From Ian:
Why Anti-Zionism Is Modern Anti-Semitism
Israel’s defensive Operation Protective Edge against Hamas rocket fire revealed that it took a military conflict to show that anti-Zionism cannot be decoupled from anti-Semitism.
As veteran observers of contemporary anti-Semitism are aware, the rejection of Jewish state sovereignty in Israel (i.e., anti-Zionism) has always been an inherent part of Jew-hatred.
In the late 1960s, the Austrian Jewish writer and Auschwitz survivor Jean Amery wrote, “Anti-Zionism contains anti-Semitism like a cloud contains a storm.” To put it mildly, Amery’s definition of modern anti-Semitism wasn’t accepted by post-Holocaust Europe as a force to be combated. Anti-Zionism was deemed by many Europeans to be a politically and socially correct world view. In short, they viewed it as a form of legitimate “Israel criticism.”
Pro-Israel Hackers Overtake Hamas Sites
On Sunday, a number of Hamas-friendly websites were hacked by a Pro-Israel cyber team.
Users who viewed the various web sites expecting to see radical jihadi Islamist content were caught off guard and instead shown a split-screen display of videos taken from Israel and Gaza.
On one of the hacked jihadi sites, the user was treated to “Ramadan in Gaza,” where viewers are pointed to videos of chaos and destruction in the Gaza Strip during the now three-week long Operation Protective Edge. On the other side of the screen, viewers saw “Ramadan in Israel,” which showed Muslims casually enjoying their holiday without interruption.
Pictures Don’t Justify Anti-Israel Media Bias
The problem is the willingness of much of the international media to buy into Palestinian propaganda while ignoring the plain facts about the culpability of Hamas for the fomenting of the current conflict and the casualties that have resulted from its launching of the latest round of fighting. A media that isn’t willing to place the video of Palestinian suffering in a context of Hamas decisions to build shelters in the form of a vast tunnel network for their fighters and rocket arsenal while staking out civilians as human shields to be killed when Israel responds to rocket and tunnel attacks is one that can’t then turn around and advise Netanyahu that his country’s public-relations problems are its own fault. To the contrary, the willingness of much of the international media to whitewash Hamas and vilify Israel has only convinced Israelis that this is not the moment to hazard their lives on promises from the Palestinians or the Obama administration.
Asymmetrical warfare between a nation state and a terror movement that operates for all intents and purposes as an independent state in Gaza does generate problems for Israel. But if the goal is peace, then the only answer for Israel and the United States is to crush Hamas, not allow the pictures of the suffering that the terror group has orchestrated to force–as Kerry’s proposals have indicated–the West to grant them concessions. If both the administration and journalists like Fournier don’t understand this, the fault lies with them, not Netanyahu.
Douglas Murray: Jon Snow’s view of the Middle East is biased, inaccurate and dangerous
I suppose viewers of Jon Snow’s Channel 4 News don’t expect impartial journalism, any more than viewers of Fox in the States expect their political opponents to get a particularly fair hearing. This is, after all, a journalist whose first reaction when the Malaysian airline plane was shot down over Ukraine was to express concern that the deaths might distract attention from Israel’s war with Hamas.
But what an extraordinary way to present the situation in the Middle East: Hamas as a sincere social welfare organisation who have been kind enough to allow Jon Snow to report under their reporting restrictions, Israel as an abomination with a lust for killing Palestinian children.
Mark Steyn: My Fellow Canadian
Ever since the weekend, I've been looking at the photo on the right. It's a close-up of a picture that forms part of Richard K's photographic scrapbook of the annual "al-Quds Day" rally in my home town of Toronto. "Al-Quds" is the Arab name for Jerusalem, and this event, if not quite as big as the LGBTQWERTY parade, enjoys a similar official imprimatur: the Government of Ontario gives permission for it to be held at Queen's Park, home of the provincial parliament. At this year's shindig, Gaza was the big grievance, and there was a lot of undisguised Jew-hatred in the air.
But, as I said, it's the photograph at right that's been weighing on me: A man at the rally holding up a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini. We can't see his face, but he's wearing a baseball cap and in his left hand he's holding a smart phone. So he looks like a perfectly assimilated immigrant. And yet with his right hand he's proudly displaying a photograph of the Ayatollah - presumably his, and evidently a picture he's fond of, because he's gone to the trouble of putting it in a frame.
Come on U.N. what will you do about Hamas war crimes?
It's not some sort of "clever" reversal when rational and decent people say it is Hamas that is committing the war crimes. It's true. So, given that the U.N. has raised the issue, what will they do about it?
One Navi Pillai, who describes herself a ‘UN Human Rights Commissioner, tells us that in the latest round of the everlasting war between Israel war crimes have been committed.
Well, she is certainly right about that. But when she says that it is Israel that is the criminal she departs into the realms of unreality.
Are UN Agencies Fighting for Human Rights or Supporting Terrorism?
Operation Protective Edge has put a significant spotlight on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after munitions were found in one of the agency’s schools.
Following the discovery, UNRWA came out, “strongly condemn[ing] the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. Such an infiltration is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law. The discovery, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestinian refugees in Gaza.”
However, none of this is new and seemed only to be surprising to UNRWA itself. The group has a long-documented history of terrorist ties, something UNRWA’s former Commissioner General Peter Hansen openly admitted in 2004 to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stating, “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll … and I don’t see that as a crime.”
Lindsey Graham: United Nations Is 'Anti-Semitic'
Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pointed to the latest actions of the United Nations and called the body "anti-Semitic."
The South Carolina lawmaker condemned the United Nations for its so-called human rights report, saying, "The U.N. Human Rights report is a joke. The U.N. is becoming anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic. I would push back. Congress will do this.”
Last week the U.N. Human Rights Council voted to investigate Israel's supposed violations of Palestinian's human rights in Gaza.
US groups provide support for IDF’s 2,500 lone soldiers
They may be lone soldiers, but they are not alone.
Of the more than 2,500 immigrant lone soldiers serving in the Israel Defense Forces, there are 740 Americans, according to the New York-based Friends of Israel Defense Forces, FIDF. With a deeply rooted sense of obligation to serve in the IDF, 50 percent of the young men and women serve in combat units.
“They are coming because of their sense of responsibility. They understand where we came from and where we stand today,” said Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yitzhak “Jerry” Gershon National Director and CEO of FIDF. “They understand the importance of the State of Israel, not just for Jews but for the free world. We are fighting radical movements who seek to destroy.”
More Americans Blame Hamas for Current Conflict
More than twice as many Americans blame Hamas for the current conflict than blame Israel; however, this division is far less clear among Democratic voters, according to a new Pew Research poll.
Forty percent of Americans blame Hamas for the violence in the region, compared to just 19 percent that blame Israel.
Among Democrats that were polled, the margin shrinks drastically with 29 percent putting the blame on Hamas and 26 putting it on Israel, with 18 percent saying that the two parties share responsibility.
Republicans on the other hand blame Hamas by a wide margin of 60-13 percent.
Saudi Official Says Hamas Responsible for Deaths in Gaza; Columnist Calls for Peace With Israel
The former head of Saudi intelligence services Turki al Faisal said that Hamas was responsible for “the crimes Israel has committed in the Gaza Strip,” according to a report by Israeli news website NRG.
In an interview quoted Sunday from Asharq Al-Awsat, a pan-Arab newspaper based in London, Faisal said that “Hamas is responsible for the slaughter in the Gaza Strip following its bad decisions in the past, and the haughtiness it shows by firing useless rockets at Israel, which contribute nothing to the Palestinian interest. The Hamas rockets pose no threat to the Israeli occupation, even when they reach Tel Aviv.”
Faisal further blamed Qatar and Turkey for their mediation efforts, saying that instead of preventing Israel from destroying Gaza, these two countries were destroying Egypt’s leadership role in the Arab world. He also attacked the US and Europe for giving Israel the diplomatic credit to continue its campaign.
8 Times Kerry Betrayed Israel
Barak Ravid, a hard-left Ha’aretz writer, went so far as to write:
"The draft Kerry passed to Israel on Friday shocked the cabinet ministers not only because it was the opposite of what Kerry told them less than 24 hours earlier, but mostly because it might as well have been penned by Khaled Meshal. It was everything Hamas could have hoped for….The document placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary U.S. ally and as if the second isn't a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel."
Ravid, of course, said that Kerry was not anti-Israel – which begs the question as to who Ravid would consider anti-Israel. He concluded, “It's as if he isn't the foreign minister of the world's most powerful nation, but an alien, who just disembarked his spaceship in the Mideast.”
But he isn’t an alien. He didn’t just disembark his spaceship in the Middle East. Kerry has a long history of such nastiness. (h/t Canadian Otter)
Yes, please! David Draiman asks diplomatic dolt John Kerry for a favor
Disturbed and Device vocalist David Draiman is an outspoken supporter of Israel — which is why he’s asking the buffoonish, incompetent John Kerry to do him a teensy little favor:
DAVID DRAIMAN: LIKE I SAID @JohnKerry, JUST STAY HOME AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Pelosi: 'Qatar told me Hamas is a humanitarian organization'
Pelosi said the first thing to do is to “avoid conflict” that “Hamas initiated.”
“[T]his has to be something where we try to have the two-state solution, that we have to support…(Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud) Abbas and his role as a leader there. We have to support Iron Dome to protect the Israelis from the missiles. We have to support the Palestinians and what they need. And we have to confer with the Qataris, who have told me over and over again that Hamas is a humanitarian organization, maybe they could use their influence to –
Crowley interrupted her at that point, and they turned to another topic….
