It's Almost Supernatural

Let's Talk Israel

David Saks, Associate Director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies has requested that we temporarily remove the link to "Let's Talk Israel" as they are currently experiencing some technical glitches.

The post has temporarily been removed. We will repost the link when it's sorted out.

My apologies to users. There is a problem with the link to the above site, so that only the introductory voice-overs to the various sections can be accessed and not the main content. We are working on this. In the meantime, if IAS could please remove the above posting - again, sincere apologies. David Saks

Joel Pollak to Run for Congress

Our friend Joel Pollack has just publically announced his intention to run for a seat in the US Congress.

You can see him announce it here on fox news: The announcement on Fox news

He has also put up a website www.pollakforcongress.com. I encourage people to sign up and offer support.

Joel is smart, principled, capable and deeply committed to human rights and the safety and security of all people in the United States and the state of Israel. America needs more people like Joel in Washington DC!

Joel's Facebook page has all the details of his campaign. You can also follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/joelpollak

Good Luck Joel!

Dugard Heads Witch Hunt of South African Jews

Former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian Disputed territories John Dugard and the Media Review Network are considering an application to the International Criminal Court to bring the charge of war crimes against 75 South Africans who allegedly served in the IDF during the recent war in Gaza.

Last month we blogged about the anti-Israel lobby’s attempt to convince the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to charge 75 unnamed South Africans who allegedly took part in the recent war in Gaza.

Since South Africa is a signatory to the Rome statue, its citizens can be prosecuted at home for war crimes committed elsewhere.

Professor John Dugard is leading the attempts, flanked by a possy of Jew haters at the Media Review Network, which has recently featured hate stories on their website about Israelis kidnapping Palestinians in order to steal their kidneys. They have also featured articles about Holocaust denial and about a Jewish Broederbond conspiracy in South Africa. Dugard should be judged by the company he keeps.

Since the NPA has up until now not investigated the charges, Dugard is threatening to take the charges to the International Criminal Court.

Even though Dugard concedes that “except for one individual, whom he declined to name, there was scant proof that these soldiers actually participated in the fighting” he has nevertheless wasted the time of the NPA and intends to do the same with the ICC. Its not like the NPA are busy with a serious crime problem!

Since there is no attempt to call for charges against war crimes committed by Hamas, since there is no proof that the 75 South Africans actually took part in the fighting, and since there is no proof that even if they did that they were involved in war crimes, I can only conclude that this is nothing but a sinister witch hunt against South African Jews.

Here’s the full report from IOL: War crime warning to SA

Mail & Guardian Interviews Finkelstein

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the tone of the introduction to this interview? MG: People exploit tragedy for personal gain.

“Those South Africans with an interest in the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories would have had a field day recently. First, there were speaking engagements by Alan Dershowitz, the pro-Zionist author of A Case for Israel, followed by discussions and talks by David Benjamin, legal adviser to the Israeli Defence Force.”

It doesn’t say Jews or Zionists have had a field day, but it still sounds to me like a taunt. If there is some kind of comparison between what the Israel supporting and Israel hating crowds have been up to however, then to say the Zionists have had a “field day” is crazy talk. First of all, there were no “speaking engagements by Alan Dershowitz” - he was not even in the country. His film was screened recently, but that hardly amounts to a speaking engagement! The Israel haters on the other hand have been entertained by a type of Harlem Globetrotters Finkelstein tour where he spoke at every opportunity, on virtually every campus and every radio station. He was typically left unchallenged on his every point, and this interview is a fine example.

The interview questions say it all, here’s a sample, but go see for yourself.

Although you are generalising, you talk about a superior ethnic identity complex amongst Jews in the US. Have you found the same thing here in South Africa? How is it that Alan Dershowitz has managed to garner so much support in the US?

Oh dear. 

Carte Blanche: El-Al a Front for Spooks

Sunday’s episode of Carte Blanche featured an expose about a former El-Al security official’s shocking allegations of race profiling, degrading interrogations, and operating illegally under the nose of South African authorities at OR Tambo international.

Jonathan Garb went to Carte Blanche with these allegations after being dismissed from El-Al presumably for leading a protest for higher pay and better medical benefits.

Although most allegations were about racial profiling, considerable time was devoted to Virginia Tilley’s interrogation by El-Al in South Africa on her way to Israel. Tilley is a white woman who is one of the foremost anti-Israel lobbyists in South Africa. Had Carte Blanche done some research they would have found nothing at all sinister about a country interrogating someone who is leading the calls for the destruction of said state.

The Star reported on the story yesterday, claiming that Garb is leading a trio of former employees claiming that their former employer is a front for Israeli spooks.

The Star reports that Acsa’s Solomon Makgale said El Al had security threats because of the Middle East conflict but that the allegations were of concern.

If you missed the show, our friends at the Media Review Network (who are still pushing the blood libel that Israelis kidnap Palestinians to steal their kidneys) have the entire transcript, so you can find it there.

As for the response from El-Al, you can find it here: El-Al responds to Carte Blanche Allegations

El-Al Response Last night’s Carte Blanche insert on the El Al airline showed the public only too clearly the dangers faced by the Israeli airline from terrorists and fundamentalists determined to attack innocent passengers irrespective of their ages, colours and creeds, and blow them into oblivion. The security regulations enforced by El Al to ensure the safety of all its passengers, which is the first and most vital aspect of any passenger airline, are of the highest standard, and were attested to by the complainant himself who said that had El Al security been active at the time of the World Trade Centre attacks in New York in 2001, there would have been no 9/11. Because of the nature of the threats made against the airline, El Al unapologetically questions and challenges any suspicious person or passenger. That is the airline’s right, and is similarly carried out by airlines all around the world. The accusation of racial profiling, however, is completely without justification: Virginia Tilley is white, and an outspoken enemy of Israel. In addition, among all the tens of thousands of people of different colours and religions who travel safely and regularly to Israel, the statements of two men cannot be taken as testament to a policy which in fact does not exist. No-one who travels to the USA can deny that the security into and out of that country, and the checks at the various airports, are thorough and unpleasant but are necessary in these days of increased and unrestricted acts of terror and murder. While South Africa has to date remained fairly immune from such acts, no-one can afford to be complacent; and the fact that EL Al makes every effort to protect the lives of the passengers should be highly commended rather than condemned.

Update at 2009/09/03

A comment from the Blacklisted Dictator highlights the special need for El-Al security at foreign airports:

L.A. AIRPORT GUNMAN IDENTIFIED AS EGYPTIAN IMMIGRANT  The FBI identified the gunman who shot and killed two people in the Los Angeles International Airport yesterday as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a 41-year-old Egyptian who came to the United States ten years ago. On the Fourth of July holiday, Hadayet opened fire at the LAX ticket counter of the Israeli national airline El Al, killing two and wounding several others. He was subsequently shot and killed by an El Al security guard. According to the FBI, the gunman used a .45-caliber handgun in the shooting, and was also armed with a 9-mm pistol and a six-inch hunting knife. In the shootout, Hadayet killed 25-year-old El Al employee Victoria Hen and 46-year-old Jacob Aminov, who was waiting at the ticket counter. A 61-year-old Canadian woman was shot in the ankle and a male victim was treated for injuries received from being pistol-whipped. The El Al security guard who finally shot Hadayet was also treated for a knife-wound.

Update at 2009/09/03

The SA Jewish Report has reported today that since the labour lawsuit has taken a political twist, Michael Bagraim has recused himself from the case.