Saturday 30 October 2010

Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2011 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)

Created in Brussels, the capital of Europe, by Pierre Galand (NGO Special Report (2004): "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"), the "kangoroo court" was launched in Belgium (where it was created and launched in Belgium and held its first session in Barcelona, will be in London in November, in South Africa mid 2011 and in the United States end 2011.  Yet another European (Belgian to be precise) contribution to Peace.

Source: Harry's Place (Amnesty, Law Society Hosts Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Alan A, October 30th 2010)

On Monday 8 November, the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre will host a meeting on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. That meeting will feature Ewa Jasiewicz who is billed as a “Member of UK Committee”

Ewa Jasiewicz was the spokeswoman who justified the desecration of the Warsaw Ghetto earlier this year:


The Tribunal will then hold its full session at the Law Society on 20-22 November. It will feature such luminaries as John Dugard, Ronald Kasrils, Mike Mansfield, and the conspiracy theorist and kook, Cynthia McKinney.
"I had a mother to call me because her son had a very gruesome task. Her son’s charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head. And these were mostly males and her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement. So he only complained to his mother. But the data about these individuals was entered into a Pentagon computer and then, reportedly, the bodies were dumped in the swamp in Louisiana. This is as a result of the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. Now I have verification from insiders who wish to remain anonymous at the Red Cross that this is true."
________
Jonathan Hoffman : Please protest (especially if you are a lawyer) to the Law Society about them letting their rooms for this Kangaroo Court:
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contactus.law#contactform

- Irish Nobel laureate to 'examine' Israel war crimes in London soon
Raising funds in Belgium for the London session:
- Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium
- Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation Betrays Bertrand Russell

Cartoon above: Israel embassy in Spain

Thursday 28 October 2010

Belgian boycott Israel "success story"

Perseverance pays.  After two years of unrelenting efforts 78 NGOs (repeat 78 NGOs after a two-year campaign - since November 2008) have scored a major success against Israel. 

Belgian newspaper Le Soir - a great promoter of Israel boycotts and punishments - reports that 15 account holders with the Belgian-French Dexia Bank had closed down their accounts in protest at Dexia's operations in the West Bank "colonies" ("settlements" in French with a nasty connotation). 

Fifteen customers is a remarkable number considering that Dexia, being a major European bank, probably has hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers.  But as the Quebec-Israel Committee rightly points out : "Since its launch in Quebec, the BDS campaign has achieved nothing but dismal failures ; failures which it amazingly claims as successes, thanks to an absurd rhetoric that only seem to fool its own followers". Hopefully Le Soir readers will not be fooled either !

The anti-Israel militants are anti-US too.



For more details see: Presse belge: les Belges "réussissent" une opération de boycott contre Israël

Wednesday 27 October 2010

AFP: same article - different titles in French and in English

Background: Jewish town to sue French news agency AFP for libel

AFP (Agence France Press) had the same article in French and English, but with different titles.

English title:
"Settlers deny ruining Palestinian olive grove with sewage" 

French title conveying a  much more negative message :
"Thousands of olive trees infected [i.e. poisoned ?] by sewage from a colony [the French always use the word "colony" in preference to "implantations"] in the West Bank"
"Des milliers d'oliviers infectés par les égouts d'une colonie en Cisjordanie"

A reader indicated that the first version of APF's article in French (as relayed by Belgian newspaper Le Soir) carried the same title but did not report the settlers' ["colonialists'"] version : "The community of Elon Moreh has a very sophisticated sewage system which cost hundreds of thousands of shekels. The water is purified and reused within the community for our own agriculture," said David HaIvri, blaming "neighbouring Arab communities" for the flood."

Jewish town to sue French news agency AFP for libel

Source: Arutz Sheva

A Jewish town in Samaria plans to sue the French news agency AFP [AFP has close links to the Quai d'Orsay, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs]  for libel for reporting it flooded an Arab olive grove with its sewage. The latest AFP article on the olive harvest follows an increasingly long line of anti-Israeli reports based almost solely on reports from Arabs and left-wing activists, including anarchists. AFP quoted an Arab farmer in a nearby village who went to harvest his olive crop and "could hardly see the land – it was flooded with sewage and chemicals", resulting in 2,000 trees dying.

However, Elon Moreh has an advanced water waste treatment facility that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build, according to Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Samaria (Shomron) Regional Council. The water also is used for irrigation. It is doubtful the water, a scarce and expensive commodity in Israel due to four years of drought, would be wasted. Mesika said he will file a libel suit against AFP.

He added that "those who are polluting the area actually are Arab villages, which despite our offer to connect to the sewage treatment facility avoid doing so because of threats from the Palestinian Authority"."
Read the full article HERE

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Ilan Halimi murder - Leniency For Barbarians

The retrial of 14 members of the Gang of Barbarians started on 25 October 2010.

Below an article by Véronique Chemla, published on FrontPage Magazine (July 17, 2009)

On July 13, 2009, French Minister of Justice Michèle Alliot-Marie asked the Parquet (a panel of magistrates under her authority, authorized to request penal sanctions in defence of the general welfare) to appeal 14 of the 25 sentences pronounced on July 10 against members of the Gang of Barbarian on trial for the anti-Semitic murder of Ilan Halimi. Those 14 sentences are lighter than the sanctions recommended by the Avocat general [roughly equivalent to the state’s attorney or public prosecutor].
On July 17, the Parquet announced it had appealed sentences for four more Gang members. Maître Francois-Pascal Gery, counsel for Gang ringleader Youssouf Fofana, the convicted killer of Ilan Halimi, said that his client was appealing his life sentence.

Last week, fearing light sentences, several French Jewish organisations called for a gathering before the Justice Ministry. After the verdict was announced, they asked the Minister to appeal. According to the French legal system, only the Parquet and the defendants can appeal penal sanctions. Plaintiffs are only allowed to appeal for civil damages.

On July 13, at 7 pm, several hundred people, most of them Jewish, gathered peacefully on a side street leading to Place Vendôme, where they were kept at a distance from the Ministry. They thanked the Minister for her decision and called for “Justice for Ilan.” Then a delegation composed of Jewish community leaders and Patrick Lozès President of CRAN (umbrella group of Black organizations) met with one advisor of the Minister of Justice. They emphasized the importance of holding the appeals trial in open court, with access to the media and the public, so that it would serve its pedagogical purpose.

The trial held this spring covered several attempted kidnappings in addition to Ilan Halimi’s murder. They all had the same modus operandi.

In December 2005, Gang of Barbarians chief Youssouf Fofana asked Alexandra S. to lure Michael Douieb, a Jewish music producer. On January 5, 2006 she met Mr Douieb and asked him to drive her “home” to a building in the Parisian banlieue of Arcueil, where Jean-Christophe S and Youssouf Fofana were waiting for him. They beat Douieb with iron bars while Youssouf Fofana shouted:

‘Dirty Jew, croak, you filthy kike! Neighbours, who heard Douieb shouting, reacted and his assailants fled.
Ilan Halimi rests in peace in Israel.

Monday 25 October 2010

Israel’s Chief Rabbi: ‘The Vatican doesn’t’ have to tell us how to interpret the Bible’

"The priest doesn't have to teach us about interpreting the Bible. We don’t teach them how to interpret the New Testament" (Yona Metzger, Israel’s Chief Rabbi)

JERUSALEM (EJP, by Yossi Lempkowicz)---Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said the Vatican "doesn’t have to teach us about interpreting the Bible", in a comment to remarks by a archbishop who said that the theme of the Promised Land "cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel and the expatriation of the Palestinians".

"For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people," Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, the Lebanese-born head of the Greek Melkite Church in the United States declared, in a press conference after a Vatican Middle East Synod.

"The priest doesn't have to teach us about interpreting the Bible. We don’t teach them how to interpret the New Testament," Rabbi Metzger told EJP Monday in Berlin where he is attending a conference of the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC). He however expressed the hope that this won’t create a diplomatic incident with the Vatican.

On Sunday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon slammed the Vatican synod statement hugely critical of Israel as "political attacks on Israel".

Sunday 24 October 2010

Brussels: Jihad by vuvuzela !

Being "affiliated to an organization like CCLJ which is critical but close to Israel [!]" doesn't shield you from the rage of certain anti-Israel Muslims - as Professor Joël Kotek experienced last week!

Source: Brussels Journal (Jihad By Vuvuzela, by Luc Van Braekel)

Muslim youth have discovered a new weapon to counter the dissemination of unwanted ideas: the vuvuzela. Pro-Palestinian activists used the African noise horn to try to silence a Jewish professor in Brussels.
It happened last Thursday in Molenbeek, a predominantly Muslim borough of the Brussels capital region. Mouedden Mohsin, a Belgian-Moroccan publicist and radio presenter, had organized a series of intercultural sessions to improve the understanding between the Jewish and muslim communities in Brussels. Speaker of the evening, for an audience of immigrant youngsters, was professor Joël Kotek, an expert in anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. [What makes it even more alarming and odd is that Mr. Kotek is a staunch critic of Israel.]

As a precaution, the blinds of the community center where the session was to be held were lowered. Still, a handful of youth tried to silence the speech of professor Kotek with a vuvuzela and a siren, while knocking on the blinds and screaming slogans like "Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah" and "Kotek murderer". Leading the group of activists was Nordine Saidi, an outspoken fan of French anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala. In last year's regional elections, Saïdi was head of the list "Egalité", promoting a city partnership of Brussels with Gaza. [Belgian journalist Baudouin Loos describes him admiringly as "an educator and a militant for the self-determination of the peoples".  No less!]

So proud were the demonstrators of their actions, that they posted a video report on Youtube [boycote joel kotek definitely worth watching] :
Zionists' Hobbies - Lies - Torture - Stealing - KILLING !

'Theological intifada' against Israel run by Arab Palestinian Christian Naim Ateek

"The greatest problem with the Jews is yet not resolved, because most Jews do not want to go to Israel. There are still far more Jews outside of Israel than within Israel. Most of them did not want to go there, but the Zionists made them. Europe did not want them, so they sent them away, and at whose expense? The Palestinians. There are still Jews in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, they do not go to Israel. Some Jews immigrate to Germany, because it looks better to them than Israel. Then there is something wrong. Israel uses propaganda to entice Jews to move there, but most of the ones who would go, have gone there by now."

Note - for European consumption, the site of Friends of Sabeel-France only talks of love, justice, peace and prayer.  What a divine European hypocrisy.

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews (Supercessionist Palestinian theology develops market in Norway)

Is there a market for supercessionist Palestinian theology in Norway? Perhaps not, but there are elements in the Norwegian church who are trying hard to create one.

CAMERA (Naim Ateek Lets It All Hang Out in ... Norway!) has picked up on how Palestinian supercessionist Naim Ateek is being courted by Norwegian supporters. Unauthorized translation from the article “Runs theological intifada against Israel” from Norge IDAG on the theology of Naim Ateek:

Runs theological intifada against Israel
The Palestinian-arabic theologist Naim Ateek visited Norway last week in order to turn Christians against Israel by convincing them that the promises of land made in the Bible have been revoked, and that the Jews no longer are God’s chosen people. He believes the state of Israel ought never to have been established, and that is has become an apartheid state which ought to be boycotted.

Naim Ateek leads the Palestinian-arabic teheological grassroots organisation Sabeel, which has as its goal to further a just peace in the Middle East. He has developed a distinctive ”Palestinian liberation theology” which he actively uses in order to further pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel views to the christian west. In Israel some speak of Sabeel’s activities as a ”theological intifada”, and in a meeting with Norge I DAG Naim Ateek says he accepts this definition of his activity.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

In the European mind the Islamist crusade against Israel is above reproach

"In one recent poll, 74 percent of Spanish citizens agreed that a "clash of civilizations" was under way. In France, only 45 percent said they believed the country's Muslims were loyal. But there is one glaring anomaly in the widespread turn against Islamist bullying: an exemption has been carved out for Palestinians. In the European mind, both popular and governmental, the Islamist crusade against Israel is above reproach. At least for the time being, Europe appears to remain firmly of two minds,  increasingly intolerant of Islamist intimidation at home while insisting that Israel accommodate the same intimidation, and worse, in the Middle East." (Photo: anti-Israel/pro-Hamas/pro-Hezbollah rally in Brussels, the capital of Europe - see also Photos of anti-Israeli demonstration in Brussels)

Source: Jewish Ideas (Bi-Polar Europe, by Elliot Jager)

Last month, Western intelligence services uncovered a plot by Arab men holding European citizenship to carry out simultaneous shooting strikes in France, Germany, and Britain.  The United States apparently thwarted the attacks in a targeted killing campaign using drone aircraft against suspected Taliban- and al-Qaeda-backed terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

But the danger posed by radicalized Muslims in Europe is hardly diminished. Dozens of German, Dutch, French, and British Islamists are presently undergoing military training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  They hope to replicate the example set by their predecessors in such actions as the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and the July 2005 London Underground bombings that killed 56. Numerous other plots have been frustrated by security forces before they could be carried out. Still others—a second try against London's transport system, an attempt to blow up Glasgow's airport terminal—have failed only through luck or chance.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Belgian academic explains threat of U.S. Jewish lobby to American "dummies" ...

"It is enough to open any mainstream U.S. newspaper or TV and read or hear opinions expressed by Zionists calling for more war. What is at stake in the de-Zionization of the American mind is not only the fate of the unfortunate inhabitants of Palestine but also unspeakable miseries for the people of that region and maybe of the rest of the world. The ultimate irony in all this is that the fate of much of the world depends of the American people exercizing their right to self-determination, which, of course, they should."

Belgian EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht's remarks on how the Jewish lobby controls America reflects a widely held view in Europe, and that's why neither he nor the EU Commission offered an apology or a rectification.  A Belgian newspaper confirmed that what Commissioner De Gucht said about the Lobby and the irrationality of Jews is exactly in line with what most knowlegeable Europeans believe

At the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, Professor Jean Bricmont, like, we are told, most Belgians totally believes in the Jewish lobby and is absolutely terrified and obsessed by it.  He believes that American are not smart enough - even the American left is much too dumb and intimidated - to understands its dangers.  He wrote an essay for Counterpunch (see Counterpunch: A Neo Nazi Magazine) in 2006.  In it he advocates the "de-Zionisation" (doesn't this remind you of "de-Nazification?) of the American mind.  No less. Well, so far the American "idiots" have superbly ignored the ravings of an unsufferably arrogant man for whom Americans are Zionized brainwashed fools who have relinquished their self-determination to the benefit of the Lobby.

Bricmont wants Israeli’s feeling of superiority shattered and believes that “Americans have a great responsibility is doing half of the job, the one concerning kneejerk U.S. support.” One can only guess who should be doing the other half of the job. Another ominous remark: “And that is also why it is easy to dismiss its strength by saying, for instance, that, obviously, Jews don't control America. Sure, but direct control is not the way it works”. There we go!  The Israel Lobby by Walt and Mearsheimer pales in comparison with the violent and contemptuous anti-American (not to mention Jews and Israelis) tone of Bricmont’s paper. His great achievement is that every single sentence smacks of smugness, self-importance and contempt - the give-away words “hate” and “hatred” crop up ten times ...

The Professor also pairs up with Martial Demunter to give sparsely attended “cycles of conferences” in Brussels on “The USA, Zionism and Israel” while Demunter holds forth on “Guilt and Holocaust Manipulation”! A nice pair.

Here are some excerpts from How to Deal with The Lobby, The De-Zionization of the American Mind

“… the level of hatred that leads a large number of people to applaud an event like September 11 is peculiar to the Middle East. Indeed, the main political significance of September 11 did not derive from the number of people killed or even the spectacular achievement of the attackers, but from the fact that the attack was popular in large parts of the Middle East. That much was understood by Americans leaders and infuriated them. Such a level of hatred calls for explanation.

Saturday 16 October 2010

François Houtart, Hamas supporter Belgian priest, the next Nobel Peace Prize laureate ?

The ever resourceful Belgians have had yet a new fabulous idea.  They will put foward the name of a Roman Catholic priest François Houtart, 85, for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.  He is of course anti-Israel and a firm believer in creating kangoroo courts to delegitimise Israel ... and legitimise Hamas.

As we wrote previously (François Houtart, a Belgian anti-Zionist priest, awarded UNESCO prize for tolerance and non-violence) (2009):

François Houtart, a Belgian priest and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, has been awarded (shared) the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. The announcement reads (excerpt):

"François Houtart (Belgium) for his life-long commitment to world peace, intercultural dialogue, human rights and the promotion of tolerance, and in recognition of his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world. [...]"

