Meet the UC Davis student who celebrates Hamas and Sharia: Azka Fayyaz.

Who is Azka Fayyaz, the Student Senator at UC Davis  who celebrated BDS as a victory for "Hamas and Sharia " on her campus?

 There is nothing in her campaign statement that indicates she will use her position to advocate for divestment  There is nothing in her campaign platform to indicate her support for avowed terror groups.

 If divestment wasn't part of the platform that led to the election of Azka Fayyaz, why does anyone think she has a mandate from the student body to proceed in that direction?  There is nothing in her platform to indicate her extremist politics.

 Azka wrote:

Hello Aggies, My name is Azka. Azka Fayyaz. I am a second-year political science major from the beautiful central valley town of Madera, CA. Currently, I am an active member of organizations for students of color including various Middle Eastern and South Asian communities such as the Muslim and Pakistani Student Associations. Additionally, I have taken dynamic roles within ASUCD by serving on the External Affairs Commission and by working with Senator Miles Thomas as a member of his senior staff. Last quarter, I consummated my duties as the head of logistics for the the Muslim Student Association’s West conference, which welcomed over 1,000 attendees to our beautiful campus. In this role, I worked closely with high level UC Davis administration, as well as faculty and students from a host of communities. This opportunity gave me both critical insight into how the school is run from behind the scenes and the places where student concerns were not being met. To address these issues and many more, I ask for your support in my bid to become your ASUCD Senator. My initiatives range from implementing a holistic campus calendar to creating a more robust Club Finance Council, and actively working with administration for an expansion of quiet spaces for study, reflection and prayer. 

Platforms:
1. CREATE A CAMPUS-WIDE CALENDAR
Currently, students are largely unaware of the incredible events that can be found on our campus every day. These missed opportunities are both tragic and easy to address: create a centralized calendar for all students to read and contribute to, compiling information from dozens of currently disjointed systems. If elected, I will ensure that the UC Davis population is able to find out about these great opportunities with the creation of a new ASUCD unit. 

2. INCREASE CLUB FINANCE COUNCIL FUNDING
According to student leaders and the staff director of the Club Finance Council, the organization’s budget does not meet the needs of the more than 600 clubs who can apply for funding. This funding goes towards creating collaborative and exciting events, but for the last few years, no organization has received the full amount that CFC has determined they should get for the event. I want to reinvest in ASUCD’s most profitable ventures so that we can, in turn, reinvest in one of our Association's greatest resources and meet the needs of CFC. 

3. ADVOCATE FOR MORE QUIET SPACES FOR STUDY, REFLECTION, AND PRAYER
With our growing student population, spaces that provide sanctuary for prayer, reflection, and study have become increasingly limited and overcrowded. Fortunately, this increase comes alongside our Association's growing involvement in campus renovations. If elected, I will be the strongest advocate imaginable for quiet spaces, so that students may find respite in prayer, reflection, and study during our long days on campus.

Azka Fayyaz clearly believes in meaningful discourse, as she holds a poster labeling Netanyahu as "Hitler's illegitimate child".  Note the horns.

Via Scott Dresser on Twitter:

UC Davis: the dirty dark core where BDS and anti-Semitism intersect

Grumble.

That didn't last long. There must be a 12 step program for Bloggers, somewhere.

But this is local and involves the dirty dark core where the BDS movement and anti-Semitism intersect, so it needs to be documented.

Earlier this week, the Student Council at UC Davis voted for divestment, passing a resolution  of alarming extremism.  It was a foregone conclusion that they would- the student anti-Israel groups had managed to elect their BDS slate . Senators Nicholas Sanchez, Anabiah Syed, Casey Nguyen, Reem Fatayerji, Azka Fayyaz, Roman Rivilis, Robyn Huey and Andrea Velazquez voted in favor of the resolution. Senators Artem Senchev and Eugenia Chung voted against it, Senator Alex Lee abstained. Senator Amelia Helland was not present.

A day after the resolution passed, 2 swastikas were sprayed onto the walls of Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish fraternity at UC Davis. 

From the Sacramento Bee:

Nathaniel Bernhard, vice president of the AEPi fraternity, said the vandalism took place between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday. He condemned the action, saying the hate crime threatened to rekindle race tensions on the UC Davis campus. The fraternity building is located off of the campus.
“Jewish people still can’t feel safe on their own campuses and in their own houses,” Bernhard said. “Anti-setimism still exists today. It’s not a fairy tale.”


A member of the UC Davis student Senate Azka Fayyaz, celebrating the passage of an anti-Israel Divestment resolution  wrote on her facebook page "Hamas & Sharia law have taken over UC Davis. Brb crying over the resilience." And, "If a Movement is Not Controversial, if no one is mad enough, its not strong enough &;its not worth the fight. Israel will fall. insha'Allah."

The UC Davis Aggies are asking for help.

Please sign their petition at Aggies Demand Action:
http://aggiesdemandaction.nationbuilder.com/demad_action_against_hate

UPDATE via the Davis Vanguard

Yesterday morning Chancellor Linda Katehi issued a statement. She wrote, “Last evening the ASUCD Senate passed a resolution urging the UC Board of Regents to divest from four corporations that, according to the resolution, ‘aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.’”

She stressed, “This, however, does not reflect the position of UC Davis or the University of California system. The investment policy for the University of California system, including UC Davis, is set by the UC Board of Regents. The Board and Office of the President issued a statement regarding student resolutions that urge the Board to divest from companies doing business with Israel. The statement reiterates the Board’s position that this type of call to action will not be entertained.”

