From Ian:
Why I Can’t Forgive The Jews…
But these irksome Jews, with their raising the bar ever higher, are attempting to civilize war itself, resisting the temptation to carpet bomb and visit hell on the enemy once and for all, relinquishing the crucial element of surprise by leafleteering and calling Palestinians on their cell phones first.
And the torn metal from the missiles which land in Israel? Transformed into works of art to adorn your mantlepiece. They seek to bring order and civilization right up to the gates of Gehenna. If it were possible, hell itself would be abolished by these sons of David.
Col. Kemp, a British officer who served in all the major conflicts between 1977-2006, said of the Israelis, “Based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: during operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any other army in the history of warfare.”
The Jews are again leading the way to higher ground, making us uncomfortable with our double standards and our odious hypocrisy.
No war reporting in Gaza
The danger that lurks in the power of the press, we have previously noted, is probably less in what it publishes than in what it does not publish. A new aspect, however, has emerged from the recent military confrontation between the State of Israel and the Hamas terror group controlling the Gaza Strip: the truly dangerous press is the one which prostitutes itself.
Blogger Elder of Ziyon wrote, “Every single report on TV from Gaza should have this disclaimer: ‘Our reporters have been threatened, implicitly and perhaps explicitly, by Hamas to report only one side of the story. Viewers must not trust anything they are saying.’”
The press debacle in Gaza implies that although truth-in-advertising is an important media issue, the really disconcerting issue is truth-in-reporting. The international media is making money from lies and distortions presented as news – this is nothing but prostitution.
Media Suddenly Discover Hamas War Crimes
Throughout the war between Israel and Hamas, western journalists in Gaza failed to report anything other than civilian casualties caused by Israeli air strikes. It took the accidental, frightening appearance of Hamas rockets being fired on live TV--using journalists as human shields--for the media to report that Hamas was, as Israel had alleged, firing rockets from civilian areas. Now, with the ceasefire, journalists are finally reporting the truth.
On Wednesday, CBS News aired a report by Clarissa Ward on postwar Gaza. She noted that many civilians had lost their homes, including a man who claimed, "There is no Hamas here." She then showed viewers the Israeli military's map of Hamas tunnels in the area, and the camera panned across concrete tunnel archways being stored in the alley next door, next to a mosque. Ward noted that CBS had been denied entry to the mosque.
World Jewish Congress: Hamas Intimidation Has Cowed Foreign Media in Gaza, Why No Photos of Hamas?
E.J. Kessler, spokeswoman for the World Jewish Congress, the international organization representing Jewish communities in 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations, said that by not standing up to Hamas, the international media “has produced a one-sided anti-Israel narrative in the mainstream press.”
Kessler said, “The growing number of reports from journalists testifying to Hamas intimidation are troubling and call into question the veracity of some accounts of the fighting.”
“The media has not adequately explained why it has not been able to broadcast or print many pictures of Hamas terrorists firing rockets from civilian areas or handling weapons, when thousands of rockets have been fired and weapons used,” she said.
After Leaving Gaza, Foreign Reporters Reveal Hamas War Crimes
Following Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza, foreign journalists who have left the area are reporting on Hamas tactics they could not reveal while stationed there.
“We saw the Hamas men,” a Spanish reporter said, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. “But had we dared point the cameras at them, they would have opened fire at us and killed us.”
Anyone See a Terrorist?
Can we be expected to believe that while Indian, French, and Finnish media provided proof of Hamas and their rockets firing from civilian areas, somehow the photographers working for the New York Times missed it???
The Times first defense was that they would run pictures of Hamas if their photographers submitted any. Now we know why they didn’t. Please write to the Public Editor at the Times by clicking here and ask why their photographers somehow missed images that many in the foreign media were able to take.
Hamas Harassed Foreign Reporters, GPO Announces
Several foreign journalists have claimed to have been harassed by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge, the Government Press Office (GPO) announced Wednesday.
"Upon the conclusion of the operation, the GPO accumulated testimony by foreign journalists regarding harassment by Hamas activists regarding the carrying out of their assignments," the GPO stated.
"Journalists said that during their coverage of the fighting they received threats and – in several cases – were the victims of violence that included destruction of their equipment because they had documented criminal activity by Hamas such as the launching of rockets from the heart of civilian areas."
According to the GPO statement, 705 foreign journalists from over 42 countries have been covering the conflict since it began on July 8. It did not specify how many of those journalists filed the complaints.
