).

International aid has the potential to both create positive change and to inflict damage. It is our responsibility to ensure that we do the former, and stay far away from the latter.
NGO Monitor: European Funding for Palestinian “Cultural Resistance”
I. Introduction

The European Union (EU) and European governments provide funding to a number of Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for culture, art, and related activities. In 2017, the EU budgeted €400,000 for Palestinian cultural NGOs for “support to Euro-Palestinian cultural activities.”

Detailed research and analysis of this funding reveal that many of the supported organizations utilize cultural activities to indoctrinate children and youth, promoting rejectionist and violent agendas. Often framed as a form of “cultural resistance,” these activities are not presented as a non-violent alternative, but rather as a “tool in the liberation battle.” As described by one group, “cultural resistance” is defined as “not a substitute for any other form of resistance; It is a complement. Various forms of resistance can be described as a large mosaic where each stone represents a different form.” In other words, cultural resistance results in the use of art as a vehicle for indoctrination, incitement, hatred, and sympathy to terrorism. As such, organizations involved in promoting cultural resistance directly contradict European values.

This report provides examples of this phenomenon and places it within the context of the EU’s concerns regarding funding to Palestinian NGOs claiming cultural agendas.
Campus Unmasked: Police Called On Pro-Palestinian Students
Pro-Palestinian students at the University of Virginia crashed a panel featuring reserve officers from the Israeli Defense Force, reported The Cavalier Daily. UVA police received a report that an assault occurred and said they are still investigating.

The Brody Jewish Center’s Rabbi Jake Rubin, who hosted the event on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said “While free speech and the ability to protest are important aspects of college life, we are disappointed that protesters refused to engage in conversation and instead continued to shout intimidating and hostile slurs directed at students, staff, and panelists.”

Wow, they refused to talk? What a shock. It’s almost like leftists are more interested in commanding than communicating and power instead of persuasion.

Meanwhile, Dean of Students Allen Groves said the pro-Palestinian students, who made use of a megaphone, violated the school’s standards of conduct, as well as its protest and amplified sound policies. Groves said the UVA community rejects the heckler’s veto and told the school that “the University is a place for intellectual inquiry” and that “we can only learn from each other if space exists to exchange ideas freely and without disruption from those with whom we may disagree,” according to an email sent to the UVA community and obtained by Campus Unmasked.

Okay, pause. My alma mater UVA will always have a special place in my heart, but exchanging ideas freely? This is the same college that in December denied a conservative group from registering a campus chapter, only reversing the decision after immense public pressure. And this is the same school that last month told students to call 911 if they saw “offensive flyers.” Looming over all of this, of course, are the Charlottesville Confederate monuments, of which the city has desperately tried to rid itself for the past couple of years, even covering them with makeshift burkas.

It’s a school decked with accolades like US News & World Report’s #3 public university for 2017 and Playboy’s #1 party school for 2012, but UVA’s commitment to free speech can definitely use some improvement. Oh, and they could probably stand to drop Aramark, the food company that even prisoners have protested.
Police Called On Pro-Palestinian Students


Article by Israeli Prompted ‘Big Argument’ Inside New York Times, Editor Says
A New York Times op-ed piece by a spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron was published over the objections of some Times staffers who thought it qualified as “hate speech” for “denying personhood to the Palestinians.”

That’s according to a leaked transcript of a meeting the editor of the Times editorial page, James Bennet, had with Times employees.

In the transcript, published by the Huffington Post, Bennet was asked about matters “that shouldn’t even be debated.” The question came from a Times employee whose name wasn’t disclosed in the transcript, and who cited “climate change” as an example.

Bennet somehow pivoted from climate change to Israelis living in Hebron.

He said:
we had a big argument over a piece by a settler. And you know, pick your issue. For some people it’s climate change, for some people it’s trans rights, for others it’s a two-state solution and the fate of the Palestinians. In this case, it was the settler saying, look, the two-state solution is dead and [it’s] time to face reality, and here’s some alternative paths for what the future would look like. And we had a real debate about whether this piece was crossing a line, because was it denying personhood to the Palestinians? Was it an act of, kind of, hate speech in a sense?

I felt strongly that we should publish the piece and we did, as did others. Because this particular viewpoint is hugely consequential. It actually is creating reality on the ground. To pretend that somehow we would be — either to think that we were legitimating that point of view by having it in our pages or to tell ourselves that we were somehow changing the reality by not allowing it into our pages seems to me to be deluded a little bit. And our readers need to hear it, like, unmediated, I think. They need to confront these arguments. And we published that piece, and we faced that.

The article, by Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesman of the Jewish Community of Hebron, appeared in the February 15, 2017 Times under the headline “A Settler’s View of Israel’s Future.”
U.S. college campus hit with alt-right linked flyers ahead of AIPAC conference
Students at American University on Thursday found entrances to a campus building covered in posters that read "No More Wars for Israel," put up as part of a campaign spearheaded by alt-right activist Richard Spencer.

According to The Eagle, the university's student newspaper, the posters were put up on the entrance to the School of International Service. They depict a soldier smoking a cigarette, underneath which the text "No More Wars for Israel" is written, as well as #AIPACGoHome and the name of the organization Operation Homeland.

The flyers were posted just days before the annual AIPAC conference, which is set to draw some 18,000 Israel advocates to Washington DC this weekend.

Responding to the incident, Fanta Aw, American University's Vice President for Student Life, said "We condemn these cowardly acts by outside groups that target college campuses like ours."

Operation Homeland was launched in December by Spencer, and aims to take the online activism of the alt-right movement to the real world.

In his announcement introducing Operation Homeland, Spencer reiterated his commitment to creating a "white America," saying: "Homeland is not a broad-based membership organization or social club. Rather it is a core of part- and full-time activists who provide leadership to the movement as a whole.
Novel process removes mercury from factory emissions
Toxic mercury spewing out of coal-fired power plants, waste-incineration facilities, cement factories, metal processing plants and many other industries pollutes the air, water and land.

To comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, facility managers are always seeking improved technologies for reducing and even eliminating mercury emissions.

