Terror Supporter Abbas participates in anti-Terror rally in France

In a march described as the biggest since liberation in 1944, 1.3  million people and over 40 world leaders joined together for a Paris unity rally after 17 people were killed during three days of deadly terror .

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron , Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israel's  prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu , and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were among the leaders marching with French President Francois  Hollande. 

The bitter irony of  Mahmoud Abbas attending a rally against terror could not be lost on the participating dignitaries. Abbas was reputedly the financier of the massacre of Israeli athletics in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Abbas has repeatedly honored those accused of egregious attacks of terror against the Israeli people.

From Palestinian Media Watch

• Dec. 2012, Abbas honored 6 terrorists responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis and two American diplomats, including Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa, Black September leader Abu Iyad and others
• Jan. 2013, Abbas pledged to follow path of 15 terrorists responsible for killing hundreds.In his speech on the occasion of Fatah's anniversary, Abbas pledged to follow the path of numerous terrorists, and others responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis. He also mentioned Hitler's ally the Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who recruited Muslims to fight with the Nazis in World War II.
• March 2013, Abbas honored the murderer of 2 students, terrorist Abd Rabbo  who killed two Israeli university students
• April 2013, Abbas honored Abu Jihad for orchestrating the most lethal attack in Israeli history, the hijacking of a bus and killing of 37 civilians, 12 of them children. The official PA news agency WAFA has credited him with being responsible for the deaths of 125 Israelis.
• May 2013, Abbas refused to condemn or dismiss his adviser Sultan Abu Al-Einein, who glorified a murderer tabbed an Israeli father of five to death.

Paris Terror Victims Identified

Via Emunah:

The names of the lives cut short in yesterday's attack on a kosher grocery store in France have been released

Murdered  for being Jewish and living a Jewish life in France were Yoav Hattab, 21, Philippe Braham, in his 40s, Yohan Cohen, 22, and Francois-Michel Saada, in his 60s. May their memories be a blessing.

As authorities piece together the chain of events in the 7 hour siege there is at least one more story that needs to be known.

A employee of the Hyper Cacher market, a 24-year-old Muslim from Mali, Lassana Bathily was working in the store when the gunman came in. He used his inside knowledge of the store to hide customers fleeing the carnage. Up to 15 people hid in a downstairs freezer until the siege ended and they were able to safely emerge.

Lassana Bathily 's story drives home an important point. This is not about Christians and Jews vs Muslims.  This is not about western values vs Islam. It has never been.  This is about the forces of light vs the forces of darkness. This is about the forces of tolerance vs the forces of extremism.

Another Glimpse at Concentration Camp Gaza

More snapshots of Gaza, reminiscent of the Warsaw Ghetto. Clearly the world's largest open air concentration camp.

Check out the Facebook page of the Orhan Center

Orhan Center in Gaza

    

It has everything for the modest Gazan 

And the not so modest Gazan

The shoe collection is stellar

The Orhan center is a shopping experience for Gaza's elite.

      

 Not a single stiffing black tarp in sight
                                       

Yes, this is the Gaza under rubble we've heard so much about. The starving Gaza. The humanitarian crisis of epic proportion. This is the Gaza without power, without water, where children freeze to death on the street.

All of these photos were added to the Orhan facebook page within the last month.

 

Another Day of mourning in France.

For the first time since the Nazis occupied France, the Grand Synagogue of Paris did not open for Shabbat services.

The future of the Jewish people in France seems more tenuous than ever.

Today,  an Islamic terrorist closely associated with the Kouachi brothers suspected of the Charlie Hebdo massacre lay siege to Hyper Cacher, a kosher grocery store in Paris.

The hostage-taking began just after noon, when Amedy Coulibaly, 32, a French citizen of Senegalese descent, walked into the store and opened fire, killing 4. Hostages were taken, including woman and children.

Authorities closed shops on Rosiers street in the Marais, the Jewish section of Paris.  The Grand Synagogue was also closed as a precautionary measure.

Across town, the Kouachi brothers suspected of the Charlie Hebdo massacre were holed up in a printing shop. Coulibaly threatened to kill his hostages if French authorities launched an assault on the two brothers.