Rumors of Hamas suppressing foreign journalists from reporting on their use of human shields in Gaza - or on their inclusion of Hamas terrorists in the number of "civilian casualties" there - have persisted since the conflict broke. (h/t Yoel)
Globe and CBC Acknowledge Hamas Fires Rockets From Palestinian Civilian Areas
Following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Canadian journalists Patrick Martin of the Globe and Mail and Derek Stoffel of CBC both acknowledge having personally witnessed Hamas terrorists firing rockets from within Palestinian civilian areas.
Patrick Martin today details how he saw a long-range rocket fired near a UN school filled with over 1,000 people:
“Israelis said they sought to destroy rocket launch sites and arsenals, both often concealed within populated areas. On three occasions, Hamas was found to have used United Nations schools to conceal armaments. This correspondent witnessed the launch of a pair of long-range rockets from a site in Jabaliya, very near a UN school filled with more than 1,000 people seeking refuge from Israeli shelling in their home neighbourhoods.”
Derek Stoffel on CBC National yesterday noted that Israel says “Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields” and then stated that “Over the past few weeks Peter, I’ve seen several rockets from where I am tonight in northern Gaza, we wanted to talk to Hamas but were told its fighters aren’t ready just yet to speak to reporters.”
NYT Photog Confirms that Hamas Fires from “Neighborhoods… Cemeteries… Parking Lots”
Hicks was already out of Gaza when the interview took place yet it seems that these questions didn’t cross his mind. The failure to answer these questions that he was unwilling to contextualize what he was photographing. The problem is, as Alan Dershowitz pointed out recently:
The media’s exclusive focus on the death toll in Gaza—without explaining that it is largely Hamas’ fault and part of its media strategy—incites hatred and anti-Semitism around the world.
Hicks, no longer in Gaza, confirmed Israeli charges of Hamas’ using human shields and of failing to distinguish their fighters from civilians. However, he failed to provide a context for his pictures. That means his pictures lacked objectivity and could be viewed in the words of one critic to be contributing to Hamas’ war strategy.
Peter Beinart Exposes Moral Decay Of Leftism
The only explanation for partnering Shapiro with Hamas is a deeply rooted commitment to leftism that erodes any sense of reality. Leftism is an ideology so perverted that terrorists who send children suicide bombers to blow themselves up in the streets and who seek nothing more than death are considered morally equivalent to a right-wing pundit.
Beinart’s assertion is hardly surprising for those familiar with the tenets of leftism. As Dennis Prager explained in a 2010 column, there are three explanations for why the left shows such disdain for the right (adapted):
1. Adherents to leftism believe the right is evil
2. When you don’t confront real evil, you hate the people who do
3. The utopian vision of leftism is prevented only by the right
Beinart not only disdains Shapiro, but is further agitated by the fact that he takes Hamas’ genocidal threats seriously and therefore is weary of attempting to appease them. And in Beinart’s mind, the only reason that the conflict is perpetuated is because of “hawks” on the right who force Hamas’ hand and enable them.
MSNBC host: The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza is equivalent to a hundred 9/11s
And you know, as a New Yorker born and bred, I’ve gotta say: I felt the loss on 9/11 pretty sharply, notwithstanding the fact that 3,000 people are a tiny fraction of the city’s population, let alone the country’s. I bet I felt it more sharply than the Palestinians who were dancing in the streets on 9/11 when the towers came down. And I know I felt it more sharply than the degenerates in Hamas, who thrill to the sight of dead Palestinian kids knowing that western media like MSNBC will use it to paint Hamas itself as a victim rather than an aggressor.
And that’s really the point of this “How many World Trade Center jumpers are equivalent to one dead Palestinian?” math problem. The numbers in the 9/11 analogy aren’t important; what’s important, as Hengler says, is equating Israel with Al Qaeda and Hamas with Manhattan office workers, an Orwellian inversion of the ideological alliances here. The supreme media distortion in covering this conflict, as S.E. Cupp says, is how the press often ignores Hamas’s openly genocidal ambitions. Al Qaeda deliberately targeted civilians on 9/11 and Hamas, quite candidly, deliberately targets every Jew in Israel, and yet on MSNBC somehow Gaza is the victim of a hundred 9/11s. Unbelievable.
'The Young Turks' Host: Where is Hamas Supposed to Fire From?'
Cenk Uygur, a host of the liberal/progressive show The Young Turks, wondered on Twitter where Hamas was supposed to fire their rockets from as if to dismiss the concern:
Uygur then doubled-down on his bizarre remarks, responding to one Twitter user that Israel is firing "indiscriminately":
NYT Gaza Death Figures Support Israeli Side Over UN & Hamas Claims
The Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times, Jodi Rudoren, reported on a recent analysis of the known Palestinian fatalities in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. According to their analasys based on Palestinian Health Ministry figures, only 34 percent of fatalities comprised women, underage children, and the elderly. Of the rest, 55 percent were fighting-age men, and another 11 percent were listed as “unknown.”
If confirmed, these figures would significantly undermine claims that Israeli military operations indiscriminately or wantonly targeted civilians–claims that have been based on very different numbers coming from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry as well as UN bodies.
The New York Times Postscript: Rudoren and Friedman
A belated entry from Thomas Friedman, elsewhere during most of the Gaza war, appeared the same day. His focus on the decline and inevitable fall of immoral Israel dates back to his coverage of the first Lebanon war in 1982. Then, “boiling with anger” and determined to “nail Begin and Sharon,” he “buried” the Israeli commanding officer on page one and “along with him every illusion I ever held about the Jewish state.” As Jerusalem bureau chief between 1984-88, Friedman proudly claimed (erroneously) that he broke the “old unwritten rule” at The Times never permitting a Jew to report from Jerusalem. (He overlooked Joseph Levy, who was posted there between 1928-35 and provided criticism of Zionism no less incessant than Friedman’s.) One of Friedman’s valued Jerusalem mentors was liberal Orthodox Rabbi David Hartman who, like Rudoren’s Rabbi Weiman-Kelman, believed that “something had gone terribly wrong” in the Jewish state.
Friedman still reiterates his familiar litany of complaints about Israel. It was “not deterred by the prospect of substantial collateral civilian casualties” (because Hamas protected its leaders and rockets with civilian shields). Hamas scored “a huge victory” because it focused attention (really?) on Israel’s “reckless Jewish settlement project,” which constitutes “colonial occupation.” To stabilize Gaza, Friedman hallucinates, Israel must make “territorial concessions in the West Bank,” relinquishing the biblical homeland of the Jewish people. The Gaza tunnels, he said, inspired “awe” over the “craftsmanship” and “sheer dedication” required to build them. He barely noted the “apocalyptic jihadist agenda” that inspired them. In Gaza and Israel alike, according to his vision of moral equivalency, “the religious-nationalist forces have the real energy.”
From Friedman (indeed from Joseph Levy) to Rudoren and back, the more its Jerusalem reporters change the more things stay the same at The New York Times.
NBC: 'Without Friends' In Middle East, Hamas Forced to 'Negotiate With Its Enemies'
In a report for Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel declared that "Gazans tried to put their lives back together" during a cease-fire with Israel and said of the Palestinian terrorist group that spurred the conflict: "Hamas, after a month of punishment, realized it was nearly without friends in the region. Especially Egypt, its Arab neighbor and former ally."
Engel explained: "This is Gaza's crossing into Egypt. Throughout this war, Hamas's main demand has been to open it, but it's still closed. Hamas has enemies in Israel and in the military-led government in Egypt." Strange that NBC never reported on the isolation of Hamas until after the violence subsided.
After describing how Egyptian President Sisi "loathes Hamas," Engel highlighted one Palestinian man "as angry with Egypt as he was with Israel." The man ranted that "Egypt didn't help us" and "Sisi is an Israeli agent."
Engel wrapped up the segment by proclaiming: "Trapped between Israeli bombs and tanks, and Egypt's sealed border, Hamas had little choice but to negotiate with its enemies."
Earlier in the conflict, Engel worried that Hamas would get "nothing" from a cease-fire. (h/t MtTB)
CAMERA Ad Campaign Promotes Facts About Gaza Crisis
Widespread misinformation about Israel's defensive action in countering rocket fire from Gaza has marredall too much of the media's coverage of the recent crisis. CAMERA has today placed full-page ads in five major newspapers — The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and USA Today — outlining basic facts and reminding readers that Israel is rightfully and legally entitled to defend herself.
Full, accurate and complete coverage of the crisis is essential for public understanding of the realities and, ultimately, for the achievement of a stable peace.
