Sunday, July 07, 2019

07/07 Links: Netanyahu: Archaeology, DNA prove Palestinians not native to Land of Israel; Sam Schulman, last surviving US crew member on legendary ‘Exodus,’ dies at 91

From Ian:
Netanyahu: Archaeology, DNA prove Palestinians not native to Land of Israel
Could DNA testing prove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s politics? He seems to think so.

On Sunday, Netanyahu tweeted that, “A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible – that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe,” quoting research released last week by the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, which revealed that the ancient people most known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites were immigrants to the region in the 12th century BCE.

“For 30 years, we excavated at Ashkelon, uncovering Canaanites, early Philistines and later Philistines – and now we can begin to understand the story that these bones tell,” said Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, who headed the excavations.

The team used state-of-the-art DNA technologies on ancient bone samples unearthed during the excavation from 1985-2016. Analyzing for the first time genome-wide data retrieved from people who lived in Ashkelon during the Bronze and Iron ages (around 3,600 to 2,800 years ago), the team found that a substantial proportion of their ancestry was derived from a European population. This European-derived ancestry was introduced into Ashkelon around the time of the Philistines’ estimated arrival in the 12th century BCE.

“The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete,” Netanyahu continued in a follow up tweet. “There’s no connection between the ancient Philistines & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later.”
Another Sampson blinded in Gaza
Hooray for Pallywood, or rather Gazallywood, that wonderful melange of misleading footage, falsehoods, fakeries and frauds that makes up so much of what the Western media reports as going on in Gaza. The latest offering was brought to Australia by Todd Sampson, co-creator of Earth Hour and host of Body Hack on Channel 10, which was made with generous funding from unsuspecting taxpayers, courtesy of Screen Australia and Create NSW.

Mr Sampson says he was assisted by the only female fixer in Gaza and not since Samson fell for Delilah and had his eyes gouged out by the Philistines has anyone been quite so blind to Palestinian shenanigans in Gaza.

Sampson says his original mission was to document the lives of medics in Gaza, but once he met his fixer, he ended up making something else. What? Hamas propaganda. ‘Body Hack is not a political show, we’re not here to take sides,’ says Sampson somewhat disingenuously, since he didn’t even try to present two sides to the story; he spent three weeks filming in Gaza and none in Israel. As he gads about from one lethal ‘protest’ to the next, he is perpetually surprised when he and his Hamas minders are shot at as they charge at Israeli soldiers and sailors. ‘It’s starting to feel to me like a sick form of target practice,’ he whinges, as if he thinks the whole thing is a nasty game the Israelis are playing. ‘It’s really hard not to take sides, when one side is shooting at you,’ he announces. Well, what a surprise. That is how Israelis feel. Since Hamas seized power in Gaza, in 2006, Israeli civilians have been bombarded with rockets and mortars; more than 600 were fired in May this year, and more than 20,000 have been fired at Israel since 2001. Sampson doesn’t cover that. He is only interested in Palestinian pain. ‘To not show what we showed would be to omit the truth,’ he says, but it is his sins of omission which distort reality. He talks of Israel bombing a school without explaining that Hamas weapons were hidden in it or flattening apartment blocks without explaining that Hamas shoots weapons from heavily populated areas to use civilians as human shields. There is no mention of Hamas diverting millions of dollars in international aid into constructing tunnels to allow terrorists to infiltrate Israel. Or conversely of the thousands of Palestinians who are treated in Israeli hospitals every year.
Rift opens in UK Labour over whistle-blowers ahead of anti-Semitism exposé
The British Labour Party came under fresh attack Sunday after it was revealed that it had cracked down on whistle-blowers by threatening to sue ex-staffers who spoke to the BBC for an exposé on anti-Semitism within the opposition faction.

According to the Sunday Times, at least six former Labour officials agreed to speak to the public broadcaster and provide new details on anti-Jewish sentiment within the party and its handling of the widespread allegations against it and leader Jeremy Corbyn. The ex-employees did so despite having signed non-disclosure agreements with the party.

