Sunday, December 01, 2019

12/01 Links: Simon Sebag Montefiore: This antisemitism poisons any good Labour might do; Antisemites make up two-thirds of Corbyn’s strongest supporters; Israel struck by over 2,600 rockets and mortars over past two years

From Ian:
Simon Sebag Montefiore: This antisemitism poisons any good Labour might do
Obviously Corbyn is no Stalin. But the mural of hooknosed Jewish bankers, alliances with antisemitic terrorists and refusal to condemn many disgusting anti-Jewish confabulations are the rotten fruit of this ideology, now oozing from Corbynists all over the internet. Corbyn himself has met with Holocaust denier Paul Eisen. Stalin refused to admit Hitler’s final solution was any different from his killing of other Soviet citizens.

Why should this Jewish problem matter to non-Jews faced with Brexit, Tories, austerity? It undermines the Labour leadership’s ability to be real progressives at all. Hostile towards Western democracies for their “imperialism”, Corbynists support dictatorships in Russia, Iran and Venezuela while claiming that what is called “antisemitism” is not anti-Jewish, merely pro-peace, pro-Palestine, anti-Israel.

That is untrue. It is fine to criticise the Israeli government without being antisemitic. British Jews support a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But Corbynists are fixated with the destruction of Israel above all other causes – and that includes a strange neglect for the plight of any other Arab peoples such as the 500,000 killed in Syria by Bashar Assad. (Emily Thornberry recently insisted on Assad’s popularity in Syria.) This is not really about Israel but a preposterous worldview that requires Jews as enemies, only making sense in a shady cavern of conspiracy theories, the stupid path that has shamed a great party.

This racist rot poisons any good Labour might do. There are flickers of hope that calm reason can work amid Twitter shrieking. Tuesday: historian Sir Richard Evans tweeted he’d vote Labour. Thursday: after lawyer Anthony Julius wrote an open letter to the New Statesman, he courageously changed his mind.

Tragically, this is not just about one man: Labour is now controlled by this thuggish camarilla while frontbench “moderates” passively enable Corbyn. But Britain’s soul is at stake: many decent Labour supporters will surely show that they are better than the racism of their shameful shameless leadership.

And I am still grateful I was born Jewish in Britain.

Jonathan Tobin: An utterly, unspeakable wrong new ‘right’
Malkin is also apparently ­untroubled by groyper anti-Semitism. Other conservatives defend them on narrow free-speech and procedural grounds — instead of taking on their odious substance.

This isn’t the first time that the conservative movement has faced such a challenge. In the early 1960s, extremists from the John Birch ­Society peddled racism, anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories like those of today’s alt right. The Birchers were establishing a foothold in the GOP.

It was at that moment that conservatism’s intellectual leader, the late William F. Buckley, made it clear that Birchers wouldn’t be welcome in the movement or the GOP. Buckley ultimately succeeded, as the Birchers were forced to retreat to the fever swamps of American politics. In no small measure, Buckley’s efforts made the subsequent electoral victories of Ronald Reagan and other conservatives possible.

So it is important that a group Buckley founded to spread conservatism on college campuses, the Young American Foundation, has taken the first step toward isolating the groypers and those who condone them. YAF has taken Malkin off its speakers’ list over her refusal to disavow Fuentes.

That’s encouraging, but if this contagion is to be stamped out, it will require more such actions. The longer the White House fails to channel the spirit of Buckley and have Trump explicitly condemn groypers and the alt-right, the danger for both conservatism and American society will only grow.
Brendan O'Neill: It’s time to get real about Islamist terror
We’ve seen this for years now. Even to use the i-word — Islam — in relation to recent acts of terrorism is frowned upon. Anyone who gets angry about these attacks, whether it was 7/7 in 2005, the slaughter at the Manchester Arena in 2017 or yesterday’s stabbings, risks being denounced as ‘Islamophobic’. The left, including the left that currently runs the Labour Party, is myopically devoted to distracting attention from the Islamist threat. ‘What about the far right?’, they’ll say. Such cynical and spineless whataboutery wilfully overlooks that the far right has not killed anywhere near 500 people in Europe over the past five years — Islamists, on the other hand, have. ‘Don’t look back in anger’, we are told after Islamist attacks. In short, lay a flower, be sad for a day, and then move on — whatever you do, don’t talk about it.

