From Ian:
IsraellyCool: An Open Letter To Harvard Law School (HLS) About Husam El-Qoulaq And Tzipi Livni
Dean Minow-
Greetings and Salutations from the Daily Freier, reporting in concert with Brian of London, live from the Zionist Entity Known as Israel!
Dean Minow, our greatest fear is that Husam El-Qoulaq’s name somehow becomes attached to the antisemitic incident in question, where he told Israeli politician Tzipi Livni that she smelled bad in a public event. I mean, if his (Husam El-Qoulaq, Harvard Law. Sometimes spelled ‘Coolaq’) name was to be associated with this incident (antisemitic!), it may impact his Constitutional Right to make obscene amounts of money post-graduation in Corporate America. More importantly, associating Husam El-Qoulaq’s (Harvard Law) name with an Antisemitic (against Tzipi Livni) incident would send the dangerous message to your students that actions have consequences, and that words have meaning. And none of us want that.
In addition, we fear that Harvard Law may be unfairly tarred for hiding the name of the offending party (Husam El-Qoulaq, Harvard Law. Sometimes spelled Coolaq). Therefore, we implore you to continue to not release Husam El-Qoulaq’s name in association with the incident at Harvard Law on 14 April 2016 in which he used an antisemitic slur against Tzipi Livni. We applaud the fact that your organization has removed Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq’s anti-Jewish remarks from YouTube. Additionally, we applaud that you did not release the name of the offending party, you know, Husam El-Qoulaq…. Of Harvard Law. The one who publicly disrespected a visitor (Tzipi Livni!) in an Academic Setting.
We also want to provide honorable mention to Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq himself, who appears busy as a beaver (can we say that? Is that cultural appropriation against beavers?) scrubbing his online profiles of anything that could connect him (Husam El-Qoulaq, also spelled “Coolaq”) to an Antisemitic incident. Which is why we commend him for currently hiding online evidence of his (Husam El-Qoulaq!) BDS work when he was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. We also commend Mr. Husam El-Qoulaq for scrubbing the Internets and the Googles of any evidence of his Leadership position in Harvard’s BDS Movement…BTW, color us shocked (Shocked!) that Mr. El-Qoulaq was also a leader in Harvard’s BDS Movement. I mean, it’s just counter-intuitive that there would be, like, ANY overlap between the BDS Movement and Antisemitic speech! Who Knew????
PMW: Prayer for genocide of “enemies” of Allah, by PA TV preacher
Allah should "count" His enemies, the enemies of Islam, and "kill them to the last one," prayed the preacher on official PA TV on Friday. The PA TV preacher then singled out for punishment "the wicked Jews" and "the atheists who help them":
PA TV Preacher: "Allah, punish Your enemies, the enemies of religion, count their numbers and kill them to the last one, and bring them a black day. Allah, punish the wicked Jews, and those among the atheists who help them. Allah, we ask that You bestow upon us respect and honor by enabling us to repel them, and we ask You to save us from their evil." [Official PA TV, April 22, 2016]
Official PA TV preacher: “Allah… kill them to the last one... punish the wicked Jews"
When Amira Hass told the Palestinians not to make peace'
Radical leftist journalist Amira Hass of Haaretz in the past actively encouraged the Palestinians to reject peace treaties and not to agree to the 1994 Oslo Accords, according to a Palestinian journalist.
The journalist, Dr. Fayez Abu Shamala, revealed to the Hamas paper Palestine on Sunday the contents of a speech Hass gave during a visit to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) during the period of the Oslo Accords.
Hass, who lives in Ramallah, has openly legitimized and supported Arab terror against Israeli Jews and recently cited the anti-Semitic forgery "Elders of Zion" in a UK university speech.
In her speech at the PLC during the days of Oslo, Abu Shamala reveals that Hass said, "I see it as an obligation to bring before you some of the facts supported in documents, which will help you make a decision."
"Look at this map. Look, where will your Palestinian state be established?," she said, indicating a map of Israel including Judea and Samaria.
"Do you not notice that these settlements can amputate the connection between cities of the West Bank at any given moment? Do you not notice that the Palestinians live in separation (from each other) in their cities?"
