Monday, September 18, 2017
Melanie Phillips: Hello Refugees
Tuvia Tenenbom, that most acute and incendiary observer of what’s festering beneath the surface of polite society, has turned his attention to Germany’s “refugees”. To his surprise and no little dismay, what he has found out is not so much about these migrants but about Germany itself, and it isn’t pretty at all.NGO Monitor: EU Heads of Mission Condemnation of Israeli Policy in E. Jerusalem and NGO Campaigns
In his new book Hello Refugees, he adopts his now familiar but no less devastating tactic of trading on his blond hair, Falstaffian girth and indeterminate accent to conceal the fact that he was born and brought up in an ultra-orthodox family in Israel. He derives his unique insights from the fact that many of those to whom he addresses his faux-naïf but devastatingly direct questions assume he is an antisemite — just like them. And so they open up to him in a uniquely frank manner.
In Hello Refugees “Toby the German”, his previous persona, has become “Toby the Jordanian”. Posing as the son of Jordanian and European parentage, he uses his fluent Arabic to gain access to refugee camps in Germany where access is routinely denied to the media.
What he discovers shocks him deeply. He finds migrants effectively warehoused in wholly inadequate conditions, housed twelve to a “room” in what are no more than, and indeed described as, “containers”. Existing on disgusting food, jobless and with no apparent means of emerging from these holding pens, these migrants have in effect been abandoned by the German state.
Everywhere he goes, people tell him the same thing: that Chancellor Angela Merkel famously invited in more than one million migrants in order to erase the moral stain of Germany’s Nazi past. He concludes that this was not an act of conscience. How could it have been when these people have been left so abandoned? It was instead a move to show the world — and themselves — that this former Nazi state has become the world’s conscience. In other words, it was a cynical move that evacuates the word conscience of all meaning.
On August 11, 2017 the EU Heads of Missions (HoMs) in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a statement condemning the “imminent threat of eviction” of Palestinian residents of an apartment in east Jerusalem. The occupants had lived in the apartment since the 1970s but had not paid rent to the Jewish owners who were driven out in the 1948 conflict.
Palestinian residents often refuse to pay rent on Jewish-owned homes for political purposes, and sometimes are encouraged to so by activists with little concern for the consequences to those who then go through lengthy legal proceeding and can be evicted.
The eviction order given to the Palestinian residents of the house is based on Israeli law and followed lengthy court sessions on the issue. The final verdict was delivered by the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) in 2013. The HCJ also ruled that the family be given 18 months to leave prior to the eviction. Furthermore, the Jerusalem Municipality did not attempt to enforce the eviction for two and half further years. The eviction finally took place on September 5, 2017.
It appears that the condemnation by the EU HoMs is based at least in part on NGO allegations and publications. As shown in NGO Monitor reports, the EU has consistently relied on NGO reporting in accusations directed against Israel, and this appears to be another instance. European diplomats also made highly publicized visits to the site in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The EU statement details a number of purported plans by Israeli authorities to evict Palestinians in “Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, the Old City and Beit Safafa.” This appears to be based on Terrestrial Jerusalem and Peace Now, both of which have recently released statements on these plans. Substantial funding for these political advocacy NGOs is provided by the EU and a number of individual governments.
European Arrogance Costs Lives
Finally we come to Europe.
The same Europe that perennially “advises” Israel on how to achieve peace and security, while frequently condemning Israel for not adopting policies similar to Europe’s own disastrous strategies.
Deputy Head of Mission from the UK to Israel Tony Kay exemplified the standard European talking points:
We are doing quite a lot on… safeguarding people from becoming terrorists, or supporting terrorism… [using] a combination of soft power with hard power. We are…engaging communities [and producing] lots of successes that the UK has made on countering terrorism recently.
There is a dark irony in Kay’s statement, which came just three days before a devastating terror attack hit London’s Parsons Green, injuring 29 victims this past Friday. While Kay undoubtedly meant well, his statement served as just one more example of deadly European self-assurance, at a time when Europe desperately needs a measure of humility.
In fact, Europe’s recent track record has been bloody:
Just this past week Europe saw three separate attacks in London and Paris, in addition to recent attacks in Nice, Brussels, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Barcelona and others. In just two years (2015-16) Islamic terror killed 288 Europeans and injured 739. Contrast with Israel, where 50 were killed during the same period.
Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and former Archbishop of Canterbury become Honorary Patrons of CAA
We are delighted to announce that the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan have become Honorary Patrons of Campaign Against Antisemitism.How Israeli and American Jews See Past Each Other When It Comes to Anti-Semitism
The Rt Rev. and Rt Hon. Dr The Lord Carey of Clifton PC RVC GBE FRSA served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002. Both during his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury and since, Lord Carey has spoken out firmly against antisemitism and worked tirelessly to strengthen bonds between Christians and Jews. Lord Carey led efforts to deepen the Church of England’s involvement in Holocaust commemoration, and has devoted many addresses to discussion of the lessons of the Holocaust. He is Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews and in 2016 he delivered the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s important Dorothy Gardner Adler State of Antisemitism Lecture.
Colonel Richard Kemp CBE served in the British Army from 1977 to 2006. He was commander of British forces in Afghanistan and completed fourteen operational tours of duty around the world, including in Iraq, the Balkans and Northern Ireland. His last years of service were spent in the Cabinet Office where he headed the international terrorism intelligence team and was chairman of the COBRA Intelligence Group. Having retired from the army, Colonel Kemp is now a writer whose expertise is frequently sought by national and international news media. He also consults companies on leadership, security, intelligence, counter-terrorism and defence and is a public speaker in each of these areas. Having taken a professional interest in extremism, Colonel Kemp recognised the links between extremism and antisemitism, and the threat that antisemitism therefore poses to society. He has been giving his time to campaigns to raise awareness about antisemitism since his retirement and is well known as a staunch friend of the Jewish people.
Last week, a bit of controversy erupted over an anti-Semitic cartoon posted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s adult son on Twitter; apparently, he had misread it as mocking George Soros’s person rather than using the financier as a stand-in for an international Jewish conspiracy. Jewish reactions to the incident, as Shmuel Rosner writes, bring into sharp contrast the divergent perceptions of anti-Semitism in Israel and the United States:Iraqi Jewish archive must not be returned
Because of Israel’s circumstances and assumptions, Israeli Jews haven’t developed the same sensitivity and ear for anti-Semitism that Jews elsewhere have. . . . The younger Netanyahu hasn’t yet explained himself, but I have no doubt that he’s not an anti-Semite. . . .
Since the only anti-Semitism Israelis understand is one of violence, blood, and brutal intimidation, it is hard for many of them to appreciate [many American Jews’] panic over, [for instance], a few hundred marchers [in Charlottesville] and the ineloquent condemnation of [them by] the president. Since the only remedy for anti-Semitism they know is a Jewish state (and its Jewish army), it is hard for many of them to appreciate fears about anti-Semitism that are not followed by immigration to Israel.
But most of all, what should Israel do? Just consider some of the options. Assist American Jews in some material way? They seem to be doing fine. In fact, they seem to feel confident enough to fight their own fight. Any attempt by Israel to intervene in this crisis would suggest that the Jews of America are not as integrated as they claim to be.
In May 2013, American forces in Baghdad discovered an archive of thousands of photos, documents and books pertaining to Iraqi Jewry in a basement of the Iraqi security services' building. The archive comprised dozens of boxes, most of which had become mildewed after getting wet in the waterlogged basement. The collection included many rare books and papers, including 500-year-old volumes of Torah commentary. To save the archive, the U.S. military secured the permission of the Iraqi government to send the boxes to the National Archives in Washington, where, bit by bit, workers managed to restore most of the documents.Col. Kemp: This is a very different kind of war
Before removing the documents, the American government agreed to the Iraqis' stipulation that the documents be returned once they were restored.
As part of the restoration process, the National Archives digitized the collection. Congressional representatives and the American administration faced heavy pressure, mainly from Jewish groups, not to return the archive to Iraq, but last week, a final decision was taken to hand the collection back to Iraq about a year from now.
This decision is both absurd and pathetic, like giving a thief back what he stole. The question being asked in Jewish circles is whether the U.S. is trying to make up for invading Iraq and its failure to find chemical weapons there. Why should the U.S. return the collection to a place that is no longer home to Jews? Returning the archive to the Iraqis is like returning the belongings of European Jews to the Nazis; it's stolen Jewish property.
FRIDAY, when London was hit by the latest terrorist outrage, was also Battle of Britain Day.Andrew McCarthy: With the Recent Attack on the London Metro, Jihadist Terror Has Reached a New Stage
This is a very different kind of war.
But if our political leaders showed just a fraction of the courage of the RAF in 1940, they could end this onslaught.
Here is what they must do:
● DENY re-entry to the UK by anyone who has fought with the Islamic State or any jihadist group. They represent the greatest danger.
● STOP unregulated movement from EU countries to the UK, even before Brexit. Under EU rules we cannot even prevent those known to be involved or previously convicted of terrorism from entering.
● VET all those entering the UK from countries where violence is rife, including refugees from countries like Syria. Our humanitarian obligations must not take priority over protecting our own people.
● DEPORT all non-British citizens involved in extremism or radicalisation. Today, we prioritise their human rights above those of their victims. This must stop.
● THROW OUT and ban from their mosques all preachers who contaminate young minds with their murderous messages of hate.
For many years, terrorists aspired to major operations—spectacular strikes that required know-how, discipline, and coordination. [Security officials] were able to say with confidence that if [they] focused on training—not just ideological fervor but whether a would-be militant had been to a jihadist camp—[they] would have a reasonably good handle on who posed a threat. This is why, for example, [the U.S.] amended immigration law after the 9/11 attacks to preclude from entry into the country any alien suspected of receiving jihadist training. . . . But . . . it doesn’t require any training to . . . plow a car into a crowd of people.Armed SAS troops deployed on London Underground ‘with orders to kill terrorists’
Terrorist organizations like Islamic State have encouraged [their supporters] to attack in-place—i.e., where they live in the West—rather than come to [fight in] Syria. We are thus seeing more of these ad-hoc strikes that require little or no expertise to pull off. In the 1990s, [American law-enforcement officials] used to be ironically relieved that the jihadists always wanted to go for the big bang; 9/11-type attacks are horrific, but they are extremely tough to pull off, and there are usually opportunities (as there were with 9/11) to disrupt them. That’s why they so rarely succeed. We worried that someday it would dawn on these monsters that there is a great deal of low-hanging fruit out there (virtually indefensible targets, like subways and crowded streets) that would be easy to attack, almost no preparation or coordination required.
Now, they’re going for the low-hanging fruit. In terms of what the wonks like to call the “threat mosaic,” we are now in straits more dangerous than ever. We have highly trained, competent jihadists who are capable of pulling off sophisticated strikes that could kill hundreds or thousands at once; and we have motivated would-be jihadists who have been encouraged to do the kind of crude attacks that are within their limited capabilities. The crude attacks, we are learning, are just as effective at stoking an atmosphere of intimidation as long as they happen with some regularity.
ARMED SAS troops are being deployed on the London Underground with orders to shoot to kill terrorists, according to reports.IS terror fund Evil Islamic State terrorists use charities in Ireland to raise cash for fighters in Syria and Iraq
The Daily Star says the Special Forces task force has been trained to target extremists on planes, buses and trains.
It is understood troops will travel in pairs, disguised as couples, to monitor suspicious passengers.
The undercover Special Forces teams are said to have spent months in training with the move planned prior to Friday’s attack.
A source told The Daily Star: “The unit is composed of some of both male and female personnel from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment who are trained killers and can pose as couples while travelling on public transport.”
Two men have been arrested in connection with the Parsons Green bucket bomb that injured 30.
An 18-year-old - the youngest to be arrested over a terror attack in the UK - is being quizzed by cops after he was seized in Dover on Saturday.
A second man was arrested late last night police confirmed today.
EVIL Islamic State terrorists are using charities in Ireland to raise cash for their fighters in Syria and Iraq, a shocking new report has revealed.
Compiled by Financial Action Task Force investigators and seen by the Irish Sun on Sunday, it also found there are “some areas of concern” that non-profit organisations here are transferring funds to war zones.
The ‘Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures Ireland Mutual Evaluation Report 2017’ discovered sympathisers here use “legitimate and illegitimate” sources to raise funds for terror groups.
Based in Paris, the FATF’s role is to highlight the risks posed by money laundering scams run by terrorist and organised crime gangs in Europe’s 27 member states.
The report — also delivered to the Justice Department and the Gardai’s Financial Intelligence Unit — was produced after it emerged London Bridge attacker Rachid Redouane had lived here.
It reads: “Irish authorities acknowledge that such terrorist financing risks do exist and that only small amounts are needed to support terrorist financing.
“There are only a small number of returned foreign fighters and while there is little evidence to show any coordinated approach to fundraising in support of terrorism, there are some areas of concern in relation to the collection of charitable funds within the community.
“There are also concerns over the use and transfer of funds by charities and NPOs to conflict zones, which the authorities will continue to monitor.
Riots as Israeli singer attends Morocco music festival
World renowned Israeli singer Noam Vazana was greeted with protests, riots, and charges that she is a 'child-killer' when she arrived in Morocco to participate in a jazz festival in the city of Tangier last week, Channel 2 reported.Christian analyst: You can condemn Jews but not jihadists?
Vazana, who spends part of the year in Israel and part of the year in the Netherlands, has released a number of successful albums in Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, and Israel.
"I had already performed in Morocco several times and won the audience's approval. I enjoyed it very much," Vazana said. "But this time it was a very unpleasant experience."
News of Vazana's arrival in Tangier angered BDS activists, who demonstrated throughout the city, including in front of her hotel. The demonstrators chanted anti-Israel slogans, set fire to an Israel flag, and screamed that her service in the Israeli Air Force meant that she was involved in the murder of Arab children.
"I was in shock. I had already been in Morocco before, and I did not expect such a stormy reception," Vazana said. "It's true that I served in the air force, in the band. But I never killed anyone. It was really unpleasant. I was scared that they would try to hurt me."
Christians’ condemnation of Israel – and not jihad – have turned themselves into dhimmis, non-Muslims who have already submitted to Muslim rule, a Christian media analyst said.WATCH: Roger Waters’ Lies & Dishonesty – Partition Plan Edition
Writing for the Gatestone Institue in an essay titled "Jihadism: The fear that dare not speak its name," Dexter Van Zile, the Christian media analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), said that although Christian groups occasionally blame the perpetrators of violence and terrorism, such as the Assad regime, Islamic State and Boko Haram in West Africa, it is never nearly close to the way they blame Israel.
“Yes, they issue condemnations, but their statements are lamentations that really do not approach in ferocity the ugly denunciations these institutions target at Israel,” he said.
Van Zile said the root of the issue is knowing that Israel and the Jewish people do not react the same way that the extreme, jihadi terrorists act.
“One source of the problem is that it is simply a lot easier and safer to speak out about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians than it is to confront the violence against Christians in the rest of the Middle East,” he said.
Israel has been allowing the entry of boycott supporters and detractors of the state, and only during the summer did the government begin preventing these activists from entering the country. Never did Israel do what other Middle East countries – and much more so terrorist groups – did to their critics.
I’ve already shown why I think Roger Waters is an antisemite. Now time to expose some of his specific lies and omissions, in video.
Here is my first such video, addressing his dishonesty about the 1947 Partition Plan.
Reem's Oakland Protest of Rasmea Odeh Still Going Strong
An image of the convicted murderer and terrorist Rasmea Odeh features at the entrance of Reem's Bakery in Oakland. A small group of protesters refuse to stand silently through this desecration of her victims' memories.
What I learned from the Antifa handbook: For starters, you won’t believe who is defined as a 'fascist'
And now here comes author Mark Bray – a lecturer at Dartmouth College and an Occupy Wall Street organizer – attempting to give philosophical justification to a movement so certain of its righteousness that it’s not going to let a little thing like free speech get in the way.Superficial BBC reporting on Hamas-Fatah ‘unity’ returns
Bray spends most of his time tracing the history of the movement, but finally gets to the heart of the matter, and the argument isn’t hard to follow. In essence: tolerance and reason don’t work, and you don’t wait for a small problem to get bigger, so let’s start beating heads.
There are obvious objections to this. And though Bray struggles mightily to overcome them, he’s simply not up to it. Of course, no one is.
But as a result of this close-minded thinking, we’ve got a violent movement convinced it has the right to be judge, jury and executioner because it has identified a deserving enemy.
Now even if this worked in theory, we already know it doesn’t work in practice. Because the guardians of goodness who fill Antifa’s ranks don’t just shout down neo-Nazis and other racists who deserve total condemnation (but not the loss of their constitutional rights). They also disrupt and commit violence at mainstream Republicans rallies, and attack anyone they’ve deemed unacceptable.
In other words, Antifa gets to decide who the fascists are, and don’t look now, but it’s you.
Mind you, Bray does attempt to explain what fascism looks like. Its hallmarks include a preoccupation with victimhood, a cult of purity, abandonment of liberty and redemptive violence.
I know, you’re ahead of me – that sounds like the Antifa movement. But they can’t be fascist because ... Bray says they can’t. Fascists can only be the people who don’t share the left’s views on race, gender and immigration (their views at present, that is – not necessarily what they believed a generation or two ago).
Now don’t get me wrong. Ideas have consequences. Indeed, the biggest irony in this unintentionally ironic book is that while Bray wants to save the world, the revolutionary socialism he calls for would actually impoverish and enslave everyone. And I don’t consider that conjecture – it’s the verdict of history.
A series of Palestinian ‘unity governments’ – or proposals for them – have repeatedly come to a swift end in the past but the BBC’s report includes just one opaque sentence on a factor of prime importance to audience understanding of the significance of this latest announcement from Hamas.BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ revisits antisemitism and anti-Zionism
“It is not yet clear whether Hamas is ready to place its security forces under Mr Abbas’s control – a major sticking point in the past, Associated Press reports.”
Exactly three years ago a BBC report on the ‘unity government’ of the time included a very similar statement:
“However, a Hamas official told the Associated Press that there were still disagreements over who should be responsible for paying civil servants in Gaza, and whether the PA’s own security forces would be allowed a significant presence in the territory. He described the deal as “partial”.”
Now as then, the BBC makes no effort to clarify to its audiences that any ‘unity government’ which refrained from disarming Hamas’ terrorist militia in the Gaza Strip would fail to meet the Palestinian Authority’s commitments under existing agreements with Israel.
Neither does it inform readers that if Hamas and other terrorist groups are not disarmed by a PA ‘unity government’ and the territory not brought under the sole control of PA security forces, then the Gaza Strip – along with the rest of the PA-controlled areas – will find itself in a ‘Lebanon-style’ situation whereby the actions of a foreign-sponsored terrorist organisation can continue to spark conflict whenever that suits its own (or its sponsor’s) agenda.
From 08:38 in the video below the topic of conversation turned to antisemitism with Jacobson concluding:
“…it would be madness to suppose it’s [antisemitism] not there and it is here in this country in a particular guise.”
Host Stephen Sackur jumped in:
Sackur: “But maybe sometimes…well…maybe sometimes you see it in places where actually it is something else. And I’m thinking here about the conflation, some would say, the conflation of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment or anti-Zionist sentiment.”
Jacobson: “I don’t conflate it.”
Sackur: “Some do.”
Jacobson: “Well there may be some who do. I mean a lot of people are accused of conflating it when they don’t. They are two separate things but that doesn’t mean that they are bound to be separate things. It is quite true that an anti-Zionist need not be an antisemite but that doesn’t mean that an anti-Zionist is never going to be an antisemite.”
Sackur: “But they are two distinct and different things. One is political and ideological. One is essentially about the hate of a people and a religion.”
BBC’s inconsistent follow-up reporting on terror trials continues
Reports around the time of the attack which are still available on the BBC News website describe it as follows:Antisemitic Flyers Found at University of Houston as Neo-Nazis Continue College Recruitment Efforts
“Alexander Levlovitz died in a car accident apparently caused by a rock-throwing attack in Jerusalem. […]
Mr Levlovitz died and two passengers were reportedly injured after their car was pelted with stones on Monday. Police are investigating the incident.” (BBC News website, September 16th, 2015)
“An Israeli motorist died earlier in the week in an accident apparently caused by a rock-throwing attack in Jerusalem.” (BBC News website, September 19th, 2015)
Although the circumstances of the attack have since been proven in court, the BBC has once again not shown any interest in providing its audiences with follow-up reporting which would clarify those ambiguous statements and bring its “historical record” up to date.
Dozens of flyers and stickers promoting neo-Nazi propaganda were found at the University of Houston (UH) this week, the latest incident associated with an increase in white supremacist activity on campuses nationwide.From our partnerIn London, 8-year-old Jewish boy hospitalized after attack
The flyers, found on bulletin boards, walls, trash bins, and lamp posts at the university’s main campus on Tuesday, included phrases such as, “Beware the International Jew” and “Imagine a Muslim-Free America,” according to a statement shared online by UH’s chapter of the Young Communist League (YCL).
The phrases are associated with the extremist group Vanguard America, which “has engaged in unprecedented outreach efforts to attract students on American college campuses,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). During the 2016-17 school year, the civil rights group said it “counted at least 32 incidents where VA fliers were posted on campus in Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.”
Michael Leone, chair of the YCL at UH, said he took down about 30 of the posters before reporting the incident to campus security. In a statement posted to social media on Thursday, his group called on UH chancellor Renu Khator to “voice condemnation of fascism, white nationalism, and any attempts by adherents of these ideologies to intimidate and threaten students at the University of Houston.”
UH spokesperson Mike Rosen told The Algemeiner that the content of the flyers “is reprehensible, but we respect the constitutional right to freedom of expression.”
Witnesses have been urged to come forward after a “shocking unprovoked” attack on a young boy in Stamford Hill.Raoul Wallenberg's family sues Russian government
An eight-year-old has been left “traumatised” and required treatment in hospital after the incident, which has been reported to the police.
The Met Police told Jewish News they were called just after 7.30pm on Monday after an eight-year-old boy was assaulted in Stamford Hill..
They say the eight-year-old boy was approached from behind and punched in the chest, before being taken by his parents to hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. No arrests, have been made, but they urge witnesses to contact them.
In a series of posts on Twitter, Orthodox neighbourhood watch group Shomrim reported that the unnamed boy “ran home & up all the stairs before collapsing. He was crying and couldn’t talk for the next 4.5 hours” following the attack.
Shomrim said that after being treated by volunteer ambulance service Hatzolah, the boy was “taken to hospital due to swelling and marks near his chest, neck, shoulder and face” .
Relatives of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued Jews in Hungary during World War II, filed a lawsuit against the Russian authorities in order to allow them access to the archives of the former Russian secret service KGB, in order to reveal what happened to Wallenberg.Caribbean ambassador: Israel an economic, scientific powerhouse
Wallenberg was arrested immediately after the war by the Soviet authorities in Budapest, transferred to a prison in Russia, and has since disappeared. According to Soviet authorities, Wallenberg died of a heart attack in his cell in the Lubyanka prison in 1947, but various testimonies of people who were close to Wallenberg in prison claimed he was executed by prison guards there. In 1991, a Russian government researcher published a special report according to which Wallenberg was executed in 1947, but no official confirmation has been received.
For several decades, Wallenberg's family demanded KGB archives be opened to reveal the Swedish diplomat's fate who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, but Soviet and later Russian authorities refused their request.
Daria Suckich, a lawyer representing the Wallenberg family, told Swedish radio that "it is still not clear how the trial will take place in Moscow and how the court will deal with the case." The judges can reject the claim, but if they do accept the Wallenberg family's request, the case can help us uncover the truth," he said.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and his wife Nechama on Monday held a pre-Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) reception at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.Oktoberfest Was Invented by Jews
Attending the event were various foreign ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps serving in Israel.
“On this special occasion, it is important for all of us to remember that a true universal order cannot survive without strong nation states,” Rivlin said. “History has shown us time and time again, that there is no better way for a nation to develop, to defend itself, or to cooperate with other nations than as a sovereign nation state.”
“As I told United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres a few weeks ago, international cooperation and national patriotism do not contradict one another. No one understands this better than us Israelis. The State of Israel – where the Jewish nation fulfills its right to self-determination – was established with the strength, of wide international recognition at the UN.
“As we approach 70 years of independence, Israel remains strongly committed to international cooperation. More than that, while being a young state and a small country, Israel has already proven itself to be an important exporter; in agriculture, education, security, and innovation. When we learn from one another, when we work together, we can build a better future for our children and our grandchildren.”
Rivlin also said Israel desires to strengthen its diplomatic and trade ties with countries around the world.
You know Oktoberfest. It’s the annual festival—starting Sept. 16 this year—in which 6 million people descend on the country synonymous with beer, dress up in lederhosen, and slur songs as they quaff from steins. And of course, it’s deeply Jewish in its heritage. OK, the last part is less widely known. But it’s true. The holiday associated with the look, feel, and taste of echt-German culture depended for centuries on the hard work of a group of German Jews, who were instrumental in building Germany’s beer empire before WWII.China makes massive investment in Israeli lab meat technology
But this history has been getting a wider audience lately.
“We were always coming across little glimpses of Jews and beer in our research,” said Bernhard Purin, director of Munich’s Jewish Museum. While the rest of the country celebrated the 500th anniversary of Germany’s beer-purity law in 2016, Purin said, “We thought it was a good occasion to showcase the Jewish history of beer in Germany.” Culling from national and private archives and collections, Purin curated a first of its kind, nine-month exhibition from April 2016 through January 2017. Beer Is the Wine of This Land: Jewish Brewery Tales told the Jewish history of German beer through artifacts and stories of the Jewish families who helped lead the beer industry until the Nazis came to power.
While Jews play little to no role in Germany’s beer industry today, that was far from the case prior to the Holocaust. For centuries, Jews had been forbidden to brew beer in Germany. That changed in 1868 with the introduction of freedom-of-trade and laws on the equal status of Jews. Once they were no longer excluded from the industry, they not only joined it but found ways to modernize it. “Jews in Germany were always very successful in times of modernization, and so they came into the brewing business when there was a need for modernization,” said Purin.
China has signed a $300 million deal to partner with Israeli high-tech companies working to create laboratory-grown meat as the Asian giant looks to embrace technologies that will help it cut down on harmful emissions and pollution.RAMBOW: Israel unveils latest unmanned ground vehicle
Israeli companies SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future are three of only eight companies in the world growing meat from animal cells in laboratories, Quartz magazine reported.
The move potentially opens up the massive Asian economy for the Israeli companies. The Chinese market is potentially huge: China imported meat worth more than $10 billion in 2016, according to the International Trade Centre.
As the country modernized and the standard of living rose for the average Chinese, meat consumption has rocketed.
Meet RAMBOW, Israel’s Meteor Aerospace's latest unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), unveiled Monday at the AUS&R Unmanned Systems 2017 Air Show held by iHLS.
Designed with a low silhouette for a range of defense and homeland security missions, RAMBOW can participate in a variety of missions such as ground warfare, intelligence gathering and logistical supply, as well as strategic facilities and border defense, with no risk to personnel.
According to a statement released by the company, “The RAMBOW is powered by a unique electrical drive system, integrating innovative power and autonomous driving technologies.”
The UGV has a rear bay which can carry up to 700kg and a forward mount which can carry a remote controlled weapon station (RWS) with a heavy machine gun, or other mission devices. It can carry a total payload weight of one ton and provides the operator with live video of its surroundings, using on-board cameras and a long range electro-optical payload mounted on a telescopic mast, which can be raised to 3.5 meters high.
“RAMBOW and its mounted systems are connected to and controlled by a remote control station via a wide band data link,” the statement continued.
Exclusive: Zionist Group Brings Almost 10,000 Jews Back to Israel with Help From Christians Around the World
Jerome Henri Cohen was born in Paris and he was also born a Jew. But despite his heritage, he was living a secular life, first as a journalist and then as a successful lawyer in the French capital.Boston University honors Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel
Cohen did not feel any discrimination because of his heritage — until he decided to embrace Judaism. Things changed when he asked for time off from work to celebrate the Sabbath and other aspects of practicing his faith proved challenging.
That changed when the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) helped Cohen move to Israel in July where, under Israeli right of return law, he was granted citizenship and is getting help for his first six months in his new homeland, including with housing and employment.
“That’s my dream,” Cohen told Breitbart News of his repatriation to Israel. “That’s what my ancestors wanted.”
In fact, like the organization that helped him come to Israel, Cohen believes his return is fulfilling biblical prophecy that says all Jews will return to the land God promised them.
“We are making history,” Cohen said. “I changed the destiny of my family.”
“It’s huge,” Cohen said, adding that he believes the mission of IFCJ — which embraces the Zionist belief of Jews returning to their ancestral home, with the help of Christians around the world — is healing the rift between the two faiths that has existed since the birth of Jesus and the founding of the Christian church.
“It’s really wonderful to feel that,” Cohen said. “We are doing something that is important for us and for humanity.”
Boston University paid tribute to the late Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on Sunday.New York exhibit allows virtual ‘interviews’ with Holocaust survivors
Students and scholars gathered to celebrate writings and teaching by Wiesel, who was a professor at the school for decades. He died last year at age 87.
The campus event included panel discussions on Wiesel’s writings and humanitarian work, along with guest speeches and tributes.
Among those speaking were Wiesel’s son, Elisha, and Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, who studied with Wiesel at Boston University.
Wiesel was born in Romania in 1928 and survived imprisonment at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. He devoted his life to keeping memories of the Nazi genocide of World War II from fading away.
He moved to New York in 1956, and gained fame with the publication of his landmark Holocaust book “Night,” which drew on his experiences and became a testament to Nazi crimes.
He became an American citizen, published dozens of books and later hobnobbed with presidents, who welcomed him to the White House and tasked him with planning an American Holocaust memorial museum. He received the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He taught at Boston University from 1976 to 2013.
What was it like in a Nazi concentration camp? How did you survive? How has it affected your life since?
Technology is allowing people to ask these questions and many more in virtual interviews with actual Holocaust survivors, preparing for a day when the estimated 100,000 Jews remaining from camps, ghettos or hiding under Nazi occupation are no longer alive to give the accounts themselves.
An exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City called “New Dimensions in Testimony” uses hours of recorded high-definition video and language-recognition technology to create just that kind of “interview” with Eva Schloss, Anne Frank’s stepsister, and fellow survivor Pinchas Gutter.
New York Councilman Rory Lancman listens to a virtual response to his question from Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, featured in a testimonial interactive installation called ‘New Dimensions in Testimony,’ at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, in New York, September 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
“What we’ve found is that it personalizes that history,” says concept designer Heather Smith. “You connect with that history in a different way than you would just seeing a movie or reading a textbook or hearing a lecture.”
The project is a collaboration between the Steven Spielberg-founded Shoah Foundation, which has recorded nearly 52,000 interviews with Holocaust survivors, and the Institute for Creative Technologies, both at the University of Southern California. First conceived in 2009, such exhibits have been put on in different forms at other museums, using technology to pull up relevant responses to questions about life before, during and after Adolf Hitler’s murderous Third Reich.
Like Anne Frank, Schloss and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, but were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz. She was eventually liberated by the Russian Army in 1945. The 88-year-old Schloss, whose mother married Frank’s father, Otto Frank, in 1953, lives in London and has told her story in talks to schoolchildren and in books, including “Eva’s Story: A Survivor’s Tale by the Stepsister of Anne Frank.”
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