Lawyers representing Labour have now sent some of the former staffers letters threatening to sue them and accusing them of “wantonly disregarding their obligations by selectively leaking information to the media,” the report said.

BBC TV’s Panorama investigation is set to air on Wednesday and is expected to be critical of Labour and feature further evidence that Corbyn advisers intervened in disciplinary procedures to protect members accused of anti-Semitism. The exposé will also feature interviews with “key insiders,” according to a preview.

Labour reportedly received some details of the show’s content when BBC contacted the party to get its reaction to the Panorama program, titled “Is Labour Antisemitic?”

In a letter sent by the Carter Ruck law firm, which is representing the party, to Sam Matthews, Labour’s former head of disputes, it said some information presented in the documentary apparently could “only have come from you,” according to the Sunday Times.





McDonnell Defends Labour's Hounding of Anti-Semitism Whistleblowers
After Barry Gardiner went on Ridge to attack Labour staffers who blew the whistle on Labour anti-Semitism, McDonnell naturally followed-up on Marr, insisting that Labour’s decision to send threatning legal letters was “just to remind them” of their confidentiality agreements. Nothing a short spell in the gulag won’t sort out…


Barry Gardiner Accuses Anti-Semitism Whistleblowers of Having 'Political Axe to Grind'
Barry Gardiner has come out swinging this morning after the latest reports that Labour have instructed attack dog law firm Carter Ruck to send aggressive letters threatening former staff members who have blown the whistle to BBC Panorama over Labour anti-Semitism. Despite official Labour policy being to ban NDAs “which stop disclosure of future discrimination, harassment or victimisation” to be banned, Gardiner defends Labour’s actions and then accuses the whistleblowers of having a “political axe to grind”. Just another day in Corbyn’s Labour Party…






Khaled Abu Toameh: Five years after Gaza war: Defiant Hamas struggles to hold on to power
Five years after Operation Protective Edge, Hamas remains as defiant as ever, and there are no signs that its rule over the Gaza Strip is facing any real challenges.

Hamas has only one thing on mind: holding on to power.

But while Hamas leaders have nothing to worry about at this stage, the conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have only worsened since the 2014 war.

Ironically, Israel has become the only party that could help Hamas hold on to power. And that’s why the cash-strapped Hamas is now focusing its effort on maintaining truce understandings reached with Israel under the auspices of Egypt, the United Nations and other parties, including Qatar.

Thousands of families are still waiting for Hamas to fulfill its promise to rebuild their homes that were destroyed during the seven-week Israeli military operation. The families, which have been forced to rent apartments, complain that Hamas has also failed to cover their rental expenses or compensate them for their losses because of the financial crisis it’s facing.

“We’ve received many promises, but haven’t seen anything,” said Ibrahim Mashharawi, a father of eight from Gaza City whose house was severely damaged during the fighting.

“Hamas says it can’t help us because it doesn’t have enough money. We received small amounts of money from some international organizations, but this hasn’t solved the crisis for thousands of displaced families.”
Five years after Operation Protective Edge, deterrence has been lost
It’s been five years since the last IDF soldier crossed out of the Gaza Strip after the end of Operation Protective Edge. There hasn’t been any full-blown military confrontation between Israel and Hamas since.

The seven-week-long war, launched after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas operatives in the West Bank, claimed the lives of 67 IDF soldiers and six Israeli civilians, as well as over 2,000 Palestinian civilians and militants belonging to Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups.

It was the longest military operation ever carried out in Gaza by the IDF and has led to the quietest period in southern Israel in years, allowing Israel to detect and destroy 15 cross-border attack tunnels and complete some 30 km. of the underground and maritime barrier to cut off Hamas tunnels, while strengthening the fence above ground.

Approximately 70,000 Israelis reside in some 50 communities in the Gaza border area and there was a marked increase of people moving to the area over the past five years following Operation Protective Edge in 2016.

