Loading...

03/23 Links Pt2: Aussie tax slayer, Is Australian foreign aid being used to incite terrorism?; Anti-Israel hate at an anti-racism rally in Scotland; If Corbyn wins, emigrating to Israel is my clear escape route

From Ian:

Aussie tax slayer Is Australian foreign aid being used to incite terrorism?
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, Australia will contribute $43.8 million to the ‘Palestinian Territories’ in 2017-18. DFAT explains ‘Australia seeks to align its support with the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) objectives’.

Well, the PA’s objectives include providing incentive payments to terrorists who injure and kill innocent Israeli civilians. In the event that the terrorist is caught and convicted, there is a sliding scale based on the length of the jail term – the more serious the terror crime, the more money paid. Alternatively, if the terrorist dies during his/her act of terror or is subsequently killed by the Israeli Defense Force, police or by an armed civilian, then there is also a Palestinian Authority Martyrs’ Fund to pay a lifetime benefit to families of dead terrorists.

The programs have been labelled as ‘Slay for Pay’ by critics. The PA announced on March 5 that it would increase payments under these programs for terrorism from US$350 million in 2017 to US$403 million in 2018!

In 2017 the amount paid by the PA to terrorists and their families equated to about 50 per cent of total foreign aid received. The unit payments are relatively enormous. According Palestinian Media Watch, convicted terrorists in prison can receive 12,000 shekels per month plus bonuses of 300 shekels per wife, 50 shekels per child and extra for being resident in Israel and Jerusalem. This can amount to about US$3,500 per month. By contrast, a teacher employed by the PA receives roughly $615 per month.

There have been occasions when captured terrorists questioned by Israeli authorities have confirmed that their primary motive was to gain financial benefits to improve the lives of their families.When challenged, the PA repeatedly refuses to stop the provision of financial incentives for terrorism, calling it welfare.

CAMERA Op-Ed: The Palestinian Authority 'Pays to Slay' and the Media is M.I.A.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), the U.S.-backed, aid-dependent entity that rules the West Bank, pays salaries to terrorists and their families. Congress is currently considering legislation to prevent American tax dollars from being used for this purpose, which incentivizes Palestinian terrorism. Major media outlets, however, are failing to fully cover either the PA's policy or the possible legislation—called The Taylor Force Act—that seeks to prevent Americans from unwittingly financing terrorism.

The proposed law is named after a murdered U.S. veteran.

On March 9, 2016, a former U.S. Army officer named Taylor Force was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel. Force, 28, had survived deployments in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be murdered while being part of a tour group for Vanderbilt University, where he was an MBA student studying global entrepreneurship. Ten other people were stabbed before Israeli police killed the attacker.

As a reward for his deed, that family of Force's killer will now get lifetime payments doled out by the Palestinian Authority. The PA passed laws in 2004 and 2013 stipulating that convicted terrorists and their families will receive monthly “payments.” The 2004 law specifies that the money be for the “fighting sector,” which it referred to as an “integral part of the fabric of Palestinian society.”

What the Palestinian ‘fighting sector' makes

The Palestinian Authority pays significant sums for what it has chosen to prioritize legislatively and culturally. According to a Jan. 9, 2018 report by Israel's defense ministry, the PA paid terrorists and their families over $347 million dollars in 2017—$160 million for jailed and released prisoners and $190 for their families.

As Sander Gerber, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and Doug Feith, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, have pointed out: The payments and benefits are predicated in part on the length of the sentence; the more people murdered or injured, the greater the payoff.
Toby Young: If Corbyn wins, emigrating to Israel is my clear escape route
I’m currently in Israel on a press trip organised by Bicom — the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Bicom does a good job of getting experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to give talks to journalists and I’ve attended a few in their London offices. But this is the first time I’ve been on one of their legendary excursions to the Holy Land, which they organise about six times a year. In essence, you’re given a whistle-stop tour of the country while being briefed at every turn by senior ministers and officials on both sides of the divide. It’s seventh heaven for foreign policy nerds, but I also have another reason for being here, which is to weigh up the pros and cons of emigrating to Israel.

Believe it or not, my entire family is eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return because Caroline’s father is Jewish. And the idea of moving here is genuinely appealing because I’ve been fanatically pro-Israel since falling in love with the place aged 17. I had just failed all my O-levels and was mooning about feeling like an outcast when my father decided to send me to a kibbutz. It turned out to be the perfect antidote to my adolescent funk.

