Jerusalem News (11 June, 2013, Tammuz 3, 5773)
Contents:
1. Why the Boycott Movement is Blatantly anti-Jewish
Fraser v UCU: tribunal finds no antisemitism at all by David Hirsh
2. Syria Shows Why Israel Must Remain Strong by Alan Dershowitz
3. Happy Israel by Daniel Pipes
4. Rearranging the Middle East by Joseph Puder
5. The Present Situation in Syria. Syria: An Unresolved Struggle by Eyal Zisser
6. Mexicans are Not Enough! Obama wants More Muslims! U.S. considers taking in Syrian refugees by Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times
7. Look for the Money? Education Minister Shai Piron received funding from enemies of Israel.
Piron was receiving ca. 500,000 (or 600,000 according to Piron himself) shekels a year for doing almost nothing!
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1. Why the Boycott Movement is Blatantly anti-Jewish
Fraser v UCU: tribunal finds no antisemitism at all
http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/fraser-v-ucu-tribunal-finds-no-antisemitism-at-all/
by David Hirsh. April 18, 2013Â
Extracts:
For ten years now the campaign to boycott Israel has been gaining support
within the trade unions that represent academics in Britain. Last week
the equivalent union in Ireland voted to implement a boycott. The
boycotters say that they are only for a boycott of the state or of
institutions - a victimless boycott. But what is actually being created
is a culture in which the exclusion of Israelis - and only Israelis - from
the global community, is seen as legitimate The boycott is proposed as a
response to Israeli human rights abuses. It is said that Israel is
"apartheid" like the old racist South African regime and should be
similarly shunned.
The phenomenon of Israel-boycott is significant because it sits at the
nexus between concern for Palestinian freedom, criticism of Israeli
policy, hostility to Israel and antisemitism. The boycott goes beyond
criticism of Israel by aiming to create a concrete exclusion of ordinary
Israelis. This exclusion is set up in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, the
USA, or wherever it is being fought for, not far away in the Middle East.
The boycott campaign is antisemitic, not in its motivation, but in its
effects. Its proponents are not Jew-haters, but they do set themselves up
in a fight against the overwhelming majority of the world's Jews. The
boycotters seek to punish Israel for human rights abuses and to hold all
Israelis collectively responsible for the actions of their government,
while they target no other state for boycott and they seek collective
punishment for no other citizens. People who oppose the boycott campaign
are forced into one of three responses: stay silent, help to legitimize
the campaign, or agree to stand in the dock for Israel. Those who oppose
the boycott campaign are treated as though they are enemies of Palestinian
freedom and apologists for racism, apartheid and colonialism. Most of the
people forced into these options, and treated as pariahs are Jewish.
Inevitably, the campaign to treat Israelis and their 'supporters' as
pariahs brings with it echoes of previous campaigns against Jews. Images
and tropes from old antisemitic themes are unconsciously recycled, and
Jews who oppose the boycott are framed as conspiratorial, powerful, rich,
bloodthirsty - particularly against children, bourgeois, connected to
dishonest bankers, warmongers etc.
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2. Syria Shows Why Israel Must Remain Strong by Alan Dershowitz
June 4, 2013 4:09Â
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/06/04/syria-shows-why-israel-must-remain-strong/
Extracts:
Syrian Commander Riad al-Asaad, who heads a contingent of Syrian army defectors, in a screenshot from a video from his group's Facebook page. (Free Syrian Army)
Fareed Zakaria explained why neither side in the Syrian conflict is likely to surrender:
People fight to the end because they know that losers in such wars get killed or 'ethnically cleansed.'
In this kind of war the worlds 'ethnically cleansed' do not mean displaced or made refugees. They mean, as Zakaria further explained, massacred:
'Then you have phase 2, which is the massacre of the Alawites, the 14 percent of Syria that has ruled and that will be a bloodbath.'