This moron was once third in line to be President of the United States? She makes Biden look intelligent. (h/t Canadian Otter)
Hillary: Hamas is Hiding Rockets in Schools Because "Gaza is Pretty Small"
In a clip released today from an interview airing tomorrow, Fusion's Jorge Ramos asked Hillary Clinton about the situation in Gaza. Specifically, Ramos asked Clinton if she thought in any way that Israel responded "disproportionately". As part of her answer, Hillary brought up the fact of Hamas hiding rockets in civilian facilities, a practice condemned by the U.N., and said, unprompted, that they were doing it because Gaza is a pretty small area.
"I'm not a military planner but Hamas puts its missiles, its rockets in civilian areas, part of it is that Gaza is pretty small and it's very densely populated, they put their command and control of Hamas military leaders in those civilian areas."
Earlier in her comments the former secretary said that Hamas "intended to provoke Israel," and also that Hamas had "its back against the wall,' prompting them to fire missiles into Israel.
‘Wonder Woman’ actress Gal Gadot receives hate for ‘Shabbat Shalom Israel’ tweet
From Facebook:
I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens. Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children…We shall overcome!!! Shabbat Shalom!
Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the hate tweets to emerge.
Jewish Centers Around the World Reinforce Security After Attacks in Belgium, Canada, France, Morocco, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey
Jewish centers around the world are increasing security measures, with some even closing their doors, because of a surge in violent anti-Semitic attacks against Jews.
The frequency and violence of the attacks has been building for months, but open anti-Semitism has become a global phenomena since Israel began Operation Protective Edge in response to Hamas rockets from Gaza three weeks ago.
Fmr. Shin Bet Chief Warns: ‘If European Countries Fail to Protect Their Jews, the State of Israel Will’
In a blunt warning to a visiting group of European diplomats over a looming jihadi threat, a former deputy Shin Bet chief on Monday said “if you do not stand by our side, the day when Islamic terror will reach your homes, your beds and your kindergartens will come soon.”
Speaking with Danish, Swedish and Dutch ambassadors to Israel, as well as officials from the embassies of Britain, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Germany, Knesset Member Israel Hasson (Kadima), pointed out that “NATO bombed 5,000 civilians in Kosovo just because it was insulted; 27,000 Iraqi civilians were bombed during the American invasion because they posed a danger to the US; there is not a country in the world that can talk to us about morality.”
Talk of feared new Holocaust at Knesset meeting on European anti-Semitism
The room was packed to capacity at the Knesset on Monday for an emergency meeting on the “rising wave of violent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel demonstrations sweeping Europe,” with MKs and Diaspora Jewish leaders offering testimony and issuing condemnations.
The meeting, chaired by MK Yoel Razvozov, saw representatives of Jewish communities and diplomats from countries including France, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Italy speaking at a session which went well overtime but ended inconclusively.
The meeting was called by the Knesset’s Diaspora Affairs Committee with the cooperation of the Israeli-Jewish Congress.
CNN Reports Anti-Semitic Protests in Europe, Notes ‘Blurred’ Lines Between Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic Rhetoric
Co-host Michaela Pereira led off by lamenting that protests from Paris to Berlin have “turned nasty, targeting all Jews. In Paris, protestors have attacked synagogues, they’ve looted shops owned by Jews, chanting death to the Jews.” Co-anchor John Berman cited an even more horrifying scene from Germany, where some have called for Jews to be killed:
Yeah, and in some of the protests in Germany, there have been people even calling for Jews to be gassed. Clearly, a reference to the Holocaust there.
Berman highlighted an idea that many pro-Israel individuals have recognized: “Some of the lines seem to be getting blurred here” between anti-Israel rhetoric and simple anti-Semitism. CNN London correspondent Max Foster cited reaction from Europe where “there's some particularly nasty language coming out, some violence, and there is a great deal of concern that this could escalate. And it is increasingly a pan-European problem.” (h/t MtTB)
NBC, CBS, Reuters, Lie About Israeli Attacks; Face No Repercussions
The reporters have faced no repercussions yet for the promulgation of erroneous and biased information. It is yet another example of how reporters for major outlets in the Middle East interject their anti-Israel bias into their supposedly neutral reporting on the conflict.
After explosions were spotted at two civilian outposts in Gaza, the reporters immediately tweeted that Israel was to blame, though there was little evidence to corroborate this.
In fact, the attacks at the Shati refugee camp and Shifa hospital in Gaza were perpetrated by Hamas, according to Israeli military officials, who said that the IDF was conducting no operations at the time of the explosions.
ITV, CNN Journalist Re-Tweets Harrowing Picture From Iraq With Gaza Hashtag, Apologizes
ITV and CNN reporter, Dan Rivers, on Sunday apologized for re-tweeting a harrowing photo purporting to be from the Israel – Hamas conflict.