The three terrorists were killed in simultaneous raids at the two locations

The Kouachi brothers were found with a  M82 rocket propelled grenade launcher, a two machine guns and automatic handguns.  On one body police found a booby-trapped grenade.

Coulibaly was armed with two Russian-made Tokarev pistols and two machine guns.

"What happened over the past 48 hours was a shock to the entire French nation," said Simone Rodan-Benazquen, director of American Jewish Committee in Paris.

Rodan-Benzaquen said, "Hatred of Jews never ends with Jews...Radical Islamists have struck violently, from the murders at a Jewish school in Toulouse two years ago, to repeated incidents of violence against Jews and synagogues in Paris, to the vicious rape of a Jewish woman in her own home, and today's assault on a kosher supermarket in the middle of Paris."

Via Mike Harris of SFV4I :

This Sunday afternoon at 2 PM in San Francisco (Civic Center Plaza, in front of City Hall) there will be a rally sponsored by the French Consulate. Given that today's victims were Jews singled out for targeting by the attack on a kosher store, our community should be there. While it is not appropriate to carry Israeli flags (unlike anti-Israel activist groups, we don't hijack other people's events in the service of our agenda), there is something we can do in the memory of the Jewish victims in Paris: on the internet today, many people are posting "Je Suis Juif" (I am a Jew) on their Facebook or Twitter pages. )

Hillel Neuer: And there was no one left to speak for me

From Hillel Neuer of UN Watch

Wreck Diving in Eliat: Unexpected Israel

 Via Emunah:

After 25 years of service in the Israeli Navy, the Achi Sufa was sunk in the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba) at the northern tip of the Red Sea 1994 and is now an artificial reef teeming with life. It is one of the most popular wreck dives in all of Israel. Brilliant soft and hard corals, giant groupers, millions of glass fish and lion fish make the Sufa their home.

Its spectacularly photogenic.

A photo from the Sufa in Israel is one of the winners of the 2014  Ocean Art Contest , in the Marine Life Behavior Category. A huge school of glass sweepers take shelter in the wreck of the Sufa  forming an all you can eat buffet for a resident lion fish

“Lionfish Staring at its Lunch”
Second Place, Marine Life Behavior
Ilan Ben Tov
Shot in the Red Sea in Eliat, Israel

Israel. Weren't expecting that, were you?

Its official. BDS is a resounding failure.

Its official. Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions are a resounding failure.

In the 13 years since the Durban BDS strategy was introduced, Israel's gross domestic product  has grown  by 54 percent. Overall Israeli exports rose by 80 percent. In Europe exports have surged by 99 percent. Direct investment in Israel has also grown.

According to a recent report commissioned by the Knesset Finance Committee, the share of exported goods originating in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights has grown from 0.5 percent to 3.1 percent, and that an overwhelming majority of that growth (2.5 percent) is from exports to the European Union.

Read it all here:  Boycott efforts against Israel do not hurt economy

Hapless Jewish Voice for Peace attempts to spin this resounding defeat as a victory, and falls flat on their faces:

 

Muslim extremists kill journalists. Palestinian activists blame Israel

The civilized world is reeling in horror from the deaths of 12 today in Paris. The attack on the French satirical weekly newspaper journal Charlie Hebdo , which dared to run cartoons deemed offensive to Islam has shocked the world, with hundreds of thousands gathering in solidarity with the murdered cartoonists. Gunmen, armed with a Kalashnikov and a rocket launcher stormed into the paper's offices killing four of the magazine's founding cartoonists , and wounding 11 others,  four of whom remain in critical condition.

It did not take long for anti-Israel activists to blame the attacks on, you guessed it- Israel. Mary Hughes-Thomson and Greta Berlin, the extremist founders of the Free Gaza organization, both used social media to push their latest version of "its always the Jews"

In the meanwhile  French police have taken Hamyd Mourad, 18, into custody after he surrendered to authorities. The two other suspects in the attack,  French-born brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, both in their 30s, remain at large.
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Alberto R. Gonzales visits Israel

Alberto R. Gonzales served as U.S. attorney general from 2005 to 2007 in the George W. Bush administration. He is currently the dean of the Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee. He recently traveled to Israel, and wrote in the Washington Post:

Earlier this month I visited Israel as part of a delegation of Hispanic American leaders, under the auspices of a private educational organization called The Face of Israel.  During our trip I had the privilege to travel the country, and to meet with one Father Gabriel Naddaf, a native Arabic-speaking Israeli Greek-Orthodox priest from Nazareth, the city where Jesus Christ began his own ministry.As Father Naddaf spoke to us, we began to grasp that his presence in the Holy Land is more than a symbolic nod to the origins of Christianity.  It is, in fact, one of the world’s most powerful and hopeful testaments to the continuity and living potential of Christian identity in the Middle East today. Father Naddaf’s very existence is a statement of courage and resolve in the face of an increasingly hostile and volatile region.  What he told us has transformed my understanding of the Middle East, and of my responsibility to it as a Christian—and as an American—living in the 21st century...


Sitting in Nazareth, our delegation learned that in the past ten years 100,000 Christians have been killed each year because of their faith  many of them in the Middle East.  Father Naddaf spoke to us about how less than a quarter of the millions of Christians who once lived in Iraq and Syria remain.  These people trace their roots back to the inception of some of the world’s oldest and most storied Christian communities, but now they are subjected by Islamic extremists to the most heinous of threats and crimes imaginable.  Those who can escape, flee for their lives, while those who remain face all manner of degradation and discrimination, including not only financial and political disenfranchisement, but also forced conversion, rape and even execution.

Within the borders of Israel, however, according to the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian population is growing.  Israel provides Christians with not just security and freedom of worship, but also excellent education, employment, healthcare, and other freedoms and opportunities beyond what is available in many parts of the Muslim world.  Father Naddaf and other Christian priests of various denominations, both within and beyond Israel and the Middle East, are clear: one of the safest places for Christians in the Middle East today is Israel.  

Read it all here

Another Terror Attack Thwarted

The Jerusalem District Court has convicted three Arab residents of Jerusalem of conspiring to carry out a terror attack.

Arab residents of Jerusalem Anas Awisat, Basel Abidat and Ahmed Sorour were arrested last month following a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel police.

The three had been planning on posing as guests at a wedding hall by dressing up as Hareidi Jews, and once inside planned on massacring the guests.

Anas Awisat had worked at the Nof event hall in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem in the past and felt the large capacity of the hall would enable him to massacre large number of Israelis at once

The group contacted a Palestinian Arab arms dealer, who sold them two machine guns and an Uzi.

Hamas has encouraged Palestinians to disguise themselves as Orthodox Jews to carry out suicide attacks on Israeli civilians.

A widely seen Hamas video shows a terrorist dressing up in a black hat, black coat, and tzitzit before arming himself with explosives.  This tactic has been used successfully in the past.   In June 11, 2003,  Sixteen people were killed and more than 80 wounded when a Hamas suicide bomber bomber, disguised as an ultra-orthodox Jew. blew up a Jerusalem city bus.

Meet the Jewish Voice for Peace Artists and Cultural Workers Council

Feeling threatened by the success of the Creative Community for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has launched its own initiative.

From their website

The Jewish Voice for Peace Artists and Cultural Workers Council is a leadership body of 40 acclaimed poets, rock singers, cartoonists, painters, actors, playwrights, novelists, filmmakers, computer programmers, musicians, dancers, performance artists, and other cultural workers.

Inspired by Jewish activist and artistic traditions, the Council is made up of Jews and allies who represent a broader network of hundreds of influential and talented artists and makers.

Our work for a just peace in Israel/Palestine needs artists and cultural workers to help us envision more just and possible futures, not simply what is politically “practical” in this moment.

In a political discourse that feels polarized and poisonous, artists are a powerful antidote. Art compels us to question, invites us to memory, provokes us to act.

 The "acclaimed" members include at least 2  (Morgan Bassichis,  then known as Daniel, and  Micah Bazant  ) who showed their commitment to open discourse by interrupting a celebration of art, music and learning at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center in 2008.

None of these "acclaimed" artists and cultural workers are exactly household names.

