BDS is failing – a continuing series (Nov. 2016)

Here’s the latest installment in our ongoing series of posts detailing BDS fails:

Political BDS Fails

British Jewish Groups Welcome Suspension of UK Funding to Palestinian Authority as International Concerns Over Terror Payments Grow

According to The Sun’s report, International Development Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a freeze in millions of pounds worth of aid pending an investigation into how it is used by the PA.

The report said the British government was aware that many Palestinian civil servants “were doing other jobs while pocketing UK taxpayers’ cash.”

A British government source told The Sun, “We are not stopping for the Palestinian Authority overall, just delaying it to a date when we know our money won’t be going to people who do nothing in return for it.”

As a result of the funding suspension, £25 million in British government funding will be withheld from the PA this year, the report said.

The UK is not the only nation where attention has been raised recently about the PA’s misuse of foreign funding. A German lawmaker brought up questions in the Bundestag about the issue this summer and last week three Republican senators in the US introduced the Taylor Force Act, which would cut off American funding to the PA if it continues to pay monetary rewards to terrorists and their families.

Pro-Palestinian activists fail to silence Israeli activist Hen Mazzig

Unbeknown to those of us still outside, several pro-Palestinian activists had launched themselves through a window with one knocking himself out cold and lying flat-out on the floor. I dread to think what would have happened to an Israel supporter in reverse circumstances. Anyone who has seen one of the apocalyptic Zombie movies will have some idea of the scene of a suicide entity blasting its way through to reach normal beings.

Finally, once all pro-Israel supporters were ushered in, the talk began. However, the chanting and banging on windows and doors grew louder making it difficult to concentrate. Loud Arabic music was played to add a little authenticity to the fascistic behaviour of the protestors, a sort of home from home experience.

At the end of the talk there was a spontaneous rendition of Hatikva. Students and elders alike danced the Hora and it was an incredibly special and emotional moment.

mailonline

Tel Aviv to assist in development of new Kenyan tech hub

The municipal company Tel Aviv Global and the Republic of Kenya have announced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development of a new “smart city” in south-eastern Kenya, as part of the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival of 2016.

The Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), also dubbed “Silicon Savannah” city or “Techno City,” is a $14.5 billion project that will feature a science and business park, convention center, shopping malls, hotels and international schools, among other facilities. Kenyan innovators and entrepreneurs will participate in the Tel Aviv Global local start-up acceleration and skills training program.

Jerusalem March attracts tens of thousands

Tens of thousands of Israelis and foreign friends of Israel from across the world flooded Jerusalem’s streets on Thursday as they marched to celebrate Israel’s existence.

Some of the participants who arrived for the traditional annual Jerusalem March explained to Ynet that they were motivated to attend due to their deep devotion to the Jewish people, their love of the nation of Israel and for the people living in Zion.

Israeli leaders meet with leaders of Eastern faith traditions

A delegation that included Hindu gurus, Buddhist monks and Shinto priests met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday on the first day of a Jerusalem conference designed to deepen Israel-Asia ties.

Swami Avdheshanand Giri from India, a guru who heads thousands of ashrams across India, said at the President’s Residence that in coming to Jerusalem he felt the good vibrations rising from “the land of opportunity and wisdom, which has given birth to great religions.”

Economic BDS Fails

Bank of Ireland shuts down anti-Israel BDS accounts

The Bank of Ireland—the country’s oldest financial institution—shut down the accounts of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). The termination of the pro-BDS group’s accounts took place in Ireland and Northern Ireland in late September, according to a Sunday account in the Irish news outlet RTÉ.

Mark, Leech, a spokesman for the Bank of Ireland, wrote The Jerusalem Post on Monday saying that they “cannot comment in relation to customer accounts.”

According to the RTÉ, the PSC said the bank closed its accounts because it defined transfers to Palestinian Territories as high-risk. The PSC said its transfers funds to a factory in the West Bank. The plant produces Palestinian scarves that the PSC buys to promote solidarity, wrote the RTÉ. PSC had held accounts at the Bank of Ireland for 15 years.

The Irish pro-Palestinian group opened a new account with the Allied Irish Banks (AIB). A Post press query to the AIB was not immediately returned on Monday. According to RTÉ, the PSC believes it is vulnerable to a new closure.

Europe to Israel: More avocado, please!

The Israeli avocado season is underway, and health-conscientious Europeans are keeping a watchful eye on this super fruit’s journey from orchard to cargo hold to their local grocery store.

High on the lists of global health fads, the avocado is in hot demand. And the Israeli avocado specifically is an extremely popular commodity.

“There is an increase in avocado demand every year. Israeli farmers can’t keep up with the demand,” Itzik Cohen, CEO of the Israel Fruit Growers Association, tells ISRAEL21c. “2016 looks like it will be a very good year for business.”

According to Cohen, Israel exported 60,000 tons of this creamy fruit in 2015. This year, the Israeli Agriculture International portal announced that it expects an avocado yield of almost 100,000 tons of fruit. Of that, 70 percent will be earmarked for export.

Israeli avocados are exported to France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and Russia.

Cultural, Sport, and Technology BDS Fails

Roger Waters is planning his most spectacular and expensive tour yet — but the Pink Floyd legend is facing backlash from some big-name sponsors over his views on Israel.

Sources tell us that American Express balked at spending up to $4 million to sponsor Waters’ 2017 US + Them North American tour.

AmEx sponsored this month’s so-called “Oldchella,” the Desert Trip festival, where Waters performed along with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

Waters, who has angered many in New York with his support for a boycott of Israel over the issue of Palestinian rights, shocked people at Oldchella by unleashing a series of brutal images targeting Donald Trump, and slogans such as “F - - k Trump and his wall” and “Arrogant, lying, racist, sexist,” then voicing solidarity with students protesting for Palestinians. He also urged people to support the controversial BDS Movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel) and added, “I encourage the government in Israel to end the occupation.”

An AmEx source told us: “Roger is putting on a huge show. The company was asked to sponsor his tour for $4 million, but pulled out because it did not want to be part of his anti-Israel rhetoric.”

My Home; Israel through the eyes of Arab-Israelis

Twenty percent of the population are either Druze, Arab- Christian, Bedouin or Muslim. The media has focused on the Arab violence, their leaders that incite hatred, the rock-throwing mobs, inferring that all Arabs are hostile to the State of Israel. Now we hear from a cross section of people, that despite the problematic complexities of living in that country, embrace co-existence with their compatriots and are intensely loyal to the democratic state of Israel.

Wafa Hussein, a mother and teacher, when asked in the film is she is a Zionist, smiles and answers, “I am very much a Zionist”. She lives in the Arab village of Deir Hanna and teaches in an elementary school in Safed.

Mohammed Ka’abiya is a Bedouin who served in the IDF and prepares the youth in his village for service in the army. “There are Arabs here who are for the State,” he declares, in spite of constant, often humiliating security checks. And – “there are Arabs that call me a traitor.”

Father Gabriel Naddaf is a Christian Arab priest who claims Christianity is being erased in the Middle East. “In Arab schools, only Islam is taught.” He encourages Christian-Arab youth to “become full citizens and join the IDF”.

Jonathan is a young man in his twenties. Born in Lebanon, he and his family fearing Hezbollah aggression, sought refuge in Israel and found it. “You have to stop trying to destroy the Jews and turn Israel into an Arab country,” he says in a heated conversation with an Israeli Jewish student railing against the Israeli “occupation”. “Here you can say what you want, do what you want.”

Jewish-Arab women’s choir wins international award

Rana Choir, a mixed Jewish-Muslim-Christian women’s chorus from Jaffa, received a 2016 International Hrant Dink Foundation award in the category of inspirations, September 22 at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Hrant Dink was an award-winning Turkish journalist of Armenian descent who was assassinated in Turkey in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist because of his public stance regarding Turkish recognition of the Armenian genocide.

The foundation established in his honor grants awards to “people and organizations working for a world free of discrimination, racism and violence, and through their initiatives inspire and encourage others to support their cause and ideals,” according to a press statement.

Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in literature

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature Thursday for work that the Swedish Academy described as “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993.

Proofpoint buys Israeli cloud security co FireLayers for $55m

US cyber security company Proofpoint Inc. (Nasdaq: PFPT) has acquired Israeli cloud security company FireLayers. Proofpoint will pay $46 million in cash and $9 million in shares for the Herzliya based company.

Sophia Loren, Matisyahu and Peter Murphy to perform in Israel

A mixed bag of an iconic siren, feel-good troubadour and alternative rebel are slated to come to Israel; they are silver screen goddess Sophia Loren, fusion singer Matisyahu and former Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy, all of whom are planning on putting on a show for their devoted fans

Disabled IDF veterans compete in Berlin Marathon

Eight runners and 13 handcyclists, former IDF soldiers and Border Police officers, formed a delegation to Germany to take part in the Berlin Marathon; ‘It’s really a dream come true. Next year, we’ll improve our time.’

How Israel is saving the honeybees

Researchers from India’s Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute came to the KKL-JNF National Seed Center in Beit Nehemia last November and again this month to learn tips on growing eucalyptus and other flowering plants for better honey production. The KKL-JNF has also sent seedlings to Jordanian beekeepers in the past.

Yavlovich says one of the causes of CCD is a monotonous diet.

“In central Kansas, for example, the bees see fields of only soybeans and corn, and that’s not good. We assume the fact that we give bees a variety of flowers to taste from makes them stronger and we have fewer problems with CCD than in other countries.”

The Americans were astonished to learn that Israeli beekeepers receive nectar-rich plants and trees for free.

“In other countries they encourage people to plant trees, but I don’t know of any other country where they give them away,” says Yavlovich.

Israeli Cows are Taking Over the World

Israeli milk cows in general, are a growing attraction for visitors as Israel’s dairy industry has emerged as one of the most efficient and productive in the world. Despite limited rainfall and high summer temperatures, Israel has the highest national average of milk production per cow. And amid the fast-growing global demand for dairy products, especially in the developing world, there is increasing interest in how Israel gets so much milk out of each cow and the technology it uses to do so.

In recent years, a handful of Israeli companies using locally-developed technology have come to dominate the world market for milk production systems and dairy herd management. Israeli companies Afimilk Agricultural Cooperative Ltd., based at Afikim, and the Netanya-based SCR Dairy, recently acquired by U.S. giant Allflex, have built milking parlors all over the world, including the United States, China, and Vietnam, and have dozens of other large projects underway. Akol, based at Kibbutz Bror Hayil, runs a database tracking the milk production of every cow in Israel; it recently signed a partnership with Microsoft to help make the technology globally available. Israel’s Agency for International Development signed a cooperation and information-sharing deal with India’s dairy sector last year.

Teva, IBM to tackle new drugs, chronic diseases with AI

IBM and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Wednesday they would significantly expand their existing global e-Health alliance with a focus on two key healthcare areas: the discovery of new treatment options and improving chronic disease management.

Both projects will run on the IBM Watson Health Cloud, the two companies said in a statement. The IBM Watson Health Cloud is a health-data enabled platform-as-a-service which is designed to help healthcare organizations derive individualized insights and obtain a more complete picture of the many factors that can affect people’s health based on machine learning.

The expanded partnership underlines the increased convergence of drugs discovery and treatments with cognitive computing, which aims to improve and better target medication for patients, increase effectiveness and lower costs.

The companies said the expanded cooperation envisages a new, three-year research collaboration to develop new technologies that will enable a systematic approach to help repurpose drugs and aid in the discovery of new uses for existing drugs, the joint statement said.

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