I found everything about Israel, particularly its origins, deeply affecting, and in spite of not being Jewish I felt as if I’d discovered my people at last. I was inspired by the example of pioneering Zionists like Theodor Herzl to take control of my own destiny. I would return to England, retake my O-levels, go to a sixth form and, God help me, apply to Oxford. And when it all worked out, I felt as if Israel and the wonderful example of its founders had saved me and I swore an oath that I would always defend the country from its detractors. In the 37 years since, I have done my best to keep that promise and been back several times to renew my vows.

Many aspects of contemporary Israel make it an attractive place to live. It is a vibrant liberal democracy, the only truly democratic country in the Middle East. It has a first-rate higher education system, low unemployment and a booming economy. Sustained growth in GDP has transformed Tel Aviv into a sophisticated metropolis, with many of the same cultural amenities as London and New York, and the country is well equipped to withstand any major downturn in the global economy, being virtually self-sufficient in food production.



David Colier: The cowardly Professor Henry Maitles and the activists who ran away
Yesterday I went to Glasgow and back in a day. It was rather a tiring adventure, but that is not how the day was originally planned. At 19:00, at the University of Strathclyde, I was meant to engage Professor Henry Maitles in a debate. By the time I was contacted to stand for the motion (that Israel is not an Apartheid state), Henry Maitles had already agreed to stand against it.

Before I even left for Glasgow, I already knew that Henry Maitles had backed out. Following this I heard that ‘Scottish Friends of Palestine’ didn’t want to name a replacement. I was however told that an opponent would be found. For two days, several local anti-Israel academics were contacted and none of those wanted to, or were able, to fill the space. In the end, about five hours before the event, and on a train approaching Glasgow, I offered to stand in front of a potentially hostile audience without the procedural cover of an official debate. The impartial organisers did not want to seem biased, and the event was cancelled at the last minute (a decision that I consider a bad error of judgement). I received this notification twenty minutes after my arrival in Glasgow. Ninety minutes later I was on a train back home again.

The cowardly Henry Maitles
I have little reason to believe Henry Maitles is not a coward. Henry Maitles is also one of those Jewish people, who much like the Bundists of 1930’s Poland, look around and believe the world is rosier than it actually is. His arguments are so typical of the current crop of anti-Zionist Jews. This from an article in 2016 on antisemitism:

There were huge and fierce discussions for 50 years before the Second World War about whether Zionism was a solution to antisemitism or a capitulation; to the BUND – the Revolutionary Jewish Labour League in Lithuania, Poland and Russia – it seemed to be giving in to the racists rather than confronting them.

A position that is both accurate and absurd at the same time. Accurate as a historical statement and absurd as a legitimate position today. It is certainly one of those things that cannot be said in front of an educated audience, because it will be met with instant derision. And this gets to the heart of the problem. These arguments are not meant for an audience that contains critical thought, they are there to preach to the converted and /or fool the ignorant. The few Bundists of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, who survived the Holocaust were extremely lucky. If they eventually did run, it may well have been to the shores of British Palestine, where their grandchildren or great-grandchildren may now be serving in the Israeli defence forces.
Anti-Israel hate at an anti-racism rally in Scotland
On March 17, a rally took place in Glasgow organized by Stand Up to Racism, a group that supposedly protests all forms of racism, including antisemitism, but the hate on the streets of Glasgow on a cold Scottish Saturday was palpable.

Most shocking was that vicious racists insults, provocations, and minor violence took place during this anti-racism, antisemitism, rally.

The main target was Israel, and victims of this abuse were Scottish Christians and Jews, an Israeli-Arab Christian named Mohammad Kabiya, an Israeli Muslim, and a Druze girl named Lorena Khattib. They were representing Israeli minorities and happened to be in Scotland as delegates of the Israeli organization Reservists on Duty, which was being hosted by COFIS, the Coalition of Friends of Israel Scotland.

The provocations were led by the infamous Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the far-left Red Front Republic fringe group, which marched under the communist hammer and sickle banner. Chanting “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” a dog whistle for a world without the Jewish State, and an affront to the raison d’etre of the rally, they forced the Israeli participants to be isolated from the parade and to suffer indignities from these provocateurs.

“The racists of the BDS campaign basically controlled the streets during this rally,” Nigel Goodrich, the COFIS convener, said. The police, in their effort to ensure disruptions and violence were minimized, were compliant in allowing the Israeli delegation to be detached from the main body of the rally.

