HA'ARETZ SURPRISED AS ARAB STATES SHOW NO OPPOSITION TO ANTI-SEMITISM

[TG writes:] The influential left-wing Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, which has often been in denial about the realities of Moslem dislike for Jews, shows surprise at Arab attempts to block a UN condemnation of anti-Semitism.

Ha'aretz editorial (Extracts)
July 29, 2004

"An initiative by American Jewish organizations to push for a UN General Assembly resolution condemning any manifestation of anti-Semitism received a chilly response from an unexpected quarter. UN ambassadors representing Arab countries and the PLO made clear that they oppose the proposal... The opposition to the proposed resolution from Arab ambassadors to the UN encourages those ideological strains that refuse to distinguish between policy and twisted ideology. By refusing to support a declarative decision condemning anti-Semitism, the ambassadors are badly serving the Arab and Muslim interests, and any aspirations for a political solution."

 

FRANCE BANS HEZBOLLAH'S AL-MANAR TV STATION
July 29, 2004

The French Broadcasting Authority has banned Al-Manar, Hezbollah's TV station. The move was sparked by Al-Manar airing al-Shatat, a mini-series about an alleged Jewish conspiracy to rule the world, which included the graphic depiction of anti-Semitism blood libels.

 

CANADA PUTS SEVERE LIMITS ON AL-JAZEERA TV BROADCAST
July 28, 2004

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Al-Jazeera can only broadcast in Canada under stringent conditions.

The conditions include: The network's distributors must "record Al Jazeera programming and keep the recordings for a specific length of time"; distributors must "not distribute abusive content"; and distributors are allowed "to alter or delete the programming of Al Jazeera solely for the purpose of ensuring that no abusive comment is distributed."

Would-be distributors and Canadian Arabs are claiming the conditions make it impossible for anyone to broadcast Al-Jazeera in Canada.

Elie Kawkabani, president of Reach Media, a Los Angeles-based media marketing and distribution company, which holds the rights to distribute al-Jazeera, told the Washington Post, "They've given us approval but made it difficult for cable companies and satellite companies to carry it. They are not set up to monitor and decide what is appropriate or not appropriate."

 

JOHNSON AND JOHNSON REPLACES ISRAEL WITH PALESTINE IN MIDEAST MAP

www.jnjgateway.com/index.jhtml;jsessionid=RDSTOQHIRB0SUCQPCCECPJYKB2IIWNSC?_requestid=507560

On the official Johnson & Johnson website for Healthcare Professionals (used by thousands of doctors and pharmacists around the world) Palestine has been placed in the Mideast instead of Israel. (Israel is included in Europe.)

No other people claiming their own state (of which there are many) are awarded their own webpage as if they were an internationally-recognized country. The Palestine page also has a Palestinian flag fluttering in the top left hand corner.

No other country other than Israel has been geographically moved out of its international region.

Gateway is the J & J brand name, and it site is meant for doctors and other professionals, not for public. Johnson & Johnson is one of the biggest healthcare companies in world. The website is owned by Johnson & Johnson Gateway, LLC, located in Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.

 

PALESTINIAN SCHOOLBOOKS CONTINUE TO DENY ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST

By Margot Dudkevitch (Extracts)
The Jerusalem Post
July 29, 2004

"According to a study by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories of 26 textbooks published by the PA's Education Ministry in 2003-2004, the Palestinian textbooks refer to the entire territory encompassed by Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza as "Palestine." The PA schoolbooks continue to deny Israel's right to exist and claim that the only solution to the current conflict is violence. Jews and Judaism are portrayed negatively, but martyrdom is depicted as a positive national trend..."

 

SECOND MAJOR ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK IN NEW ZEALAND IN 3 WEEKS

Jewish graves vandalized in New Zealand
The Associated Press
August 6, 2004

WELLINGTON - A Jewish chapel was burned down and dozens of gravestones smashed Friday in what was believed to be the worst-ever anti-Semitic desecration at a cemetery in New Zealand.

It was the second assault on Jewish gravesites in three weeks. The first came just hours after two Israeli men were imprisoned for passport fraud and labeled spies by New Zealand's government.

The chapel at Makara Cemetery on the outskirts of this capital city was destroyed in the fire and up to 90 headstones broken from graves, said Detective Sergeant Tim Leitch.

On July 16, vandals destroyed historic headstones and cut a swastika into a lawn at the Jewish section of a central Wellington cemetery. Jewish Council president David Zwartz said it appeared both acts of vandalism were sparked by the government's diplomatic sanctions against Israel over the spy affair.

"We see a progression from hate speech [by the New Zealand government] to hate action," he said, adding the chapel, used as a prayer house, housed no precious items.

Jewish community member David Schnellenberg said the attack was the worst since Jewish settlers first arrived in New Zealand. "The sheer number of gravestones destroyed, the chapel burnt beyond repair, this has never happened before in New Zealand's Jewish history," he told National Radio.

Prime Minister Helen Clark suspended high-level diplomatic contacts with
Israel after Israelis Elisha Cara and Uriel Kelman attempted to illegally obtain a New Zealand passport. She said the pair were working for Israeli intelligence.

 

WHO WOULD HAVE IMAGINED NEW ZEALAND COULD CHANGE SO MUCH?

Who would have imagined New Zealand could change so much?
Clark's vile bedfellows: Her outbursts against Israel
By Ted Lapkin
The Review (Australia)
July 22, 2004

It makes you wonder about [NZ prime minister] Helen Clark's priorities. In two separate sting operations in March and April, Thai police seized 23 bogus New Zealand passports that were being sold on the Bangkok black market. And, if that isn't bad enough, security officials in Thailand expressed the belief al-Qa'ida terrorists have been using the products of these forgery rings for quite some time.

But the prospect of Osama bin Laden flashing a visa-free Kiwi passport as he sauntered through customs at Heathrow didn't seem to bother the New Zealand Prime Minister. In fact, her Government's reaction to these passport forgeries was exceedingly low key. Thus, a Foreign Affairs spokesman responded dismissively to this story, declaring that he "had absolutely no confirmation" of "claims by Thai police that New Zealand passports may have been used by al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists in Europe".

About the same time, two Israeli men were arrested during the course of a rather amateurish plot to obtain a genuine NZ passport under false pretences. Yet on this occasion, Clark was galvanised into action, angrily proclaiming that she had "very strong grounds for believing that these are Israeli intelligence agents". She slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel, while vociferously decrying this "unfriendly action" that is a "sorry indictment" of the Jewish state.

Clark was particularly aggrieved at how this purported plot by Israeli intelligence compromised the diplomatic sanctity of New Zealand passports. But, with al-Qa'ida forgers printing them up a dime a dozen in Thailand, one would think that a couple of errant Israelis would be the least of her worries.

If Eli Cara and Uri Kelman are Mossad agents, they are much more Keystone Cop than dynamic duo, much more Inspector Clouseau than James Bond. They deserve to do six months in jail for the sheer stupidity of their scheme.

Yet, while Cara and Kelman might have broken the first rule of covert intelligence work --- don't get caught -- I worked in Washington DC long enough to learn the first rule of politics: always peel the onion. By peeling the onion, I mean to never accept anything at face value, because on Capitol Hill things very rarely are as they outwardly appear. In Washington, and in Wellington, there's always a deeper agenda to consider.

And it is only by peeling Clark's onion that one can begin to understand the cynicalccalculation that motivated her outbursts against Israel. This political exfoliation process brings one immediately to the question of public support and popularity. Or, in the case of New Zealand's Prime Minister, it's probably more accurate to say her lack thereof.

To put it bluntly, Clark is in trouble. Deep trouble. Not only was she voted New Zealand's "least kissable" woman in a recent survey conducted by Listerine, but the political fortunes of her Labour Party are flagging as well. Over the past year Opposition Leader Don Brash has orchestrated a phoenix-like ascent from the electoral ashes by his National Party. Brash has led the Nats to a commanding position in the New Zealand political landscape by preaching a highly popular creed of free-market economics and equal rights.

The first instinct of a politician who is under pressure is to look for a distraction. The film Wag the Dog was a satirical work, but at the heart of every successful satire is an essential kernel of truth. In ancient Rome it was bread and the colosseum. In contemporary New Zealand Labour Party circles, what could be better than a spy scandal? And an Israeli spy scandal at that?

It must be Passover in Wellington, for the passport affair is political manna from heaven for the beleaguered Clark. She gets to look like a strong leader by fulminating on the cheap against a country that represents no threat to New Zealand's national security. After all, I don't think the Golani Brigade will be storming ashore at Auckland Harbour any time soon.

By contrast, Clark sees no evil, hears no evil, speaks no evil where real terrorist threats are concerned. There was no public rebuke of the Taliban in August 2000, when Auckland police raided an al-Qa'ida cell of Afghan expatriates that was planning to attack the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor near Sydney. Police discovered a virtual command centre with telephone call records indicating ongoing contact with Afghan terrorist groups. Yet mum was the word, as far as Clark was concerned.

