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Tuesday, March 05, 2019

03/05 Links Pt2: Growing anti-Jewsh retoric in the U.S.; The U.N.’s eroded legitimacy; Trump: Ilhan Omar comments are a ‘dark day for Israel’; Israeli spacecraft snaps Earth ‘selfie’ with flag

From Ian:
Seth Frantzman: Growing anti-Jewsh retoric in the U.S.
The general trend is not a good one. There is no other minority group in America today being systematically told that they are white and have allegiance to a foreign country, and that racism against them is not systemic. No one uses this rhetoric against Hindu Americans and no one so frequently attacks Chinese Americans with this rhetoric. And that’s how we know it’s an anti-Jewish agenda. Only Jewish candidates for office today are attacked for being “white”; not even white candidates are constantly berated for “whiteness.”

It is almost like the rhetoric is designed to turn Jews into a caricature as the highest example of “white supremacy” – as if saying “white Jews, white supremacy” enough will eventually get Americans to think “Jews are white supremacists.”

In case you were wondering if that’s exaggeration, The Boston Globe this week ran an op-ed titled “A shocking number of Jews have become willing collaborators in white supremacy.” Are Irish complicit? Catholics? Protestants? Nope. Just Jews. The narrative is: Jews and the slave trade. Jews and white supremacy. Antisemitism isn’t systemic. Jews have foreign allegiance.

The campaign is designed to attack other Jewish Americans and make them responsible for all of America’s problems.

If you don’t think this resonates across the political spectrum in the US, you need only look at the 2017 scandal in which former CIA agent Valerie Plame tweeted an article titled “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.” She then claimed that it wasn’t an endorsement, but “Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish.” So she called an article “thoughtful” that was titled “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.” That’s what they are calling “thoughtful” today in America. It’s only one step from there to “foreign allegiance.”

What’s important to point out is that no other group in America is blamed for “driving America’s wars.” Not white Protestants. Not Catholics. No one else. Only Jews. And that’s antisemitism – and it is systemic. To systematically always blame Jews and always find “the Jew” behind every problem in America, from foreign wars to white supremacy and slavery, is antisemitism. And it is systemic. And it is growing.

The U.N.’s eroded legitimacy
At first glance, the recent G-77 gathering seemed like a Saturday Night Live parody of the UN’ s largest bloc. The G-77 is a coalition of 134 developing nations, created to promote the economic interests of its members and create a significant negotiating and voting bloc within the United Nations. The new chairman, with rehearsed political correctness to smiles and applause, called on “all states” (except his) to end the “epidemic” of terrorism and “work with us to put an end to this scourge.”

The speaker was Palestinian Authority President and PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas – infamous inciter and propagator of violence and terrorism against the sovereign State of Israel, and bank-roller of Palestinian terrorism to the tune of more than $138 million to terrorist prisoners and ex-convicts in 2018 alone. This PA program is commonly known as “pay for slay.” Through this program, Palestinians who commit acts of terrorism against Israelis and Americans are rewarded with lifetime financial benefits. Should the perpetrator die in the commission of his or her act of terror, their family then receives financial compensation.

Abbas’s chairmanship, which violates G-77 principles and the UN Charter, is the latest blight on the UN’s eroded legitimacy and credibility. Created to safeguard world peace, security, human rights, and the sovereign equality of states by peaceful dispute resolution, the UN has been hijacked by an antisemitic, terror-tainted political agenda – discrediting itself by violating its own charter. Mahmoud Abbas is himself a terrorist who openly calls for the destruction of Israel and the United States. While Abbas is serving as the chairman of the G-77, the Palestinians will be able to cosponsor proposals and amendments, make statements and raise procedural motions, and use every opportunity to punish Israel for some manufactured grievance. With Abbas at the helm there will be no peace with Israel. “Peace-building,” he says, “is treason.”

How did this sorry state of affairs develop? And what can be done by those states which are committed to the UN’s ethical, democratic founding principles?