The Israeli journalist continued, saying, "I emphasize before you today that there won't be a possibility to establish a Palestinian state as long as the settlements remain in place."
Haaretz adopts the Palestinian narrative
"Jerusalem, the way down," read the headline of a two-page feature in Haaretz's edition last Friday, the Passover edition. I was infuriated by this headline.
It dealt with the underground spaces in the "Historic Basin of Jerusalem" (the Old City and its environs). I really hoped it would be an informative piece about the history of those sites, but upon reading it I noticed it was just an inciting propaganda piece that could feed conspiracy theories and stir tensions. The subhead read: "Several years from now, visitors to the Old City would be able to visit another city -- underground Jerusalem. It will have archeological finds, secret pathways and various venues where people can hold events. But what would not be there? Arabs, or anything that attests to their existence several meters above. This will be a journey in the caves of Jerusalem with only one nation present."
Reading that excerpt, you would think the only goal of this project was to make sure "there are no Arabs in sight." But here is a reminder: We have been here for 4,000 years. It all started on and at the foot of the Temple Mount: The United Monarchy of Israel and Judah, the two temples, and the collective prayer that remains: "Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem."
Elliott Abrams: Obama, Netanyahu, and selective outrage
But my point here is not about Brexit, it is about the hypocrisy of Obama and his acolytes last year in feigning outrage about Netanyahu's conduct. We have a Congress whose speaker invited Netanyahu to speak about an issue of major national security concern to us and even greater import to his country. He spoke, making a straightforward argument. Now Obama goes to the U.K. to speak about an issue that affects our country far less than Iranian nuclear weapons affect Israel, and he adds threats to his arguments, and that's supposed to be fine?
Ahh, but there's a big difference, Obama's defenders will say: British Prime Minister David Cameron invited him. To which I would answer, that is a fine defense of his visit to London (though not of the tone and content of his remarks). But it is not a defense of his outrage when Netanyahu entered our debate at the invitation of the speaker of the House. Congress is a separate branch of government, unlike the British Parliament. It is simply unpersuasive to argue that in Washington, the party in power in the White House can ask foreign leaders to weigh in on a domestic debate but the party in power in Congress cannot; and it is fine for our president to intervene in referenda abroad, but for a foreign leader to express views about our own decisions is absolutely out, even when Congress invites him to do so.
What's sauce for the goose, as the saying goes, is sauce for the gander. Perhaps this kind of foreign leader's intervention is a bad idea and has little positive impact, and Netanyahu should have stayed home. Perhaps, and if so, Obama should have stayed home too.
Hypocrisy: In UK Obama did exactly what he ripped Netanyahu for doing
Funny though, that is not how Obama reacted when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to speak to congress about the P5+1 Iran deal. He didn’t say, because he lived in Iran’s neighborhood, Netanyahu was offering his opinion, and "in democracies everybody should want more information, not less, people shouldn’t be afraid to hear an argument being made." Obama saw it as a threat.
When Bibi came to DC, both Obama and Secretary of State Kerry refused to meet with him, and pressured his fellow Democrats to boycott the Netanyahu speech to the joint session of congress.
Heck one Obama supporter in congress, basically told Netanyahu that if he didn’t agree with the deal, he should stick to speaking to the Jooos:
Sanders: Poverty in Baltimore rivals West Bank, N. Korea
US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders told supporters at a rally in Maryland on Saturday that Baltimore’s poverty conditions rival those in North Korea and the West Bank.
“People don’t know this,” Sanders said during a rally at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore. “If you are born in Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods, your life expectancy is almost 20 years shorter than if you are born in a wealthier neighborhood.
“Fifteen neighborhoods in Baltimore have lower life expectancies than North Korea,” he added. “Two [neighborhoods] have a higher infant mortality rate than the West Bank in Palestine… Baltimore teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19 face poorer health conditions and a worse economic outlook than those in distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa.”
The CIA World Factbook website ranks the West Bank at No. 115 out of 224 countries with an infant mortality of babies below the age of 1 at a rate of 13.08 per 1,000 births. Afghanistan tops the list with 115.07 per 1,000 births, and Monaco is last with 1.82.
23 anti-Zionist extremists arrested at Passover protests
Police arrested 23 activists from an anti-Zionist group at two protests, one at an Anti-Defamation League office and another at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee headquarters.
Seventeen protestors were arrested in the lobby of the ADL’s headquarters in New York City Wednesday. Six were arrested at AIPAC’s Boston office Tuesday after chaining themselves to a symbolic Passover seder table.
The activists were protesting on behalf of IfNotNow, a group formed in 2014 calling for “the end of the American Jewish community’s support for the occupation.” The group was co-founded by Simone Zimmerman, who was fired by the Bernie Sanders campaign two days after being hired as its Jewish outreach coordinator last week. Zimmerman, a former J Street activist, had called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a “manipulative asshole” in a Facebook post.
A similar protest was planned for Thursday in San Francisco.
At the New York protest, some 100 protestors held a sign reading “Liberation Passover seder” in the lobby of the building where the ADL is located, the Forward reported. They wore shirts reading “No liberation with occupation” and sang songs in Hebrew.
Israel ‘Bombs’ Lebanon to Keep Country From Competing With Jewish State, Claims Ex-U.S. Official Who Advised Sanders
Israel “bombs” Lebanon to keep the country from competing with the Jewish state economically, claimed former U.S. official Lawrence Wilkerson, who has reportedly advised Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.
Wilkerson made the point in an interview with The Real News Network, after the site’s senior editor, Paul Jay, stated that “Israel keeps invading Lebanon.”
That claim led to the following exchange:
WILKERSON: You know why I think that is? My community thinks I’m crazy. I think that’s economic. I think every time Israel sees that the only country with the real capability in the Eastern Mediterranean to compete with them and surpass them is Lebanon. And so every time it looks like Lebanon is building the infrastructure, hotels for tourists, and industry and so forth, and is going to arrive at that point within a decade or two, Israel bombs them. Look it, why else would you bomb the things that Israel bombs?
JAY: Yeah, ’cause they’re not just bombing Hezbollah rockets.
WILKERSON: Yeah. They’re bombing the infrastructure of Lebanon.
Clift: Israel Needs To Concede Territory If It Wants To Be 'A Jewish Democratic State,' It's 'In Their Own Self-Interest
The Daily Beast’s Eleanor Clift argued that in order to be “a Jewish democratic state” Israel has to concede some of its territory on Friday’s “McLaughlin Group.”
After fellow panelist Pat Buchanan remarked that it was “hard to disagree” with Bibi Netanyahu’s position that Israel should hold on to the territory it has, Clift said, “But in their own self-interest, if they want to be a Jewish democratic state, they’ve got to come to terms with population in that area.”
Buchanan responded, “How are they going to divide that up now?”
Palestinian, Israeli Delegates Trade Barbs at U.N. Climate Summit
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Palestinians, took advantage of the presence of some 60 world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly to criticize Israel.
“The Israeli occupation is destroying the climate in Palestine, and the Israeli settlements are destroying the environment in Palestine,” Abbas told the 193-nation assembly. “Please help us in putting an end to the occupation and to settlements.”
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon responded sharply when he addressed the ceremony, in which 175 states signed and 15 ratified the Paris accord.
“Instead of spreading hatred here at the U.N., President Abbas should act to stop Palestinian terror,” he said after signing the treaty.
“This climate summit is supposed to be a demonstration of global unity for the sake of the future of our planet,” he added. “Unfortunately, President Abbas chose to exploit this international stage to mislead the international community.”
Earlier this week, Danon and Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour yelled “shame on you” at each other during a regular U.N. Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. That meeting turned into a rare shouting match.
Palestine is latest GOP offensive in climate change wars
Senate Republicans think they’ve found a powerful way to hobble President Obama's participation in international climate diplomacy through the decades old Israel-Palestine conflict.
More than two dozen GOP senators told the Obama administration this week it has to cut off the hundreds of millions in contributions to the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund.
They are also demanding that the administration cut off its $10 million annual contribution to the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Their argument is that 1994 law prohibits any United States money from going to a UN agency that recognizes as a member a country that isn’t recognized as a sovereign state.
