text:
A Sept. 5th story on post-war Gaza reconstruction in The Independent by Natasha Culzak, titled "Israel-Gaza Crisis: Reconstruction of flattened Gaza will cost £5billion, Palestinian officials say", included the following claim:
Tag Archives: European Union
Economist imperiously lectures Europe's Jews on their exaggerated fears of antisemitism
In fairness, a characteristically anonymous article in the June 7th print edition of the Economist, titled 'Of guns and ballot boxes', about European antisemitism, does partly acknowledge the seriousness of the problem – exemplified most dramatically by the recent jihadist shooting attack in Brussels (and the 2012 attack in Toulouse), as well as the success of some extreme-right parties in the EU elections.
However, it doesn't take long for the author to descend into PC-inspired obfuscations.
The Economist writes:
There was a time when the new Europe opening after the fall of the Berlin Wall seemed to augur a golden age for European Jewry. Jewish life was restored where it had been extinguished, and the expanding borders of a post-national Europe offered new opportunities to Jews scattered across borders. Plainly, nationalism is reasserting itself. And lingering anti-Semitism of the old, Christian-based sort is now mixed with radical Islamism among disenchanted Muslims.
However, a survey by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), cited by the Economist elsewhere in the article, contradicts the claim that "Christian-based" antisemitism "is now "mixed" with antisemitism by "disenchanted Muslims". Here's breakdown of the relevant data from the FRA on the perpetrators of antisemitic harassment:
Perpetrators of the most serious incidents of antisemitic harassment were described by FRA respondents: Across Europe, 27% of perpetrators were perceived as someone with "Muslim extremist views"; 22% were perceived as "left-wing political views"; and 19% as "right-wing views", and 7% as 'someone with an extremist Christian view'.
Note that, contrary to the Economist claim, not only did very few victims of antisemitic harassment characterize the perpetrator as "Christian" (7%), but nearly 50% described their perpetrator as either a Muslim extremist or someone with "left-wing political views". Indeed, as should be obvious to commentators who take modern antisemitism seriously, while the extreme right continues to present a serious problem, the newly resurgent European antisemitism is increasingly a leftist and Islamist phenomenon.
In addition to such rhetorical slights of hand, later in the article the Economist author begins lecturing Jews on the alleged folly of taking too seriously warnings that "Europe is no longer safe for Jews".
Whilst the Economist putatively acknowledges Jewish fears in this passage:
A survey last year by the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency showed that nearly a third of Jews had considered leaving in the previous five years because they did not feel safe. Three-quarters felt that anti-Semitism was worsening, with the situation in Hungary and France especially bad.
They then reach the following conclusion:
Yet, worrying as such changes are, they may not be a signal for Jews to pack up and leave. To state the obvious, anti-Semitism in Europe is not sponsored by governments, and there are no organised pogroms or Nuremberg laws. Berlin boasts the world's fastest-growing Jewish community. Jews are free to stay or leave. Moving to Israel may fulfill a religious, cultural or political need for many Jews, but it is not safer than staying in Europe.
So, the Economist seems to be telling the large number of Jews (up to one-third of the total Jewish population) who have considered leaving Europe – and moving to Israel – because they don't feel safe, that their fears are irrational. In addition to the hubris of such a suggestion, additional data from the FRA survey paints a very clear picture of why Jews would feel freer and safer in Israel.
- One third (33%) of Jews in the EU worry about being physically attacked because of being Jewish. The UK has the lowest levels of fear, with 28% worrying about verbal abuse and 17% worrying about physical attack. Highest is France, at 70% and 60% respectively.
- Across Europe, 27% of Jews in the EU at least occasionally avoid local places because they do not feel safe there because they are Jewish. Belgium (42%), Hungary (41%) and France (35%) are the worst places for this.
And, most disturbingly:
- 68% of Jews in the EU at least occasionally avoid wearing items in public that might identify them as Jewish. The figure for the UK is 59%; the highest figures were in Sweden (79%) and France (75%).
Though there are of course a small number of anti-Jewish incidents in the state perpetrated by a minuscule number of Israeli Arabs, all Jews living in Israel (and European Jews considering emigrating there) are secure in the knowledge that the government will use the power of the state – a nation whose very raison d'être is to serve as a Guardian of the Jews – to fiercely protect their freedom.
One needn't resort to unserious hyperbole about the "return to the 1930′s" to take Jewish fears seriously, and be gravely concerned that – 70 years after the Holocaust – a disturbingly high percentage of what's left of European Jewry once again feel themselves under the yoke of the continent's oldest hatred.
Related articles
One man's "illegal settlement" is another man's "historic Jewish homeland"
Even though Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US and EU, most Western journalists don't dare use the word "terrorist" when characterizing the group, out of concern that the term is prejudicial and subjective. They often opt instead for the term "militant".
A great example of this 'sensitivity' can be found in the Guardian's Style Guide, which cautions its writers that they "need to be very careful about using the term" as "it is still a subjective judgment", before concluding that "one person's terrorist may be another person's freedom fighter".
Regarding Israeli communities across the 1949 Armistice Lines, however, there is rarely any such concern about using subjective, tendentious terminology.
Such towns on the 'wrong' side of the green line are almost always characterized as "illegal", despite the fact that this designation largely rests on an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice – a decision (based on an interpretation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention) which many believe was reached using specious legal logic.
In fact, most journalists don't even bother explaining to readers why they believe Israeli settlements are illegal. They don't cite the ICJ advisory opinion. And, they certainly don't note the existence of dissenting opinions by highly respected legal scholars.
Interestingly, however, a journalist for the Independent named Ben Lynfield recently tried to explain the international legal basis for describing settlements as "illegal", in a report on June 5 titled 'Israel plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in occupied territories to punish the Hamas backed Palestinian Authority'.
Here's the relevant paragraph:
Palestinian leaders said they would not remain quiet over the settlement expansion and spoke of using their non-member state status at the UN to hold Israel accountable for violating international law. Settlement contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention's ban on an occupying power settling its nationals in the occupied territory.
In addition to the fact that Lynfield fails to explain which legal body reached an "advisory" opinion that settlements "contravene the Fourth Geneva Convention", he also distorts the language of the Convention, and omits key words which are highly relevant to the debate.
Here's the exact language of Article 49, in the opening sentence. (You can read the full text here)
Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.
As you can see, contrary to Lynfield's claims, the passage does not seem to prohibit the "settling" nationals in "occupied territory", as Lynfield claims, but speaks explicitly of a prohibition against "forcible transfers".
International lawyer Prof. Eugene V. Rostow, a former dean of Yale Law School and U.S. Undersecretary of State, wrote the following in 1990:
[T]he Convention prohibits many of the inhumane practices of the Nazis and the Soviet Union during and before the Second World War – the mass transfer of people into and out of occupied territories for purposes of extermination, slave labor or colonization, for example….The Jewish settlers in the West Bank are most emphatically volunteers. They have not been "deported" or "transferred" to the area by the Government of Israel, and their movement involves none of the atrocious purposes or harmful effects on the existing population it is the goal of the Geneva Convention to prevent.
Ambassador Morris Abram, a member of the U.S. staff at the Nuremberg Tribunal who was later involved in the drafting of the Fourth Geneva Convention, is on record as stating the following:
[The Convention] was not designed to cover situations like Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, but rather the forcible transfer, deportation or resettlement of large numbers of people.
Similarly, international lawyer Prof. Julius Stone, in referring to the absurdity of considering Israeli settlements as a violation of Article 49(6), wrote:
Irony would…be pushed to the absurdity of claiming that Article 49(6), designed to prevent repetition of Nazi-type genocidal policies of rendering Nazi metropolitan territories judenrein, has now come to mean that…the West Bank…must be made judenrein and must be so maintained, if necessary by the use of force by the government of Israel against its own inhabitants. Common sense as well as correct historical and functional context excludes so tyrannical a reading of Article 49(6.)
David M. Phillips argued thusly in an essay at Commentary:
Concluding that Israeli settlements violate Article 49(6) also overlooks the Jewish communities that existed before the creation of the state in areas occupied by today's Israeli settlements, for example, in Hebron and the Etzion block outside Jerusalem. These Jewish communities were destroyed by Arab armies, militias, and rioters, and, as in the case of Hebron, the community's population was slaughtered. Is it sensible to interpret Article 49 to bar the reconstitution of Jewish communities that were destroyed through aggression and slaughter? If so, the international law of occupation runs the risk of freezing one occupier's conduct in place, no matter how unlawful.
While reasonable people can of course disagree with Israeli settlement policy – in the context of efforts to one day reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians – lazily asserting that such settlements are "illegal" is ahistorical, and has, at best, a highly questionable basis in international law.
Professional journalists (such as Ben Lynfield) should at least avoid language suggesting that the "illegality" of Israeli settlements represents a universally agreed upon understanding of international law, and acknowledge – at the very least – the existence of highly credible dissenting legal opinions.
Employing the Guardian's post-modern logic regarding the word "terrorist", you could say that "one man's illegal settlement is another man's (legally codified) historic Jewish homeland".
Email shows The Independent got it wrong on Antisemitism working definition
Recently we posted about a peculiar essay about the EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism at The Independent, written by a journalist who's admitted to being prejudiced against Jews. Though you can read our post to see several of her erroneous claims about antisemitism, and Israel more broadly, we recently were provided evidence which refutes one specific claim made in the article – that the EU retired the Working Definition.
