The Flotilla Falters !!!!

 

The Irish Ship, the MV Saoirse, will not take part in the planned fraudlent flotilla in support of the murderous and rapacious Hamas regime in Gaza. The Ship has been damaged, Sabotaged, according to one of its intended passengers .... The Luck of the Irish ????

And today,   Melanie Phillips muses ....

Is a bunch of young Israeli lawyers working round the clock sustained only by Diet Coke, falafel and cigarettes about to pull off the legal equivalent of the Six-Day War?

Israel famously won that war before it even started by destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground. Now it’s beginning to look as if the Gaza flotilla of fools and fanatics may be holed below the waterline before it even sets off on its cynical and potentially murderous stunt.  It was supposed to have sailed by now. Today, however, it was reported that it now may not set sail before next week. The main reason is a series of unprecedented and ingenious manoeuvres by Israeli lawyers which have tied up the boats in legal actions mainly concerning insurance and registration issues.

And I can reveal that a separate legal move today threatens fourteen of the flotillistas with arrest if they enter Israeli territorial waters.

Two Israeli soldiers in the reserves are seeking to bring a private prosecution against those activists who took part in the first Gaza flotilla ~ and who are planning to take part once again in the current one ~ for the crimes of assault and soliciting aid for an attack.  The fourteen comprise one person from Ireland, two from the US, one from Cyprus, two from England, two from Spain, one from Greece, two from the Netherlands, one from Norway, one from Sweden and one from Qatar. Separately, the captains of the flotilla boats also face the possibility of criminal charges from a similar attempt at a private prosecution.

In addition, the US Attorney General has threatened the 36 Americans on the flotilla that they will be liable for criminal prosecution if they sail.  Already, the number of flotillistas has been whittled down from 1500 to 350, and the number of boats from 15 to ten. Most of the credit should surely go to the Israeli activist law firm Shurat HaDin which believes in bankrupting terrorism through a creative use of the law. Here are some of the legal challenges to the flotilla which Shurat HaDin has initiated with seismic effect.

It sent letters to all the maritime insurance companies in Europe and Turkey, warning them that if they provided the flotilla boats with insurance (a necessary component in the effort to smuggle contraband to the terrorists) that they themselves would be legally liable for any future terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas.  It filed an unprecedented lawsuit to seize the flotilla boats. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an American terror victim injured by a 'palestinian' suicide bomber.   It sent warning letters to a French insurance company warning it not to insure a boat that was to be launched from Marseilles. The company accordingly decided not to provide the French boat with insurance.

After the main Turkish boat the Mavi Marmara pulled out of the flotilla, the New York Times reported that one reason (along with political pressure) was the boat’s inability to obtain maritime insurance.  It sent warning letters to the UK and US based global satellite company INMARSAT, stating that it might be liable for massive damages and criminal prosecution if it provided communication services to ships used by suspected terror organizations in the flotilla. Then a resident of the southern Israeli town of Sderot filed a legal suit asserting that, under US law, Inmarsat was aiding and abetting terrorism by providing satellite services to the flotilla vessels.  This week the New York Times reported that Greek authorities had detained two of the ships docked in Greece, including an American vessel, after Shurat haDin complained to the Greek Coast Guard suggesting that seven of the ships might be lacking insurance or were improperly registered.

Irish Idiots!

For the flotilla is out to provoke violence and mayhem. The claim that its mission is a humanitarian one to relieve Israel’s ‘siege’ of Gaza is patently ludicrous. There is no siege. Israel allows in regular supplies, and Egypt recently opened its own Gaza border. No, the flotilla’s real aim by its illegal breaking of the legal maritime blockade of Gaza is to provoke Israel into violence against those on board so that they can pose as martyrs and will thus trap Israel into blackening its own image.  Yet however transparent the flotilla’s real purpose, the media are sanitising its true aims and potential for violence, as Just Journalism spells out here and here.

Well, the true aim was actually spelled out by Adam Shapiro, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and a board member of the Free Gaza Movement (which is behind the flotilla), at a meeting last November at Rutgers university in New Jersey to raise money to fund an American flotilla boat. I have obtained a video of this address (no link, I’m afraid). This is what Shapiro said ..... " What we’ve been doing over the last ten years with the International Solidarity Movement, Free Gaza, and all the other outgrowth organisations and movements and groups is to ...work with Palestinian society to ramp up the resistance. This is all part of a Palestinian movement for Palestine...This is truly an international movement ... It’s only Palestine, this cause that has been going on for over 60 years, that generates this kind of activism, this kind of resistance... Free Gaza is but one tactic of a larger strategy, to transform this conflict from one between Israel and the Palestinians, or Israel and the Arab world...to one between the rest of the world and Israel.

It’s not just the conflict, it’s not just the siege, it’s not just the home demolitions, it’s not just the wall on the West Bank, it’s not just the effort to continue to dispossess Palestinians of their land...it’s also the attempt to define a place where 20 per cent of the population is Palestinian, to define the land underneath their feet as Jewish, to further dispossess them and subject these people to permanent second third or fourth class citizenship...Free Gaza is a tactic...all of it is part of a strategy now to transform the conflict and internationalise it and really undermine Israel where it gets its most support...  Our ground is the whole world. And that’s where our resistance has to be. The whole world... We already have a third intifada. It’s going on right now. It’s going on all over the world."

So from the horse’s mouth we learn that the prime aim of the flotilla is not to provide humanitarian supplies to Gaza. It is not even to protest Israel’s ‘siege’ of Gaza. It is instead a tactic in a campaign to undermine Israel itself on account of its 60-plus year existence as a Jewish state. In other words, the flotilla is part of a strategy designed to destroy Israel altogether.  All decent people should hold their breath that Shurat haDin pull this one off, and turn ‘lawfare’ into a boomerang against the jihad and its nauseating fellow-travellers whose true aim is to exterminate the national homeland of the Jewish people. 

This article is NOT my work.  It was written by Melanie Phillips,  a British journalist and author.   She is best known for her controversial column about political and social issues which currently appears in the Daily Mail Newspaper.   It is too Damn good not to reproduce!!!!  
(All emphases mine!)

The Flotilla Fraud !!

 Kevin Myers muses ......

What is it about Israel that prompts such a widespread departure from common sense, reason and moral reality? As another insane flotilla prepares to butt across the Mediterranean bringing "aid" to the "beleaguered" people of Gaza,  in its midst travelling the MV Saoirse, does it never occur to all the hysterical anti-Israeli activists in Ireland that this is like worrying about the steaks being burnt on the barbecue,  as a forest fire sweeps towards your back garden?

I took part in a discussion about the Middle East last weekend at the Dalkey Books Festival. It was surreal. Not merely was I the only pro-Israeli person in the panel of four, but the chairwoman of the session, Olivia O'Leary, also felt obliged to throw in her three-ha'pence worth.

Israeli "settlers" on the "West Bank" were on stolen land, she sniffed. Palestinians in their refugee camps had title deeds to the ancient properties. The UN had repeatedly condemned Israel.  Brian Keenan, who was held hostage by Arab terrorists for four years, then detailed Israeli human-rights abuses, to loud cheers.

Israel ~ and its sole defender on the panel (is mise) ~ were then roundly attacked by members of the audience. But what was most striking about the audience's contributions was the raw emotion ..... they seemed to loathe Israel!!

But how can anyone possibly think that Gaza is the primary centre of injustice in the Middle East? According to Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the International Red Cross in Gaza, there is in fact no humanitarian crisis there at all.  But by G-d, there is one in Syria, where possibly thousands have died in the past month.

However, I notice that none of the Irish do-gooders are sending an aid-ship to Latakia. Why? Is it because they know that the Syrians do not deal with dissenting vessels by lads with truncheons abseiling down from helicopters, but with belt-fed machine guns, right from the start?

 

What about a humanitarian ship to Libya? Surely no-one on the MV Saoirse could possibly maintain that life under Gaddafi qualified it as a civilised state. Not merely did it murder opponents by the bucketload at home and abroad, it kept the IRA campaign going for 20 years, and it also ~ a minor point, this, I know ~ brought down the Pan Am flight at Lockerbie. Yet no Irish boat to Libya. Only the other way round.

And then there's Iraq. Throughout the decades of Saddam Hussein, whose regime caused the deaths of well over a million people, there wasn't a breath of liberal protest against him. Gassing the Kurds? Not a whimper. Invading Kuwait? Not one single angry placard-bearing European liberal outside an Iraqi embassy.

Destroying the drainage systems of the Marsh Arabs? Silence. Manipulating UN oil-for-food programme so that thousands died? Nothing.

Next, Saudi Arabia, whose revolting practices cannot be called Medieval without doing a grave injustice to the Middle Ages. It is led by savages who have studiously turned their backs on knowledge ~ even as they sip their Krug  and their Bollinger in their €100m apartments in Belgravia.  They behead and behand, they torture and they mutilate, and they have spent billions on their foul madrasahs teaching young Muslims right across the world to hate us kaffirs. But what demonstrations are there outside Saudi embassies?  What flotillas to defend the human rights of the millions of immigrant serfs, who toil without any rights in Saudi homes and in the oil industry?

There isn't a single Arab country, not one, with the constitutional protection that Israel confers on all its citizens, regardless of religion or ethnicity or sexual orientation. By any decent measure, it is simply not possible to gaze upon the entire region, reaching from Casablanca to Yemen, and then to point indignantly and say ~  "Ah yes, Gaza: that's where the one great injustice lies."

The last 'aid flotilla' to Gaza carried a large number of Islamists who wanted to provoke  and aided by some quite astounding Israeli stupidity, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Now another convoy is under way, and again with an utterly disingenuous plan to bring "assistance" to the "beleaguered Gazans",  some of who, funnily enough,   can now cross into Egypt any time they like, and buy their explosives and their Kalashnikovs in the local arms-bazaar.

And as for human-rights abuses ....  why,  nothing that Israel has done in the 63 years of its existence can possibly compare with the mass-murders of Fatah members by Hamas firing-squads over the past five years.

The colossal western intellectual dissonance between evidence and perception on the subject of Israel at this point in history can perhaps only be explained by anthropologists.

This dissonance is perhaps at its most acute in Ireland, where no empirical proof seems capable of changing people's minds.  Israel,  just about the only country in the entire region where Arabs are not rising up against their rulers, is also the only country that the Irish chattering classes unite in condemning.  Rather pathetic, really.
 

This article is NOT my work.  It was written by Kevin Myers for  'The Irish Independant'  Newspaper.  Most of my Readers are not Irish & It is too Damn good not to reproduce!!!!
(All emphases mine!)

The Good Life in Gaza .....

The LIE is that Israeli blockade of Gaza has literally turned the 'palestinian' Refugee Camp City of Gaza into an inhumane prison camp with horrendous food shortages. The Gazans, as you can see are suffering soooo ....

It's interesting to note that the 'humanitarian' flotillas all REFUSED to bring a parcel or letter to Gilad Shalit from his family. And the latest Flotilla of Fools to Gaza right now with thousands of letters of support to fake 'palestinians'  aboard the 'Audacity of Hope' is no exception to that.  They REFUSED to take a letter to Gilad from his Dad.  And the Irish "Aid" Ship is carrying  ..... NO AID ... just Journalists & wannabe celebrities with one Aim.  To Defy the LEGAL Israeli Blockade of Terror Shipments to Gaza!!!!

"There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid, Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health ~ his name is Gilad Shalit, and last Friday FIVE years passed since he was kidnapped.”

The World is Upside Down for Sure!

Go Get Gilad !!!

Gilad Shallit. Five years in captivity tomorrow,  1827 days in the darkness of Gaza, in caves or in basements of the Gaza Strip, and in  solitary isolation with no communication to the outside world. Held by Hamas.  

(I actually wrote this blog at Pesach) .... Tomorrow is the FIFTH  Anniversary of his Abduction!!

Five years ago, the Hamas terror organization kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit during an incursion from Gaza into Israel. His captors have denied access to him by the Red Cross in complete violation of the Geneva Convention. For five years a merciless enemy has held captive a young man, a soldier. While Gilad Shalit has become a symbol, there has been no Rescue attempt and only a series of stalled negotiations.  It is not enough for Israel's leaders to say to Hamas "Let Gilad Go!",  as it was not enough  for Moshe Rabbenius to say to Pharoah "Let my People Go!".

We Know that Gilad is Alive. And there is a media campaign. It is massive ..... massive, but mistaken. It keeps repeating that "the fate of Shalit is in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's hands."   That's not true!!!

Gilad Shalit isn't in "Netanyahu's hands."   He's in Hamas, Arab terrorists' hands, and they are the ones who have the physical and moral responsibility to free him. It's not up to Israel to bargain and beg for his life. Those Arabs are being strengthened by the International media, because the media blame Israel, and not the Arab terrorists who continue his incarceration and are the guilty ones. Gilad Shalit is not a negotiating tool to be bargained off in a numbers game with Hamas, which they have tried to turn on & off for the last five years ~ NOT ONE Hamas murderer should be released in a trade off for the freeing of Gilad Shalit.  

How can one compare the life of a soldier with the release of such evil to the world? Will Hammed Ibrahim, military leader of Hamas in the 'West Bank', who killed & organized attacks that killed 76 people, be freed? Or Abdullah Barghouti, "the engineer" who prepared all the explosives that caused bloodshed in Jerusalem between 2001 and 2003?  His targets included the Sbarro restaurant, the University Cafeteria at Mount Scopus. He killed at least 46. What about Sayed Abbas, who masterminded the suicide bombing in a Natanya hotel in 2002, in which 30 Israelis were killed during the Passover seder, including many elderly Holocaust survivors and their families?

Having said that I am TOTALLY for Gilad being freed NOW!!!!  Not one day more in Captivity, five years is too long. Five years too long!!!   One day more is too much. But, I dont believe in a negotiated exchange.

The Israeli Government too Must Do More To Free Gilad. The very first thing for them to do is to suspend all Red Cross visits to Arab terrorist prisoners in Israeli hands. If they can't see Gilad Shalit, they can't see anyone in Israel.   No family visits for Arab prisoners .... no walks in the yard, no games, no cards, no books, nothing, no education, no degrees or doctorates to earn. Same conditions as Shalit has endured all of this time.  Hamas are not playing games or being 'nice' or even 'humane'!!  Hit Hamas where it hurts ~ No monetary 'Aid' Allowed!

At the same time all "humanitarian aid" to Gaza must be suspended and blocked. Turn off the Power & the water to start.  Then every week lessen the 'aid'.  Let's "Aid" this Israeli Soldier not Hamas Murderers. Remember that All the supposed 'humanitarain' flotillas  REFUSED to bring a parcel or letter to Gilad from his family.
 

Different tactics now need to be tried. Like turning off the electric supply to Gaza. Like turning off the water supply. It is supplied by Israel. Like enforcing a total embargo by land and by sea. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. By shutting down the Temple Mount to Arabs. By putting the PA hierarchy in Ramallah under seige. By assassinating the Hamas leadership, one after the next after the next. Same with convicted Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails. By returning Israeli's to their surrendered homes in Gush Katif and other sites in Gaza. By using the combined forces of the IDF & IDA to go get Gilad. Oh! Yes. There's lots of ways to get Gilad back without releasing 1000 terrorists.

Why are these Arab Muslims being fed & supported by Israel???  Why are 'palestinian' supplies allowed in to Gaza?   Why are "ambulances" allowed out?

 "There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid,”  Defence Minister Ehud Barak said. “Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health ~ his name is Gilad Shalit ....."


  FIVE years have passed since he was kidnapped. 
 
Five Passovers spent in Captivity. That is Five Years too long ..... Go Get Gilad today!

The Gaza Ghetto .... A Picture Postcard ~ Part 2 !!!!!

Influenced by Arab and leftist propaganda, the world sees Gaza as a Ghetto under siege by the cruel Israeli army, but photos from Gaza continually prove the opposite.   Less than a year ago, a bustling modern mall opened in Gaza City.  Also a Waterpark,  An Olympic Pool Swimming Complex and many hotels & resorts.  So, this week   'A Girl, A Blog & Life In-between'  is Saluting Summertime with a Picture Postcard Series of  The Gaza Ghetto ...... 

Remember,  this is the land that is in receipt of Billions of $$$$$$,  ££££££,  €€€€€€ of YOUR tax monies.  And various terror inspired 'Aid' Flotillas to it's 'Beseiged' peoples threaten Eretz Yisrael,  which actually supplies more food & essential aid per week than any flotilla of ships annually!!!   Israel also supplies water & power to Gaza .... Free of Charge!!!

Today,   Famine,  Feast or Fiesta ..... 'Roots' Country Club, Cairo Street, Rimal, Gaza !!!

 (And in case you think I am making this up .... Here is their Website so you can Verify for yourself !!!!!!

The Gaza Ghetto .... A Picture Postcard ~ Part 1 !!!!!

Influenced by Arab and leftist propaganda, the world sees Gaza as a Ghetto under siege by the cruel Israeli army, but photos from Gaza continually prove the opposite.   Less than a year ago, a bustling modern mall opened in Gaza City.  This week a Waterpark!

Egyptian journalist Ashraf Abu al-Houl wrote last year following a tour of Gaza that  "A sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast. Further, the site of the merchandise and luxuries filling the Gaza shops amazed me.”

Concerned that his initial impression of prosperity may have been misleading, “I toured the new resorts, most of which are quite grand, as well as the commercial markets, to verify my hypothesis. The resorts and markets have come to symbolize prosperity, and to prove that the siege is formal or political, not economic,” Al-Houl said. 

This is the land that is in receipt of Billions of $$$$$$, ££££££, €€€€€€ of YOUR tax monies.  And various terror inspired 'Aid' Flotillas to it's 'Beseiged' peoples.   Ponder these Pictures .......

So this week  'A Girl, A Blog & Life In-between'  is Saluting Summertime with a Picture Postcard Series.

Today ...... Gaza Gets a WaterPark!!

Rugby Racists Rage !!!!

Just listening to this is enough to make your skin crawl ..... Jews are NOT HUMAN ???  .....  Not the First time that has been uttered ..... Back to the Nazi Era in Ireland!!!!  

 Anti Semitic Ireland is Alive & Well.  Combat Campaigns in preparation.  I'll publish what YOU can do to Stop this Ship!   ....... Let's SINK this SHIP before it SAILS !!!!!

(Full Blog later today!!!)

Enda & the 'Emerald Emirate' of Europe !!!

Irish Financial Services Centre, Dublin City

  "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."   ~ Ronald Reagan  ~ 

The Irish Banking System is in Collapse mode ... And Enda aims to ensure Dublin becomes "a centre of excellence for Islamic finances"  or the Emerald Emirate of Europe to Climb out of Crisis !!!!!!!!      In an announcement that raised some eyebrows Kenny said that Irish tax laws and financial regulations are now sharia-compliant, and the Irish government recently signed double-taxation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

"There is first-mover advantage. If they (Islamic institutions) feel comfortable in a particular jurisdiction and you develop a cluster, more will follow"  said Ken Owens, chairman of the IFIA.   Sharia law prohibits the payment of interest on loans or overdrafts, or the receipt of interest, and also prevents investment in certain categories including defence, adult entertainment and gambling.   "Their investment universe is quite limited. Islamic funds want to own the ship or the building, not a share in it. They want to own things outright because they can't pay interest.  They want commmodities,  infrastructure, manufacturing, property"  Owens told   The Guardian Newspaper.   He said Irish and UK financial institutions, which were devastated by the financial crisis,  saw opportunities worth billions in Islamic finance,  and were either seeking to get a foothold in Islamic countries or attract Islamic Institutions to Dublin.

Enda Kenny ~ Taoiseach of Ireland

  Speaking at the Irish Funds Industry Association's Annual Global Funds Conference in Dublin An Taoiseach  Enda Kenny said: "I am delighted to be here today to address the Irish Funds Industry Association Annual International Conference and it is an opportunity for me to congratulate those in the funds industry for their achievements and ongoing growth ~ growth which is helping the recovery of the Irish economy."

He explained that since the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in 1989, the financial services and funds industry has been one of the main success stories in Ireland.    "With close to 25 years expertise and experience, Ireland is proud to be one of the world’s leading locations for international investment funds. We value its excellent reputation and recognise its hardworking and dedicated workforce approaching 12,000 professionals whose knowledge is recognised world-wide.  All these factors contribute to the continued increase in the number of funds and assets being domiciled and serviced by the industry in Ireland. I am informed that during 2010 the industry grew by over 30% when the value of funds administered rose from €1.4 trillion in 2009 to €1.88 trillion at the end of 2010," continued an Taoiseach.  Highlighting the importance of the Irish funds industry to the Irish economy an Taoiseach pointed out: "The industry has also contributed to the new Government’s top priority, job creation. Last year the industry saw a 5 per cent growth in jobs with the creation 432 new positions. It is now expected that it will go on to create close to 900 new valuable knowledge economy jobs by the end of 2011."

He went on to say that this was a good news story but admitted that the Irish economy was facing challenging times.  However he said: "Ireland is meeting these challenges head on. I want to assure everyone here today that Ireland will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever. The new Government is taking strong action and making big decisions to deal with our difficulties.  Exports are soaring. Our competitiveness is going up. Costs ~ going down. Our banking plan is dealing with legacy problems and has been welcomed internationally. Ireland is meeting all of its international commitments and will continue to do so.  When I came to office I made it my mission to make Ireland one of the best small countries in the world in which to do business. My Cabinet and I are busy making the structural changes to the economy to continue to have a flourishing business environment. Forbes has already rated Ireland the top eurozone country in which to do business.  As a result we continue to attract top tier international investment into the country. We have the skilled people, the location, the business environment, that allows multi national companies to successfully access the wider European and Africa markets from here."

Nestling by Night ... Dublin Docklands ... Finance Hub

  
An Taoiseach then pointed out that within walking distance from the spot where he was speaking ~the Convention Centre in the IFSC~ we have some of the top internet companies such as Google and Facebook. Further afield we have major investments such as the European HQ of Microsoft and a major Intel manufacturing facility, he continued.   "But today we recognise the importance of the international finance sector. We will ensure that the environment for the development of international financial services and, in particular, investment funds, continues to offer significant opportunity. This potential will be achieved as Ireland continues to provide solutions and opportunities to the international funds industry."  He said that the promotion and support of international financial services was a central part of the recovery strategy of this Government.  An Taoiseach also suggested that the Government would do what it could to further increase Ireland's attractiveness as a leading funds domicile. "In order to maintain Ireland as a leading international fund jurisdiction, a specific legislative framework and developments in the tax and regulatory environments are areas for consideration."  An important feature of the funds industry has been the significant involvement of the Irish authorities with our counterparts in Europe. Recent EU legislative developments present opportunities for the European industry, where global players seek to use a European base for their international business. We in  Ireland, the authorities and industry, need to anticipate and prepare for these opportunities and we are.

"We need to ensure that Ireland is the obvious and first choice for the domiciling and distribution of funds"  He then alluded to the announcement made at the start of the conference which revealed that the funds industry and IDA Ireland had formed a partnership which sees the Irish funds industry opening representative offices throughout the US and the UK with more to follow in Europe before year end.  "As you can see the Government is looking to building upon the success ofthe IFSC, one area we are expanding into is Islamic Finance. Ireland has recognised its importance in the global financial system through adapting our tax system and financial regulatory system to ensure a level playing field between Islamic Finance and conventional measures.  We are determined to ensure that the IFSC is a Centre of Excellence for Islamic Finance and the changes in recent Finance Acts will support its development. In addition, Ireland has been active in concluding double taxation agreements with important Islamic States, including recently Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE. "

The Central Bank of Ireland has also said that it is open to the establishment of Islamic Finance institutions in Ireland and it has already authorised a number of Sharia compliant funds. Islamic Finance is one of the major growth areas in international financ and the Government is playing its role to support the development of this sector in Ireland.  An important feature of the funds industry has been the significant involvement of the Irish authorities with our counterparts in Europe. Recent EU legislative developments present opportunities for the European industry, where global players seek to use a European base for their international business. We in Ireland, the authorities and industry, need to anticipate and prepare for these opportunities and we are. "We need to ensure that Ireland is the obvious and first choice for the domiciling and distribution of funds."

He then alluded to the announcement made at the start of the conference which revealed that the funds industry and IDA Ireland had formed a partnership which sees the Irish funds industry opening representative offices throughout the US and the UK with more to follow in Europe before year end. 

It would seem that Summer in Dublin is soon to be Strangled ..... as the Suicide of Sharia introduces Islamic Ireland !!!!!

Boycott the Bottles .... Not the Books!!

.

 Recently, I blogged of the decision of the West Dunbartonshire Council in Scotland to boycott Israeli books here in   Bravehearts & Book Bans .    Even more recently,  this issue has again come to the fore with a proposed Boycott of the Boycotters!!

West Dunbartonshire Councillors full motion is ~  ‘This Council deplores the loss of life in Palestine which now numbers well over 1,000.  This Council also recognises the disproportionate force used by the IDF in Palestine and agrees to boycott all Israeli goods as a consequence.  Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel.  Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC.’

Boycotting is a sword that cuts both ways as the Scottish & Irish know only too well.  Although there are plenty of Jewish Scotch Whisky drinkers, they  are being asked to Boycott the Boycotters & to sober up just a wee bit.  An  e-mail from Rabbi Rahamim Pauli was circulated to this effect on 6th June, 2011.  A number of  supporters and bloggers have already reproduced this in their blogs & Facebook pages ..... I now join the throng!!

 

To The Fine Whisky Distillers of West Dunbartonshire: ~

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Though your whisky products are the finest, sadly, your West Dunbartonshire council members behavior is the opposite of fine, it is the poorest.

It has come to my attention that the West Dunbartonshire Region Council claims to have voted, unanimously, to boycott Israeli products, to include books!

On their website, the West Dunbartonshire Council clearly states their boycotting point with the actual boycott resolution reading as follows:
"This Council deplores the loss of life in Palestine which now numbers well over 1,000. This Council also recognises the disproportionate force used by the IDF in Palestine and agrees to boycott all Israeli goods as a consequence. Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel. Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC."

The IDF never targets or attacks civilians. The vast majority of the Arab "palestinians" killed in the battles, were terrorists; Hamas admitted to that fact. You owe to check the facts as I have. Arab"palestinian" terrorists routinely use their civilian population as human shields. They fight from hospitals, mosques, and schools from where they see fit to launch their rocket attacks on Israel. Just imagine you are in this position; try defending your Scottish population from terrorists who are fighting from residential areas and see if you can guarantee zero collateral damage. You cannot not and in fact you would not care. You will go after those who are out to harm you with vengence.

 

The State of Israel is the only unchallenged democracy in the Middle East yet, the West Dunbartonshire Council's goal is to boycott her, which is not only humiliating and undermining its democratic success, but it is victimizing the victim in this equation. Not to mention that it is simply immoral for the West Dunbartonshire Council to boycott Israel.

Following West Dunbartonshire Council's decision to boycott Israel, I hereby inform you that there are enough people in the world who support Israel and can do the very same, boycott, in this case boycott the boycotters.

No one bears malice toward your distilleries. However, when your local council is boycotting Israel under the most unethical and immoral of pretexts, you cannot expect your market to sit idly and pretend you are not part of it. I will do all that is in my power to tell as many to no longer purchase or drink Scottish Whisky, distilled in the West Dumbartonshire region.

Los Angeles, California, USA
Sincerely,
Nurit Greenger

  

Rabbi Pauli's e-mail concludes by stating that "The good news is that Johnnie Walker and Glen Fiddich is not included."

I ask all of my friends on Facebook, and extend my request to all of my friends' friends on Facebook, to participate in this boycott of the products of West Dunbartonshire,  Scotland. Let them come to comprehend that boycotts are a two way street ~ and while they cannot avoid our products made in Israel,  or the products of our advanced technology, no matter how hard they try,  we can avoid their liquor!


I now extend a similar invitation to you my readers  .... There's always the 'Uisce Beatha' that is Irish whiskey!!! 

Circumcision in the City !!!!

On April 20, 1923, the first copy of Der Stuermer ("The Attacker") was published in Germany.  The first few editions of the Nazi weekly lacked many of the central elements that were to make Der Stuermer so popular and so notorious .... it  offered few if any cartoons, and carried only a few ads. But Der Stuermer even then  had a circulation of several thousand.  In fact, it was one year later, in April 1924 that Der Stuermer published its first cartoon directed against Jews,  for which it would become infamously identified in history.    Der Stuermer was to appeal to the common man, to the worker with little time to read. Thus, Der Stuermer's articles used short sentences and a simple vocabulary.  Ideas were repeated.  Headlines grabbed a reader's attention. And Cartoons were easily understood.  

Philippe Rupprecht (pen name "Fips") was Der Stuermer's  prolific cartoonist.  Rupprecht's cartoons were caricatures used to present various themes of an anti-Semitic nature. He drew Jews with large, hooked noses, bulging eyes, unshaven, short, and fat. He often drew them as vermin, snakes, and spiders. Rupprecht was also very good at drawing the female form ~  usually nude or partially nude.  With breasts bare, these "Aryan" women were often depicted as the victims of Jews.  These naked women made the paper especially attractive to young males, who eagerly devoured their stories about scandal, sex, and crime.  All laid at the table of villianous Jews  ......  as were the constant 'Blood Libel'  accusations,  the Anti-Semitic Fairy Tale That Refuses to Die!!    Even today ......

And the cartoons I'm displaying here are not from Nazi Germany in the 1930's,  but from that ever so  'enlightened' city of San Francisco, USA,   as that 'gay' city attempts to ban male infant circumcision in a wave of anti-semitic hate.  What do you think of their published  Campaign Cartoons???

A San Francisco group has gathered over 12, 000 signatures, more than enough to put a measure on the November ballot, that would ban performing circumcision on males under the age of 18 in that city.  The measure seeks to amend an existing law that prohibits genital mutilation on females by introducing  "the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill"   Those who violate the law would face a fine of up to $1000, and up to a year in jail.  Many religious groups have spoken out against the proposed law, calling it unconstitutional because it violates religious freedom.   It does much more than that!

I am not in this blog going to examine the substantive issue of Circumscion at all (perhaps if it is warranted I may look at the issue in detail in a future blog),  but I do need to mention two points here.  The first that Male infant circumscion does NOT equate in terms of procedure to female circumcision practices.  Female Genital Mutilation is just that.  They are NOT equivalent procdures.   Male circumcision is healthier with or without the important religious significance.  The Islamic practice of Female Genital Mutilation (cutting off the clitoris) is sick Misogyny.  To equate the two is officially legislating for Jew-hatred! 

If you are confused at all about that being the intent here ....  just view the campaign materials.  This campaign seeks to Ban Circumscion because it is a Jewish practice.   Ban Jewish practice & you effectively ban Jews ... you get yourself a fine Judenrein (Jew free) city.   Ha'Shem's Law requires that the boy be circumcised on the eighth day.  It is THE sign of our covenant with Ha'Shem,  and pertains ONLY to Jews.   If you abolish infant circumcision, you Criminalize Judaism!!   That's what this measure is all about!!!!  

San Francisco's anti-circumcision measure will be decided by voters in November, but let's look at the literature for the movement which aims to sway voters  .... disturbing images  including dark, evil-looking Rabbis and a blond superhero saving babies from their clutches.  The star cover image of this comic book shows a dark,  bearded Rabbi looming over a naked baby laying on a pool table, as a superheo appears ready to save the child.   Matthew Hess, author of the upcoming anti-circumcision referendum,  defends his material .....  "A lot of people have said that,  but we're not trying to be anti-Semitic.  We're trying to be pro-human rights."

Not Anti-Semitic???

 Hess is pushing his political effort with other dark, threatening images of Jewish characters.  And has just released a new   "Foreskin Man" card set    being sold through Cafe Press feautures the terrifying-looking  "Monster Mohel."    The astounding description ..... "Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the infantile penile flesh of an eight day old boy."    This material is indistinguishable from cartoons the Nazis  prepared & published in "Der Strummer".   Perhaps that was for benign purposes too???

Defenders of the measure say it’s all about “human rights” and “protecting babies” from "unnecessary procedures".  The proponents of this bill are overwhelmingly pro abortion,  including late term abortions approaching birth.  Ten days separates 'legal' termination of pregnancy or an  'illegal' Brit!!!!     It is very much part of the 'gay' thing to regard  an uncircumcised member as a particular prize!  They also see no infraction of  my daughter's rights when having S&M parades in San Francisco's public parks where children are subjected to the sights & sounds of their (uncircumcised) Pierced Penises and Sponsored Spankings!!!!  

Critics have long suspected there was something vaguely anti-Semitic in this proposal & Ban proponents have hitherto insisted their proposal had nothing to do with Jews  ~  really, it’s all about the rights of children.  Well, any doubt that they were lying have now been dispelled, with the publication of this new campaign literature & this campaign comic book, called “Foreskin Man” named after its baby-saving superhero,  which features a litany of evil Jews doing battle with blond Nordic saviours, here displayed for you to see & decide on it's anti-semitic nature!!!   

