Just to give you some background on the issue - There is currently an aggressive campaign by certain pro-Palestinian groups to boycott Israel. The campaigners are well organized and they will probably continue to send messages to this mailing list. The campaign is political, however it is not supported by any government, nor is it supported by the Palestinian Authority or any of the moderate Palestinian organizations. After about four years of growing cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians (despite the remaining disagreements, which are hard to resolve), there are people and organizations who try to pour fuel on the extinguishing fire. Unfortunately, they do not respect this forum and its participants.

I would also like to note that when Alexandria was rightfully chosen to host Wikimania (and its team did a wonderful work), there were Israelis among the bid team and the sponsors. The question of the Arab-Israeli conflict was never raised and it was deemed totally irrelevant. When Wikimania was held in Taiwan, I personally called the Taiwanese representations in Tel Aviv and Amman to check if they can issue a visa to an Egyptian citizen who wanted to participate and had difficulties as there was no Taiwanese representation in Egypt.

I hope this is the last message in this subject.

Dror K



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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Boycott Wikimania 2011 (Evangeline Han)
   2. Re: Boycott Wikimania 2011 (Anonyme)
   3. Re: Israel = apartheid (Anonyme)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 09:03:37 +0700
From: Evangeline Han <evanbejin@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Boycott Wikimania 2011
To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
    <wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Message-ID:
    <AANLkTimskah+3u8LKmdH_VtjfqGa5Fb6ArhH8vVwCboo@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hey guys,

Just a thought. If you want to boycott Wikimania, there is no need to
announce it on the list. We're not interested if you've already made up your
mind to boycott. It's pretty immature to boycott and then announce it to
everyone... unless you're canvassing...?

--Evangeline

On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 5:12 AM, Alejandro Farah <farah@astro.unam.mx> wrote:

> I agree with the boycott... I am sorry about Palestinians, but more sorry
> about human stupidity...
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Mohamed Mostafa ouda <mmustafa8@gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> I Also decided to boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's brutal
>> politics against Palestinians .
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 11:51 PM, Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> But fine, while you're there, think about the oppression that the people
>>> of Gaza are under...
>>>
>>> Have a fine time
>>>
>>> C
>>>
>>>
>>> Le 2011-03-31 ? 17:38, Gerard Meijssen a ?crit :
>>>
>>> Hoi.
>>> I am really happy that Haifa will not be missing among all the Wikimanias
>>> I will be at. I will be happy to meet many of my friends and I will drink in
>>> Haifa to absent friends. I hope we will have great streaming so that you can
>>> get an impression of how awesome Wikimania is.
>>> Thanks,
>>>         GerardM
>>>
>>> On 31 March 2011 23:08, Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I decided to do a complete boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's
>>>> politics and the situation in the Gaza Strip and the illegal colonization 
in
>>>> the West Bank.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mohamed Mostafa Ouda
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> -------------------------------
> Dr. Alejandro Farah
> Instituto de Astronomia, UNAM, CU
> M?xico DF, CP 04510
> 52+55+56223906
> http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~farah
> -------------------------------
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:05:25 -0400
From: Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Boycott Wikimania 2011
To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
    <wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Message-ID:
    <AANLkTik5N3UXqFmLwMsx=Hz64fnOqSO+-S6QrSNcTMnj@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Evangeline Han, this is a open newsletter, so it's very immature for you to
respond declaring WE are immature for announcing this boycott... It is too
late to go back now. This boycott will be known. Just watch us.


2011/3/31 Evangeline Han <evanbejin@gmail.com>

> Hey guys,
>
> Just a thought. If you want to boycott Wikimania, there is no need to
> announce it on the list. We're not interested if you've already made up your
> mind to boycott. It's pretty immature to boycott and then announce it to
> everyone... unless you're canvassing...?
>
> --Evangeline
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 5:12 AM, Alejandro Farah <farah@astro.unam.mx>wrote:
>
>> I agree with the boycott... I am sorry about Palestinians, but more sorry
>> about human stupidity...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Mohamed Mostafa ouda <
>> mmustafa8@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All
>>>
>>> I Also decided to boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's brutal
>>> politics against Palestinians .
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 11:51 PM, Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> But fine, while you're there, think about the oppression that the people
>>>> of Gaza are under...
>>>>
>>>> Have a fine time
>>>>
>>>> C
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Le 2011-03-31 ? 17:38, Gerard Meijssen a ?crit :
>>>>
>>>> Hoi.
>>>> I am really happy that Haifa will not be missing among all the
>>>> Wikimanias I will be at. I will be happy to meet many of my friends and I
>>>> will drink in Haifa to absent friends. I hope we will have great streaming
>>>> so that you can get an impression of how awesome Wikimania is.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>         GerardM
>>>>
>>>> On 31 March 2011 23:08, Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I decided to do a complete boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's
>>>>> politics and the situation in the Gaza Strip and the illegal colonization 
in
>>>>> the West Bank.
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mohamed Mostafa Ouda
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -------------------------------
>> Dr. Alejandro Farah
>> Instituto de Astronomia, UNAM, CU
>> M?xico DF, CP 04510
>> 52+55+56223906
>> http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~farah
>> -------------------------------
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:07:01 -0400
From: Anonyme <cautious2@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Israel = apartheid
To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
    <wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Message-ID:
    <AANLkTimw0umqUH4rpUHRXpYJNyhtjdSNZ+aED1sv5QLV@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I agree..Israel = apartheid... See what they did to the humanitarian aid
boats towards the Gaza Strip...

2011/3/31 Han-Teng Liao <hanteng@gmail.com>

> "2007: Taipei, Taiwan, where you can be held without trial for any
> reason, and with which most attendees' countries have no diplomatic
> relations whatsoever."
>
> Hey, your description is not fair.  In addition, individual freedom may
> have no direct relationship with diplomatic ties.  Citations you can use
> http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=546&year=2010
> http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2010
>
> Can you guys go back to the practical matters regarding visa or entry?
>  Thank you.
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 11:03 AM, Austin Hair <adhair@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:23 PM, matthew satchwell
>> <mattsatchwell@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > This is the thing with Zionists, a questions is not answered, instead a
>> > tirade of rhetoric, except I read from your response that you do accept
>> that
>> > there is a lack of freedom in Israel. (this is a start)
>>
>> I want to start by apologizing to the other members of this list for
>> feeding this.
>>
>> You talk about a lack of freedom, Matthew, but I have to wonder about
>> your definition. I heard nothing from you when we held Wikimania in
>> the following countries:
>>
>> 2005: Frankfurt, Germany, where you can be arrested for giving a Nazi
>> salute in public or drawing a swastika.
>> 2006: Cambridge, Massachusetts, where you can be held without trial on
>> terrorism charges.
>> 2007: Taipei, Taiwan, where you can be held without trial for any
>> reason, and with which most attendees' countries have no diplomatic
>> relations whatsoever.
>> 2008: Alexandria, Egypt, which was a police state until just a few weeks
>> ago.
>>
>> Argentina and Poland are also not exactly bastions of freedom, and
>> there were visa issues with both conferences. That's not unreasonable,
>> though, since every country on the planet has visa obstacles with at
>> least one other country.
>>
>> Oh, wait, that's not true. There is one, and only one: the Maldives,
>> where you can be arrested for not being Muslim.
>>
>> Austin
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wikimania-l mailing list
>> Wikimania-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
>
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