Fatah claims anti-Semitic children’s drawings are innocent
(JNS.org) Fatah posted anti-Semitic Palestinian children’s drawings on Facebook, calling the hate-filled, and often violent, depictions of Israel innocent, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported.
One drawing personifies Israel as a human, wearing a Star of David napkin, eating a Palestinian boy wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with a glass of blood next to the plate.
Fatah claimed drawing like these “express the feelings of children of #Palestine.”
Another drawing shows a crucified Muslim woman wearing the Palestinian flag colors and her body in the shape of the Palestinian Authority (PA) map of “Palestine.” Other Palestinian children drew pictures of slingshots and rifles, symbolizing the use of violence against Israel.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, said these drawings reflect the repeated message sent to Palestinians from the PA and Fatah.
“Children are told that ‘it will all return to us’ on children’s TV programs,” Marcus said referring to the land of Israel. “The PA National Security Forces regularly post photos from all over Israel presenting the places as ‘Palestine,’ and even crossword puzzles portray Israeli cities as ‘occupied Palestine.’”
Marcus added that the PA and Fatah have been exploiting the innocence of Palestinian children for years.
Children are brainwashed to believe Israel is a monster that will hurt Palestinians and terrorists are role models and victims of Israeli executions, PMW said.
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French party leader seeks banning all religious symbols including kippahs and crosses
(JNS.org) France’s conservative National Front Party leader Marine Le Pen said in an interview Sunday she will ban public display of all religious symbols and clothing if elected president in the 2017 national elections.
Jewish and Christian symbols, such as wearing kippahs and crosses, would be outlawed in public along with the Muslim hijab and burka.
Le Pen said in the radio interview with France’s BFMTV channel this sacrifice would be made in the name of “national interest” to “confront the rise in power and extremely strong pressure of political Islam that uses women and the veil to advance their propositions,” Yedioth Achronoth reported.
“I know it is a sacrifice, but I think the situation is terrible these days…I know that every French person, including [French] Jews can understand that if we ask for this sacrifice from them [in the framework] of the battle against the advance of Islamic extremism, they will make this effort and understand it,” Le Pen said, as reported by the Times of Israel.
France’s current ban on religious symbols, which applies only to state schools, was signed into law in 2004.
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Dylan, rock greats reject BDS despite pressure
(JNS.org) The sharp divide over the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement recently played out onstage at a California music festival.
Outspoken BDS supporter, English rocker Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, shared the stage at Desert Trip, a three-day classic rock mega-concert in Indio, California, with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and others.
According to the group, Creative Community for Peace, Waters is “one of the most vocal supporters” of BDS and “by far the most celebrated musician to embrace it,” it said in a statement. Creative Community for Peace is an entertainment-industry organization that promotes the arts to counter the boycott of Israel.
Waters “expends a great deal of energy attempting to convince artists to embrace the cultural boycott of Israel and refrain from performing there,” the group said. “Any artist who schedules a performance in Israel is subjected to a constant flow of false and inflammatory pressure by supporters of the cultural boycott who attempt to manipulate them into canceling their show.”
The group applauds rock legends, like Dylan, the first American songwriter to won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature last week, for standing up to BDS pressure. Dylan, who is Jewish, wrote his “Neighborhood Bully” song in 1983 about Israel’s struggle to survive. He performed at a 2011 Tel Aviv concert despite calls to cancel his show.
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UNESCO adopts Jerusalem resolution denying Jewish link
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Tuesday ratified its controversial resolution that denies any Jewish link to Temple Mount and the Western Wall in Jerusalem Tuesday.
The ratification went forward despite a surprise last-minute attempt to trigger a revote after Mexico chose to withdraw its initial support for the motion. Mexico ultimately retracted its request for a revote, but announced at Tuesday’s meeting it had changed its stance on the issue.
Mexico’s UNESCO Ambassador Andres Roemer, who is Jewish, walked out of last Thursday’s vote on the resolution in a personal protest against his country’s support for the resolution, threatening to resign over the matter. His action was followed by an appeal from Israeli UNESCO Ambassador Carmel Shama Hacohen urging him to use a rare provision that would allow Mexico to change its position in a revote.
