Saturday, November 17, 2018

11/17 Links: Melanie Phillips: The muddled obsessions of progressive American Jews; Ben Shapiro: The Only Proper Response To Anti-Semitism; What is Europe without Jews?

From Ian:
Melanie Phillips: The muddled obsessions of progressive American Jews
Having spent the past week or so in Los Angeles, I have been struck once again by the deep anxiety in the American Jewish community over the intensifying demonization of Israel on campus and over self-styled progressive Jews.

I have also been exposed to the even more intense divisions within that community over President Donald Trump. One of the most bizarre conceits among those who hate him is that he’s an antisemite, or at the very least knowingly encourages antisemites.

A guest of the Hanukkah celebration at the White House last year told me he had the opportunity to observe the president up close.

Surrounded by Jewish friends and Republican colleagues, Trump said proudly when his family arrived: “Here are my Jewish grandchildren.” It was simply inconceivable, said my informant, that anyone could seriously believe there was an antisemitic bone in his body.

For those who hate him, however, it’s as if all the evils and problems in the world are somehow his fault. It’s not simply a question of loathing his uncouthness or finding his personality objectionable. He has become their obsession. He occupies their every waking thought. He is their personal demon.

The same people, however, are overwhelmingly silent about the antisemites and Israel-bashers in the Democratic Party, more of whom have been elected to Congress in the mid-terms.

There’s silence from such quarters over Ilhan Omar, elected in Minnesota and who has said: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

Silence over Rashida Tlaib, elected for a Michigan seat and who, asked if she would vote against military aid to Israel, replied: “Absolutely … I will be using my position in Congress so that no country, not one, should be able to get aid from the U.S. when they still promote that kind of injustice.”

Silence, too, over Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, despite their support for Louis Farrakhan who raves about “satanic” Jews.
Ben Shapiro: Intersectionality Leads To Ignoring Anti-Semitism. Here's Why.
On Friday, Batya Ungar-Sargon, opinion editor of the Left-wing Jewish publication The Forward, tweeted her disappointment at the behavior of Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour. Sarsour, a longtime anti-Semite, issued a statement in support of Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar, who is herself an anti-Semite who supports boycott against Israel designed to destroy the Jewish State; in the past, she’s tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Sarsour, angry at Leftists who have called on Omar to recant, tore into “folks who masquerade as progressives but always choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech.”

This charge of dual loyalty is textbook anti-Semitism; it’s also wildly illogical, given that Left-leaning people are in favor of downplaying Left-wing anti-Semitism so as to promote the intersectional ideal (Ungar-Sargon’s piece on the topic is an incredible exercise in logical pretzling to avoid the obvious conclusion that Omar is a BDS supporter). Here was Ungar-Sargon tweeting her disappointment:


Herein lies the problem for those in the Jewish community who embrace intersectionality: the very tenets of intersectionality tend toward downplaying and pooh-poohing anti-Semitism. That’s because intersectionality posits that all inequality is the result of power hierarchies reflecting differential privilege of group identities. If one group is more powerful than another in some way, that’s because the group has benefitted from a power hierarchy. The intersectional coalition is directed at destroying the hierarchy, which is presumed to be based on maintenance of white, male, straight power.
Ben Shapiro: Only Proper Response To Anti-Semitism


Linda Sarsour Accuses Jews Who Oppose Anti-Semitic Muslim Congresswoman Of Having Dual Loyalties
This week, Omar revealed in an interview with the “Muslim Girl” website that she supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) that targets Israel. As Jordan Schachtel of Conservative Review noted, “The statement marked a stark reversal from Omar’s previous position on BDS. Prior to the election, Omar told Minnesota Jews that she was opposed to the boycott movement. Aaron Bandler of The Jewish Journal reported Omar said that BDS wasn’t “helpful in getting that two-state solution … I think the particular purpose for [BDS] is to make sure that there is pressure, and I think that pressure really is counteractive. Because in order for us to have a process of getting to a two-state solution, people have to be willing to come to the table and have a conversation about how that is going to be possible and I think that stops the dialogue.”

The charge of dual loyalty against Jews goes back thousands of years to the story of Esther, when Haman, the anti-Semitic right-hand man of the Persian king Ahasuerus, who wanted to eradicate the Jews, said, “there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the poples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from every other people’s and they do not observe the king’s laws; therefore it is not befitting the king to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let it be recorded that they be destroyed.”

That slur was echoed by Flaccus, the Roman governor of Alexandria Egypt, in the first century, who tried to appease rioters targeting the Jews who were successful there. The charge persisted through the centuries; in the late 19th century he French, during the Dreyfus affair, launched charges that the Jews had dual loyalties. Ironically, it was the Dreyfus affair that convinced Theodor Herzl, a secular Jew, to realize the Jews could not live freely in Europe and spearhead the movement for the reestablishment of the state of Israel. The charge was used in the Stalinist Soviet Union; echoes of it were promulgated after the 1991 Gulf War and the Iraq war.



Ireland, Colombia, and Israel: Not Birds of a Feather
Two former Irish government officials who visited Israel recently declared that they know the way to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict: Both sides just need “leaders who genuinely want to resolve the issues,” they announced. Gee, why have the rest of us never thought of that before?

Sometimes, I marvel at the number of foreigners who believe that they have come up with the magical solution for peace in the Middle East. You hear such drivel from journalists like Thomas Friedman, who seems to believe that he was born with the unique wisdom to solve every international problem, and from Jewish left-wing “peace” groups that genuinely believe they are the only ones in the Jewish community who want peace. Believe me, they are not.

Most of all, you hear it from ex-diplomats. Those who have been involved in negotiating in one part of the world seem to assume that they are therefore uniquely equipped to negotiate any situation or conflict.

The worst, of course, are the former US diplomats who spent more than 20 years trying to shove a Palestinian state down Israel’s throat in the name of “peace.” These days, practically every major newspaper article about some aspect of Arab-Israeli diplomacy includes some obnoxious comment from one or more of these “experts.”

Dennis Ross, Aaron Miller, Daniel Kurtzer, Martin Indyk, and David Makovsky were all complete failures at “peace processing,” yet now they have full-time jobs at think tanks and on well-paid speaking tours, where they berate Israel for not making enough concessions. In any other field, a track record of decades of failure would disqualify such a person from posing as an expert. But for these gentlemen, haranguing Israel has become a lucrative and never-ending profession.
What is Europe without Jews?
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz recently stated, “Europe without Jews cannot be Europe.” His country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of this year. Austria is organizing a conference on antisemitism on November 20-21 jointly with the European Jewish Congress in Vienna.

Kurz’s statement should be investigated in some detail. Since the Second World War, Jews have once again held very senior positions in a number of Western European countries. France, Austria and Switzerland have had Jewish prime ministers. Belgium has had a Jewish deputy prime minister. There have been Jewish ministers in the UK, France, Ireland, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands. The UK and France currently have Jewish ministers. In the UK, both the Conservative and Labour parties have had Jewish leaders while their party was in opposition. Is there, however, anything specifically Jewish about the way these people performed their duties?

One can play with models. If one theoretically assumes that all Jews will leave Europe, what of importance would happen to the continent? The jobs held by Jews would be taken by others. Similarly, others might continue part of the Jews’ businesses. New residents would live in the houses and apartments formerly occupied by Jews. The absence of some Jews might be felt for a few years. The German occupation of many European countries during the Second World War has shown that societies can continue to function almost painlessly without Jews. Then Jews were expelled rapidly. Nowadays their departure, unlikely to be total, would be gradual.

If one wants to analyze whether Europe without Jews will indeed still be Europe or not, one must investigate in other directions. A major traditional symbolic role of Jews has been as scapegoats in European societies. That is now shared with immigrants. If Jews were to leave, radical Muslims and extreme rightists would have to vent their violence exclusively on others.
Is Spain really ready to become a haven for people with Jewish roots?
Blaming President Donald Trump for a resurgence of racism in America, some Hispanics are seeking Spanish citizenship based on their Jewish roots, according to The New York Times.

An article identifying several such individuals, including one Albuquerque, New Mexico, woman who was raised Catholic, appeared Tuesday. The Times reported an increase in interest by non-Jews from the United States and Latin America who, for various reasons, have applied for a Spanish passport based on a 2015 law that Spain passed to atone for the expulsion of Jews during the Inquisition. Portugal passed similar legislation a year earlier.

The article raises several interesting questions, including whether those seeking to flee racism in the United States would do well to immigrate under a law with strong Jewish connotations to Spain — a country whose society has a strong tradition of anti-Semitism that surveys consistently suggest isn’t going away anytime soon.

But a more practical question concerns the very feasibility of what The Times article describes as an “exit strategy” for American Hispanics who are not Jewish.
André Azoulay Is the Most Powerful Jew in the Muslim World
Shortly after the death of Rabbi Hayyim Pinto in 1845 his former caretaker, a Muslim peasant named Malika, saw Pinto in a dream. The rabbi asked her to look after his grave, which is perched over wind-lashed cliffs a few hundred yards outside the walls of Essaouira, in southern Morocco. I’m poor, she replied. Who will look after me? Don’t worry, Pinto told her: His followers and pilgrims to his tomb would make sure she had more than enough to survive, and would see that her descendants were taken care of, too. A rabbi from New York told me this story as over 1,500 Jews from France, the United States, Israel, Canada, and Argentina gathered around the rabbi’s tomb, just after midnight on his yahrzeit this past August.

Rabbi Hayyim Pinto’s grave is in the middle of Essaouira’s Jewish cemetery, inside a domed chamber with polished marble floors and sweeping views of the Atlantic. The tomb is remarkably ornate, more beautiful than the graves of the Ari or the Rashbi or a dozen other arguably more important rabbis. From Pinto’s tomb the entire city looks like it’s emerging from clouds of sea mist.

There are between 2,000 and 3,000 Jews left in Morocco, down from a community of over a quarter-million at the beginning of the 20th century. Because Morocco’s Jews faced little in the way of organized persecution—because the country was often a safe haven from persecution—a mutual pride endures among non-Jewish Moroccans and the many Moroccan-descended Jews who now live outside the country’s borders. Jewish ghosts visit with Muslims in their dreams, and boys in the melah of Marrakesh offer directions to the Slat Al Azama synagogue in Hebrew. “Everyone here has gotten a miracle from Rav Hayyim Pinto,” a pilgrim beamed as crowds snaked toward the tomb, waves thundering in the darkness.

Earlier that day there had been Shabbat services under a large tent outside the old city walls; a few days before, Rabbi David Pinto recited the Birkat Hamelech with King Mohammed VI in attendance. These are public expressions of Judaism that would be unwelcome or even dangerous in just about any other Arab country and in a few European ones as well. For most of the day there hadn’t been a single metal detector or rifle-wielding commando in eyeshot.
Stand With Us: Tunisia discrimination


Hamas TV Station Is a Legitimate Target
Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza fired more than 460 missiles and rockets targeting communities in southern Israel on Monday and Tuesday, killing one person, injuring at least 108 others, and sending tens of thousands running for shelter.

Israel’s military responded with coordinated strikes targeting roughly 160 terrorist sites, including the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV and radio stations.

Israel’s critics, including journalist Glenn Greenwald, lambasted Israel for destroying Hamas media outlets during the latest escalation of violence. Greenwald said that the Israelis are “not even pretending this was accidental; they admit they were targeted.”

But enemy media and communications infrastructure can be justifiable targets in an armed conflict.

For example, an International Criminal Tribunal committee, created to review NATO’s bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia, argued that if media stations are used to incite crimes, then they can be a legitimate target for military action.

Al-Aqsa is Hamas’ main media outlet which — like other Palestinian institutions — offers programs specifically geared to recruit children to embrace and commit terrorism, and become suicide bombers to attack innocent Israeli civilians.

These stations also help Hamas communicate with its fighters.
Hamas Gaza chief to Israel: Don’t test us again, next barrage will hit Tel Aviv
Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar on Friday warned Israel “not to test us again,” saying the next rocket barrage from the territory would target Tel Aviv and other central cities with a potency that would “surprise” Israel.

He also warned that the next time Israeli soldiers entered the Strip, they would only return through a prisoner exchange for “thousands of prisoners.”

Speaking at a ceremony honoring the seven gunmen killed during a firefight on Sunday with Israeli undercover special forces, Sinwar pulled out a handgun with a silencer which he said belonged to one of the special forces troops.

One Israel soldier, identified only as Lt. Col. Mem, was killed and another injured in the fight.

Sinwar mocked Israel for assuming its decision to allow fuel and Qatari funds into Gaza before the latest flareup — as part of Egyptian-mediated efforts to achieve a long-term truce — would prevent his group from launching a large-scale attack against the Jewish state.

“What did the Israeli leadership think when it allowed in fuel and Qatari funds? … That we would sell out our blood for diesel and dollars? They’ve been disappointed, and their goals have failed,” he said.
Hamas warns of consequences should Israel walk back economic steps — report
A delegation of Egyptian intelligence officials left the Gaza Strip Saturday, having participated in meetings with Hamas officials since Thursday to discuss stabilizing the security situation and efforts to establish a long-term calm with Israel.

Meanwhile Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that Hamas is concerned that Israel will take a tougher stance on Gaza following the past week’s violent conflict, and may walk back moves it has made to ease the economic plight in the enclave.

A source in the terror group told the paper that such action “would be a declaration of war and our response will be strong and more intense than previously.”

Hamas officials voiced their concern to Egyptian officials but were assured there was no change Israel’s position regarding understandings previously reached, the report said. The Egyptians, meanwhile, demanded that Hamas continue to restrain border demonstrations and keep them away from the security fence.

As part of efforts to secure a long-term ceasefire, earlier this month Israel allowed Qatar to send funds into Gaza meant to pay salaries of Palestinian civil servants in the Strip.
Egyptian intelligence officials attend Hamas rally
In an unprecedented move, Egyptian intelligence officials on Friday attended a Hamas rally for the Palestinians who were killed in last week’s clash with an elite IDF unit in the southern Gaza Strip. The Egyptian officials also offered condolences to the families of the slain Palestinians, including Hamas military commander Sheikh Nur Baraka.

The visit, the first of its kind, is seen as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Egyptians toward Hamas. The delegation, which is headed by Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, head of the “Palestinian Portfolio” in Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, left the Gaza Strip on Saturday after holding talks with leaders of Hamas and several Palestinian groups.

The rally, which was held in Khan Yunis, was organized by Hamas’s military wing, Izaddin al-Qassam. Abdel Khaleq was filmed with masked members of Qassam. He also appeared offering condolences to the families of the seven Palestinians killed by the IDF and kissing the hands of some of their children.

The Egyptian official received a warm welcome as he arrived at the rally together with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.


Business as Usual as UN Committee Passes Nine Resolutions Slamming Israel in Single Day
A special committee of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted in favor of nine resolutions attacking the State of Israel — with the rest of the world left unmentioned.

The resolutions were passed in quick succession by the General Assembly’s “Fourth Committee,” which is also known as the “Special Political and Decolonization Committee.”

While the committee’s mandate covers a host of disconnected issues from peacekeeping to the uses of outer space, much of the focus of its work concerns the Palestinian question. In political terms, the committee is a significant source of support for UNRWA, the UN body dedicated solely to Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants. It also operates the “The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories” — which created in 1968 at the instigation of the Soviet Union and its Arab allies.

Friday’s resolutions saw Israel condemned for alleged human rights abuses, its “occupation” of eastern Jerusalem, and its “occupation” of the Golan Heights captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. The ongoing civil war in Syria itself, and the continuing abuse of human rights in the devastated Arab country, made no appearance in Friday’s deliberations.

One resolution completely ignored Palestinian violence as it emphasized “the responsibility of Israel, the occupying Power, to investigate all acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians and their properties and to ensure accountability for these acts.”
Austrian FM vows to stand up for Israel, which is currently boycotting her
Austria’s foreign minister, who is boycotted by Israel due to her affiliation with the far-right Freedom Party, on Thursday vowed to fight against anti-Zionism and to stand up for the Jewish state in international forums.

Israelis are somewhat justified in feeling that the European Union treats their state unfairly, Karin Kneissl said, pledging to change that.

“I know that many Israelis feel that — while there exist strong bilateral ties with a number of European countries — the relationship with the EU on a whole never quite lives up to its full potential,” she told The Times of Israel in an exclusive interview. “And there is something to that.”

Israel is often held to a higher standard than other countries, she said, adding that Europe’s relations with the Jewish state “could need an injection of some more realism.”

Austria, which is currently holding the EU presidency, is “actively working” toward that goal, she asserted.

“Israel’s neighbors are not Switzerland and Liechtenstein, it would do Europe good to remember this sometimes.”

She also spoke about the need to confront both anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism and expressed satisfaction over proposed legislation that would grant descendants of Austrian Holocaust survivors Austrian citizenship.

So far, Kneissl’s overture has not been reciprocated by the Israeli government, but that may change soon.
LABOR’S 54-KILOMETRE PALESTINIAN PANIC ATTACK
There has long been an element within the Australian Labor Party that elevates the Palestinian cause far above Australia’s deep and abiding historical support for Israel.

Labor’s pro-Palestinian wing is largely led by former Foreign Minister and ex-NSW Premier Bob Carr, who is presently upset by a proposal that Australia move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the nation’s capital, Jerusalem.

“Australia has rewarded a nationalist Israel spreading settlements, all illegal under international law,” Carr wrote online. “And we blow our influence with Malaysia and Indonesia. The Israel lobby must be flushed with success!”

Carr tends to see the power of that lobby in many government decisions. He could be more than slightly fixated. Carr also took issue with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s exposure of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s frequent and vile anti-Semitism.

So when Mahathir weighs in on Australia’s Jerusalem proposal, we know exactly where he is coming from. Speaking after meeting Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week, Mahathir claimed that our embassy relocation would provoke terrorism.

“Adding to the cause for terror­ism is not going to be helpful,” he said. “In dealing with terrorism, one has to know the causes.”

If moving an embassy 54km up the road is a terrorism cause, then just about everything is a terrorism cause. And Australia should not frame any of our policies around the demands of those who so deliberately take offence.

According to Labor leader Bill Shorten, even discussing an embassy shift makes Australia “look stupid”. He is profoundly incorrect. Our embassy decisions are Australia’s alone.
Elite IDF Officer Wounded in Blown Undercover Gaza Op Sent Home From Hospital in ‘Good Condition for rehabilitation'
An Israeli military officer who was seriously wounded in last Sunday’s blown special forces mission inside the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was released from Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on Friday.

In Sunday’s incident, another IDF officer — Lt. Col. M — was killed. Six Palestinian terrorists, including a local Hamas commander, also lost their lives in the exchange of fire that erupted after a group of elite Israeli soldiers conducting an undercover mission were exposed deep in enemy territory.

A doctor at Soroka said the wounded officer, after undergoing a complex surgical procedure and being held in an intensive care unit, was sent home on Friday in “good condition for rehabilitation.”
Israel denies reported progress on prisoner swap with Hamas
Efforts by Egyptian and German mediators have led to substantial progress in indirect talks for a prisoner swap between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, an Arabic news site reported Saturday, a report swiftly denied by a senior Israeli source.

Quoting unnamed Egyptian diplomatic sources, Khaleej Online said a German mediator has held secret talks in the Middle East in recent weeks to help advance a potential prisoner exchange.

The report said Israel consented to Hamas’s demand for the release of Palestinians who have been rearrested since they were freed in 2011 as part of a deal in which Israel exchanged 1,027 terrorists for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured and held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip or five years.

The Egyptian officials said Israeli negotiators visited Egypt last week and were expected to travel to Cairo in the next two weeks for further talks on a prisoner swap, according to the report.

The news site named the German mediator as Ernst Orlau, an intelligence official who was involved in the Shalit deal and other exchange talks between Israel and regional terror groups.
Jordanians angered by Netflix project filming Amman as Tel Aviv
The filming in Jordan of a new Netflix project based in Tel Aviv has sparked anger among Jordanians who oppose the country’s ties with Israel.

Images and video uploaded to social media showed a street in the capital Amman in which the sign was replaced with one of a street in Tel Aviv and the license plates on cars were swapped out for Israeli ones.

Local production for the project is being handled by Jordanian company Desert Motion Pictures and filming is taking place at over 50 locations in Amman, according to reports in the Arabic-language media.

It was unclear from the reports whether the filming is for a Netflix series or movie.

Though the two countries have a peace treaty, ties with Israel are unpopular among much of the public in Jordan and the images of the Israeli street sign and license plates were met with anger by many on social media.


Hezbollah money laundering has a 'safe home in Germany'
Lax German illicit terror finance policies permitted the US and EU proscribed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah to run a vast criminal enterprise to raise funds through a money laundering operation in Europe and South America. French prosecutors put fifteen members of the criminal organization on trial on Tuesday in Paris.

According to three German media outlets--NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung--two of the accused men lived in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and an additional two men charged lived near the city-state of Bremen in northern Germany.

The members of the crime ring are charged with laundering Columbian narcotics money via a complex finance evasion scheme with the aid of the Lebanese Diaspora.

"Germany is an ideal location for organized money laundering, Sven Giegold, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, said, according to a report on Wednesday in the paper Westfälischen Nachrichten .

He said that "It is fully acceptable that one can pay cash for luxury goods or real estate. There are also no legal limits on the use of cash, " adding that "Cash from dirty sources has a safe home in Germany."


Anti-Israel CAIR Leader Who Slammed Interfaith Dialogue Wins Community Award
Last month, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) leader Zahra Billoo said that “pro-Israel work is pro-terror, pro-violence … and pro-apartheid.”

Days later, Billoo received the Community Builder Award from People Acting in Community Together (PACT) during the organization’s annual leadership event.

Billoo’s views, however, do not sound like those of someone who promotes societal cohesion or inclusion.

Originally rescinding Billoo’s award in June, PACT caved to pressure from religious and civic figures and reversed its decision.

But before agreeing to accept the award, Billoo said that she forced PACT to “acknowledge that the Palestinian struggle is inextricably connected to our collective liberation.”

It’s ironic that Billoo received public recognition as a “community builder” given her history of propagating radical Islamist and antisemitic remarks.

Earlier this month, Billoo openly stoked division by drawing a line in the sand between who is a legitimate Muslim leader and who she says is not.

“I’m really cautious of who I call a Muslim leader,” Billoo said at a gathering with the Ecumenical Peace Institute, warning others to be aware “as you see countries in the Middle East, and even Muslim activists in the United States, take problematic positions supporting the State of Israel or opposing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.”

For Billoo, one cannot be a Muslim leader or activist while opposing a boycott campaign targeting the world’s sole Jewish state.
Jewish students present claims of antisemitism to Connecticut school board
Students at a high school in Connecticut say they have been subject to antisemitic hate and do not feel safe.

Some 50 students at Amity High in Woodbridge, many of them Jewish, attended the Board of Education meeting on Monday night and cried as they spoke about the abuse they have suffered at the hands of fellow students involved in a school sport.

While the students said that antisemitism has grown at Amity High in recent years, they charged that school officials have done little to deal with it, the New Haven Register reported.

The examples presented by the students included statements such as “These Jews deserve to die” and “we are the Nazis,” as well as swastikas found drawn and carved on surfaces throughout the school. Also, the homes of Jewish families in the area have been vandalized and egged.

Students also said they did not feel safe wearing Jewish symbols or shirts bearing the names of Jewish organizations.

Following the meeting, the interim superintendent of schools, James Connelly, released a letter to the school community in which he pledged that the district “will not tolerate this type of harassment and will investigate and take disciplinary action against students who demonstrate unacceptable behavior. We will also cooperate and coordinate with the local police department in some of these investigations.”
Michael Lumish: This Week on Nothing Left
This week Michael Burd and Alan Freedman chat live with USA blogger Michael Lumish on the west coast of America about the recent mid-term election, and then hear an interview recorded by AJA president David Adler with Senator Pauline Hanson who says all the right things about Israel and Jewish community.

Simon Plosker from Honest Reporting brings us up to date with their attention on the New Zealand media, and Isi Leibler in Jerusalem also gives us his views on the mid-term election.

2 min Editorial: Bourke St terror attack
11 min Michael Lumish, American blogger on mid-term election
32 min David Adler (AJA) interviewing Sen Pauline Hanson
52 min Simon Plosker, Honest Reporting
1 hr 27 Isi Leibler in Jerusalem
'Facebook lobbied Jewish group to portray critics as anti-Semitic'
A Democratic U.S. senator said on Thursday she will ask Facebook, Inc and the Justice Department about a media report that the company hired an outside firm to attack critics, warning that such action could raise campaign finance issues.

Senator Amy Klobuchar told the Senate Judiciary Committee she would send a letter seeking details about a New York Times article that named the Minnesota Democrat as a target of an aggressive Facebook lobbying campaign that relied partly on a Republican opposition research firm.

The New York Times said Facebook conducted an aggressive campaign to combat critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and fend off new regulations contained in proposed legislation that Klobuchar supports.

The Times report also said Facebook hired the Republican firm to discredit activist protesters and lobbied a Jewish civil rights group to cast some critics of the company as anti-Semitic.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Klobuchar. But Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told reporters that he ended the company's relationship with the outside firm, Definers Public Affairs, after he became aware of it while reading The New York Times story. Definers did not respond to a request to comment.
US money manager Franklin Templeton sets up Israel office, eyes fintech talent
Franklin Templeton Investments, a global investment management company, on Tuesday inaugurated its office in Israel to support sales of its investment products and to service existing clients in the country. The company, which in March set up a financial technology innovation hub in India, will also “be open” to scouting for acquisition, partnership and talent opportunities in the fintech sector in Israel, Jenny Johnson, president and COO, said.

The company’s “conservative” balance sheet, with cash of some $8 billion, allows the firm, which manages some $724 billion in assets, to seize opportunities for acquisitions when they present themselves, Johnson said at a press conference in Tel Aviv inaugurating the office, which will be set up in Herzliya.

“We certainly would be open to acquiring something if we find something interesting on the fintech space; maybe we’ll find talent, maybe we’ll do a partnership with somebody,” Johnson told The Times of Israel at the sidelines of the press conference.

During her three-day visit to Israel, Johnson will be meeting with local fintech firms. She has heard about “how wonderful” Israel’s fintech scene is, she said. “I see the companies that have been successful that came from here, I know the talents here.”
Israeli Product Featured on TIME Magazine Cover, Included in List of 2018 Best Inventions
An Israeli product was recognized in the latest issue of TIME magazine as one of the best inventions of the year.

Included in TIME magazine’s list, titled “Best Inventions 2018,” is the Nanobébé, which the magazine described as a “better baby bottle.” The product was launched in February 2013 by longtime friends and biomedical engineers Ayal Lanternari and Asaf Kehat to help breastfeeding moms.

“With more surface area than a traditional bottle, it allows milk to heat and cool twice as fast, which preserves critical nutrients,” the magazine explained. “Its domelike shape resembles an actual breast, which can comfort bottle — resistant tykes. And it’s topple-proof, thanks to a thin silicone edge and low center of gravity. Lanternari hopes Nanobébé will help parents everywhere, including dads like him. ‘You want to give the best to your baby,’ he says.”

Nanobébé offers a “starter set” and “newborn set” that comes with a range of products in addition to the bottles. Because of the shape of the bottles, they can also be stacked for easy storage.

Nanobébé is also featured in the cover of the latest TIME magazine issue, which is dedicated to the list of this year’s best inventions. The annual list recognizes 50 groundbreaking inventions that are “making the world better, smarter and even a little more fun,” according to the publication. The inventions are chosen based on key factors, including originality, creativity, influence, ambition and effectiveness.



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