What the announcement leaves out is that François Houtart is a staunch anti-Israeli/US militant :

* he signed an appeal launched by Nadine Rosa-Rosso to all candidates for the 736 seats in the European parliament to remove Hamas from the EU terror list (International List Of Hamas Supporters Published, Harry's Place);

* he is a member of the Russell Tribunal for Palestine, concocted by another Belgian, Pierre Galand (Brussels: Launching of the "Russell Tribunal" on Palestine) the third such mock tribunal cooked up in Belgium ...;

* he is the chairman of the BRussells Tribunal - Peple vs Total War, that is co-chaired by Jean Bricmont, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Pierre Klein, professor at the Free University of Brussels is the secretary; and

* he is a member of the "People's Court" in which "individuals of concience" tried Israel for "crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon during the summer 2006 [which] are a violent affront to the universal human conscience"(Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges and Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.).

Friday 15 October 2010

Teacher of EU and NATO staff children denounces Jewish power in the USA

"The Jewish community is very powerful in the United States and every president, whether Democrat or Republican, has to consider this factor when making decisions, because the influence of this community can be critical, and not just in electoral terms ... "

 An ambitious Belgian Catholic teacher at the European School (Schola Europea), Pierre Piccinin [the photo is eloquent enough], is the author of a number of anti-"Zionist" articles of a remarkable brutality (in French-speaking Belgium this passes for political analysis) and also in defense French humorist Dieudonné in the Belgian press and even in Le Monde. He always proudly indicates that he is professor of history and political science at the European School Brussels 1 and tutor at the Free University of Brussels.

His young charges can become familiar with his hateful ideas - if not in the classroom - in the newspapers and on his blog. Who are his young pupils at the European school? The children of the staff of the European Institutions and NATO, and some fee-paying children. Who funds the school ? Member States and the European Commission. In other words, the European taxpayer. And by the way, The aims of the schools were expressed in the words of Jean Monnet in 1953: "Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe."

A sample of some of Piccinin's articles published in various newspapers and on his blog (translated):
- Why should the Palestinian people be asked to die in silence?
- The feedom flotilla : was the Israelly government' intention to kill ? 
- Gaza : a planned project ? (Last para: "Thus, for the Palestinians, Obama's big change will not materialise. The new presidential administration will simply continue the policy of the previous one. Once again it paralyzed the United Nations and prevented any action to stop the assault on Gaza, using its veto in the Security Council. Unconditional support for the Israeli State that kills children? [note the ambigous phrasing and the question mark] "Yes, he can!" ..."
- The peace process : a misunderstanding 
- Belgium, complicit in war crimes ? (the text co-authored by Piccinin is so outrageous that the Belgium media refused to publish it)
- Kadhafi, not the fool he is made out to be ...
- Israel, a rogue state at large. The article gave rise to the views :

Wednesday 13 October 2010

US defends Israel at the UN, Europe as usual does not

"Let me suggest a few other reasons why the EU “would abstain during the vote”: cowardice in the face of Muslim minorities at home; appeasement of the OIC [Organisation of the Islamic Conference, almost all of whose members are dictatorships or tyrannies of one form or another. On their behalf, it was introduced in the Rights Council by Pakistan] and its oil and gas producing members at the UN; a spineless political correctness in not wanting to rock the boat inside a UN institution which has as much respect for human rights as a paedophile ring does for the rights of children; etc; etc; etc. Say what you want about Barack Obama, but America even under his watch was the only country in the world to say no to this revolting spectacle."

Source: Robin Shepherd

In the latest display of sickening hypocrisy at the United Nations, the Human Rights Council yesterday endorsed by 30 votes to one this month’s report by three anti-Israeli lawyers which charged Israel with “wilful killing”, “torture” and “inhuman treatment” over the Mavi Marmara Gaza-flotilla incident earlier this year.

The United States was the only country to oppose the report, while France and Britain were among 15 others abstaining. What really strikes one, however, are the liberal-democratic credentials of those who backed the motion. To think! Being judged on a human rights issue by China, Libya, or Saudi Arabia? Actually this is no laughing matter. It is a depraved and disgusting statement on what the United Nations has become. It is, therefore, worth looking at the backers of this motion in a little more detail.

