A Lie told a Million Times is still a lie: Israel has the 4th largest army in the world

A lie told a million times is still a lie.

Its been said a million times, in a million different ways. Yet there is no credible source backing it up. Does Israel have the "4th largest army" in the world?

No.

From the Huffington post to Rense to Iranian PressTV , this claim is made repeatedly, yet of the dozens of lists available on the web, not a single source bears this out.

In terms of size of the army: Nationmaster ranks Israel in position 17 in terms of army personnel
In a list of manpower fit for service, Israel ranks in dismal 88th place http://www.photius.com/rankings/military/manpower_fit_for_military_service_male_2011_0.html

In terms of defense expenditures: A list of countries by military expenditures from 2010 ranks Israel in 17th place, well behind such military giants as Canada, Spain and Italy

The CIA world factbook Military expenditures as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP); ranks Israel in 6th place, with positions 1-5 taken up by Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar Jordan and Iraq. The US is in 24th place in that list

So, where did the factoid "4th largest army in the world" originate from? It appears to have been invented from the fertile minds of the Israel bashers.

The most comprehensive ranking site Global firepower actually ranks Israels overall military strength 10th in the world, taking into consideration 45 separate factors, in 8 categories
PERSONNEL (including total population, available military manpower, active and reserve military manpower)
LAND ARMY (includes land based weapons, including tanks, artillery, etc)
AIR POWER (includes aircraft, helicopters, etc)
NAVAL POWER (includes ports, aircraft carriers, destroyers, etc)
RESOURCES
LOGISTICAL (overall rail/roadway service)
FINANCIAL (USD) (includes defense spending budget)
GEOGRAPHIC

Cry me a River. Palestinian lies about Water Use Exposed

On June 15, 2011 The Jerusalem Post published an article written by the head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Dr. Shaddad Atilli blaming Israel for the water crisis in the Palestinian territories. Atilli claimed that Israel’s ‘discriminatory policies’ are to blame for the lack of water in Palestinian society. He claimed that Israel uses the Joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC) to delay and deny Palestinian water projects. He also wrote that Israel illegally exploits 90% of the shared water sources. Furthermore, he claimed that because of the Israeli theft of water and the destruction of water wells and treatment plants, people realize that the two-state solution is rapidly fading.

The article was reprinted and reposted in multiple sites, and has been used once again as a way of delegitimizng Israel. And once again, we learn that it is based on lies. It is the Palestinian authority that has been sabotaging efforts to create a local water infrastructure

From the JPOST written by Yochanan Visser , Director Missing Peace Information (an Israel-based PD organization operating in Belgium and the Netherlands), and publicist for the Dutch papers De Volkskrant, Het Vrije Volk and De Dagelijkse Standaard.

“...Recently our organization, Missing Peace, obtained authentic papers documenting meetings of the Joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC), and correspondence between Colonel Avi Shalev, head of the International relations branch of COGAT, and Dr.Atilli. These documents paint an entirely different picture.

Contrary to Atilli’s outrageous accusations, the Palestinian Authority has been sabotaging the two-state solution by preventing the development of an independent water infrastructure for the future Palestinian state.

Let’s examine some of the claims in Atilli’s article and compare them with the picture that emerges from the JWC and COGAT documents.

‘Israel delayed and vetoed Palestinian water projects,’ says Atilli.

First of all, article 40 (14) in the Oslo Accords clearly states that all JWC decisions about water projects in the West Bank need mutual agreement.

Once approved, JWC projects for the territories under Palestinian control (Areas A and B) do not need any further Israeli involvement.

Projects in Area C, where Israel is in control, need approval from the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA).

Since 2000 the PWA submitted 76 requests for permits to the office of the Civil Administration.
Subsequently 73 permits were issued by ICA and three denied because there was no master plan.

In a letter of June 8 2009, Shalev responded to Atilli’s complaint that ICA did not honor a PWA request to issue 12 of these permits. Shalev wrote that these permits had already been issued in 2001, and that ICA wondered why the PWA did not execute these projects.

Another 44 JWC-approved projects, the majority in Areas A and B, like the construction of a waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in Jenin that received approval in 2008 - have not been implemented. The German government even withdraw a plan to build a WWTP in Tulkarm when it concluded that the PWA could not handle the project.

When, back in November 2009, the PWA complained about a lack of funds, the Israeli government offered to finance water projects for Palestinian communities. The PA has yet to respond to this offer.

‘Israel allocates only 10% of the shared water sources to the Palestinians’ claims Atilli.

The water quota for the West Bank were mutually agreed upon in the Oslo Accords. As a result, 33% of the water in the aquifers under the West Bank is allocated to the Palestinians.

In 1993 the Palestinians could pump up 117 million cubic meters and Israel would provide an additional 31 million. In 2007 200 million cubic meters were allocated to the PA, of which Israel provided 51.8 million.

However, of those 200 million cubic meters, only 180 million were actually used.

The main reason for this is that the PWA did not implement projects in the Eastern aquifer that would have solved much of the Palestinian water crisis. More than half of the wells approved for exploitation of the Eastern aquifer have still not been drilled. The permits were issued in 2000.

In a letter written on April 4, 2001, the civil administration urged the PWA to execute these projects. A letter from June 8 2009 repeated that request.

Atilli also lied about Palestinian water consumption. In the JPost article he claimed that Palestinians are ‘limited to an average of just 60 liters.’ However, in 2009 his own PWA published a report that mentioned an average supply of 110 liters per capita per day.

Atilli’s level of chutzpa is best shown by his third claim, about Israel stealing water and destroying Palestinian water projects. In fact, Palestinians steal millions of cubic meters of water per year by drilling illegal holes into the water pipes of the Israeli water provider Mekorot. The Civil Authority fixes 600 of these illegal taps each year.

Furthermore, since 2008 Israel has asked the PA to re-establish the joint JSET water patrols that fought water theft before the El Aksa intifada.
The PA has refused.

Another reason for the loss of water is the poor maintenance of the Palestinian water infrastructure. A staggering 33% of the fresh water supply gets lost because of leaks, theft and poor maintenance.

Other documents provided solid evidence that the closing of 250 illegal wells was agreed upon in the JWC meetings. For example, minutes of the JWC meeting on November 13, 2007 show a consensus decision to destroy ‘illegal drillings and connections.’ Nevertheless, Atilli acted as if he never attended these meetings or co-signed the joint decisions.

He even had the gall to write urgent appeals to the international community as soon as ICA, after numerous appeals to the PWA to follow up on the agreed closure of illegal wells, finally closed those wells.

These are only few examples of the shocking way the Palestinian Authority neglected the basic needs of its citizens and cynically uses water as a weapon in a PR campaign against Israel. It shows that, contrary to reports dealing with progress in state building, the PA is far from ready for statehood."

He concludes:

"The stubborn refusal to work with Israel on mutual interests like improvement of the water infrastructure, and the way the PA subsequently uses that lack of improvement to demonize Israel, prove that the PA is not interested in the two-state solution, or peace.

In fact, the bid for UN recognition of a state without a peace agreement, and the way the PA deals with Israel regarding water are part of the same campaign. The goal of that campaign is, as Mahmoud Abbas pointed out in his infamous NYT op-ed, the continuation of the conflict by different means.

By now it has become clear that the use of water as weapon is one of those means.”


For more information on water use in Israel and the disputed territories see The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians

UPDATE:

Thanks Friends, for recommending this film on water use in Israel, made by American high School students

Remembering Gilad Shalit, around the World

From Rome:


From England:

Israel’s supporters came out in Trafalgar Square today to show sympathy with Israel as rockets continue to rain down from Gaza and to wish a happy 25th birthday to Gilad Schalit who is in his sixth year in isolation in Gaza having been kidnapped by Hamas from Israeli soil when he was 19.




To Berkeley, California, where activists from StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel set up a banner drop at the Pedestrian overpass on I 80.
(Yes, Virginia. There are Zionists in Berkeley )



Please let us know of other community actions, and we'll publicize them. Thanks

Activists Launch Twitter Campaign for Gilad Shalit’s 6th Birthday in Captivity

For those of you on Twitter:
A press release by the grassroots human rights campaign, #tweet4shalit:

Tweet for Shalit

"American human rights activists are launching a new social media campaign on Twitter to raise awareness of the plight of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The grassroots campaign, titled #Tweet4Shalit, hopes to rally thousands of tweeters on the week of Gilad Shalit’s 6th birthday in captivity.

“Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity for five years by the Hamas terrorist organization without a single visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross,” says Isaac Yerushalmi, creator of the campaign. “This contravenes international law. On his 5th consecutive birthday in Hamas captivity, Gilad is not able to tweet his wish for freedom, so we will.”

Gregg Roman, advisor at the Israeli Knesset says, “This is a great tool to remind everyone that Gilad is in the hands of the incredulous Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, and I tip my hat off to the creator for taking this initiative.”

The campaign is viral in nature, and if successful could lead to the trending of Gilad Shalit’s name on the popular social networking website, making it visible to millions of Twitter users."
The campaign website can be accessed at http://www.tweet4shalit.com.

For additional information and interviews, contact:

Isaac Yerushalmi
+972-52-798-7699
iyerushalmi@gmail.com
http://www.tweet4shalit.com

Andre Obler discusses this grassroots campaign at JPost

"The current Tweet4Shalit campaign is an example of grassroots activism by regular users. It uses well established techniques and is exactly two years behind the leading edge of modern online campaigning. Campaigns of this nature are far less newsworthy, and are also less likely to excite the technology enthusiasts who serve as catalysts for campaigns going viral. The secret to success in this type of a campaign is user friendliness and to eliminate all entry barriers. Tweet4Shalit.com does this very well. Follow a link to the site, and two clicks later, with no typing at all, you’ve left your mark. Success for such a campaign depends on grassroots activism and enthusiasm. It relies on many people putting in 10 seconds each, and on the nature of Twitter itself where the desired action also spreads the message to new potential participants."


Lets keep Gilad in peoples hearts and minds. Please tweet for Shalit. Thanks.

UPDATE

Free Gilad billboards have gone up throughout the coutry Have you spotted one? Send us a photo- we'll post it here.

Free Gilad billboard in NYC

Gilad Shalit Day San Francisco Aug 28 2010

Gilad Shalit was kidnapped over 5 years ago by Hamas in a cross-border raid that killed two of his fellow soldiers and wounded three others.

Since then, he has been deprived of his Geneva convention rights, and denied the right to Red Cross visitation, and to communicate with his family. Gilad Shalit turns 25 this Sunday, Aug 28. Mayor Edwin Lee of San Francisco has proclaimed Sunday "Gilad Shalit day"




Pray for Gilad Shalit written by Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar.
Psalm 70, 13, 142, and 126


"May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our fathers, that the verses of these psalms which we have read before You today will find favor and will be accepted before you as if spoken by King David, Your servant and anointed one.

May You do this for the sake of Your Holy Names that is written in them, alluded to and included within them. Accept mercifully and graciously our prayer and request. May our supplication come before You that You shall take pity, forgive and have mercy upon Your servant, the son of Your handmaiden,

Gilad, son of Aviva (Shalit)

And save him through both physical salvation and compassion, together with all the hostages and prisoners of Israel, Your People.

God, who liberates prisoners in good health, may You redeem him (Gilad) from his captors;
Bring him forth from captivity to freedom, from slavery to redemption, from darkness into light;
Restore him to complete health, both in mind and body;
Fortify his spirit and increase his strength, spreading happiness and joy;
So that he may be strengthened and healed, and know eternal happiness.

May the proliferation of public prayer, protest and grief on his behalf, far and wide, act on his behalf to protect, shield and redeem him from the house of his imprisonment.

And God will cast asunder his evil sentence that has been decreed, his good deeds shall be enumerated before the Almighty, blessed be God, including all that he has done and accomplished on behalf of our people and our inheritance. So shall God cast asunder his evil sentence through the Holy Name that is alluded to in the initials of the words "קבל רנת עמך שגבנו טהרנו נורא"; accept the delight of Your People, exalt us and purify us exceedingly.

May God fulfill for him the Biblical declaration, as it is written: And those redeemed by Adonai shall return and come to Zion in gladness, with eternal happiness on their heads; they shall know rejoicing and happiness; sorrow and grief shall fade. May this come to pass speedily in our days. Amen."


UPDATE:
Full text of the resolution

WHEREAS, the City of San Francisco has a long history of promoting human rights at the local, national and international level through the work of private citizens and governmnent with the ultimate goal to increase equalityu, eradicate discrimination, and to protect human rights for all people; and


WHEREAS, on June 26, 1945 the Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco - forming a new international organization with the stated objective "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" and "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights"; and

WHEREAS, this year marks the 5th anniversary of the capture and kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas; and

WHEREAS, during his captivity, Gilad Shalit has been denied basic human rights to communicate with his family or to receive visits from the International Community of the Red Cross; and

WHEREAS, today, on the occasion of Gilad Shalit's 25th birthday, we join with the United Nations, the REd Cross, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States Department of State in calling for his immediate release; and

WHEREAS, we express our support for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we call upon all parties to respect internatinoal humanitarian and human rights laws and to halt continuing violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that I, Edwin M. Lee, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, do hereby proclaim August 28, 2011 as...

Gilad Shalit Day
In San Francisco!

J STREET: MILDER THAN YOUR AVERAGE SAN FRANCISCO NUTBALL

This was the announcement sent out over a week ago by the local chapter of the "not particularly Zionist" conspiracy:

Join us August 23rd at 12:15 PM at the Crocker Galleria to show that a two-state solution has real support by marching together and delivering thousands of postcards signed by J Street members backing the President's vision of a two-state solution. Be a part of this national day of action with other J Street supporters from all over the Bay, and show your representatives and the entire country that you believe in a two-state solution!
We'll go from the Crocker Galleria to McKesson Plaza in front of Senator Feinstein's offices at 12:15 pm, then hold a program with guest speakers and more fun.
For more information, contact Molly Freeman at sfbayarea [at] jstreet [dot] org.

Event Location
Crocker Galleria
50 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94104


Fun! And guest speakers! Plus a controversial subject, bound to attract attention. What a ripping idea for mid-day in the middle of the week.
If you missed out on yesterday evening's rapid transit rumble, with the two ugly naked people, you can still get in on political mass-action.

Ein gonz kolossale idée, Batman, ba emmes!


TWO STATE SOLUTION? FAUGH!

Well, that assertion that there should be TWO states did not sit well with some people.
A day or two later I received this e-mail:

"The Zionist Lobby again is asserting its tentacle like grip on the American political system, advertising a rally on Tuesday Aug 23rd meeting at the Crocker Galleria (50 Post st, San Francisco) then marching to McKesson Plaza in front of Senator Feinstein's offices at 12:15 pm. They will claim they are for "Human rights" and for "peace".
Please join real human rights activists to remind the clueless members of the Israeli lobby that there can not be peace without justice.
Meet us at McKesson Plaza at 12. 1 Post Street San Francisco, right by BART
Use your lunch hour to tell the world that San Francisco will not be fooled by wolves in sheeps clothing, ever again.
Until Justice! Until return!"

No, shan't mention which organization sent that - they don't need to know that their mailing list includes moles, police officers, outer space aliens, Scientologists, or free masons.

They're paranoid enough already.


ATTENTION, SHEEPLE!

Well, J-street isn't, strictly speaking, my crowd. I'm on their mailing list, but that doesn't mean I sit at the same table.

But I decided that, seeing as their event was in the Financial District, it might be interesting.

Strolled over at 12:30.

Fifty four people.
Nobody I recognized.
Mostly middle-aged to far beyond retirement age.
A dozen with premade signs: “pro Israel, pro peace”, and “two countries now”.
Two speakers – neither very inspired, nor objectionable.
No counter demons.
Rather little attention from lunch-time passers-by.

Several construction workers drinking up the sun while seated on the steps of the Bart entrance nearby, completely indifferent to the quiet, restrained, unnoticeable bunch of people who looked like they were posing for a “class of 1958 – where are they now” photo.

After ten minutes I went off to do my own thing elsewhere.
No point in staying – none of the Jaynicks were going to throw rocks or loot stores. Even chanting seemed too improper.


I guess it’s just difficult to get a crowd together to scream out “we’re solidly wishy-washy and have rather bland thoughts!”


Still, better than playing canasta in the recreation lounge on a sunny day.



================================================================================
NOTE: Originally posted here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/08/j-street-milder-than-your-average-san.html.
Please feel free to share YOUR impression of J-Street.

California Divestment Campaign strikes out again

Oh, pity the poor California Divestment campaign. (or laugh at them behind their backs. We are fine with that, too) After failing miserable to get enough signatures to place their anti-Israel measure on the California ballot, (reports indicate that fewer than 5 % of the needed signatures were collected) they lowered the bar and decided to just try a plain old petition to pressure the state public retirement system CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest from companies doing business in Israel. After 5months, only 1600 people have signed on, the vast majority with no investments in either fund.

Welcome to the fairy tale world of the BDS movement. This lack of sucess hasn't prevented the California Divestment Campaign by crowing victory from the rooftops, bragging about hitting the milestone of less than .0001 % of eligible participants signing on to their campaign. Thats 1600 signatures, out of the 1.6 million CalPers fund participants.

In America, Boycotts, divestment and Sanctions BDS has a long and venerable record of abject failure. Way to go, California Divestment Campaign. May you continue to go from failure to failure.

This is getting to be a thing, with the Russians

Per CAMERA's Snapshot blog, there is some question about whether this is still up. I now find it 'edited'.

Adam Holland located it.

The Rev. Vicki Gray writes, for the Episcopal News Service:

“Almost amusingly, Rabbi Daniel Sperber of Tel Aviv's Bar-Ilan University reportedly told the conference not to worry … "the churches are full" thanks to Filipino guest workers and 50,000 Christians who have immigrated from the former Soviet Union. These latter "Christians," he failed to note, are for the most part Soviet "Jews" who have made aliyah to Israel and brought with them racist, fascist attitudes that have given rise to neo-Soviet policies that would discriminate against Palestinians and Filipinos alike and, in the process, threaten Israeli democracy.”

The date is late July of this year.

This casual bigotry against Russian Israelis is fascinating, isn't it? I'd ask what this stemmed from, but it's pretty clear what this stems from.

Disgusting.

Harriet Sherwood and the Russians

Remember Harriet Sherwood? The one with the felafel issues? She's back, and over at CIF, they're commenting on a piece she wrote for the Guardian about how the Russians are ruining Israel.

CIF points out, correctly, that Sherwood and her readers would probably be infuriated (and rightly so, in my eyes) at a journalist who broadly slurred a group of immigrants to Britain as damaging the country. Indeed, I've spent some time online myself, since the London riots, dealing with people who blame the whole thing on the West Indians, or the Muslims, or...well, mostly one of those two.

Yet, Harriet Sherwood – the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, who, no doubt, fancies herself a multiculturalist who is free of such narrow-minded anti-immigrant bias – saw fit in her most recent post, “Israel’s former Soviet immigrants transform adopted country“, Aug. 17, to blame Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) for moving the country in a dangerous direction.

Sherwood’s piece blames “The million-plus citizens of the former Soviet Union who immigrated to Israel in the past 20 years” for causing a housing crisis, being resistant to integrating into Israeli society, and bringing with them Russian political values inconsistent with democracy, tolerance and compromise.

Now, just imagine if something similar was written about the injurious effects of immigration to the UK on traditional British culture, and substitute the word “Muslims” for “Russians” to get a sense of the supreme moral hypocrisy at play here.

Luckily, we get a rejoinder, from Anastasia Couzminski, one of those unintegrated Russians, who has this to say:

Hello CiF watch,

As a regular reader of your blog and one of those annoying Russians that “integrated little” in Israel, I couldn’t let this article pass. This is personal.

I am beyond furious at [Harriet Sherwood's] article!

[What she says about Russians] couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

As an immigrant who’s been living here most of my life, I consider myself to be 110% ISRAELI and not Russian or Kazakh (I was born in the republic of Kazakhstan).

My mother is Jewish but I have many friends whose mother are in fact non-Jewish but are similarly supremely dedicated to this country.

It is absolute rubbish that immigrants integrated little and live mostly in “Russian enclaves”.

Many such “unintegrated Russians” are married to “Sabras” (Israelis who were born in Israel), give their kids Israeli names and many even refuse to speak Russian anymore.

This LIE [regarding the] lack of integration is evident everywhere.

I, as with most of the “unintegrated Russians”, have served in the army and, in fact, many of these “unintegrated Russian” young men go to become fighters and officers in the army and fight and DIE side by side with Israel-born soldiers!

We study all together in schools and universities and despite there being “Russian” hang-out places, it is SIMPLY NOT TRUE that [non-Russian] Israelis are NOT wanted there. The FIB that Russians created a housing problem is [also simply not true]. Russians did not come to parasite on this country. They finished “Ulpan” (Hebrew classes for immigrants) and right away began searching for jobs. They can now be found in every single workplace including hospitals, courts, and the media (NOT ONLY Russian media).

The fact that Harriet Sherwood makes a point of singling out Russians is a total double standard. And the following quote by the Russian-hating Israeli journalist, whom [Sherwood] must have had to dig out from some very dark place, which claims “…alienation between Russian immigrants and native-born Israelis [exist because] there is not much social interaction” is also simply not true.

Most of my friends are Israelis, many of my friends are married to Israelis, we party, travel and do everything together! And the older generation is the same.

In short, [Sherwood] evidently didn’t have anything to report about and found, in the much maligned Russian community, a convenient target and scapegoat.

Sincerely,

Anastasia

Watching anti-Israel writers deal with the phenomenon of immigration to Israel from the FSU has been rather interesting. They see them as a single group, of course, and the information that not all of the Russians are Ashkenazi, or from Russia, often appears to baffle them. (Jews from Kazhakstan? Huh?) Mostly, though, they appreciate the Russians, even as they bash them, because the Russian olim reinforce what the anti-Israel crowd wants to see, in their own minds, that is. They see the Russians as 'white', and 'intolerant' because of their Soviet background. (Odd, from people who insisted, while it was still standing, that the USSR was a bastion of tolerance.) This saves them, once again, from having to examine the multicultural nature of Israeli society, or from examining other groups in the country too closely. The Mizrahim and Sephardim from Arab countries are a particular problem for the anti-Israel pundit, one they generally solve by publicly 'supporting' them as victims of Israeli racism, but not actually caring to know anything about their history, their existence as Israelis, or their political opinions.

Museum of Childrens Art in Oakland to host Anti-Israel art fair

Coming to a city near you. The latest in Palestinian propaganda, in the guise of "childrens art" is traveling, with drawings specially selected to demonize the Worlds only Jewish state. The next stop is the Oakland California Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA), where this collection is being promoted by the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) and is marketed to children from kindergarten through 8th grade.


Parents of 5 years olds. Do you really want your children subject to images like these? When you sign a permission slip allowing your child to go on a field trip to MOCHA, is this what you expect? Teachers- how will you explain the anti-Semitic and anti-American imagery to your kindergartners?





Notice the use of Jewish stars in the "art" turning this from simply a chronicle of childrens experiences during war, into a demonization of Jewish state. The anti-American imagery provides a nice touch, too.

The Children of Sderot, just a mile from the Gaza border are truly living under siege, suffering from daily missile attacks. Indeed, there are common threads in the drawings, yet the Israeli children manage to convey the horrors of war without the use of anti-Islamic imagery.







To the Museum of Childrens Art, the staff, board and the individuals and foundations that support MOCHA:
This exhibit is without context and balance, and includes anti-Semitic and anti-American imagery. By allowing your facilities to be used in this manner, you are presenting an incomplete picture, creating heat without light and contributing to the vast pool of lies misinformation on the conflict in the Middle East. This is an inappropriate use of a treasured local resource.

Demonizing Israel for Fun and Profit

From Arutz Sheva
"Are Israel's leftists pure ideologues or guns for hire? Yotam Feldman, who was born into the leftist camp – his father is liberal lawyer Avigdor Feldman – believes the latter.

In a Hebrew language post at the "Eretz HaEmori" blog, Feldman says that in his life, he has witnessed how Israel's "human rights movement" became a source of income for its activists. He relates how his father's old Subaru "gradually turned" into a BMW, and how the family moved from a rented apartment in Yafo to a spacious Tel Aviv apartment. "

He continues:

"It is a well known but seldom stated fact that a very large part of the leftist activists in Tel Aviv earn their salaries in different ways from the human rights branch. Many of the prominent – and often most vocal – activists in the demonstrations are paid spokespeople, PR people, producers and organizers and of course, lawyers who man the tip of the pyramid in these groups."

"This is a pretty confusing situation because when you are standing in a demonstration or even just engaging in idle talk, it is not clear if the person next to you is expressing his opinion as a result of inner conviction or as an inseparable part of his job…

"Therefore, if it were not for the plethora of neo-colonialist European Union initiatives for solving disputes, safeguarding human rights and establishing good governance, it is likely that many of my acquaintances would find themselves without an income."

