…Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib recently told an audience that the Palestinians must rise up and a launch a third Intifada. In addition, he said that Palestinians must line up behind the resistance and jihad to free Palestinian prisoners.

Well, it seems that Islamic Jihad’s Secretary General, Ramadan Shallah, did not want to be left out.

Palestine Today reports that in a recent speech, Shallah called on Palestinians to “further the way of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine and release of all Palestinian prisoners.”

Update: It appears that a major rally took place today in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon today, Ein Al-Hilweh. During the rally, an Islamic Jihad official called for an “escalation of jihad.” Specifically, the official called on people to kidnap Israeli soldiers to force Israel to release more Palestinian prisoners.

Representatives from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, the Amal movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and others partook in the rally.

Imagine a nation that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, allows gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, provides domestic-partner benefits in the private and public sectors, recognizes gay adoptions (and gay marriages performed abroad), has LGBT celebrities whose careers haven’t been hurt by their coming out, and saw more than 100,000 people attend its most recent Pride parade—even though the whole country is smaller than the state of New Jersey?

What if I told you that, despite being one of the most pro-gay democracies on Earth, this country is under fire from the gay-activist set?

You may have guessed: I’m talking about Israel—a country that, when it comes to Pride, proves size doesn’t always matter.

—-

Many vocal queer activists are accusing Israel of using its positive record on LGBT rights to divert national and international attention away from Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. They’ve created a term for this: Pinkwashing.

In the New York Times op-ed “Israel and Pinkwashing,” Jewish lesbian writer and playwright Sarah Schulman defines the term as “a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.”

Pinkwashing is a misleading term because it implies that Israel’s treatment of gays is merely a stunt, which is completely invalid. Are pinkwashing activists really suggesting that the richness and diversity of pro-gay life there is all a conspiracy by the government to distract me from other issues within the region? It would be hard to make up the reality that is gay life in large swaths of Israel.

You really can’t invent a climate of not just tolerance, but acceptance, for the sole sake of propaganda.

If people like Schulman are claiming that progressive attitudes towards the gay community are being used to conceal certain violations against Palestinian people, then they must also accuse Israel of womenwashing (for the rights women have), speechwashing (for freedom of speech), presswashing (freedom of press) and other transgressions.

Each year the Human Rights Campaign applauds Fortune 500 companies that provide benefits to their LGBT employees. Is HRC pinkwashing by not highlighting some questionable practices of Corporate Equality Index honorees like Bank of America and Nike?

In January, members of our LGBT community have been arrested and tortured in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for their sexual identity. Why have we heard so little from these same activists protesting such atrocities?

And how many of them protested Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s  anti-gay statements when he visited New York City?

I have no issue with people criticizing Israel’s policies or treatment of the Palestinians but the Jewish State is singled out more than many other nations. Activists are perpetually dismissing Israel’s record on LGBT rights for the sake of highlighting other issues.

This is wrong.

Israel is held to a standard that no other country has to clear: In the last ten years, the United States went to war with Iraq and Afghanistan and civilian losses there caused by the U.S. military are far higher and have continued longer than any conflict in Israel.  

Read the whole thing.

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

[source]

a) 49

b) 56

c) 62

d) 70

e) 81

Answer here.

I wouldn’t have guessed.

It appears that someone gave Delta a ring and well, the rest is history.

Muhammad Al-Mane’i, Sinai Bedouin: There was a time when they would bring us jeans. These pants used to have belts. If you looked at these belts from the front, you’d find a secret compartment, and when you opened it, you would find a magnet inside. When we asked what these magnets were, we were told that they cause sterility.

Interviewer: In other words, it causes infertility.

Muhammad Al-Mane’i: Exactly.

Interviewer: There was a time when these jeans with belts would invade us from Israel, and we used to take the magnets out and chuck them away.

[…]

Interviewer: Israeli products contain lethal poison. You might not feel this poison now, but you will in the future. Israel will remain an enemy lying in wait for Egypt, no matter what happens and regardless of the agreements, because Israel has its eye set on Egypt.

What the Bedouin fails to realize is how Zionist Death Jeans^TM are even more lethal in combination with Zionist Sex Gum.^TM

In any event, I think you’ll agree jeans that not only have the ability to cause infertility, but also the ability to invade people, are pretty impressive.

Diabolical!

Here again, from their own explanation of why to boycott Osem are our suggested reasons why you might consider giving Osem your patronage by buycotting them:

Osem is Israels 4th largest food & beverages company (by turnover) after Tnuva, Strauss and Coca-Cola. It has a turnover of $712 million and nearly 5000 employees with 14 factories in Israel.

Its brands include Beit Hashitah (pickles), Of Tov (frozen meat products), Habait (ready made cakes) and Sabra Salads (ready-made salads and spreads). Osem also owns 58% of meat-substitute manufacturer Tivall Foods.

According to Osem’s website its products are sold in Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison, with each store marketing them under their own label. Waitrose online site Ocado sells a range of Osem products from soups, crackers and croutons. Tesco online sells a range of Osem cakes.

In April 2009, Osem UK announced its acquisition of Yarden GB. Yarden GB’s product range includes chilled meats and Yarden wines from the Golan Heights Winery, located in Katzrin on the occupied Syrian Israeli Golan Heights (liberated from the brutal Syrian regime thus saving their residents from the ongoing suffering of those left behind in Syria). Golan Heights Winery exports 38% of all Israeli wines, its wine brands also include Gamla and Golan [BoL: my regular evening glass of red wine is usually an inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot from the Galil]. According to Yarden GB’s website its products are available in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Budgens, Somerfield, Waitrose and Harrods. Waitrose online site Ocado sells a range of Yarden meat and houmous products.

Which all adds up to countless reasons why it’s easy for you to help an Israeli company and buy fine products which you’ll actually enjoy.

This has been another in the Israellycool Buycott series based on the poster put out by Islamic groups in the UK and distributed for free to Mosques all over the UK.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran was the first country in the region in terms of scientific achievements and scientific articles authoring last year, Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Nasrin Soltankhah announced.
 
Speaking to the Islamic republic news agency on Monday, Soltankhah announced that according to Scopus, the acclaimed ISI Web of Science, Iran published over 33,000 scientific articles in 2011.

As per the information released from ISI Web of Knowledge Iranian researchers published 18,600 articles in 2010, she added, adding Iran ranked 12th in terms of nano technologies and scientific achievements across the globe.

The remarks by Soltankhah came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at the West for using scientific capabilities to dominate the world nations, and stressed that the Iranian nation’s progress in science and technology will serve the interests of human society.

Iran has made huge achievements in various fields of science and technology, from nuclear knowledge to stem cell and Nano technology.

In a most recent case, Iranian Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi announced in September that the country would soon start production of 15 types of anti-cancer drugs.

“15 types of monoclonal anti-body drugs are being synthesized with the help of the Scientific Department of the Presidential Office, using hi-tech technology,” Vahid Dastjerdi said.

Far be it from me to rain on the party but..

• The population of Iran is over 75 million. So 33,000 scientific articles published equates to approximately 44 per 100,000 of population. Israel’s output in 2009 was approximately 189 per 100,000, and on an upward trend.
• Analyze this:

Click to enlarge

[source: The Global Innovation Index 2011]

And I could go on and on, but even Israel’s harshest critics would have to recognize our scientific contribution to the world far outstrips anything from Iran.

I would just add that I’m glad to see the Iranian Health Minister announce Iran will soon start production of 15 types of anti-cancer drugs. It’s just their main cancer fighting strategy I have a big problem with.

Egypt’s Committee of Foreign Relations of the People’s Assembly decided on Monday that it would boycott any parliamentary events and activities if any Israelis official is one of the participants, describing their neighbor as a “Zionist entity.”

This came in response to an inquiry by MP Helal el-Dandarawi concerning the Parliament’s position towards the relations with the Israeli Trade Union and labor associations as well as the Knesset.

Essam el-Erian, chairman of the committee and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood`s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said “normalization with the Zionist entity” is rejected unequivocally and this “is the decision of the Egyptian People,” adding that the committee “refuses to participate in any parliamentary or political events that includes the Israeli participation.”

He continued to say that “the question that should be discussed by parliament is if there is an international conference attended by Israelis, should Egyptian MPs withdraw or not?”

Wahid Abdel Meguid, also a member of the committee, called for taking a clear stance on this issue, which is to “boycott any political or parliamentary events attended by Israeli delegations.”

MP Emad Gad stated that despite knowing that normalization is widely rejected, however, “there are international conferences that have to be attended even if Israelis are participating,” adding that “sometimes boycotting is not the right step to take.”

El–Erian said the parliament is not an “official institution that represents the state or government, but it represents the people, who reject normalization with Israel.”

A cold, cold peace.

T’u B’Shavat (the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shavat) is traditionally Israel’s tree planting holiday. You can order trees to be planted on your behalf on the mountains of Israel, Samaria. A certificate will be sent to you with dedication message in honor of the dear one of your choice. Payments can be made by contacting David Ha’Ivri via e-mail with special directions and tree order configurations .

Opportunities for planting large plots for congregations or families are available. Being that transparency is very important to us, we would be overjoyed to take you to see the site of the trees planted with your help. So please let David Ha’Ivri know when you plan to be in Israel!