Analyzing Casualty Numbers, NYT Ignores Hamas Call for Duplicity
Rudoren fails to ask another important question related to casualties. She writes, correctly, that "Israel contends that some of the casualties were caused by errant Hamas rockets or mortars." Indeed, with 475 Palestinian rockets estimated to have landed in the Gaza Strip, it's likely that those misfires took a significant toll. So why didn't she follow up on this? The two Palestinian NGOs she relies on in the piece mention the death of 10 Palestinian children and an elderly man at al-Shati refugee camp, widely thought to have been killed by a misfired Palestinian rocket, in their daily casualty updates. (Unlike other strikes that resulted in civilian casualties, Israel emphatically denied having fired in the area, and independent reports describe Hamas preventing journalists from accessing the scene and clearing debris.)
So did the NGOs cited by The Times list Yousef 'Abdul Rahman Hassouna, 11; Mahmoud Hazem Shubair, 12; Ahmed Hazem Shubair, 10; Jamal Saleh 'Olayan, 8; Baraa' Akram Miqdad, 7; Mohammed Nahidh Miqdad, 13; Mohammed Mahmoud Abu Shaqfa, 7; Mohammed 'Emad Baroud, 10; Ahmed Jaberr Wishah, 10; Mansour Rami Hajjaj, 14; and Subhi 'Awadh al-Hilu, 63 in their count of civilians killed by Israel? It's an important question, but again, one Rudoren does not ask.
Washington Post Cites CAMERA on Palestinian Casualty Figures
Weighing in on the uncertainty concerning Palestinian casualty figures, Paul Farhi of The Washington Post cites CAMERA's Steven Stotsky ("Reporters grapple with politics, erratic sources in reporting Israeli/Gaza death toll"):
"A pro-Israeli group, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), last month analyzed two weeks of casualty data released by the PCHR and found that 57 percent of the dead were males between the ages of 17 and 39. While it’s unclear whether these men were actually militants, the disproportionate number of young men of prime fighting age suggests that there may be more combatants among the dead than PCHR and other organizations have acknowledged, concluded Steven Stotsky, a senior analyst for CAMERA."
“Journalists have a responsibility to convey this uncertainty to their audiences and not present figures provided by Hamas and Hamas-affiliated sources as unqualified fact,” Stotsky wrote.
Indy journo Mira Bar-Hillel Tweets about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
To get up to speed on Mira Bar-Hillel – a journalist who contributes to the ‘progressive’ British newspaper, The Independent, and whose sage insight about Israel was recently solicited by The BBC and Sky News - and her well-documented antisemitism, read this and this.
After doing so, you can now better understand the following Tweets by Bar-Hillel.
It started with this Tweet from someone named Emma Isitt, “quoting” a fictitious Israeli who evidently ‘confirmed’ that antisemites have been right all along.
Spoiler: even antisemitic extremists know that this quote is a Pakistani hoax.
Israel defeats Hamas – and other facts about the war the Guardian won’t report
Though we can expect Guardian analyses which obfuscate this painfully obvious fact, it’s difficult to understand how anyone who has followed events unfold in Gaza and Israel over the last month can avoid concluding that Israel emerged victorious over Hamas.
While much of the UK media has strangely framed the relatively low number of Israeli deaths (64 soldiers and 3 civilians) as an indictment on the disproportionate military response – itself inspired in part by a bizarre moral logic which “turns suffering into the only measure of justice” -
the job of any army is to minimize casualties on its own side, and the IDF quite capably carried out this task.
Though Hamas fired 3300 rockets at Israel, only 116 – due in large measure to interceptions by the Iron Dome – hit populated areas (3.45%). In contrast, 475 rockets fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters reportedly landed within the Gaza Strip.
BBC’s Jon Donnison on Hamas message in Beit Hanoun
Of the 3,356 missiles fired at civilian targets in Israel by terrorists in the Gaza Strip between July 8th and August 5th 2014, 69.4% were fired from the northern part of the territory with the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun being major centres of missile fire, cross border tunnels and other terrorist activity.