And that’s why Israeli startup MercuRemoval of Netanya is generating so much steam.
MercuRemoval’s pilot installation at Israel Electric Company’s Rutenberg Ashkelon coal-based power plant. Photo: courtesy

MercuRemoval’s novel process for removing toxic mercury from flue-gas streams originated in the chemistry lab of Hebrew University professors Yoel Sasson and Zach Barnea. The company was established within Hutchison-Kinrot Cleantech seed incubator owned by Hutchison Water and was supported by Israel’s Innovation Authority R&D funds. It went commercial only three years later.
Israel aims to eliminate use of coal, gasoline and diesel by 2030
The Energy Ministry forecast Tuesday that within 12 years Israel would be fully reliant on natural gas and alternative fuels for the production of electricity and for transportation.

“We intend to reach a situation in which Israel’s industry will be based on natural gas, and most importantly, transportation in Israel will be based on natural gas or electricity,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said at an energy conference in Tel Aviv. “From 2030 onwards, the State of Israel will create alternatives and will no longer allow the import of cars that run on gasoline and diesel fuel.”

Steinitz said he would be submitting a master plan with this vision to the government.

In 2014, electricity was produced through a fifty-fifty split between coal and natural gas. The aim for 2030 is to alter that to 83% natural gas and 17% renewable energy, with “zero pollutants,” Steinitz said.
Textile company creates jobs for unemployed Bedouin women
Some of the best projects are born out of a desire for change – at least that was the case with Iota, an Israel-based textile company empowering unemployed women through the art of crochet.

Each one of the company’s rugs, pillows and home accessories is hand-crocheted by Bedouin women from their own homes, providing them with meaningful work and an independent source of income.

Bedouins are an Arab Israeli subgroup, mainly in the south, with their own distinct culture and social norms. Historically, Bedouins lived a nomadic lifestyle, and many still herd livestock. The women traditionally tend to the house and children, resulting in high unemployment and poverty. A 2015 survey showed the employment rate among Bedouin women was just 22 percent, compared to 32% for all Arab women.

Founded by Shula Mozes, an active social entrepreneur for more than 16 years, Iota aims to support the many women, all over the world, who are unable to work outside of the home due to cultural, religious and geographical reasons.
Reflections from the field – NFL stars visit Israel
Seven current and former National Football League stars recently visited Israel in a six-day whistle-stop tour, which included Jewish and Christian sites and meetings with Syrian wounded treated in Israel’s hospitals and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to speak to top-level athletes at all, let alone predominantly ask them about their impressions of Israel – and not their prowess or latest performance on the sports field.

America’s Voices in Israel in conjunction with the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry led by Ze’ev Elkin organized the trip, which brought seven current and former NFL players to Israel for the first time. It was part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Jerusalem’s international image, which has also included invitations to journalists from across the globe and other influential figures, such as heads of parliament and well-known chefs.

Each delegation, including that of the football players, is provided an opportunity to get to know Jerusalem from close up, walking its streets, taking in its atmosphere and finally leaving with a greater understanding of its centrality to the Jewish people.

In addition, the ministry organizes several international conferences, investigating topics such as Jerusalem’s legal standing, archeology, the city’s place in history and its economic present and future.

American Football in Israel commissioner Betzalel Friedman was delighted to be able to welcome the players to Israel.

“It is a thrill to be able to have players playing football at the highest level come and see our country,” he said. “[This trip not only] provides them an opportunity to see that there is a passionate and knowledgeable football community outside the United States, but also to get to know real Israelis.
Promoting Israel through its African-American hoopsters
David Goldstein never imagined a visit to his grandparents at their assisted living complex in Jerusalem would end up resulting in a book, one focused around basketball no less.

During one of his annual summer visits in 2007, the fact Goldstein hails from Toronto sparked an excited response from a group of elderly women who began raving about Anthony Parker.

Parker starred for Maccabi Tel Aviv for five seasons between 2000 and 2006 before going on to join the NBA’s Toronto Raptors for three years.

“I was really struck by how much they loved him as a person beyond just as a basketball player,” said Goldstein, a journalist and sports executive, and author of the recently released book Alley-Oop to Aliyah: African American Hoopsters in the Holy Land.

“I was intrigued by the bond and started looking into it. I had no idea that players loved the country the way they do and were embraced by the country and that players stayed and converted and made their lives there,” he added.

“I just kept digging and what I ultimately found was a book.”

One player who Goldstein feels represents the whole phenomenon is Fred Campbell, a former basketball player at Fort Hays State University in Kansas who played in several different countries before arriving in Israel in 1992.
IsraellyCool: WATCH: Tony Blair and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Trade Hilarious Anecdotes
One week ago, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was presented the Lifetime Achievement award by Tony Blair at the Night Of Heroes. In his speech, Tony Blair told an anecdote about Rabbi Sacks, which was hilarious to anyone familiar with the Jewish community.

Not to be outdone, Rabbi Sacks told an equally hilarious one.

The full speeches can be found here.


WATCH: Ambassador Friedman wishes Twitter a happy Purim - in song
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and his wife Tammy took to Twitter on Wednesday to wish their followers a happy Purim. Friedman showcased his piano talent while his wife sang along in Hebrew.

At the end of the song, they wished viewers a happy Purim in both Hebrew and English.

Friedman is an avid Twitter user, and often features his wife in his tweets. She and Friedman's daughter Aliza, who made aliyah in 2017, baked hundreds of challahs after Hurricane Harvey to raise funds for construction efforts. Last August, the couple traveled to Sderot to bring homemade cupcakes to children experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

He has also often taken to the social media site to express condolences to the families of terror attacks. After the murder of a man from the settlement of Har Bracha, Friedman wrote that 20 years prior, he had donated an ambulance to the community. He has similarly sent comforting sentiments to the families of the Israelis killed in attacks in Halamish, Havat Gilad, Har Adar, and several other cities and settlements.


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Esther's Secret Prophecy: The Link to the Nazi Regime (Judean Rose)


One of the issues with remembering Amalek, one of the key commandments connected to the Purim holiday, is identifying who they are, today. How can you know absolutely that someone is part of the evil nation of Amalek? Because we're not only commanded to remember them, but to obliterate every trace of them.