Chancellor Katehi continues, “We recognize that this is a sensitive topic for many on our campus, one that is very personal and emotional. It is for this reason that we must exercise sensitivity, restraint and respect in relation to the issue. Prior to the debate last night, those in attendance were reminded of our Principles of Community. We affirmed the right to freedom of expression, but also affirmed our commitment to the highest standards of civility and decency toward all.”

She writes, “A renowned international university, UC Davis manages academic and research programs across the globe and is home to a community of faculty, researchers and students from everywhere in the world. We believe that our shared goals of teaching, learning and serving the needs of society, in a climate of justice marked by respect for each other, will help us build a strong community of learning and fulfill our mission of educating the leaders of tomorrow and producing and disseminating knowledge.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article8865731.html#storylink=cpy

Tactics and Retreat

Via Emunah

Over the years, pro-Israel activists have seen our community events disrupted and community institutions vandalized.  This pattern of behavior has hit home for me in the most personal way.   I have been followed, harassed and threatened. I've been attacked by both the far right and the far left.   My car has had its tires slashed, and my home has been egged. The message was clear and chilled me to my core. "We know who you are. We know what you do. We know where you live"

The impulse, in the words of Saul Alinsky, is to force your opponents to  "play by their own rulebook",  and to fight back using the same tactics. Its an impulse we fight, and we fight over.

We, as activists, know what is at stake here. This is about the survival of our people. How can we  "win"  fighting a battle with one hand tied behind our backs?  How can we "win" when we subject ourselves to ethical constraints that our opponents laugh off?

The question of tactics is one I personally struggle with, because I am in this for the win, and the "moral high ground" feels elusive and unsustainable. When achieved, its proven to be a cold and lonely place.

As I struggle with these issues, I find myself grateful for the goalposts set up by traditional Judaism and by the state of Israel, guided by the ethics of our ancestors and the visions of our prophets. Israel's behavior in a time of war- the continuing flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,  the field hospital set up to treat the inevitable casualties of war shows a nation guided by a profound notion of justice.

How can we, as activists for Israel,  hold ourselves to any less of a standard?

In that spirit, its time to put this blog on hiatus. It began its life as an aggregator of local blogs, but has not fulfilled that role in years. The real writers are long gone- on to graduate school, to new babies, new professions. This blog has slipped into low-brow activism- "naming and shaming", documenting transgressions against the Jewish people.

We can do better. And if we can't, its time to step aside and let others try.

We reserve our right to change our mind at any time.

L'hitriot

Beleaguered Yazidi people look to Israel for help

The beleaguered Yazidi people need help, and they are looking to Israel.

There are less than one million Yazidis worldwide, with the vast majority of them living in northern Iraq. The Yazidi have faced genocidal atrocities at the hands of ISIS, with thousands massacred and over 5,000 kidnapped by the terrorist group.

Lt. Col. Lukman Ibrahim is an officer in the Yazidi militia- an ad hoc group of 12,000 fighters, most of whom have no military experience and training

From Al-Monitor

“What I have seen here, I just can't describe,” he said by phone from a battle zone. “Our people had no choice but to flee. We are not Arabs, nor are we Muslims. We see ourselves as sharing a fate with the Israelis, who went through similar pogroms. Those besieged on the mountain approached me and asked, ‘Maybe our Israeli brethren could lend a hand?’...

The Yazidis have no formal relations with Israel, nor an organized leadership. Yet they need aid, in particular military assistance, and they have chosen to make a public plea for help. “We appeal to the Israeli government and its leader to step in and help this nation, which loves the Jewish people,” said Ibrahim. “We would be most grateful for the establishment of military ties — for instance, the training of fighters and the formation of joint teams. We are well aware of the circumstances the Israelis are in, and of the suffering they have endured at the hands of the Arabs ever since the establishment of their state. We, too, are suffering on account of them.”

Idan Barir, 34, a researcher at the Tel Aviv University Yavetz School of Historical Studies is Israel’s expert on the Yazidi people.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, he stated

“I can think of a range of activities that Israel is experienced in that would not undermine the world order,” “For example, providing military assistance to the Yazidi forces in Sinjar who are crying out for cooperation and aid; setting up a field hospital for medical and psychological treatment of the casualties among the displaced in northern Iraq — not only Yazidis, by the way; sending humanitarian aid to displaced Yazidis in the refugee camps in Iraqi Kurdistan; absorption of a symbolic number of displaced Yazidis in Israel, with preference given to humanitarian, whether medical or mental, cases; incorporation of young Yazidis into military service in Israel; and support of civil initiatives aimed at strengthening and deepening ties between Israelis and Yazidis. It all depends on the decision made by the Israeli government, on its determination and goodwill.”

The  has been no formal response yet from Israel.  

Attorney Zvi Hauser, a  former Cabinet secretary under Netanyahu sympathizes with the plight of the Yazidi, declaring

“The Yazidi narrative is evocative of ours. We, too, went through 2,000 years of existence without sovereignty, in the course of which we faced extermination schemes,” Hauser said. “Israel is a sovereign state, formed by an ethnic minority. It is the national manifestation of an ancient civilization. It would thus be appropriate to examine ways to establish relations and forge an alliance with them, if only to ensure a pluralistic Middle East. This issue has a universal aspect, as well. The development of human civilization is contingent on the diversity and multiplicity of [ethnic] groups and nations. Hence, the extinction of one of these would hurt not only the Yazidis, but also the entire fabric of human life.”

Roseanne Barr: Is consistency the hobgoblin of small minds?

Via Emunah:

United States Supreme Court Justice Robert  Jackson, explaining a change of opinion, once wrote “I see no reason why I should be consciously wrong today because I was unconsciously wrong yesterday. ”

Life events- a serious illness, the birth of a child, the death of a loved one can cause people to reverse their trajectory.  It happens. People do change their minds.   When faced with new information, it's what you expect thoughtful and intelligent people to do.  Its not a sign of moral or intelligent weakness to admit error and change course.

