"showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv’s cultural diversity – offering visitors a sense of the city’s tastes, smells, sounds, sights and cultural scene ..."And in those of Israeli minister for public security, information and strategic affairs Gilad Erdan, talking to the Jerusalem Post,
“The festival is of great importance in its very existence in Britain as we mark one century of the Balfour Declaration. This festival is a cultural answer to the calls for a boycott against Israel.”He and Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox attended along with Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai. (For Dr Fox's upbeat rematks see here)
'[O]n Saturday several dozen Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions activists verbally clashed with a few very vocal defenders of the Jewish state.“You want to talk in Gaza? These women can’t talk in Gaza! It’s a joke... This is bullshit! It doesn’t matter how many bombs are dropped in Syria or in London, this is just an excuse to hate Jews,” Golan Koresh, who is both Israeli and Brazilian, retorted to female activists chanting “Free Palestine!” “This is just a disgrace,” Koresh said in disgust. “These Jews whose parents stood in the gas chambers are now standing side-by-side with people who want to blow us up.
“London is poison. The atmosphere when it comes to Israeli is toxic,” he added....
“Perhaps if this event wasn’t sponsored by the Israeli government, we wouldn’t be so against it,” Michael Kalmanovitz of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network said.
Pro-Israel activists were quick to lob retorts at those claims. “They’re not standing outside the Chinese or Syrian or Russian Embassy. They’re here in front of a peaceful festival with music,” Shadman Zaman, the first person from Bangladesh to visit Israel, told the Post. “They’re trying to disrupt a peaceful and lovely program into a riot. This is what they always do.”When Tel Aviv chef Shaul Ben Aderet, who was in charge of the event's food fair, offered them some free chocolate mousse, several of the protesting party poopers couldn't resist!
"Several different protest groups have been attempting all week to disrupt preparations for next week's Arms Fair at the Excel Centre. Yesterday when this video was shot it was the turn of Veterans for Peace UK to organize an event - a very effective banned weapons checkpoint - which unfortunately was activated earlier in the morning before I got there...."Meanwhile, in response to this report Seymour makes an aside about 9/11, while Sizer and Tonge have the Saudis in their sights.
"Damp evening at Stamford Bridge demonstrating against Israel's apartheid in sport, its racist administrators and supporters and their continued harassment of Palestinian players, teams and fixtures. Maccabi Tel-Aviv should have stayed at home; it wasn't worth their coming, Chelsea beat their useless amateur looking gang 4:0 (this with Chelsea so off-form, it has hardly won a match this year)"(Thanks for the video, though, Mr Seymour!)
'Good evening, and shalom aleichem.
It’s a great pleasure to be with you tonight to celebrate the ties between our countries, and the very best of UK and Israel business.
Golda Meir said that Israelis only have one complaint about Moses.
That he led the Jews through the desert for 40 years – then finally stopped at the one place in the Middle East that doesn’t have any oil!
But I guess necessity is the mother of invention. Because over the past 67 years, Israel really has made business bloom in the barren desert.
It’s one of the many reasons I have long admired the country. I’ve travelled there extensively, both for business and with family. And over the years I’ve taken a great interest in its affairs. Because the values that have made Israel such a success are values that matter a great deal to me.
I share Israel’s love for freedom and democracy. I admire its tenacious determination when the odds are stacked against it. [Emphasis added here and below]
And, like millions of Israelis, I have a mother who’s still waiting for me to get a proper job!
So we have a lot in common. And that’s why I’m heartened at the growth of British and Israeli trade links.
Business has always been a part of my life, not just the 20 years I spent in international banking, but the heart and soul of my childhood, growing up in a small flat above the family shop.
And throughout that time I’ve seen how business can do a great many things.
It doesn’t just provide jobs and local growth. It lifts individuals, communities and even countries up to be the best they can be.
That’s why tonight we should celebrate the ever-closer business links between Britain and Israel.
The total value of trade and services between our 2 countries is now well over £4.5 billion a year.
Last year alone, 25 Israeli companies set up or expanded their operations in the UK. Israeli-owned CinemaCity amalgamated with the UK’s own Cineworld. The Helios Energy Fund committed £30 million to set up 30 biomass installations in the UK. The Noy Fund announced plans to invest £50 million in UK waste-to-energy projects.
There are now over 300 Israeli companies with a physical presence here, responsible for thousands of jobs.
But this is not a one way street. Great British businesses like Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Barclays, Rolls Royce and others have invested more than £1 billion in Israel. Our exports to Israel are increasing rapidly – and the UK is Israel’s second biggest export market.
In addition, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of Israeli companies showing interest in raising capital on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Nine Israeli companies carried out IPOs on the LSE last year – second only to the UK itself.
