Paris: Belgian citizen planned terror attack against Jews

Arutz Sheva: French officials said Saturday night that Egyptian authorities recently arrested an Islamic Jihad terrorist who planned to conduct an attack at an IDF fundraising event in Paris. A top official in the French security services said that the terrorist held Belgian and Tunisian citizenship. The terrorist was arrested in Sinai after he emerged from a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza border. Egypt deported him to Belgium, which in turn deported him to France, where he is now being held.

Suicide bomb belts used by Palestinian terroritst/human bombs.

European Parliament: Spanish representative derides US "Jewish lobby"

Source: Z-Word (A Spanish Socialist, by Eamonn McDonagh)

Emilio Menéndez del Valle represents Spain’s ruling PSOE party in the European Parliament and was formerly his country’s ambassador to Jordan and Italy. He has an op-ed in yesterday’s El País about the Israel-Palestine negotiations in which he doesn’t hold back on the power of the Jewish lobby in US politics ["poder del lobby judío en EE UU"] and goes so far as to say that America’s foreign policy in the Middle East has been kidnapped by Jewish power. Another brave socialist speaks out about Jewish power. Well done, Emilio.

One particular part of his article deserves special attention. He says that Israel’s claim to be recognized as a Jewish state is a :

"… contradictio in natura given that 20% of the population of Israel is Arab, not Jewish."

So without a uniform national identity among its inhabitants states can’t claim to represent a single national identity. Irony can’t be Menéndez del Valle’s strong point because judged on this basis his own country, the Kingdom of Spain, doesn’t come out very well as it obliges a large minority of its citizens (Catalans, Basques, Muslim inhabitants of the colonial enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla and, at least to some degree, Galicians as well) to accept Spanish national identity in spite of the fact that they don’t feel themselves to be Spanish in any way and that they see the Spanish state as robbing them of their right to self-determination.

My advice to Mr. Netanyahu would be that Israel should drop its demand to be a recognized as a Jewish state when the Kingdom of Spain dissolves itself and is replaced by a confederation of independent Iberian nations.

- 35% of Spaniards do not like Jews
- WSJ: anti-Semitic riff by EU Commissioner met with "collective yawn" in Europe

35% of Spaniards do not like Jews

35% of Spaniards have a bad opinion of Jews. The percentage represents 17 million Spaniards. And 11% -  almost 5.2 million people - believe that Israel "must disappear" - more than five million Spanish people want Israel wiped off the map.

Those who commissioned the survey indicate that the 35% figure is "less than expected". Their comment is understandable in the light of previous surveys that put Spain as the most antisemitic country in Europe and with the deluge of anti-Israel info poured on Spaniards on a daily basis, the numbers could have been worse. But they are very bad.

Still it is hard to follow Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister, when he indicated at the presentation of the report: "Public opinion in our country is not anti-Semitic or anti-Israel". Well, in arithmetic terms, there is not a majority that holds such obnoxious views but, when in your own country 5 million human beings (so to speak) argue that Israel should disappear and another 17 million say that do not want Jews there is no cause for celebration. Do they really represent the quintessence of tolerance and respect ?

Source: Jorge Marirrodriga @ Sobre Israel opinamos todos (Millones de tolerantes)

- Anti-Semitism in Spain
- 'The Spanish are not anti-Semitic', they don't know the facts ...
- Spanish paper calls Holocaust denier Irving 'expert' on WWII
- Spain's Jewish problem, by Michael Freund
- The anti-Israel hysteria, by Pilar Rahola  

Tony Blair speaks of European leaders' double standards towards Israel

"Israel lost 1000 citizens to terrorism in the intifada. That equates in UK population terms to 10,000."

"A constant conversation I have with some, by no means all, of my European colleagues is to argue to them: don’t apply rules to the Government of Israel that you would never dream of applying to your own country. In any of our nations, if there were people firing rockets, committing acts of terrorism and living next door to us, our public opinion would go crazy. And any political leader who took the line that we shouldn’t get too excited about it, wouldn’t last long as a political leader. This is a democracy. Israel lost 1000 citizens to terrorism in the intifada. That equates in UK population terms to 10,000. I remember the bomb attacks from Republican terrorism in the 1970’s. There weren’t many arguing for a policy of phlegmatic calm.

So the issue of de-legitimisation is not simply about an overt denial of the State of Israel. It is the application of prejudice in not allowing that Israel has a point of view that should be listened to.

One thing I state repeatedly in interviews about Gaza – despite disagreeing with the previous policy on it – is to say to western media outlets: just at least comprehend why Israel feels as it does. In 2005 it got out of Gaza i.e. ceased occupying it, took over 7000 settlers with it and in return got rockets and terror attacks. Now I know all the counter-arguments about the unilateral nature of the withdrawal, the 2005 Access and Movement agreement and the closure of the crossings. But the fact remains: there is another point of view and you can’t describe it as illegitimate.

This is then hugely heightened by the way things are reported. Here the televisual images – whether in Lebanon, Gaza or indeed any field of conflict – in Afghanistan for example, are so shocking that they tend to overwhelm debate about how or why conflict began. Because Israel – like the US or the UK – has superior force and because in such situations the horrible tragedy is that the innocent die – these images arouse anger, sympathy and a disgust that at one level is completely understandable but at another obscures the difficult choices nations like ours face, when they come under attack."

- Tony Blair welcomes re-start of direct peace talks during Herzliya speech
- Blair: Delegitimization of Israel is affront to humanity

WSJ: anti-Semitic riff by EU Commissioner met with "collective yawn" in Europe

Will Brussels Boycott De Gucht?

The European trade commissioner explains why the 'average' Jew is so irrational.

A decade ago, the European Union enforced a cordon sanitaire around Austria's government after a close election led the Christian Democrats to enter a coalition with Jörg Haider's Freedom Party. Mr. Haider had gained notoriety for praising the "employment policies" of Nazi Germany, so the EU establishment put diplomatic relations with Austria into deep freeze over his party's inclusion in government.

How times change. Last week, the European Commission's own trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, gave vent to his own anti-Semitic riff on Belgian radio. This time, the official reaction seems to be a collective yawn.

The former Belgian foreign minister told VRT radio Thursday that the Mideast peace talks are doomed—thanks to the stubbornness and excessive power of Jews. "Do not underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill," Mr. De Gucht said. "That is the best organized lobby, you shouldn't underestimate the grip it has on American politics—no matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats."

To make sure that listeners understood that he wasn't attacking only certain Jewish organizations, Mr. De Gucht offered his thoughts on the "average" Jew. "Don't underestimate the opinion . . . of the average Jew outside Israel," he said. "There is indeed a belief—it's difficult to describe it otherwise—among most Jews that they are right. And a belief is something that's difficult to counter with rational arguments. And it's not so much whether these are religious Jews or not. Lay Jews also share the same belief that they are right. So it is not easy to have, even with moderate Jews, a rational discussion about what is actually happening in the Middle East."

Brussels: 60.000 demonstrators against Israel and only 60 to support Roma !

Against Israel (Brussels, 11/1/2009)

"Some of the other protests that took place this weekend in Europe included a march of 60,000 in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday." (Palestine Monitor) (Nazification d'Israël et déferlement antisémite dans les rues de Bruxelles)

For the Roma (Brussels, 4.9.2010)
"Around 60 people gathered on Saturday in front of the French embassy in Brussels to protest against French policies towards Roma." (LLB)

Against stoning (Brussels, 28/08/10)
"Around  350 people demonstrated on Saturday afternoon in front of the Brussels Court House against the condemnation to death by stoning of the Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani." (7sur7)

- Photos of an anti-Israel demonstration in Brussels  (31/1/2008)

Adam Levick looks at antisemitc cartoons by two friends: Ben Heine and Carlos Latuff

Source: Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism

In his essay "Anti-Semitic Cartoons on Progressive Blogs", Adam Levick refers to a cartoon by Ben Heine published on Daily Kos (he was eventually barred from posting on the site):

"In a post entitled "Zionism was and remains a racist ideology," Daily Kos blogger Ben Heine - who also participated in the Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Competition [see "Welcome Home" cartoon below]- shows Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman as Adolf Hitler. Any pretense that this cartoon only vilifies Lieberman can be refuted by the word Zionism colored in blood in the background, along with the vicious-looking skull in Lieberman's hand wrapped with the Israeli flag. Though the image, and accompanying text, was removed from Daily Kos, merely citing "copyright reasons," the post attracted 564 comments, many of them defending the cartoon. One such comment suggested that "the artist was not claiming Jews are Hitler. He was [merely] comparing the behavior of Avigdor Lieberman to Hitler.""  (Heine's blog: "The Artwork That Ate  Israel" note the clever use of the word "Ate Israel" or "Hate Israel")

Ben Heine's "mighty pen against IsraHell's war crimes"

Following his ousting from Daily Kos, due of course to the dirty tricks of the racist Zionists, Latuff promptly came to Heine's rescue.  Heine wrote, with his usual arrogance, on Flickr.com (2007) :

"This is a drawing by the talented Brazilian cartoonist and friend of mine Carlos Latuff.  Latuff actually drew this image to take my defence after my portrait of Avigdor Lieberman was censored at Daily Kos, one of the most popular North American Websites, considered to be progressive, which I now think is not so true... [Adam Levick on Latuff: "Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian political activist and cartoonist with a staggering portfolio of political cartoons, many of which openly express antisemitic themes. He advances the narrative that Israel is a unique and immutable evil in the world. His work includes imagery clearly indicating moral equivalence between Israel and Nazi Germany, which he has explicitly acknowledged to be his view. The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism noted that Latuff's "portrayal of [former] Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is reminiscent of the antisemitic caricatures...in Julius Streicher's [Nazi publication] Der Sturmer."[...] Latuff participated in the 2006 Iranian International Holocaust Cartoon Competition, and won second place for his cartoon comparing Israel's West Bank barrier with the Nazi concentration camps. Ian Black, writing for The Guardian, a daily not known for its philo-Semitic tendencies, noted that Latuff was among those cartoonists "drawing, without inhibition, on judeophobic stereotypes in the service of the anti-globalisation movement Latuff also has employed antiblack racist themes in criticizing President Barack Obama."]  

Here is what Carlos Latuff wrote : "Ben Heine is another artist who dares to produce art on behalf of the Palestinians, encouraging their resistance and exposing Israeli atrocities. And, as any pro-Palestine artist, he's been targeted by Zionists, with all those notorious allegations of "anti-Semitism" and stuff. Not a big surprise. Harassment of critics is a standard procedure by Israeli apartheid supporters. But, as I said to Ben, who's a good friend of mine and a brother-in-arts, slurs and defamation against him are nothing if compared with the suffering Palestinians are facing for decades. Be sure Ben will keep raising his mighty pen against IsraHell's war crimes. He's a friend of Palestine."

James Bond = James Heine by Latuff - Ben Heine's page on deviantArt.

Heine submitted this drawing "Welcome Home" at the Teheran Holocaust cartoon contest:

- Ben Heine 'rectifies' the Israelly flag
- Ben Heine cartoon - Student website bans anti-Semitic group
- Ben Heine insults Christians and Jews