In the political area, you just can’t help but question the motivation behind an abrupt about face. Does it represent a sincere change in analysis, or is it simply political expediency, or worse, graft?

Roseanne Barr will be speaking in Berkeley next month.  Her talk is entitled “Israel, the Jews and me”.  Roseanne Barr’s record of  political activism is inconsistent and unconventional, to say the least.

In 2008 , Roseanne wrote on her blog, referring to the Gaza flotilla: “I said Israel will attack any boat carrying doctors and medical supplies--they have turned away the red cross already and all medical and food assistance. Israel is a NAZI state. The Jewish Soul is being tortured in Israel. The destruction of the jews in Israel has been assured with this inhuman attack on civilians in gaza. Hamas is the street gangs---this is equivilent to los angeles attacking and launching war on the people of watts to attempt to kill the bloods and the crips.”

In 2012,  Roseanne  ran for president on the Peace and Freedom ticket, after losing the Green Party nomination. She chose anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan as her running mate. The platform included marijuana legalization, environmental preservation, ending the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and equal rights. She declared “Cindy and I are the ‘Throw the Bums Out’ ticket and the ‘Ballot Access’ ticket. The American people are sick and tired of this ‘lesser evil’ garbage they get fed every election year.. Both the Democrats and the Republicans do the same evils once they’re in office… I’m here to tell the voters: if you want to tell the government and the two domineering parties that you’re sick and tired of all their evil, register in the Peace and Freedom Party and vote for me and Cindy.”

The choice of Cindy Sheehan was an interesting one. Cindy was reportedly mentored and housed in Berkeley by Stephen Pearcy and Virginia Johnson, married attorneys, slumlords and 1% ers who made a name for themselves  by showing up at anti-Israel rallies with grotesque anti-American and anti-Israel imagery. Stephen Pearcy was often seen carrying the flag of the terror groups,  Hezbollah and  Hamas.

Sheehan bought into the Pearcys  Svengalian coaching hook line and sinker. She was once reported saying, “Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel.”. After the subsequent uproar, she denied the outburst.

I’ll be going to see Roseanne next month, because I’m curious about her transition. How did she emerge from hob-nobbing with anti-Israel activists and buying into worldwide Zionist conspiracy mindset, to effectively advocating for Israel on social media? If her conversion is sincere, it may provide insight into how to reach other members of the progressive community.

Has the United Methodist Church Rejected Divestment?

Have the Methodists finally tired of the BDS movement hijacking their annual conference in an effort to promote their biased highly politicized agenda?

Seems likely.

Recently publicized guidelines by the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church seem specifically designed  to ward off the BDS movement’s near pathological obsession with Israel.  The pension board manages over $21 billion in assets for over 91,000 participants, including clergy and lay staff.

The General Board and its Wespath investment management division have recently announced the implementation of new investment guidelines, using environmental and human rights factors for determining ethically sound investments

The new human rights guidelines state:

The management of the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits/Wespath Investment Management division will evaluate the human rights-related impact and risk of the companies in which we invest and will use engagement to improve both social and financial corporate performance.
This risk is particularly acute when companies have significant exposure to high-risk operating areas defined as:
1. Countries demonstrating a prolonged and systematic pattern of human rights violations*
2. Conflict-affected areas where significant human rights violations have been widely documented
For General Board investment purposes, excessive sustainability risk, leading to exclusion from portfolios, may occur if a company provides significant financing or other financial services to, derives more than 10% of its revenues from, or sources more than 10% of its raw materials from a country or area as described above.
Exceptions may be granted if a company is ranked or rated as an industry leader in its overall environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance by the General Board's ESG service provider.
The General Board also may exclude from investment the sovereign debt of any country demonstrating a prolonged and systematic pattern of human rights abuses.*
* Defined as those countries with the worst ranking in Freedom House's annual "Freedom in the World" report.

The board will scrutinize companies that operate in nations with the worst ranking in Freedom House's annual “Freedom in the World”  In  2014 report, the lowest scores went to the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

According to Freedom House, Israel consistently is ranked as the only free country in the Middle east. These new rules make divestment from companies doing in business in Israel, including Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar highly improbable.

In response, anti-Israel church group United Methodist Kairos Response has implied that Caterpillar donations to Freedom house have influenced its high ratings on Israel.  It’s another of the near infinite variations on the double loyalty canard that often borders on anti-Semitic, implying that interaction with Israel or the Jewish people inevitably clouds judgment and renders impartiality void.

Not surprising from a group that called the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland a “sin against God and humanity”

Kairos Response fails to note that in spite of Caterpillar’s massive investment in China, (including 23 existing manufacturing facilities, 4 new facilities under construction, 4 research and development centers and 3 logistics and parts centers along with over 15,000 members of the “ Caterpillar team” over 10,000 dealer employees and 16,000 supplier staff), Freedom House still ranks China as “Not Free”. 

Hamas trains more Child-Soldiers

Over 10,000 Palestinian teens have graduated from a Hamas run military training camp, held at the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades training compound in Gaza. The graduation ceremony was attended by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Youth as young as 15 participated in the camp, dubbed "Pioneers of Resistance"

The youth were trained to fire sniper rifles and practiced simulated attacks on Israeli targets.

The use of child soldiers among the Palestinians is nothing new. It was documented in Life magazine in June 1970

Rabbi Sacks: To be free, you have to let go of hate. There is no other way.

Today is  Holocaust Memorial Day, marking  the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and given the scope of recent events, "never again"  feels very far away.

