Dept for Zionist Activities, WZO

Media Focus & Analysis 1st October 2009:
Pre-Succot Reflections/ Advocacy Collection

Questions & false equivalences - "Lawfare", UN, EU:
A relentless campaign for the delegitimization of Israel and its right to self-defence

Stop Press: Israel GPO Press Conference Webcast Israel's Response to the Goldstone Report.  Live webcast.
With: MFA, Legal Advisors, Thursday 1st October @ 13:00: http://switch5.castup.net/frames/mfa_live_archive/ (archive to be uploaded).
Excerpts: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2009/Press+releases/MFA_brief_ambassadors_press_Goldstone_Report_1-Oct-2009.htm

1. A farcical attempt to paint Israel black: The UN Human Rights Council’s report into the Gaza conflict is a shamefully biased document, Ron Prosor, Israel Ambassador to the UK, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6852953.ece

2. 'We will continue to seek legal action against Israeli officials.' British attorney who tried to have Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrested in UK says efforts to prosecute Israeli officials involved in Gaza war will not temper.
Report by Hagit Klaiman http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3783209,00.html

3. Statement by Leshno Yaar, Israel Permanent Ambassador to the UN at the UNHRC, Geneva
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israel+and+the+UN/Speeches+-+statements/Amb_Leshno_Yaar_UN_Human_Rights_Council_29-Sep-2009.htm
Short version: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254163553492&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
View video

4. Excerpts from statement by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to the Israeli Cabinet, 1st October 2009:
"In the next 24 hours, a vote will take place in Geneva in the framework of the council known as the United Nations Human Rights Council. I remind you that in recent years, this council has made more decisions against Israel than against all other 180 counties in the world.

"Today, if it should decide to forward what is known as the Goldstone report, it will strike a severe blow to three things:

• First of all, it will strike a severe blow to the war against terrorism since it will afford total legitimization to terrorists who fire upon civilians and who hide behind civilians. To those who - from international platforms, and using international law - attack and condemn the victim who legitimately defends himself, this is a mortal blow to the war on terrorism.
• Secondly, it will strike a mortal blow to the stature of the United Nations. It will return it to its darkest days, in which it could make the most absurd decisions, which would empty it of all substance and significance.
• Thirdly, and perhaps the most immediate and obvious of all, forwarding the decision of what is known as the Goldstone report, would strike a fatal blow to the peace process, because Israel will no longer be able to take additional steps and take risks for peace if its right to self-defense is denied…"

5. From UN Geneva to UN New York: UNHRC Report expected to go to be passed and referred to UN General Assembly http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254163554772&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

6. Sderot, Gaza & Self-Defence - Related News
IAF strikes Gaza tunnels after two Qassams hit Negev http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1117821.html
Efforts to track and shut down the Hamas money trail http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1117468.html
Members of Kibbutz Saad on Gaza border make a claim to EU for home protection against rockets:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115621.html  http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/nat_3.html

7. Solar Decathlon Europe: Spanish government boycotts Israeli entry. Analysis and links, Dr Andre Oboler http://www.zionismontheweb.org/academic_boycott/spanish_ariel_college_boycott_solar_decathlon_spain/
Remember the lawfare issue against Israel in Spain that blew over recently? Spain is now home to another hostile move against Israel – with governmental support.
The European Solar Decathlon is a competition jointly set up by the Spanish Government & the US Dept. of Energy, as part of serious academic endeavours to combat global warming and climate change. The competition aims state it is "an international competition for universities from all over the world; the aim is to advance knowledge on industrialized and sustainable homes, with a particular emphasis on high efficiency and energy self-sufficiency." After the multi-disciplinary team from Ariel College Israeli team reached the finals with their "Stretch house" project, the Spanish government disqualified them, following political pressure from pro-Palestinian activists persuing a Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign. NB: Prior to the finals, the Israeli team had previously been both accepted and sponsored by the Spanish government.

• The action is deplored by academics in the West, and viewed by analysts as: stifling "innovation and accademic discourse in an area vital to combatting global warming and climate change."
• Questions are being asked of the US Dept. of Energy.
• This measure should be viewed part of the bigger picture: anti-Israel networking in media, organizational and lawfare campaigns, focused on Europe, Australia, Canada.

8. Related: Antisemitism on the rise in Spain, ADL Report http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/5608_13.htm

9. Shoah:
New Babi Yar Massacre monument unveiled, AP http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3783277,00.html  
The post-modern official image on Shoah Memorial in the Ukraine is untarnished in this seemingly encouraging report.
Context:  Absent from the report: Shortly after Ukraine backtracks and President Yushchenko rejects planning permission for shopping mall on the original ravine site of the massacre - following international protest and endeavours of the Jewish community – the new Babi Yar monument is unveiled.
Food for Thought: Coincidence? Is it possible that the "right hand" officially authorized the new monument was officially authorized with the (later backfiring) intention of acting as replacement history – while the "left hand" signed the (expected) go-ahead for destruction of the original site that still holds the mass grave?