26.03.2012 Tunisia, un imam istiga la folla ad ammazzare gli ebrei
c'è ancora qualcuno disposto a credere alla fandonia dell'islam democratico e tollerante?
Testata: ANSA
Data: 26 marzo 2012
Pagina: 1
Autore: Redazione di Ansa
Titolo: «Tunisia, sceicco salafita, prepariamoci a uccidere ebrei a Tunisi durante manifestazione a sostegno della sharia»
Pubblichiamo il lancio ANSA dal titolo " Tunisia, sceicco salafita, prepariamoci a uccidere ebrei a Tunisi durante manifestazione a sostegno della sharia ".
Primavera araba? Ecco a che cosa ha portato, il passaggio della Tunisia da dittatura laica a dittatura islamista. Dalla padella alla brace. Un imam che arringa la folla aizzandola contro gli ebrei tunisini e incitandola ad assassinarli tutti.
Islam e democrazia, un binomio impossibile.
Ecco il pezzo:
(ANSA) - TUNISI, 25 MAR - La manifestazione dei salafiti nel cuore di Tunisi a sostegno della sharia e durante la quale ci sono stati scontri innescati dagli integralisti islamici, ha avuto anche una forte connotazione anti-ebraica. Uno «sceicco» del movimento integralista, che indossava la veste lunga e bianca della tradizione tunisina, salito su un palco improvvisato in piazza 14 Gennaio, ha arringato la folla a «prepararsi per uccidere gli ebrei». Alle incitazioni dello sceicco, la folla ha risposto affermativamente a gran voce. In Tunisia, da secoli, vive una comunità ebraica rispettata e che non ha mai avuto problemi con i musulmani.
Per inviare la propria opinione all'Ansa, cliccare sull'e-mail sottostante
redazione.internet@ansa.it
Showing posts with label antisemitismo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antisemitismo. Show all posts
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Nel calderone del razzismo
25.03.2012 Nel calderone del razzismo
Commento di Ugo Volli
Testata: Informazione Corretta
Data: 25 marzo 2012
Pagina: 1
Autore: Ugo Volli
Titolo: «Nel calderone del razzismo»
Da MOKED, riprendiamo l'analisi di Ugo Volli, che titoliamo " Nel calderone del razzismo".
Ugo Volli
Quando accade un atto di violenza contro gli ebrei, un evento terribile come a Tolosa o solo una minaccia o un'espressione d'odio, la condanna viene di solito espressa in termini di rifiuto del razzismo. Suona meglio dire che un gesto è razzista piuttosto che antisemita, l'infrazione al comune senso dell'umanità appare più vasto e generale, la difesa da esso meno particolaristica. E però bisogna capire che cosa si perde nell'immergere l'odio per gli ebrei nel calderone del razzismo. E' necessario riflettere di più su questo termine e su ciò che il suo uso implica. E' importante capire che seppure il razzismo è inevitabilmente antisemita, l'odio per gli ebrei non sia necessariamente razzista. Non solo perché la parola “razza” è relativamente recente, non si diffonde in Europa prima del sedicesimo secolo (mentre “razzismo” è un vocabolo solo ottocentesco). Ma perché il concetto è estremamente limitativo.
Il razzismo è una bizzarra teoria ottocentesca, che pretendeva una inesistente base scientifica, per cui gli esseri umani andrebbero divisi in gruppi chiusi, appunto le “razze” con caratteristiche psicofisiche essenziali ben differenziate, naturalmente alcune superiori e altre inferiori. La scienza ha mostrato da tempo che queste “essenze” non esistono, che tutti i gruppi umani sono non solo ovviamente interfertili (che è il criterio biologico per la differenziazione di specie), ma di fatto sempre largamente mescolati e che la variabilità genetica interna a ciascun gruppo umano è sempre assai più vasta dalla differenza statistica fra gruppi.
I tratti più visibili, come il colore della pelle ecc. non sono segni rivelatori di un'essenza razziale ma adattamenti a certe condizioni fisiche dei luoghi come l'illuminazione solare, che emergono rapidamente per adattamento evolutivo in qualunque popolazione sia sottoposta a quelle condizioni. Essere razzisti è oggi come credere che la terra sia piatta: pura ignoranza.
C'è bisogno di attribuire questo errore intellettuale all'assassino di Tolosa per capire i suoi atti? Si può affermare che abbia ammazzato dei bambini, consapevolmente e deliberatamente, perché pensava che fossero di razza inferiore? Basterebbe essere consapevoli che siamo tutti esseri umani, contraddire l'aberrazione ideologica nazista, per eliminare questo tipo di crimini orrendi?
Anche se in alcuni casi si sono estesi al “sangue”, cioè alla discendenza ebraica, le persecuzioni cristiane e islamiche contro gli ebrei non erano razziste: chi si convertiva in genere aveva salva la vita. L'obiettivo era la religione, certamente, nel senso che il discrimine per cristiani e islamici era una dichiarazione di fede; ma allo stesso tempo veniva colpita la specificità culturale e nazionale dell'ebraismo: anche se nel corso della storia molti ebrei si sono convertiti per convinzione, per interesse o più spesso per salvarsi la vita, non vi sono ebrei cristiani o ebrei musulmani, come vi sono per esempio Bosniaci cristiani e musulmani.
Nell'ebraismo il carattere nazionale e quello religioso coincidono largamente.
L'odio per gli ebrei (uso questa locuzione invece dell'antisemitismo che è anch'essa parola ottocentesca) è dunque odio di una religione e di un popolo allo stesso tempo: come si possono odiare induisti e musulmani in Kashmir, e anche come vi è stato odio fra polacchi e russi o fra francesi e tedeschi. L'odio contro gli ebrei è però molto più largamente diffuso, molto più permanente e soprattutto esso è eliminativo.
I più nazionalisti dei serbi non potevano pensare di distruggere i musulmani kossovari fino all'ultimo uomo, gli sciiti iracheni non possono voler cancellare dalla faccia della terra i sunniti o viceversa – per il semplice fatto che non è possibile. Sono odi feroci e violenti, ma non eliminativi. Quello per gli ebrei lo è: Hitler parlava di “soluzione finale”, molti autori nella Chiesa credono che ci sia bisogno della conversione di tutti gli ebrei per la parusia, il ritorno finale; nel mondo islamico circolano detti attribuiti al Profeta sull'eliminazione degli ultimi ebrei nascosti dietro sassi e alberi.
La ragione di queste caratteristiche non è facile da comprendere, ma certamente ha a che fare con il fatto che gli ebrei sono stati per millenni dispersi in piccoli gruppi in mezzo a popolazioni differenti: estreme minoranze che hanno rifiutato di assimilarsi. Cristianesimo, Islam, laicismo volterriano, marxismo, nazismo hanno avuto il progetto comune di eliminare questa anomalia, con la distruzione culturale o con quella fisica, a seconda dei luoghi, dei momenti o delle tendenze dei movimenti. I progetti di soluzione finale del problema ebraico attraverso la conversione più o meno forzata (secondo la promessa cristiana o musulmana), o l'assimilazione (come volevano Marx e gli illuministi), l'espulsione (buona parte degli stati europei fra medioevo e prima modernità) o lo sterminio (i nazisti) sono certamente assai diversi sul piano delle conseguenze personali e anche dell'intenzione etica; ma dal punto di vista storico-culturale il risultato non è troppo diverso: tutte queste strade portano a una società senza ebrei. Il razzismo non c'entra, la Chiesa e l'Islam si vogliono universali, ammettono tutti i popoli, purché convertiti. Fanno eccezione solo per Israele.
Il primo sionismo si illuse che la costruzione di uno stato degli ebrei e quindi la fine dello stato di minoranza dispersa avrebbe annullato l'odio. Di fatto quest'odio è solo cambiato, si è esteso dai singoli individui allo stato. Nel passato l'odio per gli ebrei prendeva ridicoli pretesti religiosi (“il popolo deicida”, o che “aveva rifiutato Maometto”), o assumeva calunnie più gravi e ancor più infondate (gli omicidi rituali, gli avvelenamenti dei pozzi), si basava sul carattere “capitalista” degli ebrei (per secoli in Europa costretti a fare i prestatori di denaro dalla proibizione di altri lavori) o sul loro rapporto col socialismo, o infine sulla menzogna della razza.
Oggi sarebbe Israele a “opprimere” i palestinesi, a uccidere bambini, strappare organi ai defunti, a non volere la pace, a “colonizzare” a “giudeizzare Gerusalemme” eccetera.