What he originally mistook for a photo of a child sitting among bodies and wreckage from Israeli bombardment of targets in Gaza, in fact turned out to be of a scene of devastation in Mosul, Iraq, instead.
Within minutes, however, dozens of pro-Israel critics of western media coverage of events in Israel and Gaza savaged Rivers for what many assumed was a pro-Palestinian bias in his choice of photos.
HUFFPO SHOULD FIRE MEHDI HASAN FOR ANTI-ISRAEL LIES AND MISDIRECTION
The Huffington Post’s extremist speech giver and ‘Political Director’ Mehdi Hasan has gone to great lengths today to try and dispel what he claims are pro-Israeli myths about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Of course, Hasan is hardly a neutral analyst in the conflict. He has spent much of his journalistic career targeting the Jewish State with opprobrium, and of course the fact that he is contracted Al Jazeera, which plasters anti-Israel propaganda all over their website, is hardly encouraging.
Nonetheless over 11,000 people have blindly shared Hasan’s article, which is full of untruths, farcical attributions, and selective quotes. He lists what he calls a ‘myth’ as a numbered point, then proceeds to ‘debunk’ it. You can read it without my commentary by clicking here, but please do enjoy the full refutation of his faulty analysis below:
Al Jazeera Accused of Creating Fake Ceasefire Doc, Fooling Journalist Laura Rozen
An Al Jazeera reporter and producer reportedly created a Microsoft Word document they said was a draft of the U.S.-proposed Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, which they shared with Middle East reporter Laura Rozen, who used it to lambaste Israeli leaders. But, on Sunday, the document was taken offline, as bloggers lambasted Rozen for incredulity of accepting the word of Al Jazeera.
Blogger Jeff Dunetz, from ‘The Lid,’ saw the document and uploaded screenshots of its creators from the file’s metadata.
Rozen, who Dunetz noted for her “anti-Israel slant,” writes for Al-Monitor.
Saving the British media a lot of effort in their Gaza reporting
In order to save British media editors the effort of any novel reporting over the next few weeks I am pleased to be able to present a convenient, easily adapted template that can be repeated EVERY day until a ceasefire is imposed on Israel. In fact, it's the very same one they have been using every day for the last four weeks! And what's really great is that it can be used by newspapers of every political pursuasion because they all know there is no alternative view to present!
Harriet Sherwood channels her inner Baghdad Bob in story on human shield ‘claims’
Much like Baghdad Bob, the Iraqi diplomat most known for making comically inaccurate claims during press conferences with Western reporters in the early stages of the 2003 War, Sherwood’s obfuscations on behalf of the terrorist movement (which cynically exploits its own civilians to gain such propaganda victories) will likely one day be treated as a case study in the kind of propaganda which serves to defend the indefensible.
UK media fail to report evidence contradicting presumption of IDF guilt in UN school deaths
Not one of these UK news sites, at the time of this post, have revised their original articles or published a new story which includes the IDF’s new video evidence.
Since the new information at the very least calls into question the accuracy of the initial reports, editors should take note of the clause in the Editor’s Code of Practice which demands the following:
BBC’s Ian Pannell does a convincing impression of Al Aqsa TV
Does Pannell bother to point out to BBC audiences – and al Ghossein – that the Gaza Strip has not been under “Israeli occupation” for nine years? In light of that fact, does he dig deeper in order to give viewers some sort of insight as to how Hamas defines ‘occupation’ and which geographical areas its definition actually includes? Does he pick up on the glaring aberration of an internationally designated terrorist organization – which has targeted Israeli civilians with thousands of military grade missiles for fourteen years and sent dozens of suicide bombers to carry out carnage in Israeli cafes, shopping malls and buses – lecturing BBC viewers on “ethics”? The answer to all those questions is of course no. Instead, Pannell allows al Ghossein a platform from which to cynically commandeer the language of human rights, turning a violent, antisemitic terrorist organization into a popular movement for “freedom”.
Did Israel Say Hamas Didn’t Kidnap Its Teens? No.
New York, NYRB and Andrew Sullivan promulgate problematic claim
Frenkel doesn’t provide her source for the “lone cell” quote, other than Donnison’s tweets, though in subsequent tweets, Frenkel says she has spoken to an “israeli officer.” This may refer to an article she wrote a month ago, in which an unnamed source told her, “What we do know, is that this was likely an opportunistic move. The men behind this may have ties to a larger terror group, but this does not have the markings of a well-planned, complex operation.” The source did not use the words “lone cell.”
But when I spoke to Micky Rosenfeld, Donnison’s alleged source, on Sunday morning, he denied having used the words “lone cell” in conversation with Donnison. Indeed, Rosenfeld insisted that he told the BBC reporter in no uncertain terms that what is known is that “Hamas terrorists from the Hebron area were behind the kidnapping and murder of the children.” Rosenfeld added that security organizations are continuing their search for the perpetrators. In other words, nothing new has developed. If the militants who murdered the boys were a “lone cell,” no officials have confirmed this.