Mexico was expected to trigger the clause at a UNESCO executive board meeting Tuesday, effectively canceling the original vote and tabling the issue for a second time. Instead, the resolution was not reopened for discussion, and the ratification of the resolution passed as expected.
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Poll: Nearly 60 percent of Palestinians oppose state on 1967 borders
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Almost 60 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip oppose a future Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict., a survey conducted last week by An-Najah University in Nablus found.
The survey, which questioned 1,362 people in the two regions, found 59.4 percent oppose the idea as a solution to the conflict.
It also found 61.5 percent of Palestinians don’t believe it’s possible to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders because of the current situation. Some 65.4 percent of Palestinians in Gaza hold this view, compared with 59.3 percent in Judea and Samaria.
Asked if Palestinians must continue with the Oslo Accords, even though Israel stopped supporting them (according to the survey question), 74 percent answered they must stop, while 18.2 percent answered they must continue.
Meanwhile, some 48.7 percent oppose non-violent resistance, while 45.7 percent support such resistance. Asked about an armed intifada, 55.7 percent oppose this, while 38 percent support it. Backing of violent resistance is higher in Gaza than in the West Bank: 52 percent of Gazans support an armed intifada and 36 percent oppose it, while in Judea and Samaria, 29.8 percent support an armed intifada.
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Egyptian military kills 100 ISIS fighters following Sinai terror attack
(JNS.org) The Egyptian air force launched strikes in the Sinai Peninsula killing over 100 Islamic State (ISIS) fighters on Oct. 15 in response to an ISIS terror attack a day earlier, the Egyptian military reported.
Egypt led the operation targeting known ISIS hideouts including their outposts and weapons facilities throughout the Sinai.
Twelve members of Egypt’s military were killed and six others wounded in a ISIS terror attack on Oct. 14 where the group used assault rifles and rockets. Egyptian forces killed 15 terrorists during the clashes that occurred at a security checkpoint in North Sinai.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi wrote on his Facebook page on Oct. 14 that “the blood of the nation of Egypt was spilled in the sands of Sinai only increases the desire and determination to complete the campaign (against the terrorists).”
This was the first major ISIS attack in the central Sinai region.
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YouTube restricts Alan Dershowitz video lecture on Israel
(JNS.org) YouTube restricted a video of former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz giving a five-minute lecture on the history of Israel, the Boston Globe reported last week.
The video was published on the YouTube channel called Prager University. According to Prager University’s president, conservative talk show host Dennis Prager, YouTube has been blocking many of its educational talks by well-known intellectuals and media personalities.
“Given no rational response for the restrictions, there seems to be little reason to suspect anything other than suppression of conservative thought,” Prager said.
If a viewer has the YouTube setting “restricted mode” on, the Dershowitz video could not be seen. “Restricted mode” is a setting that categorizes videos as having offensive, inappropriate and objectionable adult and sexual content.
Dershowitz said he does not believe he was purposely censored by YouTube, which is owned by Google.
“I can’t believe that Google would actually censor a pro-Israel speech by me, when it has so much anti-Israel stuff all over its platform,” said Dershowitz. “It has to be a mistake … I’ve been doing this for 50 years and this is the first time in America that my views have been restricted.”
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IDF rolls out new equipment for combat supply, repairs
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces is adding new logistics equipment to its stocks to improve operations in battle, particularly in supplying soldiers with water and other needs. The new equipment was tested and proved successful in an exercise the Armored Corps’ 7th Battalion conducted a few weeks ago.
One new development is a versatile military tow tractor pulled behind armored vehicles, such as tanks or armored personnel carriers, and can carry supplies of water, fuel, ammunition, and other equipment. The tractor can travel over any terrain that tanks can, hauling up to eight tons of supplies.
“It gives each company a few days’ breathing room,” said Lt. Col. Udi Amira, of the IDF’s Technical and Logistics Directorate.
Another new tool is the Camel II water distribution system, which the IDF received from U.S. military overstock. The “camel” is a large water tank that can be loaded on to new trucks.
“Unlike in the past, this [system] doesn’t tie the truck to [any certain] company,” Amira explained. “It leaves water tanks in the field, and can go on to the next mission. If grants a battalion independence to drink, fill water containers, and shower.”
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