Caroline Glick: Palestinian suffering and Israel
How can we explain the international community’s indifference to Palestinian suffering? Every day, angry bands of protesters burn the flag of Israel, call for the destruction of the Jewish state and insist that Israel and its Jewish citizens be shunned from polite society and thrown out of the global economy all in the name of opposing “the Occupation.”PMW: Desiring 70 virgins made youth seek Martyrdom-death
Although the breathless protesters insist that all their efforts are directed toward the Palestinians, as it works out, none of their assaults on Israel have improved the Palestinians’ lot. To the contrary, their protests have given a free pass to those that do the most to harm Palestinians.
The angry, hateful protests against Israel tell us nothing about either the history of the Palestinians’ relations with the Jewish state or their present circumstances.
And what are those circumstances? Consider the stories of two different groups of Palestinian prisoners.
The official Palestinian Authority daily has reported that a 23-year-old Palestinian man wished to die as a Martyr because he would then marry the 70 Virgins of Paradise.MEMRI: Palestinian Authority, Fatah Lead Campaign Of Solidarity With And Glorification Of Hunger-Striking Palestinian Prisoners, Including Murderers Of Israeli Civilians After Oslo Accords
Saba Abu Obeid, who was shot during violent clashes with Israeli soldiers and later died of his wounds, had told his grandmother he was hoping to die, because "70 beauties are waiting for me." According to Islam, one of the Martyr's rewards is to marry 72 Dark-Eyed Maidens, and the PA in fact describes Martyrs' funerals as weddings.
Obeid's grandmother recounted: "He asked me to sound cries of joy if he died as a Martyr. I told him: 'Everyone who seeks Martyrdom-death (Shahada) is entitled to achieve it, but I want to marry you off and rejoice in your happiness.' He told me: 'Grandmother, 70 beauties are waiting for me in Paradise, why should I replace them with the women of this world?'" [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 25, 2017]
This story reflects years of PA indoctrination to its people that Shahada - Martyrdom - is "sweet." During the PA's terror campaign 2000-2005 (the second Intifada), PA TV targeted kids with this message, telling them that Martyrdom was an ideal to strive for.
In 2002, today's young man of 23 was 8 years old, and possibly watched the following program for youth on PA TV, which Palestinian Media Watch exposed at the time. Two 11-year-old girls explained that "Shahada is beautiful" and that "everyone yearns for Shahada." They stated that "going to Paradise" is "sweet" and that what really matters is "the Afterlife."
On April 17, 2017, some 1,500 Palestinian security prisoners incarcerated in Israel launched a hunger strike, under the leadership of Fatah Central Committee member Marwan Al-Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for murder. The timing of the strike, which ended 41 days later, on May 27, was inconvenient for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which feared that it would lead to violent riots just as U.S. President Donald Trump was hosting PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas at the White House, and during Trump's subsequent visit to Bethlehem as part of his efforts to restart Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Another difficulty faced by the PA was the fear that Al-Barghouti – who initiated the strike and led it – would take sole credit for it, rather than the PA and 'Abbas himself.[1]Douglas Murray - Voting for Corbyn would be 'Madness'
Nevertheless, the PA and Fatah could not be indifferent to the strike lest they spark public outrage, and thus launched a campaign of support for the prisoners. The campaign included: establishing solidarity encampments throughout the West Bank, which were also used as a platform for Fatah and PA representatives to deliver speeches and as a meeting place for families of the prisoners; holding protest activities such as a general strike, conducting parades, declaring days of rage, blocking roads, and marching to the border with Israel and other points of friction. Likewise, the PA government, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, announced an open-ended government session for the duration of the prisoners' strike, and Fatah's Revolutionary Council called for escalating the popular resistance. Also, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry instructed its representations abroad to hold activities for solidarity with the prisoners, and Fatah and PA representatives called on international delegations to pressure Israel to comply with the prisoners' demands.
