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Israel Tag

Posted by Jonathan Levin on March 24, 2016 4 Comments
Illinois has become the first U.S. state to identify specific companies it will no longer invest state assets in because they engage in the Boycott, Divest and Sanction ("BDS") campaign.  LI has discussed various state anti-BDS laws here. The Illinois Investment Policy Board included eleven companies on its new "Prohibited Investment List" because those companies boycott Israel.  The list also includes five companies for their business in or with Iran and dozens of companies for their activities in Sudan. The listed companies have a grace period before the state actually begins divesting.  Under Illinois General Statute 1-110.16:
(e) The Illinois Investment Policy Board shall adhere to the following procedures for companies on the list of restricted companies:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2016 9 Comments
Among the last remaining Yemeni Jews secretly were rescued and brought to Israel to escape persecution and increased danger in Yemen. The once thriving Yemeni Jewish community of over 50,000 mostly were rescued just after Israel's founding, in what became known as Operation Magic Carpet. Watch the film The Forgotten Refugees for the story of the over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries. This last group brought an ancient Torah Scroll, believed to be several hundred years old. The Times of Israel reports:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 21, 2016 18 Comments
All three remaining presidential candidates are scheduled to address attendees at AIPAC's annual conference this evening. Donald Trump kicked off tonight's keynote speeches at 5:00 PM EST (see here for our coverage).

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 21, 2016 22 Comments
All three remaining Republican presidential candidates are slated to speak at AIPAC's annual conference this evening, followed by Speaker Paul Ryan. Donald Trump is scheduled to speak first, beginning at 5:00 PM EST. However, it appears everything is out of order. Kasich and Speaker Ryan have spoken, still awaiting Cruz and Trump. Stay tuned!

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 15, 2016 1 Comment
Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, the movement that led to the creation of Israel, wrote in 1902, “Once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.” Today, the State of Israel is fulfilling Herzl's dream in the continent of Africa. The chief architect of Israel’s Africa Policy, Prime Minister Golda Meir regarded Israel's support for Africa as a “Jewish imperative”. Since 1950s, Israel has been involved in areas like agriculture, water management, higher education, vocational training, healthcare and industrial development in several African countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Now the Jewish State is seeking to renew its historic bond with the African continent.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 11, 2016 11 Comments
Disruption of Israeli or pro-Israel speakers and events is becoming all too common on college campuses, including by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and similar groups. The purpose is to make sure that Israeli and pro-Israel points of view cannot be presented without incident, and to create a campus climate of intimidation. We have reported on several such recent disruptions, including at University of Minnesota Law School, UT-Austin, Kings College (London), U. Windsor, University of South Florida, and an LGBTQ Shabbat Event in Chicago. Even events that are not disrupted are protested, such as the appearance of actor Michael Douglas and human rights hero Natan Sharansky at Brown University The latest was the disruption of an appearance at UC-Davis by Israeli diplomat George Deek, who also happens to be an Arab Christian. Israel On Campus Coalition reports:

Posted by Miriam Elman on March 10, 2016 7 Comments
Most people around the world firmly hold to the view that Israel’s residential housing communities built in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank are “illegal”. For years, this fictitious claim has fed a wild campaign of incitement and ‘lawfare’ against Israel, based on the myth that Jews have no legal right to live or make their homes on Palestinian-claimed lands in the West Bank. But the truth is that Israel isn’t an unlawful occupying power—certainly not according to any binding international laws. Now, Northwestern University Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich, a leading expert in the fields of constitutional law, international law, and the intersection of law and economics, is on a speaking tour of universities and colleges to explain why. Eugene Kontorovich, headshot Below I summarize the legal case for Israel’s West Bank settlements according to Kontorovich. A 50 minute video of his remarks is also embedded.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 09, 2016 2 Comments
Bassem Tamimi has been on these pages quite frequently in the past half year, most of it related to his appearance at an Ithaca, NY, third grade class as part of an anti-Israel propaganda event organized by local Jewish Voice for Peace activist Ariel Gold (now employed by Code Pink) and one of the teachers. Tamimi is best known for using children, including his own, to confront Israeli soldiers in the hope of creating viral video and photo images. He has been quite successful at this, and many of the images resulting from these provocations have become international hits, such as this video of his daughter from several years ago: And this more recent incident:

Posted by David Gerstman on March 09, 2016 11 Comments
Ahead of Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the White House is considering new efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
The internal discussions are aimed at offering a blueprint for future Israeli-Palestinian talks in a bid to advance a critical foreign-policy initiative that has made little progress during Mr. Obama's two terms in the White House, the officials said. The strongest element on the list of options under consideration would be U.S. support for a Security Council resolution calling on both sides to compromise on key issues, something Israel had opposed and Washington has repeatedly vetoed in the past. Other initiatives could include a presidential speech and a joint statement from the Middle East Quartet, an international group comprising the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.
According to the Journal, the President Barack Obama hasn't made up his mind but "is considering a range of options." In any case no decision is expected until later this year.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 08, 2016 9 Comments
Resuming a pattern seen during the Second Intifada, and intermittently since then, there was a wave of terror attacks launched by Palestinians just as a major diplomatic event was occurring, in this case the arrival of Vice President Joe Biden. There were several knife and gun attacks today, the most deadly being in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv and a frequent tourist stop. American veteran and Vanderbilt University student Taylor Force was stabbed to death, and his wife seriously injured. The sad news was announced by Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos:
It is with extreme sadness that I write to inform you that Taylor Force, a student at our Owen Graduate School of Management, was fatally wounded March 8 in a stabbing attack while on an Owen school trip to Tel Aviv, Israel. All other Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff on the trip are safe. Taylor embarked on this trip to expand his understanding of global entrepreneurship and also to share his insights and knowledge with start-ups in Israel. He exemplified the spirit of discovery, learning and service that is the hallmark of our wonderful Owen community. This horrific act of violence has robbed our Vanderbilt family of a young hopeful life and all of the bright promise that he held for bettering our greater world. Taylor’s family and his friends and colleagues have our deepest sympathy and utmost support.
This video shows the terrorist trying to escape. Fortunately, he was shot dead before he could kill anyone else, though accordingly to the Jerusalem Post he did manage to wound several others:

Posted by Jonathan Levin on March 08, 2016 9 Comments
A group of Palestinians led by professional provocateur and propagandist Bassem Al-Tamimi has filed suit against a slew of Americans, American businesses, American organizations, international businesses and Israeli entities.  The Complaint is embedded at the bottom of this post. Altogether nineteen Plaintiffs have brought claims against fifty-three defendants.  Plaintiffs' attorneys are Martin F. McMahon, a colleague in his law firm, and Sameer Jarrah, who claims a license to practice law in Jordan. Al-Tamimi is a familiar figure.  He is at the heart of LI's ongoing battle with Ithica, New York's public school system (where he encouraged third-graders to become "freedom fighters for Palestine"), peddles the blood libel that Israel harvests and sells Palestinians' organs, and uses his own daughter (and other children) as props in his war against Israel (more here).

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 08, 2016 3 Comments
John Kerry’s Iranian “partner for peace” has spoken again. This time calling for an all-out war against Israel, the only trustworthy U.S. alley in the Middle East. Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif, who also negotiated the now-infamous Nuclear Deal, seems to enjoy a great personal relationship with Kerry and they both even call each other by their first names. According to Financial Times, Javad and John are “two affable men who struck a relationship that transcended the stubborn enmity between their nations.” President Obama too has a great regard for the Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khamenei, or as he likes to calls him, the “Supreme Leader.” President Obama praised Ayatollah's Fatwa or religious edict against nuclear weapons.

Posted by Arsen Ostrovsky on March 07, 2016 5 Comments
Many critics of the current Israeli government, both domestic and external, waste no opportunity charging it with causing the Jewish state’s isolation. Claims that Israel is ‘totally isolated’, has become some kind of reflexive cause célèbre. Yet the reality could not be further from the truth. Take just last Monday alone. In the space of 24 hours, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu met the new Egyptian Ambassador (the first after a three year absence), with relations between Jerusalem and Cairo being at a recent all-time high. The Prime Minister also announced a trip to Kenya and Africa (following the Kenyan President’s very successful visit here last week).

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 06, 2016 17 Comments
Palestinian Media Watch is an indispensible resource for monitoring and documenting incitement on official Palestinian Authority and Hamas television. We often embed and link to its YouTube postings of Palestinian TV broadcasts. Because they are fluent in Arabic, they perform the function not only of pulling the video but also providing English language translation in the video captions. Pal Media Watch thus documents the two-sided statements of Palestinian leaders like Mahmoud Abbas, who preach peace to Westerners, but hate and violence to their own people.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 03, 2016 2 Comments
Amid renewed tensions between Iran and the Sunni Arab States, the six member Gulf Cooperation Council has declared Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. Since 1980s, Iran has been exercising control over Lebanon through its proxy Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist military outfit. Tehran-funded Hezbollah does not only controls Lebanon but also carries out terrorist operations on behalf of its Iranian masters across the globe. Thousands of Hezbollah fighters are currently fighting alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on behalf of Assad Regime in the Syrian civil war. The power vacuum created by President Obama’s hasty retreat from the Middle East has been rapidly filled by Iran and its proxies. Iranian expansion has now created an unbroken corridor of control extending from the Gulf of Persia to the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon. Flushed with fresh cash, thanks to Obama-Kerry Nuclear Deal that unlocked $100 billion in frozen funds, Iranian Regime is now capable of bankrolling its proxies throughout the Arab World.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on March 02, 2016 1 Comment
Opponents of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction ("BDS") campaign against Israel won a significant tactical victory in hostile territory last month. In January, the city of Aviles, Spain - just inland of the Bay of Biscay on the northern shore of the Iberian Peninsula -  passed a resolution adopting BDS.  The Association for Action and Communication in the Middle East ("ACOM") a pro-Israel organization based in Madrid, filed a discrimination suit against the municipality. According to the Spanish-language El Commercio, in late February the city voted to rescind the BDS resolution, apparently as part of a settlement in the ACOM suit.  Google's translator function is passable:
Action Association and Communication in the Middle East (ACOM), which aims to improve all kinds of relations between Spain and Israel, hailed yesterday's decision of the City of Aviles to withdraw the boycott of Israeli products after the plenary session on Saturday approved, with the votes of PSOE, PP and Citizens, the annulment of the declaration last January 21 the Consistory incorporated Aviles to BDS Network (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against colonization, apartheid and Israeli occupation Palestine.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on February 29, 2016 1 Comment
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a judgment allowing victims of Iranian terror to attach a judgment owed to Iran.  This is separate from the Bank Markazi case argued before the Supreme Court last month. In this case -  Ministry Of Defense And Support For The Armed forces Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran v. Frym - ten victims of Iranian terrorism who hold valid judgments against Iran from previous cases seek to collect by attaching a judgment owed to Iran in yet another previous dispute.  All of the victim/Plaintiffs are U.S. citizens and have successfully navigated a welter of procedural and jurisprudential pitfalls. The case is a good reminder of Iran's global reach and commitment to terror.  It's also fairly complicated, so bear down.

1997 Ben Yehuda Bombing

Nine of the Plaintiffs seeing to enforce judgements against Iran were injured or had loved ones injured in the same attack.  According to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia:
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