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Tuesday, September 10, 2019

09/10 Links Pt2: Israel. The Dreyfus of our time; MP launches blistering attack on “extremist” Corbyn for “defending antisemites”; Valerie Plame tweeted antisemitic conspiracy, now claims “Jewish” ancestry

From Ian:
‘Dangerous PFLP terrorist shouldn't be given platform at U of T'
A former Palestinian Arab terrorist who was ordered to be deported by Canada's federal government is a guest speaker at an upcoming University of Toronto student event.

In response, Hasbara Fellowships Canada, which empowers student leaders to become advocates for Israel, is urging the university to intervene and prevent his participation in the event.

Issam Al-Yamani is a self-admitted former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is a recognized terror group in Canada.

Despite the Immigration and Refugee Board ordering his deportation in 2005 for his terror associations, he remains in Canada. A 2007 federal court decision confirms that he admitted to being a member of the PFLP.

In 2014, Mr. Al-Yamani gave a speech in downtown Toronto that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) interpreted as inciting violence. The CBSA then issued a report stating that he is a "danger to the security of Canada.” A CBSA report also claims that two PFLP members tasked with bombing an airplane “confessed to placing the bomb on instructions from Al-Yamani.”

According to a Global News investigation on Mr. Al-Yamani published in March of 2018, the Government of Canada has been "trying to deport him" for the past 26 years.
Barry Shaw: Israel. The Dreyfus of our time.
Despite lip service offered by senior French officials, Jew hatred still runs rampant in France and the main threat is solidly contained in the Muslim migrant community.

This the French have not addressed with any conviction. Until they do, French Jews will continue to enjoy the protection of Israel.

It should be beholden on the French to have Polanski’s movie screened on their own soil at the Cannes Film Festival.

In a sense, Israel is the Dreyfus of today. The Jewish state is constantly accused of criminal charges that Israel did not commit.

The accusers cover up for the crimes of others, those they support and welcome into their societies. They shower these criminals with money, honors, invitations to join their austere organizations. They do not question their evil intent. Their Esterhazy must be protected lest their finger pointing at the collective Jew be considered as something that dare not speak its name.

And so it is the Middle East Jew, that imposter, that must continue to be condemned while the Palestinian Esterhazy is allowed to literally get away with murder and treachery against the whole notion of justice and peace.
Ian Austin MP launches blistering attack on “extremist” Corbyn for “working with and defending antisemites”, joined by Ivan Lewis MP
Ian Austin MP, who resigned from Labour in protest at antisemitism within the Party earlier this year, delivered a passionate indictment of the Labour leadership in a speech in Parliament yesterday, branding Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party’s leadership “extremists”.

Standing amongst Labour MPs on the opposition benches, Mr Austin said: “I left the Labour party to shine a spotlight on the disgrace it’s become under his [Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s] leadership…I regard myself as proper, decent traditional Labour, not like the extremists who have taken over this Party and are dragging it into the mud…These are people [Mr Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell] who spent their entire time in politics working with [and] defending all sorts of extremists, and in some cases terrorists and antisemites…They always back the wrong side, whether it’s the IRA, Hamas and Hizballah, whom they describe as ‘friends’.”

As Labour MPs heckled him and told him to stop sitting with them, Mr Austin continued: “No previous Labour leadership would have allowed a Party with a proud history of fighting racial prejudice to have been poisoned by racism, which is what’s happened under these people — racism against Jewish people, to the extent that members have been arrested on suspicion of racial hatred, that the Party itself has become the first in history to be investigated under equalities laws by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. These people, and the people around them, are a million miles away from the traditional, mainstream, decent politics of the Labour Party. They have poisoned what was once a great party with extremism. They cannot be trusted with the institutions that underpin our democracy. They are completely unfit to lead the Labour Party, let alone our country.”

Mr Austin was joined by another former Labour MP, Ivan Lewis, who also resigned the Labour Party whip over antisemitism. Mr Lewis added his condemnation of Mr Corbyn, saying: “He does not have the leadership skills required at a time of so many challenges facing our country, and his leadership has led to the party of anti-racism and equality becoming the party of institutionalised antisemitism, so much so that a majority of Jews in this country feel that they would not be safe in the event of his becoming Prime Minister.”





Seth J. Frantzman: Valerie Plame tweeted antisemitic conspiracy, now claims “Jewish” ancestry
US congressional candidate Valerie Plame, who once tweeted antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming American Jews for causing America’s wars, now claims to be of Ukrainian Jewish descent in a new campaign video. The snazzy new spot shows someone driving backwards in a sports car, while the candidate recalls that she was once an “undercover CIA operative,” whose identity was leaked.

Plame is running for Congress in New Mexico and in the past was seen as a victim of the Bush administration. But in 2017 she tweeted an article titled “America’s Jews are driving America’s Wars” which showed a photo of Bill Kristol. Challenged on the offensive headline and antisemitic tweet, she told people to “calm down, re-tweets don’t imply endorsements. Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish.” She walked back that claim later and said she had “skimmed” the piece. However she has consistently been contradictory about the tweet, first claiming that the article was provocative and thoughtful, and then claiming that she had just skimmed it. The headline, “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars” is antisemitic. There is no “thoughtfulness” in it. And it doesn’t say “neocons,” a term that has been repackaged too often to mean “Jews.”

Later, on CNN in May 2019 when her candidacy became known she was asked about the tweet. Her story changed again, claiming she hadn’t liked the article and that the “only thing that I focused on in the article was that I thought it was a bad idea to get out of the Iran nuclear deal.” There are tens of thousands of articles arguing why it might have been bad to leave the Iran Deal, why did Plame tweet the one claiming “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars” from an antisemitic site that spreads conspiracies? Asked by CNN she then claimed that she “stupidly did not read the rest of the article.” Which is it? She read the offensive headline and tweeted it anyway? Or she skimmed it? Or just read the part about the “Iran deal” and tweeted the headline anyway? Or she focused on the “neocons.”

She told CNN she was “embarrassed” by the whole episode, as if it was just mistake. But most people don’t make mistakes and tweet that America’s Jews control America and cause America’s wars, unless they hate Jews. No one in recent memory has run for Congress so prominently and claimed Jews cause America’s wars. Plame’s contradictory statements raise questions about her judgement and underlying antisemitism or predilection for believing conspiracies. During the original scandal she had told people “read the entire article, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly.” So she told people shocked by the antisemitism that they were biased. Then she claimed that she had “missed gross undercurrents to this article.” Undercurrents? The article’s headline said Jews drive America’s wars.

Valerie Plame Blames Social Media For Why She Shared Anti-Semitic Articles
Cuomo wasn't done pressing Plame on her excuses for sharing the anti-Semitic articles on her Twitter page, saying, "You've shown other interests in that website before. Why would you have anything do with a website that is operated or at least provided by a guy that's a Holocaust denier?"

"Because social media and Twitter can be a pretty hateful environment, and it doesn't exactly lend itself to thoughtful discussion or reading all the way through," Plame said. "I made a terrible mistake, and I hurt people whose beliefs I respect and I apologized for it."

Cuomo asked Plame whether there was something particular about that website she likes, noting she previously shared nine articles from the site. One was titled "Why I Still Dislike Israel" and another was about "Dancing Israelis" on 9/11.

"Sometimes all sorts of things come across, as you know, in social media that you don't read all the way through," Plame said. "That's why I'm not on Twitter anymore."

When pressed by MSNBC's Kasie Hunt in May about sharing the posts, she claimed, "It's not who I am and it's not what I believe. It was extremely painful. I had not read the whole article all the way through and when I realized what it was, it was embarrassing and hurtful, so I apologize deeply and sincerely, and I've done it multiple times both privately and publicly."

She went on to say "we all make mistakes" and that sharing the article was a "doozy."


US Jewish groups pan California event featuring speaker accused of anti-Semitism
US Jewish groups and local politicians are criticizing an event scheduled to be held on a local college campus in Fresno, California, with a speaker who is critical of Israel and who frequently uses anti-Semitic tropes.

The program scheduled for September 18 is titled “Uncovered: Israel’s Occupation of Palestine,” and features Alison Weir, director of If Americans Knew and the Council for the National Interest, two grassroots anti-Israel organizations. Weir has accused American supporters of Israel of fomenting wars and involving the United States in them, has said that Nazi and Zionist leaders colluded during World War II, and has claimed that Israel harvests Palestinian organs.

The event, which will be held at Clovis Community College in Fresno, is being hosted by the local media outlet GV Wire, whose publisher Darius Assemi told the Los Angeles Jewish Journal that “the mission of GV Wire is to explore, explain and expose. We are bringing Ms. Alison Weir to Clovis Community College as part of our ongoing speaker series. Our hope is that audience members will listen and weigh what she has to say about Israeli and Palestinian relations and decide for themselves the best path to peace.”

Assemi said he is reaching out to Jewish groups to schedule a speaker with a countering viewpoint to Weir’s.

Among the groups who have criticized GV Wire for hosting Weir are ADL, American Jewish Committee, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs, and the Progressive Zionists of California.

Dr. Lori Bennett, president of Clovis Community College, noted that the college is not co-sponsoring the talk and that the college is not associated with the speaker in any way. She said GV Wire is renting the college’s facilities and that the college does not automatically endorse such speakers.

“Clovis Community College does not endorse hate speech or anti-Semitic remarks.” Bennett told the Journal.

The ADL called on the leadership of the college and on other leaders to condemn Weir.


Bristol University criticized for lukewarm response to antisemitism claim
Jewish students at Bristol University in the United Kingdom have accused the institution of mishandling a complaint regarding a lecture claiming the "Zionist movement" as one of the "five pillars of Islamophobia."

In March, sociology Prof. David Miller claimed in a slideshow presentation that the “Zionist movement (parts of)” is one of the “five pillars of Islamophobia,” in addition to the “neo-conservative Right,” some of whose founders and leaders were Jewish. Examples included Norman Podhoretz and Irving Kristol, who was known as the “godfather of neo-conservatism.”

One problematic slide showed a network of UK Jewish organizations and individuals culminating in the top "contributor" – "Israel Government."

"In context of a lecture about Islamophobia this echoes conspiracy & dual loyalty tropes. It is extremely disturbing that this was taught to students," tweeted The Community Security Trust (CST), one of the so-called "Islamophobic" organizations featured in the slide.

"This is a disgraceful, wholly untrue slur against CST that we completely reject," they added.


Telegraph legitimises dual loyalty charge
There appears to be concerns voiced ‘by some’ that newly appointed US-Middle East peace envoy Avi Berkowitz is, like his predecessor Jason Greenblat, and White House advisor Jared Kushner, a “Zionist Jew”.

Unfortunately, we don’t know who exactly feels that, by virtue of his religious background and the fact that he supports Israel’s right to exist, Berkowitz can’t be trusted to faithfully carry out his diplomatic role, as Leila Molana-Allen, the reporter who penned the Telegraph article in question, didn’t say.

Here are the relevant paragraphs from the Sept. 6th piece:
The appointment [of Berkowitz] “demonstrates a lack of seriousness” in the administration’s approach to the peace plan and Mr Kushner’s complete dominance over the process, former Middle East advisor to the US defence department Jasmine El-Gamal told The Telegraph. “They are not even pretending otherwise by hiring a qualified person as an envoy.”

Others have raised concerns that Mr Berkowitz, like Mr Greenblatt before him and Mr Kushner, is a Zionist Jew, which may lead to a perception of bias in any peace negotiations with Palestinian officials.

Though The Telegraph is normally extremely responsible when it comes to avoiding language that could be seen as antisemitic, this particular sentence clearly serves to legitimise the historically toxic dual loyalty trope, codified as antisemitic by the IHRA Working Definition.
Ezra Levant: Who took down our video? YouTube censors Rebel on Palestinian immigration to Canada
On the latest episode of The Ezra Levant Show, we covered the unprecedented censorship handed down by YouTube to one of our recent videos dealing with a foreign report stating that Canada would soon take in 100,000 Palestinians from Lebanon and Syria.




Thomson Reuters Corrects Gay Fathers Get Paternity Leave in Israel
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, Thomson Reuters promptly corrected, removing the incorrect claim from the story. In addition, editors commendably appended the following note alerting readers to the change:
(This version of the story removes incorrect reference to Israel not granting parental leave to gay couples)

The Thomson Reuters article was about a study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which found that a minority of 33 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) grant gay fathers the same amount of leave as heterosexual new parents. Reuters reported:
First published in the Journal of Social Policy, the research found that gay male couples received the same number of weeks off as different-sex couples in just 12% of those nations.

Israel, therefore, stands among a distinct minority in granting equal parental leave for gay fathers. It is unclear whether the error originated in the study itself.
Fighting Antisemitism in Sports Tops Agenda of Upcoming New York Conference
Anthony Davidson is preparing for his worlds to collide. An academic, an avid soccer fan and the son of a Holocaust survivor, Davidson is spearheading an upcoming conference addressing antisemitism and sports at Fordham University in New York.

Davidson, who is dean of Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies in the Bronx, launched the initiative as a way to inspire change at a time when antisemitic hate crimes, and bias in general, are on the rise in the US and around the world.

“I believe that sports is a vehicle through which we can effect change in the world,” he said in an interview with The Algemeiner.

“We obviously have a rising problem with hate crime and antisemitism and is growing exponentially, even compared to other forms of hate,” he added. “And so, as somebody who’s mother was a survivor of Auschwitz and the concentration camps, I’m a big sports fan for that matter, I thought this was an appropriate thing to have.”

Antisemitic attacks and incidents rose by 18 percent worldwide in 2018 from the previous year, according to research by Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry.

New York City, specifically, has counted almost 150 anti-Jewish hate crimes and bias complaints in the first half of 2019.


UK neo-Nazi gets two and a half years in prison for hate crimes
Notorious British neo-Nazi Nathan Worrell has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of eight hate crime offenses.

Worrell previously served a prison sentence in 2008 for racially aggravated harassment and for being in possession of terrorist material.

According to a statement released by the UK Counter Terrorism Policing network, Worrell “was intending to still up racial hatred” and his conviction was also related to “possessing terrorist material.”

All eight offenses fall under the Public Order Act of 1986.

During his trial in August at the Grimsby Crown Court, it was revealed that Worrell is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and he told the court that he didn’t believe in “diversity or multiculturalism.”

He is also a vehement Holocaust denier, and had been putting up stickers on lampposts and other places in the coastal town of Grimsby, which called diversity “white genocide.” Other stickers that he placed pledged support for white supremacist groups including Combat 18, which is a known neo-Nazi terrorist organization originating from the UK. Some of the stickers also encouraged racial divisions and anti-immigrant sentiments.

During proceedings, he was asked whether the Holocaust had happened and he denied it saying that the six million Jews had died because of “allied bombing and starvation.”
‘Too few’ police to intervene as antisemitic preachers spend three hours accusing Jewish families of “taking over the world” and plotting to “destroy the world”
A group of 20 to 30 “preachers” reportedly targeted Jews leaving synagogue on during the Jewish Sabbath last weekend, haranguing them with a string of antisemitic epithets. As the community ended its prayers, the families were allegedly told that “Jews control the world”, “Jews control money”, “Jews will destroy the world” and “Jews have long noses”.

The comments were made outside Sainsbury’s in Stamford Hill on Saturday 7th September between 13:00 and 16:00 to hundreds of Jews and other passersby, amplified through a loudspeaker reportedly heard up to half a mile away.

Non-Jewish passersby called the police, but when two officers arrived the preachers stopped making antisemitic remarks. The officers declined to make arrests as only two officers were available. When the officers left, the antisemitic denunciations began again.

Following an outcry from Stamford Hill Shomrim, a neighbourhood watch patrol run by Jewish volunteers, the Mayor of the Borough of Hackney has offered assurances that investigations are underway.
U.S. police delegation visits Israel ahead of 9/11 anniversary
Close to 50 high-ranking American police officers are in Israel to take part in a series of consultations and events marking the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Known as the Police Unity Tour, the delegation will be in Israel for nine days to hold discussions with their Israeli counterparts and strengthen the domestic security cooperation between the two allied nations, as well as a two-day motorbike ride across Israel to honor officers killed in the line of duty.

“The cooperation between Israel and America is wonderful and the bond is very strong,” Michael Safras, chief of New Jersey’s Essex County Sheriff’s Department, told The Jerusalem Post.
While Safras has been to Israel over 40 times, 35 of the 49 officers taking part in the delegation are visiting Israel for the first time.

“It’s going to be an eye opener,” he said.

The officers will also be visiting communities and law enforcement officers in communities next to the Gaza border as well as in northern Israel, where they will be briefed by IDF officers on the tense security situation and the threat of infiltrations by terrorists from across the border.
Jerusalem to remember 9/11 Twin Towers attack
Israel will hold a ceremony to commemorate the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks on Tuesday afternoon at the Jerusalem Park.

As a tribute to the Tribute in Lights representing the Twin Towers, Jerusalem's skies will be lighten up – reaching up to 300 meters.

The Tribute in Light is an art installation of 88 searchlights six blocks south of the World Trade Center on top of the Battery Parking Garage in New York City, which creates two columns of light representing the Twin Towers in remembrance of the September 11 attacks.

The event is organized jointly by the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA) and the US Embassy in Israel,


Russia exhibit to showcase medieval Jewish life in Afghanistan
When Westerners think of Afghanistan, if they do at all, the mental picture evoked by decades of news coverage is of a remote, desolate and war-ravaged land.

However, during the 9th to 11th centuries, the region was booming, being at the time an integral part of the Silk Road trading route connecting Europe and China.

The region featured a thriving Jewish community whose history is chronicled in a series of documents collectively known as the Afghan Geniza, which are set to go on display this week at St. Petersburg’s famous Hermitage museum.

A geniza is a storage area for disused sacred texts awaiting their traditional burial, though many documents of a more mundane character have also ended up in such depositories over the years.

Some two dozen artifacts from the National Library of Israel’s collection will be viewable at the storied Russian museum through December, highlighting Jewish life in a region now barren of Jews. The National Library began collecting documents from the Afghan Geniza after learning of their existence in 2011 and now has some nearly 300 pages.

“This is a particularly impressive find related to the lives and culture of Jews from this part of the world from the beginning of the second millennium,” Prof. Haggai Ben Shammai, an expert on Jews in the Islamic world, said in a statement released by the library. He explained that the importance of the collection stems from the previous lack of information on Jewish life in medieval Afghanistan.
Auschwitz survivor Ron Jones who became Poppy selling legend dies aged 102
Tributes have been paid to poppy seller Ron Jones, who has died aged 102.

The retired steelworker, who died on Sunday, was a prisoner of war in the Auschwitz concentration camp after being captured during the Second World War.

Mr Jones, from Newport, South Wales, collected for the Royal British Legion poppy appeal for more than 30 years, stopping last year aged 101.

Lynne Woodyatt, a Royal British Legion community fundraiser for South Wales, said: "We are very sad to learn of the passing of Ron Jones, who was a dear friend of mine and much loved by all who knew him.

"His passion for the Legion and the Poppy Appeal shone through and for over 30 years he dedicated his time to helping raise funds for those in the Armed Forces past and present.

"We will be forever grateful for his support, and will deeply miss his enthusiasm, drive and commitment to helping those that served their country.
Dutch Christian Zionists donate massive menorah to Sderot
Dutch Christian Zionists donated what was Europe’s largest Hanukkah menorah to the Israeli city of Sderot in solidarity with its residents’ plight over rocket attacks from Gaza.

The 36-foot menorah was erected Sunday in Sderot, said Arjen Lont, the Christian Zionist philanthropist from the Netherlands who in 2013 donated about $40,000 to build the object.

Boasting a 6-ton base and a frame shaped like a Star of David, the Dutch menorah has featured in Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremonies organized across the kingdom over the past six years by the Christians for Israel group.

“After unspeakable suffering, the horrors of the Holocaust and most recently the attacks on Israel, Jews may feel they are alone,” Lont told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency shortly after the menorah was built. “This is our way of saying you are not alone, we are behind you.”

On Sunday, Lont wrote on Twitter: “Today, we set up the Hanukkah menorah in Sderot in Israel’s south. It is here to stay for good.”


Gov. Wolf to Carry Tree of Life ‘Mezuzah’ to Holocaust Memorials in Eastern Europe
When visiting Holocaust memorials in Lithuania and Poland this week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf will bring along the mezuzah hat was on the office door of Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where 11 Jewish worshippers were shot and killed by a gunman during Shabbat-morning services on Oct. 27, 2018—the deadliest attack in American Jewish history.

“What I’m hoping for is that this act will bring solace—some solace to the survivors—and will remind them that we Pennsylvanians will never forget their loved ones,” said Wolf, a Democrat, at a press conference on Friday in his office in the state capitol in Harrisburg.

The governor said he called Myers and told him that during his eight-day trip, which he mentioned he intends to pay for the traveling and lodging costs, he planned to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp memorial in Poland and inquired how he could remember the shooting victims.

Wolf said he will also carry it to the Paneriai Holocaust Memorial, where he will sign the victims’ names in commemoration books. It is located in the forests outside the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where many of the country’s Jews were killed.


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