<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Hasbara in Helsinki ~ by&nbsp;@dvcronin]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<div class="submitted"><strong>D<span class="username">avid</span> Cronin | Tue, Sept 27, 2011 | The Electronic Intifada</strong></div>
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<p>Here we go again. Catherine Ashton, the <span class="caps">EU</span>’s foreign policy chief, is portraying the Israel-Palestine conflict as one between equals.</p>
<p><strong>In a <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/11/608">speech</a> today, Ashton congratulated herself for increasing Europe’s involvement in something called the Middle East peace process. “I have worked to achieve a greater <span class="caps">EU</span> role as I believe we are ideally placed as a friend of both parties,” she s</strong>aid.</p>
<p>What kind of friend is the <span class="caps">EU</span> leadership to the Palestinians? The kind that refuses to heed an appeal made by representatives of a wide cross-section of Palestinian society in 2005 for boycott, divestment and sanctions (<span class="caps">BDS</span>) against Israel.</p>
<p>That is illustrated this week in Helsinki, where the European Union Contest for Young Scientists is taking place. Sponsored by the European Commission (a political body to which Ashton belongs), it features <a href="http://eucys2011.tek.fi/content/projectscountries#Israel">two finalists</a> from Israel.</p>
<p><strong>Greenwashing apartheid</strong></p>
<p>Both of the qualifying projects chime with the propaganda of the Israeli state, or <em>hasbara</em> as it is known in Hebrew. The first one is in the social science category and seeks to demonstrate that fascism has roots in left-of-center politics. “Hopefully, this insight would be useful in fighting future fascism,” a blurb for the project says – without adding that Avigdor Lieberman and his ilk are nurturing a <a href="http://www.acri.org.il/en/?p=3100">quasi-fascist intolerance</a> in Israel.</p>
<p>The second project tries to reinforce the myth that Israel is ecologically responsible. Titled “Antileaks,” it designs a system for detecting leaks in water systems. I would be interested to find out if the system will be installed in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlers consume an average of 280 liters per day (in a desert environment), whereas Palestinians living in the West Bank have to make do with 73 (less than the 100 liters minimum recommended by the World Health Organization).</p>
<p>The Commission has some nerve supporting Israeli water conservation projects. For – as I have written repeatedly – it is a generous contributor of grants to makers of Israeli weapons like Elbit, Israeli Aerospace Industries and Rafael. Those firms helped <a href="http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20100823_gaza_water_crisis">destroy</a> 30 kilometers of water networks, 6,000 home water tanks and 11 wells during Israel’s assault on Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.</p>
<p><strong>“Avoid” Israel’s arms</strong></p>
<p>On a more positive note, the European Parliament voted today that the <span class="caps">EU</span> should “avoid” involving countries that do not respect human rights, <span class="caps">UN</span> resolutions or international law in scientific research projects with potential military applications. This call was contained in a <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&amp;reference=A7-2011-0302&amp;language=EN&amp;mode=XML">position paper</a> approved by the Parliament on the future of <span class="caps">EU</span> research policy. Even though Israel was not named, the call was clearly directed at the Zionist state. Israel is the most active non-European participant in the Union’s multi-annual research programme.</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, the <span class="caps">BDS</span> activists who have urged members of Parliament (MEPs) to take up the cudgels against Israel deserve a drink to celebrate this vote. But the activists should restrict their imbibing to one glass and get straight back to work. Democracy is routinely ignored in the <span class="caps">EU</span>’s corridors of power, so there is little immediate likelihood that Israeli arms companies will be deemed ineligible for further science grants just because that is what a majority of elected representatives advocate. The future, though, is unwritten. With enough public support, the momentum created by the <span class="caps">BDS</span> campaign should prove unstoppable.</p>
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<p><strong><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="49709" data-permalink="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/hasbara-in-helsinki-by-dvcronin/picture-44-1316022880/" data-orig-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/picture-44-1316022880.jpg" data-orig-size="79,100" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="picture-44-1316022880" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/picture-44-1316022880.jpg?w=79" data-large-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/picture-44-1316022880.jpg?w=79" class="alignright size-full wp-image-49709" title="picture-44-1316022880" src="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/picture-44-1316022880.jpg?w=79&#038;h=100" alt="" width="79" height="100" />David Cronin is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Europes-Alliance-Israel-Aiding-Occupation/dp/0745330657/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1316799622&amp;sr=8-1">Europe’s Alliance With Israel: Aiding the Occupation</a> (Pluto Press, 2011). He has written for a wide variety of publications, including <em>The Guardian</em>, <em>The Wall Street Journal Europe</em>, <em>European Voice</em>, the Inter Press Service, <em>The Irish Times</em> and <em>The Sunday Tribune</em>. As a political activist, he has attempted to place both Tony Blair and Avigdor Lieberman under citizen’s arrest for crimes against humanity.</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blog/david/hasbara-helsinki">Source &amp; More at the Great Electronic Intifada Website</a></strong></p>
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