Contact David via twitter or by email: info @ yeshuv . org

Most of the “official” Republicans don’t show much sign of understanding real personal freedoms in a framework of personal responsibilities either.

So like our frequent commenter here, juvanya, you’re drawn to the one man who, especially on domestic economics and personal freedoms in the US, says all the right things. I do get that.

And I also listen to the No Agenda Podcast and they love Ron Paul for most of the same reasons.

But on foreign policy he either doesn’t have a clue how it should be done or he’s evil. I veer toward the former. Barry Rubin picked apart a particular plank of Ron Paul platform on foreign issues: they hate us because we bombed them. It turns out if you actually look at Iranian history concerning the rise of the Shah instead of believing media soundbites, you learn something. When it comes to the 7th century form of Islam that rules Iran and as espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood elsewhere: they hate us. Why? Because we exist and continue not to bow down and submit.

But that’s just one aspect. The following started off as an email to Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak relating to things they said on No Agenda yesterday, but if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for Israellycool readers!

1. The Israelis I know (real people) don’t want American GI’s fighting for us: we didn’t want Gulf War 1 or 2 and when the Scuds were falling the country had to forcibly restrained from fighting back. Iraq wasn’t Iran and even when the US et al went to Iraq the 2nd time, Israel was quietly screaming that Iran was the problem. All we ask is that if the shit really kicks off, you’ll help us with guns and bullets so we can hold our own: we don’t need guys, girls, gays or pilots: we have our own. In the past this hasn’t happened and in our hour of need we’ve been let down.

2. During the last war with Lebanon thousands of real Iranian and Syrian supplied rockets landed on real homes and real people in northern Israel. I know them. I know where they landed. I know my brother in law was wounded by an Iranian re-manufactured Chinese anti-tank missile. The ONLY reason we had so few civilian casualties was because we all (even me here in Tel Aviv 1 km from the sea) have mandated safe rooms in all new homes. In the north those saved countless lives. Some Israeli Arabs break the law and build without these expensive rooms: in the last war a disproportionate number of Israeli Arab civilians in the north died from Hezbollah’s rockets. Hezbollah called them Martyrs. Nice.

3. I know you guys follow the mantra “words matter” and they do, but your quibbling (and Dr P’s) about the exact words Ahmedinnnerjacket uses to wish me dead don’t matter in English translation. In the end it all comes down to the following because both Sunni and Shi Islam take the following line from the stories of the life of Muhammad as, well, “gospel” and very very seriously:

“The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”

Add in that, like saying Voldermort in the Harry Potter books, Ahmedin-Jihad (which is what his name really means), can’t say Israel (there is a perfectly good Farsi word for us) so he uses various constructs around Zionist regime or Zionist rulers. There has never been any sane person who claims that should any Muslim army conquer present Israel, the result for us 6 million Jews (we’ve hit that number here now) living here would be pretty.

Update: I threw in the line above separating out the Jihad sound from the end of Ahmadinejad’s name more as a rhetorical flourish than a serious exegesis. I’m grateful to juvanya in the comments for the following:

As for Ahmadinejad, you are absolutely wrong about what it means and I highly recommend you correct this. Ahmadinejad means “from the race of Ahmad”.

There’s so much more not to like in Islamic scripture but if I had to pick only one it would be that one. It’s no coincidence this is a favourite passage when rulers want to whip up a mob. There’s no escaping that Muhammad by his own hand murdered hundreds of Jews: and he is the perfect man to be emulated.

Iran’s regime (and not just front man and puppet Ahmadinejad) are firm believers in an Iranian apocalyptic end of days form of Islam. The really are nuts: MAD doesn’t work with these guys and that is why we’re worried. I’ve also read the IAEA reports (I even have some inside info) but that agency was so thoroughly broken especially under El Baradi that we can’t trust anything it says (even when it says they are working on bad stuff).

In the end, and I know why you guys are suspicious of your government, there is one obligation I believe the Israeli government does take seriously and that is summed up by Never Again. The media in the US and the West never showed the photos of the train tracks, they never showed the photos of the camps and nothing was done. We’re not going quietly again. And after they showed it and after the “liberation”, the British kept as many Jews out of Israel as they could even (you don’t know this) cutting the food rations of the 100,000 survivors in the Displaced Persons camps in Europe if they tried to get to Israel.

BTW I, like many others in Israel, would prefer not to get the loan guarantees we get from the US with which we must buy US weapons. I’d prefer we made more of our own and exported them back to you but the realities of modern weapon systems are such that we don’t have the scale the US has. We already do that with upgrades as most of your top weapon systems have been improved here (again I have personal first hand experience with this). The F15 is only still in service because of Israeli upgrades.

I ain’t going back to the UK and America has turned me down once already. This is my home and we’ll fight to keep it.