Sono tutte menzogne, ma la loro falsità non impedisce agli assassini di ucciderci e alle organizzazioni internazionali di discriminare Israele in maniera sistematica.
Definendo quest'odio “razzista” gli togliamo la sua terribile specificità storica, lo annacquiamo in un calderone di antipatie e localismi. Coloro che hanno detto che l'assassino di Tolosa non ce l'aveva con gli ebrei ma con la Francia, probabilmente l'hanno fatto a fin di bene, per cercare protezione in una legalità generale. Chi, pur di origine ebraica, ha insinuato che si facesse scandalo per gli ebrei ma non lo si sarebbe fatto per i Rom, invece l'ha fatto con la malvagità di chi si è unito agli odiatori del proprio popolo.
Resta il fatto che entrambe questa posizioni sono sbagliate. Magari l'assassino di Tolosa odiava anche la Francia di cui era cittadino. Ma il suo odio per gli ebrei non derivava da quello par la Francia, né era spiegabile con le sue condizioni sociali, né era razzista: era l'ultimo anello di una catena millenaria, ed era stato alimentato da specifici e infaticabili maestri d'odio, antisemiti consapevoli, impegnati a distruggerci fino all'ultimo uomo.
Questo dobbiamo sapere senza farci illusioni. E senza rifugiarci dietro le consolanti etichette del razzismo e del nazismo, pretesti momentanei e perituri di un odio molto più profondo e antico.
http://www.informazionecorretta.it/main.php?sez=90
Commento di Ugo Volli
Testata: Informazione Corretta
Data: 25 marzo 2012
Pagina: 1
Autore: Ugo Volli
Titolo: «Nel calderone del razzismo»
Da MOKED, riprendiamo l'analisi di Ugo Volli, che titoliamo " Nel calderone del razzismo".
Ugo Volli
Quando accade un atto di violenza contro gli ebrei, un evento terribile come a Tolosa o solo una minaccia o un'espressione d'odio, la condanna viene di solito espressa in termini di rifiuto del razzismo. Suona meglio dire che un gesto è razzista piuttosto che antisemita, l'infrazione al comune senso dell'umanità appare più vasto e generale, la difesa da esso meno particolaristica. E però bisogna capire che cosa si perde nell'immergere l'odio per gli ebrei nel calderone del razzismo. E' necessario riflettere di più su questo termine e su ciò che il suo uso implica. E' importante capire che seppure il razzismo è inevitabilmente antisemita, l'odio per gli ebrei non sia necessariamente razzista. Non solo perché la parola “razza” è relativamente recente, non si diffonde in Europa prima del sedicesimo secolo (mentre “razzismo” è un vocabolo solo ottocentesco). Ma perché il concetto è estremamente limitativo.
Il razzismo è una bizzarra teoria ottocentesca, che pretendeva una inesistente base scientifica, per cui gli esseri umani andrebbero divisi in gruppi chiusi, appunto le “razze” con caratteristiche psicofisiche essenziali ben differenziate, naturalmente alcune superiori e altre inferiori. La scienza ha mostrato da tempo che queste “essenze” non esistono, che tutti i gruppi umani sono non solo ovviamente interfertili (che è il criterio biologico per la differenziazione di specie), ma di fatto sempre largamente mescolati e che la variabilità genetica interna a ciascun gruppo umano è sempre assai più vasta dalla differenza statistica fra gruppi.
I tratti più visibili, come il colore della pelle ecc. non sono segni rivelatori di un'essenza razziale ma adattamenti a certe condizioni fisiche dei luoghi come l'illuminazione solare, che emergono rapidamente per adattamento evolutivo in qualunque popolazione sia sottoposta a quelle condizioni. Essere razzisti è oggi come credere che la terra sia piatta: pura ignoranza.
C'è bisogno di attribuire questo errore intellettuale all'assassino di Tolosa per capire i suoi atti? Si può affermare che abbia ammazzato dei bambini, consapevolmente e deliberatamente, perché pensava che fossero di razza inferiore? Basterebbe essere consapevoli che siamo tutti esseri umani, contraddire l'aberrazione ideologica nazista, per eliminare questo tipo di crimini orrendi?
Anche se in alcuni casi si sono estesi al “sangue”, cioè alla discendenza ebraica, le persecuzioni cristiane e islamiche contro gli ebrei non erano razziste: chi si convertiva in genere aveva salva la vita. L'obiettivo era la religione, certamente, nel senso che il discrimine per cristiani e islamici era una dichiarazione di fede; ma allo stesso tempo veniva colpita la specificità culturale e nazionale dell'ebraismo: anche se nel corso della storia molti ebrei si sono convertiti per convinzione, per interesse o più spesso per salvarsi la vita, non vi sono ebrei cristiani o ebrei musulmani, come vi sono per esempio Bosniaci cristiani e musulmani.
Nell'ebraismo il carattere nazionale e quello religioso coincidono largamente.
L'odio per gli ebrei (uso questa locuzione invece dell'antisemitismo che è anch'essa parola ottocentesca) è dunque odio di una religione e di un popolo allo stesso tempo: come si possono odiare induisti e musulmani in Kashmir, e anche come vi è stato odio fra polacchi e russi o fra francesi e tedeschi. L'odio contro gli ebrei è però molto più largamente diffuso, molto più permanente e soprattutto esso è eliminativo.
I più nazionalisti dei serbi non potevano pensare di distruggere i musulmani kossovari fino all'ultimo uomo, gli sciiti iracheni non possono voler cancellare dalla faccia della terra i sunniti o viceversa – per il semplice fatto che non è possibile. Sono odi feroci e violenti, ma non eliminativi. Quello per gli ebrei lo è: Hitler parlava di “soluzione finale”, molti autori nella Chiesa credono che ci sia bisogno della conversione di tutti gli ebrei per la parusia, il ritorno finale; nel mondo islamico circolano detti attribuiti al Profeta sull'eliminazione degli ultimi ebrei nascosti dietro sassi e alberi.
La ragione di queste caratteristiche non è facile da comprendere, ma certamente ha a che fare con il fatto che gli ebrei sono stati per millenni dispersi in piccoli gruppi in mezzo a popolazioni differenti: estreme minoranze che hanno rifiutato di assimilarsi. Cristianesimo, Islam, laicismo volterriano, marxismo, nazismo hanno avuto il progetto comune di eliminare questa anomalia, con la distruzione culturale o con quella fisica, a seconda dei luoghi, dei momenti o delle tendenze dei movimenti. I progetti di soluzione finale del problema ebraico attraverso la conversione più o meno forzata (secondo la promessa cristiana o musulmana), o l'assimilazione (come volevano Marx e gli illuministi), l'espulsione (buona parte degli stati europei fra medioevo e prima modernità) o lo sterminio (i nazisti) sono certamente assai diversi sul piano delle conseguenze personali e anche dell'intenzione etica; ma dal punto di vista storico-culturale il risultato non è troppo diverso: tutte queste strade portano a una società senza ebrei. Il razzismo non c'entra, la Chiesa e l'Islam si vogliono universali, ammettono tutti i popoli, purché convertiti. Fanno eccezione solo per Israele.
Il primo sionismo si illuse che la costruzione di uno stato degli ebrei e quindi la fine dello stato di minoranza dispersa avrebbe annullato l'odio. Di fatto quest'odio è solo cambiato, si è esteso dai singoli individui allo stato. Nel passato l'odio per gli ebrei prendeva ridicoli pretesti religiosi (“il popolo deicida”, o che “aveva rifiutato Maometto”), o assumeva calunnie più gravi e ancor più infondate (gli omicidi rituali, gli avvelenamenti dei pozzi), si basava sul carattere “capitalista” degli ebrei (per secoli in Europa costretti a fare i prestatori di denaro dalla proibizione di altri lavori) o sul loro rapporto col socialismo, o infine sulla menzogna della razza.
Oggi sarebbe Israele a “opprimere” i palestinesi, a uccidere bambini, strappare organi ai defunti, a non volere la pace, a “colonizzare” a “giudeizzare Gerusalemme” eccetera.
Sono tutte menzogne, ma la loro falsità non impedisce agli assassini di ucciderci e alle organizzazioni internazionali di discriminare Israele in maniera sistematica.
