Friday, March 09, 2018
TWS Editorial: Farrakhan and the Left
How strange that self-proclaimed “intersectional” feminists such as Sarsour, Mallory, and Perez would support an openly misogynistic and racist demagogue like Farrakhan. Among his more recent offerings: “When a woman does not know how to cook and the right foods to cook, she's preparing death for herself, her husband and her children.” He’s also observed that “man is supposed to have rule, especially in his own house . . . and when she rules you, you become her child.” Directly to women he asserted: “You are a failure if you can’t keep a man, no profession can keep you happy!” One wonders what it is about him that these feminists find so alluring.
More troubling, perhaps, is the recently surfaced photo of a 2005 Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) meeting with Farrakhan. It featured then-senator Barack Obama posing for a photo with the Nation of Islam leader. The photographer, Askia Muhammad, now says the CBC asked him to suppress the image because it might have derailed Obama’s campaign. Nor is that the only time CBC members hobnobbed with Farrakhan: As Jeryl Bier pointed out in the Wall Street Journal in January, several of them can be seen shaking hands and hugging in a 2009 YouTube video.
We doubt the photo with Farrakhan would have hurt Obama, who easily weathered revelations of his long association with the similarly anti-semitic and anti-American Jeremiah Wright. These associations are troubling all the same, however the preponderance of mainstream journalists may wish to look the other way. We suspect that if a photo emerges some day of Donald Trump or George W. Bush grinning with Richard Spencer, the New York Times will make room for it on page 1A.
When asked about the CBC’s meeting and his relationship with Farrakhan, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) defended his relationship with Farrakhan by remarking that “the world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth.” That phrase, “the Jewish question”—where have we heard that before?
Women's March says it loves, but spreads hatred instead
Interesting how the Women’s March claims to be “inclusive” and for “free speech” when they only allow the opinions of giddy liberal women who have no clue what’s really going on. And they are decidedly pro-Palestinian to the exclusion of every other group in spite of their claims otherwise.Dem Rep Who Had Called Farrakhan An ‘Outstanding Human Being’ Releases New Statement Condemning Him By Name
“Pro apartheid” is a common statement used as propaganda by the pro-Palestinian crowd. The Jewish women were even called “Nazis” by one woman on the page a term that cuts at the heart of who the ladies are. The Women’s March claims to be inclusive, yet have thrown Jewish women out of the marches so often, that a new band of progressive Jewish women formed their own group, according to Algemeiner.
Another Women’s March organizer Carmen Perez is also a fan of Farrakhan. In this picture below from her Instagram account Perez (on the right) honored the hater as a valued elder.
When the ADL asked Ms.Perez about her association with Farrakhan, Perez refused to denounce his anti-Semitism and instead retorted: “There are no perfect leaders.” In other words, “of course he is a hater, but who cares.
The Women’s March could write 100-page manifesto declaring how they love everybody–but the truth is, the women leading the Women’s March and the organizations it associates with are haters. or people who condone hatred, and should be labeled as such by the media, and by all people who abhor bigotry.
Rep. Danny Davis (D., Ill.) released a new statement Thursday evening denouncing anti-Semitic Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan after an earlier, weaker statement led liberal Jewish group J Street to say it was reevaluating its endorsement of him.
A month early, The Forward reports, Davis called Farrakhan an "outstanding human being."
The congressman had also downplayed the importance of Farrakhan's anti-Semitism by saying "The world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth."
After criticism from the Jewish community, Davis' statement Monday did not address his own words about "the Jewish question" and instead blamed media for asking him about the controversy, although it was titled "Statement of Danny K. Davis on Anti-Semitism."
"Recently the ultra-right propaganda site The Daily Caller attempted to impugn my character," his statement began.
"History is replete with the horrific consequences of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, Islamophobia, male chauvinism and other forms of hatred and bigotry and discrimination," Davis wrote, saying that those who promote those views are "pursuing an agenda which I will never accept."
Washington Post Gives Ellison Four Pinocchios Over His Claims of ‘No Relationship’ With Farrakhan
The Washington Post Fact-Checker has given Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), the vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee, its highest rating for falsehoods after the congressman claimed his relationship Louis Farrakhan ended in 2006.Planned Parenthood Chapter Cuts Ties With Women’s March Co-Chair in Wake of Farrakhan Controversy
Ellison has claimed recently that he does not really know Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan, who has made numerous anti-Semitic comments. However, there have been multiple instances in the past few years where the two have been at the same event.
The Post highlights a meeting with Ellison and Farrakhan at an Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia between 2010 and 2013, a dinner Ellison attended for the Iranian President in 2013 that Farrakhan also attended, and a private 2016 meeting between Farrakhan, Ellison and Rep. André Carson (D., Ind.) in a hotel suite.
Despite Ellison's claims that he had "disavowed" Farrakhan, Ellison has had numerous run-ins with him and has not had much of an explanation for any of these instances.
"Carson at least acknowledged he met with Farrakhan to discuss issues related to community concerns," the Post says. "Ellison is trying to have it both ways, publicly distancing himself while privately doing something else. He earns Four Pinocchios for suggesting his interactions with Farrakhan ended in 2006."
A regional Planned Parenthood organization serving the Northwest United States and Hawaii announced on Wednesday that it would part ways with Women's March co-chair Tamika Mallory in the wake of her controversial ties with the rabid anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan.Conor Lamb Worked Behind Scenes to Quash Concerns Over Israel Comments
Last week, Mallory received backlash for attending Farrakhan's annual Saviours' Day address, an event where the Nation of Islam leader attacked "that Satanic Jew," called Jews "the mother and father of apartheid," and proclaimed that "when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door."
Erika Croxton, the vice president of development for Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, sent out an email to inform supporters of plans to "part ways" with Mallory and to announce a "new keynote speaker for the April 5 luncheon in the coming weeks." The annual Seattle luncheon for the nonprofit, which describes itself on Facebook as a "nonpartisan organization educating residents and policy makers in Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Hawaii about reproductive health issues," will cost attendees $200 for a general admission seat.
On the chapter's website for the event, Mallory is described as a "nationally recognized leader" and a "champion of the civil rights movement." The bio goes on to say she has been an "outspoken advocate for social justice." However, Croxton's email, which can be viewed in its entirety on the chapter's Facebook page, infers Mallory fell short of the group's standard of "fight[ing] for justice for all people regardless of skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or national origin."
Democrat Conor Lamb has been working behind the scenes to push back against concerns in the Jewish community over a Washington Free Beacon report on his statement that the Israeli government deliberately targeted civilians and was guilty of terrorism.Honest Reporting: Visit Jerusalem’s Old City Before it Disappears Forever!
Lamb is still yet to comment to reporters on his remarks on Israel, which were made as a college student at the University of Pennsylvania. In the remarks, which are still up on the Daily Pennsylvanian website, Lamb complains that a pro-Israel ad was published in the paper and says Israel is guilty of terrorism.
In the Jewish community, according to a recording of his remarks to one group, Lamb responded to questions on his anti-Israel comments by saying he had "absolutely no memory of ever using those words at all." He also seemed to suggest that the post—which the website's administrators confirm has been sitting on the site since 2002 when it was originally posted and has not been altered—may have been planted.
"I've looked at that several times in the last 24 hours and as a prosecutor I'll give you the most honest and accurate thing that I can say, which is, I have absolutely no memory of ever using those words at all," Lamb said. "In the climate we're in, I think you all can fill in the rest, but all I can tell you is I don't recognize it."
Lamb personally contacted several members of the district's Jewish community immediately following the initial story to say he didn't think he wrote the post attributed to him on Israel.
In private interactions in the following weeks, Lamb began acknowledging he wrote the post.
A feature in Business Insider UK and republished in The Independent is a great example of the intersection of gross stupidity between United Nations bodies and the media.Yisrael Medad: Mr. K.M. Pollack: I Have a Grievance
In “15 destinations to cross off your bucket list before they disappear,” the first destination comes as a major surprise:
While it is perhaps something of a mercy that the article recognizes that the Jerusalem’s Old City is actually located in Israel, there is certainly no good reason for it to be located in this feature.
One wonders how much research the author of the piece actually did. After all, relying on a clearly politically motivated maneuver by Jordan at UNESCO as far back as 1982 is hardly credible. Indeed, the Old City has survived pretty well considering it was added to the endangered list some 36 years ago. Doesn’t that speak volumes?
And since when is there a “lack of protection” for the Old City and “some controversy…with how it’s treated?”
It is only under Israeli sovereignty that the Old City has been protected for all religions. It is only under Israeli sovereignty that Jewish holy and cultural sites have been protected from desecration at the hands of others. And it is even under Israeli sovereignty that the Muslim Waqf has been afforded the administration of the Temple Mount complex.
How either misinformed, uninformed or malicious can someone be?When shots rang out again, we knew we had to storm the bus
Here, from a book review of Ronen Bergman's history of Israel's targeted assassination operations:
Israel has a big problem here. Targeted killings, barriers and other security activities can suppress terror attacks, but it is not at all clear that Israel can ever win the hearts and minds of the Palestinians, the crucial foundation for Palestinian terrorist groups. It had the same problem with the Shiites of Lebanon and their support for Hezbollah. That’s because the Israeli occupation is a central grievance of the Palestinians, as it was for Lebanon’s Shiites.
That was by Kenneth Pollack in the New York Times.
There are three problems in that paragraph above.
The first is it is misleading in that Israel's program began before 1967 and even before 1948. So what "occupation" is he talking about?
Second, even if he can identify a specific "occupation", what has that to do with the need to protect Israelis, and Jews (not to mention the non-Jews Arab terrorists have attacked over the years)? Why should that justify in any form Arab violence against civilians? He considers Israel's existence a proper "grievance"?
Third, if this is the level of analysis at the CIA, Brookings, etc., then just wow.
It would seem I have a grievance with Mr. Pollack.
On March 7, 1988, the Yamam anti-terrorism unit of the Israel Police rescued eight Israeli civilian hostages being held by terrorists on a bus near Dimona. Today the Yamam is famous for a variety of difficult and audacious missions that it has undertaken in the seemingly endless fight against terrorism, and it is highly respected. But that drizzly March morning in the desert was the first time the Yamam had executed a classic hostage rescue mission, and its success propelled the unit from relative obscurity to worldwide fame. I was a member of the rescue team. This is my personal account of that day.'History of Jews from Arab lands has been distorted'
A year after the Mothers Bus attack and the rescue, there was a memorial service for the three employees of the Nuclear Research Institute who had lost their lives – Victor Ram, Rina Shiratzky and Miriam Ben-Yair. It was held in a large auditorium in Beersheva and many people were gathered there – family members, co-workers, and others connected with the Institute and its work. A senior police officer, Commissioner David Kraus, was invited to speak as the police representative “whose men had executed the rescue,” or so said the compere. But, as far as I know, officially no members of the actual rescue team were present. Officially.
In fact, one of the rescuers was there. Israel being Israel, “it just so happened” that an uncle of mine was the head of the welfare department at the Institute and he thought it would be meaningful for some of the rescued hostages to meet at least one of the rescuers. I was no longer in the Yamam by this time, so my attendance was purely in a private capacity. Very few people knew, and certainly no-one announced it. And so it was that I was smuggled in and got to pay my own respects to the people who had died that day. And to meet some of the people I had helped to rescue.
The Jewish cultural institute Spiro Ark recently held the official launch for UPROOTED by Lyn Julius. Lyn is the director of Harif (Association of Jews from Middle East and North Africa), with whom Spiro Ark frequently collaborates on exciting projects.A New History of the Arab World Gets the Story Right—Until It Comes to Jews and Christians
Lyn's book addresses many of the difficult questions concerning the exodus of Jews from Arab lands and, during her interview with Saul Zadka, Lyn presented several of her analyses of the causes and effects. See what Saul asked Lyn, HERE. Here is a blog about the launch by Spiro Ark:
We asked Lyn a few questions of our own:
1) What inspired you to write your book?
"I have been gathering published information on the topic of Jews from Arab and Muslim countries for about 13 years and posting links to articles on Point of No Return. It is a much neglected and misunderstood issue, yet is central to an understanding of Israel and the conflict. Academics have written about it, but I realised that there was a need for a book accessible to the mainstream that could also serve as a work of reference."
2) Can you please tell us a little bit about the writing process and your research?
"It was through blogging that certain themes seemed to suggest themselves. I adopted an analytical, rather than a historical approach. I had already written much of the material over time, but it was quite a challenge to knit it all together into a coherent whole without repeating myself too much."
First published in 2011, The Arabs: A History, by the Oxford Professor Eugene Rogan, has recently been issued in a revised and updated edition. Luma Simms finds it a useful book that admirably covers much ground in a single volume, but one that hews too closely to deeply flawed analyses that have become standard in academia. When it comes to the Middle East’s Jews and Christians, Rogan’s blind spots are particularly noticeable.Third woman accuses Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape
Rogan has unfortunately picked up some of the Arab attitude toward the Jews, although he does temper it. The Arab milieu—Christian and Muslim—is anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic. . . . Rogan is not anti-Semitic; but he does tend to be partial to the Muslim Arabs. As an Arab myself, I understand that he is trying to stay true to the Arab perspective, but his sympathies have blurred his objectivity. . . .
One thing stands out here as very peculiar: the author’s silence about what the Arabs did to the Jews after World War II. They killed them, confiscated their property and possessions, and drove them out of Arab lands. Aside from the one paragraph he gives to the pogrom in Iraq in 1941, there’s not much on what the Arab Muslims did to the Jews living in their midst throughout the region in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His being so tied to the Arab Muslim perspective leads him to minimize the virulent anti-Semitism in the Arab world to this day. . . .
A third woman has accused prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan of rape, a month after he was indicted over claims he assaulted two women and remanded into custody, judicial sources told AFP on Wednesday (Mar 7).UK's Labour suspends members active in 'antisemitic' Facebook group
The French Muslim woman, who wants to remain anonymous and uses the pseudonym "Marie", claims to have suffered multiple rapes in France, Brussels and London between 2013 and 2014.
She has accused Ramadan, 55, of subjecting her to violent and sexually degrading acts during a dozen meetings, often in hotels on the sidelines of conferences.
"I had to obey him, be available 24 hours a day, do whatever he told me, take pictures in submissive positions, on my knees to ask for forgiveness, call him 'master'," she told Europe 1 radio.
"At first, there were feelings, otherwise I would not have agreed to see him," she added. "I had difficulty saying the word: rape. Today I can say it."
The United Kingdom's Labour party has suspended several of its members who were active in a Facebook group that espoused antisemitic views.Palestine Live Digging a Deeper Antisemitic Hole
The group, called Palestine Live, contained posts denying the Holocaust and conspiracy theories about Israeli involvement in 9/11 and the Rothschild family, among other topics.
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was once a member of the closed group, although he left it in 2015. It is unknown whether he left before or after assuming his party's leadership.
Corbyn himself has been accused of antisemitism, in particular due to his ties to individuals involved with or supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah, his terming of the groups as "friends," and his links to Holocaust deniers.
In response to the suspensions, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called on Labour to "adopt a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism." He added that the policy must be pursued "much more vigorously than it has done until now."
No one seriously expected these guys to take a good look in the mirror and realise what they were doing. But I have a confession to make. I have gone and gotten herself into the Palestine Live group.Can Israel Be Rebranded for Liberals?
I think the best thing to do is just leave this here:
[a very very long screencap of anti-Semites reacting to being called anti-Semites]
While much of the national and Israeli media has centered on the reception that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or representatives of the Trump administration will get at the annual AIPAC conference, the organization itself had other priorities. They’re worried by polls that show Republican support for Israel far outstrips that of Democrats. Arguments over the peace process, Iran and criticisms of the Jewish state’s stands on religious pluralism have dominated the discussion about Israel among political liberals. Faced with this threat to what they have always sought to ensure is a bipartisan coalition, AIPAC is doing what it can to remind Americans that support for Israel is as natural for liberals as it has become for conservatives.NGO Monitor: UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children
Given that Israel is a bastion of liberal democratic values and diversity, AIPAC leaders have a powerful and unanswerable argument to make. But while reminding liberals why backing Israel is a great idea, such efforts should not run afoul of the same mistakes that doomed previous attempts to “rebrand” the Jewish state. As much as the left should embrace Israel for its enlightened stance on gay rights, its willingness to absorb Jews of all color and denomination, and its advanced health-care system, it’s foolish to think any public-relations campaign can ignore the conflict with the Palestinians. Try as they might, Israel’s advocates must never think they can avoid making the case that Israel’s case is just. Liberals who love these aspects of Israeli society and culture must also understand that standing up to those who seek to delegitimize the Jewish state — even when they are allies on other issues — is obligatory, no matter what you think of Netanyahu or the Orthodox rabbinate.
Because so much commentary about Israel in recent years has tended to revolve around the left-right divide, many liberals — and yes, conservatives, too — seem to have forgotten that it is the only liberal and pluralistic democracy in the Middle East.
UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” violators of children’s rights.The list appears as an annex to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.Antifa: the militant wing of authoritarianism
UNICEF-oPt’s partners (“working group”) for this campaign are radical advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These anti-Israel NGOs play an integral role in carrying out UNICEF’s campaign and receive substantial funding from UNICEF to do so.
The UN blacklist consists almost entirely of terror groups and militias from failed states. In essence, by pushing for the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) inclusion on the list, UNICEF and its NGO partners are claiming that Israel’s army is equivalent to ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda.
Several of the Palestinian groups – including Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), which plays a leading role in this campaign – have reported links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – listed as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. UNICEF-oPt states, “UNICEF has a clear policy that is does not fund support (sic) organizations which are listed as terrorist organizations by the United Nations” – a list that excludes Hamas, the PFLP, and Islamic Jihad.
Several UNICEF-oPt NGO partners recommended inclusion of the IDF on the UN blacklist, but absurdly claimed they lacked sufficient evidence to recommend inclusion of the PFLP or Hamas.
A key component of the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict campaign is to end the exploitation and use of children as combatants and child soldiers. Although Palestinian armed groups routinely use children in this way, there is little evidence that UNICEF-oPt funding is devoted towards exposing or ending this practice. In fact, a UNICEF Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) bulletin admits that “In Gaza, the Working Group was not in a position to document cases of child recruitment and use of children in armed conflict owing to a number of factors, including security and protection risks related to collecting comprehensive and detailed information” (emphasis added). This admission of an inability to carry out the core mission of its UN mandate in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza calls into question the necessity and utility of continued funding for the agency in the region.
King’s College London became the latest free-speech battleground last night as a group of so-called anti-fascists shut down a debate between YouTuber Sargon of Akkad and writer Yaron Brook. The campus was evacuated in the ensuing chaos as masked protesters let off smoke bombs and triggered fire alarms. Videos of the event show fights breaking out between audience members and activists.IsraellyCool: BDS Movement Statement on International Women’s Day Says It All
Sargon of Akkad is the pseudonym of Carl Benjamin, a self-professed liberal and YouTuber whose channel has racked up hundreds of millions of views. He is best known for his weekly critiques of political correctness, in his show ‘This Week in Stupid’. Yaron Brook is the chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute and an exponent of Rand’s Objectivist philosophy. He has become controversial for his pro-Israel stance. Neither of these men could by any stretch be called ‘fascists’.
Prior to the event, a Facebook page gave details of a protest planned by five student societies, calling on students to ‘interrupt fascist spaces and organisations’. It argues that inviting ‘white supremacist, neo-fascist speakers’ would be in breach of the students’ union’s ‘commitment to Safe Spaces’. To host the event, it went on, the university ‘would be giving direct licence to the incitement of bigotry and terror across the campus’.
Tamara Berens, communications director for the KCL Libertarian Society and one the main organisers of the event, told spiked that, while the protesters originally failed to materialise (‘they usually arrive before events to occupy rooms’), they stormed past security as the event got underway, throwing smoke bombs, grabbing mics and brawling with security and attendees.
Berens says it is a ‘dark moment for events on campus’ at present, with protesters organising to shut down debates they disagree with. Indeed, this has been a particular problem at King’s in recent years. In January 2016, anti-Israel protesters caused chaos at a talk hosted by the KCL Israel Society. They threw chairs and broke windows until the police evacuated the building. ‘The answer isn’t to ban protests’, Berens says, ‘but we need to have a conversation about how we make sure protests don’t No Platform speakers’.
So according to BDS, it’s all about Israel. No mention of the shabby treatment of women in the palestinian territories due to their own culture and patriarchal society, including:The Holocaust Museum Is Revoking Its Award to Aung San Suu Kyi
Honor killings of palestinian women
Hamas banning a palestinian women’s TV channel
Gaza women being blocked from attending football matches
Women otherwise being marginalized and discriminated against in Gaza
True, they have some equal rights when it comes to murdering Jews
but let’s face it: the BDS movement is about destroying Israel, and not really about building up palestinians. This latest statement is yet another example of this.
For decades, Aung San Suu Kyi was regarded as an international human rights icon. Born in Myanmar (then known as Burma), Suu Kyi rose to prominence after her attempts to erode the power of the deeply unpopular military junta, which ruled the country. She spent fifteen years under house arrest between 1989 and 2010, and her continued efforts earned her numerous accolades as a democratically-minded reformer, a Nobel Prize among them.Exhibit explores persecution of Jews amid brutal response to 1968 Polish revolt
But since Suu Kyi took power in 2016 as the State Counselor (the equivalent of a Prime minister), she has drawn fire from the same human rights groups that once honored her. Among them in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
This week, the museum’s board announced that it has revoked the Elie Wiesel Award that had been given to Suu Kyi, “faulting her for failing to halt or even acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of her country’s Rohingya Muslim minority,” according to The New York Times.
The award is given annually to “an internationally prominent individual whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide and promote human dignity.”
However, over the last two years, the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has been the target of sustained ethnic cleansing. Thousands have been murdered by the military and the Buddhist majority, and over 700,000 have been forced to flee their homes. Many of them are now packed into refugee camps in Bangladesh.
A new exhibition opened Friday in Warsaw that looks at how 1968, a year of youthful rebellion across much of Europe and America, played out behind the Iron Curtain in Poland.Alison Chabloz cross-examined
In the West, young people protested the US war in Vietnam, imperialism, sexism and racism, escalating social conflicts that eventually brought revolutionary change and emancipation to many.
But in communist Eastern Europe, yearnings for freedom and openness were crushed, not only in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia of 1968, but also by a hard-line regime in Poland that cracked down on students protesting censorship and that persecuted Jews.
It would take Eastern Europeans 21 more years — until 1989 — to finally celebrate the crumbling of oppressive regimes that had spied on its citizens, restricted their travel to the West and kept them mired in poverty.
Visitors explore a new exhibition about an anti-Semitic campaign in Poland in 1968 that was the main reaction of the communist regime in power at the time to a student rebellion in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, March 9, 2018.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The Polish anti-Semitic campaign of March 1968, which turned half of the country’s Jews into refugees forced to rebuild their lives in strange new lands, is the main subject of “Estranged: March ’68 and its Aftermath ” at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
On 7 March Alison Chabloz was cross-examined by the CPS’s barrister, Karen Robinson. Grinning and adopting a persona of bemused innocence, Chabloz repeatedly pleaded that her songs – said to be grossly offensive – were artistic creations which should benefit from artistic licence. She even claimed that the use in one song (((Survivors))) of the melody of Hava Nagila had nothing to do with wanting to compound the offensiveness: “How can an artist explain the reasons for a particular inspiration?”French Jews ‘dismayed’ after judge drops charges against Arabs who attacked teen
She didn’t understand the phrase ‘denied the Holocaust’. When it was explained to her, she responded that there should be an official ‘forensic’ investigation into the Holocaust. She questioned whether gas chambers were used. She suggested that the sources for the number of 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust are unsure: it was unlikely to be more than 1 million. Ms Robinson asked her if the Holocaust is a fiction intended to create a Jewish homeland. She responded that it was exaggerated. “A disproportionate amount of blame was put on the losers by the victors.” The “so-called” Holocaust has been used to sustain the “criminal” State of Israel. By sending schoolchildren on trips to Auschwitz and “indoctrinating them into believing in the deathcamps – of which there is no truth – the so-called Holocaust abusers are using emotional weapons to prevent national feelings amongst European people and to demonise the Germans”.
In a police interview Chabloz said: “My grandfather didn’t fight for our towns and cities to be taken over by non-whites and by non-Christians and he didn’t fight for rules that enable two men to get married and adopt children”. She said that diversity is causing great harm to the UK. She said her views were about loving one’s own people, not about hating others. Ms Robinson: “That Ms Chabloz is nothing more than racism”.
A French judge has dropped hate crime charges against Arab teenagers who allegedly assaulted a Jewish teenager outside a synagogue near Paris, a watchdog group said.Yad Vashem launches free online course on antisemitism
The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, protested in a statement on Tuesday the omission from the indictment of the suspects in the February 28 assault in Montmagny.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his intention to combat anti-Semitism in France, which he said was “returning” to society there as evidenced by the proliferation of assaults on Jews and hate speech against them.
“There are hatreds that are rising again, they are the worst kinds of crimes,” Macron said at the annual dinner of the CRIF Jewish umbrella organization.
Jewish groups, including CRIF and BNVCA, have praised the French authorities’ efforts to protect Jews, but also criticized the judiciary’s perceived failure to address the aggravated element of hate crimes in several cases of violence against Jews.
With an onslaught of antisemitic themes prevalent on today's social media, antisemitism is currently entering the private sphere of millions, and acts and rhetoric targeting Jews are still prevalent. Yet for a phenomenon so widespread, its boundaries and expressions often come into debate. As such, Yad Vashem has partnered with FutureLearn to provide a free online course which analyzes the history of antisemitism as well as its current nature and expressions.Caitlyn Jenner receives Jewish group’s ‘Champion of Israel’ award at NY gala
Titled "Antisemitism: From its Origins to the Present," the six-week course investigates over 2,000 years of history, explaining how antisemitism has manifested itself through various eras of the past – including, of course, its ultimate articulation during the Shoah – and its new forms to be grappled with in modern society. The course is centered on video clips by 50 prominent intellectuals and historians, such as Prof. Irwin Colter, EMET prizewinner Prof. Yehuda Bauer and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.
For Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, the course exemplifies the relevancy of the Shoah for generations to come.
"Yad Vashem is charged with disseminating historically accurate information on the Holocaust," stated Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.
"As part of our commitment to strengthening Jewish continuity, we are also resolved to addressing issues related to antisemitism, xenophobia and racism. This course is one of Yad Vashem's many efforts to educate humanity towards a more responsible and tolerant existence."
Transgender television personality and Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner was honored with a “Champion of Israel and LGBTQ rights” award during the sixth annual World Values Network gala on Thursday night in New York.IsraellyCool: WATCH: Caitlyn Jenner’s Love & Admiration For The Jewish People And Israel
The organization, headed by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, aims to annually recognize individuals who “honor human rights and defend the protections and values of democracies like Israel.”
Among the honorees were also former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, and Israel’s representative at the 2017 Miss Universe pageant, Adar Gandelsman. The evening took place in the presence of leaders of the New York Jewish community and representatives of Israel in the United States.
“I really feel like a true measure of a country’s character is how they treat their minorities,” said guest of honor Jenner from the podium in the crowded Plaza Hotel ballroom on Thursday. “For the entire Middle East and the rest of the world, Israel is a beacon of hope.
“In a region where entire religions are banned, women are persecuted, gay men are sentenced to death, Israel is a long-standing refuge for the LGBT people,” she continued.
Caitlyn Jenner just received the Champion of Israel and Human Rights Award at The Sixth Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala in New York.
In her touching speech, she spoke of her special relationship with the Jewish people and Israel, including being touched by her father’s photos from the Holocaust, her own experience at the 1972 Munich Games and what happened to the Israeli athletes there, her love of Jewish family values, and her admiration of Israel and how we look after her minorities.
Thank you for your staunch support, Caitlyn!
Christians emerge as key patrons for Jews moving to Israel
Israel's founding fathers, who etched a commitment to encouraging Jewish immigration into the declaration of independence, might be surprised to find that, seven decades later, the state is partly relying on Christians to fulfill that promise.35,000 race through Jerusalem in capital’s largest-ever marathon
What was once a strictly Jewish-funded mission is increasingly being bankrolled by evangelical Christians. Israel's Christian allies now fund about a third of all immigrants moving to the country, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
The figures reflect the ever-tightening relationship between Israel and its evangelical Christian allies, whom Israel has come to count on for everything from political support to tourism dollars.
"After 2000 years of oppression and persecution, today you have Christians who are helping Jews," said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a group that raises money from evangelical Christians for Jewish causes. "This is an amazing thing."
Israel has long depended on diaspora Jewish communities, especially in the United States, for donations and to lobby their local governments on its behalf. But evangelical communities have become increasingly important.
More than 35,000 runners, including some 4,000 from 72 different countries, joined the Jerusalem Marathon on Friday morning, the largest-ever number to take part in the annual race.
The winner, it was announced shortly after 9:30 a.m., was Kipkogey Shadrack, 27, of Kenya. Shadrack, the reigning champion, finished the race in 2:21.26. The second and third slots also went to African runners: Wendwesen Tilahun Damte of Ethiopia and Ronald Kimeli Kurgat, a Kenyan.
Emily Chepkemoi Samoei took her second straight win among the women. Samoei led a sweep of the top three spots by Kenyan women with a time of 2:52:33, followed by Mercy Jelimo and Naomi Jepngetich.
The half-marathon race kicked off at 6:45 a.m., followed by the full marathon at 7. The 10-kilometer race began at 9:30.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (center), with Kenyan runner Kipkogey Shadrack, 27 (right), who won the 2018 Jerusalem Marathon, March 9, 2018. (Flash90)
The guest of honor at the marathon was Olympic medalist and long-distance running world champion Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia. Gebrselassie holds two Olympic gold medals in 10,000-meter running and four world titles for that same distance, and he was the first in the world to break the 2:04 time for the marathon run.
International runners came from 72 countries — including China, the US, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Lithuania. The city of Hong Kong sent the greatest number of runners from outside Israel, followed by Los Angeles, Beijing and London.
