Israel - A Rant

[Jairzinho]

2 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Negging a post about a dead girl. Lowest of the low. Also without explanation I might add. Again. Despite claiming never to do so. 

Presumably for criticising SD for using a source with all the accuracy and validity of a Rod Liddle article.

[sir roger]

Israel to auction prefab classrooms donated by EU to Palestinians

Calls for Israeli authorities to rebuild West Bank structures confiscated by military

Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem

Fri 31 May 2019 06.00 BST

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 Prefabricated classrooms, funded by EU aid in Ibziq, in the northern West Bank, were dismantled and confiscated by Israeli authorities. Photograph: Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem

Israel’s defence ministry plans to hold an auction next week to sell two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the EU.

The Civil Administration, the body tasked with running the occupation, tore down and confiscated the classrooms last October. They had been intended for 49 students, in grades one to six, in Ibziq, in the northern occupied West Bank.

An advertisement published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv said the sale would take place at Civil Administration offices in the West Bank.

After the classrooms were dismantled, the EU mission to Jerusalem and Ramallah condemned Israeli authorities and called on them to rebuild the structures in the same place “without delay”.

 

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 The classrooms were meant for 49 children in grades one to six. Photograph: Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem

“Every child has the right to access education and states have an obligation to protect, respect and fulfil this right, by ensuring that schools are inviolable safe spaces for children,” it said at the time.

“[T]he EU calls upon the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions and confiscations of Palestinian houses and property, in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law.”

A list of auction items, seen by the Guardian, showed dates, item numbers, locations and descriptions that matched the confiscated classroom structures. The sale also appeared to include material confiscated from Palestinians and Israeli settlers who built without authorisation.

Asked to comment on Thursday afternoon, the Civil Administration said it needed more time to respond.

Palestinians have limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, mostly urban areas, but Israel maintains full control of most of the territory and demolishes homes and buildings it says were built without permission.

More than 400,000 Israelis have moved into the West Bank, building settlements on land seized from Palestinians. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pledged to annex those settlements.

 

A GREAT BUNCH OF LADS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

THEY WOZ HAMAS CLASSROOMS! 

[Bjornebye]

 

 

 

[Grinch]

The nazi bastatds will continue to get away with it.   It's not the war crimes you commit but what friends in high places you have, that matters. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Is it still deemed naughty to call the Israeli Government cunts? 

[Numero Veinticinco]

25 minutes ago, Pistonbroke said:

Is it still deemed naughty to call the Israeli Government cunts? 

Nah, but just don’t mention flags. 

[Anubis]

1 hour ago, Pistonbroke said:

Is it still deemed naughty to call the Israeli Government cunts? 

No, it's perfectly acceptable to any right-thinking human beings.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

2 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

 

 

 

Cunts

[Anubis]

2 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

 

 

 

 

They’ve got form for this. When they built the wall they used it to annex Palestinian water sources to make Palestinian fertile land arid, and divert the water to their own illegal settlements. 

 

It’s the slow, steady extermination of the Palestinian people, and it’s a source of shame to the rest of the world that so few politicians speak up against it, or that countries are willing to actively support the Israeli government rather than sanction them.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

The scary thing is is that we're straying into a world where you'll potentially be classed as "antisemitic" for criticising stuff like that. Largely down to the recent efforts of some to conflate anti-zionism with antisemitism. The concept of zionism has mutated. It's gone from creating a safe homeland for Jewish people (a goal that every right thinking person should back) to expanding the Jewish state on an arbitrary basis, irrespective of whoever's rights get trampled over in the process. 

 

Such expansionism will be classed as zionism by some. And, criticism of it will be classed as "anti-zionism" which will in turn be classed as antisemitic. 

 

That cannot be allowed to happen. 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

Just seen this on my Facey. It's apparently graffiti that's on the "separation" wall. The bit on the left hand side, a bit down from the top...

[SammyAftershave]

1 hour ago, Nelly-Torres said:

The scary thing is is that we're straying into a world where you'll potentially be classed as "antisemitic" for criticising stuff like that. Largely down to the recent efforts of some to conflate anti-zionism with antisemitism. The concept of zionism has mutated. It's gone from creating a safe homeland for Jewish people (a goal that every right thinking person should back) to expanding the Jewish state on an arbitrary basis, irrespective of whoever's rights get trampled over in the process. 

 

Such expansionism will be classed as zionism by some. And, criticism of it will be classed as "anti-zionism" which will in turn be classed as antisemitic. 

 

That cannot be allowed to happen. 

Horse > bolted

[M_B]

Interesting site this. It shows the historical expansion of Israel into the West Bank and Gaza.

 

https://conquer-and-divide.btselem.org/map-en.html

[Jairzinho]

https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-million-dollar-troll-army/27566?fbclid=IwAR0lN_2q2HOfb3DRP749CNQzGmcWT9HlavV1OvWak7K1kui9PZVEA4mbJuY

 

Inside Israel’s million dollar troll army

A global influence campaign funded by the Israeli government had a $1.1 million budget last year, a document obtained by The Electronic Intifada shows.

Act.IL says it has offices in three countries and an online army of more than 15,000.

In its annual report, from January, Act.IL says its goal is to “influence foreign publics” and “battle” BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.

Through its app, Act.IL issues “missions” to this troll army in exchange for “cool prizes” and scholarships.

The app directs comments towards news websites in support of Israeli wars and racism, while attacking Palestinians and solidarity campaigners.

The leaked report claims Act.IL’s app completes 1,580 such missions every week.

Act.IL’s report was obtained by The Electronic Intifada thanks to researcher Michael Bueckert.

Bueckert monitors the app, and posts screenshots of its missions to the Twitter account Behind Israel’s Troll Army.

 

The report was sent out to app users. You can read it in full below.

It claims that Act.IL’s 15,000 “online volunteers” come from 73 countries

As well as its Israeli headquarters, the report lists seven offices – its “media rooms.”

These are mainly in the US, with the report giving details from its New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Orange County, New York, Florida and then-forthcoming Los Angeles offices.

The home page of Act.IL’s website sports a British flag alongside the Israeli and American, suggesting the organization has another “local media room” in Britain.

 

The report doesn’t give details of any UK office. But it does name UK lobby group We Believe in Israel and the far-right group Sussex Friends of Israel as among its “partnerships.”

We Believe in Israel’s director, the right-wing Labour activist Luke Akehurst, did not reply to a request for comment.

Act.IL claims to be a “grassroots” group, but has been described by one expert as “advanced digital political astroturfing” – in other words, a fake “grassroots” campaign.

 

The app’s users pose as ordinary members of the public. But many of the most active users are actually Act.IL staff.

At least six out of nine “top activists” named by Act.IL in a screenshot from April work for the group, an investigation by The Electronic Intifada has established.

Screenshots from the app’s rankings taken in June provided to The Electronic Intifada by Bueckert show that four of the top 11 “activists” this month are actually current or former Act.IL staff.

 

These include Lior Sirkis, a former Israeli army spokesperson, and Daniel Gavriel the group’s data analyst. According to his LinkedIn profile, Gavriel also works as “security officer” for Israel’s public security ministry – a government entity led by Gilad Erdan.

The report states that Act.IL has 13 employees plus 150 year-long interns.

Contrary to claims about being run by “volunteers,” in a Hebrew-language interview with Forbes Israel last year, the group’s chief executive Yarden Ben Yosef admits students help Act.IL “in return for a scholarship.”

The report obtained by The Electronic Intifada makes it clear that Act.IL employees and volunteers are told not to disclose their links to the organization while disseminating Israeli disinformation.

 

Describing its “no logo” strategy, the report says Act.IL wants to “reach audiences that aren’t necessarily pro-Israel.”

Despite the report’s spin about “online community,” a freedom of information disclosure by an Israeli media watchdog has shown that Act.IL was actually founded partly thanks to Israeli government money.

Watchdog The Seventh Eye revealed that Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs spent almost $2 million on one propaganda campaign in 2017 – part of which was allocated to Act.IL.

 

The ministry is responsible for Israel’s semi-covert “war” against BDS, and had a budget of almost $13 million that year alone.

The Seventh Eye revealed that $1.3 million was spent on “building the Act.IL website and producing multimedia content for it,” as well as ads on Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

The “no logo” strategy Act.IL describes is identical to how other global proxy organizations for Israel’s anti-BDS ministry operate.

The Israel Project for example, supplies what it calls “white label,” unbranded material to launder through other groups.

This was revealed in The Lobby – USA, a four-part documentary by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit. You can watch the relevant clip in the video above.

The film was suppressed after an Israel lobby campaign targeting Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf emirate which funds the network.

But last year The Electronic Intifada obtained and released the full film.

In it, an Israel Project director said the group worked with many other organizations, explaining: “We produce content that they then publish with their own name on it.”

 

According to the report obtained by The Electronic Intifada, the entire Act.IL budget for 2016-17 was $700,000, while in 2017-18 it was $1.1 million.

If the report’s figures are accurate, Israeli government funding seems to account for a majority of the group’s 2017 budget – the same year it launched the app.

The report does not disclose Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs as being among the funders it lists – though it does thank “private anonymous donors.”

The ministry’s director general has made it clear that their work “stays under the radar,” and has attempted to change Israeli law to render it classified in the same way as Israeli intelligence agencies.

Gilad Erdan – a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – is both strategic affairs minister and public security minister.

In 2017, Erdan explained why his ministry uses front organizations like Act.IL: “Most of the ministry’s actions are not of the ministry, but through bodies around the world who do not want to expose their connection with the state.”

But as the Israeli news report in the video below shows, Act.IL is one of the Israeli government’s less subtle projects.

Erdan himself launched the app at a lavish rooftop party in New York in 2017, doing his best “down with the kids” act by donning a DJ’s headphones.

Posing for the cameras with him was model and former Miss Israel Yityish “Titi” Aynaw.

 

 

A former platoon commander overseeing the anti-Palestinian checkpoints that surround Jerusalem, the Ethiopian-born Aynaw has been a high profile promoter of Israeli government propaganda since winning the 2013 beauty contest.

That year, Israeli President Shimon Peres introduced her to US President Barack Obama at a reception.

Despite her efforts to spin Israel as a beacon of diversity, she admitted in January to fearing for her life due to the Israeli police’s racism.

In an opinion piece for news website Ynet, she recounted being frequently asked by US students about racism against Black people in Israel.

She admitted to ambivalence about her efforts to deflect these questions: “In recent years, it has become hard to say it and mean it.”

But such doubts didn’t stop Aynaw from starring in the Ministry of Strategic Affairs’ glossy online launch video promoting the Act.IL app as “the easy way” to spread Israel’s message.

 

 

Over the last year, since The Electronic Intifada and other publications have exposed Act.IL’s activities, the group has taken measures to obscure its links to the Israeli government – all while claiming to be a grassroots “student initiative.”

One of the ministry’s websites – named 4IL – was set up in 2017 and was initially dedicated to promoting the Act.IL app.

At first, the site’s home page displayed the ministry’s small logo at the top. But as of this writing, it has been moved to the bottom, where it is easy to miss.

All mention of Act.IL and its app appears to have been recently scrubbed from the site.

“They’re trying to create some sort of firewall,” researcher Michael Bueckert told The Electronic Intifada. “Whereas 4IL is explicitly a ministry, Israeli government campaign, they’re trying to sell the app itself as entirely independent from the government.”

Although these ties to the state are now more obscure, there’s no doubt they remain a reality.

The 4IL site also seems to have links to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

Clicking on a tiny “Contact us” web link on the front page opens a new message addressed to a “pmo.gov.il” email address – the Israeli prime minister’s office.

 

Act.IL’s interventions are not limited to social media.

The leaked report gives one “case study” of how they got a Palestinian American student fired from his paid campus position after a Facebook posting, which included a joking promise to “physically fight” anti-Palestinian students.

Hamzeh Daoud wrote that he wanted to “abolish” Israel.

The report says Act.IL led a campaign of more than “4,500 emails that were sent to the administration” with thousands signing a petition against Daoud.

It states that the university “decided to fire the student.” In reality, Daoud resigned his post – although apparently under pressure.

Another part of the report – with typical disregard for the truth – claims that when Act.IL’s Boston office “disrupted a BDS resolution and blocked its passing” that “The Electronic Intifada wrote an article calling the Boston media room ‘agents of Mossad.’”

In reality the article in question, by The Electronic Intifada’s Nora Barrows-Friedman, did not mention the Mossad.

 

Much of the last several years of the establishment media’s time has been wasted raising hell about supposed Russian interference in US elections, despite a lack of real evidence.

Israel’s interference in western democracies, however, is now very well documented, and is often quite open.

This newly obtained Act.IL report seems to have been pitched at expanding its funding base beyond the Israeli state, and openly speaks of aiming to “influence foreign publics.”

It boasts of manipulating “international public opinion towards the state of Israel via social media platforms.”

Yet – exactly as in the case of The Israel Project – Facebook and the other Silicon Valley giants have so far refused to take action.

Who has the political will to do something?

 

[Grinch]

Not surprising in the slightest. 

[Bjornebye]

4 hours ago, Jairzinho said:

Israel’s million dollar troll army

 

 

 

 

 

He gets paid for it???? well I'll be damned 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

15 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

He gets paid for it???? well I'll be damned 

 

*Chortles*

[Bjornebye]

Cant even take a joke. 

[Strontium]

Antisemitic jokes about me being in the pay of Israel. Hilarious.

[Anubis]

How much did the knobs at Sussex Friends Of Israel get?

[Bjornebye]

20 minutes ago, Sixtimes Dog said:

Antisemitic jokes about me being in the pay of Israel. Hilarious.

How in the fuck was that anti-semitic? Are you making an allegation there? 

 

Also, clearly I do not think you are being paid by them. jesus fucking wept SD. It was clearly a joke ! Lighten up just a bit 

[Bjornebye]

18 minutes ago, Anubis said:

How much did the knobs at Sussex Friends Of Israel get?

See the video of that bully from them starting on the old people ? 

[Anubis]

13 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

See the video of that bully from them starting on the old people ? 

Yes. Really nasty pieces of work.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

13 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

How in the fuck was that anti-semitic? Are you making an allegation there? 

 

Also, clearly I do not think you are being paid by them. jesus fucking wept SD. It was clearly a joke ! Lighten up just a bit 

 

It's just become a buzzword, overused at any opportunity to either stop discussion or criticism.  It's akin to a child saying 'It wasn't me' every time they are caught doing something wrong.