Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Brendan O’Neill: The wretched reason why Israel became Europe’s whipping boy
It isn’t Israelis who are paranoid; it’s anti-Israeli Europeans. They’re the ones who madly look upon one nation, one people, as toxic, destabilising, destructive, out to get us all and do over world peace. Such swirling paranoia often means anti-Zionism crosses the lines into anti-Semitism.Col. Kemp: The ban on visiting Israel is an absurdity
Some Israelis I spoke to seemed more upset about the turn against Israel in Europe than they were about the more immediate threat posed Islamists in the Middle East. It wasn’t hard to work out why. As one said, “We considered Europe a friend”: “We thought Europe and Israel had a lot in common, being Western and democratic.”
This cuts to the heart of the Euro-elites’ paranoia about Israel, their turn against it: it is really European values, the ideals of modernity and democracy, they’ve given up on. The thing that riles them most about Israel is that it reminds them of what they used to be like, of the values they once espoused, before they lost the moral plot and sank into the cesspit of relativism and post-Enlightenment self-loathing.
Plucky, keen to protect its sovereignty, considering itself an outpost of liberalism… Israel is a painful reminder to today’s morally anchorless European thinkers and agitators of what their nations once were. They hate Israel because they hate themselves.
Israel has become the whipping boy of guilt-ridden Western liberals who’ve given up on the very idea of the West.
Royals must honour the fallen of our forgotten Middle East warIsi Leibler: British Jews Under Pressure
No fewer than 16,000 British and Commonwealth troops died during the Palestine campaign in the First World War and are buried in the land where they fell. Yet a long-standing Foreign Office ban on royal visits to Israel looks likely to deny these men the honour that has been afforded to British soldiers killed in Europe, Gallipoli and other theatres of war during the centenary years. This policy must be overturned now to ensure their sacrifice is properly recognised.
Ninety-eight years ago today, on December 9, 1917, the Ottoman governor of Jerusalem surrendered the Holy City to General Sir Edmund Allenby’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force at the end of a bloody battle against the Turks that began on November 17.
The Palestine campaign has received little attention during the First World War commemorations, but was the second largest British theatre of operations in terms of strength of forces, with troops from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and India. It achieved the first defeat of a central power in the war.
British Empire forces sustained 554,828 casualties during the campaign, including 16,000 dead. At the Jerusalem War Cemetery on Mount Scopus this year I visited the graves of two of them, Edwin Beard and Leonard Frost, both boys from my school, Colchester Royal Grammar. It saddened me to think that the British Foreign Office is ready to deny these British soldiers the honour they deserve.
Reviewing the status of Anglo-Jewry can lead to diametrically opposing conclusions. Residing in a northwest London Jewish suburb, one can easily be deluded that life for Jews in the U.K. is rosy. Jewish cultural and religious life is thriving, as exemplified by the mushrooming of synagogues and kosher facilities, not to mention the highly successful educational initiatives like Limmud. Indeed, insulated from the outside world and living and socializing primarily in a Jewish “ghetto,” it is not difficult to convince oneself that life in this Anglo-Jewish Diaspora is almost idyllic.
But this picture is delusional and a far cry from reality. The demographic projections reflect snowballing intermarriage offset by the high birthrate of the ultra-Orthodox — which will make them the dominant element in the Jewish community within the not too distant future.
More importantly, even though British Jews have not yet suffered from the bloody jihadi violence and murders of their French counterparts, as European Jews they will ultimately face the same threat, and if they believe they are in a different category, they are in denial.
Although Muslim jihadi elements are currently less dominant in the U.K. than in France, they face very similar threats from ISIS followers and homegrown terrorists. Moreover, indigenous antisemitism in the form of feral anti-Israelism is as blatant in the U.K. as in France.
British Anti-War Group: 'Islamic State Is Closer To Spirit Of Solidarity' Than Cameron
Britain’s hard-left, “anti-war” movement the Stop The War Coalition has been forced to remove a statement its website which claimed the Islamic State are “closer” than Britain’s Prime Minister to “the spirit of internationalism and solidarity”.Could Houellebecq's World Really Happen?
The “anti-war” group – which has been under fire on previous occasions for calling for a war against Israel, as well as “standing with” Saddam Hussein – has close links to the new leadership of the Labour Party, including party leader Jeremy Corbyn himself.
The latest incident is the second such u-turn in recent weeks, and adds to the pressure on Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to distance himself from the group. Stop The War has been highly vocal in its criticism of military action in Syria, joining with other far left organisations in openly attacking the 66 Labour politicians who voted for airstrikes against Islamic State in the House of Commons last week.
The French author Michel Houellebecq, long a friend of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, published his latest book—about an Islamist takeover of France—the same day the satirists were killed by ISIS terrorists. What Submission can teach us about the future of Europe.Academia - the factory of today's political nincompoops
“Life is painful and disappointing,” Michel Houellebecq wrote in his first book-length work, and it has more or less remained his mantra ever since. One of Europe’s bestselling and most controversial novelists, Houellebecq has made a career out of viciously satirical assaults on modern Europe in such works as Whatever, The Elementary Particles, Platform, and The Possibility of an Island, usually with the strong conviction that Western civilization is now in its twilight years, already in the midst of its inevitable collapse.
Now, however, he is not alone in this assessment. With November’s brutal terrorist slaughter in Paris, some of Europe’s most respected names have come forth to declare Houellebecq’s thesis essentially correct. Faced with the looming specter of radical Islamic terrorism, a massive refugee crisis, rising crime and civil disorder, and uncontrolled immigration and the clash of civilizations that seems to come with it, some believe Europe is already teetering on the brink. Following the Paris attacks, the Harvard historian Niall Ferguson seemed to sum up the prevailing mood. “I am…going to tell you,” he wrote in The Boston Globe, “that this is exactly how civilizations fall.”
Today, the sight of thin-skinned and intolerant students demanding the comfort of “safe-space zones” to escape conflicting thought they find offensive because it doesn’t tally with their brain-washed numb-skulls, to avoid any full and open debate in case it damages their dogma, makes us non-academics fearful of what these campuses are producing.Arab Bank wins US appeal to block thousands of terror damages claims
It is we, the general public that will require safe-spaces when these academic idiots graduate, join us in society, and start imposing their nonsensical thought control on the rest of us.
If these educators of world leaders of today and tomorrow, who have led them to such an abyss of judgment and reality, had been medical teachers we would have surgeons amputating limbs in their search for cancer in the body of our society, instead of applying clear-headed and surgical methodology against the cancer cells themselves. This is how far off the mark they have become.
The root cause of the cancer of modern-day terrorism is so obvious that simple people recognize it, but ‘progressive’ leaders don’t.
It’s time to reform the universities that have become riddled with radically specious teaching that has resulted in the vacuous thinking of too many of our political leadership.
It’s time to get back to common sense and plainly diagnosis of what is troubling the world.
A US appeals court ruled Tuesday that non-US citizens could not sue the Jordan-based Arab Bank Plc for damages over its support of Palestinian terror groups who carried out attacks in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.Rivlin: Israel must do more to improve Palestinians’ lives
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a 2013 ruling rejecting foreign lawsuits against the bank, which was being sued by American citizens amid claims it provided material support for the Hamas terror group during the period 1995-2005, Reuters reported.
In 2014 the bank was found guilty of supporting Hamas, which has carried out dozens of terror attacks against Israelis, killing hundreds, including some US citizens.
The three-panel court ruled the previous ruling “remains the law of this circuit” despite a later 2013 Supreme Court ruling that opened the possibility for foreign nationals to sue the bank for damages under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that is sometimes used as the basis for human rights abuse lawsuits.
Foreign victims had used the US Supreme Court ruling to argue that dismissing their claims was longer “good law.”
President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday urged Israel to take steps to improve Palestinians’ living conditions, which he said were lacking, while stressing that peace was still a distant prospect, ahead of a meeting with US President Barack Obama later in the day.Happy Hanukkah from all but one of the GOP candidates
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, which coincided with the president’s first US first, Rivlin also criticized Israelis for neglecting the development of Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, saying they have been “abandoned.”
The president said Israel must “take effective action” to lay the groundwork for a future accord, though he warned that “there is no currently viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
“There is no diplomatic process underway, and no indication of imminent negotiations,” he wrote.
“Israel must take steps to improve the situation independent of the geopolitical territorial debate — steps that every sensible person understands serve simultaneously Israel’s moral and practical interests,” he wrote, pointing to the development of Rawabi, the first new Palestinian city approved by Israeli authorities, as a positive development.
He also encouraged “cultivating channels of communication and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen, educators and cultural figures” and increased Arabic studies in Israeli schools.
The Republican Jewish Coalition posted on its Facebook page a video featuring 13 out of 14 of the GOP presidential candidates wishing a Happy Hanukkah.The fascinating contrast between President Obama’s and Sen. Cruz’s Hanukkah (Chanukah) greetings
Sen. Rand Paul presumably is missing because he had to opt out last minute from last week’s RJC’s presidential forum due to voting on the Senate floor. (The video was filmed at the forum.)
Most of the candidates ace the “Happy Hanukkah” thing, but there are several notes of interest:
Conclusion: Each politicians’ Hanukkah appeals to the sort of Jews (and non-Jews) most likely to support them. For Obama, it’s the culturally Jewish, universalist, theologically liberal or atheistic Jews who see in Judaism primarily a call to pursue “social justice,” and who often believe that Jews, as “white people,” don’t come within modern liberalism’s concern for marginalized groups.'The West is ignoring the five forms of warfare'
For Cruz, it’s the religiously Jewish, theologically more conservative Jews, along with Jews who think that the Jewish position in the world is hardly so secure that they can ignore the fate of the Jewish people in favor of a purely universalistic ethic.
Given that each politician undoubtedly had aides responsible for their “Jewish portfolio” prepare their greetings, it’s a fascinating insight into their competing perspectives. I think it may also tell us a lot about the emerging worldviews of liberal Democratic and conservative Republicans more generally.
Philanthropist Kenneth Abramowitz hosted former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in his Manhattan apartment this week, as part of a series of meetings with such public figures as Congressman Peter Roskam (R - IL) and the Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens.Michael Lumish: Trump Calls for Banning Muslims
"Everyone in the West thinks that war is fought with bullets or bombs," Abramowitz stated, in an interview with Arutz Sheva's Dr. Joseph Frager.
"But there's five forms of war in my mind: a physical war, obviously; an intellectual war, fighting with words; we can fight economically - 'I'm not going to pay you, I'm going to boycott you'; we can fight legally - 'You're an officer in the IDF, and I'm going to sue you for defending Jews'; and we also can fight demographically - my whole family's coming to your house and you can't push me out."
Abramowitz further noted that while all forms of war are a threat, both in the US and in Israel, Westerners neglect to fund and address non-physical warfare.
"We have to protect ourselves from each of the five forms," he emphasized.
The truth of the matter is that since 9/11 Americans have, within the United States, been exceedingly moderate in their response to the Jihad, but things are heating up and the San Bernardino attack is going to bring out nativist tendencies throughout the US.PM rejects Trump’s comments on Muslims, but will still meet him
In the first time, ever, I recently saw fear in the face of a friend of mine concerning radical Islam because her sister lives within a ten minute drive of the attack site in southern California.
For most Californians, until this moment, Islamic terrorism has been an abstraction and viewed as a result of the history of Western-American colonialism, imperialism, and racism.
Trump, however, is wrong to call on a ban of all Muslims coming into the United States because it is too much of a broad brush. He is correct to be concerned, and the Democrats are fools not to be, but the ban should be limited to the current rush of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
The EU is selling Europe the rope with which to hang itself, but that does not mean some innocent Muslim family from, say, Indonesia or Europe, should not be allowed entrance to the United States.
I know a thing or two about American History and given late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century disdain for both Catholic and Jewish immigration, there is no possible way that I would support a general ban on Muslim immigration into the US.
However, that does not mean that the Jihad should be disregarded, as is the progressive-left tendency.
Both ISIS and Hamas should be demolished.
The West is at war with political Islam... whether it likes it or not.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday evening issued a statement saying the prime minister “rejects Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Muslims,” but will still meet with him as scheduled later this month.Sharansky, Oren join condemnation of Trump’s comments on Muslims
The statement did not elaborate as to why Netanyahu “rejects” Trump’s call to bar Muslims from the US amid the wave of Islamist terror, and did note that Israel is battling Islamic extremism.
“The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens. At the same time, Israel is fighting against militant Islam that targets Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and threatens the entire world,” the PMO quoted Netanyahu as saying, two days after the leading Republican presidential contender said all Muslims should be banned from entering the US.
Oren, the American-born former Israeli ambassador to the US, pointed to the Jewish people’s historical experience. “We Jews, who have been the victims of gross and hostile generalizations throughout our history, should be first out there to condemn it,” he said, referring to Trump’s comments.37 MKs sign petition urging Netanyahu to cancel Trump meeting
“While it’s very important that we acknowledge the fact that there is an extremist form of Islam that wants to destroy Israel and Western civilization, it is equally important that we make every effort not incriminate all Muslims. And that it’s precisely Israel that must stand up and defend not only its own peaceful Muslim population, but the countless millions of Muslims who abhor terror and who are the first victims of terror.”
Thirty-seven MKs signed a petition Wednesday calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel his planned meeting later this month with US presidential candidate Donald Trump, two days after the Republican front-runner said all Muslims should be banned from entering the US.Joint List MK: Trump visit to Temple Mount will 'set whole region on fire'
Netanyahu’s office earlier Wednesday said the December 28 meeting with Trump was decided upon two weeks ago, long before the billionaire candidate made the controversial remarks.
The petition was initiated by Meretz MK Michal Rozin, the Hebrew-language website NRG reported.
Rozin was seeking to “publicly condemn Trump’s racist remarks and to cancel the planned meeting (with Netanyahu) before he regrets his comments.”
MK Taleb Abu Arrar (Joint List) said of Trump's plan to visit the Temple Mount: "If Trump the racist plans to visit Al-Aksa, the holiest place in the world for Muslims, to harm the sensitivities of people against whom he incites, he and Netanyahu will be responsible.When Donald Trump Accused Pamela Geller of 'Taunting' Muslims
"Such a visit will set the whole region on fire, I am warning," Abu Arrar added.
A few months before Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump spewed Islamophobic hate speech, he accused anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller of needlessly antagonizing Muslims.CNN anchor: Jews carried out terror attacks, should they be barred from entering US?
On May 4 of this year, Trump tweeted: “The U.S. has enough problems without publicity seekers going out and openly mocking religion in order to provoke attacks and death. BE SMART.”
His declaration was in response to the news that two men attempted to shoot up the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas during a “Draw the Prophet” event organized by Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).
In reported cases of Jewish terror attacks, should all Jews be barred from obtaining visas in order to enter the United States?
This was a question posed by CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Tuesday morning during an interview with former Ronald Reagan White House administration official and current Donald Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord, when asked if his preferred presidential candidate was not applying a double standard to Muslims.
"If you supplant the word ‘Jews’ for ‘Muslims’ in a lot of the rhetoric that we’ve had this morning, I think people would find it sort of cringe-worthy and reminiscent of a really ugly time in our history," Banfield said. "There have been Jewish terrorist attacks. Should we therefore ask no Jews to please apply for a visa?"
The CNN anchor then provided specifics examples: "From a period of 1980 to 1985 there were a reported 18 terror attacks committed in the United States by Jews, 15 of them committed by the Jewish Defense League," Banfield said. 'The head of the Jewish Defense league was in jail awaiting trial...accused of trying to bomb a mosque in Culver City, trying to bomb [US Congressman] Darrel Issa's office, an Arab-American."
"Are you really saying to me that there’s an international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world?" Lord asked in response.
"There are no Jews coming to [the US] to destroy America," Lord added. (h/t Yenta Press)
EXCLUSIVE - Hamas Terrorists Complain About Trump's Immigration Policy
Palestinian terrorist organizations did not take kindly to Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”Jewish Actress Mayim Bialik Blasts Anti-Zionist Critics on Facebook
Responding to Trump’s proposal, Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader and spokesman in Gaza, told Breitbart Jerusalem: “We do not estimate that the current U.S. administration, any administration, will implement these racist suggestions. This is a pathetic attempt to attribute terror exclusively to Muslims.”
Radwan, whose group’s charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, lectured Trump: “Islam is a religion of peace, a religion which opposes bloodshed.”
Jewish actress Mayim Bialik took to Facebook on Tuesday to condemn those boycotting her on social media due to her pro-Israel beliefs.Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Post Of Pooch Wearing Yarmulke Sparks Hate-Filled Comments
“For those of you who refuse to follow me and discourage others from doing so because I am a Zionist (as if that’s a crime!!), I highly recommend you look up Zionism in a dictionary rather than using the definition perpetrated by anti-semitic media and leaders,” Bialik, who is also a neuroscientist, wrote.
The “Big Bang Theory“ star said Zionism is defined as the belief that Jews deserve an “autonomous homeland” free of terrorism and threats to their global existence. “If you don’t want to follow me because I believe in that, by all means don’t,” she announced.
Facebook fans lauded the actress for speaking out in support of Israel and remaining true to her beliefs. One user encouraged the 39-year-old mother-of-two to “stay strong,” while many others might “crumble under the pressure to conform to society.”
Another said: “Thank you, Mayim, for speaking out for all of us Jewish people who don’t have a voice that can reach as many people as you can. Thank you for being such a great supporter of all the Jews worldwide.”
In honor of Hanukkah, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo of a dog dressed in a yarmulke and tallit – the Jewish prayer shawl – to his Facebook page. The photo attracted a litany of anti-Semitic comments in response.German, US Jewish NGOs strongly rebuke Merkel’s support for labels on settlement products
Zuckerberg’s viral photo of his Hungarian sheepdog was accompanied by the message, “Happy Hanukkah from Beast and our little family to everyone celebrating around the world!” While many people responded in kind, wishing Zuckerberg and his new family a happy Hanukkah, many of the comments were filled with messages of hate, including a few that said “F**k Israel!” and “Death to Israel!”
One poster named Mohamed commented, “Go to hell, you and baby killers. A message to all Israeli (F**k you).”
Another wrote, “Mark for the sake of money you got crazy. For your advirtisement [sic] your fame you gone mad you just throw urine on the face of poor Palestinians you just need your lie fame.”
A diverse group of German and American Jewish organizations sharply criticized on Tuesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration for its endorsement of the labeling of Israeli settlement products.Gaza's Dr. Basem Naim exploits image of disabled child
The Jerusalem Post asked Jewish organizations in Europe and the United States to assess Merkel’s decision to impose labels on Israeli merchandise made in east Jerusalem, on the Golan Heights and in the West Bank.
“It’s a disgrace. Throughout her years as chancellor, Angela Merkel in word and [mostly] in deed has stood as a friend of Israel. She must certainly know that the EU labeling move does nothing to advance peace, but does further embolden an array of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic forces. Hiding behind a decision by the EU doesn’t hide the fact that she has violated a historic German responsibility when it comes to the Jewish State: Do no harm,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
Its Pallywood at its nadir and its nothing less than shameless exploitation of a disabled child, by an official of the Hamas government in Gaza.Warsaw Ghetto plaque defaced with swastika
Someone who ought to know better- Dr. Basem Naim, the Former Minister of Health of Gaza has sent out a photo of a disabled toddler, claiming the boy was a victim of "Israeli terror".
Nothing could be further from the truth. The child in this photo is Mohammed Al-Farra., who is living in Israel's Tel Hashomer hospital after being abandoned by his family.
A plaque commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto was defaced with a large swastika, Polish news portal WaWa Love reported Monday.Dorm at NJ university vandalized with swastikas
The plaque, erected in 2008, was dedicated to the "memory of those who suffered, fought and died."
Numerous plaques adorn the area, marking the boundaries of the Jewish ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
When asked the opinion of an elderly passerby what he thought of the chilling symbol, the aged pedestrian began to weep.
"That symbol painted in a place where not so long ago the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of people? It passes human understanding, it's just scary," the man told Wa Wa Love.
A residence hall at Rowan University in southern New Jersey was vandalized with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti.Chabad at Rowan University Announces Public Chanukah Menorah Lighting in Response to Antisemitic Graffiti
The Nazi symbols were discovered Thursday and reported to the university administration.
The dean of students, Richard Jones, condemned the graffiti in an email Sunday to students, and wrote that police are investigating the incident.
“It is important to clearly state that the sort of bias and hate that this type of incident represents are completely inconsistent with Rowan’s values,” he wrote. “Members of our community should be safe from hate in all areas of the campus, from the residence halls to the classrooms.”
The Chabad Jewish Center at New Jersey’s Rowan University announced their first ever public menorah lighting on Tuesday night, in response to antisemitic graffiti discovered carved into one of the campus dormitories late last week.Giant Menorah From Lego Built In Texas
“We refuse to be intimidated or frightened, in fact we will use this incident as a motivation to increase the light and expand our programming for Jewish students on campus,” said Rabbi Hersh Loschak in a statement. “Our historic first ever public menorah lighting will take place tonight (December 8) at 7 pm at the Rowan student center patio. We invite everyone to attend as a sign of Jewish pride, solidarity, and as a statement of defiance in the face of hatred and bigotry.”
“It is important to clearly state that the sort of bias and hate that this type of incident represents are completely inconsistent with Rowan’s values. Members of our community should be safe from hate in all areas of the campus, from the residence halls to the classrooms,” said Loschak in a statement on Tuesday.
Dean of Students Richard Jones identified the swastikas carved into the Chestnut Hall dorm as antisemitism and offensive to several different groups. Chestnut Hall does not currently house any Jewish residents.
Led by a structural engineer, a group of parents and kids built a giant menorah out of Lego in Fort Worth, Texas, reported the local CBS affiliate.Bahrain’s king holds Hanukkah candlelighting
The congregation of Ahavath Sholom synagogue in Fort Worth used about 50,000 Lego pieces to construct a 16-foot-tall menorah to celebrate the festival of Hanukkah.
Mike Lavi, a structural engineer who is a member of the synagogue said, “Anytime I tell people, they all get really excited. They go, ‘oh, that’s pretty cool.’”
Lavi started construction of the menorah in July and then recruited members of the local community to help him complete it. “Families, kids, the Sunday school kids, their families, brothers, sisters, try to get the whole community involved,” Lavi told CBS-DFW.
The official unveiling of the menorah will occur on the penultimate day of Hannukah – Sunday, December 13 at 6:30 pm – in a ceremony attended by Hanukkah.
The menorah will be dismantled following the holiday and all of the Lego will be donated to organizations and charities for children.
The king of Bahrain has hosted a candle-lighting ceremony at his palace to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, bringing in a rabbi from Europe to conduct the service.Hyper Cacher terror victims light menorah at Paris unity concert
According to the Conference of European Rabbis, Monday’s ceremony in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, was the first of its kind in the Persian Gulf nation’s palace since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Conference Director Rabbi Moshe Levin, who was invited by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, recited the traditional blessings while lighting the candles, and sang a verse of “Ma’oz Tzur,” the traditional Hanukkah hymn. Some 50 Jews were present for the ceremony.
“A little light drives off a lot of darkness,” Levin told the king, according to the press release. “Bahrain under your rule is a little light in a dark world of radical fundamentalism.”
In commemoration of the first anniversary of last year’s terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Hyper Cacher market, and in light of the latest devastating attacks, a special musical tribute event will be held at the Synagogue de la Victoire (Grand Synagogue of Paris) on Wednesday, December 9th 800 pm Paris time.Jewish Copenhagen terror victim named ‘Dane of the year’
Families of the victims will recite the Jewish memorial prayer, “Kadish”, for the last time and then light the Hannukah menora in the “City of Light” to mark the victory of freedom and hope over hatred and terror. With over a thousand Parisians expected to attend, this event will send a powerful message about the resilience of the French Jewish community, the unity of the international Jewish community and solidarity with all those affected by terror.
“This is our major event on Hannuka,” said a spokesperson for organizing group. The concert is taking place in the heart of the city that has come to represent the bitter cost of terror. “This event is designed to send the message of Jewish unity and solidarity in the face of this ongoing global battle,” the spokesperson said.
A Jewish volunteer security guard gunned down outside a Copenhagen synagogue in February was honored posthumously Tuesday with the Berlingske Prize, which named him “Dane of the year.”
Dan Uzan, 37, was killed in a terror attack while standing guard outside the synagogue, where a bat mitzvah was taking place. A memorial service in the immediate aftermath of the twin shootings in Denmark, in which filmmaker Finn Norgaard was also killed, drew some 30,000 people who came to pay tribute to the victims.
Uzan’s family accepted the award on his behalf on Tuesday afternoon, according to Danish media. Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen praised the decision, saying Uzan was an inspiration.
Tom Jensen, the chief editor of the Berlingske magazine and one of the judges on the panel, said Uzan paid with his life to protect others and Danish people were grateful for his sacrifice. Uzan, an innocent terror victim, must be remembered, he added.
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