The law targeted the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian territories that are not recognized as a country by the United States.
Palestine is now a member of the UNFCCC, which Republicans argue should result it an end to U.S. funding to the group.
PreOccupiedTerritory: UNESCO Mulling Denial Of Egyptian Connection To Pyramids (Satire)
On the heels of a resolution ignoring the Jewish pedigree of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and accusing Israel of forging roots in the land by planting what it called fake graves, the United Nations Educational and Social Council (UNESCO) is considering a similar measure that explicitly denies anything Egyptian about the pyramids.
Council insiders with knowledge of the organization’s proceedings told reporters this afternoon that the general sense among UNESCO delegates was that they had to appear more balanced and consistent, especially regarding Israel, and would therefore entertain draft proposals in keeping with this week’s blatantly ahistorical and discriminatory resolution against Israel and Jewish history. A leading candidate for such a follow-up resolution involves the rejection of anything Egyptian about the pyramids, ancient monumental tombs for the Pharaohs and other important figures.
“It’s long been a trope that UN agencies single out Israel for negative attention,” conceded a delegate who spoke on condition of anonymity. “So we’ve been looking for ways to counterbalance that image. While it’s true that in general, UNESCO itself has generally taken a less staunch anti-Israel line, the most recent resolution makes that irrelevant, almost denying its own history. Appropriately enough.”
The delegate further revealed that in addition to denying an Egyptian connection to the pyramids, the Council was considering declaring the Great Wall of China not Chinese, though that idea has generated less support. Less likely scenarios also involve a UNESCO denial of indigenous status to Inuit populations in Canada and dismissal of the notion that Arabic bears any connection to ethnic Arabs. Given the sway Arab countries have in the organization, the latter proposal will in all probability not be advanced.
Israeli jets scramble after Egyptian plane fails to identify
When normal communications with the Air Sinai plane were established, the two warplanes stood down, but continued to escort the aircraft until it landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport.
“Earlier this morning, two Israel Air Force aircraft accompanied a foreign aircraft planning to land at Ben Gurion Airport which did not identify itself when entering Israeli airspace,” a military spokeswoman said.
“The aircraft landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport as planned,” she added, without giving further details.
Israel Radio said that in Saturday’s incident the Air Sinai aircraft was flown by pilots new to the route and unfamiliar with the usual radio identification procedure when approaching Israel.
“The Egyptian company was asked to make the procedures clear to its pilots,” the radio said.
Israel denies reports Russian forces fired at IAF jets
Israeli diplomatic and security sources over the weekend rejected reports that Russian forces in Syria had fired at least twice on Israeli military aircraft. According to a senior security official, the report, which appeared in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday, was "simply not true."
"No force fired at any Israeli jets," the official said.
Another official in the political echelon reinforced the sentiment, saying Saturday that no incident of this kind had occurred. The official reiterated remarks made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday, suggesting that there had been in fact friction between Israeli and Russian forces in Syria, but that it was resolved during Netanyahu's visit to Moscow.
Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel accompanied Netanyahu on his trip to Moscow. Netanyahu remarked over the weekend that "Putin suggested that the Air Force commander and my military secretary meet with the Russian defense minister and a number of Russian generals." According to Netanyahu, the meeting was held while Netanyahu himself met with Putin.
Report: Russia wants share in Israeli gas
The Russian press reported at the end of last week that Russia was seeking to enter the Israeli natural gas industry, following a meeting in Russia last Thursday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is believed that Putin wants to take part in the development of the Leviathan gas reservoir. This was not the first time that Russia has tried to strengthen its foothold in the Middle East through control of gas reservoirs. In February 2013, Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled (50.1%, with 49.9% owned by private and other investors) national gas company, signed a memorandum of understanding to buy gas produced from the Tamar reservoir through a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility. Gazprom agreed to buy three million tons of LNG a year, amounting to 4.1 BCM. The project was never implemented, among other things because the Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources never approved the export project.
Russia did not give up, however. Gazprom negotiated for several months to buy up to 30% of the Leviathan reservoir. The initiative to recruit a strategic partner in the rights to the reservoir originated in the realization by the current partners that they lacked the financial capability, know-how, and connections needed to realize the huge reservoir's potential as soon as possible. According to reports, other companies that expressed interest in a partnership in Leviathan included South Korean company Kogas, Chinese company CNOOC, and Australian company Woodside. Gazprom has apparently submitted the highest bid.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Israel releases 12-year-old girl from prison held for plotting stabbing attack
Israel today released 12-year-old Dima Al-Wawi after she was held in prison for two-and-a-half months.
The girl, who is from the town of Halhoul near Hebron, was arrested for planning to carry out a stabbing attack against Israelis in the Hebron area. She was sentenced to four-and-a-half months in prison and a fine of 8,000 Shekels. Al-Wawi was the youngest female prisoner held by Israel.
Last weekend, Israeli authorities informed her family that she would be released on Sunday. Members of her family and other Palestinians received her at the Jbarrah checkpoint near Tulkarem.
In February, Palestinian activists launched a social media campaign that calls on Israel to release the bodies of 10 Palestinian terrorists from east Jerusalem held by Israeli authorities for four months.
J'lem: School holds 'meet and greet' with terrorists' families
A Jabel Mukhaber school hosted a "meet and greet" with families of terrorists who killed Israeli Jews during the current terror wave, Yediot Aharonot reports Sunday, in the latest incident of blatant incitement in Palestinian Arab schools.
Speakers included Muhammed Alian, father of Jerusalem bus terrorist Baha Alian; and family members of Muhammed Ali, who was shot dead after stabbing Israelis at Damascus Gate. Alian - who killed three people and injured several more during an attack on an Armon HaNetziv bus in October - grew up in Jabel Mukhaber.
Photos published on Facebook show Alian speaking to the students and taking photos with them. A Facebook post from the school thanks the families for their visit and notes that representatives of the Palestinian Authority (PA)'s "Education Ministry" were present at the event.
The Lach Yerushalayim ('Yours, Jerusalem') organization found the posts and reported them to the Israeli press.
Watch: Ululations for Hamas terrorists at bus bomber's tent
Masked and armed Hamas terrorists were received with ululations of joy at the mourners tent set up for terrorist Abd al-Hamid Abu Srour, 19, who last Monday conducted a bus bombing in southeastern Jerusalem in which he died while wounding 15 victims.
While reports claimed the terrorist's family kicked out Hamas activists who arrived at the mourner's tent in Al-Aida adjacent to Bethlehem in Judea, video cited by Israel Hayom that was filmed at the event and spread online on Palestinian social networks shows exactly the opposite was true.
Armed and masked Hamas terrorists are seen in the video entering the mourner's tent, only to be welcomed by the family with kisses and ululations of joy. The terrorists kiss Abu Srour's mother on the head and are met with cries of joy.
The family's open support of the terrorist may not be that surprising given that Abu Srour was himself a Hamas member, and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Brendan O’Neill: Bonkers student politics has the NUS president it deserves
If you want to know how screwed-up student politics has become, get this: the National Union of Students is now run by someone who describes the mainstream media as “Zionist-led”.
Yes, this supposedly radical student outfit, famously packed with lefties who fancy themselves as progressive, now has a president who peddles the same foul myths that are spouted by hard right-wingers. NUS presidents once had convictions; now they have conspiracy theories.
The new president is one Malia Bouattia. She was formerly the NUS’s black students’ officer, and has now been elected its president.
She is a walking, talking snapshot of how bonkers student politics has become.
In 2014, she refused to back an NUS motion condemning ISIS and expressing support for the Kurds on the basis that it was Islamophobic. She said “condemnation of ISIS” is used as a “justification for war and blatant Islamophobia”.
Britain's leading universities threaten to quit NUS over new president
Student bodies from a number of prestigious British universities are on the precipice of leaving the National Union of Students after the election of the organization's new president Malia Bouattia, Jewish News reported Friday.
Students from Oxford and Cambridge said this week they are planning to hold a referendum vote on whether to stay in the NUS after a number of anti-Semitic comments attributed Bouattia were discovered.
On the same day of Bouattia's appointment, NUS student leaders from across England argued against a motion to commemorate the Holocaust.
