From Ian:
Eugene Kontorovich: Anthropology group votes to boycott Israel despite major donors’ — including Intel and Yahoo — thick Israeli ties
The annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association has approved a resolution to boycott Israel, which must now be voted on by the group’s membership. There are some unappreciated ironies that arise from the AAA’s efforts, and its interaction with private businesses that the AAA contracts with and takes donations from.
The resolution seeks to enlist a major academic publisher in excluding Israeli institutions from access to scholarly publications. And while the AAA is doing this, the AAA’s major donors are among the most important companies in Israel — which probably have not yet caught on to what is being done with their money.
For it turns out that the AAA does not mind getting funding from companies that, by the AAA’s logic, “maintain perpetuate the occupation.” Two of the group’s most “significant” donors are Intel and Yahoo! Labs.
Intel does not just do business in Israel, it is a big part of the Jewish State’s economy, and vice versa. Its Israel division is the country’s largest private employer, while accounting in recent years for up to 40 percent of Intel’s profit.
Intel is deeply tied in to Israeli academic institutions and has facilities all over the country. If Israel’s obscure anthropology departments “have been directly and indirectly complicit in the Israeli state’s systematic maintenance of the occupation and denial of basic rights to Palestinians, by providing planning, policy, and technological expertise for furthering Palestinian dispossession,” as the AAA resolution claims, surely Intel must be the Great Dispossessor.
Richard Landes: In an Age of Terror, How Thinking Right Can Save the Left
Among the responses in Israel to the Paris Terror Attacks, there has emerged a divide that deserves attention. Depending on where you spend your political time, one or the other response will appear predictable (and lamentable).
First, there are the self-referential Zionists who think, as they did after the attacks of Sept. 11 and the London bombings of July 7, 2005, and so many other moments: “Now, maybe they’ll understand our plight, and realize we have the same enemies,” and “We Israelis have a lot to teach you.” Their battle-hardened cousins further to the right reply, “Don’t bother trying, they’re all anti-Semitic and judge us by a double standard” or even “The West deserves what they’re getting, as a punishment for their hypocrisy.”
On the other hand, we have those who see this entire range of responses as distasteful, to say the least. Instead, they urge an expression of sympathy and solidarity unclouded by words of reproach, by displaying the French flag online as a way to declare #JeSuisFrançais. It’s really not cool for Israelis to complain about a double standard at a time like this, they scold. It’s not about us—it’s about France. As for those people, like the prime minister, who compare ISIS to Palestinian terrorists, they are engaging in a low form of propaganda, trying to use the victims of other wars in other places to wash away the sins of Israeli occupation.
In a deeply disturbing and repeating 21st-century, paradox, however, the approach of Israel’s generous and selfless ones has worked to the benefit of most regressive forces on the planet—while on the contrary, the voice that awakening Europe needs most to heed in the current crisis is that of those self-centered Israelis who relate European woes to their own pain. The failure to understand this paradox explains both why Western elites are so poor at resisting global jihad, and why, for a disaffected youth—Muslim by birth or by choice—it makes sense to join that jihad. Indeed, this split in Israeli discourse about the Paris attacks illustrates the disproportionate impact of a peculiar Jewish dispute on the current cognitive disorientation of the West.
How The New York Times whitewashes Palestinian terror
And so was the newspaper’s recent suggestion that there might never have been a temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, despite unanimity among serious scholars to the contrary. The timing of this attack on Jewish history was no coincidence. Palestinians have explained that the wave of violence is fueled by rumors that Israel plans to change the status quo on the Mount, and by continued Jewish visits to the site.
Instead of explaining the historical connection between the Jewish people and their holiest site, the newspaper chose to rewrite history to better fit with a Palestinian narrative that Jews are foreign to the Temple Mount. (This article and the one about the Boy Scout knife were eventually corrected.)
The newspaper has long been criticized for its obsessive scrutiny of Israeli flaws, real and imagined, coupled with soft-glove treatment of Palestinians. Even its own public editor has urged reporters to strengthen coverage of Palestinians because, she incredibly had to remind colleagues, “They are more than just victims.” Clearly, the message hasn’t been heeded.
This journalism-gone-wild isn’t good for Israel, of course. But it’s also bad for the newspaper’s readers, who want an honest account of what’s happening across the world. It’s bad for students, who risk harassment and ostracism on campus if they come out in support for the Jewish state. And if our democracy, and by extension our foreign policy, depends on a well-informed electorate, it’s bad for us all. (h/t Yenta Press)
Amb. Alan Baker: Outlawing the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel
Like an Islamic “RICO” Case
Once the basic purpose, funding and orientation of the organization are aimed at harming Israel and its public, then the entire organization, including its funding, assets and properties, must be criminalized in order to enable the state to block funding and to act to prevent further mass incitement. The state will be able to ascertain the extent of connections with enemy states and organizations, conspiracy, money laundering and even espionage.
