287 George Galloway barred from Canada; Canada-Israel stamp marks Friendship

George Galloway barred from Canada; Canada-Israel stamp marks Friendship

(1) Jewish groups urge Walkout when Ahmadinejad addresses UN Non-Proliferation Conference
(2) Egypt denies pumping toxic gas into Gaza smuggling tunnels
(3) US, Israel hold secret talks over Obama demands
(4) Foxman condemns Obama's drawing a line, re Israel policy
(5) Revolution Muslim (run by Israeli Jews) incites Americans to hate "radical" Muslims
(6) George Galloway barred from Canada - Minister's order implemented in less than 2 hours
(7) Canada-Israel stamp marks Friendship - or Subservience
(8) Ariel settlement dumps sewage on Palestinian town
(9) Darfur aid dollars funding West Bank settlements
(10) Protest at AIPAC annual Oregon fundraiser
(11) Israel attracts venture capital - perhaps because investors are Jewish?

(1) Jewish groups urge Walkout when Ahmadinejad addresses UN Non-Proliferation Conference

From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 01.05.2010 09:22 AM

Jewish groups: Boycott Ahmadinejad in NYC

April 30, 2010

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/04/30/2394597/jewish-groups-boycott-ahmadinejad-in-nyc

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Jewish groups are calling on U.N. member representatives to walk out in protest when Iran's president speaks next week at the United Nations.

Mahmoud Ahmadenijad's plans to address the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference on May 3 makes a mockery of the proceedings, Jewish groups said.

"We call on all countries, particularly those that value democracy and freedom, to leave the United Nations hall when Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rises to speak," the president and executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement. “Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability poses a threat to the region and the entire Western world. To have President Ahmadinejad address this review conference makes a mockery of the efforts of many countries to prevent nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism from becoming the gravest global threats of this century."

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York issued an action alert urging readers to e-mail U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at sg@un.org to protest Ahmadenijad's inclusion at the conference.
The World Jewish Congress asked its member communities to contact their government representatives to persuade them to participate in the protest walkout, saying in a statement, "It is dismaying that, once again, the U.N. is allowing the head of a regime, foremost in the sponsorship of terrorism and the abuse of human rights, who defies U.N. resolutions regarding its nuclear ambitions, to appear before the international body."

(2) Egypt denies pumping toxic gas into Gaza smuggling tunnels

From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics Earth Sciences) <sadanand@mail.ccsu.edu> Date: 01.05.2010 02:55 PM

Cairo denies gassing Gaza smugglers

By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem

Friday, 30 April 2010, The Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/cairo-denies-gassing-gaza-smugglers-1958708.html

Egypt yesterday denied accusations by Hamas that it had pumped toxic gas into smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, killing four Palestinians and injuring three.

An Egyptian intelligence official said that Egypt had blown up the entrances to several tunnels earlier this week in an effort to seal them off. He added that the blasts may have sparked a fire that sucked air out of the tunnels, suffocating the workers.

Egypt has come under intense pressure from Israel to prevent Palestinians from defying an Israel-led blockade to bring in arms, medical supplies and other non-essential goods.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, insisted Egyptian soldiers had dispersed toxic gas in the tunnels, killing labourers. "Hamas holds the Egyptian side responsible for the killing of four innocent workers after Egyptian security forces pumped poisonous gas into one of the tunnels," the Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Palestinian doctors working for the Hamas-run health ministry claimed that the four labourers had died from suffocation and showed traces of gas poisoning. Underground smuggling tunnels provide a crucial lifeline for the 1.5 million residents in the impoverished Gaza Strip, whose borders have been sealed off by Israel since Hamas seized control in the tiny coastal territory in 2007. Scores of workers have been killed by frequent tunnel cave-ins, while Israel has bombarded the tunnels in response to rocket attacks aimed at its territory.

