CNN - Fake news and cowards

With regards to CNN as a “Fake News” source and their “love” for Israel I thought that I would repost this old Blog entry of mine from July of 2006 during the “Second War for Lebanon”

 On Friday morning. Between Katjusha attack,  I saw a very heartwarming and crocodile tear jerker report about the poor displaced families of the Shia Moslem murderers = Hezbollah from the Dahieh  suburbs of southern Beirut. The women being interviewed was just so complacent as she admitted that Israel had sent leaflets and had warned the inhabitants of the neighborhood to leave, which she astutely did.

In the next scene, the reporter goes to show the children playing outside in the sunlight as ‘bombs’ exploded nearby. The children show their defiance and pray to Allah in thanks for not being killed. How staged can you get! Now exactly where did I put my Photoshop program? Ah, hiding dust I guess.

So I ask where are the CNN reporters in Israel?

"Why can’t they come and spend a quiet day with me and my family?"

Could it be that coming to face Katyushas from the Hezbollah with innocent Israeli’s would compromise their ever-dying love for Zionism?

Maybe the ‘Bollywood’ and “Paliwood’ versions of the poor displaced and innocent Arab victims of Zionism are more interesting than the actual blood of innocent Israeli’s.

Hey, I guess after the "fake Holocaust" that the Neo-Nazi's and the Palestinians claim never really happened and the sudden disappearance of more than six million "Zhids" continues to delight the worlds “lovers of Zion”.

Those Lovable Clowns of the UN...

Now how many can remember Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971 Pantanaw U Thant’s pre Six Day War 1967 UN disappearing act from the Egyptian border at the request of Gamal Abdul Nasser?

Or the UNFIL peek-a-boo we don’t see nothing gig in Southern Lebanon.
Could someone at the UN explain to me just how 16,000 Katyusha rockets were 'smuggled' in to Lebanon?

Tell me are blindfolds part of the kit issued to all UN personnel?

Now what was that comment about the non-adherence by Israel of UN resolutions?   

Anyway after 33 days of being confined to our ‘enclosed room’ and being on the receiving end of more than 550 Katyusha rockets, and an unknown amount of 120mm mortar rounds my wife and my three children thought that they could hopefully come out into the sunlight. Not so fast! Our first salvo of Katyusha rockets came at 10:45. As of this moment 3:00PM there have been 20!

My first email sent to CNN:

I am sick and tired of your totally one sided pro Hezbollah coverage of the 'unfortunate' Lebanese terrorists and their families. You have not shown the real bravery and courage nor suffering of the Israeli's in the eye of the relentless Katyusha Terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. I called your offices in Jerusalem on Friday and invited one of your colleagues to come and sit with my family for just one day. I have yet to have heard from your cowardly pro Hezbollah Islamic terrorist’s colleagues. PS I am sending this letter to Fox News. I am waiting for your reporter’s arrival!

Comment sent in with movie file of Katyusha rocket attack:

This is just one of several videos that I made as the alarm/siren went off for 33 days as the Lebanese government protected Iranian Government funded Islamic Terrorist organization has tried their hardest to murder me and my family in cold blood since 09:05 Wednesday July 12th with over 500 Katyusha rockets. Contrary to Israel’s policy of warning the Lebanese with leaflets, radio and TV broadcasts to leave we have been targeted with no warning. My question to all of the viewers is; Why does CNN refuse to show how murderous the Hezbollah rocket attacks really are? Don't forget Europe they will kill you too. Oh I forgot you continue to deny the bombings in London and Madrid where carried out by who? 

Second email:

As of 13:15 Israel time we have had 18 Alerts/sirens and 18 salvos of Katyusha rockets three salvos less than 100 meters from my house. My wife and I are American born citizens who made Aliyah to Israel. We are non-combatants and our children are innocent victims of Moslem terror. We do not have a bomb shelter and we do not have a security room. All we have is our home and a storage wash room under the stairwell to our second floor. For three weeks I have been running in and out of our ‘shelter’. We have been flipping through the news channels and we are sick and tired of the scenes of the 'unfortunate' Lebanese terrorists and their families that are constantly shown on CNN International. We have yet to have seen the real bravery and courage nor suffering of the Israeli's in the eye of the relentless and very murderous Katyusha rocket terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.

Because of this I called your offices in Jerusalem on Friday and invited one of your colleagues to come and sit with me my wife and my children for just one day and experience with us the true horror of being on the receiving end of the Hezbollah terrorist attacks.

My wife, my children and I are awaiting your reporter’s arrival!

Third email:

Like I tried to say in my three previous attempts to send you information, the power was cut by shrapnel that cut the power lines; Ma’alot itself has no military facilities nor is it a strategic position. So why exactly is Ma’alot being targeted by the Hezbollah? Why have the Hezbollah fired over 500 katyusha rockets and countless 120mm mortar rounds at us?

As I said previously as of 13:15 Israel time we have had 18 Alerts/sirens and 18 salvos of Katyusha rockets three salvos less than 100 meters from my house. My wife and I are American born citizens who made Aliyah to Israel. We are non-combatants and our children are innocent victims of Moslem terror. We do not have a bomb shelter and we do not have a security room. All we have is our home and a storage wash room under the stairwell to our second floor. For three weeks I have been running in and out of our ‘shelter’

My wife, my children and I are still awaiting your reporter’s arrival!

Fourth email:

As I said previously as of 13:50 Israel time we have now had 20 Alerts/sirens and 20 salvos of Katyusha rockets four salvos have landed in a radius less than 100 meters from my house!

As I stated previously Ma’alot itself has no military facilities nor is it a strategic position. So why exactly is Ma’alot being targeted by the Hezbollah?

As of now my wife, my children and I are still awaiting the arrival of a reporter from CNN. Question, If I were a member of the Hezbollah do you think I would be ignored like this?

Some important information to note:

I wish to remind those who read this some facts that were ignored by the world media. That 15 out of a total of 43 Israeli civilians (including four who died of heart attacks during rocket barrages) were Arab Israelis.
July 19th,2006: Rabiya Abed Taluzi, three, and his brother Mahmoud, 7, of Nazareth.
July 23rd, 2006: Habib Awad, 48, of Ibellin
August 3rd, 2006: Shanati Shanati, 18; Amir Naeem, 18; and Muhammad Fa'ur, 17, all of Ma’a lot-Tarshiha
August 4th, 2006: Baha Fayed Karim Mana, 35, and Muhammad Subhi Salim Mana, 23, both of Majd el-Krum
August 5th, 2006: Fadiya Juma'a, 58, and her daughters Sultana, 25, and Samira, 30, of Arab al-Aramshe
August 7th, 2006: Lebiba Masawi, 68, and Hanna Hamam, 62, from the Israeli-Arab neighborhood of narrow streets and old stone buildings called Wadi Nisnas in Haifa were killed trying to protect their grandchildren from the barrage of Hizbullah-launched rockets..
August 10th, 2006: A Katyusha rocket exploded in the courtyard of a residential building in Deir el-Asad that killed a mother Mariam Assadi, 26 and her five-year-old son Fathi Ahmed Assadi and seriously wounding her other son and mother-in-law. The mother and children were on the ground floor of their apartment when a rocket exploded just outside the external wall and kitchen window. The kitchen and hallway were completely destroyed by the blast.

Deir el-Asad is part of a municipal federation called El-Shajur, which includes Binya and Majdal Krum. During the war four people from El-Shajur were killed, dozens suffered physical wounds and hundreds suffered from shock from about 35 rockets that fell on the three villages. Eleven people were wounded in the explosion and another 38 people were treated for shock.

According to the Hezbollah and their adherents they do not make mistakes. But Oops sorry we did not mean to kill your loved ones, or did they, these 15 Arab Israelis-please note the women and children -   were in their homes and nowhere near military bases or facilities.

Ben Lorber - A critque of an anti-Zionist Jew

When I first looked into the background of this individual to understand the motivation for his writings and his deep hatred for Zionism I noticed that his Facebook account that besides being a confirmed anti-Zionist that he may have Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) from the frequent updates of his profile photos of himself.

On the "About page of his Blog we learn that he is a writer for many virulent anti-Israel /anti-Zionist publications and web sites that publish articles of "historical negationism".

"... a journalist, he has written extensively about the Palestinian liberation movement, the migrant justice movement in America, the historical and contemporary American labor movement, the legacy of Jewish activism in America, the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, and more.

His work has appeared in a variety of online and print publications, including The Abolitionist, In These Times, the Earth First! Journal, The Electronic Intifada, Tikkun, Jewish Currents, The Palestine Chronicle, The Indypendent, Green Left Weekly, +972mag, LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal, Occupied Palestine, the Monthly Review Zine, and many more." 

How does the "leftist" HaAretz describe the hate filled anti-Israel / anti-Zionistic web sites he has written for? "progressive publications"

"Ben Lorber works as Campus Coordinator with Jewish Voice for Peace. He has written articles for a variety of "progressive publications", and has previously worked with immigrant justice and workers' rights organizations throughout the United States."

By calling hate filled historical negationist anti-Israel / anti-Zionistic web sites The Electronic Intifada, Tikkun, The Palestine Chronicle, and +972mag as "progressive publications" should tell you something of the honesty and truthfulness of their Journalistic credibility in reporting.

Ali Abunimah who is the co-founder and “Executive Director” of the The Electronic Intifada website, which caters mainly to anti-Israel activists like the proponents of BDS campaigns calling for boycotts against Israel. Abunimah harbors a truly Orwellian definition of antisemitism that reflects his preposterous view that “Zionism is one of the worst forms of anti-Semitism in existence today.”

In a 2006 column, Alan Dershowitz wrote that "Tikkun is quickly becoming the most virulently anti-Israel screed ever published under Jewish auspices" and that "support for Tikkun is support for the enemies of Israel."  Need I say anything more. 

In Ben Lorber's background from the postings on his Facebook page we learn that he is "Self-Loving Anti-Zionist' a Marxist and his words he expouses in his blog and in his "journalistic" articles are those of  supporters of Matzpen abroad Israca (Israeli Revolutionary Action Committee Abroad). Matzpen (Hebrew: מצפן‎, lit. 'Compass')  was the name of a revolutionary socialist and anti-Zionist organisation, founded in Israel in 1962 by former members of the Israeli Communist Party who viewed Zionism as a colonizing project, and strove for Arab–Jewish coexistence, based on full equality.Matzpen offered a more radical analysis of and opposition to Zionism.

"Why is our self-identity as a people held captive by a ;settler-colonial regime halfway around the world?"

"Our community has been brainwashed by Zionism. American Jews have a long, beautiful history in this country, but we never march for ourselves. We march for a country that exists for most of us as an abstract ideal in our heads, until, one by one, we awaken to the nightmare behind the dream- hopefully before it's too late."

The philosophy that he espouses is that of Ehud Adiv, who was arrested on grounds of treason for spying with Daud Turki (Arabic: داوود تركي‎, also known as  أبو عائدة Abu Aida). Adiv was a member of the "Red Front", a Revolutionary Communist alliance,  an organization that emerged from Matzpen in 1972. Adiv wrote:

“if the Jews will prove to the Arabs, who have been fighting Zionism for dozens of years, that they [the Jews] are on their side, that they are prepared to sacrifice everything they have, to be subjected to the same ‘treatment’ and to share everything with them. Without this no Arab will have confidence that the sincerest Jewish revolutionary is really revolutionary. No ideology, not even the most equitable and progressive, can convince the Arabs unless it is accompanied by action on the part of those who adhere to it."

In the book, "The Other Israel: The Radical Case Against Zionism", edited by Arie Bober, who was a member of Matzpen. We see an overview of the positions once held by Matzpen and are echoed today in; JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), J Street and Code Pink on a range of anti-Zionist /anti-Israel issues. The book is an essential resource on the organisation's analysis of Israeli society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


According to the philosophy of Matzpen:

" The Zionist state was born in the violent expropriation and expulsion from their country of the Palestinian Arabs, and that process continues today. In open alliance with Western, especially United States, imperialism, and in scarcely hidden collusion with the most reactionary forces in the Arab world, the Zionist state actively sets itself against every step, no matter how faltering, taken by the Arab masses to alleviate the centuries’ old misery imposed on them by colonialism and imperialism. Within the territories occupied since 1967, the Zionist state employs a system of direct military repression to expel Palestinian Arabs from their lands and secure Jewish colonization of them, and to crush every expression of Palestinian resistance. Within its own borders, the Zionist state engages in systematic national oppression of its minority of Arab citizens. The dark-skinned majority of the privileged Jewish community itself increasingly feels the sting of racist discrimination, as economic inequality increases and social conditions deteriorate. Far from offering a haven to the persecuted Jews of the world, the Zionist state is leading new immigrants and old settlers alike toward a new holocaust by mobilizing them in a colonial enterprise and a counterrevolutionary army against the struggle of the Arab masses for national liberation and social emancipation – a struggle that is not only just but will eventually be victorious. This state of affairs is, moreover, in no sense accidental. It was the inevitable outcome of the success of the Zionist project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. And to change this reality requires not merely a change of government or a modification of one or another specific policy, but a revolutionary transformation of the very foundations of Israeli society."

Matzpen's aim (which was synonymous with that of the Communists) was to create a broad front of people opposed to the occupation and in favour of a de-Zionized Israel, which would form part of a "socialist federation" of the entire Middle East.(The One State Solution)
Matzpen has insisted that the 1967 "occupation", post Six Day War, was but one stage in the long history of Zionist settlement. That reversing it would be a necessary but not a sufficient enough condition for overall solution to the problems of the Middle East.

BDS is the conceptualization of the Matzpen "philosophy".  

JVP, Code Pink, B'Tselem are the voices:

"For such a solution, political mobilization of Arabs, Jews, and other national minorities in the region would be needed. The political framework for this mobilization became known as the Arab Revolution, which combined national and socialist tasks in the process of struggle against Zionism, imperialism and Arab reaction."

To advance these aims, Matzpen established links with the "New Leftist" -read -"revolutionary organisations" in Europe and other parts of the world. At the prompting of the KGB in the middle and late 1960's, the Antifa - Baader–Meinhof Group movement in Germany and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) and Black Panthers in the USA also with progressive Palestinian organisations, such as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine."

"A number of Jews, through their speaking and writing, are feeding a rise in virulent antisemitism by questioning whether Israel should even exist". Alvin H Rosenfeld's essay;"Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism".

Disinformation and Historical negationism includes falsifying information, obscuring the truth, and lying in order to manipulate public opinion about the historical event discussed in the revised history. In "History Men Battle over Britain's Future", Michael d’Ancona said that historical negationists "seem to have been given a collective task in [a] nation's cultural development, the full significance of which is emerging only now: To redefine [national] status in a changing world".

Here are some "Dr Jeckel and Mr Hyde" quotes full of disinformation and historical negationism from Ben Lorbers blog entries for deeper consideration:
An example of hstorical disinformation:

"In 1929, as mounting anti-Zionist sentiment began to stir up the Arab world (understandable, as Zionists were settling Palestine in droves and had clear, "British-backed" intentions to create a predominantly Jewish state on land previously promised to the Palestinians)" 

In this quote those who are not knowledgeable of historical facts would not know that they are not given the full story.
Jews who had been dreaming, hoping and awaiting for the opening of the doors of  Eastern Europe and Russia in the post World War I era, to leave the oppresion, pogroms and starvation, fled to other countries that would allow them in and Eretz Yisrael was but one place that Jews could immigrate to but were "restricted" by British regulations due to the Arab blackmail of revolt.
 Though the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate spoke of the inspired -intention-by Balfour to "create a "Jewish Homeland", NOT ALL the British governments deemed it so as Lorber and the Arab apologists who have you think.
For "IF" the British had truly wanted to they could just as easily have created a "Jewish Entity" in 1922 like they did when they took 78% of the mandate and created Transjordan, Iraq or create Saudi Arabia.

Dr Jeckel and Mr. Hyde
In these quotes from his blog entries Lorber shows some realisms in the begining but in the second half he resorts to his true hate. a true Dr. Henry Jekyll and his alternative personality, Edward Hyde!
Dr Jeckel:
"Before 1967, for 1400 years the Cave of the Patriarchs, was completely a mosque, and Jews could only ascend up to the seventh step on the outside staircase. In all honesty, speaking as a Jew and as a cosmopolitan secular citizen, I am glad that today part of the structure is a synagogue, and Jews can worship there freely;" Okay
Mr Hyde:
But then he goes on ...." I am not glad, however, that this has been achieved through such a barbaric and racist occupation!" Oy what a loss mind!
Dr Jeckel:
"And yes, it was wrong for Muslims to forbid Jews from visiting the tomb of their patriarch," -OKAY....
Mr Hyde:
"...but shame on those who use the memory of this past oppression to justify their present oppression!"
Dr Jeckel:
Truth:
"I feel disgusted at the image of myself sometimes, a boy coming from halfway around the world to spy on this conflict"
Mr Hyde:
that concretely strangles the lives of those embroiled in it, a boy who has the privilege to jog by soldiers, and ironically scoff at the fact that he is waved through because of his american passport,..."

In these quotes you simply feel the hatred

"...these Hebron (Jewish settlers) boys are something else, they look like dogs born and bred to hate, to fiercely, zealously, arrogantly and violently defend their Judaism. Shame on any interpretation of any faith that values such macho, ignorant defense of the tribe and hatred of the other over the universal virtue of humility)."

"They attribute this Arab hatred to anti-Semitism, coupled with the intrinsically violent nature of Arab blood. They forget that they are hated here because they bring an occupationthat chokes the life of the city, and they are a symbol of a larger occupation that has choked the life of all Palestine."

"On the side of the oppressor(Israel), the religious idea of a ‘return to the homeland’ is the whole reason Zionism has chosen this patch of land over all others, and its process of colonization and displacement of the 1000-year native Palestinian population relies completely on the idea that Jews were ‘here before’, and so have returned to ‘resurrect’ their innate, divine claim to the land. Zionism colonizes this land through remembrance- it fleshes out the past and uses it to usurp and cover over the present Palestinian presence. The past is its sword and shield."

A Facebook post from January 29, 2017: Lorber codemns Israel for its stance beside a world leader who for once has not whispered in closed rooms the truth but has boldly spoken openly and exposed the lies of the Arabs primarily of the Palestinians.

When the Trump nightmare finally crashes into flames- as all such nightmares eventually do- and the greater mass of American Jews, who have inwardly hated his regime, and fought against it, and tried to protect the vulnerable under it, and felt concerned for the future of their country, and for their own safety, in the face of it- when the rubble clears and the bulk of American Jews stand up, rub their eyes, and look around, they will see that the state of Israel, that Jewish state that we have so long seen as our ultimate ally and refuge,has actively cheered on the fascist Trump regime, has collaborated with it or, at best, has stood silently, arms folded, unable to utter a single word against it.

It will take some of our elders awhile to admit it. A few never will. But something will have changed in the heart of American Jewry. Our stubborn faith in the existence of a progressive Israel, an Israel that is a ‘light unto the nations’, a symbol of the promise of democracy, a rock of resistance against the evils of the world- this belief in Israel as a testament to justice, to which we have held tight, against the increasing evidence of our senses, for over half a century, will be finally, irreparably shattered. The Zionist dream will be dead. And what are we building now to replace it?

A Facebook post from June 4th 2017"

"Why is our self-identity as a people held captive by a settler-colonial regime halfway around the world?
The sad part is, I bet most marchers think they're expressing Jewish pride and resiliency, by marching with the flag of a country responsible for some of the worst abuses in the world today. They haven't been taught any other way to express their Jewishness to the world. Our community has been brainwashed by Zionism. American Jews have a long, beautiful history in this country, but we never march for ourselves. We march for a country that exists for most of us as an abstract ideal in our heads, until, one by one, we awaken to the nightmare behind the dream- hopefully before it's too late."

In ALL his article, "I'm a Jew and a member of JVP Israel just banned me" Mr Ben Lorber fails to tell the truth from the beginning by outright lying he states: (Dr Jeckel)

"In 2011, I visited the land of Israel on a trip for American Jews, organized by an Orthodox yeshiva — kind of like Birthright, only more religious."

Mr Hyde: From his about page he states:

"In 2011, he spent six months in the West Bank of Palestine, working as an activist with the International Solidarity Movement and a journalist the Alternative Information Center.

From this comment we have clear confirmation of what has happened in many cases recently where anti-Zionist Jews have lied and manipulated and infiltrated pro-Jewish funded organization like "Birthright"to get "Free" trips to "Palestine". A prime example (that backfired you may say) was with a young woman by the name of, Hannah Bladon, who was a pro-Palestinian student activist in England who also "infiltrated," on the encouragement of BTzelem and the Israeli chapter of (JVP)Jews For Justice in Palestine.
Bladon;too had also surreptitiously enrolled in the Zionistic and pro-Israel program Rothberg International School of Hebrew University in order to receive free housing and ease of access to Palestinian groups.
However, unlike Mr Lorber, Hannah was murdered, stabbed to death, as she rode on the light rail trian in Jerusalem by Jamil Tamimi from the neighborhood of Ras al-Amud.
The murderer, Jamil Tamimi, is a clan relative of the infamous "forever 16 year old" "Shirley Temper" Ahed Tamimi, the "Pallywood" star known as Shirley Temper, whose parents Bassem and Nariman are well-known mass media Palestinian activists in their village of Nabi Saleh.

As to the Alternative Information Center Lorber mentions.

Upon research I found that;Alternative Information Center or AIC co-founder Michel Warschawski was a leader of “Matzpen,” the anti-Zionist Trotskyite organization. Warschawski was jailed in the 1990s for publishing an informational pamphlet for the PFLP terror group. The AIC is labeled as a grassroots binational organisation to "promote the human and national rights of the Palestinian people".
Their activities include providing political commentaries via its website- as Ben Lorber does. They actively promote BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions). They organize“Apartheid Law Seminars,” and  they publish journals that advocate its policies.
According to the AIC,

“the most urgent regional task is to find a just solution to the century-old colonial conflict in Palestine and confront the ongoing Israeli occupation-regime by using the UN  framework to negate the very existence of the Jewish State.”

The Alternative Information Center fully supports and calls for the “right of resistance” a call for violence as they call upon:

 “The Palestinian leadership must stop and consider the results of the peace process. Only the choice of resistance can put an end to the occupation.”

As to Ben Lorber's Article "I’m A Jew And A Member Of JVP. Israel Just Banned Me" he opens with his "Jewish credentials" by stating: (Dr Jeckel)

"I remember how holy it felt to pray at the graves of the matriarchs and patriarchs in Hebron, to dunk in the mikvah (ritual bath) used by the Arizal, Isaac Luria, legendary 16th-century Kabbalist, in the holy city of Tzfat. I remember how blessed I was to chant the Mourner’s Kaddish for my grandfather, on his yahrzeit (the anniversary of his passing), at the Western Wall."

Lorber as a good Marxist he is, immediately launches into the Alternative Information Center "demonization of Israel" line and accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing,”(Mr Hyde)

"I prayed. “May the Palestinians ethnically cleansed from Tzfat, now exiled in refugee camps and around the world, be able one day to return home. May the brutal military occupation end, here at the Kotel and across Israel/Palestine."

Yes, Ben do tell us "the real truth" "the "WHOLE STORY" of "WHY?" the "Arabs of the Mandated Territories" aka the post 1964 PLO Foundation "Palestinians" FLED Tzfat in 1948?

Was it NOT because the blood thirsty Arabs descended in mass on the 5th of January 1948, to attack the approximately 1,700 happless unarmed, mostly elderly, pious Orthodox Jews,and begin massacring them?
According to Martin Gilbert, food supplies ran short:

"Even water and flour were in desperately short supply. Each day, the Arab attackers drew closer to the heart of the Jewish quarter, systematically blowing up Jewish houses as they pressed in on the central area."

On April 16, the same day that British forces evacuated Safed-and turned over the strategic positions held by them to Fawzi al-Qawuqji, who had been awarded the rank of a colonel of the Wehrmacht (German Army) and his 200 local Arab militiamen, supported by over 200 Arab Liberation Army soldiers. Once they receive the strategic positions and the ammunition convenietly "left behind' they tried to take over the city's Jewish Quarter.
They were repelled by the poorly armed Jewish garrison, consisting of some 200 Haganah fighters, men and women, boosted by a Palmach platoon.
The Arab Liberation Army had plans to take over the whole city on May 10 and to slaughter all as cabled by the Syrian commander al-Hassan Kam al-Maz, and in the meantime placed artillery pieces on a hill adjacent to the Jewish quarter and started its shelling.

The secretary-general of the Arab League Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam stated that the goal of "*Plan Dalet"  was to drive out the inhabitants of Arab villages along the Syrian and Lebanese frontiers, particularly places on the roads by which Arab regular forces could enter the country. He noted that Acre and Safed were in particular danger.

(*Plan Dalet was a set of guidelines to take control of Mandatory Palestine, declare a Jewish state, and defend its borders and people. " In case of resistance, the population of conquered villages was to be expelled ( NOT MASSACRED as is claimed) outside the borders of the Jewish state.AND  If no resistance was met, the residents could stay put, under military rule.")

Jewish appeals for help were ignored, and the British, now less than a week away from the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, also did not intervene against the second – and final – Haganah attack, which began on the evening of 9 May, with a mortar barrage -from two home made Davidka mortars on key sites in Safed.
Following the "barrage", Palmach infantry, in bitter fighting, took the citadel, Beit Shalva and the police fort, Safed's three dominant buildings. Through 10 May, Haganah mortars continued to pound the Arab neighbourhoods, causing fires in the marked area and in the fuel dumps, which exploded. "The Palmah 'intentionally left open the exit routes for the population to "facilitate" their exodus...'

"The noise was its most important effect, so that anyone attacked by a Davidka mortar would hear the shell seeming to fall very near to them before bursting very loudly, increasing the fear factor. The Arabs abandoned many strongholds during the war as a direct result of this visceral fear: one story relates that, having been told that many of the proponents and designers of America's atomic bomb were Jewish (e.g., Einstein and Oppenheimer), the Arabs thought that they were being attacked with atomic weapons and subsequently abandoned their homes. This was especially true in the liberation of Safed."

According to Gilbert:

"The Arabs of Safed began to leave, including the commander of the Arab forces, Adib Shishakli (later Prime Minister of Syria). With the police fort -the Citadel-on Mount Canaan isolated, its defenders withdrew without fighting. The fall of Safed was a blow to Arab morale throughout the region... With the invasion of Palestine by regular Arab armies believed to be imminent – once the British had finally left in eleven or twelve days' time – many Arabs felt that prudence dictated their departure until the Jews had been defeated and they could return to their homes."

"May the brutal military occupation end,"?...."here at the Kotel and across Israel/Palestine...Next time, when I am able to pray at the Kotel or Hebron, it will be a just place, where no homes are raided, no children are caged, no races or creeds are profiled, no people must live at the mercy of a checkpoint or under the barrel of a gun..... a staff person, at Jewish Voice for Peace." Ben Lorber

Ben Lorber is the personification of Alvin H Rosenfeld's essay;"Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism":

"At a time when the de-legitimization and, ultimately, the eradication of Israel is a goal being voiced with mounting fervor by the enemies of the Jewish state, it is more than disheartening to see Jews themselves adding to the vilification. That some do so in the name of Judaism itself makes the nature of their assault all the more grotesque. Their contributions to what's becoming normative discourse are toxic. They're helping to make [anti-Semitic] views about the Jewish state respectable – for example, that it's a Nazi-like state,(Israhell) comparable to South African apartheid; that it engages in ethnic cleansing and genocide. These charges are not true and can have the effect of delegitimizing Israel.

Ben Lorber: ""... we have broken sharply with the mainstream Jewish communal consensus....For embracing a call for solidarity from Palestinians" (for this) "we have excommunicated ourselves from klal Yisrael (the Jewish collective)." "...pro-BDS Jews today...(see) Zionists as challenging Jewish unity, and even as encouraging physical and existential threat to the Jewish people."

Nazis, the Holocaust and The Jews of Tunisia

I want to share with you this somewhat long post which I feel is very important to know especially for those concerned with humanity, justice and morality. 

I ask that you please help by sharing it.

I saw where TIP -The Israel Project, had posted a video translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) of  Protesters in Tunisia destroying a Holocaust Exhibition in Tunisia and stating that:  

"The Holocaust was a myth and a Lie."

Each time I encounter these videos of eitherTV interviews or interviews in the street. As a Jew watching and listening, I wonder; "Just how deep of a vile putrid sickness of hatred these Arabs have for us Jews."

But what matters to me the most is the massive response that we witnessed in the UN and in the world media to the courageous and deeply commendable statement of recognition that President Donald J Trump dared to make when he recognized not only that Jerusalem is OUR Jewish capitol. But that we Jews have a right to OUR Homeland.

In today's world of "Palestinian Revisionist history", where historic records of documented facts and truth are blatantly ignored and denied. We vividly see the desire by the Arab block in the UN to erase Jewish rights to Eretz Yisrael. 

What is astounding is the utter apathy of the world to this campaign of hate and mendacious lies. Few people are even willing to open factual history books and verify the truth.

I highly doubt that many in todays world know the historical truth that, "IF" , it had not been for the landings of the Allies in North Africa and their quick victory by May 1943, the Jews of  North Africa - Morocco, Tunisia and Libya would have known the same fate as the Jews of Europe.

After the Wannsee Conference in January 1942  Himmler realized that the Jews of North Africa may escape (Sonderbehandlung) "special treatment" -the euphuism for - extermination.

To give the "treatment" to the Jews of North Africa he reassigned SS Oberstrumbannführer Walter Herman Julius Rauff.

Rauff was proven to be a brutal and notorious killer as leader of the einsatzgruppen-special extermination units. Those German forces who had a leading role in the implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish question"  (Die Endlösung der Judenfrage) in conquered territories "to the East". Rauff was involved in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews in mobile ''Black Raven'' gassing vans in place of the expensive and slow process of shooting the Jews of Eastern Europe. 

A 1943 MI5 file on Rauff states:

"In both these postings [Tunisia and northern Italy] Rauff rapidly gained a reputation for utter ruthlessness. In Tunis and Italy he was responsible for the indiscriminate execution of both Jews and local partisans. His work in Italy involved imposing total German control on Milan, Turin and Genoa. His success in this task earned him the congratulations of his SS superior, who described it as 'a superb achievement'."

In 1972, in Santiago de Chile, Rauff made a deposition as a witness before a German prosecutor. On the subject of the extermination of Jews in Poland and Russia, asked whether at that time he had any doubts concerning the use of gas vans, Rauff answered:

"Ob ich damals Bedenken gegen den Einsat [sic] der Gaswagen hatte, kann ich nicht sagen. Für mich stand damals im Vordergrund, dass die Erschiessungen für dei Männer, die damit befasst wurden, eine erhebliche Belastung darstellten und dass diese Belastung durch den Einsatz der Gaswagen entfiel. [...I cannot say. The main issue for me at the time was that the shootings were a considerable burden for the men who were in charge thereof and that this burden was taken off them through the use of the gas vans.]"

The vans, which were disguised with Red Cross emblems, were used in 1941 and 1942 before Hitler's extermination camps began murdering six million Jews. Captured Nazi documents said the vans killed 50 people at a time in 15 to 20 minutes and were used in the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

From July 1942 until May 1943, SS Oberstrumbannführer Walther Rauff was posted as commander of the SS Einsatzkommando Tunis to take care of the Jewish Question in Tunisia, and to continue the implementation of the Final Solution in Vichy-Tunisia.
Oswald Pohl, who had been previously assigned by Himmler to organize the camps in Eastern Europe joined him. Despite constant attacks by the Allies, Rauff instigated drastic anti-Jewish policies.

Everything that happened to the Jews of Europe happened in Tunisia, in different ways and to differing degrees, except for the most important aspect of the Holocaust -- extermination. 

The Nazis established a local Judenrat, took hostages, confiscated the property of the Jews (aryanization) and imposed on the community heavy financial punishments.

The community was required to provide the needs of the German army, and the synagogue become a German storeroom. The Jews were marked with the Yellow badge, 5,000 Jews were sent to more than 30 slave labor camps in Tunisia and a few were sent to the extermination camps.

Many Jews were murdered by means of being shot in their homes, Death marches, hunger, diseases and bombings. Gilbert Mazuz, a handicapped boy from Tunis who was shot by a German soldier in cold blood during a forced march. It was the same fate of death given to Joseph, Jean, and Gilbert Scemla, the three men of the family who were betrayed by an Arab friend, arrested by the Germans, deported to Dachau and executed.

Only when Tunisia was liberated by the Allies in May 1943, did the persecution of the Jews cease. It was the first Jewish community to be liberated from Nazi Germany.

In May of 1945 Walter Herman Julius Rauff, the former Nazi SS colonel escaped with the assistance of the ODESSA Jesuit escape network. 

Rauff hid in a number of Italian convents, apparently under the protection of Bishop Alois Hudal.

Later in 1947 he was helped by the Grand Mufti Haj Amim al-Husanayi to escape to Damascus, where he was reunited with his wife and two sons. He worked as a "security advisor" for then Syrian President Hosni Zaim, only to fall out of favor after a coup there a year later. After barely escaping from Syria, Rauff fled to Lebanon and later back to Italy, where he gained a transit pass for Ecuador in 1948 where he and his family settled, later shifting to Chile in 1958.
Chile has a large German community where many who served in the SS used the ODESSA network to escape to.

Under Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, Rauff served as an advisor within the Chilean secret police, DINA. It had been "alleged" that during the 1965-1975 period the CIA officials used -"operated" -read funded Rauff for his "anti-communist" work. 

This would explain General Pinochet's regime resistance to calls for his extradition to stand trial in West Germany or Israel.

Suffering from lung cancer. Rauff died in Santiago Chile, which had harbored him for more than 25 years on 14 May 1984 from a heart attack. His funeral was the occasion of a Nazi celebration in the local German community.

These are the facts it is my duty as a History teacher to relay the truth ..... And now so do you.

BDS- The REAL Truth

The anti-Israel BDS - Boycott Divest Sanction- is not a "social movement" because a movement requires universality, like the feminist, gay lesbian and civil rights movements.
The BDS movement is not just about boycotting or imposing sanctions against Israel. BDS is an anti-Jewish / anti-Israel tactic directed against all Jewish citizens and supporters of Israel.
BDS is not just about delegitimizing and isolating Israel, and turning it into a rogue state. it is about creating a mass movement to call for the dissolution of Israel as an entity that has no right to exist.
BDS argues that Israel is a "colonialist-settler" state, not just in "Judaea and Shomron" aka the "West Bank" but essentially in ALL of Israel.
BDS is not "just" a protest against Israel's policies. it is a protest against Israel's very existence.

The BDS movement is based on the notion that it is okay to apply different standards to Israelis than to the rest of the world’s peoples.
All anti-Israel boycotts, whether limited or comprehensive, are designed to advance the same agenda, which is to deny Israel normalcy and legitimacy.
These  Activists leading the divestment campaign have repeatedly stated their belief that Zionism is inherently racist and that the only way to bring peace to the region is to eliminate Israel.”
These anti-Israel propagandists equate “Islamophobia” with any criticism of anti-Semitism in the Arab and Muslim world-—where the respected Pew Survey shows levels of Jew hatred in some countries exceeding 90 percent.
The members of the BDS movement are more interested in pouring hatred on Israel than promoting reforms, democracy, freedom of speech and the rights of women under the rule of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. They are most definitely not advancing the cause of peace just plain old time anti-Jewish hatred, plain and simple.

In January 2015, former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers, speaking at Columbia Center for Law and Liberty, stated:

“I believe that the general failure of American academic leaders to aggressively take on the challenge posed by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement represents a consequential abdication of moral responsibility.” Summers went on: “My [2002] suggestion that the divestiture and boycott movements were ‘anti-Semitic in effect if not intent’ seems to me to have stood up rather well. Note I did not label anyone an anti-Semite. I said instead that the effect of the actions they favored—singling out Israel for economic pressure—if carried out would be anti-Semitic—in other words, in opposition to the Jewish people. We live in a world where there are nations in which the penalty for homosexuality is death, in which women are stoned for adultery, in which torture is pervasive, in which governments are killing tens of thousands of their own people each year. But the proponents of Israeli boycotts divestiture and sanctions do not favor any form of pressure against countries other than Israel.”

The reasoning behind the growing threat of incessant hatred and rabid anti-Israel /Jewish, anti-Semitism in Europe and in the Middle East is a direct outcome of  the BDS world wide media campaign by the "Falestinians" and their financial backers to discredit Israel as a legitimate country in the eyes of the world.

Simcha Jacobovici stated in his Blog, "Countdown to Israel’s Destruction";

"In the international media, Israel is portrayed as the enemy of peace, the disruptor of international stability and a racist, colonialist regime that targets Arab children for a pastime."

The real success of this BDS campaign to "vilify" Israel, is a direct outcome of the total dirth of a real and organized response to this media war by successive Israeli governments. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has never made any real concerted initiative in "Public diplomacy"known as (hasbara, Hebrew: הַסְבָּרָה‬ hasbará, "explaining") or public relations efforts to disseminate abroad positive information or propaganda about the State of Israel and its actions to offset this campaign to delegitimatize Israel's right to exist.
The results of this abject failure to combat the tidal wave of anti-Israel sentiments on the social media and in news broadcasts can be felt and seen in the increased acts of violence in Europe and the world. The recent demonstrations throughout the United States and Europe and acts of violence are not just against Israel but against Jews on the whole.

The lack of a real and organized Israeli "Hasbarah”-which can be defined as the action or profession of explaining of Israel's position and actions-in the world of Israeli politics and diplomacy. Due to the Tsunami of literal hatred, despisal and animosity against Israel in the brazen activities of the BDS Boycott Divest Sanctions movement. The need for a correct Israeli Hasbara has acquired a much more complex problem to overcome.
Backing for the State of Israel and it's legitimacy has steadily decreased in the past 40 odd years among Liberals and especially among non-religious and unaffiliated Jews in America. We can also see this especially in the loss of the appreciation -the hearts and minds - in the younger generation and in their backing for the cause of the historical and biblical aspirations of the Jewish people for a "Homeland" in Zion. This we have clearly seen as predominant among American and Western liberal Jewish communities in recent years.
Much of this has come about due to the non resolution of the final status of Judaea and Shomron and the continual negativity of the lie of "Occupation".

The simple but ignored fact of the continual cycle of attempts to reach a "just and lasting Peace" by Israel has been met by a continual outright refusal of the Palestinians to agree to recognition of the Jewish entity. In every instance we only hear that the absence for Peace is due to "Israel's Intransigence", NO ONE has EVER questioned the lack of willingness on the part of the Palestinians to accept; "What there is."

For their leadership. their people are but mere pawns to be inspired to become Martys for the cause because they know that time is on their side. They know as, Arafat learned from the "great leaders of the Liberation movements", that the longer you draw out a conflict of a hated enemy the better your chances of victory.

Võ Nguyên Giáp, a General in the Vietnam People's Army advised Arafat and his adjutant, Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir - Abu Jihad:

“Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for ‎human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand.”

‎Mhamed Yazid, who had been minister of information in two Algerian wartime ‎governments (1958-1962) advised Arafat:‎

‎“Wipe out the argument that Israel is a small state whose existence is threatened by the Arab ‎states, or the reduction of the Palestinian problem to a question of refugees; instead, present ‎the Palestinian struggle as a struggle for liberation like the others. Wipe out the impression ‎‎…that in the struggle between the Palestinians and the Zionists, the Zionist is the underdog. ‎Now it is the Arab who is oppressed and victimized in his existence because he is not only ‎facing the Zionists but also world imperialism.”‎

The nadir of support for Israel and the utter and vile hatred among the "Liberals" for President Donald J Trump and his pro-israel stance. This abject hatred has encouraged and emboldened brazen and despicable acts of violence not only among the Moslem residents throughout the Middle East, Europe but it has embolded and given new life to the Neo-Nazi Elements of "White Supremacist" in the United States.

As Simcha Jacobovici stated in his Blog;

"Even during the worst days of South Africa’s Apartheid, no one called for the destruction of South Africa. What they were calling for was a regime change, not the annihilation of the state. With Israel, it’s different. In campuses around the world “progressive” students and faculty are openly calling for the elimination of the Jewish state."

The strategy of the "Falestinians" to mark Israel as a "Pariah among nations", an unwanted "Apartheid racist, colonist entity" has achieved a remarkable success through the BDS campaign. They have inverted much of the world's perception of the Middle East: transforming tiny Israel from its natural role of "David" against the massive Arab population and lands, to one of "Goliath" against the "stateless," "oppressed," and "occupied" "Palestinians.

The success of this massive BDS "PR" program to vilify, defame and delegitimization Israel has won the hearts of the young brainwashed and bamboozled "Millenials" as well as the mass of Moslem émigrés throughout Europe. The same wave of hatred that has arisen against the Moslem emigrates in the European Union has also given a rebirth to the anti-Semites of the Neo Nazi parties.

As I mentioned earlier, today's BDS campaign of utter hatred is based on the relatively new narrative of the post Nachba "Falestinians" that Arafat outlined in his infamous "Zionism equals racism"address to the UN General Assembly in November of 1974.
In his address Arafat established the strategy of what I call the "Negation of Israel Plan" -known by all Arabs as the "plan of stages" for the destruction of Israel based on three themes.

• The first being that the Jews /Zionists are not native to the land that we are;"colonists and settlers".
• The second theme is the the "European immigrant Jews"  are not real Jews but Khazarim that we are not native to the soil that we are usurpers and that the "Falestinians" are the true natives.
• The Third theme is "The Great Lie",  the negation and vilification campaign as defined by Muhammad Yazid; to show that, "...it is the Arab who is oppressed and victimized"

Here are the major excerpts from Yasser Arafat's UN General Assembly address in November of 1974. Pay heed to the context:

"Our resolve to build a new world is fortified-a world free of colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism and racism in each of its instances, including Zionism."
'The world is in need of tremendous efforts if its aspirations to peace, freedom, justice, equality and development are to be realized, if its struggle is to be victorious over colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism, and racism in all its forms, including Zionism."
"An old world order is crumbling before our eyes, as imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and racism, the chief form of which is Zionism, ineluctably perish."
"Zionism is an ideology that is imperialist, colonialist, racist ; it is profoundly reactionary and discriminatory ; it is united with anti-Semitism."

"The roots of the Palestinian question reach back into the closing years of the 19th century, in other words, to that period which we call the era of colonialism and settlement,’ as we know it today. This is precisely the period during which Zionism as a scheme was born; its aim was the conquest of Palestine by European immigrants, just as settlers colonized, and indeed raided, most of Africa. This is the period during which, pouring forth out of the west, colonialism spread into the furthest reaches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, building colonies, everywhere cruelly exploiting, oppressing,’ plundering the peoples of those three continents. This period persists into the present. Marked evidence of its totally reprehensible presence can be readily perceived in the racism practiced both in South Africa and in Palestine"

 "Just as colonialism and its demagogues dignified their conquests, their plunder and limitless attacks upon the natives of Africa with appeals to a “civilizing and modernizing” mission, so too did waves of Zionist immigrants disguise their purposes as they conquered Palestine. Just as colonialism as a system and colonialists as its instrument used religion, color, race and language to justify the African’s exploitation and his cruel subjugation by terror and discrimination, so too were these methods employed as Palestine was usurped and its people hounded from their national homeland."

Therefore as I have explained, and we have witnessed in the UN, the true purpose of this concerted plan is to have the nations of the world call for the forceful dissolution of the State of Israel by a cancellation or negation of the Partition by the nations of the world.

Both the Falestinian Authority and Hamas and their supporters throughout the world are convinced that the anti-Israel BDS campaign will ultimately pave the way for the elimination of Israel. Their intention is NOT to live in Peace with a "Two State" solution as the Liberal Leftist dreamers think. Their real stated intention is to negate the very existence of the Jewish State in it's entirity as Arafat stated in his Negation of Israel Plan UN Speech of November of 1974.

The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project

The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project was first proposed by William Allen in 1855 in an overview called 'The Dead Sea – A new route to India'. 

Allen as well as Theodor Herzl in his 1902 novel "Altneuland" mentions: " the electricity produced by canal-borne water plunging from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea,would be to the benefit to the entire region."

It was because of this enormous benefit that I proposed the idea to Yitzhak Rabin z"l during the ill fated Oslo Accords as a cornerstone of a comprehensive peace plan.

Efforts should be undertaken to get donor nations of the peace process to fund, through the World Bank, the capital investment for the establishment of a Dead Sea -Med Canal Project. 

The potential benefits of this project to provide ALL the parties in the region with hydro electric -read clean energy- as well as desalinized water is sorely needed.

Not only a canal supplying water will replenish and revitalize the Dead Sea it will become the "live sea", with the potential of millions of visiting tourists. 

Not only would the hydro-electric plants generate substantial power and usable water it would promote cooperation among the parties, thereby spurring the transformation of a barren and forbidding environment into the Jordan Valley of Peaceful coexistence.

The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project is a proposed project to dig a canal starting at the Israeli town of Ashdod from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea, to take advantage of the more than 400-metre difference in water level between the two seas. Water from the Mediterranean Sea will be fed through a tunnel and to a “green” hydroelectric power project which than can produce hundreds if not thousands of megawatts of clean and renewable electric energy. 

The value of such electric energy will be maximized by power generation during peak demand times. The excess electric power could be sold into the existing electrical grids to pay the cost of the Project.

There is a proposal, that in the construction of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, that an artificial storage reservoir for the flow from the tunnel, will be stored in this reservoir to be called “Shalom (Salaam/Peace) Lake”.

The area for this Lake /reservoir will be located in a natural basin on the south branch of Wadi Qumran. Utilizing soil from the tunnel boring an earthquake resistant dam can be constructed. This proposed reservoir/lake will potentially have a surface area of about 3 square kilometers and maximum depth at the dam of some 80 meters.

When the water is released daily during hours of “peak demand”, the surface elevation will decline about three meters thus creating a tidal effect for the shoreline and possibly encourage normal Mediterranean marine ecology.

It is needless to say that the creation of such a beautiful marine lake merely twenty kilometers from Jerusalem, will serve as an impetuous for tourism and residential development. Surely the name, the Lake of Peace, is suitable for this setting and for the benefits it will bring the entire region.

The water brought in through the project will help to restore the Dead Sea to the desired level, and thereby reverse the erosion and subsistence that is presently destroying the area. Additionally the continued operation of the hydroelectric power plant will enable the development of additional desalination capacity to supply the water needs to help ease the chronic water shortages in the entire region.

The newly built desalination plants established by the new canal/tunnel system of the Dead Sea -Med Canal Project can provide water for potash mining operations and for aquaculture and agriculture. Desalinated water designated for irrigation of crops can be run through ponds for the production of fresh water fish and prawns. Med Sea water from the surface layer of the Dead Sea can be used for production of Sea Bass and Bream, and high value seaweed.

In addition to tall this we can use the daily tunnel flow to create a reservoir in the upper seabed formed when the Dead Sea was the same level as the Med Sea. This area is deep clay, and very suitable for a reservoir site. A desalination plant and towns for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees can be located near this lake.

Desalinated water, from a desalination plant placed on the north shore of the Dead Sea can be used for the restoration of the Jordan River and provide a source for irrigation of nearby farmlands. This would enable a huge increase in agriculture and industry in the valley, and will lead to many new needed jobs for the resettled Palestinian refugees and Jordanian citizens during construction as well as many permanent jobs, while abundantly available desalinated water will stimulate new investment in self-sustaining agriculture, fish farming, manufacturing and real estate development.

The Dead Sea ("Dead") continues to shrink at a very rapid rate. The diminishing water level has created large sink holes and disruption of underground water tables, among other problems, with a harmful effect on tourism and everyday life. 

With the construction of The Dead Sea -Med Canal Project, we can than replenish the Dead Sea water levels and thereby revitalize tourism and provide employment opportunities and secondary small businesses in the area. The unique Dead Sea environment, including the ability for people to float effortlessly, will be preserved in designated areas; returning the Dead to its desirable water level will reinvigorate hotels and other tourist facilities which are now far from the water’s edge.

So? When do we take the first step?

The Open Data City of the Future

"The first step in becoming an Innovative "Smart City" begins with the collection, acquisition and analyses of all municipal data into a centralized data platform by a communal Innovate Team. The huge potential of an Innovative Team is that a municipality can use the analyzed data to address common problems or challenges faced by the constituency while inspiring entrepreneurship as well as new innovative solutions for civic improvements." Yakov Marks Chief Data Officer *MTDAAT (Ma'a lot-Tarshiha Data Acquisition and Analysis Team

"The data that an Innovative Team can acquire through open and free access from across all the municipal sources, needs to be analyzed and shared openly with free access across all city departments. Thereby unlocking the barriers that once blocked the municipality's potential to solve problems, instill change, foster enterprise and inspire the constituency.

Byanalyzing existing and incoming data an Innovative Team can provide new solutions, create ways to implement them and measure the results." Yakov Marks Chief Data Officer *MTDAAT (Ma'a lot-Tarshiha Data Acquisition and Analysis Team

• In most cities the varied sources of municipal data are as though they come from "Tower of Babel" of feudal lands. 
• Information in most municipalities is not shared causing "Data Stagnation".
• The issue is how to formalize, accumulate, analyze and interpret the different forms of data-sets from city wide departments and sources into one finite set.

"Cities are composed of various departments with software-intensive systems that support the operation of modern municipal departments. Information systems help manage the various day by day processes in the departments. However, many departments are not linked to a central data bank or city-wide hub. The information from one department that may be essential for the answer to a problem in another department may not be realized due to the non-communication and sharing that could be realized through "open-data"."

The true value of data is measured by the positive action taken as a result of understanding the data. A Joint Municipal Data platform will help governments identify specific, measurable goals founded on actual data to help them become more operationally efficient, effectively meet constituent needs, and create economic growth in their communities.

New administrations are often elected based on specific improvement platforms. Sharing Municipal Data openly helps ensure that those promises are being addressed appropriately and proactively. Since all programs and projects have milestones or goals that can be measured and tracked an Open Data Dashboard could be instigated as an important part to display progress of staying on track, on budget, and promoting the success of any project. Additionally, by providing transparency into how goals are progressing, it demonstrates to the constituency that progress is being made and money is being invested wisely.

 What is "Big Data"

Big data is often characterized by 3Vs

• the extreme volume of data,
• the wide variety of data types and
•  the velocityat which the data must be processed .

Although big data doesn't equate to any specific volume of data, the term is often used to describe terabytes, petabytes and even exabytes of data captured over time.

“Voluminous data” can come from myriad different sources, such as business sales records, the collected results of scientific experiments or real-time sensors used in the internet of things.

Data may be raw or preprocessed using separate software tools before analytics are applied.

In General:

• Open data has become a hallmark of good government because of its well documented return on investment for the public.
• Open Data is a valuable information resource helping local small businesses compete with large companies.
• Unlike the previous Industrial Revolutions, which were topped by how much information we could transmit and receive, we were limited by how much information we can process and act upon.
• This digitalization of everything implies that we are increasingly reliant on analytics to enhance productivity and recognize the fundamental fact that at the heart of all smart-infrastructure, is data.
• What used to take months or weeks now occurs in real time.
• Today’s level of decision-making requires information that is current in the hands of every user when they need it.

"The digital telegraph of the 21st century is analytics built directly into IoT processes."

We are at the cusp of a brand-new fourth Industrial Revolution; which is building upon the third. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that blurs the lines between physical, digital, and biological worlds.

Key areas that can be significantly impacted by the opportunities big data offers; include the health, safety, movement or traffic flow, and revenue systems that sustain inhabitants.

Cities striving to become more responsive must have a "stack" of essential building blocks, said Crawford.

• First municipalities need fiber Internet connections; so that large data files can be shared securely, quickly and seamlessly among city staffers,along with
• data sensors and
• CCTV for live "real -time" monitoring positioned at key locations like city bridges, tunnels, and major roadways to help identify problems and repairs

Then, they should publish collected public data and share it across city government and with the public, and have data scientists study the numbers to discern trouble spots that will drive government action and perhaps policy.

Making the collected data open is a critical component of responsiveness. "It's important because open data—well visualized—allows employees to see other agencies, it allows residents to hold their city hall responsible, but also because it provides data that can lead to breakthroughs and solutions" from inside and outside government

Because cities may have thousands of datasets across multiple servers, databases, and computers, it’s helpful to narrow down which datasets should be included in the inventory overall and how to plan for inventory updates in the future.

This collection of data from varied sources and departments is made possible by a thoroughly trained Municipal staff.  The Municipal Analytic Team then utilize the acquired data and analytic systems and processes to recommend and facilitate projects for the good of the constituents (residents).

The changing nature of the technologies themselves and our urban environments are turning into landscapes populated by more and more connected “Things”. The "Thing" are equipped with many different sensors for data capture and analytics. This is driving a growing need for inter-operable platforms and standards that give more players wider access to city data.

This digitalization of everything implies that we are increasingly reliant on analyticsto enhance productivity and recognize the fundamental fact that at the heart of all smart-infrastructure, is data.

The first step to treating your city’s data as an asset is to create a comprehensive data inventory with consistent metadata and to establish a clear authority body to oversee the data inventory process is key to success.

Knowing what data your city collects leads to efficiency, and increases accountability. It also eases citywide reporting, decision making, and performance optimization.

Managing a data inventory reduces risk and uncertainty by creating a checklist for security and compliance requirements and improves a city’s ability to designate accountability for the quality of the data collected and created.

A municipality gains the ability to deliver results by its acceptance and creation of a culture of using its data assets., enhanced abilities to properly and efficiently access the information collected from archived municipal files, in various city department and from the public sector in a centralized data platform.

Because cities may have thousands of datasets across multiple servers, databases, and computers, it’s helpful to narrow down which datasets should be included in the inventory overall and how to plan for inventory updates in the future.

This collection of data from varied sources and departments is made possible by a thoroughly trained Municipal staff.  The Municipal Analytic Team then utilize the acquired data and analytic systems and processes to recommend and facilitate projects for the good of the constituents (residents).

Today's digitalization of everything implies that we are increasingly reliant on analytics to enhance productivity and recognize the fundamental fact that at the heart of all smart-infrastructure, is data.

Because cities may have thousands of datasets across multiple servers, databases, and computers, it’s helpful to narrow down which datasets should be included in the inventory overall and how to plan for inventory updates in the future.

The datasets worth inventorying (collecting and inputing) are those which are considered assets to employees, departments, executive leadership, and the general public.

Data assets can range from individual datasets that are connected to forms that people fill out, to integrated databases that track a city’s operations in any given field (building permits, public safety responses, etc.)

Just as it is important for cities to know what data they have, it’s equally important to know what data a city does not have. With a complete picture, cities can begin to collect and use city data to better align mission goals, increase consistency and confidence in decision making, and build performance intelligence.

Managing a data inventory is crucial to better information sharing and integration and a sustainable comprehensive open data program. Providing a public data inventory will make city employees’ jobs easier when they need information from another department - they will know what exists and how to find it. The same benefits apply to the public regarding its search for city information. Having a complete inventory is also important when determining which datasets to release publicly.

It’s not feasible to release all of a city’s public datasets at once, so decisionmakers need a prioritization strategy. The data inventory can be used to prioritize the release of data according to strategic priorities, public interest, etc.

Cities striving to become more responsive must have a "stack" of essential building blocks, said Crawford.

·         First, they need fiber connections so that large data files can be shared quickly and seamlessly among city staffers,

·         along with data sensors positioned at key locations like city bridges, tunnels, and major roadways to help identify problems and repairs.

Then, they should publish collected public data and share it across city government and with the public, and have data scientists study the numbers to discern trouble spots that will drive government action and perhaps policy.

“Understanding the pulse of life through the use of sensors to improve quality of life in cities.”

Making the collected data open is a critical component of responsiveness. "It's important because open data—well visualized—allows employees to see other agencies, it allows residents to hold their city hall responsible, but also because it provides data that can lead to breakthroughs and solutions" from inside and outside government.

 Advantages of a Data Platform:

A Municipal Data platform enables City Managers and Mayors to extract maximum value from their available budgets.

A Data platform provides real-time access for operational staff to the repository data, thereby providing department heads the ability to intervene or modify plans on the fly if circumstances require.

Through the use of a Municipal platform the City Constituent Care Service and Response center has real-time access to constituent residential and service data to allow incoming queries to be handled on-the-spot, thereby minimizing call-out costs and improving customer service levels.

Furthermore, the Municipal Data Platform can rapidly assimilate, assess and act on data thereby showing the constituents that the Municipality is listening and is responsive.

A Municipal Data platform is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using simple programming models. It is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage. Rather than rely on hardware to deliver high-availability, the library itself is designed to detect and handle failures at the application layer, so delivering a highly-available service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.

Predictive Analytics SaaS (Software as a service) solutions are based on proprietary Machine Learning Big-Data algorithms, guaranteeing real time accurate and reliable predictions, in a fully automated, plug-and-play manner. The data and predictions are presented with advanced visual tools, enabling end users to self-explore, gain insights and comprehend the data, without requiring any statistical background.

The Big Data engine provides real-time accurate load forecasts at the highest level of granularity - the meter / appliance and sub-hour levels. Due to the engine's self-learning capabilities, it models and monitors each meter separately, learns its patterns and behavior, automatically fits its appropriate model and senses its early warnings for irregularities, guaranteeing real-time accurate energy forecasts and actionable insights.

The data and predictions are presented with advanced visual tools, enabling the end user to self-explore, gain insights and comprehend the data, run simulations and impact analysis, view correlations, create 'what if' scenarios and more, without requiring any technical or statistical background.

While most Predictive Analytics solutions require extensive services of data mining experts for the designing, implementation and support, Grid4C provides a fully automated solution that is easy to implement, and does not require on-going support of analysts. The Grid4C distinctive self-learning engine enables to implement the products in a plug-and-play manner.

By freely collecting and combining data from municipal departments Open Data can provide valuable insights into how any city works and how departments may better serve the constituency as well as those that live and work in the city.

Over the past decade, the scope and content of data related to government activities has changed dramatically. The sheer quantity of data available for public consumption, the way in which it is structured and how datasets are used has the potential to impact program planning, analysis and evaluation at the local government level

"That is why our research focus is the intersection of government and data, ranging from open data and predictive analytics to civic engagement technology. We seek to promote the combination of integrated, cross-agency data with community data to better discover and preemptively address civic problems."

The steps to becoming a "Smart City" begins with "Big Data".

First steps:	·         Data Collection and Acquisition ·         Establish the sharing of data and laying the groundwork for inter-departmental cooperation ·         Creating a trained internal work force.
Second Step:	Data Analyses and processing by a coordinated data analytic team
Third Step:	Recommendations for solutions based on established data by a Chief Analytic Officer.
Final Step:	A Smart City

How to Create Your Data Catalog (Inventory)

The first major task for the Data Coordinators is to create a data catalog (or inventory) of your department’s data.

Follow the 3 major steps below to conduct your data inventory:

1.      Identify data sources

2.      Brainstorm and identify datasets in each data source

3.      Complete dataset inventory template (for each dataset)

Step 1: Identify data sources

Your data may be housed in a variety of places - from inside information systems or databases to shared drives and folders. This can also include 3rd party vendors and data hosted on vendor systems. Step 1 is about identifying the major data sources in your department.

·         Questions to help identify and discover data sources:

·         What information systems does your department use?

·         What databases does your department use?

·         What applications capture information or are used in your business processes?

·         Are some data resources kept in spreadsheets (on shared or individual drives)?

·         What information are we already publishing and where did that information come from?

For each of the data sources:

·         Provide a name and brief description of the data sources

·         Capture any technical details and point of contacts.

Regarding Smartphone Applications and Sympathetic Constituent Call Service Centers:

Tom Saunders, a researcher at England-based research and innovation foundation Nesta stated that residents can also be tapped as walking repositories of useful data.

"Cities are covered in a network of people who all have smartphones, it’s a fruitful way to make the cities smarter."

To run the smartest cities, residents need to not only be informed but to also be ready to lead the charge. "It has to start from the people up," said David Gershon, founder of the Empowerment Institute.

Advanced big data technologies can provide municipal governments unprecedented opportunities to proactively change the lives of their citizenry, all through the use of data.

A "responsive" city is one that uses the information generated by its interactions with residents to better understand and predict the needs of neighborhoods, to measure the effectiveness of city agencies and workers, to identify waste and fraud, to increase transparency, and, most importantly, to solve problems

"Cities are organized vertically, and people live horizontally. Data-Smart City Solutions focuses on local government efforts to improve citizen-city engagement through technology.”

“By using its own data and social media, a city "should learn what its citizens are saying about their needs and the issues in their communities; it should learn across agencies about the solutions to problems; it should learn from the data about good actors and bad actors,"

“Data drives decision-making and it drives a lot of the services we all consume… Publishing the data allows everyone inside the city and outside to go in and add intelligence and services on top of it.” Peter Marx, Chief Technology Officer for the City of Los Angeles

Regarding Internet access:

"Without citizen access to reliable, high speed broadband and/or WIFI, the participation rates in studies to determine what gaps smart cities technologies can fill may not be accurately identified. Smart city technology should not happen in ivory towers, but must foster better citizen engagement. “Jim Kurose, assistant director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate.

"Broadband is “a critical utility” like power or water and citizens need it to advance." Hugh Miller Chief Technology Officer, San Antonio, Texas

Data-Driven Performance Indicators:

Local governments strive to represent and serve their constituents well. Data-driven metrics ensure that everyone is speaking the same language as they continue to solve problems efficiently. By publishing and tracking key metrics on an Open Data Dashboard, residents can respond accordingly by making their voices heard through direct feedback and voting at the polls.

• Create goals based on the latest data uploaded to the system and reflected on the Open Data Dashboard across as many departmental or functional areas as needed
• Use data applications to easily reflect fresh uploaded data with minimal human intervention.
• Organize your goals from a single Open Data Dashboard that shows the status of all goals from a single view
• Through the use of the Open Data Dashboard you can scale your performance program up or down as needed, expanding to additional areas, or by focusing on the top priorities for your government. 

The roles and general responsibilities in support of open data.

Role	General Responsibilities
Data Coordinators	Data Coordinators are designated for each department as the main point of contact and accountability for open data in their department. General responsibilities include: ·         Inventorying department data sets ·         Establishing a plan and timeline for publishing them ·         Serving as a key point of accountability for timelines and questions about data sets ·         Implementing privacy, data licensing, metadata and other standards and practices ·         Providing quarterly reports on progress in implementing the open data plan
Chief Data Officer	The Chief Data Officer is designated by the Mayor and is accountable for the city’s overall implementation of the open data policy. General responsibilities include: ·         Creating processes, rules and standards to implement the open data policy, including but not limited to: o   Prioritizing data sets for publication o   Determining what datasets are appropriate for public disclosure o   Creating data licensing and metadata standards and guidelines o   Providing guidance and assistance to City departments in releasing open data o   Providing guidance and assistance to City departments in assessing and, where appropriate, improving the accuracy, completeness, interoperability and other quality dimensions of data o   Facilitating creation of department implementation plans and reporting ·         Maintaining the open data website ·         Presenting an annual citywide implementation plan for open data ·         Assisting departments with analysis of city datasets.
Data Stewards	Data Stewards are individuals in charge of individual databases, datasets, or information systems. In general, a data steward has business knowledge of the data and can answer questions about the data itself. General responsibilities likely include: ·         Managing the dataset or source and authorizing changes to it ·         Managing access to and use of the data, including documentation ·         Managing accuracy, quality and completeness of the data.
Data Custodian	Data Custodians are individuals that assist with the technical implementation of individual databases, datasets, or information systems. Not all systems or data sources will have a data custodian. General responsibilities likely include: ·         Implementing technical changes requested by the data steward ·         Administration and maintenance for the database or system.

Notable Quotes:

"Residents can also be tapped as walking repositories of useful data since cities are covered in a network of people who all have smartphones. It’s a fruitful way to make the cities smarter." Tom Saunders, a researcher at England-based research and innovation foundation Nesta.

Businesses want to locate in smart communities. Why? Because being a part of a progressive city says good things about their brand. Plus, smart cities attract technical professionals and members of the creative class, a boon for recruiting qualified candidates.

 “We know that using data and technology has the ability toimprove the quality of lives of our residents,”“I am proud of the work we have done, and we will continue our focus onbettering city services through new and innovative approaches. ” Mayor of Boston Massachusetts, Martin J. Walsh

A municipality gains the ability to deliver results by its acceptance and creation of a culture of using its data assets., enhanced abilities to properly and efficiently access the information collected from archived municipal files, in various city department and from the public sector in a centralized data platform.

The importance of sharing "Big Data" (Government data) is an asset whose value otherwise is capped at the operational value it produces internally.

Opening "Big Data" to the public redeploys this asset to encourage entrepreneurialism and innovation outside the four corners of city hall.

Advanced big data technologies can provide municipal governments unprecedented opportunities to proactively change the lives of their citizenry, all through the use of data.

A "responsive" city is one that uses the information generated by its interactions with residents to better understand and predict the needs of neighborhoods, to measure the effectiveness of city agencies and workers, to identify waste and fraud, to increase transparency, and, most importantly, to solve problems.

"Cities are organized vertically, and people live horizontally. Data-Smart City Solutions focuses on local government efforts to improve citizen-city engagement through technology.”

“By using its own data and social media, a city "should learn what its citizens are saying about their needs and the issues in their communities; it should learn across agencies about the solutions to problems; it should learn from the data about good actors and bad actors,"

There is a high importance in the need for the sharing of collected data, whether locally produced or nationally produced. “Sharing” of collected data should be carried out to encourage not only savings in expenditures on the; municipal, state and National level but to encourage entrepreneurialism and innovation as well.

Unshared data is an asset whose beneficial value and potential monetary or budgetary gains to the local and national government, as well as public, is “unrealized” if it is "capped or restricted" at the source. By restricting access to this pool of data. its actual or true value will never be realized.

By opening the acquired "Big Data" to the managers of government departments and offices, they can gain unknown knowledge that was previously overlooked which could be beneficial to them on several levels.

"Yes, open data should be a big part of smart cities policies but there's also need to create the demand for it, the smarter cities are the ones that are able to transparently dish this data out well in advance before discussing future infrastructure projects." Tom Saunders, a researcher at England-based research and innovation foundation Nesta.

Cities are sitting on masses of data. Exposing open data for citizens, developers and businesses can unleash innovation and city efficiency and new monetization opportunities.

Eventually, data could even be shared across cities to support wider innovations, a smart region and a smart nation