Anglo-Jewish Ostrich Leaders Attempt To Muzzle Israeli Islam Expert Mordechai Kedar

As reader Ian points out in a comment on my previous blog, there has been good news coming out of the UK this week: the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), has rescinded its controversial decision to join the accursed BDS movement, a movement of which, incidentally, a reviewer of the important new book The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel writes inter alia:

'.... [T]he BDS agenda is at heart not just pro-Palestinian but anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli, if not actively anti-Semitic. One of the convictions shared by several contributors is that many people sign on to the BDS movement without realizing that it is committed, not to a peaceful two-state solution, but to the end of Israel as a Jewish state. The official BDS movement website (bdsmovement.net) features the unimpeachable slogan “Freedom Justice Equality,” but when you get to its actual demands, they turn out to be as follows:

1. Ending [Israel’s] occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194

Most Americans (and most Israelis) would agree to the second item, and many to the first; but the third, read correctly, means putting an end to Israel as a Jewish state. This is a demand that virtually no Israeli Jews, even the most liberal, would accede to, as the BDS movement knows full well. To include this core demand, then, means that BDS is not about resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but prolonging it, and taking sides in it. It follows that any boycott adopted on these terms can never be withdrawn as long as the Jewish state continues to exist.' (Read more here)

To quote Dan Leon, one of the architects who comments below the line here:

"I am very pleased that the RIBA Council came to this conclusion today. 

The issues associated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are very important indeed and need to be discuss and debated with a view to forging a true and equitable peace for all parties, based on mutual understanding and mutual respect - but the RIBA is not the correct forum for such a debate. It was confirmed as such, being outside the RIBA's remit, and the RIBA have correctly regularised the matter.

For our Institute to seek the exclusion of another country's professional body would have been wholly wrong and counter productive to this end. It would have been negative, and silence any opportunity for engagement and exchange.

It is not necessary to drag up all the arguments again here, but legal opinion confirmed the March motion on Israel as 'discriminatory'. How could that remain on RIBA policy?"

 Elder of Ziyon has a most interesting piece on  the RIBA fracas here

More welcome news this week are tweets by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, still riding the crest of a wave which seems set to drench Tories in next year's May General Election, has been bold enough to declare on Twitter:

And as reported in the Jewish Chronicle, Nigel Farage

'has blamed Muslims for what he called “a sharp rise in antisemitism” in Britain and Europe.

 Speaking during his weekly phone-in show on London’s LBC Radio, Mr Farage told a caller from Highgate: “I have detected quite a sharp rise in antisemitism, not just in this country, but across the rest of Europe too.

“What’s fuelling it is that there are many more Muslim voices, and some of those Muslim voices are deeply, deeply critical of Israel. In fact, some of them even question the right of Israel to exist as a nation.” .... [Emphasis added]

Mr Farage also noted: “It’s quite interesting because there aren’t actually that many Jews in the country - there’s only a few hundred thousand.

“It just shows you what an extraordinary group of people they are, the success they’ve achieved....'

It seems that Farage has dipped his toe where certain elements within the British Board of Deputies fear to tread.

For it's also reported in the Jewish Chronicle, the distinguished and forthright Israeli Professor Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab culture and on Islam, who will be addressing the Zionist Federation's Israel Advocacy Conference as well as the meeting illustrated at left, is persona non grata in some quarters:

'The Zionist Federation this week cancelled appearances at three Jewish schools by an outspoken Israeli academic following concerns about his links to an anti-Islamist activist banned from Britain.

Dr Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Israeli Arabs who regularly appears to defend Israel on Arabic stations such as Al Jazeera, was due to begin a speaking tour on Wednesday night.

But ZF chairman Paul Charney said that he had removed the schools from the tour after the intervention of the Board of Deputies.

Dr Kedar, who lectures at Bar-Ilan University, has spoken at events organised by Stop the Islamisation of Nations, founded by the Jewish American Pamela Geller, who was banned from Britain last year in a move supported by the Board of Deputies."

Two of the synagogues at which Professor Kedar (including the Spanish and Portuguses Synaggue in Lauderdale Road) was due to speak have also, it seems, disinvited him.

The case against Professor Kedar addressing synagogues and schools was made in the Jewish Chronicle here by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, who wrote in part:

'.... In 2012 Dr Kedar was announced as a director of "Stop Islamisation of Nations" (SION). Speakers at SION's conference that year included Tommy Robinson, then a leader of the English Defence League. In 2013, SION's founder Pamela Geller was banned from entering Britain. SION advocated the "immediate halt of immigration by Muslims" into Europe as well as legislation to ban foreign funding of mosques and of departments of Islamic Studies departments in our universities along with a range of further legal restrictions.

From a Manhattan platform of "Stop Islamisation of Nations" beside the EDL, Dr Kedar
mocked multiculturalism:"… [Muslim immigrants into Europe] are multiplying - - somebody said "rats" … and there is [sic] 18 wives and all that …"

This is typical of Dr Kedar's language. On Aljazeera, he taunted his Arab interviewer saying his ancestors had buried theirs daughters alive. This summer, he said during an Israeli Broadcasting Authority interview "the only thing that deters a suicide bomber. If he knows that when he pulls the trigger, or blows himself up, his sister will be raped. That’s it. "

Under attack, he later explained he had been analysing and not advocating. This is not evident from the transcript....'

 It isn't? As I wrote, soon after Kedar made that statement, here:

'[T]wisting the truth comes second-nature to those who hate Israel and seek its destruction.

Take, for instance, what the prominent Israeli scholar Professor Mordechai Kedar, of Bar-Ilan University's Department of Arabic, said early this month on Israeli radio's Hakol Diburim (“It’s All Talk”) following the news that the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers had been murdered :

 “The only thing that can deter terrorists, like those who kidnapped the children and killed them, is the knowledge that their sister or their mother will be raped.

You have to understand the culture in which we live.  The only thing that deters [Hamas leaders] is a threat to the connection between their heads and their shoulders.... Terrorists like those who kidnapped the children and killed them — the only thing that deters them is if they know that their sister or their mother will be raped in the event that they are caught. What can you do, that’s the culture in which we live...

 I’m not talking about what we should or shouldn’t do. I’m talking about the facts. The only thing that deters a suicide bomber is the knowledge that if he pulls the trigger or blows himself up, his sister will be raped. That’s all. That’s the only thing that will bring him back home, in order to preserve his sister’s honor.”

 It is extremely doubtful that the professor was recommending that Israel should resort to such base conduct; as an expert in Arab and Islamic culture he was explaining how Israel's Islamic enemies view the world, and by implication how impotent Israel is given their outlook.'

Mr Pinto-Duschinsky is, of course, entitled to his views.  But equally Professor Kedar is entitled to his, based on long familiarity with Arab culture and with Islam, and to voice them, for, as the rabbi of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, at which Kedar won't now be speaking, is quoted as saying:

"We probably would have had him and let him explain his comments."

As Paul Charney, chairman of the Zionist Federation, argues:

'What’s worse than a call for a boycott of an Israeli academic?

A call for a boycott of an Israeli academic from within our community.

At the Zionist Federation, we are committed to bringing over expert speakers to educate and enthuse our audiences. We don’t necessarily agree with all their views; we can’t, since our speakers cover the political and religious spectrums, reflecting the diverse backgrounds they come from. But we do think they should all be heard.

Apparently not everyone thinks this way. There has been a concerted effort to smear the reputation of renowned Professor Mordechai (Moti) Kedar prior to his arrival in the UK.

 Dr Kedar’s 25 years in military intelligence and academia makes him an expert in the Islamic and Arabic worlds, and his “crime” is to talk about the disaster that these twin spheres have wreaked in the Middle East.

But a few days after Israel commemorated the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the region, and now when Christians commiserate with their co-religionists facing the same fate, we’re not supposed to talk about this.

For all his forthright views, Moti is in high demand as a commentator across global media – including such lion dens as Al Jazeera Arabic. The Arab world, therefore, is apparently more tolerant of dissenting views than some sections of our community. These self-appointed guardians believe Jewish students must be protected from his views – views that Moti’s own Arab students queue up to hear.

In a country where people will happily condemn Israel in the most disgusting terms, but won’t speak out against Isis because it’s “Islamophobic,” we’re suddenly being asked to fight with one hand tied behind our backs - in case we cause offence.

But if there’s one thing we can learn from Moti, it’s that when it comes to the Middle East, you can’t afford to bury your head in the sand.'