But, let it not be said that the Prime Minister's selective outrage hasn't earned New Zealand some new admirers. In fact, the official Hamas website has just declared its appreciation for "the daring position of the New Zealand Government against the Zionist entity".

This glowing endorsement by a bunch of Palestinian suicide bombers reflects the moral bankruptcy of Clark's Middle East policy. Under her guidance, New Zealand has made common cause with bedfellows who are not only strange, but downright repugnant.

 

UZBEKISTAN: MEDIA WRONG TO SUGGEST TERROR ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAELI EMBASSIES RESULT OF INTIFADA

Tom Gross writes:

A number of international media commentators have hinted or stated outright that the terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last Friday, was something new -- the result of Ariel Sharon being Israel's prime minister and of "his policies".

This is misleading. Since the founding of the PLO four decades ago, there have been dozens attacks on Israeli missions around the world, including the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 28 people, and wounded some 300 others.

Even during the so-called "Oslo peace period," the attacks continued. For example, in 1997, two Israeli embassy security personnel were wounded in an attack in Amman, and in 1999 around 100 rioters broke into the Israeli Consulate General in Berlin, brandishing clubs, hammers, and iron bars. Israeli security guards shot dead three of the rioters after they took a woman hostage and also tried to seize weapons.

The suicide bomber in Uzbekistan last week killed two persons at the Israeli embassy. One other person has since died in hospital as a result of severe injuries sustained in the blast. One of the dead was Israeli ambassador Tzvi Cohen's personal bodyguard.

An Islamic Uzbek organization, the "Islamic Holy War Group," claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on an Islamic Web site. They stated: "A group of young Muslims carried out martyrdom [suicide] operations which confused the apostate government and its infidel allies of Americans and Jews." According to Uzbek press reports, the group ran training camps in Pakistan where they were taught by Arabs who the government says were al-Qaeda instructors.

The Uzbek government has placed extra security forces at synagogues in Tashkent, today for Sabbath services.

 

'SIEG HEIL' WEBSITE GIVES LESSON ON HOLOCAUST

Reuters (Frankfurt bureau)
July 27, 2004

German neo-Nazis seeking to access racist propaganda on the Internet will now receive a lesson on the Holocaust when visiting a website named after the Nazi victory salute, Sieg Heil.

All traffic to the former neo-Nazi website siegheil.de has been redirected to shoa.de, a site providing information on the origins of anti-Semitism and a detailed account of the Nazis' murder of about 6 million Jews.

Germany's central registration authority for web addresses, Denic, revoked the license of the former operator of siegheil.de at the request of the German Internet watchdog jugendschutz.net, a spokesman for the group said.

 

OVER ONE YEAR LATER: SHEIKH ZAYED'S GIFT TO BE RETURNED BY HARVARD

[This is a follow-up to my dispatch "Harvard and the Holocaust," June 2, 2003. In that dispatch it was pointed out that Harvard University was happy to accept a gift from Sheikh Zayed Fund, an Arab League "think tank," used in part as a platform for Holocaust denial. Among its publications, the Zayed Center has published a book titled "Those Who Challenged Israel," containing the thoughts and theories of Holocaust deniers David Irving and Roger Garoudy, and hosted academics such as Mohammed Ahmad Hussain of Cairo University, who said Jews invented the Holocaust as part of a "long term orchestrated campaign aiming at the perpetuation of the 'persecution of the Jews' or what they call the Holocaust." In April 2003, the Zayed Center hosted Saudi Professor Umayma Jalahma, who declared that "the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare for holiday pastries."]

ARAB'S GIFT TO BE RETURNED BY HARVARD

Arab's Gift to Be Returned by Harvard
By Stephanie Strom
July 28, 2004

Harvard University is returning a controversial $2.5 million gift to its donor, the president of the United Arab Emirates.

Harvard said in a statement Monday that the president, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, recently asked to withdraw the gift, which was to endow a chair in Islamic religious studies, before it was subjected to a formal deliberation this summer by the university.

Abdulla Alsaboosi, a spokesman at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington, said negotiations between the university and Sheik Zayed's representatives had been going on for several months. "The negotiations were conducted in an atmosphere of cordiality and mutual respect," Mr. Alsaboosi said, "but in the end, since no decision was taken by the university, we felt regretfully that we had no option but to retract the gift."

Students and Jewish organizations had criticized the Harvard Divinity School for accepting the donation, which was made in 2000, because they objected to the sheik's support for a policy research organization, the Zayed International Center for Coordination and Follow-Up in Abu Dhabi, one of the seven states in the United Arab Emirates.

Speakers at the center had included an Arab scholar who has written that Jews use human blood to make pastries and a French author who claims that Israel masterminded the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 as well as American officials like former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Vice President Al Gore. It was closed last summer by the government of the United Arab Emirates, which said that the center had engaged in a discourse that "contradicted the principles of interfaith tolerance" espoused by Sheik Zayed.

Sheik Zayed, whose personal wealth is estimated at $23 billion, supports a variety of causes, including African refugees and public schools in the United States. The controversy over his gift to the divinity school, which had been sought by the university, caused several institutions to reconsider contributions he had given them.

 

BRITAIN'S RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL AND SYRIA

On August 3, 2004, London Times headline said "[New Israeli] Envoy warns of anti-Semitism rise in Britain." Israel's new Ambassador to London Zvi Heifetz, was quoted as saying: "For me anti-Semitism is not a theoretical word. I came to Israel at 14. I came from the Soviet Union, from Riga (Latvia). I felt anti-Semitism myself. I was called names and had to fight... Currently there is more than one anti-Semitic incident a day in Britain. That is a serious problem."

(Last year there were 375 anti-Semitic attacks recorded in the UK. The month Mr Heifetz arrived - June - arsonists attacked two synagogues in London and vandals smashed Jewish gravestones in a cemetery in the northern English city of Middlesbrough.)

Meanwhile, also on August 3, 2004, the Syria Times headline stated: "Syria, Britain relations excellent, says envoy." The British Ambassador in Syria William Ford described Syrian-British relations as "excellent". Ford said the Syrian-European partnership agreement maybe signed at the end of this summer.

 

OFFICERS AGAINST DISENGAGEMENT.

Officers against disengagement (Extracts only)
Hatzofeh
July 29, 2004

"Opposition among senior reserve officers to Sharon's disengagement plan is increasing. After IDF officers' refusenik phenomenon, the "New Spirit" movement, including former senior security establishment officials, is coming out against disengagement plan. At a movement conference, reserve officers and former senior ISA officials spoke out against Sharon. "Israel is, at the end of the day, going to say to terror: You are the winner," said Maj-Gen. Amidror.

... Former ISA deputy director Yisrael Chason added "This is a danger to Israel's existence."

 

"HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS THREATEN TEL AVIV."

Yediot Ahronot Headline (July 28, 2004): "Hezbollah Rockets Threaten Tel Aviv." Iran and Syria transferred improved rockets to organization. Iran says: "If Israel Attacks, We Will Wipe It Out." Tehran fears that its nuclear installations will be bombed. Israeli Chief-of-Staff: Treat Iranian nuclear danger seriously.

The Jerusalem Post, July 26, 2004: "Syria is trying to fit medium-range rockets with chemical warheads, and there are some indications Hizbullah is involved in these tests, OC Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi told the cabinet... Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah admitted publicly for the first time last week that his organization is active in the Palestinian territories, Ze'evi said... Hizbullah's arsenal, he said, includes some 13,000 short-range rockets, some 500 medium-range rockets, and a few dozen long-range rockets, with a range of between 115 and 215 kilometers."

 

"FOLLOW CHURCHILL'S DICTUM: CRUSH OR BE CRUSHED"

[These are extracts from an editorial by Edward Bernard Glick, a professor emeritus of political science at Temple University, which some people may find hardline.]

Crush or Be Crushed (Extracts only)
By Edward Bernard Glick
The Jerusalem Post
August 4, 2004

"Events in both Israel and Iraq prove that the winning-hearts-and-minds approach to ending wars and insurrections has the same success rate as getting rain by praying for it... Islam does not look kindly upon infidels who lose. So the issue confronting Israel and the U.S. is how they can defeat their foes.

"The Ba'athists and the jihadists will not stop fighting the Great Satan because they have been made to like, respect, or fear the U.S. They will stop fighting only when they are convinced that America's Vietnam trauma is over and that America is once again willing and able to use crushing force.

"And Israel, the Little Satan, will prevail over its existential enemies only when it realizes that in order to survive it must fight by the rules of the neighborhood in which it lives.

"In short, America's and Israel's struggles will end favorably only if they follow Churchill's dictum: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."