Antisemitism at the UN did not begin randomly, but as a deliberate strategy. Some historians believe it started after Israel won the Six Day War in June 1967, damaging Russian prestige at home and abroad. The Soviets, enraged by Israel’s defeat of its proxies Egypt and Syria, retaliated, aiming its Cold War weapons of propaganda and disinformation against the Jewish state by a state-sponsored vilification campaign against Israel and Jews. It then did the same at the UN, where it forged a political alliance with Arab and Third World states. Starting in 1969, the General Assembly produced multiple resolutions affirming the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

RUSSIA USES language for totalitarian social control, said historian Joel Fishman. Following the Six Day War, the selected vocabulary was published in the Communist Party newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in October 1967: “Zionism is dedicated to genocide, racism, treachery, aggression and annexation... attributes of fascists.” In 1975, the Soviet-Arab bloc passed GA Resolution 3379, “Zionism is Racism.”


The young German Jews who left everything behind — and moved to Israel
People who were born and raised in Israel are not used to hearing that their upbringing is something to be envious of. The country is engaged in a bloody conflict with the Palestinians, military service is compulsory and it has one of the highest inequality rates in the West. Israelis also work some of the longest hours among states within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

These statistics do not make Israel an obvious immigration destination, particularly when coming from Germany — another OECD member that tops Israel in a number of key areas, including average wages and PISA performance. But for some German Jews, the dry figures are irrelevant. They decided to move to Israel anyway — and they have no regrets.

Read more: German politicians alarmed by rising anti-Semitism in France

"Can you really leave your house as a Jew in Germany without being treated like a museum exhibit? Not really," says Alon Kogan, a 22-year-old who was born in Offenbach and moved to Israel in 2015. "I always felt like I was a tourist attraction almost," he recalls. "Here, I no longer feel like an outsider."

Growing up near Frankfurt, Kogan was one of more than 6,500 Jews living in the area. Still, that didn't make him feel more comfortable about his religion. "People would always whisper 'look! Here are Jews! Look at what they're wearing!' if a group of Orthodox men would cross the street. It's like they were still amazed that there are Jews out there," he says.



Anti-AIPAC protest organizers Al-Awda have ties to terrorist groups, history of antisemitism
The Al-Awda Palestinian Refugees Right of Return organization, which is planning a protest on March 24 of the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC, has ties to Palestinian terrorist organizations and its leadership has made openly antisemitic remarks.

Al-Awda, which is Arabic for “the return,” calls on its website for an end to all US aid to Israel, a comprehensive boycott of Israel, the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and a Palestinian state “in all of Palestine,” meaning one that would replace Israel. It refers to Israel in quotation marks, further signaling its unacceptance of the country’s existence. The group has chapters throughout the US.

The organization’s protest aims to “expose [AIPAC’s] subversion of US foreign policy” and “continue to battle on behalf of the beleaguered Palestinian people,” its GoFundMe page explains. They are promoting the event on social media with the hashtag “#SupportPalestineInDC2019.” The organization is seeking to match its fundraising from last year’s protest, which reached $10,000. As of March 4, it received $2,000.

Al-Awda is a founding member of the Global Palestinian Right of Return Coalition (GPRRC), a group of 12 organizations advocating for "Palestinian refugees and internally displaced in Palestine and the exile."
Nancy Pelosi promotes Rolling Stone cover with Ilhan Omar as she continues to spread anti-Semitism
Even as Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was taking to Twitter to spread more anti-Semitism, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was out promoting the latest Rolling Stone cover, which features the two of them posing with other "new voices of the House."

Pelosi's celebration of the Jew-hating Omar makes it harder to dismiss the freshman as just another member of Congress.

For those just catching up, last month, Omar was forced into a hostage tape style fake apology for anti-Semitic tweets. Omar then showed herself to be unrepentant in statements made at a liberal event last week, insinuating that Jews have dual loyalty. Facing criticism, she amplified her attacks on Jews over the weekend, suggesting they are expecting her to declare "allegiance" to a foreign country.

When Omar was facing backlash last month, Pelosi made a big show of demanding the freshman apologize.

As Omar has continued peddling anti-Semitism over the weekend, however, Pelosi's official political account was promoting this month's Rolling Stone cover on Twitter. The cover features Pelosi along with Omar, and other freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. The headline reads, "Women Shaping the Future Nancy Pelosi and the New Voices of the House." The fact that she was promoting it makes it more difficult to argue that this was a cover she had posed for before the latest controversy.
Why Won’t Dems Condemn Ihlan Omar In Resolution On Antisemitism?
The House Democrats have drafted a resolution in response to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) latest anti-Semitic comments about dual loyalty.

However, it looks like the Democrats are only doing damage control because the resolution does not mention Omar by name. This could change since it’s just a draft.

Dual Loyalty Comments
At an event last week, Omar appeared at a “Progressive town hall” with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has her own history of anti-Semitic language. One audience member yelled, “It’s all about the Benjamins,” which prompted a smile from Omar.

In early February, Omar tweeted “It’s all about the Benjamins,” which suggested that Israel supporters in Congress are bought with Jewish money.

But then she said: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Trump: Ilhan Omar comments are a ‘dark day for Israel’
US President Donald Trump on Monday described recent remarks by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar — which have been blasted as anti-Semitic and prompted Jewish groups to demand that she be removed from a powerful Senate committee — as “a dark day for Israel.”

Last week Omar, of Minnesota, accused pro-Israel activists and lawmakers of “allegiance to a foreign country.” Dual loyalties is a common anti-Semitic trope.

“Representative Ilhan Omar is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel,” Trump tweeted. “Jewish groups have just sent a petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove Omar from Foreign Relations Committee. A dark day for Israel!”

Eleven Jewish groups, among them the National Council for Young Israel and the Endowment for Middle East Truth, sent a petition Monday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the senior House Democrat, asking that she “immediately remove” Omar from the committee.
Correa (D) on Omar’s Latest Anti-Semitism Controversy: Well, If That’s What Her Constituents Want
Rep. Lou Correa (D., Calif.) offered a halting defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) latest anti-Semitism controversy, saying Tuesday it's up to her to decide "if her constituents feel that this is what they want out of her."

CNN's Alisyn Camerota recapped Omar's string of tweets and comments that have sparked an uproar since she entered office, including a tweet saying pro-Israel lawmakers are paid off by AIPAC and recently saying she's concerned about the political influence in the United States forcing "allegiance to a foreign country." Both remarks, in addition to past comments and her pro-BDS stance, have angered some of her fellow Democrats and led to calls from Republicans and Jewish organizations to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Asked by Camerota if he considered Omar's remarks last week to be anti-Semitic, Correa demurred.

"I can't speak for my colleague," Correa said. "She's elected by her own constituents. She has to respond to them. I respond to my constituents. My perspective is I fundraise, I do my job. I'm accountable to my constituents. I represent my constituents, and so people have different opinions as to what's going on. That's my opinion."
ADL Rejects Omar’s ‘Good Faith’ Defense, Asks Pelosi to Condemn Anti-Semitic Rhetoric
The Anti-Defamation League released a statement Monday calling on Congress to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) recent anti-Semitic comments.

The group, which previously defended Omar and expressed hope she would learn, sent a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to request Congress take action.

ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt rejected the idea Omar was acting in "good faith" when she made her most recent anti-Semitic allegations. He described her "slur" as the reincarnation of "a vile anti-Semitic slur that has been used to harass, marginalize, and persecute the Jewish people for centuries." In response to Omar's actions, Greenblatt noted Pelosi and her fellow Democratic leaders previously promised "the entire Congress must be fully engaged in denouncing and rejecting all forms of hatred, racism, prejudice and discrimination wherever they are encountered."
Life imitates art? Ilhan Omar documentary runs high on drama, short on facts
Omar was an unknown just a few short years ago, but Minneapolis-based documentary filmmaker Norah Shapiro realized she’d “found gold” — as she puts it in a director’s statement — when she met the organizer/public speaker in December 2015.

Back then, the Somali-born naturalized citizen was still planning a run for the Minnesota State House of Representatives’ 60B district, home to a university campus, one of the highest concentrations of student debt and the “Little Mogadishu” neighborhood with large unemployment numbers and a median annual salary for immigrants at $28,000 a year.

But Omar wasn’t just planning to win an empty seat in a local election, she was planning to win one from Phyllis Kahn, a local feminist icon who’d held the position for 44 years.

Shapiro’s film, “Time of Ilhan,” is mostly an in-the-trenches campaign documentary as the novice knocks on doors and slowly chips away at Kahn’s seemingly impenetrable fortress.

We see Omar at home (a caring mother), on the move (focused, rarely flustered or frustrated), and in meetings (always sharp when speaking, attentive to her staff when they offer suggestions). Omar’s got her talking points – help the poor, represent “us” (the immigrant community) in a way Rep. Kahn either can’t or won’t and, um … well, I guess that’s it.

The movie is a little light on policy but, to be fair, that can make for boring cinema. Do you want to watch a movie about zoning regulations in Minneapolis? Yeah, probably not.




Rantz: Why does Seattle’s Pramila Jayapal partner with an anti-Semite?
There’s a general problem with how Progressives view Jews. To many of them, we’re not minorities; we’re simply privileged white people with undue influence in global politics. It’s a bigoted way to view Jews, but an easy excuse to justify their bigotry.

So when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) uses negative stereotypes and tropes to attack Jews and Israel, like she did again last week, she’s a Muslim woman going after privileged white people. Many of Progressive allies don’t see her attacks as anti-Semitic because we’re white and, as such, we’re responsible for the world’s problems.

One of her closest allies is Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.

Jayapal frequently refers to President Donald Trump as a racist, claiming his goal on immigration is “to make America pure in the sense of not having immigrants, not having folks of color here and shutting down every form of legal immigration, all to throw a bone to those people.” This is a particularly nefarious position to assign to Trump, but Jayapal is particularly sensitive as a woman of color and she won’t sit back when she sees bigotry.

Except when it comes to Omar’s virulent anti-Semitism.

When Omar spews her venom, Jayapal comes to her defense, asking us to be polite to her friend. And in this defense, Jayapal is becoming more and more complicit in the message. Given the majority of area Jews live in Seattle, her position is problematic.
WaPo: Jeremy Corbyn is thoroughly indecent
The crisis engulfing Labour is not just about Jews. Anti-Semitism is a societal cancer that eventually devours its host, a harbinger of irrationality, democratic failure and other ominous trends. Britain’s official opposition party being overtaken by anti-Semites is worrisome enough. If this pernicious organization were to win power, the future health of British democracy itself would very much be in doubt.

For this reason, the nine MPs who quit Labour should be lauded for their honesty. Unlike their erstwhile colleagues on the opposition benches, who privately say that Corbyn cannot be trusted to run the country while publicly campaigning for a Labour victory at the next election, these courageous few have opted out of this dishonest and dangerous charade.

Corbyn is the problem, and a political party will not be able to extirpate its anti-Semitism as long as an anti-Semite leads it. For more than three years, commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have observed Labour’s travails with disappointed bewilderment, failing to comprehend the clear connection between Corbyn’s hard-left politics and the miasma of conspiracism, illiberalism and anti-Semitism that invariably comes with it. A New Yorker article last year was emblematic, lamenting the repeated outbursts of anti-Semitism from Corbyn supporters but ultimately concluding that Corbyn himself is a “decent man.”

But a decent man would stop and ponder what it is about his ideology and political style that persuades so many of his supporters to heap vile, misogynistic and anti-Semitic abuse upon one of his female colleagues. Not only has Corbyn not done this, he has also not even bothered to meet with Berger, his former shadow health minister, in well over a year.

The scourge of anti-Semitism has torn apart two of the most important progressive organizations in the West, the Labour Party and the Women’s March. Anti-Semitic statements by leaders of the latter eventually caused it to splinter, with many local chapters distancing themselves from the national group. As for Labour, it will not be redeemed until it is Corbyn and his acolytes, and not Berger and her colleagues, who feel unwelcome.
Ten Times Labour Snubbed the Jewish Labour Movement
The Jewish Labour Movement are holding an emergency meeting tomorrow to decide whether to end their 99-year affiliation with the Labour Party. Given the number of times they’ve been snubbed, marginalised or ignored by the Labour leadership, it’s sadly not a surprise…
  • In April last year, JLM wrote to Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby with 19 suggestions for a transparent investigations process. 11 months later they have still had no response.
  • JLM were due to hold an anti-Semitism training session at Labour Conference last year. They were forced to withdraw after Labour “censored” their material.
  • JLM have repeatedly offered formal training to the Labour NEC, NCC and Party Staff. Labour have repeatedly rejected their offer.
  • JLM requested a formal investigation into Pete Willsman last July. Instead Willsman was re-elected to Labour’s NEC.
Momentum video against antisemitic conspiracy theories narrated by Michael Walker who accused Jewish community bodies of conspiracy
The pro-Corbyn campaign group, Momentum, has produced a short video posted on Twitter about antisemitic conspiracy theories titled “The conspiracy behind conspiracy theories” narrated by Michael Walker.

The video might seem to be an admirable attack on some of the lies that are spread about Jews, many of which were popularised by the Nazi propaganda effort, but its narrator, Mr Walker, has expressed some very problematic views in the past about Jewish conspiracies.

Mr Walker, who is a regular contributor to Novara Media, a pro-Corbyn social media outlet, sent out a series of tweets last year alleging that Jewish community organisations were conspiring to cause Labour’s antisemitism crisis as some way of suppressing critics of Israel.

On 1st August 2018, Mr Walker tweeted that: “Many members are genuinely scared of talking about what’s going on. They can see many of the attacks on Corbyn are politically motivated, that many mainstream Jewish orgs have strong ties with Israel, and that part of this row is to suppress Palestinians and their advocates.”
Lord Falconer is even less “independent” than Baroness Chakrabarti and cannot credibly review Labour antisemitism
Labour peer Lord Falconer has been proposed by the Labour leadership to conduct an “independent” review of Labour’s handling of disciplinary cases of antisemitism. Campaign Against Antisemitism believes that he will be even less independent than Baroness Chakrabarti, who received a peerage shortly after whitewashing antisemitism in the Labour Party by brazenly declaring that the Party had no major problem.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, who is Jewish, served as Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary from 2003 to 2007 and was a flatmate of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is also a senior barrister, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991. Labour General Secretary, Jennie Formby, announced that he had been appointed as the Party’s reviewer of antisemitism with full oversight of how Labour handles complaints. However, Lord Falconer said that he will only take on the role “subject to agreement being reached”.

Nevertheless, his independence is already compromised.

For any truly independent investigation into Labour’s institutional antisemitism to even start, clear criteria must first be satisfied: the process of choosing an investigator must be seen to be itself impartial; the investigator and their team must be viewed as objectively impartial; the investigator and their team must have broad terms of reference and the power to access any evidence that they wish to examine within the Party; and the selection of the investigator must be endorsed, and seen to be endorsed, by the Jewish community itself.

The selection of Lord Falconer fails to meet any of these criteria.
Rachel Riley Suing Labour's New Complaints Adviser
Jeremy Corbyn’s adviser Laura Murray (daughter of literal communist Andrew Murray) is being sued by Rachel Riley for libelling her yesterday on Twitter. Murray has today been moved by the Labour Party from being “Stakeholder manager to Leader of the Opposition” to providing support to the party’s complaints department. You couldn’t make it up…

Nice for Jewish people to know that the complaints team is now advised by someone who lied about a Jewish woman on Twitter, and after thousands of retweets then decided to delete her entire Twitter account in shame. Looks like she will have a serious complaint in herself to be dealing with first…
IfNotNow's Simone Zimmerman new B’Tselem U.S. director
B’Tselem announced Simone Zimmerman as its new US director on Tuesday.

“As a Jewish activist who has worked for years to challenge my own community's denialism about the reality of the occupation, I am excited to take on my new role at B'Tselem USA," Zimmerman said. "I hope to deepen the partnership between the anti-occupation movements working on the ground and those working here in the USA.”

Zimmerman was named one of The Jerusalem Post's "50 Most Influential Jews," this past Jewish New Year, and is well-known for co-founding the left-wing organization IfNotNow, a group dedicated to "opposing the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

“At a time when U.S. foreign policy emboldens further occupation, oppression, and dispossession of Palestinians, the voice of Americans opposing this reality is more important than ever before," B’Tselem Director Hagai El-Ad said. "Simone’s principled voice and demonstrated leadership give hope for those who believe in a future based on justice – and in working steadfastly towards realizing it”.

Zimmerman gained notoriety in 2016 for being hired as former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s national Jewish outreach coordinator. Profanity-laced Facebook posts from Zimmerman prompted her summary dismissal. She wrote of Israel’s prime minister, “F– you, Bibi” and equated him with a murderer.
DAHL: It’s Time To Reject BDS And Take A Stand For American Values
The "Terrorists in Suits" report provides evidence that the board of the Ramallah-based BDS National Committee includes terror-designated organizations like Hamas, PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These groups have a long and bloody history of lethal attacks against Jews, Israelis, and Americans. The American fundraising platform Donorbox suspended the BDS National Committee’s account when it learned of these terror ties.

According to an exposé in Tablet, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the coordinator for 329 different pro-BDS organizations in this country, funnels money to the BDS National Committee. It uses its own nonprofit status to enable tax-exempt fundraising for a foreign political entity.

Remember Cervantes’ observation — "Tell me thy company, and I’ll tell thee who thou art."

One hand washes the other in this mutually beneficial relationship Terrorist operatives share human resources with BDS-supporting groups, jointly promoting public campaigns, conferences, events, and fundraising. In return, BDS groups provide funding and cover to those terror organizations, masterfully disguising their desire to destroy the Jewish nation-state behind the façade of human rights for Palestinians.

Not only is BDS a front for terror, it’s also anti-Semitic as defined by the U.S. State Department. Clearly, anti-Semitism does not reflect American values, as demonstrated by the overwhelmingly negative public reaction to the recent tweets of Democratic congresswoman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

The Rasmussen poll translates into more than 27 million Americans who favor BDS. If they knew the truth about the alliance between BDS and terrorism to destroy the Jewish nation-state, a democratic ally, many would probably change their minds. And the more than 50 million likely voters who have no opinion would perhaps then develop one.

As Americans, it’s time to reject BDS and take a stand for American values.
Following UKMW complaint, Indy tones down conspiratorial headline


Moreover, upon reading the article, it’s clear that Fisk – whilst engaging in his usual Israel bashing – doesn’t actually allege “Israeli fingerprints” on India’s anti-terror operation in Pakistan, insofar as the term in this context implies Israeli culpability for the conflict. Rather, his primary focus is the fact that Israel is a big arms supplier to New Delhi.

We complained to Indy editors about the headline on two grounds: first, that it was inflammatory and feeds conspiracy theories. Second, that it isn’t supported by the article. In response, they changed the headline to this:

Though the new headline is still very misleading, it is, we feel, a slight improvement as the new words at least avoid conveying an overtly conspiratorial narrative.
No surprises in BBC News website report on US Consulate closure
In addition to a 146-word section quoting (and linking to) the US State department deputy spokesman’s statement on the merger, readers found an unquestioning 126-word account of the less extreme parts of a statement from the PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi, with a link provided.

“Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said: “The Trump administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law.”

“Merging the US consulate in Jerusalem with the US embassy to Israel, which is now illegally located in Jerusalem, is not an administrative decision. It is an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity and a negation of the consulate’s historic status and function, dating back nearly 200 years.”

Ms Ashrawi said such actions “preclude any possible positive role for the current US administration in seeking peace and stability” in the region.”

Ms Ashrawi and her colleagues have of course been boycotting the US administration since December 2017 and have repeatedly expressed their opposition to a peace proposal which the US has not even yet made public. Apparently though the BBC did not see the irony in the second quote from Ashrawi which it chose to highlight.
Belgian carnival float condemned for featuring anti-Semitic puppets of Jews
Participants in a street celebration in the Belgian city of Aalst on Sunday paraded giant puppets of Orthodox Jews and a rat atop money bags, prompting Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs to condemn the act as “shocking, typical, anti-Semitic caricatures from 1939.”

The umbrella groups representing Flemish and French-speaking Jews in Belgium, FJO and CCOJB respectively, complained to the federal UNIA watchdog on racism about the display. “In a democracy like Belgium, there is no room for such things, carnival or not,” they wrote.

The display features two giant puppets with streimels, fur hats worn by some Orthodox Jews on special occasions, in pink suits. They both have sidelocks. One of the puppets is grinning while smoking a cigar and extending a hand, presumably to collect money. That puppet has a white rat on his right shoulder. Both puppets are standing on gold coins and have money bags at their feet.

In the background is a round window reminiscent of the architecture of many European synagogues and a small box resembling a mezuzah on its right-hand side.

For the 2013 Aalst carnival, a different group designed a float resembling a Nazi railway wagon used to transport Jews to death camps.

The people who designed the float, known as the FTP Group, marched near the float dressed as Nazi SS officers and Haredi Orthodox Jews. A poster on the wagon showed Flemish Belgian politicians dressed as Nazis and holding canisters labeled as containing Zyklon B, the poison used by the Nazis to exterminate Jews in gas chambers in the Holocaust. (h/t Elder of Lobby)


Jewish cultural center near Strasbourg defaced with swastikas
Five swastikas were found painted on a former synagogue turned cultural center in the town of Mommenheim, near Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of eastern France on Monday.

The graffiti comes after a spike in anti-Semitic acts which surged by 74% in 2018, according to Interior Ministry figures. In February, President Emmanuel Macron visited a Jewish cemetery after vandals daubed swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans on dozens of graves.

The vandalism sent thousands of people into the streets of France for a protest on Feb. 19.

France is home to the biggest Jewish community in Europe – around 550,000 – a population that has grown by about half since World War II, but anti-Semitic attacks remain common.

The incident comes after a memorial in Strasbourg commemorating a 19th-century synagogue destroyed by the Nazis in 1940 was vandalized over the weekend. Police were investigating the incident, which Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries said "undermines the values of the republic."
Israeli company creating water from plain air eyes global expansion
It might sound like a sophisticated magic trick or even a biblical story, but one Israeli company’s groundbreaking technology can create fresh drinking-quality water from nothing but plain air.

Established in 2009, Rishon Lezion-based Watergen is the ambitious company behind the development, tapping into atmospheric water to produce safe water wherever it is most needed.

The company, chaired by Israeli-Georgian businessman and philanthropist Mikhael Mirilashvili, has set its sights on expanding its renewable and energy-efficient clean water solution to the 2.1 billion people worldwide who lack access to safe water at home – and wherever else it might be needed.

In recent months, the system has been donated to authorities in Brazil, Vietnam and India. It has also assisted rescue and recovery efforts during the 2018 California wildfires and provided clean water to the residents of Texas and Florida in the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

“Our main target is to save and improve people’s lives all around the world,” Mirilashvili told The Jerusalem Post. “We also aim to remove plastic from earth, to reduce the global carbon footprint, and of course make our planet cleaner and safer.”
Israeli Company Developing Water-Based Battery Alternative
Australian-Israeli startup Electriq~Global and Dutch company Eleqtec have entered into an agreement to launch Electriq~Global’s water-based fuel technology in The Netherlands, where the market is moving to adopt zero-emission mobility solutions.

Together they plan to launch Electriq~Fuel’s recycling plants, and introduce eMobility applications for trucks, barges and mobile generators.

Comprised of 60 percent water, Electriq~Fuel is a cost-efficient alternative to batteries and compressed hydrogen. The energy density potential of the technology is up to 15 times that of electric batteries currently used in electric vehicles.

The Electriq-Eleqtec partnership is already in advanced commercialization negotiations with leading Dutch companies. Several demonstration and prototyping projects are expected to be launched in 2020.

Electriq~Global CEO Guy N. Michrowski commented: “Electriq~Global is excited to bring our safe, zero-emission, recyclable fuel to the Dutch market. With Eleqtec’s support, we expect first products based on our technology, made by Dutch partners, delivered in 2020.”
Second skin: Israeli medical device creates temporary nano-layer to treat wounds
Israeli startup Nanomedic Technologies Ltd. has developed a medical device that it says can dress burns and other wounds with nano materials that mimic human tissue and peel off once the skin below is regenerated.

The temporary and transparent skin layer that the device generates can be applied without touching the charred skin, helping prevent infections. The product, called SpinCare, can be operated by physicians and other medical staff working in hospitals or clinics or providing home care, the startup says.