A new video may not tell us all the answers, but it does give us a lot of food for thought by tying the recent history of the Holocaust and the Nazis, to the story of Purim, 24 centuries earlier, in Persia.

Of course, genocide is genocide, no matter when it is attempted. In Germany or Persia, modern day Iran. The irony is that the same actors are still trying to wipe out the Jews. In Iran, they say it straight out. In Germany, they're paying the big bucks to organizations dedicated to eliminating the Jewish State.

Same difference.

While it would be easy to just enjoy the festivities of Purim without worrying about its deeper meaning, it pays to keep in mind that the Jews, all of them, fasted for Esther's success in foiling Haman's evil plan. They worked hard to examine their character flaws and repent. The Jews pulled together as a nation to do this one thing together.

And apparently, the result of Jews pulling together to repent was so powerful that it had repercussions at the Nuremberg Trials, 24 centuries later. Which makes it a good day for drinking. (I'm a bourbon girl myself.)

Happy Purim!

(h/t Sarah Leah Silverman)

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Jesus Reopens Wounds Facepalming At Sepulcher Church Reaction To New Law (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory. 


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Holy SepulcherJerusalem, February 28 - The Prince of Peace was treated at a supernal medical facility this afternoon after aggravating his stigmata by slapping his forehead in consternation in response to religious leaders at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher closing the facility to protest impending legislation that would subject properties sold by the Church to taxes.

Jesus Christ, 2023, was admitted to Mercy Hospital today for follow-up acre and observation, following what witnesses called a massive facepalm movement that the Son of God performed in reaction to the decision. Archangel Raphael told reporters the risk of infection remains present, but for now the Messiah is comfortable and in good spirits.

Christ bears holes in his hands from a crucifixion he underwent in his thirties, wounds that he withstood in the process of dying to save humanity from its sinfulness. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher marks the traditional site of his burial, a grave from which he emerged three days later. Long accustomed to being invoked in Christian teachings as an embodiment of forbearance, Jesus was seen on Wednesday to read headlines describing the decision by the various Sepulcher facility religious officials to shutter the place to pilgrims, and to hit his forehead with his hand so hard that the stigmata reopened. A bloodied Christ was seen being loaded into an ambulance by heavenly paramedics.

"The Son of God assures you all he is well and that his stay at Mercy Hospital is a mere precaution," declared a spokesangel. "He apologizes for the scare it may have given anyone, and appreciates everyone's concern."

The angel declined to disclose Christ's opinion on the church leadership's decision, but a supernal source speaking on condition of anonymity asserted Jesus remains upset at the stupidity and hypocrisy of the move. "It's a good thing there are no fig trees around right now," mused the source. "That glare could wither anything. The Lamb of God has been demanding clarification from various patriarchs, bishops, and just anyone, really, since early this afternoon, asking what makes them think closing the church is a good idea. He thinks it will backfire and alienate worshipers while accomplishing nothing and fomenting antisemitism, especially given the rhetoric they're using on the subject."

A second source shared unconfirmed rumors that the Son and Father held an urgent set of conversations to discuss the feasibility of having the Church of the Holy Sepulcher destroyed by rampaging heathens for at least the third time.

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02/28 Links Pt1: Ben Rhodes and the Democratic Guilt Complex on Russia and Iran; Ambassador Samantha Power Lied to My Face About Syria; When the 'agent of peace' cries for jihad

From Ian:
Ben Rhodes and the Democratic Guilt Complex on Russia and Iran
When you’re good at something, you should never do it for free. That’s perhaps why Barack Obama’s former deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, is gearing up to politicize national security issues once again in a professional capacity.

On Tuesday, Rhodes revealed his intention to join former Obama administration officials, Hillary Clinton staffers, and a handful of career civil servants to form “National Security Action,” a 501(c)(4) that will not endorse candidates but will campaign against them. You can probably guess who this organization’s primary target will be. “We’re a temporary organization,” Rhodes told the Washington Post. “Our hope is to be out of business in three years.”

We’ll dispense with the fiction that the conduct of American affairs abroad should be exempt from the petty squabbling that typifies the political process at home. Politics does not and never has stopped at the water’s edge. When it comes to national security, the current administration deserves its share of criticism. The Trump administration spent its first year ceding the turf war in Syria to other competing great powers, and the conditions in the region have only worsened. Similarly, and as former Obama administration officials won’t let you forget, the Trump administration has not done nearly enough to deter Moscow from intervening in the American political process again. Even National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers recently confirmed that the Russian regime has not “paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior.” What’s more, Rogers has not been directed by the president to “disrupt Russian cyber threats where they originate.”

These are all urgent national-security threats about which every American should be concerned, and polls suggest that they are. Unfortunately for those who take these and other national-security threats seriously, Rhodes and company are among the least credible advocates for their cause.
‘Ambassador Samantha Power Lied to My Face About Syria,’ by Kassem Eid
In A Problem From Hell, Samantha Power explains how the U.S. administration tried to cover up the genocide in Bosnia by instead labeling it a “civil war.” Yet she and President Obama escaped responsibility for the documented and proven war crimes committed in Syria under the Assad regime’s brutal campaign. If Ambassador Power was telling the truth, she should have resigned just as she chided diplomats at the State Department for not resigning during the genocide in Bosnia.

The Assad regime taught us in schools that there was no Holocaust and hid the truth of the crematoriums and the concentration camps where millions of Jews were brutally killed. But the Obama administration also refused to act on—or reveal—direct eyewitness testimony it received of the crematorium in Saydnaya Prison in Syria, where an estimated 100,000 people were brutally killed and then burned to ashes to hide the truth. I’d begged the U.S. administration during my meetings at the State Department back in 2014 to investigate the Saydnaya Prison and Qasioun mountain because my fellow activists in those areas had repeatedly told me since 2012 how they smelled the awful stench of burning flesh. But all I got were empty promises. If a bunch of Syrian activists knew about the crematorium, there’s no doubt in my mind that Obama knew about it from intelligence reports. I strongly suspect he made sure those reports weren’t made public to avoid having to take action against Assad. It was the Trump administration that finally showed the world this reality last year and publicized the truth that Samantha Power, Ben Rhodes, and President Obama tried to hide.