The reaction of the PA, headed by 'Abbas, to the prisoners' hunger strike reveals the duplicity of its stand vis-à-vis terrorism: While it takes care to announce its opposition to violence and terrorism, and to condemn terror attacks and their perpetrators in the world, when it comes to the Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli facilities – the vast majority of whom were convicted on terror charges, including the murder of Israeli civilians, after the Oslo Accords – the PA glorifies their deeds, presents them as freedom fighters, and places their cause at the top of the Palestinian agenda. This is manifested by 'Abbas's meetings with families of the prisoners,[2] including of terrorists with blood on their hands who carried out horrific terror operations; by presenting the prisoners' cause to President Trump during his visit to the region; by asking the U.S. envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt, during 'Abbas's May 25 meeting with him, to pressure Israel to comply with the prisoners' demands; and by effusively praising the prisoners' heroism and sacrifice.[3]
Chloé Valdary: ‘Wonder Woman’ Hurts People Of Color? That’s ‘Patronizing Stupidity’
On June 2, the Forward published a piece by Noah Berlatsky entitled, “Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman Is White — Let’s Not Pretend Otherwise.” Below, Chloé Valdary responds to the article.New York Times Takes Linda Sarsour-Style Approach To ‘Wonder Woman’ Movie
I finally read the stupid piece and can confirm its pretty stupid. Like if this piece was a box of fries it would be labeled extra salty. To cut to the chase: We all love the movie because it speaks to virtues deep within us all that have nothing to do with skin color or notions of privilege or whatever other word this author felt like repeating just to sound like Judith Butler. No, wonder woman did not have a message that “hurt people of color.” All the black women, myself included, who sat and watched Wonder Woman destroy German soldiers in WWI were not sitting in the theater fixated and insecure about the fact that Wonder Woman has white skin. We were cheering her on, as human beings do for other human beings that they see themselves and their potential in. To suggest otherwise is patronizing stupidity to the dumbest degree. Plus the author actually had the nerve to complain about Gal Gadot playing a role that wasn’t Jewish aka wasn’t who she actually is aka what we call the definition of what it means to be an actress. Im done, I cannot with this foolishness. Wonder Woman is the best film of the summer, go see it.
In not one, not two, not three, not four, but five — 5! — separate and prominently displayed pieces over the past three days, the New York Times has celebrated the box office success of the movie “Wonder Woman” as a feminist breakthrough.Jordan considering banning ‘Wonder Woman’ over Israeli star Gal Gadot
Leave aside how a 5-foot, 10-inch tall, 32-year-old actress appearing in a starring movie role in a skimpy costume is a victory for feminism — I’ll take people’s word for it. What’s illuminating for our purposes is that the Times has repeatedly and emphatically framed the story of the commercial success of “Wonder Woman” as a victory for women, but totally ignored the idea that it might be a triumph for Israel or for Jews.
The “Wonder Woman” movie, after all, was banned in Lebanon because of its star Gal Gadot’s Israeli background. Gadot has also been criticized by Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that advocates sanctions against Israel and that described Gadot as a “former IDF combat trainer.” A tweet yesterday by Yair Rosenberg that sardonically observed, “That ‘boycott Wonder Woman because the actress is Israeli’ campaign seems to be going well” garnered more than 1,000 likes and retweets.
The Times has a choice of how to frame and interpret this story, of what narrative to fit the news into. It’s chosen, clearly, to interpret the movie’s commercial success as a victory for women, and not to interpret it as a victory for Jews or Israelis. There may be reasons why the Times made this decision: The Wonder Woman character in the movie is female, but not clearly Jewish or Israeli, the way the actress playing her is. And half the population (or the Times readership) can identify with the “woman triumphs” narrative, while the percentage of the Times readership that identifies with Jews and Israel is smaller.
Jordan is considering banning the film “Wonder Woman” because star Gal Gadot served in the Israel Defense Forces.Jewish Actor Tweets ‘FU BDS’ Following Box Office Success of ‘Wonder Woman’ Movie Starring Israeli Actress Gal Gadot
Jordan’s Communications Commission is currently reviewing the film to determine whether it meets the country’s standards and laws, the Israeli news website Ynet reported.
The review comes in the wake of Lebanon’s decision to ban the film as part of its total boycott of all things Israeli. Lebanon is officially at war with Israel and bans Israeli products.
“We remind the Jordanians of their obligation to boycott the film, and we refuse to be partners to the crimes of the Zionists and to increase their profits from this film. The Arab audience will not be involved in projects that represent Zionism and the Israeli army,” said a statement from one of the Jordanian campaigns against normalization with Israel, according to Ynet.
A Jewish actor who stars on the hit television series “Scandal” posted a defiant message to BDS supporters on Twitter on Sunday following a successful opening weekend for the “Wonder Woman” film.CORBYN ADDRESSED HUNDREDS OF AL-MUHAJIROUN MEMBERS
Joshua Malina — who plays David Rosen in the ABC series — tweeted “FU BDS” and also shared a fellow Twitter user’s message about box office numbers for “Wonder Woman,” which stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the lead role.
The superhero movie about the Amazonian princess hit screens on Friday and as of Sunday morning had made an estimated $100.5 million in its domestic opening and around the same in worldwide markets, according to Forbes.
Jeremy Corbyn addressed a rally including hundreds of members of the banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, Guido can reveal. In May 2002 Corbyn gave a speech at a highly controversial anti-Israel demo at Trafalgar Square, attended by former terrorists and supporters of Hezbollah. A contemporaneous report by the communist Weekly Worker newspaper says up to 300 members of Al-Muhajiroun were present. The newspaper reported that some were dressed as mock suicide bombers and others chanted “gas, gas Tel Aviv”. This is from the extraordinary Weekly Worker* report:
“Al Muhajiroun held placards reading ‘Palestine is Muslim’. They chanted, “Skud, Skud Israel” and “Gas, gas Tel Aviv”, along with their support for bin Laden. Two would-be suicide posers were dressed in combat fatigues with a ‘bomb’ strapped to their waists. This section accounted for no more than 200-300, but they made a noise far out of proportion to their numbers… The rally was also addressed by Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and George Galloway.”
NY Times Columnist Wants Leftist Anti-Semite Corbyn, Not May, For British PM, Because May Likes Trump
On Monday night, The New York Times, in its inestimable wisdom, published an op-ed from columnist Roger Cohen in which he endorsed leftist virulent anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn as the next British prime minister instead of the current prime minister, Theresa May.Anger over 'Star of David' symbol on Labour poster
In spite of the fact that Cohen acknowledges a laundry list of reasons Corbyn is repugnant, including his “anti-Americanism, his long flirtation with Hamas, his coterie’s clueless leftover Marxism and anti-Zionism, his NATO bashing, his unworkable tax-and-spend promises,” Cohen still prefers him to May, and this is why: “May’s shameful Trump-love thing. He (Corbyn) would not succumb to the jingoistic anti-immigration talk of the Tories.”
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen; Cohen hates Trump so much that a man who supports someone who hates America, a man who supports the destruction of Cohen’s own people, a man who wants to weaken Europe by bashing NATO, is preferable to a woman who shares commonality with the current American president.
A giant left-wing political banner in one of Britain’s biggest cities has been condemned as antisemitic for portraying Theresa May wearing Star of David earrings.
The banner, which was hung at the Bearpit roundabout in Bristol, depicted Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May facing each other, with positive slogans endorsing Jeremy Corbyn and negative statements about Theresa May’s policies.
As well as the earrings, the word “Balfour” was also written on the poster next to Theresa May. This November will mark the centenary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration, which called for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, as well as saying that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.
London terror suspect was on ‘Jihadis Next Door’ TV documentary
Khuram Shazad Butt, named Monday as one of the three London terrorists, was known to Britain’s MI5 intelligence service and even featured in a documentary entitled “The Jihadis Next Door” which aired last year.Here Is The Complete List Of Red Flags About The London Terrorists
Neighbors identified Butt from the film’s footage Monday, pointing to a scene in which he is shown participating in a provocative prayer session at Regents Park, near London’s biggest mosque helping to display a black flag covered in white Arabic lettering similar to the one used by the Islamic State group, which took responsibility for the attack.
Butt is also seen in the film sprawling on the lawn and nodding as he listens to a sermon in which the speaker tells those gathered: “This is not the real life, my dear brothers. This is a passing time for us.”
Butt had worked for the London Underground for six months last year as a trainee customer services assistant, Transport for London told the BBC. British media said he had also worked at the fast food chain KFC and was a keen football fan.
Butt appeared on a 2016 documentary about jihadists. Butt was featured on Britain Channel 4's The Jihadist Next Door documentary and can be seen on camera brandishing an ISIS flag and then arguing with police about it. He is also seen with two other radical Islamic preachers of whom police are suspicious.Security barriers erected on London bridges after deadly attacks
The Sun has pictures from the documentary here, although Butt's face is blurred out.
The police were alerted about Butt in 2015 when he attempted to spread Islamic propaganda to children in a park. Per the Telegraph:
Erica Gasparri, an Italian mother of three who lived close to him, claimed she had reported him to Barking police two years ago, after he began “brainwashing” her children at a local park. She said she had confronted him after her two children came home and said: “Mummy I want to become a Muslim.”
She said the police had told her the information had been passed to Scotland Yard but she had heard nothing more.
Ms Gasparri said: “He was trying to radicalise the children, he would go down to the park and talk to them about Islam. He also came to the houses and gave the kids money and sweets during Ramadan.”
Metal barriers and concrete blocks have been installed on bridges in London following Saturday’s deadly London Bridge terror attack and a similar incident on Westminster Bridge close to the Houses of Parliament in March.IsraellyCool: Lauren Booth Blames Islamic Terrorism On Drugs
The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, told the LBC Radio station, “This morning you will see some hostile vehicle blocking on some of our bridges…..We will have more armed policing on and near the bridges and people should be prepared for that.”
The barriers are on Westminster, Lambeth and Waterloo bridges in the capital.
Barriers were not installed on London Bridge, which was reopened to the public in time for the start of the working week on Monday.
I haven’t posted about Lauren Booth in a while, but I can’t resist now.Man who attacked police outside Paris’s Notre-Dame shouted ‘this is for Syria’
Lauren Booth appeared on This Morning claiming that the cause of the recent spate of terror attacks was because of drugs and not Islam religion.
The half sister of former Prime Minister Tony Blair‘s wife Cherie, 49, who converted to Islam in 2010 following the breakdown of her first marriage, blamed the atrocities on ‘young, disenfranchised drug addicts’.
This is the same Lauren Booth who is a Hamas fangirl.
Hamas as in the terror organization. And I have not seen her make the claim they are on the wacky tobacky.
Maybe she can blame her antisemitism on narcotics?
A man attacked a policeman with a hammer on Tuesday outside Notre Dame Cathedral, yelling, “It’s for Syria” before he was shot and wounded by officers.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attacker yelled as he went after officers patrolling an esplanade in front of the famous landmark. Collomb said police found kitchen knives, a hammer and other unsophisticated weapons on the wounded assailant.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the investigation was opened Tuesday soon after the attack at in one of France’s most popular tourist areas.
Police sealed off the area in front of the cathedral, where the attacker lay injured on the ground. Anti-terrorist prosecutors opened a probe into the incident
UC-Irvine Fails to Respond to Hillel Letter Complaining About ‘Unacceptably Slow’ Probe of Student Disruption of IDF Event
University of California-Irvine (UCI) administrators have not responded to a letter from Hillel International complaining about the “unacceptably slow nature of the investigation” into a student disruption earlier this month of an on-campus event featuring Israeli reservists, a Hillel representative told The Algemeiner on Friday.IsraellyCool: Roger Waters Responds To Thom Yorke’s Utter Rejection Of BDS
In the May 30th letter signed by top Hillel leadership, the administrative response to the incident that ended in a police escort leading program attendees out of the building was said to be “causing great loss of confidence in the process within the Jewish community, particularly since it seems to be a repetition of last year’s process” — a reference to the extreme demonstration led by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in May 2016 during an on-campus screening of a film about the Israeli army, which resulted only in a written warning to the group. That warning expired in March.
SJP was behind this year’s protest as well, which Hillel said “strongly indicate[s] that the slap on the hand they received for last year’s disruption had no impact on SJP’s behavior, and that the likelihood of another incident in the absence of sincere discipline is great.”
“The disrupters also bragged about their intentional disrespect for the UCI Administration’s warning not to disrupt, and asserted their intention to continue to disrupt events whose speakers they oppose, in total disregard of university rules and the free speech rights of others,” Hillel noted, pointing to comments by protesters caught on video.
Rock’n-roll BDS-hole Roger Waters has responded to Radiohead’s Thom Yorke’s interview in which he rejected BDS, accusing Thom of not telling “the whole story.”Sears website offers anti-Israel ‘Free Palestine’ range of clothes
Oh, the chutzpah!
And let’s not forget Mr I-Just-Want-Respectful-Dialogue went ahead and made public his issue with Alan Parsons performing in Israel, despite Alan’s request he keep it private.
As for not telling the whole story, this is Waters’ speciality. He mentions “the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine by Israel” – knowing full well he and his cohorts see Israel’s establishment in 1948 as the real occupation. Besides, there was no longer a British mandate of Palestine in 1967 – the areas we liberated during that war were previously occupied by Jordan and Egypt.
Fifty years for a people with no civil rights? Fifty years of no recourse to the law? Fifty years of apartheid? No, no and no.
As for his contention that BDS “exists to shine a light on the predicament of the occupied people of Palestine, both in Palestine and those displaced abroad, and to promote equal civil rights for all the people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea no matter what their nationality, race or religion,” that is also a demonstrable lie. Every time the BDS-holes sing “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, it is the Jews they envisage being turfed into the sea.
Clothing with slogans calling to “Free Palestine End Israeli Occupation” are for sale on the Sears website.
The clothing is being offered for sale by a Germany company, Spreadshirt, and includes tank tops, T-shirts and hoodies featuring a variety of pro-Palestinian messages. The garments are being sold through Sears Marketplace, which offers a platform for third-party sellers to offer their wares through websites managed by Sears.
Another company, US-based City Shirts from Bloomington, Minnesota, offers “Free Palestine” T-shirts that feature a map of the West Bank and Israel as one territory, a representation that is usually taken to mean a denial of Israel’s right to exist.
The availability of the designs was first reported by Reuters.
The designs include a clenched fist in the colors of the Palestinian flag and statements opposing the Israeli occupation. (h/t Jo Shmo)
Following Backlash, Sears Removes Anti-Semitic Merchandise
After Kredo published the article, a spokesperson for Sears contacted Free Beacon and said that the t-shirts "were being sold by a third-party seller via the Sears Marketplace" and that the department store was removing the merchandise. However, the spokesperson took umbrage that individuals singled out Sears instead of Amazon, WalMart, and eBay as well as noting that Sears nearly employs 200 individuals in Israel.LGBT Activist: Progressives Must Oppose BDS Censorship, Support Tel Aviv Film Festival
A leading activist in Florida denounced the campaign to boycott an international LGBTQ film festival that took place in Tel Aviv last week, calling on the “LGBTQ and progressive ally communities” to take a stand “against censoring, and against anti-semitism,” in an op-ed published Saturday in The Miami Herald.LGBT Contingent ‘Infiltrated’ by Protesters at Celebrate Israel Parade
James Moon, a board member of both the LGBTQ group A Wider Bridge and South Florida’s Outshine Film Festival, and said that he felt at home during his first visit to Israel and sees no difference between the American and Israeli LGBTQ communities.
While his trip centered around TLVFest, which was held June 1, he also toured across Israel and the West Bank, meeting with political, artistic and advocacy leaders.
However, he said that proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign who denounced TLVFest as “pinkwashing” cast an “ugly pall” over the event. The term means “that any person or organization that promotes or even acknowledges the progress of LGBTQ rights in Israel is really a mouthpiece for Israeli propaganda,” Moon wrote. He dismissed the characterization as a “slanderous allegation.”
“BDS and those that hate Israel are playing a zero-sum game where any achievement by Israel or any community or person in or from Israel cannot be tolerated or recognized,” he explained. A recent example of this was the banning of the film Wonder Woman in Lebanon because it starred Israeli actress Gal Gadot.
On Sunday, the LGBT contingent of the Celebrate Israel Parade—made up of five Jewish LGBTQ organizations and the only openly gay group present on this day—marched proudly in one of New York City’s largest annual Jewish gatherings. At one point, the soundtrack accompanying their contingent was a popular Jewish techno song by Israeli pop artist Hashem Melech, which was blared from the parade’s sound system. The group of about 90 participants waved Israeli flags overhead. Most of them wore pride shirts; some of them were just teenagers for whom this was their first time marching in such an event.Honest Reporting: Journalist Shills For Palestinians; Slams Israel, Omits Basic Facts
Then, at around 1:45 in the afternoon, the music went silent.
According to Mordechai Levovitz, one of the organizers of the LGBT contingent as well as three others present, a female protester interrupted the sound system, causing it to go silent. Then, as seen in footage below, an estimated five protesters from Jewish Voice for Peace, a fringe group that advocates the total boycott of the state of Israel, disrupted the LGBT group. What many people described to me as a “whirlwind” ensued. Four of the five people that had been marching with the LGBT group took off the pride shirts that were given out to the marchers, revealing red shirts that said “Celebrate the end of apartheid all together.” They formed a barricade around the group, held up signs that read “Queer Jews for a free Palestine” and “No pride in apartheid,” which they also began chanting. The five were arrested.
Levovitz said the protesters had “infiltrated” the group by pretending to be a part of the march and then “sabotag[ed] us.”
Rebecca Vilkomerson, the Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the LGBT marching contingent was “a carefully chosen target.” She explained that the protest was organized by “a group of queer Jews who feel strongly about gay rights not being used to pinkwash the occupation.”
This disruption was one of six JVP coordinated protests throughout the day. The other protests targeted groups like the NYPD and Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s float, causing two other arrests.
Sophie McNeill has a history of advocacy journalism. She has openly dedicated herself to:Breitbart's Aaron Klein Blasts Fake News Media: 'The Time Has Come for Israel to Troll the World With the Truth'
…frame stories from the point of view of the people who are “really suffering.”
McNeill made it clear that when she said “people who are really suffering,” she meant Palestinians. And while there’s nothing wrong with presenting one, agenda-driven side to a complex story, it is not journalism. It is activism. In fact, HonestReporting previously published an in-depth review of Sophie McNeill’s unsuitability to report actual news.
Which is why it is so disturbing that Australia’s ABC News employs a self proclaimed, and openly biased advocate to report from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In her latest article, McNeill crafts a shameless piece of what is essentially Palestinian propaganda, disguised as news. She explores the difficulties of commuting from the West Bank into Israel, along with evocatively disturbing photos.
The commute involves passing through a checkpoint, which the article portrays as inconvenient, time consuming, and (in the opinion of Palestinian interviewees) also humiliating. While checkpoints do have a reputation for being not only a hardship for Palestinians, they are, sadly, a necessary evil when it comes to protecting Israeli lives.
Yet in an example of her continuing mission to put anti-Israel advocacy above professional journalism, McNeill avoids mentioning even one of the many, ongoing, present-day terror attacks against Israel.
In a transparent attempt to avoid accusations of unfairness, McNeill gives readers a pro forma reference to the “deadly second intifada,” and a partial quote from an unnamed “Israeli spokesperson” stating in a general way that Palestinians are “ trying to destroy the state of Israel.” That’s a total of 113 words: only 3.2% of her 3,506 word diatribe, which is chock full of in-depth interviews with many Palestinians, as well as statements from anti-Israel organizations.
Does this sound like balance or fairness?
Breitbart Jerusalem Editor-in-Chief Aaron Klein lambasted the unadulterated anti-Israel bias of the “fake news media” on Sunday during the Israel Day Concert in Central Park, saying, “The time has come for Israel to troll the world with the truth … because the fake news media won’t do that.”Teen Daughter of University of Surrey’s Jewish Chaplain Beaten, Left Bleeding for Hours in Park
Attendees braved the at times pouring rain to hear Klein, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Consul General of Israel in New York Dani Dayan, President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) Morton Klein, and others discuss their vision for Israel and the world. Sunday’s Israel Day concert was the 23rd annual event and took place shortly after thousands of people participated in the annual Israel Day Parade.
“I have to say the worst part of my job is actually to be associated, on any level, with the rest of the news media; the totally fake news media,” Klein told the audience. He added, “I think some members of the fake news media will at some point be listening to this, so let me just give them a little 101 on Israel: First of all, what is it with this fake news term ‘East Jerusalem’? What is it? It doesn’t exist. There is no such city as ‘East Jerusalem.’ There is one city, it’s called Jerusalem.”
Klein previously reported that the term East Jerusalem “is largely utilized to claim that Israel is occupying ‘East Jerusalem’ and that the city section should become part of a future Palestinian state.” He has noted that “Jews maintained a historic presence in Jerusalem, including in the eastern sections, until they were forced to leave the Old City en masse in 1948. Jordan illegally occupied and annexed the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem from 1948 until Israel captured the lands in a defensive war in 1967.” (h/t Charles N)
The teenage daughter of the University of Surrey’s Jewish chaplain was allegedly beaten by an antisemitic gang and left bleeding in a park for two hours late last month after police failed to respond to an emergency call.Harvard revokes 10 acceptances over holocaust jokes, explicit memes
Hannah Goldberg — whose father is prominent community member Alexander Goldberg — was reportedly sitting in a public park with two friends on the Shabbat of May 27, when a group of five men approached them with comments like, “Hitler should have killed all you Jews when he had the chance” and “You should have all been gassed.” The men were also said to have used terms like “c*nt.”
The girls, who were identifiably Jewish in their modest skirts, had started to leave the area when one of the boys threw a basketball at Hannah’s face and kicked her in the chest, while another boy punched her in the face repeatedly.
Hannah’s friends approached a nearby postal worker for help, who in turn called the Metropolitan Police Service.
Officers never arrived and the girls eventually went home.
The attack was detailed in a Facebook post this week by Alexander Goldberg, in which he wrote, “Proud of my daughter…for standing up to sexism, racism and religious abuse…for continuing to fight for the rights of others despite a viscous assault of her.”
He added that, “Both my daughter and I…shall be jointly writing to the Met Commissioner in light of the lack of police response,” and that he had published the story, with his daughter’s permission, “in the hope that the Met Police sort themselves out here.”
Harvard College revoked offers of admissions to at least 10 members of the incoming class of 2021 over explicit memes traded over private Facebook chat, including some mocking the holocaust, The Harvard Crimson reported on Monday.‘Burn, Jew, burn’: US Jewish student taunts fellow Jewish student
According to the Crimson, a group of the incoming class split off from the official Harvard College Class of 2021 Facebook group to start a private Facebook chat called "Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens," in late December.
There, the freshmen-to-be shared memes and other images making fun of the Holocaust, sexual assault, and children dying. According to screenshots obtained by the Crimson, some messages joked that "abusing children was sexually arousing," or contained racist comments.
The description of the official Facebook group reads, "As a reminder, Harvard College reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under various conditions including if an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honest, maturity, or moral character."
An eighth grade student was suspended from a Colorado middle school for an alleged anti-Semitic incident, even though both the student and the victim are Jewish.Arson attack at Manchester kosher restaurant being investigated
A student at Oberon Middle School in Jefferson County, Colorado, tied another student to a soccer goal post and told him to “burn, Jew, burn.”
The school district learned about the incident through an anonymous school survey that asked students about their experiences during the past school year. After investigating the incident, the district suspended the student they believed to be responsible, according to the CBS Denver affiliate CBS 4.
“You don’t use ethnic slurs, racism isn’t okay in our schools. Any time this happens we are going to take action,” Jefferson County Public Schools spokesperson Diana Wilson told CBS 4.
The channel reported that it had discovered that the boys were friends and both Jewish.
Police have launched a manhunt after two arson attacks at kosher restaurants in Manchester in four days.Countering Ransomware Attacks, Japan Turns to Israeli Online Security Expertise
No-one was injured in the incidents which both took place in the early hours of the morning, but officers believe them to be linked and confirmed tonight they are treating them as anti-Semitic hate crimes.
A call for information was issued after the second incident at 3:30am this morning when attackers forced open a window a window at JS Restaurant in Prestwich before pouring accelerant inside and lighting it. The fire service put the blaze out before any serious damage could be done to the property.
It came after Taam Restaurant on Bury New Road was targeted shortly before midnight on 2 June when two offenders threw a milk carton filled with petrol and a lit rag at the premises. The makeshift petrol container failed to ignite before a large stone was thrown at the front window, causing it to smash.
The extensive cyberattack on computer networks in 150 countries last month, during which the ransomware known as “WannaCry” was unleashed by hackers, has prompted the Japanese authorities to seek Israeli expertise as they attempt to secure their national networks.Breakthrough Israeli Therapy Helps Extend Life Expectancy for ALS Patients
On Monday, the Nikkei Asian Review noted that Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry, had signed an agreement with Israel in early May for greater cooperation on cyberdefense. “This marks the first cabinet-level deal between the two countries on cybersecurity,” the paper said.
“Some 16 percent of global investment in cybersecurity happens in Israel, even though the country accounts for just 0.1 percent of the world’s population,” the paper said. “It is home to over 300 companies in the field.”
A key consideration for the Japanese is Tokyo’s hosting of the 2020 Olympic Games.
The head of Israel’s National Cyber Bureau, Eviatar Matania, told the Nikkei that “only a handful of other countries, including the US and the UK, are considered for such strategic partnerships.”
It’s not a cure, but a new therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is being hailed as a breakthrough that can extend the life expectancy of those suffering from ALS.Startup Nation has grown into Tech Nation, Intel Israel R&D chief says
Developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the therapy may come to market much faster than typical treatments because it is based on an existing FDA-approved drug called MabThera, which is used to treat certain autoimmune diseases and cancers.
Dr. Rachel Lichtenstein of the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering at BGU redesigned a portion of MabThera into a new molecule to treat ALS.
“Since the drug is already approved, we believe that we will need only limited preclinical testing to reach the clinical phase,” Lichtenstein said. The drug has been tested so far with mice, which “showed a significant increase in life expectancy.”
Part of the progression of ALS results from increased activity of glial cells, a type of immune cell that damages and kills the body’s motor neuron cells and decreases their ability to cleanse the central nervous system (CNS). MabThera restores the immune defenses of the central nervous system.
Israel should start defining itself as a technology nation and not a startup nation anymore in light of the fact that it is managing to grow more mature companies over time, a top Intel Corp. official in Israel said at a conference on Tuesday.
“We are in a new era,” said Ran Senderovitz, VP, general manager at Intel Israel Development Centers at the Technovation Conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. “We must define Israel not as Startup Nation but as Tech Nation. To define Israel as a Startup Nation is like saying we are Peter Pan — we are this kid that never grows up; we are eternally young. The fact that multinational companies invest in Israel is proof that we can not only create technologies but also grow them in the longer term.”
Companies like Intel, Google, Apple have been snapping up Israeli firms and setting up research and development centers in Israel to make sure they are on top of new technologies being developed in the so-called Startup Nation — the name comes from a book by Den Senor and Saul Singer — which creates some 1,400 new startups a year. But rather than selling off early, as was once the case, entrepreneurs are holding on to their companies for longer in the hope of getting better valuations at a later stage of development.