Nor will the massacres and bloodbaths be limited to combatants, or even civilian officials, if the past is any indication. Babies, women, the elderly and everyone else will become targets of the vengeful blood lust. Already somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 Syrians have been killed, the vast majority of them civilians. According to United Nations investigators, some have been killed by chemical weapons and thermobaric bombs (that suck the oxygen out of the lungs of everyone in the area.) There have been at least 17 massacres between mid-January and mid-May of this year alone. And there is no sign that the bloodshed is abating. Whether the death toll is closer to 80,000 or 100,000, this figure is more than all the people killed in nearly a century of conflict between Israel and its enemies -a conflict that includes half a dozen wars and thousands of acts of terrorism and reprisals.
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3. Happy Israel by Daniel Pipes
The Washington Times
June 5, 2013
http://www.danielpipes.org/12962/happy-israel
Extracts:
In a typically maladroit statement, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry recently complained that Israelis are too contented to end their conflict with the Palestinians: "People in Israel aren't waking up every day and wondering if tomorrow there will be peace because there is a sense of security and a sense of accomplishment and of prosperity."
While Mr. Kerry misunderstands Israelis (Palestinian rejectionism, not prosperity, caused them to give up on diplomacy), he is right that Israelis have a "sense of security and of prosperity."" They are generally a happy lot. A recent poll found 93 percent of Jewish Israelis proud of be Israeli. Yes, Iranian nuclear weapons loom and confrontation with Moscow is possible, but things have never been so good. With thanks to Efraim Inbar of Bar-Ilan University for some of the following information, Let us count the ways.
Israel has more children per capita than any other advanced country.
-- Women need to give birth to 2.1 children to sustain a country's population; Israel has a birthrate of 2.65, making it the only advanced country to exceed replacement. (The next highest is France at 2.08; the lowest is Singapore at 0.79.) While Haredis and Arabs account for some of this robust rate, secular Jews are the key.
-- Israel enjoyed a 14.5 percent growth of gross domestic product during the 2008-12 recession, giving it the highest economic growth rate of any OECD country. (In contrast, the advanced economies as a whole had a 2.3 percent growth rate, with the United States weighing in at 2.9 percent and the Euro zone at minus 0.4 percent.) Israel invests 4.5 percent of GDP in research & development, the highest percentage of any country.
-- Due to major gas and oil finds, Walter Russell Mead observes, "the Promised Land, from a natural resource point of view, could be ... inch for inch the most valuable and energy rich country anywhere in the world." These resources enhance Israel's position in the world.
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4. Rearranging the Middle East by Joseph Puder
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/06/05/rearranging-the-middle-east/
June 5, 2013 9:40 am
Extracts:
With a raging civil war in Syria that has cost the lives of 100,000, the ongoing conflict in Iraq between the Shiites and Sunni Muslims, and while the Kurds in Northern Iraq are consolidating their free state of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil, there is now an historical opportunity to rearrange the boundaries the British and French distorted in their greed and arbitrary map drawing. One might justifiably add Lebanon to the mix of the 21st Century readjustment of boundaries, allowing for ethnic and religious cohesion, as well as tribal unity.
After approximately 100 years of betrayal by the western powers, and being the largest stateless ethnic/national group in the Middle East, the Kurds deserve a state that would bring together the Kurds of Syria and Iraq. Northeastern Syria, east of the Euphrates River, which is predominantly Kurdish and currently enjoys an autonomous status in the midst of the raging Syrian civil war, is contiguous to the KRG. The two Kurdish areas are organically bound together.
The beleaguered Alawites (12% of the population) in Syria are threatened with a bloodbath by the Sunni opposition. Hence, they must be given a separate state along Syria's Mediterranean coast from Tartus through Latakia, including Turkish held Antakya. Sunni-Arab Syria, which occupies the vast center of Syria from Damascus to Aleppo, might be joined by Iraq's Sunni-Arab center including areas north and west of Baghdad, to form a purely Sunni Arab state. Southern Iraq, from Basra to Baghdad, would likely be a Shiite Arab state.
