Caroline Glick: "A Singular Standard For Israel ... An Obsessive Compulsive Need To Pick At The Jewish State" (video)

A furious Caroline Glick, in a heartfelt riposte to a Danish diplomat, condemns "an obsession that Jews have seen from Europeans from the time of Jesus":

And a repulsive article here by Ghada Karmi, one of Israel's academic enemies in the UK: note the heavy duty antisemitic comments it's attracted.

The same can be stated, sadly, of this jejune contribution.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the occasional toddler with a gun joins in the 27th anniversary celebrations of the founding of that ultimate hate group, Hamas:

"Produce Of Turkey": The Co-op, The Boycott, & Double Standards

Under pressure from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Britain’s fifth biggest food retailer, The Co-operative Group (Co-op), which has boycotted Israeli produce from the West Bank goods since 2009, has now widened that policy with the announcement that it will "no longer engage with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements".

It's thought to be the first supermarket chain in Europe to implement such a policy.

Declares the anti-boycott Fair Play Campaign Group:

'The Co-op’s decision to reformulate its policy on settlement goods to include a boycott of four Israeli companies is naïve and a retrograde step.

    This extension is significantly less than the full boycott of Israel sought by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. However, the Co-op has not fully understood the Jewish community’s serious concerns with an ever-increasing slippery-slope boycott policy.'

The Group also points to the double standards involved:

    'Despite the Co-op’s claims that they are applying their policy even-handed, goods from Occupied Northern Cyprus, for example, may still be sold in Co-ops and labelled as “produce of Turkey”.

    The Co-op claims that it may buy more produce from other Israeli companies in place of these four.  This remains to be seen, and we will monitor the outcome closely.'  [My emphasis]

Crows the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) via agricultural trade campaign coordinator Hilary Smith:

"We welcome this important decision by the Co-op to take steps toward fully realising their policy of support for human rights and ethical trading.  The Co-op has taken the lead internationally in this historic decision to hold corporations to account for complicity in Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights.  We strongly urge other retailers to follow suit and take similar action."

As the Jewish Chronicle discloses, despite the fact that the Co-op’s decision will ostensibly immediately impact on four suppliers of Israeli fruit, vegetables and herbs (Agrexco, Adafresh, Arava Export Growers,and Mehadrin), it will in fact make no difference to the latter two, since they were not in fact contracted to sell produce to the Co-op.

But, as a spokesman for Mehadrin added:

"We have many Arab workers with us in the fields and packing houses. There are families who have been with us for many years. Any attempt to harm us harms the Palestinians, too."

Such is the mischievous, malign influence of the PSC that at four regional meetings of Co-op members  to be held on the 12th and 13th of this month, motions backing a full boycott of all Israeli products are still expected to be tabled.

I suggest that, should those motions be passed, supporters of Israel withdraw their custom from the Co-op and shop at Tesco, Morrisons, or one of the other British supermarket chains.  They're a lot cheaper than the Co-op, to boot.

As in the old days, when, linked to the Labour movement, it was a boon to cash-strapped households, the Co-op still pays out "divi" to customers who are members.

But these days that return comes at a rather extortionate price.  Compare  the prices at the Co-op with those at Morrisons, for instance, and you'll see what I mean. 

An anti-Israel activist causing havoc in a Tesco store

No wonder, given the price discrepancies on identical or similar products,that  in areas where there are other supermarkets in close proximity to the Co-op outlets, the competitors tend to be far more crowded at any given time of day.

And if the Co-op implements a full-on boycott, no amount of "divi" should induce supporters of Israel to continue shopping at the chain!

After all, there's a mint to be saved by switching to a certain el cheapo no frills German-owned chain.

Yep, if the Co-op boycotts Israel, it might be time to show a Lidl love.

Maybe that time has come already...

Some Home Truths for Sydney's Boycott Derangement Syndrome Brigade

Sydneysider Shirlee Finn (pictured, who I'm proud to say is a frequent commenter on this blog and to whom I've often had occasion to tip my hat) gave the BDS fanatics of Sydney's Marrickville and Randwick councils a piece of her mind at a council meeting this week.  As the antipodean news service J-Wire reports ( http://www.jwire.com.au/news/silence-shirley-good-luck/15876#more-15876) “attempts by the Mayor to cut her back fell foul of Shirley's persistence and determination.... Randwick Council had voted against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions but the three Greens members who voted for it were seeking a rescission of the motion.”