Ms. Power and Mr. Rhodes have been going around the country as activists for the truth, decrying “fake news” and dishonesty, which they say is creating an alternative reality. At the same time, it was these two who during the Obama administration created an alternate universe to hide the genocide in Syria. Rhodes is experienced in creative writing, and he used his skills after he was appointed to be deputy national security adviser by President Obama to write an alternative universe to hide the truth of the Syrian genocide and the Iran deal. It should boggle the mind how these two, who were so instrumental in pushing disinformation to mislead the American people, could in any way be activists for the truth.

In the summer of 2014, a defector from the Assad regime codenamed “Caesar” came to Washington, D.C., after he managed to escape from Syria with thousands of photographs of Syrians who were systematically tortured to death by the Assad regime. Caesar’s collection of photographs was yet another indisputable proof of the ongoing genocide in Syria. Caesar met with Ambassador Power, who shed a tear when Caesar described the horrors he had witnessed during his career as an Assad regime military photographer. Caesar also gave Ms. Power a handwritten note to deliver to President Obama, but he never received any response. I also requested a meeting with President Obama as a survivor of the war crimes in Syria on multiple occasions, through the White House, the State Department, and Ambassador Power, but all of my requests were also denied. Neither Ambassador Power nor President Obama wanted to acknowledge the truth.

Ambassador Power, Ben Rhodes, and President Obama owe an apology to the Syrian and the American people for covering up the evidence of war crimes and genocide in Syria and twisting facts to serve their political agenda and public image.
Trump, and only Trump, stands between us and them
We got lucky. But luck does not last forever. Neither will Trump. Our luck runs out unless we come up with someone who can fill his shoes – and it is not too early to realize this.

Yes we pray for the fullness of his time in office, but Congress can still go either way, and if it goes the wrong way, things could get difficult, even for Trump.

Without him…let’s face it…there is nothing but void. The Democrats? Not a chance. That party is pro-BDS and anti-Israel, and the worst is yet to come under Tom Perez, Ellison and Corey Booker -- if ever they get their hands on the Senate, the House and/or the White House. There is no Trump there; not even a Truman.

Farrakhan --- him you will find.

Even among Republicans there is no Trump outside of Trump. No GOP leader – though far preferable to any Democrat – comes to mind as his successor.

None over the horizon or from the list of GOP candidates he defeated would have come out so forcefully, fearlessly and courageously on Israel’s side.

On Jerusalem, Trump stood up against the world and the world rallied round to him…or is beginning to…since there is no choice…since there is only one United States and only one President Donald Trump. For now, that’s good. It’s terrific. There’s been nothing like him in the recent past.

It’s the future we need to worry about, a day when Trump will be gone with no friend in sight for America or for Israel.

Dear Voters – California has put us on notice.



When the 'agent of peace' cries for jihad
The Palestinian lie molds reality, in both a religious and historical sense. In his pathetic speech "the president" linked the Palestinians to the heretic peoples who inhabited this land over 5,000 years ago, such as the Canaanites and Jebusites – to prove that the Palestinians preceded the people of Israel – while flagrantly ignoring that the land was promised to the Israelites, as the chosen people, in the Quran.

The fact that these ancient peoples were completely eradicated by Joshua while the people of Israel inherited the holy land, to which the Quran attests, is of no matter to the Palestinians. On the contrary, some Palestinians actually claim they are the true Israelites. Abbas' obsession with the identities of his various forefathers, however, raises certain dubious questions about the Palestinians' anonymous matriarch and her behavior.

Meanwhile, because they lack an established genealogical line, the Palestinians are instead trying to negate the Quran's designation of the Israelites as inheritors of the land. In this vein, they call us "Khazars," a rabble, and forgers of history.

Within the framework de-legitimizing Israel, Abbas was willing to include the Christians as his partner with rights to Jerusalem and to grant us a "permit" to visit his holy capital. The PA president has not internalized that the Christians, who are in truth important, have already had their say and that it is pointless to persist with this hypocrisy. He has not understood that even if Muhammad's night journey to Jerusalem really happened and the city is in fact holy to Islam, it does not serve as a reason to make it the capital of "Palestine" – just as Mecca is not the capital of Saudi Arabia.

The speeches delivered by Abbas and his ilk fly under our radar, but the messages they contain percolate into the heart of every terrorist with a knife, vehicle, gun and bomb. Lo and behold, Abbas of all people, the long-time "opponent of violence," boasted in his speech that more than 30 "shahids" (martyrs) have fallen on the altar of "peaceful" resistance since Trump's declaration. It is Abbas, by quoting from the Quran, who is motivating the religious war against Israel. Well, for such an endeavor, it is quite enough to have Ramallah as the capital.
PMW: Youth who sought Martyrdom and Virgins was "murdered," claims the PA
The official PA daily reported that a 16-year-old Palestinian was jealous of the large funerals for "Martyrs," saying that he wanted his own "wedding" like that. His defining a funeral as a wedding is a reference to the Islamic tradition that the PA teaches its people. They claim terrorists and others who die in confrontations with Israel are Shahids - Martyrs - who are rewarded in Paradise with 72 Dark-Eyed Virgins. Accordingly, Palestinian "Martyrs" don't have funerals - they have "weddings."

Apparently, 16-year-old Laith Haitham Abu Na'im was convinced by the PA teachings. According to the official PA daily he "was known for his strong envy of the large Martyrs' (Shahids') funerals," because he wanted his own similar "wedding." Last month, he achieved the death he sought in confrontation with Israel and, according to the PA daily, "a big wedding was held as he yearned for." The PA daily also reported that Abu Na'im "competed with his friends about who would get there first to throw rocks at the occupation's jeeps, and did not let anyone precede him." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 1, 2018]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the death wish of other Palestinian youths who have yearned to become "Martyrs," and marry the Virgins.