Clashes occurred and, as Jonathan Elkhouri, an ex-Lebanese Christian whose family had to escape death threats from Hezbollah and are now living as Israelis in Haifa, told me, “we were called ‘child murderers,’ ‘racists,’ ‘fascists,’ and accused of ‘killing children.’ When we tried to reason with the haters and tell them who we are and what we represent, they shoved us and tried take down our banners and flags.”
“Victory to the intifada” chanted by protesters blocking anti-racism march in Glasgow
“Victory to the intifada” was chanted by protesters at the annual Stand up to Racism march in Glasgow on Saturday. One of the stated aims of the march was to oppose antisemitism and the Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland (COFIS) joined the march to rally against antisemitism holding stating that “Antisemitism is racism” and “Antisemitism is a crime.”

The march quickly descended into an anti-Israel demonstration though, according to the Herald Scotland, which reported that a far-left direct action group took action to block COFIS from participating, by marching in front of them extremely slowly. The direct action group known as Red Front Republic boasted that it was their balaclava-clad members who blocked the COFIS marchers.

Footage, with commentary by Mick Napier, posted on the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Facebook page shows demonstrators chanting: “Victory to the intifada” 14 minutes into the video, referring to violent Palestinian campaign of terrorism which included suicide bombings at Israeli Jewish civilians. Protesters also reportedly chanted “From Glasgow to Gaza, intifada.”

Two minutes into another video, demonstrators can be heard chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.
New Documentary Film Sheds Light on Hitler’s Hollywood
The Third Reich is unthinkable without its propaganda. And Nazi propaganda is unthinkable without its films. This is the premise of Hitler’s Hollywood, a new documentary on the German film industry under the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, directed by Rüdiger Suchsland.

The movie will be screened from April 11 through April 17 at the Film Forum in New York. Watch the exclusive trailer below:

In a political system so obsessed with aesthetics, it’s only natural that films played a significant role in disseminating the Nazi ideology into the minds the German people.

Director Rüdiger Suchsland, who was raised watching classics with his grandmother, a proud anti-fascist, realized how the aesthetic character of the Reich went way beyond the infamous human swastikas and choreographed torchlight parades; it involved the creation of a massive film industry that produced about 1,000 movies and embodied the regime’s imagery of supremacy and its rhetoric of hate. The German filmmaker thought that Nazi cinema revealed much about its time and its people, so he decided to make his own documentary about it.

Welcome to Adolf Hitler’s Hollywood. A monumental spectacle attentively orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels, the Reich’s Minister of Propaganda, whose job involved controlling all German media and, of course, movies. He controlled scripts, castings, everything. In his words, “Propaganda is an art form. [It] has just one objective, and that objective is to conquer the masses.” Through cinema, the regime aimed to captivate the audiences, successfully making them prisoners of an illusion: the Nazi ideology. As Suchsland claims in his documentary: “The whole Third Reich is Goebbels’s film.”


MEMRI: Muslim Center Of Middlesex County, NJ Hosts Pro-BDS Event, Speakers Encourage Boycotting J Street, American Companies: 'If You Look At The Whole History, They Did Not Spend More Than... 200 Years [In Palestine],' 'Most Of The Jews Today Are Not The Children Of Israel... They Are Not Even Jews'
During February 2018, three lectures were delivered at the Muslim Center of Middlesex County in Piscataway, NJ, under the title "Al Quds: The Palestine Lecture Series." Sayel Kayed, president of the NJ Chapter of the American Muslims for Palestine, spoke on February 2, expressing support for the Intifada and opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He said that the Intifada had been "very effective" and that "I believe we would have been a lot further if we continued with no peace." Muhammad Habba, a member of the American Muslims for Palestine, talked about the BDS movement in his February 17 lecture, and recommended boycotting dates from Israel. He criticized J Street as being "just a liberal Zionist organization" and said: "They still believe in the occupation." Nizam Ahmad Raouf Zaman, Imam of the Muslim Center of Middlesex County, who also spoke on February 17, said that the BDS should boycott products originating from American companies that give donations to Israel. He recommended boycotting Poland Spring water, because "these are people who support Israel."

To view the clip of Sayel Kayed on MEMRI TV, click here or below.

