Israellycool

In an unbelievable move, the Arab American News - a leading newspaper that rails against perceived American prejudice against Arabs - has printed an article by the vile anti-semite “Israel Shamir” called “In Defense of Prejudice.”

“Shamir” has been denounced as a fraud by even far left anti-Zionists and goes by many other names including Jöran Jermas and Adam Ermash and probably was never Jewish (he now happily says he is Christian and he advocates all Jews converting to Christianity.)

The article is typical “Shamir”, where he says things like:

Stereotypes and prejudice are a legitimate part of our life. They are here to make our life easier. If you walk the dark streets of an urban ghetto and notice a gang of male teenagers without a single woman among them, your prejudice tells you to make a prudent detour. If a tramp in rags proposes to sell you a gold watch, your prejudice advises you to avoid the deal. If a charming stranger is eager to get bedded, your prejudice calls you to use a condom - or run away. ADL correctly states that there is a stereotype of a “malicious cabal of Jews” who are “pushing for war,” as well as that of “Jewish media-lords” that “clinch the party line.” A stereotype, or prejudice, usually is a result of many unpleasant experiences by persons who did not heed them….

A person unhappy with a stereotype or with prejudice may fight it. There is a good, hard way to fight a stereotype you dislike: act contrary to the stereotype….The Jews fought against prejudice a few times and won every time….They can do it now again. They may engage in work conducive to the general benefit, shy away from stock markets and banks, give Christmas presents, demand “troops out of Iraq, no aid to apartheid Israel.” be friendly to their non-Jewish neighbors. Do not demonize nor threaten with legal action everybody who does not agree with you. Do not turn the media into your private reserve. Try this, and an old stereotype will wither and vanish.

The stereotyping of Jews is quite justifiable, and only their behavior change will change it.

“Shamir” of course can write whatever bigoted tripe he wants, but it is telling that the Arab-American News would choose to publish this pure hate - because that newspaper seems more interested in maintaining anti-Jewish stereotypes than in fighting against anti-Arab stereotypes.

All of “Shamir”’s arguments can be used against Arabs to stereotype them as terror supporters or as anti-semitic. This obvious point is lost to the editors of this periodical, whose apparent hatred of Jews overcomes their own sense of self-preservation.

There is as of yet not a single comment on the article decrying its premise nor the flip-side that it implies against Arabs.

Australian actor George Lazenby - considered to be the “Jimmy Carter” of James Bonds (i.e the worst) - might just also be the “Mel Gibson” of James Bonds, if his soon-to-be-ex-wife Pam Shriver is to be believed.

Pam Shriver says Australian 007 George Lazenby is an abusive alcoholic who gave beer to their toddlers and threatened to kill her.

The Grand Slam doubles champion also alleged in court documents that Lazenby assaulted her during drunken rages and often scared their three young children with his temper.

She alleges he once launched an anti-semitic attack against senior Israeli government officials who were dining in the same swanky Los Angeles restaurant.

A new study released by the coordinator of the “Palestinian Farmers Union” accuses Israel of secretly dumping nuclear and chemical wastes near Palestinian Arab communities.
The reason?

Because Israel wants to cause Palestinian Arab men to become sterile, thus creating a method of mass birth control!

It seems that this is not the first time that Palestinian Arabs have accused Israel of this idea, because the Firas Press article that mentions this also mentions an earlier accusation by the equally esteemed “Dr. Mahmoud Deputy Chief of the Middle East in the International Physicians for Protection from Radiation and Nuclear War” that Israel has done the same thing in other “Palestinian territories” - burying nuclear waste from Dimona in the territories and causing “cancer, sterility, mental disorders and skin diseases.”

Accusing Israel of poisoning the wells is so last century. Nuclear and chemical waste is the hip new way of fomenting blood libels!

In response to my post on the anti-Israel bias and anti-Semitism on display at Yourdictionary.com, Israellycool reader Diana writes:

In response to your blog post regarding yourdictionary.com, I wrote to the site with my objections to their miserable examples. Here’s the thread of emails:

Mine to them:

Greetings,

Whom do you have working for you creating examples? Hamas? Hezbollah? I am shocked and upset that Webster’s Dictionary would lend its name and history to an online dictionary filled with anti-semitic examples–actually, it’s beyond anti-semitic; it’s pure hatred and propaganda.