But viewers of Jon Donnison’s filmed report (heavily promoted on his Twitter feed) of August 5th – which, in addition to being broadcast on BBC television news, appeared on the BBC News website’s Middle East page under the title “Gaza truce holds as residents return to destroyed homes” – would never have known that even one missile was fired from Beit Hanoun or that fierce battles took place there when Israeli soldiers went in to decommission cross-border attack tunnels and missile launchers, with terrorists using the local houses as sniper positions. Donnison Beit Hanoun
Jon Donnison’s breach of BBC editorial standards unravels
Several days ago we noted here the part played by the BBC’s Jon Donnison in the creation of a story published in the NY Magazine in late July, according to which Hamas was not involved in the kidnappings and murders of the Israeli teenagers Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Sha’ar and Naftali Frankel on June 12th.Donnison
Donnison claimed on Twitter that an Israeli police spokesman had told him that whilst the Hebron-based cell which carried out the kidnappings and murders was affiliated with Hamas, it was operating alone and did not receive direct orders from Hamas leadership. Donnison’s claims became the one of the bases for a widely circulated article saying Israel now conceded that the kidnappers acted alone and Hamas had nothing to do with it.
A sacrilege in Denmark
Our eminent Dr. Gilbert came back to Norway and was greeted like a hero. Masses came to the airport to cheer on him and the collective Norwegian media rolled over and bared their throats. No questions asked. None whatsoever.
Then something unexpected happened. Dr. Gilbert was going to be interviewed in one of the most prestigious news program, Deadline. Top dog there is Martin Krasnik, a tough sort of chap, who does the deadly sin of asking hard questions. Such as; do you think Hamas is a terror organisation? What do you think of their use of civilians as human shields? The use of schools etc for hiding weapons? Shooting rockets from densely populated areas, etc.Dr. Gilbert reacts like some bloke who’s had an unexpected item in his bagging area, first speechless, then ducking the questions, then finally furious; If you had done your job as a journalist you would have known what you talk about and been better prepared!
It seems to be a bit of a habit for Dr. Gilbert to throw a tantrum when challenged.
Daily Mail publishes picture of damaged Israeli home - but says it is Palestinian - while rejecting Israel's claims about Hamas manual
Just when you thought the anti-Israel British media bias could not get any worse, here is a screenshot from today's Daily Mail article. Note the caption (clearly it would have required somebody with an IQ of more than 23 to have realised the error). The Dail Mail has a habit of doing this kind of thing.
And also note that the article attempts to ridicule the Israeli claims about the Hamas manual they found with instructions on how to benefit from the use of human shields.
I'm sending yet another complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.
College Democrats of America Student Leader Resigns After Inflammatory Anti-Israel Comments
After a Facebook exchange between College Democrats of America student leaders drew intense media coverage, which was initiated by TruthRevolt , Evan Goldstein who was part of the CDA communications team and wrote to a pro-Israel student to "go f**k yourself," resigned his position. According to a press release from the CDA, "Evan Goldstein has resigned from his position as a member of the CDA communications team."
"In a recent Facebook exchange between Evan and two other individuals (who have not held positions in CDA for some time) Evan made inflammatory comments regarding Israel and Palestine," wrote the organization. "His positions do not reflect the position of our organization. CDA does not take a position on this issue. We support open dialogue on all issues – free from incendiary and harsh language. We expect our communications team to exercise judgment in their social media posts. CDA is committed to making sure situations like this do not occur going forward."
Steven Salaita controversy points to the hypocrisy of anti-Israel academic boycotters
I have argued strenuously against the academic boycott of Israel, led by people like Steven Salaita, on a number of grounds.
Not the least of those grounds is that academics who insist on violating the academic freedom of Israelis and those who wish to interact with Israelis do damage to the system in its entirety.
That is one of the reasons why the American Association of University Professors, numerous university associations, and over 250 University Presidents issued statements opposing the academic boycott of Israel passed by the American Studies Association in December 2013.
There is a related point to how academic boycotts have a negative ripple effect.
On what ground do the academic boycotters of Israel claim their own academic freedom if they are so quick to deny it to others?
University of Illinois retracts offer to prof following anti-Israel tweets
Steven Salaita, who was offered a job at the Champaign-Urbana campus in the American Indian studies program, will not be hired, according to a report by the website Inside Higher Education.
The move reportedly was made in response to concerns civility following a series of tweets in which Salaita criticized Israel and supporters of Israel in stark terms. Inside Higher Education cited sources familiar with the university’s decision.
Salaita’s tweets included, “At this point, if Netanyahu appeared on TV with a necklace made from the teeth of Palestinian children, would anybody be surprised? #Gaza.” Another tweet said, “Ever wonder what would happen if the KKK had F-16s and access to a surplus population of minorities? See #Israel and #Gaza.”