A comparison may be drawn in this context with action taken within legal systems throughout the world in order to deal with any massive organized crime enterprise or mafia involved in conspiracy, racketeering and other criminal acts. Crime leaders and others involved can be tried for crimes they generated. The 1970 U.S. Federal “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations” Act, commonly referred to as RICO, provided for extended criminal penalties and civil cause of action for acts performed as part of such an ongoing criminal organization.
While, as claimed by some critics, outlawing an entire organization could affect apparently legitimate charity, welfare or educational activity that may be carried out by it, Israel’s Supreme Court has nevertheless ruled that such activity cannot alter the fact that the movement as a whole is a terror organization that can be outlawed
Hence, this is not merely a situation involving individual criminal offenses and the prerogatives of individual criminal prosecution, but a far wider terror infrastructure threatening public order and safety throughout Israel and hence meriting being declared illegal.
The lies of Saeb Erekat
Now Erekat is at it again – spreading more lies, issuing more rejectionist declarations, advocating more unilateral and ultimately violent Palestinian actions – while counseling the international media to hate Israel.
Earlier this month (Nov. 5), Erekat’s “Negotiations Affairs Department” of the “State of Palestine – Palestine Liberation Organization” in Ramallah issued a media guidance document called "Key Points to Remember when Reporting on Occupied Palestine." Erekat’s office distributed this document to foreign media based in Israel and outlets worldwide.
This incendiary document deserves to be deconstructed word for word, in order to understand the futility of the Palestinian mindset as seen through the fervid mind of Saeb Erekat. The document, analyzed below, reveals just how far the Palestinian leadership is from accepting the premises necessary for true peace with Israel. Beyond the bravado and mendacities, the document also discloses a great deal of Palestinian discomfort with the facts as reported by the media.
Erekat blames Netanyahu for terror wave, won't condemn attacks
Hours after Palestinian Arab terrorists carried out four stabbing attacks in Israel, including one in which a soldier was murdered, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed Israel - and specifically Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - for the latest unrest.
Speaking to the AFP news agency ahead of a visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry, Erekat said he did not condone killings, but declined to outright condemn the wave of Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis.
Erekat said if nothing concrete comes out of the meetings with Kerry, the Palestinians could move forward on changing longstanding links with Israel, including security coordination.
"I condemn the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu," said the 60-year-old Erekat, who will participate in Tuesday's talks.
"Yes, and I hold him responsible. I hold him responsible for this deterioration," he charged.
New Argentine president vows to end deal with Tehran on AMIA probe
The newly elected president of Argentina said Monday that he will cancel the agreement signed with Iran to jointly investigate the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, as he vowed during his election run.
“We will propose to Congress to cancel the pact with Iran as we promised in the campaign,” Mauricio Macri said Monday morning in his first news conference after being elected in a runoff vote the previous day.
Macri, the opposition candidate, will take office on December 10. He won the runoff with 51.4 percent of the vote, defeating Daniel Scioli, a close ally of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who garnered 48.6 percent, according to the final results released Monday.
The agreement had been criticized by Israel and Argentina’s Jews, among others. Iran has been accused of being behind the AMIA bombing, which killed 85 and injured hundreds.
Macri has a recent history of close relations with Argentine Jewry and Israel. (h/t Yenta Press)
Analysis: Macri Victory in Argentina Marks Setback for Iranian Ambitions in Latin America
More than ten months after Nisman’s body was discovered in suspicious circumstances, his death remains shrouded in mystery. The official investigation has produced no definitive findings, though the government’s wish to portray his death as a suicide is more than obvious. The new president has probably already harvested all the possible political rewards available from the public disgust produced by the death without actually saying very much about it, and is unlikely to want to spend any of his political capital on efforts to have the death investigated in a serious way.
It is also unlikely that there will be any significant progress in the investigation into the AMIA massacre itself for similar reasons. Again, there are no political gains to be had for Macri in putting any energy into pursuing this case. As with Nisman’s death, any effort so expended might stir up trouble from the amalgam of intelligence officials, police, judges, prosecutors, “businessmen,” and common criminals that make up Argentina’s “deep state.” The new president will have enough on his plate dealing with the disastrous economic situation in Argentina. And even if Macri was filled with desire to bring the AMIA killers to justice and find out what really happened to Nisman, it’s hard to imagine that he would get much in the way of encouragement from the Obama administration in Washington.
Macri’s election thus marks a step back for Iran’s interests in the region and is a warning sign for the Venezuelan regime, which is facing parliamentary elections in December. However, it would be unwise to hope that it will lead to progress on the AMIA massacre investigation, the worst single anti-Semitic atrocity since World War II, or the investigation into the death of Alberto Nisman, who appears to have paid the ultimate price for seeking to prosecute both its perpetrators and those engaged in the most recent attempt to cover it up.
