The row about the offensive and stupid decision of the New York Times to omit Marwan Barghouti’s bloody past (and present?) doesn’t go far enough in exposing what the true face of evil is. Try the following link for a deeply personal, yet restrained and factual commentary on the Marwan Barghouti background his supporters don’t want you to know about. Just click here.
Category Archives: Seen
That was yesterday. Could it be today?
From the Times of Israel in an article (here) about the behavior of Channel Islands officials during World War 2, under German control:
In August 1945, a British intelligence report stated, “When the Germans proposed to put their anti-Jewish measures into force, no protest whatever was raised by any of the Guernsey officials and they hastened to give the Germans every assistance.” The author went on to note that, by contrast, there were considerable efforts made to protect the islands’ Freemasons.
So, prepare for the next wave of antisemitism, and become a Freemason now!
There are many who believe, with considerable justification, that the core of the British Establishment is riddled with antisemitism. It’s a quiet, ever present hate that every so often boils up to the surface. It can appear as a Nazi fancy dress, a Nazi gesture, or something more direct and abusive. (It is occasionally dressed up – lightly disguised – as political commentary attacking Israel.) You can well see how those harboring such hate would have no hesitation in administering the orders from their German conquerors.
It does appear that such hate has now broken out of the Establishment, and is widely settled among the hearths and homes of British Society. Or. do you think that is too pessimistic an observation? Does the press pick unfairly on the social media slurs of youth, or the temper tantrums of politicians in heat, that truly are of no substance? Or does what’s on show represent the tip of a deadly iceberg?
A tale of two cemeteries
As part of my January trip to the UK, I popped up to Glasgow to see my brother, and do a cemetery visit. I went to Glenduffhill Cemetery on the morning after a short snowfall had turned the usually dreary place into something of a black and white postcard. It’s never a cheery place to visit, despite the efforts to make the gardens bloom and flourish, but the snow changed the atmosphere into something more stark, and more beautiful. Continue reading
The secret story of the Jewish codebreakers who helped win the war
The Jewish Chronicle has a very interesting article on this topic by Robert Hannigan, the Director of GCHQ. As he says:
“I rarely write in public. But the death of Rolf Noskwith earlier this month, at the age of 97, prompts me to tell the story of our remarkable group of Jewish staff at Bletchley Park during the Second World War and the years that followed.”
Apart from the historical narrative, note the confirmation of the close connection between the British and Israel signals intelligence communities. Read it all here.
You say you want a revolution?
This exhibition – subtitled ‘Records and Rebels 1966-1970’ – is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London until 26 February 2017. Sponsored by Levi’s and Sennheiser, it was heavily promoted, and all the feedback was positive. I’m not so convinced. Continue reading
Down and out in London
Susan and I are just back from a trip to the UK. On trips into London city center, I was struck by how many people were sleeping rough. I had seen that before, but never in such numbers. I don’t know what the reason for the change is, but it’s a human tragedy out there, and obvious to the world. I hope to hell somebody there is doing something about it. The sight of so many cardboard, newspaper, and rag hovels reminded me, again, about how fortunate I am.
I did think about documenting the situation with some pictures, but a modest dose of reflection led me to the conclusion I would be wallowing in other people’s misery. I also thought that the explanation given by some Londoners – immigration – sounded too pat. Further, it didn’t fit with the fact that those rough sleepers I heard speaking were decidedly native English speakers. Regardless, it’s horrible.
The lost art of Celtic spelling
As seen on a recent visit to Herzliya:
Obviously, it’s not actually a misspelling of Celtic, but it did stop me in my tracks and make me look. Celltick is another example of Israeli technology and know-how in the international world of telecommunications.
[I am tempted to do a drive by posting at some Scottish BDS site, like Celts for Palestine...]
Typo of the day
I’ve heard of people hiding money in their shoes, but this (from the Jerusalem Post) is taking things a bit too far surely:
One wonders what the other sock was worth.
Embarrassment of the week
Time to look away from the world of politics. Let’s look at the world of hi-tech business. How embarrassing is this:
Twitter bans own CEO Jack Dorsey from Twitter
Twitter briefly suspended the Twitter account of Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey today. It sparked some fears the big boss had been unceremoniously booted out of the troubled biz or had fallen foul of his own anti-abuse complaints system. But it was probably a bug or something mundane like that.
The Register has the story here.
Friends of the Earth or Enemies of the Jews?
Friends of the Earth‘s Mission and Vision statement begins:
Mission and vision
Our vision is of a peaceful and sustainable world based on societies living in harmony with nature.
We envision a society of interdependent people living in dignity, wholeness and fulfilment in which equity and human and peoples’ rights are realized.
This will be a society built upon peoples’ sovereignty and participation. It will be founded on social, economic, gender and environmental justice and be free from all forms of domination and exploitation, such as neoliberalism, corporate globalization, neo-colonialism and militarism.
Your antennae may start twitching on reading those last few trendy buzzwords. Well, the following, as reported by Guido Fawkes, may make those antennae stand on end:
Asad Rehman is a senior spokesman for Friends of the Earth and is leading their delegation at the next UN Climate Change conference. As you can see above, Asad has worked out who are the real baddies when it comes to climate change: those pesky Zionists. He says Netanyahu and Israel are “best pals” with ISIS and advocates banning “Zionist organisations” from climate change events.
Inside the happy, clappy, environmentally focused group there is a poisonous pit of hate and bigotry.
Will Friends of the Earth clean it out, or are they happy to host such thinly disguised antisemitism?
Extra, Extra, Read All About It!
And, by way of a bonus, here’s another Fawkes expose piece – Jet Set Lifestyle of WWF Climate Campaigner – also about an environmental group. This one exposes an awful case of hypocrisy. Perhaps we should be grateful it’s hypocrisy and not hate?