But five years later, the situation on the southern front is anything but peaceful. Rockets have been raining down on southern Israel, weekly protests along the fence have led to the burning of hundreds of hectares of land, the first IDF soldier was killed since 2014 and families are beginning to pack their things and leave the area following repeated rounds of violence between Israel and terrorist groups in the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

On the eve of Protective Edge, Hamas was estimated to have between 10,000-13,000 rockets, and it is believed to have succeeded in restocking its arsenal to a number even higher than before.
Israel marks 5 years since kidnapping, murder of three teens in West Bank
A ceremony marking five years since the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers - Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frenkel - was held in the "Oz veGaon" (Courage and Pride) Nature Reserve established in their name in the heart of Gush Etzion on Friday.

The ceremony opened with the planting of 18 trees at the entrance to the reserve. Then, the head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Ne'eman, delivered a speech.

Leaders of the Women in Green movement, Yehudit Katzover and Nadia Matar, spoke as well, expressing thanks to God "for the opportunity to redeem a portion of the land of Israel."

"Five years ago, we stood here during days of searching that instilled in us the sense of self-sacrifice and sacrifice within the nation," said Ne'eman. "Self-sacrifice gives rise to feelings that until a moment ago were not there. It isn't the tragedy but rather the feeling of shared responsibility and mutual guarantee of 'all of Israel is responsible for one another.' This guarantee makes us what we are.

"There are goals in life that nullify all sight of the present, skipping over this sight to see the future," Ne'eman added. "It is not by chance that from this place the earth blossoms and youth are educated and become the people who build the country from dust. From this place rises tomorrow's sovereignty.

"Nadia and Yehudit establish the message of sovereignty because they look at tomorrow, at the relation and the identity of the true sovereign over the land," he continued, praying that "we merit to see the task of sovereignty flourish as 'Oz veGaon' flourishes."
Woman dies of injuries from fall while fleeing May rocket barrage
A woman who was badly hurt while running to a bomb shelter in southern Israel in May during an onslaught of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip died of her injuries Sunday.

Rivkah Jamil, 89, of Ashkelon fell and injured her spine while seeking cover from the projectiles and was hospitalized in serious condition.

With her death in Barzilai Hospital on Sunday, the death toll from the weekend of intense fire two months ago climbed to five, the highest casualty rate for Israel since the 2014 Gaza war, which began exactly five years ago.

Jamil lost her husband in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. She was a mother of five and grandmother of 15, according to Hebrew reports. Her funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.

In all, over 600 rockets were fired at Israel by Palestinian terror groups during the flareup on May 4 and 5. A large number of the rockets were aimed at Ashkelon, a coastal city just north of Gaza.
Suspected driver in car-ramming near Jerusalem arrested, army says
A driver suspected of ramming his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank Saturday night was caught after a brief manhunt, the IDF said Sunday morning.

The driver is alleged to have steered his vehicle into the troops near the Hizme checkpoint northeast of Jerusalem, injuring five people late Saturday.

Three of soldiers suffered moderate injuries and two were lightly hurt, according to the army.

The driver was arrested along with his father in the nearby Palestinian town of Hizme, according to Palestinian media reports.

The army said the pair were being questioned after the arrests, which took place after a search in the area of the attack and intelligence-gathering operations.

The IDF said in a statement that it is treating the incident as a terror attack. It said the driver, who was not identified, rammed his car into the soldiers after seeing them on the side of the road.

The soldiers were near the village as part of an unspecified “operational mission,” according to the army.
Gazans nabbed crossing into Israel with grenade
Three Palestinians were arrested early Sunday after crossing from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, the military said.

A fragmentation grenade and “arson materials” were found on the three, the Israel Defense Forces said in a short statement.

They were transferred to Israeli authorities for questioning, according to the army. Gazans, some of whom are seeking to escape the Strip’s dire humanitarian crisis, are regularly caught crossing the border into Israel.