Former Senator Lieberman: Israel can use diversity to gain support of US Jews, Left
The wide range of opinions in the Knesset can help Israel gain more support among the American Left and US Jewry, former senator Joseph Lieberman told the Knesset caucus on US-Israel relations on Monday.
“Part of Israel’s strength is its incredibly dynamic democracy,” Lieberman told MKs on the Right and Left. “Members of Knesset representing a wide range of opinions have the opportunity to reach out and make the case for Israel to groups with which you have an ideological affinity.”
Lieberman reassured the MKs that support for Israel remains bipartisan in the US, but said that there is “attrition” of that support within the Democratic Party.
The former senator from Connecticut explained that many of those who do not support Israel do not realize what a diverse society Israel is, and said that “diversity is an asset.”
Last Jewish family in Aleppo flee for Israel
It took a knock on the door in the dead of night and a hair-raising journey through territory held by al-Qaeda militants to end 3,000 years of Jewish history in northern Syria.
The last Jewish family in the city of Aleppo was taken across the border to safety in Turkey last month with the help of an Israeli-American businessman and moderate rebels with the Free Syrian Army.
Mariam Halabi, 88, and her two daughters, Gilda and Sarah, both in their fifties, had survived more than four years of civil war in Syria, leading a secretive life while their city was fought over by the regime of Bashar al-Assad and Islamist rebels.
The family had stayed in their home, despite water and electricity becoming scarce, practising their Judaism even when kosher food became unavailable.
But for Mariam’s son Yoni, who lives in New York, worrying over his family's safety became intolerable and eventually he contacted a rabbi in New York he had been told might be able to help.
The rabbi had heard of humanitarian work being carried out by Moti Kahana, a Jewish businessman, in support of the Syrian rebels. After talking to his contacts in Syria, Mr Kahana hatched a plan to extract the family.
Why Primo Levi Survives
Three volumes, 3,000 pages: The Complete Works of Primo Levi, in its very girth and exhaustiveness, asserts a claim about the man whose oeuvre it collects. Best known for his Holocaust memoir, If This Is a Man, as well as for The Periodic Table—a book about his life in, with, and through chemistry—Levi should be seen, as the collection’s publicity material puts it, as “one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers.” Novels, stories, poems, essays, science writing, science fiction, newspaper columns, articles, open letters, book reviews: His every word is worth preserving, translating, purchasing, pondering. To read them all together, the collection insists, is to see the man anew.
I say this with reluctance—The Complete Works, which was 15 years in the making, is clearly a labor of love, meticulously edited by Ann Goldstein and seamlessly carried over from Italian, in fresh renditions, by a team of 10 translators—but the claim, on the volumes’ own evidence, is manifestly false. Levi is a great writer. He is a vivid writer, an unflinching writer, an indispensable writer. But he is also a limited writer, both in talents and in range. It does no favors, to the reader or to him, to try to rank him with the likes of Joyce, Proust, Kafka, and Beckett. His achievement, in his work about the Holocaust and its aftermath—If This Is a Man, The Truce, and The Drowned and the Saved, as well as parts of Lilith and The Periodic Table—is significant enough. Surrounding that achievement with masses of ephemera only obscures it. A selected works, at half the length for half the price (The Complete Works lists for $100), would have served him better.
Still, if the collection brings new readers and renewed attention, 28 years after his death, to this remarkable artist and man, it will have done important work. Levi is the rare writer about whom it can be said that his literary virtues originate in, and are largely inseparable from, his moral ones. His ability to guide us through the hell of the camps depends upon his powers of precise observation as well as on an eidetic memory of the 11 months of his enslavement. But it also rests upon a superhuman strength of mind, a refusal to distort the record with a spasm of self-pity or sentimentality, of pain or rage or lust for revenge.
Seth Frantzman: It’s Time to Call Islamic Extremism What It Is
When the Islamic State rode into the town of Sinjar last year and beheaded elderly men and women, it did so based on its religious extremist views. If any other group had done the same thing, whether right-wing Christian militias such as the Phalange in Lebanon massacring Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla, or Buddhist extremist monks on a rampage against Rohingya in Burma, we would call it out for its religious extremist attributes. Only with Islamic extremism is there a feeling of a need to tread lightly.
This is doing a disservice to victims. Many Shia, Ahmadi, and other Muslim communities have been a target of this extremism. Shia scholars call this a “takfir” ideology, an ideology that targets other Muslims who are seen as “unbelievers.” The last decades have seen a rise in this extremism, and ISIS is now showing how alluring this ideology is. Most ISIS volunteers came from Europe by the thousands. They came to the Middle East and butchered, raped, and murdered their way through Syria and Iraq, slaughtering ethnic and religious minorities that had lived there for more than 1,000 years.