Council Members
Amanda Lundquist
Aurora Levins Morales 
Daniel Rosza Lang-Levitsky 
Danny Bryk
Dave Lippman
Debra Stuckgold
Dori Midnight
Eitan Isaacson
Elaina Ellis
Elijah Oberman
Ellen O’Grady
Ethan Heitner
Ezra Nepon
Hadar Ahuvia
Hillary Sametz
Irene Siegel
Irit Reinheimer
Jenny Levison
Josh Perlstein
Louisa Solomon
Madeleine Avirov
Micah Bazant  
Michi Osato
MJ Kaufman
Morgan Bassichis
Nicole Bindler
Noa Fort
Noa Grayevsky
Rebekah Tarin
Sandra Ceas
Sarah Sills
Shachaf Polakow
Shelby Handler
Stormy Staats
Susan Eisenberg
Tamar Sharabi
Una Osato
Wendy Somerson
Yonah Adelman

General Martin Dempsey: Israel has gone to "extraordinary lengths" to limit civilian casualties in Gaza

Several months ago,  at an appearance in New York at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Army General Martin Dempsey, the highest-ranking US military officer  and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared that Israel  had gone to "extraordinary lengths" to limit civilian casualties in the war with Gaza .

Israel has faced unrelenting criticism for civilian deaths during the conflict. Over than 2,100 Palestinians were reportedly killed.

Recent research from the Meir Amit  Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center suggest that suggest that terrorist operatives constitute about 52% of the fatalities who have been identified, and non-involved civilians constitute approximately 48%. This ratio may vary in the future, as more information is uncovered.

As of the last report, 

* 528 of those killed in Gaza in Operation protective Edge were terrorist operatives.

* 480 of those killed were non-involved civilians.

* 157 of those killed are unidentified at this stage. 

An earlier analysis of  Gaza deaths during Operation Protective Edge indicated that over:

80% of Gazans killed so far have been male, with almost half of these males being in the 18-28 age group. One can imagine many of these being “combatants.” A further 20% of these males are between 29 and 48, an age group one could envisage may also contain many Hamas members.

If Israel were deliberately targeting civilians, the gender ratio would be significantly closer to 50/50.

For those in need of a refresher course: Operation Protective Edge by the numbers:


For 50 days, armed groups in Gaza fired 4,564 projectiles at Israel.
3,659 rocket and mortar impact sites were found
Of those that struck in Israel, 224 hit built-up areas.
735 were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
197 “failed launchings” – projectiles that never left the Gaza Strip or that did not launch at all.

In spite of hostilities, humanitarian aid continued to flow to Gaza

959 tons of medicine and medical supplies entered the Strip 
5,359 trucks carrying goods entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

65% of Israeli Arabs are "proud to be Israeli"

The 2014 Israel Democracy Index by Tamar Hermann shows a young nation still struggling with issues of social and economic equality.

This is not surprising. America,  at 238 years old is still wrestling with many of the same issues.

What may come as a surprise to many is the response to " How proud are you to be an Israeli?"

Over 85% of Israeli Jews were proud to be Israeli. 

65 % of Israeli Arabs were also proud to be Israeli.

While its significantly less than the Israeli total, it also represents a substantial  number of the responders.

The Israel Democracy Institute describes itself as "independent, non-partisan think-and-do tank dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy. IDI supports Israel’s elected officials, civil servants, and opinion leaders by developing policy solutions in the realms of political reform, democratic values, social cohesion, and religion and state."

You say Ramallah, and I say Ramlla

Hows the democratic secular society going for you?

On various social media sites and throughout the web , Palestinians  are debating whether the city of  Ramallah should change its name to Ramlla.  (راملّه) instead of (رام الله)

The name "Ramallah" is composed of "Ram", an Aramaic word  meaning "high place or mountain", and "Allah". It translates as "the Hill of God"

Ramallah

The issue? Currently, products and packages bearing the name "Ramallah" often end up in the trash. Many Palestinians feel this desecrates the name of "Allah".

This issue was deemed important enough that the Ramallah Municipality Council devoted a meeting to it.

For the anti-Israel activists who tout "one democratic secular state"  as a more palatable, "PC" way to discuss the elimination of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, just how were you planning on pushing "secular" on the Palestinian people?

" Moderate" Fatah celebrates 50 years of terror

Still think we have a partner for peace?

Today, the so called  "moderate" Fatah celebrated the anniversary of its first attack on Israel, 50 years ago.

UPDATE:



Nothing like the gratuitous burning of American, Israeli and British flags to convince people of your good intentions. Way to go, Fatah.

