Election Quiz

Election Quiz

Want to know which political party you would vote for in Israel? Find out! Try our quiz

https://uquiz.com/7IBT9C

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We Believe in Israel welcomes UK Government Hezbollah ban

We Believe in Israel welcomes today’s announcement that all of Hezbollah will be banned in UK law because the Home Secretary is “no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party”.

 

Luke Akehurst, Director of We Believe in Israel said:

 

“We are delighted that the absurd anomaly is being scrapped whereby a false distinction was drawn by the UK between Hezbollah’s murderous terrorists and the political leaders controlling them.

 

Hezbollah have carried out numerous terror attacks against Jews and Israelis around the world. They are responsible for the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq and they have played a key role in the horrors of the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah’s arsenal of missiles in Southern Lebanon is a serious threat to peace and security in Israel and Lebanon

 

This complete ban was long overdue - we have campaigned for it repeatedly. Grassroots activists deserve credit for years of hard work raising this issue with their MPs and the Government to achieve this.

 

We urge all MPs to support the draft order implementing the ban.”

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Malaysia Stripped of Paralympic Qualifiers

Earlier this month, We Believe in Israel set up a petition to protest against the disgraceful ban on Israeli athletes from competing in the qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games that were due to be held in Malaysia from 29 July to 4 August. 

View the news story here: http://www.bicom.org.uk/news/malaysia-bans-israelis/

As we outlined, this clearly contravened the International Paralympic Committee’s Mission “To promote Paralympic sport without discrimination for political, religious, economic, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or race reasons.”

Our petition gathered over 3,200 signatures - an amazing total. Our petition was even reported in the Jewish News: https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/malaysias-blatant-discrimination-of-israeli-swimmers-blasted-by-uk-groups/

We are delighted to announce that as of Sunday, Malaysia have now had the qualifiers stripped from them by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). View the IPC statement here: https://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-strip-malaysia-2019-world-para-swimming-championships 

We would like to thank all those who signed the petition for their contribution to this important victory. We would also like to praise the IPC for this correct, but brave, decision.

 

 

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Election 2019

BICOM, the Britain Israel Research and Communications Centre, published their briefing for the upcoming elections in Israel, scheduled to take place in April. It examines the reasons for early elections; identifies key issues; and highlights important events. 

Read an abridged version here:

Election Briefing 2019 PDF 

Full document available at: http://www.bicom.org.uk/analysis/bicom-briefing-israeli-elections-april-2019/ 

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Louise Ellman's Speech in Parliament on Incitement in Palestinian Schools

Louise Ellman's Speech in Parliament on Incitement in Palestinian Schools

 

Below is an edited transcript of Louise Ellman's speech in Parliament on incitement in Palestinian schools, delivered to the House of Commons on the 8th of January, 2019. 

 

"[My bill calls on the government] to prohibit international development assistance to schools operated by the Palestinian National Authority that do not promote values endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; to require the Secretary of State to publish an annual report on the extent to which such development assistance for schools operated by the Palestinian National Authority supported the promotion of those values; and for connected purposes.

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians provokes strong passions. Tragically, the past five years have seen the total absence of a political process that brings both sides together to make painful but necessary compromises to resolve this conflict. There is still vital work that we can do to strengthen the civic society foundations on which any lasting settlement must be built. We must recognise the threat posed to these peace-building efforts by those who incite hatred, glorify violence and promote terror. The reality is that the Palestinian Authority is at the heart of this threat. We can no longer turn a blind eye to what British aid is helping to foster: not the infrastructure of a democratic, independent and peaceful Palestinian state, but a body promoting values that are inimical to the establishment of that state..

We must recognise the threat posed to these peace-building efforts by those who incite hatred, glorify violence and promote terror.

The focus of my Bill is education, which is crucial in shaping young minds and it is the focus of the Department for International Development’s aid to the Palestinian Authority. The memorandum of understanding that governs this British aid is explicit: as a condition of funding, the PA must adhere to the principles of non-violence and respect for human rights. Ministers tell us repeatedly that their unpublished reviews suggest that the PA upholds those principles. The facts show otherwise.

For example, take the naming by the Palestinian Authority of schools, summer camps and sports tournaments after terrorist murderers and Nazi collaborators. At least 20 PA schools in the west bank and Gaza are named after terrorists, and three after Nazi collaborators. Those include Salah Khalaf, the head of Black September, a terror group whose name will forever be associated with the torture and murder of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972; Nash’at Abu Jabara, a member of Hamas, who built the suicide belts used by bombers in numerous terror attacks on Israeli civilians; and Amin Al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the British mandate, a Nazi collaborator who moved to Berlin during the second world war, was responsible for an SS division and fought against the release of 5,000 Jewish children who perished in the gas ​chambers. These are not choices made by obscure local officials. They are deliberate decisions taken by the Palestinian Authority at the highest levels.

At least 20 PA schools in the west bank and Gaza are named after terrorists, and three after Nazi collaborators.

Ministers in this country do not appear concerned. Last year, the Department for International Development claimed ignorance on whether any of the thousands of teachers and public servants whose salaries it pays work in schools named after these purveyors of hate, whose names should be consigned to the history books. Outside the classroom, too, children are subjected to a barrage of vicious antisemitic propaganda. Children’s programmes on official PA TV feature children reciting poems calling Jews “barbaric monkeys”, “the sons of pigs” and the “most evil among creations”.

According to the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, or IMPACT-se, the reformed school curriculum for primary and secondary schoolchildren introduced last September is “more radical than ever, purposefully and strategically encouraging Palestinian children to sacrifice themselves to martyrdom”.

Five-year-olds are taught the word for “martyr” as part of their first lessons in Arabic, 11-year-olds are taught that martyrdom and jihad are “the most important meanings of life”, and teenagers are taught that those who sacrifice themselves will be rewarded with “72 virgin brides in paradise”.

Arabic language books describe terrorists such as Dalal Mughrabi—who led the infamous coastal road massacre in which 38 Israelis, including 13 children, were massacred—as “heroes”.

These lessons in hate are all-pervasive, infesting every aspect of the curriculum, and this curriculum drips with vile antisemitic tropes—that Jews sexually harass Muslim women and that they attempted to kill the Prophet Mohammed. There is no suggestion that peace with Israel is desirable or possible. References to peace agreements, summits and proposals previously present in school books have been expunged. In their place are lies about the al-Aqsa mosque being under threat and calls to “eliminate the usurper”—to conquer Haifa and Jaffa.

Young Palestinian minds are being poisoned. The opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence is being squandered.

Young Palestinian minds are being poisoned. The opportunity for Britain to help promote the values of peace, reconciliation and coexistence is being squandered. This is not about a peaceful future. It is a scandal.

DFID Ministers were warned 18 months ago about the content of the new curriculum. They dismissed those concerns. Promised reviews have never materialised. Last September, the Minister of State claimed that the PA had “taken action to help address concerns raised”.

IMPACT-se research shows that there have been no major changes in the current school year. Indeed, the PA has deceived international donors for nearly 20 years with the suggestion that controversial schoolbooks are simply being “piloted”. Ministers have been repeatedly asked to suspend all aid to the PA that directly or indirectly finances those teaching and implementing this curriculum until fundamental changes are made. They have refused to do so. It is now time to require them to act.​

My Bill calls for two actions: first, that teaching programmes in Palestinian Authority schools financed by the UK should promote common values such as peace, freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination; and secondly, that Ministers should conduct and publish an annual review to ensure that UK funds are spent in line with UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education. British aid should support the goal of a two-state solution. It cannot and must not make that goal harder to achieve, but that is precisely what our support for these lessons in hatred is currently doing. It is time to stop this pernicious policy that works against a peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis."

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Where to see Back to Berlin in London:

Where to see Back to Berlin in London

Back to Berlin follows eleven modern-day Jewish bikers on an epic journey from Tel-Aviv to Berlin, crossing nine European countries and 4,500km in twenty-four days. Their mission: to deliver the Maccabi torch to Hitler’s infamous 1936 Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony of the 2015 European Maccabiah Games.

These riders follow in the tracks of the early 1930s’ bikers who set out from Tel Aviv to all corners of Europe to seek out athletes to compete in the first Maccabiah Games.

En route, each country holds a chilling resonance for our motorcycling Holocaust survivors, descendants of survivors and the grandson of a 1930’s Maccabiah Rider. Stories of defiance and survival are revealed, as well as those of horrifying tragedy.

The juxtaposition of the present and past is the underlying thread of this Biker-Flick meets Holocaust film mixing archival footage with the 2015 journey.

As resurgent populism and anti-Semitism once again rear their ugly heads, this film brings an important message through the voice of those who have been personally affected by one of the darkest pages in human history. This isn’t simply a “Jewish” story. It is the story of people overcoming the worst from fellow man to restate our common humanity.

Friday 23rd November

Picturehouse Central: 18:50

Saturday 24th November

Picturehouse Central: 15:10

Sunday 25th November:

Picturehouse Central: 11:30; 15:40    Everyman Belsize Park: 16:30        JW3: 20:45

Monday 26th November

Picturehouse Central: 16:30               JW3: 18:00

Tuesday 27th November

Picturehouse Central: 16:00               JW3: 16:00; 18:00

Wednesday 28th November

Picturehouse Central: 15:40; 21:10    JW3: 16:15; 20:45

Thursday 29th November

Picturehouse Central: 21:15               JW3: 18:00

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Urgent Call to Action - Israel under attack from Gaza – email your MP now!

https://www.israelbritain.org.uk/wb/

Israel is under attack again.

One person was killed and at least 50 others were wounded in a massive Palestinian missile barrage that targeted southern Israel on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 November.

More than 400 missiles were fired by terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Homes in the southern cities of Sderot, Netivot and Ashkelon were hit by missiles.

In addition, an anti-tank missile hit a bus near the Gaza border and seriously wounded an IDF soldier.

Please email your MP to ask them to stand up in Parliament and defend Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. We are calling on MPs to support Israel’s right to defend its citizens from unlawful Palestinian aggression.

Email your MP here: https://www.israelbritain.org.uk/wb/

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New flyer - why the allegation that “Israel is a racist endeavour” is wrong

We have just published a new flyer which looks at and rebuts the argument that “Israel is a racist endeavour” which was made during the debate about whether Labour should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. We hope this will be useful in countering this pernicious allegation. Click here to download the flyer

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70 achievements in 70 years

Israel celebrates its 70th birthday this year, 2018, on 19 April.

After 2,000 years of exile and persecution, the Jewish people have made up for lost time now that they finally have a state of their own again.

Israel has flourished in its first 70 years of statehood and achieved more than many far older countries.

Here are 70 of Israel’s achievements we are highlighting – from the sublime and world changing to the small but important:

70 achievements in 70 years WBII pamphlet final

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Over 10,000 people sign the petition against "Israel Apartheid Week"

On Tuesday 27 March we went with the Israel Britain Alliance and a cross-party group of supportive MPs to hand in a petition of 10,541 signatures to 10 Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to condemn "Israel Apartheid Week" and enshrine the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into UK law.

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