University of Washington Database moves Israel to Western Europe.

In which the University of Washington's database Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation determines that Israel is located in Western Europe

Interestingly enough, "Palestine" presumably meaning the West Bank and Gaza and therefore adjacent to Israel's borders, is listed in North Africa and the Middle East.

Wrap your head around that for a minute.

Looks like just another attempt to deny our heritage to me.

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Latest round-up of BDS Fails

Last night's abject failure of the University of Washington divestment vote by a resounding 59 against, 8 in favor and 11 abstentions isn't the only reason to be cheerful.
 
Its just one in an ever-increasing series of failures of the 13 year old BDS movement 

From the Stones to Lana Del Rey – a guide to the plethora of international musical artists headed to Israel this summer

Via the J Post:

WHO: Justin Timberlake WHEN: May 28
WHERE: Hayarkon Park, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 370-1450
1-10 scale: 8 The dynamic multi-faceted singer/actor/ performer puts on a frothy showbiz performance with world class production. The closest we’ll get to a Madonna-like spectacle this year.

WHO: The Prodigy
WHEN: May 29
WHERE: Tel Aviv Trade Grounds Center
PRICE: Tickets NIS 324-454
1-10 scale : 7 1990s British electronic music pioneers still make a glorious noise, if you can stand the volume.

WHO: The Rolling Stones
WHEN: June 4
WHERE: Park Hayarkon, Tel Aviv
PRICE: Tickets NIS 700-2,800
1-10 scale: 10 If elderly bluesmen are revered for still playing into their senior years, why can’t a geriatric white rock & roll band, especially one that’s still playing at peak power? The biggest feather in Israel’s cap since Paul McCartney.

WHO: Passenger
WHEN: June 10
WHERE: Barbie Club, Tel Aviv
PRICE: SOLD OUT
1-10 scale: 8 The British folk-pop guitarist whose song “Let Her Go” has become a huge worldwide hit with over 200 million You- Tube views, is actually a star right now, not yesterday. And his real name is Michael David Rosenberg, so you gotta root for him.

WHO: Pixies/The Hives – Rocknroller Festival WHEN: June 17
WHERE: Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa
PRICE: NIS 300-855
1-10 scale: 8 1990s American alternative favorites the Pixies make amends for their cancellation a few years ago. Despite Kim Deal’s absence, Frank Black and company still deliver the goods. Swedish garage rock revivalists The Hives only sweeten the pot.

WHO: Soundgarden/Gogol Bordello – Rocknroller Festival
WHEN: June 18
WHERE: Bloomfield Stadium, Jaffa
PRICE: NIS 300-855
1-10 scale: 7 The second day of the Rocknroller Festival offers another strong lineup with grunge veterans Soundgarden on the comeback trail, paired with the gypsy-punk mayhem of Gogol Bordello. Those that prefer a more intimate setting can catch the manic New York party animals on June 19 at the Barbie Club (NIS 150-180).

WHO: M. Ward
WHEN: June 25
WHERE: Gesher Theater, Jaffa
PRICE: NIS 169
1-10 scale: 10 Besides the Stones, the other “must see” of the summer. This understated American singer/songwriter is original and compelling, whether or not he’s performing with his sometime musical partner Zooey Deschanel. A staggering guitarist and storyteller – Americana personified.

WHO: Gong
WHEN: July 3
WHERE: Reading 3, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 244
1-10 scale: 6 The 1960-era Franco-British space rockers provide an evening’s floating escape. They were a cult act back then, and probably more so today with their Floydian jams.

WHO: Brian Jonestown Massacre
WHEN: July 15
WHERE: Barbie Club, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 160-190
1-10 scale: 7.5 The veteran psychedelic cult rockers led by eccentric front man Anton Newcombe impressed on their first visit to Israel in 2012, and this time should be no different.

WHO: Neil Young and Crazy Horse
WHEN: July 17
WHERE: Park Hayarkon, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 400
1-10 scale: 9.5 If the Stones weren’t playing a month before, this show would be all that Israeli music fans would be talking about. Two legends – Young and Crazy Horse – for the reasonable price of one. Warning: If you go only for his “Heart of Gold” mellowness, beware of endless guitar solos.

