Melanie Phillips: From Congress to classrooms: Reframing the Israel narrative
Those who consider themselves to be centrists because they back a “two-state solution” may not grasp the full extent of the big lie about Israel because they themselves have swallowed it, at least in part.Jonathan S. Tobin: When Israel’s haters endorse a Jewish candidate
For fundamental to this benign-sounding rubric is a lethal misreading of the problem to which it is the purported solution. It assumes that this is a conflict over the parceling out of land between two sides with a legitimate claim to that land.
Not so. This is an Arab war of extermination against the State of Israel. The only proper response to such a war is to defeat it. A state of Palestine that was instead created for those still bent on Israel’s destruction would merely hand them the means to achieve their unconscionable aim.
Reconceptualizing this existential war as a conflict over territory creates a false moral equivalence between the actual Arab aggressors and their actual Israeli victims. As a consequence, Israel’s refusal to accept what would be terms of surrender to those still aiming to destroy it has been transformed into a stance of unforgivable belligerency.
This, in turn, has facilitated the whole narrative of colonialist dispossession, illegality, occupation, aggression, abuses of human rights and all the rest of the crimes so falsely laid at Israel’s door, in addition to the anti-Jewish venom that inevitably bubbles up to the surface in that particular sewer.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the path to the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the West – now so brazenly paraded by the hard-left – has been laid by the so-called centrist advocates of the “two-state solution.”
That’s why this resurgence would not be stopped by the disappearance from the political scene of either Jeremy Corbyn or “the Squad” of U.S. congresswomen. It will not be stopped by better pro-Israel advocacy on campus. It will not even be stopped by removing certain education materials from British or American schools, desirable or necessary as all such developments are in themselves.
This poisonous tide will only begin to be turned if those who think themselves to be custodians of the center-ground realize the extent to which they too have drunk the Middle Eastern Kool-Aid.
It’s not clear whether the Squad, let alone Sarsour and Amer, can help Sanders keep up with Warren, who seems to have eclipsed the fading Joe Biden as the Democratic frontrunner. But she may not be radical or anti-Israel enough for AOC and her friends, as well as the likes of Sarsour.Michael Medved: ‘I Will Make of You a Great Nation’
But more important than the fate of his candidacy is the way that these anti-Semitic Israel-haters are using Sanders to legitimize their positions and further advance their efforts to ensure that support for BDS is a mainstream, rather than a marginal, force within the Democratic Party. Indeed, we should expect that Omar and Sarsour will trot out their endorsements of Sanders in the future as fake proof that they are not anti-Semites, despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary.
Right now, most Democrats are transfixed by the competition among their presidential candidates and their debates over how big they want government to be, as well as how much they will allow radical identity politics to dominate public discourse. Yet the steady advances made by peddlers of intersectional myths that demonize Israel, such as Tlaib, in mainstreaming their noxious ideology is a story that’s not getting enough attention.
The failure of the other Democratic candidates to call Sanders to account for his embrace of anti-Semites is discouraging. But in a party where Omar and Tlaib are treated as heroines and victims of right-wing smears rather than purveyors of hate, that isn’t realistic. Indeed, Warren’s efforts to snatch Tlaib’s endorsement away from Sanders indicates that despite the support of most of their congressional caucus and a plurality of their voters for Israel, the future of radical anti-Semites in the Democratic is all too bright.
Starting in 1881, some 2.5 million desperate, destitute eastern European Jews washed up on American shores to connect an ancient text to a young nation’s sense of its own special destiny. For the implacably confident citizens of the surging United States, these exotic newcomers provided new perspective on three mystical Genesis verses that had resonated with their forebears since the earliest days of British settlement.
“Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you,” God commands Abraham (still called Abram at that point in the text). The Almighty reassures the puzzled patriarch by pledging a world- changing outcome to this directed journey into the unknown: “And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.”
The Pilgrims and Puritans prayed for similar benedictions and connected their own “errand into the wilderness” with Abraham’s fateful mission to build a new, godly life in a promised land he hadn’t even seen. Proudly identifying themselves as “New Testament Hebrews,” they also cherished the biblical idea that the other tribes of earth would one day earn reward or punishment based on their treatment of the new nation God had decreed into existence. “I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse,” the Lord assures Abraham and, by implication, his descendants, far into the future. “And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you” (Genesis 12:1–3).
With this formulation in mind, many of the radical Protestant doers and dreamers who ultimately planted a new civilization in North America embraced the notion that their cosmic purpose involved the protection of the children of Abraham—an idea they expressed in sermons and scholarly treatises long before any actual Jews turned up in their struggling New World outposts.
In 1648, for instance, a member of Parliament named Sir Edward Nicholas wrote an influential pamphlet that blamed England’s present problems on “the strict and cruel laws now in force against the most honorable nation of the world, the nation of the Jews, a people chosen by God.” This startling new attitude and Sir Edward’s bold description of the Jews as “our brethren” represented a striking departure from the well-established medieval view that they constituted “the spawn of Satan” and were worthy of torture, genocide, and expulsion.
Antisemitism's perfect storm
It’s the world’s oldest bigotry and it’s on the rise again. Antisemitism is associated with the darkest chapters of human history when humanity abandons civilised moral codes. Societies and ideologies which embrace it typically suffer a major decline if not complete destruction. Examples span the latter years of the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, the suppression and pogroms of the old USSR, to the Nazi implemented Holocaust of the second world war.COL RICHARD KEMP - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL BURD FOR AJA
Reports from the United Kingdom, numerous European countries, United States, Canada, South America and Australia point to a dangerous resurgence of antisemitism. Recent cases of Jewish boys attending Melbourne state schools, particularly the image of a 12-year old Jewish boy forced under threat of a bashing to kiss the feet of a Muslim student, have shone an international spotlight on antisemitism in Australia. Another older Muslim student sent vile threats to the boy which included the words ‘I’ll slaughter you’, a matter now in the hands of the police. What’s going on? That this is happening within living memory of the Holocaust should shock all people of goodwill.
Antisemitism is recorded from biblical times. In the Exodus from slavery in Egypt Jewish people were attacked for no apparent reason by the nation of Amalek. Our sages teach that Amalek represent the irrational spiritual hatred of Jews.
Antisemitism in some ways has the characteristics of a virus which morphs. During the Inquisition it was hatred of the Jewish religion with forced conversions by torture. Under the USSR it was Jewish culture such as circumcision or teaching Torah which was banned. The Nazis took a racial approach with the objective to eliminate the Jewish race. In more recent years, it is hatred of the world’s only Jewish state, Israel, which has become the principal focus for antisemites. Yes, anti-Zionism is antisemitism.
The Nazis Are Coming
When the 11 Nazis unfolded their banner that screamed, “Holocaust—Six Million Lies,” they were hit with eggs and rocks by the 2,500 counterdemonstrators who came to protest. A police helicopter hummed and lingered over the crowd. After seven minutes, the Nazis retreated, hiding under their swastika-painted shields. It was Sunday, Oct. 19, 1980, and the Nazis had obtained a permit to march—exercising their right to free speech—at Lovelace Park in Evanston, Illinois, the suburb just north of Chicago and home to Northwestern University. The counterdemonstration was sponsored by the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation of Northwestern and other Jewish and local interfaith groups in Evanston. The Nazis had originally applied for the permit to hold their rally a month earlier on Yom Kippur, which fell on Saturday, Sept. 20, that year. The mayor at the time, James Lytle, turned them down for that particular day, but granted them the permit for 39 years ago this weekend.Why Eisenhower deleted the Jews
I was 10 years old in 1980, and I remember the day of the march. It was four miles from my home. I had just returned from Sunday school at our synagogue in Skokie, the suburb just west of Evanston. Oddly, no one mentioned the march, or perhaps, I just don’t remember anyone talking about it. That day, my Sunday school teacher, an old Israeli woman with long droopy eyelids smothered with thick bright green eye shadow, had us paint the State of Israel with our fingers on heavy construction paper. After sketching the outline of the tiny country, we dipped our fingers into plastic bowls of green, yellow, blue, and red paint and made a mess on our paper as we tried, and failed, to color within the lines of the country’s borders.
With our moist, dirty fingers, we created grass and mountains and water and flowers in an abstract place that felt far away from us. When we finished, we lined up the papers by the window sill and compared. A cold official map of Israel 20 times larger than our individual letter-size sheets loomed over us from across the room. Pitted against the authentic state, every student’s Israel looked misshapen, distorted, colored out of the lines, dripping like it was melting.
The upcoming 50th anniversary of the death of Dwight D. Eisenhower has occasioned a number of laudatory essays about the former president and commander of the Allied forces in Europe in World War Two. One author, in a prominent Jewish publication, went so far as to declare Eisenhower to be a “Holocaust rescuer” because he oversaw postwar aid to survivors living in displaced persons camps.A New Biography Distorts History to Defame Ben-Gurion
Any survey of Eisenhower’s Holocaust record, however, needs to also consider his troubling decision, in 1944, to delete references to Jews from an Allied warning about Nazi war crimes.
The events leading to this episode began in the autumn of 1943, when American, British and Soviet leaders, meeting in Moscow, issued a statement threatening postwar punishment for Nazi war crimes against “French, Dutch, Belgian or Norwegian hostages... Cretan peasants... [and] the people of Poland.” There was no mention of the Jews.
Several months later, strong pressure from Congress, Jewish activists and the Treasury Department compelled President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish the War Refugee Board. Although given only token funding by the White House, the board did its best to promote rescue of European Jews during the final 15 months of the war.
High on the board’s initial agenda was the need for a presidential message to the people of Axis-occupied countries, warning them not to collaborate in atrocities against the Jews. John Pehle, the board’s executive director, had been deeply disappointed that the Moscow statement omitted the Jews. In his view, the failure to identify the Nazis’ primary victims undermined efforts to help rescue them.
In February 1944, Pehle gave the White House a draft of a strong statement which noted that the Nazis were trying “to exterminate all the Jews within their grasp” and “More than two million men, women and children already have been put to death solely because they were Jews.” After two weeks of stalling, White House aides informed Pehle that Roosevelt “wanted the statement rewritten so as to be aimed less directly at the atrocities against the Jews.”
In his recent biography of David Ben-Gurion—who was born 133 years ago yesterday—the journalist and historian Tom Segev blames Israel’s founding prime minister for his country’s supposed “original sin” of driving Palestinian Arabs from their homes. Efraim Karsh, in his review, shows how Segev ignores and distorts evidence:The Tikvah Podcast: Thomas Karako on the U.S., Israel, and Missile Defense
Ben-Gurion himself argued as early as 1918 that “had Zionism desired to evict the inhabitants of Palestine, it would have been a dangerous utopia and a harmful, reactionary mirage.” And as late as December 1947, shortly after Palestinian Arabs had unleashed wholesale violence to subvert the newly passed United Nations partition resolution, he told his Labor party that “in our state there will be non-Jews as well—and all of them will be equal citizens; equal in everything without any exception; that is: the state will be their state as well.” In line with this conception, committees laying the groundwork for the nascent Jewish state discussed the establishment of an Arabic-language press, the incorporation of Arab officials in the administration, and Arab-Jewish cultural interaction.
Ignoring these facts altogether, Segev accuses Ben-Gurion of using the partition resolution as a springboard for implementing the age-old “Zionist dream” of “maximum territory, minimum Arabs,” though he brings no evidence for this supposed behavior beyond a small number of statements that are either taken out of context or simply distorted or misrepresented. To take one representative example: “Ben-Gurion jotted down [in his diary] a long list of questions that awaited his decision, among which was ‘Should the Arabs be expelled?’” Segev writes.
Dated May 8, 1948, just under a week before Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel, this diary entry . . . doesn’t read “Should the Arabs be expelled?” but rather “Should Arabs be expelled?” And this question was posed in relation not to the Palestinian Arab community as a whole but to the small number of Arabs caught in the fighting. . . . [T]his was an exclusively tactical measure dictated by ad-hoc military considerations, notably the need to deny strategic sites to the enemy if there were no available Jewish forces to hold them.
This past July, something unusual happened in Alaska. The Israeli military launched its most technologically sophisticated defensive missiles through the atmosphere, into space. The July testing of the Arrow 3 represents the consummation of decades of military and scientific partnership between Israel and the United States.What they mean when they say Israel’s “policies”
The Arrow 3 conveys a kill vehicle that constantly adjusts in order to intercept an incoming missile itself—what is called in missile defense, a “metal to metal” intercept. If you want to understand what a monumental technological achievement this is, remember that intercontinental ballistic missiles can travel three or four miles per second—from Moscow to New York in 20 minutes. Israeli missile engineers have figured out a way to detect an incoming projectile moving that fast, deploy an intercept, and observe metal to metal contact in outer space. This unbelievable marvel of technology is the subject of this podcast.
Our guest is Dr. Thomas Karako, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the director of their Missile Defense Project. Dr. Karako discusses the nature of U.S.-Israel cooperation on missile defense, what makes the Arrow 3 system special, and why this incredible technology is so promising for America, Israel, and the world.
Let’s not kid ourselves, the only “policy” that’s kept Netanyahu in office all these years is his commitment to stand tall for Israel and his refusal to bend.to the whims of the antisemitic world. Yes, antisemitic. There is no other word. Nothing more precise has come along since that man Wilhem Marr.Labour Party fears bankruptcy over EHRC investigation launched following representations by CAA
Netanyahu’s big flaw, to their eyes?
He has refused to relinquish Jewish territory, despite those eight years of an unfriendly Obama, and despite a perpetually hostile UN -- and that is what rankles them out there who want Israel diminished and ripe for the taking. More to their liking were some previous prime ministers who were ready to make concessions that would cut Israel to pieces.
These were prime ministers who offered away practically all of Judea and Samaria, plus Jerusalem, and one who actually gave away Gaza, to Israel’s everlasting pain.
Those they term as good policies. The more harmful to Israel, so much the better. They would not put it that way, of course.
They would say that for the sake of “peace,” Israel must agree to deals that give the best of the land to the Palestinian Arabs – so why is Netanyahu being so “intransigent?”
Doesn’t he want peace?
Yes, but first and foremost he wants Israel.
Senior Labour figures have reportedly expressed concern that an adverse finding by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in its investigation into antisemitism in Labour could result in the bankruptcy of the Party.CAA commends church for cancelling Chris Williamson event
On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
There is talk in Labour that an unfavourable conclusion by the EHRC could lead to litigation and payouts to victims, which could cripple the Party’s already struggling finances.
Members of the Labour Party’s ruling body, the powerful National Executive Committee (NEC), have even made inquiries as to whether they might become financially liable if the Party’s finances went into the red. Party chiefs reportedly refused to provide sufficient clarity to allay the concerns.
In recent months, thirteen MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Downham Market Methodist Church cancelled an event reportedly set to feature disgraced MP Chris Williamson discussing “the challenges facing Labour”.Secretary of Labour branch in Redditch resigns after sharing antisemitic posts on social media
The event at the Norfolk church, which was an external booking, had caused upset in the local Jewish community and was cancelled amid concerns it “could be detrimental” to the church and community.
Mr Williamson was suspended from the Labour Party after claiming that Labour has been “too apologetic” over antisemitism and is currently on his third suspension (the second suspension was overturned by the High Court).
The challenges facing Labour include, above all, its institutional antisemitism, which its personnel and disciplinary procedures are unwilling and unable to rectify.
Alan Mason, the Redditch Constituency Labour Party Secretary, resigned on 14th October after revelations that he had posted antisemitic material online.Disgraced SPLC Co-Founder Joins Holocaust Denier to Back Plame
Mr Mason had shared comments on Facebook suggesting that Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth was funded by an “Israel lobby”; the Rothschilds funded the Nazis; Hillary Clinton’s “Zio Mafia strillionaire [sic] friends in London and Tel Aviv are sucking America and 99% of Americans dry”; and Jewish real estate developer Larry Silverstein profited from 9/11.
Another post he shared referenced the “Nazification of Israel”. The International Definition of Antisemitism states that “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.
The disgraced co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the actor John Goodman, and the former ABC newscaster Sam Donaldson have joined a high-profile Holocaust denier to help boost Valerie Plame's congressional campaign.A Jewish honor for journalist who says 'Jews control the White House'
Plame, who is running to represent New Mexico's Third Congressional District, raked in $450,000 in the third quarter, FEC reports show.
Morris Dees, who was pushed out of the SPLC earlier this year, donated $400 to Plame’s campaign, filings show. While the SPLC is known for identifying and denouncing hate groups, Dees is supporting a political candidate who has come under fire for anti-Semitic statements. He was pushed out of the SPLC in March after years of complaints from coworkers alleging that he regularly made inappropriate sexual and racial remarks.
The Plame campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
...
The former congressman and prominent Holocaust denier Pete McCloskey is also continuing to lavish funds on the campaign, adding $200 to three initial donations last quarter. McCloskey's wife, Helen, also contributed $500 to the Plame campaign. During a May 28, 2000, speech to the Institute for Historical Review, an organization known for promoting Holocaust denial theories, McCloskey made reference to the "so-called Holocaust" and praised the group for its effort to combat conventional wisdom on the genocide.
"Earlier here today I listened to speeches about the courage of men in France, Britain, Germany, and New Zealand who have spoken out against the commonly accepted concept of what occurred during the Second World War in the so-called Holocaust," McCloskey said, adding later that the "right to say what you believe and to research things that are alleged as true, and to try to disprove them, is perhaps the most important part of our democracy."
Next month Moment magazine will hold its "DC Gala & Awards Dinner” honoring four distinguished journalists. The presenters will be four prominent individuals. One of the presenters they have chosen has publicly accused Jews of controlling the White House and paying off members of Congress. Moment magazine is a Jewish publication originally co-founded by Elie Wiesel.AOC’s Campaign Paid $200K to Firm Established by Justice Democrats Cofounder
I’m referring to Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.
Friedman’s troubling record on Israel began during his years as a student at Brandeis University. In 1974, Yasser Arafat, gun holster on his hip, made his infamous first appearance at the United Nations. Jews in New York City organized a huge rally against him. Friedman and a handful of fellow-students signed an open letter denouncing the anti-Arafat rally.
That happened just a few months after Arafat’s terrorists massacred 18 Jews—including eight children—in Kiryat Shemona, and then 27 more Jews—including 21 children—in Ma’alot. Friedman were demanding that Israel negotiate with the chief terrorist responsible for those murders.
Friedman told the campus newspaper, The Brandeis Justice, that his career goal was to work at “the Middle East desk of the State Department.” That would have given him opportunities to impose his views on Israel.
That didn’t work out. But Friedman did later become a personal friend and tennis partner of Secretary of State James Baker, the most anti-Israel secretary of state in American history. According to Baker’s autobiography, Friedman gave him advice on how to more effectively pressure Israel.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) campaign committee dished out more than $200,000 during the third quarter to Middle Seat Consulting, a firm established by a cofounder of Justice Democrats, the far-left group that propelled the freshman Democrat into office.The Evidence of BDS Anti-Semitism Speaks for Itself
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign hauled in $1.4 million in contributions and reported $924,349.64 in operating expenditures between July 1 and Sept. 30, its filings show. Middle Seat Consulting, a firm that "supports campaigns, organizations, and causes fighting for racial justice, climate action, immigrant rights, intersectional feminism, economic justice, and more," was paid $210,364.37 by the freshman representative's committee during this time for email fundraising, digital ad commission, list rentals, and strategy. The disbursements are a major increase from the combined $89,000 it gave to Middle Seat during the first and second quarters. Ocasio-Cortez's committee has now cut the group checks totaling $300,000 this year. Middle Seat is the campaign's highest paid vendor.
