"A Job Well Done Down at the Mill": BBC report re IsraAID (video)

From the BBC in deepest Yorkshire, a positive report regarding Israel!

Well done as always, IsraeAID!

Thank you, BBC North!

Good onya for the video, Sussex Friends of Israel!

Bibi: "They were Taught that Israelis Were Devils, Now We Are Healing Angels" (video)

Here's Bibi's powerful speech, delivered in a low-key manner but no less compelling for that, concerning today's challenges to Israel and the West from "violent medievalists" and regarding the "root cause" of the conflict with the Arabs and what the latter must do to achieve lasting peace:

The quotation in the header concerns the desperate Syrians whom Israel has helped.

A Good Clear Credo & Some Very Sick Puppies

By Emily Gian, of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), an excellent article regarding Israel's part in the humanitarian efforts in Nepal following the recent earthquake, and the despicable reaction Israel's aid has provoked in some quarters.

Emily's article is carried by the ZFA's website here, but I would like to take the liberty of reproducing the credo "I Am A Zionist" articulated on the occasion of Yom Ha’atzmaut this year by Israeli MK Yair Lapid, to which Emily draws attention.

It exhibits a clear sense of history, with its organic linkage of past, present, and future:

I am a Zionist.

I believe that the Jewish people established itself in the Land of Israel, albeit somewhat late. Had it listened to the alarm clock, there would have been no Holocaust, and my dead grandfather – the one I was named after – would have been able to dance a last waltz with grandma on the shores of the Yarkon River.

I am a Zionist.

Hebrew is the language I use to thank the Creator, and also to swear on the road. The Bible does not only contain my history, but also my geography. King Saul went to look for mules on what is today Highway 443, Jonah the Prophet boarded his ship not too far from what is today a Jaffa restaurant, and the balcony where David peeped on Bathsheba must have been bought by some oligarch by now.

I am a Zionist.

The first time I saw my son wearing an IDF uniform I burst into tears, I haven’t missed the Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony for 20 years now, and my television was made in Korea, but I taught it to cheer for our national soccer team.

I am a Zionist.

I believe in our right for this land. The people who were persecuted for no reason throughout history have a right to a state of their own plus a free F-16 from the manufacturer. Every display of antisemitism from London to Mumbai hurts me, yet deep inside I’m thinking that Jews who choose to live abroad fail to understand something very basic about this world. The State of Israel was not established so that the antisemites will disappear, but rather, so we can tell them to get lost.

I am a Zionist.

I was fired at in Lebanon, a Katyusha rockets missed me by a few feet in Kiryat Shmona, missiles landed near my home during the first Gulf War, I was in Sderot when the Colour Red anti-rocket alert system was activated, terrorists blew themselves up not too far from my parents’ house, and my children stayed in a bomb shelter before they even knew how to pronounce their own name, clinging to a grandmother who arrived here from Poland to escape death. Yet nonetheless, I always felt fortunate to be living here, and I don’t really feel good anywhere else.

I am a Zionist.

I think that anyone who lives here should serve in the army, pay taxes, vote in the elections, and be familiar with the lyrics of at least one Shalom Hanoch song. I think that the State of Israel is not only a place, it is also an idea, and I wholeheartedly believe in the three extra commandments engraved on the wall of the Holocaust museum in Washington: “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”

I am a Zionist.

I already laid down on my back to admire the Sistine Chapel, I bought a postcard at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and I was deeply impressed by the emerald Buddha at the king’s palace in Bangkok. Yet I still believe that Tel Aviv is more entertaining, the Red Sea is greener, and the Western Wall Tunnels provide for a much more powerful spiritual experience. It is true that I’m not objective, but I’m also not objective in respect to my wife and children.

I am a Zionist.

I am a man of tomorrow but I also live my past. My dynasty includes Moses, Jesus, Maimonides, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, Woody Allen, Bobby Fischer, Bob Dylan, Franz Kafka, Herzl, and Ben-Gurion. I am part of a tiny persecuted minority that influenced the world more than any other nation. While others invested their energies in war, we had the sense to invest in our minds.

I am a Zionist.

I sometimes look around me and become filled with pride, because I live better than a billion Indians, 1.3 billion Chinese, the entire African continent, more than 250 million Indonesians, and also better than the Thais, the Filipinos, the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the entire Muslim world, with the exception of the Sultan of Brunei. I live in a country under siege that has no natural resources, yet nonetheless the traffic lights always work and we have high-speed connection to the Internet.