This policing of emotion and of public debate about radical Islam is explicitly designed to suppress difficult questions. In particular questions about the divisive ideology of multiculturalism and the way it has nurtured a culture of victimhood, grievance and even violence among certain religious and social groups who have been convinced by officialdom for years and years that they are hated by ordinary Brits — or ‘dogs’, as Khan came to view us. This cultivation of separatism, this sowing of a victim mentality, this inflaming of community grievance and community bitterness — these are the ‘achievements’ of the ideology of multiculturalism and they have played an important role in the rise of Islamist violence in the UK.

It’s time to get real about Islamist terror. No more censorship. No more demonisation of people who are concerned about this violent threat. No more whataboutery. And no more treatment of self-styled holy warriors who want to slaughter us ‘dogs’ as run-of-the-mill criminals. The ideologies of victimhood and separatism have helped to give rise to Islamist violence and traitorism on a very worrying scale — let’s talk about them. Let’s find out why a holy warrior was released from jail to visit holy war on the citizens of London.



Fearing Negative Coverage, ‘American Muslims for Palestine’ Conference Ejects Legal Insurrection Reporter
The men expelling me from the conference demanded I not photograph them, claiming (falsely) it would be illegal. They even demanded my phone, which I refused to hand over. I did manage to snap a quick selfie as I was being whisked away. [See Featured Image]

They summoned a hotel representative and threatened to call the police. I told them they were welcome to do so. The Hyatt hotel representative demanded, in the midst of the crowd of AMP mostly male officials, that I divulge my room number. Again, I refused. In response, the hotel representative sneered that he knew my name, so he already had my room number. When I asked him why, then, he felt he needed to demand the number, he did not say. He did, however, threaten to kick me out of the hotel entirely.

One of the AMP marchers continued to follow me around the hotel lobby at a distance of about 20 feet. I waved at him and asked if he was planning on trailing me all day long. He refused to answer but continued to stare. The Hyatt staff apparently felt that this, at least, was beyond the pale, and informed AMP that their employees were not permitted to stalk me in the hotel lobby. They continued to use a walkie-talkie system to monitor and communicate about my movements in the hotel’s public spaces, and the hotel was forced to reprimand them once again.

There is much more to this story, which I will publish in a later post, but for now it is worth reflecting on the reason for my expulsion. AMP equated “fair” reporting with “positive” reporting; similarly, anything negative about AMP—whether argued with evidence and facts or not—was unacceptable to them and necessitated my exclusion.

AMP positions itself as at the forefront of the ‘intersectional’ fight against Israel, helped along by radically anti-Israel activists from other groups. Not surprisingly, AMP’s conduct in trying to stifle unflattering but accurate coverage confirms my prior reporting about AMP’s true intentions.
CAA and KCL study finds far-left Jew-hatred has now overtaken far-right in Britain and antisemites make up two-thirds of Corbyn’s vanguard of strongest supporters
Today, Campaign Against Antisemitism is releasing the results of our Antisemitism Barometer research, a multiyear study by Campaign Against Antisemitism which was designed and analysed by one of the foremost academics in his field from King’s College London. The study makes shocking findings about antisemitism in the Labour Party and British society, and how Jews are reacting.

The research has revealed that:
- Antisemitism on the far-left has overtaken antisemitism on the far-right;
- Jeremy Corbyn is now the candidate of choice for anti-Jewish racists;
- Despite claims that Labour’s antisemitism stems from ‘a few bad apples’, two thirds of Jeremy Corbyn’s vanguard of strongest supporters hold at least one antisemitic view;
- 84% of British Jews feel that Jeremy Corbyn is a threat specifically to the Jewish community;
- Two in five British Jews have considered emigrating over antisemitism in the past two years alone, 85% of them because of antisemitism in politics, with two thirds expressly naming the Labour Party or Jeremy Corbyn as their reason;
- Close to two thirds of British Jews believe that the authorities are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism, and a mere 35% of British Jews felt confident that antisemitic hate crimes against them would be prosecuted, a record low; and
- Almost half of British Jews believe that the Crown Prosecution Service is doing too little to fight antisemitism.

In the report, Campaign Against Antisemitism calls on the Government to urgently implement a series of recommendations on law enforcement, and for all political parties to adopt our manifesto for fighting antisemitism.


Watch the Labour election advertisement that says every British minority is “worthy of equality” except the Jews
Labour has released an advertisement for the general election that presents a montage of images accompanied by a speech by the Shadow Minister Dawn Butler as the narration.

In the narration, almost every conceivable minority is mentioned, including religious minorities by reference to those who “wear a hijab, turban, cross”. All of the groups mentioned are, the viewer is told, “worthy of equality”, “dignity” and “respect” and has “a future” and that “a Labour government will value you”. But the narration conspicuously does not mention Jews, nor are there any images of Jews.

The slogan of the ad is “Our diversity is our strength”.




SNP drops candidate in key marginal seat over allegations of antisemitism
The SNP has dropped its candidate for a key target seat over allegations of antisemitism.

The Party has withdrawn its support for Neale Hanvey, a former councillor who is running in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, saying he had been suspended pending disciplinary action.

The allegations reportedly relate to a social media post in which Mr Hanvey compared Israel’s policies to the treatment of Jews in WWII, which would appear to be a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism, according to which “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism. Another post Mr Hanvey had shared on Facebook in 2016 included an image of the Jewish billionaire George Soros as a puppet master controlling world leaders.

Mr Hanvey issued a apology, recognising how at least one of his comments breached the International Definition and saying that he was “genuinely and deeply sorry”

The SNP said: “Neale Hanvey is no longer an SNP candidate, and his membership has been suspended pending disciplinary action. All support for his campaign has been withdrawn.”
Labour candidate tells Jewish audience her Party has failed on antisemitism and doesn’t deserve their vote
A Labour Party general election candidate has told a Jewish audience that her Party does not deserve their vote because it had “totally failed” to tackle antisemitism.

Carolann Davidson made the admission at the Jewish hustings in Glasgow’s East Renfrewshire, which is the constituency with the highest proportion of Jewish voters in Scotland.

Ms Davidson said that the party had “failed from the leadership down” and declared: “I can’t stand here and ask for your vote.” Saying she was “embarrassed by the way Labour is handling antisemitism”, she said that given she is “not here asking for your vote”, the reason she had attended was because “I want to reassure you as a community that there are still people within the Labour party who are not willing to surrender the party that was once the strongest ally of the Jewish community to racists and conspiracy theorists,” and to tell the community that “I [am] on your side,” adding: “I can’t defend the indefensible. What I can do is tell you who I am and what I stand for.”
Watch as Matt Hancock heckled at hustings for raising Labour antisemitism
The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, was heckled at a general election hustings for raising Labour’s institutional antisemitism in the debate.

The event, in his constituency of West Suffolk, elicited cries of “shame on you” and “racist” when Mr Hancock said that he was passionate about ridding antisemitism from our politics.

The audience’s outburst comes as Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right, and that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is the party leader of choice for those who hold multiple antisemitic views.


Israel struck by over 2,600 rockets and mortars over past two years
Over 1,500 rockets and mortars have been fired towards Israel over the past year from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and over two dozen fired from Syria, a significant increase in the past four years.

According to numbers released by Israel’s Shin Bet, over 2,600 rockets and mortars have been fired over the past two years from Gaza-over half in the last year alone.

The majority of the rockets and mortars fired into southern Israel over the past year occurred during three violent rounds of conflict with the blockaded coastal enclave.

In late November 2018 over 500 rockets and mortars were fired towards southern Israel in the span of 48 hours, including a Kornet anti-tank missile towards an empty IDF bus after a botched IDF commando raid in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

In May 2019, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) launched 690 rockets and mortars towards Israel, again over the span of less than 48 hours. While the large majority of the projectiles landed in open territory, 240 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and another 21 hit residential homes. One Kornet anti-tank missile was fired towards a civilian car, killing the driver.
Defense minister green-lights new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron
Newly installed Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday announced his approval for planning of a new Jewish neighborhood in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, in a decision that was quickly praised by the right and bashed by the left.

The Jewish community in Hebron is made up of several enclaves located deep in the heart of the largest Palestinian city. The roughly 1,000 Jewish settlers there live under heavy military guard amid some 215,000 Palestinians. It has been the scene of numerous stabbings and other violent incidents between Palestinians and Israelis in recent years.

Hebron differs from other Arab West Bank cities in that it is home to a Jewish community that, per the 1997 Hebron Agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, lives in an area under Israeli control — about 20 percent of the city, known as H2. This community has existed for hundreds of years, though with several gaps during the 20th century.

On Sunday, the defense minister’s office said in a statement that Bennett, who serves in a transitional government, had ordered the relevant offices within the Israel Defense Forces to inform the Hebron municipality that planning was starting for the new neighborhood near the city’s old market.
Two IS supporters planned Independence Day terror attacks in Jerusalem
Two Palestinian men were indicted Sunday for planning a terror attack targeting Israeli revelers during the nation’s upcoming Independence Day in April.

The two, 21-year-old Ahmad Ja’abis and 19-year-old Basel Abidat, are residents of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.

According to the indictment filed by Jerusalem prosecutors, they became interested in the Islamic State terror group in 2016, studied bomb-making and rocket construction online, and tried to join the organization’s “Sinai Province” branch in Egypt earlier this year.

Abidat attempted to cross into Sinai through Jordan in June, but was stopped by Jordanian border police, the indictment said.

Ja’abis, meanwhile, raised NIS 2,000 ($576) for IS and sent it to the group through an unnamed third party.

In September, with their attempts to join IS in Sinai stymied, the two discussed ways to carry out terror attacks against Israelis instead.

They considered shooting attacks at popular public venues on Independence Day, such as Jerusalem’s Safra Square and Sultan’s Pool, or more limited stabbing attacks if they failed to obtain firearms. They also discussed a shooting attack against a military base in the Jordan Valley. Independence Day 2020 begins on the evening of April 28.

The attacks, the indictment charges, were intended “to kill as many Jews as possible in the name of Daesh [IS].”
Ramallah Speech-Israeli Prof. Accuses Israel of Robbery, Violence & Oppression.
In Ramallah Speech, Israeli Prof. Accuses Israel of Robbery, Violence and Oppression.

“Robbery, violence and oppression have become the norm” in Israel, said Israeli professor Dr. Yaela Raanan this past Thursday during a speech in Ramallah.

Raanan, who teachers in Sderot’s Sapir College, was one of the speakers who delivered remarks at the Palestinian Authority presidential headquarters in Ramallah in an event marking the United Nations’ “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”

The event was attended by hundreds of people, including Fatah Central Committee secretary-general Jibril Rajoub and former Meretz party head Mossi Raz.

Speaking against the backdrop of a picture of former Palestine Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat, Raanan also accused Israel of implementing a “cruel policy” in the Negev, and a “violent policy” towards residents of the Gaza Strip.

Raana further told the crowd that “Israel’s treatment of its Arab citizens is directly connected with the occupation,” and that “it is not by chance that the people who asked to be responsible for the home demolitions in the Negev live in settlements.”

“We will not stop until we reach our goal – until the occupation is over and until Israel stops controlling the Palestinian people,” Raanan concluded.


Bennett orders IDF to conduct feasibility study on artificial Gaza island plan
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has thrown his support behind an initiative to construct an artificial island port off the coast of Gaza, ordering the IDF to conduct a feasibility study into the project, Channel 12 reported on Saturday.

The concept, which was proposed by then-transportation and intelligence minister Israel Katz in 2017, envisions the establishment of an eight-square-kilometer (three-square-mile) artificial island linked to Gaza by a five-kilometer (three-mile) causeway that could, if necessary, be severed from the mainland by means of a drawbridge.

The plan seeks to alleviate conditions in the Strip while maintaining Israel’s security control.

Gaza has been under blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Hamas terror group seized power in 2007. UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, but Israel says it is necessary to keep Hamas, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, from obtaining weapons or materials to make them. Gaza-based terror groups led by Hamas have fought three wars against Israel since 2008.
Troops kill Palestinian suspected of lobbing firebombs at cars in West Bank
A Palestinian man suspected of throwing firebombs at Israeli vehicles was fatally shot by Israeli troops in the West Bank on Saturday, authorities said.

The IDF said troops opened fire after seeing a group of Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails toward an Israeli vehicle driving near Beit Awwa in the southern West Bank.

“The soldiers responded with fire and identified a hit to one of the suspects. Two additional suspects were arrested by soldiers and transferred for interrogation by security forces,” the statement said.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said 18-year-old Badawee Masalma was killed by the troops. It accused the military of keeping medics from reaching Masalma after he was shot.

On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians in Hebron and across the West Bank protested in a “day of rage” against a US announcement earlier this month that Washington had softened its stance toward Israel’s West Bank settlements.
Reuters, AFP Headlines Cast Reported Palestinian Assailant as Victim
Harking back to the period of stabbing and other Palestinian attacks four years ago when mainstream media outlets routinely published headlines falsely casting Palestinian perpetrators as victims, two leading wire services this weekend once again offered up headlines turning a reported Palestinian assailant into the victim.

The newest case concerns Badawi Masalmeh, a Palestinian attacker who reportedly was hurling fire-bombs at Israeli vehicles on a West Bank road. The Reuters headline fails to note that the Palestinian teen was reportedly carrying out an attack when Israeli troops fatally shot him. It reads: “Israeli troops kill Palestinian in the West Bank: Health Ministry.”

But as the accompanying article rightly reports:
Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank opened fire at a Palestinian who threw a fire-bomb at a car on Saturday, the Israeli military said, and the Palestinian Health Ministry said the man was killed.

The military said the troops were carrying out operations in the area to prevent militant attacks when they saw three Palestinians throwing petrol bombs at an Israeli car traveling on a nearby road.

The troops then opened fire and saw that one suspect had been hit, the military said in a statement. The two other suspects were taken into custody for questioning.
PMW: Fatah admits it supported Hamas "with money, weapons, and political cover" during the intifada terror campaign
In a documentary posted on Fatah’s official Facebook page, Fatah admits it “supported” Hamas “with money, weapons, and political cover” during the time of Yasser Arafat.

In the video, which boasts of Fatah’s terror accomplishments, photos of Arafat with Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin are shown while the narrator explains:
Narrator: “Fatah has led and will continue to lead the national project…Instead of crushing its opponents, Fatah supported them with money, weapons, and political cover.” [Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 5, 2019]

Earlier in the video, Fatah brags of its terror against “the Zionist enemy,” that it has “sacrificed 190,000 Martyrs,” and that “92% of prisoners – i.e., terrorists and murderers – are “Fatah members, officers, and fighters.” As major accomplishments, the video highlights the Palestinian terror waves – the first intifada in which 200 Israelis were murdered – and the PA’s 5-year terror campaign, the second intifada, in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered, mostly in suicide bombings:

Narrator: “The Fatah Movement has sacrificed 190,000 Martyrs… Fatah was pioneering in its operations (i.e., terror attacks) during the first Intifada, and it was the first Palestinian faction to reach the nuclear reactor in Dimona (i.e., terror attack, 3 murdered).”




Egypt allows Hamas leader to leave Gaza
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected to leave the Gaza Strip on Monday amid reports of progress in mediation efforts to consolidate ceasefire understandings reached earlier this year with Israel.

A Palestinian source in the Gaza Strip said Haniyeh will visit Moscow for talks with Russian officials on the situation in the coastal enclave and the latest developments surrounding the truce understandings with Israel.

The source told the Arabi21 news website that Haniyeh will also hold talks with senior Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo.

The source pointed out that the Egyptians have agreed to allow Haniyeh to leave the Gaza Strip for the first time in three years. According to the source, Haniyeh is also expected to visit Qatar and Turkey.

Last week, a senior Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya and Rouhi Mushtaha also left the Gaza Strip for a tour of a number of countries, including Turkey and Lebanon. The Hamas delegation is also reported to have met in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence officials before heading to Turkey and Lebanon.


NYU: Isolating and silencing pro-Israel students and speakers - opinion
On October 25th, 2019, the American Studies Program in the New York University Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (SCA) hosted anti-Zionist speaker Noura Erakat in a public event titled “Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine.” The stated goal of the lecture was to “show how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This may not seem problematic, but for Erakat, that was code for explaining how Israel has allegedly twisted laws to perpetuate Palestinian suffering, which is certainly problematic. Rather than propose solutions to bridge gaps between Israelis and Palestinians, she accused Israel of all wrong-doing and suggested that Israel’s actions have been carefully crafted as a ploy to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population and colonize the land.

Academic departments at public and private universities alike have a moral responsibility to host speakers with diverse viewpoints in order to expose students to a breadth of opinions. Certainly, they should not only host a speaker like Erakat, who questions Jewish self-determination – an idea that the UN deems integral to basic human rights of all minority groups. Debating the morality of self-determination only when it relates to Jews, as Erakat does, directly targets Jewish students on campus. It is unethical for a university department to push a specific narrative or rhetoric to further their own political goals at the expense of its students.

Days before the event, I voiced my concerns to the lead professors of SCA and urged them to host a speaker who would have provided a different perspective on the conflict. I was clear in my support for freedom of speech, and the right of everyone, including Erakat, to express his or her own point of view. Rather, my request was simple: more diverse viewpoints.
Roger Waters picks bizarre fight with Canadian charity
Roger Waters is in hot water with the leaders of a Toronto-based anti-racism charity, who are shocked that the ex-Pink Floyd frontman picked a public fight with them online.

The ordeal began in early November, when a public letter, signed by Waters, was sent to Celine Dion, urging her to cancel a pair of planned shows in Tel Aviv. The Canadian pop star will perform in the Holy Land on Aug. 4 and 5, 2020, as part of a global tour.

In the letter, Waters – a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel – states that both he and Dion are members of a Canadian charity called Artists Against Racism (AAR), which connects celebrities with opportunities to create and deliver anti-racism messages.

“As a member of the Artists Against Racism, we call on you to stand with the AAR vision,” the letter states. “Given your AAR membership, we are dismayed that you have chosen to schedule performances in Israel, a state that practises apartheid.” The letter is signed by “Roger Waters, Artists Against Racism Member.”

Waters, however, isn’t actually a member of AAR.

Lisa Cherniak, the executive director of AAR, was baffled when a colleague forwarded her the letter. As a registered charity, AAR does not take positions on either domestic or international politics.
Jewish student should resign if traveling to Israel, says student gov't
Calls have been made for a Jewish student leader at McGill University to resign from her position in the student government for accepting an invitation to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories with Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

Jordyn Wright, who represents her peers on the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council and serves on the Society’s Board of Directors and was invited to participate in a trip called “Face-to-Face” that is being offered by Hillel Montreal, said over the weekend that she will travel to Israel, and she will not resign from her positions.

She took to Facebook to share her shock and outrage about the actions taken by some members of the SSMU during a meeting last Thursday night.
“As a Jew, my connection to Israel is a core aspect of my identity, and I hoped that this trip would help me to experience Israel through a new lens,” Wright wrote.

The trip is set to leave for Israel at the end of December. Wright made it clear that the trip entails visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories “to meet with politicians, journalists and locals from all sides to better understand a very nuanced geopolitical conflict.”




Have all of NY's elected officials gone AWOL as Jew hatred soars?
As the year 2019 draws to a close in the Gregorian calendar, there is no doubt that it will be remembered as the year that global anti-Semitism dominated the headlines and sent a chill down collective Jewish spines. Suffice it to say, anti-Semitism has been an endemic part of the Jewish experience since time immemorial, as the blood stained pages of Jewish history tragically illustrate.

In the fraught times in which we live, the stark realization is that Jew hatred has reached the kind of epidemiological proportions that are tantamount to those of pre-Nazi Europe.

In 2017, there were more than 200 reported anti-Semitic incidents in New York City, according to the annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, representing a 90 percent increase from 2016. In 2018, most reported anti-Semitic assaults in the city took place in Brooklyn, and in 2019 this same borough has seen an alarming increase in the frequency and aggressiveness of visceral Jew hatred.

In the last several weeks alone, Orthodox Jews have been harassed and assaulted in the Borough Park and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn, with the latest attack coming on Monday night, November 25th in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
Senior London rabbi brutally attacked by antisemitic teenagers
A rabbi in the Amhurst Park area of Stamford Hill, London was attacked by two unidentified teenagers and left bleeding on the ground over Shabbat, as initially reported by the Stamford Hill Shomrim.

The incident took place at around 9:45 p.m. on Friday, when Orthodox Jews don't use telephones.

According to reports, the two teenagers allegedly shouted "Kill Jews" and "F*** Jews" while beating the victim.

The rabbi, who is currently unidentified, was flown to Israel.

The attack has since been reported to the police and the Stamford Hill Shomrim.
Auschwitz Christmas ornaments up for sale on Amazon
Christmas ornaments and bottle openers featuring the site of the Auschwitz former Nazi death camp are up for sale on Amazon.

The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum called Amazon out in a tweet on Sunday, saying, “Selling ‘Christmas ornaments’ with images of Auschwitz does not seem appropriate. Auschwitz on a bottle opener is rather disturbing and disrespectful. We ask @amazon to remove the items of those suppliers.”

The Auschwitz ornaments include the iconic image of train tracks leading to the entrance of Auschwitz, and an image of reconstructed barracks with a path down the middle.

Among the other Polish landmarks featured on the porcelain Christmas ornaments are Wawel Castle in Krakow, Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, and the riverfront of the city of Gdansk. The company also sells Christmas ornaments featuring landmarks from other countries including the United States. US ornaments include a view of the city of Chicago from the Chicago River, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Zion National Park in Utah.
Hundreds take part in blood drive at Israeli-Arab town
Magen David Adom’s Blood Services received 560 units of blood in Sakhnin last week, as part of their collaboration with the organization "Academics for the Community in Sakhnin," promoting volunteer initiatives for the community. Additionally, during the framework of the special donation week, 94 people joined the national pool for bone marrow donation, 35 signed Adi cards (organ donation cards), and 45 donated hair for cancer patients.

The successful blood donation week in the city of Sakhnin was made possible due to the organization’s devotion to the subject, and recruitment of hundreds of blood donors from Sakhnin and surrounding areas. There were lectures about the topic in schools and clubs, brochures were distributed throughout the city, and it was advertised through social networks.

Dr. Nemer Sayed Ahmed, graduate of the faculty of medicine at The Technion and friend of the organization "Academics for the Community in Sakhnin: "Our organization was founded 6 years ago, with the goal to operate for the sake of the community in different ways. The blood donation week, which we operated in collaboration with MDA’s services, is our leading project, in which we see in front of our eyes how we can help save lives. I wholeheartedly thank MDA’s blood services for its activities, Sakhnin’s Municipality for the assistance and, of course, the members of the organization." (h/t Zvi)
Why Jewish Israeli High-tech Entrepreneurs Are Commuting to This Arab Town
In a glass-enclosed conference room, about half a dozen women and men – a few of the men sporting kippot – are settling into their seats and pulling out their laptops. Outside, in the large open area, a woman with a hijab on her head is showing prospective clients around. At the desks lined up in rows, small business owners and independent high-techies are answering emails, dreaming up algorithms and devising ways to grow their customer base. A few are also sitting at the bar enjoying their midmorning coffee.

From the inside, it looks like any one of dozens of co-working hubs that have sprouted up around Israel in recent years. The address is what sets it apart: This shared work space is smack in the center of the Arab town of Kafr Qasem, northeast of Tel Aviv. Inaugurated in February, Klika QasemHub is the first government-funded co-working facility to open in an Israeli Arab city or town. No less remarkable is the fact that many of the people renting space here are Jewish.

In addition to work spaces, the 600-square-meter (6,460-square-foot) facility, located in a mixed residential-commercial neighborhood, offers mentoring services and a conference room for meetings. In fact, the workers convening in the conference room this morning are all employed at a high-tech company about a five-minute drive away; they just needed to hold an offsite meeting somewhere convenient.

Of the 13 entrepreneurs who have already rented space at the hub, more than half are Jewish, management says. The $400,000 investment in the center was funded by the government, through the Negev and Galilee Development Ministry, as well as the Kafr Qasem municipality? the newly established Kafr Qasem Economic Corporation? The Social Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab Equality and Shared Society and several other private foundations. It’s one of about half a dozen government-funded co-working hubs recently set up in out-of-the-way venues around the country, all part of the Klika network.

Arab citizens of Israel are much less likely to be employed in high-tech – a main engine of economic growth in the country – than are Jews. What originally motivated the visionaries of this project was a desire to help overcome this gap and thereby promote greater equality for Israel’s Arab citizens. What hadn’t been planned was that Jews from neighboring cities and towns would take advantage of the opportunity to rent an affordable work space close to home and that this little entrepreneurial hub would become a role model for shared Jewish-Arab society. (h/t Zvi)
Award winner lauds Israel for its innovations
Mr Prince Pius Nutsugah, the winner of the maiden edition of the Israeli Green Innovation Competition, has lauded Israel for its innovations to solve post-harvest losses.

He said the country has developed a robust system to address post-harvest losses of which Ghana could emulate to curb its challenges in post harvest losses.

The awards was initiated by the Israeli embassy in partnership with Stratcomm Africa during the 7th edition of the Ghana Garden and Flower Show to honour startups with innovative solutions related to the growth of the floriculture and agricultural industry in Ghana.

Mr Nutsugah’s award earned him a fully paid trip to Israel to join in three conferences which covered Food-Tech, Agri-Fest and one focused on Sports Technology to learn of best practices, to network and to seek potential investors to improve and implement his storage unit project which would store farm products at farm gates to prevent post -harvest loses with the Coologi team.

He said about 30 per-cent of Ghana’s fruits and vegetables harvested were lost due to lack of storage facilities at the farm gates.

Mr Nutsugah said his initiative would improve the shelf-life of such farm products and put a smile on the faces of farmers. (h/t Zvi)
Iranian athletes are coming to Israel
Iranian refugee judokas enroll in the Tel Aviv Judo Grand Prix. (h/t Zvi)


Indian PM Modi sends bar mitzvah wishes to Mumbai attack survivor
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent congratulations to Moshe Tzvi Holtzberg, who survived the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, on the occasion of his bar mitzvah this week.

“As you make this important transition and cross a significant landmark in the journey of your life, the courage of [nanny] Sandra [Samuel] and prayers of the people of India will continue to bless you for a long, healthy and successful life,” Modi wrote.

India’s Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla planned to read the letter at the boy’s celebration on Sunday night, which took place at Kfar Chabad. Singla brought the letter with him from India.

In November 2008, Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out 12 attacks in Mumbai over four days, killing 165 people and wounding more than 300. Two terrorists targeted the Chabad House in Mumbai, holding eight Jews hostage and murdering them. Two of those killed were Moshe’s parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the Chabad emissaries to Mumbai. Rivka was five months pregnant at the time.

Sandra Samuel, Moshe Holtzberg’s nanny, saved the two-year-old’s life, running out of the building holding him after finding him next to his motionless parents. Holtzberg then moved to Israel to live with grandparents in Afula, and Samuel came with him, eventually receiving honorary Israeli citizenship.


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