The return of the BBC’s Jon Donnison and his tall Twitter tales
BBC Watch also contacted police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld who told us the following in relation to Donnison’s claims:
“I said and confirmed what is known already, that the kidnapping and murder of the teens was carried out by Hamas terrorists from the Hebron area and the security organizations are continuing to search for the murderers.”
Jon Donnison and his Twitter tales remain a liability to the BBC.
60 Minutes Unholy War
At around 8pm on Saturday night, Channel Nine’s 60 minutes Australia program posted an announcement on their Facebook page about tomorrow’s program (see it at the bottom of this briefing). The announcement claims “#60Mins brings you both sides from the Israeli Gaza war zone”. Within a few hours of the announcement there had been over 250 comments in reply, many of them deeply antisemitic. 60 minutes opened the flood gates of hate at the end of the day before going home for the night and leaving the page without appropriate moderation.
This briefing examines the kinds of hate that users posted on the 60 minutes Facebook page. The initial post by 60 minutes, which set the tone for what followed, is then briefly examined. OHPI calls on 60 minutes and Channel 9 to ensure the page is properly moderated over the next 3 or 4 days to ensure comments like those below are removed promptly (within minutes). We also call of them not to make inflammatory posts at a time when it could spark conflict spilling over into the Australian community. (h/t jelsie)
Mike Carlton: didn’t the Holocaust teach the Jews a lesson? UPDATE: Jew-hatred rising
Many Jewish friends are alarmed by the vilification of Israel and of Jews. They are scared of the increased threats to Jews around the world. They are distressed by grotesque and sinister historical analogies with the Holocaust that seem driven by a wish to vilify Jews today or even to diminish the genocide of Jews yesterday.
And then along come a Mike Carlton, sneering and jeering:
"IT is a breathtaking irony that these atrocities (in Gaza) can be committed by a people ... who hold the Warsaw Ghetto and the six million dead of the Holocaust at the centre of their race memory."
Sydney paper cartoon ‘racially vilifies’ Jews, says community
The cartoon, published alongside a virulently anti-Israel article by columnist Mike Carlton, showed a yarmulke-wearing, hooked nose Jew sitting in an armchair etched with a Star of David, using a remote control to detonate a collection of buildings, presumably in Gaza.
The Anti-Defamation Commission of the B’nai B’rith also lodged a formal protest against the “anti-Semitic” image.
“This is the venomous propaganda of Der Stumer recycled for a modern-day audience,” fumed commission chair Dr. Dvir Abramovich. “The cartoon portrays not just Israelis, but all Jews, as heartless, cold-blooded murderers.”
Greens Targeted With Boos And Shoes At Angry Pro-Gaza Protests
A Greens spokesperson in Queensland had a shoe thrown at him and a Victorian Greens speaker was boo-ed loudly at passionate protest rallies around the nation against Israel’s ongoing assault on the Palestinian residents of Gaza.
During the protest in Melbourne on Saturday the newly elected Greens Senator for Victoria, Janet Rice was boo-ed by the crowd and had the microphone snatched from her by a Palestinian man, angered at her call for an arms embargo on both Israel and Palestine.
Jake Schoermer, a young Green’s Candidate for the Queensland electorate of Indooroopilly in the 2015 state election, spoke at the rally.
He was not only drowned out by protestors, but had a shoe thrown at him after refusing to hand over the microphone.
Schoermer had the crowd off-side almost from the outset after noting that ‘both sides’ of the conflict should be condemned. His opening remarks drew howls of protest from the 1,000 strong crowd, and things pretty much went downhill from there.
Now we’re getting propaganda from space
German astronaut Alexander Gerst tweeted an image from the International Space Station (ISS). He captioned it “My saddest photo yet.” It shows Israel and the Gaza Strip at night.
Gerst also made this claim.
From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel.
No you can’t. Here’s a video of Hamas rockets being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system.
They’re barely visible to people right under them.
Both the Hamas rockets and the Israeli Tamir interceptor missiles are about ten feet (three meters) long. You can’t see them from orbit. Those explosions are only forty to sixty feet (twelve to eighteen meters) in diameter, invisible from orbit.
No, those aren’t flares or explosions. They’re a third the size of Gaza City. The Israelis aren’t nuking the Palestinians. Why didn’t anyone include a scale on this photo? Could it be that they want to mislead you into thinking you that each of those lights is an explosion? It took me five minutes to make my own scale. The red line on the left is roughly ten miles (16.1 km) long. Tel Aviv is 43.4 miles (70 km) from Gaza City, so you can see that my scale is accurate.