Egypt, whose relationship with Hamas is increasingly strained, is building an underground steel wall that will sever all but the deepest tunnels. Hamas has criticised Egypt for supporting Israeli policies when Palestinian civilians are harmed. Up to 1,400 were killed during Israel's offensive in Gaza 16 months ago.

(3) US, Israel hold secret talks over Obama demands

Israel, U.S. secretly working to bridge gaps in peace process

By Barak Ravid

Thu., April 22, 2010

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1164583.html

Israel and the United States have conducted behind-the-scenes negotiations in recent days in an effort to find a formula that would bridge their differences over peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and America's demand that Israel halt construction in East Jerusalem for at least four months.

According to a senior Obama administration official, the top Middle East policy specialist at the White House, Dan Shapiro, arrived in Israel yesterday on a secret visit. Shapiro's delegation also included David Hale, who serves as deputy to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell and is permanently based in Israel.

Shapiro and Hale held lengthy talks yesterday at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem with the prime minister's envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, and Netanyahu adviser Ron Dermer. The talks will continue today.

Neither the White House nor the Prime Minister's Office have officially announced the talks or even Shapiro's arrival in Israel. Officially, total silence is being maintained, and the Prime Minister's Office therefore refused to comment yesterday.

But a senior Israeli official said talks with American officials have been conducted throughout the past week - by phone, via the Israeli embassy in Washington and with the White House officials who arrived in Israel yesterday. The Israeli source said Israel would not provide an official response to the American demands in the form of a position paper or even a verbal response, but the parties would try to reach an understanding on a joint approach for furthering the peace process.

This will be a lengthy process, the official added, and there will be no single "event" at which Israel will present its response.

Currently, the Israeli official said, Netanyahu's position is that Israel will not accede to Washington's demand that it suspend construction in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. However, diplomatic sources predicted that Netanyahu would agree to promise to avoid provocative steps such as constructing houses for Jews in Arab neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city.

The dialogue between Israel and the Obama administration is to continue next week, when Defense Minister Ehud Barak visits Washington. Barak, who will leave for the U.S. on Sunday, is slated to deliver a speech at a conference sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, at which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also speak.

He will also hold meetings with U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, Clinton and other senior officials. The talks will deal with the peace process and the effort to bridge the disagreements between the U.S. and Israel, as well as the Iranian nuclear issue and weapons smuggling from Syria to Lebanon.

When Netanyahu visited Washington several weeks ago, U.S. President Barack Obama gave him a list of demands during their White House meeting. One of the demands was a construction freeze in East Jerusalem. Obama also demanded that Netanyahu make other confidence-building gestures to the Palestinians, such as allowing the opening of PA institutions in the eastern part of the city, transferring additional West Bank territory to Palestinian security control and agreeing to discuss all the core issues of the conflict during proximity talks with the PA, instead of insisting that these issues only be discussed in direct talks.

(4) Foxman condemns Obama's drawing a line, re Israel policy

From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 29.04.2010 10:59 AM

Foxman: US shift in Israel policy "deeply distressing"

ADL director joins list of top US Jews speaking out against Obama's Israel policies.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL

April 26, 2010

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=173904

The Anti-Defamation League's National Director Abe Foxman over the weekend joined the growing tide of American Jewish leaders criticizing US President Barack Obama's policy toward Israel.

In a statement, Foxman described as "deeply distressing," the "significant shift in US policy toward Israel and the peace process, which has been evident in comments from various members of the Obama Administration and has now been confirmed by the president himself in his press conference at the Nuclear Security Summit."

Foxman continued that Obama's statements that "the absence of a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict undermines US interests in the broader Middle East and the larger issue of resolving other conflicts is a faulty strategy" and "an incorrect approach on which to base America's foreign policy in the Middle East and its relationship with its longtime friend and ally, Israel."

Foxman's statement went on to criticize the "blatantly disproportionate number and the nature of statements issued by this administration criticizing Israel as compared to what has been said about the Palestinians," as well as what he described as "dangerous thinking" that "shifts responsibility for success of American foreign policy away from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt and directly onto Israel."

Instead, Foxman called on the US administration to demand that Palestinians "abandon their tactic of just saying no" and "insist that the rest of the Arab world move toward normalization relations with Israel."

Foxman was far from alone in his criticism.

Late last week, World Jewish Congress Chairman Ronald Lauder penned an open letter to Obama, published in a number of major newspapers including The Jerusalem Post, in which he, too, called on Obama to reassess his administration's policy regarding Israel.

Lauder, who is known to support Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and ran as a Republican candidate in a New York City mayoral race, also blasted the administration for "seeming to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks," arguing that "after all, it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate."

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel also put his thoughts in print, taking out paid advertisements in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal entitled: "For Jerusalem."

(5) Revolution Muslim (run by Israeli Jews) incites Americans to hate "radical" Muslims

From: WVNS <ummyakoub@yahoo.com> Date: 29.04.2010 11:58 AM

Radical Muslim group run by Israeli Jews!

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/radical-muslim-group-run-by-israeli-jews/blog-307663/

[NOTE: The above website contains many hyperlinks.]

The Radical "Muslim" Group That Threatened South Park Creators Was Founded and Run by Joseph Cohen, a Former Israeli Radical Who Used to Live in a Settlement in the West Bank. Fundamentalist Jews who pretend to be Radical Muslims, a growing problem...
American Everyman

Jon Stewart, shame on you. You're a propaganda spewing puppet and you're no better than Glenn Beck.

South Park ran an unedited image of Muhammad in 2001 in an episode called "Super Best Friends"… and nothing happened.

In fact, the episode had been on the South Park website for viewing at any time for the past few years (they just removed it)… and nothing happened.

For 4 seasons they had that image in their opening segment for every single show… and nothing happened.

So for years on end no Muslim group, "radical" or otherwise, has threatened Matt and Trey or Comedy Central about the image of Muhammad that has been available for all to see every single day.

All of a sudden last week a group called "Revolution Muslim" threatened violence against Comedy Central if they aired an image of Muhammad which forced Comedy Central to censor the show and now you have even liberals talking about those "radical Muslims" and their threats of violence. Karl Rove couldn't have done it any better.

Problem is, Revolution Muslim was started and run by a "converted" Israeli settler who studied at an orthodox rabbinical school in Israel before becoming a settler in the occupied territories.

You don't think a orthadox Israeli settler would have any desire to see progressive Americans start to hate "radical Muslims" do you? You think "Revolution Muslim" helps or hurts the Israeli PR campaign after Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report?

Here's the research your team should have done before you went out and spun-up the neoconish "radicalized Muslim" hype for your progressive audience…

"Revolution Muslim" is always there to say just the wrong thing to make Americans hate "Radical Muslims". They praised the killing of Daniel Pearl with a childish puppet show. They sent "Get Well" wishes to the guy who shot those 13 people at Fort Hood.

Yousef al-Khattab, 41, a radical Muslim in the borough of Queens who runs RevolutionMuslim.com, claims on the site that the soldiers massacred at the Texas base deserved to be massacred, and he insists the victims are in "eternal hellfire." As for the suspected gunman — Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — Al-Khattab hails him as a hero. Fox News

You can count on "Revolution Muslim" to say the wrong thing at the right moment to get Americans to hate all those "radical" Muslims.

Israeli Settlers in Hebron

But the only thing is… "Revolution Muslim" (his creative fake "Scary American Terrorist" website) was started and ran by a man named Yousef al-Khattab. Yousef al-Khattab was born Joseph Cohen, in Brooklyn, New York. He was jewish. But not just jewish, he was a settler who went to Palestine to live on the illegal Israeli settlements.

Joseph Cohen isn't alone though. There is another "radical Muslim" convert from Judaism (the original fake "scary American Terrorist") who makes sure that "radical" Muslims are hated in America, his name is Adam Pearlman and he went by the "radicalized" Muslim name "Adam Gadahn". Adam Pearlman is actually the grandson of a member of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League (at least he was on the board… Dr. Carl Pearlman died in 1998).

Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in rural Riverside County and moved to Santa Ana to live with his grandparents, the late Dr. Carl Pearlman and his wife, Agnes, in the mid-1990s. It was here that he learned of Islam via the Internet and later fell in with a radical sect at the Islamic Society of Orange County OC Register

And the funny thing is, after all that hate speech and those calls to violence, Cohen never got arrested. Hell, even Fox News knew exactly where he was. Guns, death threats, and all the rest and amazingly Yousef al-Khattab (Joseph Cohen) was never arrested.

A New York City bicycle cabbie who mocked the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl and posted a prayer on the Web calling for the murder of Jews is now sending a `Get Well Soon' message to the suspected Fort Hood gunman, the New York Post reported.

After growing up in a jewish neighborhood in New York and attending a orthodox rabbinical school in Israel, Joseph Cohen went to live in a settlement in the West Bank to help steal Palestinian land from Palestinians.

His story is that he "converted" to Islam after meeting someone in a chat room. You know what "settlers" are like in the occupied territories don't you Mr. Stewart? Ever see that video of them beating the old Palestinian woman with a baseball bat?

Ever see that video Mr. Stewart? If not, take a look here. This video was released by B'Tselem (an Israeli peace organization).

Al-Khattab has claimed that he has nothing to do with the site anymore but the person he founded it with left prior to all of this earlier this month. al-Khattab claims to have quit the site in late Dec. last year. His partner who started it with him also claims to have quit the site earlier this month. I guess no one wanted to go to jail for issuing death-threats over the internet. But someone did it.

I find it funny that after being born and raised as a jewish person, after attending orthodox rabbinical school in Israel, and after being radical enough to move to occupied territories in Palestine to live as a settler (the most hard-core of Israeli Zionists), ALL OF A SUDDEN Joseph Cohen dropped all of that teaching and suddenly became a "radical Muslim' after a chat in a chat room. He became a "radical Muslim" then just HAPPENED to move back to the city he lived in before… Brooklyn, N.Y.

Anybody believe that crap? Jon Stewart does. So much so he mocks "radical Muslims" for threatening South Park.

Now, go here and watch Jon Stewart joke and make derogatory comments about the group that threatened the creators of South Park for showing the image of Muhammad on their recent show. Then he thanks all the "other" religions for not behaving like the "Radical Muslims" did when Stewart makes fun of their religion. He then shows clip after clip showing how they have made fun of Jewish people without anyone threatening violence.

Radical Muslim is a COINTELPRO site, run by a "converted" jewish settler pretending to be a "radical Muslim". He is the ONE Muslim that complained about the South Park episode… an ex-radical Israeli settler, Mr. Stewart… real Muslims haven't threatened South Park once since 2001 when they FIRST ran an image of the prophet on their show.

From What Really Happened:

Fake Al Qaeda

"The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US . . ." -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook

Adam Yahiye Gadahn: The Fake Terrorist

Images from official FBI wanted poster for terrorist Adam Yahiye Gadahn

The FBI lists Gadahn's aliases as Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, and Yayah.

But Adam Pearlmen is his REAL name! Adam is the grandson of the late Carl K. Pearlman; a prominent Jewish urologist in Orange County. Carl was also a member of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, which was caught spying on Americans for Israel in 1993, much as AIPAC has been caught up in the more recent spy scandal.

Sent in by a reader: I recently saw the article you linked about Adam Pearlman and his brand new feature film in which he plays the character Azzam Al-Amrika. As someone who speaks Arabic, I thought it would be interesting for WRH readers to know a little bit about this particular name. First, Azzam in Arabic means either "determined" or "resolved". Second, "Al-Amrika" (it's sometimes spelled "Amerika") translates back to "America". Interesting use of words Mr. Pearlman is using for a name, I'd say. But even without having to translate the whole name, no Arab has the last name of Amrika. The name, translated, almost sounds like a Bush soundbite. .

(6) George Galloway barred from Canada - Minister's order implemented in less than 2 hours

From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 26.04.2010 09:51 AM

How George Galloway was barred from Canada in less than 2 hours

Rainbow Warrior | April 26, 2010 at 12:58 am

By Cambell Clark

April 25 2010

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-george-galloway-was-barred-from-canada-in-less-than-2-hours/article1546100/

Ottawa - It took less than two hours for Canadian Border Services Agency officials to declare controversial British MP George Galloway inadmissible to Canada. There was little doubt that's what Immigration Minister Jason Kenney wanted.

Though last year's decision to bar Mr. Galloway from Canada for allegedly supporting banned Mideast group Hamas fuelled headlines for weeks and a court case that will be heard on Monday, it was a decision that was pushed through the bureaucracy at record speed.

From the first e-mail that Mr. Kenney's communications director, Alykhan Velshi, sent on March 16, 2009, at 2:09 p.m. to immigration bureaucrats – the subject line was "inadmissible" – only 102 minutes passed before an official in the National Security section of the CBSA had agreed that Mr. Galloway should be barred for being a member of a terrorist organization.

(7) Canada-Israel stamp marks Friendship - or Subservience

Canada-Israel, 60 years of friendship

Issued: April 14, 2010

Article published in

Details, Vol XIX No2, April to June 2010

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/2010/2010_Canada_Israel.jsf

In an increasingly interconnected world, Canada’s opportunity to grow in peace and prosperity rests on the strength of our country-to-country bonds. These relationships have shaped our national identity, both at home and abroad, and they’ve furthered the sophistication of our economy, and the diversity of our culture and people. This April, Canada Post will issue an international rate commemorative stamp to celebrate Canada’s strong bilateral relationship with Israel—a friendship that spans six decades and is marked by shared values, common interests, and strong political, economic, cultural and social ties. The stamp, which marks the first joint issue between Canada and Israel, will be cancelled in both countries’ capital cities. ...

(8) Ariel settlement dumps sewage on Palestinian town
From: Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 28.04.2010 05:11 PM

Tuesday April 27, 2010 19:27  by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News 

According to the Palestinian Water Authority, the settlement of Ariel has been pumping its sewage directly into the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin, creating a dangerous and unhealthy situation for the residents of Bruqin.

According to the Mayor of Bruqin, the situation has become acute, with sewage contaminating groundwater and crops throughout the area.

Ariel is the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank, housing around 40,000 Israelis. Israeli officials have said that they will retain Ariel through any negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, despite the acknowledged fact that Ariel, like all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is in direct violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israeli sewage dumping on Palestinian land is common, and Israel controls 80% of the water in the West Bank, despite the fact that it is on Palestinian land.

Bruqin Mayor I'krimah Samara told reporters that the sewage dumping "is making life unbearable, polluting underground water and springs" in his town.

The Palestinian Authority, which is supposed to have control over the village and the entire West Bank, but has been prevented from taking control due to the ongoing Israeli military occupation.

The head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Shadad Al-A'tili, recently told Mayor Samara that the Palestinian Authority does have the technology available to construct sewage pipes and pumps that could divert the sewage, but that "the occupation authorities are obstructing the implementation of mechanisms that can solve the problem."

Israeli authorities have refused to issue the permits that Israel requires for the village to be able to construct the necessary pipes that would divert the Israeli sewage away from their town.