So the past few years have been a golden era for Anglo-Israeli business. But what really excites me are the possibilities offered by the years to come.
Collaboration on science and technology is the cornerstone of our shared relationship. As we all know, only Silicon Valley can rival Israel when it comes to developing leading-edge technologies.
We look towards Israel to benefit from its world-leading expertise in cyber security. And equally, we want to support Israel as it exploits recent discoveries of natural gas in its waters – through strategic partnerships, project finance and supply chains.
And we must continue to work together on achieving medical breakthroughs – whether through, the Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX), or as GSK and Technion are doing, or the National Health Service (NHS) and Teva Pharmaceuticals, through a £12.5 million joint-research agreement.
The UK-Israel Tech Hub in the British Embassy in Tel Aviv has also fostered promising collaborations in agriculture, water technologies and in finance, with 14 Israeli start-ups coming to London this March to meet major City players. And initiatives like the Israel Investor Summit are helping to bring together businesses in both our countries.
It’s a great relationship, and not one we should ever take for granted.
But sometimes we do. You may have heard that Britain’s National Union of Students recently passed a motion committing itself to a complete boycott of Israel. Last year the same body rejected a motion calling for a boycott of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which I think speaks volumes.
Last December, as Culture Secretary, I made a speech to Britain’s Union of Jewish Students. And I told them that I had no time for the boycott campaign. Because for me, freedom is an absolute concept.
At the time I spoke of artistic freedom. Today I talk of the freedom to trade, the freedom to go about your business in peace. Today I talk of the idea that underpins my entire political philosophy, that of free enterprise. It simply doesn’t make sense to say “I believe in the free market, but…”
Let me be very clear – I don’t believe in boycotts. Nor, I’m proud to say, does my party, my Prime Minister. Or, for the most part, my country.
On the contrary, my department – including United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) – will be working hard to boost Anglo-Israeli trade and investment. And, as Business Secretary, I’ll do anything I can to support and promote it.
So my message to you is clear. Where there are business opportunities, we should actively explore them – just as the winners of tonight’s awards have done to such great effect. And let me, if I may, single out Sir Harry Solomon for his award this evening: congratulations.
We look forward to working with our Israeli partners in the future.
Thank you, and todah rabah.Here are some familiar fanatics, who will be distinctly unhappy at Mr Javid's grand remarks. These people were making nuisances of themselves outside the Goethe Institut in South Kensington yesterday, angry at the Institut's reception (to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Israel-German diplomatic relations) under the auspices of Eitan Na'eh, Israel's Deputy Ambassador in London, and Tania Freiin von Uslar-Gleichen, Germany's Deputy Ambassador there, at which the Israeli government sponsored SERET 2015 London Israeli Film Festival began with an exclusive preview of the film Farewell Herr Schwarz.
'At the launch of last years Seret film festival Israel's ambassador to the UK Daniel Taub stressed the importance of "the role the Festival plays in providing a platform for spreading a more accurate picture of Israel across all communities". At the launch the programme director "said that the founders saw themselves as informal ambassadors for Israel". Another co-founder of the festival, Odelia Haroush, was previously the marketing manager of the Ahava shop in Covent Garden that sold stolen dead sea produce and was forced to shut down in Sept 2011 after a sustained campaign by human rights activists. She sees the film festival as a direct response to the boycott Israel campaign. The festival is also co-sponsored by occupation profiteers like Bank Leumi.
We have picketed the Seret film festival from its inception 3 years ago and we will be picketing it again this year.'
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| London, July 2014 |
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| Sydney, July 2014 |
"I went to Trafalgar Square with a couple of friends to see how big the anti-Assad protest would be. More importantly I wanted to see their reaction to my presence (with my sign and flag). A little flag can make so much noise! From being called a racist (typical) to a member of the Saddam Hussein school, of course the Palestinian 'refugee' playing the victim card, blaming Israel for his supposed plight.. Everyone was so angry at what I had, which was a sign saying 'A big thank you to Israel for helping injured civilians from Syria'."
"....During the past three years, thousands of young Islamic immigrants from France, Germany, Britain and all other European countries, as well as young Western Islamic converts, have gone to Syria, where they trained to be killing machines. Some of them have returned home, where they now constitute the biggest threat to domestic security in decades.
French authorities were able to capture [Mehdi] Nemmouche [the captured Brussels Jewish Museum shooting suspect] within a week because they had his name on a list of returned Syria fighters. Having his name on a list of jihadists, however, was not able prevent him from committing murder in neighboring Belgium.....