The fact that the PA reports that Abu Na'im went out to a place of confrontation seeking to be killed, does not stop the PA from accusing Israel of murdering Abu Na'im.
The Palestinians and Their Allies Should Know the Truth About the Nazis
Yes, Palestinians can claim their share of suffering, but they have never faced anything remotely like what the Nazis did to the Jews. The only systematic murders of Palestinians because they are Palestinians have been carried out by their fellow Arabs, not Israelis.

During Israel’s administration of the disputed territories, the Palestinian population has grown exponentially. More than 20 percent of the Israeli population are Palestinians who enjoy equal rights with Jewish citizens.

Palestinians in the territories have the right to petition Israeli courts to redress their grievances, and more than 100,000 West Bank Arabs work in Israel and Jewish settlements — with benefits similar to their Jewish co-workers.

Palestinians are not forced to wear special clothes or badges. They have no tattoos on their forearms. They have not been sent to concentration or slave labor camps, or forced to build Israeli armaments. The only camps holding Palestinians today are refugee camps — and the residents are kept there by their fellow Palestinians and other Arabs.
New satellite photos show Iran establishing another base in Syria
Iran has built another permanent military base outside Syria’s capital city complete with hangers used to store missiles capable of hitting all of Israel, according to Western intelligence sources.

Exclusive satellite images from ImageSat International obtained by Fox News show what is believed to be the new Iranian base, eight miles northwest of Damascus, operated by the Quds Force — the special operations arm of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The photos show two new white hangars, each roughly 30 yards by 20 yards, used to store short- and medium-range missiles.

On Capitol Hill Tuesday, the top U.S. military commander for American forces in the Middle East said Iran was “increasing” the number and “quality” of its ballistic missiles it was deploying to the region — when asked during a House Armed Services Committee by Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., about reports Iran had moved more missiles into Syria.

Gen. Joseph L. Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said Iran has “enhanced” its funding to proxy forces in the Middle East since the landmark nuclear agreement in July 2015, including sending missiles, fighters and other arms to Yemen and Syria.
Report: US peace plan divides Jerusalem, keeps Israeli settlement blocs
Two days after EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini warned the US against taking false steps on the peace process, the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat report Wednesday that the plan Washington is hammering out calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state with limited sovereignty and borders that do not match the 1967 lines.

According to the Saudi paper published in London, the Arab states are unhappy with the framework and are trying to change it before it is presented.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco met earlier this week in Brussels with Mogherini and the 28 EU foreign ministers and said that the plan tilts toward Israel and is unacceptable to the Palestinians.

The report stated that the Arab foreign ministers asked the EU to immediately engage with the US and get them to change the parameters of the plan before it is presented, because it will be much more difficult to do so afterward.

On Monday, after meeting with the Arab foreign ministers, Mogherini said that the EU and Arab League ministers “have dealt with the conflict long enough around our common table to know what can fly and what cannot fly, and we believe it is wise to consider what can fly and cannot fly in terms of peace plans before putting any plans on the table and avoiding any false steps, Because given the region, any false step can be very dangerous.”

The Asharq al-Awsat report, based on Arab diplomatic sources in Paris, said that the US intends to present the plan at an international conference to be held in an Arab capital, likely Cairo.

Under the plan, according to the report, the US will recognize a Palestinian state and its capital in east Jerusalem, on condition that the Old City will come under international protection. The plan calls for the Jordan Valley and major settlement blocs to remain under Israeli sovereignty, and for small, isolated settlements to be relocated.
US envoy slams Iranian minister for 'making a mockery' of UNHRC
Iranian justice minister, a sanctioned human rights violator, unapologetically took the podium at the U.N.'s Human Rights Council meeting Tuesday to berate U.S. and Saudi policies, defying calls for him to stay away in a visit a top U.S. diplomat said made a "mockery" of the UNHRC.

Justice Minister Seyyed Alireza Avaei's visit has been criticized because he's faced EU sanctions for six years for his role in arbitrary arrests, denying prisoners' rights, and increasing executions in Iran. Switzerland, which hosts a key U.N. office and the council, has also handed him economic sanctions – but not banned him from visiting.

U.N. Geneva spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said Avaei did not face any U.N. sanctions.

That did not deter other critics of Avaei's visit. He was on hand Tuesday for the council's "high-level segment," a lead to its March session, which this year is bringing together nearly 100 dignitaries, including many ministers and a few heads of state.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Sunday the rights council "be ashamed to allow Mr. Avaei to address it."

Haley used the chance to again criticize alleged shortcomings of the council that she had laid out in speeches in Geneva in June.

"Yet again the council discredits itself by allowing serial human rights abusers to highjack its work and make a mockery of its mandate to promote universal human rights," Haley said. "This does nothing but reinforce the United States' call for much-needed reforms at the council for it to be viewed as a good investment of our time and money."
Key US lawmakers want to boost Israel's $38B defense aid package
U.S. senators who just returned from a trip to Israel called on Tuesday for an increase in the $38 billion in military aid the United States is currently providing Israel, signaling support for more funds for Israeli missile systems.

Senators Lindsey Graham, a leading Republican foreign policy voice, and Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said they considered the provision of $38 billion over 10 years, "a floor."

Graham said during a meeting with reporters that he thought provisions in the agreement phasing out an arrangement in which Israel could spend U.S. funds on its own defense industry and the provision of just $500 million in missile defense funding were "shortsighted."

Coons said tensions in the broader region supported the idea of more funding for Israel, citing the ongoing war in Syria and Iran's recent use of a stealth drone.

The United States and Israel signed an agreement in September 2016 to give Israel $38 billion in military assistance over the next decade, the largest such aid package in U.S. history but one that included concessions by Israel's government.
US envoy praises Honduras for supporting Jerusalem embassy move
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, on Tuesday heaped fulsome praise on Honduras for being one of a few countries that backed the controversial US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

In a visit to Tegucigalpa to see newly re-elected Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Haley stressed that US President Donald Trump’s government was “committed” to Hernandez and his administration.