About 10% of Syria's population is Christian. In Iraq, the unrelenting persecution of Christians has virtually decimated the community there. Many of Iraq's Christians have fled to the Kurdish region and others to Syria and Jordan. A purely Christian state must be reestablished from Beirut northward and eastward inclusive of Mount Lebanon. Lebanon's remaining confessional groups could then conduct a national referendum as to whether they wish to stay in a unitary state. Sunni-Arab Lebanon might want to join territorially with Sunni-Syria and Iraq, and the Shiites are likely to seek their own state within Lebanon. The Druze of Lebanon may want to join with their brethren in a Druze state in southern Syria.
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5. The Present Situation in Syria
Syria: An Unresolved Struggle by Eyal Zisser
http://www.dayan.org/tel-aviv-notes
 Extracts:
For two and a half years now, Syria has been awash in flames. What began as a limited protest by local farmers and laborers in outlying towns and villages has swelled into a broad popular uprising, and is now a bloody, full-fledged civil war. The struggle in Syria has increasingly taken on sectarian features. Moreover, this sectarianism has been tainted with a religious, jihadi element by Islamist groups within Syria, and by volunteers flooding the country from all over the Arab and Muslim world, eager to fight against Bashar al-Asad's heretical Alawite regime, the ally of Shia Iran and Hezbollah.
 During the past two and a half years, the regime has lost control over large swaths of the country, 60-75% of Syrian territory, and ultimately has as found itself waging a battle for its survival against the rebels on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syrias economic capital and second-largest city. The winds blowing in the region and internationally are filling the sails of the Syrian rebels. They appear more determined and closer than ever before to achieving their goal: to bring down the Syrian Baath regime and put an end to the Asad dynasty, which has ruled the country for 42 years.
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The rebels have severely damaged the regime's underpinnings, succeeded in paralyzing daily life across the country, and taken control of vast areas. In May 2013, the reported number of fatalities surpassed the one hundred thousand mark, and the number of persons who have been forced to leave their homes reached approximately 4.5 million, of which more than a million have left the country outright [Present Population of Syria: 22,530,746]. The damage done to the country's economic infrastructure is estimated at nearly $100 billion, ten times the annual Syrian GDP. Thus, it seems that most of the Asad dynasty's achievements in Syria over the last forty years have gone down the drain.
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Still, the regime in Damascus continues to survive. Indeed, despite the many eulogies for Bashar al-Asad, some observers have begun to once again raise the possibility of him attaining the upper hand in this bloody struggle. The regime has managed to maintain cohesion and unity among the pillars that it relies on for survival: the army, security forces, government institutions and the Baath party, notwithstanding the waves of defections among their ranks. More importantly, the regime still enjoys the support of important sectors of Syrian society, especially among the coalition of minorities that underpin its rule: the Alawite community as well as Druze, Christians and even some members of the Sunni community from the urban middle- and upper-classes. In addition, the regime enjoys the support of major players in the regional and international arenas, particularly Russia and Iran.
A look at the map of Syria after two years of fighting presents the following picture: The regime has lost control of the border areas with Turkey and Iraq and partial control of the border areas with Jordan and Lebanon, which have largely fallen to the rebels. The border areas in the north are under the control of Syria’s long-suffering Kurdish minority, who are attempting to establish an autonomous regime. The Jazira region in the northeast, where much of Syria’s grain is grown and where important oil and gas fields and water reservoirs are located, is increasingly slipping away from the regime and into rebel hands, such as al-Raqqa, which was the first city to fall completely to the rebels. Third, Aleppo, the economic capital of Syria, is under partial rebel control, as is its rural surroundings and the adjacent region surrounding Idlib. Even the road connecting northern Syria to the south has been disrupted and is partly under the control of the rebels. Finally, the struggle for the capital, Damascus, is at its height as the regime has failed to dislodge the rebels from the outlying areas surrounding the city and from the Golan and Hauran regions, which are mostly under rebel control.