Lies the BDS holes tell.

Lies the BDS holes told.

Via Noura Khouri.

She tweets: "2014  will forever go down in history as when we stopped Zim from coming to the US."

No, it won't Noura.

Zim Shipping still has a robust American presence , in spite of your best efforts.

Just this week, the Zim Istanbul off loaded in New York harbor.(That's in the US, Noura) before moving down to Norfolk VA (That's also in the US, Noura)

Again, Noura Khouri proves that in the absence of any concrete victory,  BDS holes are more than happy to lie. 

Zionism and Judaism

January 1st is a fast day for observant Jews.

In 2015, the 10th of Tevet falls on News Years day.  It is marked by fasting and prayer, and commemorates the day the armies of  Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem. Thirty months later, the city walls were breached, and on the 9th of Av the  Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people exiled.

Remember this when anti-Israel activists tell you there is no connection between Judaism and Zionism. Remember it as well when anti-Israel activists accuse the Jewish people of attempting to "Judaize" Jerusalem.

Palestinian statehood bid defeated at the UN Security Council.

The  15-member council United Nations Security Council fell short of the 9 votes needed to pass the statehood resolution.  Eight voted for the resolution and two voted against, with five abstentions.

Supporting the resolution were France, China,   Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan and Luxembourg. Australia and the United States voted against.

UK, Nigeria,  Lithuania, South Korea and Rwanda abstained from supporting the resolution

Speaking about the  vote, US Ambassador Samantha Power said: “We voted against this resolution not because we are comfortable with the status quo....peace must come from hard compromises that occur at the negotiating table.”

She added:

"The United States every day searches for new ways to take constructive steps to support the parties in making progress toward achieving a negotiated settlement.  The Security Council resolution put before us today is not one of those constructive steps."

She said the text was "deeply imbalanced"  with "unconstructive deadlines that take no account of Israel’s legitimate security concerns."

Read More:

Palestinian draft resolution fails in UN council

UN Security Council rejects Palestinian statehood resolution

Palestinian statehood resolution fails at UN Security Council

In response, Palestinians burnt an American flag, and continued their incessant whining.

Haifa Celebrates Diversity

Haifa, that other city by the bay, has been San Francisco's sister city for 41 years.

Among the many commonalities are a strong pride in celebrating their diversity, promoting multiculturalism, tolerance and coexistence.

From the J post

For the past 21 years, thousands of visitors have been attending the annual December weekend Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa.

This festival, which falls on the crossroads of Hanukka, Id al-Adha and Christmas, has come to stand for coexistence and multiculturalism. The festival runs until December 27, when the city invites visitors to enjoy theatrical and musical performances, vendors and art exhibits.

The photos are breathtaking.

Haifa is more beautiful than ever in its holiday finery.

If Gaza is a Prison, Hamas is the Jailer.

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

We've seen how Hamas treats the children of Gaza, training them as soldiers in after school programs and summer camps. Hamas has used children as human shields, and as forced labor in the past

Todays events, in light of Hamas's past are not surprising. It is still heartbreaking to see an attempt at peace-making so cynically discarded.

A group of 37 children  from Gaza ages 5 to 12 whose fathers were killed in the war between Hamas and Israel,  were prevented from leaving Gaza today after Hamas rescinded an agreement with Israel. The children were already on the bus, waiting to cross the border.

From Y NET

The children. were set...to visit an Israeli safari, tour the Bediun town of Rahat, and even meet Palestinian President Abbas in Ramallah. They were also scheduled to tour the Israeli communities which live near the Gaza border.

Eyad Bozum, a spokesman for Hamas, said the children were prevented from traveling Sunday to "protect the culture of our children and our people" from normalizing relations with Israel.

He says Hamas turned the children back when they arrived at a crossing into Israel. He says Hamas would make sure such an attempt "will never happen again."

The idea behind the visit was to show the children the other side of the conflict, and the initiative was led by Yoel Marshak, from the Kibbutz Movement.

It is increasing obvious that if Gaza is an "open air prison", that Hamas is the jailer. 

Palestinian children wait on a bus at Erez crossing in Beit Hanun in the north of the Gaza Strip on December 28, 2014, before being prevented by Hamas from entering Israeli territory in a pre-arranged week-long trip, organizers and officials said. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS