Saturday, October 13, 2018
Rioters on Gaza border blow hole through fence, attempt attack on IDF
Approximately 14 thousand rioters gathered along the Gaza border on Friday evening.IDF Kills Group of Palestinian Terrorists Who Launched Gaza Border Attack
The rioters threw exlosive devices, grenades and Molotov cocktails, set tires on fire and threw stones at IDF soldiers along the fence.
The IDF fighters responded with open fire according to procedures for dispersing riots.
IDF soldiers recognized several terrorists that climbed over the fence on the southern side of Gaza and into Israel. The terrorists placed an explosive there that set fire to the fence.
Immediately after this, IDF soldiers recognized several terrorists that had entered Israel. They approached an IDF post. The IDF responded with open fire in their direction.
No IDF soldiers were injured and the terrorists were killed.
This is one of the more extreme cases in the last series of riots along the Gaza fence, as terrorists were able to penetrate the fence and arrive in proximity with an IDF post.
A group of Palestinian terrorists set off a bomb on the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Friday and attacked a nearby IDF position.Minister: ‘Hamas is a weak and aggressive enemy — a barking and shouting puppy’
No IDF troops were harmed in the incident. According to the Israeli military, all of the terrorists were killed.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, said 20 terrorists entered Israel through a hole in the border fence created by an improvised explosive device.
A few new details: some 20 terrorists crossed through the hole created by the IED, about 5 assaulted the IDF position and were repelled. This was an ORGANIZED ATTACK, their ultimate intention still unknown. More to follow. https://t.co/NSs4uiJD6k— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) October 12, 2018
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said six Palestinians were killed by the IDF during violent disturbances on the border on Friday.
Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the weekly border riots that have taken place since March to provide cover for attacks.
Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday slammed Hamas for its actions in Gaza, saying it is “using the blood of civilians to provoke international attention.”Hamas leader: We won’t halt Gaza marches for ‘diesel fuel and dollars’
A member of the security cabinet, Gallant told an event in Tel Aviv that Israel will not back down in the face of the actions of the terrorist group.
“If Hamas continues its provocations and this deteriorates into terrorist acts as we have seen, we will take the gloves off,” he threatened, according to Hadashot news. “Hamas will pay a heavy price,” he said.
Gallant, who headed the IDF Southern Command between 2005 and 2010, which included Operation Cast Lead — the three-week-long Gaza war that lasted from late 2008 until early 2009 — claimed the balance of power in the conflict remains in Israel’s hands at a scale of “one thousand to one.”
“They are our weakest and most aggressive enemy, a puppy that barks and shouts,” he said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that the violence at the Gaza border will continue until the “siege on Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and all the lands of Palestine is lifted.”Gaza group unveils first-ever incendiary blimp bound for Israel
“The strength of will and the determination of our people in the March of Return will lead to victory over the crimes of the occupation,” he said during funerals for those killed in the previous day’s border riots. “The blood of the martyrs brings us closer to victory over the Zionist enemy.”
Israel on Friday halted the transfer of fuel to Gaza in response to heavy rioting and attacks at the border fence. Haniyeh said “our marches are not for diesel fuel and dollars, but a natural right of our people.”
Seven Palestinians were reported killed in intense clashes with Israeli security forces along the Gaza border Friday afternoon, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Gaza media outlets said at least 150 protesters were injured.
A Gaza group says it launched the first-ever incendiary blimp towards Israel during Friday’s riots and demonstrations along the Gaza border.
A video circulating in Palestinian media on Saturday showed members of the “Sons of Zouari” group launching the approximately 5-meter device over the border east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
The blimp carried a message in Hebrew that said: “If our fate is to be doomed to suffer, then we will not suffer alone.”
It was not clear if the blimp made it across the border, or started any fires inside Israel.
The blimp was launched amid intense clashes with Israeli security forces Friday afternoon in one of the deadliest days in months of mass protests along the Gaza border.
The Hamas-run health ministry said seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the clashes, and over 140 other injured. The ministry said four were killed in one location, where the IDF said it opened fire on 20 rioters who blew a hole in the border fence and rushed an army post. No Israeli troops were harmed, the army said.
Newly-Passed Act Will Combat Hezbollah Financing, Drug Trafficking and Recruitment Activities
American efforts to cut the flow of funds to the Hezbollah terrorist organization — the Iranian regime’s proxy in Lebanon — took another step forward this week as the Senate passed the boosted Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act.Top US Jewish Groups Welcome Senate’s Approval of Human Shields Act Targeting Hamas and Hezbollah
Previously passed by the House of Representatives in September, the legislation, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday night, strengthens and expands the scope of economic and financial sanctions imposed by earlier legislation in 2015. It targets foreign governments that knowingly provide significant arms, combat or financial support to Hezbollah, as well as foreign individuals and companies that aid its fundraising or recruitment activities.
Among the key provisions are sanctions on foreign individuals and companies that aid Hezbollah’s funding and recruiting drives, including the provision of support to its media outlets, as well as sanctions that target Hezbollah’s criminal empire, especially its drug trafficking activities in Latin America.
The US president is also authorized to strengthen oversight procedures for American banks that maintain specific relationships with foreign banks who operate in parts of the world where there is a Hezbollah presence.
Top US Jewish groups have welcomed the Senate’s passage on Thursday of legislation designed to counter the use of human shields by two main anti-Israel terrorist organizations.Senate approves sanctions against use of human shields
“We applaud the US Senate for unanimously passing the STOP (Sanction Terrorist Operations) Using Human Shields Act, co-authored by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.),” Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP) Chairman Arthur Stark and Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Malcolm Hoenlein said in a statement. “This bill requires the president to identify and impose sanctions on each foreign person who is a member of or acting on behalf of Hezbollah and Hamas who knowingly orders, controls, or otherwise directs the use of civilians to shield military objectives from attack.”
“The bill had 50 bipartisan Senate co-sponsors, and reflects the Senate’s broad consensus to punish all who engage in this inhumane and barbaric practice,” Stark and Hoenlein continued. “We eagerly await the bill’s swift passage through the House of Representatives, President Trump’s signature, and the vigilant implementation of this additional authority.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said it “commends the U.S. Senate for adopting last night the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act (H.R. 3342). The bipartisan legislation — authored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) with an amendment by Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) — mandates sanctions against members of Hamas and Hezbollah responsible for the use of human shields as well as agencies of foreign states that support these groups in this heinous practice.”
“Hamas and Hezbollah are blatantly violating international law by placing their terrorist infrastructure among civilian populations,” AIPAC added. “In any future conflict in Gaza or Lebanon, the lives of innocent civilians will be endangered because of the reckless and illegal behavior of these terrorist organizations.”
“We urge the House of Representatives to adopt this important legislation,” it concluded.
The US Senate has unanimously passed a bipartisan bill that would enact sanctions on those who use human shields in war, including terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.US Senate approves 2 bills sanctioning Hezbollah
The bill, which was approved on Thursday, was authored by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and was co-sponsored by 50 other senators. It was first introduced this past summer.
“I commend the Senate for unanimously passing our bipartisan bill,” Sen. Cruz said on Friday. “Terrorist groups, including Iranian proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, have made the use of human shields a routine tactic. This bill signals to the rest of the world that America will hold accountable anyone who uses civilians as shields to achieve military ends, as well as their enablers. I encourage the House to come together and pass our bill as soon as possible.”
Donnelly, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “I’m proud the Senate has passed my bipartisan legislation, introduced with Senator Cruz, that would impose sanctions on those responsible for the use of human shields. The use of human shields is barbaric and illegal, and terrorist groups – including Hamas and Hezbollah – must be held responsible when they engage in this reprehensible practice.”
The US Senate passed two measures targeting Hezbollah by sanctioning its funders and supporters, as well as those who assist in the Lebanese terror group’s using civilians as human shields.Critics slam UN Human Rights Council’s election of ‘unqualified’ new members
Both bills were approved Thursday with bipartisan sponsorship.