If what is needed is a new vocabulary to confront these kinds of organizations, then Islamist extremism is a fair description. There is Jewish extremism and Christian extremism. There is right-wing religious extremism. Only with Islamic extremism is there a hesitancy to deal with the reality. No one pretended that defeating Nazism would have to wait until the German people could struggle against the hijacking of their democracy.
Those like the Islamic State threaten Islamic minorities and non-Muslim minorities; they blow up ancient shrines and erase cultural heritage. So long as people are being murdered in the name of religion, the whole world must step forward, call it what it is, and say that there will be no more Yezidi massacres, no more selling of people into slavery for religious reasons. If we can confront the historical prejudices of the Inquisition, the Crusades, or white supremacy, we can confront this extremism as well.
Ben-Dror Yemini: In Europe, the penny still hasn’t dropped
If anyone thought that Europe's "penny has dropped," they had better shake off any illusions. Terror is not making those who are addicted to illusions any more sober. Years of "if we'll only be nice to them, everything will be okay," years of accusing the Jews - in other words, Israel - of treating the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews, years of total blindness towards the Palestinians' rejection of any peace proposal, years of a self-brainwash, have led to intellectual disability among Europe's elites in general, and Germany's in particular.
We should hope and pray that Europe succeeds in dealing with terror better than the way it is dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We should hope that terror doesn’t strike in Europe again. Terror isn't opening the elites' eyes, but is rather pushing them more and more towards self-deception.
The problem is not the confusion created by the product labeling orders. The problem is much worse, because what is happening to Europe is also happening to some of the elites in the United States. And we should not disregard the intellectual disability, because it affects the public opinion, and later on the political elites too. Let's not belittle it.
Paris Attacks Show Cracks in France’s Counterterrorism Effort
French law-enforcement authorities had Hasna Aït Boulahcen in sight long before she surfaced as a suspected accomplice in the Paris terror attacks and died during a police raid. Her phone had been tapped as part of an unrelated drug-trafficking investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
It wasn’t until days after the Nov. 13 attacks that French authorities learned that Ms. Aït Boulahcen was the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a notorious Islamic State operative suspected of directing the terror spree that killed 130, the people familiar with the matter said.
That crucial piece of intelligence, supplied by Morocco, allowed French counterterrorism investigators to track Mr. Abaaoud to an apartment building in a Paris suburb, where Mr. Abaaoud, Ms. Aït Boulahcen and a third person, still unidentified, were killed Wednesday in a two-hour battle with police.
But the late discovery of Mr. Abaaoud’s connection with Ms. Aït Boulahcen has left French investigators stunned, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Abaaoud, a militant sought for months by French authorities, had a possible accomplice in Paris right under their nose.
“No need to fool ourselves,” a French government official said. “What we have in front of us is a complete failure.”
Molenbeek broke my heart
Over nine years, I witnessed the neighborhood become increasingly intolerant. Alcohol became unavailable in most shops and supermarkets; I heard stories of fanatics at the Comte des Flandres metro station who pressured women to wear the veil; Islamic bookshops proliferated, and it became impossible to buy a decent newspaper. With an unemployment rate of 30 percent, the streets were eerily empty until late in the morning. Nowhere was there a bar or café where white, black and brown people would mingle. Instead, I witnessed petty crime, aggression, and frustrated youths who spat at our girlfriends and called them “filthy whores.” If you made a remark, you were inevitably scolded and called a racist. There used to be Jewish shops on Chaussée de Gand, but these were terrorized by gangs of young kids and most closed their doors around 2008. Openly gay people were routinely intimidated, and also packed up their bags.
I finally left Molenbeek in 2014. It was not out of fear. The tipping point, I remember, was an encounter with a Salafist, who tried to convert me on my street. It boiled down to this: I could no longer stand to live in this despondent, destitute, fatalistic neighborhood.
How did Molenbeek become Europe’s jihadi base? Essentially, it has to do with Belgium’s messy governance and the culture of denial that pervades the debate about Islam in the country. Molenbeek is a vibrant community, with narrow streets and a busy street life. There is a teahouse on every corner, a quiet mosque on every block, where people can congregate undisturbed. There are cheap apartments galore, no questions asked. Just like the guerrilla can hide in the jungle, jihadis feel safe in the disorganized Kashba of Molenbeek. The highway and the city’s busiest international railroad station are a stone’s throw away. It’s the perfect logistical base.
Paris - Dev
MSNBC's 'No-Fly List Is Islamophobia' Poster Boy Arrested in Turkey as Part of ISIS Cell
A man, who just two years ago was the poster boy for the far-Left media's attacks against the U.S. government's no-fly list for "unfairly" targeting Muslims, finds himself and several family members sitting in a Turkish prison -- arrested earlier this month near the Turkey-Syria border as members of an ISIS cell.
