Israel through to Davis Cup semis for first time ever! Israel - Russia 3:0

from jpost



Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich beat Russia's Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn in the Davis Cup quarter-final at the Nokia Arena on Saturday to give Israel an unassailable 3-0 lead and advance to the semifinals of the prestigious competition for the first time ever.

The Israeli doubles pair won the match 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 6-4 in front of a boisterous Tel Aviv crowd of over 10,000.

The historic victory set up a September semi-final encounter with either Spain or Germany.

Erlich hailed the crowd's role in their victory, telling the cheering spectators they'd played a crucial part. Ram, the more demonstrative half of the duo, found himself lost for words in mid-sentence at a post-match TV interview on court, and headed off across the arena with his shirt over his head to embrace his teammates.

Half an hour after the game had ended, he was still court-side signing autographs.

Speaking to Channel 2 later Saturday night, Ram also praised the crowd, saying that "none of us has ever experienced such an atmosphere."

Israel had got off to a dream start on Friday when Harel Levy and Dudi Sela defeated Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny respectively.

In the first match, Harel Levy, 31, ranked 210th in the world, beat Igor Andreev, ranked 24th. He won 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

In the second match, Dudi Sela, ranked 33th in the world, beat Mikhai Youzhny 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5.

US occupied territories

Quote of the Day: “Ms. Clinton’s press spokesman was asked if President Obama’s demand to halt expansion of “West Bank Jewish communities” included a demand to stop expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

The answer was affirmative. The U.S. State Department demands that Israel limit Jewish growth in these areas of Jerusalem, “whose status remains to be determined” in negotiations.

Israeli Government Press Director Daniel Seamen reacted to this Obama administration statement by saying: ‘I have to admire the residents of Iroquois territory for assuming that they have a right to determine where Jews should live in Jerusalem.’ “

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, full speech Geneva April 20, Part 2/4

40.5% of Israeli Arabs deny Holocaust

from http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1242212397013

As many as 40.5 percent of Israeli Arabs believe that the Holocaust never happened, up from 28% in 2006, a new study released by Haifa University on Sunday stated.

According to the research, Holocaust-denial was present in all class sectors, with about 37 percent of respondents having studied beyond high school.

The study also focused on the issue of whether Israel should be classified as a Jewish state. According to those polled, only 41 percent of Arab Israelis recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, compared to 65.6 percent in 2003.

In addition, about 53.7 percent of Arab-Israelis recognize the right of Israel to exist as an independent state, compared to 81.1 percent who recognized that in 2003.

The Haifa University study, conducted by Professor Sami Smooha, surveyed about 700 men and women from the Arab-Israeli and Druse sector.

Che Guevara Tshirts and Keffiash around the neck

I feel really bad seeing youth (usually) all over Europe wearing keffiahs around their necks..as a sign of being "cool", against the system sometimes, I suppose..

I feel bad because people wearing this in other circles would probably want me dead...so Im afraid to think that these young guys and girls in Europe might want the same. But lets not go that far! I would simply want them to understand that what they are wearing is not a simple "scarf", its something that has a connotation, and that connotation is linked to terrorism. One could say ..well, you know that the keffia is a scarf that many millions of Arabs wear, without any link to terrorism? 100% true!

But the way this keffia made its way to Europe and the rest of the world is through terrorism - through the image of Arafat and of other terrorists.

The tshirts with Che Guevara's iconized figure - the same in so many ways!
Che Guevara was a murderer who become an icon of anti-capitalism/imperialism. So young people in Switzerland, leaving a good life - exactly because of "imperialism/capitalism" - will wear that and feel that do something good for the others who are not so lucky! Give me a break, please.

If you're in your 20s or 30s and you live in England and you wear a keffia and you hate Israel, you are not washing away the guilt your ancestors have for colonialism! You are simply turning a blind eye on the violent history of the ME and the present violent attacks against your own country and other somewhat more civilized countries.

The same in Germany - all the radical left wingers, wearing keffiahs and accusing Israel as a "colonial power" - you are not washing away the guilt of your family, you're leaving aside truth and you're trying to close a circle. "We killed the Jews, now they kill others ("no matter if in selfdefence, and let us question that as well"!), so we're not worse than them..and perhaps they DESERVED IT.

Its a fucked up world, isn'it?

Antisemitism in Europe, Spain is strongest, followed by Hungary and Poland

Attitudes Toward Jews in Seven European Countries (.pdf) an opinion survey of 3,500 adults – 500 in each of the seven European countries – Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom – conducted December 1, 2008 – January 13, 2009, found 31% of the respondents across Europe blame Jews in the financial industry for the current global economic crisis.

Overall, 40% of Europeans in the countries polled believe that Jews have too much power in the business world, with more than half of Hungarian, Spanish and Polish respondents agreeing with that statement.

Country by Country Findings on Anti-Semitic Attitudes

In responding "probably true" to the statement, "Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country," the 2009 survey found:

Austria – 47%, down from 54% in 2007
France – 38%, down from 39% in 2007
Germany – 53%, up from 51% in 2007
Hungary – 40%, down from 50% in 2007
Poland – 63%, up from 59% in 2007
Spain – 64%, up from 60% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 37%, down from 50% in 2007

In responding "probably true" to the statement, "Jews have too much power in the business world," the 2009 survey found:

Austria – 36%, down from 37% in 2007
France – 33%, up from 28% in 2007
Germany – 21%, unchanged from 2007
Hungary – 67%, up from 60% in 2007
Poland – 55%, up from 49% in 2007
Spain – 56%, up from 53% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 15%, down from 22% in 2007

In responding "probably true" to the statement "Jews have too much power in international financial markets," the 2009 survey found:

Austria – 37%, down from 43% in 2007
France – 27%, down from 28% in 2007
Germany – 22%, down from 25% in 2007
Hungary – 59%, down from 61% in 2007
Poland – 54%, unchanged from 2007
Spain –74%, up from 68% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 15%, down from 21% in 2007

In responding "probably true" to the statement "Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust," the 2009 survey found:

Austria – 55%, up from 54% in 2007
France – 33%, down from 40 % in 2007
Germany – 45%, unchanged from 2007
Hungary – 56%, down from 58% from 2007
Poland – 55%, down from 58% in 2007
Spain – 42%, down from 46% in 2007
The United Kingdom – 20%, down from 28% in 2007

ADL commissioned First International Resources to conduct the survey. Fielded in Europe by Taylor Nelson Sofres, it was conducted in the native language of each of the countries among the general population. The margin of error for each country is +/- 4% at 95% level of confidence.


This survey, like many before it, found that the greatest predictors of anti-Semitism are age and education. Respondents older than age 65 and those with a high school education or less are more likely to hold anti-Semitic views, according to the results.

Another contributing factor may be a lack of exposure to Jews.

Many Europeans have never met a Jew, never interacted with a Jew.

In Spain, for example, Jews number just 18,000 out of a population of 40 million. And in Spain, (surprise, surprise!) Antisemitism is the strongest, across all European nations!