 Update: Unflinching British blogger Edgar Davidson:

"Facts Have Become Distorted, Truth Has Become Irrelevant ..." (video)

Prominent British Zionist Paul Charney has initiated the following e-petition to the UK's Department for International Development (DFID).  It is available for signing here:

 "The Palestinian Authority (PA) currently provides salaries to any Palestinian convicted of committing terrorism offences against Israel. These wages are directly pegged to the length of the sentence, so the more grievous the crime, the higher the salary. Since these wages are much larger than those earned by average Palestinians, they clearly reward violence, including murder, and undermine peace. Around 40 per cent of the PA’s budget is made up from donor aid; the UK government has promised £33 million of taxpayer’s money for the 2013/14 period alone. The Palestinian ministers responsible for this policy publicly deride international donors who express unhappiness with their money being used to pay terrorists; only a credible threat of this aid being removed will alter the situation. We are therefore calling on DFID to cease all direct funding to the Palestinian Authority until it agrees to no longer provide salaries for those convicted of committing violent acts against Israel."

Mr Charney can be seen on the following video, discussing the meaning of Zionism with two warm-hearted Christian supporters, and, in a country that is a prime hub of anti-Israel activity, answering the question "What can Christians do to fight against this delegitimisation of Israel?"

Although the programme aired in 2011, it is essentially as pertinent in 2014 as it was then, and worth a look.

It includes footage which demonstrates the humanity of the IDF and the sheer brutality of Hamas, with the latter's disregard for the human rights of those on both sides of the conflict.

As Charney stresses, in the struggle to defame and destroy Israel

"Facts have become distorted, truth has become irrelevant ....

 Delegitimisation has become another tool for Israel's enemies ... to get rid if Israel altogether ....

 The fundamentalist Islamic ideology is not just to wipe Israel off the map ... but it's to change the Western world as we know it .... If they succeed in getting rid of Israel ... Europe is next ... the USA is next ..."

As this report indicates, another prominent British Zionist, former MP Eric Moonman, now 84, is advocating a  US-style ADL in order to counteract antisemitism in the UK: "enemies of the Jews have got away with it for a long time".

And in future anti-Israel protesters who disrupt concerts and suchlike to vent their spleen may face the long arm of the law (report here)

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.

The UK Zionist Federation Fights Against The Iranian Revolutionary Guard

The Zionist Federation in Britain has launched a petition targetting one of the world's principal terrorist groups:

"The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG), backed by the Iranian regime, have been key in providing fighters, weapons and training to the Assad regime and the Iranian proxy terrorist organisation Hezbollah. This has played a major role in the massacres Assad has carried out against his own people during a bloody civil war and has also led to Assad using groups like the IRG and Hezbollah to attack Israel

It is another example of how the IRG is committed to spreading its brand of terrorism worldwide as a way of attacking Israel and the West, this time in Syria. The West cannot ignore this and the UK and EU must proscribe the IRG, its members, supporters and affiliates as a terrorist organisation and not as currently is the case just sanction certain members of the IRG, which a large and active terrorist organisation like the IRG can get around....

Let the UK Government and EU commission know that you its time they stood up to terror and spoke up for humanity by signing our petition calling on the IRG to be listed as a terrorist organisation by the UK Government and the EU...."

Read more here

The View From Britain (video)

All Out of Love - High Noon in Covent Garden

In that great Hollywood flick High Noon there’s the famous tense scene in which a resolute Will Kane (aka Gary Cooper), having found no one brave enough to help him take on an outlaw gang, strides down the main street to face them – totally alone. He didn’t need to do so, as he’d handed in his marshal’s badge and was set to start a new life far away. But his stolid determination to do what was right made him put on that badge again.

I guess the doughty and much-admired vice-chairman of the Zionist Federation, Jonathan Hoffman, sometimes feels like Will Kane as, singlehandedly if needs be, he takes on the bad guys. But last weekend he had reinforcements galore – a great many of them emphatically not of his choosing.

Let me explain.