Shirlee Finn told J-Wire: “I had to shout down Greens Mayor Murray Marson to be heard. In fact, there was a lot of heated arguments as to whether I should have been allowed to speak…and I am a ratepayer. He first interjected at line six of my speech but instead of making me nervous, it just inspired me. Half way through my speech he asked me how much longer I was going to take and I told him ‘for as long as it takes and for as long as you keep quiet’”.

The motion remained pass. Marrickville councillors Victor Macri and John Hanna who oppose the motion to implement BDS in the inner West municipality attended the Randwick meeting.

This is what Shirlee Finn had to say:

'I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Cadigal people and pay my respects to elders past and present

On December 14th 2010, the Greens-led Marrickville Council chose to support the BDS, a rapidly growing global organisation, whose basic agenda is the destruction of the State of Israel. Whose founder openly speaks of a Two State Solution as being “A Palestine next to a Palestine, rather than a Palestine next to an Israel”.

They showed their support by passing a Motion, to boycott all goods made in Israel, prohibit cultural exchanges, sporting and academic institutions. Which so far has taken many staff, countless hours to begin enforcing .

Surely, the money spent so far by Marrickville Council, in their attempted boycott of Israel, would have been better used within the Municipality .

Councillors Macri and Hanna, the two councillors who voted against the motion, are here with us this evening. I ‘d would like to personally thank you both very much for being here and for your steadfast support in opposing this motion and for your help, not only to me but to the Community also

In light of Marrickville’s motion, ouncillors at Randwick passed a Motion against them and in support of Israel, which passed by 9 votes to 3.

The three being the Greens, who in response chose to put in a Rescission Motion.

Marrickville Council, pushed by the NSW Greens agenda, and now followed by Randwick Greens, have chosen to support a group whose aim is the destruction of Israel,. and have done so in the run-up to an election, guaranteeing even more publicity for the foul antisemitic agenda of the BDS.,

That both Marrickville and Randwick Greens, would even consider making such an ill advised decision, when their own Federal party commits them to a policy of dialogue and reconciliation towards the Israeli-Palestinian situation, is a stunt of deplorable taste..even for them

Let’s remind ourselves that Israel is a small democratic state, occupying one sixth of 1% of the entire Middle East, it’s barely one third of the size of Tasmania.

Yet in spite of recent events, it remains the only beacon of democracy in the Middle East,.

It enshrines freedom of speech, a free press and a State whose citizens live under the rule of law.

It’s the only state in the Middle East, where people of all religions can practice their faith freely and openly.

It’s the only state in the Middle East, where homosexuals are free to live without fear of persecution, or indeed execution.

It’s a state, which only today, has been the first country to set up a field hospital in Japan.

In short, it’s the state in the Middle East which resembles our own values and with whom Australia has long stood side by side, as a friend and ally

Yet it’s the only state which the Marrickville and Randwick Greens, want to be shunned by our community.

It’s a case of irresponsible, student-style politics of the most opportunistic kind

Shame on you Greens.

The job of Local Government, is just that, taking care of local issues and maintaining much needed services in the local area for the community, regardless of race or religion."'

Shame on the Greens indeed, Shirlee.  But good on yer, girl!  You're a star!

They've lost that lovin' feelin' (video)

They're also misinformed ... 

(NB This video is by Maoz, a Christian missionary organisation in Israel which specifically targets Jews, and while I appreciate its message regarding the subject matter in question, I emphatically dissociate myself from Maoz's missionising efforts.)

(Hat tip: Jonathan Hoffman)

Boycotting Israel? Your Essential BDS Starter Kit

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
The foregoing is dedicated to Marrickville Council in Australia, to the Methodist Church in the UK, to the Presbyterian Church in the USA, and to all those other boycotters and intending boycotters in the still-as-yet-Free World who have so single-mindedly eschewed focusing their energies on ways to bring truly villainous regimes around the world to heel, in order to concentrate on destroying the tiny, democratic, Jihad-imperilled Jewish State.