First, here's the EUMC Working Definition:
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
- Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
- Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
- Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel taking into account the overall context could include:
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
- Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
Despite Bar-Hillel's enthusiastic suggestion that the Working Definition was retired, which she claimed (per the Livingstone Formulation), served to allow Jews to stifle the free speech of Israel's critics, we pointed to the following facts:
- The Working Definition was endorsed by the London Declaration of the Inter Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism in 2009.
- In 2010, the UK All-Party Inquiry into antisemitism recommended that the Working Definition should be adopted and promoted by the Government and law enforcement agencies.
- The UK National Union of Students renewed their support for the Working Definition in 2013.
- An official document published by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) recommends the Working Definition as a valuable hate crime data collection tool for law enforcement agencies, and for educators.
- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has formally recognized the Working Definition.
Recently, a CiF Watch reader forwarded us her email exchange with a representative from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) – the successor agency to the EUMC (European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia).
Now, here's the FRA reply:
The next time a commentator hostile to Jews or Israel claims that the EU "retired" or "repudiated" the EUMC Working Definition, you can definitively respond that their Fundamental Rights Agency – per their own words – did nothing of the sort.
As we've noted on numerous occasions, the Working Definition is not law.
However, it does represent a widely respected and practical guide (formulated by NGOs and reps from the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination section of the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in 2005) used by law enforcement agencies and human rights bodies in the EU to help determine what constitutes anti-Jewish racism.
Those committed to defending the fundamental human rights of Jews would be wise to follow their lead.
Related articles
- Antisemitic reporter Mira Bar-Hillel pens op-ed (on antisemitism!) for The Independent (cifwatch.com)
- In Praise of the EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism (cifwatch.com)
- BBC Trust ESC exploited for anti-Israel faux point scoring (bbcwatch.org)
- Yes, boycotting the goods and services of six million Jews is certainly antisemitic. (cifwatch.com)
- Why is a Swedish Jew filing for political asylum in her own country? (cifwatch.com)
- David Ward MP – Jews, money and power (cifwatch.com)
Yes, boycotting the goods and services of six million Jews is certainly antisemitic.
An Australian named Antony Loewenstein penned a piece at 'Comment is Free' on Nov. 7 which not only endorsed the unfiltered hate of Max Blumenthal, but defended the claim that the BDS movement against Israel is not antisemitic – specifically justifying the boycott of (of all places) Hebrew University, the Israeli academic institution known for its history of promoting coexistence.
Loewenstein wrote the following:
Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center is an Israel-based organisation that claims to be a civil group "fighting for rights of hundreds of terror victims". It is currently taking Jake Lynch, head of Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS), to the Australian federal court. They assert that Lynch has allegedly breached the 1975 racial discrimination act by refusing to sponsor a fellowship application by Israeli academic Dan Avnon. Lynch and CPACS support BDS, and since Avnon works at Hebrew University.
Of course, as anyone who's been to either its Givat Ram campus or its main campus at Mount Scopus can attest to, Hebrew University is where Jews and Arabs (both Christian and Muslim) can be found mingling freely in the classroom, the cafeteria, and other common areas – sometimes encountering each other for the first time. Indeed, it was no coincidence that the university was the target of a Hamas terrorist attack in 2002, where a bomb packed with shrapnel was placed in a bag in a crowded cafeteria, killing nine people – four Israelis and five foreign nationals – and injuring 85.
Loewenstein addresses the issue of BDS and antisemitism in the following sentence:
The Australian which has been driving the debate on the issue, publishing countless stories that deliberately conflates antisemitism and support for the BDS movement.
Interestingly, Lowenstein doesn't spend any further space attempting to back up his argument. Indeed, as his own one-state advocacy demonstrates, BDS advocates who target the entire country and all of its institutions are typically not trying to undermine the legitimacy of the settlements but, rather, the legitimacy of the state's existence within any borders.
As a comprehensive survey published recently by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) indicates, campaigns which seek the economic, cultural and academic exclusion of Israeli Jews is viewed as racist by a large majority of Europe's Jews. This survey of Jewish people's experiences and perceptions of antisemitism in the EU (which covers the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Italy Hungary, and Latvia) reported that 72 percent believed that the boycott of Israeli goods was antisemitic.
Perceptions of the moral implications of boycotting the only Jewish state should be contextualized within the overall results of the poll, which found that an increasing number of Jews in Europe fear for their safety, with nearly 30 percent of respondents having seriously considered emigrating due to antisemitism. Additionally, 26 percent had experienced one or more incident of antisemitic harassment in the previous 12 months and, quite chillingly, nearly 70 percent "at least occasionally avoid wearing items in public that might identify them as Jewish".
John-Paul Pagano, in his superb essay at The Tower on the legacy of Norman Geras, wrote the following on the moral double-standards at play which unite antisemitism and anti-Zionism:
Norm had little patience for the standard defense that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. "No, it isn't," he wrote, "unless it is." He granted that the two are not necessarily the same, but he rejected the idea that simply announcing the difference grants immunity from charges of racism. "In the outpouring of hatred towards Israel today," he wrote, "it scarcely matters what part of it is impelled by a pre-existing hostility towards Jews as such and what part by a groundless feeling that the Jewish state is especially vicious among the nations of the world…. Both are forms of anti-Semitism."
Anti-Zionist activists like Loewenstein evidently wake up in the morning, glance at the news coming out of the Middle East, and react in righteous fury not at the medieval antisemitism codified in Hamas's founding charter, or the sick spectacle of Palestinian children reciting lessons learned on the immutable evil of those "sons of monkeys and pigs", but, perversely, at the Jewish target of this monstrous, consuming hate.
The unsettling reality is that seventy-five years after Kristallnacht an increasing percentage of Europe's tiny Jewish minority again feel the anxiety born of racism, exclusion and violence. And, the fact that this beleaguered community interprets a campaign of boycotts targeting six million of their coreligionists as antisemitic should only offend those who fail to interpret the refrain "never again" as a moral imperative to safeguard the rights and safety of living Jews, not merely the memory of those who have long since perished.
Related articles
- Alibi Antisemitism (Norman Geras)
- BDS: The new anti-Jewish boycott (Gerald Steinberg)
- FRA survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States (cifwatch.com)
FRA survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in EU Member States
Cross posted by The CST
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) today published its ground breaking survey of Jewish people's experiences and perceptions of hate crime, discrimination and antisemitism in the EU.
The survey covers the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Italy Hungary, and Latvia: around 90% of the estimated Jewish population in the EU. It will enable European politicians to understand Jewish concerns and to better respond to them.
CST wrote a preview of the survey, with some of its pre-released findings, on the CST Blog last week. The full survey has been published today and is available here, with a summary here (pdf). The full data of the survey can be explored here. It is highly detailed, with dozens of questions answered for each country.
Due to the wealth of information revealed, any summary will inevitably be limited. Some of the key findings are summarised below, in which figures are averaged out for Europe as a whole. Next week, CST Blog will analyse the UK statistics and other details.
Key findings – Europe general and UK:
Across Europe, 66% of respondents consider antisemitism to be a "very big" or "fairly big" problem in their countries. The UK is lowest, at 48%, and France is highest, at 85%.
Across Europe, 76% say the situation has worsened in the last five years. In the UK this figure is 66%; France is again the highest, at 88%.
Antisemitism is considered the fourth most-pressing social or political issue across the countries surveyed.
Across Europe, in the 12 months before the survey, 26% of respondents experienced one or more incident of antisemitic harassment, which includes verbal abuse or other threatening behaviour in the street, hate mail and antisemitism on social media. The figure for the UK was 21%. Across Europe, 4% of survey respondents had suffered antisemitic physical attack or a threat of violence during the previous year (3% for UK). 76% of victims of antisemitic harassment did not report the most serious incident to the police or any other organisation. (71% in the UK).
Perpetrators of the most serious incidents of antisemitic harassment were described by respondents. Across Europe, 27% of perpetrators were perceived as someone with "Muslim extremist views"; 22% were perceived as "left-wing political views"; and 19% as "right-wing views". The survey report does not give individual country analysis.
Close to half of all respondents (46%) worry about being verbally insulted or harassed in a public place. One third (33%) worry about being physically attacked because of being Jewish. The UK has the lowest levels of fear, with 28% worrying about verbal abuse and 17% worrying about physical attack. Highest is France, at 70% and 60% respectively.
Across Europe, 19% experienced discrimination due to their religion in the past 12 months. For the UK this figure was the second-lowest at 16%, but the UK showed the highest rate of reporting such discrimination, at 24%.
Across Europe, 27% at least occasionally avoid local places because they do not feel safe there because they are Jewish. Belgium (42%), Hungary (41%) and France (35%) are the worst places for this. 23% at least occasionally avoid Jewish events or sites for the same reason. 68% of respondents at least occasionally avoid wearing items in public that might identify them as Jewish. The figure for the UK is 59%; the highest figures were in Sweden (79%) and France (75%).
Across Europe, 11% have either moved or considered moving out of their neighbourhood in the past five years due to concerns for their safety as Jews. 29% have, at some time or other, considered emigration: this rises to 48% for Hungary, 46% for France and 40% for Belgium. In the UK, 18% have considered emigration.
