Bloodthirsty Liberal

2009 had the highest reported incidences of Antisemitism since they began checking

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday called the record number of anti-Semitic incidents across the United Kingdom last year “deeply troubling”, urging Britons to exercise greater vigilance.

Brown’s comments come as the Community Security Trust reported that 2009 was the worst year for anti-Semitic incidents in Britain since the Jewish group first began tracking them in 1984.

Brits attack British Jews because they don’t like Israel. That makes sense, doesn’t it? You see, Jews can’t be British, they must be Israeli, and therefore, since Israel is a the world’s only Jewish country, it is ok to attack Jews in Britain. Because, in their twisted little minds, it is ok to attack Jews and the justification for it comes along as needed, later.

- Aggie

God bless the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) for staying up to date on this crap—and God damn the BBC for the crap itself:

Narrator Jane Corbin takes viewers on a “walking tour” of “what is happening on the ground” in eastern Jerusalem, scurrying from one “stop” to another to report on Israel’s alleged misdeeds. Omitting essential facts and context that explain Israel’s position, she provides a one-sided perspective that establishes Israelis as the villains and the Palestinians as their innocent victims.

In his analysis of the program, Robin Shepherd, director of international affairs at a British think tank and former London Times bureau chief, correctly points out:

The slipperiness of the tactics employed, the unabashed censorship of vital historical context, and the blatant pursuit of a political agenda constituted a lesson in the techniques of modern day propaganda.

…

Corbin’s bias is evident from the start as she introduces the “battlefield,” as she terms it. Those wielding “the weapons” are “the Israeli authorities,” while the victims are the Palestinians whose homes are being demolished.

Bulldozers are seen dismantling a structure as Arab women cry, and Corbin breathlessly informs viewers that “demolitions have been increasing in recent days.” She confides that she has gotten hold of “a list that shows there’s another forty to go before the end of the year” and absurdly suggests that the reason for this is that the Jerusalem municipality “has a budget it has to use up for demolitions.” Shockingly, she makes no mention of why these homes are being demolished, leaving viewers with the false impression that it is an official Israeli policy — complete with budget — to render Arabs homeless.

In fact, Jerusalem authorities demolish only structures that are built illegally — something Corbin does not bother to inform viewers until halfway through the program when she revisits the topic of home demolitions.

Of course, there is no arbitrary quota of houses to demolish or a “budget” that must be “used up.”

No, that money has been allocated to the Ministry of Harvesting Internal Organs of Palestinian Children.

I mean, come on.

I used to be scared of monsters in my closet, but I outgrew it. Evidently the British leftist media will never, ever, outgrow their fear of Jews in the Middle East.

Even when they admit it:

In March 2009, the BBC Trust shook the British journalistic establishment by ruling that BBC News Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen violated the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines. The ruling has been the focus of much attention in the UK press, and, according to one report in a British newspaper, “will cause great concern within the BBC newsroom.”

The findings are also causing serious concern among the many who have long felt the BBC’s news coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict is biased against Israel, and who now have further reason to be skeptical of the broadcaster’s Mideast news. British journalist and author Chas Newkey-Burden, for example, wrote in response to the ruling that “it is extraordinary to think that the BBC entrusts a man such as Bowen with coverage of such a monumentally important issue.”

This is true not only because Bowen wrote such a problematic article, but also because of his disturbing refusal, after the article’s many shortcomings were brought to his attention, to take responsibility for any of those shortcomings. Instead of admitting error, Bowen and others in the BBC redoubled their commitment to the flawed article, spending their time (and British stakeholder resources) coming up with disingenuous defenses to the article’s distortions.

In short, the Middle East editor and those at the BBC who initially backed his piece were given a choice between defending journalistic ethics or defending an unethical journalist, and they opted for the latter.

As far as I can tell—and supported by corroborating evidence—Bowen still serves in this role.

Reader Joe sends this article that amounts to a waving of the white flag—unless the white flag is a winter weather advisory:

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in
summer by 2013.

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.

I got some of that Arctic sea ice in my back yard—the turf of which I won’t see again until April—heck, some of it’s down my boots.

Let’s see what the blokes at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia have to say:

See that little red dot in the bulge on the right? That’s their red faces.

Just kidding! Their noses may be red and chapped, but not from shame. And as they’re not talking right now, we’ll have to ask someone else:

‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these [ocean temperature] cycles – perhaps as much as 50 per cent.

‘They have now gone into reverse, so winters like this one will become much more likely. Summers will also probably be cooler, and all this may well last two decades or longer.

‘The extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt. For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling.’

When Shakespeare wrote of England as a “precious stone set in the silver sea”, I guess he meant a diamond, i.e., ice.

Reader Jeanette sent us this story:

The Russian-born pianist Evgeny Kissin, who became a British citizen in 2002, has accused the BBC of “slander and bias” against Israel, broadcasting material he describes as “painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda”.

Mr Kissin, 38, who until now has not generally been known as politically engaged, has written to the director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson. According to a close friend of the pianist, he has decided to become “actively involved in exposing and countering the evil propaganda of certain British media and especially the BBC.”

Mr Kissin’s decision to use his fame and artistic renown to protest to the BBC on Israel’s behalf contrasts with the criticisms against the Jewish state regularly voiced by musicians such as Daniel Barenboim, who holds Israeli citizenship.

In Mr Kissin’s letter, he accuses the BBC’s Persian Service of a “blood libel concerning Israel’s alleged harvesting of Palestinian organs and blood for future transplant”.

He continues: “It beggars belief that the British taxpayer should be funding an organisation which is aligning itself with Iran’s despotic leader in its antisemitic propaganda. Other print media like the Guardian, which erroneously printed this libel propagated by Israel’s enemies, have since apologised. I am not aware of any such retraction from the BBC.”

I suppose I should paraphrase Laura Ingraham’s line and say “shut up and play” (and boy can he play!), but he’s sticking to the facts (and these are all facts).

But if I’m the BBC director-general, this line has to hurt most of all:

“painfully reminiscent of the old Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda”

The BBC is no different from Pravda, from Tass. Gee, we wonder where we heard that before?

For in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Islamic terrorist!
He remains an Islamic terr-err-err-err-err-orist!

Hamas admits to being behind the legal proceedings initiated in Europe in which arrest warrants were issued for Israeli public figures for allegedly committing war crimes.

The British newspaper The Times spoke with Diya al-Din Madhoun, who heads the Hamas committee set up to coordinate the campaign, in Jerusalem.

About a week ago, an arrest warrant was issued against Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, who served as foreign minister during Operation Cast Lead. It seemed as if the effort to put Israeli leaders on trial was continuing full force ahead. Madhoun told the Times, “All the political and military leaders of the occupation in our sights”, although he did not specify its future targets.

“This has absolutely become our policy,” he said.

…

“These reports show that it is not human rights that drive these suits but an anti-Israeli campaign at the service of Hamas,” Yigal Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.

To which Britain says: “At your service!”

What’s the term? A visual metaphor. They are lost, utterly lost.

Aggie and I have noted several recent despicable acts, statements, and decisions to come out of Britain.

This one should stand proud with its colleagues:

The British Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a London Jewish day school used racist and discriminatory practices against a boy who was not accepted to the school because his mother is not considered Jewish by Orthodox Jewish law, the British Broadcasting Authority reported.

According to the court ruling, the school’s policy of measuring students’ Jewish identity based solely on Orthodox Jewish law is unlawful and breaks race relations legislation.

Earlier this year, an appeals court ruled that the Jews’ Free School, located northwest of London in Brent, was racist when it denied admission to a 12-year-old boy whose father is Jewish and mother underwent a Reform conversion that is not recognized by Orthodox law.

Maybe you and I wouldn’t agree with the school’s decision, but it’s a private religious school. Can’t it decide who meets its religious criteria?

Do we really want a state—a European state—labeling who is a Jew?

I’m also puzzled by the “racism” charge. The story doesn’t provide enough details about mom—only that she converted to Judaism. It’s not a surprise to me that an Orthodox school would find it hard to accept a Reform conversion. In actual racial terms, it would be like Bobby Seale accepting Al Jolson as a blood brother.

Again, I may not agree with the school, but unless Britain is also butting into Catholic schools and Saudi-sponsored madrasahs—what do you think—I am deeply troubled.

First let’s read about the priest leading a mob to smash a Hanukkah menorah

Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said.

The 1.5 meter(5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.

Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

The national government said in a statement that “hatred, intolerance and xenophobia” are unacceptable.

Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest’s actions.

The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many emigrated to Israel

Aunt Agatha calls on the Jewish community of Moldova not to hold its collective breath waiting for the church to apologize. Instead, they should leave Europe. ASAP. When you get priests leading the mob, you end up with pogroms.

On to Britain

Senior officials in Israel confirmed reports on Monday that a British court issued an arrest warrant against opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago.

The request for the warrant was submitted by a pro-Palestinian organization.

We really should do a daily feature on European Jew hatred, shouldn’t we? It is endlessly varied and there’s plenty of it. I wonder if they’ve considered doing a reality show: Which Nation Can Torment The Jewish People Most Successfully? Ok, bad title. Needs more snap. Let’s work on it and come up with something better.

- Aggie

- Aggie

When you think about it, this might not be so obscene as it appears at first glance. Concentration camp prisoners and fashion models share the same diet, after all:

The airline easyJet is withdrawing all copies of its in-flight magazine, easyJet Traveller, after a row erupted over a tasteless fashion shoot at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

The airline took the decision after being contacted by the New Statesman this afternoon.

The latest issue of the in-flight magazine featured two unsanctioned photographs of models posing in designer clothes among the famous concrete blocks of the “Field of Stelae”, Germany’s foremost memorial to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.

In their defense, the executives at easyJet defecated a cinder block when they found out, and apologized all over themselves.

But, for once, the British themselves got the message, and expressed it exactly right:

Labour MP Denis MacShane, who heads the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism, told newstatesman.com

“This is further evidence of the banalisation of anti-Semitism and the trivialisation of the genocidal massacre of Jews in the Second World War.”

I’d say so.

I eagerly await the exploitation of other emotionally charged memorials, and offer my own as a start:

Haunting memories courtesy of Vietnam.

Lost comrades courtesy of Lyndon Johnson.

Overwhelming grief courtesy of Robert McNamara.

Classic look and expert tailoring courtesy of Paul Stuart.