Dennis Ross in Israel voor voorbereiding vredesonderhandelingen

Officieel gaan de onderhandelingen tussen Netanjahoe en Abbas van start zonder voorwaarden vooraf, wat wordt gezien als een overwinning voor Netanjahoe. Maar inofficieel heeft Netanjahoe mogelijk wel zaken toegezegd aan de Amerikanen, zoals een stilzwijgende verlenging van de bouwstop in de nederzettingen, uitgezonderd Oost-Jeruzalem en wellicht nog een of twee grote blokken. Mogelijk hebben zowel de VS als het Kwartet Abbas wel degelijk garanties gegeven over de grenzen van een toekomstige staat en het tijdsschema van de onderhandelingen. Dat hij desondanks als verliezer van deze ronde wordt gezien komt door zijn eigen hoge eisen en het stellen van steeds maar weer nieuwe voorwaarden aan onderhandelingen. Als je hoog in een boom klimt is het lastig om weer omlaag te komen.

 

RP

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Ross in Israel for meetings ahead of peace talks

http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0810/Ross_in_Israel_for_meetings_ahead_of_peace_talks.html

Top National Security Council Middle East strategist Dennis Ross is in Israel, Israeli sources tell POLITICO, ahead of the launch of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington next week.

"Ross is here 'to resolve the settlement freeze triangle,'" an Israeli source says, referring to whether Israel will agree to extend a freeze on Israeli settlement building currently due to expire Sept. 26.

Ross is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and lead Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, the Israeli source told POLITICO.

Netanyahu has publicly insisted that there should be no preconditions on the direct talks set to get underway next week. But there have been mixed indications about whether Netanyahu has reached certain confidential understandings with President Obama about restraint on settlement activity and other confidence-building steps, including in a White House meeting last month.

Ross's visit could be about helping to clarify what Netanyahu may agree to ahead of the talks now that the Palestinians have agreed to direct talks, and what he might consider agreeing to after he hears from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and President Obama next week, former U.S. peace negotiator Aaron Miller suggested.

The White House did not immediately respond to queries on Ross's travel.

The State Department said Thursday that David Hale, the deputy to the Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell and the NSC's Dan Shapiro are in the region for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials to prepare for direct talks next week. 

Ross is scheduled only to meet with Israelis, a Washington-based Middle East hand said Thursday.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu is holding meetings Thursday night with Molcho, adviser Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Uzi Arad about the upcoming talks. 

Directe onderhandelingen tussen Netanyahoe en Abbas maken weinig kans op succes

Volgens onderstaande analyse is de kans dat de onderhandelingen zullen mislukken aanzienlijk omdat Abbas er verzwakt en met tegenzin aan begint:

 

On the face of it, starting the talks without preconditions was a political victory for Netanyahu, who managed to twist Abbas' arm while ensuring the unity of his coalition. The Labor Party cannot threaten to leave because of the political stalemate, and he has not made any concessions that are liable to annoy his coalition partners on the right. The question is whether this is not in fact a Pyrrhic victory. Israel dragged a weakened, humiliated partner into the negotiations, which weakens this partner politically and denies it legitimacy in the Palestinian public. A weak negotiator is incapable of reaching compromises over sensitive issues. In addition, Netanyahu's opening positions are presumably far removed from the positions presented by then- Prime Minister Olmert to the Palestinians. As such, the gaps between the stances of the two sides are now greater than they were a year and a half ago. Hence, even if the talks do not break down immediately, the probability that Israel and the Palestinians will be able to bridge the gaps between them within a year seems highly far-fetched.

 

De vraag is of Abbas deze positie niet aan zichzelf heeft te danken. Hij stelde continu voorwaarden, en wanneer Israel er (onder Amerikaanse druk) aan voldeed dan verzon hij nieuwe. Zo eiste hij een bevriezing van de nederzettingen, erkenning dat er een Palestijnse staat moet komen, uitbreiding van de nederzettingenstop met Jeruzalem, en dat alles heeft hij min of meer gekregen. Nu is de stop bijna voorbij en eist hij voortzetting ervan, en erkenning van de 1967 grenzen, en een bepaald tijdspad, etc. etc. Maar had hij die tien maanden niet moeten gebruiken om te gaan onderhandelen? Waarom zo lang gewacht? Hij had dan op bovenstaande concessies kunnen wijzen als 'oogst'. In de Israelische regering is de roep om hervatting van de bouw in nederzettingen groot, mede omdat de stop niks heeft opgeleverd: Abbas geeft geen duimbreed toe, de ophitsing in Palestijnse media gaat door, en Abbas zelf was onlangs bij de begrafenis van een van de planners van de aanslag op de Israelische Olympische ploeg in München, waar hij als een held werd vereerd. Door deze opruiing in de media bereidt Abbas zijn volk bovendien niet voor op concessies en coëxistentie, maar op hernieuwde strijd en het vasthouden aan 'heilige' principes, ook als daarvoor bloed moet worden vergoten.

 

Abbas dreigt nu dus in zijn eigen val te lopen: een onwillig volk dat niets ziet in onderhandelingen en hem verwijt teveel aan vijand Israel toe te geven, nog voordat er is onderhandeld. En toenemende druk van Amerika om te gaan onderhandelen en tot resultaten te komen, wat noodzakelijkerwijze concessies inhoudt.

 

RP

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Renewing the Direct Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians

INSS Insight No. 203, August 26, 2010
Brom, Shlomo

http://www.inss.org.il/publications.php?cat=21&incat=&read=4340

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians will be renewed on September 2, 2010 in Washington. The talks will be launched in the presence of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Abbas, and President Obama; also invited to the inaugural meeting are President Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Quartet emissary Tony Blair. After the initial meeting, the sides will proceed to direct talks, in the United States or in this region, and continue with active American involvement. A similar announcement was also issued by the Quartet.

The renewal of the talks was made possible following heavy pressure leveled by the United States on Abbas to concede his three conditions for renewing the talks. The first was that the talks be conducted according to principles determined in advance relating to the territorial component of the agreement. Abbas demanded that it be agreed in advance that the solution be based on the 1967 borders with the exception of some limited land swaps. The second condition was predetermining a negotiations schedule, and the third condition was that Israel extend the construction freeze in the settlements after it expires on September 26.

The announcements by Clinton and the Quartet were meant in part to make it easier for Abbas to agree to renew the talks by mitigating the political cost he will have to pay to the Palestinian public in light of what is seen as capitulation to American and Israeli pressure. However, from Abbas' perspective it is doubtful that the announcements will have their desired effect. He has already been attacked on the internal Palestinian front for his "surrender," and even within Fatah, his own party, his decision is not enjoying much support.

It is unclear whether the US administration made any promises to the Palestinians to ensure the start of the talks, and if they did, what they were. Clinton's announcement contained two elements of importance to Abbas, though these were formulated in a non-committal way. The first referred to the timetable, namely, the hope that the talks would reach a conclusion within one year. The second referred to active American involvement in the talks. There were reports in the Arab media – so far unsubstantiated – that President Obama has given the Palestinians guarantees that the territorial solution would be based on the 1967 borders and include limited land swaps for territory identical in size. It was likewise reported that the Americans would be prepared to present bridging proposals reflecting Palestinian considerations. It is also possible that the Americans promised Abbas that if he agreed to direct talks, they would be able to persuade Netanyahu to continue the construction freeze de facto, even without a public declaration to that effect.

All sides share low expectations about the talks' prospects of success, even if the US American administration and Prime Minister Netanyahu thought the announcement merited some optimistic statements, including Netanyahu's declaration that the Palestinians will be surprised by his proposals. This remark hints at greater willingness on his part to meet them part way.

Already at the outset there will be a number of hurdles that the sides will have to overcome to prevent an early breakdown of the talks. The first hurdle is agreement on the order of the agenda. While the Palestinians have agreed to the American suggestion to begin by discussing security and territory in tandem, Netanyahu has demanded that the talks start by discussing security and recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. He conditions the discussion of other issues on agreement in these areas. Yet if Netanyahu indeed insists on this demand, the talks will likely be nipped in the bud, with the United States siding with the Palestinians over this.

The second hurdle is the construction freeze. The Palestinians have made it entirely clear that renewed construction in the settlements will end the talks. The United States will likely attempt to reach an understanding with Israel over continuing the construction freeze, barring in the settlements close to the Green Line, including the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. However, continuing to expand the settlements in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem will almost certainly end the talks. Similarly, it is unclear if the Palestinians will accept a compromise that would allow construction in even some of the locations. It may be that given the current political situation, the most convenient scenario for Abbas is one in which he ends the talks because of construction in the settlements. In that case, the decision to renew the talks will only have temporarily postponed the crisis that was already expected to erupt in September.

On the face of it, starting the talks without preconditions was a political victory for Netanyahu, who managed to twist Abbas' arm while ensuring the unity of his coalition. The Labor Party cannot threaten to leave because of the political stalemate, and he has not made any concessions that are liable to annoy his coalition partners on the right. The question is whether this is not in fact a Pyrrhic victory. Israel dragged a weakened, humiliated partner into the negotiations, which weakens this partner politically and denies it legitimacy in the Palestinian public. A weak negotiator is incapable of reaching compromises over sensitive issues. In addition, Netanyahu's opening positions are presumably far removed from the positions presented by then- Prime Minister Olmert to the Palestinians. As such, the gaps between the stances of the two sides are now greater than they were a year and a half ago. Hence, even if the talks do not break down immediately, the probability that Israel and the Palestinians will be able to bridge the gaps between them within a year seems highly far-fetched.

If so, the three parties – Israel, the Palestinians, and the United States – will have to consider other options as well. The Palestinians will again consider the option of a unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state with international backing. It may also be that in the given situation, the only realistic step would be to return to the Roadmap route and consider an interim solution of establishing a Palestinian state within temporary borders. At the same time, the negotiations over a permanent settlement would continue, based on the assumption that arriving at a permanent agreement would require a longer period of time and might also depend on political changes on both sides.

An additional question touches on the role of the United States in the direct talks. On the one hand, the distrust between Israel and the Palestinians requires active American involvement, particularly viable bridging proposals. On the other hand, precisely because of the distrust and the assessment of both sides that the talks are destined to fail, there is a danger that the American presence will encourage both sides to talk to the Americans rather to one another. In this case, the goal of the two sides would be primarily to convince the Americans that the expected failure should be attributed to the other side. Thus, the American team involved in the talks will have to navigate very carefully in order to avoid contributing to their failure.

 

Protest in Ramallah tegen onderhandelingen met Israel door Palestijnse politie verstoord

 

Als Israel vreedzame demonstranten in elkaar slaat, hun camera afpakt en op die manier de oppositie monddood maakt dan opent het NOS journaal daarmee, maar over dit incident heb ik niks vernomen. Wat Palestijnen Palestijnen aandoen is blijkbaar niet interessant, net als wat Libanezen Palestijnen aandoen, of Syriërs, of Jordaniërs. Verschil moet er wezen.

 

Hieronder 2 berichten van de PCHR, eentje over hoe een demonstratie van de oppositie met geweld wordt verstoord door de Palestijnse veiligheidsdienst en de tweede over de mishandeling van leden van een Palestijnse mensenrechtengroep die het gebeuren wilden filmen.

 

RP

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PCHR
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Press Releases

Ref: 75/2010

Date: 25 August 2010

Time: 12:30 GMT

 

PCHR Condemns Interception of Peaceful Protest by Police in Ramallah

  

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the Palestinian police's interception of a peaceful demonstration organized in Ramallah by the Follow-up Committee in protest to a decision taken by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) decision to participate in direct negotiations with Israel, and the detention of a member of the Committee.  PCHR also condemns the disruptions carried out by groups claimed their affiliation to the Fatah Youth Movement during the sit-in called for by the Follow up Committee.  PCHR further calls upon the government in Ramallah to respect public freedoms and emphasizes that the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of opinion and expression are guaranteed under the Palestinian Basic Law and international human rights standards.

 

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 12:00 on Wednesday 25 August 2010, about 250 persons, including a number of members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), secretaries  general of a number of political parties and factions, figures from the civil society and independent figures,  gathered in the Protestant Church hall in Ramallah to organize a peaceful demonstration and to hold a press conference in protest to the PNA's decision to participate in direct negotiations with Israel.  Dozens of persons in civilian clothes, carrying pictures of the Palestinian President, Mahmoud 'Abbas, and radios, broke into the hall, repeating cries of the "Fatah Youth."  They entered the hall, some of them mounted on the theater, organized Dabka (from the Palestinian folklore) and accused the attendees of preparing for a (conspiracy) conference against the PNA, and of being (spies for Syria and Iran).  As a result, the attendees went out of the hall and headed to Rokab Street in the center of Ramallah.  While they were walking in the said street, two civilian vehicles intercepted them; one of the cars has a governmental registration plate and its driver kept pressing on the horn to disrupt the demonstration.  Later on, many police vehicles arrived and opened their horns, and then the policemen got out of the cars, intercepted the demonstration, and arrested Dr. Mohammed Jadallah, a member of the Follow-up Committee, put him in the car by force and transported him to an unknown destination.

Thereafter, members of the Follow-up Committee, secretaries of parties and factions and representatives of independent figures headed to the main office of the Agricultural Relief Committees in Ramallah to hold a press conference on their opposition of direct negotiations and to explain what had happened in the demonstration.  Immediately, security forces headed to the area and surrounded the offices of the Agricultural Relief.  After convening the conference, participants left the place and security forces left also.

In light of the above, PCHR:

 

1)     Strongly condemns the disruption carried out by groups claimed their affiliation to the Fatah Youth in the sit-in that was called for by the Follow-up Committee, and emphasizes that civilians have a full and legal right to convene public meetings and organize sit-ins and peaceful demonstrations in accordance with the legal rules;

2)     Strongly condemns the Palestinian police's interception of the demonstration that followed the sit-in, and further condemns the detention of Dr. Mohammed Jadallah, who is known as one of the Palestinian national figures in Jerusalem;

3)     Emphasizes that the police has no right to license or reject any public meeting, peaceful demonstrations, or any other type of peaceful assembly, and that the law provides that organizers should only "inform" the governor or police, as the police has the right to take measures to "organize the traffic"; and

4)     Is concerned over the recurrence of attacks against the right to freedom of opinion and the right to peaceful assembly, and stresses that they are guaranteed under the Palestinian Basic Law and international human rights standards.

 

**************************************

Ref: 76/2010
Date: 26 August 2010
Time: 12:00 GMT

PCHR Condemns Attack by GIS Members on Staff of 'al-Haq' in Ramallah

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the attack launched on Wednesday, 25 August 2010, by members of the General Intelligence Service (GIS) on staff members of 'al-Haq' organization in Ramallah, while documenting GIS's attempts to stop an assembly organized by Palestinian political factions and civil society organizations in protest a decision by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to participate in direct negotiations with Israel.  PCHR calls upon the government in Ramallah to respect public freedoms and to ensure respect for the work of human rights organizations and to provide protection for their personnel.

According to statements made by 'al-Haq' and according to Wissam Ahmed, 33, Program Officer at al-Haq, on Wednesday afternoon, 25 August 2010, a number of al-Haq's staff members got out of their offices as they heard noise coming from the main street.  They had information that GIS members were attempting to stop the assembly of political and civil society organizations which was scheduled to be organized in the hall of the Protestant Church opposite to al-Haq offices. The assembly was supposed to discuss the positions towards direct negotiations between PNA and the government of Israel.  In the meanwhile, Wissam Ahmed, 33, Program Officer at al-Haq, took a video camera and went to the street to film the event, but he was beaten by a person in civilian clothes.  Later, it was found out that this person was a GIS member.  The camera was taken from Ahmed and thrown onto the ground.  After Ahmed had managed to get his camera back, he asked why he was prevented from filming the event.  In response, more than 10 GIS members surrounded him and beat him on the head and the neck.  They took his camera and pushed him away.

Mrs. Nina Ata Allah, Head of the Observation and Documentation department at 'al-Haq', who intervened to stop the GIS attack on her colleague, was also attacked.  A GIS member stepped on her feet.  She was injured in the feet as a result and was transferred to the hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Ramallah for treatment.  Sources from 'al-Haq' reported that Mr. Shaawan Jabarin, asked some police members who were in the scene about the camera.  One of them told him that it was with GIS members.

It should be noted that this attack on staff members of al-Haq is part of attacks launched by the Palestinian security services in Ramallah on a peaceful march which was organized with the participation of members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Secretaries General of a number of political parties, leaders of the civil society organizations as well as independent figures.  Security forces prevented the participants in the march from organizing a press conference which was scheduled to be held in the hall of the Protestant Church.  A member of the Executive Committee of the PLO was arrested as well.

In view of the above, PCHR:

1.     Strongly condemns this attack by GIS members on staff members of al-Haq and the confiscation of their camera.
2.     Reiterates that it is important that the Palestinian security forces respect the work of human rights organizations and to ensure protection to their personnel in all circumstances.
3.     Points with concern to the recurrence of attacks on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly.  PCHR stresses that these two rights are guaranteed by the Palestinian Basic Law and by international human rights instruments.

Public Documents

**************************************

For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 - 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org

-----------------------------------

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In de Al Aqsa Universiteit van Gaza wordt gewerkt aan de toekomst

Net zoals in de andere universiteiten staat het beheersen van de computer software bovenaan het lessenpakket.

 

Als je de afbeeldingen ziet van de universiteit van Gaza geloof je je ogen niet. Gaza, dit? Blijkbaar niet gebombardeerd door Israel (dat volgens de media zo ongeveer heel Gaza heeft platgegooid), geen gebrek aan luxe bouwmaterialen en ruimte, en de modernste technieken. Blijkbaar kon dat allemaal Gaza binnenkomen, en blijkbaar zijn er genoeg studenten die hier studeren en daartoe de middelen hebben. Het is net als met al die foto's van volle winkels in Gaza, luxe restaurants en winkelcentra, Olympische zwembaden en pretparken: ik weet heus wel dat dat niet voor iedereen is weggelegd en er ook armoede is, maar het geeft toch een wel heel ander beeld dan wat de media ons voorschotelen. Dit is dus ook Gaza, dat niet een grote bouwput is met tekort aan alles, maar waar de vooruitgang zijn intrede heeft gedaan. Waar kinderen vliegerwedstrijden houden, waar het goed toeven is aan het strand, waar het geen probleem is om een luxe auto te kopen, of gouden sieraden, waar de markten vol liggen met groenten en lekkernijen en kinderen op paardrijden zitten. En al die spullen en materialen zijn tijdens de blokkade gewoon binnengemomen, via de grens met Israel, dat dagelijks zo'n honderd vrachtwagens met goederen toeliet, of via de tunnels. Overigens klagen de tunneleigenaren nu steen en been omdat ze werkloos zijn geworden.

 

Zie voor meer beelden, voornamelijk uit Palestijnse bronnen, op Brabosh.

 

RP

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http://brabosh.com/2010/08/25/in-de-al-aqsa-universiteit-van-gaza-wordt-gewerkt-aan-de-toekomst/

In de Al Aqsa Universiteit van Gaza wordt gewerkt aan de toekomst

Posted on 25 augustus 2010 by brabosh

 

Naast de twee universiteiten in Gaza die al eerder aan bod kwamen op deze blog met name de Islamitische Universiteit en de Al Azhar Universiteit van Gaza City, is het thans de beurt aan de Al Aqsa Universiteit. Een prachtige universiteit, uitgerust met de modernste middelen. Maar dat zijn die andere universiteiten ook. Niks armoede, oorlog en geweld is hier ver vandaan. Een oase van rust en schoonheid, en hard labeur: studeren en werken aan de toekomst van Gaza.

De beelden heb ik niet moeten zoeken, ze komen rechtstreeks van de [Arabische] website van de universiteit. Met een vertaalmachine kom je op het internet al een heel eind weg en… dichter bij het volledige beeld over Gaza, waar de media ons tot nog toe vertelde dat er alleen maar miserie is in Gaza. Echter, dat is een leugen. Er zijn veel mooie dingen in Gaza, bijvoorbeeld de Al Aqsa Universiteit.

De Al-Aqsa Universiteit is een grote universiteit met ongeveer 15.000 studenten. Zij werd opgericht in 2000 met de Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs [N0.11, 1988) als een uitbreiding van het College voor Onderwijs. De universiteit is zowel aangesloten bij de Arab Universities Union alsook bij de Palestijnse Raad voor het Hoger Onderwijs sinds 2003. De Al-Aqsa Universiteit heeft zeven faculteiten met name de Faculteit voor Kunst, Wetenschappen, Opvoeding, Kunstambachten, Lichamelijke Opvoeding, Administratie en Financiële Studies.

De universiteit beseft het belang van de moderne technologie en spaart kosten nog moeite in de uitrusting van de faculteiten. Het onderwijs spitst zich dan ook toe zowel op de traditionele wijze als op de electronische manier.

De Campus van de universiteit is gelocaliseerd in het zuiden van de Gazastrook en is gemakkelijk bereikbaar voor de studenten in de wijde omgeving. Ze bevind zich op drie kilometer van het centrum van de stad Khan Younis, acht kilometers van Rafah en op 25 minuten autorijden van Gaza City.

In 2000 beheerde de universiteit twee campussen, de eerste die zich in Gaza City bevond en twee afedelingen had: Al-Harazin and Tal-Elhaw. De andere, welke de oudste campus is, bevind zich in Khan Younis city.  Wegens de beperkte ruimte van deze locaties (20 dunams), zocht de universiteit naar ruimte om uit te breiden voor haar snel groeiend aantal studenten.

Nadat in augustus 2005 de laatste Israëlische Joden uit Gaza werden verdreven door het IDF op bevel van de toenmalige Israëlische regering onder premier Ariel Sharon, kwam een heel stuk grond weer vrij. In september 2005 werd 238 dunams geschonken aan de universiteit dat afkomstig was van de voormalige Joodse nederzettingen in de Gazastrook.

 

---

Bronnen: Ma'an News: PA appointed Al-Aqsa University president replaced by de facto gov. 7 oktober 2010; website van de Al Aqsa University

 

 

Tijd om Ahava producten uit Israel te kopen

Een goed initiatief van Elder of Ziyon: iedere keer dat een winkel of organisatie wordt aangevallen door antizionistische 'vredesactivisten' krijgt deze een vrije advertentie op zijn blog. Dat heeft natuurlijk pas echt effect als je, zoals EoZ, duizenden bezoekers per dag trekt, maar ik wil graag een symbolisch gebaar maken, en de advertentie voor Ahava hier overnemen. Ik hou eigenlijk niet van reclame, zet de TV en radio altijd uit als er reclame op is en erger me aan de opdringerige reclames op sommige websites. Maar voor Israelische producten maak ik graag een uitzondering, in het kader van de Buycott Israel campagne.

 

Zie ook: het Israelische dadelseizoen is begonnen!

 

RP

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Time to buy Ahava products

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/08/time-to-buy-ahava-products.html Last night, the Ahava store in London was vandalized: An Israeli skin care shop has had red paint thrown across its windows in a suspected targeted attack. The Ahava store – famous for its Dead Sea products – was covered in the paint during the incident in Covent Garden, central London, on Wednesday night. Staff discovered the damage when they arrived for work on Thursday morning. Every time an Israeli store is vandalized by "peaceful" opponents of Israel, I will put up a free ad for that store on this blog, and I encourage other blogs to do the same. So this is a good time to give Ahava a free ad: UPDATE: Just for kicks, I issued a press release for this initiative. I have no idea if it will go anywhere outside the press release website, but I always wondered about how they work, so I decided to give it a shot. Elder of Ziyon Blog offers free advertising to victims of anti-Israel aggression In reaction to the vandalism of the Ahava store in London, the Elder of Ziyon blog announces free advertising for every Israeli store that is attacked. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 26, 2010 – On the night of August 25, 2010, the Ahava cosmetics store in central London was attacked by vandals who splattered red paint on its windows. The vandals were part of a movement that wants to boycott all Israeli products. These groups are not interested in equality, or fairness, or even in the Palestinian cause. They simply want to put a self-righteous veneer on their hatred for the existence of a Jewish state and their opposition to the Jewish right of self-determination. In reaction, the Elder of Ziyon blog has announced a new policy: all stores and organizations that are similarly attacked will get free advertising in the blog. It is to be hoped that all right-thinking blogs will follow suit, so that these sorts of anti-Israel and often anti-semitic stunts end up helping the intended victims. The Elder of Ziyon blog is a popular Zionist website that draws thousands of pageviews daily. It can be read at http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com . The full story about the vandalism of Ahava can be seen at http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/08/time-to-buy-ahava-products.html . UPDATE 2: Commenter Bill mentions the Buycott campaign, which is specifically set up to support companies targetted by boycotters.

Eet Israelische dadels!

 

Het Israelische dadelseizoen is weer begonnen, dankzij het zeer warme weer in Israel eerder dan normaal. Geniet ervan, ze zijn lekker en gezond! En maak op deze manier tegelijk duidelijk dat je het niet eens bent met de boycot initiatieven zoals de oproep van de SP een paar weken geleden om geen Israelische dadels te kopen. Twee vliegen in een klap, wat wil je nog meer?

 

Zie over boycots ook: Waarom draagt een boycot van Israël niet bij aan vrede

 

RP

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Dadelseizoen Israël weer begonnen bij Bud Holland

http://dutchisraeltrade.blogspot.com/2010/08/dadelseizoen-israel-weer-begonnen-bij.html

 

Bij Bud Holland BV in Maasdijk is het dadelseizoen weer begonnen met de nieuwe oogst dadels vanuit Israël. Zoals gebruikelijk start het nieuwe seizoen weer met de Bahri- en de Medjoul-dadels.

De Bahri dadel heeft een zoet-sappige smaak, is geel van kleur en wordt voornamelijk aan de tak verkocht. Het seizoen van de Bahri-dadels start in augustus en loopt door tot oktober. Gedurende de Ramadan (welke dit jaar op 10 september eindigt) is de Bahri-dadel een graag gegeten dadel met name onder de moslimbevolking. De Bahri-dadels worden verkocht in dozen van 5 kg.

De Medjoul-dadel is de dadel onder de dadels. Door het extreem warme weer in Israël dit jaar is de oogst 10-14 dagen eerder gestart dan normaal. Gezien de vroege start van de Ramadan dit jaar en daarbij genomen het feit dat de oogst van vorig jaar al compleet verkocht was, kwam deze vroege start zeer gunstig uit.

Diezelfde weersomstandigheden zijn er tevens de oorzaak van dat de dadels dit jaar wat kleiner uitvallen dan normaal. De Medjoul-dadels uit Israël zullen zeker tot volgend jaar april beschikbaar zijn bij Bud Holland. Voor dit seizoen is de Medjoul-dadel verkrijgbaar in de navolgende verpakkingen; 5 kg doos oranje (large-classic) , 5 kg doos zwart (large), 5 kg doos rood (jumbo-delight) en 5 kg doos goud (jumbo). Tevens wordt er een kleinverpakking van 12x500 gram in het assortiment gevoerd.

 

Dit seizoen zal Bud Holland óók gaan starten met een "Ready to Eat" Medjoul-dadel die de naam "Medjoul Exquisito" zal gaan dragen. Deze dadel is boomrijp geplukt en zal te koop worden aangeboden in de maat Jumbo in een 3 kg doos.

 

Maak Israël bontvrij - teken nu!

Deze vos in een Noorse bontfokkerij zal nooit meer kunnen rennen, spelen, jagen of gras kunnen voelen
© Network for Animal Freedom 2009

 

 

Help Israel het diervriendelijkste land ter wereld te worden!

Als de Knesset op twee september tot een totaalverbod besluit, zou Israel het eerste land zijn dat zo ver gaat.

 

In eerste lezing is het wetsontwerp unaniem gesteund door Israëlische politici, en uit onlangs gehouden opiniepeilingen blijkt dat 86% van de Israëli's het moreel niet te verdedigen vindt om dieren alleen om hun bont te doden. De stemming in het Israëlische parlement zal op 2 september plaatsvinden. Het is van doorslaggevend belang dat we ook de steun krijgen van Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, de Israëlische minister van industrie, handel en werkgelegenheid.

 

Opvallend dat juist Israel mogelijk als eerste zo ver zal gaan.

 

Teken de petitie op: http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=24&ea.campaign.id=7575

 

RP

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Maak Israël bontvrij – teken nu!

http://www.wspa.nl/latestnews/2010/petitie-bontverbod-Israel.aspx

Aug 23, 2010

 

Israël kan het eerste land ter wereld zijn dat een totaalverbod op bont uitvaardigt. Dat is goed nieuws voor vele dieren die nu wereldwijd op gruwelijke wijze voor hun vacht worden gedood. Op 2 september stemt het parlement van Israël over dit verbod. Help Israël de juiste keuze te maken en teken nu de petitie!

WSPA-lidorganisatie Bont voor Dieren zet zich in Nederland al jaren in voor een nertsenfokverbod. Terwijl de Eerste Kamer zich daar eindelijk over buigt, bereidt Israël zich voor op een nóg verdergaande maatregel: een totaalverbod op bont.

Elly Hiby, hoofd gezelschapsdieren WSPA Internationaal: "Als Israël stemt voor een verbod zal het een goed voorbeeld zijn voor de rest van de wereld - het zal enorme impact hebben op organisaties die hard werken aan het stoppen van de wereldwijde bonthandel."

Primeur

Israël heeft de mogelijkheid om het eerste land te worden met een totaalverbod op bont. Dat zou een wereldwijd precedent scheppen, waarmee een zware klap wordt toegebracht aan een bedrijfstak die verantwoordelijk is voor het lijden van meer dan een miljard dieren per jaar.

In eerste lezing is het wetsontwerp unaniem gesteund door Israëlische politici. Uit recente opiniepeilingen blijkt dat 86% van de Israëli's het moreel niet te verdedigen vindt om dieren alleen om hun bont te doden. De stemming in het Israëlische parlement zal op 2 september plaatsvinden. Het is van doorslaggevend belang dat we ook de steun krijgen van Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, de Israëlische minister van industrie, handel en werkgelegenheid.

Hoe staat het ervoor in andere landen?

Er zijn verschillende landen die wel de productie van bont hebben verboden, maar niet de handel erin. Engeland heeft het houden van dieren om hun bont in 2000 verboden op grond van schending van de 'openbare zedelijkheid'. Ook andere landen, zoals Oostenrijk en Kroatië kennen een soortgelijk verbod.

Nederland

In Nederland is sinds 2008 een verbod op het fokken van vossen en chinchilla's van kracht. Bovendien nam de Tweede Kamer een initiatiefwetsvoorstel aan om op termijn ook de nertsenfokkerij te beëindigen. Binnenkort stemt de Eerste kamer hier over.

Handelsverboden

Hoewel er nog geen landen zijn met een volledig handelsverbod, zijn er wel veel landen die de handel in bont van bepaalde diersoorten hebben verboden. In de Europese Unie en de Verenigde Staten is de handel in zeehondenbont en bont van honden en katten verboden, maar de handel in bont van bijvoorbeeld wasbeerhonden en nertsen blijft toegestaan.

-------------

Het is nog niet te laat! Er is nog steeds een kans dat Israël als eerste land ter wereld een totaalverbod op bont uitvaardigt, met inbegrip van iedere vorm van invoer, productie en verkoop. Dat zou een wereldwijd precedent scheppen, waarmee een zware klap wordt toegebracht aan een bedrijfstak die verantwoordelijk is voor het lijden van meer dan een miljard dieren per jaar. Lijden dat op geen enkele manier te verantwoorden is en jaar in, jaar uit doorgaat.

Geef uw steun aan de nieuwe wet

In eerste lezing is het wetsontwerp unaniem gesteund door Israëlische politici, en uit onlangs gehouden opiniepeilingen blijkt dat 86% van de Israëli's het moreel niet te verdedigen vindt om dieren alleen om hun bont te doden. De stemming in het Israëlische parlement zal op 2 september plaatsvinden. Het is van doorslaggevend belang dat we ook de steun krijgen van Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, de Israëlische minister van industrie, handel en werkgelegenheid.

Teken nu de brief aan minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer en vraag hem zijn volledige steun aan deze wet te geven. Samen kunnen we zorgen dat Israël een historische beslissing neemt.

We zullen alle brieven aan minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer overhandigen - voor de stemming in het parlement op 2 september. En we zullen uw stem gebruiken om de Israëlische regering op te roepen de pelsdierfokkerij totaal te verbieden.

Overstromingen Pakistan

 

Ik heb 100 Euro overgemaakt naar Giro 555 van de Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties voor Pakistan, het dubbele van wat ik in gedachten had. Niet zozeer omdat de ramp zo ontzettend veel groter is dan eerdere rampen waarvoor campagne is gevoerd, maar ik had het gevoel te moeten compenseren voor de mensen die 'hulpmoe' zouden zijn, en misschien nog meer voor de sceptici (een eufemistische uitdrukking) die menen dat we niet moeten geven aan een land met zo'n dubieuze reputatie, met corruptie, achterlijkheid in sommige delen en moslimfanatisme, en waarvan sommigen zelfs openlijk opriepen om géén geld te geven. Ik miste Geert Wilders vanavond in het belpanel (had hem daar ook niet verwacht).

 

Vijf jaar geleden was er een grote aardbeving in Pakistan, waarvoor ook een tv-aktie is gehouden, en ik meen me te herinneren dat er berichten waren dat inderdaad een (klein) deel van de hulp bij islamistische groeperingen zou zijn terecht gekomen. Maar wat kun je doen? De goeden en onschuldigen samen met de kwaden laten verrekken? Ik hoop dat er meer dan 100 miljoen wordt ingezameld voor de slachtoffers.

Toeval of niet, maar vanavond zag ik op de Duitse tv eenzelfde inzamelingsaktie.

 

Ik heb daarnaast ook nog 25 Euro overgemaakt naar Artsen Zonder Grenzen, die niet bij 555 zijn aangesloten. Hieronder een bericht van hun over wat ze nu in Pakistan aan het doen zijn.

 

Wouter

_______________

 

 

Artsen Zonder Grenzen - noodhulp bij overstromingen Pakistan

25-08-2010

Hevige regenval sinds juli in het noordwesten van Pakistan heeft geleid tot ernstige overstromingen langs de rivier de Indus. De eerste gebieden die getroffen werden, zijn de provincies Khyber Pakhtunkhwa en Belutsjistan. Het water stroomt echter met grote kracht zuidwaarts met als gevolg dat ook in de provincies Punjab en Sindh met een watersnood te kampen hebben. En nieuwe overstromingen dreigen.Naar schatting zijn er meer dan 1.500 doden gevallen en zijn er 17,2 miljoen mensen getroffen*. Artsen zonder Grenzen werkte al in Pakistan en biedt noodhulp. Tot nu toe hebben onze teams 16.664 patiënten behandeld, aan meer dan 102.700 mensen kits met hulpgoederen uitgedeeld en verschaffen zij elke dag 540.000 liter schoon water. Zo'n 110 internationale en 1.200 Pakistaanse medewerkers bieden hulp aan de slachtoffers.

Noodhulpactiviteiten

• Medische zorg: onze teams geven ondersteuning aan ziekenhuizen en gezondheidsposten en trekken met 9 mobiele hulpposten door de 4 getroffen provincies om medische hulp te verlenen. Het merendeel van de mensen lijdt aan infecties aan huid en luchtwegen en acute diarree. Ook letten we specifiek op ondervoeding bij jonge kinderen.
• Water en hygiëne: speciale water-en-sanitatieteams verschaffen de slachtoffers van schoon water. Dit houdt in dat teams bestaande watervoorzieningen repareren, water zuiveren ofwel schoon water aanvoeren en verdelen met vrachtwagens, watertanks, tappunten en huis-aan-huisdistributie. Ook delen we bijv. waterzuiveringstabletten, jerrycans en emmers uit. Schoon water is van levensbelang bij een ramp als deze. Cholera, dat door vervuild water wordt overgebracht, komt veel voor in Pakistan, en bij overstromingen neemt het risico op een uitbraak van cholera toe.
• Hulpgoederendistributie: omdat slachtoffers veelal hun hele hebben en houden kwijt zijn, delen onze teams kits uit met spullen om te koken, wassen en een tijdelijk onderkomen mee te maken. De kits met hulpgoederen bestaan uit zaken als kleding, zeep, tandenborstels, handdoeken, scheermesjes, emmers, jerrycans, dekens, waterzuiveringstabletten, muggennetten, plastic zeil en verstevigd plastic zeil (tarpaulins). Hiermee hopen we ziekten als cholera, schurft, dysenterie, tyfus en malaria zoveel mogelijk te voorkomen.
• Monitoren van, en voorbereiding op, mogelijke uitbraken van ziekten, vooral die door water worden overgebracht.

Locaties

• Provincie Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: o.m. in de districten Swat, Lower Dir, plaatsen Nowshera, Charsadda, Dargai. Mobiele hulpposten in Malakand (1), Swat (1), Lower Dir (1) en Charsadda (3). Diarreebehandelcentra in Malakand, Lower Dir, Swat en Hangu.
• Provincie Belutjistan: o.m. plaatsen Fadfedar canal, Dera Murad Jamali, Khabula en Sobhatpur. Mobiele hulpposten in Dera Murad Jamali (3), Khabula (1) en Sobhatpur (1). Diarreebehandelcentrum in Dera Murad Jamali (DMJ).
• Provincie Punjab. Diarrebehandelcentrum in Kot Addu.
• Provincie Sindh. Mobiele hulpposten rond de plaats Sukkhur (3).
• Teams verkennen de situatie in de getroffen gebieden om groepen mensen te bereiken die tot nu toe geen hulp hebben gekregen. Dit wordt bemoeilijkt doordat bruggen verwoest zijn, wegen weggevaagd of onder water staan. Artsen zonder Grenzen heeft helikopters ingezet om gebieden te verkennen die niet over land bereikbaar zijn.

Het werk van onze teams tot nu toe:

• 16.664 mensen behandeld (in mobiele hulpposten en ziekenhuizen)
• 14.675 verschillende soorten kits met hulpgoederen (1 kit per familie, totaal ruim 102.700 mensen) 
• 52 waterpunten opgezet
• 540.000 liter schoon water per dag
• 4.855 tenten gedistribueerd.

In verband met onze neutraliteit en onafhankelijkheid financieren wij ons werk in Pakistan geheel uit donaties van het publiek.

Op onze website

• Bekijk het laatste nieuws
• Bekijk onze hulpprojecten op een grote kaart
• Fotoreportage 'Watersnood in Pakistan' – augustus
• Interview: James Kambaki, projectcoördinator in het rampgebied – 9 augustus
• Follow-upinterview: James Kambaki – 13 augustus
• Interview: Awais Yakub, assistant-medisch coordinator – 6 augustus

 

Politieke indoctrinatie op universiteiten in Israel

Uit een beschrijving van een collegereeks op de universiteit van Tel Aviv:

"The course will focus on the controlling techniques that were generated by the Israeli occupation in the territories. We will study the historic sources of these techniques and will attempt to place them within the colonialist context, especially that of the British and French."

The course description continues as follows: "In addition to Prof. Yehouda Shenhav, attorney Michael Sfard will oversee the course as a guest lecturer and as legal advisor to the Yesh Din NGO - "Volunteers for Human Rights."  Twice a month students will participate in activities within the framework of Yesh Din's "Monitoring the Military Courts Project" and with "Machsom Watch's" District Coordination and Liaison Aid Project.

"The students, working under the guidance and supervision of the above organizations, will document, advocate and confront the IDF Civil Administration authorities, while keeping a precise, daily record of their activities.  Those activities will be overseen by attorney Yael Barda at the individual level and as a group. The students will receive transportation fare to places of activism, in addition to a stipend of NIS 1,450.  At the end of the year, students will submit an article based upon their activities and experiences, relating to the theoretical content of the course.  Some of the articles will be included in a booklet edited by Prof. Shenhav, Michael Sfard and Yael Barda, in cooperation with the above organizations."

Helaas is dit niet de enige cursus die zo duidelijk politiek gekleurd is, en is dit in sommige disciplines de norm. De studenten krijgen daarbij maar één visie, één narratief voorgeschoteld, en worden niet getraind om verschillende perspectieven te leren kennen en beoordelen. Yemini spreekt vooral vanwege dit laatste van indoctrinatie. Het is bovendien ongehoord dat politieke organisaties met een duidelijke agenda zo nauw betrokken zijn bij universitaire studies.

RP
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Originally in Maariv in Hebrew
This is the Isracampus Translation
 
Academic Brainwashing
 
(Isracampus Translation From the Hebrew)
 
Ben Dror Yemini - August 20th, 2010 (a condensed version appeared in print in Maariv and a longer version on the Maariv blog)
 
 
Israeli universities were not established with the sole purpose of promoting any Zionist vision of Israel.  A call for an academic boycott against Israel or a call to dismiss professors from the left or from the right is unworthy of consideration.  Yet when respected branches of Israeli academia allow themselves to be misused as tools of an anti-Zionist agenda and as de facto appendages of radical left-wing NGOs - it is imperative to make this known.
 
The problem arises when the right to publicize and criticize is met with a counter campaign designed to intimidate, expose, and condemn.  That is what threatens both freedom of expression and proper public discourse.
 
A case in point:  Here is the official description of a university course given at an Israeli university: 
 
"The course will focus on the controlling techniques that were generated by the Israeli occupation in the territories. We will study the historic sources of these techniques and will attempt to place them within the colonialist context, especially that of the British and French."
 
Sounds somewhat dubious, but nevertheless it is not a crime to teach about the "Israeli Occupation," and it is even permissible to invent an artificial connection with Western colonization from previous centuries.
 
The course description continues as follows: "In addition to Prof. Yehouda Shenhav, attorney Michael Sfard will oversee the course as a guest lecturer and as legal advisor to the Yesh Din NGO - "Volunteers for Human Rights."  Twice a month students will participate in activities within the framework of Yesh Din's "Monitoring the Military Courts Project" and with "Machsom Watch's" District Coordination and Liaison Aid Project.
 
"The students, working under the guidance and supervision of the above organizations, will document, advocate and confront the IDF Civil Administration authorities, while keeping a precise, daily record of their activities.  Those activities will be overseen by attorney Yael Barda at the individual level and as a group. The students will receive transportation fare to places of activism, in addition to a stipend of NIS 1,450.  At the end of the year, students will submit an article based upon their activities and experiences, relating to the theoretical content of the course.  Some of the articles will be included in a booklet edited by Prof. Shenhav, Michael Sfard and Yael Barda, in cooperation with the above organizations."
 
So is this an academic course or is it the deliberate brainwashing of students, conducted by three people who have never attempted to conceal their partisan political identities?  Is this an academic seminar, or is it an activism training workshop run by radical left wing organizations?  Should a university be permitted to engage in agitprop within the confines of a "course" that masquerades as an academic exercise?  Should students publish their "course work" in a book written in cooperation with partisan political organizations?
 
We did not have to go to the university for answers to these questions, since from experience we know their kneejerk automatic answer will be: "Freedom of Expression".
 
The syllabus for that course then gets even worse.  It lists a series of articles that taken together could successfully serve as tools for an indoctrination camp, in a course that should be entitled, "Introduction to political brainwashing for the purpose of delegitimizing the State of Israel."
 
There is also a film included in as educational material the syllabus: It is "The Specialist", directed by one of the most lethal anti-Israel directors in the world, Eyal Sivan.  The movie is supposedly based on Hannah Arendt's, "The Banality of Evil".  Nazism, according to Arendt, is the result of bureaucratic banality.
 
There is no need to create an explicit connection between Eichmann's evil and Sivan's take on Israel, and I have no idea whether or not one was pointed out to students in that course.   However the analogy is obvious.  Murderous Nazism and the Israeli Occupation have in common the same bureaucratic banality.  
 
Pravda, back in the Dark Ages of the USSR, could learn a thing or two from this seminar. Of course the course instructors can also continue to profess innocence and respond, "Who?  Us?  Brainwashing? What are you talking about?!"
 
The film itself pretends to be a documentary.  In actual fact, it turns out to be a work of fraud.  Hillel Tryster, who was the director of the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, examined the film and concluded that it was a perverse fraud.   It is a leading contender for championship in the Fabrication Industry.
 
In addition, the legal advisor to Jerusalem's Hebrew University filed a complaint against the movie and its maker, claiming that many sections of the "documentary" film were forged.
 
Sivan's manipulations are indeed worthy of study as a case point in the use of the cinema for brainwashing -  but not as learning material in a seminar course in the School of Law.  Such a course might work well as part of the list of school requirements at the Islamic University in Gaza, or in a Political Science course in Teheran.  But this is a course taught in the School of Law at the Hebrew University.
 
It is doubtful whether one should even call this an academic course.  It would be more accurate to define it as a left-wing political workshop, coupled with a propaganda movie that the same university filed a complaint against as being fraudulent.  It is masquerading as an academic course.
 
In another course taught by Shenhav at Tel Aviv University, there are no less than 38 articles included in the course work that were published in the Marxist and blatantly anti-Zionist magazine, "Theory and Criticism."   Of course. Shenhav himself is editor of that magazine.  Brainwashing?  Of course not! They'll call it "Critical Discourse."
 
"Partnership" (a seminar for student activists) is another ambitious project of the Hebrew University.  It is organized by dozens of NGOs, mostly from the radical Left.  In it the "Nakba" is taught by an activist from the radical left organization, "Zochrot," which advocates the Right of Return (for Palestinian Arabs to Israel) and the elimination of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
 
Can such a concentrated exercise in blatantly anti-Zionist brainwashing be considered to be a bona fide academic course?  And where is the Council for Higher Education?  Where is the Minister of Education? And why do Israeli taxpayers have to fund such a "seminar"?
 
As revealed recently in an article by Yishai Friedman in the Makor Rishon newspaper, The New Israel Fund grants NIS 7,400 scholarships to students participating in the Fund's political  activities.  This takes place at the Politics and Government course at Ben-Gurion University and counts as part of the students' program of studies.
 
Does this collaboration with blatant political groups, including NGOs from the radical left, fall under the definition of "academic freedom of expression"?   Is there any connection between this collaboration and the fact that the person who heads this class happens to be calling for an academic boycott against Israel?  Is that what the heads of the academy intend when they publicize automatic support for any anti-Zionist masquerading as an academic?  Or perhaps they intend to demand that discussion itself be subject to censorship?
 
 
The Legitimacy of De-Legitimization
 
Another thing needs to be stated: Despite the fact that Shenhav is very close to the Arab Balad Party - "The National Democratic Assembly" [before the elections he hosted MK Hanin Zuabi at a parlor meeting in his home], despite the fact that the other two collaborators in the above "seminar" are radical left-wing activists, despite the fact that the above seminar is molded according to their extremist views, and despite the fact that what we have here is nothing less than political preaching - the seminar is legitimate.

That is the meaning of academic freedom.  Teaching needs to provoke, anger and deviate from the consensus.
 
Therefore there is no place for calling for the dismissal of those professors nor for an ultimatum to the university, demanding that it should mend its ways.  Threats of boycotts are ugly and unnecessary, whether emanating from the left or the right.
 
But there is something else that is permitted: to publicize the existence of these courses, their contents, their motivations and political bias, and to publicize their use of brainwashing.  It is perfectly acceptable to reveal the fact that, for some reason, under the umbrella of "academic freedom" there is not a chance in hell of finding an academic seminar that refers its students to "practicum" or internships with, for any rightwing NGOs, like "Arteret Kohanim".  Nor will any students publish a joint booklet in conjunction with groups like that.
 
It is also perfectly permissible to disclose that the vast majority of professors from the Political Science and Sociology Departments hold extremist anti-Zionist views.  Anyone who claims otherwise really wants leftist academics to be allowed to do whatever they wish without criticism. 
 
Yet at the same time anyone who so much as dares to think differently from the leftist Canon is not permitted to utter a word.  It is prohibited to criticize, expose or refute.  The reason for that is that the "sanctity of the academia" is reserved exclusively for the radical Left.  Every word of criticism is met with screams about "McCarthyism", "Fascism", and other "isms" from the bla bla of the academic First Amendment.
 
In a forthcoming article, Prof. Amnon Rubenstein states that, according to the German Constitution, academic freedom of expression is a constitutional right as long as it does not (and that's an important condition) undermine the constitutional foundation of the country.  Thus, the restraint imposed upon the academia, within the context of their role in molding the minds of students, is even greater than that upon the rest of society.  This is not a suggestion that we adopt the German model, but food for thought for the purpose of public debate, so essential in this matter.
 
 
Sociology in the Service of Demonization

In recent years, much data have been accumulated dealing with the anti-Zionist tilt in university courses and in "academic conferences", conferences that often have nothing to do with academia and are sponsored by political groups. Here and there a few examples are publicized.   But they are only the tip of the iceberg.
 
Dr, Hannan Moses conducted a research for the Institute for Zionist Strategy about the post-Zionist biases in the sociology departments.  The findings were unequivocal. Their report illuminates the Israeli sociological maze of darkness.
 
The IZS draft was sent to the Council for Higher Education and to close to 1,000 academics.  Not to protest.  Not to silence anyone.  Only for the purpose of presenting findings and to receive feedback in preparation for the report's final publication.
 
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.  Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University, asked to have a look at the report and check its claims.  He asked to be shown the syllabi of certain courses.  That was the beginning of the deafening national "Gevalt" Campaign.
 
How dare HE examine anything?  He is just a university president!  And once again, like in a Pavlovian reaction, the familiar chorus chants on:  "Fascism!"  "McCarthyism!"
 
The academic Thought Police adulates freedom, critique, defiance, and provocation - but all on one condition: that those things be the monopoly of the post-Zionists.  And the Thought Police achieved its purpose: There will be no investigation of courses at Tel Aviv University.
 
Predictably, Haaretz newspaper is leading the campaign to silence the criticism of radical academics.  In an editorial under the title, "Politruks in Academia", the newspaper teamed up with the very same Yehoudah Shenhav, who of course was screeching "McCarthyism"!   The same Shenhav is attempting to turn the academy into a branch of "Balad" and leads the seminar in brainwashing sponsored by the series of left-wing organizations noted above.
 
Interestingly enough, the only editorial in Israel that has explicitly preached against freedom of speech and against academic freedom appeared in that same Haaretz.  It was when Israeli army colonel Pnina Baruch-Sharvit was supposed to give a course at the Tel Aviv University.  Baruch-Sharvit served in the military attorney's office and, as part of her job, she had to authorize certain military activities.  The enlightened newspaper decided to accuse her of "war crimes" and rashly hurried to convict and defame her in the court of leftist journalism on its editorial and news pages.
 
Now this same champion of journalistic McCarthyism has the audacity to preach about academic freedom!  The impudence!
 
 
A World Phenomenon
 
A study in the United States reveals data indicating that political bias exists in every university.   In certain departments, the Republican:Democratic ratio was 1:5, 1:10 or 1:20 in favor of the Democrat professors (left-wing in Israeli terminology).  Except the difference between the US and Israel is immense.  The Democrats in the US consist of 50% of the population, while the post-Zionists are only a tiny fraction in Israeli society.  The problem isn't the dovish bias or even the left-wing politics of many Israeli professors. The problem lies in the fact that their common denominator is much more ambitious: Denial of Israel's right as a Jewish democratic state.
 
Those who research crimes committed against the natives in North America or Australia do not rule out the right of Americans and Australians to exist, nor do they demand the "Right of Return" for millions of outsiders.
 
This is not the case with Israel. Here we have political indoctrination that intentionally undermines the very existence of the state of Israel, at the same time masquerading as "academic freedom."
 
 
Professors or Radical Left-Wing Activism?
 
Dr. Moses's research points to Prof. Oren Yiftachel, one of the most prominent spokesmen for Post-Zionism and a role model for the others.   In "academic" articles, Yiftachel rejects the definition of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.  He has long labored at rearing a new generation of anti-Israel academics.

Moses points out how Yiftachel's students mimic what they learn from their guru:
"Indoctrination dominates these studies, including a consistent use of terminology and theories taken from the Post-Zionism "School" and in particular from the teachings of Oren Yiftachel. 
 
"The repeated conclusions reached in these papers all proclaim in a single voice: The Jewish-Zionist collective created a non-democratic system (Israel) in order to expand at the expense of the Palestinian People . . .the Zionist-National ethos represents the basis of the discrimination, disinheritance and exclusion of the Palestinian (sic) residents of Israel. The precondition for transforming the State of Israel into an enlightened and democratic state is to cancel its Jewish nature and to cancel the Zionism of the state, and adopt a liberal-civilian, multi-cultured and post-national ethos."
 
Ok, so if this were but one ideological approach among many presented to students, so be it.   But when all of Yiftachel's students are themselves a generic clone of himself - this is not about critical or academic discourse.  This is pure political propaganda.
 
Many of Yiftachel's students are active in radical left-wing NGOs.  The fact of the matter is that there is no separation between their political activities and their "academic" activities.
 
The result is truly frightening:  A powerful campaign of indoctrination with one purpose: revoking the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their own country.
 
What they don't Teach
 
Prof. Ephraim Ya'ar, who is not suspected of any right-wing inclinations and who is in fact highly critical of the Right, stated in an article he published recently in Haaretz that "academic freedom (in Israel) is being threatened by the radical Left."
Ya'ar had no problem with what is taught in required classes.  His problem was with what is not taught.  He favors broad and critical dialogue.  But some of his colleagues, it turns out, prefer an indoctrination dialogue.
 
The real problem is that materials from the "School" of post-nationalism, post-colonization, or anti-Zionism are included in courses. The problem is that ONLY such anti-Israel materials are included, and there are very few dissenting alternatives in the study materials.
 
Many of the graduates of the anti-Zionist courses are totally unaware that over 50 million people have experienced the difficult process of forced transfer and population exchange in order to create new states and nations; or that the Jewish Nakba was worse than that of the Palestinians; or that the "Venice Committee", founded by the European Union, recognizes the legitimacy of laws that were intended, in certain places, to give preferences for the sake of preserving the positions of an ethnic majority or national ethnic character (Benefit Laws); or that the right of self-determination of the nations includes the Jewish nation, just like the Slovakians, Armenians, or Palestinians.
 
Academia does not have to serve as a mouthpiece for the Zionist vision.  And even when parts of the academy become tools in the hands of the anti-Zionists and the radical leftist NGOs - there is still no place for censorship or banning.
 
Nevertheless it is necessary to expose, critique and demand open public discourse about this.  The problem is that there are those out there who wish to silence and suppress anyone who wishes to engage in such public discourse.
 
The Vicious Cycle
 
Career advancement for many researchers is dependent upon publication in academic journals in the West, where some of those journals are explicitly anti-Zionist.
An academic's chances are higher for publishing an anti-Zionist article.  They are in vogue.  The result of this is, as studies have shown, that post-Zionist academics tend to get far more exposure for their political writings.
 
But there is a dangerous vicious cycle here.  Since promotion is dependent upon publication, the anti-Zionists benefit from an immense advantage.  Anyone exposed to these "publications" knows that they boil down to a single article with endless generic mutations.
 
Their writing is uniform.  As long as they use the tested codes and pet phrases - such as "ethnocracy," Zionist colonialism, oppression, narrative, Nakba, "ethnic cleansing," gaining control over territories, exclusion - their publication is assured.  They quote one another, justify one another, and radicalize one another, while creating a sticky hotbed of anti-Israel "orthodoxy."   This is the uniformity of thinking for our Bolshevik crowd.
 
Prof. Shlomo Sand from Tel Aviv University published a book about the supposed fabricated invention of the Jewish People.  According to the writer, the Jews of today are descendants of Turkic communities that converted to Judaism and have no connection to the Jews of the past.  Hence Jews are at best religious tribes, not a nation.  Serious academics - there are still some out there and they are still the majority - refute most of the claims in the book. This did not interfere with the book becoming a best-seller (outside of Israel).
 
There is nothing like an Israeli academic in the service of the anti-Zionist assault: there is no Jewish People, therefore they have no right to a state. The success of the
book, lapped up around the world by haters of Israel, makes it an intellectual terrorist attack.  No book refuting Sand's nonsense, no matter how excellently researched and written, will be met with similar success.
 
The reason for this is that something is rotten.  In academic life today, it is not only the quality of the publication that determines academic success. It is political orientation of the writer that is the ticket to success.
 
Orwell on the Silencing Orthodoxy
 
It must be stated clearly: the leading universities in Israel are not predominantly anti-Zionist.  The majority of the professors carry out their jobs fairly, and most of the professors with extremist views do not impose their opinions upon their students.  (Isracampus - we are not sure we agree with Yemini!)
 
The study by the IZS mentioned above is limited to the sociology departments alone, and find them full of bias. The danger is not that someone exposed the bias in sociology departments, but in the kneejerk responses that prohibit such voicing of criticism.
 
The disease may well spread. Academic freedom in Israel is indeed in danger, but not because someone dares to expose the prevalent and somewhat crazed anti-Zionist biases in certain departments and schools.
 
George Orwell wrote: "Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness." 
 
That is exactly what is happening today in parts of the Israeli academia. There is no "critical discourse" in academic life, as the pampered academic mandarins like to claim, only an "Orthodox discourse," where that "orthodoxy" is leftist.
 
There is no need for banning people, for soliciting the university donors to stop donating, and there is no place for dismissing professors because of their politics.  But for the sake of free academic expression, it is necessary to expose the ugly facts about parts of Israeli academia - for the sake preserving public discourse.
 
Epilogue
 
Before publication, I sent this blog item for comment to about 60 academics, almost all from the left although people who are not anti-Zionist.  From close to 30 who have responded so far, only two claimed that the article was way off the mark.  Many added intelligent comments and a few volunteered examples that reinforce the claims made.
 
One professor, who teaches in the social-economics field and whose research is but nature critical, sent me the syllabus of the course he teaches.  There he instructs his students to read articles that disagree with himself - and not just in token dosage.
 
That is how it should be!
 
Most of the comments I received were taken into consideration and they appear in the present version. The final responsibility for the article, needless to say, is mine alone.
 
--- Ben  Dror Yemini