Across Europe, 94% of all respondents consider somebody who says "The Holocaust is a myth or has been exaggerated" to be antisemitic. 81% consider somebody who says "Israelis behave 'like Nazis' towards the Palestinians" to be antisemitic. 72% consider somebody who supports boycotts of Israeli goods or products to be antisemitic. 34% consider somebody who criticises Israel to be antisemitic. In the UK, the figures are 96%, 76%, 65% and 32% respectively.
Across Europe, 75% of respondents considered antisemitism on the internet to be a problem, and 73% thought it had increased over the past 5 years. In the UK, these figures were 63% and 64% respectively.
Across Europe, 68% of respondents said that the Arab-Israeli conflict impacts how safe they feel as a Jewish person in their country. This falls to 57% for the UK, but rises to 90% for France and 93% for Belgium.
The survey also showed significant differences between countries. For example, in the UK, 9% of respondents said they had often heard the statement "Jews are responsible for the current economic crisis", while this figure rose to 59% for Hungary.
CST public statement
In response to media enquiries, CST's public statement regarding the survey is:
The details change from place to place, but this official survey shows that many European Jews are increasingly affected by antisemitism and related trends. In some countries, including Britain, politicians and police are trying to deal with the problem, but these efforts are sorely needed everywhere. Jews also require basic anti-racist solidarity in all of this: solidarity that has been partial, or deliberately denied, far too often since the year 2000.
Survey methods
FRA designed this survey to collect, for the first time, comparable data on antisemitic violence, harassment and hate speech to help tackle antisemitism today. The findings in the survey report compile the results from eight survey countries, which account for some 90% of the estimated Jewish population in the European Union. The results are based on the responses from 5,847 self-identified Jewish respondents (aged 16 or over) living in one of eight EU Member States – Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Due to the sample size, the country results for Romania, one of the countries where the survey was carried out, are not included in the analysis of the survey results. However, the results from Romania are summarised in the report's annex.
FRA designed the survey. The survey was carried out online from September to October 2012 – under contract to FRA following an open call for tender – by Ipsos MORI in partnership with the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) in the UK. It was available in the languages of the survey countries, as well as Hebew and Russian. CST has long-standing relationships with both FRA and JPR and senior CST staff played an advisory role in the project.
The survey asked respondents for their opinions and perceptions on antisemitic trends and antisemitism as a problem in everyday. The respondents were also asked to describe their personal experiences of antisemitic incidents, witnessing antisemitic incidents and worrying about being a victim of an antisemitic attack (affecting their personal safety, safety of children, or other family members and friends). The survey also provides data on whether the occurrence of antisemitic acts against the Jewish community, such as vandalism of Jewish sites or antisemitic messages in the broadcast media or in the internet, is considered to be a problem in their countries by the Jewish respondents. In addition, the survey collected socio-demographic data, such as respondents' gender and age, educational background, employment status, and income.
More data and analysis from the survey will be published on the CST Blog next week.
Related articles
- Preview of official survey on European antisemitism (cifwatch.com)
Preview of official survey on European antisemitism
Cross posted by Mark Gardner at The CST
Next week, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Krystallnacht, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of the European Union will publish the results of its keenly awaited survey, "Jewish people's experiences and perceptions of hate crime, discrimination and antisemitism". It is the largest survey of its type, covering countries in which 90% of European Jews live - Britain, France, Hungary, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Latvia.
The survey does not ask what level of antisemitism ought to somehow be expected, or tolerated. Its questions include asking Jews what they perceive to be antisemitic, what they experience, and how it impacts upon their sense of belonging and future. It does not seek to tell Jews what is or is not antisemitic. It does not define a particular level of antisemitism as "good" or "bad" or "normal". Instead, all of that is quite correctly decided by the respondents.
So, this is an exceptional opportunity for Jewish communities, European politicians, and researchers, to understand both Jewish experiences of antisemitism and Jewish perceptions of antisemitism. The hope and intention is that this gives an urgently needed kick-start for improved protection of European Jews.
The FRA collects data on human rights and racism for EU policy makers. CST has worked very closely with both it and European Jewish partners for many years. This survey arose from our shared concern that Europe's politicians and lawmakers needed to understand, and act upon, a situation that has worsened considerably since the year 2000.
Crucially, our concern was shared by the European Commission, which actually ordered the survey be undertaken. They needed it, because most countries (Britain being an exception) held insufficient data on antisemitism. Furthermore, individual countries could be better held to account for their efforts.
Opposing antisemitism in post-Holocaust Europe should be the most basic of human rights issues. Disgracefully, it is not. Jewish concerns and motives are misrepresented, treated with suspicion, or simply lied about, by all too many supposed anti-racists: including sections of the media, trade unions and churches, where urges to attack Israel and so-called Zionists overwhelm other considerations. That some Jews embrace this corrupt enterprise merely deepens their comrades' contempt for mainstream Jewish (therefore so-called Zionist) concerns.
Regardless of the FRA survey, the reality and impact of European antisemitism has been plainly visible in France, with Jews having been murdered in cold blood, and thousands of French Jews having moved overseas. Hungary is also very worrying, but the problem there is far right nationalists who blame Jews for socioeconomic difficulties: what you might call "the old antisemitism".
Then, there is Malmo in Sweden, widely regarded as the worst example of a local community living in fear, due to high levels of antisemitism from some Muslim residents and a lack of concern, or worse, from local authorities. For the pessimists, Malmo is what the future holds for European Jewry. (See here, for a short impactful article on wearing a kippah in Malmo.)
In Britain, we are relatively fortunate. CST and the Police have had excellent relations since the 1990s; and over the last decade our politicians have taken antisemitism increasingly seriously, with the Parliamentary Committee Against Antisemitism helping to lead the way.
The survey itself was rigorously conducted by London's highly respected Institute for Jewish Policy Research and Ipsos MORI. It posed dozens of questions and each was to be answered by every country. The very few statistics that have already been revealed (mainly by the EU delegation to the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism) contain much food for thought. They include:
- 7% of the 5,847 respondents experienced some form of antisemitic physical attack or threats in the last five years.
- 26% of respondents experienced antisemitic harassment at least once in the year before the survey. This rose to 34% over the past five years.
- 76% of victims of antisemitic harassment, 64% of victims of physical attack or threats, and 52% of victims of vandalism did not report the incident to the police, nor to any other organisation.
- 22% of respondents sometimes avoid "Jewish events or sites" because of safety concerns.
These figures are overall European totals. The specific UK totals are likely to be generally less alarming, but it remains to be seen if they will be substantially different.
The most striking figures released thus far concern Belgium, France and Hungary, where between 40% and 50% of respondents said that they had considered emigrating because they do not feel safe. This statistic goes to the heart of how the present and past experience of antisemitism impacts upon Jewish feelings of safety and future, and upon Europe itself.
The few figures released thus far more than justify why the survey was commissioned. The perpetrators and triggers of antisemitism may differ across the continent, but there is an urgent need for local politicians to develop effective counter-strategies against it.
- The Jewish Chronicle carries a slightly shorter version of the above article.
Related articles
- In Praise of the EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism (cifwatch.com)
- BBC Trust ESC exploited for anti-Israel faux point scoring (bbcwatch.org)
- Guardian 'Australia Edition' fails to cover vicious antisemitic attack in Sydney (cifwatch.com)
- Imagine if Israeli TV referred to Palestinian Muslims as "evil", "barbaric" animals (cifwatch.com)
- British journalist who admitted to anti-Jewish prejudice plays 'dual loyalty' card (cifwatch.com)
In praise of the EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism
In 2005, following several years which saw a disturbing rise in antisemitic violence across Europe, the European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) reached a Working Definition of Antisemitism.
Later in the year, the Working Definition of Antisemitism was prominently referenced at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Cordoba Conference. And, since then, many other bodies have advocated its usage. The one-page Working Definition of Antisemitism (below) evolved as a result of the efforts of a large number of European institutions and human rights experts.
The stated goal of the Working Definition of Antisemitism was to provide a guide (to EU members states) for identifying incidents, collecting data and supporting the implementation and enforcement of legislation dealing with antisemitism.
Here it is:
Recently, a commentator who has expressed sympathy for antisemites, and routinely calls for the end of the Jewish state, used his platform at a site notable for endorsing terrorism and equating Zionism to Nazism, to falsely characterize the Working Definition of Antisemitism as "an abandoned draft text."
Whilst it is narrowly true that the website of Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the successor to the EUMC, doesn't include the text of the Working Definition of Antisemitism – due to the fact that its mandate differs from EUMC – here are the facts:
- The State Department report on Global Antisemitism in 2008 included the following: The EUMC's working definition provides a useful framework for identifying and understanding the problem and is adopted for the purposes of this report
- The Working Definition of Antisemitism was cited by the US State Department's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in testimony given to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (in Helsinki) in 2011, and is currently endorsed on the State Department's 'Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism' page.
- The Working Definition of Antisemitism was endorsed by the London Declaration of the Inter Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism in 2009.
- In 2010, the UK All-Party Inquiry into antisemitism recommended that the Working Definition of Antisemitism should be adopted and promoted by the Government and law enforcement agencies.
