From Ian:
Report: UN Palestinian Refugee Body Under Complete Control of Hamas, Islamic Jihad
The Center For Near East Policy Research documented how the controlling union of UNRWA is led by Hamas jihadi Suheil Al Hindi. It also noted that eleven of fourteen positions in the UNRWA teachers’ union have been filled by Hamas members.
The report said of the UNRWA union leader, “Al Hindi, who in the past also headed the teachers’ sector at UNRWA, does not hide his affinity for the Hamas organization and takes part in overt political activities as its representative. In his capacity and as a supervisor of student summer camps, Al Hindi has a tremendous impact on the UNRWA education system and the contents taught in it. UNRWA’s management is well aware, at least since 2004, of the fact that Suheil Al Hindi, who headed the UNRWA teachers sector, is a senior Hamas activist who supports jihad against Israel and suicide bombings...”
“Hamas’ takeover of the UNRWA institutions and UNRWA staff should set off alarms regarding the possibility of funding given by donor countries – primarily the United States – finding its way to financing the salaries of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists,” the report concluded.
100 years of failure: The Middle East since WWI
The outcome of the Arab Spring was to wash away the “nationalist” Arab regimes and replace them with chaos, extremism and death. What the West and other major powers must realize is that ISIS represents not an end self-cannibalizing of radical extremism; but a force that will continue to shape weakened regimes from Morocco to Pakistan; states such as Yemen and Afghanistan will continue to weaken.
To be sure, the West underwent similar catastrophes such as the Second World War. But the trajectory was towards quick rebuilding and economic integration, not more chaos. Iraq has spent more than a decade in total chaos, similarly Libya and Syria. Algeria never really recovered from the trauma of the 1960s and civil war of the 1990s. In many cases the best and brightest or secular moved to Europe, only be followed by Anatolian peasants and Islamists (ironically they were persecuted back home and offered ‘asylum’ in Europe). Their children growing up in the banlieues of Paris didn’t create a new generation of Arab and Muslim thinkers and reformers. The theory once heard in the West that “Islam needs a reformation like the Catholic Church went through,” never came to fruition.
The royal Arab regimes, meanwhile, have become the big winners of the Arab Spring. Considering the general trajectory of the world they should be anachronisms. But they are not. Qatar has won hosting of the World Cup, it runs Al-Jazeera. They import the Louvre and NYU and Western museums like the Guggenheim, while using a 19th century form of virtual slavery to run it all. It would be like if the Old South had not only won the US Civil War but prospered. That is another sign of the 100 years of failure; royal regimes relying on forms of Apartheid were supposed to go away, not flower with success.
The only lesson for policy makers in the Middle East is to prepare for another 100 years of chaos. Western policymakers have been looking for quick fixes to long term symptoms. A bombing here to keep ISIS out of Erbil, some weapons there, some medical supplies. But when one looks at the region one finds a lack of lasting vision among local leaders and a lack of interest in broad sweeping changes among local elites, as well as a deeply conservative society who will cooperate with any tyranny so long as their institutions are left intact. A hundred years of failure will likely be followed by 100 years of stagnation, war and implosion. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Israel, the scapegoat of a hostile, impotent UN
Operation Protective Edge put the United Nations into a time machine that screeched to a halt in the 1970s. It was a period scorched in the memory of Israel's diplomatic history as one of the hardest, most humiliating and painful periods the country ever experienced in the UN arena in New York. The signing of the first Oslo Accords softened hostility towards Israel, opening wide the cracks in the wall of isolation that surrounded it and started a new era of relative comfort and reconciliation in the organization’s attitude to Israel.
The war in Gaza will be remembered, however, as the event that triggered a significant shift in Israeli-UN relations. For Israel, it is a shift that does not promise good tides, to say the least. As far as the UN is concerned, the war shattered the barriers of diplomatic speech. When it comes to the war in Gaza and Israel's perceived blame for its results, all politeness and restraint has disappeared from the political jargon.
Official statements published recently by senior UNRWA officials, speeches delivered at the UN emergency session held two weeks and statements commonplace in private conversations with veteran diplomats, paint a picture of a UN that has returned to its old ways regarding its long-time member state, Israel. Resurfacing are patterns from the 1970s, where displays of hostility and alienation of Israel were at their peak.
The atmosphere at the UN in recent weeks recalls the days when the Israeli ambassador was a persona non grata and diplomats were careful not to be seen conversing with him in public. The mood towards Israel at the organization's headquarters brings to mind the celebratory mood in the time that Yasser Arafat was welcomed at the UN General Assembly as a hero, delivering a speech with a pistol holster on his hip; or the time the UN approved by majority the notorious decision that equated Zionism with racism.
Analysis: The Islamic State sends a bloody ransom note to President Obama
War has come home yet again for the United States from Iraq, with the graphic murder of one of its own— a journalist, James Foley, beheaded on camera carrying a warning.
The 'Message to America' from the Islamic State, delivered through the veteran reporter, was a stark lesson on the consequences of presidential action: airstrikes against the group in Iraq, ordered with reluctance by US President Barack Obama, led directly to this moment, where an innocent man has paid the price for decisions made by the president alone.
Stop Mowing the Grass, Start Salting the Earth
Once truces are been reached and Israel withdrawals, Hamas uses the calm to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure and launches further attacks into Israel, forcing Israel to respond with more large-scale incursions. This routine has become so regular, Israeli officials have even come to refer to this practice as “mowing the grass.”
Many Israeli's believe that they will never completely eliminate their enemies; so, the practice of mowing the grass is seen as necessary act at degrading Hamas' abilities to launch attacks and keep them off-balance. However, if we are judging by history, every time Hamas rebuilds their infrastructure, they are stronger than they were previously.
The blockade on Gaza was imposed after the openly anti-Semitic terrorist organization Hamas, - founded solely for the purpose of destroying Israel and killing Jews – was democratically elected to take over governance of the region in 2006. Hamas utilized tunnels to smuggle weapons, equipment, and information into the region, in order to attack Israelis. Interest in eliminating the smuggling tunnels led to the various incursions. However, each incursion became more difficult than the last. Tunnel systems have been growing more complex, weapons have become more advanced, and the Hamas militants are becoming more battle hardened.
What President Obama Should Do About Israel
Now that Hamas has broken the temporary ceasefire with Israel—for the eleventh time—President Barack Obama has the opportunity to make amends for his mistaken approach to the war in Gaza.
Until now, Obama has effectively encouraged Hamas by restraining Israel, elevating Hamas’s preferred mediators (Qatar and Turkey), condemning Israeli counter-attacks that inadvertently kill Palestinian civilians, and urging ceasefires while terror tunnels remain intact.
What the president ought to do now is offer full-throated support, confirming not only that Israel has the right to defend itself, but that it ought to do so—that the United States would look favorably on the removal of Hamas from power, and will arm Israel to the extent necessary to do so.
Obama would be strengthened in doing so by the recent revelation that Hamas attempted to stage a coup against the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank—as it did in Gaza in 2007.
Israel’s Record on Civilian Casualties Compares Well to America’s
According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009, of the victims of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq whose age and gender could be determined, 46 percent were women and 39 percent were children. The study, based on data from Iraq Body Count, covered the period from March 2003 to March 2008, but specifically excluded airstrikes carried out during periods of intense fighting, such as the initial U.S. invasion and the 2004 battle of Fallujah. In other words, it excluded those periods when fire was likely to be heaviest and most indiscriminate due to the need to protect troops at risk.
By contrast, according to statistics published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 12 percent of all Palestinians killed in Gaza were women and 23 percent were children (239 women and 459 children out of 1,976 fatalities). Thus even if OCHA’s numbers are accurate, the percentages of women and children killed in Gaza were far lower than the percentages killed in U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. Yet one would expect them to be higher, for at least three reasons.
Why Is Hamas Still Shooting?
The willingness of Hamas to keep firing despite their complete military defeat at the hands of the Israelis illustrates a key point about the asymmetrical warfare in which the two sides have been engaged.
Hamas rocket barrages have been a fiasco as almost none of the thousands of rockets fired have found their targets. Their enormous investment in building dozens of tunnels aimed at facilitating cross-border terror attacks has been thrown away. Indeed, their decision to launch an ill-timed war this summer not only undid years of work before the tunnels could be exploited, it also led to their planning for a coup in the West Bank against Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to be discovered in advance of that plot being set in motion.
And yet the reality that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must face is that despite the victories won by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and the Israel Defense Forces’ successful incursion into Gaza, Hamas is not only undeterred from launching more rockets; it also doesn’t consider itself to have been defeated.
Young Jewish Swedish Leader: ‘All My Friends Are Getting Death Threats’
Death threats, daily anti-Semitic attacks, and harassment are causing many young Swedish Jews of the shrinking 20,000-member community to say “enough,” and seek to establish their futures elsewhere, according to a report by Zvika Klein of Israel’s NRG News.
“I and my friends decided to leave,” 22-year-old Victor Borsolov, told NRG, after getting his 11th death threat after posting pro-Israeli views on his Facebook page.
Borsolov, a student of International Relations and Economics from Gothenburg, suggested some other preferable countries.
“I’m thinking of emigrating to Berlin, Tel Aviv or Haifa,” he said.
Quebec radio host slammed for comments on Jews
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs condemned Gilles Proulx for comments he made in a recent newspaper column but said it was “disappointed and troubled” by the lack of public outrage.
Proulx, 74, wrote that the Jewish community can make any government “submit” to its will.
In a later television interview, he said Jews have historically fueled hate and persecution against them, including in Spain and during the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Proulx has previously made other allegedly hateful on-air comments about Jews, immigrants and other minority groups.
Judge blocks protest against Israeli Film Festival in Australia
New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Peter Hidden ruled Wednesday in favor of the police, who had applied to the court to block the planned protest on Thursday night because it would disrupt inner-city traffic during a peak hour.
“The proposed time and location of this protest will cause significant disruption … cause major traffic issues and safety risks for protesters and members of the public,” the police said in a statement.
Supporters of the Palestine Action Group, which had organized the protest, said they would not be silenced, despite the “setback for civil liberties.”
Why South African trade unionists hate Israel – and what we can do about it
Bongani Masuku, who is in charge of international relations at COSATU, was convicted of hate speech by the South African Human Rights Commission in 2009. At the height of the 2008-9 Gaza war, when tensions were already high, Masuku announced that COSATU would target Jewish supporters of Israel and “make their lives hell” and urged that “every Zionist must be made to drink the bitter medicine they are feeding our brothers and sisters in Palestine”.
Why are these South African trade unionists so hostile to the Jewish state?
There are a number of reasons, including the Israeli government’s unfortunate decision to collaborate with the apartheid regime in South Africa right up until its fall. Israel worked — covertly in most cases — with the racist regime because it was facing diplomatic isolation and took friends wherever it could find them.
Ironically, the liberation movement in South Africa did the same thing — finding allies where they could when they felt weak and isolated. That explains why Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) found themselves closely allied to Arab dictators like Qaddafi, or the Soviet Union and its client states.
Unfortunately, those alliances helped teach the ANC that Israel was the enemy.
Palestinian Leader in Miami Boasts about 'Conquering' American Jews
“Praise be to God, each day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel. Your brother, Sofian”
One should know several things about “Brother Sofian”: his full name is Sofian Zakkout; he is a Palestinian "proudly born in Gaza"; he lives in Florida; and – despite the outrageous statement above and others like them, the organization he runs is funded by agencies of the U.S. government and has excellent relations with a range of Jewish organizations.
Zakkout boasted in 2011 that “The Justice Department and other government agencies have put my organization’s name on their list of organizations that they are going to work with.”
