Real Tikkun Olam

From the Economist.

Tiny Israel gives aid to 76 countries.

Just so you know.....

Jerusalem, if I forget you. JVP Rabbi David Mivasair's failure to fact check

They're not making rabbis like they used too. From a  tweet by  "Rabbi" David Mivasair of the JVP Rabbinic council

The link goes to this page.

Yep. An ostensibly Jewish Rabbi has linked to a page that declares "Al-Quds is core of Islamic Ummah"

If David Mivasair had done 5 seconds worth of fact checking, he would know that photo has been in use since at least 2012. If he had done 10 seconds worth of fact checking, he'd know that photo is not an "uprooted tree"- it is a pruned tree.

Failure to fact check. Linking to sites abhorrent to the Jewish people.  All in a days work for a member of the Jewish voice for Peace Rabbinic Council.

1928: Jews in Yemen fight Oppression

Throwback Thursday.

In 1928, the Jews of Yemen faced persecution and oppression, and longed to return to the homeland of their ancestors.

Remember this when the Israel haters tell you that Jews and Arabs got along swimmingly until the creation of Israel

From the November 18,1928  New York Times

Gaza. Time to envision regime change?

Hmmmm.

Looks like the Palestinian people are tiring of Hamas as well.

Fatah just posted the same image on their official Facebook page

Pass the popcorn.

Hows that Siege going? New Hospital completed in Gaza

The newly constructed Palestine-Turkey Friendship Hospital will be Gaza's largest when it becomes fully operational in 2017. Funded by the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), this is the second hospital to open in Gaza since the 2014 war with Israel

Palestine-Turkey Friendship Hospital

According to Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) which funded the project, the $40 million dollar facility will include cancer and heart research and treatment departments as well as a prayer room and library.

From Tika_Turkey 

A Qatar funded hospital is also expected to open later this year.

The construction of this state of the art hospital in Gaza is yet another manifestation of the brutal Israel siege and incremental genocide that we hear so much about in the mainstream media.

"Moderate" Fatah boosts of killing 11,000 Israelis

Via  Palestinian Media Watch, from the official Fatah Facebook page, Aug 2 2016

The following is yesterday's Fatah post celebrating and bragging about Fatah's murder of Israeli civilians:   

"To those who argue [with Fatah], to the boors, and to those who do not know history: 

• Fatah has killed 11,000 Israelis
• Fatah has sacrificed 170,000 Martyrs (Shahids)...
• Fatah was the first to carry out operations (i.e., terror attacks) during the first Intifada (i.e., Palestinian violence and terror against Israel, 1988-1993), and it was the first Palestinian faction to reach the nuclear reactor in Dimona (i.e., 1988 murder of 3 working mothers on way to the Dimona plant)
• Fatah was the first to fight in the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005) (Baha Al-Sa'id, an officer in the Preventive Security Forces, infiltrated an Israeli settlement on the border with Gaza) [parenthesis in source]...
• Fatah was the first to defeat the Zionist enemy (Battle of El-Karameh) [parenthesis in source]...
• Fatah led the Palestinian attack on Israel in the UN."

Still think we have a partner for peace?

Gaza head of World Vision accused of diverting aid to finance terror

The Gaza head of the U.S.-based humanitarian aid organization World Vision has confessed to funneling as much as $50 million a year over the past 10 years to Hamas terror activities. Over a decade ago,  Hamas recruited World Vision’s head of Gaza operations, Mohammed Halabi. (also known as Mohammed El-Halabi,  He rose through the ranks of the organization until he.was in control of  the finances and budget, ultimately  funneling 7.2 million a year to Hamas, and  its military wing the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It is estimated that 60% of all funds sent to Gaza by the World Vision charity was diverted to the Islamist movement. World Vision is among the largest Christian charities in the world. 

