Thursday, February 14, 2019
Maajid Nawaz (March 8, 2017): I'm calling out the loons who make Israel bashing the mother of all virtues
Soon after London Fashion Week concluded, Israel Apartheid Week began. Another week, another obsessive focus on Israel.How Chelsea Clinton became a defender of the Jews on Twitter
The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is mostly spearheaded in the West by people who have little to nothing attaching them to the Middle-East conflict.
Nothing, that is, beyond the fact that belonging to the hard-left and not supporting BDS has become the equivalent of claiming a love for fashion, while hating haute couture. Though unlike haute couture, BDS is an inelegant and simplistic solution to a protracted and incredibly complicated problem. But who cares for detail when you have a fabulous placard to wave?
The lazy analogy that BDS rests on is with South African apartheid. But unlike apartheid-era South Africa, Arabs make up 20 percent of Israel’s full citizenry. Most of these Arab-Israeli citizens are Muslim. There are mosques on Israeli beaches. Alongside Hebrew, Arabic is an official language of Israel. An Arab-Israeli judge has even impeached and convicted former Israeli prime minster, Ehud Olmert.
And though many problems with integration persist – as they do with minority communities across the West – when surveyed 77 percent of these Arabs expressed an overwhelming preference to remain Israeli, rather than become citizens of a future Palestinian state.
The reason is obvious, Israeli-Muslims have more freedom of religion than other minorities – and even other Muslims have in all other Middle-Eastern countries.
When Ilhan Omar got in trouble earlier this week for claiming that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee pays politicians to support Israel, plenty of Jewish lawmakers took to Twitter to denounce the comment as anti-Semitic. But one of the highest profile people who took offense at the statement was neither Jewish nor a politician.In rare vote, House sends a message on anti-Semitism to Ilhan Omar
“We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism,” Chelsea Clinton tweeted.
And the former first daughter didn’t stop engaging with the conversation there. After Omar released an apology, Clinton thanked her and said she was looking forward to speaking to the Minnesota Democrat. (Clinton had said in an earlier tweet that she was contacting Omar to set up a meeting.)
Later Clinton was exceedingly polite in responding to a rude troll who had written that she “isn’t even Jewish she’s just ugly” by educating him about anti-Semitic stereotypes.
“The ugly Jew is a vile centuries old anti-Semitic trope so next time, please just go straight to ugly and leave out the rest,” she wrote.
Clinton, who is expecting her third child with her Jewish husband, investor Marc Mezvinsky, also used the incident as a way to call out Republican Reps. Kevin McCarthy and Steve King for what she called “anti-Semitic rhetoric.”
Clinton stands out because she is among the highest-profile non-Jews — J.K. Rowling also comes to mind — to consistently call out anti-Semitism on Twitter. And as seen with her arranging a meeting with Omar, she gets results.
The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a broad condemnation of anti-Semitism days after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., received widespread criticism over her comments on Israel.
The language, which does not mention Omar by name, was approved 424-0 using a legislature procedure that lets the minority party make a last-minute motion to change legislation just before it's passed. The procedure almost never works for the minority party, in part because the minority usually tries to make radical changes to the bill that the majority quickly rejects.
On Wednesday, however, Republicans used the so-called "motion to recommit" vote to call for the addition of language to a resolution that states it is in the "national interests of the United States to combat anti-Semitism at home and abroad."
"With an unfortunate rise in anti-Semitism and attempts to delegitimize Israel, the United States House of Representatives must emphasize the importance of combating anti-Semitism and reject all movements that deny Israel’s right to exist," the amendment states.
The sponsor of the language, Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., indicated the language was aimed at Omar, who has been criticized by both parties for comments they say amount to anti-Semitism.
“This horrific anti-Semitic tone being taken by some Members of Congress must come to an end," Kustoff said. "The language I offered affirms the United States’ interest in combating anti-Semitism at home and abroad, something my colleagues on both sides of the aisle should and must support. I am proud to stand today in solidarity with my Jewish community as this hate has no place in our country."
Proud to report my Motion combating anti-Semitism passed the House unanimously today! #424-0 #ZeroTolerancehttps://t.co/7QcckKa8jK— Rep. David Kustoff (@RepDavidKustoff) February 13, 2019
H.J.Res.37 - Directing the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.
---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 2 ---
Amash R
Massie R
---- NOT VOTING 5 ---
Allred D
Dingell D
Kinzinger R
Quigley D
Ryan D
Anti-Semitism In Congress. The Canary Is Starting To Tweet
Few developments in politics today concern me so much as the fact that two blatant and unapologetic (unless pressed by party leaders to be so) anti-Semites now walk the halls of Congress. Am I saying that there have been no anti-Semites in D.C. before 2018? Obviously not. It's been part of D.C. in one form or another for generations. Nor has it just been limited to Capitol Hill. For three years, Supreme Court Justice James Clarke McReynolds refused to even speak to Justice Louis Brandeis because he was Jewish. And FDR was no friend to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.
But this is not the 1920s, or 1940s, but 2019. And yet we have just elected two women — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — who harbor openly anti-Semitic views to the House of Representatives. The new media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems quite comfortable in the presence of anti-Semites as well. (See her campaign victory speech alongside city councilman Thomas Lopez Pierre who ran a campaign to rid his district of "greedy Jewish landlords.")
By the way, for anyone who participated in the Women's March, you might want to know that your organizers, Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, worship the most influential anti-Semite in the United States today, Louis Farrakhan. But they're not alone. Consider this. At Aretha Franklin's memorial, former President Bill Clinton sat just two seats over from Farrakhan (a man who just a few weeks ago referred to Jews as "termites"). Al Sharpton, a man who hosts a cable news show on MSNBC and during the Obama years visited the White House over 100 times, sat right next to Farrakhan. Not a word from the media.
Alan Dershowitz offered a chilling observation. For some perspective, he asks us to envision David Duke sitting in Farrakhan's place. Try to imagine an American president or so-called "civil rights leader" (uh-huh) sitting next to a KKK leader who said as Farrakhan did, not in 1918, but 2018: "The powerful Jews are my enemy. ... And Farrakhan, by God's grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew and I'm here to say your time is up, your world is through!"
“Representative Omar's tweets were a disgrace. Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress or anywhere in our country or the free world.” -@VP pic.twitter.com/O79RiRwHUf
— GOP (@GOP) February 14, 2019
Continetti: Anti-Semitism ‘Has Become a Serial Offense’ for Omar
Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti said anti-Semitism has become a "serial offense" for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), who created another scandal for herself over the weekend.
"Omar has a track record. She had a track record in Minneapolis. Many Jewish leaders were concerned about her statements then," Continetti said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" Wednesday. "This has become a serial offense for her."
Continetti pointed out that anti-Semitism is both a serial offense for Omar and a problem for other freshman Democratic representatives.
"She had that tweet about Israel hypnotizing the world," Continetti continued. "It's not just her. It's also Rashida Tlaib. It's also Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who praised Jeremy Corbyn who is friendly to Hezbollah. This is a problem for the Democratic Party."
"The political consequences of the Democratic Party being associated with political anti-Semitism are huge," he added. "There's a battle that's just beginning in the Democratic Party."
Ilhan Omar is a Problem for America, not just the Jews and not Just the Democrats
Omar Fundraises Off Trump Call to Resign Over Anti-Semitic Tweets
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) is fundraising off the backlash to her anti-Semitic tweets over the weekend that included a call by President Donald Trump for her to resign.Money in politics? Ilhan Omar will fly to LA for fundraiser with … terror-tied CAIR
A page is set up reading "Pledge to stand with Ilhan. Donald Trump wants Ilhan to resign, but I stand with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to fight hatred and to reclaim our democracy," along with ways to donate.
Omar was forced to apologize after she said on Twitter that support for Israel is "all about the Benjamins baby" in a response to Glenn Greenwald, a liberal journalist. Greenwald was attacking House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) for criticizing Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), who is also anti-Israel.
She went on to accuse AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying organization, of paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, which drew criticism from some Democratic colleagues, Jewish organizations, and even Chelsea Clinton. While Omar released a statement saying she "unequivocally apologize[d]" for her tweets, Trump said it was "lame" and she should "resign from Congress" or leave the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Adam Rubenstein, the executive editor of Jewish Insider, tweeted out a screenshot of the Facebook ad belonging to Omar's page which said, "We will not be silenced."
Newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar will jet off to Los Angeles next month to keynote a fundraiser for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a terror-tied organization that was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorist financing case in U.S. history.Honest Reporting: HonestReporting Invites Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to Israel
On March 23, Omar will speak at CAIR-Los Angeles’ 4th Annual Valley Banquet, where tables will cost $500.
“CAIR-LA is honored to have Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as the featured speaker for the 4th Annual Valley Banquet,” reads a press release from the Los Angeles chapter of the group that was formed as a Hamas support network in the United States.
She will deliver her address alongside CAIR-Florida director Hassan Shibly, according to a CAIR flier promoting the event. Shibly is a dedicated Islamist and bigoted gay basher. A fan of radical clerics, he has routinely refused to categorize U.S.-designated terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, according to the Clarion Project. Moreover, Shibly regularly takes to social media to demonize the U.S. military as equivalent to the jihadi terrorists that they are fighting.
The director of CAIR-Los Angeles is Hussam Ayloush, who, like many CAIR executives, has disturbing Islamist views. Following the tragic San Bernardino terrorist attacks, Ayloush suggested that the United States was “partly responsible” for the ISIS-led attack on innocents in California. “Let’s not forget that some of our own foreign policy, as Americans, as the West, have fueled that extremism,” he added. Ayloush has in the past described U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a campaign to instill “fear of the Muslims.”
Following Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s recent antisemitic outburst on Twitter suggesting that AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, HonestReporting has extended an invitation to the Minnesota representative to join our upcoming Mission to Israel this spring.Honest Reporting: Apologists for Omar: Justifying an Antisemitic Tweet
Omar’s comments sparked a storm as leaders on the left and right condemned her remarks. The Democratic Party issued a statement labeling her words “deeply offensive.” Although Omar subsequently apologized, many question her statement’s sincerity.
Despite her apology, HonestReporting believes that Congresswoman Omar still does not truly understand Israel. HonestReporting executive director Daniel Pomerantz penned an open letter Tuesday inviting Omar to Israel on our spring Mission to Israel, which runs May 27 through June 3, 2019, and posted it on Twitter.
What the UK press saidTop House Democrat Praises Omar: ‘Incredible Young Lady’ With a ‘Tremendous Future’
The IndependentTake The Independent, whose story opens with:
President Donald Trump has condemned Representative Ilhan Omar for her tweet criticising the Israeli lobby, and called on her to resign.
Except that the tweet wasn’t about criticizing the Israel lobby. It was an antisemitic trope.
Cue an excuse to ‘balance’ the story by turning the focus on to AIPAC itself as well as giving a platform for the fringe radical anti-Israel organization IfNotNow, which The Independent describes as “an organisation led by American Jews with the mission “to end our community’s support for the Israeli occupation”.”
The Guardian gives BDS supporter a platform
But it isn’t only The Independent whose priorities are skewed when it comes to a story involving antisemitism. The Guardian gave op-ed space for this:
What follows includes the claim that Israel is an “apartheid system” and a defense of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. According to Kotch, “Opponents have dishonestly cast it as inherently antisemitic.”
He even writes:
I was raised Jewish, so while everyone should be deeply concerned about antisemitism, I know the issue affects me personally. If there’s anything I’ve learned about Judaism, it’s that standing up against hate and oppression is about the best thing I can do to honor Jewish history. That’s why I, along with many American Jews, support BDS and unapologetically condemn the current government of Israel for its heinous treatment of Palestinians.
And, like so many on the left who are unwilling or unable to contemplate the existence of antisemitism within their own ranks, Kotch only sees the threat of ‘real’ antisemitism coming from the opposite political camp:
Labeling anyone who speaks of Jews and money in the same sentence an anti-Semite weakens our fight against the real anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi, and other white nationalist forces that have seen a resurgence in recent years.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) praised new Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) on Thursday after she was embroiled in another anti-Semitic controversy this week, calling her an "incredible young lady" with a bright future.'NO' MEANS 'YES': Ilhan Omar Gets Nasty With Former Reagan Official
Omar was forced to apologize on Monday by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and some of her Democratic colleagues after claiming pro-Israel politicians are paid off by the lobbying group AIPAC. A supporter of the anti-Israel BDS movement, which has been called anti-Semitic by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), Omar also recently said she used "unfortunate" language in a 2012 tweet where she said Israel had "hypnotized the world."
"I wish we would just go on and stop beating up on people when they make a mistake," Clyburn said on CNN. "All of us have misspoken at one time or another. All of us have to learn the processes up here. I think she's an incredible young lady who has a tremendous future in politics, and I'm going to be as supportive as I possibly can of her, and I wish we would just go on and put this behind us."
Clyburn said he had a "very long talk with her" about her recent remarks and called her "very sincere" in her apology. Omar tweeted she was "listening and learning, but standing strong." She said "I unequivocally apologize" but added AIPAC was among the lobbysists playing a "problematic role in our politics."
Anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) exploded at former Reagan administration official Elliott Abrams during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday as she called him by the wrong name and refused to accept one of his answers.Virginia legislature candidate apologizes for anti-Israel and anti-Semitic posts
"Abrams testified in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the U.S. response to the crisis in Venezuela, which has collapsed under far-left policies that have decimated its economy and caused hyperinflation, starvation and medical shortages," The Washington Free Beacon reported. "The Trump administration is supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and said authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro must step down and leave the country."
"Mr. Adams, in 1991 you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-contra affair for which you were later pardoned by President George HW Bush," Omar said. "I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful."
"If I can respond to that," Abrams responded.
"Ah, em, it wasn't a question," Omar fired back.
Omar later asked Abrams if a foreign massacre was a "fabulous achievement" and refused to accept his answer.
"Yes or no, do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?" Omar asked.
"That is a ridiculous question," Abrams responded.
"Yes or no?" Omar yelled.
"No!" Abrams fired back.
"I will take that as a 'yes,'" Omar shockingly responded.
A Democratic US candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates who describes himself as a “second-generation Palestinian refugee” has apologized for anti-Semitic and anti-Israel social media posts.The University of Sydney sacks academic Tim Anderson
“This slander campaign is using five-year-old Facebook posts from my impassioned college days, posts that upon my reflection and with the blessing of time, I sincerely regret and apologize for,” Ibraheem Samirah said in a statement dated Friday.
“I am so sorry that my ill-chosen words added to the pain of the Jewish community, and I seek your understanding and compassion as I prove to you our common humanity. Please do not let those who seek [to] divide us use these words out of context of time and place to accomplish their hateful goals.”
The posts were first published on Thursday by the conservative website Big League Politics.
Samirah, a Chicago native who is Muslim, said that sending money to Israel is “worse” than sending money to the Ku Klux Klan and that the late prime minister Ariel Sharon would burn in hell upon his death. He also accused Israeli teenagers of using Tinder to “cover up the murders in their names.”
The University of Sydney has dismissed controversial academic Tim Anderson following the suspension of his employment in December.Amnesty International’s Latest Anti-Israel Campaign Targets Jewish Tourism
An employment review panel voted for Anderson’s dismissal by a 2-1 majority. Anderson has announced that he intends to legally challenge his dismissal.Anderson was found to have circulated lecture materials to his students in 2018 which, according to a letter from the Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Stephen Garton, contained an “altered image of the Israeli flag” featuring a “cropped swastika.” The materials were allegedly used in a course on ‘Human Rights and Development’.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim commented: “The University did the right thing both in terms of principle and its own interests. Anderson has been an enthusiastic apologist for the regimes in Syria and North Korea which have systematically murdered their own people, while likening Israel, a genuine western democracy, with Nazi Germany. These sorts of statements fall squarely within the working definition of antisemitism adopted by the 31 democratic nations of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).”
Mr Wertheim noted that the IHRA working definition gives examples that “may serve as illustrations” of antisemitic statements, including:
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
Applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
According to Mr Wertheim, much of the material distributed by Anderson concerning Israel and international affairs amounts to “little more than propaganda”.
