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Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 13, 2016 5 Comments
The so-called Knife or Stabbing Intifada has not been limited to knives or stabbing. There have been shootings, bombings and car-rammings. But one common denominator has been the "lone wolf" attacker -- including women and early teens as young as 13. Lone wolf attacks were actively encouraged throughout anti-Israel social media, and the attackers were treated as heroes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpwFTzRrOsU&feature=youtu.be

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 13, 2016 8 Comments
Anti-Israel Egyptian judo fighter Islam el-Shehaby received backlash on Friday when he didn't shake the hand or bow to his Israeli opponent Or Sasson, who defeated him on Friday. In response, the Egyptian Olympic Committee announced they will open an investigation into his actions. Judo Israeli Egyptian refuses to shake hand El-Shehaby received pressure from Muslims not to fight against the Israeli, but the EOC threatened to strip him of his citizenship if he withdrew. He immediately retired after the loss.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 12, 2016 24 Comments
Israel has faced discrimination at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby refused to boycott his match against Israeli judoja Or Sasson. One of the fears of anti-Israel social media, which demanded a boycott, was that El Shehaby would lose, and thereby not only normalize Israel's participation but humiliate the Muslim world. El Shehaby lost. Egypt Israel Judoka Perhaps fearing the internet reaction, Shehaby refused to shake Sasson's hand afterwards.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 10, 2016 5 Comments
While it is not new, there is an intensifying push in progressive circles, particularly among leftist Jews, to blame everything wrong in the Israeli-Arab conflict on the "occupation" of Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank) by Israel. If only Israel would withdraw, then all would be good, it is claimed. Never mind that there is no evidence the result would be anything other than another launching pad to attack as happened when Israel left Gaza in 2005; or that Muslims will accept any Jewish national entity, regardless of shape, to occupy any portion of what now is Israel. Such facts don't get in the way of the narrative, which assesses terrorism as a result of the "occupation" and plays fast and loose with concepts of international law. (See, The Legal Case for Israel  and The Legal Case for Israel’s ‘Settlements’, as to why the "occupation" is not illegal, nor are the settlements.) This inverted assessment of terrorism is on full display in an Op-Ed in The Providence Journal by Nina Tannenwald, Director of the International Relations Program, and Senior Lecturer in Political Science, at The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University .

Posted by Miriam Elman on August 09, 2016 4 Comments
On this day 15 years ago, a Hamas terror gang based in the West Bank executed a bombing attack on a busy restaurant in the center of Jerusalem.  In the horrific act of savagery 15 people were killed, including 7 children. Two U.S. citizens were among those murdered. Four additional Americans were wounded — one severely. In total, some 130 were injured with varying degrees of severity by the “human bomb” and his team of accomplices. The mastermind was Ahlam Tamimi, relative of Bassem Tamimi, and a hero to this day in her home village of Nabi Saleh where international activists still protest the security barrier constructed in response to the Sbarro and dozens of other suicide bombings. Tamimi MEMRI revised 2012 In this post, I revisit the 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on August 09, 2016 2 Comments
Today, around a million women work in India's Information Technology (IT) sector, with their strength expected to double in next couple of years. Engineering and technology sectors, previously regarded as male bastions, too have undergone change with 20-30 percent of engineering graduate now being women -- a rise from 2-8 percent back in the 80s. Despite such promising trends, women are still underrepresented among start up founders, tech entrepreneurs and corporate leaders in India. In IT sector alone, where women now make up 45 percent of all the new intakes, only 20 percent of the managerial positions are held by women. With series of initiatives in recent years, Israel is playing the role of a catalyst in fostering Indian women entrepreneurs and startup founders.

Posted by Miriam Elman on August 07, 2016 1 Comment
On Sunday, July 31, 2016, I drove down to Ithaca, NY to give a talk titled “Hate Speech and the New Antisemitism: Why Anti-Zionist Extremism is on the Rise and What We Can Do to Stop It”. The lecture was sponsored by the Ithaca Area United Jewish Community (IAUJC). The Ithaca Coalition for Unity and Cooperation in the Middle East (ICUCME), a local grassroots anti-racism organization, assisted with the event logistics and publicity. A video of my 60 minute lecture is now available on You Tube (full embed lower in the post). Below I highlight its main themes, breaking the hour-long lecture into segments so that readers can click on to those portions of the talk that are of most interest.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 03, 2016 11 Comments
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:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 30, 2016 7 Comments
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

Posted by Miriam Elman on July 25, 2016 2 Comments
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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 23, 2016 5 Comments
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....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 21, 2016 2 Comments
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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 18, 2016 8 Comments
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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2016 6 Comments
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:

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 14, 2016 3 Comments
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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 14, 2016 2 Comments
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.

Posted by Miriam Elman on July 13, 2016 10 Comments
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:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 12, 2016 2 Comments
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:
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