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Israel Tag

On July 30, 2016, I wrote about a Pallywood video which was going viral, for all the wrong reasons, VIDEO: Disgusting Palestinian child exploitation for the cameras A Palestinian father, in front of a professional Palestinian videographer, pushed his young child towards Israeli Border Police, yelled at the son to throw rocks (which he did in a childish way), and then taunted the police to shoot the child so that the cameras could capture the killing. Palestinian child pushed towards soldier video screen shot throwing rock Here is the original full video:

I have documented how some Palestinians, such as Bassem Tamimi, have created an industry of exploiting children for the cameras in a very dangerous way. They have the children confront soldiers with the cameras rolling, hoping for a reaction and viral video or image. The video and images are crucial in the propaganda war on Israel. Here is another example. A young child, maybe 3 years old, was photographed heroically confronting Israeli border police. It had all the hallmarks of a viral shot, tweeted by anti-Israel Twitter account Abbs Winston and retweeted by "Hamas Lawyer" Stanley Cohen and over 150 others: https://twitter.com/AbbsWinston/status/759052506605293569

On July 18, 2016, in a well-attended public ceremony in downtown Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) honored the life and work of Ahmad Ibrahim Jbara. Jbara, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Sukkar, was a terrorist who masterminded a deadly 1975 bombing attack in Jerusalem in which 15 people were murdered and nearly 80 wounded when a refrigerator packed with explosives detonated. For this heinous crime, Abu Sukkar was sentenced to life plus 30 years. In an Israeli prison, he would become among the most well-compensated individuals within the Palestinian community, benefiting from a generous monthly salary bestowed on him by the PA. In 2003, Israel released him along with 99 other prisoners as a ‘good will gesture’ to the PA on the eve of a summit meeting in Jordan.

The Turkish purge of academia, which has been ongoing long before the recent failed coup, has accelerated since the coup attempt. Over 1500 university Deans were dismissed, travel for faculty restricted, and faculty abroad ordered home. On Saturday, July 23, 2016, President Erdogan expanded the purge, as we reported earlier. The Christian Science Monitor further reports:
President Tayyip Erdogan tightened his grip on Turkey on Saturday, ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions in his first decree since imposing a state of emergency after the failed military coup....

Yesterday I asked the question, in light of the academic purge in Turkey, Will anti-Israel academic boycotters now also boycott Turkish universities? As noted in that post, over 250 university presidents and major university associations have condemned the academic boycott of Israel. In particular, the December 2013 adoption of the academic boycott of Israel by the American Studies Association was condemned as violation of academic freedom. Read the dozens and dozens of statements describing how the ASA has violated academic freedom here.

At group calling itself Atlanta is Ready (#ATLisREADY), aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement, recently issued a set of demands to the Mayor of Atlanta, including:
We demand a termination to APD’s involvement in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, that trains our officers in Apartheid Israel
The Mayor rejected the demand, finding that counter-terrorism training benefits the Atlanta Police Department's ability to protect Americans: You could chalk this incident up to just some isolated ploy by local activists, but that would be a mistake. Rather, there has been a multi-year effort by left-wing and Islamist anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and openly anti-Semitic activists to hijack racial tensions in the United States and redirect that anger towards Israel.

The use of a truck as a terror weapon in Nice has shocked so many people not only because of the death toll, but also because the terrorist turned an ordinary device into a weapon. That was not the first time in France that a vehicle has been used in such a way. But in Israel the use of cars as weapons became commonplace since October 2015, when the current wave of Palestinian terror started. While usually referred to as the Knife or Stabbing Intifada, in fact shootings and car rammings have been used with great frequency. The car ramming terror was most intense in the last three months of 2015, with high density locations like bus stops a target. This video, in which a bus stop was rammed and the terrorist got out with a meat cleaver and attacked one of the injured people before being shot, received a lot of attention, including at Legal Insurrection:

An upcoming startup event promises to bring hundreds of Israeli and Indian entrepreneurs to collaborate in creating healthcare solutions for India. India's largest startup incubator T-Hub has tied up with Pears Foundation to organise the first ‘India-Israel Med4Dev Hackathon’ from July 22nd to 24th, 2016. The organisers expect more than 150 binational teams to participate in the startup event that takes place simultaneously in Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Pegged presently at $100 billion, healthcare is one of the biggest and the fastest growing sectors in India. The two-trillion Asian economy is growing at a rate of 8 percent per annum. India's growing middle has created a huge market for modern and efficient healthcare. The healthcare sector in India is projected to reach $280 billion by 2020.