New York: 15,000 Rally in Support for Israel
At least 15,000 people gathered in New York City's Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on Monday, in tremendous support for Israel and its self-defense operation against Hamas.
“We raise our voices to stand with Israel,” was a refrain heard over and over in the emotional rally, which countered a pro-Palestinian protest held over the weekend.
“Let us not forget one word describes why there are so many innocent who died: Hamas,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, as quoted by the New York Observer.
“The bottom line is very simple. We must send a message from one corner of this globe to the other and to that building over there that you will not have peace as long as Hamas has power. Hamas is a terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s destruction who believes they have a moral right to start war at any occasion.”
Hundreds attend pro-Israeli demonstration in Toronto
A tension-filled demonstration denouncing the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza hit downtown Toronto Sunday with pro-Israeli protesters accusing Hamas of ignoring recent declarations of a ceasefire.
Thousands of pro-Israeli demonstrators - many hoisting blue-and-white Israeli flags - gathered at Queen's Park to protest what they called punitive aggression on the part of Hamas. They blamed the militant Palestinian group for perpetuating the deadly conflict which has been raging since early July.
Budapest synagogue hosts 4,500-strong interfaith rally
Thousands filled Budapest’s Great Synagogue and the street in front of it in an interfaith rally in support of Israel.
Sunday’s rally was organized by the Hungarian Jewish federation Mazsihisz and the Christian Faith Church and held in the downtown synagogue.
A counterdemonstration was held near the synagogue building by the far-right Hungarian political party Jobbik. Protesters carried signs reading “Murderers” and “Down with the colonialist Zionists.”
“Israel is not fighting against the Palestinian people and not fighting against the Muslims, but fighting against terrorism,” said Ilan Mor, the Israeli ambassador to Hungary, during the synagogue rally, attended by an estimated 4,500 people.
The Fabled Non-Anti-Semitic Gaza Protests
Read that last sentence again: “the battle flag of the Islamic State waved in the streets of The Netherlands.” I’m sure behind that black flag is just genuine concern for the humanitarian needs of Gaza City. America has not been immune to this phenomenon, in which protesters insist they care about Palestinian statelessness so they can push thoroughly disgusting anti-Jewish blood libels. Here is a picture our own Abe Greenwald took at a rally in Manhattan. Above scenes of blood-soaked children are the words “This is Bloody Israel! These are Bloody Jews!” And then, if you still didn’t get the point, in parentheses: “Blood Suckers.”
It’s not subtle, and it’s not about humanitarianism. The anti-Israel rallies around the world have been marked by consistency. We are told of the existence, or of the possibility at least, of pro-Palestinian rallies or protests against Israeli policy that are not about pushing a medieval hatred of Jews. We should not have to take it on faith, or make do with Laurent Fabius’s deepest apologies.
45,000 rally for Gaza at Jerusalem Eid prayers
Police put the number of worshipers at 45,000 people, with an AFP correspondent saying many were dressed in black T-shirts emblazoned with slogans reading “Gaza, supporting you is our Eid” and “We are all Gaza.”
Others wore T-shirts proclaiming support for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which has been locked in a 21-day confrontation with Israeli troops in Gaza. Israeli launched Operation Protective Edge on July 21 to stem rocket fire from Gaza on Israel’s south and center, and to find and destroy Hamas’s cross-border attack tunnels.
Firebombs fail to ignite at Toulouse Jewish center
Police in Toulouse arrested a man who hurled three firebombs at a Jewish community center and the officers guarding it.
The incident happened Saturday, one hour after the conclusion of a demonstration against Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza, the AFP news agency reported.
The man, who was not named, threw two firebombs over the center’s fence and a third at the officers, but none of the bombs successfully ignited. He also hurled stones at the Espace du Judaisme center, which contains a synagogue, a library and a lecture room, among other facilities.
English cricket player banned from brandishing 'Save Gaza' wristbands
England batsman Moeen Ali has been banned from wearing wristbands featuring the slogans "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine", the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday.
Moeen, who is Muslim and of Pakistani descent, helped raise funds for charities working with those affected by the three-week conflict with Israel.
He wore the wristbands on Monday's second day of the third test against India at Southampton.
Moeen, 27, risked disciplinary action under the ICC Code of Conduct, which forbids players wearing, displaying or conveying messages through arm bands or other items on clothing or equipment without prior approval.
German police arrest teen after attack on synagogue
German police arrested an 18-year-old man after petrol bombs were thrown at a synagogue in the western town of Wuppertal overnight, they said in a statement on Wednesday.
"According to investigations, three suspects threw several incendiary devices at the entrance," police said. No one was hurt and it appears no damage was done to the synagogue, they said. A local resident had alerted them when she saw a fire close to the building.