As for Jewish organizations: He took part in J Street South Florida’s 2012 Passover Seder. He is co-chair of the Jewish-Arab Dialogue Association (JADA). He spoke at Temple Israel in Miami. He co-sponsored an “Interfaith Dialogue” at Temple Sinai in North Miami Beach. At the same synagogue, a rabbi lauded Zakkout in a sermon, no less: “I know you work very hard to build understanding and respect between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities, so again, thank you.”
Police Investigating Irish Soccer Player's Anti-Semitic Tweet
Police in Ireland confirmed on Tuesday they are investigating a comment left on Twitter by soccer player Tommy McGuigan calling for his followers to punch Jews, reports the Ulster Herald.
The All-Ireland winner, who has since deleted the comment, tweeted, “If you are lucky enough to know or work with a Jew, punch him right on the nose tomorrow.”
He has since apologized for the remark, claiming it was written as a joke and was meant as “nothing serious”.
Oy Vey! Fancy punching a Jew today?
That there has been such a deafening silence on this buffoon's outburst can be but down to several factors. But the primary one is simple - Jews=Israel and Israel=bad. Therefore, why not express your solidarity with Gaza by attacking a Jew? My God, it all makes so much sense!
The reason why so many of the Irish Left squeal so loudly when accused of anti-Semitism is because they know, deep down, that even if they aren't anti-Semitic themselves, there are plenty in their ranks.
The PSNI is now looking into the matter. But where have been the shrill shrieks of condemnation from the Shinners? After all, they're the guardians of human rights in the North, aren't they? Or maybe not.
British MP questioned by police after anti-Israel comments
Controversial UK parliament member George Galloway was questioned by British police this week in the wake of complaints regarding his call for Bradford, the city he represents, to be an “Israel-free zone.”
Commander of the Leeds police Paul Money said that Galloway had been voluntarily “interviewed under caution…following complaints made about the content of a speech given in Leeds earlier this month,” the Daily Express reported on Wednesday. Money added that “the matter will be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for their consideration.”
Galloway Attacks Israel Ambassador's Visit to 'Israel-Free' Zone
Anti-Israel British MP George Galloway expressed anger and frustration at the Israeli Ambassador's decision to visit his "Israeli-free" city of Bradford.
"[The ambassador’s visit] is a provocation to the 10s of 1,000s of people in Bradford who regard the Israeli ambassador as the plenipotentiary of a rogue and terrorist state," Galloway told the BuzzFeed website on Monday night.
"As has just been proved, I cannot make Bradford an Israel-free zone, but I am certain that the Israeli ambassador was not welcome," he added.
Anti-Israel protesters target Geneva’s main synagogue
A Swiss watchdog group said the weekend protests in front of the Beth Yaakov, or Grande, Synagogue were the first public displays of hostility in Switzerland toward Israel since the conflict with Gaza began in early July.
A veiled woman carried a sign reading “Every synagogue is an Israeli embassy” and waved a Palestinian flag on Saturday morning, according to the Intercommunity Coordination Against Anti-Semitism and Defamation watchdog organization, or CICAD. The same protester returned that night accompanied by three men, the group said.
A second woman wearing a Palestinian flag around her neck tried unsuccessfully to enter the synagogue, according to the watchdog. The protesters told police that they have a right to protest and threatened to return the following Saturday.
Tory MPs Slam Sainsbury's Over Kosher Food Removal
As reported by Breitbart London, the Holborn branch of Sainsbury's removed UK-made kosher goods from shelves with one member of staff telling a customer, "We support Free Gaza".
Today, five Tory MPs condemned the actions and wrote to Sainsbury’s CEO Michael Cope condemning the branch’s approach to the protest.
David Burrowes MP said: “Sainsbury’s, whether at a local or national level, should not be seen to acquiesce to protests… How was the threat to the kosher food linked to the nearby protest about Israel? Was the link made by the store manager or was it a response to a direct threat from protesters to the kosher food?
"If the products had been Israeli would they have been removed as distinct from the Jewish products? The wider impact is significant and deleterious, with the store being seen to submit to anti-Semitism or worse make an anti-Semitic response to protests, and Sainsbury’s needs to make clear that this reaction will not take place again.”