Chester University’s Darta Kaleja spoke against commemorating Holocaust memorial day on the grounds that it ignores other global atrocities and genocides.
NYU graduate student union approves BDS resolution
The graduate student union at New York University voted to approve a motion to support a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution against Israel.
The resolution was approved by two-thirds of the 600 union members who voted on Friday, according to reports citing the Graduate Student Organizing Committee. The committee represents more than 2,000 graduate teaching and research assistants at the university.
The resolution called on the union and its parent union, the United Auto Workers, to divest from Israeli companies. It also calls on NYU to close its program at Tel Aviv University, which it alleges violates the NYU non-discrimination policy. Fifty-seven percent of the voting union members also took a personal pledge to boycott Israeli government and academic institutions.
The resolution calls for the boycott to remain in place “until Israel complies with international law and ends the military occupation, dismantles the wall, recognizes the rights of Palestinian citizens to full equality, and respects the right of return of Palestinian refugees and exiles.”
Italy’s universities bow to Islam and boycott Israel
An Italian academic appeal to boycott Israeli universities succeeded in obtaining 336 signatures. Of these teachers and researchers, a tenth come from the University of Bologna. But in this oldest university in Europe, no one has shown enough concern to raise a moral issue about the big deal that the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna has just signed with Saudi Arabia.
Not only that, but some of the protagonists of this academic pact appear in the appeal against the Israeli teachers. It should have been enough to read the report of Freedom House on Saudi universities to figure that maybe needed a little extra caution was in order because at stake is not oil, but our culture: “Academic freedom is limited, informers monitor classrooms for compliance with regulations, such as the prohibition of teaching secular philosophy and religions other than Islam.”
The pact with the Saudis, which will last five years, was launched by the former rector Ivano Dionigi and enshrined under the new one, Francesco Ubertini, both silent on their colleagues who ostracized the Jewish State. In the pact with Riad, we read about “promoting dialogue,” publishing Islamic texts, investing in literature, philology and music, through conferences and seminars, as well as the exchange of professors and students.
Controversial 'political' charity under official watchdog review
A charity which sponsors speakers accused of anti-Semitism is being reviewed by the official watchdog after it identified “regulatory issues which require attention”.
War on Want has been reported to the Charity Commission on a number of occasions for its “campaigning and political activities”, the commission confirmed.
A spokesman said last week that an “operational case report” on the charity would be published, a rare procedure which is only carried out when there is “significant public interest in the issues involved” or “lessons that other charities can learn” from it.
The revelation comes after John Hilary, War on Want’s director, repeatedly denied the existence of any investigation, describing it to the Telegraph as a “complete fabrication”.
A case review is a regulatory action one level below a full inquiry, but it is understood that a full inquiry could now follow.
The concerns centre on War on Want’s political activities on a range of subjects, including “neoliberalism” and Israel. It funds “Israeli Apartheid Week”, an event at universities which is accused of “targeting and harassing Jewish students and inviting anti-Semitic speakers to campuses”.
War on Want sponsored an Israeli Apartheid Week meeting in London in February and paid for the accommodation of one speaker, Steven Salaita, who appeared to defend violence at the event.
French Jewish leader calls for closure of main BDS bank account
The president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) called for the Credit Mutuel bank to pull the plug on the account of the main anti-Israel BDS group in France.
The Jerusalem Post had uncovered the account with the bank of La Campagne BDS France, which targets Israel with economic warfare.
Roger Cukierman, the head of CRIF, told the Post on Wednesday that “a boycott [of Israel] is forbidden by law” in France, and said the BDS France account should be closed. France’s 2003 “Lellouche law” bars boycotts based on national origin. French courts have enforced the Lellouche law by fining BDS activists.
Frédéric Monot, a spokesman for Credit Mutuel, said, “We do not disclose information covered by banking secrecy, but we strictly respect the application of French law.”
BDS France did not immediately respond to a Post query.
Lebanese BDS calls on government to ban screening Gal Gadot's new movie
The Lebanese branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has demanded that the government ban the screening of the new Hollywood movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot, the Lebanese daily newspaper al-Akhbar reported Saturday.
