Friday, November 30, 2018
Bari Weiss: Europe’s Jew Hatred, and Ours
Bigotry extends to the ballot box. The Alternative für Deutschland, led by a man who dismissed the Nazis as a mere “speck of bird poop” in Germany’s otherwise glorious history, is now the country’s third-largest party. The National Front in France, founded by a man who called the gas chambers a “detail in the history of World War II,” got 33.9 percent of the vote in the last presidential runoff elections. The Freedom Party in Austria, founded by ex-Nazis, is now part of the governing coalition. Then there is the rise of Law and Justice in Poland and Golden Dawn in Greece — developments cheered by those countries’ Jew haters.From 1947 to 2018 – the miracles of November 29
But the story of European anti-Semitism isn’t simply a case of the resurgence of the neo-fascist right.
A large number of physically violent acts committed against Jews in Europe are perpetrated by radical Muslims. The incidents at the top of this article were not carried out by far-right goons but by Islamists, most of them young and some of them immigrants.
Now add a third ingredient to this toxic brew: the fashionable anti-Semitism of the far left that masquerades as anti-Zionism and anti-racism.
No political leader in Europe embodies that sentiment more than Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. He paid respects at the memorial of the Palestinian perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. He objected to the destruction of a street mural depicting despotic hooknosed Jewish bankers. He participated for over a decade in the activities of a group called Deir Yassin Remembered, which was led by a Holocaust denier. He publicly defended a virulently anti-Semitic vicar named Stephen Sizer. He invited an Islamist preacher who believes Jews use gentile blood for religious reasons to tea at Parliament. And so on.
And yet he adamantly denies being an anti-Semite, on the grounds that he has devoted his life to “exposing racism in any form.”
Anti-Semitism, though, isn’t just a brand of bigotry. It’s a conspiracy theory in which Jews play the starring role in spreading evil in the world. While racists see themselves as proudly punching down, anti-Semites perceive themselves as punching up.
When supporters of Israel worldwide think about November 29, they think about miracles.
In the year 1897, Theodore Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its national home.
November 29, 1947, marked one of the greatest milestones along the road to realizing the miracle of the modern Jewish state. On that day, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their state is irrevocable.
Subsequent events cemented this miracle, including how the nascent Jewish state proceeded to declare independence, and then to defy the odds by overcoming formidable Arab armies in the War of Independence. But the roots of miracle were planted at the UN on November 29.
I’ve dedicated both my career and personal life to appreciating, advocating for, and preserving this miracle. Now, quite fittingly on the date of November 29, I’ve added an even more personal layer as to my part in the sacred responsibility that we all share of securing this miracle.
On Thursday, I began my new role as world chairman of Keren Hayesod – UIA (United Israel Appeal). Born and raised in a religious Zionist environment in Miami Beach, I’ve long savored the realization of a modern Jewish state and the Jewish people’s miracle of sovereignty in their ancestral homeland. But even as I advanced in my career working on behalf of the State of Israel, it would have been hard to imagine that I would find myself at the helm of an organization that has the most direct connection possible to the state itself by serving as the fund-raising arm of the global Zionist movement.
CNN Fires Marc Lamont Hill After Jewish Groups Denounce UN Speech
CNN parted ways with contributor Marc Lamont Hill Thursday, after he delivered a controversial speech before the United Nations that was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations.ADL Responds to CNN Commentator Calling for a ‘Free Palestine from the River to the Sea’
"Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN," a spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon.
In the Wednesday speech, Hill said that while he prefers nonviolence, standing with the Palestinian people meant supporting the use of violence as well.
Hill had been criticized previously for his history of meeting with and expressing admiration for Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader with a long history of anti-Semitism. His flirtation with Farrakhan goes back over a decade; on his now-deleted Myspace page, he listed the radical imam as one of the people "I'd like to meet," along with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and convicted cop killers Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu Jamal.
In a 2007 blog post, Hill called Farrakhan "a hero to Blacks of all religions."
