Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Why Europe blames Israel for the Holocaust: Post-1945 anti-Semitism
Sacha Stawski, an expert on anti-Semitism in the German media, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that “Israel-related anti-Semitism is probably the most common and most persistent form of anti-Semitism in all levels of society today.”Caroline Glick: International Holocaust Remembrance Day’s fatal flaw
Stawski, who is a German Jew and editor-in-chief of the media watchdog website Honestly Concerned, added: “Today it is no longer fashionable to hate Jews outright, but it is perfectly acceptable to debate about and to demonstrate against the very core of the Jewish state’s existence – in a way and with emotions unlike that about any other country.”
The social-psychological theory articulated by Adorno and Horkheimer might, just might, provide a macro-level grasp of a pan-European epidemic that is fixated on turning Israel into a human punching bag.
Modern Zionism was conceived as having two objectives – to enable the Jews to protect ourselves from anti-Semites; and to end anti-Semitism by normalizing Jews as a nation among the nations. But as Wisse notes, like the Jews in exilic communities, the Jewish state cannot end other people’s hatred of Jews, because we didn’t cause it. Only the anti-Semites, through their own moral reckoning with their anti-Semitic past and present, can do that.Anne Bayefsky: Holocaust Remembrance Day -- has UN learned anything from history?
In light of the Europeans’ continued refusal to undertake such a moral reckoning, far from combating anti-Semitism, International Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as a cover for it. Israel and the Jewish people should not let the Holocaust serve as a fig leaf for their continuing, and growing, hatred.
It is Holocaust remembrance time at the United Nations. Once a year, Jews from around New York, a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors, occasional celebrities, and precious few friends, file into the General Assembly Hall and grant the U.N. the privilege of appearing to care.
This year’s speakers include Steven Spielberg. When it is over, the year-round ritual censure of the Jewish state will resume.
Characteristic of “International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust” is the scarcity of express emphasis on Israel, save for the remarks of the Israeli ambassador.
Spielberg: We must act on what was learned from the Holocaust
Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor stressed that remembering the Holocaust was not enough to guarantee the future for the Jewish people.Netanyahu: World not doing enough to avert new holocaust
"The State of Israel is the only guarantee that the future and fate of the Jewish people will be held in our own hand," Prosor said Monday at the UN memorial.
"The Holocaust has taught us that remembrance without resolve is meaningless," Prosor said. "Awareness must be matched with action."
"Almost 70 years after the Holocaust, the world is still plagued with anti-Semitism," Prosor noted. "Men and women are still persecuted for what they look like, how they worship, and who they love."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday berated the international community for showing indifference to the threat posed by Iran, comparing Tehran to the Nazi regime and implying that the world was not fulfilling its obligation to prevent a second Jewish holocaust.Hatikvah sung at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, April 23, 1945
“Even today when there is broad agreement that the Holocaust that took place should have been prevented, the world doesn’t feel any sense of urgency regarding a regime that calls for our annihilation, and even welcomes with open arms the man who represents it,” Netanyahu said, referring to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
To commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2014, we bring you the following clip of a radio transmission from April 23, 1945 (by BBC reporters Patrick Gordon Walker and Richard Dimbleby) at the recently liberated concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. (h/t Akusia)Atrocities Prevention Board: Just Words
International human rights investigators have discovered evidence that “Syria has systematically tortured and executed about 11,000 detainees since the start of the uprising.” The details are horrifying, with respected experts funded by Qatar having obtained photos which showed bodies with evidence of “starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation, and other forms of torture and killing.” A news account reports: “One of the three lawyers who authored the report — Sir Desmond de Silva, the former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone — likened the images to those of Holocaust survivors.”Odd Choices For Cameron’s Holocaust Commission
Seems like a perfect case for the Obama administration’s much ballyhooed Atrocities Prevention Board, announced by the president in 2012 at the Holocaust Museum. Only the administration is largely silent in the face of these atrocities beyond ritual words of condemnation.
Helena Bonham Carter is not a completely weird choice. She is partly Jewish – from a rather posh family – and there’s also this:Blazing Cat Fur: Anti-semitism on the rise on college campuses VIDEO
"Helena Bonham Carter, whose grandfather Eduardo Propper de Callejon was posthumously recognised for his role in saving hundreds of Jews during the Second World War,"
Much less impressive is the selection of Simon Hughes.
Simon Hughes is a Liberal Democrat MP who has carved out a special niche as a supporter of Islamist causes and groups which promote hate preachers.
Pro-Israel campaigner and student Chloe Valdary discusses how anti-Jewish bigotry is on the rise on North American university campuses.Anti-Israel 'charities' (satire)
Most people are completely unaware that some of the most popular ‘charities’ (or NGOs: Non Governmental Organisations as they are more accurately called) actually divert large amounts of their income to political propaganda. And in many cases the brunt of this political propaganda is directed against Israel. NGO Monitor continually provides updates of this type of activity, but I felt a simple summary was needed since very week or so I end up having to tell a friend that the charity they or their children are asking us to contribute to is actually helping to fund the deligitimization of Israel or even worse, directly funding Palestinian terrorists.PMW Netanyahu has Nazi genes and imitates Hitler's racism
Following the lead of Debbie Schlussel I have awarded a number of Arafats (rather than stars) to each charity (where 5 Arafats is the worse possible). The list - ordered by the fame of the charity - is by no means exhaustive. It does not include the many specifically ‘Palestinian’ charities, such as Interpal, and Muslim charities, such as Muslim Hands, which directly fund Hamas. But I would not expect any rational Jewish person to be in any doubt about the purpose of such ‘charities’.
Last week, just a few days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the official Palestinian Authority daily published an op-ed demonizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The op-ed claimed that Netanyahu has Nazi genes and uses Hitler-style racism against the Palestinians:Shin Bet: West Bank terror attacks more than doubled in 2013
"It is possible that Netanyahu has preserved it [racism] and acquired it genetically from the days of the Nazis and the Aryan race."
The reason Netanyahu is compared to Hitler is because Netanyahu "is demanding that the Palestinians recognize the Jewishness of the State of Israel," - a "Jewishness," which is racist, the writer states, claiming that even Jews don't "enjoy equal treatment" in Israel: (h/t Bob Knot)
In 2013, there were some 1,271 attacks in Judea and Samaria, as opposed to 578 in 2012, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said. Of these attacks, 1,042 took place in Judea.Inside Lines: New concern for Fifa ahead of World Cup 2022 after anti-Zionist row in Qatar
In addition, of the six Israelis killed in terror attacks in 2013, five were killed in the West Bank – as opposed to 2012, when all of the 10 Israeli fatalities from terror attacks took place inside the Green Line. Of those killed, three were civilians and three were members of the security forces.
With the current cloud of anti-Semitic allegations hovering over football, Fifa must be praying that Israel do not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. For hard on the heels of the disturbing concerns over excessive heat, homophobia and mass deaths of migrant construction workers comes an incident at the recent Swimming World Cup in the capital Doha when the Qatari hosts refused to display the name “Israel” during TV broadcasts and removed Israeli flags from outside the venue.45 Years Since the Public Execution of 9 Jews in Baghdad
The International Swimming Association (Fina) have issued strong warnings both to Qatar and Dubai, where Israeli athletes suffered similar discrimination. Shouldn’t Fifa be doing the same? Especially as only last week the United Arab Emirates refused permission for Israel-born defender Dan Mori to enter the country with his Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem for friendly matches in Abu Dhabi because they do not recognise Israel as a state.
Today marks 45 years since nine Iraqi Jews were hanged in Baghdad's central square. The murdered Jews were: Ezra Naji Zilkha, Fuad Gabay, Yakub Gorji Namordi, Daud Haskil Barukh Dalal, Daud Ghali, Haskil Saleh Haskil, Sabah Hayim, Naim Khaduri, and Charles Rafael Horesh. Their hanging was a nadir in the persecution of Iraqi Jews, but persecutions did not end with them, and in August 1969 two more Jews were hanged, and scores more were arrested and never seen again, presumed murdered. Today, few if any Jews remain in Iraq – remnants of an illustrious Jewish community that numbered more than 150,000 members in the middle of the 20th century.ADL Chairman: US Position on Pollard Reflects Anti-Semitic Myths
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Chairman Abraham Foxman was quoted by Maariv Tuesday as having called the US's refusal to release Jonathan Pollard as a form of "revenge" against the American Jewish community.Obama's Jewish Half-Brother Visits Israel, Promises to Help Free Pollard
According to the daily, Foxman revealed in a Tablet interview that his personal views on the Pollard case have changed over the years, after US officials in the last government publicly stated that the Israeli spy's punishment is "unjust."
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. While some people accuse President Obama of being hostile to the Jewish state, apparently he has a half-brother who is halachically Jewish and interested in getting in touch with his Jewish roots.UNESCO to proceed with disputed Jewish exhibition
Last week Mark Obama Ndesandjo visited Israel secretly. One of the main purposes of his trip was to meet with Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger and receive a blessing and a letter for his mother, Ruth Nidesand. The visit had to be kept a secret for fear of reprisals from al-Qaeda-related terrorist groups. (h/t AlexandreM)
"The date has been set for June 11," a UNESCO spokeswoman said without elaborating. The exhibition was co-sponsored by Israel, Canada and Montenegro.Putin too busy to meet niece of WWII hero Wallenberg
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, co-organizer of the exhibition, said in a statement the exhibition had nothing to do with recent efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
"While the Arab League was trying to kill this exhibition and all the attention was focused on Paris, the U.N. headquarters in New York is hosting an exhibit entitled 'Palestine' based entirely on the Arab narrative, which was not criticized as an interference in Secretary Kerry's mission," Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the center, said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be too busy to meet a descendant of Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg who has pleaded for help in unraveling his mysterious death in Soviet custody, his spokesman said Monday.Israel leads global photo apps market
The Swedish diplomat saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi gas chambers at the end of World War II. He has been missing ever since his arrest by Soviet forces in 1945.
There are almost 13,000 photo apps on iTunes and Google Play. However, if you look closely out of the top 10, almost all of them originated from Israel.A Polish Opera Director in the Judean Desert
So how come Israelis have captured that throne too? Have Israeli’s become the new Japanese or is it just a technological thing? JewishNewsOne went to find out with some of the developers of those apps.
Znaniecki has been working on the La travieta production for the past three years and related to Tazpit that he is “excited to see the project finally happen in the Judean desert.”
It will be the largest and most complex opera production ever seen in Israel, employing some 2,500 people, in addition to 700 participants and operating teams. The festival will also feature the Israel Philharmonic led by Kent Nagano and the Idan Raichel Project, as well as singers from the Israel Opera’s Meitar Opera Studio.
The Israel Ministry of Tourism expects 50,000 people from Israel and ‘cultural tourists’ from abroad to partake in the 2014 festival. This year, the Israeli Opera Festival will also come to Akko (June 19-21), and will feature a weekend of Mozart at the subterranean Crusader Halls in Akko’s Old City.
