31 October 2011
UNESCO grants Palestinians full membership
To give the rights of a state to a group that fulfils none of the requirements for statehood is weird. To give Palestine full membership of UNESCO even before this failed state in the making has even received virtual statehood from the UN is a disgrace.
An essential part of the Palestinian narrative is that Jews have no connection at all to the Holyland. More than 3,000 years of tradition mean nothing. UNESCO has just agreed. The symbolism is devastating.
The Palestinians have continued the destruction and vandalism of any Jewish site without a Muslim connection they could reach, as did the Jordanians for the nineteen years they were in control. Where there is a Muslim connection or one can be fantasized they make it difficult and dangerous for Jewish worshippers. This, by itself, should have been enough to deny them membership.
I have said for years that Israel should leave the United Nations. Please explain to me why we are still there?
Action items: Comment on these articles
27 October 2011
Digging into the archives
The death or injury of an innocent human being is dreadful whether caused by accident, carelessness or malevolence – whether by friend or foe. That still doesn’t justify taking archival images and presenting them as evidence of a crime.
Asil Arara, four years old, of Anata, was shot yesterday. She may die. That much we assume is true. It is a fact of life that the shooting is immediately blamed as a deliberate act of depravity by Israel, before anything is really known. That is Palestine Reporting 101 and we’re used to it.
Not having a photograph to hand, archival shots have been used to illustrate many of the reports on the Internet. They are of injured children from other places and times. If you see the photographs below around, purporting to be Anata, October 26th 2011 point out they come from much older sources and cast disbelief on the story as a whole.
Fauxtography 101
 Click for 2006 original |
 Click for 2008 original |
Intriguingly the Palestine News Network covered the story, illustrated it with a photograph of hand holding a gun and a tear gas container and the honest possibility of an accident. “Arara’s grandmother Samiha spoke to PNN on Wednesday afternoon, describing her granddaughter’s condition as “between life and death” and said she was playing near the wall when the shot was fired. Samiha speculated it was a stray bullet, not aimed at Asil.”
It probably wasn’t the MSM who added the photograph but the Ma’an News Agency that declares itself to be ‘the main source of independent news from Palestine’. To be fair (or at least fairer than this page) Ma’an also publishes the IDF denial that the injury was in any way IDF related.
Just for the record. On Tuesday, 18 October 2011, 20 Palestinians, including 6 children and 3 women, were injured due to shooting in celebration of the release of Palestinian prisoners. Hat tip to Elder of Ziyon.
Action items: If these photographs are displayed as those of the shooting at Anata link to the originals and point out they are not. I use the word FAKE! in caps.
24 October 2011
Beware hacking groups create fake Facebook groups
Some of you may have been approached to join the Facebook group We support Israel in war against Terrorism DON’T! It is a troll group (is there such a name?) created to suck-in Israel advocates.
Who is behind this group?
A group of ‘hackers’ known variously as Z Company, ZHC or Z Company Hacking Crew created this site and others. If any admin of a group you join starts his profile name with the letters ZHC, as in Zhc Menacing Velocity or Zhc Toshiro be warned. Some of the other admins are using obviously false nicknames so the ZHC prefix is only an indication. How many are actually involved is uncertain. If you create one false profile why not create a dozen?
Calling them hackers might be an insult to the hacking community. Mostly they establish Facebook pages designed to attract supporters of various groups they want to damage. The English Defence League (EDL) seems to have been the target of most of their focused efforts and many groups designed to attract Hindus have been set-up. That would seem to point to people of Pakistani origin living in the United Kingdom. The ‘support Israel’ group may have been a ‘oncer’ or the beginning of a trend.
Other than that they seem to join groups they disagree with and write rude comments. Not exactly the same as hacking into the Pentagon.
Why worry?
If they are basically clowns why worry?
- Not everybody is as security conscious with Facebook as perhaps they might be. They include plenty of personal details you really don’t want in the hands of these people, including telephone numbers, email addresses and even actual address.
- Not everybody is as conscientious in filtering out their FB friends. Mea culpa! Remember that once someone is your friend in Facebook they acquire a list of all your friends and an opportunity to spam/scam them.
- Not everybody reads the fine print in responding to invitations. Responding to invitations as a sign of solidarity becomes an endorsement of the group for others.
 Not exactly the image you'd expect as a We support Israel profile pic. is it?
I have sent the following message to my friends in the ‘We Support Israel in War Against Terrorism group’:
There is considerable doubt about the bona fides of FB Group WE SUPPORT ISRAEL IN WAR AGAINST TERRORISM! The admins look positively weird, mostly fictional and with no indication of Israel Advocacy. There is also allegations of hacking.
I strongly advice leaving the group and sharing this message with any friends who have also, with the best intentions, joined it. Everybody should report this group as a scam.
Action items:
- If you have joined – UNJOIN!
- If you see that friends of yours have accidentally joined – WARN THEM!
- Everybody report this group as spam or scam – link at bottom of their FB page.
- Report them to You Tube – I’ll need some advice from the You Tube community on how to accomplish this.
22 October 2011
Trend Micro condemns 5MFI
If you are using the Trend Micro Virus Checker you may receive the following false, damaging and possibly libellous message. It claims this website can transmit malicious software or has been involved with online scams or fraud.
Trend Micro has been unhelpful in removing it (I may have to write a legalese letter) but you may be able to help. If you receive a similar message please flag it as safe. Apparently the message will go through to them and will be eventually investigated.
24 October 2011
Latest News
Clean bill of health from Trend Micro. YAY!!!!!!!!
The moral … Complain directly and publicly through the Facebook page.
 