The ease with which Nemmouche was able to carry out his assault has frightened many all over Europe. How is it possible that this man, who was known to be a terrorism risk, could acquire an automatic rifle and take the weapon into the Jewish Museum? Why had he not been followed? Obviously such a practice is not feasible for all criminals, but for known jihadists? Had his phone and internet chats been tapped? It would be also be helpful, albeit unfortunately, if owners of buildings seemingly at risk invested in security guards and metal detectors for their entrances.
There are also political questions. Why had Nemmouche even been allowed to return to France after his stay in Syria?....
The problem affects not only European countries. American and Australian Muslims are also known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups fighting the Assad regime. Russia is also familiar with the problem: more than a year ago, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, warned that the return of Russian Syria fighters will pose a terrorist threat.
It remains to be seen in what way the Western authorities react to this threat. So far, the signs are not encouraging. The Belgian authorities used -- or rather abused -- the murderous attack in Brussels to indoctrinate the public with multiculturalist propaganda.
Last week, for example, Brussels school children were given special lessons to warn against anti-Semitism and racism. The way to combat this, Yvan Mayeur, the Socialist Mayor of Brussels, said, was "to give room to the many cultures and religions in Europe." He said that his city needed more "diversity." But diversity does not mean diversity any more. Diversity is now the new code word for more Islam. Other politicians advocated punishing "hate crimes" more severely. But hate crime does not mean hate crime any more. It is now the politically-correct European "newspeak" code word for criticism of Islam.
So, rather than arming itself against the Islamist threat, the West still remains blind to the threat, while terrorists such as Merah and Nemmouche carry on killing Jews -- and others."See Martino's entire article here
“There are too many bigots and extremists using anti-Zionism as a cloak for anti-Semitism. And they are whipping up a frenzy.”And as she told David Aaronovitch in the course of an interview in the Jewish Quarterly:
"I foolishly agreed to appear on a late night programme hosted by Andrew Neil [This Week, BBC2, 13 July 2006]. I say foolishly because it’s a soundbite programme and everything is reduced to soundbites. Diane Abbott MP had obviously been primed and announced that the Israeli reaction had been ‘disproportionate’. What I wanted to say was that it came about because rockets had been going into Israel for a long time and an unprovoked attack had been made on two soldiers. Her point was (and she knew it would wind me up): ‘All they did was capture two soldiers.’
I wanted to reply that, if you live in a country the size of Israel, two soldiers are incredibly important. Instead of saying just that, I said that it’s not the Israelis who are strapping bombs on young children and sending them out to blow themselves and everybody else up. That somehow became: life is much more important to the Israelis than it is to the Palestinians, and I was savaged by people like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and John Pilger in the Independent and New Statesman.
You don’t see most of the people who wrote to the newspapers to express outrage at the Israeli response at the meetings for other humanitarian causes like human rights in Burma – all I want is a level playing field, where the Middle East is given the same attention as Burma and Rwanda and Zimbabwe and everywhere else. But that doesn’t seem to be an argument which carries much weight.
Out of a year’s column in the Guardian I wrote about Israel maybe three times, and always from a defensive point of view. Even though most of the time I wrote about getting my hair cut, I became a ‘Jewish columnist’ – just as I’m a ‘Jewish actress’. Do you ever see the words ‘that well-known Quaker actress Judy Dench’?
We don’t even have to point out that the reporting is one-sided, because it always is – you see the same Palestinian woman wailing and keening over a dead child and then when you go to the Israeli side you see a bullet hole in a small shop. It’s constantly like that. I only defended Israel in the sense that when you have war and terrorism, as they have, for over 50 years, you do sometimes behave badly. The Americans bombed the Chinese Embassy after two days in Kosovo . . . We are judged by different standards, I don’t think anyone could dispute that – the Jews are always judged by different standards."Here she is, last year, on the Andrew Marr Show, pointing out the hypocrisy of the BDS movement and of Professor Stephen Hawking regarding Israel.
'She said: “There’s an insidious nature to what is being written. Why would I be involved with that?
“All I ask for is a level playing-field. They’re grinding babies into powder in Syria — get that in your middle page. I can’t just stand there at my age and contribute to something which is feeding the myth.”'Private Eye-founder Mr Ingrams, characterised by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard as "a vile man", has long been known for his hostility to Israel. In 2003, for example, when editor of The Independent, he declared:
"I have developed a habit when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name. If so, I tend not to read it."(See also here and here)
"She does have a very straightforward view — that critical comments about Israel should be balanced by critical comments about Arab countries."And, alluding to the BBC's obligation via its Charter to be objective in its reportage (which of course it manifestly is not), he adds:
"Well, the BBC may feel itself obliged to give what they call a balanced view, but we’re not under any obligation of that kind."How grand to see an Anglo-Jewish personality of Ms Lipman's stature take so principled and unequivocal a stand in support of Israel.