Sayel Kayed: "This is something that should be on our minds all the time – for Allah to allow us to pray in that [Al-Aqsa] Mosque, and we have to be a part in helping to free that area.
[...]
"What gives the [Israelis] the right to come into Palestine, take it over, kill and kick out the indigenous people? What is their claim to it? What is their reasoning behind it?
[...]
"They are trying to claim that they have been there 3,000 years ago. Well, guess what? The Canaanites, which are Arab tribes, were there 5,000 years ago. So if you are going to have any historical claim to it because you think you were there first, well, then you have got to go to the Canaanites, who are in the Bible. They were there 5,000 years ago, almost two thousand years before anybody from the Israelites came.
[...]
"Goliath... with a rock... With a rock, [David] kills Goliath. The first Intifada, the first uprising in Palestine, was with rocks."
[...]
"It Quelled The Intifada, But I Believe We Would Have Been A Lot Further If We Continued With No Peace, Until We Get All Of Our Rights"
Protesters demand France stop funding 'anti-Israel NGOs'
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the French Consulate in Jerusalem on Friday to protest what they called France's support for "subversive activities against Israel."

The demonstration, organized by the Im Tirtzu and Israel Is Forever organizations, was held in response to the indictment of two French Consulate workers who were charged with smuggling dozens of weapons from the Gaza Strip to Judea and Samaria.

The demonstrators chanted slogans including "France – Leave the Jewish State Alone" and "Stop Your Diplomatic Terror," and also called on the consulate to stop funding "anti-Israel" Israeli NGOs that "work against Israel and accuse the IDF of war crimes."

Over the past several years, the French Consulate has funneled over 750,000 shekels ($215,000) to far-left Israeli NGOs including "Breaking the Silence," "B'Tselem," and "Yesh Din."

According to the demonstrators, the recent incident was merely the latest episode in a series of anti-Israel activities undertaken by consulate workers.

Until 2015, the French Consulate in Jerusalem employed Elsa Lefront, daughter of a known anti-Semitic activist and husband of Salah Hamouri – an Arab terrorist who is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and who tried to assassinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in 2005.
PayPal shuts account of French BDS group with links to terrorism
The US online payment service PayPal on Thursday pulled the plug on the account of the French branch of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) - an organization that Israel has accused of aligning itself with pro-Palestinian terrorists who murdered three civilians in Tel Aviv in 2003 and injured over 50 people.

Israeli journalist Jean Patrick Grumberg, a reporter for the French-language American website Dreuz.info, notified PayPal that ISM-France supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. PayPal has terminated a total of four BDS accounts since 2016 in France due to likely violations of France's anti-discrimination law barring bias against national origin.

In an email to Grumberg, PayPal's head of Communication for Southern Europe, Fabien Darrigues, wrote that "As always, PayPal analyzes all cases that are reported to us and acts when necessary when they violate the law or our regulations. However, being bound by our privacy policy and banking secrecy, we are not able to give more information about specific accounts."

When The Jerusalem Post attempted to access the donation PayPal section of the ISM-France website, the page stated: "This recipient is currently unable to receive money."

Israel's Foreign Ministry said on its website that the 2003 attack at the entrance to the Tel Aviv bar Mike's Place was claimed by Hamas and Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. According to the ministry, two British "terrorists were careful to establish their presence in Judea and Samaria by forging links with foreign left wing activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)."
Rights group calls cartoon depicting greedy Israelis ‘misleading’
Amnesty International distanced itself from a caricature in a Belgian schoolbook ostensibly meant to illustrate its allegations that Israel is denying Palestinians fair access to water.

The illustration in the 2016 geography textbook “Polaris GO!3” for Flemish-speaking high school students depicts a beefy Orthodox Jew lolling in an overflowing bathtub, while a Palestinian woman can barely fill her bucket.

A spokesperson for the human rights group last week told the Joods Actueel monthly in Belgium that the cartoon is “misleading.”

The book is used in several high schools in Belgium’s Flemish Region, one of three autonomous entities that make up the federal kingdom. It was written as an aid for the Flemish government’s GO! Educational program, which the government says on its website “takes extreme care to fulfill its fundamental mission, which is to offer ‘neutral’ education.”

Raymonda Verdyck, who heads the Flemish government’s GO! Pedagogical program, condemned the inclusion of the cartoon in the book. She called it “stereotypical and incompatible with our pedagogical values.”

