Tuesday, November 26, 2019

11/26 Link Pt2: UK chief rabbi: What will be the fate of Jews if Labour ‘poison’ comes to power?; UK Jewish dad meets Muslim woman who defended his kids from anti-Semitic abuse

From Ian:
UK chief rabbi: What will be the fate of Jews if Labour ‘poison’ comes to power?
Mirvis described the last four years of having Labour repeatedly minimize and deny the rampant anti-Semitism in the party and the attacks, and even death threats, Jewish party members faced for speaking out about it, with many hounded out of the party.
Illustrative: People hold up placards and Union flags as they gather for a demonstration organized by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism outside the head office of the British opposition Labour Party in central London on April 8, 2018. (AFP/Tolga Akmen)

He noted Labour’s “quibbling and prevarication” over whether to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance‘s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, finally only doing so after adding an amendment that emphasized the right to “free speech” on Israel.

And he highlighted the party being formally investigated by the UK’s anti-racism watchdog.

“And all of this while in opposition. What should we expect of them in government?” Mirvis asked. “Therefore, with the heaviest of hearts, I call upon the citizens of our great country to study what has been unfolding before our very eyes.”

Mirvis dismissed Labour’s claims that it was doing everything possible to root out anti-Semitism as a “mendacious fiction.”

“According to the Jewish Labour Movement, there are at least 130 outstanding cases before the party, some dating back years, and thousands more have been reported but remain unresolved.

“The party leadership have never understood that their failure is not just one of procedure, which can be remedied with additional staff or new processes. It is a failure to see this as a human problem rather than a political one. It is a failure of culture. It is a failure of leadership. A new poison – sanctioned from the top – has taken root in the Labour Party,” he wrote.

Mirvis said given Labour’s record, it “can no longer claim to be the party of equality and anti-racism.”

UK Chief Rabbi Slams 'Poisonous' Labour Party
Less than two weeks before the contentious upcoming election, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis slammed the head of the Labour party, saying “Jeremy Corbyn [is] not fit for high office.” In an opinion piece written for British daily The Times, Rabbi Mirvis wrote that “the overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety” at the possibility of a Labour victory on December 12.


Church of England appears to back chief rabbi’s stand against Labour
The Church of England on Tuesday expressed support for the Jewish community amid worries of rising anti-Semitism, after the country’s chief rabbi took a stand against the Labour party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn ahead of next month’s general election.

A statement by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Tuesday warned of a “deep sense of insecurity and fear felt by many British Jews.”

The statement was released hours after Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis accused Labour party chief Jeremy Corbyn of allowing the “poison” of anti-Semitism to take root in his party.

“None of us can afford to be complacent. Voicing words that commit to a stand against antisemitism requires a corresponding effort in visible action,” Welby’s statement said.

He did not mention Corbyn by name.

Welby’s statement came less than a week after the Church of England admitted in a major report that centuries of Christian anti-Semitism helped lead to the Holocaust.




UK Jewish dad meets Muslim woman who defended his kids from anti-Semitic abuse
A brave Muslim woman who came to the defence of Jewish children subjected to racial abuse on the London underground in a viral video has met the dad whose family she stood up for.

Asma Shuweikh, 36, from Birmingham was hailed as a hero by online users after footage widely shared on social media showed the mum-of-two confronting a man who read anti-Jewish bible passages at two young boys wearing kippot during a journey on the Northern Line.

The video shows the man threatening another commuter off-camera who intervened, before Shuweikh stepped in to confront the abuser.

“I tried to bring him down to a level where you can have a conversation so he doesn’t go back to the Jewish family that were on the train,” said Shuweikh.

“I’m a mother and I thought if I were with my children, I would want someone to intervene, and the poor man was trying to keep calm for his children,” she added.

In a statement released by Campaign Against Antisemitism, the father, who did not wish to be named, said he was “extremely grateful” to Shuweikh for stepping in.
‘My Faith Is What Drives Me To Do This,’ Says UK Muslim Woman Who Defended Jewish Family From Antisemite on London Underground
The brave Muslim woman who rushed to the defense of a Jewish family who was being harassed by an antisemite while traveling on the London Underground has been reunited with the family’s father, who gave her a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of her actions.

A man was arrested on Saturday evening after a viral video of the incident showed a Jewish family being harassed and “targeted with antisemitic abuse” on the London Underground, British Transport Police said.

In the video, a man is seen loudly reading a passage from the New Testament that addresses “them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not,” while pointing to a kippah-clad Jewish man who was traveling with his wife and three young children.

The man was then confronted by Asma Shuweikh — a 36-year-old Muslim woman who was on the same train — who acted, she later explained, because “I thought it is my duty as a mother, as a practicing Muslim, as a citizen of this country, to have to say something.”
Interview with Muslim Woman Who Defended Jewish Family in London Underground
UK police say they detained a man suspected of shouting a stream of anti-Semitic insults at a Jewish man travelling down the Northern Line of the London tube with his children on Friday.

The suspect was reportedly picked up in Birmingham and is facing charges of a racially aggravated public order offense.

The incident was caught on tape by another passenger, filmmaker Chris Atkins, who filmed the man holding a Bible in his hands, uterring a slew of anti-Semitic slurs, saying that Jews killed Jesus and were slaves. According to witness accounts, the Jewish man was not too distraught over the display, but his son grew very scared. The verbal harasser eventually left the train, reportedly shouting that King James, the Scottish-English monarch who sponsored the Bible's translation into English, was in fact black.

But before departing the passenger car, a Muslim woman named Asma Shuweikh confronted him, blastin him for his behavior despite his threats to physically assault other passengers. Winning praise on social media for standing up for the Jewish family, she reportedly explained that as a mother of two, she found the incident relatable, and that she would took the same stand again if necessary. The Jewish man also expressed his gratitude the Muslim heroine for her aid.






Johnson sides with UK chief rabbi in warning against Jeremy Corbyn
UK Prime Minsiter Boris Johnson joined forces with the most senior Jewish rabbi in Britain on Tuesday in appealing to voters to think twice before voting for Labour and its leader Jeremy Corbyn in light of recent anti-Semitism controversies in the party.

"It is a very serious business when the chief rabbi speaks as he does," said after British PM after Ephraim Mirvis warns that opposition leader had allowed "poison" of anti-Semitism to take root.

Britain’s most senior Jewish religious leader stepped into Britain’s election fray Monday, saying the country’s main opposition leader had allowed the “poison” of anti-Semitism to take root in his party.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, spiritual leader of the UK’s Orthodox Jews, said that “the very soul of our nation is at stake" in the Dec. 12 election. Writing in The Times of London newspaper, Mirvis said Corbyn and his allies had failed to stop anti-Jewish prejudice and “hounded” those who tried to challenge it.

Labour’s election campaign has been dogged by recurring allegations that Corbyn – a longtime champion of the Palestinians – has allowed anti-Jewish prejudice to fester in the left-of-center party.
Boris Johnson’s party to ban local councils boycotting Israeli products
The Conservative Party in Britain, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will ban local councils from boycotting products from foreign countries, including Israel.

The pledge is made in the party’s election policy manifesto in the run-up to the Dec. 12 general elections.

“We will ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries. These undermine community cohesion,” the document released Sunday says.

Introducing a law against such boycotts would prevent Labor-majority local councils from imposing boycotts against Israel, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

In its election policy manifesto published Thursday, the Labour Party said it would stop selling weapons to Israel.
Nick Cohen: Corbyn doesn’t care about reassuring British Jews
An allegedly racist party protesting its innocence has many strategies open to it. The best is to admit its guilt and reform. Labour cannot because Labour’s leader and his supporters are so contaminated by racial prejudice they lack the moral capacity to change, or even admit to themselves the need to change.

Labour might try to meet specific Jewish fears and begin by accepting that they are genuine. It is not just that Jewish people and their allies would not like prime minister Corbyn to take power as a result, one assumes, of some tartan-Stalin pact between Labour and the SNP. Our biased electoral system ensures that most voters don’t like any and every administration. It has taken the modern Labour party to produce an emotion closer to dread than mere dislike.

How might Labour calm the fear? After the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush moved to reassure American Muslims that he would not tolerate their victimisation as the war against al-Qaeda began. ‘Women who cover their heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes,’ he said with a nobility you rarely see in the age of Trump and Corbyn. ‘In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.’

Nothing like this comes from the Labour party. No senior figure has made a speech saying that a Labour government will not treat Jewish civil servants, particularly in the foreign office, police and intelligence services, as if they had a dual loyalty to Israel.

Labour is not now sending out its politicians to assure Jews that public support for the security measures at synagogues and Jewish schools will remain in place – I am sure they do not want to think about why Jews need protection and from whom.
Jeremy Corbyn WON'T say sorry over Labour anti-Semitism despite calling it 'vile and wrong' - after Archbishop of Canterbury backed Chief Rabbi's anger at wave of abuse
Jeremy Corbyn defiantly dodged apologising over Labour's anti-Semitism crisis today after Britain's chief rabbi warned he is not fit to be PM.

The veteran left-winger faced protests outside the launch of the party's 'race and faith' manifesto in London.

And when he finally took to the stage he showed no regret for his handling of the wave of abuse wracking Labour - avoiding directly addressing the stinging criticism from the Jewish community and merely insisting anti-Semitism is 'vile and wrong'.

Answering questions from reporters, Mr Corbyn was pressed on whether he had 'failed' and said he had toughened up the party's complaints process.

He said there was an 'open door' to faith leaders, suggesting that Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis had not 'engaged' on the issue. 'I am very happy to engage with anybody,' he said.

But he was immediately contradicted by one of his own peers, Lord Falconer, who said it was a 'failure of leadership' that 'a lot of cases' have not been properly investigated - adding that the rabbi's condemnation was 'justified'.

The event started 45 minutes late and Mr Corbyn did not arrive until well after it began, with speakers including shadow home secretary Diane Abbott going first.

Corbynistas have been making vile attacks on Rabbi Mirvis after he delivered a devastating verdict on the Labour leadership - and was backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.


Corbynistas Attack Chief Rabbi as Paid Boris-Supporting, Mossad Agent
Britain’s Chief Rabbi has taken the unprecedented step of describing Corbyn as not fit for high office. Unfortunately coinciding with the launch of Labour’s ‘race and faith’ manifesto…

In a Times article, Ephraim Mirvis writes “the overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety” and asks “What will become of Jews and Judaism in Britain if the Labour Party forms the next government?”, finishing off by saying the very soul of the nation is at stake. Naturally, Corbynites have responded by calling Mirvis a supporter of Netanyahu, a Boris supporting Tory and a Mossad agent. Even worse, they accuse the chief Rabbi of being “a Zionist”!

Labour Activist Teacher Deletes Antisemitic Tweets About Chief Rabbi
When Guido reported Corbynites’ attacks on the Chief Rabbi after he dared attack Jeremy Corbyn for antisemitism, Labour activist and teacher Holly Rigby featured prominently. She has now-deleted her tweet. Holly – who founded Labour’s ‘Abolish Private Schools’ campaign – attacked Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, immediately linking his comments with previous support of Israel – ‘dual loyalty’ being a common antisemitic trope…

Guido then unearthed a video of Holly Rigby in which she ticked every box in the antisemitism playbook:

Antisemitism is a smear
Pro Chris Williamson
Pro Pete Willsman
AntiIHRA


She also claimed Emily Thornberry is beholden to ‘Labour Friends of Israel‘. Only last week, she very easily called Douglas Murray a “racist” “bigot”…

Only last week, Holly spent a full hour as the pro-Labour figure on Politics Live. Despite a sustained media presence, Holly remains a teacher. How would you feel if you were a Jewish kid being taught at School21…

Is it any wonder Labour want to abolish OFSTED…
Jewish Member of UK Parliament ‘Bombarded’ With Death Threats as Election Approaches
A prominent Jewish member of the UK parliament spoke on Tuesday about the growing volume of threats she has received from political extremists as the British general election approaches on Dec. 12.

Ruth Smeeth — who has represented the Stoke-on-Trent North electoral district for the Labour party since 2015 — told local broadcaster StokeonTrentLive that she had been threatened by fanatics on both the left and right ends of the political spectrum.

Around half the threats have been antisemitic in nature, Smeeth revealed. The first death threat came when she was chosen as a candidate for the constituency in 2014 –and the situation had “snowballed” since then.

“Something horrible is happening,” Smeeth said. “There is a general election on and it will only get worse. I’m not asking for sympathy, I just feel like I need to put down a marker to say this is not normal and it is not acceptable.”

Smeeth has publicly opposed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s tolerance of antisemitism in the party’s ranks.

The MP said that she no longer left her house on her own, and that her home and office had been turned into “fortresses” because she had been “bombarded” with death threats. Last Thursday, a death threat was hand-delivered to her office.
Labour spark anger by questioning independence of equalities watchdog investigating them over antisemitism
Labour has sparked renewed controversy after calling into question the independence of the equalities watchdog which is investigating the party over allegations it is institutionally antisemitic.

Ahead of the launch of what the party said was its "ambitious" Race and Faith manifesto on Tuesday, it said it was committed to making the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) "truly independent."

Labour sources insisted the pledge was a repeat of something that appeared in the party's 2017 election manifesto.

But this was before the EHRC announced it was investigating Jeremy Corbyn's party over its failure to tackle widespread antisemitism within its ranks.

The party's Race and Faith manifesto also gives no acknowledgement to the problem of left-wing antisemitism nor how criticism of Israel can stray into anti-Jewish racism.

The new manifesto, set to be launched by Jeremy Corbyn and shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler, in Tottenham, north London on Tuesday, vows Labour will "enhance the powers and functions" of the EHRC "making it truly independent."
Corbyn to Invite Hamas Supporting Muslim Association of Britain to Downing Street if Elected
Jeremy Corbyn announced today that he would invite the Muslim Association of Britain to Downing Street if elected, specifically name-checking a group that published the anti-semitic, blood libel, and was until recently led by Azzam Tamimi, a man with close links to Hamas in Gaza, who repeatedly declared that “we are all Hamas”. MAB’s spokesman Anas Al-Tikriti has said that the British people would burn as a result of the War on Terror and that the 7/7 attacks were an inevitable consequence of it:

“Britain’s foreign policy, which turned London into a target for terrorist attacks. Decency requires us to say so… the war against terror is not our war, but the war of British PM Tony Blair, who should know that if he ignites a war, his people will inevitably be burned by it.”

When you are launching a ‘Race and Faith Manifesto’ and trying to emphasise your commitment to fighting anti-semitism, it is probably not a good idea to extend an invitation to a supporter of an organisation that tries every day to kill Jews…

UPDATE: Mainstream have released a report on 10 Labour candidates who have potentially breached IHRA antisemitism definitions. Louise Ellman, the former Labour MP, writes in the forward

“Jeremy Corbyn repeatedly states that he is doing everything he can to remove antisemitism inside the Labour Party. But the facts show otherwise. A number of Labour parliamentary candidates have now been exposed for their hurtful remarks against Jewish people, or for spreading vile conspiracy theories. Jewish members like me have been driven out. If the party is to regain any credibility as an anti-racist party it must immediately suspend all candidates who have breached IHRA guidelines. That is the least it can do to recognise the depths to which it has plunged.”

Download the full report here.
Milani Takes Hundreds of Pounds From 'Anti-Semitism Is Israeli Embassy Smear' Activist
The largest single donor to Milani’s ‘Make History and Banish Boris Johnson’ GoFundMe page is a woman by the name of Hilary Wise. Readers may remember Wise, who has donated hundreds of pounds to Milani, as the activist who ranted on stage at Labour conference about anti-Semitism claims being smears orchestrated by the Israeli embassy:
“Because I’ve been campaigning for Palestinian rights for about 30 years now and I’ve never actually seen anything quite like the, it is a campaign, of slurs and accusations of anti-Semitism largely against the leadership, against Jeremy Corbyn, and against the left of the party… I’m afraid it is a orchestrated campaign. If you want to know a little bit about how the orchestration works you can watch that Al-Jazeera programme, the documentary which was made two years ago. It’s called ‘The Lobby’. You can watch it online, please do that”

Wise has also:
- Signed a petition to expel Labour Friends of Israel from the party
- Signed a petition to disaffiliate the Jewish Labour Movement from the party
- Signed a petition to have the Charity Commission remove charitable status from the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism
- Claimed Israel releases hyenas in the Jordan Valley to attack Palestinian communities

Milani keeps trying to say he is a reformed character and has moved past his 9/11 truther, pro-armed struggle, anti-Jewish antics. Will he return the donations?

Aboud Dandachi: Campus Anti-Zionism Seen Through the Eyes of a Syrian Refugee
A refugee from a war-torn country is used to seeing all parts of their homeland become a battleground. Streets. Apartments. Football fields. Even the historic Krak de Chaveliers castle near my native Homs in Syria was fought over by opposing sides in the Syrian civil war. After landing in Canada, however, I hadn’t expected my new country’s universities to be arenas for ideological mobs to shout down and denounce their opponents.

When I made my way up to York University this month on the evening of the 20th, I was blissfully unaware of the university’s status as a hotbed of “anti-Zionist” activism.” I had only arrived in Canada in two years ago through the Refugee Resettlement Program and, still eager to explore, was taking my first trip up to York. I planned to attend an event being held by Herut Canada, who were hosting five members of the Israeli NGO “Reservists on Duty” an organization of Israeli military veterans who travel the world and hold talks and events to “counter the BDS movement and new forms of anti-Semitism erupting on US college campuses.”

I was looking forward to meeting with the Israeli veterans. Such meetings were frowned upon back in Syria—as in, land one in jail kind of frowned upon. Canada was the one truly safe place I had ever lived where a Syrian might meet Israelis without suffering any consequences.

Poor, naïve me.

As I soon learned, York University in Toronto has for some time earned its reputation as a place that is hostile to people holding Zionist and pro-Israeli political standings. A mural currently exhibited at the York University Student Centre garnered headlines for its depiction of a Palestinian with his back turned, face covered in a kafiya, a map of “Palestine” completely erasing Israel, clutching two rocks behind his back while gazing at a construction site. One does not have to be Jewish or Israeli to consider it a menacing piece.
Columbia University to Hold Israel Divestment Referendum; Supporters Chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free’
Student leaders at Columbia University in New York voted on Sunday to hold a referendum on divestment from Israel, following a multi-year push by anti-Zionist students and protests from the campus Jewish community.

Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) representatives voted 25-12 via secret ballot in favor of the initiative, which was brought forward by members of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).

The measure, which will appear on the Spring 2020 elections ballot, will ask students whether the university should divest “from companies that profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s acts towards Palestinians that, according to CUAD, fall under the United Nations International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid acts against Palestinians,” the student-run Columbia Spectator reported.

CAUD has called on university officials to divest since 2016, drawing opposition from Jewish and Zionist groups on campus. An earlier CUAD attempt to pass the ballot initiative was voted down by the CCSC this past March by a margin of 20-17, and in 2017 by a margin of 26-5.

Following the vote, supporters of the referendum were recorded chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The slogan has been used by Palestinian nationalists — from advocates of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign to members of the US-designated terrorist group Hamas — to refer to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the territory between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, in place of Israel.
Africa’s Top University Decisively Rejects Call to Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions
An overwhelming majority in the Senate of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa has rejected a long-standing proposal to endorse an academic boycott of the State of Israel, in a decision that was hailed by Jewish leaders and denounced by Palestinian solidarity activists in equal measure.

At the vote on Friday, 68 percent of the 363 members of the senate opposed a resolution that would have pledged UCT — one of Africa’s most prestigious universities — “not enter any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as other Israeli academic institutions enabling gross human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Pro-boycott activists had been pushing the resolution since 2017, and Friday’s vote finally drew a line under the matter, after nearly three years of procedural wrangling and bitter political campaigning involving UCT’s Senate and governing Council.

The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) commended UCT in a statement on Monday “for firmly rejecting a motion to boycott Israeli academic institutions.”

“We thank the Senate for standing up to this campaign of hate and asserting the importance of academic freedom over narrow political agendas,” Rowan Polovin — the national chairman of the SAZF — said. “The academic boycott campaign against Israel was driven by the antisemitic BDS movement and loomed over the University for almost three years. Its goal was to single out and isolate the one and only Jewish state for unfair sanction and discrimination. The campaign consumed a disproportionate amount of airtime at the Academic Freedom Committee, Senate and Council at the expense of more relevant and important issues for UCT. Its repudiation sends a strong message that freedom of academic enquiry without limitation is essential for academic freedom to thrive.”
Passion, ignorance, and teaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
How do much do students who feel strongly about the Palestinian occupation actually know about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? I recently surveyed 230 Berkeley undergraduates to find out which conflicts in the Middle East they were most interested in and how much they knew about the region. I found that a lion’s share of students claims to “care deeply” about the occupation of Palestinian territories. I also discovered that 75% of those students cannot locate those territories on a map and 84% cannot name the decade (let alone the year) in which that occupation began. In contrast, students with slightly more moderate levels of interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tend to know more, are more likely to admit gaps in their knowledge and, as a result, are less likely to hold erroneous beliefs. When it comes to studying the Middle East, political passions pose a significant obstacle to learning.

My survey asked students to rate their attitudes towards eighteen issues, including US-Iran relations, the civil war in Yemen, drone warfare, etc., on a five point scale, ranging from “I’m not that interested” (1 point out of 5) to “I care deeply” (5 points out of 5). I also posed a series of simple open-ended questions on history, geography, and current affairs.

The results are illuminating. 43% of students surveyed (100 out of 230) expressed an intense interest in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and checked the “I care deeply” box. This fascination with the Palestinian issue does not seem to be motivated by a broader humanitarian concern for national liberation struggles. My students cared far less about other Middle East occupations, such as the Kurdish struggle for independence, the occupation of Western Sahara, or the occupation of Northern Cyprus. Curiously, even the 100 students who “care deeply” about the Palestinian occupation shared that indifference towards other disputes. For example, only 10 of these students “care deeply” about the Sahwari struggle for independence against Moroccan occupation. Only 6 out of 100 were equally eager to learn about all the other independence movements in the Middle East.
Christian Zionist Group Dropped by Amazon, Claims It Is Being Targeted for Pro-Israel Views
Proclaiming Justice to The Nations (PJTN), a Tennessee-based non-profit evangelical Christian organization committed towards standing with Israel and fighting antisemitism, has been removed from the AmazonSmile program, which enables Amazon customers to donate a percentage of their purchase to their favorite charity.

PJTN President Laurie Cardoza-Moore told JNS that “all of a sudden, we began being inundated with e-mails from supporters whose AmazonSmile donations to Proclaiming Justice to the Nations had been repeatedly rejected. They were being instructed to choose another charity, despite wanting to support PJTN.”

After reaching out to Amazon for an explanation—assuming it was a technical glitch—the retail giant informed PJTN that customers would no longer be able to donate towards the organization using the AmazonSmile platform, following the listing of PJTN as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The SPLC, whose website says that part of its mission is to monitor domestic hate groups in the United States, has PJTN listed on its “hate map” as being one of 36 Tennessee-based hate groups. SPLC specifically accuses PJTN of being “anti-Muslim.”

An email request by JNS to SPLC asking for an explanation about their listing of PJTN went unanswered as of press time.


Indy corrects a Robert Fisk smear of UN Watch – but errors remain
They told us, via email, and a subsequent tweet, that they only documented Lynk’s anti-Israel bias, and accused him of “legitimizing anti-Semites” by sharing a stage with Dimitri Lascaris, a racist who had been condemned by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for making “vile antisemitic smears.”

Responding to our complaint, Indy editors revised Fisk’s false claim to note that UN Watch only accused Lynk of “legitimizing anti-Semites”:
When Lynk was appointed special rapporteur, Stephane Dion, then Justin Trudeau’s foreign minister, spotted that UN Watch, a pro-Israeli lobby, had accused Lynk of “legitimizing anti-semites”” – the usual slur for anyone who criticises the actions of the Israeli government – and suggested that he be forced to resign. Lynk says that UN Watch’s claim prompted others to accuse him of being an anti-Semite.

However, the paragraph is still wrong.

The timeline shows that it isn’t possible that Dion, Trudeau’s foreign minister at the time, suggested that Lynk resign after “spotting” UN Watch’s charge that Lynk had “legitimized anti-Semites. Dion made those remarks in 2016, the same year Lynk was appointed as Special Rapporteur, whilst UN Watch’s critique of Lynk (as “legitimizing anti-Semites) wasn’t published until 2019.

So, despite the correction to the first part of the paragraph, Fisk’s charge that the Canadian foreign minister was influenced by the “pro-Israel lobby”, UN Watch, to condemn Lynk is obviously not true.

We’re following up on this additional inaccuracy, and will update if there’s a further correction.
HRC Asks CBC Ombud To Arbitrate Concerns About Sunday Edition’s 30-Minute Anti-Israel Invective
HonestReporting Canada has asked the CBC’s Ombudsman, Mr. Jack Nagler, to carry out an Ombudsman’s review to determine if The Sunday Edition’s airing of a 30-minute anti-Israel invective stood in violation of the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices.

On November 10, HonestReporting Canada filed a complaint with CBC and issued a media action alert taking the radio program to task for airing this lengthy anti-Israel interview with Noura Erakat (pictured right), professor of law at Rutgers University, centered largely on replacing the world’s only Jewish state with an Arab-majority, Palestinian-run country.

As we noted in our alert, “aside from uttering outright falsehoods and flagrant distortions of the truth through misleading legalese, Ms. Erakat advocated for the ‘right of return’ of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants into Israel, akin to a demographic ticking bomb that would see the Jewish character of the state of Israel and Jewish majority, eliminated. Naturally, to make a discussion about annihilating the Jewish state more palatable, Erakat abused the language of human rights to lecture about a so-called righteous quest for freedom and equality which served to obscure her real goal of seeing a proverbial Palestine ‘from the river to the sea.'”

CBC host Michael Enright lobbed softball questions and didn’t challenge many of Ms. Erakat’s highly misleading and erroneous statements. He even made a couple serious errors on his own.
MEMRI: Antisemitic Far-Right French Weekly 'Rivarol': 'The Leaders Of The Jewish Community Support Islam And At The Same Time Demonize It, In Order To Maximize Their Profit'
Rivarol is a French far-right weekly newspaper founded in 1951, which bills itself as "The weekly of the national and European opposition." The newspaper is named after the French royalist writer and satirist Antoine de Rivarol (1753-1801), who is also the source of the newspaper's motto: "When the people lose their respect [for authority], they cease to obey." The Rivarol website presents a history of the weekly in French, English, Italian, Swedish and Russian. The English version, titled "Rivarol, a Hearty Old Miracle," states that the weekly is "dedicated to combatting humbug, disinformation and the socio-political establishment." Sarcastically embracing the language of its opponents, the paper adds that "sixty years of unabashed 'revisionism' have failed to blunt the claws and the teeth of a team which... is constantly benefitting from the injection of new blood." It states further that the extent of the threat Rivarol poses to the "anti-France constituency" is evident from the multiple lawsuits that have been brought against it in recent years by various organizations combatting racism and antisemitism, such as MRAP (Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples), LICRA (International League Against Racism and Antisemitism), the Human Rights League of France, and others.[1]

Jerome Bourbon, a former member of the right-wing National Front party, has been the chief editor of the newspaper since 2010. On June 19, 2013, he was convicted, along with the National Front's president, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Rivarol's then publishing director, Camille Galic, of Holocaust denial, and fined 2,000 euros. In December 2016, he was again convicted of Holocaust denial and of inciting hate, and fined 11,000 euros, for several tweets he posted, one of which, from June 19, 2015, said, "A sad time: people don't believe in God or in Hell but they believe in gas chambers without having seen them."[2]

The weekly newspaper urges its readers to donate funds, and even their inheritance, in order to help it deal with the lawsuits and fines: "To [help us] defend ourselves against our persecutors – we are currently involved in 13 lawsuits, requiring more than 100,000 euros! – please make a donation or donate your legacy, take out a subscription for yourself or your friends, or make a contribution to the friends of Rivarol." Several types of subscription are offered, a "Sustaining Subscription" (175 euros), a "Propaganda Subscription" (210 euros) or a "Lifelong Subscription" (2000 euros).[3]

Rivarol focuses on antisemitism, Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories. A major claim it repeats is that France's Jews encourage Muslim immigration to France in order to weaken this country and Europe, but that some of them pretend to oppose this immigration in order to fan the flames of Islamophobia, which helps Israel. This claim is similar to that of the conspiracy theory which is associated with the Great Replacement theory, which says that the Muslim and African immigration to France and Europe is being done with the aid of a transnational group of globalist capitalist ruling elites called "Mondialists," some of whom are believed to be Jews.
Close Down These 10 Antisemitic Accounts, ADL Tells Social Media Giants
In its latest attempt to pressure social media platforms into a crackdown on racist and antisemitic accounts, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday published a list of feeds that it wants shut because of their hateful content.

In a statement, the Jewish civil rights organization said the list had been drawn up in the wake of a speech by top UK actor Sacha Baron Cohen to an ADL summit last week, in which he asserted: “All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.”

ADL followed up with a short list of people and organizations espousing virulently antisemitic views with active accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — some of them for more than a decade.

Among the accounts highlighted were those of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke — who pushes antisemitic conspiracy theories — and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whose recent antisemitic barbs include a 2018 tweet that called Jews “termites.”

Also present on the list were Richard Spencer, a white supremacist who serves as a poster child for the extremists of the “alt-right”; Gilad Atzmon, a former Israeli now based in London who vents against Judaism and Zionism as “tyrannical”; and Alison Chabloz, a UK-based convicted Holocaust denier whose YouTube channel features her songs mocking the Nazi Holocaust.
Like schnitzel, anti-Semitism has become part of the cultural fabric of Europe
The following quotes are from Jewish citizens of various European countries, gathered during a survey earlier this year on Jewish perceptions of anti-Semitism that was carried out by the European Union.

“Anti-Semitism and racism are like the Wiener Schnitzel. They are part of the Austrian cultural heritage, just as xenophobia and ‘we are different.’ There is nothing to fight against, just suppressing the consequences has to suffice.”

“The way things are now, I experience, for example, that ‘Jew’ is a widespread cuss word in Copenhagen. As a Jew who has grown up in Denmark, I have always avoided showing/telling people I am a Jew.”

“For the past 12 years, anti-Semitism has no longer been a taboo in Germany, and so it occurs more often – verbally and physically, on German streets and in social media.”

“I can’t be discriminated against [here in Poland] if no one knows that I am Jewish. I answer a direct question about my nationality with a lie.”

“At work and in the media and social media, anti-Semitism [in France] is a daily and unrepressed occurrence.”
30% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia
There has been a 30 percent increase over the last year in serious anti-Semitic incidents in Australia involving verbal abuse, harassment, and intimidation, according to the annual Report on Antisemitism in Australia.

There were 368 recorded anti-Semitic incidents in Australia during the year ending on Sept. 30, 2019, according to the annual report, published by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, or ECAJ.

The incidents were logged by the ECAJ, Jewish community umbrella organizations in each Australian state, and other Jewish community groups, and included physical assaults, abuse and harassment, vandalism, graffiti, hate, and threats communicated directly by email, letters, telephone calls, posters, stickers and leaflets. The total figure is comprised of 225 attacks and 143 threats.

“The overall number of anti-Semitic incidents continued at, and slightly exceeded, the unusually high number logged during 2018, which saw a 59 percent increase over the previous year,” said Julie Nathan, the ECAJ’s Research Director on Anti-Semitism.
Crown Heights Through a Looking Glass
Reported anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York outnumbered anti-black hate crimes almost threefold during the third quarter of 2019. The city’s politicians and media are, belatedly, taking notice of the uptick in “knockout attacks” on Brooklyn’s Lubavicher Jewish community.

To understand this disturbing trend, it’s necessary to cut through obfuscations and phony explanations. Conspiracy theories are very much in vogue today, with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion even debunked at the House impeachment hearings. However, if there is a real playbook used by those explaining away today’s bigotries, it’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where Humpty Dumpty instructs Alice: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less … The question is, which is to be master — that’s all.”

The phenomenon of “hate crimes” is much manipulated and distorted today.

When Brooklyn’s Crown Heights erupted in three days of antisemitic rioting in 1991, the media initially headlined it as a black-white clash without highlighting Jews as victims.

The New York Times ultimately settled on the alternative strategy of consistent under-reporting further attacks on Hasidic Jews. Since the 2016 presidential election, the strategy has shifted to blaming President Donald Trump and New York’s army of mostly imaginary white Klansmen. Graffiti artists who deface subways, we are told, don’t really understand what a swastika is!
Man shouts 'Heil Hitler' at rabbis in a Geneva synagogue
A man passing by the old "Beit Yaakov" synagogue in Geneva, shouted Heil Hitler at a group of rabbis in the synagogue's yard.

The man, who is believed to be an extreme right-wing activist, was blocked by the synagogue's security, as police were called to the scene.
The event took place near Switzerland's oldest synagogue, where the heads of the Conference of European Rabbis were holding their biannual meeting.

Dozens of rabbis and rabbinical judges from all over Europe who came to take part in the meeting were asked by local security forces to stay inside the building until they were satisfied the incident had ended.

Rabbi Moshe Lebel, head of a Moscow yeshiva and the rabbinical director of the CER, was giving an interview to Israeli television at the time of the incident and the shouts of absue can be heard in the background.


Charges dropped against Belgian soccer fans who sang about burning Jews
Prosecutors in Belgium decided not to prosecute soccer supporters who sang at a match about burning Jews, explaining the supporters’ three-year stadium ban was punishment enough.

