“If you love the bubbles, set them free”

The BDS’ers are just livid over the success of Sodastream.

According to a mean estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, SodaStream sales rose 37 percent last year to $425 million. The homemade soda machine is now available in stores as diverse as Sur la table, Walmart and the eclectic Cliff’s Variety, in San Francisco.

And the BDSer’s are fighting back.  They’ve responded with  lame song and dance routines. Biting shopkeepers. Petitions.  And now- they are releasing their ultimate weapon.  Tremble before it.
Twitter.
Yes, Twitter.

This is just pitiful.

Having failed to coerce CBS into dropping a 30 second ad from Sodastream, to be broadcast during the 4th quarter of the Super bowl the BDS holes are turning to Twitter

 “Tweeting turns out to be one of our best ways to counter the millions they've spent on the ad. If you Tweet, or would be willing to learn, you could help immeasurably.  For your own tweeting, consider these hashtags: #SodaStreamParty and #BoycottSodaStream.”

Yeah, that’ll show them....

Turned out the Sodastream commercial’s controversy extended way beyond the BDS movement.  The scheduled clip was dropped by CB, who felt it portrayed Pepsi and Coke, two huge sponsors, in a negative light. A different commercial will be shown.

What do you think?



“If you love the bubbles, set them free”

If you are having a Super bowl party, send us photos of how your Soda stream enhances the experience, and tweet them out using the #Sodastreamparty hashtag. Have some fun with it

And yeah, the 49'ers are going to kick butt on Sunday.

Obama is Jazzed about the New Egypt

Mike L.

{Cross-posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.}

Jonathan Tobin has a piece up at Commentary entitled, Why Is Obama Bragging About Egypt?

I, for one, think that is an excellent question.  Discussing Obama and Clinton's recent 60 Minutes joint interview, he writes:

The real headline out of the interview ought to center on the following remark by the president in response to a rather soft question about his “lead from behind” strategy in the Middle East:

President Obama: Well, Muammar Qaddafi probably does not agree with that assessment, or at least if he was around, he wouldn’t agree with that assessment. Obviously, you know, we helped to put together and lay the groundwork for liberating Libya. You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there.

Let me get this straight. President Obama is not merely bragging about a conflict in Libya that led to chaos not only in that country that produced the murders of four Americans including our ambassador. He is also saying that he thinks he positively impacted the outcome of the power struggle in Egypt over the last two years and actually thinks his “leadership” helped create a situation about which we are happy. So what he’s telling us is that he’s not merely pleased with what he did or didn’t do, but that he thinks the current situation in Cairo in which the most populous Arab country is now run by a Muslim Brotherhood government led by a raving anti-Semite is a good thing about which he can brag on national TV.

It's dumbfounding, really.

Barack Obama is so detached from reality that he is willing to actually take credit for the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  I hardly know what to say, it's so ridiculous.  Ever since the Brotherhood came into power Obama's Jewish-Left supporters kept telling us that the administration really had little to do with their success in Egypt and, besides, they came to power through electoral means, so what can anyone do?

But now we have Obama, himself, actually taking a measure of credit for the Islamist Egyptian revolution.  The guy is happy about it.  The Muslim Brotherhood is an enemy of the United States and, yet, the American president feels satisfied that through his "leadership" they were able to come into power in the most important Arab-Muslim country in the entire region.

Y'know, it was only a few days ago that Laurie said to me, "Jeez, don't you ever get writer's block?  I've never seen you write so much."  And I told her something like, "It's got nothing to do with me.  I just read the Jewish and Israeli press and there is always, but always, something remarkably stupid going on."

So, Barack Obama has gone on national television, on 60 Minutes no less, and has taken credit for the rise of the most anti-Semitic organization on the planet in Egypt.  It's incredible and I continue to insist that Barack Obama is not nearly so intelligent as they tell us he is.  He was foolish enough to promote the so-called "Arab Spring" to begin with, but to now take credit for the Brotherhood in Egypt?

I'm telling you guys, if Obama ran stark-naked through the streets of Tel Aviv waving a Nazi flag and blasting Wagner from his iphone, Jewish "progressives" would still support the guy.

Jewish students threatened at UC Davis event

From an open letter by Tammi Benjamin, of the AMCHA Initiative sent to UC President Mark Yudof, the UC Regents , the UC Chancellors,UC General Counsel Charles Robinson ,UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal) ,UC Davis Counsel Steven Drown,California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez ,California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson ,California State Senator Lois Wolk (Davis) ,California State Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (Davis) ,Congressman John Garamendi (3rd District) and members and supporters of the Jewish community



From: Tammi Benjamin
Subject: Jewish students threatened at UC Davis event

Dear Chancellor Katehi,

As you know, we are faculty members at the University of California, who have been investigating and documenting anti-Jewish bigotry on California public university campuses for the last several years.

We are writing to you now to express our serious concern regarding an incident that occurred during a student protest on November 19, 2012, during which UCD students “occupied” an administration building on campus. We believe that numerous violations of state and federal law and university policy may have occurred at the event. To our knowledge, your administration has neither acknowledged nor addressed these violations.

In addition, it appears that at least 5 university administrators, including the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, were present and witnessed much of this behavior, yet they did not take action to ensure the safety of the students who were targets of possible assault and hate crimes. Please see below for an account of the events as well as the federal and state laws and university policies which were potentially violated as a result of them.

Detailed Account of Events

Takeover of Dutton Hall

We have learned the following from newspaper articles, on-line videos, and conversations with Jewish students who attended the rally on the East Quad and the subsequent "occupation" of Dutton Hall.

At 12:30pm on November 19, a rally entitled "March in Solidarity with Gaza," sponsored by the Graduate Student Association, began on the East Quad. (See HERE for an announcement of the rally).

At approximately 2pm, about 40 of the protesters marched from the East Quad to Dutton Hall, where they hung a larger banner that read "DAVIS+GAZA ARE ONE FIST" from the building's entryway and "occupied" the building's entrance hall. Several protesters held anti-Israel and anti-Zionist signs and large banners, two of which read "DEATH TO ZIONISM" and "LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!"

The occupation leaders refused entry to Jewish students who were known to identify with the Jewish state, and at least one Jewish student associated with a pro-Israel group on campus reported that when he tried to enter Dutton Hall at the beginning of the "occupation," a rally organizer physically blocked his entry through the front doors and refused to let him pass, because he was a "Zionist."

At about 2:15pm, three Jewish students managed to slip into Dutton Hall, and one of them proceeded to film the discussion taking place inside the "occupied" entrance hall. Although a chief complaint of the "occupiers" was that pro-Palestinian students were being stifled on campus and not afforded their constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of speech, nevertheless, several times in the 20 minutes of the rally captured on video, the "occupiers" themselves expressed the sentiment that "Zionists," including pro-Israel students at UCD, should not be given freedom of speech. For example, when a Jewish student wanted to know whether free speech could involve a civil discussion between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian perspectives, the leader answered, "I would say absolutely not. I would never discuss anything with Hitler. He is our enemy...there's no question of free speech when it comes to the Nazis. And the KKK, when they march in Sacramento and the cops defend them...you should not talk to these white supremacist, racist, mother-fuckers."

Escalation of the Protest

At about 2:30pm the rally leader said, "I just want everyone to know that there are Zionists filming everything we’re saying, and I think we should ask them to leave." Several protesters demanded that the Jewish students leave the public building, loudly chanting “Leave our space” and “Shame on you” repeatedly, and accusing the Jewish students of “hate speech” because of their support for Israel
After the Jewish student stopped filming, most of the 40 protesters surrounded the Jewish students, who were standing up against a wall of windows, and screamed "Death to Israel," "Fuck Israel," and other curses. For about 10 minutes the protesters, many of whom stood 1 to 2 feet away from the Jewish students, continued to scream at the Jewish students to leave Dutton Hall and pounded their fists into their hands in a threatening way. Although the Jewish students were not physically harmed, they reported feeling physically and emotionally harassed and threatened until they finally managed to leave the building.

When an Aggie photographer who had photographed the confrontation inside the hall followed the Jewish students outside for comments and contact information, protesters at the rally turned on him and demanded to see his photos of the physical confrontation and that he delete them. Aggie staff members were also told by protesters that unless they were on the side of the "occupiers," they would also have to leave the administration building.

See article written by an Aggie staff member HERE. In the article, the staff member asserts, “We witnessed many students…[end] up leaving, disgusted, as soon as the bullying began. Free speech is crucial. Ideally, our campus would be rife with protests, counter-protests and open dialogue regularly. But if students are scared to speak — scared of other students who resort to intimidation tactics — we have a serious problem.”

At approximately 2:45pm, after a student in Dutton Hall expressed disagreement with one of the protest signs, a protester grabbed his collar, raised his fist and forced the student to leave the building.

UCD and Staff Member Witnesses of Event

According to a student outside of Dutton Hall at the time of the "occupation," 3 UCD administrators (the Vice Chancellor and 2 Associate Vice Chancellors of Student Affairs) and 2 staff members associated with the Center for Student Involvement were right outside the building during the "occupation." According to one of the 3 Jewish students surrounded by protesters inside Dutton Hall, since she and her friends were standing against a bank of windows which were in full view of those standing outside, she believed the 5 administrators and staff members could see them being harassed and intimidated by the mob of protesters.

The administrators and staff standing outside did nothing to help the 3 Jewish students, but when they exited the building, one of the administrators asked one of the students if she was OK, which suggests that the administrator had witnessed the violent behavior of the protestors but did not take action. The Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, who it appears also witnessed the protestors’ behavior toward the Jewish students, spoke earlier that afternoon at the rally on the East Quad, where she was quoted as saying: “I will not permit violence to occur in the context of free speech.” There were no other administrators, staff or faculty present at the rally inside Dutton Hall, and at no time did any campus police appear in or near the hall.

Violations of Federal, State, and University Policy

We would like to bring to your attention the following aspects of this deeply troubling series of events:

1) We believe that incidents of this sort have the potential to create liability under the following legal authority:

Civil assault (Restatement 2d, Torts §21) - "An actor is subject to liability to another for assault if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with a person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and (b) the other is thereby put in such imminent apprehension."

Civil battery (Restatement 2d, Torts §13,18) - "An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with a person, and (b) harmful or offensive contact with the person directly results."

Criminal assault (CA Penal Code 240) - Assault is "an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another." To be charged with criminal assault, physical contact is not required. A person must simply place another in reasonable fear of immediate bodily harm.

Criminal battery (CA Penal Code 242) - Battery is "any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another."

Disturbing the peace (CA Penal Code 415(3) - It is illegal to “…maliciously and willfully disturb another person by loud and unreasonable noise…[and to] use offensive words in a public place which are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.” In other words, it is illegal to use “offensive words” that “necessarily invite a breach of the peace.”

CA Civil Code 51.7 “The Ralph Civil Rights Act” - "All persons within the jurisdiction of this state have the right to be free from any violence, or intimidation by threat of violence, committed against their persons or property because of their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or position in a labor dispute, or because another person perceives them to have one or more of those characteristics."

CA Civil Code 52.1 “The Bane Civil Rights Act” - "If a person or persons, whether or not acting under color of law, interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any individual or individuals of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or of the rights secured by the Constitution or laws of this state, the Attorney General, or any district attorney or city attorney may bring a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief in the name of the people of the State of California, in order to protect the peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the right or rights secured."

CA Penal Code 422.6 - "No person, whether or not acting under color of law, shall by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten any other person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him or her by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States in whole or in part because of one or more of the actual or perceived characteristics of the victim."

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – Prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance.

2) We believe the protesters' behavior may have violated the following UC Davis policies and principles:

UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.06 - prohibiting the “unauthorized possession…of any University properties.”

UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.08 - prohibiting “physical assault, including threats of violence, or other conduct that threatens the health or safety of a person.”

UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.09 - prohibiting racial and other forms of harassment, defined as “conduct that is so severe…objectively offensive, and so substantially impairs a person’s access to University programs or activities, that the person is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities on the basis of his or her race…national or ethnic origin, alienage, religion…or perceived membership in any of these classifications.”

UC Policies Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations and Students (PACAOS) Section 30 - “The University is committed to assuring that all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, assembly, and worship…It is the responsibility of the Chancellor to assure an ongoing opportunity for the expression of a variety of viewpoints.”

UC Davis Policies and Procedures Manual Ch. 270 Section 05(C) - “The University prohibits illegal, arbitrary, or unreasonable discriminatory practices. Campus organizations receiving University privileges, assistance, or supervision must abide by the University’s policy on nondiscrimination to qualify for any University privileges or assistance.”

UC Davis Policies and Procedures Manual Ch. 270 Section 20 - Public expression in the form of freedom of speech and advocacy may be exercised on University properties at such times and places and in such a manner as is compatible with the use of the property and as follows: 1) Assures orderly conduct; 2) Avoids disruption or interference with University operations; 3) Allows for the free flow of persons and traffic; 4) Avoids disruption or interference with the ability of the University to carry out its responsibilities as an educational institution; 5) Protects the rights of all individuals who use University properties; 6) Protects persons against practices that would make them involuntary audiences; 7) Assures the safety of all members of the University community; 8) Does not interfere with property entrances or exits.

UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs Statement on Free Expression - “Efforts to quell unpopular opinions (e.g., by shouting down a speaker) stifle discourse and cut off dialogue…Even legal acts of intolerance and incivility erode our capacity to trust, and to work, live, and learn together...We can uphold both the need for respect and understanding and the right of free speech by responding appropriately to each incident. Crimes must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent, and infringement of civil rights must be addressed by campus administrative processes and/or state or federal agencies. Discriminatory acts or violations of campus conduct standards, including disruption, are subject to disciplinary sanctions or grievances.”

UC Davis Principles of Community - “strives to maintain a climate of justice marked by respect for each other….affirms the right of freedom of expression…and commitment to the highest standards of civility and decency towards all…recognizing the right of every individual to think and speak as dictated by personal belief, to express any idea, and to disagree with or counter another's point of view… promoting open expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity and respect.” In addition UC Davis vows to “confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on race, ethnicity…religious or political beliefs, status…or any of the other differences among people which have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension or hatred…striving to build a true community based on mutual respect and caring."

3) We believe the UCD administrators and staff members who witnessed the illegal and unethical behavior of the protestors but did not take action may have been negligent in carrying out their administrative responsibilities:

The Vice Chancellor and 2 Associate Vice Chancellors of Student Affairs who witnessed the "occupation" are responsible for Student Judicial Affairs, whose role is to enforce community standards and campus codes of conduct. As noted above, the protestors were in blatant violation of several UC policies which have the primary goal of ensuring student safety. Evidence points to the fact that the administrators were aware of most, if not all, of these violations, and that student safety was being threatened as a result of their inaction.

Two staff members from the UCD Center for Student Involvement witnessed the "occupation." CSI avows that it promotes the UC Davis Principles of Community, which affirm the right of freedom of expression within the Davis community and its commitment to the highest standards of civility and respect, by helping students learn from each other in a safe and constructive environment. However, during the solidarity rally, the protestors were in blatant violation of the Principles of Community in addition to violating 7 UCD students’ rights of free expression. Protestors also failed to treat these students with civility and respect. The staff members from this department did not ensure a safe and constructive environment for students when they failed to intervene during a student group’s assault, harassment and violation of fellow students’ rights.

Outcome of the Events

Jewish UCD students, within sight of UCD administrators and on public university property, were harassed, intimidated, and physically threatened. This is an abrogation of university policy and unlawful.

We are deeply concerned about the virulent and hate-filled actions taking place on the UCD campus as a result of students’ religion and beliefs. And we are also concerned for the safety and well-being of Jewish students who want to feel free to express their beliefs and attend public university events without fear of harm or intimidation.

As the Chancellor of UC Davis, we know that you too have these same concerns.

As a result, the following are important actions that we urge you to take now in order to protect the physical and emotional safety and civil rights of Jewish (and all) students on your campus:

University policy must spell out actions that campus police, administrators, and staff are responsible for taking to ensure the safety and civil rights of all students, and we urge that this policy be published widely to the campus community.

Police, administrators, and staff must be immediately informed about actions they should take and protocols they can access to afford all members of the campus community — including Jewish students — the protections that are afforded to them under University policy and state and federal law.

Perpetrators of disruptive and threatening behavior must be identified and appropriately disciplined.

The University Chancellor should use her First Amendment rights to consistently and publicly condemn behavior which targets other students for harassment and intimidation.

The official status and funding of student groups that engage in behavior which targets other students for harassment and intimidation should be subject to suspension and revocation.

We look forward to hearing from you whether these steps can be taken to ensure that Jewish UCD students – and all UCD students – can enjoy a campus where they feel safe, protected, and able to enjoy their civil rights no matter their identity or beliefs.

You will be receiving a copy of this letter by U.S. mail.

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative

Scholars for Peace in the Middle east present: Is Peace Possible Between the Israelis and Palestinians?

It’s been almost 20 years since the Oslo Peace Accords, and we are nowhere closer to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the rise of Islamist movements in the region, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the prospect of peace looks even more bleak. Yet many people living in Israel believe that peace is still possible. This panel will address these complexities as well as the dream of what peace might look like even now amid the turmoil throughout the Arab world.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has dragged on for more than half a century. The Oslo peace process, initiated with such high hopes in 1993, lurched to a halt, particularly in the last two years when direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations broke off. Now, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is trying an entirely new approach. On September 23, 2011, he applied to the UN Security Council for Palestine to be admitted as the 194th UN member state.

The panel of scholars will discuss the pros, cons, and impact of this approach. Is it a breakthrough or a setback for peace? Will the UN Security Council approve the application? How will that change facts on the ground and about the peace process? If the Security Council rejects the application, what impact will that have on Palestinian hopes for a state and on peace efforts?

Come hear from and discuss the ramifications of this effort with scholars who are experts in the field.

Donna Robinson Divine
Professor at Smith College, teacher of Middle East Politics and other courses, author of four scholarly books and numerous articles.

Dr. Jonathan Adelman
Professor, University of Denver, author or editor of more than 12 books about international affairs.

Dr. Asaf Romirowsky
Acting Executive
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Middle East analyst Asaf Romirowsky is an adjunct scholar at the Foundation for Defense for Democracies and the Middle East Forum. Dr. Romirowsky got his start in the policy world as a research fellow at the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank headed by scholar Daniel Pipes.

Dr. Richard Cravatts
President
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Dr. Cravatts has published over 350 articles, op-ed pieces, columns, and chapters in books on campus anti-Semitism; campus free speech; terrorism; Constitutional law; Middle East politics, real estate, and social policy; and he is the author of the forthcoming book, Genocidal Liberalism: The University’s War Against Israel & Jews.

Schedule

UC Davis • Rock Hall
7:30 PM—Monday, January 28
Aggies for Israel

Stanford University • Hillel: Koret Pavilion
7:30 PM—Wednesday, January 30
Stanford Israel Alliance

UC Berkeley • 210 Wheeler Hall
8:00 PM—Tuesday, January 29
Tikvah Students for Israel

UC Santa Cruz • SC Hillel
7:30 PM—Thursday, January 31
Santa Cruz Israel Action Committee

The Myth of Palestinian Non-Violence 5 broken Cameras exposed

 Hen Massig was in the IDF for nearly five years. As a lieutenant in  COGAT , he worked as an intermediary between the Israeli Defense Forces (the IDF) and the Palestinian Authority (the PA), the UN, and the many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work in the West Bank. Hen's unit was responsible for overseeing the construction of medical facilities, schools, environmental projects, roads, water-related infrastructure, and for security coordination with the Palestinian Security Forces, part of the Palestinian Authority.   Hen will be touring Northern California during the next few months speaking at universities, churches and civic organizations
 
From StandWithUs:

Palestinian ‘Non-Violent’ Demonstrations and a 6th Broken Camera

By Hen Mazzig
January 24, 2012
 

I had been in Seattle and the U.S. only a few days when I heard that Palestinian Iyad Burnat, brother of the filmmaker of the Oscar-nominated feature documentary, “5 Broken Cameras,” would be speaking about the “non-violent” nature of Palestinian demonstrations. I knew I had to attend the event.

I had met Iyad five years earlier when I was a young Israeli soldier, an 18-year-old who had just started my service in the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF]. The IDF knew there would be a demonstration against Israel’s security fence near Ramallah, a Palestinian city in the West Bank. The IDF wanted someone who spoke Arabic to mediate between the demonstrators and the IDF soldiers and minimize the chances of any physical altercations. Since I speak Arabic, I was chosen for this task.

As soon as I arrived at the Palestinian town, I encountered Iyad Burnat who was leading the demonstration. I tried to speak with him again and again, and ask him to stop what was becoming a violent riot. I told him there are other ways to protest and that talking with each other would work better than clashing with the IDF. In response, he shoved me to the ground and the crowd cheered. Soon after, the Palestinian demonstrators began hurling rocks and stones. One broke the jaw of a friend of mine, a fellow IDF soldier. He was forced to stay in the hospital for three weeks until he recovered.

Now, five years later, on January 13, 2013, I saw Iyad again at his presentation in Seattle. I was unfamiliar with the sponsoring groups, Jewish Voice for Peace [JVP] and Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights [SUPER], but thought that they might want the audience to hear what I had to say, even if they disagreed with me.

I sat quietly while Iyad talked. His presentation was full of lies, demonization of Israel and of Israel’s army, false accusations, and deception. Hard as it was to do, I listened politely to his hate speech. It was even harder to sit still through his pictures and video clips of soldiers being pushed and injured, accompanied by overly dramatic music common in action and horror films. It hurt me to hear the audience laugh every time an Israeli soldier fell down, and to see that the film had been edited to make it seem that the IDF abused the demonstrators. From personal experience, I knew that the provocations and violence that forced the IDF to act were omitted.

When Iyad opened the floor to questions, I waited patiently for others to speak. Only one person asked a question and, after some silence, I took my turn and stood up. I asked Iyad if he recognized me. As I had expected, he said he did not. I told Iyad and the audience about the first time we met and how he had shoved me and how his demonstrators had broken the jaw of a fellow soldier who was my friend. I told them about another similar “non-violent” demonstration when Palestinians threw rocks and severely injured a young soldier who lost his eye. I asked Iyad, “How can you call these non-violent protests?”

I then brought out my photo of one of Iyad’s demonstrations which showed five masked Palestinians with big rocks in their hands, preparing to hurl them at Israeli soldiers.

When I was in mid-sentence, a young man in the audience began screaming at me. He was probably in his early 20’s and wore a “Free Palestine” T-shirt. When I had spoken about the injured Israeli soldiers, he shouted, “Good. I’m glad. They deserved it.” Then he began yelling, “Get this f-g F-ING Zionist out of here.” Another Israeli in the audience stood up and told him to let me speak. But the young man continued his vulgar tirade, demanding that “Zionists” be removed from the room. I attempted to calm him, reassuring him that I had come to start a dialogue and that there was no need for such hostility....

Hen concludes:

This event was my introduction to the battle against Israel and its supporters in the U.S. I was shocked and saddened by the hatred and lies of anti-Israel propagandists in the U.S. and by the aggressive effort to silence me, my perspective, and the facts. The Burnats and their film are indeed about “broken cameras” but their cameras were not “broken” by the IDF . Rather, the filmmakers distorted their camera lens. They manipulated reality to create a fractured vision that omits all context and is no more than raw anti-Israel propaganda.

Pease read his entire report here

Palestinian Child Abuse

 "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.  "
                                           Nelson Mandela

Still think Israel has a partner for peace?

Life magazine documented the Palestinians use of child soldiers as early as 1970. Not much has changed since then. This week, over  3,000 Palestinian teenagers graduated from a Hamas military training program in the Gaza Strip.

Students were taught such life skills as climbing down buildings on ropes, jumping through obstacle courses and crawling under barbed wire. Older students were trained to use light weapons. All Gaza High schools offer terror training as an elective. 

 From the Times of Israel:

“My officer taught me the values of courage, sacrifice and love of jihad, as well as some battle tactics,” said Radwan Wasfi, 15, whose black-painted face dripped with sweat after going through a drill. “I feel that I can free my energy in a good way. I can do for real what I do in video games.”

Hamas’s prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who attended the ceremony held at a soccer stadium, said he had ordered his education minister to establish a full-time military college to open next September.

Do you have any doubt that these young Jihadis will be used as cannon fodder during the next skirmish with Israel, simply so the Hate Israel cru can shed their crocodile tears regarding "children" killed in the conflict?

Obama Arming Genocidal Egyptian Islamists

Mike L.

{Cross-posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.}

U.S. gift of F-16 fighters headed to Egypt, despite Morsi's harsh rhetoric

Four F-16 fighter jets left the U.S. this morning, bound for Egypt as part of a foreign aid package critics say should have been scrapped when the nation elected a president who has called President Obama a liar and urged that hatred of Jews be instilled in children. 

A source who works on the Naval Air Force Base in Dallas confirmed the departure of the state-of-the-art fighter planes to FoxNews.com. Sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks are to be given to the Egyptian government before the end of the year under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010 with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally.

I wonder what it will take for Obama's Jewish supporters to finally yank their heads from the sand and realize just how bad this president is for the Jewish State of Israel and, thus, for the Jewish people more generally?

When Obama helped install the Muslim Brotherhood into power in Egypt it's possible that he was ignorant of the nature of the organization, believing it be of a moderate and peaceful nature.  Of course, if Obama did think so it would reveal a level of ignorance so complete as to be entirely irresponsible for any high government official.  Given the history of the Brotherhood, both recent and otherwise, it is hard to imagine that Obama thought the organization was moderate, but that doesn't mean it was not what he believed.  And it is only if Obama did think the organization moderate that we can possibly justify his helping them into power and arming them to the teeth.

Obama no longer has any such excuse.  We have Morsi on video frothing at the mouth and encouraging the education of Egyptian children into genocidal Jew hatred.  This can only mean that Obama must know that Morsi and the Brotherhood are anything but moderate and if he were to do a little reading he would learn that one of the primary ideological forebears of the Brotherhood is Nazi Germany.

Yet he still insists on sending them state-of-the-art American made weaponry.

At this point I must conclude that Obama's Jewish supporters simply do not care about the well-being of the Jewish State of Israel.  If even after this one continues to support this president it becomes very difficult to see how one can also be considered a supporters of the State of Israel.  One cannot be a supporter of Israel if one also supports a president that helps a fascist organization like the Brotherhood into power and arms that government despite the most brutal and hate-filled anti-Semitism spraying from the lips of Mohammed Morsi.

I can only conclude that it doesn't matter what Obama says or does, his Jewish supporters will support him no matter what.  If Obama were to urinate on an Israeli flag while crying out "Alahu Akbar!" and throttling Tzipi Livni on national television they would still support him.  If Barack Obama were to fly to Israel for the purpose of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, like Edward Said did, they would explain that this is "tough love."

There has got to come a point when reality intrudes into the consciousness of even the most ideological so that they can acknowledge that reality, adjust their thinking accordingly, and move on.

We're still waiting.

Election Day in Israel

Today is election day in Israel.   The Central Elections Committee said turnout was 66.6%, with over 3,767,000 people casting a ballot, an increased from the 64.7% voting in the 2009 election. Yahoo News has run  a series of photos, showing just why Freedom House  again has classified Israel as the only free country in the Middle east.

With 99.5% of the votes counted:

• Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu: 31
• Yesh Atid: 19
• Labor: 15
• Shas: 11
• Habayit Hayehudi: 11
• United Torah Judaism: 7
• Hatnua: 6
• Meretz: 6
• United Arab List-Taal: 5
• Hadash: 4
• Balad: 3
• Kadima: 2

Photos from Yahoo news

Druze Woman votes in Israeli  election

Arab Woman votes in Israeli election

Prisoner votes in Israeli election

The Public Eye Awards. And The Winner Is....

Its time for the Public Eye  awards- a naming and shaming event to publicize the worst of the worst- corporations that destroy our environment and mistreat their workers. The Public Eye was organized as a counter-event to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Its down to six finalists.

London based Lonmin is on the short list. They rose to notority last August, 2012, when over 100 striking Lonmin employees were gunned down- 36 killed, 78 wounded by the South African Police Service. That’s pretty shocking. Maybe even evil.

Shell oil is in the lead- not surprising. They've got name recognition, after all, and a huge record of abusing their workers and the environment.
From their nomination:

Shell is drilling in the ice-bound seas of the Alaskan Arctic. The company also strip mines the boreal forest to access the Canadian tar sands. It operates the world’s deepest oil platform over a mile and half deep in the Gulf of Mexico. It spills in the Niger Delta. When it comes to controversial, risky and polluting forms of oil, Shell is always there.

Contributing to global warming, destroying aboriginal areas…what could be worse?

Apparently, doing business in Israel.

The Israel is always wrong squad is so short sighted, so self righteous in their misguided belief that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is at the root of all evil in the world, that they are obsessively pushing people  to vote for a little known company G4S- that has the audacity to sell supplies and equipment for Israeli security. You can imagine their warped thinking: "Screw global warning. Screw Striking miners. Pay attention to us. To our cause. Its all that matters for rainbows and lollipops and sunshine to prevail in our world"

And so, the emails are sent every day now. It might be a signs of increasing desperation, perhaps, or maybe its just another manifestation of the unbridled narcissism of the anti-Israel cru. Its been promoted by Mondoweiss. By the Electronic Intifada. Its being pushed on social media- its got its own facebook page.

The message: Selling goods and services to the tiny Jewish state is a greater evil than destroying the Arctic. Than gunning down striking workers

"Israel's use of detention is made possible by the support of G4S, a private security company that provides equipment and services to prisons at which Israel detains Palestinian political prisoners without charge and subjects them to torture and ill-treatment.

G4S has been nominated for the infamous ‘Worst Company of the Year’ Public Eye People’s Award. Please take action now in support of Palestinian political prisoners by casting your vote and sharing the link to the voting page widely. Once on the Public Eye voting website click on the ‘Vote Now’ button to cast your vote. It only takes seconds to vote and no registration is required.

Voting closes on January 23 and the winner will be announced at a counter summit at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Let’s embarrass G4S for its support for Israeli Apartheid at one of the most important corporate events of the year! "

Presented for your information, yet another example of the rabid narcissism and misguided activism of the "I hate Israel' cru.

Now excuse me for a moment while I place my vote for Shell .  Feel free to join me.

To Ahmadinejad with Love:Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator

Its got your name on it, Mahmoud. We picked it out just for you.

According to the Pentagons' director of operational testing, Michael Gilmore,  tests conducted on the Massive Ordnance Penetrator  GBU-57, a 20-foot long, 30,000 pound GPS-guided bomb , have demonstrated that the bomb is able to destroy deeply buried, reinforced targets. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator is six times bigger than the 5,000 pound bunker- buster that the U.S. Air Force and the Israeli Air Force currently have in their war chests.


From the Business Insider:

The MOP is the bomb experts believe Israel needs if it wants to de-rail Iran's nuclear program for any length of time. While our Mid-East ally has a fresh supply of GBU-28 bunker busters, they are one-sixth the size and far less capable.

 The MOP might actually be the only conventional bomb to best Iran's concrete technology, which is perhaps the most advanced in the world. The country lies on a very active seismic fault, making earthquakes a part of Iranian life. In response, Tehran's concrete industry has developed Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) doped with quartz and poured under the country's own high-demand blend of international codes.

The B-2 stealth bomber is the only aircraft capable of carrying this massive weapon,  which carries over 5,300 pounds of explosives

Mahmoud-  who says size doesn't matter?

Cultural Boycott fail :"We play music, and we carry a message of peace and love"

The  "B" in BDS must stand for bullying.  Any artist that dares perform in Israel- any store that dares sell products from Israel opens themselves up to endless bullying.  Some, sadly  give in to the bullying. But most resist.

This wonderful open letter originally appeared on the blog of Christopher Deghelt of Deghelt Productions -a booking and management agency for Jazz artists and was addressed  to Mr. Dror Warschawski a French BDS activist.  The English translation  by Talia Shulman Gold is here, the Creative Community for Peace website.

[Mr. Deghelt replies to letter from Mr. Warshawshi, of The BDS Campaign in France]

As I pointed out to you over the telephone, we do not agree with your "pressure tactics on artists," or your Cultural Boycott.  We refuse to be made into instruments, and we won't give in to your pressure, whether by email, by mail, by telephone or on Facebook.

Performing in Israel does not mean we approve of the Israeli government or its politics, and it doesn't mean we don't understand the turmoil and the suffering of the Palestinian population.  Your attempt to railroad artists into a black-and-white dilemma is intellectually dishonest.  To allege that by performing at the Red Sea Jazz Festival we are supporting the Israeli government, or that by cancelling our concert we'll be showing our compassion towards the Palestinian people, demonstrates an extremely reductive attitude. We refuse to be placed in either category.

1)    Jacky hasn't performed in Israel for more than 15 years and many of his fans are elated by his impending arrival.  We love human beings, whether they are Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish or Muslim, and we will always perform for humankind.  We don't segregate our audience or our fans.

2)    We are apolitical, we play music, and we carry a message of peace and love. The Israeli-Palestine conflict is extremely complex. We disapprove all acts of violence on both sides and are profoundly saddened by this conflict and its tragic consequences.

3)    If the Eilat Festival is financed in part by the Israeli government, it demonstrates their openness towards culture and jazz, which only benefits the examination of cultures in general.  A dictatorship would not invite foreign artists, quite the reverse.  Jacky's fans in Israel are like all other jazz fans, humane, pacifist and hoping for peace in this part of the world.  They are your best allies and yet you seem to want to punish them.  Moreover, the Eilat Festival is an international festival recognized for its quality and its openness to the world.

4)    Boycotting this festival sends an unjust message to the Israeli population as a whole, to our fans and to our friends, and stigmatizes a population and a country instead of contributing something peaceful and sending a message of hope. We are free to express our convictions in Israel and I've spoken about this to the Festival organizers.  Let's push your reasoning to its conclusion.  Assuming no foreign artist appeared in Israel and the jazz festival ceased to exist...who would win? What would happen to the openness, the freedom, and the chance to present a different culture? What would happen to expressing our opinions?  What about the arts policy in Iran, Syria, and Mali today?  No more foreign artists.  Is this your sense of openness and dialogue?

5)    You say that certain Palestinians won't be able to attend Jacky's concert and that is indeed very sad; we would be happy to play in Palestine, if ever invited (this still hasn't been the case).  We are not responsible for this situation and can only deplore it.  The road to a better world is a long one.

6)    We concur with Erik Truffaz in his response to you: if we had to agree with the politics of the countries inviting us to perform, we wouldn't have many places in which to perform.  Our mission lies elsewhere, in music and the hopes of carrying a message of peace and tolerance to the people of our planet.

7)    Your activism and your intolerance are abominable.  Phony Facebook "fans" have posted messages expressly asking our musicians not play in Israel.  This is sheer harassment.  Moreover, it's really quite surprising because these fans purporting to sway the artists are not fans at all, but simply your army of little soldiers polluting the calm and positive spaces of our artists'Facebook pages.

8)    During our phone conversation, you insinuated quite slyly that you were a big fan of Jacky Terrasson, that you used to buy his records and attend his concerts, but that you would think twice about it now, knowing he plays for Israel.  Your questionable words, like the tone of your last email, won't change our convictions.  I don't believe for an instant that you are a fan of Jacky Terrasson.

9)    What bothers me the most about your effort...is your hatred of Israel, a pathological hatred, blind and most assuredly hidden behind a veil of "political correctness."  Your actions don't demonstrate a love or defense of Palestinians but rather a hatred for Israelis. At one time, we knew full well in what direction such madness had driven our world.  You are an anti-Zionist and deceitfully and paradoxically an anti-Semite (you, the grandson of a rabbi renowned for his humanistic views). You hide this under the pretext of representing a humanitarian organization, under the pretext of being a defender of justice.

10)    When Stanley Jordan, the Portico Quartet, cancelled their concert at the Red Sea Jazz Festival, it was their choice, which we respect.  Some of our artists refuse to perform in Israel.  Those are their political convictions, we live in a democracy, and we sincerely respect all opinions.  Well then, respect ours as well.  We believe we can be more useful by being invited to play for the people of Israel, than by refusing to perform in a country of whose government's decisions we disapprove.   Jacky Terrasson is free to draw his own opinion, after his arrival.  Don't force people to think what you would like them to think...this is intellectual tyranny and manipulation, the same tyranny and manipulation you attribute to Israel's rulers.

11)    Palestine needs international support, positive actions and peace, and it's not by advocating violence (both intellectual and verbal) and intolerance that you'll help Palestine.  I myself have been to Ramallah to produce a free concert featuring Shakti, which the U.N supports.  We helped finance a school of music for children victimized by the war.  These are positive actions, non-violent, meaningful and humane.  Pitting both sides against each other is not striving towards peace; it is adding fuel to the fire.

12)    In my agency, I represent Muslim artists, Israeli artists, and people of many different religions and nationalities.  My office is a place of tolerance, peace and dialogue. I have produced more than 3000 concerts in the world, and it's the first time I have received such obnoxious letters.  You, a man of science, you should stick to the rigors of analysis instead of engaging in an open battle with artists.

I will end by quoting Koffi Annan who said, "Tolerance is a virtue that makes peace possible."

Very cordially yours,

Christophe Deghelt

Hips Vibrating for Peace: Another BDS fail

The 9th annual international belly dance festival will be held on in January 16-19 2013  in Eilat, Israel. There are 4 days of parties, shows and workshops, and practitioners of this ancient art are flocking to Eilat from all over. And I mean all over.  Ignoring the so-called  “call to action” by “Palestinian civil society” are some of the most famous belly dance teachers in the world, traveling from Turkey, Egypt and Morocco. Over 950 dancers from 30 countries will  participate in world's biggest belly dancing festival

  From YNET:

Orit Maftsir, one of the festival's organizers and a world-renowned belly dancer, said there had been no cancellations on the part of foreign participants in spite of the recent Israeli operation in Gaza.

 The highlight of the event is the arrival of belly dancers and teachers from Arab countries, who are not afraid to come to Israel and vibrate their hips for peace.  

"Beyond the cultural relations the festival creates between the region's countries, it also helps strengthen relations between the people," says Roni Pivko, the managing director of the Club Hotel chain.  

What do you call it when hundreds of belly dancers flock to Israel from Jordan, Egypt ,Turkey and 30 different countries to "vibrate their hips for peace".  I call it a massive BDS fail.

Jerusalem.Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

A rare snowstorm has  blanketed Israel with 6 inches of snow, the most accumulation in a decade. Schools were closed, and traffic was worse than ever. 

And throughout Israel, playful images were published of people enjoying the magic and the novelty of the snowfall

 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was photographed playing in the snow with his family.

And how did the Palestinians enjoy their snow day?   They built a tribute to the M75 rocket on the Temple Mount.



Some  Palestinian youth showed their tolerance and commitment to diversity by ambushing and attacking observant Jews with snowballs.

BDS, Veolia, and the Post Hoc fallacy

After repeated delays, Veolia Water came to the realization that it could no longer obtain the resources necessary to compete for construction of a surface water project.and  reluctantly pulled its bid from the Woodland Davis-Clean Water Agency.

From Vice  president of Business development for Veolia Water North America, Sean Haghighi, quoted in the Jan. 11, 2013 Davis Enterprise:

 “We looked at our resources and at our key staff and we found ourselves unable to respond based on the new timeline, We’re very busy with other pursuits and our resources are concentrated in other places. We just really didn’t feel like we could be gearing up again for this project based on the revised schedule.”

At the agency board meeting on Dec. 20, Mayor Joe Krovoza did not appear thrilled about the development.

“I’m disappointed in Veolia,” Krovoza said. “(They’ve) had an opportunity to watch this process all along. While (it has been) frustrating, it’s been very clear about the timeline.”

Why is this even relevant to a pro-Israel website?

Veolia has been the target of the BDS’holes wrath for daring to provide municipal services to Israel. Around the world, BDS'ers have been lobbying governments to bypass veolia and have been ignored.  Hungry for anything that even resembles a victory,  Mikos Fabersunne of Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights  sent out a email, that was re-posted throughout creation by Anna Baltzer of the US Campaign to End the occupation. 

Veolia Withdraws from California Water Contract Bidding Following Outcry
Against its Abuses of Palestinian Rights

Davis, California – The Davis Committee of Palestinian Rights (DCPR) is happy to report that Veolia Water North America has withdrawn as a prospective bidder on a $325 million dollar project that would provide treated water from the Sacramento River to residents of Woodland and Davis in Yolo County, California.  The announcement came at the December 20, 2012 meeting of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (Water Agency), a joint powers authority between the University of California - Davis and the cities of Woodland and Davis. Veolia’s withdrawal followed efforts by citizens of Yolo County to prevent Veolia’s bidding due to the company’s involvement in the violation of Palestinian human rights....

Bids were initially due in December 2012, but following outcry from citizenry regarding the large impact of the project’s capital cost upon resident’s water bills, the City Council decided to postpone the due date and appoint a citizens’ advisory committee to investigate rate alternatives, revisit the water supply need-assessment, and consider other water procurement options.  Veolia was the only company to withdraw from bidding.

To Mikos Fabersunne, perhaps you’d like to acquaint yourself with the Post Hoc Fallacy (from the Niskor Project)

A Post Hoc is a fallacy with the following form:

    A occurs before B.
    Therefore A is the cause of B.

The Post Hoc fallacy derives its name from the Latin phrase "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc." This has been traditionally interpreted as "After this, therefore because of this." This fallacy is committed when it is concluded that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect. More formally, the fallacy involves concluding that A causes or caused B because A occurs before B and there is not sufficient evidence to actually warrant such a claim.

After 11 years of BDS failures,  Mikos Fabersunne and his fellow BDS holes are starved for anything that kinda sorta mighta be a victory, and they are willing to bend the truth until it breaks to achieve it.

No, Anna,  No. Miles. The Woodland Davis Water Agency contract is no BDS victory. If anything, its yet another indication of how irrelevant  BDS  is as a tactic in America.

Bar mitzvah boy donates ambulance to Israel

In spite of heavy  pressure from the anti-Israel lobby, in August the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously  to designate Ashkelon as Sacramento's 10th sister city. Ashkelon sits about eight miles from Israel's border with Gaza.and has been the  target of rockets from the Gaza  for years.

In a gesture that truly defines the people to people nature of the sister city relationship, a 13 year old boy Robert Leeds, asked his bar mitzvah guests to donate money to buy an ambulance for Ashkelon, in lieu of gifts.

 The ambulance was presented at a  press conference  held today in Sacramento.  Watch it here

Instead of bar mitzvah gifts, boy buys ambulance | News - KCRA Home

The Palestinians uses water as a political weapon

Be prepared to discard much of what you've heard about water in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.Lauro Burkart a Swiss graduate of the Institute of International and Development studies in Geneva has published  a thesis titled ‘The politicization of the Oslo water agreement’ that  gives a more accurate and impartial picture of the topic of the scarcity of water in the Palestinian Authority.   Interviewing Palestinians and Israelis  and examing  original source documents such as the minutes of the meetings of the joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC), Buckart has reached several important conclusions;

From  A Missing Peace:

The goals of the Oslo 2 water agreement have been reached regarding the quantities of water provided to the Palestinian population (178 mcm/year in 2006). The Oslo water agreement estimated that the needs would eventually be 200 mcm a year.  The Joint Water Committee functioned well in the first years following signature of the agreement, but since 2008 cooperation has come to a halt

The facts disseminated by the Palestinians, international organizations and donors about the root causes of the water scarcity in the West Bank are incorrect.

Burkart writes: ‘It is not the Israeli occupation policy but the Palestinian political resistance against joint management and cooperation that is responsible for the relatively slow development of the Palestinian water sector and the deteriorating human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories’ and ‘There is convincing evidence of mismanagement within the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA).’

He cites the pro-Palestinian NGO AMAN who concluded that there is ‘no clear legal separation between the political and executive levels within the Palestinian water institutions. To date there is no real functioning water law. Furthermore the National Water Council is not meeting and not functioning well’.

Although the PWA embarked on an institutional reform process in reaction to international critics such as the World Bank this did not solve the issue of mismanagement within the institution. The head of the Palestinian Hydrology Group called the reform a ‘fundraising mechanism’. The PWA also did not manage to gain control over many municipalities (where Israel has no control) due to the autocratic and undemocratic manner in which they are managed.  These power holders did not want to lose control of the water systems since it was one of the main services provided by the municipalities.  As a result the water supply is not centralized and illegal drilling is rampant.

The fact that the PA pays for most of the water bills of the Palestinian population gives no incentive for saving and leads to an unreasonable use of water in the domestic sphere as well as in the agricultural sector.

Read the entire article at A Missing Piece. Lauro Bukart's full thesis is available for download as well.

Iranian Support for palestinian terror organizations

From the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center

1.The military capabilities of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were revealed in Operation Pillar of Defense. Those capabilities were the product of massive Iranian support constructed around an arsenal of many thousands of rockets, both standard and manufactured by the terrorist organizations themselves (using Iranian technical knowhow). They included medium-range Fajr-5 rockets (made in Iran) and M75s (manufactured in the Gaza Strip). The massive rocket fire targeting Israeli civilian population centers, including a number of rockets fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, was made possible by Iran's support for the terrorist organizations

2. Aid from Iran to Hamas and the PIJ in the years before operative arrived in the Gaza Strip overland, by air and by sea, facilitated by border-crossing networks of smugglers and merchants. The main route for smuggling arms was from Iran to Sudan and from Sudan to Egypt and into the Gaza Strip through the smuggling tunnels controlled by Hamas. The sea route was also used, as revealed on March 15, 2011 when the freighter Victoria was seized by the IDF. The ship was carrying arms bound for the Gaza Strip by way of Egypt, whose arrival would upgrade military capabilities of the terrorist organizations. Among the weapons on board the Victoria were C704 anti-ship missiles, which could be used to attack not only military and civilian vessels but also strategic targets in the southern Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashqelon.

3. Until Operation Pillar of Defense, Iran and the terrorist organizations supported by it were careful, for security and political considerations, to keep secret Iran's military aid and the network smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. A recent indication of the network and Iran's military support was the exposure of weapons stores in Sudan, which were attacked in October 2012. The media reported that the weapons were Iranian and were intended for terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip [Hamas and the PIJ].

4. Towards the end of Operation Pillar of Defense Iran decided to reveal that it had been giving military aid to the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. In our assessment, that was because of Iran's deep frustration with the way Egypt and other Muslim countries, such as Turkey and Qatar, had made political and propaganda capital from their support for Hamas during Operation Pillar of Defense. On the other hand, the role of Iran before Operation Pillar of Defense, that of providing the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip with most of their military hardware and support, was being overshadowed.

5. By exposing its military aid Iran hoped, in our assessment, to make political capital at the expense of countries like Egypt, Turkey and Qatar. In addition, the central role of Egypt in the understanding which led to the end of Operation Pillar of Defense caused Iran to fear that existing cracks in the so-called "resistance camp" might widen and the Muslim axis led by Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood might become stronger.

6. However, as a result Iran, the PIJ and Hezbollah initiated a media campaign showering praise on Iran's military, financial and technical support for the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip (See Appendix A). The campaign was joined by Hamas spokesmen, who alongside praise for Iran were careful to reiterate Hamas' independence and lack of dependence on Iran.

Please read the entire report here 

The $922 million BDS Fail

There are going to be a whole lot of thirsty BDS'ers down in San Diego, as tap water is added to the boycott list. IDE Americas Inc., a subsidiary of Israel’s IDE Technologies Ltd, will  design a Desalinization plant in San Diego  - the largest of its kind in western hemisphere.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Israeli desalination giant that is already responsible for the brunt of Israel’s salty-to-fresh water transformation is now taking on San Diego, in the biggest desalination project to hit the western hemisphere.

IDE Americas Inc., a subsidiary of Israel’s IDE Technologies Ltd, will be designing a 204,412-cubic-meter seawater desalination plant for the San Diego region, the company announced on Sunday. The $922 million plan, called Carlsbad Desalination Project, is being administered by Poseidon Resources (Channelside) LP, a subsidiary of Poseidon Water LLC, and will be carried out in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority.

Kiewit Shea Desalination, a joint venture between subsidiaries of companies Kiewit Corp. and J.F. Shea Construction Inc., will be providing the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the facility as well as the 10-mile (16- km.) pipeline required to deliver the treated water per day produced there, according to Poseidon Resources. Meanwhile, IDE Americas Inc. will design the processing plant, and will also be responsible for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the plant under a 30- year contract.

For the design contract, IDE will be receiving $150m., while the O&M agreement will bring the company $500m. Construction of the plant will begin this year and is slated to begin bringing high-quality drinking water to the San Diego area by 2016, a statement from IDE Technologies said. The hope is that the new desalination plant will help San Diego County Water Authority alleviate its water shortage and achieve its goal of supplying 7 percent of the region’s water through desalination by 2020 – “creating a new map of the American water market,” the statement added.

“The Carlsbad Desalination Project is a significant milestone for us, California and the US at large, as we believe it will set the stage for the future of desalination in America,” said Avshalom Felber, CEO of IDE Technologies Ltd. “For decades, we’ve successfully completed similar projects in countries all over the world, and we’re excited to be a part of what will be the largest desalination plant in the US.”

Israel is at the forefront of water-saving technology, and Israeli technology is helping to save a thirsty world.

Ky-Mani Marley in the crosshairs for performing in Israel

Ky-Mani Marley  will be performing in Israel at the Barbi Club in Tel Aviv  on Feb 13.  Son of reggae legend Bob Marley, Ky-Mani  has released six  albums with music that has topped international charts.
And like other artists before him,  Ky-Mani is under attack for daring to play in the only democracy in the middle east. The attacks are orchestrated via social media- through Twitter and Facebook. And again, they aren't from fans of Marley- they are from career anti-Israel activists

 Ky-Mani's response to all this new attention seems quite clear.

What can you do?   Fight back. Show Ky-Mani  love  support for playing in Israel. Show him there is another side to the story. Don't allow the BDS'ers voice to be the only one heard. His Twitter account is @MaestroMarley , or visit him on Facebook.  And as always- be polite. be respectful, and not engage with the anti-Israel trolls.

UPDATE:

Seems that Sylvia Posadas, posting as @jinjirrie doesn't even like Ky-mani Marley's music. She became a "fan" simply to spam his facebook page and twitter account, because- you've guessed it- he's scheduled to perform in Israel.

Via Twitter:

Sweet! Arab-Jewish run Ice Cream Shop in Israel

What were you saying about apartheid again?

Its an "Only in Israel" story. Where else could a  Jew and an Arab open a gelato shop and  sell hummus ice cream to the masses?   Adam Ziv and Alaa Sawitat opened Bouza (“ice cream” in Arabic) last July, and they've been delighting everyone every since.

“We’re not just a novelty of being a Muslim-Jewish coexistence ice cream store,” Ziv told Israel 21C “We make ice cream that people like.”