The usually restive border area had calmed in recent days, after fresh understandings were reached between Israel and the Hamas terror group, the de-facto ruler in the Palestinian enclave, though some 7,000 Palestinians participated in weekly protests along the Gaza border Friday, the Israeli military said.

The IDF said some of the protesters burned tires and hurled rocks as well as explosive devices at soldiers. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported that 40 demonstrators were injured by Israeli troops, including at least 16 by live fire.




European powers call on Iran to halt nuke deal breach, but balk at sanctions
European powers urged Iran to stick to its nuclear commitments Sunday after Tehran announced it would ramp up uranium enrichment levels, but stopped short of threatening to reimpose sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Germany, the United Kingdom and the EU urged Iran to walk back its intentions to begin enriching uranium to higher levels than allowed under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, while France said new sanctions were not on the table, despite a call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to swiftly reimpose the measures.

“While the UK remains fully committed to the deal, Iran must immediately stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its obligations,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement, adding that it was coordinating a response with other nations.

Germany said it was “extremely concerned” about Iran’s announcement, but was waiting for further information from the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The German Foreign Office called for Iran “to stop and reverse all activities inconsistent with its commitments” and said it was in contact with remaining parties to the deal regarding the next steps to try keep Iran within its terms.

The IAEA said it was aware of Iran’s threats, but was waiting for its inspectors in Iran to report to its Vienna headquarters “as soon as they verify the announced development.”


Tehran Imam threatens missile attack on Dimona nuclear power plant
"If Iran decides to confront you, a missile strike on the Dimona reactor would be enough," said Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani in a sermon addressing the United States and Israel, according to a report by Radio Farda.

Movahedi-Kermani threatened that such an attack on the nuclear reactor in Israel's Negev desert would "plow Israel 200 times."

"You are living in a glass house. You’d better watch out," said the Tehran-based Imam.

He also warned the US against a military attack on Iran, saying: "Think of an attack only if you want to change the color of the Persian Gulf waters from azure to red."

The Imam also repeated Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's warning about the nuclear deal.

"From July 7, we will enrich uranium at any grade and form, and in any amount we may deem necessary," said Movahedi-Kermani.

The Imam was one of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's representatives to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Radio Farda.

He denied that Iran was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb.
Man charged after scaling Harbour Bridge in protest at Iran
A man has been arrested and charged after he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday morning, police say.

Police said they were told about 6.15am that the man was seen climbing an arch of the bridge carrying a banner.

The 33-year-old addressed US President Donald Trump in a video that appears to have been taken on the bridge and was later uploaded to social media.

In the video, the man identifies himself as a member of the "Restart" movement, a group that, according to its website, wishes to "overthrow the regime of Islamic Republic of Iran" and "establish a government based on knowledge and merits" to bring peace to the Middle East.

The man also appears to have tied an Iranian, US, Australian and Israeli flag to the bridge during the protest.

"President Trump I have a message from Iranian people to you, the lions are waking up, the patriots are awake, all the patriots around the world are together, we are all together in this fight," he said in the video.
Iran: We will not compete against Israeli athletes
President of the Iran National Olympic Committee Syed Reza Salehi Amiri said that Iranian athletes will not compete against Israeli athletes, despite Iran claiming in a letter addressed to the International Judo Federation (IJF) that things might change.

The Judo World Championship will take place at the end of August, where the most anticipated encounter will be between Iranian Saeid Mollaei, who is ranked No. 1 in the 81 kg. weight group, and second ranked Israeli Sagi Muki.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in October, the Iranian Judoka faked an injury to purposely lose a fight that would have led directly to an encounter with Muki. The Israeli went on to win the gold medal.

Then, at the Paris Grand Slam in February, Mollaei again feigned an injury and lost to Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Mussayev, ranked 209th in the world, in just twenty seconds. Mollaei seemed to easily recover from his injury to win the bronze medal.

The problem was that Muki won the silver medal, so Mollaei once again had to rely on that same injury to avoid sharing the podium with the Israeli athlete.
Linda Sarsour: 'Jesus was Palestinian of Nazareth'
Activist Linda Sarsour tweeted on Saturday that “Jesus was Palestinian of Nazareth and is described in the Quran as being brown copper skinned with wooly hair.”

Many including Yair Netanyahu were quick to bash Sarsour for her tweet.
“Are you that stupid? On the cross above Jesus’ head was the sign ‘INRI’ – ‘Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm,’” the prime minister’s son replied, “Which means in Latin – Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews! The Bible say that Jesus was born and raised in Judea!”

Many twitter users pointed out that Jesus was Jewish, to which Sarsour rejoined that the two were not mutually exclusive.

“Palestinian is a nationality not a religion,” Sarsour wrote. “Your point is not negated. Jews lived with Palestinians in peaceful co-existence before there was a state of Israel.”

Sarsour insisted that what she said was true, explaining that after being reported on Twitter, the social media site did not remove her comments.
Seth Frantzman: Linda Sarsour’s ‘Jesus was Palestinian’ comment ignores Jewish history
THIS BRINGS us back to the “Jesus was Palestinian” claim. It is only made to erase the Jewish history of the Land of Israel. It is part of a larger argument being fought over the religious history of the Middle East, an argument primarily taking place in the West. For instance, pro-Palestinian supporters tend to emphasize Palestinian history to negate Israel’s claims. They also do so to thwart what they perceive as Evangelical Christian or Christian Zionist attempts to root more of Christian history in its Jewish origins.

This is a conflict that is at the same time about religion, ethnicity, history and modern nationhood. As such, it is complex because it blends imagined communities, such as modern nations, with desires to find deep-rooted nationalist blood and soil connections to historical figures. When the conflict gets into religion, it blends theology with nationalism. This is an unhealthy mix that many should be familiar with from the tragedies of European nationalist history. Unfortunately, in the zeal to be pro-Palestinians, this unhealthy toxic mix is being conjured up.

There is no reason to repackage Jesus as Palestinian. He can be a historical figure from Bethlehem or Nazareth without being “Palestinian.” Sarsour’s attempt to reference the Quran is interesting because she seems to not mention other aspects of how Jesus is described in Islamic theology. For instance, he is seen as a messenger to the “Children of Israel” and an adherent of the laws of Moses. He is linked to the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes of Israel, as well as kings David and Solomon. Sometimes this is papered over or forgotten in discussions of Jesus in Islam: For instance, some websites that discuss Jesus in the Quran, such as Vox, don’t mention the Jewish aspect of references to him.

It is important that this new nationalist Jesus not be used against Jews or Israel. Even a careful change in terms can help prevent this. Jesus was not Palestinian – but Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is now part of the Palestinian Authority. Jesus can be seen as part of the history of the land that Palestinians claim today. But ignoring his Jewish roots – which are part of the Jewish history of the landscape – is an attempt deracinate Jesus from his history and disregard Jewish history.


Linda Sarsour, Time Traveler: Jesus of Nazareth edition (satire)
Narrator: Welcome to Episode 3 of “Linda Sarsour, Time Traveler.” When last we saw our heroine, she had traveled back to the 20th Century in order to inform Golda Meir and Hanna Szenes that they were not really feminists. Now, our Intrepid Linda of Brooklyn has traveled back to Judea in the time of the Roman Occupation in order to inform Jesus that he’s really Palestinian. We catch up with them in Nazareth, north of the Jezreel Valley.

Linda (cheerfully): A salaam aleikum, Brother Issa!

Jesus of Nazareth: Hello my child, you appear to speak the language of Ishmael’s sons, many days journey into the desert beyond Edom. It is a language I do not understand. I speak Aramaic….. a bit of Thai I picked up when I was backpacking…. .and Hebrew. You know, the language spoken by Jews like me…..who live in….. wait for it….. Judea.

Linda: Palestine.

Jesus: I am sorry, my child?

Linda: Palestine! You’re Palestinian! Hellooooo!

Jesus: Daughter of Ishmael, the Philistines disappeared from this land around the Year 600 Before….ummm….600 Years Before….ummm……Me. Like NOBODY uses that term anymore. Not even the Essenes of the Wilderness. And they live alone in the desert without decent wi-fi.
My Favorite Biblical Moment Is When Moses Brought The Palestinians Into The Promised Land by Linda Sarsour (satire)
It’s difficult for me to choose one episode or incident in Scripture that appeals to more more than any other, but if forced, I’d have to say when Moses, after four hundred years of wandering through the wilderness, finally led he Palestinian People into the land Allah promised to their ancestor Cain.

Picture the scene: for generations, the Palestinians have longed to return to the cradle of their civilization, holding on to their unique identity amid harsh exile and persecution, even enslavement at the hand of foreign powers, maintaining their Arabic names, their Arabic language, their Arabic dress, all handed down to them parent-to-child from that forge of Arabic culture, Palestine. Now they stand at the cusp of the fulfillment of divine prophecy, having braved the travails of displacement and dispossession as foretold to their forebears. Tension and excitement mount.

Moses gives the word and they advance: the Mediterranean Sea splits before them, sending the occupiers of Palestine to flight and causing the desert to bloom at the approach of the land’s rightful children. Unicorns frolic in Nablus once again, reveling in the reemergence of its Greek-as-pronounced-in-Levantine-Arabic name. Moses himself leads the advance, his faithful lieutenants Abu Bakr and Ali at his side. Victory assured, he mounts his divine steed for a night journey that makes a hoofprint in the rock of Haram al-Sharif, marking the same spot where Jacob bound his son Yusuf at heavenly command, prepared to sacrifice everything, to submit as only a Muslim knows how.

Then the Jews crucified the Palestinian Jesus and things went downhill for a long time.


Canadian newspaper reprints cartoon supporting the Knife Intifada against Israel
The Canadian Arabic-language newspaper Arab News (arabnews24.caأخبار العرب) published (June 12, 2019, Vol. 43 Issue 930, p. 14)* a cartoon by Omayya Abu Hamada (aka Omayya Joha), a Palestinian cartoonist associated with Hamas.

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Omayya Joha “enjoys tremendous reputation in the Arab world. She uses the last name Joha, a reference to a comic figure from Arab folklore. In her creations, she [Omayya Joha] echoes Hamas’s ideology and agenda. Joha’s cartoons are notable for their malicious anti-Israeli sentiments, and some are of a clearly anti-Semitic character. The cartoons are distributed in the Palestinian press of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (Al-Risala, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda) and on websites across the Arab world.”

The cartoon published by Canadian Arab News newspaper under the title “Caricature position” (originally in Arabic) expresses support of the Palestinian Al-Quds Intifada (uprising/war) also known as the Knife Intifada, because of the frequent Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews at that time.

Omayya Joha tweeted her cartoon on November 8, 2019 accompanied with the following hashtags (originally in Arabic): “#women_of_Palestine #Al-Quds_Intifada #Knife_Intifada


Cairo Jewish community loses one more member
The Jewish Community of Cairo has announced the death of Marcelle, mother of the current president, Magda Haroun.

Marcelle was married to politician Shehata Haroun and they had three daughters: Nadia predeceased Marcelle. Another had a terminal illness and died many years previously.

Announcing Marcelle's death, the JCC said: "With her passing, the Jewish Community in Cairo has regretfully lost one of its pillars who will be sorely missed."

The shiva for Marcelle will be held on on Sunday, July 7, 2019 at 2019 pm at the Adly St synagogue.

Marcelle's passing reduces the total of Jews in the Egyptian capital to five.

Magda blames antisemitism on ignorance


WJC calls on Congress to make Holocaust education mandatory in US schools
The World Jewish Congress has called on the US Congress to make Holocaust education mandatory in schools.

The WJC started a petition late last week following recently released statistics that found 49% of millennials polled are unable to name one Nazi death camp, while 41% believed that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was significantly less than six million.

“The horrors of the Holocaust are fading from our collective memory, especially among millennials,” WJC explained, adding that there has also been an “alarming rise” in antisemitism in the US over the last few years.

Dubbed the “Never Again Education Act,” WJC explained that it would “create a new grant program within the US Department of Education to provide teachers across the country the relevant resources, tools and training to teach school children about the Holocaust and the repercussions that hate and intolerance can have on our society.”

Since its inception late last week, the petition has garnered over 8,300 signatures.
Norwegian pop star Aurora ventures to Israel
Norwegian pop star Aurora will arrive in Israel for the first time on November 14 for a show at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv. Compared to international artists like Lana Del Ray, Lorde and Bjork, her songs feature various instrumentals and synthesized, rhythmic beats that act as a backdrop to lyrics about freedom, sexuality, death and dealing with personal struggles.

Aurora first gained attention in 2015 with the debut of her first EP "Running with the Wolves." She released her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend in 2016, which gained over 200 million streams and sold over 500,000 copies. Aurora’s new album A Different Kind of Animal features songs exploring nature, longing and loss.

The 23-year-old singer-songwriter says she began making melodies at only 6-years-old and created the song "Runaway" at the age of 13.

Her songs have been featured in television shows including HBO series Girls, and she’s appeared at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the late night talk show circuit with Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert and Howard Stern.
Tiësto to perform in Israel this October
Dutch record producer and electronic music superstar Tiesto will visit Israel and give one show in Israel on October 24, Mako reported on Sunday.

Tiesto, the stage name of Tijs Michiel Verwest, preformed in Israel last in 2015. He is scheduled to perform at Expo Tel Aviv.

Tiesto is a frequent collaborator and remixer to the biggest names in music, including Beyoncé, Kanye West, Coldplay, Sam Smith, Major Lazer, Calvin Harris and many more.
Alex Rodriguez to visit Israel with fiancee Jennifer Lopez
Former baseball All-Star Alex Rodriguez said he will be accompanying his fiancée Jennifer Lopez when her concert tour arrives in Israel on August 1, the New York Post reported on Saturday.

“I’m going to Israel, so I am so excited, it’s my first time,” the former New York Yankee said in an interview.

Rodriguez’ comments came after an Israeli BDS group called “BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within” penned a letter to pop-icon Lopez in an attempt to persuade her to cancel her show in Tel Aviv.

The BDS group said it opposes the “government’s policies of oppression, occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Palestinian people.”

The BDS group has called for other artists, such as Brazilian music sensation Milton Nascimento, to cancel their tours as well. Nascimento did no such thing, slamming the BDS activists for their request.

“I will never abandon my public,” he said, according to the Rolling Stone. “Every artist should go where the people are, shouldn’t they?”

Rodriguez is the latest in a slew of American sports stars to come to visit Israel. Just a few weeks ago, NFL star quarterback Deshaun Watson visited and called his trip a “life-changing experience.”
Sam Schulman, last surviving US crew member on legendary ‘Exodus,’ dies at 91
Samuel Schulman, the last surviving American crew member of the celebrated ship “Exodus 1947,” which attempted to bring thousands of Holocaust survivors from Europe to pre-state Israel, passed away Friday in Richmond, Virginia. He was 91.

From the end of World War II until the establishment of the State of Israel, “illegal” immigration — known by its code name the Aliya Bet — was the main way of getting around the United Kingdom’s strictly enforced policy at the time of allowing only several hundred Jewish refugees a month into British-controlled Palestine.

From 1946-1948 more than 60 Aliya Bet ships were organized, but only a few managed to penetrate the British blockade and bring their passengers ashore. Most were stopped and sent to detention camps in Cyprus. The more than 4,500 Holocaust survivors on the Exodus were forced onto prison ships in Haifa and sent back to Europe.

American journalist Ruth Gruber, author of Exodus 1947: The Ship That Launched a Nation, sent dispatches as the drama unfolded, helping to bring worldwide attention to the immigrants’ plight and influencing events leading up to the establishment of Israel in 1948.

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