Take for example your “examples” for the word occupation:

The Israeli occupation will never respect the human rights or civil rights of the people.

The only way for Israelis to have security is, quite simply, to end the 35-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.

Your definition of the word “Jew” starts not with the noun form, but with the offensive verb form–”to Jew someone down,” and while you state it is vulgar and offensive, a REAL dictionary begins with the most common usage of a word–which is the NOUN in this case.

Oh, and as is fitting your support of terrorists, you don’t define the word “terrorist,” but rather give synonyms to look up: “subversive, revolutionary, incendiary; see rebel.” Hmmmm…so the people who flew planes into the WTC, for example, are no different to you than the American revolutionaries?

Daniel Webster must be spinning in his grave.

I will make sure that NO students with whom I work EVER use your dictionary–and I will warn the libraries as well.

Be ashamed, be very ashamed.

Diana

Response from the owner:

Dear Ms —–,

It came to our attention this morning that the first definition and an associated idiom for the headword entry “Jew” was offensive. I looked at the entry with our editorial team immediately. While the entry did note that the reference was “vulgar and offensive”, we have decided that explaining the bias is not worth the risk of perpetuating it. Thus, we decided to take the definition and the associated idiom down from the site. We will be notifying the publisher of the dictionary, from whom we license our definitions. In addition, there were some usage examples in the headwords occupation, apartheid and divest, which were inappropriate and we have taken those down as well. Those usage examples were not chosen by our editors but rather had taken from a corpus of billions of words and sentences and had not been flagged before.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention and please accept our deep apologies.

Sincerely,

Howard Love
CEO
YourDictionary

Then my follow-up:

Dear Mr. Love,

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

These types of examples are quite pervasive on the site–too much so to be a coincidence, so if they’re coming from the people from whom you license definitions, you may want to find a new source.

I don’t quite understand what you mean that the usage examples “had taken from a corpus of billions of words and sentences…” Do you have readers providing the examples? Who selects them?

Thank you,

Diana

Then his:

The usage examples are selected by computer algorithms (not people). Unfortunately, those algorithms are not good enough yet at screening for bias though we are working on ways to address that.

Again, my apologies.

-Howard

I pressed again to find out what this algorithm is, and found out that its from “The Corpus” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_of_Contemporary_American_English)

So basically, ANYONE can put in usages and then some algorithm searches and provides them as examples.

Howard Love was not able or willing to address the issue of their using webster.com as a reference on their web site…so I’m still not convinced it’s as accidental as he’d like to lead us to believe.

At least they apologized…now I’ll keep checking the site

Shalom
Diana

Some readers confirmed the offensive examples I mentioned have been removed. Well done to Diana and the rest of you who wrote to Yourdictionary.com.

Ami Isseroff brings to our attention the latest example of anti-Israel propaganda/anti-Semitism going mainstream.

The culprit? Yourdictionary.com

Yourdictionary.com is the latest example of how anti-Israel propaganda, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism have gone mainstream. Previously, we noted how anti-Israel propaganda had permeated Wikipedia, thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated anti-Israel editors. But Wikipedia, despite its tremendous authority, is a source open to public editing. Yourdictionary.com is supposedly a neutral source, which provides “educational content” for profit. When the propaganda gets into dictionary definitions, it is a sign that it really has become part of the mainstream culture.

The most remarkable thing about yourdictionary.com is perhaps the entries that are NOT there. Neither “anti-Semitism” nor “antisemitism” were listed in this dictionary as of July 19!

For the entry Jew, the dictionary lists the anti-Semitic verb form first. To be fair, it states that the usage is racist, but I have never seen the verb form of “Jew” listed first in any dictionary (as in “He Jewed me down”).

For other entries that we found, the definitions were correct, but the examples included vicious anti-Israel propaganda and opinionated slurs, including deliberate misuse of other words.

Examples:

Occupation
“The only way for Israelis to have security is, quite simply, to end the 35-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.”

“The Israeli occupation will never respect the human rights or civil rights of the people.”

“The cause of the problem is the illegal occupation, by Zionist racists, of the land of the Palestinians.”

Apartheid:

The apartheid wall alone makes a mockery of the pride’s slogan of ‘ Love Without Borders ‘.

“Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state, ” he said.

ethnic cleansing

The end of Zionist ethnic cleansing, and the right of all refugees to return to their homelands.