The two countries’ bonds were evident, she said, in the way Honduras voted with the United States at the United Nations in December to support Trump’s plan to move the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“That was not an easy decision for any country to have to vote on, but the people of Honduras stood with us in being able to make that decision for ourselves and decide where we want our embassy and to know that is our right,” Haley said in a joint news conference with Hernandez.
Professor Dershowitz: New Zealand made a terrible mistake at the UN.
Professor Alan Dershowitz needs little introduction in legal circles. A preeminent civil-liberties and constitutional lawyer and recently-retired Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, he has also been described as “the best-known criminal lawyer in the world” after taking on a string of high-profile cases.

Professor Dershowitz was in New Zealand in January and gave a talk to a large audience at the University of Auckland Business School, sponsored by the law firm Minter, Ellison, Rudd, Watts along with the Raye Freedman Trust.

In a Q&A session chaired by local constitutional law expert and former New Zealand Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Professor Dershowitz covered a range of topics that included the US constitution and legal challenges to President Trump, current threats to free speech and the erosion of civil discourse between increasingly polarised political camps.

While warmly complimentary about New Zealand’s history of tolerance, Professor Dershowitz castigated New Zealand for making a critical error in its support for UN Resolution 2334 in December 2016, saying:

“This country made a terrible mistake by voting for a United Nations resolution that said that the Western Wall of Jerusalem, the Hebrew University, the Hadassah Hospital, the Jewish Quarter [of the Old City of Jerusalem], were all illegally occupied territory”.

Professor Dershowitz characterised the US’s failure to exercise its veto as former President Barack Obama’s attempt to “get revenge on Binyamin Netanyahu”, which led directly to President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“It was a thoughtless, foolish, bigoted Security Council resolution and it is what led to President Trump deciding to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because he had to level the playing field. We couldn’t have peace if these places, historically Jewish, are regarded as occupied territory. You can’t trade land for peace if it’s illegal for Israel to hold on to the Western Wall, because how much would Israel be giving up to get the wall in any negotiation? It would be extortion, not negotiation.”
Brutal Murder of French Jewish Pensioner Sarah Halimi Will Be Prosecuted as Antisemitic Hate Crime After All, French Court Decides
The brutal murder in April 2017 of a French Jewish pensioner by an Islamist assailant will be prosecuted as an antisemitic hate crime after all, the judge investigating the case announced on Tuesday.

French news outlets reported that the investigating judge decided to retain the charge as an “aggravating circumstance” after hearing directly on Tuesday from Kobili Traore — the 27-year-old Malian immigrant who subjected 65-year-old Sarah Halimi to a severe beating after breaking into her Paris apartment. He later threw Halimi out of a third-floor window to her death.

The announcement will come as welcome news to the French Jewish community, which had been deeply concerned by an earlier judicial decision in January to revisit the antisemitism charge on the grounds of Traore’s alleged mental health problems. In an interview this week with the French Jewish news outlet Actualité Juive, Muriel Ouaknine Melki — a lawyer who represents Halimi’s brother, William Attal — emphasized that “the way in which Sarah was slaughtered shows a characteristic, specific hatred, which unfortunately our experience of antisemitic cases now allows us to identify fairly quickly.”

Melki’s advocacy group, the Organization Europeenne Juive (OJE–European Jewish Organization), has been battling the claim that antisemitism was incidental to Halimi’s murder from the very beginning. On Sunday, March 4, the OJE will hold a special event at a Paris synagogue to commemorate Halimi, with speakers including the chief rabbi of Paris, Michel Gugenheim.
Netanyahu: Zero tolerance for rockets — ‘they get hit immediately’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he believed in a policy of “zero” tolerance for rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip and Syria, no matter how sporadic.

“My policy is zero spillover,” he told cadets at the National Defense College, an academic institution which trains high-ranking defense officials in national security fields.

“There’s no tolerance for spillover, no ‘drip-drip’ [of rockets] — they get hit immediately” in response to attacks, he said. “That hasn’t always been the policy, but this policy is proving itself.”

“Drizzle” is a term often used in Israel to describe the infrequent rocket attacks that have been the norm along the Gaza frontier in the years since the Israeli pullout, even during times of relative peace. “Spillover” is used to refer to intermittent rocket strikes in Israel’s north, as an unintended result of years-long fighting between the Syrian regime and rebel forces along the border.

Netanyahu added that “In a small country like Israel one thing is certain: We must maintain our ability to defend, and our ability to attack and deter, which is the basis for our defense capability.”
Church of the Holy Sepulchre reopens as three-day protest ends
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, seen by many as the holiest site in Christianity, reopened on Wednesday after a three-day closure to protest against Israeli tax measures and a proposed law.

The two men who act as keepers of the key of the church opened its large wooden doors at around 4:00 a.m., ending the protest that began on Sunday at noon.

Shortly afterwards, a group of pilgrims arrived to visit the sacred site.

The church is built where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Custody of it is shared by the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations.

The closure — which seemed to be the longest since at least 1990 — had left thousands of pilgrims and tourists seeking to visit locked outside.

Tuesday’s decision to call off the protest came after the Prime Minister’s office announced earlier in the day that it was suspending the tax collection and freezing the legislation until a newly formed committee — to be headed by Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi — could work out the issues with the churches.

“After the constructive intervention of the Prime Minister, The Churches look forward to engage with Minister Hanegbi, and with all those who love Jerusalem, to ensure that Our Holy City, where our Christian presence continues to face challenges, remains a place where the three Monotheistic faiths may live and thrive together,” the church leaders said in a statement.

In addition to the Jerusalem Municipality suspending the tax collection actions it has taken in recent weeks, the government will also suspend all pending legislation regarding church land until the committee examines the issue, the Prime Minister’s Office announced, saying that the committee would work “with the participation of all relevant parties, to formulate a solution for the issue of municipal taxes on properties owned by churches that are not houses of worship.”

“The team will negotiate with the representatives of the churches to resolve the issue,” it said, adding that “as a result, the Jerusalem Municipality is suspending the collection actions it has taken in recent weeks.

“Israel is proud to be the only country in the Middle East where Christians and believers of all faiths have full freedom of religion and worship,” the statement from the Prime Minister’s office said. “Israel is home to a flourishing Christian community and welcomes its Christian friends from all over the world.”
PreOccupiedTerritory: Breaking The Silence Activist Offers To Beat Palestinians If Prosecutors Indict Bibi (satire)
Drama continued to surround a series of corruption cases involving Israel’s prime minister this afternoon as a prominent member of a human rights group volunteered to perpetrate physical abuse against Palestinians if that would help encourage the Attorney General to indict the premier on various charges.