(9) Darfur aid dollars funding West Bank settlements

From: WVNS <ummyakoub@yahoo.com> Date: 27.04.2010 06:56 PM

By Thomas C. Mountain

Mar 19, 2010

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5708.shtml

ASMARA, Eritrea -- Persons working with aid organizations assisting the victims of the Darfur conflict have passed on the news that they have confirmed through their contacts in the so called "Save Darfur Coalition" that millions of dollars raised to help the Darfur refugees have ended up in Israeli bank accounts. These accounts help fund programs that include illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

These sources inside the pro-Israel organizations that control the "Save Darfur Coalition" estimate that over $100 million was raised for Darfur, though the exact amount may never be known due to the murky nature of the financial statements these organizations submit. What is known is that over half the money raised for Darfur was consumed by "operational expenses" for these organizations, meaning bloated salaries, expense accounts and the multimillion dollar publicity campaign that helped generate the donations. Only about 10 percent of the donations received ever made it to the Darfur refugees, with several million ending up in Israeli bank accounts.

The Darfur funds were diverted to Israel by either co-mingling the funds with those used to support the Israeli projects or through a more complex system of grants to other "aid" or "relief" organizations that allowed the eventual destination of the funds to be almost impossible to trace.

For some time now, aid workers in Darfur have been quietly pressuring the Save Darfur Coalition to turn over more of the tens of millions of dollars they have been collecting on the behalf of the Sudanese people in Darfur. People working inside the organizations that make up the coalition became upset when they discovered that aid raised on behalf of Darfur was being diverted to Israel and began supplying information to the aid workers on the ground in Darfur. Some of these aid workers finally broke their silence on the matter and passed on to us what they had confirmed from these Save Darfur insiders. ...

Thomas C. Mountain was, in a former life, an educator, activist and alternative medicine practitioner in the USA. Email thomascmountain at yahoo.com.

(10) Protest at AIPAC annual Oregon fundraiser

From: Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 27.04.2010 06:23 PM

http://www.imemc.org/article/58528

Portland protest challenges AIPAC fundraiser

Monday April 26, 2010 11:26  by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News 

A group of protesters in Portland, Oregon, USA, erected mock settlements, a 'Wall of Shame', and a checkpoint as part of a protest against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)'s annual Oregon fundraiser on Sunday.

Portland AIPAC Protest - Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

AIPAC is the largest and most powerful Zionist lobby in the US, with branches in all 50 US states and financial contributions to every US congressmember and senator. Recently, however, their meetings and fundraisers have been met by increasing protests, like the one held Sunday in Portland.

One protester represented the recent murder of a non-violent demonstrator in Iraq Bur'in village by staging a 'die-in' at the entrance of the event. He was not arrested, but was moved out of the way to allow the financial contributors to AIPAC to enter.

The mock settlements were constructed out of cardboard, and accompanied by a demonstrator dressed as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wearing a helmet labeled 'Caterpillar' after the US-based construction company whose military bulldozers are used to destroy Palestinian homes.

In addition, some demonstrators dressed as Israeli soldiers demanded ID from those entering the event. Although the attendees did not oblige the protesters by showing ID, they were again stopped, just a few meters away, by an actual checkpoint set up by the event organizers to ensure that only paid ticket-holders were able to enter the controversial event.

The protesters also held up a representation of the Israeli Annexation Wall, painted with the words, "Wall of Shame". These are words that a group of Jewish activists painted on the actual Wall in Qalqilia soon after the Wall was constructed there in 2002. The Wall is constructed on Palestinian land in the West Bank, and has made it impossible for any semblance of a normal life to continue in the West Bank.

The attendees of the AIPAC dinner included a number of local politicians including US Senator Ron Wyden and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, as well as Oregon rabbis and leaders of Jewish organizations who pledged during the dinner to stand by Israel. The human rights violations and abuses brought out by the protesters were not addressed by the speakers at the fundraising dinner.

(11) Israel attracts venture capital - perhaps because investors are Jewish?

From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 26.04.2010 11:51 AM

The Rest of the World Can Learn a Lot From the Israeli Formula for Growth

By IRWIN STELZER

JANUARY 24, 2010,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704509704575019041049672122.html

Now is the time to take a close look at models.

