Israel: Inspiring people across the globe

The start up nation , Israel continues to inspire and influence people across the world

Last year, Abhinav Kukreja, Anish Prabhu and Aryaman Dalmia, all students at  UC Berkeley students launched  “Moonshot”, a company dedicated to connecting startups in India with resources in Silicon Valley.

The accelerator program was designed to help connect startups in India with interns, mentors and investors.

Aryaman Dalmia, in the student newspaper at UC Berkeley, the Daily Cal mentioned

...that he was inspired by Israel’s connections with U.S. companies. He said Israel does not have many domestic investors, but because of outside investment from the United States, Israeli companies have funding. He said if Israel can do this successfully, India should be able to do it as well.

Read all about it here

Paul Larudee Blames Israel for Attacks on Minorities in India

Co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement  piano tuner Paul Larudee makes a brief appearance in the current Radianceviews weekly, blaming Israel for attacks on minorities in India.

Free Gaza Movement co-founder and globally known advocate of the Palestinian cause Paul Larudee said that the ‘Arab Spring’ has brought about many changes in the world and caused setbacks to forces such as America and Israel. Addressing a large gathering of students at the District Conference of the Students Islamic Organisation of India at Malappuram in Kerala, Dr. Larudee, chief guest at the function, said Palestine’s recent winning of UN non-member observer status with the support of 133 nations indicated a setback for America and Israel. Dr. Larudee said the increasing incidence of attacks on minorities was proof of the increasing influence of Israel in India.

Later, the state police arrested Dr. Larudee soon after his speech for violating visa norms in India only to invite demonstration from students and youths.

  Consider the source.

"Radiance is the only successful experiment in purposeful Muslim Journalism in English. It has been progressing year after year, with its free and frank analysis of events, lucid criticism and candid comments and informative and instructive features and articles on Islamic ideology. "

This of course begs the question of what the failed experiments in "purposeful Muslim Journalism" might look like

"The Board of Islamic Publications" in India established ‘Radiance Veiwsweekly' in 1963, with 8 stated objectives.

* Remove the prevailing misunderstanding about Islam and present its message in its true light and propagate its teachings

* Religious and social reform of Muslims.

* Proper guidance of Muslims in the light of the principles of Islam in relation to those special problems which they face as a cultural unit.

* Counteract irresponsible and false propaganda against the Muslim community, and awaken the country’s social conscience in regard to its difficulties and problems by presenting the real perspective.

* Fair and impartial presentation of the Islamic stand-point with regard to the country’s political, economic and cultural problems and educate public opinion to discard regional, linguistic and communal prejudices in favour of a humanitarian and national outlook

* Help eradicate moral laxity, corruption and other social evils and check the tendency towards violence and intolerance.

* Champion the just cause of the various religious, cultural and linguistic minorities and other weak and down-trodden sections of the society

* Strengthen the democratic forces in the country as against the totalitarian and fascist, protest against any violation of the Fundamental Rights granted by the Constitution, and specially to safeguard the principle that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on religious ground.

How well is Radiance Viewsweekly' achieving these objectives?  Just for some perspective, in the same issue as Paul's revelation is an article recommending that Indian women wear burquas  in order to avoid rape, claiming the "demand to implement Islamic laws in order to reduce sexual assault on women has been growing constantly."

Whats next from Paul ?  Will it be a declaration that Israel is responsible for global warming,  colony collapse disorder and the high cost of dairy?

Its getting scary out there.

Paul Larudee violates Visa, is kicked out of India.

Local anti-Israel activist Paul Larudee has been deported  from India for violating the terms of his  tourist visa. Paul is one of the heads of the Northern California  ISM, and may be best known for his involvement  in the failed flotillas to Gaza, and the failed global march to Jerusalem.  Paul is probably quite comfortable being unceremoniously removed from places. He's been kicked out of Israel as well.