Dean Issacharoff, who previously claimed to have beaten Palestinians when he was serving in the military, offered to kick, punch, pelt, hit with a gun, and similarly mistreat any number of tied-up Palestinians if AG Avichai Mandelblit decides to prosecute Binyamin Netanyahu in any of the four investigations currently plaguing the leader. Issacharoff joins other Breaking the Silence activists such as Ezra Nawi in such a firm commitment to helping Palestinians no matter how much it hurts Palestinians. The latter activist was recorded disclosing to an Palestinian Authority official the name of a Palestinian who had sold land to Jews, a capital offense under Palestinian law.

“Anything to help end this corrupt occupation, this corruption-inducing occupation,” declared Issacharoff. “My organization is dedicated to ending this illegal and immoral occupation by whatever means necessary, and if it takes beating Palestinians to get that job done, I’m prepared to do that.”
IsraellyCool: Near-Lynch Victims Meet Palestinian Who Saved Their Lives
A group of American Yeshiva boys who were almost lynched by palestinians in Hebron nearly two and half years ago have met the man who saved them – a palestinian who sheltered them in his home until they were rescued by Israeli security forces.

Note: the below video is in Hebrew but parts are in English – and you will understand what is going on enough to give you the warm and fuzzies.

Story:
Nearly two and a half years after being saved from an angry mob, two Chasidic men arranged a reunion with the Palestinian man who rescued them from what appeared to be certain death.

According to Israel’s News 20, Moshe Lefkowitz and Shlomo Kraus shared an emotional meeting with Faiz Reit in Gush Etzion last week, recalling the frightening moments when Waze directed them into a Palestinian neighborhood while on their way to Mearas Hamachpeila (The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron – Aussie Dave).

As previously reported on VIN News, Lefkowitz and Kraus were with three other American yeshiva students whose car was set on fire after being surrounded by dozens of stone throwing Palestinians. Reit intervened, sheltering the group in his home until they were rescued by Israeli security forces.
Why Turkey Wants to Invade the Greek Islands
Turkish propagandists also have been twisting facts to try to portray Greece as the aggressor. Ümit Yalım, former secretary-general of the Ministry of National Defense, for example, said that "Greece has turned the Greek-occupied islands into arsenals and military outposts that Greece will use in its future military intervention against Turkey."

Turkish politicians all seem to have their own motivations for their obsession with the islands: Traditional Turkish expansionism, Turkification of Hellenic lands, neo-Ottomanism and Islam's flagship of conquest -- jihad. There are also strategic reasons for their wanting to invade the islands, which can be understood in a statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Tuğrul Türkeş about Turkey's control of Cyprus since 1974:

"There is this misinformation that Turkey is interested in Cyprus because there is a Turkish society there... Even if no Turks lived in Cyprus, Turkey would still have a Cyprus issue and it is impossible for Turkey to give up on that."

The same attitude and mentality apply to the Aegean islands. Although Turkey knows that the islands are legally and historically Greek, Turkish authorities want to occupy and Turkify them, presumably to further the campaign of annihilating the Greeks, as they did in Anatolia from 1914 to 1923 and after. The destruction of any remnant of Greek culture that existed in Asia Minor, a Greek land prior to the 11th century Turkish invasion, is almost complete. There are fewer than 2,000 Greeks left in Turkey today.

Given that Turkey brutally invaded Cyprus in 1974, its current threats against Greece -- from both ends of Turkey's political spectrum -- should not be taken lightly by the West. Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization. It borders the European Union. Any attack against Greece should be treated as an attack against the West. It is time for the West, which has remained silent in the face of Turkish atrocities, to stand up to Ankara.
IDF officer: Killing Nasrallah would mean victory in war against Hezbollah
Killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would amount to a “decisive victory” for Israel in a future war with the Hezbollah terrorist group, a senior IDF official said on Wednesday.

The warning directed against the terror chief came amid increasing speculation that a war between Israel and Hezbollah is becoming more likely, with Jerusalem threatening it will take action to keep the group from getting Iranian precision-guided missiles.

“If we succeed in killing Nasrallah in the next war, that will be a decisive victory,” the officer told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Nasrallah has long suspected that Israel sees him as a prime target and has therefore lived in an underground bunker for the vast majority of the last 11 years — since the Second Lebanon War — fearing an Israeli airstrike.

The 2006 war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah ended without such a “decisive victory,” and the conflict is generally seen in Israel as having been either a failure or a draw.
MEMRI: In The Shadow Of U.S. Demands For Disarming Hizbullah And For Compromise In Lebanon-Israel Border Conflicts, U.S. Secretary Of State Tillerson Is Insulted In Lebanon Visit And Meetings Yield No Results
On February 15, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Lebanon for an hours-long stopover, as part of his Middle East tour that included Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Egypt. During his visit, he met with Lebanese President Michel 'Aoun, Prime Minister Sa'd Al-Hariri, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri. Tillerson's treatment in Lebanon was insulting; he was met at the airport by the Foreign Ministry's director of ceremonies, not by Foreign Minister Bassil, and, after arriving at the presidential palace for his meeting with President 'Aoun and Minister Bassil, he was kept waiting for several minutes until they arrived – and in the meeting hall the American flag was not displayed alongside the Lebanese flag.

The nature of Tillerson's reception may have been connected to the American demands that he brought with him in the matter of disarming Hizbullah and in the matter of the Lebanon-Israel dispute over gas drilling rights in the Mediterranean. These demands had been raised with the Lebanese several days previously by U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield.

Throughout his Middle East tour, Tillerson expressed conflicting positions vis-à-vis Hizbullah. The day before his Lebanon visit, he said, at a press conference in Amman, Jordan, that the reality of Hizbullah as part of the political process in Lebanon should be acknowledged. However, the next day, at the conclusion of his Lebanon visit, he clarified that the U.S. sees Hizbullah as a terrorist organization and does not differentiate between its political and military wings.