This past November, the internet travel company Airbnb buckled after two years of pressure from Human Rights Watch and other anti-Israel NGOs, and announced that it would remove listings of Jewish-owned properties in the West Bank from its site. Not wanting to be outdone, Amnesty International has now followed that up with a campaign not only targeting Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor, but also asking Airbnb to add Jewish-owned properties in eastern Jerusalem to its blacklist. The central part of the campaign is Amnesty’s 96-page report titled, “Destination: Occupation.”Socialist, Pro-Palestinian Students MAD At Pro-Israel Course
The report denies Jewish history, ignores both terrorism and Arab states’ attacks on Israel, implicitly legitimizes Jordan’s 1948 ethnic cleansing of eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank, and, in its conclusion, explicitly calls for further ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. Amnesty not only proposes, as the campaign against Airbnb did, that Jews should not live in the West Bank, it goes even farther and attempts to limit Jews’ ability to even visit the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. While Amnesty has a history of singling out Israel for disproportionate condemnation and relying on demonizing rhetoric rather than facts, this report is particularly malevolent because it targets private businesses and attempts to coerce them into signing on to Amnesty’s bigotry.
The gist of Amnesty’s complaint is that Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb “list numerous hotels, B&Bs, attractions or tours in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). They are doing so despite knowing that Israel’s settlements are illegal under international law, and a war crime.”
Meir Elran was a brigadier general in the Israeli Defense Forces and currently works for the Institute for National Security Studies. He’s teaching a course at the University of Chicago this semester called “Security, Counter-Terrorism, and Resilience: The Israeli Case,” reported Campus Reform.
UChicago Socialists and Students for Justice in Palestine co-authored an op-ed in which they said “Elran’s course actually infringes upon open discourse by furthering the all-too-common and virulently Islamophobic rhetoric that positions Israel as standing bravely and resiliently in the face of their country’s barbaric natives.”
Yeahhh I don’t think these guys really understand the concept of open discourse. Speech cannot infringe upon open discourse unless you’re shutting other people down which Elran’s not doing; this is his class. As for Islamophobic rhetoric, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to frame defending against Palestinian rocket launchers, rock throwers, etc. as having an irrational fear of Muslims.
Anyways, the students say “in recent months, under the guise of counter-terrorism, Israel has violently suppressed demonstrations against invasive security measures at the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site.” When they say “invasive security measures,” I think they’re referring to metal detectors Israel put in place after Arabs murdered two police officers there. How dare you stop us from killing you — that is bigotry.
Meet @alQaws. Hate #israel. Except... https://t.co/ZOGuGudJnM
— Ozraeli Dave (@Israellycool) February 14, 2019
BBC double standards on disputed territory in evidence again
As has been the case in past BBC reporting on Cyprus (see ‘related articles’ below), the words ‘occupied’ and ‘occupation’ did not appear at all in the report: readers were merely told that northern Cyprus is “Turkish-controlled”. As usual there was no reference in the report to “illegal settlements” or “international law” despite the fact that it was Turkish state policy to facilitate and encourage the immigration of Turkish nationals to the island during the latter half of the 1970s.Fox News rejects ad for anti-Nazi film
In contrast to BBC coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, readers did not find any pronouncements allocating disputed territory to one side or the other in the style of the frequently seen terminology “occupied Palestinian land” and “Palestinian territory” and no mention was made of the presence of Turkish troops in northern Cyprus.
As we have seen in the past, the BBC is able to report on the enduring territorial dispute in Cyprus in a manner which refrains from promoting a particular political narrative. Unfortunately for the corporation’s audiences the same editorial standards are not evident in BBC reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Fox News told the creators of an Oscar-nominated documentary about a Nazi rally in the United States that it could not air a commercial on its network.BBC News website amends Second Lebanon War claim
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News rejected a 30-second spot, titled It Can Happen Here, saying it was “not appropriate for our air.”
The short clip was intended as both a PSA and a promotion for the documentary short, A Night at the Garden, which spotlights a 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The 30-second ad shows footage from the rally itself, and then cuts to a black screen with the words “It can happen here.” The film’s distributor requested the ad run during the popular Fox News show Hannity.
Fox News Channel’s president of ad sales, Marianne Gambelli, said: ”The ad in question is full of disgraceful Nazi imagery regardless of the film’s message and did not meet our guidelines,” according to Variety.
Last month we noted that a report published on the BBC News website closed with the following paragraph:Holocaust-denying perennial US presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche dead at 96
“Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006 in which more than 1,125 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and 159 Israelis, including 43 civilians, were killed.”
Similar statements had previously appeared in two BBC News website reports relating to Operation Northern Shield:
BBC News omits crucial background from report on IDF operation December 4th 2018
More lazy BBC reporting on Hizballah’s tunnels December 19th 2018
While the Lebanese authorities did not differentiate between civilians and combatants during the 2006 war, Lebanese officials did report even before the conflict was over that some 500 of the dead were Hizballah personnel and UN officials gave similar figures while Israeli estimates stand at around 600 (of whom 450 were identified with certainty: see page 55 here).
In August 2006 the BBC News website acknowledged that “there are no reliable figures” for the number of Hizballah combatants killed in the war that had just ended at the time.
BBC Watch submitted a complaint concerning the BBC’s repeated promotion of that narrative portraying Lebanese casualties during the 2006 war as “mostly civilians” despite there being no evidence of its having been able to independently verify that claim.
Lyndon LaRouche Jr., the political extremist who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison, has died. He was 96.Anti-Semitic blogger, 55, wears white supremacist badge to court as she LOSES bid to overturn conviction for Holocaust-denying YouTube song after judge rules she 'intended to be grossly offensive to Jews'
LaRouche’s political action committee confirmed Wednesday on its website that LaRouche had died a day earlier.
The cult-like figure, who espoused a wide range of conspiracy theories and advocated for an overhaul of the world’s economic and financial systems, ran first as a US Labor Party candidate and later, after an apparent shift to the right, as a Democratic or independent candidate.
In 1986, LaRouche described himself as being in the tradition of the American Whig party, a forerunner of the Republican Party in the first half of the 19th century. In 1990, he ran unsuccessfully to represent Virginia in Congress.
His views evolved throughout his life, but a central tenet of his apocalyptic platform warned of an inevitable global downward slide into crisis.
An anti-Semitic songwriter who compared Auschwitz to a 'theme park' and mocked the murder of Anne Frank in 'disgusting' songs shared on YouTube today lost an appeal against her conviction.‘Destroy Israeli Forces, Free Palestine’ Posters Target Hillel Building at Tufts University
Alison Chabloz, 53, who arrived at Southwark Crown Court wearing a 'white pride' badge with links to neo-Nazi groups and the Ku Klux Klan, had her case thrown out by a judge.
Chabloz had caused disgust by making music videos with lyrics that claim the Jewish community have exaggerated or made-up claims about the Holocaust.
She also mocked Anne Frank and laughed during her trial last year as the court heard how she mocked Jews being fashioned into lampshades, having their heads shrunk and being turned into bars of soap.
She was convicted of three charges of sending by a public communications network an offensive, indecent or menacing message or material last May.
District judge John Zani had said he was satisfied the material was grossly offensive and that Chabloz had intended to insult Jewish people and was not an attack on free speech.
And today Judge Christopher Hehir upheld the conviction for producing three songs 'grossly offensive to Jews'.
About two dozen offensive posters were found outside the Hillel building at Tufts University in Massachusetts on Tuesday morning, including one calling for a “Free Palestine” and the destruction of Israeli forces and American “pigs.”
The posters — which were not spotted anywhere else on campus, according to Hillel — featured anti-imperialist pig cartoons that were initially published by the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.
One of the images was accompanied by the text, “DESTROY ISRAELI APARTHEID FORCES AND AMERIKKKAN [sic] PIGS WHICH FUND IT. FREE PALESTINE.”
Another poster read, “What is a pig? A low natured beast that has no regard for law, justice, or the rights of people; a creature that bites the hand that feeds it; a foul, depraved traducer, usually found masquerading as the victim of an unprovoked attack.”
Rabbi Naftali Brawer — Tufts’ Jewish chaplain and executive director of the campus Hillel — condemned the incident as “a cowardly and shameful act targeting the Jewish community” in a statement sent to The Algemeiner.
Bosnia must return stolen Jewish property before joining EU
The European Parliament set clear conditions this week for Bosnia and Herzegovina to start on the path to membership European Union: the enactment of legislation to regulate the restitution of property stolen from Jews in the Holocaust.Son of Japanese Holocaust Hero Discovers Father’s Memorial Destroyed by Beit Shemesh Apartments
Jakov Finci, president of the Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hailed the decision, which he said was a "powerful call for long-awaited legislation in Bosnia to provide justice for Holocaust survivors and their families, and to the Jewish community and other religious communities."