WHO: Backstreet Boys
WHEN: July 29-30
WHERE: Ra’anana Amphipark
PRICE: SOLD OUT
1-10 scale: 6 These shows will undoubtedly be entertaining and highly professional in the Vegas vein, but isn’t the appeal of a boy band supposed to be that they’re boys? It might be a car-crash moment seeing middle-aged housewives in the crowed strutting retro MTV dance moves, but that hasn’t prevented 16,000 Israelis from buying tickets.

WHO: Kansas
WHEN: August 5
WHERE: Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 279-449
1-10 scale: 6 The 1970s prog-rock veterans from the US heartland had their moments, “Carry on Wayward Son” being prime example. But the scene of all those lit cell phones waving in unison to “Dust in the Wind” just might be a little too precious to bear.

WHO: America
WHEN: August 7
WHERE: Ra’anana Amphipark
PRICE: NIS 190-280
1-10 scale: 8 Could be the crowd pleaser of the summer.Those harmonies, those lush acoustic guitars... admit that you nostalgically hum their songs and that “Sister Golden Hair” is pop perfection.

WHO: Kurt Vile and the Violators
WHEN: August 12
WHERE: Barbie Club, Tel Aviv
PRICE: NIS 169
1-10 scale: 8 Americana indie rocker channels the scruffy side of Springsteen, Petty and Young into a modern version of low-fi authenticity. Heartfelt from the heartland.

WHO: Lana Del Rey
WHEN: August 20
WHERE: Tel Aviv Trade Grounds Center
PRICE: NIS 400-1,000
1-10 scale: 9 The only artist coming to Israel who also performed at the Coachella Festival this year, Del Rey burst to stardom through the Internet in 2011, but has showed staying power with her quirky style. The next best thing to a performance by Lorde.

From the Mike report: Hezbollah and Israel haters at the University of Washington

Its a familiar tactic- a panel discussion where all the panelists agree "Its all Israel's fault"

From the Mike report, not surprisingly by Mike

I received the call in the late afternoon, “do you want to go to BDS 101 at The University of Washington tonight?”

BDS stands for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel and represents a radical movement bent on the destruction of the Jewish State. The D in BDS should stand for demographic destruction as the core demand of the BDS movement is the flooding of Israel with over five million hostile Arabs. Such an influx would mark the end of a Jewish majority in Israel and thus the end of Israel as a Jewish state. The Anti Defamation League, the American Jewish community’s central human rights and advocacy organization has identified BDS as an anti-Semitic movement .

The  BDS 101 program was held in a lecture hall filled with a mix of Muslim and Progressive students and a small handful of pro-Israel students and community members. The program  featured a four member panel anchored by Stefanie Fox of the anti-Israel group, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and included Cindy Corrie, mother of the infamous Rachel Corrie. Two co-ed hosts from the sponsoring group (SUPER-UW) opened the event by declaring their solidarity with all of the other righteous struggles on the planet “we condemn all injustice” they said.

Right.  

Mike notes that after the talk:

...a few pro-Israel members in the audience found themselves in an impromptu conversation with three  anti-Israel college students. The most engaging of these was a young man who had a kaffiyeh draped over his shoulders.

The young man told of being in Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanon-Hezbollah war against Israel. He shared of the horrible things he witnessed, things that no child should ever see.

When a pro-Israel woman sympathized but explained that Hezbollah was to blame for what he had suffered, he responded coolly with “I am Hezbollah”. As the discussion continued, the young man defended the bombing of pizza restaurants and buses “what do you expect them to do?” he said with a righteous dose of indignation.

As the woman, seemingly unfazed,  firmly challenged the young man point for point, he began to  back away from her and said “I feel threatened by you”. “You feel threatened by me?” responded the surprised mother of four to the young man a head taller than her. At that moment I recalled the scene from a comedy film of a few years back where the grossly anti-Semitic Borat was petrified in fear of a pleasant elderly Jewish couple with whom he was staying. But thus is the victim mentality.

The Hezbollah Husky politely listened as I tried to plant a few seeds of truth in his college addled brain. I reminded him that there are 22 Arab states, 49 Muslim states, 126 Christian majority states and one Jewish state. I shared with him the 2000 year old lesson of Jewish history, we die when our fate is left to others. I told him that this is why we will never give up our land and that his efforts in this regard are futile.

Read it all here

And thanks to the few, the brave and the intellectually stalwart that challenged the lies and demonization presented at this panel. When we fight back, we win.