This report will review Tillerson's Lebanon visit, statements he made, demands he presented, and how he was received by the Lebanese leadership.
How Russia is using Syria as a military 'guinea pig'
Russia’s deputy defense minister claimed Thursday that Moscow has tested over 600 new weapons and other military equipment in Syria since intervening in the conflict in 2015. "The chance to test in real combat can’t be overestimated," Yuri Borisov asserted, adding that "customers have started queuing up for the arms that have proven themselves in [battle].”

The comments came on the same day that the head of the powerful defense committee in Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, contended that 200 of the items were next-generation systems.

"It’s not an accident that today they are coming to us from many directions to purchase our weapons, including countries that are not our allies,” Vladimir Shamanov declared. "Today, our military industry made our army look in a way we can be proud of."

According to Mathieu Boulegue, a Research Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, "many analysts in Moscow view the Syria campaign as a 'Revolution in Military Affairs,' which is an American term that derives from the US experience mostly during the First Gulf War. Russia sees Syria as a theater for learning how to use [cutting-edge] technology and command and control techniques in modern warfare.

"They are also getting similar experience in Ukraine," he elaborated to The Media Line, "and it is impossible to separate between the two campaigns as the lessons gained in both arenas are fed into the same beast."

The Russian hardware being tested reportedly includes advanced aircraft, cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions in addition to armory, battlefield drones and electronic warfare systems, among many others.

One prominent example is the introduction into Syria of the Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jets, twelve of the former reportedly having soon thereafter been sold to Algeria. Other countries such as Indonesia, India and Nigeria have likewise expressed interest in the plane since it became battle-tested, allowing for tangible evaluation of its performance.
U.N. report links North Korea to Syria’s chemical weapons program
North Korea has been shipping materials to the Syrian government that could be used for the production of chemical weapons, according to a secret UN report, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The report, which was written by a panel of experts, stated that the supplies, which included acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers, were part of at least 40 previously unreported shipments to Syria between 2012 and 2017.

Additionally, North Korean missile experts were spotted inside Syria, working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities.

The UN report, which is more than 200 pages long, also emphasized the danger of such a cooperation between the two countries which would allow Syria to maintain its chemical weapons while providing North Korea with funding for its nuclear missile programs.

As reported by the New York Times, it is unclear when the report will be released; and the authors and members of the United Nations Security Counsel refused to comment. However, a former member of the UN panel of experts on North Korea, William Newcomb, called it "an important breakthrough."

“We knew stuff was going on,” Mr. Newcomb said to the New York Times. “We really wanted to up the game on chemical weapons programs, and we just weren’t able to get what we needed to do so.”
Hezbollah launches shoot ’em up video game set in Syrian civil war
Sidling down the mean streets of Syria with his rifle, he picks off his enemies relentlessly: Ahmed is the hero of the video game launched Wednesday by Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

The Shiite paramilitary group held a ceremony and news conference in Beirut to unveil the latest production of its electronic media department, which it named “Sacred Defense – Protecting the Homeland And Holy Sites.”

“It reflects Hezbollah’s experience in Syria,” Hassan Allam, one of the game’s developers, told AFP.

The first-person shooter game is a low-cost spinoff of bestseller “Call of Duty” that glorifies the group’s battles in the ongoing Syrian conflict.

The scenario’s introductory sequence has Ahmed in plain clothes visiting the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.

The mausoleum comes under attack and Ahmed reappears wearing a military uniform in a room whose walls bearing a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
PreOccupiedTerritory: People Who Emboldened Iran With Nuke Deal Can’t Understand Why Country Keeps Ignoring Syria Ceasefire (Satire)
Diplomats and political figures instrumental in handing the Middle East to Iran on a silver platter and short-circuiting any action that might restrain in the Islamic Republic’s imperialism for fear such a move might imperil the JCPOA governing Tehran’s atomic weapons program voiced confusion today at the news that the Shiite militias doing the mullahs’ bidding in Syria and Tehran’s allies in Damascus continue to disregard the UN-declared cease-fire in East Ghouta this week.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, former White House adviser Ben Rhodes, and numerous members of the Obama administration’s media echo chamber confessed their puzzlement today (Wednesday) upon receiving reports that the cease-fire has been rendered meaningless by repeated Tehran-allied actors violating it. After playing a key role in showcasing Western inability or unwillingness to check Iran’s pursuit of regional hegemony and create a “Shiite Crescent” to the Mediterranean, the politicians, diplomats, and journalists admitted they remain at a loss to explain what might make Iran and its proxies think they could do whatever they want in Syria and face no consequences.

“I’m stumped,” admitted Kerry in a phone interview. “I know the Iranians, and I can tell you Mr. [Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif is quite a charming fellow – this seems nothing like him. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding. No reason to make a big deal out of it, I think. Why risk messing up the nuclear deal, which is working as planned?”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to believe those reports,” cautioned Rhodes. “Were they carried by the journalists and commentators who parroted my every word about the deal? If not, that should tell you everything you need to know about their veracity. It’s probably a smear job by warmongering neocons bent on plunging the Middle East into another bloody war. If I were so inclined I might even make not-so-vague insinuations that pro-Israel elements are behind the reports, hoping to suck America into a quagmire.”
Egyptian singer gets six-months jail term for insulting the Nile
An Egyptian court sentenced pop star Sherine to six months in prison on Tuesday for suggesting drinking from the Nile River leads to illness, although she will remain free pending an appeal.

Sherine Abdel Wahab, known simply as Sherine, had apologized after being caught on tape joking with concert goers that Nile water could give them parasites.

The Cairo misdemeanor court convicted her of having spread “false news.” Judicial officials said she would remain free on bail pending an appeal.

Sherine is one of the region’s best known singers. She is also an actor and hosted the Arabic version of singing contest The Voice.

In the video recording of the concert, Sherine is asked by a fan to sing her tune “Have You Ever Drunk From the Nile.”

She responds that drinking from the river could cause “bilharzia,” a name for the parasitic disease schistosomiasis which was once widespread in Egypt.

“Drink Evian instead,” she joked.

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