New York Friday Sermon: U.S. Muslims Should Boycott Coco-Cola, Nestle, Danone
UK-Based Journalist Justifies Rise in Global Anti-Semitism
An op-ed last Tuesday in a prominent Saudi Arabian newspaper justified statements from international anti-Israel rallies calling for Jews to be killed as an "understandable reaction" to the "barbaric war" Israel is conducting in Gaza.
The piece in the Saudi Gazette, written by UK-based Pakistani journalist Ali Ashraf Khan, was translated and revealed by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
According to Khan, the statement "all Jews should be gassed," a call for a continuation of the Nazi genocidal machine which was heard at recent pro-Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) rallies in the Netherlands, was "understandable."
"How come they (the Jews) don’t realize or nobody has explained to them that this is an understandable reaction of people who feel helpless in the face of the barbarity that Israel is committing against helpless civilians in Gaza," penned Khan.
Anti-Semitism in Britain: "Sit Up and Take Notice"
The incident at Sainsbury's led Brendan O'Neill, in the Daily Telegraph, to condemn "the rank unwillingness of influential people and institutions to face up to anti-Semitic sentiment" in the country. Sadly, he did so while demonstrating an equal unwillingness, to mention the subtle censorship faced by journalists like himself in Britain when it comes to stating the identity of those mainly exhibiting such sentiments.
In none of the reporting of these incidents, is the word "Muslim" ever mentioned.
It is never the person who actually commits these crimes that is held to be morally responsible for them, by either Britain's media or its politicians. That honor is instead almost universally reserved for a nation over 2,000 miles away, Israel.
Why it is exactly, that ordinary families in Britain going about their weekly shopping should find themselves the victims of such "practical action," as a result of the people of Gaza choosing to elect a party dedicated to the extermination of Jews, seems beside the point.
Surely it doesn't take much in the way of imagination, to guess just how instantaneous and uncompromising the reaction of Britain's politicians and press would be, if Christians objecting to the genocide being carried out by ISIS in Iraq, say, decided to go around in mobs violently menacing Muslim businesses?
Demanding the removal of halal food products, for example, to make the British government, "sit up and take notice" to use Mahmood's words.
CNN feeds America’s borderline personality disorder
Clearly, Israel’s media problem transcends underlying anti-Semitism, epidemic anti-Zionism, enabling terrorism, manipulative Islamism, self-hating Westernism, and asymmetrical warfare. The 24-7 news cycle in our media-saturated age distorts profoundly, perversely.
Reporters claim their cameras are mirrors, reflecting reality. But their cameras are projectors (and sometimes heavily politicized ones) – zeroing in one aspect of reality, magnifying it and projecting that slice of life worldwide, falsely packaged as what is actually happening.
In The Culture of Narcissism (1979), the historian Christopher Lasch diagnosed modern American culture as too brittle and self-involved.
I fear American culture has now degenerated into mass borderline personality disorder.
Boycott the Jews? You will Die Sooner
The Muslim fanatics and their Western anti-Semitic friends can only dream of having a tiny fraction of the brain power of these Jewish scholars.
And I say it to a genius like Stephen Hawking as well, who approved the boycott of the Jewish State. Maybe he is alive because of Israeli technology. The same for Mahmoud Abbas' wife, who has just visited an Israeli hospital. Such hypocrisy.
How many Nobel prizes have the Muslims collected? 7.
How many prizes for the Jews? Of the 850 Nobel Prize winners, 177 have been Jewish and several were born in Israel. 20 % of them have gone to Jews.
This is not racism and Israel has plenty of dullards and morons. But the price a real anti-Jewish boycott would cost can give you an idea of what kind of war Israel is fighting: civilization against darkness.
If Israel and the Jews, who make up just 0,2 % of humanity, fall again, the world will be darker and meaningless.
If 6,000,000 Jews would not to have perished in the Holocaust, can you imagine how richer the world would be?