From Rabbi Sacks: Anti-Semitism is on the march once more in Europe – and no free society is built on hate.  Why we all need Holocaust Memorial Day 

Do we need Holocaust Memorial Day? That was the question Tony Blair, the then prime minister, asked leaders of British Jewry in 1999. It had been proposed that we have one for the UK and he wanted our opinion. We explained that we did not need it as Jews. We already have Yom ha-Shoa, our own memorial day, which falls soon after Passover in the Jewish calendar. Every Jew literally – or figuratively – lost family in the Holocaust. For us Yom ha-Shoa is a grief observed. 

But yes, we said, for the Holocaust was not just a crime against Jews and other victims – Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, the handicapped and Jehovah’s Witnesses among them. The Holocaust was an assault on humanity. Primo Levi, when he wrote his Auschwitz memoir, did not call it, If This is a Jew. He called it, If This is a Man. 

Jews were hated because they were different. The classic statement is Haman’s remark to king Ahasuerus in the book of Esther that there is a people scattered among the nations “who keep themselves separate; their customs are different from those of all other people” (Esther 3: 8). Anti-Semitism is the paradigm case of dislike of the unlike. For a thousand years Jews were the archetypal Other: non-Christians in Christian Europe, non-Muslims in a Muslim Middle East.

But we are all other, different, unique. That is what makes us human. A society that has no room for difference has no room for humanity. The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Wherever you find anti-Semitism, there you also find a threat to liberty. No free society was ever built on hate. 

Read it all here

Palestinian writes: Boycott of Israel is misguided

Sodastream's upcoming move to the Negev will cost hundreds of  Palestinians their jobs. Anti-Israel activists claim this as a victory- their goal has never been to help the Palestinian people. The goal of the BDS movement is to hurt Israel.  Bassam Eid, a Palestinian  human rights activist and political commentator writes against BDS in the Jerusalem Post, declaring

"There is no boycott, and from a personal standpoint I don’t believe in them as a method of activism."

I don’t know who’s actually pushing the Palestinians toward this idea of an economic boycott of Israel; to the best of my knowledge, Palestinians aren’t pushing it on their own, and neither is the Palestinian Authority, which is simply trying to exploit its momentum....

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas in one of his televised interviews said that the Palestinians had never called for an economic boycott of Israel, but did call for a boycott of the settlements.

But even such a partial boycott could never succeed; how can one impose a boycott on settlement products when one’s fellow citizens and nationals are the ones building those very same settlements? Does Abbas have alternative employment opportunities to offer these people? Palestinian workers today are basically building homes in the settlements. They are proud of the fact they are continuing to build for Jews, and no one is about to find them an alternative to the type of work in which they are now engaged.

Suppose that the Palestinians launched a boycott campaign against Israel. Would it cause Israel any damage? What do we buy from Israel? Salt, pepper, milk, rice, flour. Do we buy planes from Israel? Tanks? Even if we wanted to, Israel certainly would sell them to us. So the truth is that politics aside, we are irrelevant to this story.

This is reason why, lip service aside, the PA is not trying to push the idea of a boycott.

TWO WEEKS ago, I visited the town of Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah, and saw a large sticker on the entrance to a store testifying that the store was purified of Israeli products – “purified,” not merely “free” of Israeli goods. I entered the store and approached the refrigerated section where the ice creams were kept – and was taken aback to see that the ice cream on display was labeled “Strauss.” I turned to the store’s proprietor and inquired whether there was a Palestinian company called “Strauss.” No, he replied, the product was Israeli.

When I asked about the sticker, the store owner looked at me and said: “You know what? We, the Palestinians, like stickers, just like the Israelis.

Read it all here

Lamis Deek of the National Lawyer's Guild shows her true colors

In one day, over 28,000 people have watched New York City Councilman David Greenfield on youtube, calling out protesters for what he described as "Naked blind Anti-Semitism" after a resolution  recognizing the Holocaust was repeatedly disrupted.

No, an apology is not forthcoming from the protesters and their enablers.

From Lamis Deek, a self described  "human rights attorney" and National Lawyers Guild Activist.

Lamis Deek is for "dignified freedom". But not for the Jews, apparently.

This so-called "human rights" attorney just called a New York City Councilman a "liar" and a "pig' because he expressed his dismay that  a  NYC Council's resolution on the Holocaust was disrupted. She evoked the classic  "dual loyalty" slander that is exclusively directed towards Jews. And she called him "racist" for standing up for political dissidents, Jehovah's witnesses, and gays who perished at Auschwitz .

Again, Lamis Deek has proven that  'When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.'

Jewish Voice for Peace Interrupts Holocaust Commemoration in New York City

It was a low moment for JVP- a group that habitually disrupts Jewish Community events. The veil has been lifted. Today, activists from the extremist group  interrupted the NYC council as they were discussing a resolution commemorating the 1.1 million people killed in Auschwitz.

In this clip, New York City Councilman David G. Greenfield, the grandson of holocaust survivors, denounces the extremists from Jewish Voice for Peace moments after they interrupted the Council. 


"I am still shaken to my core, I'm upset, I'm angry. but I'll tell you honestly I'm actually somewhat pleased at what we saw here today. If you are wondering why I'm saying that its because for the last few weeks we've heard from people who've said "Oh, we don't dislike Jews. We only dislike the state of Israel. We have no problem with you we simply don't want you to go to Israel"  But we know that's not really at the core of what they are saying and today they proved it.

While we were discussing a resolution regarding the murder of 1.1 million human beings- I will point out that 90% were Jewish but the other 10 % were political dissidents, they were Jehovah's witnesses, they were gays- those were the people who were being killed together in Auschwitz Birkenau. While we were discussing that they had the nerve, the chutzpah, the temerity to unfurl a Palestinian flag and to yell at us while we were discussing that.