- The UK National Union of Students renewed their support for the Working Definition of Antisemitism in 2013.
- An official document published by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) recommends the Working Definition of Antisemitism as a valuable hate crime data collection tool for law enforcement agencies, and for educators.
- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has formally recognized the Working Definition of Antisemitism.
Though most manifestations of antisemitism included in the Working Definition of Antisemitism shouldn't even need to be pointed out (such as 'calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion'), many who oppose it do so for the following reasons:
1) It defines as antisemitic the equating of Zionism with Nazism.
2) It defines as antisemitic calls for the end of the Jewish state.
It is of course no coincidence that this recent attack on the Working Definition of Antisemitism was leveled by a commentator who continually promotes the second charge at a site which has endorsed the first.
Yet, despite the protests from a few marginal, extremist voices, the Working Definition continues to represent a widely respected, useful tool for understanding modern manifestations of antisemitism, and this blog will continue to use it in our continuing fight against such racism at the Guardian and 'Comment is Free'.
Related articles
- British journalist who admitted to anti-Jewish prejudice plays 'dual loyalty' card (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian 'Australia Edition' fails to cover vicious antisemitic attack in Sydney (cifwatch.com)
- Jonathan Freedland's antisemitism blindspot (cifwatch.com)
- Is Mira Bar Hillel prejudiced against Jews? "Alas, yes." (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian publishes letter by Jenny Tonge on the issue of antisemitism (cifwatch.com)
Jewish Empire? The Guardian refers to communities in Jerusalem as "colonies".
Whilst we're all too used to Guardian reports which demonize Israeli communities on the 'wrong' side of the 1949 armistice lines, we occasionally notice that their reporters at times adopt language about the 'settlements' in Judea and Samaria which parrots that of the most extreme anti-Zionist activists.
A perfect example of this rhetorical expression of pro-Palestinian sympathy was Harriet Sherwood's use of the term "political prisoners" in a Guardian story in May to characterize the pre-Oslo prisoners, all of whom were convicted of (mostly terrorist related) murder, accessory to murder or attempted murder. Though we were able to influence the Guardian to remove that grossly inaccurate term from the article in question, we recently came across another example of the propagandistic manipulation of language in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In "Middle East peace talks: prisoner release and new settlement push raises temperature", August 11th, Harriet Sherwood writes the following: [emphasis added]
"Eight hundred of the new homes will be built in colonies across the pre-1967 Green Line in Jerusalem – the part of the city the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state. Construction could take two years. All settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law."
Similarly, a month earlier in "EU takes tougher stance on Israeli settlements", Sherwood wrote this:
"The European Union has dealt a harsh blow to the Israeli settlement enterprise in a directive that insists all future agreements between the EU and Israel must explicitly exclude Jewish colonies in the West Bank or East Jerusalem."
Of course, the word "colonies", as it is normally understood, typically refers to a group of people from one country who settle in a foreign country distant from their homeland – an accurate characterization of the former British Empire, for instance. Indeed, by the early 20th century Britain had 'acquired' foreign colonies representing over one-quarter of the world's land mass, including territories in Africa and Asia thousands of miles from the British mainland, with large indigenous populations.
The neighborhoods in "East" Jerusalem to which Sherwood refers – areas such as Pisgat Ze'ev and Gilo which non-Jews, including Israeli Arabs, will also live - are currently uninhabited and are adjacent to existing Israeli neighborhoods.
To refer even to Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") as "colonies" is ahistorical, given the historical Jewish connection to these ancient lands, but to impute such a pejorative status to such neighborhoods in Jerusalem is nothing more than extremist agitprop – denying Jews' religious and historical connection to the city (literally the epicenter of the faith), as well as Jews' continuous presence there for thousands of years.
The only time of course that "Arab East Jerusalem" was indeed completely Arab (without any Jews) was after the Arab-Israeli War in 1948-49 during which they were forcefully expelled by the Jordanians – a Judenfrei status which only ended in 1967.
To refer to neighborhoods in Jerusalem where Israelis live as "colonies" not only grotesquely distorts history and ordinary language, but also echoes the hateful anti-Zionist rhetoric of Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada and Ben White - those who continually attempt to undermine not only the legitimacy of the "settlements" but the very right of the Jewish state to exist within any borders.
Related articles
- No human being is illegal: The Guardian's vilification of settlers is immoral & illogical (cifwatch.com)
- Guardian refers to 'Judea and Samaria' as a "right-wing" geographical designation (cifwatch.com)
- BBC coverage of building tenders reaches hysterical highs (bbcwatch.org)
- Jerusalem: a history (CAMERA)
No human being is illegal: The Guardian's vilification of settlers is immoral & illogical
A guest post by Gidon Ben-Zvi
In an August 12 article the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent Harriet Sherwood reported that, "In highly contentious moves heralding the renewal of Middle East peace talks this week, Israel…authorized 1,200 new homes to be built in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."
In response, Palestinian leaders warned that continued settlement expansion could scuttle peace talks.
Evidently, if not for Israeli communities on the 'wrong' side of the 1949 armistice lines, peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would have broken out decades ago. And if large swaths of the "international community" evidently deem the territories seized by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War as illegally occupied, then it must be true.
It is easy to see why such a consensus has coalesced around the perceived relationship between the Jewish State and the West Bank. When you google the term 'settlement', pages upon pages of news items, essays, studies and screeds – nearly all of them equating the Jewish civilian communities built on lands captured by Israel during the Six-Day War with illegal occupation – proliferate.
In her report, Sherwood asserts that, "all settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law." However, the term "occupied" In relation to Israel's control of these areas has little basis in international law or history.
A petition by 1,000 international jurists arguing that Israel's West Bank settlements are in fact legal, recently sent to EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, made the following points:
- The long-held view of the EU as to the illegality of Israel's settlements is a misreading of the relevant provisions of international law, and specifically Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is neither relevant to the unique circumstances of Israel's status in the area, nor was it ever applicable, or intended to apply to Israel's circumstances in Judea and Samaria.
- The EU together with other international bodies has consistently ignored authoritative sources, including the 1958 official commentary by International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as the published opinions of prominent international jurists, all of which explain the provenance of Article 49 in the need to address deportations, forced migration, evacuation, displacement, and expulsion of over 40 million people by the Nazis during the Second World War. This has no relevance to Israel's settlements in Judea and Samaria.
- The EU totally ignores the very agreement to which it is signatory as witness, the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, in which it was agreed by the parties, pending a permanent status agreement, to exercise powers and authority in the areas under their respective control. Such powers include planning, zoning and construction. The issues of settlements and Jerusalem, as agreed upon between the parties, are negotiating issues, and hence, determinations by the EU undermine the negotiating process and run against the EU's status as signatory.
- The legality of Israel's presence in the area stems from the historic, indigenous and legal rights of the Jewish people to settle in the area, as granted in valid and binding international legal instruments recognized and accepted by the international community. These rights cannot be denied or placed in question. This includes the 1922 San Remo Declaration unanimously adopted by the League of Nations, affirming the establishment of a national home for the Jewish People in the historical area of the Land of Israel (including the areas of Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem) as well as close Jewish settlement throughout. This was subsequently affirmed internationally in the League of Nations Mandate Instrument, and accorded continued validity, up to the present day, by Article 80 of the UN Charter which reaffirmed the validity of the rights granted to all states or peoples, or already existing international instruments (including those adopted by the League of Nations).
- The inference regarding Israel's borders as recognized by the EU is no less misguided and historically and legally wrong. The pre-1967 Armistice lines (so-called "green" line) were never considered to be borders. UN Security Council resolution 242 (1967), endorsed by the European members of the Council, called for "secure and recognized boundaries" to replace the pre-1967 Armistice lines. The European leaders further endorsed this principle in their 1980 Venice Declaration. By its persistence in referring to the pre-1967 lines, the EU is undermining future negotiation on this issue by pre-determining its outcome.
- In a similar vein, the repeated use by the EU of the term "occupied Arab" or "Palestinian territories" to refer to the area of Judea and Samaria, has no basis in law or fact. The area has never been determined as such, and thus the continued EU usage of the term runs against the very concept of negotiations to resolve the dispute regarding these areas, supported by the EU, to determine their permanent status.
And, leaving aside the legal basis for the settlements for a moment, while the geopolitical situation between Israel and the Palestinians is undeniably tense, it is also remarkably ordinary when perceived through a wider, global lens – especially when you glance at the long list of disputed territories around the world which has somehow eluded the attention of the 'international community'.
Furthermore, the actual area inside the West Bank that's being bickered over is much smaller than popularly understood. Built-up Jewish settlements account for a tiny fraction of the disputed territories. An estimated 70 percent of the settlers live in what are in effect suburbs of major Israeli cities such as Jerusalem. These are areas that virtually the entire Jewish population believes Israel must retain to ensure its security.
Probably the only net benefit to be reaped from the Oslo Accords is that their failure clarified what the true obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is and has always been. It is not the territories, nor the settlements, nor the settlers – but the very existence of Israel. Recent history confirms this Arab intransigence: from 1949–67, when Jews were forbidden to live in the West Bank and "East" Jerusalem, the Arabs nonetheless refused to make peace with the "Zionist Entity".
If it is not the settlements, then what is the true reason for this 45-year-old stalemate? While there are no easy answers, allowing the Jewish population in the territories to grow could arguably even serve as a catalyst for negotiations since the Palestinians would quickly realize that time is on the side of an Israel that is building settlements and creating facts on the ground.
Realizing this, Israel's peace partners may finally acknowledge that the only way out of its dilemma is face-to-face negotiations, without preconditions such as the demand (met by Israel) to release Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, attempted murder, or being an accessory to murder - many of whom identify with terrorist movements which reject peace with the Jewish state under any terms.
Ultimately, the disposition of settlements is a matter for final status negotiations. While one may legitimately support or challenge Israeli settlements in the disputed territories, they are not illegal, and demonizing Jews who live in communities across the green line is certainly not moral and does not help the peace process.
Harriet Sherwood's 'obstacles to peace' have neither the size, population, nor placement to have a serious impact on sincere efforts to reach a comprehensive agreement on all issues related to the disputed territories.
(Gidon Ben-Zvi is a Jerusalem-based writer who regularly contributes to Times of Israel and the Algemeiner)
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The intoxicated anti-Zionist rants of Rachel Shabi
Professional Jewish critics of Israel – those commentators who in some manner leverage their connection to Judaism to garner more credibility when launching often hysterical attacks on the Jewish state – are as much defined by their hubris as their political orientation.
Writers like Peter Beinart, Richard Silverstein, or Daniel Levy truly believe they are equipped with a superior intellect and moral understanding, and often suggest – when offering criticism indistinguishable from the rhetoric of the most ardent anti-Zionists – that they are actually engaging in a political form of 'tough love'. They are saving Israeli Jews from their own destructive tendencies – "saving Israel," as it were, "from itself."
The following is the headline from Rachel Shabi's latest 'Comment is Free' commentary, opining on recent news regarding European Union guidelines which restrict EU funding for Israeli projects across the green line.
Whilst the quote concerning water thrown at a "drunk" was actually from the site of the far-left group Gush Shalom, it was specifically cited by Shabi (in the passage which follows) to illustrate Israel's collective state of mind in refusing to bow to such international criticism over the construction of homes across the green line.
Israel sees international policy on settlements as simply a guideline or position statement, as opposed to actual law. This escalating sense of hubris over settlement expansion – and getting away with it – is what makes the EU move such a shock for Israel: Gush Shalom, Israel's peace bloc, likened the EU decision to "a bucket of cold water poured on the head of a drunk".
Of course such gratuitous pejorative depictions and smears of the Jewish state are nothing new for the frequent 'Comment is Free' contributor.
Since 2002 Shabi (born to Iraqi Jewish parents) has published over 100 essays at 'Comment is Free' on the topic of Israel, and the themes have been as predictable as they have been facile. Israelis (or Jews as such) are almost never the object of Shabi's sympathetic imagination, and she quite excels at imputing to Israel the the very worst motives, regardless of the issue being addressed.
Themes explored by Shabi at 'Comment is Free' include the following:
- Israelis oppressing Palestinians
- Israelis oppressing its Arab citizens and other minorities
- Israelis oppressing foreign workers
- Narratives attempting to deny Israel's democratic advantages
- Suggestions that Israel is moving to the extreme right politically
Themes not explored by Shabi:
- Palestinian incitement and the glorification of terrorism
- Extreme antisemitism within the Palestinian territories and throughout the Arab world
- Political freedom in the Jewish state, and the rights afforded to women, gays, and religious minorities unique in the region, and which matches or exceeds Western standards
In addition to downright petty critiques of even the most benign aspects of ordinary Israeli life – such as accusing the state of, in effect, 'colonising' hummus – her capacity to twist and turn prose in a way which assigns maximum malice to the Jewish state has few limits. In one 'CiF' essay she mocked Israel's efforts to unfairly 'smear' Hamas as a terrorist group, and once even managed to spin Israeli concerns over the potential rise of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as evidence of Israeli racism – unmoved, it seems, by the genocidal racism expressed by the group's spiritual leader, who called for Allah to literally kill every Jew on earth.
An essay she published at CiF last year, commenting on anti-immigrant rhetoric by some Israeli politicians, suggested Israeli parallels with European fascism. But, perhaps her most insidious accusation was leveled in a piece which appeared shortly after the 2008-09 Gaza War, where she wrote the following:
Likewise, mention the civilian casualties in Gaza and the stock response is to blame Hamas, cast as a bloodthirsty, death-worshipping cult, a terror group that by definition forces Israeli soldiers to kill Palestinian children. One email that did the rounds during the assault was a cartoon depicting two fighters, facing each other. The Israeli fighter aimed his gun with a baby in a pram behind him, shielded; the Palestinian fighter had the baby in front of him, as a shield. What's astounding is not how often this circular jammed email boxes, but how often Israelis repeat the cartoon set-up as though it were fact, or as though it thereby legitimises the bombing of civilians.
"Most Israelis, in other words, seem to have convinced themselves that their own moral superiority somehow sanctions and justifies their own acts of moral repugnance.
In addition to her dangerous flirtation with antisemitic narratives of so-called 'Jewish Supremacism', the final passage represents the ultimate projection, and anti-Zionist leftist critics' most pronounced deceit: their belief that they are uniquely equipped with the penetrating moral intelligence necessary to see through the racism which informs Israelis' "belief" in their state's moral advantages over reactionary Islamist extremists. Jewish anti-Zionist agitprop artists like Shabi, inebriated by post-colonial ideology, fancy themselves more sophisticated and politically enlightened than Israeli Jews, whose obtuse nationalism and ethnocentric loyalties, it is suggested, blind them to the dangerous folly of their path.
Such condescension and visceral animosity towards her fellow Jews, under the guise (of course!) of "progressive" political thought, is as risible as it is repugnant.
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Revealed: What Google could have told Observer editors about their NSA 'source'
As Harry's Place, Guido Fawkes and others noted earlier, The Observer today published, and then pulled, a 'bombshell' report by Jamie Doward alleging that the UK and other EU countries conspired with the United States over the "harvesting of personal communications data."
(Here's how the story, which is no longer available on their main website, looks on their digital paper edition.)
Editors at The Observer (sister publication of the Guardian) evidently began questioning the report when it was "revealed" that the sole source which the lead was based on, Wayne Madsen, a former Navy intelligence officer, is a 'Birther' and all around crazy conspiracy theorist – who (not surprisingly) is also obsessed with the Zionist, Israeli, and Neocon influence on the world.
Here are excerpts from The Observer's faux scoop:
At least six European Union countries in addition to Britain have been colluding with the US over the mass harvesting of personal communications data, according to a former contractor to America's [NSA], who said the public should not be "kept in the dark".
Wayne Madsen, a former US navy lieutenant who first worked for the NSA in 1985 and over the next 12 years held several sensitive positions within the agency, names Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy as having secret deals with the US.
In an interview published last night on the PrivacySurgeon.org blog, Madsen, who has been attacked for holding controversial views on espionage issues, said he had decided to speak out after becoming concerned about the "half story" told by EU politicians regarding the extent of the NSA's activities in Europe.
Madsen said he was alarmed at the "sanctimonious outcry" of political leaders who were "feigning shock" about the spying operations while staying silent about their own arrangements with the US, and was particularly concerned that senior German politicians had accused the UK of spying when their country had a similar third-party deal with the NSA.
Although the level of co- operation provided by other European countries to the NSA is not on the same scale as that provided by the UK, the allegations are potentially embarrassing.
"I can't understand how Angela Merkel can keep a straight face, demanding assurances from Obama and the UK while Germany has entered into those exact relationships," Madsen said.
Madsen said all seven European countries and the US have access to the Tat 14 fibre-optic cable network between Denmark and Germany, the Netherlands, France, the UK and the US, allowing them to intercept vast amounts of data, including phone calls, emails and records of access to websites. He said the public needed to be made aware of the scale of the communication-sharing arrangements between European countries and the US, which became of strategic importance during the cold war.
"A lot of this information isn't secret, nor is it new," Madsen said. "It's just that governments have chosen to keep the public in the dark about it. The days when they could get away with a conspiracy of silence are over."
Speaking of "conspiracies", here are a few classic Madsen "revelations":
Here's Madsen at the antisemitic site Veteran's Today, on the global Zionist conspiracy:
The Israeli Lobby owns the Congress, media, Hollywood, Wall Street, both political parties, and the White House. This kind of talk will get people fired by this lobby, as we have seen recently with White House correspondent Helen Thomas and CNN anchor Rick Sanchez. However, many Americans are growing tired of the arrogance of the Israel Lobby and their bigoted attitudes toward anyone who challenges their influence-peddling and their ridiculous insistence that Israel must be supported because of some ancient fairy tales involving some tribes who wandered the deserts of the Middle East and saw and heard non-existent things because of sun stroke, drinking bad water, and smoking local hallucinogenic plants.
Here's Madsen at Iranian PressTV (where he's been published numerous times), in a piece titled 'Zionist regime practising Nazi-style occupation policies".
Adolf Hitler and other top Nazis were fond of saying, "Heute Deutschland, morgen die Welt!" ("Today Germany, tomorrow the world!"), when describing the Nazi Party's goals for global domination.