Gaza Crisis: Rome's Historic Jewish Quarter Daubed with Swastikas and Anti-Semitic Posters
Anti-Semitic graffiti and flyers have defaced shops and walls in Rome's historical Jewish San Giovanni neighbourhood raising fears of a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment in the capital.
Swastika graffiti and posters reading "Anne Frank storyteller" have appeared on Appia Nuova street. Other posters depicting a Palestinian throwing a rock towards an Israeli tank were attached on walls in Cola di Rienzo street, in the leafy Prati neighbourhood. The latter was accompanied with a Celtic cross and the slogan "Each Palestinian is a camerata [the Italian word for members of Mussolini's fascist movement] Same enemy, same barricade".
Toronto Al Quds Day Hitlerfest At Queen's Park: "Go back to Germany where they can kill you again!"
With special thanks to the Government of Ontario for sanctioning Jew Hatred by allowing this travesty to be held at the province's legislature.
Ignorance on parade: Anti-Israel protesters stage die-in to shame Boeing [photos]
Haven’t you heard? Hamas isn’t the enemy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas isn’t responsible for the rising death toll among Palestinian civilians and Israelis — Boeing is! Just ask Jewish Voice for Peace, a “diverse and democratic community of activists” taking to the streets of Seattle to protest Boeing’s involvement in “Israel’s machine of war and occupation”:
Hate: Miami synagogue vandalized with swastikas, pro-Hamas messages
For the second time in as many days, messages of hate targeted members of South Florida’s Jewish community. Early Monday morning, spray painted swastikas and the word “Hamas” were discovered on the pillars in front of the Congregation Torah Ve’emunah... “It was the worst thing that one wants to see on his own place of worship,” said a member of the temple. A member of the community watch discovered the vandalism around 1 a.m. “As I was rolling by I noticed some coloring on the wall,” said Yona Lunger. “I back up again, looked again and I said ‘wow, it’s a swastika’. It’s very disturbing, very disturbing.” On Saturday, a family who lives along Meridian Avenue in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Miami Beach found their cars had been vandalized as they left to attend a service at their synagogue. “They wrote “Hamas” on the back of the car window and they wrote “Jew,’” said Joshua, who didn’t want us to publish his last name. (h/t Phil)
Pro-Hamas Protesters Stage 'Die-In' at NYC Israel Discount Bank
A Manhattan office of the Israel Discount Bank was vandalized on Friday, its windows defaced with fake blood, as pro-Hamas demonstrators staged a “die-in” protest on the sidewalk in front of the bank, the NY Observer reported.
A bank employee who works at that location but did not receive permission from the company said in an email
This afternoon, there was [an] anti-Israel protest of about 30 people in front of Israel discount bank … They defaced the front windows and sidewalk with fake blood. The employees were holed up inside and the doors were locked. No police presence beforehand.
Watch: Hamas Activists Attack Reporter in Miami
A Jewish reporter was verbally and physically assaulted on July 20, according to video footage provided by The United West, after Hamas "activists" protesting Israel's self-defense operation in Gaza threatened him and "all Israelis" with death.
Pro-palestinian demonstrators single out the reporter for ridicule, accusing him of "filming them for pro-Israel websites" and saying, "see, he has the scarf around his neck, so he can kind of blend in."
"Just to let everyone know, he's not one of us," one of the activists says. Several began physically pushing away the camera. (h/t Bob Knot)
Miami HAMAS ATTACKS Jewish Reporter! (NSFW)
British supermarket giant Tesco to drop Judea and Samaria products
British supermarket giant Tesco announced that starting in September it would suspend the sale of products originating in Judea and Samaria.
A spokesman for the supermarket said the decision was not "politically motivated" and was unrelated to Operation Protective Edge.
According to the spokesman, the decision was made as part of the "regular product review process."
The sole product from the settlements being sold at Tesco stores right now are dates that are actually grown inside the pre-1967 borders of Israel, but are packaged in Judea and Samaria.
Their removal was for "commercial reasons," the spokesman said, maintaining that the chain has "no plans to change our position on sourcing from Israel."
Belgium pushes for labeling products from West Bank settlements
Belgium advised retailers on Tuesday to clearly label the origin of products made in Israeli settlements that are in territories where Palestinians seek statehood.
The non-binding recommendation has nothing to do with escalating conflict between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the Belgian Economics Ministry said, noting that Britain and Denmark already had similar labeling in place.
"It's a non-binding advice to state on labels that products originating from occupied territories come from there," a ministry spokeswoman said. "We don't see this as a sanction against Israel, but EU rules stipulate that consumers have to be informed of the origins of products."
Israeli on downed Malaysian plane remembered as peaceful and fun-loving
A few hours before he departed Amsterdam for Australia on July 17, Ithamar Avnon was praying for peace with his parents at their home in the Netherlands.
That same evening, pro-Russian separatists shot down Avnon’s flight, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Avnon, 26, was the sole Israeli national on board.