So the reason I'm pleased is because we can stop pretending that this is about Israel when the reality is that every middle eastern country that is in existence today is not democratic and persecutes people of other faiths, and persecutes gays and persecutes people who disagree with them and persecutes people on Twitter and persecutes women who drive -except for one country- which is the state of Israel.

So what you saw here today was naked blind anti-semitism. That's what you saw. That's what you watched and that's what you witnessed. People who are upset for one reason. you want to know why they are angry? you want to know why they are unfurling that flag today? Because Hitler did not finish the job. he only wiped out half of my family. And only by the grace of G-d is the other half, me, the grandchild still alive today. That's why those people are upset. Shame on them.Shame on them for hating Jews. Shame on them for hating people. Shame on them for disrespecting the most diverse democratically elected body in the United States of America. That's why we go to Israel. We go to Israel to make a message that is clear that we will not be cowered by this fear and by this hatred that we have. These are people that would celebrate the death of Jews rather than mourn the deaths of innocents. I am embarrassed at what happened here today but I am pleased that we finally see what this is all about. Good old fashioned anti-Semitism.

Thank you".

From Algemeiner

Other councillors joined Greenfield in condemning the antisemitic disruption, which included the fringe group “Jewish Voice for Peace” among the participants. “City Council protesters today were so hate-filled and venomous that they strengthened our support for Israel, ONLY democracy in Middle east,” tweeted Councilman Mark D. Levine. Councilman Cory Johnson called the demonstration “incredibly disrespectful and offensive. Simply awful.”

Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich told the meeting that “to be pro Israel you don’t have to be Jewish. Israel is a vibrant democracy and I’m proud to go back to Israel again. I will not be intimidated by the hecklers. I will not sit here and allow people to attack the Jews.”

UPDATE
Widespread disgust over JVP's  behavior has put them on the defensive.

 

JVP was immediately called out on the lie- they waited in the chambers for precisely an hour and 26 minutes, beginning their interruption at the moment the discussion on the Auschwitz began

Israel. The only place the Jewish People can be free

 Via Emunah:

The ever repugnant Gilad Atzmon is practically chortling with glee over the attacks on Jews in Israel today, writing  "13 stabbed in terror attack on Tel Aviv bus; Israel is not 'safe" either. I say the moon is our promised planet"

It reminds me of a story

In his book “The Will To Live On,” Herman Wouk tells of an encounter he had with then Prime Minister David ben Gurion. Ben Gurion had come to see the Tel Aviv opening of the Hebrew version of Wouk’s play, “The Caine Mutiny Trial,” and after, invited Wouk to his home in the Negev for lunch the next day. He sent a car for Wouk, an armored vehicle, along with a military escort, as the travel between the cities in those years was fraught with terrorist attacks. After lunch, Wouk relates that upon taking his leave, Ben Gurion said to him: “You must return to live here, this is the only place for a Jew like you, here you will be free.”

Wouk replied with surprise, “With enemy armies ringing you, with their leaders publicly threatening to wipe out the Zionist entity, with your roads impassable after sundown … free?” “I did not say safe,” Ben Gurion answered, “I said free.”

Je Suis Couteau hashtag celebrates Tel Aviv terror attack

A 23-year-old man Palestinian man from Tulkarem stabbed 11 people on a Tel Aviv bus during the morning rush hour today. Three of his victims remain in critical condition. He was shot in the leg as he was trying to flee the scene

The hashtag #JeSuisCouteau 'I am knife' is now making the rounds on Twitter as Palestinians and their enablers heap praise on the terrorist who attempted to murder innocent people on their way to school and work.

Just another example of the depravity and moral bankruptcy of the anti-Israel cru as they justify violence and terror against the innocent.

Palestinian activists block traffic on the San Mateo Bridge

Its often been said that at first Palestinians hijacked airplanes, now they  hijack agendas.

Palestinian activists have been trying to co-opt the message of Martin Luther King for years, ignoring both his message of peace and co-existence, and  his support for Israel. Yesterday they brought new meaning to Dr. Kings' words  “There is nothing more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”  On the day we commemorate Dr. King's message of tolerance,  a group of Palestinians and their leftist enablers blocked traffic on the San Mateo bridge,  in a very public tantrum. that served only to irritate and alienate their intended audience.

Eleven people were arrested

UPDATE, via SFGate

“One officer reported handling at least four collisions that resulted in minor injuries or property damages,” said Officer Daniel Hill of the California Highway Patrol.

Officers responded to small crashes on both sides of the bridge, but it was unclear how many vehicles were banged up. 

One driver ditched a Honda Accord on the span after it was sandwiched between cars in westbound lanes during the protest, the CHP said.

The vehicle had “major front- and rear-end damage and the person ultimately abandoned it,” Hill said.
Officers arrested 68 protesters on suspicion of blocking a roadway and obstructing entry on public land, both misdemeanors. Ten of the protesters were booked into San Mateo County Jail while the others were cited and released, authorities said.

Prosecutors could bring additional charges because of the crashes.

“We have to see what happened,” said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. “There were a lot of people very bothered about what happened here.”

What boycott? Tel Aviv continues to innovate

 From the Economist:

Tel Aviv  ranks just behind Silicon Valley with the second highest density of start-ups in the world.

The global ranking of startup ecosystems was based on a 50-variable, 8-component index, which included Startup Output, Ecosystem Differentiation, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Funding, Company Performance, Talent, Support Infrastructure, and Trendsetting Tendencies.

Hows that boycott going, btw?

Move over, Silicon Valley

Infographic Here comes Tel Aviv
- See more at: http://gelookahead.economist.com/infograph/move-over-silicon-valley/#sthash.Wa2FrDtx.dpuf

Christian Peacekeepers promote Pallywood in Hebron.

