Tag: Im Tirtzu

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PM Netanyahu: No street in the State of Israel will be named after Arafat

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday (Saturday) that he will work to remove a street sign in the northern Israeli-Arab village of Jatt that is named after Yasser Arafat, former Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian Authority.

The street name attracted public attention following the complaints of a group of wounded IDF veterans.

Liran Baruch, a paratrooper who was wounded in action during an operation in Kalandiya, told Channel 10: “A friend of mine who went to serve in reserve duty near the village of Jatt noticed on Waze a street named after Yasser Arafat. He pointed this out to me right away, and I wrote a post on Facebook about it and notified the CEO of the Im Tirtzu organization, Matan Peleg.”

Im Tirtzu subsequently helped the wounded veterans pen a letter to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and bring the matter to the public agenda.

The Interior Ministry released a statement in response, stating that they were unaware of the street’s existence: “The Interior Ministry did not approve naming the street in Jatt after Yasser Arafat and such a request was never submitted to the Ministry.”

 

In a post on Netanyahu’s Facebook page, he wrote: “I heard about the wounded IDF veterans’ battle against calling a street after Yasser Arafat in the Jatt regional council that is in the northern Sharon. I spoke with Interior Minister Aryeh Deri about the matter, and he clarified that the Interior Ministry had not given any authorization.”

Netanyahu added, “No street in the State of Israel will be named after Arafat – and we will work to remove the street sign.”

Muhammad Tahar Wattad, head of the Jatt regional council, denied prior knowledge of the street’s existence, but added that he is not opposed to the street name: “From our perspective [Arafat] represents the official leader of the Palestinian people, with Israel recognizing him as a partner for negotiations. Therefore there is no legal, social or moral prohibition to name a street after him.”

Wattad also added that “whoever calls him a mass murder should take responsibility for his words.”

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Outrage on the Eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day over German Funding of Anti-Israel NGO

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg: “Dishonors the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust”

Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day that will be marked worldwide on Friday, January 27, the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu released a new report documenting the German government’s funding of Zochrot, an Israeli NGO that works to “decolonize” Israel by promoting the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.

Zochrot’s vision, according to its official website, is to “promote acknowledgement and accountability for the ongoing injustices of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 and the reconceptualization of the Return as the imperative redress of the Nakba.”

According to the official details from the Israeli Corporations Authority’s non-profit registrar cited in the report, from 2012-2016 the Government of Germany has provided over 1,100,000 NIS (290,000 USD) to Zochrot via two German foundations, Misereor and Rosa Luxemberg Stiftung, which are heavily funded by the federal German government.

Zochrot utilizes this extensive funding to engage in an array of controversial activities, including screening its “Film Festival on Nakba and the Right of Return” on college campuses during Israeli Apartheid Week, promoting an “iNakba” smartphone application, and defaming Israel on the world stage with slanderous language like “ethnic cleansing.”

In 2014, Zochrot CEO Eitan Bronstein and other of the organization’s officials participated in the production of a radical video that dubbed the Holocaust “the best thing that ever happened” to the Jewish people.

In response to the findings of the report, Im Tirtzu sent a letter to Germany’s ambassador to Israel Dr. Clemens Von Goetze demanding the secession of German funding to Zochrot.

“What gives the Government of Germany the right to undermine the character of another democratic and sovereign nation?” the letter reads. “We are calling on your government to immediately cease all funding of ‘Zochrot.’ This funding makes a mockery of any and all efforts to find a peaceful solution to any Israeli-Palestinian issues.”

The German Embassy has yet to respond to Im Tirtzu’s letter.

Germany’s funding of Zochrot also sparked outrage among the children of Holocaust survivors.

Noah Klein, the son of two Holocaust survivors, said:  “As a child of two Holocaust survivors I appreciate that despite the horrors of the Holocaust, Germany has been a great friend and supporter of Israel. However, it is very painful to me that Germany is funding an anti-Israel NGO whose goal is the destruction of the Jewish State. The remnant of my family lives in Israel, and Germany’s funding of such an organization that seeks to destroy their future must stop.”

Lori Fagelston, also the daughter of Holocaust survivors, noted: “This funding is a disgrace like no other. Only a few generations have passed, and Germany is again committing another grave injustice against the Jewish People by funding this anti-Israel organization. This needs to stop immediately.”

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said: “The idea that Germany in 2017 is funding an organization that brazenly seeks to destroy the Jewish character of the State of Israel is a disgrace. This funding is not only dishonors the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, but is anti-democratic at its core. This is another painful example of foreign governments working to impose their unwanted policies on the State of Israel via anti-Israel NGOs from within.”

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Ahead of Terrorist’s Sentencing, Bereaved Mother Writes Open Letter to Son

Ahead of today’s sentencing of the terrorist who murdered Danny Gonen z’l, his mother Devorah Gonen penned a moving open letter to her son. Danny Gonen z’l was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in June 2015 while hiking near the yishuv of Dolev.

CEO of the Im Tirtzu movement, Matan Peleg, who has been supporting Devorah throughout the entire judicial process, said: “The situation in which terrorists enjoy more benefits and services than any other criminal in Israel is disgraceful.”

Peleg added: “There are organizations funded by foreign governments that work to provide exaggerated rights to terrorists in jail, and at the same time defend their families in the Supreme Court. The decision makers need to wake up and immediately change this absurd situation.”

BS”D

My Dear Danny,

A year and a half has passed and it seems like an eternity. The time passes, the world continues as if nothing happened, but you still remain my boy.

In the year and a half since the murder, we experienced a lot of emotions, sleepless nights, thoughts. Every moment that you were not physically here, you were still with us. In the past year and a half we were frequent visitors at the military court. Why? To fight for justice. To fight again and again. For you.

It’s odd, that the State of Israel allows for an animal on two feet, a so-called human being, to continue to laugh at our expense. The last time we saw the murderer, he, for the first time, lowered his eyes. He understood that the celebration was over. He understood that the eternity of Israel will not lie.

I fought.

We fought.

Today, we will be seeing him again in court. This time for the sentencing. Who would have thought that I would need to fight so much for you? For justice? For truth? For preventing the next murder? Over the past weeks many words have been exchanged about the quality of the military court, mainly surrounding the soldier Elor Azaria. Everywhere they spoke about the obligation to protect the judges. But I ask…what about us? What of the basic obligation to do justice? How can it be that it’s more worthwhile for a terrorist to murder a Jew than to steal his car?

The biggest absurdity is that these terrorists know that it pays to murder. Yesterday it was you Danny, and tomorrow it can be someone else. I also thought that the situation would be different, but apparently it’s not so bad for them here. They enjoy wonderful benefits and all the pleasures of life. They receive money from the Palestinian Authority, supplies from the Red Cross that would put any fancy Tel-Aviv restaurant to shame, and living conditions that many needy families in Israel could only dream of.

And at whose expense, I ask? At your expense, at our expense…

Today, we are coming to protest. To protest against the situation where bereaved families need to cry out loud with no one to stand behind them. Against the radical organizations that decided to sell their souls to the devil and defend terrorists like the one who murdered you Danny. Against the hypocrisy that cries out to the heavens. Against the next release of terrorists.

Danny, today in court, you will stand together with us. No one can erase your smile that touched so many people. They thought that they can defeat us. But today we will prove to them that this will not happen.  

We will continue in your path, Danny. In every place and at all times. We will continue to be proud Jews who are not embarrassed to fight for the truth and to continue living here in Israel.  

That is what you wanted. That is what will be.

I miss you.

Ima

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“Anti-Zionist political organizations that receive funding from foreign governments have no place in Israeli academia”

A stormy debate erupted yesterday (Tuesday) in the Knesset Education Committee when several bereaved families spoke out against academic programs that offer students credits and scholarships for interning in NGOs that defend terrorists in court. The bereaved families waved pictures of their loved ones and demanded to remove these programs from academia.

The committee was convened following the report that academic programs offer students credits and scholarships for interning in foreign government-funded NGOs that engage in a wide array of highly controversial activity. Among these NGOs is “HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual,” which defends terrorists and their families in court. Upon hearing the news, the Forum for Bereaved Families immediately penned a letter to Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) and Chairman of the Education Committee MK Yakov Margi (Shas) urging them to remove these programs from academia.

Devorah Gonen, the mother of Danny Gonen z’l who was murdered by a terrorist while hiking near the village of Dolev in 2015, said: “We feel that our loved ones were murdered a second time. The Council for Higher Education must end this absurdity immediately. This is a dangerous snowball; if today students can intern at organizations that strengthen the murderers of Jews, I fear that the next step will be even worse. It is sad that we have to beg for this. Israeli academia is degrading the murder of our loved ones. The blood of those murdered is crying out from the ground.”

Hadas Mizrahi, who lost her husband Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi z’l in a terror shooting last Passover, said: “Baruch was murdered because he was a citizen of the State of Israel. It is absurd that the Council for Higher Education permits an organization like “HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual” to have a place in academia. What message are we sending to our society? For the murder of Jews we award prizes? For this students receive scholarships? How have we gotten here!?”

A representative from the Council for Higher Education was present at the discussion and said: “The Council rejects all attempts to politicize academia and calls to expose the students to a wide range of opinions. The Chairman of the Council has appointed Professor Asa Kasher to create an ethical code that will examine the connection between politics and academia.”

Doron Mizrahi, father of IDF soldier Ziv Mizrahi z’l, waved a picture of his son to members of the committee and said: “How have we gotten to this situation that we, the bereaved families, need to beg in order to stop this absurdity? It cannot be that our taxes continue to fund organizations that work against Israeli citizens. I demand: help us prevent the next murder.”

Matan Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu movement, which exposed these academic programs to the public, said: “Our hearts are with the bereaved families that fight against those who defend the murderers of their loved ones on a daily basis. Now the families are getting another slap in the face, this time from the Council for Higher Education.”

Peleg continued: “Anti-Zionist political organizations that receive funding from foreign governments have no place in Israeli academia. The fact that one can receive academic credits for interning at organizations like “B’Tselem,” HaMoked,” and “Baladna” is an utter disgrace to academia, and strengthens the delegitimization campaign against Israel from within.”

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Is Israel Smashing Freedom of Speech?

The hypocrisy of the Left knows no bounds.  The current legislation written by MK Miri Regev  to make government funding for cultural endeavors conditional on loyalty to the state may seem a bit much to the casual observer, but the Left knows far well that it has grossly overreached in terms of tapping into government coffers to fund these artists in order to inculcate a post-Zionist outlook in the youth.  The Left coupled a cultural take over here in Israel by smashing artists with alternate political viewpoints as fringe or radical.

The Left cannot come to terms with the fact that Israel is a far more traditionally right leaning country than their European interlocutors would like them to believe.

“The beauty of Israeli artistic creation will always continue,” Isaac Herzog the head of the Zionist Union vowed on Facebook. “The Israeli McCarthyism and the zeros who are leading it will disappear just as they disappeared in the United States. The question is when and how much it will cost us?”

Once again the Left would like everyone to think the government is trying to shut down Israeli artists, but that is not the case. Regev and non-Profits like Im Tirtzu who are helping to promote the bill, just don’t want tax payer funds to prop up otherwise failing post-Zionist artists. All artists and performers in Israel have an unalienable right to freedom of speech and expression, but we the tax payer should not be required to fund the very people that seek to undermine our right to live here.