Middle Seat's leadership includes the same cast of characters as several other Ocasio-Cortez-linked PACs and groups, including those that have come under scrutiny by watchdogs.
Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs recently released a lengthy report titled Behind the Mask, documenting the varieties of naked anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery employed by the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the Jewish state (BDS). Drawn largely but not exclusively from Internet sources, its examples range from a tweet by a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (the “world would be soooo much better without jews man”), to an enormous inflated pig bearing a star of David and floating behind the stage as the rock musician Roger Waters performs, to accusations by an influential anti-Israel blogger that Israel is poisoning Palestinian wells. Cary Nelson sums up the report’s conclusions and their implications, all of which give the lie to the disingenuous claim that critics of BDS are trying to brand “legitimate criticism of Israel” as anti-Semitic.Prof Claims Islam Is Not the Root of Islamic Terrorism
Rather than documenting the many hundreds of anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic books, essays, and op-eds by BDS-supporting [university] faculty and public leaders, the report concentrates instead on the mass dissemination of tweets and cartoons and posters that are circulated and recirculated to reach much larger audiences.
As someone who has studied anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic tweets and cartoons for some years, I would add that it is clear they are becoming more virulent, . . . intrusive, and aggressive. And they seem very personal when they arrive in your email or your Facebook account. . . . [T]housands of impressionable people are sending and receiving these messages. We know that mass murderers in Pittsburgh and Poway trafficked in such hate. That is the dark underbelly of the BDS movement disturbingly documented in Behind the Mask.
Behind the Mask is a wake-up call and a warning. It indulges in no government propaganda. It simply gathers its open-source evidence . . . in one place. . . . The report does not aim to defend Israel’s policies. It doesn’t need to. The tweets and cartoons it reproduces are not policy critiques; they are hate mail. They project the portrait of an evil Jewish state and urge its elimination.
“If you want to identify people who are okay with suicide bombing, I can give you a list,” including Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Michigan State University Professor Mohammad Hassan Khalil told me at a September Georgetown University lecture. Khalil theorized before an audience of some thirty people at the Saudi-founded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) that Islam’s atheistic critics exaggerate the religion’s role in inciting violence.
While ACMCU Professor Jonathan Brown moderated, Khalil’s responses ironically reinforced the critique of Islam he sought to refute. For the record, Qaradawi’s primetime show on Qatar’s Al Jazeera network drew an estimated 60 million viewers. Even had he been the lone cleric promoting suicide bombing — which he was not — the size of his viewership reveals the scope of the problem.
At the Georgetown event, Khalil presented his previously recorded discussion of his new book, “Jihad, Radicalism, and the New Atheism,” in which he disputes claims of many “New Atheists,” particularly Sam Harris, “that Muslim terrorism can be best explained by Islamic scriptures.” Harris further labels benign interpretations of Islam as “interpretive acrobatics.”
Khalil explained his focus on the so-called New Atheists, in which “[m]any of [his] own colleagues and students have been and continue to be more profoundly impacted by the writings of New Atheists than, say, polemical works by far-right religiously-affiliated critics of Islam.” Correspondingly, he cited Harris’s statement to fellow atheist Bill Maher that “we have to be able to criticize bad ideas, and Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas.”
So there is an article in the Guardian by Ed Pilkington @edpilkington.
— Michael Elgort ✡️ (@just_whatever) October 18, 2019
First of all, look at this lovely picture that they have chosen for the article. So who exactly is banning criticism of Israel? In their opinion: Ku Klux Klan. 1/ https://t.co/xTDy2a623F pic.twitter.com/LuhoXiV67y
MEMRI: Article In Jordanian Daily 'Al-Dustour': 9/11 Was Planned By U.S. In Order To Destabilize The Middle East For The Benefit Of Israel
In his September 24, 2019 column in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour, 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Hamshari wrote that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the U.S. National Security Council with the aim of destabilizing the Middle East and preventing the rise of an Arab power that would compete with the U.S. for hegemony in that region.Arutz Sheva op-ed attacked by Holocaust Denier David Irving
Al-Hamshari, who is a member of Jordanian human rights organizations,[1] adds that since 9/11, the U.S. has continued to sow chaos in the region by means of terror organizations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, which it established, in order to redraw its borders along sectarian and ethnic lines and serve the interests of its ally, Israel.
