What was Israel’s Transportation Ministry thinking?

Posted on December 16, 2018 by

JERUSALEM POST
U.S. Navy may stop docking in Haifa after Chinese take over port
by Michael Wilner
December 15, 2018

The US Navy has acknowledged that its longstanding operations in Haifa may change once a Chinese firm takes over the civilian port in 2021, prompting Israel’s national security cabinet to revisit the arrangement, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Haifa, the nation’s largest port city, regularly hosts joint US-Israeli naval drills and visits from American vessels. But a 2015 agreement between Israel’s Transportation Ministry and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) – a company in which the Chinese government has a majority stake – has raised intelligence and security concerns that are only now prompting an interagency review. READ MORE

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Says the former anarchist: “The ideology and norms of radicalism have evolved to produce toxic, paranoid, depressed subjects”

Posted on December 16, 2018 by

QUILLETTE
Sad Radicals
by Conor Barnes
December 11, 2018

When I became an anarchist I was 18, depressed, anxious, and ready to save the world. I moved in with other anarchists and worked at a vegetarian co-op cafe. I protested against student tuition, prison privatization, and pipeline extensions. I had lawyer’s numbers sharpied on my ankle and I assisted friends who were pepper-sprayed at demos. I tabled zines, lived with my “chosen family,” and performed slam poems about the end of the world. While my radical community was deconstructing gender, monogamy, and mental health, we lived and breathed concepts and tools like call-outs, intersectionality, cultural appropriation, trigger warnings, safe spaces, privilege theory, and rape culture. READ MORE

What is the utility of free speech when it comes to a college education ? Brown and Yale have failed but University of Chicago seems to get it.

 

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The Airbnb IPO: “Airbnb might find exploiting hatred for financial gain to be a terrible financial as well as moral miscalculation”

Posted on December 15, 2018 by

FORBES
Airbnb Boycotted And Sued For Discrimination Following Israel Settlement Ban
by Biz Carson
December 11, 2018

Airbnb’s decision to remove 200 listings from Israeli settlements in the West Bank is creating a growing headache for a company that’s no stranger to wading into politics with its rental listings. Several U.S. states are now researching whether the global travel company has broken state laws by prohibiting the listings. Some U.S. cities are calling for a boycott…Last week, a prominent rabbi took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post, titled “Airbnb: Anti-Semitic Bed & Breakfast.” READ MORE

WASHINGTON TIMES How a hospitality service wages war against Israel As those who follow financial markets know, Airbnb has a highly likely public offering headed for those markets in 2019, despite giving mixed signals about it. In order to make the offering more acceptable to Arab regimes and the anti-Israel-obsessed U.N. Human Rights Commission, Airbnb has probably decided to sacrifice Jewish business and sensitivities while overlooking its anti-Semitism for financial gain.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE Illinois investment board says Airbnb West Bank ban is illegal Illinois officials say that Airbnb’s ban on lodging listings in the disputed West Bank violates state law. The Investment Policy Board’s vote Wednesday followed Gov. Bruce Rauner’s request last month. He sought a review of Airbnb’s decision to remove 200 participating properties in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The board decision means Illinois could ban investment in Airbnb if it offers public stock.

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It appears few in Europe understand–or care–that Iran’s intercontinental missiles will be capable of striking European capitals

Posted on December 15, 2018 by

BLOOMBERG
As Europe Dithers, Iran’s Arsenal Gets More Deadly
by Behnam Ben Taleblu
December 13, 2018

This week Iran confirmed that it recently test-fired a missile, which the U.S. categorized as a medium-range ballistic missile “capable of carrying multiple warheads,” a transgression of a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution. Unfortunately, this was hardly news: Iran has made a habit out of testing, using and even transferring ballistic missiles across the Middle East. The U.S. has reacted strongly with sanctions both before and after it pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. And while European officials have condemned such behavior – even at the UN – they have yet to take any serious action to dissuade Iran from continued missile tests. READ MORE

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Australian rock musician Nick Cave “flatly rejected appeals from Eno and other musicians to cancel appearances in Israel, accusing the BDS movement of trying to “silence artists”

Posted on December 14, 2018 by

ALGEMEINER
Australian Rock Legend Nick Cave Blasts His ‘Hero’ Brian Eno for Supporting Israel Boycott
by Ben Cohen
December 12, 2018

In a personal email made public on Wednesday, acclaimed Australian rock musician Nick Cave condemned Brian Eno — the legendary British musical artist he lauded as “my hero” — over the latter’s continuing support for a cultural boycott of Israel…Wrote Cave: “[C]ertain questions need to be asked. How far must we have strayed from the transformative nature of music to feel justified in weaponizing music and using it to punish ordinary Israeli citizens for the actions of their government?” READ MORE

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“The belief that the new “populists” are all “far-right,” and therefore racist and anti-Semitic, doesn’t necessarily follow”

Posted on December 14, 2018 by

JNS
Is the State of Israel supping with the devil?
by Melanie Phillips
December 13, 2018

…Indeed, he [Netanyahu] has gone out of his way to embrace leaders who, although some insist they are just conservative nationalists, are described by others as neo-fascists. Among such politicians are Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has introduced what he calls an “illiberal democracy”; the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, who heads a coalition including a party whose first two leaders were former SS officers; the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who supports extra-judicial killing for drug-users and other criminals; and the new president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who opposes just about everything on the progressive agenda. READ MORE

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United Nations the “obstacle on the road to peace”

Posted on December 13, 2018 by

COMMENTARY
UNIFIL Deters EU from Banning Hezbollah
by Evelyn Gordon
December 13, 2018

It’s no secret that UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, has never done the job it’s supposedly there to do. But this week, we learned that UNIFIL isn’t merely useless; it’s counterproductive. By the very fact of its existence, the organization deters the European Union from listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization—something which, unlike UNIFIL, would genuinely impede Hezbollah’s operations. This dirty little secret came out after Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called Hezbollah “Islamic terrorists” during a visit to Israel on Tuesday. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Italy’s minister: ‘Hezbollah’s tunnels not meant for shopping sprees’ Salvini arrived on Wednesday, and immediately helicoptered to the north to view the work the IDF was doing to uncover the tunnels. “There is a clear threat from the north,” he said. “I repeat my condition, those who want peace, need to support and defend Israel.”

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