Ami then suggests to write to both the Web site owners and to ADL.

Protest that politicization of dictionary entries is unacceptable, and that omission of “anti-Semitism” (in whatever spelling) could not be accidental. Yourdictionary.com has a disclaimer stating that examples do not reflect their opinions. The omission of “anti-Semitism” and the use of the verb form of “Jew” first must “reflect their opinions” and the examples, consistently anti-Israel were chosen by them. How could they not reflect their opinions?

What is your kid learning as he or she do their homework and use this dictionary?

Contact Information:
ADL: Via contact form at:
http://www.adl.org/contact_us.asp

Yourdictionary.com (Love to Know)
1325 Howard Ave
Suite 307
Burlingame, CA 94010
US
admin@lovetoknow.com

Please check yourdictionary.com for other entries that might yield “interesting” examples.

Do not accuse them of “anti-Semitism.” It is enough to mention that they fail to define anti-Semitism. Keep reminding ADL and lovetoknow until these problems are resolved.

I just got back from the morning prayer service. As I was leaving the synagogue, a drunk man and woman were walking by.

Drunk woman: You wouldn’t happen to have a mobile phone we could borrow?

Aussie Dave: No, sorry (I really didn’t).

Drunk woman: What about in there (pointing to synagogue). Is there a phone we could use?

Aussie Dave: I really don’t know. I am just visiting, but I haven’t seen a phone in there (I really hadn’t, and I wasn’t going to bring a drunk man and woman in to look around for obvious reasons).

Drunk woman: Bullsh**! I’m a Christian you know, and I would help a stranger in need.

Aussie Dave: No need to curse! I would like to help. I really don’t have a phone and I don’t think there is a phone in there (pointing to synagogue).

Drunk man: What do you expect? He’s a f****** Jew (as the two walk off).

Aussie Dave: Hey. WATCH IT.

Drunk man and woman: [Cursing]

Aussie Dave: (sarcastically) Yeah, you’re REAL GOOD Christians.

You are probably almost as shocked at my brazenness as you are with the ease in which the anti-Semitism raised its ugly head. But you have to understand I was so infuriated that part of me actually wanted a fight. Bear in mind that this was the same area of Perth in which some Jewish teenagers were physically and verbally assaulted by a group of youths who shouted anti-Semitic slurs about a month and a half ago. I guess part of me wanted to show these cretins that we are capable of fighting back. Which was, of course, stupid, because:

1) for all I know, the man (or woman) had a knife, glass bottle, or black belt in Karate.

2) I live in a Jewish state which has shown the world we are more than capable of fighting back.

But I was so angry, I would have turned in to the Incredible Hulk (had I also been exposed to gamma rays as a child).

This was my first first-hand experience with anti-Semitism in a very long time, and while I read about it frequently, it both shocked and angered me.

Have I mentioned I am glad I live in Israel?

This is too good:

Following are excerpts from an Iranian documentary on Hollywood cinema, focusing on the movie “Chicken Run.” The documentary aired on IRINN on May 29, 2008:

“Traces of Zionism in World Cinema”

Presenter: Movies into which huge amounts of money are poured, in an effort to turn Zionist themes into entertainment, include movies created for children and youth. Animation films produced since the 1990’s joined other film genres in becoming a tool for Zionist propaganda. Sometimes this is achieved by using falsified biblical narratives, like in the case of “The Prince of Egypt.” Other times, it is achieved in a very subtly, crafty, and indirect manner, like in the film “Chicken Run.”

[...]

Dr. Majid Shah-Hosseini, an Iranian film critic: Many films from the 1960’s and the 1970’s indirectly convey the notion that the Jews were oppressed. This is conveyed through the themes of distance from the motherland, and the search for one’s mother, who symbolizes the motherland. These messages were gradually introduced into animation and children’s films.

[...]

Sayyid Abu-Alhassan Allawi Tabatabai, an Iranian film critic: These people never make a film without a premeditated motive.

[...]

Two emotional themes can be identified in children’s films, especially animations. One is the lost mother, and the other is the lost land. There is also the lost dog… These three themes frequently appear in animations produced since the 1970’s.

[...]