I have used the Freedom House Freedom in the World 2010 index — which ranks countries as either Free (F), Partly Free (PF) or Not Free (NF) — as my point of reference. Here are the countries which voted in favour of the report with their Freedom House designation in brackets:

Angola (NF), Argentina (F), Bahrain (NF), Bangladesh (PF), Brazil (F), Burkina Faso (PF), Chile (F), China (NF), Cuba (NF), Djibouti (PF), Ecuador (PF), Gabon (NF), Guatemala (PF), Jordan (NF), Kyrgyzstan (NF), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (NF), Malaysia (PF), Maldives (PF), Mauritania (NF), Mauritius (F), Mexico (F), Nigeria (PF), Pakistan (PF), Qatar (NF), Russian Federation (NF), Saudi Arabia (NF), Senegal (PF), Thailand (PF), Uganda (PF), and Uruguay (F). With only six countries in the group ranked as free, no less than 80 percent are either only partly free — meaning they are grubby, corrupt and often murderous pseudo-democracies — or are not free — meaning in most cases they are outright tyrannies.
Read the whole piece HERE

Violent "anti-Zionist" scene live on Belgian TV (RTL)

This happened on Friday evening during the evening news at the Belgian private TV channel RTL.  The appalling scene took place in Brussels in front of the Royal Palace of Laeken during a meeting between the Belgian king Albert II and Mr Bart De Wever.  A young man of North African appearance pushed aside journalist Frédéric Delfosse and shouted with raised fist "Zionist" (no doubt meaning the channel to be "Zionist"-controlled - for the record, RTL, like RTBF, the public francophone Belgian TV, is anti-Israel, but not enough for some).  The young man also seems to have shouted "annihilate Zionism ..." (?)  and "infamy" (?).  The scene was cut straight away.  See the 27-second video HERE. (H/T JPD)

Thirty per cent of the population in Brussels is Muslim.

Cross-posted on Philosémitisme (TV belge: violent "incident" antisioniste en direct ... devant le palais royal)

Monday 11 October 2010

The Pope and Sarkozy dicuss the"injustice done to the Palestinian people"

Context: President Sarkozy and Pope discuss Middle East peace


Le Figaro reports that one of the issues the French President and the Pope discussed during their meeting las week was the "moral imperative" to "repair the injustice done to the Palestinian people".  There is also the somewhat vague call to ensure "the security to the Jewish people" (but not specifically the security of Israel and its people).


(Au Vatican, Sarkozy lève les malentendus avec Benoît XVI)

Mosque shooting game banned in Austria, not Jewish soldier shooting game in Belgium

Anti-mosque web game banned: Austria (and quite rightly so)

"Austrian authorities have banned a far-right online game where players eliminate animated mosques and Muslims, the political party behind the game said on Friday.  The "Bye Bye Mosque" game, which has had over 200,000 visitors since it was launched on Monday, has drawn sharp criticism from Austria's Social Democrats and Green Party, as well as the Islamic and Roman Catholic communities.

Set up by the provincial branch of the far-right Freedom Party ahead of an election in Styria later this month, the game encouraged players to collect points by putting a target over mosques and minarets emerging from the countryside and clicking a "Stop" sign.  They also had the chance to eliminate a bearded muezzin calling Muslims to prayer. [...]"
______________
In Belgium, children are exhorted to shoot at Israelly soldiers and throw them to the sea.  And the big difference with the Austrian game is that it is not an online game.  The game was staged at a Roman Catholic school ('Throw Israel soldiers to the sea' educational game at Belgian Catholic school), at the Ghent Fair [Belgian NGO incites children to shoot at Israeli soldiers at the Ghent Fair], and now at Charleroi (though adults were not asked to shoot at the soldiers, the exercise seems to be only aimed at children and their parents) :


8 October: a laughing Griet Deknooper, a teacher and the inventor of the "shoot a Jewish/Israelly soldier game", with her fund-raising aquarium at a Charleroi anti-Israel event.

Saturday 9 October 2010

'Throw Israel soldiers to the sea' educational game at Belgian Catholic school

Hardly does a week go by in Belgium without a few NGOs - which receive generous funds from the government - organizing anti-Israel events.