“From the moment I thought of opening an ice cream parlor, I looked for a place near Kibbutz Sasa that would also be cool,” Ziv told Hazman Hayarok newspaper. “I thought it would be amazing to build a business that is co-run by Jews and Arabs, a place where Jews and Arabs would come. … The other day we looked outside and saw people from a Jewish village in the Galilee sitting beside a group of Arab youths from Tarshiha. A friend of mine looked at me and said, ‘So, this is the new Middle East.’”

Ziv makes use of his marketplace location. On Saturday mornings he buys fresh ingredients from local farmers. He then employs older Tarshiha women, looking for added income, to help him prepare the fruits for his ice cream.

“Anything with nuts – hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachio – these are our big sellers,” says Ziv. “We try some Middle Eastern mixes like pomegranate and lemongrass or chocolate and spearmint. We’re still working on a kanafeh [sweet Palestinian cheese pastry] flavored ice cream but haven’t found the right recipe yet. I don’t want to be too pretentious when making new flavors. Our motto is ‘simply ice cream’ – and that’s what we do. We make great ice cream for our customers.”

Read all about Bourza here  and here

 Adam Ziv is absolutely right when he states ‘Coexistence’ and ‘peace’ are empty terms if you don’t really put them into practice. You can give speeches all day long, or you can just go out and do something."   The true peacemakers know that peaceful co-existence is nurtured  through stronger cultural and social  ties and that the the true path of peace is not achieved through isolation, but rather through active engagement.

Israel bans Cosmetics Testing on Animals

Its yet another reason to buy Israeli products.  Israel may very well be the world’s first cruelty-free cosmetics market. Effective  at midnight on December 31, animal testing for cosmetic,  personal care and household products has been banned in Israel.

MK Eitan Cabel  called the move a “true revolution in animal welfare.” saying “Animal testing in the Cosmetics Industry inflicts horrific suffering on these animals. Each product requires between 2,000-3,000 tests, and animals die in agony,”

Animal testing for cosmetics and other products was banned in Israeli laboratories in 2007. The current  ban is focused on products that are imported from other countries and follows guidelines set by the European Union in 2004. Products that are medically necessary are exempt from the ban.

Simon Wiesenthal Center presents the Worst anti-Semites of 2012

Greta Berlin must be cursing the Jews, er Zionists right about now. The same shrew who joked about her anti-semitism in Berkeley, declaring "I was married for 14 years to a Jew.  If anybody has the right to be anti-Semitic - I do!" has missed the cut.  The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed their top 10 anti-Semites of 2012 and Greta  is not a contender.  Sadly, the competition was steep this year.   Greta you've got 363 more days to cultivate your festering Jew-hate.

From an article in  American Thinker: by Jerrold L. Sobel  

Working backwards at number 10 is long-term favorite and anti-Semite extraordinaire Louis Farrakhan.  In October, he came out with his latest accusations: "In Washington right next to the Holocaust museum is the Federal Reserve where they print the money."  He asks, "[I]s that an accident?".....

Proudly coming in at #9 is a new one to many: Der Spiegel columnist and editor of the left-wing publication Freitag Jakob Augstein.   

In his publications, Augstein frequently castigates Israel's orthodox community as being akin to Islamic terrorists and sees Israel as a nuclear threat to the world.  In a September interview with the Jerusalem Post, Die Welt columnist Henryk Broder, Germany's leading authority on anti-Semitism, described Augstein the following way: "He's a pure anti-Semite, an anti-Semitic piece of work, an offender by conviction who only missed the opportunity to make his career with the Gestapo because he was born after the war.  He certainly would have had what it takes."

Norway's Trond Ali Linstadt, a convert to Islam, is listed at #8.  Also lacking originality, he warns his readers to "beware of the Jews" and the "influence they have in newspapers, in other media, and in many political organs."  Why is he important enough to make the list?  Until international pressure forced him to backtrack, the king of Norway, Harald V, had slated him to receive a medal for "good works."...

In seventh position, representing the right-wing Hungarian Jobbik Party, is Marton Gyongyosi.  This sweetheart of a guy, a flashback of historical Hungarian anti-Semitism, recently had this to say to the Hungarian Parliament:    

I think now is the time to assess how many people there are of Jewish origin here, and especially in the Hungarian parliament who represent a certain national security risk of Hungary.

Number six belongs to the founder of the Greek pro-fascist party Golden Dawn, Nikolaos Michaloliakos.  A Holocaust-denier of the first degree, he recently told an interviewer that six million Jews did not die in the Holocaust.  He further denies that there were gas chambers or ovens at Nazi death camps and has a penchant for giving the Nazi salute, which he recently gave at the Athens City Council.

What list of anti-Semites could ever be complete without a delegation from that bastion of historical Jew-hatred, the Ukraine?  As such, two people -- Oleg Tyagnibok, from the fascist Svoboda Party, and MP Igor Miroshnichenko -- share the inglorious fifth position.  

Tyagnibok has called in the past for purges of the approximately 400,000 Jews living in the Ukraine.  Granted, with the despicable and sordid treatment Jews have received over the centuries in the Ukraine, one can't help but wonder why 400,000 are still living there.

His cohort, politician Igor Miroshnichenko, sparked an outrage this past year when he denounced Hollywood actress Mila Kunis as a dirty Jewess.

The Wiesenthal Center reserved the fourth spot for fans of European soccer.  Before a match in Italy between an Italian club, Lazio, and a mainly Jewish team from England, Tottenham Hotspur, Jewish players and fans were physically attacked, one being sent to the hospital with severe stab wounds.  A self-proclaimed fascist from the Lazio team, Pablo Di Canio, celebrated each goal by tauntingly delivering a fascist salute.  So much for good sportsmanship. 

Not to be outdone, during a match in London against the same Jewish team, British fans of their opponent, West Ham, rained down anti-Semitic chants in support of the aforementioned Di Canio and came up with a few of their own, such as "Adolf Hitler's coming for you" and "You're getting gassed in the morning."  To emphasize their disdain, they made hissing noises, like the sound of a gas chamber.  Even for the British, infamous for boorish behavior at sporting events, this was over the top.

Next up, for defending his country in the face of incessant rocket attacks from Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu drew the wrath of Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff.

Latuff is famous for depicting Jewish people and Israeli leaders in the most contemptible ways.  Many people including this writer believe that political cartoons cast a greater negative stereotype upon Jews than lengthy essays.  For that reason alone, Latuff was placed at #3 for 2012.

At #2 is a conglomerate of Jew-hatred led by a little imp espousing Jewish derision in mammoth proportions: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Amongst a myriad of anti-Jewish invective over the years, this past July he's quoted as saying: "It has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs."  When taken in context with past pronouncements calling for the complete annihilation of Israel, some might argue that this Holocaust-denying anti-Semite is actually moderating.  But not to worry: if he is, the head of Iran's armed forces, Major General Hassan Fiouzabadi, isn't.  This past August, Fiouzabadi is quoted saying: "The Iranian nation is standing for its cause, the full annihilation of Israel."

Finally, here it is: the Wiesenthal winner of the 2012 Grand Prize for Jew-hatred.  This coveted dishonor is shared by Muhammad Badie and Futouh Abd al-Nabi Mansour, two religious leaders belonging to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.  The folks at Wiesenthal claim that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood produced the worst anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs over the past year.  Badie, the Brotherhood's supreme spiritual guide, bemoaned "Jewish control" and the "spread of corruption on earth."  What's his remedy?  Unremitting jihad. 

Badie's partner in Jew-detestation, Mansour took it a step further delivering a nationally televised sermon calling for Allah to "destroy the Jews and their supporters."  ...