I am a Zionist.

My Zionism is natural, just like it is natural for me to be a father, a husband, and a son. People who claim that they, and only they, represent the “real Zionism” are ridiculous in my view. My Zionism is not measured by the size of my kippa, by the neighbourhood where I live, or by the party I will be voting for. It was born a long time before me, on a snowy street in the ghetto in Budapest where my father stood and attempted, in vain, to understand why the entire world is trying to kill him.

I am a Zionist.

Every time an innocent victim dies, I bow my head because once upon a time I was an innocent victim. I have no desire or intention to adopt the moral standards of my enemies. I do not want to be like them. I do not live on my sword; I merely keep it under my pillow.

I am a Zionist.

 I do not only hold on to the rights of our forefathers, but also to the duty of the sons. The people who established this state lived and worked under much worse conditions than I have to face, yet nonetheless they did not make do with mere survival. They also attempted to establish a better, wiser, more humane, and more moral state here. They were willing to die for this cause, and I try to live for its sake.

Sadly, meanwhile, certain anti-Israel NGOs are busily at work on a stitch-up ...

Meanwhile, too, UK-based Israeli musician Gilad Atzmon proves afresh that he is one very very sick puppy indeed:

His Facebook littermates are arguably even sicker.

Two Interesting Videos

This video shows the IDF treating wounded Syrian fighters, proof yet again of the essential humanity of Israel:

This American video might strike some people as over-strong, but it's undeniably pertinent to current events:

For The Love Of Israel (video)

An inspirational episode in the stricken Philippines:

More here

Israel Aids The Philippines, But The BBC Keeps Shtum About It

An IDF soldier with aid to the Philippines

In a rectangular box, the BBC News website has this eye-catching item about the typhoon-ravaged Philippines:

Aid at a glance
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: $500m emergency loans and $23m in grants
AUSTRALIA: $9.3m package, including medical staff, shelter materials, water containers and hygiene kits
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: $11m
JAPAN: $10m, including tents and blankets. 25-person medical team already sent
SOUTH KOREA: $5m plus a 40-strong medical team
INDONESIA: Logistical aid including aircraft, food, generators and medicine
UAE: $10m in humanitarian aid
US: $20m in humanitarian aid, 90 marines, aircraft carrier plus logistics support
UK: $16m (£10m) package including emergency shelter, water and household items. HMS Daring deployed to region

From this list, Israel is conspicuous by its absence.

Philippines-bound Israeli troops at Ben Gurion Airport

Yet, as in all disasters of the kind that's devastated the Philippines, except when (as in the case of Iran's earthquake in 2003) its help has been hatefully rejected (“The Islamic Republic of Iran accepts all kinds of humanitarian aid from all countries and international organizations with the exception of the Zionist regime”) Israeli humanitarian aid to the stricken nation has been swift and generous.

This present instance is called Operation Island of Hope, and, as reported here, on Monday

'a lead expedition of five search, rescue, and medical experts arrived in Tacloban, Philippines and formed a situation assessment determining the urgency for a rapid IDF response. Based on this assessment the of the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Benjamin (Benny) Gantz, order to deploy a large-scale delegation to the disaster zone.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, IDF Spokesman:

 “The Home Front Command has soldiers and officers who excel in the fields of search and rescue and highly professional medical doctors experienced in such complex missions. Over the years they have been to Japan, Haiti, Ghana, Bulgaria, and Turkey, where they diligently donated from their resources and knowledge to those in need.”

An advanced multi-department medical facility, equipped with approximately 100 tons of humanitarian and medical supplies from Israel, will be rapidly established in the city of Tacloban to provide medical care for disaster casualties. The facility will be constructed of a children’s department, a women’s department, an ambulatory care department, and a general admission department, operated by IDF doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, mental health professionals, x-ray technician, and lab workers.

The delegation comprises of officials in the National Search and Rescue Unit of the Home Front Command headed by the unit commander, Colonel Ramtin Sabti, as well as senior doctors in the IDF Medical Corps, headed by the Vice Surgeon General of the IDF Medical Corps, Colonel Doctor Dudu Dagan.'

1500 toys are being provided to the children of the devastated region, and a team almost 150-strong flew out of Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday.

There really is no excuse for the BBC's silence: it certainly knows of the existence of the official IDF blog (to which I've linked above), which  is choc-a-bloc with news, videos, and photographs, and is constantly updated.