No, not those who strut the catwalks of London, Paris and other rallying points of international fashionistas. Instead, those economic models that might contain clues for post-recession policy. The European Union wants to jack its growth rate up from a meager 1% to 2%, and the United States would like to see its economy grow at an annual rate of at least 3%. Faster growth means more jobs, and an increased flow of tax revenues with which to bring down the huge deficits many countries are running.

On offer are the Anglo-Saxon, more-or-less free-market model, modified to account for what we have learned in the past two years; the EU-French model of increasing regulation and government involvement in the economy; the Chávez-Castro-Kim Jong-il state ownership model; and China's managed-economy model. And, attracting less attention, Israel's model of entrepreneurialism.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a.k.a. Bibi, is known more for his foreign policy positions than for his earlier role as the finance minister and economic reformer who rolled back regulation and impediments to the operation of market forces. He did not let the crisis created by the 2003 recession go to waste: he cut benefits, liberalized the banking sector, and removed currency and capital controls.

Mr. Netanyahu received considerable help from Daniel Doron's determinedly market-oriented think tank, the Israel Center for Social & Economic Progress. Arthur Seldon, co-founder of Britain's Institute of Economic Affairs, which played an important role in shaping Margaret Thatcher's policies, said that Mr. Doron's think tank in a short time "had more influence … than we had in Britain in our first ten years."

Finally, Israel benefited from an intelligently crafted macro-economic policy, thanks to Professor Stanley Fischer, governor of its central bank, who was the first major central bank chief to raise interest rates after a successful recession-fighting loosening.

A reforming politician, backed by a think-tank director who helped change the intellectual climate, and a central banker who remembers what he taught when head of M.I.T.'s economics department weren't enough to produce some amazing results and an economy so advanced that it is on the verge of accession to the club of advanced countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Dan Senor and Saul Singer's new book "Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle," rattles off some interesting statistics that deserve consideration by policy makers in other countries. Per-capita venture-capital investment in Israel runs 2.5 times that in the U.S. and 30 times that in Europe. Tiny Israel—population 7.1 million— attracts as much venture capital as Britain (population 61 million), and France and Germany combined (combined population 145 million). Israel has more companies listed on Nasdaq than any other country save the U.S. and has grown faster than the average for developed economies in most years since 1995. Between 1980 and 2000 7,652 patents were registered in the U.S. from Israel. That compares with 77 from Egypt.

Messrs. Netanyahu, Doron and Fischer were operating within a culture that is "skeptical of conventional explanations about what is possible" and characterized by "insatiable questioning of authority" according to Messrs Senor and Singer. And a willingness to accept failure is a necessary part of any economy heavily reliant on start-ups for its economic growth, a feature also characteristic of the U.S., where entrepreneurs say that if an entrepreneur has not gone bankrupt by the age of 35, he has not taken enough risks. A Harvard University study puts it more scientifically: entrepreneurs who fail in their first venture have a higher success rate in their next venture than first-time entrepreneurs. Credit Peter (now Lord) Mandelson for long ago recognizing that and leading an effort to reform U.K. bankruptcy laws to make second chances more possible for the country's risk-takers.

Throw in a superb university system and the obligation of all Israelis to serve in the military, the elite units of which have spawned many of the most successful high-tech entrepreneurs, and you have a recipe for world-class start-ups. These are firms that either end up selling shares in IPOs, or selling to Intel, e-Bay, Microsoft, or Google, among others. One unnamed e-Bay executive told Senor and Singer, "The best-kept secret is that we all live and die by the work of our Israeli teams…. What we do in Israel is unlike what we do anywhere else in the world."

Obviously, no other country has Israel's combination of advantages and problems. But other countries can see what happens when a well-educated country allows failure and thereby encourages risk-taking, replaces pervasive government intervention with light-handed regulation, and benefits from intelligent management of its monetary policy. Job-creating start-ups flourish. The growth rate accelerates. Exports increase. Even in a country under continued threat from its enemies. Or perhaps because of that.

— Irwin Stelzer is a business adviser and director of economic-policy studies at the Hudson Institute.