A Noble Gesture against the British Academic Boycott of Israel

The eminent British cardovascular physiologist Emeritus Professor Denis Noble CBE, FRS, has resigned from the University and College Union in protest at its discriminatory attitude and double standards towards Israel, an attitude which he now believes is motivated by antisemitism. His letter to the union’s general secretary, Sally Hunt, is printed in the Oxford Magazine, and I reproduce it here from the website of the anti-academic boycott organisation Engage, run by London academic David Hirsh http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/open-letter-of-resignation

where more details may be found.

'I joined the AUT nearly 50 years ago as a young assistant lecturer at University College London. When I retired from my Oxford professorship in 2004 I chose to retain my membership – although I no longer stood to gain from the union’s negotiating any improvements in salary or conditions of service – because I believe in trade unions and thought that by remaining a member I would, in some small measure, help colleagues. But the behaviour of UCU over the past several years has made it impossible for me to continue, and I now resign my membership.

In a letter I wrote to you over a year ago, which has remained unanswered and unacknowledged, I said that UCU’s repeated conference decisions to discriminate against certain colleagues (Israelis) on the grounds of their nationality were unacceptable. Such discrimination is contrary to the universally recognised norms of academic practice, as set out (for example) in the Statutes of the International Council of Science (ICSU). I also sent a letter as President of IUPS, which adheres to ICSU. Nobody in the world of learning can take seriously a professional organisation that purports to represent academic staff but which entertains proposals to discriminate whether it be on grounds of sex, race, national origin or other characteristics that are irrelevant to academic excellence. Nonetheless our union has voted repeatedly in favour of such discrimination, and those who have been discriminated against are always Israelis. The wording of the discriminatory resolutions has sometimes been contorted for legal reasons, but the intention has been transparent: to hold Israeli colleagues responsible for, and punish them for, the actions of their government via a type of reasoning (guilt by association) that is never applied to the academics of any other country. Of course, I accept that the Israeli government is guilty of human-rights violations, and I accept that the union is entitled to criticise it. But many other governments in the world are also guilty of human-rights violations, often far more egregious than those committed by Israel, and yet Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) have never been endorsed by the Annual Congress of UCU against any other country.

It is instructive to compare the motion about China adopted by Congress at its 2010 meeting with one of those about Israel. (I choose these examples because both countries have been in occupation of the territories of a different ethnic group for many years and both have encouraged their citizens to settle in the territories thus occupied). The motion on China, while asserting that UCU “will continue to condemn abuses of human rights of trade unionists and others”, recognised “the need to encourage collegial dialogue” with Chinese institutions. By contrast, a motion on Israel approved in the same session of Congress reaffirmed its support for BDS, sought to establish an annual international conference on BDS and a BDS website, and severed all relations with the Histadrut, the Israeli counterpart to the TUC. There are many countries in the world whose governments are guilty of atrocities: there is no other country in the world whose national trade union organisation is boycotted by UCU.

I find it impossible not to ask myself why UCU exhibits this obsession with Israel. The obvious explanation – that the union is institutionally anti-semitic – is so unpleasant that I have till recently been unwilling to accept it, but I changed my mind after witnessing the fate at the 2010 Congress of the motion of my local branch (University of Oxford) about Bongani Masuku. As you know, Masuku was invited to a meeting on BDS hosted by the union in London last December. Some months earlier, he had made a speech during a rally at the University of the Witwatersrand. This speech has been described by the South African Human Rights Commission (the body set up by the Constitution to promote inter-racial harmony after the end of apartheid) as including “numerous anti-semitic remarks which were seen to have incited violence and hatred”. The Oxford motion debated at Congress did not allege that the union invited Masuku despite knowing his views; instead it merely invited Congress to dissociate itself from Masuku’s views. This was the minimum that UCU could be expected to do to reassure members like me that we still belong. That this motion was rejected by a large majority makes it clear to me that the union either regards anti-semitic views as acceptable or, at least, has no objection to their being expressed in public by the national official of a fraternal trade union organisation. I do not wish to remain a member of such a union.'