It's a long way from 2013 when Saadiq Long's cause was being championed by MSNBC's Chris Hayes, Glenn Greenwald, and Mother Jones, and was being represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) terror front.
His story got considerable media attention when his CAIR media representatives here pushed the story that Long wanted to return to his native Oklahoma from his current home in Qatar to visit his ailing mother but couldn't because he was on the TSA's no-fly list. They said his case represented institutional "Islamophobia."
Long's cause got international attention when Glenn Greenwald published an article at The Guardian saying that Long was "effectively exiled from his own country." Kevin Drum of Mother Jones branded it the "Kafkaesque World of the No-Fly List." CAIR has 22 article entries related to Long's case on its website.
After several months of wrangling between his CAIR attorneys and the Department of Homeland Security, Long was temporarily removed from the no-fly list and allowed to return to Oklahoma.
Once home, however, he was still subject to FBI surveillance according to claims he made during a press conference with his CAIR handlers.
Paris attacker welcomed ashore in Greece and given help and clothes by French volunteers
A PARIS suicide bomber was helped on to a Greek island and clothed by French volunteers before making his way through Europe to his target, it emerged yesterday.
The IS fanatic, known as Ahmad Almohammad from a fake Syrian passport found at Stade De France, had sailed to Leros with a group of English-speaking pals.
Officials said they were helped ashore with nearly 200 refugees after deliberately driving a knife through their boat as they neared land on October 3. Two were then discovered with fake Syrian passports and arrested.
But Almohammad, 25, was ushered through and moved to a camp staffed by French charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
Less than 24 hours later, in a black tracksuit given to him by the volunteers, he was in a group of six buying tickets to Athens.
Media Outlets Desperate To Debunk Poll Showing 540,000 UK Muslims Have 'Sympathy' With Syrian Jihadis
A poll in The United Kingdom’s Sun newspaper has sparked a furious debate over the level of support for ISIS and has sent several media outlets into a tailspin of denial, questioning the poll’s methodology.
The most controversial part of the poll was a figure showing 20 percent of respondents had sympathy with those who left the UK to fight in Syria, with five percent saying they had “a lot of sympathy” and 15 percent said they had “some sympathy.” There are 2.7 million Muslims living in the UK.
The number of British Muslims who have sympathy for those who go and take up arms in Syria has actually fallen from 28 percent back in March. The results also mean that a massive majority of Muslims in the UK have no sympathy for those who go to fight in Syria whatsoever.
The Survation poll indicated that Muslims were well-integrated and comfortable with modern British society, with just three percent telling the pollster Survation that it “is not important for British Muslims to integrate into British society.”
Israel trains French trauma experts to cope with terror
When 130 people were killed and 368 injured in a series of terror attacks in Paris earlier this month on November 13, 15 clinicians trained by Israeli experts fanned out to area hospitals to offer psychotrauma interventions as the victims were brought in.
These French mental-health professionals from OSE, the largest Jewish welfare organization in Paris, were among a group of 80 who had been trained by members of the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC) following the terror attack on a Paris kosher supermarket last January.
ITC Director Talia Levanon tells ISRAEL21c that Israel’s unfortunate experience and expertise in the psychological effects of terror bring a critical perspective to foreign professionals more used to dealing with isolated incidents.
As France is suffering such attacks on a more frequent basis, the ITC and Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) are stepping up efforts to train clinicians there – even as a wave of terror in Israel is keeping the ITC very busy at home.
Roseanne Barr calls reporter who told Jews to stay in France a privileged fat skinhead
The American actress and comedian Roseanne Barr told off an Israeli writer on Twitter on Sunday in response to his tweet dissuading Jews from France to immigrate to Israel following the ISIS attacks on Paris that killed 130 people.
"Jews of France, stay in France. Don't flee Muslim facism (sic) into the arms of Jewish fasicm [sic]. Nothing for you in Israel," the writer Rogel Alpher tweeted to promote an opinion piece he wrote for Haaretz.
Barr answered Alpher's tweet with her own: "Stfu privileged fat skinhead," she wrote.
"To emigrate from France to Israel now is like emigrating from Palestine to Nazi Germany in 1933," Alpher wrote in his piece.
"Jews of France, stay in France. There is no God, he did not appoint you as the chosen people and he did not promise you the land of Israel. You have no rights here. Israel has stopped being the Jewish state. It is a binational apartheid state in which Palestinians live under an occupation that denies them their basic human rights. The Zionist enterprise is dead. Committed suicide," Alpher wrote.