It should be mentioned that, several days before the anniversary of 9/11, Al-Dustour posted another conspiratorial article on this topic, which claimed that the Muslims were the true victims of the attacks.[2]
The following are excerpts from Al-Hamshari's article. [3]
"The 18th anniversary of the 9/11events passed quietly, despite the contribution of these events to the chaos in the Middle East and despite the upheaval they caused in America's Middle East strategy, [an upheaval] that harmed all the Arab countries, without exception, and in particular the Palestinian cause. [After 9/11, the U.S.] began taking steps aimed at fracturing the Arab unity and turning [public opinion] against countries that opposed its hegemony in the Middle East, first of all Iraq and Libya. Next came a blow against the security and stability of influential countries in the region, such as Syria, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. [At the same time, the U.S.] cultivated the Zionist entity state [i.e., Israel] – with measures it took after the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, which were [later] reinforced by steps taken by Trump – and gave [Israel] an opportunity to enhance the imbalance in the occupied Palestinian territories in its favor and to build up the Jewish home at the expense of the Palestinian home, which no longer has any place in [Trump's] foolish lexicon.
Holocaust denier, David Irving, reacted furiously to the op ed article on his blog. Irving himself wrote a book praising Rommel's brilliant military prowess called The Trail of the Fox, the Search for the True Field Marshal Rommel and he placed a photo of his book's cover to the left of his attack on Kellner.German Interior Minister Announces Six-Point Plan to Combat Antisemitism
"He needs an English lesson " wrote the Jew hater on his website and linking to Professor Kellner's:article We put a “Nazi” general on a pedestal and wonder why we have “neo-Nazis” – Israel National News, adding the insult: "a Jew teaching English in USA wipes his filthy hands on the Rommel legend."
Responding to the Holocaust Denier's tirade, Dr. Kellner told Arutz Sheva:
"I actually am glad that this chief of the anti-Semites, who perverts the truth about the Holocaust, is one of my readers. It's a pleasure for me to see how my grandfather Friedrich Kellner's descriptions of real Nazis can get neo-Nazis whining in indignation. That's one of the main reasons Friedrich Kellner risked his life for six years (while under Gestapo surveillance) to write his diary.
"In an early entry, when Adolf Hitler already ruled all of Europe, my grandfather predicted their defeat, but he knew Nazi-types would always be with us, and he wrote, 'These jackals must never be allowed to rise again. I want to be in that fight.'
"Well, he is in that fight, thanks to Cambridge University's edition of his diary, and we must continue to shower these neo-Nazis with his scorn. If we cannot cleanse their minds of bigotry, we can at least keep them whining.
Germany’s interior minister announced a new six-point plan to combat antisemitism on Thursday, as the country continued to reel from last week’s attempted massacre by a far-right terrorist of worshipers at a synagogue in Halle during Yom Kippur services.Everyday antisemitism. Modesto.
Speaking to the federal parliament, the Bundestag, Interior Minister Horst Seehoffer acknowledged that “antisemitism is anchored in parts of our society.” His plan includes an obligation to report hate speech on the internet, bans on extremist political groups, a stricter weapons law and more prevention work by the authorities.
In his remarks, Seehofer spoke of “individual perpetrators” who “build up their frustration outside the public sphere without initially recognizable connections to anyone.” This was a new challenge for the authorities because it was no longer enough to observe an extremist party, he said.
Stephan Balliet — the 27-year-old who murdered two people in Halle after being unable to enter the synagogue — is being investigated as a lone-wolf terrorist, despite his support for neo-Nazi ideology.
Seehoffer’s proposals come on top of last week’s move by the justice minister to toughen German laws against hate speech on the internet.
Everyday antisemitism.Bulgaria arrests 5 more following racist abuse at England soccer match
For the past 8 weeks, repulsive antisemitic flyers have been appearing throughout the California town of Modesto. The flyers church have appeared at local synagogue, at the Central Valley Pride Center, at a local church and at a political town hall.
Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders are meeting to formulate a response.
From Fox40
Local Rep. Josh Harder and his Republican challenger, Ted Howze, also condemned the flyers.
“This was a disgusting and cowardly act,” Harder said. “The people who are sneaking this hateful garbage into public places and houses of worship will not divide us. The Central Valley is the proud home to people of all ethnicities and faith traditions and we will stand together against discrimination in whatever form it takes.”
"America soundly defeated similar hate during World War 2, and we must always stand tall against this type of bigotry," Howze said.
Five more Bulgarian soccer fans were detained Friday following the racist abuse directed at England players during a European Championship qualifying match.Israel Envoy Demands Probe After Effigy of Jewish Tycoon Left at Ukraine Synagogue
The interior ministry said police have so far identified 16 people believed to have taken part in the racist abuse, which included Nazi salutes and monkey noises.
“Five more men implicated in the abusive actions were detained this morning,” the ministry said. “Police continues work to track down five more to detain them.”
England won Monday’s match 6-0. It was twice halted in an effort to stop the racist abuse.
On Wednesday, six others were arrested. One of the six, who is 18 years old, has been indicted for “grave hooliganism” and could face up to five years in prison if found guilty. The five others were handed fines and banned from soccer matches.
The Israeli ambassador to Ukraine asked police on Thursday to find and punish people who left a red paint-spattered effigy of tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, who holds a Ukrainian Jewish community leadership post, on the steps of the main synagogue in Kiev.From our partnerUK synagogues urged to keep doors locked following Germany attack
Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, is in the public eye over his business ties to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who came to fame as the star of TV show on a channel Kolomoisky owns. The tycoon has been in a protracted legal battle with the authorities over control of Ukraine’s biggest bank.
Kolomoisky is president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, one of several Jewish community bodies in the country.
“Another disturbing act of antisemitism … I hope that the law enforcement agencies will promptly arrest the perpetrators,” Joel Lion said in a statement on the embassy’s Twitter feed where a picture of the effigy was also published. The life-size effigy was dressed in dark trousers and a green sweater, covered by large red spots of paint.
“Ukraine has to do more to fight antisemitism, if not, violence will spread from effigies to human beings,” said the ambassador.
Kiev police told Reuters they had launched a criminal investigation over hooliganism but had not identified the people involved yet. They did not give additional details.
Communities across the country are being told to “keep doors closed and locked” over Shabbat in wake of recent security threats against places of worship.Jewish man harassed, threatened on the street in London suburb
The Community Security Trust made the recommendation on Friday in a statement backed by six synagogue movements and the Office of the Chief Rabbi.
This comes after a gunman attempted to enter a shul in the east German town of Halle on Yom Kippur, but was unable to breach through the locked door.
The perpetrator killed a woman nearby after she confronted him, before driving to a kebab shop, taking another victim.
The CST statement tells shuls to “keep doors closed and locked unless you are letting known people in or out” and to “only open doors to people you are happy to invite people inside.”
It says that “terrorist attacks against places of worship are a sad reality of modern life” and that “one of the most effective ways of preventing a terrorist attack inside your synagogue is for the doors to be locked and closed.”
“It can be done by anyone and it will help save lives: exactly as happened at the synagogue in Halle, Germany on Yom Kippur, when a closed, locked door, saved dozens of lives.”
A Jewish man was harassed, threatened and mocked on the street in a suburb of London until another local who is not Jewish chased off the offenders.Amazon launches series on hi-tech, with focus on Israel’s Startup Nation
The incident happened last week on Canvey Island near London as the victim, who was not named, was paying his cleaner outside her home, the Halstead Gazette reported Monday. Four young men began harassing the man, who is an Orthodox Jew.
The cleaner’s husband, 46-year-old Kevin Crabb, confronted the assailants, who then left the Jewish man alone.
“They were getting up in his face, shouting at him, but it’s not in his nature to fight back,” Crabb said.
Orthodox families moved only recently to Canvey Island, which used to be detached from the mainland but has since been reconnected with land reclaimed from the Thames estuary.
Over 50 cutting-edge Israeli tech companies are featured in the first season of a new series released on Amazon Prime Video on October 18 called “TechTalk.” Season two features startups in New York, and season three hits Los Angeles.
The show’s creator is co-founder of Tech Talk Media, Jonny Caplan. He’s a British-born entrepreneur who moved from England to Israel in 2013 to explore the Startup Nation’s “multipotential” tech scene.
Caplan believes that multipotentiality — a concept first coined by Emilie Wapnick, TED speaker and author of “How to Be Everything” — is the driving force behind the burgeoning success of the startup industry. According to Wapnick, “Instead of picking one thing and denying all of our other interests, we can find ways to integrate our many passions into our lives.”
Caplan explains that by “defying the norm, multipotentialities have no single definitive skill, yet we have a multitude of talents and creativity which we can pursue simultaneously.”
The philosophy inspired him to pursue his flagship documentary series “TechTalk,” the first in a range of titles on emerging global startups and innovators.
What Caplan discovered in Israel — and in particular in his new hometown of Tel Aviv, which has the highest concentration of startups per capita in the world — led him to set up his US-based media and entertainment company with his partner, Ronald R. Hans.
The remarkable return of the ibex
Mentioned frequently in the Bible, the ibex—a type of wild goat—was once widespread in the Land of Israel, especially in the Negev desert. But by the time of Israel’s founding it had disappeared almost completely, having succumbed to the proliferation of firearms among Bedouin. Thanks to more recent conservation efforts, however, there has been a resurgence in the population. Alon Tal writes:Nick Cave and the bad seeds announce return to Israel next June
The psalmist singled out two habitat-specific species of the Negev: “The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for the rabbits (hyrax)” (Psalm 104:18). The book of Samuel describes a hysterical King Saul pursuing David in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
Ibex . . . need to live near drinking water. These water sources were well known by the locals, and the goats became easy prey. The conventional wisdom I heard among the older generation of Israel’s nature lovers was that during the British Mandate, ibex provided the stock for a popular Bedouin soup. It didn’t take long until there were simply none left to shoot. Against all odds, however, a few ibexes apparently were sufficiently crafty (or remote) to hold on.
Once the new state of Israel was established, Heinrich Mendelsohn—the father of Israeli ecology—and his colleagues convinced the government to enact stringent regulations that enabled nature to rebound. Hunting was outlawed. . . . The few surviving ibex enjoyed some respite. Slowly but surely, their numbers grew.
Although wildlife censuses are notoriously imprecise, official government sources estimate that [as] many as a thousand ibex at times roam the southlands and the Golan Heights.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, along with Shuki Weiss productions, announced on Friday that they will be performing in Tel Aviv on July 17th, 2020, as part of a world tour promoting their newest album.
The show will take place in the rebuilt Bloomfield soccer stadium, home of top clubs Maccabi, Hapoel, and Bney Yehuda Tel Aviv.
The Australian band's last visit to Israel came in 2017, when the group played two concerts in Menorah Hall, enthralling the over 17 thousand fans that came to the shows.
Prior to the band's 2017 visit, frontman Nick Cave voiced his reasoning for wanting to play in Israel, and his reasoning for opposing the BDS in a response to a fan question on his website, TheRedHandFiles.com.
“I do not support the current government in Israel, yet do not accept that my decision to play in the country is any kind of tacit support for that government’s policies,” Cave wrote. “Nor do I condone the atrocities that you have described; nor am I ignorant of them. I am aware of the injustices suffered by the Palestinian population, and wish, with all people of good conscience, that their suffering is ended via a comprehensive and just solution, one that involves enormous political will on both sides of the equation.”
.@nickcave is a smart (and good) dude https://t.co/IkFhAp2Rel
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) October 18, 2019
Thousands of runners take part in Bible Marathon that sees new time record
Over 4,000 runners took part in the fifth edition of the Bible Marathon on Friday. The marathon covered a route from the Rosh Hayin area to Shiloh, inspired by the ancient Book of Judges.5,000 Christians Show Their Support for Israel at Jerusalem’s 64th Sukkot March
The winner, Adisu Osano from Rishon Etzion, crossed the finish line in 3:02:42, breaking a new record for the event, which is considered especially challenging considering the inclines and the terrane.
As in previous editions, athletes could choose between a 5K option, a 10K one, the half marathon or the full marathon. An 800-meter-long route for special needs children was also offered.
Among the women, runner Zohar Hal-Perry came first and finished in 4:09:35.
Around 100 participants arrived from 22 different countries, including the US, Brazil, Russia, Sweden, Spain, and Uganda.
The authorities of Rosh HaAyin, Ariel, Samaria and Benjamin organized the event together with the Israel Marathon.
“I’m proud of the international status of the Bible Marathon and excited by the blessed partnership with runners from abroad, who through the land connected to the roots of the Bible and wandered among the vineyards of Shilo just like the ancient Benjamin man,” said the President of the Benjamin Council Israel Gantz.
This year, more than 5,000 Christians from all parts of the world gathered on Thursday for the city’s annual Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) festive march around Israel’s capital, which saw 10,000 participants in total.Former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar, Israeli judicial giant, dies at 94
The Jerusalem municipality organized and funded the march and entertainment events, with participants coming to Israel from 100 nations. The arrival of the Christian pilgrims, who come annually to Israel for Sukkot, was facilitated in part by ICEJ (International Christian Embassy Jerusalem), which connects Christians around the world to Israel based on the biblical significance of Jerusalem and in support of its connection to the Jewish people.
“The whole world is learning that the gentiles can come celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the people of Israel,” David Parsons, media spokesperson of ICEJ, told JNS.
“It’s an ancient tradition that we’ve revived over the past 40 years, and [it shows that] we live in and need prophetic times,” he continued, adding that the visitors represent “a lot of admiration for Israel, and all it has been able to accomplish over the last hundred years of the ingathering of the Jewish people and the restoration of the nation.”
“They want to come see the modern miracle of Israel which the Bible talked about,” he said.
This year, ICEJ brought its first delegation of evangelical Christians from Egypt, inspired by a biblical passage (Zechariah 14:18) that states that if the community of Egypt does not make the Sukkot pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it will suffer drought.
Former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar, one of the giants of the Israeli judiciary, died Friday. He was 94.
Shamgar joined Israel’s top court in 1975 and eight years later took over as chief justice, a position he held for 12 years until 1995.
Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Shamgar served as attorney general from 1968 to 1975 and before that was Military Advocate General, the top legal official in the Israel Defense Forces.
Shamgar was born in 1925 in Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland, and moved to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1939.
He served in the pre-state Palmach and then the Irgun paramilitaries — and was arrested for anti-British activity and sent to a detention center in Eritrea — and then in the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 War of Independence.
He was granted the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to Society in 1996.
“I espouse that it is not only the right of the court to intervene, but is rather its duty to be the center of gravity for the creation of norms for the public,” he once said of the Supreme Court’s role.
Justice Shamgar passed away today at the age of 94.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 18, 2019
Seen below in 1992, second from left, with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Chaim Herzog, at the inauguration of the Supreme Court Building in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/T5Q0xhS6Xu