So, will the BBC (like Israel-baiters on social media who have never a kind word for the Zionist Entity) stay shtum indefinitely? We shall see ...

Showing Israel As The Beneficial Force It Is, Not How Ruthless Foes Portray It (videos)

"Israel is truly a nation of all its citizens," says this courageous young British Muslim, observing that the British media is slanted against Israel, and that the challenge is to present the reality of a vigorous liberal democracy:

How right he is.  It's an uphill struggle against the bizarre coalition of leftist and Islamic demonisers that plagues Britain in common with so much of the Western world.

Here, in the light of the challenge, is a short new video by the UK Zionist Federation, about the unstinting work it does to try to ensure a positive perception of Israel in the mind of a public fed so much negative propaganda by hostile elements:

As the video indicates, many people have had their eyes opened to the reality of Israel as a force for good in the world as a result of the Federation's efforts.

An Uplifting Documentary (video)

The Paralympics have ended on a triumphant note, with it being widely acknowledged that the achievements of the athletes taking part has led to a discernible shift in public attitudes towards people with disabilities that, being positive, is all to the good.

With this in mind, as well as the fate of the young Christian girl in Pakistan, reportedly with Downs Syndrome, who was snatched from her family and incarcerated after being accused of defiling a copy of the Koran, here's a very beautiful and moving documentary set in Israel, showing how the lives of children with that same syndrome is being transformed thanks to the enlightened and innovative methods introduced by the wonderful Professor Reuven Feuerstein (a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor who reached Eretz Israel in 1945) and practised at the institute in Jerusalem that bears his name.

The work of the Feuerstein Institute is just another example of the many and diverse developments for the benefit of humankind (a recent one being the invention of an artificial retina designed to restore the sight of persons blinded by macular degeneration) that characterise Israel, yet which are seldom if ever acknowledged by those who seek Israel's destruction.

Happy New Year From The IDF (video) & How Israel Made The World A Better Place In 2011 (link)

To learn a liitle about how Israel made the world a better place during 2011 click here

And, as a bonus (BDSers please take note!), for many of the greatest Israeli inventions of all time click here  (Hat tip: J.E.) 

"The Difference Between Arab Culture & Israeli Culture Is The Difference Between Barbarism & Civilisation": Brigitte Gabriel Praises Israel & Warns Of Islamic Radicalism (video)

In this spell-binding speech, the well-known Lebanese-born American writer Brigitte Gabriel, addressing a Jewish audience  in California some months ago, gives a graphic account of the destruction of her idyllic childhood and her beloved Lebanon by Islamic radicalism, and warmly praises Israel and Israelis - citing the "love and compassion" that she saw there, not only towards her and her mother as Christians, but towards Muslim Palestinians.

She stresses that, in the world today, most Muslims are not radical jihadists.  Nevertheless, she cautions, the radical minority comprise perhaps 15 to 25% (some 300 million people).  The USA has been infiltrated by Al Quaeda, Islamic Jihad, and (especially) Hamas. Listen as she reels off the names of the cities in which Hamas cells (disguised) operate! She warns of the indoctrination by Saudi Arabian influences of most of the mosques in America. She calls the universities "Occuped Territories" because they are being infiltrated by anti-Israel Saudi-funded centres and professors.

She warns that political correctness and multiculturalism is set to make Americans lose their freedom, and observes that "tolerating intolerance is a crime".  And she implores the Muslim majority to speak out loud and clear against the radical minority, for a war for survival is being waged.

Meanwhile, across the Herring Pond, a party called the British Freedom Party has been formed (though don't look for information about it on the BBC).  In this interview with the Canadian broadcaster Michael Coren (hat tip: reader Shirlee) its leader, the urbane and (dare I add!) photogenic Paul Weston, describes it as "centre" rather than "rightwing".  He observes that the Muslim population of Britain doubles every ten years, warns that given this trend bloc votes might elect Islamists to Westminster, and laments the failure, through fear, of non-radical Muslims to speak out against the radicals.

"Israel ... The Triumph Of The Human Spirit" (video)

Last week the BBC, in one of those instances in which it surprises and delights by behaving without its customary egregious bias, had an article on its website highlighting Israel's role as a powerhouse of technology.  So much of benefit to humanity, not least in the medical field, comes out of that tiny country, that is of course ignored by the demonisers. This very welcome video, which has appeared on Isreallycool and some other blogs, reminds us of Israel's achievements.