And the Oscar goes to....

The photos on the Christian Peacekeepers Facebook page are heartbreaking, and the story is a real tear jerker, too. They claim the family of  Aamal Hashem Dundes had owned a Hebron home for centuries until the cruel and heartless  Israeli military closed the house and welded the door shut.

 

There's a few holes in the story, however.

Via Algemeiner

Two weeks ago, Palestinians hurled two firebombs at Israelis living in nearby Beit Hadassah from within the nearby abandoned building, which had been unoccupied for several years due to a military order, according to the Srugim website.

One of the flaming devices ignited the exterior of a mobile home where Jews were living. The residents of the structure were lucky, however, and there were no injuries in the attack, which caused only minor damage.

However, when an IDF team on Monday came to seal off the entrance of the previously unoccupied building, a group of anti-Israel foreign and Israeli agitators quickly arrived – including the woman and her daughter – and began to harass the welding crew.

“Did you see?! He [a waiting photographer] asked her to cry during the photography, and she cried [on cue] – I can’t believe this,” one shocked Israeli man said, as he himself filmed the scene from behind the press gang, dubbed by some observers as “fauxtography.”

“And here’s her daughter instructing her to ‘cry, cry’ … she’s laughing as she tells her mother to cry,” the Israeli viewer noted with astonishment.

The Oscar for best supporting role in a Pallywood drama goes to....

Warped Priorities. Gaza to expand Waterways

Its yet another public relations scheme out of Gaza, and another blatant attempt to facilitate the transfer of Iranian weapons via the sea.

Our international aid money at work.

From the Palestine Information Center:

The governmental Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza declared Monday the beginning of  the rehabilitation of a waterway that would link the Strip with the outside world as a prelude for  the establishment of an international port.

Head of the committee Aladdin al-Batta confirmed in a press conference that he has made contacts with the Free World and human rights organization to support the idea.

He called on the unity government to start coordinating in this matter after receiving full approval from different areas in the world.

Al-Batta pointed out that a large boat would sail soon from Gaza carrying a number of patients who are in urgent need of treatment abroad.

Israel continues to close Gaza’s five border crossings, while Rafah crossing, with Egypt, has been opened for only 100 days during 2014, he said.

Many international and regional committees to break the siege on Gaza showed support for the establishment of a waterway in Gaza as a clear legitimate right, al-Batta stressed.

He added that both Oslo accords in 1993 and Sharm el-Sheikh agreement endorse the Palestinian right to establish a waterway, calling on the Free World and the European Union to support the waterway idea and to lift the siege on Gaza.

Incidentally, Israel's crossings have been open consistently.  Even as rockets rained down on Israeli civilians , humanitarian aid continued to flow into Gaza, and those in need of medical treatment were granted access to Israel.  In 2013, 13,734  access permits were granted to people in Gaza for healthcare in Israel. Despite the claims that Israel turns away ambulances carrying people in desperate need of medical services, in 2013, out of the 1,189 ambulances which requested permits,all but one received them.

The proposed  Gaza seaport is yet another example of misappropriation of international funds that had been earmarked for essential humanitarian projects.

Jeff Blankfort: Stoking the fires of identity politics

Anti-Israel activists have been attempting to co-opt the racial justice movement for many years.   The latest attempt will take place next month in the African Art and culture Complex, in San Francisco, when Jeff Blankfort, a local purveyor and enabler of Jew hate will display his photographs on  the "Black and Palestinian resistance" movements.

Jeff Blankfort never met an anti-Semite he didn't like, and has done programs with Gilad "burning synagogues is a ration act" Atzmon, and holocaust denier Greta Berlin.

Jeff spoke at Oct 18 2012, at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. Using coarse, vitriolic language, Jeff evoked the the themes of classic anti-Semitism, speaking of "Jewish power", and  mockingly comparing those concerned with rising anti-Semitism "as dogs who like to roll in horseshit." Declaring firmly  "Our business here was to stop support of Israel", he made no pretense of objectivity or impartially, until he concluded "The Jewish establishment is the biggest purveyors of untruth and disinformation you can possibly find anywhere in the world".

No doubt, whatever contribution Jeff Blankfort thinks he has to offer to the much needed conversation about racial justice in our society, it will be more about creating heat, rather than light.

Saudis construct an apartheid wall. The World is silent

The Saudis are constructing a security barrier on their Northern border.  The Saudi "Apartheid wall " will run for  600 miles,  and will be dotted with motion sensors. There will be chainlink fences, sand embankments, and 38 communication towers. 32 rapid response centers will be equipped with helipads.  It is hoped that the wall, when completed  will keep ISIS at bay. The terrorist group views Mecca and Medina as its ultimate prize.

Graphic via the Telegraph

There is currently a security barrier straddling the southern border with Yemen.


Good fences make good neighbors. Throughout history  nations have constructed physical barriers to protect their citizens, yet Israel alone is condemned for her security fence.  Again the moral hypocrisy of the world.is exposed.

Dumisani Washington: Anti-Zionist civil rights activists dishonor Dr. King’s legacy

"...having Angela Davis provide the keynote address at an event that purports to honor Martin Luther King is a bitter irony, and completely misguided. Such is the case with events at University of North Carolina of Chapel Hill on Monday, January 19, and University of California Santa Cruz on Wednesday, January 28."

 

Written by Dumisani Washington, a pastor, author, composer and music educator in Northern California on why Angela Davis is an inappropriate choice for a speaker at a Martin Luther King Jr commemorative event.