Palestine Flag Flown by Another English Local Authority
After Preston and Tower Hamlets, the flag of Palestine has flown from the municipal building of another British local authority.
Photographs have emerged of the flag flying from Newcastle Civic Centre, in north east England. It was raised after anti-Israel protesters staged a "die-in" outside the building, in which around 100 people laid on the ground and pretended to be dead.
Newcastle City councillor David Stockdale then raised the flag, despite not having permission from the council do so, before taking it down half an hour later.
Dutch Jewish Advocate: Rising Anti-Semitism a "Crisis"
"I believe that everyone has his own fight in life," Esther Voet has said. "This is my fight." She describes running CIDI as her "calling."
From the start of the latest conflict in Israel-Gaza (known as "Operation Protective Edge"), the Netherlands' Jewish community has confronted numerous anti-Israel and pro-ISIS protests throughout the country that have dissolved into blatant anti-Semitism. Dutch Jews are being threatened in increasing numbers, and more and more of them are considering emigrating to Israel. It is a sobering development in a country that still celebrates the bravery – and mourns the tragedy – of Anne Frank.
World Vision’s war against the Jewish state
In sum, Islamist terrorists in the Middle East are able to perpetrate all manner of atrocities without being named by World Vision activists, but when Israel fights back against attacks, it always gets named. Its response is depicted as “indiscriminate” despite its well-documented efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
And when a group like Hamas does, by some miracle, get mentioned in World Vision materials, it is described as a target of Israeli attacks, but almost never as a perpetrator.
What is that about?
What is it about the Jewish state that prompts World Vision staffers in the Holy Land to engage in one-sided commentary against it while World Vision staffers in Syria don’t even mention the names of the groups who have perpetrated unspeakable atrocities?
Whatever motivates this double standard, the message for its American donors is clear: World Vision has, for one reason or another, enlisted in the propaganda war against the Jewish state.
World Vision has allowed its good name and resources to be used to demonize Israel in a shameless and ugly manner.
People who donate money to World Vision – whether they mean to or not – are supporting an organization whose staffers who propagandize against Israel while giving Islamists kid glove treatment.
Ads Hit Michelle Nunn Campaign for Calling Jews “Financial Opportunity”
Last week, the group also put out a TV ad blasting Nunn’s stewardship of a foundation that gave grants to an organization that has been accused of funding the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The Hamas link was listed as one of Nunn’s potential vulnerabilities in the leaked memo, which was first reported by National Review.
The confidential strategy memo said that Nunn’s “position on Israel will largely determine the level of support [in the Jewish community]. There is tremendous financial opportunity here, but the level of support will be contingent on her position.”
The document also described her “message” on Israel as “TBD” [to be determined].
Georgia Republicans see the anti-Nunn ads as an effective strategy for informing the Georgia Jewish community.
Anti-Semitic double standards: the arts and the Jews
If it were an honourable organisation, the Arts Council would resolve the double standard by withdrawing funding. Its policy documents state: ‘Our definition of diversity encompasses responding to issues around race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age, gender, sexuality, class and economic disadvantage and any social and institutional barriers that prevent people from creating, participating or enjoying the arts.’ The closure of Britain’s leading Jewish film festival surely prevents ‘people from creating, participating or enjoying the arts.’ If it were to make a stand, the Arts Council would be doing something more important than opposing hypocrites and censors. It would be defusing a dangerous and hysterical culture.
I lived in Birmingham in the years after 1974, when the IRA murdered 21 people in city centre pubs. Everyone who was Irish suffered, and not just the six innocent men who were falsely imprisoned for the atrocities. Irish car workers were beaten up. Irish homes and businesses were firebombed. Wider society encouraged the violence by insisting that Irish citizens must prove their loyalty regardless of whether they represented a threat or not. They had to show that that they were good Irishmen and women, and give reasons for a vengeful public should look elsewhere.
I have had a repugnance of mobs demanding loyalty oaths and imposing collective punishments ever since, whether it is from Muslims after the murders of British troops or Jews after Gaza. And if you do not believe that Arts Council funded intellectuals can populate a mob as easily as a gang of Brummie factory workers, the case of the Tricycle and the Jews should rid you of such snobbish delusions.
British Jewry decries ‘opportunistic’ theater’s boycott
The UKJFF had planned to hold at least 26 of it films at the Tricycle including six high profile gala events. At the time the final call was made by the Tricycle, the UKJFF was amidst preparing the promotional materials for the event.