According to the report, the movement recently sent a letter to the Israel boycott office in the Lebanese Economic Ministry to inform officials that the film, which has been screened in Lebanese cinemas, stars an Israeli actress.
“This actress served in the IDF and was crowned the beauty queen of Israel. She also revealed her support for the IDF during the last war in Gaza,” wrote Dr. Abdel Malik Sukria, the representative of the Lebanese BDS movement. “We are confident that you will give this grave issue serious consideration,” he added.
Daily Freier: Rave Reviews for the J-Street Haggadah! (satire)
(DISCLAIMER: We thought we had a totally original idea. Until the Buzzkills at ElderofZiyon said that Tikkun now has its own Haggadah. It’s getting harder and harder to satirize the Progressive Jewish Left.)
Washington: With the completion of many a successful Passover Seder this year, the streets are buzzing with rave reviews for J-Street’s Haggadah. The Daily Freier wandered around Washington’s Food Co-Ops and Non-Profits until it got enough quotes to finish the article and go home to nap.
Code Pink web designer Moonwind Epstein enjoyed the Haggadah’s new look. “The old Haggadah just felt dated. Like it was 3,000 years old or something. So I really like the new Four Questions: “Why is this Iran Deal Better Than All Other Iran Deals?”
Saying that he “liked that there was a message“, Dylan Murray-Levinson-Smith, an intern at the New Israel Fund, extolled the new Haggadah’s educational aspect. “It’s been a long time since Hebrew School at the JCC, so it’s no surprise that I forgot that one of the plagues was named ‘Bibi.‘ Good times.”
Even though local dude “Max” knows “a lot” about Judaism, he too learned something new at his Second Night Seder. “The part where Moses gathers the Israelites and tells them that any entry into the Promised Land will first require “Justice for Jericho” and a “Right of Return for the Canaanites” just really moved me.”
Author calls Begin 'terrorist' with 'political courage' on Bill Maher show
Pulitzer Award-winning author and screenwriter Lawrence Wright said Friday that former Prime Minister Menachem Begin was a "terrorist" who nevertheless had the "political courage to make peace" with Egypt in 1979.
While speaking during the final segment of the hit HBO television show Real Time with Bill Maher, Wright was asked if he saw "any hope for further progress for peace" between the Palestinians and Israel.
Lawerence, who was on Maher's show promoting a play he authored about the 1978 Camp David negotiations between Israel and Egypt that led to a peace accord the following year, said that given the players involved in those negotiations at that time there was always a chance for a negotiated settlement today.
Watch: Anti-Semite trashes Brooklyn synagogue
A Brooklyn synagogue was attacked by a crazed anti-Semite Thursday morning.
The incident, which occurred at the “Apta” Satmar hassidic synagogue on Lee Avenue in Williamsburg, was captured by the synagogue’s security cameras.
While the circumstances behind the attack are unclear, witnesses said a man burst into the synagogue just after morning prayers, attacking a group of congregants who had stayed on to study Talmud.
The attacker tried swinging a ladder at the congregants. When he failed to injure anyone, he became even more enraged and began overturning benches and tables.
Those present in the synagogue quickly fled, notifying the police and Shomrim, a local Jewish neighborhood watch group.
Israeli entrant to Eurovision says humiliated at Russian airport for being gay
The Israeli entrant to the Eurovision song contest was humiliated by passport control in Russia due to his sexual orientation, the singer claimed.
Hovi Star, an openly gay performer, told a Maltese television station about the incident that took place in an airport in Moscow some two weeks ago. A segment of the interview was made available on YouTube on Saturday.
Star said immigration officers laughed at him, tore up his passport and told him he couldn’t enter the country.
“In Moscow, people have a rough time with people like me, maybe because I’m gay, maybe because I dress like this, maybe because I wear make-up, I don’t know,” he told the Maltese TV station.
“They told me I couldn’t go in, they looked at my passport, they ripped my passport, and then they laughed at me,” he added.
He was issued a new passport by the Israeli embassy in Moscow.
Israeli group sets up field hospital in quake-hit Ecuador
The Israeli disaster relief group IsraAID set up a field hospital in the earthquake-hit Ecuadorean village of Canoa, and began operating it on Saturday evening, the group said.