Originally appearing in the Times of Israel, he writes

In her 2012 article “Dismissal of Palestinians is reminiscent of Jim Crow days,” Ms. Davis stated, “If we have learned the most important lesson promulgated by Dr. Martin Luther King — that justice is always indivisible — it should be clear that a mass movement in solidarity with Palestinian freedom is long overdue.”

This is a classic example of quoting someone completely out of context. Anti-oppression movements are always worthy efforts, but it is crucial to understand who the actual “oppressor” is. Otherwise one will only exacerbate the plight of the people one seeks to liberate.

Israel is a liberal, thriving, multiethnic democracy and has been since its independence in 1948. Arabs, Christians, Muslims, and Jews all serve together in Israel’s parliament (Knesset). An Arab sits on Israel’s supreme court. Jews and non-Jews from dozens of countries live together in Israel (in peace). The Israeli military includes Christians, Muslims, Druze, women, and so forth. All ethnic and gender groups enjoy equal protection and representation under Israeli law. Israel is such a shining example of freedom and prosperity that there is a long waiting list of Palestinians who desperately want Israeli citizenship.

Almost fifty years later, Dr. King’s description of Israel is just as accurate. Surrounded by enemies who seek her destruction on a daily basis (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and ISIS to name a few), Israel is indeed an “outpost of democracy” and an “oasis of brotherhood” and freedom.

Read it all here 

Je Suis Charlie. Je Suis Juif

Miss Israel and Miss France united against terrorism.  No James Taylor necessary

Yes Virginia, there is an Islamophobia industry

After the massacre of Jews in France, the mainstream media  was more concerned about a backlash of "Islamaphobia" then they were about the future of Jews in France.  It was as though Jewish lives didn't count.  Although Jews make up only 0.7% of France's population,  last year Jews were the targets of 40% of all hate crime. Its not much different here.  In America in 2012 of 1,340 victims of an anti-religious hate crime,  62.4 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-Jewish bias, and  11.6 percent were victims of an anti-Islamic bias.

So why is there so much noise about "Islamophopbia"? 

Ten years ago  the Organization of Islamic Cooperation began to prioritize protecting the reputation of Islam.  A confederation of "politicians, diplomats, writers, academics, bloggers and activists"  began targeting anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim that besmirched the name of Islam, using threats and harassment to silence their criticism.

“The OIC invented the anti-‘Islamophobia’ movement,” says Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a frequent target of the honor brigade. “These countries . . . think they own the Muslim community and all interpretations of Islam.”

From the Washington Post,  an important article Asra Q. Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter,  and the author of “Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam.”

She writes:

Alongside the honor brigade’s official channel, a community of self-styled blasphemy police — from anonymous blogs such as LoonWatch.com and Ikhras.com to a large and disparate cast of social-media activists — arose and began trying to control the debate on Islam. This wider corps throws the label of “Islamophobe” on pundits, journalists and others who dare to talk about extremist ideology in the religion. Their targets are as large as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and as small as me. 

The official and unofficial channels work in tandem, harassing, threatening and battling introspective Muslims and non-Muslims everywhere. They bank on an important truth: Islam, as practiced from Malaysia to Morocco, is a shame-based, patriarchal culture that values honor and face-saving from the family to the public square. Which is why the bullying often works to silence critics of Islamic extremism. 

Read it all here

Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr. "Why I am Visiting Israel"

 Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr.  will be touring Israel with a group of Latino leaders, to lead a  "discussion about the future of Jewish/Latino relations, both here and abroad, and take the first steps toward cementing a lifetime bond between these two communities"

From the Gotham Gazette

...I have been to Israel before. I have seen, firsthand, the attacks the Israeli people face every single day. But the people of Israel persevere. Now, more than ever, their example deserves our praise and our support. 

The horror of the attacks on the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket—and the subsequent exodus of Jews from Paris—show us just how critical our support of Israel is right now. As Martin Niemöller wrote, reflecting on the Nazi atrocities of World War II, "First they came for the Jews..."

Following these acts of terror, the Paris Grand Synagogue closed for the first time on Shabbos since World War II. The meaning behind such imagery cannot be understated. Israel is one of our strongest allies. Israelis and all Jews must know that our Latino community, and in fact the American people, are on their side during these troublesome times. As we saw world leaders standing arm-in-arm in solidarity following these attacks, we too stand arm-in-arm with Israel and the world's Jewish population.

Does a borough president have an interest in promoting Israel? Of course. At one point more Jews lived in The Bronx than in Israel, and our Jewish community remains vibrant and strong. Across the entire city, Jews and Latinos are already working hand-in-hand on the issues that unite us, be it economic development, housing, education and more.

Israel has produced and continues to work on some of the most amazing technological and scientific advancements the world has ever seen. Israel is a partner in our security, and what keeps their country secure helps keep our borough and our city secure. Israel is worthy of not only our respect, but our support.

As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. next week, we must also remember his message that we are all God's children, including the people of Israel. "Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity," said Dr. King. "Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality."

Both the nation of Israel and Jews everywhere around the world are under perpetual attack. Their peace today, as Dr. King so eloquently put it, requires our commitment to their continued security. I will work to join the Latino and Jewish communities together in new bonds of strength, and I will help create new friendships during difficult times.

Israelis do not let terrorism and hate keep them down. Neither do Americans, and neither do I.

Read it all at the Gotham Gazette

USA and Israel. Shared Values

You can tell a great deal about the health of a society by looking at their heroes, and who they choose to honor.

A street in Ramallah  is named for the notorious  terrorist, Yahya( Yihyeh) Ayyash,  who was the chief bombmaker for Hamas. He was the architect of multiple terror attacks, including a1994 bombing of a Tel Aviv bus, which killed 20 , and injured dozens more.