Simon Johnson, chief executive of Britain’s Jewish Leadership Council, told The Times of Israel the community leadership is “extremely disappointed” in the Tricycle’s decision.
“We consider this to be a discriminatory boycott by the Tricycle Theatre of a Jewish cultural event. We consider that it is opportunistic in timing, discriminatory in nature, and that it will achieve nothing at all other than to creative division discord which is the exact opposite of what they believe they are trying to do.”
World Ignores Christian Exodus from Islamic World
"They were trying to kill us... because we were Christians." — Teenage girl from Homs, Syria.
There have been house-to-house searches in Mali for Christians who might be in hiding, and people tortured into revealing Christian relatives. At least one pastor was beheaded.
It is to the media's shame that those who slaughter, behead, crucify and displace people for no other reason than that they are Christian rarely get media coverage, while Israel, which kills only in the context of trying to defend itself from rocket attacks and terrorism, and not out of religious bigotry, is constantly demonized.
Paying jizya [special poll tax for non-Muslims] is not only about money. It is about subjugation.
The slaughter of the Yazidi
While over 700 journalists were covering the Gaza conflict, few paid attention to the mass slaughter in Iraq of the Yazidi, who are on the verge of a true genocide at the hands of ISIS.
Finally the impending massacre is getting coverage, but it may be too late.
The Washington Post reported two days ago:
Stranded on a barren mountaintop, thousands of minority Iraqis are faced with a bleak choice: descend and risk slaughter at the hands of the encircled Sunni extremists or sit tight and risk dying of thirst.
Yazidis condemned to die in Iraq
MP Fiyan Dakheel's heartbreaking display of sheer desperation highlighted the alarming advances made by the "Islamic State" group (formerly ISIS) in recent weeks, and the damning silence of international leaders and human rights bodies.
An undetermined number of Yazidis in northern Iraq - most of whom are ethnic Kurds and whose presence predates both Islam and Christianity in the region - have been killed by advancing jihadists. More than 200,000 other Yazidis have been forced to flee in a campaign of ethnic-cleansing and, some have charged, attempted genocide of one of Iraq's most ancient communities.
In the video, Dakheel herself alleges that no less than a "genocide" is being perpetuated against her people under the banner of Islam.
"I am speaking here in the name of humanity! Please save us! Save us!" she cried, shortly before collapsing with grief.
Iraqi MP Breaks Down in Tears Pleading Parliament to Save Yazidis from Genocide
Mosul Archbishop Nikodimos Daoud: ISIS Perpetrates Genocide against Iraq's Christians
Lebanese army advances in border area, finds 50 bodies
The Lebanese army advanced into a border town that was attacked by Islamists in an incursion from Syria at the weekend, finding the bodies of 50 militants, a Lebanese security official said.
The army pounded areas around the town of Arsal with artillery for a third day running in a bid to expel the militants whose incursion into Lebanese territory was the first of its kind since the Syrian civil war erupted three years ago.
At least 13 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in the fighting, which erupted after the Lebanese security forces arrested a commander of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in the Syrian civil war, on Saturday.
Witness to Syrian atrocities testifies in US Congress
Codenamed “Caesar,” the man appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in disguise, his face concealed by a blue hooded raincoat, hat and glasses. Before defecting from Syria last year, he smuggled out 55,000 photos showing more than 10,000 bodies.
Fearing for his safety, the man whispered to an interpreter, who repeated his words aloud in English.
He said he witnessed a “genocidal massacre.”
Turkish Ambassador Responds Angrily to Criticism of Erdoğan by U.S. Congressional Committee, Risking U.S.-Turkey Relations
A Turkish Ambassador on Tuesday responded angrily to a letter from four members of the U.S. Congress who wrote to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to object to his recent “historically inaccurate and provocative” statements about Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, and said his “inflammatory rhetoric” could negatively impact their work to strengthen the U.S.-Turkey relationship.
They said: “It has come to our attention that remarks you have recently made have been widely viewed as anti-Semitic and are most definitely anti-Israel. Your remarks, already reviled as ‘offensive and wrong’ by the U.S. State Department, make it increasingly difficult to communicate in a positive way about Turkey when interacting with our colleagues.”
Turkey seeks Israeli, Egyptian help in airlifting wounded Palestinians in Gaza
Turkey is seeking Israeli and Egyptian agreement for an air corridor to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and evacuate possibly thousands of injured Palestinians for treatment, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday.