Disengagement Not an Option in the Middle East
Strolling through Jerusalem’s historic Yemin Moshe quarter on a pleasant August morning, my ears caught a ringing, melodic sound emanating from within the walls of the Old City, perhaps half a mile from where I stood. This being a Sunday, the sound I heard was the chiming of church bells, welcoming Christian worshippers to morning services.
Normally, there is something joyous about the sound of those bells, particularly in a city that contains the key holy sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But on this day, I felt a profound sadness upon hearing them. For Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is one of the few places in the Middle East where—despite what malicious anti-Zionist propagandists will tell you—Christians can practice their faith freely.
Middle Class Terrorists and Sixteen-Year-Old Soldiers
According to the report, Prof. Meir Litvak of the Department of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University, “most of them are not poor; no economic crisis pushed them into despair. Not at all. These youngsters are middle class...They’re attracted to whatever is the most ‘anti’ to whatever is in front of them,” he said. “And radical Islamic fundamentalism represents it – [opposition] to the ‘totally rotten and corrupt America'...These young people are highly alienated from their environment.”
The professor's observations are consistent with previous studies profiling suicide bombers, that found on average they had more years of education and often came from relatively comfortable economic circumstances.
Fugitive MK Bishara funded legislators’ Qatar trip, report claims
A trip by three Arab Israeli MKs to Qatar was funded by former Balad MK and suspected Hezbollah spy Azmi Bishara, the newspaper Calcalist reported on Tuesday evening.
The financial newspaper said that Doha’s Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, of which Bishara is the director-general, funded the trip by Balad MKs Jamal Zahalka, Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas to Qatar.
The funding covered the lawmakers’ tickets, hotel accommodation and other expenses during their two-day stay in the Qatari capital. Knesset regulations mandate that lawmakers submit all information about the sources of funding for their trips to the Knesset Ethics Committee prior to traveling abroad, but the three MKs only submitted the information to the committee upon their return.
IDF Equipment Seized in Arab Galilee Village
Police on Tuesday night discovered military equipment suspected as being stolen from the IDF in a home in the Arab-Israeli village of Deir al-Assad, located just north of Karmiel in the Galilee.
The Karmiel police in their raid stumbled across roughly 1,000 rounds of 5.56 millimeter bullets, of the type used in IDF standard issue M-16 assault rifles.
Likewise they found a flak jacket and combat vest, again suspected of having been stolen from the IDF.
The owner of the home in which the equipment was found, a 38-year-old resident of the village, was arrested after the cache was unearthed in this house.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Blames Zionism for Ferguson Protests
On Monday, Khamenei continued his rant, suggesting that inequality problems in America are the result of the “domination of Israel.”
“The day when American nation realize their socioeconomic problems stem from domination of #Israel over their govt, what’ll happen? #Ferguson,” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, the Iranian leader further tweeted, “US govt is #unreliable& egotistical; due to Zionist domination over it,US prefers #Israel’s interests 2 that of its nation.10/5/13 #Ferguson.”
Al-Qaida faction calls its new English magazine ‘Palestine’
The Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute) exclusively provided The Jerusalem Post with a report published on Monday that looks at the publication released on August 16 by Al-Malahem, the media arm of AQAP.
“While this magazine is not an official issue of AQAP’s well-known Inspire magazine, it is similar in appearance, contains almost exclusively content previously published by it, and refers to it repeatedly,” said the report.
“Its slickly produced 24 pages are introduced by a table of contents page that states ‘Palestine in Focus – Focus on Palestine from previous Inspire issues.’” Steven Stalinsky, MEMRI’s executive director, told the Post on Tuesday that the quality of this magazine is lower than Inspire’s, perhaps because there was a rush to release it.
Director Shooting Film About Anne Frank – in Gaza
In a story that wildly veers somewhere between the absurd and obscene, a Croatian filmmaker has been shooting footage about Holocaust victim, Anne Frank, in the bombed out streets of Gaza, Israel’s Channel 2 News reported Tuesday.
