Stand for Israel

Tutu: Israeli society needs to "evolve"

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, touring the Middle East with the group that has dubbed itself "The Elders" (which also includes anti-Israel stalwarts such as Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson) presumes to tell Israel what is to be learned from the Holocaust:

"The lesson that Israel must learn from the Holocaust is that it can never get security through fences, walls and guns," Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa told Haaretz Thursday.

Commenting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement in Germany Thursday that the lesson of the Holocaust is that Israel should always defend itself, Tutu noted that "in South Africa, they tried to get security from the barrel of a gun. They never got it. They got security when the human rights of all were recognized and respected."

So, recognizing and respecting the human rights of Israel's terrorist enemies like Hamas and Hezbollah will bring security to the Jewish state. That's a nice fantasy world you've built for yourself, Mr. Tutu.

Why does the press give Hamas a pass?

At Sky News, Tim Marshall comments on a story you probably haven't heard much about, and notes a blatant double standard in the media's treatment of Israel:

Thirty Palestinians killed. Women and children caught in the crossfire. Missiles fired at a Mosque. Muslim prisoners 'executed' in cold blood. A massacre. Media restrictions.

A familiar tale? Indeed. International outrage and demonstrations in the streets of London? Nope.

And why might that be? Why it's simple. The Palestinians were were killed by Palestinians and, it would appear from the lack of reaction that in those circumstances their lives are cheap, but when they are killed by Israelis it is an outrage.

A travesty of justice

At the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach challenges the decision of the Scottish government to release terrorist Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi, found guilty of the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103:

What was the Scottish government thinking? That because this cold-blooded killer was terminally ill he should die in freedom rather than rot in jail where he belongs? And the Scots have the gall to call this compassion.

Where is the compassion for the families whose lives were destroyed when this monster blew their loved ones into oblivion? Did the Scottish government and its justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, think of the additional horrors they were going to visit on the families when they saw their loved ones' barbaric murderer carried aloft as a returning conqueror?

Gilad Shalit: 23 years of life, 3 years of captivity

Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas terrorists for over three years, will turn 23 years old this Friday, August 28. There is no indication that he will be released soon, and his captors refuse to release any information on his physical condition. The Jewish Agency for Israel is circulating an online petition calling on the International Red Cross to pressure Hamas to grant Shalit the rights due him under international law -- rights that Shalit thus far has been denied. Take a moment to sign the petition, then head to our Stand for Israel website to send a message of solidarity and support to his family.

Anti-Israel faction attempts to hijack United Church of Canada

The indefatigable Dexter Van Zile of CAMERA takes on the United Church of Canada for entertaining an anti-Israel boycott at their denominational conference:

The question remains: Why boycott Israel, and not Sudan? And while the issue of boycotts is being raised, why not boycott oil from Saudi Arabia, which has allowed its oil revenues to be used to foment hostility toward Jews, women, and Westerners in Muslim countries throughout the world, most notably, in Pakistan? Are the victims of Arab expansionism in Sudan and Muslim extremism supported by Saudi Arabia not worthy of a boycott filed on their behalf? Are their lives any less valuable? Are their human rights any less worthy of defense?

The fact that that self-proclaimed human rights activists in the United Church of Canada have chosen Israel – and no other nation – as a target for a boycott raises serious questions about what triggers their activism. Apparently, there is something more offensive about a small number of deaths at the hands of Israelis than huge numbers of deaths caused by Arabs and Muslims.

Read the whole thing.

Senate members urge President to press Arab states

From AIPAC:

Members of the Senate have sent a letter to President Obama emphasizing the need for Arab states to take dramatic steps that demonstrate their commitment to peace with Israel. The letter, signed by 71 senators and spearheaded by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and James Risch (R-ID), cites the example of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, whose historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977 ultimately led to peace between Egypt and the Jewish state. A similar letter in the House to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, spearheaded by Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Edward Royce (R-CA), received 226 signatures from House members.

A letter to Mary Robinson

U.N. Watch has drafted a letter to Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Mary Robinson, who recently accused "certain elements of the Jewish community" of "bullying" for calling on President Obama not to honor her:

Mrs. Robinson, let’s be honest: no one has bullied you, and you are not being vilified by false accusations.

Instead, facts were presented and issues raised concerning your 1997-2002 tenure as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights—by mainstream Jewish organizations as well as by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle—which question the integrity of your actions on the Middle East, most famously during the lead-up to that dark moment in history known as the Durban conference.

Hurling ad hominem epithets won’t make these facts go away. Nor will misrepresenting your critics’ arguments and then purporting to refute them, which is what both you and your defenders have been doing.

United Church of Canada to vote on Israel boycott

The latest group to jump on the "boycott Israel" bandwagon is the United Church of Canada. At the group's upcoming General Council, attendees will be voting on resolutions calling for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.

Colby Cosh has their number. He notes that:

Israel is also said to be "built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners"; in view of the 1.4 million Arabs living within Israeli borders, Israel is not much better at ethnic cleansing than I am at cleaning my house. "Ethnic cleansing" must be one of the least useful political concepts added to the common lexicon in the last quarter-century; it has become, or was always meant to be, a term used when one wishes to attach the stigma of terror and genocide to a national grouping without technically accusing them of it.

Using the term "ethnic cleansing" to characterize the founding of Israel makes the term elastic enough to include freely contracted purchases of land by Zionists under the British Mandate, as well as the Palestinian Jews' refusal to let themselves be starved and exterminated by their Arab neighbours in the 1947-48 intercommunal free-for-all.

Jews are "cleansing" the region literally just by being alive there. The nerve!

Resolutions like these have been entertained by mainline Protestant groups for years now. Some have been shot down. But the fact that such groups are even willing to entertain this pernicious nonsense is shameful and inexcusable.

Fatah to Israel: Release all Palestinian prisoners

Another unreasonable demand:

Fatah delegates meeting here Thursday resolved not to renew peace negotiations with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails, all settlement-building is frozen and the Gaza blockade is lifted.

In a nutshell, Fatah's precondition for renewing peace talks is releasing the guys held in Israeli prisons who staged the attacks that thwarted peace talks in the first place. More significantly, when you read what they say in Arabic, they make clear that they're not going to give up "armed struggle" -- meaning, attacking Jewish men, women, and children.

Lovely. Sounds like a great "peace process". Wouldn't you want to negotiate with these guys?

Oxfam drops TV star for connections with Israeli company

In Israel, politics invades even the cosmetics business:

Kristin Davis, who starred in the long-running HBO hit drama Sex and the City, is reportedly the subject of a controversy involving her association with an Israeli cosmetics company whose headquarters are situated in the West Bank.

According to a report in Thursday's New York Post, Davis - who portrayed the character Charlotte on the successful cable comedy - will no longer serve as a spokeswoman for Oxfam International because the human rights group objects to her endorsement deal with Ahava, a popular cosmetics firm that operates out of the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem.

Oxfam says Davis' arrangement with Ahava is problematic due to the fact that Mitzpe Shalem is "disputed" territory, according to the New York Post report.

It's unfortunate, but not unexpected, that Oxfam dropped Davis because of her association with Ahava; Oxfam consistently takes fiercely anti-Israel positions.