For more on Bongani Masuko, International Relations Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), see http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/.../bongani-masuku-an-invited-guest-of-ucu/
and
http://www.engageonline.wordpress.com/.../hate-speech-ruling-against-bongani-masuku/

“None of the Soviet Leaders ever said Israel should be destroyed – but this is exactly what is said by today’s Iranians”: Evgeny Kissin speaks up for Israel, “betrayed by the West”

It's always spellbinding to see and hear the great Russian-born Jewish virtuoso Evgeny Kissin at the piano, and it's a joy to find this youngish man of genius speaking out on behalf of Israel with an ardour and a cogency that puts many a seasoned campaigner to shame, and with a depth of knowledge and grasp of issues that many a historian and political scientist would envy.

Kissin took British nationality in 2002 – “inspired and proud”, he explained in a letter to the BBC’s Director-General at the end of last year, “to belong to the country of Winston Churchill, who famously said: ‘There is no antisemitism in England because we do not consider ourselves more stupid than the Jews’. Above all, the BBC and especially its World Service, had always been a beacon of light, of truth and objectivity to those of us behind the Iron Curtain, in the ‘Evil Empire’. Reaching out to far corners of the world, it was the voice of a country which for us was a model of democracy and human rights.”

And why was Mr Kissin writing to Mark Thompson? To protest what he termed a “blood libel” on Al Beeb's Persian Service “concerning Israel’s alleged harvesting of Palestinian organs and blood for future transplant”. “It beggars belief that the British taxpayer should be funding an organisation which is aligning itself with Iran’s despotic leader in its antisemitic propaganda”, Kissin continued. “Other print media like the Guardian, which erroneously printed this libel propagated by Israel’s enemies, have since apologised. I am not aware of any such retraction from the BBC.”  The BBC’s “slander and bias” against Israel was for him “painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda”. “Is it not time for the BBC to return to the values for which it was so much respected, before it finds itself in the garbage of history, together with Pravda, Tass, Volkischer Beobachter and Der Angriff?”

Mr Kissin, in a recent long interview with Stephen Pollard, editor of the London Jewish Chronicle (29 October) has provided more insights into why he feels obliged to speak candidly on the topic of the Middle East. He has provided some astute and telling comments. For instance, “I think that this applies not only to Jewish artists, but to all Jews in the entire free world: we must keep screaming in defence of our cause all the time! The number of our enemies is much greater – so for the sake of Israel we must put aside our differences, unite and outweigh our enemies in energy and determination.”

And this:

“Now, when the western media keep slandering and smearing the Jewish State and her politics; when antisemitic incidents in Europe have been increasing dramatically; when Israeli politicians can freely visit Morocco and Abu Dhabi but cannot come to Britain for fear of being arrested for alleged “war crimes”; when, of all the countries in the world – not China, not Iran, not Saudi Arabia – Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, is the only target of boycotts by British universities; when the organisers of the gay parade in Madrid tell Israeli gays not to take part in it ... Can it be that some western Jews believe that if they keep silent and avoid expressing their support for Israel, that they will be better off?”

This too:

‘Israel’s enemies realised that they could not win by military means and instead launched a cunning propaganda war against the Jewish State. Unfortunately, Ben Gurion’s idiotic principle, “It doesn’t matter what Gentiles say, what matters is what Jews do”, proved too deeply ingrained in the Israeli mentality (which Israelis finally began to realise themselves a few years ago), and that has been bringing disastrous results for Israel in this war. In these hard times I am firmly against the belief that all Jews should live in Israel, because contrary to Ben Gurion’s statement, it does matter what Gentiles say. Tiny Israel needs outside support, and we must provide this support in free countries by forming a powerful driving force to do exactly what our enemies have been doing for dozens of years: to influence governments and public opinion. United we stand!’

He also has an anecdote about Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov’s beloved Jewish wife, Polina Zhemchuzhina, who was arrested by Stalin in December 1948 on a trumped up charge of treason and spent five years in a labour camp: “She was a convinced Communist – but when the State of Israel was established and the Moscow Synagogue began collecting money and jewellery for Israel, Zhemchuzhina went there and gave away all her jewellery. When a close friend of hers, a Gentile woman, said to her: “Are you mad? You are the wife of a prominent statesman!” Zhemchuzhina replied: “First of all, I am a daughter of my people!”

