Pro-'Palestinian' websites post fake photos to incite against Israel

This photograph has unfortunately become common on pro-'Palestinian' websites (see this, for example). It is being promoted as a picture of an IDF soldier trampling on a 'Palestinian' child.
There's one small problem - the photo is a fake.
The uniform is not an IDF uniform, the boots aren't IDF boots and the weapon is a Russian issue AK-47 - the IDF uses American-made M-16's.
But why let facts get in the way?

RABBI DOV FISCHER: Tammi Rossman-Benjamin's response to Dr. Daniel Wehrenfennig, director of the UCI Olive Tree Initiative

Having read the letter of December 8, 2010 by Dr. Daniel Wehrenfennig, director of the UCI Olive Tree Initiative (OTI), responding to valid concerns raised by Prof. Tammi Ross-Benjamin, I now feel it is time for Jews in Orange County to withhold any further support for the Jewish Federation of Orange County until the Federation disassociates and withdraws from continuing to support the OTI, directly or indirectly, with Jewish charitable funds.  I likewise will now urge all individuals of similar mind to mine to withhold support from the Jewish Federation of Orange County on those same terms.  The notion that the Jewish Federation is taking Jewish charitable dollars and spending Jewish tzedakah funds to assist UCI Jewish students to participate in OTI is so profoundly disturbing that I cannot see how any Jewish philanthropist would want to know that her hard-won earnings during this Great Recession are being spent in this manner.

 

Jewish funds should not be expended on paying for Jewish students to travel throughout “Palestinian” towns and villages to hear lectures by trained anti-Israel propagandists from “Palestine,” as part of an OTI mission to expose Jewish students to a “balanced” understanding of narratives: (i) on the one hand, Israel’s unequivocal right to live, (ii) balanced on the other hand with the right of Palestinian Arabs to aspire towards absorbing and nullifying the only Jewish state in the world – the death of Israel.  In the words of Dr. Wehrenfennig  : “The Olive Tree Initiative is an experiential learning initiative that shows both, and even multiple sides and narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”  My Young Israel synagogue does not bring Christian missionaries to our congregation so that our congregants can better receive a “balanced view” of theological narratives.  Our “experiential learning initiative” is attained by educating our members by presenting information, including information believed by others – “and even multiple sides and narratives” – for their benefit.  We educate expansively, beyond insularity.  Yet, we do not need Christian missionaries to educate us. We do not bring Christian missionaries to teach their version of Torah, their version of Isaiah 7:14 or 53, to our teens and college students. We teach.  Likewise, we do not need – and we certainly should not contribute towards such endeavor with Jewish tzedakah funds – Palestinians dedicated to the death of Israel to educate our Jewish college students for balance.  There are ample Jewish educational programs, from a wide range of perspectives, that can educate ably, presenting multiple perspectives.

 

It is unconscionable that a Jewish Federation would expend even supplementary Jewish charitable funds to fly and transport Jewish UCI students on programs that compromise the Shabbat – and all the more so, incredibly so, that desecrate Rosh Hashanah.  What Jewish philanthropist is so bereft of meaningful Jewish charitable choices for his philanthropic generosity that he must have his tzedakah employed for sending Jewish students to a program that spends part of Rosh Hashanah in a Jewish setting and part of Rosh Hashanah in “Palestine”? Dr. Daniel Wehrenfennig, director of the UCI Olive Tree Initiative, means well when he writes:  “Again, if the Jewish students wanted to they could opt out of the Jordan trip or parts of it because of religious reasons,” but he does not realize how damning the statement is.  I do not want my college Jewish son or daughter being flown or otherwise transported to “Palestine” and Jordan, along with Israel, during Rosh Hashanah, with some concession of “opting out” from  the group dynamic “because of religious reasons.”  I want my Jewish son or daughter, if spending time in Israel during the High Holy Day season, devoting that time to experiencing the Days of Awe with everyone else in the group, thus creating a reinforcing socializing and educating experience.  The college years pass by so rapidly, and these moments must be cherished for the opportunities they offer us to educate and welcome Jewish students to the meaning of Jewish life.

 

Please do not misunderstand.  Someday my son or daughter will find himself in situations that amply integrate him with the rest of the world.  She will meet and encounter Palestinians.  She will be on business travel as Shabbat draws near and may need to individuate herself from the mainstream to observe Shabbat. So it will be for them, as it has been for me.  In ten years as an attorney with two of America’s most prominent law firms, I socialized and integrated with people of all backgrounds in my firms, and I arranged with judges and opposing counsel to calendar court days so that I would not be compelled to compromise Shabbat or Jewish holy festivals.  Despite never having attended an OTI Rosh Hashanah program, I was thoroughly capable of socially integrating my lifestyle and religious beliefs with others, including Arab Moslem friends.  But during my formative college years, my time in Israel was spent attending Jewish programs that did not divide Rosh Hashanah with Bethlehem, “Palestine” or trips to Jordan.  Perhaps some parents (or college students) differ from me, and they respectively want their children (or for themselves) to attend programs that “balance” Israel’s right to live with a normative Palestinian perspective that Israel should be destroyed as a Jewish State, and perhaps they want to be on a program that gives them the option of spending half their Rosh Hashanah in Bethlehem under the aegis of anti-Israel Palestinian propagandists trained in reaching American youths, like Rachel Corrie, and sensitizing them to the “Palestinian narrative.”  They have that right – but not to have it funded, directly or indirectly, with Jewish Federation charitable dollars.

 

Dr. Daniel Wehrenfennig, director of the UCI Olive Tree Initiative (OTI), has written his letter, in explicit pertinent part, to defend the practice of the Jewish Federation of Orange County, its Rose Project, and other of its funding channels to participate in allocating Jewish charitable funds towards OTI.  That is Dr. Wehrenfennig’s right and institutional responsibility.  I, too, am entitled to my right and responsibility to act in accordance with my free conscience.  As a rabbi, a religious leader and teacher in the Jewish community of Irvine in Orange County, I also have a right and a responsibility.  At this moment in time, in the face of this very unfortunate situation, my responsibility is to announce publicly that I believe it proper for Jews to withhold any further contributions from the Jewish Federation of Orange County until the Federation publicly and explicitly assures the Jewish community that it no longer will participate materially in supporting Jewish student participation at Olive Tree Institute programs that bring UCI Jewish students in part to “Palestine,” where those Jewish students are exposed to trained and skilled Palestinian Arab propagandists educating them with the “Palestinian narrative” that would mark the death of Israel as a Jewish state.  I urge others to follow my lead, and I will encourage others whom I know to spread this call far and wide. 

 

I am grateful to Prof. Rossman-Benjamin for her leadership in bringing to the surface truths that needed to be exposed.

DJ goes off on Muslim caller; Seven fascinating radio minutes, as a talk-radio guy, Neil Boortz, goes after a Muslim caller.

PMW: "The Jews" killed Arafat - Kids' hate speech rebroadcast on PA TV Young boy: "I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews." [Palestinian boy at Arafat memorial, PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009 and rebroadcast on PA TV Nov. 10. 2010]

For this year's annual commemoration of Yasser Arafat's death, PA TV chose to rebroadcast video clips of Palestinian children's messages in honor of Arafat, which included hate speech against Jews.

Several of the selected messages feature children repeating the ongoing Palestinian Authority libel that the Jews killed Arafat by poisoning. One boy first states that Arafat was poisoned by the Jews, but then corrects himself, saying: "Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews."

The teaching that evil originates with the Jews was the basis for much of the Antisemitism throughout history. It should be stressed that these were prerecorded interviews with the children, yet PA TV chose to include the hate speech in the compilation.

None of the children in the film speaks about peace; in fact, they do the opposite. One boy praises Arafat because he was a "fighter" who "did things through [violent] struggle," and who "did not make peace." The Martyrdom (Shahada) ideal is also chosen as a message in the film, with one boy quoting Arafat: "They want me dead, they want me prisoner, but I say: Martyr, Martyr, Martyr!"

As Palestinian Media Watch reported at the time, this film was first broadcast in 2009 on the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death as part of a televised memorial ceremony.

The boy's comment quoted above, "I know it was by the Jews," and the other children's beliefs that "the Jews" killed Arafat, indicate the PA's success in teaching Palestinian children hate libels and demonization of Jews. The decision by PA TV to rebroadcast this is a further indicator that the PA continues to promote the values of hatred, violence and Martyrdom that the children have adopted.

The following is the transcript of excerpts of the children's messages:

Ceremony host: "Blessings to Yasser Arafat, and here are messages from the children of Palestine." [From 2009 PA ceremony, not part of PA TV 2010 broadcast, - Ed.]
Boy: "I was very, very sad when Arafat died as a Shahid (Martyr), because he was a good man and he was a fighter. He did things through struggle, he participated in the struggle and did not make peace and so on. He wanted to fight."
Boy 2: "Yasser Arafat was a very, very important president. He stood up to all the enemies and was not afraid of anyone. And anyone who approached - he managed to stop him. All the Jews and the Israelis and the people who are against us, were afraid of him. When he died, he died of poisoning."
Girl: "I say that he died from poisoning by the Jews. That's what I say."
Boy 3: "Arafat used to say: "They want me dead, they want me prisoner, but I say to them: Martyr! Martyr! Martyr!"
Girl 2: "He [Arafat] was our former president. He was under siege in Ramallah, and when he was under siege we were very upset. The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve."
Boy 4: "He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews."
Boy 5: "They destroyed his whole house and he was left in one room and in the end the Jews poisoned him and blamed someone else."
[PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009 and 2010]

Reporter Asks Strangers if they'd Shake Hands With a Jew

Arab Propaganda

BloodLibel Hamas

ISRAEL MATZAV: 'Palestinian' blogger faces life in prison for insulting Islam on Facebook

A 'Palestinian' blogger faces life in prison for insulting Islam and the 'prophet.' No, not in Hamastan. In the 'moderate' 'Palestinian Authority.'
A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars – caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.

The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from the West Bank town of Qalqilya, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority – and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.

Residents of Qalqilya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin – the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar – was leading a double life.

Now, Husayin faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence." Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqilya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.
Read the whole thing - it describes what he wrote and how he was caught. It ought to make the Obama administration think twice about what kind of 'state' they are backing in Judea and Samaria and how much different from Hamastan it is likely to be. But they won't have any second thoughts as a result of this incident.

What could go wrong?

PMW: Jews persecuted in Europe because of their "great love of money:" PA TV history program

A history program on official Palestinian Authority television has repeated an odious PA distortion of history. 

Since its inception, the PA has been rewriting the history of Zionism, teaching that the Jews came to Israel not because of their historical ties to the land, but because Europe wanted to be rid of "the burden of its Jews," [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 1998] and "wanted to get rid of the Jews and their problems,"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2009].

The Arabs' "NO" to Israel

Israel and the Palestinians: "No" is the Real Obstacle to Peace from AJC on Vimeo.



More than borders, more than land, more than water, more than settlements, the main hurdle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is an idea: that Jews have no right to a state on a land where they have lived for centuries.

Vatican City - Israel: 'Vatican Synod Became a Forum For Arab Propagana'

Vatican City - Israel said Sunday that a meeting of Middle East bishops was hijacked by enemies of the Jewish state, after the gathering at the Vatican largely blamed Israel for conflict in the region.