Surprise? Israel acts to save environment—but ‘green’ activists are silent - by Stephen M. Flatow

...The Israeli government will no doubt be forced to act against the Palestinian river-polluters just as it acted in Ya’bad. And the Palestinians will no doubt claim they are being "persecuted." Hopefully the Israelis will ignore that criticism and keep doing the right thing for the environment.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
18 November '16

Important government action was taken to protect the environment in the Middle East this week. But don't expect the government in question to get any credit—because it was the Israeli government that took the action, and the Palestinian Arabs who were the polluters. And the Palestinians, as we all know, are immune from international criticism.

The Israeli authorities repeatedly alerted the Palestinian Authority (PA), over the course of several years, about a charcoal factory in the PA-ruled city of Ya’bad that was causing serious air pollution in the area. The Israelis made it clear that if the PA did not act, Israel would have to intervene.

The primary victims of the Ya’bad pollution were, of course, the Palestinian residents of Ya’bad and nearby villages. Israeli officials even pointed out to the PA that the area's residents suffer a disproportionately high rate of respiratory problems because of the smoke. So you would think the PA would take action for that reason alone. But the PA has no interest in protecting the environment. So it ignored the Israeli warnings.

PA officials no doubt assumed—based on plenty of previous experience—that if Israel acted, then the State Department and J Street and The New York Times would accuse Israel of "intruding on Palestinian territory" and "driving Palestinian industrialists out of business." The PA also probably calculated that the various branches of the Green Party around the world are so locked in to a radical-left, pro-Palestinian worldview that they will never speak out against Palestinian pollution. And, so far, that appears to be the case.

Israel's patience with the Ya’bad air-poisoners was finally exhausted Wednesday. Israeli police shut down the factory and confiscated its production equipment.

(Continue to Full Post)

Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.

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Charcoal Kilns, the High Court, Risk to Life vs. Human Rights NGOs

Ari Briggs..
Op-Ed Contributor/JPost..
15 July '12..

Illegal and unregulated production of charcoal, in some cases on government land, is causing severe health consequences for our children. It is illegal due to the fact that the businesses are not registered and take place on land zoned for agriculture. Most disturbing is that the government and the Supreme Court don’t seem to care.

Most of us, when grilling the meat on our BBQs, have no idea what it takes to make the charcoal fuel used to achieve that perfect steak. We would be surprised to find out that our insatiable appetite to BBQ is feeding an NIS 50 million a year underground charcoal industry that is totally illegal, unregulated and terribly damaging to the environment.

The massive amounts of air pollution released into the environment during the production of the charcoal has ruined the lives of many families whose only wish was to live in the pastoral northern Sharon region.

We do know that air quality is a high priority of the Environmental Protection Ministry. One only has to recall the hullabaloo caused by the smell of chlorine in the Dan region recently. Months ago, the smell of chlorine in the streets of Tel Aviv drew dozens of vehicles specially equipped to test the air quality out on to the streets.

The sight of the white-suited scientists doing their tests was proof of the seriousness with which the issue is dealt.

But this level of care is not being applied equally.

Antisemitism (1991)

Today's Golden Oldie is from August 1991.

I decided to see what was happening 18 years ago and this cartoon turned up. It is unfortunately totally appropriate.

Today's news is about "Aftonbladet" which claims to be the leading daily newspaper in Sweden and in Scandinavia, with a readership of more than 1.5 million. The paper has just published a brand new version of the classic antisemitic blood libel. Here's the report from Israel National News:

Swedish Tabloid: IDF Kills Arabs to Trade their Organs

(IsraelNN.com) "The tabloid Aftonbladet, one of Sweden’s most popular newspapers, published a report Tuesday that claimed IDF soldiers execute Arabs in Judea and Samaria, harvest their organs and sell them. The report carried a photograph that purportedly shows the body of a victim of such an execution, with a large scar running from his chin to his abdomen. It notes the IDF’s explanation that the scar is from an autopsy which is routinely performed on people who are killed in fighting – but seems not to give it much credit and prefers a completely unsubstantiated claim by Arabs regarding forced organ harvesting." -more

A newspaper in SWEDEN!!!??
Yikes!
Your thoughts?

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