Under the working title, “What Does Anne Frank Mean Today,” director Jacob Sadler said the docu-drama is meant to bring the story of the Jewish girl during World War II into the Arab world, where many believe that the Holocaust did not take place at all.
The film crew wandered between outgoing rocket fire towards Israel, and resulting Israeli Air Force counter-strikes during the IDF’s current Operation Protective Edge, as actors intoned on-camera monologues about the need for peace and the absurdity of war.
Outrage as UK Foreign Secretary Claims ISIS Attracts 'Moderate Jihadists'
Speaking about the ongoing security threats to Britain and the wider world emerging from the region, Hammond said:
"The Middle East remains a region of significant instability there's the situation in Libya, the continuing tension between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and then the situation in Syria and Iraq.
"The emergence of ISIL as a successor organisation to AQ [Al Qaeda] with an absolutely poisonous ideology, hoovering up moderate jihadist, if you can have such a thing as moderate jihadist, activity in Syria, drawing support from the more moderate Syrian opposition is a major challenge primarily to region but also to West. Partly because they are trying to establish a caliphate from which they would launch attacks against the West, and partly because they have amongst their number significant elements of Western fighters".
Philadelphia synagogue’s historian beaten to death
A Philadelphia man who served as his synagogue’s informal historian was found beaten to death in his home.
The body of Lee Stanley, 65, a longtime member of Congregation Rodeph Shalom, was found on Friday, CBS Philly reported. Homicide detectives are investigating.
Rabbi Jill Maderer of Rodeph Shalom told the radio station that Stanley’s father, Harry, was a “legendary cantor” at the historic congregation in Center City and that Stanley “had a great love for Judaism, for Jewish prayer, for Jewish history and Jewish music.”
Al Sharpton Led His First Anti-Semitic Race-Riot In Crown Heights, Twenty-Three Years Ago Today
Al Sharpton wasn't always an unrepentant MSNBC star, advisor to president Obama, and first-in-line to agitate a racial situation anywhere in the country. Twenty-three years ago a tragic car accident in Crown Heights Brooklyn escalated into a pogrom against the Jewish people. The media usually gives it a politically correct description: "violence between the area's Blacks and Jews." But the violence was not two-sided. The Crown Heights riot was an attack on the Jews by the neighborhood's Caribbean community, fueled in large part by Al Sharpton, the "Reverend"who does not believe in the commandment about "bearing false witness."
Below is the full story of Sharpton's first anti-Semitic pogrom:
Al Sharpton to Headline Annual CAIR Banquet
MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton has been scheduled to keynote the 20th annual Council on American-Islamic Relations fundraising banquet, scheduled for September 27th in the Washington, D.C., area.
Sharpton has been in the news lately due to his involvement with the continuing protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the death of Michael Brown, a black teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer. The motives surrounding Brown’s death remain unclear, but some have already attributed it to racism.
Sharpton's critics have described him as a “race-hustler,” while his supporters have profiled him as a civil rights leader. Rev. Sharpton is President Barack Obama’s “go-to black leader,” according to a 60 Minutes report. Their relationship is so close that “not only does Sharpton travel to see the president, the president travels to see him,” the report said.
Germany Orders Nazi-Looted Painting Returned to Jewish Heirs
German experts investigating the trove of Nazi-looted art stashed in the home of the late Cornelius Gurlitt announced Friday that a 1901 Max Liebermann painting, “Two Riders on the Beach,” was stolen during World War II and must be returned to the heirs of German-Jewish art collector David Friedmann, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Friedmann’s 89-year-old great-nephew, David Toren, the heir to the painting, filed a lawsuit against the Bavarian and German governments in March to have the painting returned.
He last remembers seeing the work as a child at Friedmann’s home. Friedmann died in the early 1940s, and his daughter committed suicide to escape Nazi persecution soon after his death. Toren and his brother were the only members of their family who survived the Holocaust. Toren’s brother, who died several months ago, is survived by three daughters, and Toren has one son. According to the Wall Street Journal, the family hasn’t decided who will get the painting.