The cartoon is by the Brazilian artist Latuff, who often compares Israel to Nazi Germany in his works.
Jeremy Corbyn alleged to still be a member of a second Facebook group in which “vast amount of extremely antisemitic content regularly posted”
Jeremy Corbyn is a current member of a second antisemitic Facebook group, according to political blog Guido Fawkes, which posted screenshots showing some of the material posted in the group, including a claim that Jews are kidnapping Syrians so that they can harvest their internal organs.

The allegation follows the recent news that Mr Corbyn was an active member of another antisemitic Facebook group, claiming that he had not seen antisemitic content and was added to the group by an “acquaintance”, even though he posted comments under antisemitic material and was an intimate friend of Elleanne Green who founded the group. Campaign Against Antisemitism is filing a disciplinary complaint with the Labour Party over the matter.

The Labour Party’s rules state: “We encourage the reporting of abusive behaviour to the Labour Party, administrators of the relevant website or social media platform, and where appropriate, to the police. This is a collective responsibility and should not be limited to those who have been subjected to abuse.”
DAYS SINCE LAST LABOUR ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENT: ZERO
This morning Alan Bull was a Labour council candidate in Peterborough.

Labour suspend election candidate over alleged antisemitic Facebook posts
The Labour Party has suspended a council election candidate who is said to have posted antisemitic material on social media.

The party had been criticised for failing to say whether it would act for more than four weeks after details of his posts were first reported.

Alan Bull had been expected to be the Labour candidate in a ward on Peterborough City Council when voters go to the polls in May.

He was selected last year, but a series of posts questioning the Holocaust and referring to Zionists backing the Nazis have since emerged - some as long ago as last summer - and been circulated online.

In one Facebook post, Mr Bull linked to an article headlined: “International Red Cross report confirms the Holocaust of six million Jews is a hoax.”

Another appeared to imply Isis and Israel were working together.

Images of Mr Bull’s posts were reportedly circulated by local Labour members concerned about his candidacy.
CBC Tacitly Questions if Ahed Tamimi Slapped an Israeli Soldier
HRC has previously criticized the CBC for producing news coverage which whitewashed Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi as “the new face of Palestinian resistance”.

Today, we filed a complaint with the CBC as it produced reporting on Tamimi which tacitly questioned if Tamimi had in fact slapped an Israeli solider.

On March 21 and on February 13, CBCNews.ca featured the following reports which were headlined as follows (emphasis added):
“Teenage girl accused of slapping Israeli soldier accepts 8-month sentence, report says”
“Trial begins for Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi, accused of slapping Israeli soldier”

As we told the CBC in a complaint filled today, there’s no question that Ahed Tamimi slapped an Israeli soldier, of which, she admitted doing so and which video confirms the veracity of this matter, and yet, CBC editors included a qualifier by claiming that Tamimi is merely “accused” of this assault in its main headline. In so doing, CBC is tacitly questioning if Ahed Tamimi in fact slapped an Israeli soldier.
BBC News still not sure al Kibar was a nuclear reactor
On March 21st the BBC News website produced written and filmed reports about Israel’s acknowledgement of air strikes that destroyed a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez Zor region of Syria over a decade ago.

Not for the first time however, the BBC was obviously keen to communicate to audiences that there is room for doubt concerning the nature of the target.

The filmed report is headlined “Israeli footage of 2007 air strike on Syria ‘reactor’” and its synopsis reads:

“Israel has for the first time confirmed that it destroyed a suspected nuclear reactor being built in Syria in 2007.”

At the top of the written report – titled “Israel admits striking suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007” – readers find the same video captioned “Israeli military video footage showing air strike on suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007″ and the article similarly opens: [emphasis added]
Iceland’s Long Record of Antisemitism
A proposal to outlaw circumcision has been introduced by four parties in Iceland’s parliament. While this law might partly target Muslims, it is yet another negative development for Jews in Europe — even if the proposal does not pass.

With its less than 350,000 inhabitants, Iceland’s population could perhaps fill a large neighborhood in one of Europe’s major cities. Jewish life in the country is minimal — the number of Jews is perhaps 200 — yet Iceland is a significant destination for Israeli and Jewish tourists. The new Chabad emissary in the capital of Reykjavik will likely cater mainly to them.

Looking back in history, it is difficult to find more than one significant occasion where Iceland has played a positive role for Israel or the Jewish people. That positive incident occurred shortly after World War II.

The Icelandic representative at the United Nations, Ambassador Thor Thors, was the rapporteur for the 1947 Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). This committee recommended partitioning the British Mandate into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. In his autobiography, Abba Eban reports that Thors was “magnificent” in introducing the recommendation to the General Assembly where the vote would be taken.”
Ohio man charged with hate crime after beating man he thought was Jewish
A Cincinnati-area man was indicted on a federal hate crimes charge for attacking a man he thought was Jewish.

Izmir Koch, 32, beat a man who was smoking a cigarette outside a local restaurant. He was charged Wednesday.

According to the indictment, Koch in February 2017 asked people standing outside the restaurant if anyone there was Jewish. When the victim responded in the affirmative, although he was not actually Jewish, Koch allegedly punched him, knocking him to the ground. Koch then continued to hit and kick him.

The victim suffered injuries to his ribs and a fracture of the orbital floor, the bottom portion of his eye socket.

US Attorney Benjamin Glassman told reporters that the victim was not actually Jewish, but since Koch beat him because he believed he was Jewish, a federal grand jury indicted him on one count of committing a hate crime.

“Physically attacking someone because you think he’s Jewish — or Christian or Muslim or any other religion — is a federal crime,” Glassman said in a statement announcing the indictment. “This office prosecutes hate crimes.”

If convicted, Koch could spend up to 10 years in prison.
Anti-Semitic fliers blame US Jewish lawmakers for gun control
Fliers posted on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota blamed Jewish politicians for gun control efforts.

Headlined “Why Are Jews After Our Guns,” the fliers blamed Jewish politicians for attacks on “our beloved 2nd Amendment,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

The fliers listed Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and other prominent Jewish politicians. It also showed images of the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear in the Nazi concentration camps as well as caricatures of hook-nosed men with long beards.

The fliers said they were “brought to you” by the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.
Austria’s far-right party hit by yet another Nazi scandal
The far-right Freedom Party said Friday it has expelled two local councillors for sharing Hitler photos and quotes on WhatsApp, in yet another embarrassment for Austria’s junior coalition partner.

The two were among six people whose homes were raided by police in Suben in northwestern Austria on suspicion of breaking laws against glorifying the Nazis, reports said.

Local FPOe official Erwin Schreiner said that they were thrown out of the party and that they had been “keenly urged” to step down as councillors.

“In the FPOe there is zero tolerance” for glorifying the Third Reich, Schreiner told the Austria Press Agency.

The FPOe was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s but in recent years has sought to clean up its image, with party leader Heinz-Christian Strache saying it rejects all extremism.

But since its entry into government in December, the party has been embroiled in a string of incidents that critics say show it remains a hotbed of Nazi sympathizers and racists.
A quiet English town fights anti-Semitism thanks to a Holocaust survivor’s son
Just before midnight on March 18, 1939, Fredi Stiller was awoken by noise coming from the street below. Looking out of the window, the 10-year-old boy saw German soldiers marching into Ostrava’s town square.

Ten days later, Stiller left the city in eastern Czechoslovakia on a train bound for England. He was taking the place of an older boy — the son of one of his widowed mother’s friends — for whom a place in Britain had been secured, but was now prevented from leaving by the Germans.

As he waved goodbye, Stiller did not know that this would be the last time he would see his mother and two teenage sisters. Like much of Ostrava’s once thriving, 10,000-strong Jewish community, they did not survive the Holocaust. Rounded up, they were sent to a ghetto, then to Theresienstadt and finally to their deaths at Treblinka.

Stiller, who could speak only three words of English when he arrived in Britain, was initially looked after by a schoolteacher, Philip Austin.

Years later, at 18, Fred Austin, as he was now known, secured a place at university. He married a fellow student, Margaret, who came from a Methodist home in Lincolnshire. The couple adopted four children, who were not raised Jewish.

Separated from his family as a child and brought up by non-Jewish Britons, the Austin patriarch’s formal connection to Judaism was lost when he arrived in the UK. In later life, though, that bond was re-established.
EXCLUSIVE: Israeli Company Is Combatting BDS Movement Through Monthly Gift Boxes
An Israeli company located in Judea and Samaria is working to combat the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement through a monthly box subscription that allows supporters throughout the world the opportunity to be part of the Israel experience.

Aryeh Powers, the director of marketing for Lev HaOlam, told Breitbart News that these gift boxes — which include items that are boycotted by anti-Israel entities as part of the BDS movement — reach thousands of people worldwide. “We send thousands of packages to people in multiple countries per month,” he said.