On the other hand, the Druze Mountain in the south and Alawite sector in the north, along with the latter's adjacent coastal areas, are quiet. So too are portions of Damascus and Aleppo, a testament to the Syrian bourgeoisie's long-standing acceptance, and even alliance with, the Asad dynasty. The regime continues to rely on the support of the army, security forces and various government institutions that remain firmly behind it despite the heavy blows it has sustained.
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6. Mexicans are Not Enough! Obama wants More Muslims!
U.S. considers taking in Syrian refugees by Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-refugees-20130610,0,6484601.story
A resettlement plan aims to help both the hard-hit Syrian families and the Middle Eastern countries that are straining to support 1.6 million refugees.
June 9, 2013, 6:26 p.m.
Extracts:
WASHINGTON . Two years into a civil war that shows no signs of ending, the Obama administration is considering resettling refugees who have fled Syria, part of an international effort that could bring thousands of Syrians to American cities and towns.
A resettlement plan under discussion in Washington and other capitals is aimed at relieving pressure on Middle Eastern countries straining to support 1.6 million refugees, as well as assisting hard-hit Syrian families.
The State Department is "ready to consider the idea," an official from the department said, if the administration receives a formal request from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which is the usual procedure.
The United States usually accepts about half the refugees that the U.N. agency proposes for resettlement. California has historically taken the largest share, but Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are also popular destinations.
U.N. refugee officials, diplomats and nongovernmental relief groups plan to discuss possible resettlement schemes at a high-level meeting this week in Geneva. Germany already has committed to taking 5,000 people.
"It was probably inevitable that in this crisis, with these overwhelming numbers, governments would start moving in this direction," said Lavinia Limon, chief executive officer of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a Virginia-based advocacy and service group. "But there will be resistance."
The Obama administration supports rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad, but is wary of deeper involvement in Syria.
The issue is politically sensitive on several levels.
Congress strongly resisted accepting Iraqi refugees, including interpreters who had worked with U.S. forces, after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Most lawmakers share White House caution about getting more engaged in Syria and may have little appetite for a major influx.
But Susan Rice, President Obama's new national security advisor, and Samantha Power, Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the U.N., both have been strong advocates for refugees. They may make the White House more receptive to at least a partial opening.
The refugee dilemma is more acute for countries that lie on Syria's borders.
Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, which have absorbed the bulk of the refugees, worry that a resettlement plan could actually widen the flood if Syrians see a chance for a better life in North America, Europe or Australia.
Jordan and Lebanon each have taken in about 500,000 refugees and Turkey has more than 375,000, according to the U.N. refugee agency. It predicts that the total number of refugees will double to 3.2 million by the end of the year.
Turkey already has demanded that the West take some its refugees, even proposing an airlift to fly them abroad. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has faced angry protests against his government for giving refuge to so many Syrians, declared last month, "We are the first victims of the Syrian situation."
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7. Look for the Money? Look for the Money? Education Minister Shai Piron received funding from enemies of Israel.
Piron was receiving ca. 500,000 (or 600,000 according to Piron himself,  as reported  by MK Eichler) shekels a year for doing almost nothing!
http://dossim.com/ContentPage.aspx?item=640
Education Minister Shai Piron together with Yair Lapid is responsible for a series of measures designed to hurt the Ultra-Orthodox community. Piron has referred to the Ultra-Orthodox as parasites and engaged in general anti-Jewish incitement.
From ca. 2008 Shai Piron headed a fellowship (amuta) that had an annual budget of ca. 2.1 million shekel, more than a quarter of which went to pay Piron a salary.
[This money was in addition to the very large salary he already received for his official other activities.] The purpose of the fund was declared as Education.
Source of the funds is not certain. About 100,000 shekel per year came from the New Israel Fund. This organization is a left-wing leaning body promoting a liberal agenda. They support pro-Palestinian groups anti-Israel as well as other bodies. The NIF is said to have been responsible for the infamous Goldstone Report that unjustly vilified Israel in the eyes of the world.
The organization Im Tirtzu showed that 92% of all Israel-based negative reporting in the Goldstone report came from NIF-supported groups and nearly all of it was either false or grossly out of context.