Islamaphobic crime: how bad is it?

In a recent posting I noted the announcement by Cabinet Minister Baroness Warsi that "tackling anti-Muslim hatred was a key priority for the coalition government". I commented that this was a curious priority to have since there was no significant anti-Muslim hatred in the UK. It turns out a Jew is over 16 times more likely to be the victim of an anti-Semitic crime than a Muslim is of being the victim of an 'Islamaphobic' crime.

It is not easy to get hold of hard data, but last week I came across a copy of a local paper of the London Borough of Redbridge which sheds light on the scale of  'Islamaphobia' and 'Islamaphobic crimes'. This borough is second only to Newham in its proportion of Muslim residents; the Borough's own 2011 census results indicate that about 65,000 of the 281,000 population are Muslims. The number of Jews living in Redbridge is believed to be around 9,000. Given that the 'white' population of Redbridge is predominantly working class and generally fairly poor, if there was going to be any area of the UK where you would expect a very high number of  'Islamaphobic crimes' then this would be it. The actual figures are here:

So, the latest annual number of 'Islamaphobic crimes' is - other than homicide - the lowest number of any official category. Just 7 such crimes in the whole year (while the relatively small number of Jews experienced more than double that number of anti-Semitic crimes).  And that is despite the unprecedented campaign by Muslim organisations, as well as national and local government, to encourage reporting incidents of Islamaphobia no matter how minor they may be.

Isn't it wonderful that the Government is devoting so much money and energy to convince us that Islamaphobia is one of the gravest threats faced by the UK today?

Daily Mail uses photo of Jewish women being restrained as evidence of mistreatement of Palestinians

Douglas Murray is one of the UK's finest political commentators. He is also a staunch defender of Israel. But in an otherwise excellent article he has written in the Daily Mail about Stephen Hawking's boycott of Israel he has provided the opportunity for a bizarre blunder by the Mail's editors. Because Murray decided (wrongly in my view) to 'balance' his criticism of the boycott with comments like these:

I acknowledge that there are those who are concerned about Israel’s approach to the Palestinians

the Editor (I assume) decided it was an opportunity to smear Israel even in a pro-Israel article by posting a picture showing Israelis 'mistreating Palestinians'. 

Screenshot taken from Daily Mail online article, 11 May 2013

Hence we have this picture captioned

There are those who are concerned about Israel's approach to the Palestinians, but if these academics think a boycott is the right way to address those concerns they are profoundly mistaken 

Except that the women in the photo, including the one being held back by an Israeli policeman, are clearly orthodox Jewish women (12 May Update: Elder of Ziyon has confirmed that the photograph is from AFP, and shows Israeli police stopping a Jewish protest after the murder of Evyatar Borovsky).

Incidentally I believe the whole approach being used by the pro-Israel side to the boycott issue is fundamentally flawed. When the Nazis were boycotting Jewish shops it would have been bizarre to say things like "We recognise that these Jewish owners have not all led perfect lives and so we have some sympathy with your hatred of them, but we think that the goods they sell are fantastic not just for Jews but for Nazis as well. So please don't boycott them". The only sensible - and winning - response is to attack the people behind the boycott for what they are: modern-day Nazis who have no interest whatsoever in the welfare of the Palestinians; their sole objective is to destroy the Jewish state. That's why the image here (by Isreallycool) is so much more powerful than the message here.

Just about the  worst strategy that you can possibly take in confronting the boycotters is the one I heard from the Israeli goverment representative (I didn't catch his name) who was chosen to speak against Exeter University's Israel-hater and boycott leader Ghada Karmi on Nick Ferrari's LBC radio show this week. While Karmi was spouting the standard lies about Israel being an apartheid state (unchallenged by both Ferrari and the Israel rep) the Israeli's response was simply to play the kumbaya card saying that whatever our differences it was much better to sit down and talk rather than boycott. To see the futility of that approach you should read the staggering account reported here.

Just who in Britain stands up for Israel?

As I explained last week, British Jews can no longer rely on the Jewish Chronicle to be either a defender of Israel, or even the provider of news that is anything other than coloured by a far left perspective.

A commenter on that article said that the free "Jewish News" is much more balanced.Sadly, that has not been the case for at least two years and today's issue provides a perfect summary of why. There is a wrap around cover publicising the "Closer to Israel Parade and Celebration' taking place in London on 2 June, but that is an advert and when you look inside the actual paper you will find plenty of evidence to suggest the writers do not sympathise with the advert's message. The articles shown here are especially disgraceful because they would not have been out of place in the Guardian, the BBC, or even Al Jazeera.

• The article headlined "Two killed in confrontation" starts with "An Israeli settler in Nablus and a Palestinian were killed this week as several incidents led to heightened alert across Israel." In other words, in classic BBC style the Jewish News is now making a moral equivalence between an Israeli civilian killed in a brutal unprovoked terrorist attack and the pinpoint assassination of the very member of an Al Qaeda affiliated organisation in Gaza who led last week's rocket attack on Eilat. Even more outrageous is that, while the article names the dead terrorist, it does not bother to name the Israeli civilian. Instead it refers to him simply as "an armed settler" - apparently using that description as justification for him being killed and ignoring the fact that all Israelis living in the West bank must by necessity carry their guns with them when they travel (and he was hitchhiking). The murdered Jew, who the Jewish News feels does not deserve to be named,  was the much loved 31-year-old Evyatar Borovsky, from the settlement of Yitzhar, a father of five (the youngest just 7 years old). But, the Jewish News doesn't want you to know that - just in case you might feel a tiny bit of sympathy.

• The article headlined "Ban on illegal shells" talks about Israel's decision to halt its use of white phosphorous. In fact the headline is a blatant smear. Israel's use of white phoshorous has always been legal (NATO troops use it in exactly the same way) and its decision to stop it was taken unilaterally purely for PR reasons.
• 

• The article headlined "Price tag attacks are an issue Jews worldwide must address" is just more of the nonsense we saw in last week's JC where we have the total inversion of reality in which Jews attacking Arabs is supposed to be the main problem that Israel faces. But in terms of sheer pomposity and stupidity it's hard to beat the message that 'Jews worldwide' must do something about this (non-existent) problem. How about this writer Dr Gvaryahu demanding that every Christian in the world must do something about Christian teenagers brawling in Scunthorpe every Friday night? Or even demanding that every Muslim in the world addresses the problem of Muslim terrorism (oops better rule that one out as it actually makes sense).

So, if the only two Jewish newspapers in the UK now simply parrot the same narrative as the Guardian and BBC about Israel, which organisations actually are there left to genuinely support Israel? It certainly is not the UJIA (United Jewish Israel Appeal) whose leader Mick Davis thinks Israel is an apartheid state; it certainly isn't the Board of Deputies of British Jews whose priority is  not just to partner with the anti-Israel Oxfam, but to continue with that partnership after Oxfam was revealed to be funding Palestinian anti-Semitism and support for terrorism; it certainly isn't BICOM (Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre) who actually employ an anti-Israel activist to do their 'promotion'; and it is no longer even clear we can rely on the Zionist Federation who felt that it was their job to take visitors to Israel 'to meet Palestinians and understand their point of view'. Do these organisations, which are supposed to represent the interests of Israel and British Jews, really think that in the UK of all places it is their job to put across the Palestinian narrative when nothing other than that is forced onto everyone nonstop by the main stream media?

If the Jewish newspapers and organisations really want to talk about the Palestinian's viewpoint then why not focus on telling the British public about their obsessive death cult (which starts very young) their worship of terrorist murderers (the killer of Evyator Borovsky apparently had to murder a Jew to bring honour back to his family - oh and by the way he was a member of Fatah our 'peace partners'), their brutal treatment of women,  homosexuals, and christians, their genuine apartheid (not a single Jew is allowed to live in areas controlled by the Palestinians); or how about the way they treat their disabled children leaving - guess who to pick up the tab; and above all the fact they do not - and never did - want an independent state; they only ever wanted the destruction of Israel. Then perhaps people like Dr Gvaryahu might demand more appropriately that Jews worldwide do something about that.

p.s. There is an outstanding article today by Caroline Glick which tounches on many of the issues above.

A letter to the Labour Party (Ken Livingstone et al)

A friend of mine who is a long-time Labour Party member (yes I do have such friends!) has given me permission to publish the following letter he has sent to his local (Labour) MP (names withheld). He has promised to let me see any response.

Dear XXXX

Continued membership of Ken Livingstone (and other antisemitic, terrorist supporters) in the Labour Party

As I believe you know, I am one of your constituents and have been a member of the Labour party for many years. In the last few years I have become dismayed at the anti-Semitism of an increasing number of Labour MPs and senior party figures. Sometimes this anti-Semitism is dressed up under the guise of anti-Zionism, but of course their obsessive hatred of Israel (and Israel only) reveals their true feelings. Increasingly, certain Labour figures no longer even bother to make the 'politically correct' replacement of 'Jew' with 'Zionist'. It seems the Labour Party as a whole is not only tolerant of these views, but sees them as a potential vote winner among the expanding Muslim communities.

So, for example, we have had Paul Flynn MP accuse Britain's first Jewish ambassador to Israel of having 'divided loyalties'; Martin Linton, MP speaking about the "long tentacles of Israel" reaching into British politics; Gerald Kaufman MP stating that "Just as Lord Ashcroft owns most of the Conservative Party, right-wing Jewish millionaires own the rest," and saying "Here we are, the Jews again" when pro-Israel MP Louise Ellman rose to speak in the Commons. Even more worrying are the continued activities of MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan, and Andy Slaughter (the latter who even holds the position of Shadow Justice Minister). These MPs not only campaign for the destruction of Israel, but have a long history of support for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists, and they have all shared platforms with members of terrorist organisations, and notorious anti-Semitic, homophobic Islamic hate-preachers (see, e.g. http://hurryupharry.org/2013/01/29/labour-embraces-islamist-extremists/).

But, above all, it is the fact that the Labour party still hosts Israel-hater and terrorist supporter Ken Livingstone that makes me question why I should continue to be a member of the party. It appears his Jew-baiting (and anti-Labour party activities) are insufficient ground for his expulsion, as is his working for the Iranian government on its Press TV. But then how about his comments on his Press TV show earlier this week (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22352929) where he blamed "Western governments" for the terrorist bombing in Boston on the grounds that it was understandable for Muslims to get angry. Presumably he now feels that the London 7/7 bombings when he was Mayor were also justified. I feel I can no longer be a member of a party with the likes of Livingstone et al. Unless I hear in the next few weeks that at least Livingstone is finally booted out once and for all after his latest outburst I shall be terminating my membership.

Yours sincerely,

Baroness Warsi and her strong support for Islamic extremists

Last year I warned that the unelected Baroness Warsi (the Muslim media darling who is an Islamist supremacist) was not only still a member of Cameron's government but actually was awarded by her failure as Tory Party Chairman with a far more powerful role in the Cabinet.

Now, at least some people in the main stream media are looking closely at her activities with a critical eye. Today's Telegraph has an article by Andrew Gilligan exposing the fact that she spoke at a meeting hosted by the terrorist supporting FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies).

There is a quote at the end of the article from a spokesman for Warsi saying that she attended the meeting

 "..to specifically discuss tackling anti-Muslim hatred, a key priority for the coalition government". 

Why exactly is the government making the tackling of a non-existent problem its priority? And do they not see any irony in 'tackling this problem' by supporting an organization which promotes REAL antisemitism and violence both on campuses and the wider society?

The increasingly unhinged Jewish Chronicle

The JC's steady morphing into a mixture of the Guardian/Haaretz continues unabated (see here, here and here for some of my previous reports on this,  and there is also the excellent website http://jcwatch.wordpress.com/ that  is dedicated to the subject).

In fact, not only does the JC increasingly share the Guardian/Haaretz worldview (i.e. extreme left wing and grudgingly acknowledging Israel's 'right to exist' while frequently providing a platform to vicious anti-Israel bigots) but it is increasingly dominated by writers who really are from the Guardian/Haaretz. I have already noted the fact that Haaretz stooge Anschel Pfeffer is their primary Israel news reporter and we are now also getting the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland on the Comments page more or less every week now (I can save you the bother of reading what he writes since every piece can be summarised as either "as a Jew I wish to express my disgust with the Israeli government" or "as a Jew I wish to express my disgust with orthodox Jews").

Most Jews in the UK are strongly pro-Israeli and they assume that the one newspaper they can rely on to share their views on Israel is the JC. Most of these people get their ONLY news about Israel from the JC and they assume - if anything - that it is strongly biased in favour of Israel. To show how  they are being deceived here are some highlights from today's issue:

•  The whole front page (and page 11) is taken up with Pfeffer's scare story "Two months to sleep soundly" in connection with the growing threats from Iran and Syria, ignoring the irony that it is  Pfeffer and his left-wing colleagues who have continually warned Israel not to take action against Iran as there is no real threat.  I guess in his world he would rather live with a nuclear Iran - and hence not sleep soundly - than stop Iran from getting the bomb. Of course, Pfeffer has failed to report any of the genuinely good news from Israel in the last few weeks such as the shekel being the strongest currency in the world in 2013, and Israel being on the verge of energy independence with the beginning of the gas flowing from its enormous off-shore fields.  In fact, his other main article this week is on Page 13 titled "Thousands hit by Israeli airline strike"

•  On Page 21 (the Judaism page) we have the most offensive article of the week "We must take a stand against settler violence". This is the ultimate inversion of reality perpetuated especially by antisemitic NGOs. There are an incredibly tiny number of minor incidents recorded against Palestinians by 'settlers' (most of which incidents later turn out to be either hoaxes or, as in the case of Mosque daubings, to have been the work of Arabs) - far fewer incidents per head of population than there are acts of brutal racist violence in London. Yet there is a genuine - but unreported by the JC - intifada taking place against Jews in East Jerusalem and in Judea and Sumaria. This involves daily targetting of cars and even school buses with rocks that sometimes end up killing the occupants. The JC has failed to report on any of this, which has been going on now for several months - not even bothering with the story of the small child Adelle Biton who has been on emergency support and unconscious since she was injured in such a rock attack last month. Today was her 3rd birthday.
• On Page 26 with have the full page "JC Essay" by 'broadcaster' John Ware titled "How peace gap might just be bridged" which is full of the usual Kumbayar cliches about the Palestinians really wanting peace if only the Israelis would not be so aggressive, and including gems of wisdom like:

"Does any rational Israeli seriously believe that score of checkpoints, entry permits to Jerusalem, construction of settlements, restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, can continue in perpetuity without some sort of violent outlet, sooner or later"

It is funny how nobody expects Israelis to turn violent even though they have to suffer checkpoints at every single public building they enter, are currently banned from building in their own capital city, are not allowed ANY movement into Palestinian controlled areas, and actually have to face the continual real terrorism of the Palestinians.
But then again it is funny how nobody expects UK Jews to turn violent when they have to put up with the nonsense in the JC week on week.....

• On Page 2 (for the second time in 3 weeks) we have a story "Board Oxfam links stay" about the Board of Deputies link with Oxfam, which was always a scandal and should have been stopped immediately when news got out that Oxfam was funding the antisemitic, terrorist supporting Palestinian charity Miftah. But both articles have simply parroted  statements from Oxfam which not only whitewash the affair but are factually incorrect. Hence both articles are clearly supportive of the Board's ludicrous decision to continue its link with Oxfam. 
• On Page 4 we have an article "BNP set for trouncing in local election" which is one of the typically dozens of articles in any one week that focus on the 'extreme right-wing threat to Jews'. More often than not these focus obsessively on the EDL which is actually the only genuinely pro-Israel political organization in the country.  What you will almost never see in the JC is anything about either Islamic antisemitism or extreme left antisemitism. In fact you are more likely to see articles by those very Islamists and leftists (indeed it is not a joke that the JC has actually used, as its source of material on the EDL, the anti Semite Weyman Bennett who is a leader of the viciously anti-Israel, violent, socialist UAF which the JC laughingly refers to simply as an "anti racist organization").
• On Page 22 we have the Editorial and letters. As usual you will not find a single word of support for Israel on this page (typically Israel is either ignored or criticised) 
• On Page 23 we have the Jonathan Freedland commentary section. No further comment required.

Casual anti-Semitism of the British middle class

Sometimes even the most seemingly insignificant anti-Israel statements reveal, by their complete irrationality, deep-rooted anti-Semitism. I want to recount two recent such statements - one in a newspaper and one I experienced personally.

The latter occurred in a pub in a middle class area of London. A highly intelligent upper-middle class gentleman had arranged an exhibition of local artists' work (including his own) there, and I ended up in a long conversation with him. I told him I was Jewish because we were discussing the use of religious images in art. The man, who described himself as a lapsed Catholic, said he had refused to hang a painting by another artist because it contained images of women in burkas and he said he felt this would be offensive to Muslims. I asked him why he felt it would be offensive and how such an attitude was consistent with the fact that his own displayed artwork contained graphic nudity. His only response was to say that he felt that it was not his job to offend Muslims. Perhaps feeling that the conversation was at this point getting too serious he decided to tell a joke. It was about a landlord having problems with some tenants in his flat and the police being called, leading to the following  'punchline':

Police: "Who are the occupiers?"
Landlord: "The Israelis of course!"

When I told him that the 'joke' was not only completely unfunny, but deeply offensive because it perpetuated a false stereotype about the Jewish nation he said he was shocked. "How could you possibly be offended by that joke. It was on a BBC show".

He did not realise the irony of his remarks and the fact that he had just made it clear how far he would go out of his way never to offend a Muslim, while thinking nothing of offending a Jew. In the subsequent conversation he asked if I was born in the UK and when I told him of course I was born in London, he said in that case I had no right to be offended by a joke like that.

The second example is from the Editorial here in yesterday's Evening Standard.

Evening Standard Editorial, 24 April 2013

Readers of this blog will know of the rampant and obsessive anti-Israel stance of this paper (see here, here and here), but in many respects this particular Editorial is pretty sensible. It is the insertion of the very small statement in relation to Israel that reveals - when you analyse it carefully - irrational contempt.  Al Qaeda's number one stated goal is to kill every Jew in the world. The Al Qaeda Syrian units have already started firing at Israel from the positions it has overran near the Golan Heights in Syria and its leadership has publicly stated that their first goal after defeating Assad will be to destroy Israel, hinting that they will use Syria's massive stockpile of chemical weapons to do this. There is some threat to the stability of Lebanon from an Al Qaeda takeover of Syria as the writer understands. But, unlike to Israel, this is not an existential threat. So does the writer show sympathy to Israel's concerns as he clearly does to Lebanon's and the peaceful people of Syria? No because whereas Lebanon is 'threatened by chaos' the only concern the writer has about Israel is its 'bellicose reaction'. From this read  "just because the Jihadists threaten Israel with extinction and just because they back this up with actual bombings, terrorist attacks and the potential use of chemical weapons, the thing we REALLY have to worry about is the disgraceful notion that Israel might actually takes steps to defend itself".

If World War 2 had been conducted like this

If World War 2 had been conducted the way Western Governments  are conducting the Jihad war being fought against it  - as perfectly exemplified by the Boston attacks where the Jihadist angle has been all but covered up - we might have had the following kind of behaviour:

The Scene: May 1940. We have just gone through the 254th consecutive night of German bombers blitzing London. The British Government announces its total surprise that on this particular night London should have been chosen to be attacked. The PM goes on the radio and makes the following assertions:

• Nobody should jump to conclusions about who might be responsible for this particular bombing, especially as we have no conclusive evidence yet that any of the previous 253 bombing raids were in any way related. 

• In fact, our intelligence on previous raids reveals they were carried out by men from different cities with nothing whatsoever in common other than the fact that the cities all happened to be in Germany.  What we must not do is infer from this that the German people mean us any harm whatsoever especially as their Government adheres to the Nazi philosophy which we know seeks worlds peace. 
• At present we have no idea what the  motive was for any of these attacks but we must treat each one as a separate crime with separate motives. We do not yet know the names and nationalities of the men who carried out tonight's bombing raid. They are just as likely - indeed more likely - to be British men with a grudge against the Government's new income tax system as men of any other nationality. There is certainly no reason to be believe this is in any way connected with Germany. 
• And just because we have been bombed now for 254 consecutive nights there is no reason to believe that this will happen again. Obviously citizens should be extremely vigilant as they go about their nightly activities tomorrow - be especially on the look out for British men complaining about income tax who are known to have access to bomber planes. 
• However, what we will not tolerate are those racists among us who assert that if we spot German bomber planes entering UK airspace tomorrow that we should assume anything other than purely peaceful intent. Attempting to stop such planes flying over London would be considered by us to be unacceptable racial profiling. 
• In the extremely unlikely event that bombs are dropped again we will treat each individual bombing as a separate criminal act and will spare no expense in attempting to track down the individual pilot responsible in each case. In the unlikely event that such a pilot is found to be from a foreign country (which is just as likely to be Honduras, New Zealand, or Zaire as it is to be Germany) we will expect the government of that country to help us track down the criminal.  Indeed we now have reason to believe that a man named Fritz Schmidt of Hamburg was a pilot involved in a previous bombing and as a result I have asked Herr Hitler the German Chancellor to consider bringing this man into custody. 
• Moreover, because several men from German towns have been previously implicated My Majesty's government is hereby donating 15 billion pounds to Herr Hitler's Germany to ensure that they have the resources to find and punish the guilty men.

Update on the Oxfam/Miftah story

I previously posted about Elder of Ziyon's exposure of the Oxfam funded Palestinian 'charity' Miftah and it promotion of antiSemitism. Elder of Ziyon has numerous updates here and here. The latter article contains a response from Oxfam that is almost identical to the one I have just received from Supporter Relations, Oxfam GB following my own letter to them. I have made the following response using some of Elder's points and some new ones of my own (I have agreed with the person I am communicating with that I would not state their name on this site).

Dear XXXX

Thank you for your response but I am afraid it is unsatisfactory for the following reasons:.

1. The 'apology' was not made in Arabic, the language of the essay, so Arab readers
of Miftah will assume that Miftah (and Oxfam also) supports that blood libel. Moreover, you must be aware that Miftah did not issue its English apology until it was pressured to do so.

2.  Miftah have praised suicide bombers under their own name (see http://elderofziyon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/miftah-removes-its-essay-praising.html) confirming that direct support for terrorism and anti-Semitism are a major part of Miftah's activities.

3. The section of Miftah's site where the offensive article was published was not a "blog" as you say but an essay section where they republish articles they think are interesting for their readers. They even index the section so their readers can read other articles from the same author, and Nawaf al-Zaru has been featured five times.

4. People who donate to Oxfam would certainly not do so if they were aware it funded organizations like Miftah. Not withstanding its anti-Semitism and terrorist support, when you say

"We have worked with MIFTAH since 2010... implementing Oxfam’s regional project Supporting Women’s Transformative Leadership in Changing Times. The project targets marginalized women and men to support women’s rights and gender justice with the goal of increased empowerment, self-confidence, and leadership roles for women in public and private spheres"

you might think this is something good, but you are simply confirming that Oxfam is spending money on things that have nothing to do with what charity donors in the UK think they are contributing to. In short you are defrauding them.

Unless I hear from you that Oxfam is immediately terminating its support for Miftah I will be reporting Oxfam to the Charities Commission. I will also be contacting my MP about this. It is just not good enough.

Yours

Edgar Davidson

UPDATE 8 April 2013: I have received a response from XXXX  saying

"I forwarded your feedback and comments to our Middle East team who deal with MIFTAH and who are currently in talks with the organisation regarding this matter. We will of course be happy to update you with any further information once we have it." 

At least Oxfam seem to be taking this seriously and are courteous enough to respond. To date I have not even received an acknowledgement from either Comic Relief or - disgracefully - the Board of Deputies of British Jews (who recently announced a partnership with Oxfam).

Oxfam and Comic Relief funding Palestinian Jew hatred

I have posted numerous times about how the major charities funded by Comic Relief are directly funding Palestinian propaganda and anti-Semitism (as well as funding organisations directly controlled by Hamas of course). As an example of both the riduclous causes that are funded and the anti-Semitism that results, Elder of Ziyon  has an expose of how a Palestinian NGO (Miftah) funded by Oxfam published as pure an anti-semitic screed as is imaginable - resurrecting the reprehensible blood libel that Jews ritually slaughter Christian children and consume their blood on Passover (for more on the story see here).

It inspired me to produce the drawing above (feel free to copy it - I plan to drop some copies off at Oxfam shops).

It's amazing how, uniquely when it comes to the Palestinians, 'charity' can be redefined to mean 'giving money for any purpose whatsover'. Likewise we now find that being an 'aid worker' also has a completely different meaning when it comes to the Palestinians (as far as they are concerned anybody who spends their time promoting Israel hatred is an 'aid worker').
And see this spin on the story.

Update on the story here.

Redefining anti-Israel bigots as 'aid workers'

Front Page of the Sun, 30/3/2013

It is appalling that two Pakistani-born British women have been raped in Libya. But to call them 'aid workers' as every main stream media outlet has in the UK (see this report about the BBC and Times coverage) is a blatant lie. And it is scandal that this story is also being used to promote the Big Lie against Israel.  Of more concern than the BBC and Times articles is this one that appeared in yesterday's Sun (since it is read by far more people).

Page 7, The Sun, 30/3/2013

These people were not 'aid workers' (as the article linked above makes very clear) and their mission had nothing to do with compassion for the Palestinians. They were part of another publicity stunt aimed purely to demonise the State of Israel, and the Sun has fully taken the bait - notably in the last two columns of the main article (click to enlarge it). Far from Israel blockading medical supplies from reaching Gaza as implied, it actually sends lorries carrying many tons of such supplies daily into Gaza despite the continued attacks at the very checkpoints through which the lorries are sent. And whereas Israel certainly does attempt to stop the flow of weapons and weapons-making equipment into Gaza (a persistent threat that the article does not mention) it never stops humanitarian aid from getting through, which is more than can be said for Egypt which also has a border with Gaza but is strangely exempt from accusations of 'mounting a blockade'.  The article is correct in stating that the convey was run by the Turkish organisation IHH. But IHH is not an 'international aid group' as stated but an Islamist organisation that even Turkey classified as a terrorist group not too long ago (see here for a good expose of IHH). The IHH link inevitably leads the article to repeats the false narrative about the Mavi Marmara ship incident in 2010, thereby further demonising Israel.

New post on Palestinian 'aid' money here.

Remember the massacre of Jewish doctors and nurses because the main stream media won't help you

Daniel Greenfield has a must-read account of the Hadassah Medical Convoy Massacre that took place 65 years ago today, when 78 Jewish doctors and nurses taking supplies to the Haddasah Hospital in Jerusalem were murdered by Arabs (with the full complicity of the British occupying forces incidentally).

 "..the burning alive of doctors and nurses in a medical convoy, showed Israelis that peace was impossible... The barbarity of the attack was then followed by snapshots of the dead, who in some cases had been decapitated, being sold as postcards as yet another reminder that the enemy was operating on a whole other notion of morality."

Few people outside Israel, even Jews, know about the massacre. On the 10th anniversary of the Park Hotel Passover massacre (which was almost totally ignored in the UK) I wrote about this lack of awareness and compared it with the total awareness in the UK of 'massacres' of Palestinians that were actually bogus:

.. when a few days later Israelis attacked a terrorist enclave in Jenin (going hand-to-hand to avoid civilian casualties - resulting in the deaths of 23 Israelis and 53 Palestinians - of whom 48 were 'gunmen') there was condemnation from the whole world as the media became obsessed with the myth that a 'massacre' had taken place. Although the massacre myth was debunked as a hoax within a few days, most people still remember the 'Jenin massacre'. Similarly, in stark contrast to the Passover massacre,everyone knows about "Deir Yassin" which the Palestinians (wrongly) claimed was a massacre of Arabs in 1948 and which is widely commemorated not just annually in the UK but at more or less every meeting where the Palestinians want to make a point about Israel's 'brutality'. In contrast to the zero articles in the UK media about the Passover massacre since 2002 there have been many hundreds of articles commemorating the non-massacres at Deir Yassin and Jenin. 

 If you google about the Jenin or Deir Yassin 'massacres' you will find literally hundreds of thousands of hits including many articles in the main stream media. A similar search for Hadassah Medical Convoy Massacre brings up a tiny fraction of the hits and fails to bring up a single article published in the main stream media.

How to get a letter published in the Evening Standard

As per several previous posts about the Evening Standard all you need to do is write some peurile anti-Israel nonsense, no matter how irrelevant. This letter appeared today:

Based on this template the Standard could roll out any number of future letters based on more or less any Royal activity. For example:

Next time Wills and Kate visit a hospital in Stoke-on-Trent:

 "I was surprised to see the Prince and Princess of Cambridge visiting patients at this hospital. Will they now be going on to visit the 5 billion Palestinians denied proper hospital treatment for 65 years by the fascist Israelis. Or is royal sympathy carefully selected only for those who are not Palestinians or victims of Jews"

Next time the Queen sends a message of condolence to victims of a major disaster:

 "I was surprised to see the Queen send this message of condolence to the families of people killed in this disaster. Will she now be sending  messages of condolence to the families of the 50 trillion Palestinians killed in the last 65 years by the fascist Israelis. Or is royal sympathy carefully selected only for those who are not Palestinians or victims of Jews"

etc.

When political correctness leads to Jewish kids being killed

A year ago Islamic terrorist Mohammed Merah killed 3 children and a parent/teacher at a Jewish School in Toulouse. Before those murders he had killed two French soldiers in separate incidents. The politically correct French authorities - along with the main stream media - insisted initially that the murderer must be a 'right wing white racist', even though it was clear to those who were not naive (including myself as I blogged my views about it before the real killer was known) that the killer was a Muslim.

Murdered because of political correctness:  Rabbi Yonatan Sandler and his sons Aryeh, 6, and Gavriel, 3 (Left);  Myriam Monsenego, 8 (Right)

Now it transpires - see Daniel Greenfield's report - that this political correctness cost the lives of the Jewish children because the French intelligence service had identified Merah as a likely suspect after the first two killings but decided not to arrest him since, as a Muslim, he did not fit their profile of a white racist.

Another warning to people travelling easyJet to Tel Aviv

A couple of years ago I posted a warning to people travelling with easyJet to Tel Aviv.  Sadly I now have to post another warning. This time it concerns a flight that was interrupted and delayed nearly 20 hours. EasyJet have blatantly lied about the reasons for the problems and refused to give any compensation. Their 'customer services' refuse to respond to recorded delivery letters and the only people you can speak to are in an Indian call centre (you have to pay massively for the 0845 number as well) and they simply read from a script saying they cannot help you in any way.

Here is the story:

1. My family (me, wife and two daughters) were travelling on flight EZY2086 from Tel Aviv to London on 11 Feb 2013.The flight was due to leave Tel Aviv at 19.25, but we did not board until 19.15. Boarding completed at about 20.00. 
2. The plane was stationary for a further two hours at Tel Aviv. There was no power on the plane meaning unbearable heat. The pilot provided minimal information, saying only that he was waiting for a mechanical component to be brought to the plane that would enable him to start the engines and the aircon. He implied that this was a standard procedure, but I know enough about aircraft to know that an A320 does not require such a device when working properly.
3. The plane eventually left about 22.00. 
4. After an uneventful flight at about 02:30 (Israel time) the pilot announced that we would shortly be landing. I glanced out of the window and could see clearly from the landscape that we were not in the UK. 
5. Just ONE MINUTE before touchdown (at 02:40) the pilot announced that we were actually landing in Amsterdam to refuel. He said he was not sure he could land at Luton because of  bad weather and that in any case he had run our of fuel. He said that as soon as we refuelled we would be on our way, but that we would have to wait (as in Tel Aviv) for the 'starter motor' to be brought to the plane. 
6. With the engines switched off we again sat in sweltering heat without any information for 90 minutes. My daughters discovered through phone calls and the Internet that there were no problems at Luton airport and that our 'arrival' there was being shown as 00.45 (02.45 Israel time) even though it was now 01:45 Luton time. 
7. After 90 minutes (now 04:15 Israel time) the pilot announced that 'due to a whole set of bad luck - mechanical failure, fuel shortage, weather and the fact that the crew now had exceeded their working hours', we would have to overnight in Amsterdam, but that we would leave 'early in the morning'. Yet I have since discovered from my cab driver - who waited in vain at Luton until 03.15 (05:15 Israel time) - that even at that time they were being told to expect the flight to arrive at 02:45 Luton time. 
8. The pilot then announced that there were no buses to take us to the terminal building, and later  he said they had found one bus which could take 60 passengers at a time.  We waited a further 60 minutes in the stifling heat inside the plane (we had been on the plane for about 10 hours in total). When we eventually got to go the bus we had to go out into the freezing cold. 
9. When we arrived in the terminal it was complete chaos. The local staff there said that there was 'nobody answering the phones at EasyJet' but that we could go to a particular airport hotel. They told us we would have to collect our luggage and pay for our own taxi to get there. 
10. The final straw came when we were told (at 04.10 Dutch time, 05:10 Israel time) that the flight would not leave until 15:00 Dutch time (16:00 Israel time) on 12 February. 
11. In fact the flight actually did not leave Amsterdam until after 17:00 on 12 February - arriving in Luton nearly 20 hours late. I found that out from other passengers - my party took different action (see below) which meant that we also missed out on the fun and games at the hotel where I understand some people had to wait a further 3 hours just to check-in.
12. From the minute we touched down in Amsterdam my daughters were in state of total distress. They had only reluctantly gone on the trip because we had to attend a family bar mitzvah. My eldest had an important work meeting on 12 Feb and my youngest had already missed crucial days of school (final year A level) and could not afford to miss another day. They were traumatised and in tears. When we discovered that the earliest we would be leaving with easyJet was 15:00 we had no option but to try to find an alternative way back to London earlier (I also had to get back to work, and my wife had a hospital appointment on the afternoon of 12 Feb). 
13. We tried several options of early flights to London but they were all full or very expensive. We discovered a KLM flight AF5182 operated by Air France leaving at 08.00 (Dutch time) that had some spare seats but these were priced at 402 euros each. The KLM ticketing staff could see that my daughter were in distress and eventually offered us the tickets at a massive reduction of 230 euros each, which I paid. We took the flight and arrived at London City airport at 08.15. In addition to the cost of the extra flights I had to pay for the taxi that travelled to Luton in vain. 
14. When I checked my email after arriving home (there was no free wifi at Amsterdam airport and in any case my phone battery was very low) I discovered a message from easyJet (sent 02:58 UK time on 12 Feb) titled "Important travel information!". Here is what it said:

Good morning, 

As you are aware, we have diverted to Amsterdam due to Luton being closed for snow clearance and as a result, our crew running out of available duty hours to continue from Amsterdam. Our colleagues in Amsterdam will assist you through the airport. Accommodation has been provided for you at NH Schiphol Airport Hotel, roughly 1mile from the airport. Due to the time of day, no shuttle service is available, so you are welcome to take public transport or a taxi. Please keep your receipt and claim back via easyJet Custom Service. We can confirm the arrangements for your flight tomorrow are as follows: EZY9988 Amsterdam to Luton, Estimated Departure Time of 15:00 Amsterdam time with arrival in Luton at 15:10 UK time. While the weather in Luton is outside our control, we would like to extend our most sincere apologies for the inconvenience this night stop will cause to your travel plans.

Yours sincerely, easyJet Customer Service

In fact I have discovered that not a single other flight into or out of Luton on 11 Feb was cancelled or even delayed due to snow (there was barely any snow that day). Nor was there any problem at any of the other London airports (Gatwick, Stanstead, Heathrow, City or even Southend). If there really had been snow at Luton then the pilot could have landed at any one of these airports (except City whose runway is too short for an A320). The problem was, as the pilot openly stated, they did not have enough fuel to reach the UK. And the inability to refuel quickly was due to the mechanical failure, as the pilot openly stated, that also caused the delay in Tel Aviv.

The reason why easyJet are trying lie about 'snow' being the cause of the delay is because this would enable them to avoid paying automatic compensation of 600 Euros per passenger under a 2009 EU regulation, that mandates such payments to each passenger delayed more than 3 hours (on a flight of this distance) where the airline is to blame for the delay.

I filed an online complaint to easyJet on 12 Feb and sent a recorded delivery version on 14 Feb. I asked for the money I had spent on the KLM tickets and the taxi to be refunded but I also had another urgent concern I wanted them to address.  We travel to Tel Aviv frequently and have booked again for the whole family for another bar mitzvah on 7-10 March 2013. Due to the experience we  suffered this time both my daughters now refuse to travel on those flights with easyJet. I therefore wanted to know if I could cancel those flights and get a refund.

I got an automated response to my online complaint saying that they would respond within 5 days. They never did. Nor did they acknowledge my letter (even though I know it was delivered). After several wasted phone calls to their 0845 customer services number we finally spoke to a 'supervisor' who simply trotted out the 'snow' excuse and said they would not refund a penny in compensation, and nor would they refund the cost of the next flight seats.

No apology, no compensation, no 'customer service' at all. Just a bunch of lies based around a bogus story which conflicts with the facts seen and heard by 180 witnesses on the flight. I also feel that the behaviour of the captain on the flight was extremely disappointing in failing to keep us properly informed of what was happening during the many delays.

I will now have to sue easyJet for my losses. I will be happy to hear from other passengers who were on the flight.

5 March Update: Several other passengers have now contacted me. One of the many interesting new things I have discovered is that, after being contacted by some passengers, Chabad Amsterdam brought kosher sandwiches to the airport on 12 February - enough for every passenger irrespective of whether they were Jewish/kosher.  These were distributed on the flight by the EasyJet crew who gave no acknowledgement that these were provided by Chabad, but rather implied they were courtesy of EasyJet.

Problem with photos on blog

All of the photos and videos have been lost from the blog (thanks to a cock-up by Google that has affected many). I have started trying to replace them from backups but it will take a long time.

Update on complaint against Evening Standard's Hamas propaganda

I previously reported on how the London Evening Standard had become the new Hamas mouthpiece, culminating in a preposterous double page article on 23 November 2012.

Because the Evening Standard did not respond to my complaint I reported them to the Press Complaints Commission. There followed an extremely long and drawn out process involving discussions with the Editor Will Gore. At some point I will document those discussions as they reveal some great insights into how anti-Israel bias is so deeply ingrained in the mindset of the British media 'elite'. However, the end result is that Gore eventually agreed to print my short letter (below) in today's issue.

Islamic respect for women

British Muslim Adil Rashid's defence against illegal grooming and sexual intercourse with a 13-year old girl in Nottingham was that, as a devout madrassa-school educated Muslim, he had been taught a woman was “no more worthy than a lollipop dropped on the ground”.

And it appears that Judge Stokes was sympathetic to his defence.

Innocent Palestinian schoolkids

The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas is launching a military academy for kids in Gaza dedicated to the total destruction of all of Israel:

Haniyeh says inaugural academy in Gaza Strip will prepare children as young as 12 years old for "liberating Palestine," establish Palestinian state "from the river to the sea"; more than 10,000 kids attend military parade. 

In 18 months time when Israel is yet again forced to respond to hundreds of missiles launched from Gaza  (and takes out this legitimate military target) you can be certain that the headlines in the western media will be howling about Israel targeting schoolchildren.

Qatar: most despicable country in the world?

Because of its oil wealth and dominance of much of the world's media (the Qatari Royal family owns Al Jazeera and has major shareholdings in other international news outlets) the extent of Qatar's depravity is rarely raised in the main stream media. That is why you will not have heard news items like this one from last week when Qatar suddenly banned all women from working in boy's schools.

The ban included all women working in the school administration, accounting, social services and public relations, local Arabic daily Al Watan reported on Thursday. Qatari teachers and administrators were relocated based on their home addresses while non-Qataris were handed letters of termination 

The decision by FIFA to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was the most bizarre and corrupt decision in the history of sport (and yes it was worse than awarding the 1936 Olympics to Nazi Germany because it least that decision had a semblance of rationale from a climate and facilities perspective).

Since that decision Qatar has become the prime international sponsor or Sunni terrorism and is behind the financing of the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and, of course, Hamas in Gaza (to whom it pledged 2 billion dollars just two days before Hamas launched its unprovoked missile barrage against Israel in November 2012). Qatar is also financing the Al Qaeda groups that are increasingly dominant in the Syrian opposition to Assad.

FIFA likes to pretend it is passionately obsessed with equality and anti-racism, which is one of the reasons why its Qatar decision was so disgraceful. But don't expect FIFA to backtrack even after the recent revelations.

Qatar is slightly less repressive than Saudi Arabia, but at least Saudi has absolutely no pretencions about what it is and what it is not. That is what makes Qatar probably the most despicable country in the world.

Update on the London Sharia patrols story

I woke up this morning to the sound of James Max on LBC talking about the fact the Sunday Times was now running with this story (it only took the main stream media a week to catch up!). In typical James Max, LBC style however they were interviewing a religous Christian (whose name I did not catch) to act as apologist for the Islamists. What he said - to Max's approval - was that these guys were no different to any other pious religous Christians or Jews in that all they wanted to do was to protect their family and faith from the horrors and decadence of modern Western society.

There was also the usual suggestions that, in running with this story, the media was being Islamaphobic. Well it turns out that, as I noted in the original article, Youtube has indeed now censored and removed the videos (nobody is allowed any more to cast Islam in a bad light even when it is the Islamists doing it themselves). So I have uploaded one that I saved. If my blog is now closed down you will know why.

Update on this story at the Commentator where they now have a video of the Muslim patrol harassing man they assume is gay as "dirty, bloody fag"

This is Oxford

Yesterday and this morning I heard on the radio and TV news about about a 'gang of Oxford men' who allegedly subjected 11-15 year old girls to horrific rape and abuse over a period of 8 years. There was, of course, no mention of the ethnicity of the 'Oxford men', but somehow I did not imagine them to be a set of University students or dons.

As you can see from the Sun article below (by reading the names of the accused and looking at the courtroom sketch) all eight are Muslims. In an ideal world the ethnicity of alleged rapists should be of no relevance. But the UK has seen such an epidemic of Muslim gangs who groom and rape child victims, that even some members of the Muslim community itself have attempted to raise it as a matter of concern because they know there are deep-seated cultural reasons for such behaviour.

In previous cases the media - while never mentioning Muslims - has used the "Asian" euphemism (thereby tarring the reputation of Chinese, Korean, and non-Muslim Indians who actually have never been known to form such rape gangs in the UK). What is startling about this latest case is that the media has taken its self-censorship a step further by refusing to even call the gang Asian (although very curiously the Sun's online version of story - unlike the print version - does refer to an Asian gang in its headline).

See also my "This is London" article, which is relevant in this context because that story had been completely ignored by the main stream media.

This is London

The Commentator has a must read article and videos about a group calling itself  'Muslim Patrol' who are imposing Sharia law on non-Muslims on the streets of London - this includes confiscating alcohol and telling women that they cannot come on these streets dressed as they are. The Muslim group themselves proudly posted the videos on youtube (and have even added the obligatory Al Quaeda background music). Because this so clearly casts Muslims in a negative light apparently youtube have already started taking the videos down (so much for free speech) - so although the videos here link to youtube I have saved copies for reference purposes if they get permanently removed.

20 Jan: See here for important update on this story

What a result: Eden Hazard denies signing anti-Israel statement

My article about the footballers' attempted boycott of Israel very much focused on the most high profile player - Eden Hazard - of Chelsea. And I suggested that this was a concern that Chelsea's Jewish owner Roman Abramovic should look into.

Following my written complaint to Chelsea Football Club I have had a response. Without divulging the full details of the response the Club are happy for me to state the following quote from Eden Hazard's agent, John Bico:

'Eden never speaks about his political opinions and he certainly never signed anything.' 

So well done Chelsea for responding to this and well done Eden Hazard to distance himself so firmly from the appalling statement. Didier Drogba and Yohan Cabai already denied they ever signed the statement and I notice they have been removed from the list on Freddy Canoute's website. With the above announcement I look forward to the removal of Eden Hazard's name (still there as of 10.30pm on 11 December 2012) and an apology from the various anti-Israel groups that have been proclaiming the 'success' of this ludicrous statement.

The most anti-Israel British Government in recent history?

In threatening to break off diplomatic relations and seek sanctions against Israel, the British Government's hysterical overreaction last week to Israel's announcement of a plan to build 3000 homes in their own capital city Jerusalem must surely count as the most anti-Israel action by any British government in recent history. The worst since the Conservative government under Ted Heath refused to supply spare parts for Israel's British made takes when it was attacked on Yom Kippur in 1973 and facing an imminent existential threat.

Israel's announcement of the new homes plan came just one day after Britain betrayed Israel by abstaining in the Palestine UN membership vote. By abstaining Britain breached an agreement it was party to under the Oslo accords not to allow the Palestinians to seek statehood through any means other than direct negotiations with Israel. If any country has a right to carpet another's ambassador it was Israel to Britain not the other way round. Even more so when you consider the millions of pounds that the British Government continues to pump into Gaza for the benefit of Hamas and the millions it provides to terrorist-supporting NGOs to directly undermine the Goverment of Israel.

That there are still British Jews who claim that Cameron and Hague are 'friends of Israel' is tragic. They are beginning to sound a bit like those Jewish industrialists in Germany in 1934 who still insisted that Hitler was a man they could work with. Of even more concern are those Jewish MPs who claim to support Israel but from whom we heard not a peep of protest at the Government's ludicrous actions. If they had any balls at all they might have suggested that the correct analogy to Britain's actions would be if Israel threatened to withdraw its ambassador to the UK for any one of the following reasons:

• The British Government's insistence on going ahead with the controversial HS2 (High Speed Train) Project which will cause enormous environmental damage and force many people from their homes.
• The British Government's continued war in Afghanistan.
• The British Government's massive energy hikes forced on poor families to pay for its obsessive belief in the global warming hoax.
• The British Government's jailing of EDL leader Tommy Robinson; nothing more and nothing less than a political prisoner because of his criticism of militant Islam. Similarly, the jailing of political prisoner Darren Conway for putting up posters critical of Islam.
• ..any other of the 10,000 or so current issues in which the British Government makes decisions that are not universally appreciated.
• The continuing poor form of the England football team.

What has any of that got to do with Israel? The same as what building homes in Israel's capital city has to do with Britain.

Postscript:  Part of the 'ceasefire deal' that Britan and America forced Israel to accept over Gaza was to allow the Hamas terrorist leader Khaled Meshaal to return to Gaza. In his triumphant speech to thousands of Gazans today he announced Hamas's continued intention to destroy every inch of Israel. Don't hold your breath waiting for a word of condemnation from Cameron and Hague.

Football Jihad against Israel continues: Mido calls for genocide

... and of course nobody seems in the least bit interested.

Following on from my recent posting and updates about the football Jihad against Israel the Sun has a small item on Page 21 today about Egyptian international footballer (and former Spurs striker) Mido. As you can see from the article here Mido attended an anti-Israel rally in London and tweeted "In London against Israel ... Oh Lord burn them"
The article goes on to say that his current club Barnsley have "dealt with the matter internally".

So that's OK then?
Yet, when student Liam Stacey tweeted a daft joke after black footballer Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a game he was imprisoned for "a racially-aggravated public order offence to incite violence". When (black) footballer Rio Ferdinand re-tweeted a fairly harmless comment referring to black football Ashley Cole as a 'choc ice' there was a national scandal with the FA stepping in. And when John Terry - in the heat of a local derby - was accused of a racial slur against a black player he was not only stripped of the England captaincy but arrested and put on trial. In fact the slightest suggestion of racism within the game of football now attracts enormous international concern, condemnation, censure, and often police intervention. Being dealt with privately by the player's club is simply not an option.  With one exception. When that racism is directed against Jewish Israelis (see here and here for previous examples).


What makes this case especially ironic is that Mido claimed he was the subject of 'anti-Muslim' abuse by opposing supporters a few years ago who he claimed chanted "Mido, he's got a bomb you know; Mido's got a bomb."  On that occasion the FA of course stepped in and it was a story of international interest (it made both front page and back page news). This time, as far as I can tell the Sun is the only national paper to carry the story - I tried googling "Mido tweet" and nothing appears.

If an unknown student's drunken tweeted joke about a black football can result in a prison sentence for a racially-aggravated public order offence to incite violence then I would like to know why Mido's real incitement to genocide has missed the FA's radar completely. I will be writing to the FA to ask them - and I will also ask them why they have been silent on the British based players who signed the statement last week that was not only an anti-Semitic blood libel, but was also an attempt to subvert a EUFA tournament in which England is participating.

Footballers want boycott of Israel. Abramovic this is your chance

Please see important update of this story (11 Dec 2012) regarding Eden Hazard

Ever since it was announced that Israel would host next summer's European under-21 football championship tournament, the anti-Semitic Israel boycotters have been trying to stop it. Now, as a result of Israel having had the audacity to try to defend itself against thousands of terrorist rockets - including several fired from the Gaza football stadium (which was also used as an arms cache), the boycotters have seized their opportunity to brainwash a bunch of ignorant professional footballers to issue a statement demanding that EUFA stop Israel from hosting the tournament. The statement uses the pretext of Israel's strike against the stadium - and the bald-faced lie that this "resulted in the death of four young people playing football". No mention of course about the stadium being used as a rocket launching pad.

As far as I can tell every one of the 60 players involved in the boycott statement is Muslim (a fact which has been completely ignored by all the media outlets reporting this story) and that includes the most high profile Premiership based player - Eden Hazard of Chelsea. I've just sent this message to Chelsea FC:

I would like to know how the club intends to discipline Eden Hazard for signing up to what is essentially a propaganda statement on behalf of the Hamas terrorists of Gaza. The statement contains a bunch of lies that constitute a blood libel against Israel. That one of your major employees is supporting an anti-Semitic boycott is also reprehensible.

Chelsea's Jewish owner Roman Abramovic has been rumoured to "love Israel" (although I've never seen the evidence). What a chance he now has to finally show that love by publicly rebuking his employee for his anti-Semitic ignorance.

p.s. I don't recall any international outrage by professional footballers last year when Hamas tried to blow up Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium during an Israeli premier league soccer match last year  .... and of course the Palestinians would never deliberately murder athletes of any sort would they .....

4 Dec 2012 Update: One of the only non-Muslims on the list of 62 signatories - former Chelsea star Didier Drogba - has denied that he signed this statement. However, the violent thug 'footballer' Joey Barton (convicted of assaulting a teenager)  has written a piece of vile ignorant anti-Semitic propaganda dressed up as commentary on the Gaza war in the Big Issue. That's one magazine I won't ever be buying again.

Also, while on the subject of Muslims and football it is interesting to note that the media has covered up the fact that the horrific attack 'by youths' which resulted in the death of a linesman at a youth match in Holland at the weekend was perpetrated by three Moroccan immigrants.

7 Dec 2012 Update: A few more of the signatorees seem to have been faked.

What passes for 'expert' Israel coverage in the Jewish Chronicle

Anshel Pfeffer is the Jewish Chronicle's Israel reporter. In fact he is their ONLY Israel reporter and has been for quite a while now.

In the latest issue he dominates the entire front page and pages 2-3.  But what few people in the Jewish community in the UK realise is that Pfeffer is a Haaretz journalist who represents a view of Israel that is no different from that presented by the anti-Israel Guardian newspaper.

But not only is Pfeffer the typical leftist useful idiot presenting his anti-Israel agenda "as an Israeli"; he is also an incredibly shoddy journalist.

Elder of Ziyon has this link showing Pfeffer repeating one of the Palestinian blood libels today

Also, one of the FOUR articles by him that appears in the current issue of the Jewish Chronicle is about Egypt's anti-Semitic Israel hating Muslim Brotherhood leader headlined:

"Even-handed Morsi is Israel's biggest win".

This article on Page 3 - surely one of the dumbest ever in the JC - appeared on the very day that Morsi assumed dictatorial powers that have led to widespread riots in Egypt.

Morsi is a man who has repeatedly vowed to tear up the Camp David accords and destroy Israel. He refuses to mention Israel by name. What is not in Pfeffer's ignorant analysis is that Morsi's role in 'brokering' the cease-fire has everything to do with the $10billion that Obama and the EU are giving him this year alone to save the collapsing Egyptian economy (that is the largest annual sum any country has been given in aid in the history of the world - and it is YOUR taxpayer money funding an anti-Semitic Islamist regime that is likely to become the next Iran). But leftists like Pfeffer can never see anything other than sweetness and light in Muslim Brotherhood fanatics.

With this kind of coverage of Israel in the Jewish press, is it any wonder that the Jewish community in the UK is the most limp-wristed supporters of Israel among Jewish communities in the Western world?

London Evening Standard is now Hamas mouthpiece

As readers of this blog will know the Western media has done sterling work over the years to suppress any news and images of atrocities committed by Hamas in Gaza.  So when a video and multiple photos emerged last work of the public lynching of six Palestinians accused of being  'Israeli collabroators' I was wondering how long it would take for the apologists to explain that actually this was all Israel's fault. It was no surprise that the London Evening Standard - of which some half-million copies are handed out free - came to the rescue of Hamas (they have form as being a Hamas mouthpiece). The 23 November issue has a massive 2-page spread to 'fnd out what drives young Palestinians in Gaza to kill six informers and tow their corpses around the street' . Nabila Ramdani 'investigates' "The real story behind this brutal picture". And you do not need to read all the article to see what that 'real story' is because it is stated in large print by the side of the photo:

"Expecting Hamas to respond to Israeli expansion and aggression with anything but ruthlessness is ridiculous."

And what kind of  in-depth 'investigation' has Nabila Ramdani conducted to discover the 'truth'. She relies on somebody called Eman Shakir, a 24-year-old law student who grew up in Gaza City but who actually lives now in Paris. Quoting Shakir, Ramdani confirms:

  "You only have to look at the pictures taken this week of young children lying on slabs in makeshift morgues to realise what Hamas is responding to. As Israel carries on with its killing, and continues to ignore demands for a proper Palestinian homeland, people have no option but to turn to Hamas.” 

Ramdani makes no attempt to inform readers that those  pictures (with the exception of one which was of a baby killed by a Hamas rocket) were actually from Syria.

And Ramdani displays her own clear biases and ignorance throughout the article with comments like:

"the kind of targeting of Arab civilians seen in Gaza this week had to be met with further bloodshed ..."

Funny how less than 40 civilians were killed from Israel's assaults if they were targeting civilians and even funnier how there is no mention of the real targeting of 3 million Israeli civilians by Hamas.

"Many (Gazans) are disaffected young men like those pictured on the motorbikes — the kind who have known nothing but unemployment, poverty and subjugation to an enormously powerful, American-backed enemy"

Note the casual attempt to delegitimize Israel by portraying it as nothing more than an American puppet, while ignoring the incredibly powerful backing from Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia and now Egypt that Hamas receives. 

"..many of the Israeli communities based on land once filled with Palestinian houses just 20 miles from Gaza City ..."

So she is either under the impression that Israel is still occupying Gaza, or that is was Arabs and not Jews who built the communities of southern Israel like Sderot. What she certainly ignores is the FACT that Palestinians in Gaza now occupy houses and land built, developed and lived in by Jews who were forcibly expelled in 2005.

The Standard's entire coverage of the Gaza conflict is perfectly captured by the fact that every day they have published a diary/report from Hamas sympathiser Kim Sengupta 'in Gaza' which focuses purely on telling the story of the 'human agony' suffered by Palestinians, with headlines like "We wake on a quite morning and go out to see the destruction". There has been no attempt to balance this with any human stories from Israel.

The Standard also had a report on 23 Nov headlined "Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinains at Gaza fence" without giving any indication in the story itself that this was a mob of 300 Hamas supporters - some armed - who actually were trying to break through the border to attack Israelis (incredibly, a fact which even Hamas has this morning admitted).

p.s. I have submiited a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission. Don't expect anything out of it - as per last time - but at least it ensures someone at the Standard has to respond.
I also note that  the online story actually no longer has the same headline or the major quote highlighted (maybe even the editorial morons at the Standard realised that this was taking Hamas propaganda a bit too far).

Update 26 November 2012: The Daily Mail reports that the lynched Gazans were Al Qaeda members who threaten Hamas's grip on Gaza rather than 'Israeli informers'.

Cease fire text

Here is the actual text:

Understanding Regarding Ceasefire in Gaza Strip

a. Israel shall stop all hostilities on the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.

b. One of the 38 different Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel for at least 30 minutes. The other 37 terrorist factions may continue firing rockets and mortars at will.

c. The ceasefire does not apply to any of the 68 terrorist groups now launching attacks from the Sinai.

d. The international media will apply a complete blackout on reporting of any firing by Palestinians into Israel. When Israel finally responds after the 10,000th rocket has landed the media must immediately report that Israel has broken the ceasefire.

e. Israel must supply food, medicine and energy to all of Gaza, without payment.

f. Egypt, Iran, Qatar and Libya must provide increasingly sophisticated weapon systems and missiles to each of the 38 terrorist organisations in Gaza.