Definendo quest'odio “razzista” gli togliamo la sua terribile specificità storica, lo annacquiamo in un calderone di antipatie e localismi. Coloro che hanno detto che l'assassino di Tolosa non ce l'aveva con gli ebrei ma con la Francia, probabilmente l'hanno fatto a fin di bene, per cercare protezione in una legalità generale. Chi, pur di origine ebraica, ha insinuato che si facesse scandalo per gli ebrei ma non lo si sarebbe fatto per i Rom, invece l'ha fatto con la malvagità di chi si è unito agli odiatori del proprio popolo.
Resta il fatto che entrambe questa posizioni sono sbagliate. Magari l'assassino di Tolosa odiava anche la Francia di cui era cittadino. Ma il suo odio per gli ebrei non derivava da quello par la Francia, né era spiegabile con le sue condizioni sociali, né era razzista: era l'ultimo anello di una catena millenaria, ed era stato alimentato da specifici e infaticabili maestri d'odio, antisemiti consapevoli, impegnati a distruggerci fino all'ultimo uomo.
Questo dobbiamo sapere senza farci illusioni. E senza rifugiarci dietro le consolanti etichette del razzismo e del nazismo, pretesti momentanei e perituri di un odio molto più profondo e antico.
http://www.informazionecorretta.it/main.php?sez=90
anti-Semites Sympathize with Toulouse Killer
Anti-Semites Sympathize with Toulouse Killer
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Several French Muslim students honored a one-minute silence for the Toulouse murderer, and Facebook page paid “homage” to the killer until the social networking company banned it.
Others condemned Israel for “exploiting” the murders, and some French media called the terrorist a “child” while others said he was a victim of economic hardship for Muslims.
Although most French schools held a moment of silence in memory of the victims, one teacher in Rouen staged a moment of silence for Mohammed Merah, who killed a rabbi and three young children at point-blank range last week at the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school in Toulouse. He killed three French paratroopers of North African and Carribean origin, all of whom were Muslim, the week prior.
Most of the children left the classroom in protest, but others honored the teacher’s request, and student proclaimed that the murder victims “deserved it." The teacher explained that Merah, linked to Al Qaeda, was a “victim” and that media reports of his Al Qaeda links were a media invention.
The education authority suspended her after protests but pointed out the disciplinary action does not necessarily mean that the teacher is “guilty.” The teacher’s union later said that the teacher regretted her comments.
The local education authority said the suspension does not mean she is guilty.
A Facebook page paid homage to Merah until the site managers removed it, but not before several hundred people clicked on it, many of them leaving remarks against the police and in support of Muslim fanaticism.
The Electronic Intifada stated on its site, “What does the spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do when his propaganda efforts fail to conceal Israel’s abuses of Palestinians? He uses the blood of Jewish children murdered in the French city of Toulouse last week to try to blot them out. This is low, even for Israeli official propaganda.
“Since 16 February – when Israeli occupation forces violently seized from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin – Hana al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike because she has no other way to resist the injustice Israel is inflicting on her and her family.”
Several media outlets in France termed the 14-year-old Merah a “child” who was a victim of poor socio-economic conditions.
Le Figaro backed a popular theme in French media that there was “no doubt" that Merah was incited by “Islamophobia.”
The New York Times noted that French “Muslims complain widely of feeling vilified by some political elements, on the right in particular.”
Tags: Toulouse ,Toulouse terror attack ,Anti-Semitism
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Several French Muslim students honored a one-minute silence for the Toulouse murderer, and Facebook page paid “homage” to the killer until the social networking company banned it.
Others condemned Israel for “exploiting” the murders, and some French media called the terrorist a “child” while others said he was a victim of economic hardship for Muslims.
Although most French schools held a moment of silence in memory of the victims, one teacher in Rouen staged a moment of silence for Mohammed Merah, who killed a rabbi and three young children at point-blank range last week at the Otzar HaTorah Jewish school in Toulouse. He killed three French paratroopers of North African and Carribean origin, all of whom were Muslim, the week prior.
Most of the children left the classroom in protest, but others honored the teacher’s request, and student proclaimed that the murder victims “deserved it." The teacher explained that Merah, linked to Al Qaeda, was a “victim” and that media reports of his Al Qaeda links were a media invention.
The education authority suspended her after protests but pointed out the disciplinary action does not necessarily mean that the teacher is “guilty.” The teacher’s union later said that the teacher regretted her comments.
The local education authority said the suspension does not mean she is guilty.
A Facebook page paid homage to Merah until the site managers removed it, but not before several hundred people clicked on it, many of them leaving remarks against the police and in support of Muslim fanaticism.
The Electronic Intifada stated on its site, “What does the spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do when his propaganda efforts fail to conceal Israel’s abuses of Palestinians? He uses the blood of Jewish children murdered in the French city of Toulouse last week to try to blot them out. This is low, even for Israeli official propaganda.
“Since 16 February – when Israeli occupation forces violently seized from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin – Hana al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike because she has no other way to resist the injustice Israel is inflicting on her and her family.”
Several media outlets in France termed the 14-year-old Merah a “child” who was a victim of poor socio-economic conditions.
Le Figaro backed a popular theme in French media that there was “no doubt" that Merah was incited by “Islamophobia.”
The New York Times noted that French “Muslims complain widely of feeling vilified by some political elements, on the right in particular.”
Tags: Toulouse ,Toulouse terror attack ,Anti-Semitism
New Video Documents Siege by Bedouin on Multinational Force Mission in Sinai, Indicates Links to Salafi-Jihadis in Gaza
New Video Documents Siege by Bedouin on Multinational Force Mission in Sinai, Indicates Links to Salafi-Jihadis in Gaza
On March 9, 2012, the blog Ansar Al-Shari'a, which chiefly follows Salafi-jihadi activities in Egypt, reported that the same day, armed Bedouins had surrounded the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) base in Sinai and laid siege to it. According to the report, they blocked access to the base from all four directions, in an attempt to pressure Egypt's "apostate government" to release jihadis from its prisons, chiefly Muhammad Al-Raba', Younis Abu Jurair, Osama Al-Nakhlawi, and Muhammad Gaiz.
The following day, the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam picked up the story, reporting that dozens of Bedouin were protesting on the roads leading to the base, blocking personnel and supplies from reaching the international forces there, and that they had even set up portable roadblocks, turning back anyone who was not a local resident. According to the report on Shumoukh,, the demonstration came in response to the Egyptian authorities' violation of a commitment to release jihadis from its prisons – a commitment made by the commander of the Egyptian 2nd Army during the Bedouin's previous round of demonstrations in late January 2012, in northern Sinai's Bir Lahfan area, in which they demanded, among other things, to halt natural gas exports to Israel and to release their prisoners.
To read the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/blog_personal.htm?id=5852¶m=GJN.
On March 9, 2012, the blog Ansar Al-Shari'a, which chiefly follows Salafi-jihadi activities in Egypt, reported that the same day, armed Bedouins had surrounded the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) base in Sinai and laid siege to it. According to the report, they blocked access to the base from all four directions, in an attempt to pressure Egypt's "apostate government" to release jihadis from its prisons, chiefly Muhammad Al-Raba', Younis Abu Jurair, Osama Al-Nakhlawi, and Muhammad Gaiz.
The following day, the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam picked up the story, reporting that dozens of Bedouin were protesting on the roads leading to the base, blocking personnel and supplies from reaching the international forces there, and that they had even set up portable roadblocks, turning back anyone who was not a local resident. According to the report on Shumoukh,, the demonstration came in response to the Egyptian authorities' violation of a commitment to release jihadis from its prisons – a commitment made by the commander of the Egyptian 2nd Army during the Bedouin's previous round of demonstrations in late January 2012, in northern Sinai's Bir Lahfan area, in which they demanded, among other things, to halt natural gas exports to Israel and to release their prisoners.
To read the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/blog_personal.htm?id=5852¶m=GJN.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Israel Calls for Immediate Dismissal of U.N. Tweeter
Israel Calls for Immediate Dismissal of U.N. Tweeter
Date Posted: 2012-03-19 05:54:31
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, has called for the immediate dismissal of a Jerusalem based U.N. agency employee who is widely known for her blatant anti-Israel activism.
Khulood Badawi, the information and media coordinator for the United Nations Office for
the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem, (OCHA), tweeted a controversial photo, on
March 10, showing an Arab girl covered in blood laying in the arms of her
father, with a caption that read, "Palestine is bleeding ... another father
killed by #Israel ... another father carrying his child to a grave in
#Gaza."The photo, however, was later identified as a 2006 Reuters photo. The girl died in a playground or car accident, not as a result of any actions taken by the IDF.
Yet, the Twitter message, which was re-tweeted by hundreds of other users, was highly instrumental in spreading a new wave of libels against the Israel Defense Forces.
Prosor sent a letter to the U.N. emergency coordinator, Valerie Amos, calling for Badawi's immediate dismissal.
Prosor wrote that Badawi's actions not only "violate conduct expected of a UN official," but that she also "actively engaged in the demonization of Israel, a member state of the United Nations. Such actions contribute to incitement, conflict and, ultimately, violence," according to Fox News, which obtained a copy of the letter.
"Although Ms. Badawi's portrayal of this photo was clearly a blatant falsehood, her post became the top tweet for anything related to Gaza on Twitter," Prosor affirmed.
Amos issued a reply saying, "It is regrettable that an OCHA staff member has posted information on her personal Twitter profile, which is both false and which reflects on issues that are related to her work. The opinions expressed in her tweets in no way reflect the views of OCHA, nor has it been sanctioned by OCHA."
Badawi, who has neither retracted not apologized for her inaccurate tweet, will remain employed by the agency during an internal investigation, Fox News reported.
via israelnn.com
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Other Internet Tools, Pakistani Terrorist Group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Incites Violence against Shi'ite Muslims and Engenders Antisemitism
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Using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Other Internet Tools, Pakistani Terrorist Group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Incites Violence against Shi'ite Muslims and Engenders Antisemitism | ||
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This paper examines the role of
Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) – the military arm of
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) – and how the LeJ/SSP duo is using U.S.-based
social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other Internet
tools, along with its own dedicated websites and print magazines, to incite
violence against Shi'ite Muslims, and also how it is engendering Antisemitism in
order to promote its ideological agenda.
The LeJ has figured in several recent attacks in Pakistan. On February 28,
2012, Islamic militants dressed in Pakistani military fatigues stopped a bus in
Pakistan's northern district of Kohistan, forced all the passengers off, and
examined their Pakistani government-issued Computerized National Identity Cards
(CNICs) to verify their faith by their surnames. Passengers whose names
indicated that they were Sunni Muslims were let off, while 19 Shi'ite Muslims
headed for their homes in Gilgit Baltistan and were shot dead by the militants.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a terrorist group feared for its long-standing campaign of violence against Shi'ite Muslims, was blamed for the attack. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik ordered a probe, stating that the LeJ and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been "involved in similar crimes [against Shi'ite Muslims] in the past." Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a militant who identified himself as a spokesman of Jundallah, a Sunni militant group which is indistinguishable from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, both in terms of its ideological orientation against Shi'ite Muslims and in terms of the two groups' cross-pollination.
The full text of this report is available to MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism
Threat Monitor Subscribers.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012
All the Humanity and the United Nation in particular: To declare the Negationism a Crime against Humanity
Ladies and gentlemen, today, after sixty-five million trips in the death camp at Auschwitz, there are shady characters and obscure that they deny that there were extermination and hatred against people of Jewish religion. And this causes reactions of people who kill Jews because the Jews in a country that has known the Nazi hatred on their skin.
We ask that Denial is declared CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY 'and anyone who denies the Holocaust and condemned, not to death to avoid confusion, but to try what the Jews have tried
Thank you,
Hector Lomaglio Silvestri
גבירותי ורבותי, היום, לאחר שישים וחמישה מיליון נסיעות במחנה ההשמדה באושוויץ, ישנם טיפוסים מפוקפקים ומעורפל שהם מכחישים שיש השמדה ושנאה כלפי בני הדת היהודית. וזה גורם לתגובות של אנשים שהורגים יהודים, כי היהודים במדינה שידעה את השנאה הנאצית על העור שלהם.
אנו מבקשים מניעת מוכרז פשע נגד האנושות ", ומי שמכחיש את השואה, גינה, לא עד מוות כדי למנוע בלבול, אלא לנסות את מה שהיהודים ניסו
תודה,
הקטור Lomaglio סילבסטרי
We ask that Denial is declared CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY 'and anyone who denies the Holocaust and condemned, not to death to avoid confusion, but to try what the Jews have tried
Thank you,
Hector Lomaglio Silvestri
גבירותי ורבותי, היום, לאחר שישים וחמישה מיליון נסיעות במחנה ההשמדה באושוויץ, ישנם טיפוסים מפוקפקים ומעורפל שהם מכחישים שיש השמדה ושנאה כלפי בני הדת היהודית. וזה גורם לתגובות של אנשים שהורגים יהודים, כי היהודים במדינה שידעה את השנאה הנאצית על העור שלהם.
אנו מבקשים מניעת מוכרז פשע נגד האנושות ", ומי שמכחיש את השואה, גינה, לא עד מוות כדי למנוע בלבול, אלא לנסות את מה שהיהודים ניסו
תודה,
הקטור Lomaglio סילבסטרי
Exclusive by Elie Wiesel: The Tragedy in Toulouse
Exclusive by Elie Wiesel: The Tragedy in Toulouse
Will the hatred of the Jews ever finally vanish? Will Jewish children always be in danger?
This time, a murderer slew four Jews: a teacher and three young children.
When a blood-thirsty Jew-hater wants to kill Jews, he goes first to the Jewish schools. Jewish children are his primary target.
It’s always been this way. This is what Pharaoh, King of Egypt did, what Hitler did. And this is what happened now.
This is the background to the tragedy that occurred in the French city, Toulouse.
I have visited that city many times. The Jewish community there is old and well-established – it dates back to the Middle Ages – but it is dynamic.
In the streets, you can see Jews wearing yarmulkas. Nobody thinks of anti-Semitism. Spiritually, it is one of richest Jewish communities in France.
Obviously, the terrible murderous attack evoked tears and rage among both Jews and non-Jews. The President, his ministers, and other political figures in France, as well as all the newspapers, have demanded that the murderer be found and punished.
It often happens like this. Jewish blood is spilled and, temporarily, sympathy for Jews grows; the world warms to them.
But the pain does not go away, nor does the anger. We think about the martyrs: Rabbi Yochanan Sandler, his sons Aryeh and Gavriel, and Miriam Monsonego. We say, as is Jewish tradition: “May G-d avenge their blood.” That will be the response from Above.
Our own answer must be concrete and to the point. When we are persecuted, our response must be: We will remain Jewish – and do everything to become more Jewish
8 year old victim Miriam Monsonego. Photo: Facebook.
This time, a murderer slew four Jews: a teacher and three young children.
When a blood-thirsty Jew-hater wants to kill Jews, he goes first to the Jewish schools. Jewish children are his primary target.
It’s always been this way. This is what Pharaoh, King of Egypt did, what Hitler did. And this is what happened now.
This is the background to the tragedy that occurred in the French city, Toulouse.
I have visited that city many times. The Jewish community there is old and well-established – it dates back to the Middle Ages – but it is dynamic.
In the streets, you can see Jews wearing yarmulkas. Nobody thinks of anti-Semitism. Spiritually, it is one of richest Jewish communities in France.
Obviously, the terrible murderous attack evoked tears and rage among both Jews and non-Jews. The President, his ministers, and other political figures in France, as well as all the newspapers, have demanded that the murderer be found and punished.
It often happens like this. Jewish blood is spilled and, temporarily, sympathy for Jews grows; the world warms to them.
But the pain does not go away, nor does the anger. We think about the martyrs: Rabbi Yochanan Sandler, his sons Aryeh and Gavriel, and Miriam Monsonego. We say, as is Jewish tradition: “May G-d avenge their blood.” That will be the response from Above.
Our own answer must be concrete and to the point. When we are persecuted, our response must be: We will remain Jewish – and do everything to become more Jewish
Strage di bimbi ebrei, vittime del razzismo
Strage di bimbi ebrei, vittime del razzismo | |
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Friday, March 16, 2012
Jewish leaders arrested in Sudan protests
Jewish leaders arrested in Sudan protests
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Jewish leaders were among those arrested during a protest rally outside the Embassy of Sudan.
Rabbi Steve Gutow, the president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs umbrella body, Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center and Fred Kramer, who directs Jewish World Watch were among those arrested Friday.
The protest was being organized by several Jewish and human rights organizations to call on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to immediately end a blockade on food and humanitarian aid from entering the country.
The Jewish community has been active in promoting the campaign to highlight the atrocities in Sudan. The American Jewish World Service served as a co-founder of the Save Darfur Coalition, which joined forces with the Genocide Intervention Network to form United to End Genocide.
Also arrested were actor George Clooney, President of United to End Genocide and former Congressman Tom Andrews, Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Al Green (D-Texas), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and John Olver (D-Mass.), Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Enough Project Co-Founder John Prendergast were among those arrested outside the Sudanese embassy for civil disobedience.
According to a press release from the Enough Project, activist leaders were arrested after the protest continued following a request from police to leave the scene.
During his remarks at the rally, Gutow highlighted the importance of speaking out against Bashir’s actions.
“The inhumane cruelty of Omar al-Bashir’s war crimes is too much for us to abide in silence. With one hand he assaults his own people while with the other he holds back those who would seek to help. I am compelled by God, by my commitment to justice, and by my humanity to speak out,” Gutow said in a press release detailing his remarks.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
IDF: Iran encouraging Palestinians to continue attack
IDF: Iran encouraging Palestinians to continue attack
ran is encouraging the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza to continue firing rockets against Israel, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said on Sunday.
According to Mordechai, since the beginning of the violence on Friday, 150 rockets have been fired by Palestinian terror groups, although 40 landed inside Gaza and another 37 were intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system. “Iran finances Islamic Jihad and supports it with weaponry,” Mordechai told reporters. “In these days, the Iranians are supporting them and actively encouraging them to continue.”
Mordechai said that while Hamas was not actively firing rockets into Israel, it is viewed as the ruling authority in Gaza and is therefore held responsible by Israel for terrorist attacks that originate inside the territory. Read more.
Friday, March 9, 2012
the Mideastern Christians
Envoy to US: Mideastern Christians only safe in Israel
Last updated: 03/09/2012 14:03
Israel has become the only safe haven for Middle Eastern Christians, Ambassador to the United State Michael Oren wrote in an op-ed piece published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
"In contrast to elsewhere in the Middle East where hatred of Christians is ignored or encouraged, Israel remains committed to its Declaration of Independence pledge to 'ensure the complete equality of all its citizens irrespective of religion,'" Oren wrote, comparing the situation of Christians in the region today to that of the expulsion of 800,000 Jews after the creation of the State of Israel.
Oren touted Israel's integration of its Christian community, noting that Christians serve in government posts and in the country's Supreme Court, and are "on average more affluent than Israeli Jews and better-educated, even scoring higher on their SATs."
While Christians have found a comfortable home within Israel's borders, Oren explained, the situation in the Palestinian territories is drastically different.
Oren wrote that while Christians once made up 15 percent of the West Bank's population, today that number is as low as 2%.
He charged the Palestinian Authority with failing to protect its Christians, citing a lack of a security and violent incidents in Bethlehem as a catalyst for Christian flight from the territories.
"In contrast to elsewhere in the Middle East where hatred of Christians is ignored or encouraged, Israel remains committed to its Declaration of Independence pledge to 'ensure the complete equality of all its citizens irrespective of religion,'" Oren wrote, comparing the situation of Christians in the region today to that of the expulsion of 800,000 Jews after the creation of the State of Israel.
Oren touted Israel's integration of its Christian community, noting that Christians serve in government posts and in the country's Supreme Court, and are "on average more affluent than Israeli Jews and better-educated, even scoring higher on their SATs."
While Christians have found a comfortable home within Israel's borders, Oren explained, the situation in the Palestinian territories is drastically different.
Oren wrote that while Christians once made up 15 percent of the West Bank's population, today that number is as low as 2%.
He charged the Palestinian Authority with failing to protect its Christians, citing a lack of a security and violent incidents in Bethlehem as a catalyst for Christian flight from the territories.
Why Israel must strike
Why Israel must strike
Op-ed: Main Shoah lesson is that active anti-Semites must be stopped when they're small
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the AIPAC conference was a spectacular and inspiring display. We can even characterize it as the best speech ever delivered by our PM.
The combination of the words, images, essence and body language was deeply convincing. Not to mention the level of English, of course.
Should
the principles outlined in the speech be realized one of these days, and
Netanyahu will shift from words to actions and from threats to bombings, his
AIPAC 2012 address may be included in the list of the 21st Century’s most
important speeches.
As usual with Netanyahu, he linked the Iranian issue to the Auschwitz horror, yet this time it was necessary. Holocaust imagery is a despicable thing in domestic arguments between Jews, yet not when we face an external enemy planning a final solution for us.
If in Arafat’s case there was a slight doubt as to whether he hates Jews or only settlers, in Ahmadinejad’s case there is no doubt. Iran’s president openly aspires to collectively annihilate us. He is also vigorously preparing the required nuclear infrastructure to carry out his wishes.
Or as Netanyahu said this week: What looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck – is a duck.
It is possible that Ahmadinejad is less capable than his spiritual fathers in the Arian Europe and may have trouble implementing his pans, yet it would be illogical to premise our future on such fragile operational assumption. If we do it after all, we shall render all our Yad Vashem rhetoric, memorial ceremonies and March of the Livings in Poland empty of all substance.
In the distant
past we promised ourselves not to forget and not to forgive, yet a short while
later we reconciled with Germany. We referred to it as “The Other Germany” and
fooled ourselves a little. Yet we must not give up the “Never Again” pledge as
well.
The main lesson of the Holocaust is that active anti-Semites must be stopped when they’re still small. We can’t wait for them to prepare a nuclear Auschwitz for us.
Op-ed: Main Shoah lesson is that active anti-Semites must be stopped when they're small
Hagai Segal
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the AIPAC conference was a spectacular and inspiring display. We can even characterize it as the best speech ever delivered by our PM.
The combination of the words, images, essence and body language was deeply convincing. Not to mention the level of English, of course.
As usual with Netanyahu, he linked the Iranian issue to the Auschwitz horror, yet this time it was necessary. Holocaust imagery is a despicable thing in domestic arguments between Jews, yet not when we face an external enemy planning a final solution for us.
If in Arafat’s case there was a slight doubt as to whether he hates Jews or only settlers, in Ahmadinejad’s case there is no doubt. Iran’s president openly aspires to collectively annihilate us. He is also vigorously preparing the required nuclear infrastructure to carry out his wishes.
Or as Netanyahu said this week: What looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck – is a duck.
Never Again
It is possible that Ahmadinejad is less capable than his spiritual fathers in the Arian Europe and may have trouble implementing his pans, yet it would be illogical to premise our future on such fragile operational assumption. If we do it after all, we shall render all our Yad Vashem rhetoric, memorial ceremonies and March of the Livings in Poland empty of all substance.
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The main lesson of the Holocaust is that active anti-Semites must be stopped when they’re still small. We can’t wait for them to prepare a nuclear Auschwitz for us.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
And so the Jordanian want a final deportation of Jews...
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Monday, March 5, 2012
From Eric Cantor's website
Leader Cantor's Speech To AIPAC
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference. The embargoed text of his speech, as prepared for delivery, appears below:
Good afternoon. It's always such an honor to speak before you at AIPAC. You have gathered here because you have faith, because you have commitment, and because you have love for America and her great friend, Israel.
America and Israel are two lights among all nations. They are envied by many, but known for their dedication to human freedom, opportunity and growth. In thinking about the differences in worldviews that exist today, I come to a conclusion.
It is the province of idealists to dream. It is the province of realists to wake up. Let me emphasize, we need idealists. Idealism animated America's Founding Fathers and Israel's Founding Fathers. But we also need idealists who transition into the realists personified by the Founding Fathers of both America and Israel.
In the Middle East, now is the time to be realists – to wake up, before all dreams turn into an unbearable nightmare. We must stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. To minimize the Iranian threat is to fall into the same trap that led to the Holocaust – a lack of imagination about how far evil can go.
A visit to Israel's Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, provides all of us a reality check. The first time I went there, I was struck by the Hall of Names. It is a room that contains about 2.5 million pages of personal testimonies about the identities and life stories of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices. How tragic that we Jews, known as the People of the Book, should have to assemble a book of the slaughter of our innocents.
On January 3 of this year, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke darkly of what he called the Zionist regime – Israel – and he referred to quote, “the endpoint of its existence.” To that, today we reply, Mr. Ahmadinejad, Israel's existence will endure, long after you are gone.
To ensure that, we have to transition from confusion to clarity in the Middle East. A major source of confusion is: Where is the leadership? Who is leading from the front with a finger pointing in the right direction rather than a finger pointing in the wind? America needs to be a compass, not a weathervane, in the Middle East.
Even many of Israel's adversaries are clamoring for clarity. They fear Iran’s efforts to foment instability and extremism in the region more than they fear Israel, as I found out on my recent visit to countries in the Gulf. They want a balance of power in the Middle East, not an unbalanced power like Iran.
America's role is not to put its hand on the scale and balance it against Israel. America's role is to put its fist on the scale to weigh down the terrorism, fanaticism and anti-Semitism of Iran and its proxies.
So, let us not send mixed messages when it comes to Israel. That only serves to confuse the world, including Israel's enemies. As elusive as peace has been in the Middle East, the only way it can be approached is through strength.
Time and again, the countries of the Middle East, and especially the terrorists who reside there, have sent the clear message that all they respect, all they respond to is strength. Strength is the only language that our enemies, and Israel's enemies, understand. No translation is required.
To deny our enemies their deadly options, we must keep all our options on the table: diplomatic and military. The time for illusions is over. The reality is that Iran is moving closer and closer to attaining a nuclear weapons capability. Neither Israel nor America can afford to be nuclear re-actors. Leadership requires action, not re-action.
But to be effective, leadership requires three assets: Superior intelligence. Superior capability. And Superior will.
For years, Iran has been scoffing at the United States and Israel, signaling that it believes it has nothing to lose. America and Israel must now demonstrate that we do have the intelligence, capability and will – both military and moral – to persuade Iran that we will meet its folly with force.
I, for one, do not apologize when I say that Israel and America, while not perfect, have the two most morally responsible militaries in the world. Might exercised with righteousness is might that makes right. The soldiers of Israel and America are trained to be moral and responsible, and are held to the highest ethical standards. Our militaries operate at great expense and with great risk to conduct operations that place a premium on avoiding collateral damage. By contrast, many of our adversaries intentionally target innocent women and children.
When it comes to Iran, Al Qaeda, the Taliban or any of our other enemies, it is not true that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
It is not liberty or freedom that our enemies are fighting for. Our enemies have made it plain that they oppose the freedoms that Israel and America uphold.
These are freedoms that people worldwide cry out for and often die for. We have seen those people die in the streets of Tehran, Cairo, Tripoli, Aleppo and many other places. So, when world bodies such as the United Nations single out Israel as an oppressor, we must ask: have you no eyes, have you no hearts, have you no judgment – and who are you to judge?
Anti-Israel propagandists would have you believe that Israelis have stolen the freedom from Palestinian people. But what kind of freedom is it when Palestinian terrorists like Hamas in Gaza use their own women, children, elderly and other innocents as human shields? They reprehensively calculate that a maximum of civilian casualties will generate a maximum of worldwide condemnation of Israel.
What kind of democracy have the Palestinians built for themselves? An intra-Palestinian civil war in Gaza that gave way to a Hamas-controlled terrorist rump-state? Or a corrupt Fatah Party in the West Bank that has resisted political reforms and undermined Prime Minister Fayyad’s efforts to build democratic institutions and promote economic growth?
Yes, Israel fights but in self-defense. And it is in self-defense that Israel lives. But you will rarely read of the toll that takes on Israel's own innocents.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally pulled out of the Gaza Strip in a concession to try to further peace, leaving the border areas under the control of Egypt and the Palestinians. Since then, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a base for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorists to lob rocket attacks on Israel. Many of these groups are supported by Iran.
Sderot, a western city near the Gaza Strip, has been the target of those attacks for years. When I last visited there, I was told a story about life for one Israeli mother and her young children. In just six months, more than 160 rockets were fired at their city. When a rocket is detected, a siren goes off.
It gives residents about 15 seconds to rush for shelter in the safe room of a house, in a car – anywhere they can flee to try to protect themselves. This constant barrage has traumatized this woman's children. They are afraid to leave her side. They have regressed in their growth habits like bathroom training. Their anxieties are so intense that if they hear a car door slam they jump with fright – sometimes under a table.
Sadly, this reminds me of Golda Meier's remark that “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
We must stop following mirages in the Middle East and start following through on this reality: our mission in the Middle East is to drive our stake in the sand with our values – to proclaim our values rather than apologize for them. And no country in the Middle East stands aligned with America's values more than Israel.
Start with the American Bill of Rights and the value of freedom of speech. In Israel, there is so much freedom of speech, it makes your head spin. Sadly, as we've seen elsewhere in the Middle East, attempting freedom of speech can make you lose your head.
Consider the American value of freedom of religion. In Israel, you are not only free to practice any religion you wish, you can choose to practice no religion at all. Where else in the Middle East is this the case?
Then there is the American value of freedom of the press. In Israel, there is the old joke of two Jews, three opinions – and you can get all those opinions in the newspapers, on TV, on the Internet, on the radio – even in the graffiti on the walls. Elsewhere in the Middle East, sometimes when you publish, you perish.
Let's look at the American value of freedom of assembly to come together in meetings, discuss problems and plan actions, in a peaceful way and also to petition your government. Let's be honest, Israel is not only known for its kibbutzniks; it's especially known for its kibitzers. To meet, talk, plan, protest and that includes criticizing your government. That's in Israelis' DNA. But in countries that surround Israel, large and small gatherings of citizens voicing their concerns too often produce bloodshed, brutality and jail sentences.
Finally, in America and Israel, women's rights are deeply enshrined in our laws and our cultures and there are many protections for minorities – whether they be religious, racial or of sexual orientation. But as you travel through other parts of the Middle East, women and minorities are suppressed and repressed, denied rights and their dignity.
Because Israel shares American values, Americans should value Israel all the more. America's job should not be to micromanage Israel. It should be to macromanage the proliferation of our values in the Middle East, values that Israel cherishes just as we do.
It is often said that if you don't stand up for something, you will put up with anything. This is another thing I heard in country after country in our trip to the gulf. Confusion about where America stands has raised questions about what some of our leaders in Washington are willing to put up with. That's not just about Iran, it's about Syria, it's about Iraq, it's about Egypt and it's about Libya.
In order to see the bigger picture in the Middle East, some in Washington must stop standing small – stooping to belittle Israel by taking for granted its sacrifices, its security and its solidarity with America. We must stand tall by our allies, and no ally stands taller for us than Israel. We must stand by our commitments, and no commitment is greater than Israel's is to us. Let us do unto Israel as Israel keeps doing unto us. Loyalty deserves loyalty. Trust merits trust in return.
That is why, as Whip Hoyer mentioned, we will be introducing the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act. This bipartisan bill will reaffirm our enduring commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and expresses Congress’ support for a number of steps to make Israel and America more secure.
The reality is that Israel has a problematic situation, but Israel is not the real problem in the Middle East. The problem is that you cannot negotiate with those who deny your very existence. When nations or terrorists openly proclaim their unshakable determination to destroy you, to wipe you off the map, to visit a Holocaust upon you, whether you are America or Israel, you do not jabber about even-handedness and moral equivalency. You come down firmly and do what is right, real and required.
In America and in Israel, there is much disagreement about policy. And plenty of politicians argue about them day in and day out. But in both countries, most of the politicians have shown themselves capable of uniting around a single cause. That cause is that Israel deserves not just to survive, but also to thrive.
Many of us have been to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. There, people from around the world stuff messages written on paper in between the stones of the ancient wall. The message I would like to place in that wall, signed jointly by the leaders of America and Israel, is a single phrase in Hebrew: L'chaim – to life.
Let us all come together around that message: long live America, Israel, and righteous people everywhere, in the Middle East and around the world.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. It's always such an honor to speak before you at AIPAC. You have gathered here because you have faith, because you have commitment, and because you have love for America and her great friend, Israel.
America and Israel are two lights among all nations. They are envied by many, but known for their dedication to human freedom, opportunity and growth. In thinking about the differences in worldviews that exist today, I come to a conclusion.
It is the province of idealists to dream. It is the province of realists to wake up. Let me emphasize, we need idealists. Idealism animated America's Founding Fathers and Israel's Founding Fathers. But we also need idealists who transition into the realists personified by the Founding Fathers of both America and Israel.
In the Middle East, now is the time to be realists – to wake up, before all dreams turn into an unbearable nightmare. We must stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. To minimize the Iranian threat is to fall into the same trap that led to the Holocaust – a lack of imagination about how far evil can go.
A visit to Israel's Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, provides all of us a reality check. The first time I went there, I was struck by the Hall of Names. It is a room that contains about 2.5 million pages of personal testimonies about the identities and life stories of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices. How tragic that we Jews, known as the People of the Book, should have to assemble a book of the slaughter of our innocents.
On January 3 of this year, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke darkly of what he called the Zionist regime – Israel – and he referred to quote, “the endpoint of its existence.” To that, today we reply, Mr. Ahmadinejad, Israel's existence will endure, long after you are gone.
To ensure that, we have to transition from confusion to clarity in the Middle East. A major source of confusion is: Where is the leadership? Who is leading from the front with a finger pointing in the right direction rather than a finger pointing in the wind? America needs to be a compass, not a weathervane, in the Middle East.
Even many of Israel's adversaries are clamoring for clarity. They fear Iran’s efforts to foment instability and extremism in the region more than they fear Israel, as I found out on my recent visit to countries in the Gulf. They want a balance of power in the Middle East, not an unbalanced power like Iran.
America's role is not to put its hand on the scale and balance it against Israel. America's role is to put its fist on the scale to weigh down the terrorism, fanaticism and anti-Semitism of Iran and its proxies.
So, let us not send mixed messages when it comes to Israel. That only serves to confuse the world, including Israel's enemies. As elusive as peace has been in the Middle East, the only way it can be approached is through strength.
Time and again, the countries of the Middle East, and especially the terrorists who reside there, have sent the clear message that all they respect, all they respond to is strength. Strength is the only language that our enemies, and Israel's enemies, understand. No translation is required.
To deny our enemies their deadly options, we must keep all our options on the table: diplomatic and military. The time for illusions is over. The reality is that Iran is moving closer and closer to attaining a nuclear weapons capability. Neither Israel nor America can afford to be nuclear re-actors. Leadership requires action, not re-action.
But to be effective, leadership requires three assets: Superior intelligence. Superior capability. And Superior will.
For years, Iran has been scoffing at the United States and Israel, signaling that it believes it has nothing to lose. America and Israel must now demonstrate that we do have the intelligence, capability and will – both military and moral – to persuade Iran that we will meet its folly with force.
I, for one, do not apologize when I say that Israel and America, while not perfect, have the two most morally responsible militaries in the world. Might exercised with righteousness is might that makes right. The soldiers of Israel and America are trained to be moral and responsible, and are held to the highest ethical standards. Our militaries operate at great expense and with great risk to conduct operations that place a premium on avoiding collateral damage. By contrast, many of our adversaries intentionally target innocent women and children.
When it comes to Iran, Al Qaeda, the Taliban or any of our other enemies, it is not true that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
It is not liberty or freedom that our enemies are fighting for. Our enemies have made it plain that they oppose the freedoms that Israel and America uphold.
These are freedoms that people worldwide cry out for and often die for. We have seen those people die in the streets of Tehran, Cairo, Tripoli, Aleppo and many other places. So, when world bodies such as the United Nations single out Israel as an oppressor, we must ask: have you no eyes, have you no hearts, have you no judgment – and who are you to judge?
Anti-Israel propagandists would have you believe that Israelis have stolen the freedom from Palestinian people. But what kind of freedom is it when Palestinian terrorists like Hamas in Gaza use their own women, children, elderly and other innocents as human shields? They reprehensively calculate that a maximum of civilian casualties will generate a maximum of worldwide condemnation of Israel.
What kind of democracy have the Palestinians built for themselves? An intra-Palestinian civil war in Gaza that gave way to a Hamas-controlled terrorist rump-state? Or a corrupt Fatah Party in the West Bank that has resisted political reforms and undermined Prime Minister Fayyad’s efforts to build democratic institutions and promote economic growth?
Yes, Israel fights but in self-defense. And it is in self-defense that Israel lives. But you will rarely read of the toll that takes on Israel's own innocents.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally pulled out of the Gaza Strip in a concession to try to further peace, leaving the border areas under the control of Egypt and the Palestinians. Since then, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a base for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorists to lob rocket attacks on Israel. Many of these groups are supported by Iran.
Sderot, a western city near the Gaza Strip, has been the target of those attacks for years. When I last visited there, I was told a story about life for one Israeli mother and her young children. In just six months, more than 160 rockets were fired at their city. When a rocket is detected, a siren goes off.
It gives residents about 15 seconds to rush for shelter in the safe room of a house, in a car – anywhere they can flee to try to protect themselves. This constant barrage has traumatized this woman's children. They are afraid to leave her side. They have regressed in their growth habits like bathroom training. Their anxieties are so intense that if they hear a car door slam they jump with fright – sometimes under a table.
Sadly, this reminds me of Golda Meier's remark that “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
We must stop following mirages in the Middle East and start following through on this reality: our mission in the Middle East is to drive our stake in the sand with our values – to proclaim our values rather than apologize for them. And no country in the Middle East stands aligned with America's values more than Israel.
Start with the American Bill of Rights and the value of freedom of speech. In Israel, there is so much freedom of speech, it makes your head spin. Sadly, as we've seen elsewhere in the Middle East, attempting freedom of speech can make you lose your head.
Consider the American value of freedom of religion. In Israel, you are not only free to practice any religion you wish, you can choose to practice no religion at all. Where else in the Middle East is this the case?
Then there is the American value of freedom of the press. In Israel, there is the old joke of two Jews, three opinions – and you can get all those opinions in the newspapers, on TV, on the Internet, on the radio – even in the graffiti on the walls. Elsewhere in the Middle East, sometimes when you publish, you perish.
Let's look at the American value of freedom of assembly to come together in meetings, discuss problems and plan actions, in a peaceful way and also to petition your government. Let's be honest, Israel is not only known for its kibbutzniks; it's especially known for its kibitzers. To meet, talk, plan, protest and that includes criticizing your government. That's in Israelis' DNA. But in countries that surround Israel, large and small gatherings of citizens voicing their concerns too often produce bloodshed, brutality and jail sentences.
Finally, in America and Israel, women's rights are deeply enshrined in our laws and our cultures and there are many protections for minorities – whether they be religious, racial or of sexual orientation. But as you travel through other parts of the Middle East, women and minorities are suppressed and repressed, denied rights and their dignity.
Because Israel shares American values, Americans should value Israel all the more. America's job should not be to micromanage Israel. It should be to macromanage the proliferation of our values in the Middle East, values that Israel cherishes just as we do.
It is often said that if you don't stand up for something, you will put up with anything. This is another thing I heard in country after country in our trip to the gulf. Confusion about where America stands has raised questions about what some of our leaders in Washington are willing to put up with. That's not just about Iran, it's about Syria, it's about Iraq, it's about Egypt and it's about Libya.
In order to see the bigger picture in the Middle East, some in Washington must stop standing small – stooping to belittle Israel by taking for granted its sacrifices, its security and its solidarity with America. We must stand tall by our allies, and no ally stands taller for us than Israel. We must stand by our commitments, and no commitment is greater than Israel's is to us. Let us do unto Israel as Israel keeps doing unto us. Loyalty deserves loyalty. Trust merits trust in return.
That is why, as Whip Hoyer mentioned, we will be introducing the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act. This bipartisan bill will reaffirm our enduring commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and expresses Congress’ support for a number of steps to make Israel and America more secure.
The reality is that Israel has a problematic situation, but Israel is not the real problem in the Middle East. The problem is that you cannot negotiate with those who deny your very existence. When nations or terrorists openly proclaim their unshakable determination to destroy you, to wipe you off the map, to visit a Holocaust upon you, whether you are America or Israel, you do not jabber about even-handedness and moral equivalency. You come down firmly and do what is right, real and required.
In America and in Israel, there is much disagreement about policy. And plenty of politicians argue about them day in and day out. But in both countries, most of the politicians have shown themselves capable of uniting around a single cause. That cause is that Israel deserves not just to survive, but also to thrive.
Many of us have been to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. There, people from around the world stuff messages written on paper in between the stones of the ancient wall. The message I would like to place in that wall, signed jointly by the leaders of America and Israel, is a single phrase in Hebrew: L'chaim – to life.
Let us all come together around that message: long live America, Israel, and righteous people everywhere, in the Middle East and around the world.
Thank you.
From Macleans.ca websites: the racism lives
It’s Israeli Apartheid Week again. Pick your villain.
IAW activists hate Israel more than they hate oppression itself
Daniel Etter/Redux
The answer is just northeast of Israel, in Syria. In the past 11 months, almost 9,000 civilian protesters and nearly 3,000 anti-government rebels have been murdered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’ath party dictatorship. Approximately 400 children have been imprisoned and tortured. Meanwhile, Assad’s government claims that 89.4 per cent of Syrians had approved a new constitution that could keep Bashar in power for another 16 years, along with the 12 years he’s already ruled, and the 29 years his father Hafez held power before him. You’d think that anyone committed to the cause of justice in the Middle East would put the atrocities in Syria at the top of their to-do list. But the Canadian organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week—loudly devoted to ending oppression and achieving social justice for all—won’t be talking about Syria this year. Instead, they’ll spend March 5-9 railing exclusively against the “Zionist regime” at a university campus near you. Events will include slam poetry renditions, hip-hop shows, and an apartheid poster contest with a top prize of $400.
You could accurately call this tunnel vision activism. Most hopes for mainstream credibility IAW activists might have in their criticism of Israel tends to be destroyed by their singular abhorrence of the Jewish state. No country deserves a free pass because its crimes don’t add up to its neighbour’s, but to boycott one injustice and ignore the far bloodier one next door isn’t just odd: it’s a clear statement that those at the helm of Israeli Apartheid Week hate Israel more than they hate oppression itself.
This is a reality noted by even the anti-Zionist darling and American intellectual Norman Finkelstein, in an interview at Imperial College this month. Finkelstein, who has long been a supporter of the BDS movement, named for its focus on punishing Israel through boycotts, divestments, and sanctions, now claims, scathingly, that the BDS is doomed to irrelevancy by its gross “disingenuousness” on the subject of whether or not Israel should exist to begin with. “I support the BDS,” he says, “[but] their goal has to include the recognition of Israel, or it’s a non-starter.” Finkelstein is right. If you want to uproot a country’s policies, you should make it explicitly clear that you don’t want to uproot the country itself. Unless, of course, you do.
That the folks behind Israeli Apartheid Week wouldn’t mind if the country disappeared is evident in their blasé response to terrorism against Israelis. The movement’s promotional video features a series of cartoon slides about the conflict, one of which reads: “When a people fight the occupier / It is not terrorism / It is resistance.” But there is nothing noble or necessary about blowing up innocent civilians at a falafel stand. Such terrorism is not resistance. It’s murder—something IAW leaders have accused Israel of time and time again.
Hypocrisy aside, the movement’s reluctance to recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist (they claim to be “agnostic” about Israel’s existence), coupled with its failure to stand up for any other oppressed or occupied peoples, is an open invitation for Jews to cry anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, anti-Zionists argue, but Israel’s unique distinction in their ideology as the very worst place in the entire world has most Jews begging to differ. In my final year of university, a friend of mine—who we’ll call Sandy Cohen—wanted to organize a non-aligned event to run alongside Israeli Apartheid Week, to educate uninformed students about the conflict from a neutral standpoint. Organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week were less than pleased with the idea—they were having a party, and she was trying to crash it. One organizer even compared her to a Nazi and claimed that, like “all Zionists,” she had a knack for “twisting her words.” Not once did Cohen declare herself a Zionist. The only thing her detractor knew about her was her name—which is, undeniably, Jewish.
If all people who criticized Israel were anti-Semites, I’d be an anti-Semite. But it’s this kind of nastiness and hypocrisy that makes you wonder if the week isn’t an indictment of so-called Israeli apartheid, but rather a morbid celebration of a problem none of the protesters really wants solved. Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston argues that peace isn’t the product of “freedom for one people at the expense of another, but freedom and independence for both.” Until the Israeli Apartheid Movement acknowledges this, it will remain nothing more than a thinly veiled anti-Semitic frosh week for the far, far left.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
From the Hebrew press
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Yediot Aharonot comments on the situation in Syria. The author says: "As it seems now, the moment of truth will arrive only in the form of a political solution, i.e. only when the President and his cohorts conclude that it is dangerous to remain in Syria and agree to accept political asylum without being tried," and notes that Bashar Assad has already spurned several such offers. Ma'ariv refers to 'Israeli Apartheid Week' that was recently held on college campuses around the world and contends that "The international apartheid week was not only mendacious but it enabled those who have genuine contempt for human rights to continue with their actions." The author asserts that "When it comes to Israel, the rules are flexible. Thus, educating children to grow up and blow themselves up in public places is not a crime against humanity; neither is using them as human shields. Firing rockets at civilian cities? Also not. Denying the Holocaust or denying the right of Israel and its residents to exist? We can disagree on that too. What can I say to you, opponents of apartheid, wherever you are – if this is not racism, then I don't know what is." Yisrael Hayom says that both the Israeli and American leaderships "have stated unequivocally that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable," and believes "The argument is over where to draw the red line." The author suggests that some of the tension between Jerusalem and Washington stems from the fact that, in light of the two nations' respective capabilities, a purely Israeli attack would have to come much sooner than an American one, given the pace at which Iran is hardening and fortifying its nuclear facilities. The paper asserts that if either ally accepts the other's red line, it will have given up its ability to decide independently when to launch an attack and adds: "This, in a nutshell, is the heart of the controversy." The author speculates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would agree to the White House's desire to give diplomacy one more chance as long as the Prime Minister believes that there is substance to an American threat to use force if talks fail. Haaretz discusses the inflammatory remarks made by former minister Shlomo Benizri upon his early release from prison last week, and points out that contrary to his statements to the parole board only a few months ago, Benizri now denies all offenses attributed to him. The editor believes that Benizri’s current claim that he was framed “shines a dubious light on one of the most important conditions for shortening a prisoner's term: that the prisoner realizes the criminal nature of his act.” The Jerusalem Post criticizes the Histadrut trade union organization for the intense spate of recent strikes it declared and the plethora of new disputes it intends to implement in the near future, and points out that the most immediate victims of the strikes are the workers laid off as a result of cancelled orders. The editor declares that “Legislation limiting the ability to shut down essential services without warning and without polling all union members is a must," and calls for union leaders to be made personally accountable “for the harm they recklessly wreak.” [Semadar Peri, Lilach Sigan and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma'ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.] | ||||||||||||||||
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Da Ynet Gli Ortodossi condannano gli Ebrei riformisti come antisemiti
MK Eichler: Reform Jews
anti-Semites
UTJ Knesset member blasts Reform Movement reps presenting women's exclusion report for being 'anti-Semites'; finds himself removed from meeting over 'unacceptable behavior'
Tuesday saw Reform Movement representatives present the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women with a report about women's exclusion in Israel, at which point Eichler lashed out at them for being "anti-Semites who hate Israel," adding that the "Reform Jews are worse than our enemies."
Committee Chairwoman MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) removed him from the meeting over his "unacceptable behavior."
MK Eichler told Hotovely that by including Reform Jews in the committee, "she marked herself as an enemy of the Haredi Judaism." He further threatened that "Hotovely would pay for her actions."
The Reform Movement announced that they are planning to file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee over MK Eichler's "inciting words."
Reform Rabbi Gilad Kariv, who spoke in front of the committee told Ynet: "We were invited to the committee's session in order to present a report concerning exclusion of women. MK Eichler lashed out at us before we even managed to say a word. His words are shameful. He must have not yet decided who he hates more – Arabs, Reform Jews or women."
Committee
Chairwoman Tzipi Hotovely said in response that she was "saddened to see a
political official abus his power and take advantage of a Knesset debate in
order to boost his popularity."
MK Eichler seemes unfazed, saying he will not worry about "such a far fetched complaint" to the Ethics Committee.
Kobi Nahshoni contributed to this article
UTJ Knesset member blasts Reform Movement reps presenting women's exclusion report for being 'anti-Semites'; finds himself removed from meeting over 'unacceptable behavior'
Omri Efraim
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Tuesday saw Reform Movement representatives present the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women with a report about women's exclusion in Israel, at which point Eichler lashed out at them for being "anti-Semites who hate Israel," adding that the "Reform Jews are worse than our enemies."
Committee Chairwoman MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) removed him from the meeting over his "unacceptable behavior."
MK Eichler told Hotovely that by including Reform Jews in the committee, "she marked herself as an enemy of the Haredi Judaism." He further threatened that "Hotovely would pay for her actions."
The Reform Movement announced that they are planning to file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee over MK Eichler's "inciting words."
Reform Rabbi Gilad Kariv, who spoke in front of the committee told Ynet: "We were invited to the committee's session in order to present a report concerning exclusion of women. MK Eichler lashed out at us before we even managed to say a word. His words are shameful. He must have not yet decided who he hates more – Arabs, Reform Jews or women."
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MK Eichler seemes unfazed, saying he will not worry about "such a far fetched complaint" to the Ethics Committee.
Kobi Nahshoni contributed to this article
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