Tuesday, October 17, 2017
David Collier: Inminds Jew haters gather. Fools, conspiracy theorists and antisemites
On Saturday 14 October, a group of anti-Israel activists went to protest outside of Jason Atherton’s ‘Little Social restaurant’. The group behind the demonstration was ‘Inminds’, a small, highly active, and particularly thuggish group, whose activists clearly have an issue with Jews. This time, they gathered to protest a restaurant participating in ‘Round Tables‘, an international culinary festival in Tel Aviv. As is so often the case now, you can become a target for these haters merely for not being antisemitic yourself.MEMRI: Algerian Journalist In Antisemitic Article: 'Our Dispute With The Jews Is A Religious One'
When I arrived, Jonathan Hoffman was already there. Standing by the door of the restaurant with an Israeli flag. Taking this position meant the Inminds crew wouldn’t be able to crowd the restaurant door and intimidate the restaurant’s clients. Three other counter demonstrators arrived, Richard Galber, Tony Jacobs & Stephen Franklin. These four Zionists spent their Saturday lunchtime, countering an attack on the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
On the other side of the argument, the Inminds crew arrived. In the end there were fifteen protestors in total (not counting two children). As is always the case when dealing with material of this sort, many of the links on this page may not be safe to open at work.
In an article published August 10, 2017 in the Algerian daily Al-Shurouq, journalist Sultan Barkani wrote that the Muslims' dispute with the Jews is religious rather than political. He stated that the Jews have been plotting against the Muslims since the days of the Prophet Muhammad, and that they are responsible for most of the disasters that have befallen the Muslim ummah. By controlling media, cinema, art and fashion, he said, they control the Muslims' minds and character, inciting them to promiscuity and depravity and causing them to be feeble and defeatist. He called on Muslims to search their souls and return to Islam before it is too late and before the Jews and their secularist agents strip the Muslim ummah of everything it has.Why is the Center for Jewish History celebrating anti-Zionism?
The following are excerpts from his article.
"We all know that the Jews hated the Prophet Muhammad and fought his da'wa [call to Islam]. We also know that they plotted against the [Muslim] ummah after the Prophet's time, that the Righteous Caliphs [the first four Caliphs] were killed because of their slander and the quarrels they sparked, and that the disagreement among the [Prophet's] companions broke out because of their treachery and deception. We know that the Jews continued to plot against the Islamic Caliphate until they eventually managed to topple it in the first quarter of the 20th century,[2] and that they exploited the ummah's weakness to conquer the blessed land [of Palestine] and turn it into the headquarters of their scheming against the ummah. But is that all the Jews did and are still doing against us and our ummah?
"Today, many among us believe that our conflict with the Jews is only because they occupied Palestine, but the truth is that our conflict with them is a religious one, because they hated our Prophet and plotted against our religion and faith, and continue to do so. They were also behind most of the calamities that befell the ummah before the toppling of the Caliphate and the conquest of Palestine, and they continue to be behind most of the troubles that afflict it. It was they who acted to divide the ummah into small countries. [Then] they appointed unambitious rulers to head them and embroiled them in corruption and immorality scandals, so [they could] pressure them and carry out their plans in the Muslim countries.
"It is the Jews who control the media that afflicts the ummah today – media that spreads lust and religiously-dubious [ideas], fills the Muslims' hearts with feebleness, turn food, drink, clothing, cosmetics and cars into their greatest desires... causes them to fear the power and the weapons of the enemies, and turns them into empty-headed cowards. This media fights good traits and morality [by] spreading corruption and depravity, destroys the family unit, and encourages wives to tease and oppose their husbands and daughters to rebel against the authority of their fathers.
The campaign demanding the firing of David N. Myers as CEO of the Center For Jewish History has been covered by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and countless other media outlets including establishment Jewish newspapers such as the New York Jewish Week and Los Angeles Jewish Journal.
Allowing Mr. Myers, who mourns the “nakba” (the term meaning catastrophe, used by the Arabs for Israel's Independence Day) to remain in his role, seems to mean that events celebrating forms of anti-Zionist activity become the norm at the Center for Jewish History. Events as these are the direct result of having a CEO who supports a boycott of the Jewish state. If, for no other reason than the fact that in the course of two weeks, multiple events have been planned which are Anti-Zionist, Is there no reaction to an organizational leader hosting events which are violently Anti-Israel?
Mr. Myers remains an active board member of the New Israel Fund, an organization which Israel’s Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called upon to be boycotted (as does Birthright Israel). Bennett said that he would “boycott whoever persecutes Israeli soldiers,” and “not apologize for it.” Bennett went on: “Members of the New Israel Fund, listen carefully: Whoever harms, slanders and persecutes Israeli soldiers are not my brothers. The NIF works methodically and consistently to attack our Israeli soldiers, accuse them of war crimes, of torturing Palestinians and intentionally attacking women and children. They turn to the UN and to the committees that are most hostile to Israel and try their best to convince them that Israel is a war criminal.”
How can the leader of the Center for Jewish History sit on a board that persecutes Israeli Soldiers?
We call upon the board of the Center for Jewish History, including Bruce Slovin, Ira H. Jolles, Martin Karlinsky, Bernard Blum, David Dangoor, Michael Jesselson, Ed Stelzer as well as the American Sephardic Federation, Yeshiva University Museum, American Jewish Historical Society, Leo Baeck Institute and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research to stand up and replace David N. Myers as head of the Center for Jewish History.
NGO Monitor: The Origins of “No Way to Treat a Child”:
INTRODUCTIONNGO Monitor: No Way to Represent a Child: Defense for Children International Palestine's Distortions of the Israeli Justice System
Since 2015 in the US and August 2017 in Canada, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) led by Defense for Children International Palestine’s (DCI-P) have been conducting a campaign under the label of “No Way to Treat a Child” (NWTTAC).1 This initiative calls on government officials “to use all available means to pressure the Israeli government to end the detention and abuse of Palestinian children” and will “continue until the occupation is ended.”
The centerpiece of these lobbying efforts is the allegation that there is “widespread and systematic ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system.” This language echoes a March 2013 UNICEF report, “Children in Israeli Military Detention,” which has been extensively quoted in the context of NWTTAC, as well as by European parliaments, UN frameworks, and other NGOs.
However, as demonstrated in this study, the 2013 UNICEF report is thoroughly discredited. When examined in detail, and despite numerous references, the 2013 UNICEF report, written by political and ideological actors rather than experts, reflects a complete distortion of international law and of rudimentary criminal law concepts and procedures.
Crucially, the UNICEF report was almost entirely based on unverified claims made by the NGOs behind the NWTTAC campaign, which now cite UNICEF as an independent assessment. UNICEF also provides significant funding to many of these same groups (see NGO Monitor’s forthcoming report on UNICEF’s funding to political NGOs).
The factually inaccurate and misleading content, produced in close collaboration with DCI-P and other Palestinian advocacy groups, demonstrates UNICEF’s own political agenda, rather than careful research aimed at enhancing the protection of children, reducing conflict, and promoting positive change in the region.
In April 2016, the Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) launched its No Way to Treat a Child campaign, which aims to lobby governments to “use all available means to pressure the Israeli government to end the detention and abuse of Palestinian children.” In this campaign, DCI-P makes numerous false and misleading claims about the IDF and Israeli Military Courts.NGO Monitor: Addameer: The PFLP’s Network's Prisoner Advocacy Wing
NGO Monitor’s analysis shows that the main allegations made by DCI-P, are not credible.1 In addition, research shows that the group has alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.
Significant funding for DCI-P and its campaigns is provided by European governments.
Many of the claims made in DCI-P’s “No Way to Treat a Child” report are selfincriminating. For example:
- States that innocent Palestinian minors accused of involvement in violent crimes accept plea bargains, even if they are innocent. This occurs when DCIP staff lawyers ostensibly represent these minors in court. If true, this would be an ethical violation, if not malpractice.
- Claims that Palestinian minors’ confessions were acquired through violence and torture. If true, DCI-P had a duty to report this to the proper authorities and raise it before the court to achieve a dismissal. Again, failure to do so would be an ethical violation, if not malpractice.
- In 2013, the IDF Military Prosecution suggested, inter alia, to DCI-P lawyers be included on a list of attorneys with whom Palestinian minor suspects could consult. DCI-P refused to be part of this initiative.
I. IntroductionThe Guardian: TfL bans ads displaying Palestinian objections to Balfour declaration
In December 2015, the Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) Addameer published “The Israeli Military Court System.” This report claims to present a number of faults with the Israeli justice system in the West Bank and implies that Israeli courts do not have the right to prosecute Palestinians committing acts of terrorism. The report goes on to make a number of false legal claims regarding the implementation of law and the Israeli military courts in the West Bank – emblematic of the NGO’s contextually, factually, and legally misleading campaigns.
After providing background on the NGO and its funding, the following analysis systematically deconstructs Addameer’s claims in its 2015 report on “The Israeli Military Court System.”
II. Background
Addameer is one of the primary organizations active in campaigns aimed at delegitimizing the State of Israel’s justice system in order to bolster Palestinian lawfare efforts. The organization advocates on behalf of Palestinians prisoners convicted of terror offenses, including those guilty of planning terror attacks and the murder of innocent civilians, referring to them as “political prisoners.”
Addameer further refers to the Israeli army as the “Israeli Occupying Forces,” and accuses Israel of “collective punishment,” “war crimes,” and a “policy of using Palestinian prisoners as pawns to achieve political and military gains.”
Adverts highlighting Palestinian objections to the Balfour declaration of 1917, when Britain promised to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine, have been blocked by Transport for London on the grounds that the issue is politically controversial.Germany’s Left Party withdraws anti-Israel initiative calling 'to end occupation'
Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, has accused TfL of censorship. Organisers had hoped to see the adverts displayed at key underground stations and on buses in the run-up to the centenary of the first world war pledge on 2 November.
Theresa May and her Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, are expected to be the guests of honour at a London dinner celebrating the occasion, the most high-profile of several events. There are planned protests demanding that the UK, which has refused to apologise for the declaration, work to advance Palestinian rights and recognise the injustice and continuing consequences of its promise.
The advertising campaign, called Make It Right, was commissioned by the Palestine Mission to the UK. It included contrasting images of Palestinian life before and after 1948, when Israel won its war of independence and some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. It also quoted the declaration’s famous qualification that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”. It did not mention Israel.
After weeks of criticism, Germany’s Left Party in the country’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) appears to have withdrawn its anti-Israel initiative.German Left Party leader calls MP a 'sneaky Jew'
On its Twitter account on Sunday, the Left Party in NRW said, “Motion to the situation in Palestine will not be dealt with.” The NRW Left Party did not immediately respond to The Jerusalem Post’s queries on Monday.
The initiative was proposed for passage at the NRW’s Left Party congress on Sunday. The motion called on Israel “to end the occupation and the Gaza blockade” and urged the European Union to end its association agreement with Israel because of the Gaza blockade and Israel’s “construction of a border wall that violates international law.”
In response to the motion in early October, Martina Renner, a Left Party MP, wrote on Twitter that the “motion sounds like it was written from Israel boycott groups. From this the executive board of @dielinke clearly distances itself.”
Some of the signatories to the motion blasting Israel have, over the years, been accused of stoking antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish state in Germany. The Simon Wiesenthal Center included MP Inge Höger, one of the motion’s supporters, on its list of top 10 antisemitic/anti-Israel incidents in 2014.
The head of the German Left Party in the city of Saarlouis, situated in the state of Saarland, used an antisemitic phrase on his Facebook page to denigrate an MP in his party, according to a Monday report in the regional paper Saarbrücker Zeitung.The British Labour Party’s ‘Kosher Stamp’ for Anti-Semitism
Mekan Kolasinac, the chairman of the Left Party in Saarlouis, called the party's federal head, Bernd Riexinger, a "sneaky Jew."
Kolasinac told the paper he wrote the anti-Jewish entry but regrets it. He said it was a mistake and he intended to write "Judas" instead of "Jew." Kolasinac said he apologized on his Facebook page and apologized to "my Jewish friends."
Birgit Huonker, a spokeswoman for the Left Party in Saarland, said: "Antisemitism in one's party. Bad."
The Saarbrücker Zeitung said the background to Kolasinac's verbal attack on Riexinger is a BILD paper article, in which Riexinger allegedly sought to oust the party's parliamentary head Sahra Wagenknecht. Riexinger is co-chair of the federal Left Party.
The most noxious aspect of the anti-Zionist redefinition of Jewishness is the eagerness of anti-Zionist Jews to leap to the defense of the most outrageous statements by the most extreme figures in the Labour Party. Time after time, JVL has acted as Freedland describes: providing kosher cover for the nastiest elements on the far left. When Ken Livingstone pronounced Hitler a supporter of Zionism, Jenny Manson, now chair of JVL, issued a statement insisting his comments were “not offensive, nor anti-Semitic in any way.” In doing so, she referred to her Jewish identity and the fact her mother had fled Ukraine to escape pogroms. Defending Ken Loach over his Holocaust remarks, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi said he was simply “pursuing an argument about the importance of free speech when he was called upon to comment upon an ambiguous sentence mentioning the Holocaust.” He had “stuck to his line of argument” and hadn’t agreed that questioning the veracity of the Holocaust was unacceptable because it was “blindingly obvious.”What is to be done?
In August, senior Labour MP and Corbyn ally Chris Williamson claimed anti-Semitism was being “weaponized” in a “proxy war against the leadership” and described complaints about it as “smears and lies and dirty tricks.” After the Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Williamson’s intemperate outburst, JVL sided with the MP and, in conspiratorial tones, said he had merely “put his finger on the connection between charges of anti-Semitism and the onslaught that he expects Corbyn to face from his opponents before the next election—a connection that [the Board of Deputies] does not wish to be exposed.”
So what do the anti-Zionist activists in groups like JVL get out of being used as a kosher stamp for anti-Semites—aside from proving their loyalty to the Labour Party leadership? Hirsh suggests a deeper motivation: “They would rather live in a world where anti-Semitism was provoked by Jews—and so, therefore, could notionally be stopped by Jews—than in a world where anti-Semitism was irrational. They prefer to imagine that Jews are in control of their own destiny than that they are simply victims of anti-Semitism.”
Meanwhile, Labour, once a proud party with a strong anti-racist tradition, is mired in the filth of anti-Semitism. It will remain there as long as Jewish Voice for Labour is the only Jewish voice the Labour leadership wants to hear.
In the same way as the Jews were blamed for the world’s ills in the 1930’s, Israel is now the centre of all that is wrong with the 21st Century. The progressives in the Labour Party have adopted this thesis with enthusiasm. When the likes of Len McClusky talk about pro-Palestine, they really mean anti-Israel. The only solution to the ‘conflict’ proposed by those claiming to be pro-Palestinian is the destruction of the Jewish state, whether it is the Palestine Solidarity Campaign or War on Want.Austrian University Students Overwhelmingly Condemn BDS Movement as ‘Antisemitic’
What is frightening now is that Labour believe they have fixed the problem, whereas they have just reinforced it. It is not just that you can criticise Israel with a free rein, you can do so with malice and be praised for it. And to such an extent that Jews are only welcome in the Labour Party if they give up their desire to the right of self-determination, both as a Jew and as a nation.
So, what is to be done? The time for believing that dialogue is the answer is well and truly passed. What is needed is an acceptance by the Jewish community that those of the left who seek the destruction of Israel are expressing legitimate criticism are just liars. And those in the media who use their status to promote boycotting of the Jewish state, and bring pressure to bear on actors or singers not to work in Israel just hate the idea of the Jews having control of their destiny; anti-Semitism in its purest form.
Calls to these people to atone, apologise or explain are just a waste of effort. It is as Canute demonstrated, as effective as commanding the sea to defy the power of the moon. The time has come to expose the reality of these people‘s efforts to reduce the Jews to inferior, second class citizens.
The Austrian National Union of Students on Friday condemned the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel as antisemitic, and urged for it to not be given funds or event space.IsraellyCool: Roger Waters to Collaborate With “Palestinian” Music Group
The resolution received near unanimous support, with no votes against it and one abstention.
The union also adopted a version of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.”
Leaders of the BDS movement have repeatedly gone on record claiming that Israel has no right to exist.
The Austrian Union of Jewish Students applauded the passage of the resolution, saying in a statement on Friday, “This has been a big step in the fight against antisemitism and we are very happy that after our lobbying effort almost all factions have supported the motion.”
The group extended a “special thanks” to the Greens and Alternative Students (GRAS) for “their continuing support in the fight against all antisemitism.
I am willing to guess the results of this collaboration will not include any love songs for Israel.PreOccupiedTerritory: Harvey Weinstein To Lead Palestinian Committee On Women’s Rights (satire)
Last week, the acclaimed Palestinian musical group Le Trio Joubran performed in front of a fascinated crowd of hundreds and the shifting waves of an autumn sea.
Their performance in Beirut’s Music Hall theatre was marked by story-telling, sampling the rhymes of Palestine’s renowned poet Mahmoud Darwish.
—
Ever the showmen, the brothers retained a major declaration until the center point of the performance informing a fully enthralled crowd that they would soon be collaborating with former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters.
The brothers are actually Israeli Arabs, but consider themselves palestinian. In other words, the stuff Roger Waters’ wet dreams are made of.
Influential Hollywood Mogul Harvey Weinstein agreed to accept chairmanship of a Palestinian committee advising President Mahmoud Abbas on women’s rights and related issues, a spokesman for the producer announced today.C-SPAN Pairs with Palestinian Panelists Purveying Anti-Israel Propaganda
Fox Henhaus, a representative of Weinstein, informed reporters at a joint press conference with Palestinian Minister of Politicization Nabil Shaath that the two sides had agreed on terms Monday night. Beginning next month, stated Henhaus, the committee would convene at a luxury hotel in Beverley Hills to keep abreast of developments in the field and to formulate recommendations for specific avenues of activity.
“We are pleased to announce that Mr. Weinstein and the Palestinian Authority have come to agreement on his chairing a committee on women’s issues for President Abbas,” declared Henhaus. “Mr. Weinstein will bring to the table his formidable experience with women and the issues of concern to them, and will help the Palestinian government grapple, as it were, with the myriad ways in which current societal power structures are exploited. We of course have hundreds of years of experience, but an outside perspective always helps.”
Weinstein, for decades a pivotal figure in the movie-making industry and a key player in Democratic Party funding, will bring his expertise in women’s issues to a committee that already boasts Palestinian personnel, all men, well-versed in domestic abuse, honor killings, child marriage, and disempowerment of women. “This is a victory for diversity,” asserted Minister Shaath. “We do not insist that the committee comprise only native Palestinians. Mr. Weinstein has already demonstrated an affinity for progressive causes, and we are excited to have him at our sides as we tackle these topics.”
Providing anti-Israel misinformation to potentially millions of viewers, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) aired a panel discussion, “One State or Two State Solution: What's Best for the Palestinians?” The discussion (1.4 hours) constituted the first such event of the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) held in Washington D.C (Marriott Wardman Park hotel) beginning on Sept. 22, 2017. C-SPAN aired the discussion later on that same day (at 10 p.m. Eastern) and repeated it again the next day. The network typically didn't bother to issue a standard broadcast disclaimer such as "Points of view expressed in this program are not necessarily those of this network."BBC WS radio listeners told that Nazareth is a ‘Palestinian city’
Eliminating the Jews
The four Palestinian American panelists reject the two-state solution, characterizing it as unjust, unworkable and unlikely, while advocating either a (Palestinian-dominated) one-state solution or all-out resistance to the presence of Jews in the entirety of what is now Israel and the West Bank.
Panelists for the ADC discussion, One State or Two State Solution: What's Best for the Palestinians are Noura Erakat, Christopher Hazou, Nizar Farsakh and Amer Zahr:
Any doubts as to the mean-spirited nature of the discussion were dispelled by the lack of any objection by the panelists to hateful remarks. At 35 minutes into the broadcast, California-born Erakat (professor of law, human rights attorney) likens Israeli “settler colonization” (by which she means the presence of any Jews between the Sea and the River Jordan) to a cancer, charging that either the two-state solution or the one-state solution is like
using Tylenol to address the cancer… instead of chemo …the thing we need to do is remove the cancer… If we admit that the West Bank is occupied we have to admit that Tel Aviv and Haifa are occupied as well as Jerusalem.
This solution, of course, amounts to ethnic cleansing of Jews from their ancestral land while the one-state solution would be unviable for Jews given the predilections of Arab Muslim pluralities particularly a Palestinian one. The attitude generally of those anywhere who promote the single state solution can be reasonably characterized as “22 Arab Muslim states is fine but one Jewish state is one too many.”
Later on in the interview (40:53) listeners heard the following statements from Bethlehem born, Saudi raised, US educated Annemarie Jacir:Haaretz Prints Correction on BDS Activists That Weren't
Jacir: “I think the Palestinians that are living in, you know, historic Palestine in a city like Nazareth – which is the biggest Palestinian city [sic] in Israel – they aren’t…who are they represented by? You know they are Israeli citizens on paper but they’re second, third class citizens. They don’t have the same rights. They’re not represented by the Israeli government for sure. They’re definitely not represented by the Palestinian Authority and so I feel like it is a community that lives a contradictory life and they’re struggling to find an identity…the identity and also, yeah, a political representative.”
Arab-Israelis living in Nazareth or anywhere else in Israel of course have the same rights as any other citizen – including the right to vote for their chosen parliamentary representatives. Eighteen (i.e. over 20% – reflecting the proportion of minorities in the population as a whole) of the current members of the Knesset are Arab-Israelis, Druze or Bedouin representing six different political parties (three of which – in contrast to Jacir’s claim – are part of the current coalition government) and surveys repeatedly indicate that the majority of Arab-Israelis view Israel in a positive light.
Despite that, Razia Iqbal failed to present any challenge whatsoever to Jacir’s politically motivated, inaccurate and materially misleading claims and swiftly moved on to the next topic.
And yet, the BBC continues to claim that it provides its funding public with “accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial standards”.
Haaretz's caption error — misrepresenting anti-BDS activists as BDS activists — ironically accompanied a column in which David Rosenberg argues that the BDS campaign is an "imaginary demon." As the subheadline puts it: "Israel isn't under any threat from a boycott movement, but fighting a phony BDS war is too temping for many to pass up. Even, [sic] the U.S. congress has been enlisted in the fight."Spanish newspaper slammed for soccer team 'Jewish origins' piece
In response to communication from CAMERA's Israel office, Haaretz published the following correction on page two of yesterday's print edition:
The caption accompanying an Associated Press photograph of a pro-Israel rally in New York ("Exorcising an imaginary BDS demon," by David Rosenberg, October 13) incorrectly identified some of the participants as pro-BDS activists.
CAMERA commends Haaretz on the timely and forthright correction.
British soccer clubs have condemned an article in a Spanish daily newspaper that reported the “Jewish origin” of the Tottenham Hotspurs has caused the team to be hated by rival clubs’ fans.When a New York Times Correction Needs a Correction
The Madrid-based daily sports newspaper Marca published the article on Monday ahead of a match between the Spurs and Real Madrid as part of the Champions League play.
“Their Jewish origin has made them into a club hated by rival fans. But in their 135 years of existence they have always had style and great players,” the article said, in part.
In a clarification issued after publication, senior reporter Enrique Ortega wrote: “That ‘hatred’ that Tottenham suffers is very focused on the radical and racist groups that are hiding in the social mass, especially Chelsea and West Ham.”
“I regret the confusion that has been created in this respect. The intention was not to damage the image of Tottenham, a club we respect, value… and we do not want to serve as a speaker to these racist minorities who use any pretext to expand their hate messages, which we reject head-on,” he also wrote.
Describing Rubble Rubble, the Times originally wrote:BBC WS history show yet again promotes political narrative
Mr. Fishback’s play, which was to get its first full public reading at the historical society on Dec. 14, tells the dual stories of a settler family in modern day Israel and a Jewish family caught up in revolutionary politics in early-20th-century Russia.
That wording implies that Israelis living inside the Green Line — whether Tel Aviv, Tiberias or Taibeh — are settlers, so of course, a correction was called for. The Times revised the article, but also added a problematic editor’s note at the bottom of the page. First the revision, which doesn’t raise my hackles:
Mr. Fishback’s play, which was to get its first full public reading at the historical society on Dec. 14, tells the dual stories of a modern-day settler family in the West Bank and a Jewish family caught up in revolutionary politics in early-20th-century Russia.
But the editor’s note?
The article also referred incorrectly to a fictional family in Dan Fishback’s play “Rubble Rubble.” The modern-day Jewish settlers live in the West Bank; they do not live in Israel.
JVPIf the Times were to call the West Bank disputed, I wouldn’t bat an eye. Israelis and the Palestinians have been trying to negotiate peace, including borders, in fits and starts for nearly a quarter century now.
Maisoon Bashir describes herself as follows:German neo-Nazi convicted of Holocaust denial — again
“I have been asked to introduce myself. I am wondering how I should, as an activist or a journalist, who tries to raise the voice of Palestine? Both are true, but I prefer to introduce myself just as a Palestinian girl, because my nationality is a testament to the authenticity of my homeland and the injustices borne by my people.”
Her activism is given a platform at a site called ‘We Are Not Numbers’ that is linked to a political NGO currently called ‘Euro Med Rights’ (which has Richard Falk as chair of its board of trustees) and which was founded by a self-described “social justice activist” called Pam Bailey who is also associated with Code Pink. Bashir’s writings have also been posted at the Hamas linked outlet MEMO.
BBC audiences, however, were not informed that they were in fact listening to a political activist (in breach of BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality) and neither were they given any insight into how Mike Lanchin was introduced to her story or why he visited the Gaza Strip (where the BBC has a staffed local office) to interview her.
Once again we see that the radio show touted by the BBC World Service as a ‘history’ programme is in fact used as a vehicle for the advancement of one-sided political narrative.
A well-known German neo-Nazi has been convicted again of Holocaust denial and sentenced to six months in prison.Twitter account tied to 'the Mooch' publishes Holocaust poll
Ursula Haverbeck was sentenced at a Berlin district court Monday for saying at a January 2016 event in the German capital that the Holocaust did not take place and that there were no gas chambers at the infamous Auschwitz death camp.
The German news agency dpa reported that Haverbeck, 88, said the trial against her was incomprehensible.
Haverbeck can appeal the verdict. She has previously been charged with Holocaust denial, a crime in Germany, for the content of several articles she wrote for a magazine called the Voice of the Reich.
A website promoted by and named after a former White House aide, Anthony Scaramucci, posted a Twitter poll on Tuesday questioning the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.Suspect nabbed for swastika and ‘kikes’ graffiti at UK synagogue
The account, called the Scaramucci Post, asked followers whether less than 1 million, between 1-2 million, between 2-3 million or more than 5 million had been murdered by Nazi Germany.
Anthony Scaramucci is not directly responsible for posting on the site, but teased its initial launch, and in an interview with local New York radio earlier this month took ownership over the venture.
A suspect was arrested in connection with anti-Semitic graffiti painted on the sign of a synagogue in northern England.Man Caught Spray Painting Swastika On College Campus Is Black, Report Says
Police in Leeds on Monday told British media that they had arrested the man at the end of last week after a second incident occurred outside the Etz Chaim synagogue. Staff members of the anti-Semitism watchdog group Community Security Trust were harangued with anti-Semitic abuse by the suspect outside of the synagogue before his arrest, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported.
On October 11, a swastika and the word “kikes” was painted in red on the sign of the synagogue facing the main road.
Both incidents currently are under investigation, according to police. The man was released after his arrest pending the results of the investigation.
A 52-year-old black man is being charged with destruction of property after allegedly getting caught spray-painting a swastika inside campus living quarters, according to Fox5.Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba to open Israel R&D center
Officials for the school discovered the swastika on a trash cart inside the fifth floor of Hagerstown Hall.
One student, apparently bewildered by the news, didn’t seem to recognize the possibility of Ronald Alford Sr.’s artwork being an attempt to stage anti-Semitic sentiment at the college.
“I guess it proves that you don’t have to be a certain race to hate people,” student Abby Gorun told Fox5. “But I mean, it’s just you would think that someone, especially from a race that has been subjected to hate before, you would think why would you want to reciprocate that to somebody else?”
Alford is also being charged with disturbing the operations of a school, and will be barred from entering campus, according to Fox5. A hearing in court is slated for sometime next month.
Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced that it is opening an R&D lab in Israel. Speaking at Alibaba's Computing Conference in China, CTO Jeff Zhang unveiled a $15 billion global research program, which includes opening seven R&D labs worldwide over the next three years in Tel Aviv, Beijing, Hangzhou, San Mateo, Bellevue, Moscow, and Singapore. Zhang said that Alibaba is initially seeking to recruit 100 talented researchers from around the world.Work on Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity link to start 2018
Zhang said, "Research areas will cover data intelligence, the Internet of Things, fintech, quantum computing and human-machine interaction. Within those areas, you’ll see a focus on such real-world applications as machine learning, network security, visual computing, natural language processing, among others."
Zhang will head the academy overseeing the worldwide R&D labs, which will be called DAMO – Academy of Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook.
Work on an undersea electricity cable linking the power grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece is on track to start in the first quarter of 2018 after Greek and Cypriot regulators approved the project, according to officials.Australians keen on Israeli shares as offerings rise
Nasos Ktorides, who heads the EuroAsia Interconnector project, said Monday that Israeli regulators are expected to give their approval next month.
The 1,520-kilometer (945-mile) undersea electric cable with a 2,000-megawatt capacity will transmit electricity to and from the three countries involved.
Work on the cable is expected to last until 2022. The first phase will have an estimated cost of around 3.5 billion euros ($4.1 billion).
The project emerged amid improved relations between the three counties, coupled with the discovery of gas deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean that could be used to generate electricity.
The increase in investments in Israeli shares offered on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), along with the strong performance of these stocks, is a reflection of the Australian investment community’s keen interest in Israeli technology developments, a senior official at the exchange said.IsraellyCool: WATCH: Bollywood Stars Filming in Israel…and Loving It Here
“There is no doubt that the engagement and focus” on Israeli stocks has increased,
Max Cunningham, the general manager of listings at the exchange, said in a phone interview ahead of a visit to Israel in October. This is Cunningham’s fourth trip to Israel in the past 12 months, with the aim of drumming up more Israeli share offerings for the hungry exchange.
Cunningham will be accompanied by the CEO of the exchange, Dominic Stevens, who is heading a delegation of capital market professionals and investment banks from Down Under.
“We have two goals,” Cunningham said. “For those who come to Israel for the first time we want to make sure they see the dynamic Israeli entrepreneurship, the economy, the history of the country, the survival instinct that drives so much of the innovation that comes from Israel.”
India and Israel’s love affair seems to be continuing, with the cast and crew of the Hindi action comedy Drive here shooting scenes, the first time in history Bollywood movie scenes are being shot here.Israeli doctor to head prestigious global medical organization
And the movie’s stars Jacqueline Fernandez and Sushant Singh Rajput are clearly enamored with Israel.
We may not have heard of them, but they clearly have huge followings: Jacqueline has 22M Likes on Facebook, 14.9M followers on Instagram, and 8.85M followers on Twitter, while Sushant has 1.1M Likes on Facebook, 3.6M followers on Instagram, and 801K followers on Twitter.
Israeli Medical Association Chairman Professor Leonid Eidelman has been chosen to serve as the next president of the World Medical Association.Netanyahu Touts Jerusalem’s Religious Freedom at First-of-Its-Kind Christian Media Summit
Medical association heads from across the globe, representing more than 9 million doctors worldwide, elected Eidelman at the organization's annual convention in Chicago over the weekend.
Eidelman, who ran against Dr. Heikki Palve from Finland, won two-thirds of the final vote, with 98 in favor of his candidacy and 43 for Palve.
Eidelman, 65, will succeed India's Dr. Ketan Desai to lead the organization beginning in October 2018.
Israel is often attacked in the international arena, including repeated calls to expel Israeli medical organizations from international bodies. The appointment of an Israeli doctor to the most prestigious position in the medical world, with great influence on the most important decisions regarding the behavior of doctors, carries considerable significance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday welcomed representatives from about 70 Christian media outlets as they convened in Jerusalem for a first-of-its-kind summit.Faces of Holocaust victims projected on Prague synagogue
“You know, you are joining us as we celebrate 50 years since the holy city was liberated and united; 50 years of religious freedom for all,” Netanyahu said at the Israel Museum.
“You know that because you walk around, you go to the holy sites, you go to the churches, others go to the mosques, and you know this is a free city,” he said, adding he looked forward “to the day when the embassies of all your countries move to Jerusalem.”
Israel has “no better friends” in the world than Christian communities, Netanyahu said.
“Israel is the one country in a vast region where Christians not only survive, they thrive,” the prime minister said.
The four-day event — sponsored by Israel’s Government Press Office, Foreign Ministry and Jerusalem Affairs Ministry — involves the participation of 140 Christian media associates.
During their time in Israel, participants will engage in conference sessions on topics related to news coverage of the Jewish state, and will visit various sites including Gush Etzion (Israel’s largest bloc of communities in Judea and Samaria), Bethlehem and Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Museum.
Prague’s Jewish Museum has launched a new project to honor the victims of the Holocaust.
Starting on Monday, the faces of some Czech Jews who were killed by the Nazis during World War II are being projected on the outer wall of a Jewish bath at the Pinkas Synagogue after it gets dark.
The synagogue’s inside walls bear the names of almost 80,000 victims.
Jana Splichalova from the museum’s department of Shoah history says that “our goal was to give a name a face.”
Monday’s projection included the faces of 52 people screened repeatedly in a five-minute loop.
The museum has received thousands of photos and other personal belongings from the relatives and contemporaries and will gradually add more photo loops.