Ahava, the famous Jordan Valley-based Israeli cosmetics company which produces a wonderful highly recommended range of goods containing minerals from the Dead Sea, is under attack internationally by adherents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. And, inevitably, the fight against the company has been taken up with gusto among Israel's demonisers in the United Kingdom. Every fortnight since February, from noon until two p.m. on Saturdays, allies of the Israel-delegitimising International Solidarity Movement have held a noisy, hate-filled demonstration outside the Ahava shop in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden. Banging drums and screeching through loud-hailers, they cause an ear-splitting cacophony which is unpleasant – to say the least – for retailers, customers, and passers-by.

Slogans such as “Dead Sea mud, Palestinian blood” are shouted repeatedly, as well as the tell-tale “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free” (which, of course, signifies the total annihilation of the State of Israel, not merely Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories), banners are waved, pedestrians are harassed, and insults are hurled at anyone who defies the intimidation and enters Ahava. The photo I include here is of one of the early demos, and the bearer of the blue-and-white flag in the background is – as far as I’m aware, though he’s not wearing a marshal’s hat – the indefatigable Jonathan Hoffman. Like similar demonstrators against Ahava outlets in the United States and elsewhere, the gang of thugs depicted seek to close the entire Ahava operation down.

Their callous disregard for the livelihoods of all retailers in Monmouth Street means that a neighbouring store, bereft of customers owing to the din, has gone out of business and others are similarly imperilled. But these self-righteous protesters have as little regard for those people as they do for the Palestinians who will lose their jobs and livelihoods if Ahava goes under.

This past Saturday, 14 August, there were more demonstrators than usual – about 80. For they were celebrating a shameful legal victory, four activists having been acquitted of failing to comply with a policeman’s orders when, last year, they refused to leave Ahava’s premises and instead chained themselves to a concrete block inside the shop. A charge of aggravated trespass was also dropped. For reasons that remain unclear, the Ahava shop's manager failed to attend court to give evidence, severely undermining the prosecution’s case. In an echo of the defence at the armaments factory trial, the miscreants' counsel explained that his clients had acted as they did because “they felt they had no alternative” and added “We are definitely going to see more of this happening.”

For an eyewitness description and video clips of Saturday’s disgraceful scenes, which the police and municipal authorities seem powerless to prevent, and that of earlier demonstrations outside Ahava, together with a full description, click onto Richard Millett’s Blog, listed on my Blogroll. It’s good to know that , whenever they can, Richard and a stalwart band of other British Jews join Jonathan Hoffman in flying the flag for Israel at these events; additionally, Christian supporters sometimes travel all the way from Wales to attend. As Richard has observed, “The protests have nothing to do with Israel's presence in the West Bank but are all to do with Israel's existence per se judging by the songs that are sung and the placards that are paraded. Additionally ... why do they single out Israel for boycotts and not Turkey and China, for example? It is the boycott that historically deeply resonates against Jews. Boycotts are, therefore, not only discriminatory but deeply offensive and hurtful to Jews.”

Much has been made by extreme left Jewish haters of Israel – some of whom are despicable enough to compare Israel to the Third Reich – of the fact that as well as about 13 pro-Israel demonstrators on Sunday there was a contingent from the English Defence League (EDL). The EDL was formed last year, reputedly out of disgust at the sight of Islamists in Luton verbally abusing the Royal Anglian regiment which was being welcomed home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan. EDL members are widely seen as football thugs and extreme right-wing racists, and although there is a “Jewish Division”, led by Roberta Moore, the “Zionist” protesters needed their aid like the proverbial hole in the head. Once the EDL had arrived, Sunday’s demo really hotted up, as described on Richard Millett’s Blog.

Those who – in a calculated attempt to stigmatise Jonathan Hoffman and smear other pro-Israel counter-demonstrators allege collusion between the Zionist Federation and the EDL are, to put it no more strongly than warranted, mischievous liars. Jonathan has himself stated, as the Guardian reported (17 August): "There is no link between us. We live in a free country, we can't control who demonstrates on the streets. People on the left think nothing of demonstrating with people who support Hamas and other terrorist groups." And Roberta Moore substantiates this claim: "We wish to state hereby that although we were protesting jointly with the Zionist Federation headed by Mr. Jonathan Hoffman, we were not asked by the ZF to protest alongside them. This was our decision and we imposed our presence upon them. The ZF had no choice but to share the space with us."

Here, by the way, is the link to Ahava's shop online; it needs all the love it can muster:
http://www.ahava.co.uk/mailorder/mailorder.html