Paul Larudee in trouble again, from the Contra Costa Times

From Dec.21 2012  The Times of India:

 Kerala Police have decided to blacklist Free Gaza Movement co-founder and globally-known advocate of the Palestinian cause Paul Larudee, who was taken into custody from Tirur in Malappuram district on Saturday night, for violating visa norms in India. On Sunday evening, police issued a "quit India" notice to the American human rights activist, asking him to leave India as early as possible. If blacklisted, Larudee can never visit India again.After police received information that Larudee, who has been in India since last three days on a tourist visa, was to attend a conference of Student Islamic Organisation at Tirur, a police team led by Malappuram SP K Sethuraman reached the venue took him into custody. The police team took Larudee into custody soon after he finished his speech on 'Youth and Arab Spring'. Larudee was the chief guest at the conference.Sethuraman told TOI that foreign personalities who have come to India on tourist visa cannot be allowed to attend functions or deliver speeches here as it will affect the law and order.

Paul Larudee addressing the Student Islamic Organization in India (via Twitter)

The Times of India had it wrong, though.  Paul Larudee has been in India since the beginning of December, and presented at an earlier conference in Mumbai, with his partner in slime Feroze Mithiborwala.   .   Apparently, Paul's been attempting to recruit cannon fodder for a new Global march. The program materials of the “International Conference for Peace & Justice for Palestine” conference  list  the piano tuner as "Prof. Paul Larduee".  . In the truth optional world of the anti-Israel advocate,  thats close enough.

Celebrating 20 years of India/Israel relations

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"Israel and India share an intimately close and special relationship encompassing virtually every field of human endeavor. From trade to education, from agriculture to science and technology, from energy and water to homeland security - Israel and India today work together in a vast variety of fields, some of which are no less than existential to them both.

At the core of these multifaceted relations lie the values, the interests and the challenges that Israel and India share. Both countries are open and free democracies that embrace modernity and progress whilst preserving their ancient heritage and history. Both countries strive to achieve stability, human development and economic growth for the well-being of all their citizens. Both countries also face a large number of threats and difficulties ranging from the scourge of terrorism to water and energy scarcity. It is these commonalities that make the connection and collaboration between Israel and India so natural and fertile.

The remarkable development of bilateral trade in the past 20 years is an unequivocal example of the vector of Indo-Israel ties. In 1992, the annual trade between Israel and India stood at a mere $180 million. By 2011, the annual civilian trade between the two countries, diversified and well balanced, had expanded almost thirty fold to surpass $5 billion. Both countries have expressed their intention to finalize a Free Trade Agreement by the end of this year, a development which is expected to further invigorate and diversify bilateral trade.

One of the key pillars of the relationship is the cooperation in the field of agriculture. Food security is more than ever a critical concern for both countries. In cooperation projects across India, Israeli technology and knowhow is being demonstrated and shared with Indian farmers, and joint Indian and Israeli agricultural R&D is conducted on the ground. The recently finalized three-year action plan sets the path for the establishment of 27 projects across 7 States in India in various fields. This cooperation will no doubt benefit the Indian farmer and consumer and is already playing a significant role in India’s efforts to ensure food security to all its citizens.

Both Israel and India have excelled in the research and development of science and technology. At present, new platforms are being created for both government and private sectors to jointly enhance scientific innovation in crucial fields such as clean-tech and life sciences."


Live nearby? Explore the India/ Israel relationship further at a talk sponsored by Tikvah, Students for Israel

India meets Israel: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Nissim Reuben is currently the director of Jewish-Indian Relations for the American Jewish Committee. Originally born in India, Reuben volunteered with the IDF to participate in relief efforts following the Gujarat earthquake. Accompanied by representatives of the Israeli and Indian Consulate, Reuben will tell us about the history of Jews in India, current relations between India and Israel, and what we can do to ensure a prosperous relationship between both states.


Tuesday, February 7
7:00 PM
Location: 100 Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley