Sunday, November 24, 2019
Saturday people, Sunday people and the ‘Mohammadian army’
While a veritable cloud-burst of 350+ rockets fell on Israel last week, a violent onslaught of death and destruction also swept across northern Syria. An invasion, under orders of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, features his national army assisted by jihadi shock troops storming Kurdish, Christian and Arab villages in northeast Syria’s so-called “Peace Corridor.”Israel in the West Bank Advances US Interests
Voice of America reported, “While announcing the operation on October 9, Erdogan tweeted in English that the operation by the Turkish army and its allied Syrian militants was to neutralize terror threats against Turkey by the Kurds and to establish a safe zone for the return of Syrian refugees.”
“In his tweets in Turkish and Arabic, however, Erdogan described his forces as ‘the heroes of the Mohammadian army’ – a term dating back to the Ottoman Empire,” the report continued.
The VoA article went on to say that during public speeches preceding the invasion of Turkish violence, Erdogan claimed that it was “to protect the dignity of the ummah,” meaning the Muslim world. He went so far as to praise the Turkey-backed rebels as “jihadists who even intimidate and kill death itself.”
Israelis have long been aware of the rancorous nature of Turkey’s president, whose animosity toward the Jewish state knows no bounds. And of course Jews have a very long history of dealing with sudden pogroms against their people in the Middle East. To this day, there are only handfuls of Jews left in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya or Iraq. And Turkey’s regime has become increasingly worrisome to its shrinking Jewish population.
The US position on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) should be based on US interests in the context of a violent, volcanic, uncontrollable, and unpredictable Middle East.Honest Reporting: The Charges Against Benjamin Netanyahu, Explained
On September 18, 1970, the pro-USSR Syrian military invaded Jordan in an attempt to topple the pro-US Hashemite regime, which would destabilize the regional balance. The invasion was rolled back, largely, due to Israel’s deployment of its military, and Israel’s deterring posture on the Golan Heights and the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria. Thus, Israel’s posture of deterrence spared the US the need to deploy its own troops (while it was bogged down in the Vietnam quagmire), in order to secure its Jordanian ally, and prevent a devastating ripple effect into Saudi Arabia and all other pro-US Arab Gulf States at a time when the US was heavily dependent upon Persian Gulf oil.
Israel’s control of the mountains of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley — as well as the Golan Heights — dramatically catapulted its regional position from violence-inducing weakness to violence-deterring strength, reducing regional violence and threats to all pro-US Arab regimes.
Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria — the cradle of Jewish history — has transformed the Jewish State from a supplicant and national security consumer to a strategic ally of the US and national security producer. In the words of the late General Alexander Haig (former Supreme Commander of NATO and US Secretary of State), Israel has become the largest US aircraft carrier with no US boots on board, yielding the US a few hundred percent rate of return on its annual investment in Israel.
Until November 2019, no Israeli prime minister has ever been indicted while in office. The charges against Benjamin Netanyahu are serious: bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The legal drama’s collision with the Knesset’s political deadlock and looming election raises the stakes even higher.Eugene Kontorovich - Fox and Friends Sunday 7AM 11/24/19, Bibi and Settlement policy.
Netanyahu insists he has committed no wrongdoing, and Israel — like other Western democracies — officially regards him as innocent until proven guilty. The unofficial court of public opinion is a different story though.
If the charges against Netanyahu are proven and he is found guilty, he stands to face as much as 10 years in prison on the bribery charges alone.
Here’s a reader’s guide to the three separate investigations that led to the charges facing Netanyahu.
Known as cases 1000, 2000 and 4000, the case numbers are how the Israeli Police’s Lahav 443 unit referred to the separate investigations as the allegations surfaced.
Suspect arrested over anti-Semitic abuse on London Underground
British police said Saturday they arrested a man suspected of hurling anti-Semitic abuse at a Jewish man and his children on the London Underground, after a clip of the incident went viral.Father of family who received antisemitic abuse on Tube tells his story – and wants to meet Asma to thank her
The suspect was nabbed in Birmingham, British Transport Police said. He is suspected of a racially aggravated public order offense.
The exchange was filmed Friday and prompted widespread condemnation, but also praise for a Muslim woman who persistently tried to get the man to stop, even as he threatened to assault other passengers.
The woman, identified as Asma Shuweikh, said she “wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”
Shuweikh said she wished other people had intervened and that if they had, the situation may not have escalated.
“Being a mother of two, I know what it’s like to be in that situation and I would want someone to help if I was in that situation,” she said, according to British media.
She also called the outpouring of support for her on social media in the wake of the incident “heartwarming.”
The Jewish victim has made the following statement:
“On the morning of Friday 22nd November, my wife and I were sitting on the Tube travelling from Hendon Central to Covent Gardens minding our own business, discussing with our children our plans for the day.
“A man boarded the train after I did. As soon as he got on he came over and asked me if we were Jews. He shouted at me that the Jews started the slave trade and threatened that I, my wife and children were going to be his slaves and suffer various other ailments. He said the Jews were from the synagogue of Satan, and continued with vile antisemitic abuse which was very unsuitable for any child or adult to hear.
“I was confused. I was ready for the antisemitic comments after the Jewish question, but I was not prepared for the hail of antisemitic abuse which followed. The video only shows a short clip of fifteen- to twenty-minute ordeal.
“The only thing I could think about was the safety of my children and the best thing to do at that time was to restrain myself and try to get my children to ignore the situation. My wife and I tried to constantly reassure the children and distract them so they would not sense how anxious we actually were. We tried to remain calm and ignore the abuse, hoping this would keep our three young children calm.
“A man with a baseball cap bravely tried to intervene and he himself was subject to threats of violence. We are extremely grateful for the Muslim lady wearing the headscarf, who we now know as Asma, who stepped in. We are certain that without her intervention and distraction, he would have continued his abuse which could have escalated to physical violence. I would like to meet Asma in person to thank her.
Her name is Asma and in a statement given to IlmFeed she said, "...as a Muslim woman and mother I know what it's like to be attacked and dehumanised for my faith and I couldn't just watch and see this happen to another family with young children." https://t.co/3bUrVdVHFz pic.twitter.com/x78p30xLmN
— IlmFeed (@IlmFeed) November 23, 2019
Holocaust Survivor Has A Message For Bernie Sanders
Sheindy Spitz was a young girl when she arrived with her parents to the Auschwitz concentration camp, shortly after her arrival, she watched the smoke rise from the crematorium carrying the ashes of her mom and dad. She has a message for Bernie Sanders. (h/t Yerushalimey)
51 times @JeremyCorbyn was no friend of Jews. He's not unlucky, he's just racist.
— The Golem (@TheGolem_) November 21, 2019
Please share: pic.twitter.com/6J5kGZl6ix
General Election 2019 Leeds jewish community
Netanyahu: We will stop Iran's attempts to use Yemen, Iraq against Israel
Israel will take action to thwart Iranian efforts to turn Iraq and Yemen into bases for rocket and missile attacks against Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday during a tour to the Golan Heights.
“Iran's aggression in the region and against us continues,” Netanyahu said at Mount Avital. “We are taking all the actions necessary to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in the region. This includes action necessary to thwart the transfer of lethal weapons from Iran to Syria, via the air or sea.”
Netanyahu, who was accompanied by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, said that Israel's responsibility and willingness to fight against Iranain aggression is “absolute,” and that Jerusalem is using all means to keep Iran for achieving its aims.
“I cannot provide any more details, but this is a process taking place all the time,” he said.
Netanyahu's words came days after Israel and Iran traded blows in the north, with four rockets fired on Israel from Syria after an attack on an installation near Damascus. Israel responded to the rocket attack by hitting some 20 targets in Syria.
But if you really care about fighting corruption, then why did you just promise to “resume aid to the Palestinians and financial support to UNRWA” even as its bosses are being probed for "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination & other abuses for personal gain"? https://t.co/5LTtEexeKL
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 24, 2019
Fun fact: Robert Fisk @indyvoices authored the fake quote & falsified chronology while he was on a speaking tour for the extremist group CJPME, whose racist leader Dimitri Lascaris was condemned by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for making “vile antisemitic smears.” pic.twitter.com/iXe1MaYosw
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 24, 2019
The Independent (in Arabic) characterises pre-67 Israeli towns as “settlements”
Last week’s round of hostilities between Israel and Islamic Jihad saw hundreds of rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli communities – the “Gaza envelope” villages and the town of Sderot, as well as the city of Be’er Sheva and the densely-populated metropolitan areas of the Israeli Mediterranean coast, from Tel Aviv south.Did Media Pass Off Palestinian Rocket as Israeli Missile?
Covering the events, English language Western media outlets naturally understood that these communities are recognized internationally as Israeli, lying within the 1949 armistice lines. The same is true regarding another group of Israeli communities which made a recent, albeit brief, appearance in the news – the villages adjacent to the international border with Jordan, near two small territories on which Jordan implemented its full sovereignty earlier this month – Naharayim/al-Baqura and Tzofar/al-Ghamar.
However, to some Arabic language media organizations in the West, the communities of the Gaza envelope, the Arava valley and Jordan River’s northern valley are actually “settlements” (Mustawtanat), inhabited by “settlers” (Mustawtinoon) – regardless of their location inside “legitimate Israel”.
Thus, reports from the last two weeks included sentences like:
“launchings of rockets [from Gaza] towards the Israeli settlements” (Independent Arabia, November 16th)
“alarm sirens howled in the Israeli settlements surrounding Gaza” (Sky News Arabia, November 15th)
“the attack of rocket shells, launched from the Gaza Strip towards the [Gaza] envelope settlements, is still ongoing” (France24 Arabic, November 13th, 0:45)
“the Israeli [television] station also published a footage showing Israeli settlers in a ‘goodbye visit’ to al-Baqura [Naharayim]” (Independent Arabia, November 10th)
“Israeli media outlets have reported that al-Baqura and al-Ghamar have been closed for settlers” (Sky News Arabia, November 9th)
An Agence France Presse photograph appearing on the Nov. 15 front-page of the International New York Times reportedly shows an Israeli missile flying over Gaza City. The caption reads: “An Israeli missile streaking over Gaza City this week. Israel traded rocket fire with Islamic Jihad after it assassinated a top commander of the militant group.” The photograph was taken during Israel’s “Operation Black Belt” earlier this month, when over a two day period, Islamic Jihad launched more than 450 rockets and mortar shells at Israel over a two-day period, and Israel responded with scores of air strikes against Islamic Jihad targets.Economist corrects article alleging ’40 year US policy’ that settlements are “illegal”
According to the original AFP caption, the projectile originated from Israel’s defensive Iron Dome system. The more informative AFP caption read:
Israeli missile launched from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is seen above Gaza city on November 12, 2019.
Israeli missile expert Uzi Rubin, however, questions the AFP and New York Times captions, maintaining that the projectile most resembles a Palestinian rocket, and not an Israeli missile, from the Iron Dome or otherwise. Dubbed “the father of Israeli missile defense,” he is the former head of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization. In a July 2014 article about Palestinian rockets, The Times turned to Rubin as an expert source, referring to him as a “retired Israeli general and pre-eminent weapons expert.” The paper earlier cited Rubin, identifying him as “founder of Israel’s antimissile program,” in a 2013 article about the effectiveness of the Iron Dome.
We recently posted about a correction we prompted to a Financial Times editorial falsely claiming that the new US decision that Israeli settlements are NOT illegal contradicts four decades of US policy which deemed them illegal.Son of late Syrian president: I can help find Israeli spy's remains
Editors upheld our complaint after we demonstrated that between the late 1970s and 2016, there was not one president or secretary of state who labeled the settlements “illegal”. Rather, most – other than Ronald Reagan, who explicitly rejected the view that they are illegal – have characterised them as politically “illegitimate”, or an obstacle to peace, without taking a position on their legality.
We also noticed the same error in a Nov 21st article at The Economist, and filed a complaint, which, we learned this morning, was similarly upheld by editors.
New Zealand authorities have recently received a tip regarding the burial place of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who was captured and hanged in Damascus in 1965.Arab Israeli gets life in prison for murdering rabbi in West Bank terror attack
According to the local site Newshub, the New Zealand intelligence services got the tip after interrogating a Syrian refugee who lives near Auckland. The refugee, Khalid al-Hafidh, told the authorities that he was the son then Syrian President Amin al-Hafiz, who was in charge of executing Cohen and arranging his secret burial.
Israel has long sought the return of Cohen's remains, but the Syrian regime has never agreed to do so, even when there were peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.
The legendary “our man in Damascus,” Cohen managed to infiltrate the Syrian military establishment for four years, using the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet. He was captured after reportedly communicating information to Israel while not knowing that radio silence had been declared in the Syrian military, as part of an effort to out potential spies. He was then tortured and executed on May 18, 1965.
"I am the son of the only person on this planet who knows where the remains are buried," al-Hafidh told Newshub.
An Arab Israeli man was sentenced Sunday to life in prison for a West Bank terror attack in which he stabbed a rabbi to death.Northern Islamic movement Islamic cleric Raed Salah convicted of incitement to terrorism
The Lod District Court convicted Abed al-Karim Assi in July of murdering Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal at the Ariel Junction on February 5, 2018.
Assi was also ordered to pay Ben-Gal’s children NIS 258,000 ($74,000) in compensation.
In the ruling presiding Judge Ruth Lorch noted that Assi “chose the deceased only because of his appearance as a Jew.”
Before the sentencing Assi told prosecutors that he had fully intended to carry out the crime, saying: “You are the terrorists, not us.” He cited incidents of terror attacks carried out by Jews against Arabs.
“Did you want us to sit quietly and watch?” he asked.
Firebrand Islamic cleric Sheikh Raed Salah was convicted of incitement to terrorism by the Haifa Magistrates Court on Sunday. He was also convicted of illegal association with the radical Islamic Movement, which Israel outlawed in 2015 for incitement linked to the Temple Mount.
“Hamas blesses Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the Muslim defense of the Aqsa Mosque,” Hamas said in a statement following his conviction.
“Israeli persecution and prison have only strengthened his resolve. We condemn the decision of the Zionist court, which made a political decision that leads to injustice.”
The terrorist organization accused Israel of attacking those who defend the mosque and said, “We will continue to protect the mosque and all Muslim holy places with our souls and blood.”
Salah was arrested and indicted in 2017 at the recommendation of the state’s attorney and with the approval of the attorney general, as is required by law for these kinds of offenses.
According to court files, Salah on several occasions praised, expressed sympathy with or encouraged terrorism. In one case, for example, the cleric is accused of delivering a sermon “directly related to the murder” of two Border Police officers near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Here’s Jeremy Corbyn defending hate preacher Raed Salah, who accused Jews of mixing childrens blood into the dough of holy bread, denies the holocaust & blames Israel for 9/11 via @_BrexitTory pic.twitter.com/HEz29kpgRQ
— Wasiq💎 (@WasiqUK) November 24, 2019
We have some unanswered and troubling questions about honor, justice and decency
No one from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy bothered to respond to us or any of our emails, tweets or opinion pieces (one on the home page of the Times of Israel, one on our blog) in relation to their giving an award called "Scholar-Statesman" to Jordan's ruler this past Thursday night.Trudeau’s U.N. rep boasts of anti-Israeli vote
The issue concerns how Jordan, an absolute monarchy, brazenly shields a mass murderer who happens also to be the killer of our child, a US citizen.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's embassy in Washington, where the ambassador Dina Kawar blocks us on Twitter, has just published the kind of report we have learned to expect, emphasizing and re-emphasizing King Abdullah II's wisdom, wise policies and how he "confronts" extremism.
No mention was made at any point in the gala event of
- Jordan's egregious and continuing breach of the active and binding 1995 Extradition Treaty made by the awardee's father, King Hussein, and the Clinton Administration
- The State Department confirming just three weeks ago [see "03-Nov-19: In Washington, a step towards bringing the Sbarro bomber to justice"] that although Jordan continues "to cite a court ruling that its constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals... the United States regards the extradition treaty as valid."
- The fact that Ahlam Tamimi, a Jordanian national, is wanted on US Federal terrorism charges arising from a bombing attack in Jerusalem to which she has openly and repeatedly confessed and that took the lives of 16 innocent people, half of them children, one of them our fifteen-year old daughter Malki. She is one of just 28 terrorists classified as being the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists.
- Jordan's blunt refusal to hand her over to the US Justice Department, a disgraceful stance that has been barely reported in the mainstream news media in the US but which was explicitly confirmed earlier this month by Jordan's foreign minister ["13-Nov-19: Thank you, Mr Foreign Minister"] who was present at the Washington prize-granting event.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s U.N. ambassador Marc-André Blanchard yesterday boasted about his vote for a North Korean-sponsored resolution against Israel last week, tweeting that at last “Canada found its voice”:Through the wire — Palestinians risk jail to work in Israel illegally
The tweet by Blanchard, a political appointee of Justin Trudeau who served on his transition team following the 2015 election, sparked a firestorm of criticism from Canadians.
“No, Mr. Ambassador,” responded Hillel Neuer, the Canadian-born human rights lawyer who heads the non-governmental organization UN Watch, “when you voted on behalf of our country for an anti-Israeli UN resolution sponsored by NORTH KOREA and other dictatorships, you didn’t find Canada’s voice. You joined the jackals in order to win their votes in your campaign for a Security Council seat.”
Neuer pointed to the more than 10,000 Canadians who have already signed a petition protesting Trudeau’s sudden embrace of a one-sided resolution that Canada, including under his tenure, had opposed for years.
Because the resolution has to receive final approval in a second round of voting in December, the petition notes that there is still time for Trudeau to reverse his support for a text that rebukes Israel while giving a free pass to Palestinian incitement and terrorism by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Authority.
It is well before dawn when the first work deprived Palestinians arrive to sneak through a two-meter hole cut in the metal fence that is supposed to keep them out of Israel.Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians declare ‘day of rage’ against U.S., Israel
The men are among the thousands of Palestinians working in Israel illegally, risking bad working conditions, exploitation and jail for a chance of employment.
On the morning AFP visited, Yunis, from Dahariya in the southern West Bank, was one of hundreds running the gauntlet as police patrolled the area.
They play a cat and mouse game with Israeli security — sometimes making several attempts before crossing without being spotted.
“I got here at 3:00 a.m. and found police patrols ahead of us,” said the bearded and wrinkled 55-year-old. “I know I am leaving my house and I may not come back but this bitter life drives us to adventure.”
Around a kilometer or so away, Palestinians lucky enough to have permits queue in a long line at the Meitar Crossing between Beersheba in southern Israel and the West Bank, waiting for their documents to be checked and their bags and bodies to be searched.
Palestinian factions have called for a “day of rage” on Tuesday in protest of US administration decisions, particularly US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent announcement that settlements are not inconsistent with international law.Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas: Israel refusing to pay the price for prisoner swap
“Days of rage” are marked in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with demonstrations and rallies.
Among the factions that called for Tuesday’s protests is Fatah, whose deputy chairman, Mahmoud al-Aloul, called for stepping up protests against the administration of US President Donald Trump and Israel.
The Palestinian factions have prepared a plan for “field action on all levels to confront the occupation in light of unprecedented [Israeli] violations against our people,” Aloul said.
He strongly condemned the Trump administration and the Israeli government as a “group of gangs perpetrating several crimes against our people.”
Hamas officials on Saturday denied reports about progress concerning a possible prisoner swap with Israel.PMW: Netanyahu is Nazi propaganda minister "Goebbels' outstanding student," says PA TV's "Israeli affairs expert"
Musa Dudin, a senior Hamas official in charge of the “prisoner portfolio” in the terror movement, said that there was nothing new regarding this issue. He held Israel responsible for the “stalemate” on the issue of a prisoner exchange with Israel.
Dudin called on the Palestinian media to “display responsibility” in handling this issue and to take into account that it’s a sensitive topic for the prisoners and their families. He also urged the Palestinian media to rely only on official sources when reporting about a prisoner swap with Israel.
Khalil al-Hayya, another senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, also denied any progress related a potential prisoner swap with Israel.
“There’s no progress in the negotiations with the occupation,” he told the Turkish news agency Anadolu. “The Israeli government is not prepared to pay a price for a new prisoner exchange.”
Hayya said that Hamas is ready to negotiate a new prisoner swap.
During a regular review of selected Israeli media items, official PA TV’s “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas demonized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as being Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels’ “outstanding student.” Worse still, he claimed that Netanyahu was raising his arm in the Nazi salute. Fayez Abbas even demonstrated the Nazi salute for the camera, adding that Netanyahu was “careful” to modif yit:
“Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas: “Look at the picture [of Netanyahu], how his face looks. He is raising his hand like this. He should have done it a bit like this, the Nazi salute, of Hitler. It is similar to it, just a little different. Because he is careful in these matters, he left [his hands] like this… Goebbels was the propaganda minister in the period of Nazi Germany, and apparently Netanyahu read Goebbels’ books and he is Goebbels’ outstanding student.” [Official PA TV, Nov. 18, 2019]
Netanyahu is Nazi propaganda minister "Goebbels' outstanding student," says PA TV's "Israeli affairs expert."
— Pal Media Watch (@palwatch) November 24, 2019
The PA as policy demonizes Israelis, and often compares them to Nazis.
Read more here: https://t.co/v4Np3opo3d pic.twitter.com/hiPDLcGW7D
US Central Command chief: Operations against Islamic State to pick up in coming days, weeks
US Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said on Saturday about 500 US personnel in east Syria were expected to resume operations against Islamic State in the coming days and weeks.U.S. calls on Facebook, Twitter to take down Iranian leaders’ accounts
Islamic State has lost nearly all its territory in Syria and US forces killed its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last month, but the group that once controlled a third of Syria and neighboring Iraq is still seen as a threat.
The administration of President Donald Trump shocked US allies last December by saying Washington was pulling out virtually all of its troops from Syria.
It said later it decided to keep a residual force in the northeastern part of the country, focusing on preventing Islamic State from staging a comeback and attacking the oil fields there.
“Now I’ve got about 500 US personnel generally east of the Euphrates east of Deir al Zor up to Hasaka, northeast all the way up into extreme northeast Syria,” McKenzie told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.
U.S. State Department has called on social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter to take down the accounts of Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as Tehran’s authorities are carrying out a forceful crackdown against widespread protests, which included shutting off the internet.Lebanese magnate buys up Hitler items at auction, donates to Israeli group
“It is a deeply hypocritical regime. It shuts down the Internet while its government continues to use all these social media accounts. So one of the things that we are calling on are social media like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter to shut down the accounts of Supreme leader Khamenei, Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani until they restore the Internet to their own people,” US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told Bloomberg on Saturday.
A clip from the interview has been shared by the State Department’s Twitter account.
“Right now, the regime shut down the internet because they’re trying to hide all of the death and tragedy the regime has been inflicting on thousands of protesters around the country,” he further said.
Protests broke out all over Iran after the government announced that it would double the price of gasoline earlier this month.
A Lebanese businessman living in Switzerland has offered Adolf Hitler’s top hat and other former possessions to the Israel-based Keren Hayesod, an umbrella body for pro-Israel fundraising in Diaspora Jewish communities.ADL finds extreme Antisemitism among Muslims is 3X national rate
Abdallah Chatila, who made his fortune in diamonds and real estate in Geneva, said he had bought the items at a controversial auction in Germany last week in order to keep them out of the hands of neo-Nazis.
He “wanted to buy these objects so that they would not be used for neo-Nazi propaganda purposes,” Chatila told the Swiss weekly Le Matin Dimanche. “My approach is totally apolitical and neutral.”
Chatila spent 545,000 euros ($601,000) on 10 lots at the Wednesday auction in Munich by the German auction house Hermann Historica, including a top hat worn by Hitler, his cigar box and typewriter, as well as a luxury edition of his book “Mein Kampf” embossed with an eagle and a swastika that belonged to the Nazi leader Hermann Goering, one of Hitler’s chief lieutenants.
“Far-right populism and anti-Semitism are spreading all over Europe and the world, I did not want these objects to fall into the wrong hands and to be used by people with dishonest intentions,” Chatila told the Swiss weekly.
Born in Beirut in 1974 to a family of Christian jewelers, Chatila is one of the 300 wealthiest people in Switzerland.
He told the paper that the Nazi artifacts “should be burned,” but that “historians think that they must be kept for the collective memory.”
Thursday, November 21, 2019, the ADL released its 2019 survey data on the prevalence (occurrence) of extreme Antisemitism (defined, below) within 18 countries assessed between April 15 and June 3, 2019. Six of these countries—Belgium, The United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy—included a Muslim over-sample, allowing for a direct comparison of Muslims vs. Christians, those professing no religion, and the overall populations.Four young racists dressed as NAZIS with Swastika armbands walk into a Coles supermarket and tell offended shoppers to 'f*** off' before insisting it's 'only a joke'
As ADL's own press release stated:
“Muslim acceptance of anti-Semitic stereotypes was substantially higher than among the national populations—on average almost three times as high—in the six countries tested: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and The United Kingdom”
In sadly typical fashion, however, the ADL downplayed these findings in its press release, effectively concealing them as the last of six bullet points, i.e., # 6 of 6.
The ADL also failed to expressly note how compared to Western European Christians, specifically, Muslims were also ~3-times more likely to harbor extreme Antisemitic attitudes as gauged by abiding at least 6 of 11 Antisemitic stereotypes queried.
A group of young people dressed up as Nazis in a Coles supermarket insisted wearing the uniforms was a 'only a joke'.Former Dutch soccer star in trouble over Nazi quip
Two women and two men, understood to be aged in their early 20s, were captured entering the Woodend store, north of Melbourne, about 12pm on Saturday October 26.
A CCTV image of the group, obtained by The Age, shows the group don matching black uniforms, with swastika armbands and the imperial eagle.
Witness Craig MacKenzie said he believed the group were on their way to a party.
'Once in the supermarket, I said to them that they were being highly disrespectful and had no idea what their uniforms meant,' he told the publication.
'The blokes told me that it was 'only a joke' and to f*** off. I persisted, saying that there could be people here who went through World War II and the Holocaust.
'They laughed it off and told me to f*** off again.'
Other shoppers were intimidated by the incident, Mr MacKenzie added.
Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dr Dvir Abramovich, who has been spearheading a national campaign to ban public displays of the Nazi swastika, condemned the sighting.
Former Dutch football great Marco van Basten apologized Saturday after he was heard using a Nazi greeting to ridicule a Dutch television journalist’s German during an interview.Chelsea FC continues fight against antisemitism with donation to IWM
Van Basten, 55, who is regarded as one of the game’s best ever strikers, made the comment on Fox Sports pay-per-view channel after an interview ahead of the Eredivisie clash between Ajax and Heracles.
His words could be heard in the studio moments after TV presenter Hans Kraay’s interview in German with Heracles’ German manager Frank Wormuth.
“Not too pretty, sieg heil, pfannkuchen (pancake),” Van Basten said, using the Nazi German greeting during World War II.
His words unleashed a Twitter storm and during half-time in the match the former Ajax and Ac Milan forward made his excuses for what he termed an “ill-placed joke.”
“It was not my intention at all to shock people. I only wanted to ‘explain’ Hans’ German,” a contrite Van Basten said.
But Van Basten’s misplaced comment left many fuming, not only because of what he said but also about its timing.
British soccer club Chelsea FC continued its fight against antisemitism last week with a private fan event at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London, to honor owner Roman Abramovitch’s donation to the museum’s new Holocaust Galleries, scheduled to open in 2021.Led by high tech, Israeli exports to hit record of $114 billion in 2019
The donation, part of the club’s “Say No to Antisemitism” campaign, contributes part of a £30.5 million project, which will enable the IWM to open new Second World War Galleries, Holocaust Galleries, and a digitally-enabled learning center.
Diane Lees, director-general of the IWM, said, “This donation will enable the IWM to reinterpret these [Holocaust and Second World War] galleries, which will present critical insights into the Holocaust as well as integrate the devastating events of the Holocaust into the broader history of the Second World War.”
Speakers at the event included Lees herself and Chelsea FC chairman Bruce Buck, and other appearances included ex-Chelsea player and technical and performance adviser Petr Cech, and current club captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
Israel’s exports, a key economic growth driver, are expected to grow to a record $114 billion in 2019 from $109 billion last year, government data showed on Sunday.9 Israeli inventions find place in TIME magazine’s 100 Best Inventions for 2019
According to the Central Bureau and Statistics and Economy Ministry, Israeli goods and services exports stood at $84 billion over the first nine months of the year, up 4.6% from January-September 2018.
The Economy Ministry said the increase this year stems mostly from a nearly 12% rise in services exports, with growth led by the high tech sector such as software, computing and research and development services.
The gain in services has more than offset weakness in goods exports, which have been hurt this year by slowing global trade, a weak diamond market, and a strong shekel currency ILS=.
Exports comprise around 30% of Israel’s economic activity.
Israeli technologies have claimed nine spots on this year’s TIME magazine’s 100 Best Inventions, which rank those that have made the world “better, smarter and even a little more fun.”Israeli water technology makes TIME's top 100 inventions of 2019
The 100 “groundbreaking” inventions challenge “the way we live, work, play and think about what’s possible,” Time said. To assemble the 2019 ranking, Time solicited nominations over a wide variety of categories from editors and correspondents from around the world, as well as through an online application process. The contenders were evaluated “based on key factors, including originality, creativity, influence, ambition and effectiveness.”
The developments that were singled out came from the fields of augmented and virtual reality, accessibility, beauty accessories, consumer electronics, design, education, entertainment, food and drink, gaming technologies, healthcare, home gadgets, parenting, social good, productivity, sports, style, sustainability, transportation, and wellness.
A machine that makes safe, clean drinking water out of ambient air – manufactured by the Israel-based company of Watergen – was included in Time magazine’s list in 2019 of the top 100 inventions published on Nov. 21.Iranian judoka Mollaei calls Sagi Muki 'my best friend'
Resembling a typical water cooler and designed especially for homes and offices, the machine, which is named “GENNY,” can produce as much as 27 liters of water per day.
The apparatus makes water by using Watergen’s patented, heat-exchange GENius technology. It first collects water vapor in the air and then cools the air at its dew point. Subsequently, the water goes through physical, chemical and biological treatment, followed by a mineralization process, to maintain its cleanliness, tastiness and healthy quality.
Essentially, the “GENNY” not only functions as a dehumidifier but also provides an environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water. Like Watergen’s other water generators, it needs no infrastructure to operate except for a source of electricity.
Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei, who was granted refugee status by Germany at the beginning of the month, made his first competitive debut under the International Judo Federation (IJF) Refugee Team at the Osaka Grand Slam, and was congratulated by Israeli Judoka Sagi Muki on his Instagram account.Jewish Ethiopian Culture and Heritage Preservation in Israel
"I would like to congratulate Saeid Mollaei who competed today as part of the Grand Slam Osaka Refugee Team," Muki wrote. "This is triumph of sports over politics. Thank you to the Israeli Judo, World and Olympics Association for their support."
Mollaei first responded to Muki on that same post, thanking him for the support and adding "good luck to you all the time, my best friend."
The correspondence did not end there. Mollaei decided a few hours later to screenshot Muki's post and upload a response on his own Instagram account, saying: "This is true friendship and a win for sports and judo over politics."
"I was so happy to compete again on the World Judo Tour #judoosaka2019. I didn’t get the result I wanted but I am back and I’ll get stronger. Receiving reigning world champion @sagi_muki's support means a lot to me and to all sports men and women in the world," Mollaei wrote.
Beta Israel village is a community that intends to preserve Jewish Ethiopian culture. Our Shelby Weiner has the story. A village in the south of Israel help teach and preserve Jewish heritage and Ethiopian culture.
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