When Golda Meir came to Moscow [in November 1948, the moth before Zhemchuzhina's arrest] as the ambassador of the newly-created state of Israel, at an official reception Zhemchuzhina said to her: “If anything is good in Israel, kit will be good for all the Jews of the world.”

Even the hard-line Communist and Stalin’s right-hand man’s wife realised that. Can it really be that we, Jews of the free world, have forgotten that?’

Slave Trade City votes for Israel Sanctions

Is there no end to the lies, distortions and fabrications - indeed, the obscenities - that emerge daily from the United Kingdom regarding Israel?

Two Bristol men were aboard the so-called "peace" flotilla intercepted by Israel in June. Last night, Bristol City Council  voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion put forward by a Lib Dem councillor (who having evidently swallowed Hamas propaganda hook, line and sinker compared Gaza to Britain during the Blitz) to "hold Israel to account for this illegal [sic] action" (boarding the Mavi Marmara, resulting in nine deaths)  and for sanctions against Israel until it "complies with international law and ceases perpetrating human rights abuses". 

The Libs Dems, of course, have many Israel-defamers within their ranks -  Baroness Tonge is just the most notorious.  But none of the parties seem to have had any councillors principled enough to speak up for Israel during the Bristol debate.  The best the Conservatives could do, reports suggest, was to put forward a motion couched in what they termed "less emotive language", urging Israel to "exercise restraint".

It says much for the level of ignorance among these leaders of a big city that they appear to have shared the mischievous misconceptions voiced by one of the local flotilla activists before the vote: "We question the morality of the council having money invested in Israeli banks or investment funds where it gains interest derived in any way over 60 years of ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine, the illegal occupation of the West Bank, and the brutal starvation and slaughter of the people in Gaza".

Naturally, the pro-Palestinian anti-Israel boycott brigade in Bristol is cock-a-hoop at this latest British blow against the little Jewish State in its struggle to survive.

The wealth of the great port city of Bristol was founded on the gross immorality of the Atlantic slave trade.  Many of the city's finest buildings and grandest homes were built with the filthy  lucre derived from that loathsome fount of human misery.  Might we now expect the councillors of Bristol to vote for the demolition of such  local structures, or for them to be given over to the poor and destitute?  That would be a surefire way of demonstrating that their "humanitarianism" is even-handeded.

Britain's Methodists in Meltdown

Many words have been expended on the British Methodists' decision last month to launch a boycott of all Israeli products from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, giving that church the dubious honour of being the first Christian denomination in the United Kingdom to do so.  Some delegates reportedly wished to go further, and launch a full-scale boycott of the Jewish State.  The Methodists are even considering whether or not to countenance the very concept of Zionism. 

Needless to say, no country except Israel was singled out for criticism.  The Methodists' decision has been widely seen as antisemitic, and had been condemned by a wide range of people and organisations within and without the Jewish community.  The Board of Deputies of British Jews, not renowned for speaking out lightly, issued a forceful denunciation.  Even Rabbi Danny Rich, head of Liberal Judaism, and hardly a  tub-thumping Zionist, was unhappy.  A masterly op-ed in the Jerusalem Post (4 July) by the magnificent Robin Shepherd was headed 'The banality of Methodist evil'.

 But here's the thing.  The Methodist Church in Britain  is a church in meltdown. Its 'Statistics for Mission 2005-2007' - the latest statistical report available - shows that between 2004 and 2007 its membership dropped from 294, 000 to 267,000 (a decline of 9% in only three years).  Every other statistic was in a state of absolute rapid decline, in some cases of breathtaking proportions.  The Methodists' average Sunday attendance figure fell from 280,000 in 2004 to 230,000 in 2007 - that's a decline of 18%.

The working- and lower-middle-class members who have traditionally constituted the church's core seem to be voting with their feet, leaving the church ripe for takeover by radical extremists. Indeed, throughout the English-speaking world churches with a left-liberal agenda are in decline.  Secular socialists are generally athiests or agnostics, and so belong to no church.  And within the leadership of those churches only leftwing activists, clerical and lay, remain.

 The good news for supporters of Israel is that, by contrast, the fundamentalist churches are growing - in Britain, in Canada, and in the United States.  And their adherents tend to be Christian Zionists.