In an interview with Reuters, Davutoglu also said Turkey was stepping up aid to an estimated 1.5 million people displaced in northern Iraq's Kurdish region after a rapid advance by Islamic State militants brought the violence closer to its borders.
Turkey, eager to re-establish itself as a powerhouse in a rapidly changing Middle East, is already sheltering more than a million refugees from the war in Syria and is playing a major role in the development of Iraqi Kurdistan.
China Cracks Down on Muslims: No Large Beards, Islamic Clothing on Public Buses
This move comes after imam Jume Tahir was attacked and stabbed to death in Xinjiang and after Chinese police cracked down on "Islamic terrorists" who had carried out a "gang attack with knives in Xinjiang."
According to NDTV, the new bans in Karamay mean "people wearing hijabs, niqabs, burkas, or clothing with the Islamic star or crescent symbol" cannot take public buses.
The ban was published in a "state media" paper, which intimated there will be inspections for suspicious persons. The paper also said "those who do not cooperate with inspection teams will be handled by police."
Persecuted Dutch chief rabbi says he’d leave if not for job
A chief rabbi of the Netherlands, Jacobs first phoned police and a Jewish community leader to tell them that late on the night of July 17, just over a week after the onset of the latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, four bricks were hurled through a window of his home. It was the fifth time in recent years that Jacobs’ residence had been attacked.
Then Jacobs called his friend Roger van Oordt, director of the Netherlands-based Christians for Israel organization. Within an hour, van Oordt, his wife and two of their children were at the rabbi’s door, with its prominent mezuzah and Hebrew sign bearing the name of the Chabad Hasidic sect to which Jacobs belongs.
“They didn’t allow Bluma, my wife, and me to touch anything, they cleaned up all the mess,” Jacobs told JTA in an interview at his home 25 miles southeast of Amsterdam. “The attacks do not inspire much hope. The response by Christians, Muslims and other friends do.”
Police raided anti-Semite Hungarian mayor’s office
Hungarian police are investigating suspected incitement against a community at the mayor’s office in Érpatak, told Géza Fazekas, spokesman of the Attorney General on Tuesday. “The police had came on Tuesday afternoon and the officers confiscated the gallows, posters, effigies and the cameras used on the performance” – mayor Orosz Mihály Zoltán told, who has held an event hanging effigies of the prime minister and former president of Israel to protest the “Jewish-Freemason Genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
The scandalous event called “Glory to the anonymous Palestinian heroes” has been organized by the far-right Jobbik-affiliated mayor and some “civic” organizations on Saturday. These “civic” institutions were the “The National Network of Érpatak Modell” and the infamous ” Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement“, a Jobbik’s affiliated paramilitary youth group.
Israeli scientist leads search for Ebola cure
Unlike many people, Dr. Leslie Lobel has not been shocked to hear about the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the largest ever recorded since the virus’s discovery in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire). A Ben-Gurion University of the Negev virologist and a leader in the search for a cure for the devastating disease, Lobel had been predicting such an outbreak.
The quick spread this time of the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria has demonstrated the dire need for the vaccine that Lobel and his team have been working toward for the past 12 years by researching the natural immune system of Ebola survivors in Uganda.
20 top tech inventions born of conflict
Israel’s painful reality of 66 years fighting off bullets, grenades, missiles and bombs could easily have led to a spirit of despair and defeat. Instead, living with the constant threat of war has spawned an extraordinary culture of Israeli military research and development.
This R&D under seemingly impossible circumstances is responsible for extraordinary innovations for the battlefield that have been transformed into technologies used worldwide to save lives, guard against cyber-attacks, simplify mobile communications and lots of other everyday needs.
Diagnosing cervical cancer with a smartphone
Every two minutes somewhere in the world, a woman dies from cervical cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among women in developing countries. This is an avoidable tragedy, as cervical cancer is easily treatable.
Ariel Beery, a 35-year-old former New Yorker living in Israel, was so troubled by this grim statistic that he and his childhood friend, optics expert David Levitz, determined to do something about it as fast as they could.
Their company, MobileOCT, has developed a low-cost imaging device that transforms a smartphone camera into a colposcope that allows community healthcare workers to detect and treat cervical cancer without need for electricity or running water – or even a clinic.
Happy Gush Etzion