Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Opuscula

One thing
At a time

THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON TODAY, 23 January 2020/25 Tevet 5780 that it is hard to know on what to focus.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN is to host the anti-Jew, anti-Israel “2020 Youth for Palestine Conference,” on Jan. 25-26 on the campus in Ann Arbor. It is being hosted by Midwest Students for Justice in Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality.

The United With Israel (WIN) web site, https://tinyurl.com/vp2g7m7, is asking its followers to “Demand University of Michigan Cancel the Event!” and provides the names of the university’s president and of its chief flack.

UM is notorious for support of BDS and generally anything against Jews or Israel.

Interestingly, BDS does more damage to residents of PLO-controlled Israel and to Israelis. Where BDS has success, Israeli firms that hired residents from PLO and Hamas territories lose jobs when the Israeli firms fold or relocate.

The pro-PLO groups are following the nazis whom many supported during WW2.

Goebbels’ “Big Lie”

Joseph Goebbels told his fellow nazis and their friends, including Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” (https://tinyurl.com/yy9scb8x)

Substitute "PLO" for "state."

Anyone who has lived for more than a few weeks in Israel KNOWS that what the propagandists of the PLO, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad are claiming is, in blunt terms, bovine excrement. Muslims from the PLO-controlled areas come — in some case, “came” — into Israel to work for better wages than they could get where they live — IF there were available jobs. “Came” into Israeli to work for Israeli-owned operations until BDSers forced the businesses to relocate or fold. Soda Stream is a prime, but not the only, example of BDS’ impact on the residents of the PLO-controlled areas.

If life in Israel is so bad, why do so many Muslims continue to live in Israel. They can sell and move to any of 50 Muslim-dominated countries in the world. (https://tinyurl.com/wb9e2aw)

FOR ALL THAT this scrivener is against WIN’s appeal.

The FIRST Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states clearly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Let the ignorant bigots speak, and assure that those protesting the conference do not interfere with the event.

At the same time, assure that Jewish groups can hold their own “conference” a day later, with the same guarantees that the idiot bigots who came for the pro-PLO event are kept at bay so the Jews’ conference can proceed sans violent interference.

That should satisfy the bigots and the Jews and the U.S. Constitution.

French church is extra-territorial?

According to the left-wing Israeli publication HaAretz (https://tinyurl.com/wc95un), the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, confronted Israeli security in the Old City of Jerusalem Wednesday, yelling at them not to enter the Church of St. Anne, which is considered to be French territory.

Does any other country allow such “extra-territorial” churches?

According to numerous web sources, the church is considered French property. It is not an embassy or consulate, but apparently Israel allows the French to claim it.

I wonder what the French thought when “during the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, Saladin converted the church into an institution of Muslim theological study” (https://tinyurl.com/rqv7fv5)

In any event, after paying his obsequious visit to the terrorist Abu Mazen, a/k/a Mahmoud Abbas (whose 4-year term staring in 2005 now is in its 14th year), Macron visited the Catholic church where he allegedly told Israeli security forces that "Everybody knows the rules ... Outside, please," he can be heard screaming at Israeli security forces.

Were it not for the national embarrassment of having a visiting “dignitary” (Macon) insulted, injured, or murdered by one of his many enemies on Israeli soil, Israel would not need to follow him around.

France is one of the nations where Jews live in safety — written in sarcasm. French Jews are some of the most threatened peoples in Europe today.

This scrivener can understand a consulate or embassy being “extra-territorial,” but a CHURCH?

A cursory search of the Internet failed to find any “extra-territorial” churches in the U.S. outside of a consulate of embassy.

Perhaps someone claims the Catholic church in Bet Lehem (Bethleham) also is “extra-territorial.” Apparently such claims mean nothing to the Muslim terrorists who took over the facility. Where was the French, or Italian, or even Vatican outrage at the affrontery of the Muslims.

France, as anyone who has studied French-Israeli relations knows, is politically two-faced; selling arms to Israel and then, abandoning Israel and selling arms to its ememies.

Given that France caved to the nazis without a great deal of fuss, it’s no wonder than its president du jour tries to restore respect to the country by behaving foolishly in Israel.

He should be glad Israeli security follows him wherever he goes.

BBC does it — again

Honest Reporting shares
At the end of an otherwise nice profile of Holocaust survivor Rena Quint, reporter Orla Guerin goes on to editorialize about Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinians. (https://tinyurl.com/wtrwyj2)

It has nothing to do with the story at hand, except in the minds of Guerin and her BBC editors. (Watch https://vimeo.com/386664438. Guerin’s key quote is at 4:12.)

”The state of Israel is now a regional power. For decades, it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.” Orla Guerin, BBC News, Yad Vashem.

I don’t know if the BBC mimics the New York Times or if the Times mimics the BBC. When it comes to “reporting” (read “editorializing”) about Israel, both leave something to be desired, i.e., truth and fairness.

Perhaps Ms. Guerin failed Middle East History 101.

In 1947/48, Israel agreed to occupy only a sliver of land originally allotted to it by the political power of the time; the same powers that created, in 1921, both the modern Kingdom of Jordan and appointed a foreign ruler — that is, from another Middle East “state” — to rule over the few indigious inhabitants of the interior (what now defines the Hasemite kingdom of Jordan.)

When Israel declared its independence in 1948, it was attacked from three sides by its neighbors who swore to drive the Jews into the sea.

Toward that end, many Muslims fled towns in Israel’s sliver of land and many more followed the mufti’s word to get out of the way of the glorious Arab armies coming to liberate all of Palestine and free it of Jews.

The attacks failed, and failed again in June, 1967, and again in October 1973. In each case, the attackers lost land as the price of attacking Israel. With the peace agreement between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, Egypt regained the Sinai (but refused to take back the Gaza Strip).

The so-called “Palestinian territories” Ms. Guerin claims Israel is occupying include Jerusalem, Israel’s capital since King David. It also “occupies” other land the invaders lost to modern Israel. It excludes PLO-controlled land.

Arabs in Israeli “occupied” land are better off financially that their brothers in PLO-occupied lands. They have better medical care, better educational opportunities, better job prospects than those Arabs in PLO-controlled lands.

Unlike their brothers, they are free to travel on Israeli passports to any country that accepts those passports. Meanwhile, Arabs in PLO and Hamas-controlled areas must travel to Europe or other Arab nations. The Muslim-dominated nations typically allow “Palestinians” in to work as temporary residents and the “Palestinians” often complain of discrimination among their fellow Muslims.

As an after thought, it is the “Palestinians” who will always see their nation "through the prism of persecution and survival.” Until such time as Abu Mazen and his kind are willing to come to the table and seriously negotiate sans pre-conditions, the Muslims of the PLO-controlled territories and Gaza have no hope of statehood.

Too many times when they condescended to show up, they refused all Israeli concessions and, in return, increased attacks on Israeli citizens.


עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Oxfam: Politically blind
Or anti-peace in Mid-East

It seems hatred of anything "Israel" blinds eyes to reality.

The whole Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is, at best, short-sighted and, at worst, hinders any possibility of the elusive "peace in the middle east."

Case in point: Oxfam's boycott of SodaStream.

Oxfam is upset because a formerly British company, now owned by Israelis, is situated in what a BBC employee termed an area that "Under most interpretations of international law - although not Israel's - building homes and businesses on such territory is illegal." Never mind that the statement is false; it's the BBC after all.

Oxfam insists - based on input from Palestine Solidarity Campaign , that SodaStream is treating its Palestinian employees badly, that the mere fact the company is located on land (a) originally on the Israeli side of the UN partition plan and (b) captured during Jordan's war of aggression in 1967.

Apparently it was inconvenient for Oxfam and the BBC to visit the SodaStream site in Ma'ale Adumim; perhaps they couldn’t get past the stop sign (see photograph from article, below).

Guess which buildings in the picture are "pre-49" and "post-49." Click on the photo to see a larger version.

The leed paragraph of a Judy Maltz article in the left-leaning Israeli newspaper HaAretz seems to portend a balanced presentation of the Oxfam-SodaStream issue. The reporter wrote:

"SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum on Sunday accused Oxfam of providing funding to the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israel and said that an invitation he recently issued to the president of the organization to visit the company’s West Bank factory had been “ignored.”"

Birnbaum suggested that the reason American actress Scarlett Johansson dumped Oxfam in favor of representing SodaStream was "perhaps because of financial motivations, they are prepared to sacrifice the jobs of 1,300 people, including 950 Palestinians and Arabs, and I cannot see, and she cannot see either, how that would advance peace and humanity in the region.”

The HaAretz article continued:

" In response to this charge, the Oxfam spokesman said: “Oxfam wants to see a just and lasting agreement that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. We support a two-state solution, and we believe that settlements in the West Bank are an obstacle to achieving that peace. Any company located in the settlements contributes to their viability and legitimizes them. This is not about labor practices or SodaStream in particular, but the bigger issue of settlements, which continue to take land and resources from Palestinian communities that we work with. Some Palestinians in the West Bank do find work in Israeli settlements, but this is often because they are restricted from pursuing other livelihoods and have little other choice. For example, Oxfam works in Palestinian farming communities – they have lost much of their land to settlements and they are rarely allowed to build new wells or get enough water. Unable to make a living, their only option is often found in settlement factories and farms, which receive government tax breaks, support, and don’t face any of the restrictions on building and development that Palestinian communities nearby do.” "

When reporters do visit

Unlike the BBC writers working from anti-Israel handouts, a Times of Israel article led off with:

MISHOR ADUMIM, Israel — The SodaStream factory, situated just off the highway leading down from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, was abuzz on Sunday with journalists from across the globe trying to get a glimpse of the action.

"The tour of the carbonated beverage-maker plant was organized especially for curious foreign correspondents on the eve of the Super Bowl, which featured an ad starring its glamorous spokeswoman Scarlett Johansson. The factory, SodaStream’s charismatic US-born CEO Daniel Birnbaum proudly declared, used to produce munitions for the Israeli army. It was bought in 1996 by the fizzy drink start-up, seeking to better the world by doing away with polluting plastic bottles.

The article continues:

Today, the Mishor Adumim plant — the first of eight Israeli locations and 22 worldwide — employs 1,300 workers; 950 Arabs (450 Israeli and 500 Palestinian) and 350 Israeli Jews. Salaries and work benefits — management asserts and workers confirm — are equal for all workers in comparable jobs, regardless of ethnicity or citizenship. The factory secures Israeli work permits for its Palestinian employees as well as rides from their home and back, SodaStream’s Chief Operating Officer Yossi Azarzar told The Times of Israel.

Palestinians and Israelis work at the SodaStream factory in the Mishor Adumim industrial park, February 2, 2014. (Photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Birnbaum, the CEO, was clearly cognizant of the dispute. He spoke of Jewish-Arab coexistence as he stood next to a veiled young Arab woman working on the assembly line across from an older woman with a black head covering who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union in 1993.

Zooming in on Birnbaum and the two women, the camera crews and microphone-holding reporters overlooked another young Palestinian woman standing nearby, fitting plastic valves into a large metal tray. Nahida Fares, 28, graduated Nablus’s A-Najjah University in primary school education. She began working for Israeli companies two years ago, when she could find no work in her field in Ramallah, where she lives with her husband and infant child.

“There are no job opportunities in the West Bank,” Fares told The Times of Israel. “Even the jobs that do exist pay no more than NIS 1,500-2,000 ($430-570) a month.” Fares now earns triple those sums. Fares’s husband, a first lieutenant in the Palestinians’ prestigious Preventive Security Force, earns NIS 2,000 ($570) per month after 10 years of service.

According to the "unbiased" BBC

The "unbiased" BBC's Middle East correspondent, Kevin Connolly, pretending to write a news article, slants the issues at once against SodaStream and Israel, quoting selected sources such as Sarah Colborne, campaign director for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Connolly editorializes - writes sans attribution- that:

"The boycott movement is important.

"Supporters of the Palestinians have hit on a tactic that might encourage ordinary consumers to start differentiating products from the factories and farms of Israel on the one hand and Israeli settlements on the other.

"Israel is worried - especially at the prospect of the movement gathering pace if peace talks with the Palestinians collapse."

Possibly what bother's Mr. Connolly is the fact that SodaStream no longer is a English firm. In two of his editorial's opening paragraphs, he opines that:

"The company - now under Israeli ownership - likes to emphasise its green credentials, trading on the idea that making your own cola at home in a re-usable bottle saves plastic bottles and therefore, ultimately, saves the planet.

The SodaStream has always exhibited a Dr Who-style capacity for self-reinvention - it started out as a machine for producing fresh soda water in the homes of the wealthy and well-connected in Edwardian England."

Sources

Kevin Connolly/BBC editorial:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25966781

Judy Miltz/HaAretz article:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.571986

Elhanan Miller/Times of Israel article:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/at-sodastream-palestinians-hope-their-bubble-wont-burst/?utm_source=Start-Up+Daily&utm_campaign=b736272ff2-2014_02_04_SUI2_4_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fb879fad58-b736272ff2-54610173

Stand With Us YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDdH_7GjW40