Presenter: Even though “Chicken Run” is a sort of fantasy about an animal farm, on a deeper level it depicts the Zionists’ favorite themes, which appear in many of the visual dramas of the 20th century. The recreation of a kind of genocide, using visual elements reminiscent of Nazi Germany death camps – an idea linked to the religious themes of a savior and immigration to a promised land – serves a propaganda machine, whose goal it is to depict itself as a symbol for the oppressed and for those who suffer.

[...]

Dr. Majid Shah-Hosseini: In “Chicken Run,” for example, you find allusions to the Holocaust, to concentration camps, and to the concept of awaiting a hero or a savior. It portrays efforts to escape a predetermined fate – the death of all those who lived in that camp, who are depicted as chickens. Eventually, a kind of Noah’s Ark is built – in this case, it is a flying ship – which is used for their escape.

[...]

Presenter: Unfortunately, Zionist notions can be detected in children’s movies, from the days of Walt Disney and to TV animation films. The Zionists’ exclusive investments in group specializing in children’s films, such as DreamWorks in the 1990’s, and the appearance of various works like “Chicken Run,” which employed magnificent techniques, were part of their premeditated plan to cover the blood stains soiling the clothes of the occupiers of the lands of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Produced by the IRINN Science, Culture, and Arts Group

MEMRI video clip here.

For those who haven’t seen “Chicken Run“, it is spoofing the many American films about Nazi POW camps, specifically The Great Escape.

But perhaps Mel Gibson would disagree….

Blood libels never get old in the Ummah!

The Iranian Alalam “news” states:

The Popular Committee to Oppose the Siege on Thursday warned against the Israeli regime’s plans to spread lethal diseases in the Gaza Strip.

The Committee said with closure of Gaza City’s Treatment Plant, the region was the target of environmental crisis.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in its latest report has accused the Israel of dumping wastes and sewage into Gaza Sea.

Director of Water Resources in the Gaza Strip, Monther Shoblak, told Alalam Thursday that Israel dumps 70 percent of its wastes into Gaza Sea, affecting tourism industry and the marine lives in the region.

I didn’t know there even was a “Gaza Sea.”

How dare Israel do anything to harm the thriving Gaza tourism industry. All those poor tourists, sunbathing on the beaches of the Gaza Sea, being forced to stay out of the water because of Zionist fecal matter.

I can see why they’d be upset.

While the Iranians continue their preparations for the world’s next Holocaust, they continue to deny the last one ever took place.

Their source? An “academic” specializing in the related disciplines of astrology and crop circles, and a name resembling breast milk.

The massacre of Jewish people during the Holocaust was “scientifically impossible,” according to an article published by an Iranian satellite channel on its Web site.

The article was written by Nicholas Kollerstrom, an academic specializing in astrology and crop circles, who had his fellowship terminated by University College London last month after he said there were never any gas chambers at Auschwitz.

“The views expressed by Dr. Kollerstrom are diametrically opposed to the aims, objectives and ethos of UCL, such that we wish to have absolutely no association with them or with their originator,” the University College said in a statement. “We therefore have no choice but to terminate Dr. Kollerstrom’s honorary research fellowship with immediate effect.”

Press TV, an Iranian English-language 24-hour news channel, was set up last year, by the Iranian government, to offer “unbiased” reporting and “in-depth and complete analyses of current affairs,” according to its Web site. It posted Kollerstrom’s article on Sunday, and despite protest from a Jewish community organization, the article is still on the site.

In the article, titled “The Walls of Auschwitz‚” Kollerstrom argues that “the alleged massacre of Jewish people by gassing during World War II was scientifically impossible.”

Kollerstrom’s work is also hosted on the Web site of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust‚ which also promotes the works of Holocaust deniers David Irving of England and Ernst Zundel of Germany.

In an article on the site, titled “The Auschwitz ‘Gas Chamber’ Illusion,” Kollerstrom writes that only a million Jews died in the war and that “the only intentional mass extermination program in the concentration camps of World War Two was targeted at Germans.”

The article concludes by saying: “The UN has now established its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January, as of 2006. On this anniversary, we all need to mull over the faking of history and the Greatest Lie Ever Told. As Perseus gazed at the Medusa only via a mirror, to avoid being petrified, so, too, we need calm reflection and the power of Truth to avoid our collective destruction.”

Ironically, this article puts the Iranians at odds with Hamas, who do not believe the Holocaust was “scientifically impossible” at all.