In Israel, the values are different. There is a street named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, noted civil rights leader.

To learn more about the Palestinian Authority's mainstreaming of terror,  read Palestinian Media Watch's report: From Terrorists to Role Models: The Palestinian Authority's Institutionalization of Incitement

Jewish Voice for Peace: Why liars need good memories

Jewish Voice for Peace provides a reminder why liars need good memories.

After boasting on Twitter about being "one of the fastest growing Jewish organizations in America"

Cecilie Surasky lets the cat out of the bag admitting there are only 9,000 actual donors.

Oops.

Roseanne Barr at the Magnes in Berkeley

Roseanne Barr (yes, that Roseanne Barr) will be appearing at the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, Feb 17, speaking about "Israel, the Jews and me"

Roseanne Barr has taken to social media to advocate for Israel, and to call out the hypocrisy of groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace.

From her blog:

Letter to the Erev Rav who know nothing about Judaism whatsoever, and who lead the attack on the Jewish People for selfish reasons, by lying to the Gentile World:

REALLY? You are aligning more and more with people who call Jews monsters to be destroyed after 2000 years of exile witch-burnings, Inquisition, Pogrom and Holocaust inflicted on their ‘chosen’ targets, the Jewish people? Really?
You feel it is moral to express your sympathy for those who occupy all but a sliver of the middle east, those who stone women to death execute gays and rape little children, and GET AWAY with doing it, because child ‘marriage’ (polygamist pedophile cults) have a Priest class which absolves all pedophiles of criminal action against innocents. You’re that far gone? Really? You don’t ‘choose’ to see that condemning the Jewish people as a CLASS is a racist thing to do, though you also spout Marxist rhetoric regarding class? REALLY?

You believe that making Judaism illegal in every Arab Country is OK? Really? You ignore the Jewish Nakba-800 thousand expelled Jews in the middle east FORCED to move to Israel, since 1948-by violence and hatred, their wealth stolen? You scream and yell that there should be no harbor or rest for any of them inside a Jewish State, or anywhere else on earth? REALLY? You ignore the FACT that the Arab world did this to Jews AFTER AUSHWITZ? You ignore the FACT that those with whom you agree are now taunting Holocaust Survivors still alive in the world, and calling them Nazis? REALLY?

You leave me no choice then, but to assess your moral indignation as meaningless lawless revolting and vile.  I laugh in astonishment at what hypocrites and naked bigots you are. Therefore, I hereby exclude you from any relevant discussions about Truth Justice Equality or human decency because you have forfeited the right to be included in any of those discussions.

Here comes the bus

Here we go again.

New York blogger Pam Geller is bringing her very special world view to the sides of our Muni buses, dragging the ugliness of the Middle East  history, past and present into our daily commute.

40 Muni buses and light rail vehicles are now displaying black-and-white advertisement featuring images of the  Palestinian Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and Adolf Hitler, captioned "Islamic Jew-Hatred: It's in the Quran."

The photo is authentic. 

From the Jewish Virtual Library

In November 1941, the Mufti met with Hitler, who told him the Jews were his foremost enemy. The Nazi dictator rebuffed the Mufti's requests for a declaration in support of the Arabs, however, telling him the time was not right. The Mufti offered Hitler his "thanks for the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches....The Arabs were Germany's natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely....the Jews...." Hitler replied:

Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine....Germany would furnish positive and practical aid to the Arabs involved in the same struggle....Germany's objective [is]...solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere....In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. The Mufti thanked Hitler profusely

From Eretz Yisroel.org
In 1943 the Mufti travelled several times to Bosnia, where on orders of the SS he recruited the notorious "Hanjar troopers," a special Bosnian Waffen SS company which slaugh-tered 90% of Bosnia’s Jews and burned countless Serbian churches and villages. These Bosnian Muslim recruits rapidly found favor with SS chief Heinrich Himmler, who established a special Mullah Military school in Dresden.

The photo is authentic, but it is presented without context, and serves not to inform or enlighten, but to incite. Thats not the path of peace, in the Bay Area or in the Middle East.

San Francisco stands with France

Today thousands gathered in front of San Francisco's City Hall, with many more spilling into the street and into Civic Center Plaza. It was a gesture of fraternity- of solidarity, and of mourning for the lives lost in France this week.

San Francisco in solidarity with France.

The crowd held candles, French and American flags, and pens. Some carried copies of Charlie Hebro cartoons, or signs expressing solidarity.

Some held signs in remembrance of the four Jews who were killed in the kosher market, and the French police officers killed in the line of duty

There were some elements that were conspicuously absent. There was no finger pointing, no blame games,  no anger and  no ugliness, no racist chants.  There were no enraged marches down the street, no vandalizing buildings, no setting trash cans on fire.

All regular elements of a Bay Area anti-Israel rally were missing.

The Arab resource Organizing Center, Al Awda, and Jewish Voice for Peace could learn a thing or two by emulating the quiet dignity of today's event.  I'm not holding my breath.

Berkeley stands with France

Sighted this weekend on the Berkeley pedestrian walkway above Interstate 80. Je Suis Juif  - a gesture of solidarity with the French Jews in their struggle against terror.

In 2013,  Jews were the targets of 40% of all hate crimes in France, although they only make up 0.7% of France's population. French Jews are making Aliyah in record numbers, leading French Prime Minister Manuel Valls to say "... if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure."

Extremists celebrate mass murder with the hashtag " Je Suis Kouachi"

While the world has unified in revulsion and horror over the events in France this week, extremists on social media have begun using the hashtag  #JeSuisKouachi in support of Said and Cherif Kouachi's terror attacks against the kuffar (That would be you and I)

 

Its an eye-opening and chilling reminder of what we are facing.