Many of Israel's dominant political parties espouse the same goals for Zionism, which many observers believe take a page from the Nazi playbook when it comes to expansion not only in the occupied territories of Palestine but beyond to the Golan Heights of Syria, southern Lebanon, Sinai, eastern Libya, northern Iraq, and even further afield.
And any country where Jews once lived or played a role is seen as a potential area of expansion for some Zionists who dream of a one-world Zionist state. Although Israel is bent on expelling as many non-Jewish black Africans and brown-skinned Asians from the Jewish state as possible, it has given citizenship to Falasha Jews from Ethiopia and Bnei Menashe from India. The latter, originating in Mizoram and Manipur on the Indian-Myanmar border, claimed they were banished to India in the 8th century B.C. and, therefore, are a "lost tribe" of Israel. As Israeli passport holders, these "new Jews" will be permitted to return to India, a nation already overrun with Chabad House-cover Mossad operatives and Israel Defense Force regulars involved in cross-border operations in Pakistan, protective services for the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, and drug and gem smuggling.
It is only a matter of time before Israel stakes a claim to Afghanistan as more oil and rare earth mineral reserves are discovered and as Western military forces retreat from the country. After all, some Jewish scholars claim the Pathans of Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan represent another "lost tribe of Israel." Conveniently for Israel, many Pathans are also members of the Taliban.
His Twitter feed also has a treasure trove of 'revelations'.
Obama's Indonesian citizenship status confirmed. Today at WayneMadsenReport.com
— Wayne Madsen (@WMRDC) August 16, 2011
FDR "assassination" conspiracy?:
Was FDR assassinated because of his Middle East stance? Today at http://t.co/jlidqE9A
— Wayne Madsen (@WMRDC) March 9, 2012
Simply bizarre:
Possible link between Tupac Shakur murder and Randy Quaid's warning about "Star Whackers." Today at WayneMadsenReport.com
— Wayne Madsen (@WMRDC) April 15, 2011
Remarkably, Madsen has been quoted multiple times by Guardian and Observer reporters going back to at least 2000 on matters relating to U.S. national security, and was characterized obliquely by the paper in one story as merely "a commentator on intelligence-gathering".
Finally, in addition to the well-deserved mockery now coming the Guardian's way, the episode does also raises serious questions about the media group's fact-checking and their commitment to checking sources before publishing sensational charges which just so happen to have the added benefit of affirming their desired narrative.
The term 'confirmation bias' doesn't begin to adequately describe the Guardian's style of investigative reporting.
Related articles
- Observer Pulls Splash After Source Turns Out to Be 9/11 TrutherRead Pulled Story in Full Here (order-order.com)
- Guardian/Observer Publishes, Then Pulls New NSA Bombshell Story Featuring Birther Wayne Madsen (littlegreenfootballs.com)
- Guardian/Observer pulls front-page NSA story after source turns out to be a fruitloop who thinks Obama is gay (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
- The Absolute Joy Of The Guardian's Sting Over PRISM And The NSA (forbes.com)
- The Observer's epic fail (Harry's Place)
Modi'in Diarist: Barely Legal
Earlier this week my wife and I moved house. I'm happy to report that we didn't go over the box limit and that the Israeli movers managed – defying the very laws of physics it seemed – to fit 30 boxes, a fridge and a washing machine in a truck which seemed built for half that cargo. Izzy the cat is now settling down and getting used to his new flat, enjoying the view out of our window looking west towards Tel Aviv, his city of birth.
However, there was one more drama: the fear that our change of abode would affect our national, and indeed moral, status as Israelis.
You see, a few days before our move it was being reported that the municipality of Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut appeared on the European Union's newly published list of "settlements", exports from which will not be listed as 'made in Israel' and thus not eligible for tax breaks when imported to EU countries.
However, Modi'in proper – where we now live – is fully within Israel; west of the 'Green Line'. Parts of Maccabim and Reut, which were joined to the Modi'in municipality several years ago, are over the 'Green Line', but are located in what was no-man's land. (The no-man's land refers to the strip of land between Israel and the West Bank, about 1 to 3 kilometers wide, which was deliberately not allocated to either side after the 1948 War of Independence.) The city was henceforth known as Modi'in Maccabim-Re'ut.
Indeed, the European Union issued a statement a couple of days later clarifying that it did not place the entire Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut municipality on a list it compiled of settlements, but rather only three zip code areas in the community that just beyond the 'Green Line'.
So it looks like my wife and I, in the eyes of the EU, are legal – albeit barely.
It's a shame though, because I would have really enjoyed becoming a Guardian Left cliché: a hardline, radical, gun-toting, violent, illegal settler – a living, breathing obstacle to peace.
However, yesterday I discovered that the status of my new neighborhood is still in doubt.
Upon changing my location, on the weather app on my smartphone, from Jerusalem to Modi'in, I was informed of an entirely new national identity.
I wonder, when my wife and I have children, if our kids will be granted Palestinian citizenship or, better yet, UNRWA benefits!
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Phoebe Greenwood's anonymous EU diplomat despairs at trade upgrade with Israel: #BDSFAIL
In what must be sad news for the BDS folks and other anti-Zionists of all stripes, the Guardian reported that "The EU will offer Israel upgraded trade and diplomatic relations in more than 60 areas at a high-level meeting in Brussels on Tuesday."
The report by Phoebe Greenwood noted the following:
"The EU will widen its relationship with Jerusalem on a range of areas including migration, energy and agriculture. It will remove obstacles impeding Israel's access to European government-controlled markets and enhance Israel's co-operation with nine EU agencies, including Europol and the European Space Agency."
The new areas of co-operation include what's known as the Agreement on Conformity, Assessment and Acceptance of industrial products, or ACAA, which refers to the "elimination of technical barriers to trade", thereby increasing the accessibility of Israeli markets to products from the EU and vice versa". The package also promises to "further bilateral co-operation" between Israel and key EU agencies, including the EU's Judicial Co-operation Unit and the European Police Office.
However, Greenwood dutifully located an "anonymous" EU diplomat to question the wisdom of such an upgrade in relations with Israel.
"One senior EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that despite private complaints of the inconsistency of chastising Israel with one hand while rewarding it with the other, not one minister was prepared to oppose Tuesday's agreement.
"I was struck by the fact that a whole range of relations was offered to Israel – at the request of Israel – as if nothing is happening on the ground," the diplomat said. "Most ministers are too afraid to speak out in case they are singled out as being too critical towards Israel, because, in the end, relations with Israel are on the one hand relations with the Jewish community at large and on the other hand with Washington – nobody wants to have fuss with Washington. So [ministers] are fine with making political statements but they refrain from taking concrete action." "[emphasis added]
Yes, of course: Hapless EU ministers are pressured into upgrading relations with Israel due to the fear of offending "Washington", and the Jewish community.
The EU diplomat, who chose not to use his or her real name out of fear, it seems, of the possible dangerous consequences of speaking truth to Zionist power, added:
" "The only possible tool for the EU to make Israel change its behaviour is to use the weight and power of these [diplomatic and trade] relations," he said."
Greenwood adds:
"Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, admits the EU and Israel may have their differences, but, dismissed the idea of trade sanctions as nonsensical:
"Both sides would suffer terribly if we start throwing eggs at each other. With Greece and Spain imploding, it doesn't make sense for the EU to do anything to damage trade with anyone at this point," Hirschson said, pointing out that two-thirds of Israel's imports are bought from EU member states."
Indeed, the Israeli spokesperson makes an important point, one which has broader significance in the Jewish state's battle against delegitimization tactics such as BDS.
The purpose of BDS, which has its origins in the NGO Forum of the UN's 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, "is to isolate Israel via boycotts of Israeli academic, cultural, and consumer institutions, divestment from companies doing business with Israel, and sanctions in the areas of military, economic, and diplomatic cooperation agreements between Israel and other states."
However, what BDS activists never seem to take into consideration, despite a pitiful record of failure upon failure, is that Israel's increasing technological and economic prowess serves as a natural bulwark against such pressure.
EU officials' reluctance to embrace BDS, either de facto or de jure, is not based on fear of angering Jews (a community which, after all, represents a measly two tenths of 1% of the world's total population) but, rather, on a sober understanding of their own political and economic interests.
For instance, Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds, and first in venture capital investments (as a percentage of GDP) compared to 34 OECD nations, not because venture capitalists are passionate Zionists, but because they intuitively understand that Israel's economic success, highly educated workforce and relative political stability makes it a sound investment.
Additionally, Israel's recent emergence as a regional energy superpower will likely mean that the ability of the anti-Zionist Arab governments to influence political opinion in Europe and the rest of the world may decline.
In short, there is a direct and necessary relationship between Israel's culture of success (which is, by nature, immune to outside influence) and the increasing irrelevance of BDS – a supremely immoral movement which is destined to continue to fail spectacularly.
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The EU investigates Israeli domestic issues: The politics of soft colonialism
A guest post by AKUS
A recent article in Ha'aretz reveals that some members of the European Union have been working on a secret document dealing with a "core issue" in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The article is headlined: Secret EU paper aims to tackle Israel's treatment of Arab minority
According to Ha'aretz:
The European Union should consider Israel's treatment of its Arab population a "core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," according to a classified working paper produced by European embassies in Israel, parts of which were obtained by Haaretz.
Forget the Europeans' problems with their Roma population, their Muslim minority, the abject failure of multiculturalism, the rise of anti-Semitism and, last, but not least, the possible collapse of the whole European Union and the dissolution of a common currency (or vice versa).
In fact, forget the way Israel's neighbors are treating their 'minorities', from Turkey's cultural genocide against the Kurds, to the continuing murder and oppression of Copts in Egypt, to the total segregation of Palestinians in Lebanon, to the wholesale massacres happening in Syria as you read. Focus on how Israel "treats its Arab population" – a phrase expressing owner ship of a population redolent of a past colonial era that ignores the full rights enjoyed by all Israeli citizens, of any ethnicity or religion.
Apparently initiated by Britain (who else? Do we detect the Foreign Office camel corps poking its long nose into this tent?), the document is said to have originally proposed unstated punitive measures against Israel.
There remain a few sane voices from countries that have not yet decided to inhabit a parallel universe where the world's greatest problems revolve around Israel:
At some point, however, several countries, among them the Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands, expressed objections to its contents.
After lengthy debates on the issue in an effort to obtain the consensus necessary to send the report to Brussels, it was decided to water it down somewhat and drop the operative conclusions. It was also designated a "food for thought" document, rather than a "report."
The really extraordinary example of proposed meddling in Israel's internal affairs, as reported, was this:
The document suggests that the EU discuss Jewish-Arab relations with the Israeli government, while stressing the government's obligation to bridge the gaps between the Jewish majority and Arab minority.
"We should emphasize that addressing inequality within Israel is integral to Israel's long-term stability," the document says.
One might be excused for being a little cynical about the motivations behind this declaration of concern for Israel's long-term stability from this group. Alternatively, one wonders how a document drafted by, shall we say, the US and Israel, expressing concern for the way Europe treats its minorities and the effect on its long-term stability, would be received in Brussels, Paris or Berlin. Or London.
The document most shockingly but not altogether unsurprisingly reveals the European's reverse thinking and ignorance about the status and effects of the "peace process".
Neo-Palestinian Israeli Arab politicians like Zouabi who sits in the Knesset (how is that for discrimination and ill-treatment of a minority?!) and a few local leaders like Sheikh Raed Salah have made it their daily business to inflame relations between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel by insisting that the loyalties of Arab Israelis should lie with a future Palestinian state, rather than the State of Israel.
By ignoring the Palestinian refusal to return to negotiations and the inflammatory activities of neo-Palestinian Arab politicians in Israel the document's authors blame Israel rather than the Palestinians and their incitement of the Israeli Arab population for deteriorating relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel:
"The stalemate in the peace process, and the continuing occupation, inevitably has an impact on the identification of Israeli Arabs with Israel," the document states. "It will be more difficult for Israeli Arabs to be wholly at ease with their identity while the conflict with the Palestinians continues."
Don't the Europeans have it backwards? Shouldn't the Palestinians be concerned about the impact of the peace process on Israeli Arabs and their ability to be at ease with their Israeli identity?
The reality is, as any rational person can observe, that the Palestinian leaders are quite pleased with the discord they are sowing between communities in Israel. They labor under a false assumption that this somehow advances their cause. Of course, the truth is quite the opposite. The greater the friction between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, the more cautious Israel will be about any concessions at all to the Arabs on the West Bank. If the two communities in Israel can coexist peacefully there will more willingness to try the experiment of coexistence with a neighboring Palestinian state.
Thus there is a way the Europeans can help if their concern is genuine.
They should suggest to the Palestinian leadership, if they can actually identify the true leaders given the battles between the PA and Hamas, that they reduce tensions between Israeli Arabs and Jews by restarting negotiations and asking their Israeli supporters to tone down the anti-Israeli rhetoric. The stronger and more cohesive Israeli society feels itself to be, and more the Jews and Arabs inside Israel can trust each other, the greater the likelihood of an agreement being reached.
Related articles
- EU Diplomats: Jewish state is becoming too Jewish (EU Observer)


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Halloween has always been an excuse to wear costumes that would be offensive and inappropriate on any other day of the year: dead Trayvon Martin, "terrorists," Boston Marathon bombing victims. (We've already seen way more Ray Rice and battered Janay Palmer costumes this year than we ever needed to ... More >>
If you ask Wayne Bell, it's never too early to expose your kids to the Tea Party, Ted Cruz or the 9/11 attacks. Bell's company, Clayton-based Really Big Coloring Books Inc., has pumped out a diverse selection of politicized coloring books for the past five years, and he thinks it's high time schoo ... More >>
An O'Fallon (Ill.) Township High School teen who will serve two-and-a-half years for building homemade bombs kept notebooks full of Nazi messages, racist rants and even a 10 commandments for getting revenge against unsuspecting people. Thomas Lee Stanton, 18, pleaded guilty to federal charges of un ... More >>
A Halloween photo of three Washington University students dressed in military fatigues pointing Super Soakers at a student dressed as Osama bin Laden went viral Wednesday, sparking outrage over anti-Muslim sentiments on the Danforth campus. College officials called an emergency meeting Thursday mor ... More >>
Police charged St. Louis Cardinals fan Bobby Metzinger, 30, with making a terrorist threat Wednesday after he tweeted about bombing the World Series to keep the Boston Red Sox from winning. In an apparent reference to the Boston Marathon bombings, Metzinger tweeted, "The #WorldSeries will be anothe ... More >>
The Best Fans in Baseball started -- then quickly halted -- selling St. Louis Stronger T-shirts in a bizarre and insensitive challenge to the Red Sox's "Boston Strong" motto. To honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, the city mowed "B Strong" into the Fenway Park outfield -- like the St ... More >>
Wayne Bell was not a fan of the now infamous Rolling Stone cover of the Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Which is why he created a coloring book for children that parodies the controversial image. "He's a very, very horrible individual," Bell, publisher of Really Big Coloring Boo ... More >>
[Editor's note: Space constraints kept the prose version of our interview with Marilyn Manson out of the print edition, but here you can read the stuff that was left on the cutting room floor. Point your mouse here for the Q & A version in the paper this week.] Once, there was a subculture of peop ... More >>
The debate around the privacy of gun owners has dominated the legislature this session, with Republican lawmakers' persistent outcry regarding record-keeping in the state. The worry is that the Missouri license bureau, under the direction of Democratic Governor Jay Nixon, could be collecting and st ... More >>
Ryan Fogle, 29, graduated from Mary Institute and Country Day School in Ladue in 2002. His family reportedly has roots in Clayton and Richmond Heights. And yesterday, he was apparently detained and expelled from Russia after he was accused of being a CIA spy. In an incredibly bizarre story, Fogle w ... More >>
It's never a good idea to post statements online that may look like bomb threats, but with the Boston Marathon tragedy this week, it's especially unwise. Alton, Illinois, resident Joshua Clark, 29, learned that lesson the hard way. The Madison County Sheriff's Office says that an anonymous tipst ... More >>
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing this week, officials across the country have labeled the attack an act of terrorism, even at this early stage in the investigation, in which little is publicly known about potential suspects. But U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, ra ... More >>
If St. Louis resident Micah Little, 25, had been a little slower, her run in the Boston marathon yesterday could have ended very differently. Her brother Marty Little, 26, says that he and his mother were there cheering on Micah -- and just half an hour before the explosion, they were standing in ... More >>
Week of October 12, 2005
The Spirit of St. Louis Marathon and Family Fitness Weekend brings enthusiasts running to the Mound City

subset: commoncrawl


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Brigantine Townhome Rental Photos and Description
Townhome, 4 Bedrooms + Den, 3.5 Baths, (Sleeps 8 adults + 2 Children) Ocean view
Special Note; We very are happy to say that our home did not suffer damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy ! So please come and experience the perfect Vacation- enjoy the relaxing, quiet beaches of Brigantine by day and cater to your craving for excitement with the nightlife of Atlantic City.
Come experience our beautifully furnished new beach home. Just a few short steps to the ocean. Ocean views from almost every deck! The house is situated at a perfect angle to enjoy the Ocean breezes and the views of the beach from the deck. Nothing can beat sitting on the deck any time of day and listening to waves crash.
This home features 3-floors with carpet and ceramic tile on the 1st floor and hardwood on the 2nd floor and wall to wall carpet on the 3rd floors. The 3rd floor has a King Bed in the Master Bedroom Suite with a view of the Ocean right from the bed and a private balcony! There are two other Bedrooms - one for the kids and a Full Bed and private balcony for the other.
The 2nd Floor features an expansive Living and Dining area with Balconies looking out to the beach. You don't even need to get out of your chair. A big screen TV, stereo and a large Kitchen/ Dining area that will handle the whole family!
The 1st floor has a Bedroom with a Queen bed. The Den has a pull-out couch and a deck. With the elevator you never will have a problem accessing any of the floors.
There is an outdoor covered private shower for your use after a day at the beach with convenient access stairs to the rear entrance of the house.
Brigantine is one of the biggest vacation secrets on the New Jersey Coast. Unspoiled beaches without the frenzy and traffic. Small town atmosphere with excellent restaurants, shopping, golf and tennis just minutes away.
Atlantic City casinos, nightlife, restaurants and shopping outlets are easily accessed by car or shuttle.
Keywords: Luxury Condo
- Suitability:
- Minimum Age Limit for Renters
- children welcome
- limited accessibility
- non smoking only
- pets not allowed
About Hannah and Bill Phillips
Our Family lives in Pennsylvania. My wife and I are empty nesters and working professionals. When we aren't working or caring for our house in Brigantine we usually can be found running around with our grandchildren either babysitting or attending soccer games and Karate matches. We both love to stay active. We of course love the ocean and the beach. Biking, tennis, skiing, golf and a good run on the beach. Life is Good.
Hannah and Bill Phillips purchased this townhome in 2008
Why Hannah and Bill Phillips chose Brigantine
We found Brigantine thru some friends that live in town. Brigantine doesn't have the frantic pace during the summer that exists at other shore towns. It was the house that we fell in love with. We wanted a place that eventually we could retire in and have room for our kids and grand kids. This house is great. The views from the deck are great. My favorite thing is when the weather permits is to leave the sliders open, turn the fans on and let the ocean winds blow thru. At night there is nothing better than being able to hear the waves break while you are laying in bed.
What makes this townhome unique
You can walk to the beach in under 5 minutes. If you forget something how easy is it to walk back? The other thing is that we are on the north end of the island, it's real quiet. There is lots of beach for everyone.


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Red Hot Chili Peppers Writing a Follow Up to 'I'm With You'
I'm With You, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 10th studio album, turned out to be yet another hit for the funk-rock outfit back in 2011. So after three years, the band now has plans for a follow up.
According to an interview drummer Chad Smith did with Billboard, the group has been writing songs for the past few months, although a specific sound has yet to be defined. He explained: "This is my favorite time, being creative, coming up with ideas. You go there at 11 o'clock with something that wasn't a piece of music, everyone collaborates on something, three hours later you've got something that's a piece of music that wasn't there before."
Smith continued to emphasize that the Chili Peppers plan to do something different this time – but aren't sure what that will be. He said: "So we don't make the record that we made three years ago, we're gonna make something different. And you never know what that is going to be."
Out on Warner Bros., I'm With You was released in 2011. The album eventually reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the U.K. Albums chart. As well, it produced four singles, including hit "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie," "Look Around," "Monarchy of Roses," and "Brendan's Death Song."
Written on May 16 2014 by Irene Test (Google+ profile), writer at KOvideo. Tags: red hot chili peppers
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text: Report: Woman Behind Execution of Kim Jong-un's Uncle Print article Send a Tip by AWR Hawkins 15 Dec 2013 post a comment News of the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek has been followed by reports that Jang's wife made the final call on the execution. Jang's wife Kim Kyung-hui is head of the North Korea Strategic Information Service Centre. According to The Telegraph, it was she who joined with her nephew in choosing her husband "as a prey... to maintain the Kim dynasty regime." Kim Kyung-hui is 67 years old, "the daughter of the country's first leader, sister of its second and aunt of its third." A strong woman and avowed communist, she "defied her father" Kim Il-sung to marry Jang in the first place. Until his execution, Jang's role in North Korea was "to guide and shepherd Kim Jong-un, and to insulate and protect him." However, Jang was known for womanizing and was fond of drink. On the day he was executed, the charges against Jang included the accusation that he "let the decedent capitalistic lifestyle find its way to [North Korean] society by distributing all kinds of pornographic pictures among his confidants." Jang has been "swiftly wiped from history, removed from the official photos and videos, and denounced as 'despicable human scum.'" Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins


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footee is a top class sports game that blends two of the world's best and most popular sports – football and golf.
The first of it's kind in Ireland, footee is a competitive, skilful and addictive sports game that mixes the passion and strength of football with the elegance and tradition of golf.
It is played on a golf course by groups of players but instead of swinging golf clubs and hitting golf balls, players kick footballs. The game rules are identical to golf - each hole carries a par and the aim is to get the football in to the (bigger) hole on each green in as few shots as possible.
Situated just 5 minutes from the M50 and 20 minutes from the City Centre, close to Tallaght, footee gets people outdoors amid stunning scenery, playing sport, chatting, networking and having the craic. For people of all ages and fitness levels. For males and females, young and old. No equipment required.
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Radio host Michael Savage rips comedian Chris Rock a new one and exposes his vile racism at Obama's birthday party.
Chris Rock is nothing but a ghetto thug.
once again………..it's do as I say, not as I do and we all know what filthy,vile, scum is in the whitehouse, and chris rock, there is not enough negative adjectives to cover this pos!!!
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When Mitt Romney sits down with a Fox News anchor, ...


text: Strict Standards: Redefining already defined constructor for class XML_Parser in /home/sites/www.americanpoems.com/web/store/aom/includes/os.php on line 1188 Strict Standards: Declaration of XML_Parser::raiseError() should be compatible with PEAR::raiseError($message = NULL, $code = NULL, $mode = NULL, $options = NULL, $userinfo = NULL, $error_class = NULL, $skipmsg = false) in /home/sites/www.americanpoems.com/web/store/aom/includes/os.php on line 1604 Strict Standards: Declaration of XML_Unserializer::startHandler() should be compatible with XML_Parser::startHandler($xp, $elem, &$attribs) in /home/sites/www.americanpoems.com/web/store/aom/includes/os.php on line 3503 Strict Standards: Declaration of Cache_Lite_File::get() should be compatible with Cache_Lite::get($id, $group = 'default', $doNotTestCacheValidity = false) in /home/sites/www.americanpoems.com/web/store/aom/includes/cache.php on line 1020 American Poems: Toys: Nerf N-Strike Elite: Strongarm Blaster (Colors may vary) Home Apparel Appliances Books DVD Electronics Home & Garden Kindle eBooks Magazines Music Outdoor Living Software Tools & Hardware PC & Video Games Search All Products Apparel Appliances Arts & Crafts Automotive Baby Beauty Books Computers DVD Electronics Gourmet Food Grocery Health Home & Garden Industrial & Science Jewelry Kindle eBooks Kitchen Magazines Miscellaneous Mobile Apps MP3 Downloads Music Musical Instruments Office Products Outdoor Living Pet Supplies Photo & Camera Shoes Software Sporting Goods Tools & Hardware Toys VHS Video On Demand PC & Video Games Watches Wireless Wireless Accessories Advanced Search Sitemap View Cart Checkout Location: Home » Toys » Nerf N-Strike Elite: Strongarm Blaster (Colors may vary) Nerf N-Strike Elite: Strongarm Blaster (Colors may vary) enlarge Other Views: Brand:Nerf Category:Toy Department:Skill Toys List Price: $12.99 Buy New: $10.39 as of 11/29/2014 02:28 EST details You Save: $2.60 (20%) In Stock New (74) Collectible (1) from $10.39 Seller:belles-books Sales Rank:4,142 Color:multi/none Number Of Items:1 Age:6 - 99 years Size:Standard Shipping Weight (lbs):1.1 Legal Disclaimer:AGES 8+ CAUTION: Do not aim at eyes or face. TO AVOID INJURY: Use only darts designed for this product. Do not modify darts or dart blaster. Warranty:No Warranty MPN:7013700 Model:36033 UPC:653569712343 EAN:0653569712343 ASIN:B009T45XDW Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days Features: Strongarm blaster holds 6 Elite darts and fires darts up to 75 feet Slam Fire slide lets you rapid-fire all 6 included Elite darts Flip open the rotating barrel for easy loading Elite darts work with any Elite blaster and most N-Strike blasters (sold separately) Includes blaster, 6 Elite darts, and instructions Colors may vary Similar Items: Nerf N-Strike Elite Dart Refill Pack (30 Darts) Nerf N-Strike Elite Dart Refill Pack (75 Darts) Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator (Colors may vary) Nerf N-Strike Elite Triad EX-3 Blaster (Colors may vary) Nerf N-Strike Elite Universal Suction Darts, 30-Pack Editorial Reviews: SynopsisSpeed and mobility are yours with the quick draws and fast firing of the Strongarm blaster. It has the same long-range power as other N-Strike Elite blasters (sold separately), and it rapid-fires 6 darts when you pump the Slam Fire slide repeatedly while holding the trigger. Loading is easy and quick with the flip-open rotating barrel, and its Tactical Rail is compatible with most N-Strike accessories (sold separately). Add the Strongarm blaster to your arsenal and unleash a storm of darts at your target. CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Brought to you by American Poems Categories •Apparel •Appliances •Arts & Crafts •Automotive •Baby •Beauty •Books •Computers •DVD •Electronics •Gourmet Food •Grocery •Health •Home & Garden •Industrial & Science •Jewelry •Kindle eBooks •Kitchen •Magazines •Miscellaneous •Mobile Apps •MP3 Downloads •Music •Musical Instruments •Office Products •Outdoor Living •Pet Supplies •Photo & Camera •Shoes •Software •Sporting Goods •Tools & Hardware •Toys •VHS •Video On Demand •PC & Video Games •Watches •Wireless •Wireless Accessories Subcategories Dress Up & Pretend Play •Pretend Play •Costumes •Beauty & Fashion •Hair & Nails •Hats •Masks •Wigs •Accessories Related Categories •Blasters & Foam Play Sports & Outdoor Play Categories Toys & Games •Dress Up & Pretend Play Categories Toys & Games


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Answers related to 'why-the-vote-on-the-womens-bill-is-important'
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