Author: Orit ben Tzvi

Orit is Israel Rising's regional and threat analyst. She has a degree from IDC in Middle East Diplomacy and has served both intelligence related activities for the IDF as well as advised privately for firms doing business in the region.
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[watch] Far-Left and Arab Students Disrupt Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s Hebrew U Lecture

Video credit: David Kozlovsky

Far-Left and Arab students disrupted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s lecture last night (Wednesday) at Hebrew University, holding signs and shouting derogatory slogans at the mayor.

Once the lecture began, a number of protesters stood up and began to shout at the mayor, referring to Jerusalem as an occupied city.

“We will not bow our heads to the violence and incitement of the radical Left,” said Barkat. “It is unfortunate that those who claim to promote the values of freedom of expression try to silence those who don’t agree with them.”

Once the protesters were removed, Barkat delivered his speech as planned and added: “There is one law in Jerusalem – for Jews and Arabs alike. We will continue to work, without prejudice or exemptions, to ensure law and order in Israel’s united capital.”

Barkat’s lecture was delivered within the framework of Im Tirtzu’s Seminars for Zionist Thought, the largest Zionist academic extra-curricular program in Israel.

The Seminars for Zionist Thought is the flagship academic program of the Zionist advocacy group Im Tirtzu, which was established to impart pro-Israel and Zionist knowledge to Israeli students and to combat the growing phenomenon of anti-Zionism in Israeli academic curriculum.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said that this hostile disruption crossed a red line and called on the Education Minister Naftali Bennett to demand from the university president to take action against the protesters.

“What happened tonight was a disgraceful attempt to silence free speech,” said Peleg. “Im Tirtzu has never been deterred by the radical-Left and will never be deterred by them in the future. We will continue running the Seminars for Zionist Thought on campuses throughout the country and will continue to provide students with pro-Israel knowledge from the leading Zionist lectures in Israel.”

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Outrage after Arab MKs Equate Chemical Attack in Syria to IDF Operations in Gaza

MK Zoabi: Israel “slaughtered children and babies in Gaza”

MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint List) was booted off a radio program the other day after a stormy interview in which she equated the recent chemical attack in Syria to IDF operations in Gaza.

The heated exchange took place on Israel Radio’s “HaMaznon” program, after host Yoav Krakovsky asked MK Zoabi for her views on the world’s inaction in Syria.

Zoabi responded by asking Krakovsky if his “conscience and professional integrity only exists in a case when discussing children that the IDF didn’t kill,” and proceeded to accuse the IDF of perpetrating war crimes in Gaza.

“Why didn’t you interview me when you slaughtered children and babies in Gaza?,” asked Zoabi. “[Assad] has been a criminal for five years since the start of the revolution in Syria, but there is another criminal – the Israeli army, and their place is in the International Court of Justice in Hague.”

Zoabi’s remarks sparked outrage from one of the show’s guest hosts, who said that he can no longer remain silent when MK Zoabi is lying and turning the Israeli army, which is the most moral army in the world, into the army of Assad’s murderers.

“Don’t you dare preach about morality,” retorted a livid Zoabi, “I don’t want to hear you.” Zoabi was soon kicked off the program after shouting at the hosts to “shut up.”

Zoabi’s remarks came a day after Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh drew sharp condemnation for drawing a parallel between the situation of the murdered children in Syria and the children in Gaza.

“My heart aches for the children murdered in Syria in the same way that it feels shame for the children murdered in Yemen and in Gaza too,” Odeh said yesterday from the Knesset plenum.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg responded to the comments and said: “The radical remarks of Joint List MKs Zoabi and Odeh against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a party that seeks to damage the relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel.”

Peleg added: “These MKs are fueled by hatred and extremism and have no interest in serving the needs of the Arab sector, and this has always been the case.”

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No More Free Breaks for Anti-Israel NGO’s

A new bill seeks to cancel the property tax discount provided by the Israeli government to organizations that receive the majority of their funding from foreign governments.

The bill, proposed in the closing days of the Knesset’s winter session by Internal Affairs Committee Chairman MK David Amsalem (Likud), seeks to end the phenomenon in which organizations that act against the state by means of foreign government funding receive government benefits.

According to the bill, the exemption of property tax is a benefit that the state grants to organizations that work in service of the public, and these organizations “clearly represent foreign interests that are contrary to Israel’s interests.”

There are some 25 organizations registered in Israel that receive the majority of their funding from foreign governments, including the far-Left NGOs Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem, which accuse the IDF of committing war crimes and call for international pressure on Israel.

Other such NGOs include Zochrot, which accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and works to eliminate the Jewish character of the State Israel by promoting the resettlement of millions of Palestinians in Israel, and Israel Social TV, which provides a platform for the BDS movement.

The bill was drafted in cooperation with the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, which has been one of the leading voices opposing the intervention of foreign governments in Israel’s internal affairs.

Should the bill pass, the State of Israel is expected to save millions of shekels, which according to Im Tirtzu could be used for worthy causes that would benefit the Israeli public.

MK Amsalem said that “it is inconceivable that organizations acting deliberately against the State of Israel should receive gifts from the state that are then used to harm it.”

“If they want someone to pay their property taxes, they can turn to the foreign governments that funnel them enormous sums of money. We will use the tens of millions of shekels that will be saved to assist the weak sectors of society.”

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg, who was involved in promoting the bill, welcomed the proposal and said that it is absurd for the Israeli taxpayer to subsidize the property taxes of anti-Israel NGOs that serve the interests of foreign governments.

“This bill conveys an important message to those seeking to harm the Jewish and democratic identity of the State of Israel by means of foreign government funding,” said Peleg. “We will work to see to it that the State of Israel will not fund or subsidize those seeking its destruction.”

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Bibi Netanyahu: “Israel is Open for Business with China”

Israel’s pivot to the Asian markets continues with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trip to Beijing.  As part of his trip, the Prime Minister met with the heads of China’s largest corporations, each of which has a turnover of tens of billions of dollars. Wanda, Alibaba, Wahaha, Lenovo and Baidu were just some of the corporations Bibi met with.

“I just met with 11 heads of the largest corporations in China. A major portion of them are investing in Israel and a major portion of them will invest in Israel. This means jobs, the development of businesses and a link to the major Chinese markets. This is good for the citizens of Israel and for the Israeli economy. I told them that in today’s world there are several concentrations of technology, not many, the US, Israel, and Israel is open for business with China,” Netanyahu said this morning in Beijing.

Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that Israel will continue to open up to the Chinese market and to increase bilateral trade.

As China and India along with other rising economies in Asia have increasingly become pivotal commercial centers and economic engines, Israel has moved to develop lasting relations with them. Economy is only one part of the equation.  Asia, from India and eastward has little history of antisemitism, which makes dealing with them far more easier when issues of Middle Eastern politics arises.

The Chinese in particular, like the Indians admire and respect ancient cultures for which they see Israel as being.

“Israel and China both see themselves as ancient nations, a commonality that is important to the Chinese, who take history seriously. And the countries actually share quite a few cultural values, such as a strong emphasis on family and education, a work ethic and a passion for learning,” Alexander B. Pevzner founding director of The Chinese Media Center based in Rishon LeZion wrote in an Op-Ed.

The forum in Beijing is part of the Asian pivot that has continued to grow in the last few years when Israel was forced to diversify its foreign partnerships due to a loss of status under the Obama administration. The forum was organized by Economy and Industry Ministry commercial attaches at Israel’s missions in China.

The Israeli delegation to the forum – organized under the aegis of the Export Institute – includes business people from a variety of industries and companies (including IDE, Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim, Tnuva, NaanDanJain and others) that either operate in China or are interested in penetrating the Chinese market. Delegation members are due to meet with hundreds of Chinese business people before they return to Israel.

 

 

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As Global Chaos Increases, India and Israel Continue to Grow Closer

In a chaotic world of shifting alliances and the growing unknown of the post Cold War global order, the growing Israeli-Indian partnership continues to grow tighter. MK Avi Dichter, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee met with India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Mobashar Jawed Akbar in New Dehli Tuesday night.

Ditcher said the following on Facebook about the meeting:

“We spoke about bilateral ties between India and Israel. He expressed a desire and hope that ties between us will develop not just along financial lines, but in a deeper way as well, with an emphasis on deep mutual understanding between Israelis and Indians. The Deputy Minister emphasized during the talk that despite the profound differences between the two countries in population size and land area, nevertheless they still see building closer ties as being very important, and plan to advance the process in this regard. Later today we met again at an international conference for fighting terrorism to which I was invited to speak, a conference Indian has hosted for the last three years.”

Micha Gefen of Israel Rising stated in an article published in December:

“With a billion people in India, making it the largest democracy in the world, Israel finds a partner that has no in built nor cultural hint of anti-Semitism (Jews have been living in India for 2000 years) and fights against the same past and present enemies as itself.  Through technology and military partnerships as well long time cultural connections the two countries are set to impact the globe way beyond their regions.  It is the ultimate partnership that will shake the global order currently controlled by the US, Britain, EU, China, and Russia.” 

With East Asia on the brink of war, the EU unraveling, and the Middle East ever more chaotic, the Israel-Indian alliance is creating a potential for real stability.