This is probably why leftist groups are so concerned about proposed committees of inquiry into the sources of their NGOs' funding."

Out of Africa

The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 60 years, with an estimated 11.6 million people needing urgent humanitarian aid. Over 2.3 million children are estimated to be malnourished , with over half a million severely malnourished children at imminent risk of death. Tens of thousands of people have died and many more lives are at risk.

And a relief convoy just passed through the region without stopping, on its way to bring aid to Gaza.

From CNN

A humanitarian land convoy heading to Gaza from South Africa reached Port Sudan, Sudan on the Red Sea Wednesday and is destined to become the first relief mission to Gaza from Africa.
"I was inspired last year by the convoys that went to Gaza from Europe, so we asked ourselves; why not from Africa?" said Sheikh Walid al-Saadi of the South African Relief Agency (SARA).

Why not Africa? This is why:

From the CIA Factbook on Somalia:
Infant mortality in Somalia total: 105.56 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy in Somalia total population: 50.4 years

From the CIA factbook on Gaza
Infant mortality total: 17.12 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy total population: 73.92 years

Child in East Africa

Child in Gaza

The ten trucks, explained al-Saadi, left Durban, South Africa on June 26 and has passed through seven countries including Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan

In a bringing coal to Newcastle moment, this convoy is rolling past the truly needy in Africa, to Gaza, a region with an obesity rate, according to UNRWA of 30-40%. A region where luxury hotels, malls and cinemas have just been built. This is an unconscionable evil, orchestrated by the South African Relief Agency (SARA), and enabled by the selfish and narcissistic regime in Gaza. Visit the SARA facebook page. Let them know how you feel about this. www.facebook.com/africa.to.gaza.aid.convoy

NY Times has provided a list for Helping Victims of the East Africa Famine. And do not allow the Palestinians' well oiled PR machine to distance and distract you from the real need in this world.

UPDATE

From Ma'an

A solidarity group from South Africa arrived in Gaza Thursday evening, for a four-day visit they have called "Freedom for detainees."

The group brought 10 trucks of medical and humanitarian supplies, entering through the southern Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

With all the publicity regarding the utter hypocrisy of taking aid out of Africa, the group has kept their arrival in Gaza fairly low key. Publicity stunt fail

Thank you, Arlen Schumer. Captain Israel kicks Foreskins Mans' ,er, Butt

Thank you Arlen Schumer, creator of Captain Israel, who has triumphs over the anti-Semitic Foreskin man!
From the ADL

"The comic book portrays mohels -- those specially trained to perform the traditional Jewish circumcision ceremony -- as rapacious, bloodthirsty and bent on harming children. Some of the imagery calls to mind age-old anti-Semitic canards such as the blood libel, the accusation that Jews ritually murder Christian children. Another comic in the series also calls up more subtle anti-Jewish themes, such as when a character complains that the "pro-circumcision lobby" has "all of the well-connected doctors and lawyers."


Great commentary from John Shore Love his tag line: "Trying God's patience since 1958"

"I met Mr. Schumer during my adventures at Comic-Con. In the audience of our panel discussion, he afterwards politely came up to me and proffered his eight-page, lavishly illustrated comic book before quietly going on his way.

The next day, having read the fine print inside Captain Israel, I googled Mr. Schumer’s name, and from there learned about MGMbill.org, the “intactivists” out there vigilantly fighting for the rights of infant boys to one day have their dicks look as long as possible, and, of course, the handsomely blonde Foreskin Man, who might as well have a swastika on his chest instead of that Bat-Butt thing he’s now sporting.

As I hope is already obvious, what fuels MGMbill.org is good old-fashioned antisemitism.

I was never a big fan of Captain America; I just can’t get excited about what amounts to Captain Geopolitical Entity. And my first thought upon seeing Captain Israel was that a comic book from Bizzaro World had accidentally fallen into ours.

Without in any way referencing to the whole Jewish-Palestinian issue, I would just like to say, on behalf of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in WWII: Go, Captain Israel. Go.

And fuck you, Matthew Hess."


And the other good news:

A Superior Court judge ordered that the proposed measure, which had initially made it onto the November 8 city ballot, be removed entirely. Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi wrote that male circumcision is "a widely practiced medical procedure" and that medical services are left to the regulation of the state, not individual cities.