16 October 2011
Starbucks: I won’t take a low-fat vanilla latte with that
The Starbucks Company prides itself on social responsibility so I’m sure that when a million customers point out that the website graphics supposedly showing how the Palestinians have been robbed of their land is materially false, manipulative, missing substantial information, one-sided propaganda they will immediately remove it.
Starbucks have been falsely charged with being a Zionist front (for me that would be a badge of honour) in the past. They had at one stage an Israel branch. Their CEO claims to be a proud Zionist. This has to be a mistake.
 Click for larger image A thorough fisking of the graphic will follow shortly. I’m sure you will find plenty of cause to complain without it.
Hat tip: The amazing Elder of Ziyon.
Action item: Contact Starbucks and demand this obnoxious piece of propaganda be removed.
I don’t really have a problem with swearing. I just don’t want the word that rhymes with bucks appearing on search engines.
 
9 October 2011
Perils of Internet voting hit ‘hero’ contest
When the Jewish Federations of North America introduced the Jewish Community Heroes project no one apparently warned them about possibility that Destroy Israel Lobby as-a-Jews would see this as a golden opportunity to raise their profile. Walking headlong into Internet danger the Federation compounded the error of allowing anyone to nominate by allowing anyone to vote – often.
The JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace) brought their own candidates for the title of community hero. They brought nominees whose claim to fame in the community is campaigning as-a-Jew for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The management discovered this and barred them. They are naturally miffed and claiming discrimination.
The DIVEST THIS! blog has all the details. As he says Unfortunately, this type of respect for others is not shared by Surasky and friends who continue to demand access to other people’s organizations and platforms while greedily protecting their own civic spaces at all costs.
Divest This BDS Bozos competition
Action item: Take part in the first annual Divest This BDS Bozos competition. This is a month long quest to find the most ridiculous, hypocritical and/or downright clownish BDS campaign and/or campaigner on the planet.
Anyone else interested in submitting your own BDS Bozo can send it to atdivestthis[at]aol[dot]com or post your nominee in the comments section. First prize will be a donation to the Jewish National Fund in the name of the winner.
Five Minutes for Israel are firm believers in the use of ridicule against those who seek to harm us.
Some of the less nerdy readers may be a little confused by the graphics accompanying this action item. In the 5-in-a-star is the Thing, clearly the most famous self-acknowledged Superhero Jew in comic books. To the right is Sabra, an Israeli superhero. Both are creations of Marvel Comics.
 
17 August 2011
More action items:
August 16, 2011
From an Israel advocate’s P.O.V. three things will happen in September. They are Durban III, the United Nations vote either in the Security Council or the General Assembly or both recognising a Palestinian State - bandwidth may vary – and whatever the Palestinians get up to in reaction.
I seriously need to blog about all the issues but I’ll have to leave this for another day.
In the meantime plenty of Action Items:
 
Twitter WIKIMANIA to success
July 28, 2011
Wikimania 2011 • Haifa, Israel, August 4–7, 2011
Once a year, hundreds of participants from around the globe, meet at the central conference of the Wikimedia movement to create a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
The alphabet soup titled US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) wants to create a twitter campaign against the meeting. They say, Tell Wikimania to “edit” occupation and apartheid out of Palestine!
In principle I agree.
- The only apartheid in Palestine is the demand for ethnic cleansing the Jews, integral to the ‘moderate’ Palestinian position.
- The only occupation is the Arab occupation of Israel which began with the invasion in the year 636.
Much more than winning the semantic argument, I want to see a successful conference in Haifa and another embarrassing defeat for BDS.
I suggest sending the following tweets. Feel free to mix ‘n’ match and add your own.
| Best wishes #Wikimania with your Haifa conference http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Israel #Palestine |
| Apartheid = ethnic cleansing of Jews from #Palestine! http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Israel #Wikimania |
| Don’t “tag” #Wikimania with Nazi crime of boycott http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Israel #Palestine |
| Democratic, liberal #Israel best place 4 #Wikimania http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Palestine |
| #Israel only tolerant place in Mid East http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Israel #Palestine #Wikimania |
| There’s a “firm rule” against illegal #Palestine incitement http://bit.ly/wikimania @Wikimedia #BDS #Wikimania |
Action item: Tweet your message to the Wikimedia Foundation or post it on Facebook. I suggest complimenting Wikimedia for their choice of Israel will be more effective than attacking BDS.
18 July 2011
There is a red line between an arguable point of difference and siding with the enemy and Peace Now have truly crossed it by encouraging the boycott of Israeli products from across the Green Line. I have reproduced their list below. Apparently the boycott has led to a purchase spurt and so it should be. It may be hard to find these products in shops outside Israel but you should try.
Apologies if this information is not 100% accurate. Consider its dubious source. Continue reading Buycott List
|
|
