The Academic Friends of Israel
AFI Digest Vol 8 No 1 8 January 2009
1. The view from Britain -45 anti-Semitic incidents logged
2. Mass rallies In Manchester and London
3. Britain Turns Ugly – Melanie Phillips
4. Just Journalism
5. Summary of rocket fire and mortar shelling on Israel
6. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
7. Essay- Did Israel Use "Disproportionate Force" in Gaza?
1. The view from Britain
The Community Security Trust, which is responsible for the safety of Jews in Britain, has now logged 45 anti-Semitic incidents - most of them in London and Manchester has also noted the emergence of anti-Semitic graffiti in Jewish areas across London.
- Brondesbury Park Synagogue in London was the target of an attempted arson attack
- The names of prominent British Jews including Lord Levy and Sir Alan Sugar are mentioned in an online forum on which one figure requests help putting together a list of Israel supporters and another asks "Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?"
- An assault on a Jewish motorist who was pulled from his car and punched.
- A gang of youths chanting anti-Semitic slogans as they tried to enter restaurants and shops in Golders Green in North-West London.
- Anti-Semitic graffiti which has been daubed on walls and buildings includes "Kill Jews”, “Jews are scumbags” and “Jihad 4 Israel”.
These stories can be found at:
Attempted Arson at London Shul As Hate Soars
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-10918/attempted-arson-at-london-shul-as-hate-soars/
Synagogue set alight during rise in anti-Semitic attacks in London
2. END HAMAS TERROR! MASS RALLY IN MANCHESTER AT ALBERT SQUARE
SUNDAY 11TH JANUARY 200911 am - 12 noonASSEMBLE 10.40am PROMPTWE NEED A MASSIVE ATTENDANCEEVERYONE YOU KNOW
MASS RALLY IN LONDON AT TRAFALGAR SQUARE
SUNDAY 11TH JANUARY 200911 am - 12 noonASSEMBLE 10.40am PROMPTWE NEED A MASSIVE ATTENDANCEEVERYONE YOU KNOW
3. Britain Turns Ugly – Melanie Phillips
So let’s get this clear. You produce claims that Israel is slaughtering hundreds of civilians in ‘carnage’ in Gaza, even though the vast majority of the dead are said by both Israel and the UN to be Hamas operatives. You ignore totally the Hamas operatives and you focus instead emotively on the dead children and grieving parents.
You make no mention whatsoever of the fact that Hamas are hiding their arsenals in and under civilian houses and apartments, in schools and hospitals and ambulances and mosques, thus making the inhabitants targets for Israeli forces trying to destroy the infrastructure of terror; instead you blame Israel for the deaths of those inhabitants.
You fail to report that Hamas are herding Gazan civilians, including children, into buildings from where they are firing missiles at Israeli soldiers in order that the civilians should be killed; instead you blame Israel for the deaths of those civilians and those children………
To read the article in full:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3215641/britain-turns-ugly.thtml
4. Just Journalism
Analysis of UK News media reporting of Israel including the BBC http://www.justjournalism.com/
Latest featured analysis
Transcript of BBC Ten O’clock News
BBC TV, January 5 2009 by Jeremy BowenTV report on Israel's Gaza operationsSHORTCOMINGS: FAILURE TO SEPARATE COMMENT AND OPINION FROM NEWS-REPORTIN...
http://www.justjournalism.com/media-analysis/p1999_articleid/197
Pure politics is driving this war
The Independent, January 1 2009 Opinion piece about Israel's Gaza operationsSHORTCOMINGS: FACTUAL ERROR
http://www.justjournalism.com/media-analysis/p1999_articleid/195
Why bombing Ashkelon is the most tragic irony
The Independent, December 30 2008 by Robert Fisk Opinion piece critical of Israel's Gaza operationsSHORTCOMINGS: FAILURE TO SEPARATE COMMENT AND OPINION FROM NEWS-REPORTING...
http://www.justjournalism.com/media-analysis/p1999_articleid/192
Report: Facts and Figures - Quarter 3 2008
Summary of key findings
* The UK press continues to put Israel high on its agenda - 1 in 2 newspaper editions carries at least one story
* The Israel-related stories receiving the most coverage in Q3 were Iran-Israel relations, the Kadima leadership and the Prisoner exchange
* Comment and editorial pieces are twice as likely to be negative as positive
* The Guardian has the highest proportion of critical comment and editorial pieces, with 53% negative, 6% positive and 41% neutral
* There were nearly three times as many authored articles on the BBC News website portraying Israel negatively than positive.
* The greatest number of breaches of journalistic standards occurred on the BBC News Website and in The Independent
* The most common breach was 'Lack of context by exclusion of relevant information and facts' - 75% of all breaches in Q3
* The number of individual breaches fell by 35% - from 43 last quarter to 28 this quarter This quarterly report analyses Israel-related coverage in the media from July to September 2008 (Q3). To read the report in full:
http://www.justjournalism.com/plugins/p1999_media_special_articles/pdf/1640_Q3Report_03.pdf 5.
Summary of rocket fire and mortar shelling on Israel Information can be found here:
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e007.pdf
And here
And here:
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=6479919
6. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/site/home/default.asp
Hamas Exploitation of Civilians as Human Shields
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hamas_e028.pdf
7. Essay- Did Israel Use "Disproportionate Force" in Gaza?
By Dore Gold – Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
- Israeli population centers in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organizations since 2001. Rocket attacks increased by 500 percent after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. During an informal six-month lull, some 215 rockets were launched at Israel.
- The charge that Israel uses disproportionate force keeps resurfacing whenever it has to defend its citizens from non-state terrorist organizations and the rocket attacks they perpetrate. From a purely legal perspective, Israel's current military actions in Gaza are on solid ground. According to international law, Israel is not required to calibrate its use of force precisely according to the size and range of the weaponry used against it…….
To read the essay in full:
8. Worldwide Rallies and Events for Peace and Solidarity with Israel
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