The son of a Dutchwoman and an Israeli who became an evangelical Christian, Avnon loved peace because of how well he and his family knew war.
MK Zoabi banned from Knesset for six months
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) will be banned from all parliamentary activity except voting for the next six months, following a Knesset Ethics Committee ruling Tuesday on complaints by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and other lawmakers.
Zoabi's punishment will take effect on Wednesday, the last day of voting before the Knesset goes on recess until October, at which point she will not be able to make speeches, submit parliamentary questions or initiate debates in committees or the plenary.
Report: Hackers ‘phish’ Iron Dome plans from defense firms
The data fell victim to what a appeared to be a phishing scheme run by Chinese hackers who planted malware on servers in the three companies, giving them a “back door” into the system that enabled them to carry out searches for the specific documents they apparently were looking for.
Among the targets were Rafael (Israel Military Industries), the Elisra Group, and Israel Aerospace Industries. It was not known what, if any, damage was caused by the leak.
According to the report, the phishing operation took place in 2011 and 2012, when the hackers purloined hundreds of gigabytes of documents, presentations, graphics, and charts relating to Iron Dome, the Arrow III program, UAVs, and other technical documents relating to defense systems,
Iraqi Christians rally at White House: ‘Obama, Obama, where are you?’
Hundreds of outraged Iraqi Christians staged a rally outside the White House, demanding to know why President Obama wasn’t providing any aid to the scores of faithful being persecuted by radical Muslims around the world.
The rallies were replicated at cities around the world, including in Paris, The Hague, Cologne and London, Breitbart reported.
Among their chants, Breitbart reported: “Obama, Obama, where are you? Iraqi Christians call for you.” (h/t Canadain Otter)
Commonwealth Games' Scottie Dogs 'Disrespectful to Muslims'
The use of Scottish terrier dogs as mascots at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow has been branded "shameful" and "offensive" by Malaysian politicians.
Around 40 of the black "Scottie" dogs were used as mascots to lead out each team at last Wednesday’s opening ceremony at the Celtic Park stadium. The dogs, which wore tartan coats with the name of each competing country on, proved popular on social media, with Hamish – the dog who led out Team Scotland – receiving the largest cheer.
However, some politicians and religious leaders in Malaysia have taken exception to the dogs, claiming that associating them with Muslim countries is "disrespectful".
Some Muslims view dogs as "unclean" in Islamic culture, with more extreme Islamist groups even advocating jihad against the animals.
Thousands Demand Mayor of The Hague Resign for Allowing ISIS Rally
This was not a spontaneous rally, though. The Daily Beast reports:
All rallies in Dutch municipalities require permission from the local city council, the police and the public prosecutor’s office. The ISIS demo had been granted permission on the grounds that it was in support of the detained Dutch recruiter for jihad, Oussama Abu Yazeed. But the fact that the mayor’s office in The Hague either was unaware the rally was ISIS-linked or deemed it legitimate regardless has raised serious questions about the city council’s judgment.
One man in the Dutch government did speak out against the rally. Labor Party member Ahmed Marcouch, who is part Moroccan, was disturbed that videos showed young boys at the rally and told Muslims to condemn the Islamic State.
“What are these kids doing there in the first place?” he told The Daily Beast. “ISIS is pure barbarism, it is bloodthirsty. We can’t allow them to win our children away from us.”
Israel named No. 1 in clean-tech
A new report by clean-tech and environmental leaders calls Israel the best in clean tech.
According to the 2014 Global Cleantech Innovation Index, Israel has the most potential to start and commercialize clean-tech companies.
“Israel topped the 2014 index, with its relative outperformance on the measure of startup companies per capita being a key reason that it did so. The country generates the culture, education and ‘chutzpah’ necessary to breed innovation, plus it has the survival instincts,” the official statement said.
Elbit gains as Gaza conflict seen fueling defense tech
The conflict between Israel and Hamas is fueling speculation that Elbit Systems Ltd., the nation’s biggest listed developer of military technology, will see more government orders for its defense products.
U.S.-traded shares of the Haifa, Israel-based company have advanced 6.1 percent to $63.01 since fighting intensified on July 8, compared with a 2.3 percent gain on the Bloomberg Israel-US Index. The rally has pushed the stock close to the highest level since 2010 while its valuation on a price-to-earnings basis is near the most expensive in five years.
New sensor aims to distance soldiers, Hamas bombs
Israeli researchers have developed a nanotechnology-powered sensor that they say “sniffs out” explosives with 100 to 1,000 times more sensitivity than specially trained dogs, like those the Israeli army is using in the Gaza Strip to uncover Hamas tunnels.
The sensor is also more reliable and provides more specific information than dogs or existing technologies, the researchers say. Research on prototypes, published in the journal Nature Communications in June, shows that it is able to identify faint traces of explosives even in air already thick with cigarette smoke.