The Swedish people wants Wallström out of office
The Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström is now infamous around the globe for her statement on the complex situation between Israel and the Palestinians, in which she allowed herself to become the voice of Palestinian terrorists by saying ”We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence”. Her statement is very problematic and unfortunately not an exception.
The Swedish online newspaper Nyheter Idag this week also wrote about a recent conversation Wallström had with a woman confronting her about her statement on Palestinian terrorism. Wallström was told during the conversation that many people were upset by her words. The Swedish Foreign Minister replied ”the Jews are campaigning against me”.
She is wrong. The truth is that her Swedish citizens of various backgrounds are very upset with her statements regarding the Middle East and terrorism.
Wallström has received a lot of criticism from the Swedish people in social media and from the majority of representatives from most Swedish parties in the parliament, because of her problematic statements. However, these recent statements by our Foreign Minister are just a few of a string of very worrisome statements she has made..
State Department Issues Travel Warning...For The Entire Planet
Travel alerts are not uncommon for the State Department. They routinely issues warnings for Americans traveling abroad to various hotspots to on guard or consider canceling their plans altogether. However, in light of recent events, the State Department has taken the unusual step of issuing a “Worldwide Travel Alert.”
Citing “Current information suggest[ing] that ISIL (aka Da’esh), al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions,” the State Department warns “U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using transportation. Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid large crowds or crowed places. Exercise particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events.”
China declares war on ISIS after terrorists claim to have executed Chinese hostage
China will join the war on ISIS after four of its citizens were killed by Islamist terror groups in two separate attacks this week.
The vow comes after ISIS claimed to have killed Beijing man Fan Jinghui, 50, alongside Norwegian national Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, who were feared to have been taken hostage in September.
Chinese President Xi Jinping: "China will strengthen cooperation with the international community, resolutely crack down on violent terrorist operations that devastate innocent lives and safeguard world peace and security."
He also called on the relevant departments to boost security work "outside China's borders".
ISIS had earlier published pictures of the two men in two full-page posters which listed the men as 'for sale' in its propaganda publication Dabiq.
The latest issue of the group’s in-house magazine featured images purporting to show the two men shot to death after being "abandoned by kafir nations and organisations”.
They’re Canceling Chanukah in Melbourne, Australia
Every year, one of the largest outdoor celebrations of Chanukah in Australia takes place at the public park in Caulfield. The Chabad House in Caulfield hosts Chanukah in the Park, an event which attracts up to 15,000 people each year, according to Australian media.
But this year the event will not take place.
Chanukah in the Park, originally scheduled for Dec. 13, was canceled in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks. Participants received a notice from the organizers that the event would be canceled “due to security risks and concerns especially in light of the current international situation and advice against large outdoor events.”
Instead of the huge outdoor celebration, the event will move indoors for a smaller “and more secure” Chanukah Fun Day at the Chabad House.
Although the email advising participants about the cancelation came from event organizers, the president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Jennifer Huppert, condemned the decision.
CNN Reporter: Parisians Shaken Because This Time It Wasn't Just Jews
A CNN reporter says that what really has shaken the people of Paris in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terror attacks is that this time those killed by Islamist terrorists weren’t just Jews or provocative cartoonists.
Talking to CNN host Don Lemon Monday night, reporter Martin Savidge tried to convey why the people of Paris view the Nov. 13 terror attacks differently than last January’s Islamist terror attacks in Paris that targeted French cartoonists and Jews in a kosher grocery store.
“I think what really has shaken the people of Paris, they’ve grown accustom to the idea that of course the city is a target,” Savidge said from on the ground in the city of lights. “But this particular assault, aside from the sheer numbers of people that were killed or wounded, it was the neighborhoods that were struck. It was the fact that this time no one was spared. It wasn’t that a person was picked out because of their faith. It wasn’t because a person was picked out because of their jobs such as Charlie Hebdo. This was just people — any kind of person. And that has really shaken the people of Paris. This time you could not explain it away as somebody else’s threat.”
Ahh, so it’s more understandable when an Islamist terrorist murders a Jew because, well, it’s a Jew! What else should a Jew expect for being a Jew in Paris and shopping at a kosher grocery store, right? But when Islamist terrorists strike “just people” — “just” being a synonym for “real” here? — that’s far more alarming.
Conspiracy Nut Has a Theory About ISIS That Does Not Involve The Jews (satire)
Part-time copyright researcher and full-time conspiracy theorist Bobby Holloman has some decidedly unorthodox ideas. He has proof that the 1969 Lunar Landing was filmed in the back of a Stuckey’s Restaurant off of Interstate 40 near Amarillo. He refuses to do business in paper currency, but rather barters for his needs using gold dust. And don’t get him started on 9/11. But perhaps his wackiest conspiracy theory to date involves the Terror State of ISIS. Bobby has a theory for their origins and funding that does not involve the Pope, the Illuminati, the Federal Reserve, Queen Elizabeth, and most of all, the Joooooz. The Daily Freier had the opportunity to speak with Bobby at his compound on the North Dakota prairie this week.
“Quick, come in and close the door behind you! You only have seconds to spare!” implored Bobby as he ushered us into his home while scanning the sky for drones. “You want some water? I drilled my own well! No fluoride for me!”
As we sat down in his living room, Bobby explained his theory on the origins of ISIS. “OK, this is going to sound crazy, but let me lay it out for you: I believe that a combination of Saudi Arabia exporting Wahhabi ideology for a generation, oil money from corrupt Gulf States, veteran Jihadists of Al Qaeda’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Chechnya…..plus a confused Western Civilization led by a man who thinks Climate Change is its greatest threat– these factors combined to create the conditions for ISIS.”
IsraellyCool: Transcript Of Negotiations Between Jeremy Corbyn and ISIS (satire)
Corbyn: Never mind, let’s proceed. So far we agreed to the following terms:
- We give ISIS to Europe to rule
- We all convert to Islam
- Those who do not convert will pay a “Jizya” based on a percentage of their income.
Did we discuss a percentage yet?
ISIS: 100%
Corbyn: I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch th…
ISIS: (Brandishes knife)
Corbyn: One hundred percent.
OK. So we are in agreement. We have a solid arrangement here and if anyone disagrees they are a racist Islamophobe. (All parties sign agreement)
Excellent work gentlemen. By tomorrow, we will all be Shi’ite Muslims! (awkward silence)
Oh crap. (ISIS decapitates Corbyn)
Christian Zionist Group to Address EU Parliament on Labeling Laws
The head of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) will hold a symposium at the European Union Parliament in Brussels to address the recent European Union decision to label Israeli goods made in Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and eastern Jerusalem.
The symposium will be held on Dec. 2 and will call on EU lawmakers to find an alternative approach in finding a solution between the two sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to foster economic cooperation, stability, and peace, ICEJ said.
“This labeling law will only divide Israelis and Palestinians further,” said ICEJ Executive Director Dr. Jürgen Bühler. “Co-existence is better achieved by establishing factories and business partnerships in areas where Palestinians and Israelis live side-by-side.”
Earlier this month, the EU introduced guidelines requiring member states to stop carrying the “Made in Israel” label for products made in Jewish communities situated beyond the 1967 lines. Bühler said he believes the recent EU decision is a “double standard” and that the EU does not make similar labeling requirements for goods from other disputed territories such as northern Cyprus or the Western Sahara.
UT-Austin issues strong statement supporting professor targeted by anti-Israel protesters
The University had issued, to this date, some wishy-washy statements, but now has come out with a strong statement of support for Prof. Pedahzur.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Randy L. Diehl, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, both supported Prof. Pedahzur and lambasted the disruption:
Amidst the current controversy concerning the disruption of an academic lecture sponsored by the Institute for Israel Studies, I want to reiterate my deep admiration for the work of Professor Ami Pedahzur and the Institute for Israel Studies in conducting courses and public programming that represent the highest standard of academic discourse and dispassionate reasoning and research on a controversial subject of enormous importance. Students and faculty of every background, including Palestinians and Israelis alike, have enthusiastically received Prof. Pedahzur’s courses and his supervision of undergraduate and graduate research.
Although reviews are still ongoing, I wish to emphasize that there are places on campus for responsibly discussing disagreements. Disruption of a visiting scholar’s invited academic lecture violates principles of academic freedom and free speech that are crucial to our mission as a great university.
SJP Hate Group Fights for Right to Harass Jews at UCLA
The University of California has an anti-Semitism problem. Its name is Students for Justice in Palestine.
Co-founded by Hatem Bazian, a notorious bigot who was described by Rabbi Kahn of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council as being, "more responsible than any other student on campus for trying to make life miserable for Jewish students," the SJP hate group has lived up to his hateful legacy.
As the University of California faces a debate over anti-Semitism between Jewish civil rights groups, concerned by the atmosphere of hate on campus, and Students for Justice in Palestine, which is responsible for much of the hate, one Jewish civil rights group reports that 70 testimonials have been collected from UC Jewish students describing intimidation by SJP and other BDS hate groups.
Jewish students describe being told, “Hitler was right” by a Students for Justice in Palestine member and being called “Kike” and “Dirty Jew” by SJP bigots.
A Jewish student government member at UC Santa Cruz was recently told to abstain from voting on a pro-BDS hate measure because of his “Jewish agenda.”
Now the ACLU of Southern California has taken a stand, not on behalf of the Jewish students, but is instead engaging in legal intimidation of the student government in support of the SJP BDS hate group.
New York-area mayor ‘secretly vows to block Jewish developers’
A mayor in suburban New York’s Rockland County secretly pledged to reject all building permit applications by Jewish developers, according to a newspaper report.
The mayor, Demeza Delhomme of Spring Valley, was secretly recorded in March saying he would vote against all Jewish-submitted building permits but would accept permits by Haitians, the Journal News reported. The newspaper obtained the secret recording. Delhomme is Haitian-American.
Spring Valley has been the site of pitched political battles between the burgeoning Orthodox Jewish population and local opponents.
Delhomme refused to answer a reporter’s questions about the recording, the Journal News reported.
“Do you have proof that I have been discriminating against anybody?” he said in a brief telephone conversation. “If you don’t have proof of it, stay the hell away from me.” Delhomme then hung up the phone, according to the newspaper.
NYC subway covered in Nazi insignia for TV promotion
The Amazon ads do not violate this policy, an MTA spokesman told The Gothamist, which first reported the ad campaign.
“The updated standards prohibit political advertisements. Unless you’re saying that you believe Amazon is advocating for a Nazi takeover of the United States, then it meets the standards. They’re advertising a show,” MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg told The Gothamist.
Evan Bernstein, the Anti-Defamation League’s New York regional director, called the ads insensitive, according to The Gothamist.
“Half the seats in my car had Nazi insignias inside an American flag, while the other half had the Japanese flag in a style like the World War II design,” commuter Ann Toback, executive director of The Workman’s Circle, a Jewish organization, told The Gothamist. “So I had a choice, and I chose to sit on the Nazi insignia because I really didn’t want to stare at it. I shouldn’t have to sit staring at a Nazi insignia on my way to work.”
HBO to adapt Israeli TV series 'Nevelot'
US premium television network HBO has acquired the rights to develop Israeli show “Nevelot” (Bastards) originally broadcast on Hot that was based on the novel Vultures & Bastards from Yoram Kaniuk.
The deal was closed in recent months by Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein, head of content agency ADD’s international business development.
The “Nevelot” mini-series, a myTV production from Lee Yardeni and Aviram Buhris, aired in 2010. Yehoram Gaon and Yossi Pollak played two Palmach veterans seeking revenge on an indifferent society and its spoiled youth.
The series was directed by Dror Sabo, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Daphna Levin. The series won an award at the cinema awards that year.
The American production will feature two Vietnam vets that go on a violent journey in Miami. The series will be produced by Happy Madison Adam Sandler’s production company based within Sony Pictures Television. It will be directed by Alan Poul, who was the showrunner for HBO’s The Newsroom.
Israeli spiders to weave a fatal web around Colombian pests
Little spider mites that harm plants and crops in Colombia will soon meet their match – and their maker – when Israeli-produced carnivorous spiders are deployed to destroy their colonies.
In a new deal, Israeli biotech firm BioBee will send 600 million spider mites to Colombian farmers to help them battle the spider mites that threaten, among other things, Colombia’s biggest cash crop – coffee.
The spiders, raised at BioBee’s Jordan Valley facility, are spider mites themselves – but are twice the size of the mites they will be attacking. And they’re not interested in the leaves of plants that the Red Spider Mites attack – they eat the attacking mites themselves.
While the usual method of battling the scourge is through pesticides, an ongoing attack by the destructive mites has stretched the limits of pesticide application; any more, and the coffee and other crops the farmers export to the United States will be rejected. In addition, the more pesticides that are applied, the more the predatory mites build up resistance, said BioBee.
Galilee Dig Reveals Hummus Was Staple of Prehistoric Diet
The Middle East has gone through monumental changes over thousands of years, but one thing has never changed: an affinity for hummus.
This conclusion was reached after fava seeds were discovered during an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the Galilee, showing that prehistoric man living in the southern Near East some 10,000 years ago preferred a diet consisting of legumes. The joint IAA-Weizmann Institute research project, which examined fava seeds unearthed in recent years at archaeological sites from the Neolithic period in the Galilee, sheds light on the eating habits of the prehistoric man living in the area.
According to archaeologists, advanced technological methods were used to determine the exact age of the fava beans, which led to the conclusion that they had found the world’s oldest domesticated fava seeds. The seeds, researchers say, teach us that the diet of the indigenous people at the time was comprised primarily of fava beans, chickpeas used to make hummus, lentils, and other types of peas.
WATCH: The Maccabeats release new Hanukkah video
Jewish a cappella group the Maccabeats have released a new music video for their song “Latke Recipe” ahead of Hanukkah 2015.
The video debuted on Time’s website on Monday. “Latke recipe” is a parody of rock band Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” hit from last summer. The song’s refrain goes like this:
“Tonight is Hanukkah
Got everything we need
Good friends and family here to try
Our latke recipe
Best served with applesauce, you see
We’ve got ooh, ooh, ooh
The latke recipe”
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