In April I wrote about Israeli tour guide Kay Wilson, originally from Britain, and American tourist Kristine Luken, Britain outraged by Palestinian payments to terrorists “who left this British woman for dead”:
I don’t know Kay Wilson. But I’ve seen her on social media, both Facebook and Twitter. She frequently makes reference to how she was carved up and butchered by Palestinians, but harbors no hatred of Palestinians. Israelly Cool has extensive archives on Kay Wilson. I never really knew her story, though. But that story is in the news in Britain as part of the British coming to terms with their role in supporting terrorism against Jews in Israel through financial aid to charities and the Palestinian Authority.... Kay Wilson is in the news because The Daily Mail has an extenstive write-up on her story, and how the terrorists who butchered her are being paid by the Palestinian Authority while in prison, a common benefit bestowed on those who murder or maim Jews.
Accompanying Wilson that day was Luken, exploring the Christian roots in the Holy Land. Luken did not survive.

On Tuesday morning July 12, 2016, the family of Hallel Yaffa Ariel, the 13-year-old Israeli girl who was brutally stabbed to death on June 30th as she lay asleep in her bed, was granted special permission to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—the most sacred site in Judaism. Hallel’s anguished parents, Rina and Amihai Ariel, had reportedly requested permission to ‘pray for the ascent of Hallel’s soul’ at the holy place that was dear to her and their hearts. [caption id="attachment_177363" align="alignnone" width="550"]Credit: The Times of Israel Credit: The Times of Israel[/caption] Rina Ariel had written directly to PM Netanyahu asking him to personally intercede. Via a YouTube video that went viral over the last few days, they also invited their fellow Israeli citizens to join them in the special prayer service:

Palestinian incitement to hate and attack Jews has been a frequent topic here lately. It is not just a key cause of the current so-called "Knife Intifada" (which also involves shooting and other forms of attack), but also an impediment to any chance of peace. It is a top-down (from the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, and Hamas) and bottom-up (social media) phenomenon that is particularly focused on young children and teens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBtEDMsl_SM Here is another example, from PalMedia Watch:

I originally set out to write this post two weeks ago. June 25, to be precise, as part of my ongoing chronicling of the lives and deaths of Israeli victims of Palestinian terror. But then there were two high profile terror attacks, the stabbing death of 13-year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel as she slept in her bed; and the shooting attack on a family car, killing father-of-ten children Michael "Miki" Mark in front of his wife and some of his children. Writing about those attacks and others, and the fall out -- including how the mother of the murderer of the 13-year old said she was proud of her son -- kept me from finishing this post, the first draft of which was June 23. It's a sad sign of the times. I can't keep up with the number and pace of deadly Palestinian attacks, one more horrible than the next. This post is about victims of Palestinian terror Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, who were shot to death in front of their children on October 1, 2015:

Over the last few weeks, hundreds of thousands of devout Muslims were guaranteed unfettered access to their holy spaces on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount—the most sacred site in Judaism. Throughout the holy month of Ramadan, which concludes on July 5, additional units of Israel’s National Police were mobilized to ensure that worshippers could safely pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site for Islam.

Protection of Muslim Worshippers

https://twitter.com/ambassadorlenk/status/747704636342149121

We reported recently on the murder of 13-year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel while she slept in her bed, 13-year old Israeli girl stabbed to death in bed by 17-year old Arab terrorist. Hallel Ariel 13 year old Israeli girl stabbed to death with family The funeral was heartbreaking. You don't need a translation as Hallel's mother spoke at her funeral:
Sobbing, Rena Ariel caressed the blue shroud-covered body of her daughter Hallel Yaffa, 13, before uttering her final parting words to the girl who had been a brilliant student and who loved to dance.

Elie Wiesel, a beacon of light, died today at age 87 after a prolonged illness. The Times of Israel reports:
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel died on Saturday at the age of 87 after a prolonged illness. A survivor of the Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi death camps, Wiesel dedicated much of his life to Holocaust education and promoting tolerance around the world. . . . .  Soon after he won the Nobel prize, Wiesel and his wife Marion founded The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity with a mission to “combat indifference, intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality”.

A Palestinian shot and murdered Michael "Miki" Mark, an Israeli father of 10, as he drove near Hebron. His wife and two of their children sustained injuries in the attack. From The Jerusalem Post:
In Friday’s incident, the rain of bullets against the vehicle caused it to overturn. Paramedics who arrived at the scene found Mark in the upside down vehicle, while the other passengers had been managed to exit the car.

The core problem in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is not "the occupation" of Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") or the lawful Israeli military blockade of Gaza to keep out Iranian armaments. The problem, to which the Western world is just waking up, is the pervasive top-down and bottom-up incitement against Jews and Israel in Palestinian society in which even the youngest children are taught to hate Jews and to kill Jews by whatever means possible, including stabbing, shooting and ramming with cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLIzNGb9gI We have highlighted this problem for years, including these recent posts: