This week, Yesha Council, the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria this week joined forces with the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs to promote their products as well as products from the Golan Heights at the annual IAC National Conference in Washington. Representatives of the council and ministry handed out five thousands Medjoul dates from the Jordan Valley, two hundred bottles of wine, and hundreds of samples of Ahava cosmetics and other products to conference participants.

The imitative was part of a broader plan to educate and encourage Israel supporters worldwide to buy blue and white and support businesses most threatened by the BDS campaign. Three months ago, a similar program was held in Moscow, and many more such events are anticipated worldwide in the coming months.

Oded Revivi, Chief Foreign Envoy of Yesha Council said in statement: “Israeli industrial zones in Judea and Samaria are islands of peace and coexistence where Israelis and Palestinians work together for a better future. With no political solution on the horizon, it’s time to tell the world that Israelis and Palestinians can live and work together in peace without being pushed into an agreement that neither side wants. Boycotting Israeli companies in Judea and Samaria actually harms Palestinian workers far more than the Israeli economy and is therefore and act against peace.”

While in Washington, Revivi met with more than a dozen Senators, Congressmen and staffers on Capitol Hill from both the Republican and Democrat parties, where he stressed that Yesha Council would welcome continued dialogue and cooperation with both sides of the aisle.

Yesha Council reps having lunch with Sheldon Adelson. / Courtesy

The Yesha Council delegation met privately with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and requested his assistance with new initiatives to strengthen the connection between the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland. They reported that Adelson was extremely excited to hear about a new Amazon-like Boycott website that the Council is in the process of launching. He also agreed to come on a VIP tour of the thriving Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

Revivi told Adelson that “businesses in Judea and Samaria are on the frontline of the battle against BDS, [which is] currently targeting Ariel and Efrat but their ultimate goal is the destruction of the entire Jewish State. The Yesha Council is now going on the offensive launching a new Boycott website to promote Israeli goods directly to consumers.”

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) has significantly contributed to the progress of global peace and promotion of global citizenship.

Nonetheless, recently, CEIP Vice President for Middle Eastern Studies, Jordanian Marwan Muasher, has made confusing comments that puts his stance on peace itself in question, and further sheds a doubt on CEIP’s overall commitment to its mission, which is: “dedication to advancing cooperation between nations”.

On 31 August 2016, Mr. Muasher published an OpEd in the Jordanian daily, AlGhad, entitled “Lets Support the Civil Democratic State”. In this article, he exhibits passionate support for a list of candidates running for the Jordanian parliamentary elections that took place on 20th of September 2016. The block of candidates is named “Maan List”, or “Together List.” All of these ‘candidates’ openly are anti-peace, pro-BDS and avidly against the United States, West, with their focus being Israel and the Jewish state.

With that in mind, let’s take a close look at the Maan list. On their “official website,” in which they provide a clear and unapologetic description of political stances and positions. Combined, or even at plain face value its quite clear that Muasher’s has supported a group that upholds and publicizes positions that are in direct conflict with the very values that CEIP stands for. Here are examples of what “Maan List” supports:

“Despite the very complicated regional circumstances, we keep our eyes on the Palestine of Arabhood which is fighting the Zionist occupation and the spreading settlement cancer which has become a threat to our holy Jerusalem and our Islamic and Christian holy places as well as our Arab identity. This is in the name of Jordan’s historical responsibility towards the land and the human of the beloved Palestine, and we shall remain the strong backbone for our Palestine as well as its lung through which it breathes and gains power against the occupier. We shall remain standing behind the global anti-normalization with Israel movement (BDS), which has become an effective pressurizer against the occupier all over the world, and we demand anti-normalization all through our Jordan of dignity and pride and we tell the government there is another option as the gas production of Arab brothers is much bigger than that of the occupation”.

The Maan list does not stop there, read this: “We also utterly reject the racist project of the Judization of the state and we demand the government to work avidly with our brothers from the beloved Palestine to sustain the human on his soil and hold on tight to the right of return, self-determination and the independent state.”

“And last but not least, all the freedom for our hero prisoners in prisons of the occupation, and a healthy recovery to the wounded, and glory to the martyr”.

Now, let’s see what CEIP’s Vice President, Muasher says about the group that supports the stances above, in his article:

* “I have to admit that my sprits have pretty much gone up since I have attended, days ago, the launch ceremony of ‘Maan List’ which calls for a civil democratic state”.

* “For the first time, I heard public talk about civility and democracy that was very frank and clear about the goals which the list is trying to achieve”

* “It is the right, in fact the duty, of this civil and democratic movement to be heard. I have always believed that large numbers believe in this movement, but nonetheless remained silent or [too] incapacitated to organize itself within a framework that allows it to express itself”

* “What I hope for is that the boredom of these groups with the classic approaches that do not meet its needs, would not only push it towards going to the launch ceremonies of the lists that support such argument, but also would go on the day of elections to voting box and to vote for whom it believes is aligned with its dream of a civil and democratic state”.

* “This should not be an obstacle from going to vote, especially to ideological lists like “Maan” that does not depend on tribal foundations, but rather calls for ideas which we could never become an advanced society without.”

To make matters worse, the CEIP even provided a link from their site to the article in question.

This raises a variety of questions about the CEIP and the VP’s statements, for one, was Mr. Muasher speaking for himself, or because of his position, an extension of the CEIP?

Also, does the CEIP actually know what the Maan List stands for, and what it means to the countries in the region? How does comply with CEIP’s mission statement, and even further, its tax-deductible status?

In addition, was CEIP VP Muasher spreading innuendo and hate against Israel and Jews? Why is Mr. Muasher supporting a pro-BDS group? Does he support BDS himself? Does CEIP support the BDS movement?

At the same time, how does Mr. Muasher see supporting BDS as contributing to world peace and especially peace in our region? And in fact, why is CEIP’s VP playing a key role in helping Jordan’s king keep his people down while expanding his powers through radical groups such as Maan List, which Muasher supports?

CEIP is in a position where it must take a stance, clearly and utterly distancing itself from their VP’s statements. Especially that Mr. Muasher cannot claim he did not know of Maan List’s stances against peace and Israel, if he did not actually know; then why did he go the extra mile to support the list in one of Jordan’s most read dailies? Also, him being the head of

CEIP’s MidEast research; is it even possible he has failed to do the research before supporting anti-peace group, when all he had to do is check their website?

In closing, we believe that these statements were wrong and do not reflect the CEIP and its programming in any way. Even so, we do know that Mr. Muasher is a CEIP VP and as such, he is recognized around the world as a leader in the organization. As such, we believe that CEIP should clearly state that it does not support Muasher’s position.

Further, CEIP must not tolerate pro-BDS and anti-Semitic stances as they endanger Israel and thus the direct interest of Jordanians and Palestinians, and this is in turn directly compromises regional and global peace.

CEIP and other global political organizations must exclude, eliminate and besiege all supporters of hatred including those who promote BDS, which simply means: less jobs, less stability and more unrest as far as we Jordanians and Palestinians are concerned.

{Abed AlMaala is the Secretary of Commerce in the Jordanian Opposition Coalition; www.facebook.com/abed.almaala}

Leaflets were being passed out by a Jewish anti-Semitic group on Sunday near the entrance to a hall in which a Momentum anti-Semitism meeting was taking place on Sunday.

The group, called IJAN (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network) was calling for the expulsion of the Jewish Labour Movement from the Labour Party in its leaflets.

The party has just re-elected Jeremy Corbyn has its leader, prompting at least one prominent Jewish member, Lord Parry Mitchell, to resign his membership as a result.

Corbyn has been cited for closing his eyes to numerous incidents of anti-Semitism by veteran Labour members, and has himself expressed his own “friendship” with the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.

Leaflets calling for the expulsion of the Jewish Labour Movement from Labour being handed out on way into Momentum’s antisemitism meeting. pic.twitter.com/Yc1cXcvxiY— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 25, 2016

On its website, IJAN says in a statement that it “unequivocally backs the entire Movement For Black Lives political platform and stridently condemns the Zionist backlash against the Movement for Black Lives.

“The International Jewish anti-Zionist Network strongly embraces the entire Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) platform, and we affirm its support for the Palestinian struggle and efforts to Boycott, Divest, In the United States and internationally, racism has been central to how power works and money flows.

‘Both the Palestinian anti-racist struggle against Zionism and the Black anti-racist struggle against White supremacy are crucial to peoples’ efforts to build a just world. For that reason, the Black Power movement both past and present is one of our key reference points in all fights for justice.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told the Jewish National Fund in New York on Sunday that the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement is the new face of terror.

Shaked, a top official with Israel’s Bayit Yehudi party, addressed the JNF Conference in New York on Sunday, speaking on the issue of the BDS Movement and how its activities impact Israel in daily life. She condemned the movement, likening its activities to the tunneling of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.

“The BDS movement is digging tunnels to undermine the foundations and values of Israel,” she said. “We have to stop these tunnels as well.”

The movement constitutes an existential threat at its core, she added. “Supporters of the BDS movement are attempting to destroy our very right to exist. They refuse to accept our most natural, basic and simple right: the existence of the State of Israel.”

Regardless of what mask terror wears, she said, one simple truth stands out: “You cannot defeat the enemy unless you call it what it is. That is why I am not afraid to do so. We are fighting Islamic extremism,” she said pointedly, underscoring a fact that has not once been uttered during the entire eight years of the entire reign of the the Obama administration.

Israel hater Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters, 73, has dropped Rula Jebreal, 43, the Arab girlfriend he had been dating after dumping his fourth wife, Laurie Durning, Page Six reported. Waters is a world-renowned, frothing at the mouth BDS activist, and Jebreal has written “Miral,” a book about women caught in the crossfire of the Israeli-Arab conflict, which Julian Schnabel, Jebreal’s ex husband, turned into a movie.

According to Page Six, Jebreal and Waters were introduced by Waters’ ex-wife Durning and Jebreal’s ex-husband, biotech entrepreneur Arthur Altschul Jr. Jebreal asked to meet Waters because of his anti-Israel activism, they became friends and “dined together many times.”

After Waters split with Durning, according to Page Six, “he began an affair with Rula. Arthur found out, and their marriage ended. Roger and Rula have been together around three months and they discuss Palestine all the time, they are both so very passionate about it. It’s the talk of the Hamptons, and some people are calling them the ‘Palestinian power couple.’ But it is very weird for their former spouses, who introduced them.”

Back in January 2013, Jebreal debated Rabbi Shmuli Boteach on CNN, and lectured him, live, “…I want to tell the Rabbi, this is really something that we learned from Selma, as you mentioned, when you uphold the supremacy of one ethnic group, this is not a democracy anymore, this is an ethnocracy. We need to reject that whether it’s in Europe, in Israel, or here in America. We can’t have segregation as an answer. It’s inclusion and unity.”

To which our man Boteach replied: “With all due respect, Rula, you’re excusing violence and that’s very tragic. … Let’s stop the nonsense. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. You are a Palestinian woman who has Israeli citizenship. You are allowed freedom of expression. No one tells you who to fall in love with, you don’t get shot by your uncle or by your brother because you fall in love with somebody your father doesn’t approve of. You live a Western life. You live with the kind of human rights that Israel protects. Israel has 1.5 million Arab citizens, there is no segregation and we all know that. So let’s not excuse terrorism with some Israeli policy.”

Nuff said.

The UN Dept. of Public Information held a three-day media seminar in Pretoria, South Africa, earlier this month, on peace in the Middle East, with the stated goal of bringing together “politicians, academics and other experts exploring new ways to narrate the complex and evolving story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” relates a press release from Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon, but “no official Israeli representatives were invited to participate.” Instead, “the current Palestinian representative to the UN and their former representative to the European Union both took part in the seminar,” the Danon statement said.

“Moreover, most of the speakers at the event are known for their anti-Israel views including Professor Steven Friedman from the University of Johannesburg who attacked Israel and defended the BDS movement,” Danon complained, adding that “other officials affiliated with the BDS movement took part in the seminar and were quoted on the official UN website.”

Ambassador Danon wrote a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon harshly criticizing the fact that the UN sponsored an anti-Israel event: “The UN has a moral obligation to act in accordance with the values and purposes of its charter, and events like this undermine the integrity and impartiality of the UN,” he wrote, saying “it is unfortunate that approximately 6.5 million dollars annually are diverted from those in dire need of humanitarian assistance to bodies whose only function is to serve as public relations departments for the Palestinian cause.”

Ambassador Danon also noted that “BDS is a notorious anti-Israel movement, which is conducting a global campaign of misinformation and outright slander against my country. Such activity against a member state ought not to be promoted by the UN.”

The BDS movement is the newest form of anti-Semitism. It is extremely dangerous because it is insidious and hides behind the cover of being a civil and human rights movement. It is particularly active on American campuses and may result in decline in scholarly and research achievements.

Jay Shapiro Show 06Sept2016 – PODCAST