"Although I have not always agreed with Minister Farrakhan, I have a profound respect for his love and sustained commitment to the struggles of Black people and his loyalty to the mission of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad," he wrote. "I also have a deep admiration for his willingness to admit mistakes, apologize for missteps, and sincerely attempt to heal wounds. Regardless of our differences with Farrakhan, it is difficult to deny that his growth and development are a testament to his faith and character."
"…I wish him continued peace, love, and joy on his journey," Hill concluded. "May Peace Be With Him."
Sharon Nazarian, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) senior vice president for international affairs, told the Journal in an email, “Those calling for ‘from the river to the sea’ are calling for an end to the State of Israel.”CNN Was Right to Fire Marc Lamont Hill
“It is a shame that once again, this annual event at the United Nations does not promote constructive pathways to ‘Palestinian solidarity’ and a future of peace, but instead divisive and destructive action against Israel,” Nazarian said.
Similarly, Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal in an email, “Justice requires a ‘Free Palestine from the River to the Sea’? Marc Lamont Hill is a confirmed anti-Zionist ideologue. His extremist, anti-peace views merit coverage on CNN, not as a paid pundit but as a supreme propagandist unfettered by facts.”
Cooper added, “By the way Marc, where will you put the nearly 9 million Israeli citizens, nearly 20% of whom are Arabs? Any Palestinian entity we’ve been told will be Judenrein—only place left is… Mediterranean Sea.”
CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill accused Israel of denying “citizenship rights and due process to Palestinians just because they are not Jewish,” and expressed his support for boycotting Israel in a speech at the United Nations on Wednesday. He also noted that he thinks there needs to be “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.” The phrase “from the river to the sea” is often used by those who believe that Israel should be eliminated.Thanks Lamont – we needed this reminder
Would a supporter of racism be allowed on CNN? How about someone who openly calls for violence against the LGBT community? But racism and calls for denying the right of a people to live on a certain piece of land are apparently OK if they are directed at Israel and Jews.
And this isn’t anything new.
On June 7, 2016, Hill tweeted: “Israel is very much, by definition, an apartheid state.” An avid supporter of the BDS campaign, he also criticized New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to stop illegal American boycotts of Israel, and simplistically defends the movement by insisting that it doesn’t seek Israel’s destruction.
Hill, quite active on social media, says, “Blaming the Palestinian Authority for violence in the region is dishonest and unproductive,” noting that Jerusalem is occupied. Hill also believes that there is no religious component to the conflict.
During a CNN appearance on August 4, 2014, Hill complained that Israel’s defensive Iron Dome system takes away Hamas’ leverage over Israel.
So the UN ran its annual hate-Israel dinner and dance gala and needed a speaker to wrap it up and go medieval on the Jews.Tlaib Defends Marc Lamont Hill After He’s Dropped by CNN, Praises Him for ‘Calling Out Oppressive Policies in Israel’
The shindig is called “The UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” …a day like any other day, actually.
Nothing new under the sun or at the UN.
More to the point, for three days they meet to polka and give every member a chance to really rub it in, and the Secretary General himself remarked that it is time to “create a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.” Everybody understands this for what it is – code for the destruction of Israel…the only thriving and glorious democracy in the entire Middle East.
To be replaced by “Palestinians” who exist in no history books…and never asked for Jerusalem until the Jews took it back.
The Bible never mentions them and even the Koran never heard of them. Even the Beatles, as we once wrote, preceded them on the scene.
They are a collection of tribes who came up with the word “Palestinian” because it sounded good, and then introduced hijacking, suicide bombing and lately murder by car ramming.
To name but some of their tactics which gained them the approval and admiration of every Secretary General, including this one.
This one read from something like Mein Kampf…to thunderous applause. The blood libels kept rolling, but they needed someone to sum it all up.
Someone really ugly.
Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) defended former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill's remarks defending Palestinian violence against Israel at a recent United Nations speech, tweeting that "calling out the oppressive policies in Israel" was not anti-Semitic.Marc Lamont Hill's long, bizarre history of anti-Israel bigotry
CNN dropped Hill from his contract on Thursday after he spoke at the U.N.'s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People a day earlier. A fervent critic of Israel, he used the Palestinian nationalist phrase calling for a "free Palestine from the river to the sea," which suggests the elimination of the state of Israel which sits between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, and said while peace should be prioritized, "we must not romanticize or fetishize it."
"Tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom," he said. "If we are in true solidarity, we must allow them the same range of opportunity and political possibility. We must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend themselves. We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the face of state violence and ethnic cleansing."
"To commit to political action, grassroots action, local action, and international action that will give us what justice requires, and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea," Hill concluded, leading to applause.
"Resisting" is a common euphemism for defenders of Palestinian terrorist methods. The Gaza Strip, from which Israel withdrew unilaterally in 2005, is now governed by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians.
Denial of Israeli legitimacy - on both sides of the Green LineUniversity refuses to drop commentator fired by CNN after anti-Israel comments
Aside from his associations with the Nation of Islam and Black Lives Matter - which excoriated “Israeli Apartheid” in its 2016 platform and sent protesters to Israel to demonstrate against the Jewish state – and his regular claims that Israel engages in Apartheid-like behavior or ethnic cleansing, Hill also has a long history of both refusing to condemn terrorist violence or to recognize Israel’s legitimacy on either side of the pre-1967 Green Line.
In 2017, Hill denied ever having been in Israel – a claim he repeated this week on Twitter – this despite a much-publicized 2015 trip to….Israel.
By his own admission, Hill has visited Jerusalem – Israel’s capital – as well as the Galilee in northern Israel.
While hostile Arab governments and other anti-Israel stalwarts may deny Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, no one, save perhaps the Ayatollahs in Iran, would argue that the Galilee is located within the borders of the State of Israel. It’s a fact.
And yet despite visiting Nazareth – which is very much in Israel – Hill said he had only visited Palestine, thus enabling him to continue the lie that he has never been in Israel.
The Galilee – again, well within the Green Line and recognized universally as Israeli territory – was described by Hill in 2015 as “Palestine” and “stolen” land. Hill said he would back the efforts there to “resist the occupation”, making it clear his view that even in pre-1967 Israel, the Jewish state is illegitimate.
“We came here to Palestine to stand in love and revolutionary struggle with our brothers and sisters. We come to a land that has been stolen by greed and destroyed by hate. We come here and we learn laws that have been cosigned by ink but written in the blood of the innocent. And we stand next to people who continue to courageously struggle and resist the occupation. People who continue to dream and fight for freedom. From Ferguson to Palestine, the struggle for freedom continues,” said Hill.
At least one person is somehow too polarizing for cable news, but apparently just fine for academia.Following Contact from CAMERA, The Hill Changes Inaccurate Headline About Lamont Hill Firing
Temple University stood by Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, the same day he was fired from CNN after he gave a speech at the United Nations in which he used language critics described as a dog whistle advocating the elimination of Israel.
Hill, a now-former CNN commentator, is also a professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University in Philadelphia. While the school doesn’t necessarily agree with Hill’s controversial rhetoric, it feels he has the right to speak freely.
“Marc Lamont Hill has been quoted extensively over the last 24 hours. Marc Lamont Hill does not represent Temple University and his views are his own. However, we acknowledge that he has a constitutionally protected right to express his opinion as a private citizen,” a Temple spokesperson told Fox News.
After contact from CAMERA, The Hill, a Washington D.C.-based publication that covers politics and international affairs, changed an inaccurate headline about Marc Lamont Hill’s firing.
In Nov. 28, 2018 remarks before the U.N., Lamont Hill called for the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel. As CAMERA has documented, the Temple University professor and then-CNN contributor has a long history of supporting antisemites like Louis Farrakhan. In his comments before the U.N., Hill echoed Hamas by calling for the elimination of the Jewish state in order to create a “Palestine from the river to the sea.”
CAMERA and other organizations contacted CNN asking that they reconsider their continued collaboration with someone who increasingly expresses bigotry and promotes violence. On Nov. 29, 2018, following the outcry, CNN announced that they were severing ties with Lamont Hill.
The publication The Hill initially tweeted “CNN cuts ties with Marc Lamont Hill after comments calling for boycott of Israel.” Yet, as CAMERA pointed out to the publication’s staff, Lamont Hill has long supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to single out Israel for opprobrium. Lamont Hill’s public support for BDS, which goes back to at least 2015, has not impeded his employment with CNN. Rather, it seems that CNN’s termination was likely based on Lamont Hill’s use of a Hamas slogan.
Clyburn shared a stage with racist anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan in 2011 and refused to condemn him earlier this year. https://t.co/39rgWfqnoz
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) November 29, 2018
Farrakhan calls Jews "termites" and said "Hitler was a very great man." https://t.co/R6MHcZzZ9b
David Collier: When David met David, an evening with David Icke
In June, I saw an advert for a David Icke event due to be held this month in Watford. I didn’t think twice. In antisemitic circles, I have seen David Icke material shared more than any other. Icke is rancid and many of his vicious memes carry hard-core antisemitic images. If people are talking about conspiracies with Rothschild and Zionism and wish to present their case, it is David Icke they hold up. It is true that I could just read what he has to say by purchasing a book on Amazon, but an event is different. An event is multi-dimensional, and you can see both the manner of the man and the way the crowd reacts to him. There was no way I was going to miss the experience. On 27th June, almost five months before the event itself, I had already purchased my ticket.Douglas Murray: The ‘Islamophobia’ problem
It would be an understatement to say I am not a fan. The event lasted over four-and-a-half hours and for the last thirty minutes, I was screaming inside for it to end. However, it is also wrong to discard everything that Icke says. In two-hundred and seventy minutes, there is plenty of time for everything, razor sharp commentary, racism and bat-crazy theory alike. My role is never just to sit and wait for the headline. I need to get inside the argument. How can you challenge someone if you do not understand what they are trying to say? Simply ignoring them or calling them ‘cranks’ is not enough.
David Icke clearly resonates with some. That issue must be addressed if you ever seek to understand why people like David Icke can have a Facebook page with over 750k followers and a Twitter profile with another 193k. Why he can take the main auditorium at the Watford Colosseum and why people sit in silence for so long at his events. Don’t just look at Icke’s twisted answers, it is also because of *some* of the questions he asks, that he fills those seats.
This is a good time to bury bad news. And sure enough it turns out that a cross-party group of MPs and peers that includes the failed MP Baroness Warsi has chosen this moment to try to persuade the government to adopt their own definition of ‘Islamophobia’.Illinois governor puts pressure on Airbnb West Bank decision
Long-time readers will know that I have no sympathy for this term. The most succinct summary of the problem is often erroneously attributed to the late Christopher Hitchens. It is that, Islamophobia is ‘a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.’
That ‘Islamophobia’ was created by fascists is provable: the term was conjured up and pumped into the international debate around politics and religion decades ago by the Muslim Brotherhood. The claim that it is used by cowards slightly lets others of its users off the hook. For it is not only used by cowards. It is also used by sinister and sectarian figures who wish to protect their own religious patch from any and all discussion or scrutiny. That it intimidates cowards is evident from every day’s news.
But now, at a crucial juncture in this nation’s history, this group of MPs and Peers are attempting to push through an agenda of their own. As Tim Shipman described it in the Sunday Times the group is proposing a set of ‘tests’ of what is ‘Islamophobic’. Let us take them in turn:
– ‘Does it stereotype Muslims by assuming that they all think the same?
Gov. Bruce Rauner attempted Thursday to pressure Airbnb into reversing its ban on lodging listings in the disputed West Bank, calling for an investigation into whether the company is violating Illinois laws prohibiting backlash against Israel's treatment of Palestinians.Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister: Irish Bill Criminalizing Settlement Imports a "Disgrace"
The Republican governor released a letter to the Illinois Investment Policy Board requesting a probe into whether the online lodging marketplace's action, which Rauner called "abhorrent and discriminatory," breaks a state law against aiding the Boycott, Divestment or Sanction movement against Israel.
The San Francisco-based company announced last week it would delist about 200 properties in the disputed territory's Israeli settlements. In 2015, Illinois became the first state to prohibit investment in BDS-friendly companies.
"If we show leadership and take decisive action and truly do a thorough investigation of Airbnb's practices and come to a thoughtful conclusion and recommendation, we can drive results for not only Illinois but other states in pushing back against companies that engage in discriminatory practices against Israel," Rauner said.
A vote in the Irish senate advancing a bill that would make it a crime to import or sell goods originating in settlements and east Jerusalem is a “disgrace and infected with antisemitism,” Public Security and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said on Thursday.Pro-Israel Demonstrators Oppose Boycott Bill in Dublin
Erdan, whose ministry is charged with combating the BDS movement, said the vote “gave a tailwind to contemptible boycott organizations that have links with terrorist organizations and cynically use the term ‘human rights’ for purposes of spreading hatred and deepening conflict.”
In order to pass, the bill – which has now passed two legislative hurdles – needs to pass another reading in the senate (Seanad Éireann), before going to the house (Dáil Éireann) for final approval. It will then need to be signed by the president.
Erdan said that if the legislation does pass, “We will work to expose the motivations behind it and act to legally prevent its implementation in accordance with international trade laws and in accordance with American legislation.”
Currently, 26 American states have anti-BDS legislation on the books, and that could be leveraged against Ireland since numerous US companies do business there.
The legislation, which is opposed by the Irish government, passed by a vote of 30-13. The bill calls for a fine of up to €250,000 or five years in jail for those found guilty of importing and selling products made in settlements.
The legislation would put Ireland at odds with EU law, since areas of trade are governed by the EU, and not the individual member states. The EU, which has mandated labeling products from the settlements, has not advocated a boycott of those products.
Israel supporters in Ireland have protested against the country’s new Occupied Territories Bill in Dublin, as politicians debated the would-be law’s merits.Ireland's Deputy Head of Government Says Bill to Ban Goods from Territories Is "Not Legally Sound"
Demonstrators led by the Ireland Israel Alliance (IIA) described the Bill as “immoral, discriminatory and illegal” but Irish politicians say it “gives effect to the State’s obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention”.
The Bill would make it an offence for someone “to import or sell goods or services originating in an occupied territory or to extract resources from an occupied territory in certain circumstances”.
Senator Terry Leyden said his Fianna Fáil Party supports the Bill, arguing that it “has merit in sending a message to Israel that we are not satisfied with developments in Palestine and not impressed by the oppression of the Palestinians and the way they have been treated like dirt in their own country”.
However, protesters have said the Bill “only targets Israel,” ignoring other disputed territories in the world, which may fall foul of US trade laws. Both Ireland’s Attorney General and the European Union Commissioner have questioned the legality of it.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said he will “not be bounced into anything I believe is the wrong thing to do” as he expressed his opposition to a Bill banning goods from Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.IsraellyCool: NZ Hip Hop Artist Dean Hapeta Calls for War Against, And Death To, Israel
The Seanad on Wednesday passed the committee stage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill which prohibits the importation or sale of goods or services in settlements condemned by the UN, EU and Ireland as illegal.
But Mr Coveney told Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty that while he understood the political frustration that produced the Bill, “we do not believe it to be legally sound or capable of being implemented”.
Mr Doherty said Thursday was International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and said that all parties bar Mr Coveney’s supported the legislation.
He said Fine Gael “urgently needs to get on board with what is a progressive and human rights-based legislative measure”.
While accepting the Legacy Award at the 2018 Vodafone New Zealand Music Award (VNZMA) ceremony, Upper Hutt Posse frontman Dean Hapeta called for war against Israel and death “to all oppressors.”BBC WS history programme rekindles Arafat death conspiracy theory
Note the applause after this vile speech.
Genocidal hatred of Jews and Israel is truly back in style.
The November 22nd edition of the BBC World Service radio history programme ‘Witness‘ was titled “The Last Days of Yasser Arafat” and visitors to the webpage were told that: [emphasis in bold added, emphasis in italics in original]Israel rejects ‘distorted’ BBC report on abysmal conditions of Thai farm workers
“The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in November 2004. French doctors treating him said he had an unidentified blood disorder. But some Palestinians claim he was poisoned.”
And:
“The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in November 2004. French doctors treating him at the military hospital in France where he died said Arafat had an unidentified blood disorder and gave the cause of death as a stroke. Since then there have been allegations that he was poisoned. Leila Shahid was the Palestinian ambassador to France in 2004, and was with Yasser Arafat during his final days. She’s been talking to Louise Hidalgo about that time.”
Leila Shahid is repeatedly described both by herself and by Louise Hidalgo as an ‘ambassador’ throughout the programme despite the fact that she did not represent a state.
The BBC report, published last Friday, claimed many Thai agricultural workers in Israel are living in squalid conditions, are underpaid, and are exposed to work hazards from pesticides without proper protection.The Washington Post Ignores Antisemitic Attack in Los Angeles
Since 2012 there have been 172 deaths among Thai workers, the BBC report said, and noted that autopsies are rare with death certificates simply noting the cause as “undetermined.”
“The Ministry of Health received in recent years reports of sudden death of Thai workers during sleep,” the Israeli ministries’ statement said. “The issue was investigated by the Public Health Services in cooperation with the National Institute of Forensic Medicine. The investigation, which included the dispatch of a senior medical team to Thailand, confirmed the hypothesis of the sudden deaths as a result of Brugada syndrome.”
The genetic condition manifests as a disruption to the heart’s rhythm that can cause sudden cardiac arrest.
The Washington Post has warned about a “rising tide of antisemitism.” But as CAMERA has highlighted, The Post’s coverage of antisemitism has frequently been selective and is often politicized. More recently, the newspaper even ignored a high-profile antisemitic attack.Canadian Jewish Official: New Data Showing Sharp Rise in Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Country ‘Simply Too Stark to Ignore’
On the night of Nov. 23, 2018 a Mogadishu-born man named Mohamed Mohamed Abdi used a rented car to try to run over two Jewish men outside of a Los Angeles synagogue. Authorities arrested Abdi who reportedly “made anti-Semitic remarks” at the Jewish men and made several U-turns in his attempts to target them.
Los Angeles Police and the FBI are investigated the incident as a hate crime. Several major U.S. news outlets, including ABC, Fox News, and others reported on the crime. Some, such as The Los Angeles Times, obfuscated on Abdi’s antisemitic motivations.
As the journalist Armin Rosen noted in Tablet Magazine:
“Readers had to hack through this thicket of self-contradiction that begins a Nov. 26 Los Angeles Times report on the incident: ‘Authorities are trying to determine the motivations and background of a 32-year-old Seattle man who allegedly tried to run down two men outside of a synagogue in Hancock Park last week in an attack that police have described as a hate crime.’”
The motivations, however, seem clear enough: Abdi had “yelled several expletives at the victims referencing their Jewish heritage,” according to the LAPD’s deputy chief.
Newly-published data showing a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Canada “is simply too stark to ignore,” the head of a major Jewish organization in the country said on Thursday.IsraellyCool: Anti-Zionist-Not-Antisemite of the Day: Steven Fox (CEO and Founder of Veracity Worldwide LLC)
According to the Statistics Canada report, Jews were the most targeted minority group in 2017 — with 360 hate crimes committed against them, a 63% jump from the 221 of the previous year.
Overall, there was 47% increase in hate crimes in Canada in 2017.
Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai B’rith Canada, stated the report “reiterates what B’nai Brith has been saying for years — that we need real and effective measures to extinguish this rise in hatred.”
“In early November, Canada’s prime minister apologized for the tragedy of the MS St. Louis in 1939, noting that antisemitism is still a major problem in this country and promising a concrete plan to combat it,” Mostyn added. “There can be no delay in fulfilling these commitments.”
Rivlin says Israel wants nothing to do with ‘neo-fascists’ who support itHe’s the CEO and Founder of Veracity Worldwide LLC, and has quite the resume, including time as a former US diplomat!
Steven is the founder and CEO of Veracity. He regularly advises business leaders worldwide on political and corruption risk issues in emerging markets with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. He has extensive experience in the mining, energy, and telecommunications sectors and has presented at the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and the Harvard Business School. In July 2013, his anti-corruption advisory work in Guinea was profiled in The New Yorker magazine. Prior to founding Veracity, Steven served as a US diplomat in Burundi, France, Washington, and Algeria. Steven holds degrees from Princeton, Cambridge, and INSEAD, and speaks French.
CORRECTED: CAMERA: CEO Steven Fox Says Facebook Page Is 100 Percent Fake
On November 30, 2018, the website IsraellyCool posted an article asserting that Steven Fox, founder and CEO of Veracity Worldwide, a business intelligence company, had posted a number of antisemitic entries and comments on a public Facebook page.
Fox emphatically and categorically denies any connection to the Facebook page in question. “It’s a categorical impersonation of me,” Fox said over the phone and stated that he will soon be contacting the FBI and Israeli law enforcement in an attempt to discern who made the page. He also stated that he will be filing a complaint with Facebook itself to get the page taken down as soon as possible.
President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday said Israel must not work with neo-fascist forces — even if they support the Jewish state — because it must take a clear stance against racism and anti-Semitism.Director Quentin Tarantino marries Israeli singer Daniella Pick
Responding to a CNN survey which raised serious concerns about European adults’ knowledge of the Holocaust and anti-Semitic notions, Rivlin told the network: “We must… work with the whole world to fight against xenophobia and discrimination, of which anti-Semitism is a variant.”
In the interview which was to be broadcast Thursday, the president said “There are neo-fascist movements today that have considerable and very dangerous influence, and sometimes they also express their strong support for the State of Israel.
“You cannot say, ‘We admire Israel and want relations with your country, but we are neo-fascists.’ Neo-fascism is absolutely incompatible with the principles and values on which the State of Israel was founded.”
Film director Quentin Tarantino, known for "Pulp Fiction," "Inglorious Basterds" and other hit movies, has married Israeli singer and model Daniella Pick.Several Israel-themed films heading to Sundance
People magazine reported that the couple married in a small ceremony in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The wedding came just days after Tarantino wrapped shooting on his latest movie, "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood," which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt and is slated for release in 2019.
Tarantino and Pick first met in 2009, when the director was in Israel to promote "Inglorious Basterds," and they announced their engagement last year. It is the first marriage for both Tarantino, 55, and Pick, 35, the daughter of beloved Israeli pop singer and songwriter Svika Pick.
Daniella Pick launched a singing career in the early 2000s as a duo with her sister Sharona, before striking out on her own solo career. The sisters were best known for their single "Hashir Hazeh" ("This Song"), which was written for them by their songwriter mother, Mirit Shem-Or.
Several films touching on Israel are slated to premiere at The Sundance Film Festival next year, which is scheduled to open January 23 in Park City, Utah.Wikipedia uploads 28,000 photos of pre-state Israel, for all to use
The feature film lineup for the much-anticipated event was revealed by the Sundance Institute this week.
Advocate, a joint Israeli, Canadian and Swiss production, will have its world premiere in the World Cinema documentary competition. The film, which is competing against 11 other documentaries, spotlights Leah Tsemel, an Israeli lawyer who has dedicated her life to representing Palestinian defendants in court. She has taken on both peaceful protesters and terrorists as her clients. The film is directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche.
Advocate will come up against an Irish-funded film called Gaza, directed by Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell. The movie is described as going “beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters.”
In the special “kids” section of the festival, a Brazilian film titled Abe will also have its world premiere. The movie, starring Noah Schnapp (Stranger Things) in the titular role, focuses on a 12-year-old kid from Brooklyn who is known as Avram to the Israeli side of his family and Ibrahim to the Palestinian side. Abe escapes from a summer cooking camp and decides – aided by a Brazilian chef – to unite his family over a shared meal. Mark Margolis of Breaking Bad and Seu Jorge (City of God) also star.
And premiering out of competition at the festival is a documentary about the legendary sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. The film, directed by Ryan White and titled Ask Dr. Ruth, is slated to present a portrait of the Holocaust survivor and Hagana veteran and her pioneering career path.
Wikimedia Israel, the local branch of online free information service Wikipedia, has published some 28,000 pre-Israel photographs taken in and around the region which would eventually become the Jewish state.Sodastream Uses Celebrities to Raise Awareness of Plastic Pollution
The images provide snapshots of life in the area. As they are all over 50 years old, the photos are copyright free and available for use by everyone, the organization said.
“These photos, which tell the history of the people who lived in this region between the years 1900-1946, are accessible for search, study, research, and use by the Israeli public and throughout the world,” Wikimedia said in a statement announcing the publication of the images earlier this month.
The images are on the Wikimedia Israel website (Hebrew).
Standing on a plastic bottle-littered beach, a group of earnest young people led by Sarah Catherine Hook holds plastic water bottles and sings a silly song about harmony with the environment. Onto this scene strides Game of Thrones’ Thor “The Mountain” Bjornsson carrying a singing sea turtle — voiced by Rod Stewart – to re-educate the well-meaning group.Anatoly Altman, Soviet Jew who tried to hijack a plane to Israel, dies at 77
This video from SodaStream International garnered 10 million views in the first 48 hours after it went live on November 15.
The campaign clearly is promoting the Israel-based maker of countertop sparkling water machines with reusable bottles — recently acquired by PepsiCo — sold at more than 80,000 retailers across 45 countries.
But in tandem with the new SodaStream-sponsored FightPlastic.com website, the video also is promoting awareness of the massive marine damage caused by single-use plastic bottles. That’s a cause celebrities are comfortable promoting.
“I have a great love for our oceans and marine life and was happy to lend my voice and support to this campaign,” said Stewart. “If it helps raise awareness and effect simple changes like switching to reusable bottles, then I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Anatoly Altman, a former prisoner of Zion who tried to hijack a plane to escape the former Soviet Union, has died.Violinist Itzhak Perlman Performs at Pittsburgh Concert Marking One-Month Anniversary of Synagogue Shooting
Born in what today is Ukraine, Altman was a member of “Operation Wedding,” an attempt by several Jews who were arrested in 1970 at a St. Petersburg airport, where they had gathered to take the plane and fly it to Israel.
He died Thursday in Israel, in Haifa. Altman was 77.
As a defendant in the 1970 Soviet trial for “treason against the homeland” Anatoly declared: “Today is a very difficult day, but I’m happy, too. Because today I started my way home (to Israel) … And I’m sure, maybe it may take years in prison, but I’m sure I’ll get home to Israel, and from today until that time in the future, I say ‘Shalom to Eretz Yisrael.’”
Altman was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in the gulag. In 1979, he was released and immigrated directly to Israel, or made aliyah.
Award-winning Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman performed at a tribute concert on Tuesday night in honor of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that took place last month.
Perlman, 73, took the stage as a guest soloist to perform alongside the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at a concert titled “A Concert for Peace and Unity.” The event, at the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, coincided with the one-month anniversary of the deadly attack, in which 11 people were killed.
Among the pieces Perlman performed were three songs from “Schindler’s List.”
“Music is one of the most beautiful products of humanity,” Perlman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before the concert. “When you see something that represents the worst of humanity, you want to confront it with some of the best of humanity. That’s what this evening is about.”
“My response to the tragedy was plain horror,” the violinist added. “I just couldn’t believe it. Something as terrible as antisemitism, it’s not a thing of the past. It still exists. It’s not over. Hopefully education and coming together like this will bring people closer and encourage our society to become better than this. It has to be better than this.”
The story of the Jews of #Iraq: November 30, we remember the plight of the 850,000+ Jewish refugees from Arab countries from 1948-1978. #Jewsof48 #JewishRefugees pic.twitter.com/ZW81xjai9I
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) November 29, 2018