The transparency of the layer allows doctors to monitor the wound as it heals, and the treatment does not require any further dressing, a process that can be painful, the company says.

Some 180,000 deaths occur each year worldwide because of burn wounds, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates. In Israel, there were around 3,300 burn wound deaths in 2017, with 84 percent of accidents occurring in the domestic environment, according to the Health Ministry.
Danny Kaye: Actor, Singer, Dancer, Comedian, and Zionist
Sunday marked the 32nd anniversary of the death of Danny Kaye, who had a series of leading Hollywood roles in the 1940s and 50s, in addition to a successful career onstage and on television. In 1956, he made the first of many visits to Israel, a country he supported staunchly throughout his life. Meirav Kaminsky—the granddaughter of Kaye’s Israeli cousin—describes Kaye’s commitment to the Jewish people and the Jewish state:

[Kaye] is fondly remembered for having conducted the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra at a number of benefit performances for Israel, which he . . . unconditionally supported during difficult periods, including wartime. . . .

In the . . . television drama Skokie (1981), based on a true story, Kaye played the role of Max Feldman, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was one of the leaders of the protest against the proposed neo-Nazi march through the suburb of Skokie, Illinois, home to many Jewish Holocaust survivors. The elderly Kaye was already suffering from heart disease, but he insisted on playing the part despite his declining health. . . .

On leaving Israel after his first visit, he said:
As the moment of my leaving this country approaches, I am filled with more and more sadness. I want you to know that I leave Israel a different man than when I arrived. My visit to Israel was the greatest experience of my life. I was given a new perspective. My faith is renewed. . . . I plan to return to Israel soon, maybe even sooner than you think. But then I won’t come as a representative of the UN or as an American “star,” or even as a tourist—I will come as a simple Jew.
On remote island in Muslim-majority Indonesia, Jewish community lives in shadows
Yaakov Baruch is the rabbi at Indonesia’s only synagogue but he keeps his religious identity under wraps, like most of the tiny Jewish community living in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

A group of men threatened Baruch with death and called him a “crazy Jew” as he walked in a mall with his pregnant wife several years ago, prompting him to limit when he wears his kippah — a Jewish skullcap.

“It’s never happened again because I chose to hide my identity as a Jew in public,” he said.

There is a similar ripple of concern among many of the estimated 200 Jews living in the Southeast Asian country of 260 million people, with most centered in a remote corner of the sprawling archipelago.

Manado on Sulawesi island is one of the few places that Indonesia’s remaining Jews — mostly descendants of traders from Europe and Iraq who were once thought to number around several thousand before World War II — feel comfortable showing their faith.
Hen Mazzig: 5 Jewish Women You’ve Never Heard Of Who Changed the Middle East and North Africa
The story of these five Jewish women, each whom rose to fame in their respective countries and throughout the Arab world is a larger story than just about them. It is a story of 850,000 Jews that lived in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) for ages, until the tragic expulsion from 1947 to 1972.
Camelia #1

1. Lilian Levy Cohen, aka Camelia, was the most famed Egyptian actress. She was Jewish, born in 1929, and in the 4 short years of her career starred in 18 movies. Camelia died in a plane crush in 1950. The story about the plane crash being the adoing of King Farouk was widely accepted, although the reason for the crash was officially “unknown”. Before her death, she was accused of being a secret agent for Israel.
Israeli spacecraft snaps Earth ‘selfie’ with flag from 23,000 miles away
The Beresheet spacecraft on Tuesday sent back a photo taken with its “selfie camera,” in which the Israeli flag can be seen 37,600 kilometers (23,000 miles) above Earth.

A plaque installed on the outside of the lunar lander depicts Israel’s national flag as well as the phrases “Am Yisrael Chai” (the people of Israel live) and “Small country, big dreams.”

The picture was taken during a slow spin of the aircraft, with Australia visible in the background.

The photo comes after the moon-bound craft successfully carried out a key maneuver Thursday night, following a worrisome computer glitch earlier last week.

Ground control activated the spacecraft’s main engine for four minutes, putting it into a new orbit that takes it to a distance of 131,000 kilometers from earth. The next maneuver is scheduled for this week.

Beresheet, which means “Genesis” in Hebrew, lifted from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk.

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