The specific allegations against Mohammed Halabi. include:
• Promoting fictitious agricultural associations as cover for transfers to Hamas;
• Transferring money to Hamas members fraudulently registered as employees of charity-sponsored projects;
• Issuing inflated invoices and fictitious receipts with the excess being transferred to Hamas;
• Issuing fictitious tenders for work to be done for World Vision, with the "winning" tenderer to transfer 60% of funds received to Hamas;
• Transferring directly to Hamas equipment and aid packages provided by World Vision;
• Initiating a greenhouse project to use the greenhouses to hide the sites of terror tunnels;
• Disguising Hamas warehouses as World Vision warehouses so Hamas could take materials delivered to them;
• Diverting money for injured children to Hamas terrorists who fraudulently listed their own children as wounded; and• Diverting unemployment benefits to Hamas terrorists.. 

An Israel Security Agency official said that while the investigation did not implicate World Vision in the scheme to divert funds, it did reveal an abysmal lack of monitoring and supervision by the organization of its donations and projects. "Hamas stole tens of millions of dollars from disabled and poor Palestinian children to build a war machine," said David Keyes, a spokesman for the Israeli government.

 Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has suspended funding of World Vision programs in Palestine, after the head of the charity in Gaza was charged by Israel with providing funds to Hamas. Germany has followed.

 DFAT said, "Any diversion of the generous support of the Australian and international community for military or terrorist purposes by Hamas is to be deplored and can only harm the Palestinian people."

World Vision has worked in Israel and the Palestinian territories since 1975, “advocating for the improved well-being of children as well as empowering Palestinian and Israeli voices that advocate for peace and justice.” It receives considerable funding from the UN and Western governments.

Read more here:

The serious terror-funding allegations against the World Vision head in Gaza

Shin Bet says tens of millions of Christian charity dollars went to Hamas

Hamas 'infiltrated int'l Gazan aid group,' stole tens of millions of dollars

UN Official: Gaza Charity’s Transfer of Aid to Hamas is a “Profound Betrayal of Trust”

Anti-Israel agitator attempts to blackmail Black Lives Matter activist

Palestinians and other opportunists have been attempting to co-opt the African American struggle for years.

We saw it with Trayon Martin.

We saw it with Oscar Grant.

We saw it with Ferguson.

And we see it again with the current incarnation of the Black Lives Matter Movement.  Having failed to co-opt the movement to his satisfaction, anti-Israel activist Bassem Masri has been documented threatening and trying to blackmail prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson.

From @AmericanZionist.
h/t IsraellyCool

Read the entire sordid tale here

First they hijacked airplanes. Now the Palestinians hijack agendas.

Shocking Palestinian child abuse

Going viral, for good reason

A Palestinian father urges his toddler to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers,  while taunting them to shoot the young child.  The child has been identified as 3 year-old Muhammad Suroor. The father doesn't get quite the photo op he's looking for- instead, the soldier high-fives the little boy.



Why would any parent exploit their child in such a cold-hearted and callous manner?

This is why:

This is why context matters.

Gaza Amusement Center Opens

Among the social justice warriors of the hard left and the hard right,  the Gaza as "open air prison" meme predominates. They paint a vision where a besieged people live a hard scrabble life among the rubble, completely cut off from the outside world.

Its a false narrative. Just yesterday there were 1,085 crossings of foreigners, merchants and others between Gaza and Israel.

Where are the merchants heading? Some are off to China.

From  Xinhua   

Dozens of Gaza merchants and businessmen are importing Chinese-made goods by traveling to China to buy products, ship them to an Israeli port and then deliver them to Gaza through Israeli-controlled crossing points.

There are no official figures to show how big the scale of the import is. However, Maher Taba'a, the man who is in charge of public relations in Gaza Chamber of Commerce, told Xinhua that more than 50 percent of the general import of goods is coming from China.

In spite of the big challenges and deterioration of economy, around 2,000 Palestinian businessmen are seeking opportunities in Chinese goods, because the Chinese products are "special and distinctive" ...

Highlighting some of these Chinese imports, the StarsCenter - an indoor amusement park has recently opened in Gaza, featuring bumper cars, rides and arcade games.

Photos from Stars center Facebook page

Its so pleasant to see the happy smiling faces of the children of Gaza, which provide a welcome contrast to the usual summertime activities we see in Gaza.

More snapshots from Gaza. You won't find these in the Western media

New Mall to open in Gaza

Oh, that cruel, cruel "siege".

The mass media and  social media are full of testimony claiming the "siege" of Gaza has prevented rebuilding and construction. The reality is quite different.

Gaza is anxiously awaiting the grand opening of its new "Capital mall"

The new plan was designed by Gaza's Innovative Design team

It seems modern and quite luxurious.

Its yet another snapshot from Gaza that you'll never see in the mainstream media, because it doesn't play into the Palestinian narrative of eternal victimhood.

Carlos Santana lands in Israel

Carlos Santana has landed in Tel Aviv, defying an unrelenting campaign of bullying directed not only him,   but his Milagros non-profit as well.   The Mexican music legend will rock HaYarkon Park Saturday night, and will be performing with his original 11 member band. 

photo from the Creative Community for Peace

In an interview  with Ynet,  Santana announced that the majority of the proceeds from his show would be channeled back into the community, to help Israeli and Palestinian children.

Who could possibly object?

In a last ditch effort to bully the Grammy award winning guitarist into caving to their demands,  BDS holes orchestrated  an onslaught on social media,spamming both his Twitter feed and his Facebook page with their spurious claims. It  wasn't exactly a spontaneous grassroots effort.

In response to the vitriol directed towards him, Santana responded:

I'm doing something constructive and productive with my light and my energy. The majority of the funds from this concert will go back into Palestine children and Israeli children. There was a friend of mine who used to say 'Stop whining complaining and bitching. Do something construction or shut the heck up'...I'm doing something from the center of my heart ...

Thousands are looking forward to hearing more of Carlos Santana's light, love, and magic at HaYarkon Park tomorrow.

New AMCHA Initiative Report reveals alarming surge in Campus anti-Semitic incidents

The Amcha Initiative is releasing a new  report  tomorrow that reveals a large surge in campus anti-Semitism during the 1st six months of 2016.  It includes strong evidence linking student government divestment resolutions and anti-Jewish activity, a huge uptick in expression opposing Israel’s right to exist, and an alarming spike in shutdowns and suppression of speech compared with 2015. Specifically:

Incidents involving suppression of Jewish students’ rights, including the right to free speech and free assembly  have doubled;
·
Expression denying Israel’s right to exist tripled and is highly correlated with conduct targeting Jewish students for harm;
·
Divestment resolutions are fueling an increase in campus anti-Semitism; and
·
Schools with the largest increase in anti-Semitic activity from 2015 to 2016 are Columbia, Vassar, U of Chicago, NYU, U of MN, UMass, U of WI, U of FL and U of WA.


These trends are  frightening for Jewish students but also very illuminating to those  battling this threat.  Those who promote anti-Zionism on campus are becoming a great deal more brazen in their tactics and are exposing their true colors. Understanding this shift provides us valuable information on how to fight it.

For a copy of the full report click here

A Nation is Born; the View from San Francisco

Throwback Thursday

Another reminder that while we have history, the other side has  "narrative".

May 14 1948, Israel's Independence day, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle

The Chronicle  documents the coordinated attacks on the nascent state by 5 of her neighbors

On  Israel’s independence day, Syrian forces were reported across the northern border (map at right arrow No. 1) The Jewish army conceded loss of Kefar Tzion (2) Egyptian Trops were ordered to invade from the South. Other Arab armies of Lebanon, Iraq and TransJordan were reported ready for action

High Muslim Call for "Holy War"

The Arabs considered this a “Holy War”. Sheikh Mohamed Mamoun El-Shennawy, rector of  Al Azhar University and chief of the Moslem Theological institute announced  “The Hour for Jihad has struck”.adding “This is a holy war for the sake of Allah. He who dies for God will live forever at the side of the Lord”

S.F.Zionists to celebrate on Monday

Locally,   there were celebrations in the Jewish community, who declared “We are with you”

A local attorney, Bartley Crum declared  “We have fought long and hard for this day. There may be many obstacles ahead, but May 15 1948 will live in history with July 4 1776”

Rabbi Saul White called Israel’s independence   the “fulfillment of prophetic utterances of distant days”

Conspicuously absent from any of these articles, or any article in any paper is mention of a "Palestinian" people. I challenge any anti-Israel activist to go to any  of the historic newspapers now widely available and fully digitized to find any evidence of a "Palestinian" people before the 1960s.

Good luck with that

Gaza: Summertime and the Living is easy

Hamas, the terror group in control of the Gaza strip has proudly posted photos of its 2016 summer camp on its twitter feed.

There are no lanyards or art n' crafts in a Hamas run summer camp. The children are there for one purpose only- to learn to be soldiers.

Does anyone still think we have a partner for peace?

For more photos of Hamas run summer camps in Gaza, check out : 
Pictures: Summer camps are a bit different on the Gaza strip

Another Work Accident. Pity the tunnel-rats of Gaza

Pity the tunnel-rats of Gaza. They've had a rough few months. In the last year, 18 Gaza militants have died in tunnel collapses. There have been 2 collapses this month alone.

Hamas Tunnel Rats Before

Hamas Tunnel Rats After

Several times this year, Israel has discovered and destroyed terror tunnels stretching from Gaza into Israel. The latest was 90 feet below ground. Hundreds are employed to dig these tunnels, with concrete and supplies diverted from humanitarian projects in the impoverished strip.  

Hamas makes it perfectly clear what the tunnels are meant for.

From Dry Bones

Another UC Berkeley Student falls victim to Arab terror

Tragedy has struck Cal Berkeley again.

Nicolas Leslie, a UC Berkeley student who had been studying in Nice, France, has been identified as among the 84 people killed in Thursday’s terrorist attack in Nice, France.

Just 2 weeks ago, 18-year-old Berkeley sophomore Tarishi Jain also lost her life in a  terror attack at a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Nicolas and Tarishi are not the first Bears whose lives were cut short by Arab terror. This month is the yahrzeit (anniversary)of the death of Marla Bennett, who along with 5 other Americans, was murdered in an attack on Hebrew University.

On July 31, 2002, Marla Bennett was one of nine people killed killed when a bomb exploded in the Frank Sinatra cafeteria on the Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus. 85 others were injured. The cafeteria was gutted by the explosion . Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Nicolas, Tarishi and Marla were all idealistic, bright compassionate students who died too young, victims of an ideology of callous extremism.

May their memories be a blessing.

Oh, those silly BDS holes and their silly BS antics.

So, JVP and Code Pink. Were you lying then or are you lying now?

If on June 27,  JVP shill Liza Behrendt announced that  Re/Max was no longer "profiting" from Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria,

then why is Code Pink still protesting them on July 14?

I sense a BDS hoax in the making.

Je Suis Nice

The hate that starts with Jews never ends there.
The "car intifada"- a  revolting act of terror began with Palestinians deliberately ramming Israelis and has now moved to  Nice, France. Reports indicate that as many as 60 people have died after a large white truck deliberately ran down Bastille Day revelers.

Israel has had 46 incidents of vehicular terror attacks in the past year, spurred on by incitement in the Palestinian media and in social media

We Won.

From Humans of Judaism. Like them on Facebook

A very old man came in to my Starbucks. Halfway through struggling to understand his order through his thick accent, he noticed my necklace. He stopped and said "Your star is beautiful.", and I thanked him. There was a long pause before he spoke again. When he did, he said "It is beautiful, but I am having a hard time looking at it. The last time I wore one, it was mandatory."

We then spoke to each other in Hebrew for a bit. But soon enough he stopped again, and looked back to my star. With one hand he held mine, and used his other hand to shakily touch the sapphires on my necklace. His lip shook, and tears rolled down his cheeks. In a shaky, heavily German-accented whisper, he said "I am so happy you are here. Your generation is here. We won." and kissed my hand.