These packages are sent to over 40 countries and include the United Staes, Canada, the Philippines, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, and Singapore.

The group was founded in 2012 by Nati Rom who lives in Samaria or what the international community refers to as part of the West Bank. The international community does not recognize the rights of Israelis to live and flourish in those territories.

“What Lev HaOlam does is unique because people will come to Israel and support it as an ideology. But to be involved in Israel in an active way, which is what you are getting with Lev HaOlam is something that is not available to people logistically, because they may live far away,” Powers said.
Israeli firm says it can turn garbage into bio-based plastic
Hawks, vultures and storks circle overhead as Christopher Sveen points at the heap of refuse rotting in the desert heat. "This is the mine of the future," he beams.

Sveen is chief sustainability officer at UBQ, an Israeli company that has patented a process to convert household trash, diverting waste from landfills into reusable bio-based plastic.

After five years of development, the company is bringing its operations online, with hopes of revolutionizing waste management and being a driver to make landfills obsolete. It remains to be seen, however, if the technology really works and is commercially viable.

UBQ operates a pilot plant and research facility on the edge of southern Israel's Negev Desert, where it has developed its production line.

"We take something that is not only not useful, but that creates a lot of damage to our planet, and we're able to turn it into the things we use every day," said Albert Douer, UBQ's executive chairman. He said UBQ's material can be used as a substitute for conventional petrochemical plastics and wood, reducing oil consumption and deforestation.

UBQ has raised $30 million from private investors, including Douer, who is also chief executive of Ajover Darnel Group, an international plastics conglomerate.

Leading experts and scientists serve on its advisory board, including Nobel Prize chemist Roger Kornberg, Hebrew University biochemist Oded Shoseyov, author and entrepreneur John Elkington and Connie Hedegaard, a former European Commissioner for Climate Action.
Would Israeli sensor tech have kept driverless car from killing U.S. woman?
A woman was killed last week in the US after the self-driving system of an Uber car failed to detect that she was crossing the street. One Israeli startup’s night vision technology could have prevented that entirely.

“BrightWay Vision’s technology would definitely reduce the probability of such accidents... [like the] specific Uber incident,” said chief operating officer Sharon Lifshits.

Founded in 2011, BrightWay Vision is developing a night-vision technology to make driving easier and safer – with multiple sliced images and sensors that can allow a driver to pinpoint a pedestrian crossing up to 200m. down the road.

“Imagine that you are driving in the dark, at night, and you see nothing in front of you,” said CEO Ofer David. “With this system, you can see everything. Everything from a brick to an elephant.”

What’s driving BrightWay Vision is the disproportionate number of traffic-related fatalities that occur in the dark and during inclement weather – despite there being much less traffic on the roads.

This is where the Israeli start-up comes in – offering a multi-functional vision and ranging system. It relies on active gated imaging that can work during all types of visibility and weather conditions, enhancing a driver’s vision with multiple screens.
'Wonder Woman' Gal Gadot in Israel for Passover
Israel's Hollywood darling, Gal Gadot, landed in Israel on Thursday for the Passover holiday, which begins on Friday, March 30.

The "Wonder Woman" star arrived from her home in Los Angeles with her two daughters and at least two bodyguards.

Paparazzi who were waiting for Gadot at Ben-Gurion International Airport were disappointed to find that she managed to avoid them by leaving through the airport's VIP exit. But when she reached her home in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neveh Tzedek, an Israel Hayom photographer managed to snap a picture of the star, who was briefly locked out of her building due to a malfunction of the intercom.

Gadot is expected to be in Israel for 10 days and will celebrate Passover with her family.
On Israeli posters, Paddington Bear goes kosher for Passover
In Israel, Paddington Bear eats his marmalade on matzah.

On some posters advertising the new film, “Paddington 2,” the British movie creation is being given a kosher-for-Passover makeover.

Elsewhere, Paddington Bear holds his trademark bread and marmalade sandwich shaped as a 2. In Israel, his marmalade is spread on a 2-shaped matzo — the unleavened bread eaten during Passover.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli distributor said Thursday the campaign is meant as a nod to the holiday, which starts next week.



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Subscribe to receive free email updates:

0 Response to "03/23 Links Pt2: Aussie tax slayer, Is Australian foreign aid being used to incite terrorism?; Anti-Israel hate at an anti-racism rally in Scotland; If Corbyn wins, emigrating to Israel is my clear escape route"

Post a Comment

Loading...