The news site HLN reported on Thursday about the decision to dismiss charges against four Bruges supporters, who last year were banned by the national soccer association from entering all major stadiums in Belgium for up to three years.

Michael Freilich, a Jewish lawmaker in federal parliament, criticized the decision, which follows a string of incidents in which Belgian authorities were seen to be lax on anti-Semitic hate speech.

“This is a bad sign,” he told HLN. “Anti-Semitic hate speech is an offense according to the criminal code. So it must be punished. Otherwise, why do we have laws?” he said.

The four supporters were the ones identified from dozens who in August 2018 were filmed celebrating their local team’s victory over Brussels’ Anderlecht team by singing in Flemish: “My father was in the commandos, my mother was in the SS, together they burned Jews ’cause Jews burn the best.”

Separately, in the Netherlands a former soccer player, Marco van Basten, apologized Saturday for using a Nazi greeting on the air to ridicule a television journalist’s German.
Spanish fashion house removes $1,840 'concentration camp' outfit
A luxury fashion house based in Spain removed an outfit that closely resembled concentration camp uniforms from the Holocaust.

The striped pantsuit was removed from the Loewe website on Friday and the company issued an apology.

The outfit, which was being sold for $1,840, was part of a capsule collection inspired by the tile drawings of the 19th-century British ceramicist William De Morgan.

Diet Prada, a fashion industry watchdog account on Instagram, called out Loewe for the outfit and called for a response.

“Unable to see anything but concentration camp uniforms in this $1,840 ensemble from @loewe‘s William De Morgan capsule, a collection meant to ‘capture a freedom of imagination,’ … There’s not actually much left to the imagination when the resulting look is so uncannily disturbing.”
Unemployment Rate in Israel Hits 40-Year Low
The unemployment rate in Israel in October hit its lowest point in over 40 years. The Central Bureau of Statistics reported Monday that the October unemployment rate was 3.4%, the lowest recorded since 1978. The figure was also two-tenths of a percentage point lower than in September, when the rate wsa 3.6%.

The total number of people looking for a job age 15 or older is around 141,000, the CBS said. Among male workers, the unemployment rate fell from 3.3% to 3.1% between September and October, while for women the rate fell from 3.9% to 3.7%. With that, the number of part-time workers fell by about 9,000. The percentage of those working full-time, at least 35 hours a week, remained stable at 78.4%.

Among workers age 25 through 64, the percentage of eligible Israelis participating in the workforce fell slightly, from 80.8% to 80.1%, but unemployment also fell in this group, from 3.2% to 2.9%. The number of men in this group not working fell from 3% to 2.7%; among women, 3.2% of workers age 25 through 64 were seeking working in October, down from 3.3% the month before, the numbers showed.

In response to the statistics, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said that “low unemployment is a sign of a strong economy, and no less important, a strong society. Every person wants to wake up in the morning and go to work in order to honorably support their family. I am very happy and proud of these statistics.”
To India's Modi, Netanyahu remains a 'dear friend'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal and political woes have not chased away foreign comrades, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the prime minister on Tuesday as “my dear friend.”

“My dear friend Bibi,” Modi wrote in a tweet. “Thank you for your message on India’s #ConstitutionDay. Israel is a cherished strategic partner. We share and value the same principles of democracy.”

Modi, who also posted that tweet in Hebrew, was responding to a congratulatory message tweeted by Netanyahu on the occasion of India’s 70th Constitution Day.

Netanyahu used the same salutation – “my dear friend” – in reference to Modi in his tweet, saying that “India and Israel share the values enshrined in your constitution: democracy, rule of law, liberty, and equality. Our countries are both vibrant democracies, proud of our achievements, eager to seize the future with innovation and imagination. Happy Constitution Day, India!”

Modi and Netanyahu have forged a close relationship, and the ties between the two countries has soared over the last number of years.


Genesis Prize Foundation, Robert Kraft announce ‘Speak Out for Israel’
The Genesis Prize Foundation and 2019 Genesis Prize Laureate Robert Kraft announce the launch of “Speak Out for Israel” – an international campaign designed to help combat the global rise of antisemitism and attempts to delegitimize the Jewish State. The Genesis Prize Foundation and Kraft will award $1 million in grants to Israeli nonprofit organizations capable of delivering innovative responses to the challenges of antisemitism.

“Speak Out For Israel” grants will be awarded on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations that propose programs designed to tell the story of Israel by emphasizing such democratic values as tolerance and respect for the rights of minorities, as well as scientific, technological and cultural achievements.

“Israel is so special to me and my family,” said 2019 Genesis Prize laureate Robert Kraft. “It’s where I took the love of my life on our honeymoon in 1963. Since then, I have sponsored dozens of missions and countless other trips for people to experience Israel for the first time. Spiritually, there is no place like it on earth. The more people learn about its history, its diverse culture and its innovation, the more we can do to change stereotypes and end antisemitism. That’s why Speak Out for Israel is so timely and important to Israel’s future.”


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