IsraAID’s team will focus on immediate care, mainly emergency medical treatment, child friendly spaces and psycho-social care, IsraAID in a statement.
The team arrived in the country several days ago, and used private planes to reach the affected region, since much of the land infrastructure in the area has been destroyed, the group said.
The death count from the earthquake, the worst Ecuador has seen in a decade, rose to at least 602 on Friday, and the country now also faces a long and costly reconstruction effort likely to cost billions of dollars.
Thousands of Egyptian Christians to Visit Israel for Coptic Easter
Thousands of Egyptians Christians are expected visit Israel for the Coptic Easter this weekend, as Air Sinai inaugurated on Thursday an airlift of more than 30 flights on its Cairo-Tel Aviv route.
Air Sinai expects to fly 6,000 Copts on its five daily flights over the coming days, up from 4,000 last year, in addition to another 5,000 people who will travel via Jordan. The Egyptian media reported that more are likely to come from other parts of the world.
On Thursday, Breitbart Jerusalem reported on extra precautions being taken by Israeli security forces ahead of holiday celebrations. Over 3,500 police officers from a range of units will reportedly be deployed throughout the capital, with an emphasis on the Old City, where large-scale ceremonies will be held.
Meanwhile, a delegation of American security experts have reportedly arrived in Egypt to review security arrangements at the Cairo Airport.
Tareq Zaki, Egyptair’s chief security officer, said that the four experts are focusing on security measures for passengers and cargo especially in the area where flights leave for New York.
Danon hosts first ever UN Passover Seder
As part of Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon’s ongoing battle to improve Israel’s image at the United Nations, he hosted on Friday the first ever Passover Seder at the UN.
By doing so, Danon sought to expose the ambassadors in attendance to this beloved Jewish tradition.
About 40 ambassadors, senior UN officials, and even one European minister, took part in the Seder hosted by Ambassador Danon and led by Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie.
The guests got to enjoy all the holiday traditions and learned how the Israelites were freed from the Egyptian bondage and the connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
The ambassadors broke matzah, tasted the traditional foods, read the Haggadah and even sang “Dayeinu.”
A timely reminder of the Exodus: Ancient Egyptian scarab seal found near Haifa
As Jews around the globe commemorate the ancient Israelites' exodus from Egypt during Passover, a relic of a Pharaonic dynasty from some 3,500 years ago was found in northern Israel's Tel Dor.
The University of Haifa announced on Sunday the discovery of a rare scarab seal belonging to a senior official of the Thirteenth Pharaonic Dynasty, which reigned in Egypt during the 18th-17th centuries BCE.
Birdwatcher Alexander Ternopolsky found the engraved stone seal at the coastal excavation site located south of Haifa before handing it over to an archeological authorities.
“The rains this past winter must have eroded the soil on the southern slope of the site, and thanks to Mr. Ternopolsky’s keen eyesight, the scarab was discovered and handed over to us,” said University of Haifa professor Ayelet Gilboa, who co-heads the excavations at Tel Dor.
Technion and friends celebrate Passover, Rube Goldberg style
Jewish day schools in the Diaspora aim to teach kids about Judaism, nurture their Jewish identity, encourage their connection with Israel – and prepare them for a career.
Seen from that perspective, the annual Technion Rube Goldberg Passover machine is an answer to a Jewish day school’s prayers. In the contest, day schools from around the world submitted projects based on the “Rube Goldberg method” – coming up with the most complicated and convoluted engineering solution possible to solve a simple problem. It’s a great way to engage kids with Jewish concepts and experiences – and help them feel more comfortable with the science, physics, and mathematics skills that are essential to high-tech success, according to Dr. Marc N. Kramer, co-executive director of RAVSAK, which co-sponsored the contest with the Technion.
“We were able to create an amazing new opportunity for students to blend their commitments to Jewish learning with the sciences, foster a connection to post-secondary education,” said Kramer. “This prompted them to apply their knowledge of Passover traditions in a completely innovative way.”
Technion Rube Goldberg Machine Challenge Abraham Joshua Heschel 1st Place High School
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