Israellycool reader, real-life friend and fellow blogger Gedalia posts about a possible anti-Semitic/anti-Israel attack that occurred in Perth a few nights ago.

This story started last Thursday.  I received a call from a friend in Melbourne.  Usual story - there are two Israeli backpackers coming to Perth. Can I take them in for Shabbat, help them find accomodation and work while they travel around Western Australia for a few months.  Kol Yisrael Aravim zeh la zeh - Jewish people look after each other like family, no matter where you are in the world .  So we fed and housed our friends and arranged accomodation over the weekend.

All was OK, until late last night.  My phone was on silent, but as I walked past I saw the screen flashing.  I noted it was the number of one of the Israeli backpakers.  My initial reaction was that they wanted another lead or some connections and the matter could wait until tomorrow.  But something in my gut made me pick up the phone.  The guy said to me in broken words that he had been “beaten up” and was in the city, could I help.  He could not give me directions, but he was outside the bus-station at the Northbridge link.

I called the police, and jumped in a car with a friend.  We arrived at the same time as the police.  They had been lying on a blood splattered pavement for at least half an hour.  Even as we were pulling up there were people walking past.  Not one person had stopped to help them.  One of the Israeli’s was lying on the ground in acute pain.  He had been hit in the face, kicked to the ground and thought his leg was broken.  The other had had his head viced between a wall and a pillar and crushed.  They were roughed up pretty badly.

We established with the guys, one of which appeared to be concussed and the other who was concerned he may lose consciousness, that one of them was wearing a Kippah (Jewish skullcap - ed).  Their wallets and passports had not been touched - they were not attacked for money.  Of the three people walking past them one of them initially spat at the Kippah wearing Israeli.  He then turned around and started attacking.  Two more people appeared and the guys were left lying on the sidewalk when they ran off.

I haven’t seen anything about this in the media. I suppose they are too busy reporting the follow-up to Quokka-gate, although it’s also possible they have not yet heard of the incident.

Yeah, I know. There’s no proof the attack was racially motivated, nor that people did not stop to help because the victims were visibly Jewish or Israeli. But the fact is the attack did occur and no-one stopped to help the victims. That is disturbing in itself.

Update: By the way, the Torah commands Jews to help out in such a situation, when it states (Leviticus 19:16):

“You shall not stand over the blood of your neighbor”

I am so proud to be part of a religion like this, rather than part of the moral relativism crowd.

Victoria’s Liberal party campaign director has been outed as an anti-Semite for calling a Liberal candidate a “greedy f***ing jew.”

And as a complete dumbass for invoking the “some of my best friends are Jewish” defense.

The Victorian Liberal campaign director who sent an anti-Semitic email to a colleague has quit her job and apologised for her remark.

State president David Kemp said Susan Chandler was given the option of quitting or being sacked.

Chandler had described a candidate in an email as a “greedy f***ing jew”.

In the latest shot fired in an internal party war that has the Liberals reeling, an email, forwarded from campaign officer John Osborn, shows Ms Chandler making the reference to Liberal Party candidate Adam Held.

In a statement, Ms Chandler said she has many Jewish friends and is not anti-Semitic.

She said her comments were completely out of character, and made on the spur of the moment during a difficult period of the election campaign.

The anti-Semitic remark follows a request from Mr Held for more election campaign pamphlets in October last year.

You can see the email exchange that led to her “completely out of character”, “spur of the moment” comment made “during a difficult period of the election campaign” below.

You may recall the appalling Independent op-ed by excrement-loving “journalist” Johann Hari, which was nicely picked apart by Honest Reporting.

Well, the factually (and horizontally) challenged Hari has responded by accusing critics of launching a smear campaign against him to make him look like an anti-Jewish bigot (hat tip: Honest Reporting). As Melanie Phillips writes:

But the most remarkable and revealing comment of all by Hari is this:

Alan Dershowitz and Melanie Phillips are two of the most prominent figures sent in to attack anyone who disagrees with the Israeli right.

‘Sent in’, eh? By whom, exactly? By the world-wide Jewish/Zionist/Likudnik conspiracy, of course. Yup, it’s those Protocols again. Whoops, what a giveaway. Case proved, I think.

Melanie also notes that Hari’s “comeback” mysteriously vanished, but is accessible here thanks to the wonders of Google cache.

It seems Hari is digging so deep, he must be trying to create a new underground sewerage system for the palestinians.