In Flanders alone, during the last weekend of September, several such events took place.  The city of Antwerp [!] - repeat the city of Antwerp [!] - supported, for the second year running, a "Day for Palestine". No wonder that the Antwerp Jewish community is moving out. At Bredene, NGO Belgium to Gaza held an information and sales booth at a fair.  On the 30th, there was a debate in the Herent parish hall on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

But what happened at the Heilig Hart en College (Sacred Heart College) in Halle is so sick that it beggars belief. It is worrying that a reputable Catholic school sees nothing wrong that Catholic adults exhort kids to symbolically but very physically shoot at Israelly/Jewish soldiers and throw them into the sea.  In fact, killing them.

The city, run by a right wing coalition (CD&V, N-VA et VLD), had granted permission for the event "Gaza Terminal" to be held in front of the Halle train station to ensure maximum public exposure.

In the event, because of bad weather conditions, it was transferred to the school gym hall.  The organiser was Griet Deknopper,  a Belgian woman who took part in the flotilla supposed to break the Gaza siege.  She used to be involved in Chiro, the Flemish catholic scouts, and is the niece of a CD&V alderman.   The usual anti-Israel crowd always resorts to the same propaganda methods (flea markets, BBQs, music, anti-Israël propaganda: boycott calls, accusations against Dexia bank, leaflets by the far left-islam party Egalité whose incitement is well documented).
"Throw the soldiers [Israelly Jews] to the sea with your coins!"

Thursday 7 October 2010

Norway cartoon : Netanyahu builds Auschwitch for Palestinians

"Oh they are a brave crowd, the men and women of the Norwegian media corps."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jew (Adresseavisen burns 90 000 newspapers rather than risk offending Muslims)

Background: Cartoon: Netanyahu builds Auschwitch for Palestinians
On March 18th Adresseavisen published the cartoon above, depicting Abbas on his knees, pleading in front of Netanyahu who is building a concentration camp for Palestinians. The cartoon was made by Adresseavisen’s cartoonist Jan O. Henriksen.

Yesterday, NTB (Norway’s News Agency) reports that Adresseavisen has burned 90 000 copies of the newspaper, as it offered a cartoon by Jan O. Henriksen depicting Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Adresseavisen feels the cartoon might be offensive to Muslims.

Henriksen understands why 90 000 copies of the newspaper, carrying his cartoon, was thrown to the flames. In the NTB article he states: "I most decidedly feel that this is not censorship. One must take into concern the safety of one’s co-workers. If one is to provoke on purpose, one must agree on it in advance, and discuss what measures to take".

So everyone in Adresseavisen agreed it was a good idea to publish a picture of Netanyahu constructing a concentration camp for Palestinians. But not to publish a cartoon of Kurt Westergaard, who is threatened on his life for drawing a cartoon of Muhamed, as this might offend Muslims.

Oh they are a brave crowd, the men and women of the Norwegian media corps.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

U.K., Spain to boycott OECD tourism conference because it’s in Jerusalem

Source: Haaretz, by Irit Rosenblum

Britain and Spain will not send delegates to the OECD’s biannual tourism conference on October 20-22, because it will be held in Jerusalem, Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov (Yisrael Beiteinu ) said yesterday.

This is only the second time in its history that the conference, which this year will deal with sustainable tourism, is being held outside Paris.

Journalist and blogger Jorge Marirrodriga (Sobre Israel Opinamos Todos) writes that tourism is the main source of revenue in Spain, a country which is going through serious financial trouble deeply affecting the lives of many people.  But still Zapatero's government seems to put the "Palestinian cause" above the tourist sector interests.

Monday 4 October 2010

Funding Palestinian Incitement, European taxpayers are made to pay for the propaganda that fuels the Mideast conflict

"Now, as new peace talks proceed, such contraventions and contradictions go on, with PBC broadcasts from March and July this year praising, for instance, 18-year-old female suicide bomber Ayyat al-Akhras, who in 2002 detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing a security guard and a 17-year-old girl in Jerusalem." Rachel Levy (photo) victim of human bomb Ayyat al-Akhras.


Article by Matthew Sinclair et Raheem Kassam in the WSJ

It is easy to understand why many Westerners are bewildered by the conflict in Israel-Palestine. Confrontations like the springtime flotilla crisis make it easy for people to see the situation as too complex, ugly, and hopeless, and they switch off. But we can't ignore what goes on in Israel and the Palestinian territories, if for no reason other than we're affecting it:  Our money is supporting indoctrination in the territories that is sowing the seeds of future conflict for decades to come. We have a responsibility to take that incredibly seriously.

In 2007, the European Union provided €420 million to the Palestinian territories, while member states also provided extensive bilateral aid: Germany provided €55 million, France €67 million, and the United Kingdom put in £63.6 million (about €76 million). Many countries have increased their donations since then, with the EU and U.S. pledging the lion's share of $7.7 billion for the period of 2008-2010, with a focus on reconstruction after last year's Gaza conflict.

Some donor countries have recently taken steps to try to prevent their funds being used to terrorize Israelis. Germany, for instance, has worked to outlaw the Turkish-German NGO, Internationale Humanitaere Hilfs organisation, which has delivered more than $8.3 million in funding to groups linked to Hamas.

But such moves only address part of the larger responsibility that donations create. Millions in Western taxpayers' pounds, euros, and dollars, now fund all the actions of the Palestinian Authority. Much of that money comes through direct budget support, which means unconditional checks to the Authority, or paying off its debts. In that way our governments support everything, good and bad, that the Palestinian Authority does.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Palestinian terrorism: 30th anniversary of Paris synagogue bombing

28 years later:
- Canadian professor (Hassan Diab, 54) held over deadly 1980 synagogue bombing in Paris, Haaretz, 13/08/08
- Friends shocked as Ottawa professor held in Paris bombing: The Ottawa university professor arrested in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue made his first court appearance yesterday as his former academic advisers expressed disbelief over allegations the "lively" scholar was once involved in a terrorist act. Canada.com, 15/11/08
- Justice delayed,  Shimon Samuels, Jerusalem Post,

The facts: Wikipedia

The 1980 Paris synagogue bombing was a terrorist attack on the synagogue of Union Libérale Israélite de France, located on rue Copernic, Paris, on October 3, 1980, the eve of Simchat Torah. About 10 kilograms (22 lb) of explosives hidden in the saddlebags of a motorcycle parked outside the synagogue detonated, killing four people and injuring dozens. [1][2]

The bombing was the first of a string of attacks against Jews in Europe. On August 29, 1981, a synagogue in Vienna, Austria, was attacked by Palestinian gunmen, who killed two people and wounded 30 in the 1981 Vienna synagogue attack. On October 20, 1981, also the eve of Simchat Torah, three people were killed and 94 injured in a truck bomb attack outside a synagogue in the diamond-trading centre of Antwerp, Belgium in the 1981 Antwerp bombing.[3][4]

1. "Canadian held in Paris synagogue bombing". The Toronto Star. November 14, 2008.
2. "File on 1980 Paris bombing revealed". The Globe and Mail. November 20, 2008.
3. "Jewish Targets: Recent Attacks". The New York Times. 1986-09-07.
4. Lewis, Paul (1981-10-21). "2 Killed By Bomb at Antwerp Synagogue". The New York Times.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Norway: F.M. Støre stops Israeli submarine testing in Norway'

"Only Israel is singled out, time and time again, for this kind of special treatment."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

NRK today reports that Norway is refusing to allow German submarines, intended for Israeli, to be tested in Norwegian waters. NRK writes: "MFA’s resolution is a marked tightening of Norway’s politics versus Israel". Meanwhile FM Jonas Gahr Støre argues that this has little to do with Israel, and everything to do with Norwegian restrictions on selling arms and services to countries in war or in warlike situations.

Which is the correct interpretation?

If one looks at only this one situation regarding the submarine-testing, F.M. Støre might arguably be said to have a point. Norway has imposed upon herself amazingly strict restrictions on the sales of arms and services, in spite of which we still manage to export a massive amount of arms and services.

If one looks at a broader range of Norway-Israel issues, one finds that the former's relations to the latter is quite unique. Only Israel is singled out, time and time again, for this kind of special treatment. For examples, study the posts in the following category: boycott.