Researchers turn jellyfish Into medical products
In a United Nations report released in May, scientists worldwide were called upon to join the war on jellyfish. According to the report, jellyfish have overwhelmed the marine ecosystem as a result of the overfishing of more competitive species, consuming fish eggs and larvae of weaker specimens and creating what the report called a “vicious cycle.” So how can this cycle be stopped?
In order to prevent imminent marine disaster, Prof. Shahar Richter and his research team at Tel Aviv University have been successful in converting the plethora of jellyfish for more useful purposes. They devised a method of turning jellyfish into a resource that could be used in the paramedical, hygiene and perishable-product industries for the creation of environmentally safe medical treatments, advanced bandages, and other plastic products.
OECD report ranks Israel 4th best foreign investments target
Despite the security situation and the threats of commercial boycotts in Europe, a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has ranked Israel the fourth most attractive target for direct investments among the OECD's 34 member-nations.
According to the report, which tracks the ratio of foreign direct investments (FDI) to countries' gross domestic product, Israel's FDI totaled 4 percent of its GDP in 2013, trailing relatively closely behind Luxembourg, Ireland, and Chile.
FDI's are usually long-term ventures, and their scope reflects investors' confidence in a country's economy and its economic growth projections.
During Gaza conflict, IsraAID helps Washington with wildfire
IsraAID ended up in Pateros through its past work connections with Team Rubicon, an organization that brings US military veterans, often disaffected and seeking purpose for their lives post-service, together for disaster relief missions. It makes for an interesting, and positive, dynamic.
As the volunteers finish their Turkish coffee, a young man from Team Rubicon named Breaux (pronounced “Bro,” he noted on his name tag) calls the team to circle around and prepare for the day ahead.
“IsraelAid — I said it right this time,” he said to laughs.
“He calls us DreidelAid,” Glick said.
Gal Gadot takes ice bucket challenge
The former Miss Israel, who was born in Rosh Ha’ayin and first gained fame in the “Fast and Furious” films, posted her ice-dousing experience on her Instagram feed and wrote that in addition to having the cold bucket dumped her head, she is also donating to ALS research.
She nominated director Zack Snyder, actress Kate Winslet, the original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, and her own husband, businessman Yaron Varsano.
Israeli UN Ambassador Takes Up ALS 'Ice Bucket Challenge'
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, has become the latest high-profile figure to accept the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge", a viral campaign which aims to raise awareness and funds for the ALS Association to research Lou Gehrig’s disease.
"As Israel's ambassador to the United Nations I usually get a chilly reception..." quipped Prosor, who is well-known for his witty one-liners, before nominating "the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who spends most of his time trying to break the ice between countries" to take up the challenge himself.
Prosor also nominated "my good friend Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations who is leading the efforts to put ISIS on ice," referring to US support for a Kurdish offensive against bloodthirsty jihadis from the "Islamic State" terrorist group.
Where's the Coverage? ALS Patients Live Longer in Israel than Anywhere in the World
You may have seen a number of your Facebook friends posting videos of themselves being doused with buckets of ice water. You probably have heard of the “Ice Bucket Challenge.” This is an incredibly successful campaign by the ALS Association to raise awareness and donations for the fight against the disease commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
But the news stories miss one fact: ALS patients in Israel live longer than anywhere else in the world. Two to four times as many patients survive past the 10-year mark. Israel Hayom reports:
"A study encompassing data collected from Israel for the first time found that the survival rate among Israelis suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is two to four times that of patients in other countries.
In global terms, between 5 and 10 percent of ALS sufferers survive more than 10 years after being diagnosed. But in Israel, 20 percent of ALS patients survive longer."
If it doesn’t fit with the media’s negative depiction of Israel, it doesn’t get press attention. If it can’t be twisted to defame Israel, it won’t make it to the front page of the New York Times. When it comes to the fact that Israel is at the forefront of medical research and treatment… Where’s the coverage?
Temple Mount Early 20th Century Photos
From the Australian War memorial site
From 1917, note the broken tiles and weeds: