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Sunday, December 09, 2018

12/09 Links: Fatah "sends love" to Martyr bomb maker; Phillips: The fraud of American Jews' 'Tikkun Olam'; Father of Murdered Arab Who Sold Land to Jews Also Killed for Same ‘Crime’

From Ian:
PMW: Fatah "sends love" to Martyr bomb maker
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization, building bombs and participating in terror attacks against Israel. While she was preparing a bomb for an attack in Tel Aviv in 1968, it accidentally detonated and killed her.

Abbas' Fatah Movement sent Abu Ghazaleh the movement's "love" and called her a "heroine." Marking the 50th anniversary of her death, Fatah stated that she is among those who "guide our path," and honored her for being an "uncompromising and merciful young woman, who sacrificed herself for her great family":

Fatah's posted text: "Shadia took part in a bombing operation of an Israeli bus, and also took part in and even led a number of military operations. However, fate desired that when our heroine was at her home preparing a bomb to detonate on the occupation in Tal Al-Rabia (i.e., Tel Aviv, see note below) it blew up in her hands and she died as a Martyr (Shahida)...
Today we send all of our love to Shadia - who would repeat: 'If I fall, take my place, my comrade in the struggle' ... She and those like her guide our path... who sacrificed herself for her great family at the expense of the childhood dreams that were within her, in order to tell us: 'Continue.'" [Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 29, 2018]

In honoring the terrorist bomb maker, Fatah is following the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education, who thinks so highly of Abu Ghazaleh that it has named 2 schools after her.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that young girls who studied in one of the schools named after Abu Ghazaleh viewed her as their role model:







Melanie Phillips: The fraud of American Jews' 'Tikkun Olam'
In a recent speaking tour in the US, I kept coming across Jews who were consumed by anxiety that so many of their young people were turning against Israel.

I had encountered such anxiety on previous trips, but this time it was worse than ever before.

Their children, they said, were being hoodwinked by bigoted hostility to Israel — wildly ridiculous lies and libels that they were choosing to believe because these formed the default anti-Zionist narrative on campus.

What was to be done to reverse this, the parents repeatedly asked.

I told them something that many didn’t want to hear but which I believe to be an inconvenient truth. Young American Jews are turning against Israel principally because they are disconnecting from Judaism.

And the reason for that is their parents are generally disconnecting from Judaism, largely because of the impact of the progressive denominations to which some three quarters of American Jews subscribe and which are telling them that liberal universalist values are authentic Jewish values.

But they are not. They are, in fact, inimical to Judaism. The community’s secular religion of tikkun olam, or supposedly Jewish social justice, is a fraud.

As Jonathan Neumann puts it in his excellent book To Heal the World?, American Jews have been led to believe that “the purpose of the Jews in the world is to campaign for higher taxes, sexual permissiveness, reduced military spending, illegal immigration, opposition to fracking, the banishment of religion from the public square and every other liberal cause under the sun — all in the name of God”.

It’s not Jewish, just, or even very social, constituting a mish-mash of Marxism, moral relativism and paganism.
IsraellyCool: Are You a US Jew Offended By President Trump’s Reference to Israel as “Your Country”?
The JTA and Times of Israel are screaming bloody murder over US President Donald Trump’s latest faux pas at a White House Hanukkah party:

US President Donald Trump told American Jews that his vice president had great affection for “your country,” insinuating a dual loyalty to Israel.

“I want to thank Vice President Mike Pence,” Trump said Thursday at one of two White House Hanukkah parties. “A tremendous supporter — a tremendous supporter of yours. And Karen. And they go there and they love your country. They love your country. And they love this country. That’s a good combination, right?”
—
Others not at the event were not so enthused about the insinuation, however unintentional, of dual loyalties.

Some have even gone so far as to suggest there were antisemitic “dog whistles” in his speech.

Watch the clip here, starting a bit before the supposedly “offensive” words. This does not seem to be a person who hates Jews. Au contraire.

So maybe you are a US Jew who does not think there was antisemitism here, but President Trump’s words still offended you because you still feel that the US is your country.

If you feel that way, then please remember what you are singing next time you sing Hatikvah.

As long as in the heart within,
The Jewish soul yearns,
And toward the eastern edges, onward,
An eye gazes toward Zion.

Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope that is two-thousand years old,
To be a free nation in our land,
The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.

And if you are a religious Jew offended by his words, remember the words you pray every day.
Haley: After UN vote on Hamas failed, Trump suggested fund cuts as retribution
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has said that following Washington’s failure to pass a UN resolution condemning Hamas at the General Assembly this week, President Trump suggested cutting funds to countries who did not cooperate and asked: “Who do you want me to yell at?”

While the US-backed draft resolution got a comfortable majority of votes, it fell short of the two-thirds super-majority needed to pass. Eighty-seven countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 57 opposed it. Thirty-three countries abstained and another 23 were not present.

Hadashot news on Saturday aired a video of Haley speaking at Israel’s United Nation’s mission during a Hanukkah candle-lighting event on Thursday, just after the vote fell through.

“The president called and he said, ‘Nikki what happened?’ And I told him, and he goes, ‘Who do we need to get upset at? Who do you want me to yell at? Who do we take their money away?'”

She then added with a smile: “I’m not gonna tell you what I told him.”

Still, Haley sought to portray the vote as a triumph. “Eighty-seven countries said Hamas was a problem. The tide has changed. It is a new day at the UN,” she said.

Haley, who is departing at the end of the year and will be replaced by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, was presented by Israeli UN envoy Danny Danon with a framed Jewish mezuzah made of a piece of a rocket fired at Israel from Gaza.
NYPost Editorial: Making history amid the same old UN farce
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley this week warned the General Assembly, “Today could be a historic day at the United Nations, or it could be just another day.” As things turned out, it was both.

For the first time ever, an overwhelming plurality voted to condemn Hamas for its ongoing war of terror against Israel.

But a last-minute maneuver set an unusually high bar, a two-thirds vote, for passage. So the US-sponsored resolution officially failed.

Then the General Assembly went on to approve another measure demanding “an end to the Israeli occupation” and a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders.

Business as usual, that is, in a body that has passed over 700 resolutions condemning Israel — yet not one calling out Hamas.

Still, don’t underestimate the significance of the 87-57 vote (with 33 abstentions and 23 no-shows) citing Hamas for “repeatedly firing rockets into Israel” and calling on it and Islamic Jihad to “cease all provocative actions and violent activity, including by using airborne incendiary devices.”

Or the fact that the two-thirds requirement passed by a mere three votes.
The Australian Editorial: Anti-Israel stunts help nobody
Whatever its decision on relocating our embassy to Jerusalem, the Morrison government was right to oppose the latest UN gambit aimed at declaring null and void any claims by Israel to the city as its capital. The move, supported by 148 General Assembly members, ignored 3000 years of Jewish history and was ludicrous given Jerusalem has been the Jewish state’s capital since it was founded in 1948. Yet only 10 countries — Australia, the US, Canada, Nauru, Micronesia, Palau, Guatemala, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands — stood against this latest manifestation of the UN’s capacity for self-delusion.

It is a pity more did not do so. As Colin Rubenstein of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council pointed out, such anti-Israel resolutions (the vote on Jerusalem was among 20 targeting Israel in an end-of-year flurry) “do not further the prospects of peace and actively entrench the Palestinian leadership’s ongoing rejection of the painful compromises both sides need to make to achieve a two-state outcome”. Even Russia, which presents itself as a close ally of the Palestinian cause, last year acknowledged that while East Jerusalem would be the capital of any future Palestinian state, “we view West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel”.

The Morrison government’s stronger stance in opposing anti-Israel resolutions at the UN is welcome. There is no reason for us to apologise to anyone for voting with the minority as we did on Jerusalem. As Alexander Downer is on record as saying, “Just because you are in the minority, it does not mean you are wrong.”
David Singer: UN-Hamas Day of Infamy Mars Trump-Israel Day of Celebration
The Assembly then voted to apply the two‑thirds majority requirement by a very narrow simple majority margin of 75 in favour, 72 against, with 26 abstentions.

Those favouring a two-thirds majority vote included 44 out of 56 Islamic States – whilst one (Albania) voted against, 5 abstained and 6 did not vote.

Non-Islamic States supporting the Islamic States bloc included: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Japan, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

All 21 member States of the European Union supported America’s simple majority stance.

Others backing America included: Australia, Bosnia, Canada, Colombia, Estonia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malawi, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, South Korea, Singapore, Slovakia, Ukraine and Uruguay.

L 42 was then passed by the UNGA by 87 votes for, 57 against and 33 abstentions – but was declared lost because it had not secured the two-thirds majority required.
The Islamic States had secured a three-vote procedural victory – setting a precedent that is bound to be attempted again.

Hamas and other militant groups remain free to engage in heinous conduct found worthy of UN condemnation by a majority of UN member states.

The foundational basis of the UN – maintaining international peace and security – has been flagrantly circumvented by the UNGA failing to agree on how to run its own meetings.

Such is the depth of total irrelevance to which the UN has sunk.

Brazil delivers on promise to vote with Israel
The symbolic victory against Hamas at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, in which 87 nations supported a draft resolution condemning Hamas, marked another milestone: Brazil took an unprecedented step by siding with Israel and the U.S.

The U.S.-sponsored text would have for the first time condemned the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Although it won a plurality of votes in the assembly, it failed to win the required two-thirds majority.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro and a member of the national parliament, tweeted: "This is the first time Brazil votes in favor of Israel and against the terrorist groups, this is a victory! Brazil will no longer be a diplomatic dwarf." Bolsonaro said that this new diplomatic posture was a result of his father's statements and the efforts behind the scenes to influence the country's foreign policy in the transition period (Bolsonaro is set to take office in January 2019).

A month ago the president-elect told Israel Hayom that his incoming administration will depart from Brasília's pro-Palestinian stance. He further said that it would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and that Israel "can count on having our vote in the U.N." He added: "I know that often the vote is almost symbolic, but it helps to define the position a country intends to take. Rest assured that you can depend on our vote in the U.N. on almost all the issues having to do with Israel."
Superficial BBC News report on UN General Assembly votes
While readers were told nothing of the intense campaign which Hamas had conducted before the vote or of the involvement of the PLO and Palestinian Authority in trying to defeat the draft resolution, they were informed of post-vote comments from a Hamas spokesman and an Iranian representative. The PA president’s reaction, however, went unreported by the BBC.

“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed the result, despite being engaged in a bitter intra-Palestinian rivalry with Hamas over control of Gaza. “The presidency thanked all the states that voted against the American draft resolution, affirming that it will not allow for the condemnation of the Palestinian national struggle,” a statement from the PA’s Wafa mouthpiece read.”

Refraining from clarifying to readers that any electoral mandate secured by Hamas in elections nearly 13 years ago is no longer valid, the BBC’s report amplifies a view of a terror organisation responsible for the murders of hundreds of civilians as “legitimate”.

“Hamas, or its military wing, is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, EU, and UK, as well as other powers.

Its supporters see it as a legitimate resistance movement which came to power through elections, last held in 2006.”

The violent coup which brought the Gaza Strip under the control of Hamas is completely whitewashed from the BBC’s account: “…Hamas, the militant group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007…”

Clearly this BBC report fails to provide readers with the full background essential for complete understanding of why and how this proposed UNGA resolution condemning terrorism against a civilian population was scuppered.
Israel & Saudi Arabia: A Complicated Under-the-table Relationship
Saudi Arabia has lost the right to host the chess World Blitz and Rapid Championship Tournament due to its refusal to grant visas to Israelis. Instead, the competition will be held in Russia. The development highlights the complexity of the Jewish state’s burgeoning relations with the Sunni Muslim kingdom: namely, that the rapprochement remains almost entirely below-the-radar.

Israeli-Saudi ties have dramatically improved in recent years primarily due to the shared security interest of neutralizing Iran’s expansionism and potential nuclearization. Concurrently, the emergence of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has led to the implementation of reforms geared towards slowly modernizing the ultra-conservative nation.

Nevertheless, the informal association is in its infancy and conditioned on current geopolitical realities that may be fleeting.

“If there is a sudden improvement in Iranian and Saudi relations, there is a chance that Riyadh will weaken its links to Israel,” Dr. Ronen Zeidel, a Middle East expert at the University of Haifa, contended to the Media Line.

To offset this possibility, the evolving partnership has been fostered and strengthened by United States President Donald Trump, who views both countries as key to actualizing his foreign policy goal of reining in the Iranian regime. Notably, President Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu publicly backed bin Salman amid a global uproar over his alleged involvement in the October 2 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Report: Saudis used Israel-Palestinian conflict to gain Kushner's support
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to woo President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and gain political support in the White House, according to an extensive report on Sunday in The New York Times.

Quoting multiple sources, the report claimed that Kushner and Bin Salman speak frequently by cellphone and correspond via WhatsApp and text messages, bypassing standard White House procedures that require all contact with foreign leaders to go through the National Security Council.

Two former senior American officials said that the exchanges between the two have continued since the October murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was dismembered by Saudi agents in Istanbul.

“In addition to offering to help resolve the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, the Saudis offered hundreds of billions of dollars in deals to buy American weapons and invest in American infrastructure,” the report said.

After meeting with Kushner shortly after the elections in 2016, Saudi officials noted that Kushner’s top priority was in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The Palestinian issue first: there is still no clear plan for the American administration toward the Middle East,” the delegation wrote,


IDF warns Lebanese to leave homes covering Hezbollah attack tunnels
The IDF issued a warning on Sunday to Lebanese citizens to “temporarily leave” homes standing over cross-border attack tunnels built by Hezbollah, as troops began operating over the fence inside territory that Israel claims.

“Hezbollah built terror tunnels under Kfar Kila and Ramia that infiltrate into Israeli territory, making the area a barrel of explosives,” read a Twitter post by the IDF’s spokesperson for Arabic media Maj.Avichay Adraee. “We are determined to neutralize these tunnels, and we do not know the outcome of these actions on the relevant buildings on the Lebanese side.

“Is it not time for you to insist that Hezbollah give you clear answers?” he continued. “Are you living in safety when you know that your houses are located above a barrel of explosives? We recommend that you thoroughly consider temporarily leaving the relevant buildings for your safety.”

Adraee wrote the warning days after Israel found two cross-border attack tunnels built from the Shiite villages of Kfar Kila and Ramiyeh in southern Lebanon. The IDF says the tunnels are under their full control and have been filled with explosives ahead of their demolitions.

On Sunday, the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar website said that the Lebanese army reinforced units deployed to the border with additional vehicles and artillery, to “prevent the Zionist army from putting demarcation marks on the Blue Line. The Lebanese army rejected that Zionist move during the absence of Lebanon’ topographic units, forcing the enemy troops to plant wedges 10 meters away from the Blue Line off Mays Al-Jabal town,” the report said.

Dozens of Hezbollah tunnels are believed to have been dug along the 130-kilometer border between the two countries, and the military said the operation dubbed “Northern Shield” would take weeks or months to complete.
Hezbollah deputy chief: All of Israel is in range of our rockets
The deputy chief of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has warned that all of Israel, “even Tel Aviv,” is vulnerable to the organization’s immense arsenal of over 100,000 rockets.

In an interview published Saturday in the Arabic-language Iranian news outlet Al-Wefak, Hezbollah deputy secretary general Naim Qassem said, “The entire Israeli homefront is exposed, even Tel Aviv.”

He added: “There is no point in the Zionist entity that is not in the range of Hezbollah’s rockets.”

The comments came amid rising tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border as the IDF on Saturday exposed another cross-border attack tunnel built by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon into Israeli territory.
PM asks Haifa mayor not to appoint deputy who said Israel inspired Islamic State
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the newly elected mayor of Haifa, Einat Kalisch-Rotem, to abandon her plan to appoint a deputy who voiced support for terror organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, backed BDS and claimed Zionism inspired the creation of the Islamic State terror group.

Public outrage erupted last week as reports came out of the upcoming appointment of Joint (Arab) List council member Raja Za’atara, a member of the Communist Party of Israel, which has been criticized by many in recent years for supporting Bashar Assad’s regime and its allies in the Syrian civil war.

At the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: “This morning before the meeting I sought Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch to request that she cancel the appointment of a deputy mayor who supports Hamas and Hezbollah, which declare their intention to destroy the State of Israel. I hope that request is heeded.”

The reports cited past statements by Za’atara, 40, who has been a political figure since he was a teenager, serving as a local and national student leader in high school and university.

He is a member of the Hadash political party and the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, and he was the manager of the newly formed Joint List alliance of Arab parties in the 2015 elections.
Father of Murdered Arab Who Sold Land to Jews Also Killed for Same ‘Crime’
The father of Ahmad Salameh, 51, who was shot dead on Friday at the entrance to his home in the Israeli Arab town of Jaljuliya, near Kfar Saba, was also murdered in the past for the same reason as his son: selling Arab owned land to Jews, Kan, Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, reported Sunday. Arab media outed him a number of times as selling land to Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria before he was killed.

The Palestinian Authority’s land laws prohibit the sale of Arab-owned lands to “any man or judicial body corporation of Israeli citizenship, living in Israeli or acting on its behalf.” Land sales to Israelis are considered treason by the PA because the threaten the founding of a future state, and to “halt the spread of moral, political and security corruption.” PA Arabs who sell land to Israelis are subject to the death penalty.
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In a July 2014 hearing in the Tel Aviv District Court regarding a case involving Salameh, during the Gaza War, his attorney told the court: “This is a person whose occupation is land dealer in Judea and Samaria. This is not a simple job in the reality of the Land of Israel. He buys plots and land from Palestinians and they are sold in Israel. In July, he was supposed to close deals in Judea and Samaria, but because of the war, the deals were delayed. He is in a difficult phase in his life.”
Palestinians plant 15 million trees to seize land
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has planted millions of olive trees in the West Bank in a ploy to lay claim to land and set facts on the ground, according to an internal report by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA).

According to the report, which was written by the head of the Agriculture Department in the ICA and brought to light by the Zionist civil rights Lavi organization, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture has implemented a plan to take over land by planting olive trees.

"According to data collected by the Palestinian ministry, the space on which the trees were planted amounts to some 975,000 dunams (241,000 acres) on which 14.7 million olive trees have been planted, 11.9 million of which bear fruit," the report said.

"The expansion of the cultivated area is due to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture's flagship plan, which calls for the planting of a million olive trees (more than a million in practice)," the senior ICA official wrote.

"As part of the project, the ministry, together with other organizations, provided Palestinian farmers in Judea and Samaria with about 300,000 olive tree seedlings," he explained.

There were plans in the past of a Palestinian agricultural takeover, but its scope was much smaller than the data presented in the report.

According to a special report by Regavim, a right-wing pro-settler organization, from 2013 to 2017, hundreds of new agricultural sites that cover thousands of dunams were added; and more than 150 new roads were created, stretching over hundreds of kilometers.
IsraellyCool: A New Flood-Related Libel
One of the tactics of the palestinians and their supporters/Israel haters is to accuse Israel of doing things they themselves not only do, but have mastered.

For instance, terrorism. They almost single-handedly brought it into the mainstream, yet they accuse Israel of it.

Now that their terror tunnel escapades are getting more airplay, they clearly needed to find a way to accuse Israel of the same thing.

While there is no explanation of the purpose behind this supposed tunnel, I think the implication that it is being used by Jews to infiltrate their town is clear. It is apparently secretive after all, only revealed by some fortuitous rains!

Of course, this is not the case: even other anti-Israel sites have been speaking about these public tunnels for a while now.

Yes, these tunnels are archaeological in nature, and the City of David really did exist.

The palestinians and their supporters/Israel haters need to learn that unlike what rain does to holes in the ground, Jewish history cannot be erased.


Al-Arabiya slams Linda Sarsour as Muslim Brotherhood ally
Linda Sarsour is an extremist who has “roots in [the] Muslim Brotherhood,” according to an English-language feature on Al-Arabiya, the Saudi Arabia based news channel. The article published in idiomatic English on Sunday accused the Brotherhood of “shaping the thoughts of American activist Linda Sarsour, [which resulted in] her declaring her ‘Jihad’ against US President Donald Trump.”

The unprecedented article linked her to others whom it also labeled extremists, and insinuated that the Brotherhood and groups it is allied with, including Hamas, are seeking to infiltrate the US.

The article comes in the context of Saudi Arabia’s attempt to cement relations with the Trump administration, and its ongoing conflict with Qatar and Islamist groups.

Written by Huda al-Saleh, the article sought to expose what it called “details of calls to attack Trump by US ‘Muslim Sisters’ allied to the Brotherhood.” The article began by noting that two Muslim women, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, were recently elected to the US Congress.

However, “those sponsoring and supporting the two Muslim women to reach the US Congress adopted a tactic to infiltrate through their immigrant and Black minority communities in general,” insinuating that Muslim Brotherhood activists sought to drum up support for the Democratic candidates.

“The Democrats battle against Republican control of the US Congress led to an alliance with political Islamic movements in order to restore their control on [sic] government.” The piece asserted that the Brotherhood and “all movements of political Islam” are also tied to fighting against sanctions on Iran.
Ocasio-Cortez Blasts Maccabees for Using Oil Instead of Renewables (satire)
Calling for a government ban on Hanukkah celebrations, Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the Maccabees for using oil instead of wind or solar power to light their menorah.

Hanukkah celebrates the Maccabees – a group of rebel Jewish warriors in the second century BC – rededicating the Second Temple in Jerusalem and making one day’s worth of ritual olive oil burn for eight nights. The incoming congresswoman, however, tweeted that the Maccabees “are clearly in the pockets of big oil” and should have instead used renewables to light their menorah.

“Sad to see the Maccabees doing the Koch brothers’ bidding,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “If they had just used solar panels, maybe those Jews wouldn’t have lost both their temples.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet was met with criticism on Twitter, as other users pointed out that the technology did not exist at the time. But the congresswoman countered that “the sun has been around for, like, at least 5,000 years.”
Pink Floyd cover band cancels concerts in Israel amid pressure from Roger Waters
A Pink Floyd cover band has canceled scheduled appearances in Israel amid a storm of harassment and mounting pressure from boycott activists that followed a call from the original band’s co-founder Roger Waters for the musicians to refrain from performing in a “racist” country.

The UK Pink Floyd Experience had been slated to play in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba at the beginning of January. But in an announcement on their Facebook page Saturday the band said it was canceling the performances.

The shows’ organizers, EGOeast Productions, said in a statement that the band had pulled out after a wave of boycott Israel activism “which reached a high with the publication of the band members phone numbers, who began to be harassed until they were forced to cancel the service of their devices.”

Pro-Israel activists responded to the aborted tour with a wave of comments posted to the UK Pink Floyd Experience Facebook page until the band eventually removed the site, the producers said.

“After the band announced the cancellation on its Facebook page, we were witness to an exceptional mobilization by thousands of Israelis who responded and gave their opinion about the cancellation,” the statement said. “The situation became so extreme the band took down its Facebook page.”
BDS groups claim victory as New England police pull out of Israel training
Two New England police departments withdrew from a seminar in Israel last week following a public backlash from pro-Palestinian activists.

The activists are claiming the withdrawals in two liberal redoubts as a significant victory in their efforts to foil police security seminars in Israel conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and others, which they say promote punitive police practices and racial profiling.

The Vermont State Police, headquartered in Waterbury, as well as the Northampton, Massachusetts Police Department, pulled out of the ADL’s New England’s leadership seminar in Israel, titled “Resiliency and Counterterrorism.” The moves followed pressure from residents and the pro-Palestinian groups Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.

JVP runs a national campaign, “End the Deadly Exchange,” claiming the seminar promotes “discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries.”

When contacted, Vermont State Police spokesman Adam Silverman pointed to a statement put out by the department.

It said that the Sate Police’s director, Col. Matthew Birmingham, had accepted ADL’s invitation to join the seminar because it offered “an opportunity to interact with Israeli and Palestinian law-enforcement agencies, observe the security strategies and systems Israel uses to prevent terror attacks, and discuss the challenges the parties face in the region,” it continued.
Award-Winning Irish Journalist Tweets Antisemitic Conspiracy
Gemma O’Doherty is an award-winning Irish investigative journalist. She spent 16 years at the Irish Independent and according to her website, she has contributed to The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Village magazine. She even made a recent failed attempt to run for the Irish presidency.

On December 7, 2018 she tweeted this:


The reference to “globalists” is often a dog whistle that means Jews.

A look at the accompanying image, which includes a prominent Star of David, should dispel any doubts that this is precisely who O’Doherty is alluding to.
Qatar book fair sells anti-Semitic books despite ADL pressure
The Anti-Defamation League has asked the U.S. ‎Embassy in Qatar to pressure Doha to remove anti-‎Semitic titles from its government-sponsored ‎book fair, which it said "has a record of promoting blatantly anti-Semitic content."

The 29th Doha International Book Fair ran Dec. ‎‎1-8.

In a statement posted on its website Friday, the ADL noted that ‎‎the annual book fair ‎routinely promotes blatantly anti-‎Semitic books, including titles such as "Lies Spread ‎by the Jews," "The Myth of the Nazi Gas Chambers," ‎and "Talmud of Secrets: Facts Exposing the Jewish ‎Schemes ‎to Control the World."‎

Other anti-Semitic titles sold on the book fair's ‎website include an Arabic version of former Ku Klux Klan leader ‎David Duke's anti-Semitic tract exaggerating Jewish ‎influence in the U.S. and Henry Ford's "The ‎International Jew," which teaches as historical fact ‎the seminal anti-Semitic hoax, "The Protocols of the ‎Elders of Zion," the statement said.‎

The ADL has written to U.S. Chargé d'Affaires at the ‎American Embassy in Qatar William Grant asking that ‎‎"he leverage the embassy's participation in the book ‎fair to urge the Qatari government to stop promoting ‎such hateful content."‎
Tunisians protest Israel outside office of Jewish minister
Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a protest in Tunisia’s capital against Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians Saturday.

The protest was held outside the Tourism Ministry. The country’s newly named tourism minister, Rene Trabelsi, is Jewish, only the third Jewish person to ever be named a minister in the country.

Protesters expressed anger about Israeli settlements and called for a Palestinian state, with posters reading “Palestine is Arab, no choice but rifles,” and “Tunisia is free, Zionists out.”

The crowd included left-wing groups pushing a law that would make it a crime to normalize relations with Israel.

Tunisia’s government has downplayed the proposed law, and moderate Islamist party Ennahdha warned such a bill could hurt Tunisia’s relations with Western nations and international organizations.

Tunisia, like most Arab countries, doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Arrests but No Hate-Crime Charges After Jewish Teen Beaten by Mob in New York City
Two teenagers have been arrested after a 16-year-old Jewish boy was beaten on Nov. 27 in Forest Hills, Queens, by around 20 teens, according to witnesses. Jonathan Torres, 18, and another 17-year-old male, were arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree felony gang assault and second-degree felony assault. Neither alleged attacker has been charged with a hate crime despite some witnesses claiming there were chants of “Kill the Jew” during the attack.

“It’s not a hate crime, and the victim is in stable condition,” an NYPD spokesperson said Thursday. Yaniv Meirov, who runs Chazaq, an organization that serves the local Bukharian Jews, said it was “100 percent in my opinion a hate crime.” There are conflicting accounts of whether the victim, a student at a local Yeshiva, was wearing identifiably Jewish clothing at the time of the attack. He’s now reportedly in stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital, recovering from severe bruising and contusions.

Meirov said the attack happened after the victim left a kosher restaurant when 20-30 teenagers, chanting “Kill the Jew,” began punching and kicking him. A large group of onlookers surrounded the attackers, many recording it on their cellphones according to witnesses.
South Florida man arrested for making threats to local synagogue
Aventura police announced Saturday that they had arrested Nadim Siddiqui, 35, from Hollywood in connection with making threats to the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center and possibly other Jewish establishments.

Siddiqui became a “known nuisance in the area after a series of incidents many considered anti-Semitic, such as tipping over menorahs and repeatedly trespassing at a Jewish market,” according to the Miami Herald.

The arrest was part of a “coordinated investigation” involving local agencies, the State Attorney’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI’s Miami bureau, the newspaper reported.

The arrest warrant includes enhanced charges for hate crimes, the ABC affiliate Local 10 News, reported.
Life imitates art as play about antisemitism faces wave of abuse
A new play about rising antisemitism that opens in a London theatre this week has become the target of antisemitic abuse. One Jewish Boy by Stephen Laughton focuses on the relationship between a Jewish man and a mixed-race, non-Jewish woman, their experiences of hatred and abuse, and the impact on their marriage. “It’s about big themes on a domestic level,” Laughton said.

Since publicity for the play was launched in September, Laughton has been targeted with abuse on social media, and posters for the production have been defaced and torn down. Palestinian flags were posted online in response to mentions of the play.

Among the comments were: “Who cares about Jews? This looks shit”; “I must say I do not give a fuck. Perhaps you could write a play about Palestinian kids getting blown to pieces by Jews”; and “You’re a fucking enabler. You Jews disgust me”.

Laughton said he was saddened by the responses. “I expected something, but I didn’t anticipate they’d come for me. I’m worried there’ll be more antisemitism when the play opens, and I’m worried it could become physical.” The Community Security Trust, which protects and defends British Jews, had been consulted.
Survey: 38% of Jews in Europe are thinking about leaving
Growing anti-Semitism has prompted 38% of European Jews to consider leaving Europe, a new report by a European human rights agency reveals.

The report was compiled by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, which was established to uphold human rights and fight all forms of racism. According to the report, 89% of Jews surveyed said that anti-Semitism in the EU had risen significantly in the past five years, with 85% saying that anti-Semitism was the most serious problem they faced.

The report is based on the largest survey on anti-Semitism conducted anywhere in the world, which included 16,400 respondents from 28 EU member nations.

Nearly one-third (30%) of respondents said they had personally experienced anti-Semitic attacks. Most of those were people whose appearance identified them as Jews.

Of the tens of thousands of Jews surveyed, 80% told the EUAFR that they had refrained from reporting anti-Semitic incidents to the police or other authorities, thereby skewing official reports on the scope of anti-Semitism in a number of countries. A third of respondents said they chose to stay away from Jewish events or Jewish institutions out of fear for their personal safety.
818-year-old synagogue reopens in India's Kerala during Hanukkah
Hundreds of Jews from around the world came to southern India's Kerala on Thursday to celebrate the 450th anniversary of an 818-year-old synagogue, which was reopening for worship for the first time in 46 years.

Israelis gathered at the Kadavumbagam synagogue and offered prayers, sang devotional songs, took part in a procession as they welcomed a handwritten copy of the Torah, the holiest book in Judaism that was brought from Israel on the special occasion.

The synagogue was closed for worship in 1972 as many of its members moved to Israel in 1950s and 1960s. It was reportedly robbed and hit by a storm after its closure.

Fewer than 5,000 Jews remain among India's 1.1 billion people, but the faith has a long history in the country, with the first established community thought to have been formed in Kerala in 70 C.E.

"Now it is a time now, very few Jews are here. It should be the monument [monumental] for the Israel and India relationship and it is now, it is getting more strengthened and strengthened by all means," caretaker of Kadavumbagam Synagogue Elias Josephai said.

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