A week after it was announced that San Francisco would be putting a male circumcision ban on September's ballot, a San Diego group has moved to ballot a circumcision ban in Santa Monica a s well, the Los Angeles Times reported last Wednesday.     David Lehrer, a Jewish leader in LA  said that the ban would "take the notion of the Mommy State to a ridiculous extreme. It probably touches on being anti-Semitic".    I would suggest that to be a massive understatement!    Antisemitism is resurgent today globally in a way not seen since the eve of WWII.   In the 1930's, as now in America,  Socialism was politically dominant in the Western cultures that supported Antisemitism, and Islam was (as has been the case for centuries) politically dominant in the Middle Eastern cultures supporting Antisemitism.   But the process of increasing isolation of  Israel ~ the product boycotts and divestments, the UN resolutions, the attempts to restrict Israeli participation in international sporting events, the academic boycotts, the anti-Israel conferences, and the escalating vilification in the media ~ are all intended to disconnect Israel from the world, to ensure that she will have no friends to stand by her when her enemies feel ready to challenge her directly.   What was unimaginable last year becomes standard fare this year.  Just like Nazi propagandists,  there are writers and media that specialize in Jew-hatred!

The response has to be to not allow the temperature to be raised imperceptibly, to not allow our societies to get used to the anti-Israel rhetoric as,  for example, “just what one expects from Obama or  the Guardian, etc.",  but to loudly declaim & push back vigorously against each attack, each lie, each libel, not to be controversial, but to at best deny (at worst delay) the time when Jewish lives may yet again be subject to Nazi norms.  Antisemitism is a Vile, Virulent Plague & Blood Libel a foreboding fairy tale that does not die .... just remains as an undercurrent in our so civilised societies!! 

Jerusalem of Gold!!

The City of Yerushalayim is the most Magnificent on Earth & I think this picture shows that magnificence. When I first saw it I began to spontaneously sing "Yerushalayim of Gold".

"Yerushalayim all of gold, Yerushalayim, bronze and light, Within my heart I shall treasure Your song and sight."

This  fills my heart today .... Yom Yerushalayim.  44 years ago today Jerusalem was liberated ~ see yesterday's Blog!!!

It all began when Naomi Shemer was invited, to gather with four other colleagues, to compose a song for the 1967 Israel Song Festival.

Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek had asked that the songs be performed on Independence Day of 1967 (May 15th) be related to Jerusalem. Gil Aldema, producer of the festival, had searched the archives of Kol Yisrael and found no more than half a dozen recordings of songs concerning Jerusalem written by Israeli poets and composers since the turn of the century. None of the songs composed after the establishment of the State mentioned that the city was divided and that Jews could not approach the Kotel (Western Wall). Jerusalem devoid of Jews was mournful and in ruins, and the land of Israel without Jews was in desolation.

The term "Jerusalem of Gold"  had also been used in the writings of several poets shortly before Shemer composed her song,  which  in fact has its basis as a Talmudic story related to Jerusalem of Gold!

Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin who was present at the festival received word that Nasser had declared the closing of the Tiran Straits, and hastened to leave the building. The military situation with Egypt had caused considerable tension in the public. "When I sang the song, it somehow broke the tension and the audience sang the refrain with me", reminisced Natan. Several days later the army began mobilzing its reserves, and the song served to encourage the soldiers. 

The Six Day War broke out on Monday, June 5, 1967. The Old City of Jerusalem was Liberated by the Israeli Defence Forces on June 7th. When the war broke out and Jerusalem was freed "Jerusalem of Gold" immediately became an anthem of sorts.   During the liberation of the City, the soldiers burst out singing "Jerusalem of Gold" at the Western Wall. Television producer Yossi Ronen, who at the time reported from the scene, noted that "the excitement reached its peak."    Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief rabbi of the IDF, blew the shofar, and recited prayers.   The paratroopers burst out in song, and I forgot my role as 'objective reporter' and joined with them in singing   'Jerusalem of Gold'".

Lyrics & Music ~  Naomi Shemer

As clear as wine, the wind is flying

Among the dreamy pines

As evening light is slowly dying

And a lonely bell still chimes,

So many songs, so many stories

The stony hills recall ...

Around her heart my city carries

A lonely ancient wall.

Yerushalayim all of gold

Yerushalayim, bronze and light

Within my heart I shall treasure

Your song and sight.

Alas, the dry wells and fountains,

Forgotten market-day

The sound of horn from Temple's mountain

No longer calls to pray,

The rocky caves at night are haunted

By sounds of long ago

When we were going to the Jordan

By way of Jericho.

Yerushalayim all of gold

Yerushalayim, bronze and light

Within my heart I shall treasure

Your song and sight.

But when I come to count your praises

And sing Hallel to you

With pretty rhymes I dare not crown you

As other poets do,

Upon my lips is always burning

Your name, so dear, so old

If I forget Yerushalayim

Of bronze and light and gold ...

Yerushalayim all of gold

Yerushalayim, bronze and light

Within my heart I shall treasure

Your song and sight.

Back to the wells and to the fountains

Within the ancient walls

The sound of horn from Temple's mountain

Again so loudly calls

From rocky caves, this very morning

A thousand suns will glow

And we shall go down to the Jordan

By way of Jericho.

Yerushalayim all of gold

Yerushalayim, bronze and light

Within my heart I shall treasure

Your song and sight.