Who brought the Arabs to this nadir? - Al Arabiya News

Who brought the Arabs to this nadir? - Al Arabiya News:

There ARE Arab leaders and opinionmakers worthy of our support,  who seek to modernize and liberalize (two different concepts)  their own world and take it forward, if the racists and leftists would get out of the way. These people are trying to push a boulder up a very steep hill. They don't need leftist NGOs, intellectuals and other outsiders standing in their way too. Their ultimate success in the future, if ever, will not necessarily mean peace and harmony with ISrael, but it will certainly be better than the alternative.



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Poll: US approval ratings for Israel remain high | The Times of Israel

Poll: US approval ratings for Israel remain high | The Times of Israel:

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So, Israel has a 72% approval rating among Americans. How does Walt and the other anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists square this with their contentions that the Jews in the Israel lobby control our government? Perhaps, instead,  the American people control Congress, which is  apparently  abiding by their will when it supports Israel? Oh, that is called democracy, a difficult concept for hateful "experts" like Walt, who are in the minority, to accept.

SodaStream and Scarlett Johansson: Three Comments | Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch

SodaStream and Scarlett Johansson: Three Comments | Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch:

SodaStream and Scarlett Johansson - Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch

Scarlett Johansson has given a clinic on how to stand up to bullies. Boycotts of Israel are absurd. The reason many Palestinians became refugees was that the Palestinian Arabs joined surrounding Arab states in a war of extermination against the infant State of Israel in 1948, a war that they lost. Israel came into possession of the West Bank because of a war of extermination that three Arab states launched against Israel in 1967 and lost.

    The PLO rejected President Clinton's Camp David proposals and launched a vicious war against Israeli civilians that killed a thousand and maimed ten thousand - and lost. Every day Palestinians try to inflict terror on Israel.

    The Middle East is burning with the fires of anti-Western, anti-democratic, anti-humanitarian savagery, torture and anarchy, and SodaStream is the primary preoccupation of those who supposedly advocate for truth, human rights and love? (Huffington Post)'via Blog this'

1930s Redux? Dismiss the Quenelle at the Risk of the Jews of France

1930s Redux? » Mosaic Magazine:

Why you should not dismiss the Quenelle as just a childish sign, no
less than the "heil Hitler" salute from whence it is derived.

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Peter the Red --The Rest of the Story About Pete Seeger

Peter the Red » Mosaic Magazine:

We know that obituaries, as a matter of courtesy and respect,  are supposed to put the departed in their best light. However, if you got taken in by the deification of Pete Seeger in the front page obituaries about his death this week, why don't you read this article, talking about his glorification of Josef Stalin and his ignoring Red atrocities to fit his world view. Was he an idiot or a bad guy? We can leave that judgement to his maker, but please,  know what he said.



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Seeing SodaStream for myself | Simon Plosker The Times of Israel

Seeing SodaStream for myself | Simon Plosker | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel:

Underlying Simon's Op-Ed is the question -- do the boycott people really work to help the Palestinians or hurt Israelis? Also,  Simon points out  the Scandinavians and others applying a double standard to Israel, insisting on getting their Sodastream machines from that beacon of workers' rights, China, rather than from Palestinians.

Full Disclosure: I am a director of HonestReporting, for which Simon is Managing  Editor (and a fine one at that).



'via Blog this'Seeing SodaStream for myself | Simon Plosker | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel

PM Netanyahu's Speech at the World Economic Forum

PM Netanyahu's Speech at the World Economic Forum:

Why Israel Is Innovation Nation - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister's Office)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday:

• The concentration of exceptionally gifted hi-tech start-up companies in Israel is a function of five things:
  
  1. A curse has been turned into a blessing: our defense needs. We have
     had to have a very robust defense, so we take the best and the brightest
     of our young people in the military, and we put them in our various
     operations. This produces knowledge workers and knowledge entrepreneurs
     who are very gifted.
     
  2. Research. We have excellent research institutions and
     universities that produce an inordinate share of Nobel Prize winners for
     Israel. We also spend 5% of our GDP on R&D, the highest number of
     any country.
     
  3. A special culture. The Jewish people have always treasured
     education and knowledge. In ancient times we were effectively the only
     literate people and that brought us through the Middle Ages and into
     modern time with literacy. In addition, the Jewish people were always
     asking questions, truth was never finite. That questioning mind is
     something that is in our culture and adds very much to our capacities.
     
  4. Size: we're very small, the size of New Jersey or Wales. So
     everything is close by and everyone is close to everyone else. Everybody
     competes with each other and collaborates with each other. There is an
     ongoing, vibrant cross-fertilization.
     
  5. We have no choice, we had to innovate. We didn't have abundant
     natural resources. We were outnumbered; we were facing constant threats.
     Our neighbors even imposed upon us an economic boycott. Some world
     powers imposed upon us a weapons boycott. We had to innovate to survive.
     
• The birth of modern Israel was an innovation. The rebirth of
  the Hebrew language was an innovation. The rebirth of agriculture in our
  land was an innovation.
  
• These
  five factors have created a unique situation where we produce more
  conceptual products per-capita than any other country on Earth.

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State Dep't had refused to sponsor UNESCO's canceled Israel exhibit | The Times of Israel

State Dep't had refused to sponsor UNESCO's canceled Israel exhibit | The Times of Israel:

The so-called peace process will fail over this very issue -- the Arab's refusal and inability to recognize thousands of years of history, the bible, and Jewish roots in the land of Palestine. To Muslim Arabs, the word "compromise" when used opposite a non-Muslim is a synonym to the term "loss of pride", and is therefore impossible to effect. Netanyahu should do what Sharon had intended to do -- declare unilateral borders and send Kerry home. Obama-Kerry already sold Israel down the river on Iran -- Netanyahu  shouldn't let then them do it over the Palestinian issue, especially with what is currently going on in the Middle East.



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Mosaic Magazine - Pro-Palestinian, or Just Anti-Israel?

Mosaic Magazine - Pro-Palestinian, or Just Anti-Israel?:

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MEMRI: Internet Graphic Novel Challenges Jihadi Indoctrination in Wake of Syria War

MEMRI: Internet Graphic Novel Challenges Jihadi Indoctrination in Wake of Syria War:
This is an incredible piece. For all I know, the Syrian government produced it, but it vividly tells a story about Islamic fascism.

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