The bill sanctioning funders or those who provide resources to Hezbollah, called the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017, imposes sanctions on government entities that support the group’s armed wing. It also sanctions companies or individuals who aid Hezbollah’s fundraising or recruitment, as well as imposing sanctions on the terror group itself. And it mandates reporting and oversight on support of Hezbollah.
The bill, which was passed by the House last month, “strengthens and expands the scope of economic and financial sanctions imposed by previous legislation,” according to a news release from AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. The bill now awaits US President Donald Trump’s signature.
Critics on Friday slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council for electing ten new members that are either “unqualified” or have “questionable” human rights records.
Around a third of the seats on the 47-member council, based in Geneva, were up for grabs for slots lasting from 2019-2022. A 97-vote majority from the 193 nations that make up the UN’s General Assembly is needed for the green light.
For the first time since the council was created in 2006, each voting region agreed in advance on 18 candidates to be in the running for 18 seats — removing any competition.
New members Bahrain, Cameroon, the Philippines, Somalia, Bangladesh and Eritrea were elected with between 160 and 178 votes — and immediately drew criticism from rights groups dismissing them as “unqualified” due to their human rights records.
The aforementioned countries “systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens, and consistently frustrate UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others,” lamented Hillel Neuer, the head of UN Watch, a Geneva-based nonprofit.
“Electing a regime like Eritrea as a UN judge on human rights would be like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief,” he said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch also slammed the vote.
“By putting forward serious rights violators and presenting only as many candidates as seats available, the regional groups risk undermining the council’s credibility and effectiveness,” it said.
Why dictators actually LOVE the UN Human Rights Council.— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 12, 2018
UNHRC Condemnations, 2006-2016:
🇮🇱 Israel - 68
🇩🇿 Algeria - 0
🇨🇳 China - 0
🇮🇶 Iraq - 0
🇵🇰 Pakistan - 0
🇶🇦 Qatar - 0
🇷🇺 Russia - 0
🇸🇴 Somalia - 0
🇹🇷 Turkey - 0
🇻🇪 Venezuela - 0
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe - 0
Canada gives $50M to UN Palestinian refugee agency that U.S. says is 'flawed'
Canada is contributing $50 million to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency -- after the United States decided to stop funding what it called an "irredeemably flawed" organization.B’nai Brith Questions Yet Another Round of UNRWA Funding from Canada
The new Canadian funds announced today will be allocated over two years to assist the health and education efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA.
The Trump administration decided in August to withdraw US$300 million in support, ending the United States' status as the largest donor for an organization that had been trying to help more than five million Palestinian refugees.
Israel has accused the agency of being biased, fuelling its conflict with the Palestinians and promoting hatred against the Jewish state.
Canada's foreign ministry says the new funds will help bring stability to the region by helping Palestinians cope with poverty, unemployment and food insecurity.
But it also says the money will assist UNRWA with "its ongoing efforts to improve neutrality within the agency and its operations."
"This assistance demonstrates how Canada and UNRWA are working together to ensure respect for the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, operational independence and impartiality," said a statement from Global Affairs Canada.
Canada is earmarking $40 million towards the basic education, health and livelihood needs of millions of Palestinian refugees, especially women and children.
Another $10 million is aimed at helping 460,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon.
The new Canadian funds come two weeks after the European Union pledged an extra US$46 million to UNRWA to support its health and education services.
B'nai Brith Canada is extremely concerned about a decision by the federal government to contribute another $50-million to the United Nations Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).Cabinet set to approve first new homes for Hebron settlers in 16 years
The new Canadian funding, announced Friday, comes shortly after the U.S. government chose to stop supporting what it called an “incredibly flawed organization.”
Last March, Canada decided to provide $10-million to UNWRA, an agency that has been under fire for years for indoctrinating Palestinian youth to violent struggle instead of peace.
B'nai Brith has long expressed concern regarding antisemitism and the promotion of terrorism by UNRWA employees and in its school curriculum. Ample evidence has been provided to Canada's Parliament and to government officials by policy institutes and respected non-governmental organizations questioning the resumption of Canadian funding for UNRWA, absent reforms.
“While we applaud Canada's wish to meet the needs of vulnerable Palestinians, we remain concerned with contributions to UNRWA, as there are no clear signs the critical issues we've discussed in the past have been met with any response,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B'nai Brith Canada.
“We do not see evidence that the reforms we’ve called for have taken place. Canada must explain how taxpayer money allocated to UNRWA is not being diverted for terrorism. According to recent studies, the education materials used in UNRWA schools are still deficient.”
Early last month, B'nai Brith explained its strong concerns in a letter to Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Over many years, B'nai Brith has made clear to successive Canadian governments our serious concerns over the mandate and activities of UNRWA,” the letter read. “In the absence of meaningful reforms, the United States has now suspended its funding of UNRWA. This offers opportunities for Canada to join with those who consider UNRWA a bloated, severely politicized agency that has afforded Palestinian ‘refugees’ attention and terms denied to all other refugee groups. Canada must use this occasion to address UNRWA's deficiencies. B'nai Brith calls for no further UNRWA contributions by Canada.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Thursday that a project for the first new Israeli homes in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron in 16 years will be submitted to cabinet ministers for approval.Armed Palestinian arrested at West Bank checkpoint: ‘I came to kill Jews’
“On Sunday, the cabinet will approve the plan to build 31 housing units in the Hezekiah Quarter of Hebron. The plan, which has already been advanced through various planning stages, [also] includes kindergartens and public parks,” Liberman tweeted.
A defense official told The Times of Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu green-lit the project a year ago, allowing the Civil Administration — the Defense Ministry body that authorizes West Bank construction — to grant building permits for the 31 homes.
However, the project is unique in that it requires turning what is currently an Israeli military base into a residential area, and therefore requires funds from various government ministries. In order to efficiently move forward with the plan, Liberman is having it brought before the cabinet for approval, the defense official said.
The Peace Now settlement watchdog and the Palestinian municipality in Hebron have issued an appeal to the Civil Administration against the project.
The defense official said his office was aware of the appeal and that “a decision will be released soon.”
A 19-year-old Palestinian was arrested Friday after he aroused the suspicions of security guards at a crossing into Israel, who searched him and found he was carrying a knife.
The man, from the West Bank city of Qalqilya, was held after he was stopped at the Eliyahu crossing.
Upon questioning, the man told guards at the checkpoint: “I came here to kill Jews,” the Defense Ministry said. He was arrested and taken for interrogation.
On Thursday two people were injured in a stabbing attack outside a West Bank army base. A 30-year-old reservist soldier is in stable condition after undergoing facial surgery. A civilian woman, 26, was lightly injured in the leg by shrapnel from shots fired at the assailant who fled the scene.
IDF troops aided by Shin Bet and Border Police forces captured the suspected assailant, a 19-year-old Palestinian from the northern West Bank village of Jamma’in, just hours after the attack.
Here's the guy who showed up to work, tied up 2 young co-workers and murdered them treated as a hero in Gaza. #SurelyThisWillFreePalestine pic.twitter.com/ye8iy6FrZy— The Mossad (@TheMossadIL) October 13, 2018
Report: Hezbollah Hacked Into Mobile Devices Worldwide
Hezbollah hackers used “catfishing” techniques on social media to infiltrate mobile devices worldwide, according to a release from the Czech Security Intelligence Service (BIS), as reported by Radio Praha (Prague).Court upholds entry ban on US student accused of supporting Israel boycott
Hezbollah operatives posed as attractive women on Facebook to seduce users into downloading a “more private and secure application.” Those who installed the application gave the hackers access to sensitive information, such as GPS data, photographs, contacts, and communications. The hackers could also secretly enable the recording function on a particular mobile device and spy on the target.
The cyber-attacks originated from the Middle East, the BIS press release said, and focused on targets across Europe and the United States. The Czech intelligence service revealed that it cooperated with international partners to identify and disarm servers used in this particular case of Hezbollah’s cyber espionage campaign.
“The Czech Republic has traditionally been considered as an ally of Israel and the United States in this field and in the past we have seen many Czech activities against Hezbollah,” said Miroslav Mares, a professor of international politics at Masrayk University. “In the previous decade, Czech diplomacy struggled for the addition of this organization [Hezbollah] into the so called ‘EU terrorist list.'”
Hezbollah, with Iran’s help, has ramped up its cyber offensive operations in recent years, allowing the terrorist group and its patron a measure of plausible deniability.
The Tel Aviv District Court on Friday upheld a ban on a US student refused entry and held at the airport for 10 days over her alleged support for anti-Israel boycott efforts, saying the state was acting legitimately to protect itself.ADL, J Street and Reform movement back student BDS activist barred by Israel
She now faces deportation, but will be allowed to stay until at least Sunday, so that she can appeal her case to Israel’s Supreme Court if she so chooses.
The case of Lara Alqasem has been one of the most resonant and controversial since a 2017 Israeli law banned entry to supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which advocates a boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
On Thursday morning, Alqasem appeared in court to appeal the decision to prevent her entering for a study program at Hebrew University. Announcing its decision Friday, the judge said that the government’s entry ban was in accordance with the law.
In its ruling, the court said that “any self-respecting state defends its own interests and those of its citizens, and has the right to fight against the actions of a boycott… as well as any attacks on its image.”
Several progressive American Jewish groups have given their support to a US student refused entry to Israel and held at the airport for 10 days over her alleged support for anti-Israel boycott efforts, saying the move undermined Israel’s democracy.The Washington Post Whitewashes BDS and Ignores Palestinian Terrorism
The case of Lara Alqasem has been one of the most resonant and controversial since a 2017 Israeli law banned entry to supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which advocates a boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
On Friday, a Tel Aviv court upheld the government ban, saying the state was acting legitimately to protect itself. Alqasem now faces deportation, but will not be required to leave before Sunday and may choose to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a statement Thursday to JTA, an Anti-Defamation League spokesperson said Israel should open its democratic society to its opponents.
“We stand by our earlier position that Israel’s democracy, pluralism, and open society serve as one of the best arguments against the BDS movement,” said the ADL, which has previously criticized the boycott entry ban.
“We believe that enabling people to see and experience Israel for themselves is the best antidote to those who seek to de-legitimize and demonize it.”
Statements from the Reform movement and J Street U, J Street’s college arm, likewise said that barring Alqasem does not accord with Israel’s democratic values.
“The Reform Movement categorically opposes BDS,” Rabbi Joshua Weinberg, the Union for Reform Judaism vice president for Israel and Reform Zionism, said in a statement Wednesday. “But at the same time, we believe this type of blunt and shortsighted approach toward activists who pose no security threat is inconsistent with Israel’s commitment to an open and free democracy.”
“As pro-Israel, pro-peace American Jewish student activists, we strongly oppose attempts to silence and repress college students or any other individuals on the basis of non-violent political views and activities,” J Street U wrote in a letter Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, who heads the state’s anti-boycott activities.
On Oct. 7, 2018, a Palestinian terrorist entered the Barkan Industrial Park, located near Ariel, and murdered two Israelis, Kim Levengrod Yehezkel and Ziv Hajibi, and shot and wounded another victim, Sara Vituri. The terrorist, Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alowa, fled the scene and Israeli authorities are in pursuit. Na’alowa and his victims, Yehezkel and Hajibi, worked in the Alon Group, one of several businesses located in the Barkan Industrial Park, where an estimated 8,000 Israelis and Palestinians work.NY Times Downplays Anti-Israel Activism, Errs on Palestinian Refugees
As of this writing, The Washington Post’s Jerusalem bureau—whose former head, William Booth, once claimed that the paper covers every terror attack in Israel—has failed to report the murders. Instead the paper has devoted column space to misleading about the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) effort and its supporters.
Misleading on BDS
An Oct. 8, 2018 Post report by Jerusalem-based reporter Ruth Eglash described BDS activities as merely ranging from “discouraging the purchase of goods produced in Israeli settlements to pressuring international companies not to conduct business in Israel and urging celebrities not to visit or perform in the Jewish state (“Israel is refusing entry to an American student because she once supported a boycott).”
The article detailed Israel’s refusal to grant entry to Lara Alqasem, a former chapter president of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Florida. Alqasem claims that she is hoping to start a law degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. SJP supports BDS and so has Alqasem. As The Post noted, the refusal to grant her entry is based on a 2017 law barring entry to foreign nationals who “publicly back or call for any kind of boycott — economic, cultural or academic — against Israel or its West Bank settlements.”
You’d have a hard time finding anyone who would deny that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is an anti-Israel group.Swarthmore College SJP Launches Anti-Israel Divestment Campaign, Drawing Opposition From Zionist Students
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent civil-rights NGO dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, SJP is “the primary organizer of anti-Israel events on U.S. college campuses,” and “has consistently demonized Israel.” Indeed, it is among “the worst of the worst” of radical groups that slur the Jewish state, the ADL argued in a document about anti-Israel activism. Jonathan Schanzer, a senior official with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a former terror finance analyst with the U.S. Treasury Department, has documented disturbing links between SJP and Hamas-affiliated organizations.
But according to the New York Times, even being the president of an SJP chapter isn’t quite enough to establish one’s anti-Israel bona fides. In a piece about Lara Alqasem, a former SJP president at University of Florida who was controversially barred from entering Israel earlier this month, the Times told readers that “Ms. Alqasem’s credentials as an anti-Israel activist are far from clear-cut.” The article cited Alqasem’s study of Hebrew and her attendance at a lecture by a Holocaust survivor, though it did not elaborate on why a well-credentialed anti-Israel activist wouldn’t want to learn Hebrew or about the Holocaust.
Nor did the piece mention the ADL’s unflattering assessment of SJP, or share that Alqasam’s branch of SJP approvingly quoted the assertion that Israel’s “days are numbered” right around the time Alqasem was preparing to run for the group’s presidency. To many observers, this is information that certainly points to Alqasam being a “clear-cut” anti-Israel activist.
Students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania launched a boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel earlier this week, drawing concern from Zionist peers.Rutgers Cancels Lisa Daftari Speech After Accusations of Islamophobia
Speaking on campus before dozens of students, members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on Tuesday accused Israel of a litany of abuses before announcing their latest initiative.
Mohammed Bappe — a junior who read a letter authored by a peer, who refrained from speaking publicly because of “the surveillance system of the US and Israeli army” — claimed that Israel’s recent nation-state law, which determined that the Jewish people will have the unique right to exercise the collective right to self-determination in the country, had “legally confirmed” apartheid.
Bappe also asserted that on May 14 — when the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem — “over 50 Palestinians engaging in peaceful, nonviolent protest [by the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel] were brutally murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces.”
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, the number of fatalities that day topped 60 — at least 53 of whom were independently claimed as members by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which portrayed the riots as an opportunity to breach Israeli territory. Of the estimated 40,000 protesters — some of whom were filmed throwing firebombs, flying flaming kites, and burning tires to create smokescreens — about 2,500 were reported injured, among them minors and over a dozen paramedics.
“We will not stand by as our college funds an apartheid state,” Bappe continued. “For this reason we are excited to announce that the launch of Swarthmore’s boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign will officially take place this year.”
Rutgers University canceled a speaking event for Lisa Daftari, a regular Fox News contributor and journalist with expertise in the Middle East, foreign affairs and counterterrorism, after some students accused her of Islamophobia.Ben Jealous Stance on BDS Depends on Who’s Asking
Daftari, a Rutgers alumna and Iranian Jew, was scheduled to give a speech on Oct. 16 titled “Radicalism on College Campuses” and discuss free speech at universities. Some students objected to Daftari’s speaking event; Adeel Ahmad, who studies Art & Science at Rutgers and is the president of the university’s RU Progressives organization, started a petition accusing her of being an “Islamophobe”:
In a [2015] speech at The Heritage Foundation, Daftari remarked “Islamic terror takes its guidance and teachings from the Quran, which is Sharia law.” She went on to say, “When you go to the mosque and you’re part of a community, and you want to feel important and relevant, and want to give back to the cause — [ISIS] recruits you. You say- I can be an ISIS wife.” This statement, equating Muslims everywhere with ISIS, is undoubtedly hate-mongering. This is only a small sample of the type of harmful rhetoric Daftari has advanced and shared on various media platforms.
Rutgers University Student Assembly passed a resolution denouncing the school inviting Daftari to campus.
Daftari defended her comments to The Daily Targum, Rutgers’ campus newspaper, stating, “The quote they have attributed to me is part of a much longer talk about ISIS recruitment practices in which I recommend working together with the Muslim communities in America to isolate extremism. I have always differentiated between Muslim people versus the distortion of Islam in politics and radicalism.”
In a video of the speech cited by the petition, Daftari stated, “Islamic terror, as we know, claims to take its teachings and its guidance from the Quran, which is Sharia Law.” Before that, Daftari said, “What ISIS claims to be doing is to take the Quran and its teachings and Sharia law in a very literal way. What others, more moderates claim is that they’ve hijacked [the religion].”
Navigating the issue of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has proved challenging for Democrat Ben Jealous in his Maryland run for governor.From the Kovno Ghetto to the Green Berets
Jealous is running to unseat Gov. Larry Hogan (R., Md.), a popular incumbent who last year signed an executive order banning the state from doing business with companies that join the movement to boycott Israel.
Jealous, who as an activist traveled in circles with anti-Israel radicals such as Linda Sarsour, was asked about Hogan's anti-BDS executive order by a Baltimore-based Jewish publication and said he would keep it in place if elected.
"I have found that success is never built by trying to punish one side of a conflict," Jealous told JMORE during a September interview. "That is why I believe the BDS movement is counterproductive and simply another hindrance to peace."
"I would not rescind Maryland's anti-BDS executive order, so long as the executive order withstands any court challenges," he said.
Jealous failed to come out against BDS, however, during a meeting with Muslim voters last weekend when he was asked whether he would rescind Hogan's executive order.
Jealous said he was "very confident" the courts would find Hogan's executive order unconstitutional, but would consider rescinding it if the courts uphold the order, which is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Jealous did not say a single negative word about the BDS movement, according to video of the question and answer posted by the Muslim Community Center, which can be viewed below.
Sidney Shachnow survived the Holocaust and became a highly decorated combat veteran and top officer in the U.S. Army Special Forces. He retired from the Army as a major general in 1994 after 32 years of service. Last month, on Sept. 27, Shachnow died at his home in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He was 83.
In 1941 the Nazis invaded Lithuania, displaced the occupying Soviets, and forced the country’s Jews into ghettos where most were later killed or sent to the camps. Lithuania’s second largest city is now known as Kaunas but it was still called Kovno in the war years and was home to a large Jewish community that dated to the early 15th century. Sidney Shachnow was 7 years old in 1941, when the Nazis arrived and forced him and his family, along with tens of thousands of other Jews, into the Kovno ghetto.
The Shachnow family was soon broken up. From a New York Times article written in 1992: “Sidney’s father escaped, fighting with partisans against the Nazis; his mother was sent to a concentration camp.” The boy, Sidney, spent three years in a work camp dodging death and doing hard labor. Shachnow would later write of escaping the camp only days before “The Children’s Action” of March 1944, when some 1,300 young people and elderly were marched to their death in mass executions at The Ninth Fort or in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
The Shachnows survived, found each other after the war, and emigrated to America where they settled in Salem, Massachusetts. After dropping out of high school and alienating his parents by marrying his Catholic girlfriend, Sidney enlisted in the Army as a private. He worked his way up, climbing through the noncommissioned officer ranks before entering officer candidate school in 1960 as a sergeant first class.
A mind-boggling story. And you know what’s even more mind-boggling? It’s not all that uncommon. There are countless such stories — each of them heart-stopping. https://t.co/GL2YFnWaeE— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) October 13, 2018
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