The European Parliament voted to adopt a resolution put forward by Romanian European Parliament Member Cristian Dan Preda, who also serves on the body's Foreign Affairs Committee, based upon a European Commission report on the subject from last year.
The resolution passed in a vote of 468:123, with 83 abstentions.
This was the first time the European Parliament has officially decided that the restitution of stolen Jewish property was an issue that must be taken into consideration when considering Bosnia and Herzegovina's request to join the EU. The parliament called on the country "to ensure the right to property; points out the lack of a comprehensive legislative framework on handling restitution claims and encourages the authorities to open a dialogue with interested parties on issues pertaining to the restitution of, or compensation for, seized property."
The Jewish National Fund was left scrambling to apologize to the son of a former Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of approximately 6,000 Jews during the Holocaust, after a memorial grove of trees planted in his honor was flattened to make way for apartment buildings in Beit Shemesh without any notification.Koolulam cover of Matisyahu song chosen for World Radio Day
Trees were planted in memory and in honor of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese “Oskar Schindler,” who violated orders from his government to issue thousands of visas from Lithuania to Japan. Schindler saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.
Sugihara issued handwritten visas for thousands of Jews—primarily students of the Mir yeshivah—until the last moment, making a rare decision to disregard orders to the contrary from his superiors.
Witnesses said that he continued to issue visas from the train from which he departed Lithuania when the consulate was closed in 1940, even issuing and throwing them out of the windows at the desperate Jewish crowd as the train pulled away. He gave his official consulate stamp to a refugee to forge more visas after he left.
Sugihara was honored as a “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1985. In 1986, the Jewish National Fund planted a memorial orchard outside Beit Shemesh with a plaque reading “In appreciation of the humane and courageous actions that saved 5,000 Jews from World War II.”
An Israeli version of "One Day," the hit song by Jewish-American singer Matisyahu, was chosen by World Radio Day to be broadcasted on over 2,000 radio stations worldwide. The version of the song was performed by Israeli group Koolulam along with 3,000 audience participants in Haifa.Finalist Kobi Marimi Sings “Let It Be” to Become Israel’s Eurovision Representative
Led by musical director Ben Yefet, Koolulam concerts incorporate participation with a diverse audience of Jews, Christians and Muslims in a variety of multi-lingual songs.
The musical group announced on their Facebook page, "We feel honored to be part of this wonderful occasion. Thank you to 'One Day One Choir' for helping make this happen. We hope that 'One Day' every day will be peaceful."
"One Day" was originally released by Matisyahu in 2008 and has since been covered by many artists and featured on TV shows, including the NBC broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Matisyahu made headlines with his Jewish-themed music being nominated for a Grammy award in 2006.
The Koolulam version is in Hebrew, English and Arabic, a good fit for this year's World Radio Day theme of Dialogue, Tolerance, and Peace.
A stirring rendition of The Beatles’ “Let It Be” clinched the vote for 27-year-old Kobi Marimi last night (February 12) as the Israeli representative at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.Ray Charles and Israel
Auditions have been taking place since November on the TV show “Rising Star for Eurovision.” The last show featured the final four hopefuls: Ketreyah Fouch, Shefita (Rotem Shefi), Maya Buskila and Marimi.
Marimi won most of the celebrity jury votes as well as the popular vote of the studio audience and home viewers.
He admitted afterward to some trepidation at the start of the process, “but the audience I was so afraid of at the end turned out to be the most loving and embracing thing in the world. So I learned to dare.”
Marimi had been eliminated during the quarter-finals but won a second chance after a knockout performance of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
The Tel Aviv resident will be competing on his home turf. Israel is hostingthe 64th annual song contest by virtue of last year’s win by Netta Barzilaiwith the song “Toy.” Barzilai said Marimi was her favorite early on in the audition process.
In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth we celebrate another musical icon and friend and supporter of Israel. Ray Charles. Charles even visited Israel and met with 🇮🇱 Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion!
It was an absolute honor to receive the 2019 Friend of Israel Humanitarian Award from the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. What a wonderful night! Thank you 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/EBgCusH2G0
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 13, 2019
