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Monday, December 09, 2019

12/09 Links Pt2: Influential Corbyn-supporting Facebook page run by Hamas; Melanie Phillips: "The Left is Racist"; Don't let Sanders get away with redefining 'pro-Israel'

From Ian:

Influential Corbyn-supporting Facebook page run by Hamas
Hamas officials in both Gaza and London are working in support of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party, ahead of the UK general election on Thursday.

According to Tazpit Press Service (TPS), the "We Support Jeremy Corbyn" Facebook page, one of the largest and most influential Corbyn support networks globally with some 72,000 members, is managed from the Gaza strip.

For over two years the page was managed by Walid Abu Rouk, a resident of Khan Yunis in the Gaza strip, after Labour Party members added him as a page manager in June 2017, declaring him "our man in Gaza." Abu Rouk confirmed to TPS that he served as the page's manager until recently.
However, Rouk also has clear ties to the heart of Hamas' propaganda efforts. A source in the strip who wished to remain anonymous told TPS “Abu Rouk serves Hamas’ information campaign and is guided by it.”

The official said that Rouk is a key link in Hamas' English language propaganda service thanks to his excellent command of the English language, and is operating under guidance from Hamas officials.

David Collier: BUSTED – Hamas linked propaganda unit interfering in UK election
Hamas and pro-Hamas outlets are conducting an online campaign to help Jeremy Corbyn win the election. A Hamas propaganda outfit deploys armies of trolls to attack Jewish campaigners fighting antisemitism, they support Corbyn online, help to create pro-Corbyn trends and vote for him in online polls.

Take the account, KhamakarPress. They have a website, with contains a link to join a WhatsApp group. When you join the WhatsApp group, other numbers in the group become visible. Several carry the 972 59 country and area code – including the group admin. 972 is Israel. 059 is the code explicitly reserved for Jawwal, a Palestinian mobile network.

The admin of the group is Wafa Aludaini, a propagandist from Gaza. Aludaini’s FB page is connected with 100s of key anti-Israel activists in Europe and the US.

The website’s European HQ seems to be in Holland and it is linked to an Islamic Organisation there. The Dutch Islamic website even defended a Salafi school that was closed due to links to terrorism. The KhamakarPress Facebook page is run by Henny A.J. Kreeft. He is a Dutch convert to Islam and has penned antisemitic articles about the ‘Jewish empire.’ He co-founded a political ‘Muslim Party‘ in 2007.

When you follow Khamakar Press, you soon realise that they are connected to massive anti-Israel initiatives. Take the ‘Palestine Ambassador’ website. It is a website set up to train anti-Israel activists. Another connection is the 16th October Facebook group – an anti-Israel propaganda outlet. All run by those who run Khamakar Press. The 16th October group claims it is unit of ‘Aithoraya Institute for media and communication.’

Whatever it is, ‘AlThoraya’ is official. Remember, 16th October is run by the same Aludaini that is the admin of the WhatsApp group.
Israel Advocacy Movement: Jeremy Corbyn is not a racist
Some bloke attempts to prove Jeremy Corbyn isn't racist.


Don't let Sanders get away with redefining 'pro-Israel'
Sanders refuses to cut ties with people like Sarsour or Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who have engaged in anti-Semitic incitement as bad as that of Sarsour. He also refuses to repudiate many others in the ranks of his supporters, campaign surrogates and officials who agree with them about Israel, all of which is incompatible with the idea that he is someone who supports Israel or the struggle against anti-Semitism in any meaningful sense of those terms.

For too long, many American Jews have been caught up in battles between conservative and liberal Zionists in which American partisan political battles were mixed up with those going on in Israel between right- and left-wing factions. The real issue facing American Jews heading into the 2020 campaign isn't about settlements or a two-state solution that Congress and most Jews still want, but about which Palestinians have little or no interest. Instead, it's whether the vast majority of American Jews who identify as liberals and Democrats are willing to draw a line in the sand and utterly reject people like Sarsour, Omar, and Tlaib.

The answer coming from Sanders and all too many others is that the common ground they share with such people on Trump and other issues is more important than any residual affection for Israel or even sensitivities about anti-Semitism. If so, then they are not merely redefining "pro-Israel" in such a way as to render it meaningless, but also fatally undermining the struggle against anti-Semitism.

To understand the consequences of such a stand, you need only to look at Britain, where radical anti-Semites seized control of the Labour Party. Here on the opposite side of the pond, we can only tremble for the future of a Jewish community in which Sanders's comfort level with anti-Semites becomes normative behavior for American Jews.
Bernie Sanders leans into anti-Semitism
Last weekend, Sarsour was surrogating Sanders’s campaign as a speaker at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference. Her remarks sound more like a surrogacy for David Duke or Hamas. Israel, she said, is ‘built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else’ — a libel as equally likely to appear from the mouths of Islamists as the thumbs of white nationalists. It’s impossible, Sarsour said, to oppose ‘white supremacy in America and the idea of being in a state based on race and class’ without also opposing the existence of a Jewish state.

Naturally, this specious and defamatory linkage was affirmed by Rashida Tlaib. Naturally, when footage of Sarsour’s diatribe appeared online, she did her best to wriggle out of it with a statement about ‘context’ — but not one about AMP’s official conference program, which called Zionism a ‘disease’ intending to ‘destroy the purity of al-Quds [Jerusalem]’.

Sanders’s alliance with Sarsour isn’t just Magic Grandpa being sentimental about the kids who remind him of his radical youth. Like Jeremy Corbyn’s passion for Islamists, it’s a calculated attempt to catch votes, transform the party membership and upend the centrist party managers. These tactics worked for Corbyn. But when Magic Grandpa shakes the tree, it’s not just money that falls out.

Corbyn’s idea of socialism with British characteristics has disgraced the Labour party and, by mainstreaming racists in the name of ‘social justice’ and ‘anti-Zionism’, become a global embarrassment to Britain. Labour is now a surrogate for its worst elements. Bernie Sanders is following the same tactics, and his socialism with American characteristics is already producing not dissimilar results: the mainstreaming of ancient hatred, with Bernie as Sarsour’s surrogate. Thanks, Grandpa.



Will the British Public Vote for Antisemitism on December 12?
Even if we assume that Corbyn really believed all of that, he shows himself to possess the political understanding of a six-month-old child. He has clearly never read the 1988 Hamas Covenant, seen at first hand the suffering of Palestinians under Hamas rule, or faced a barrage of rocket fire from Gaza.

The Provisional IRA was a murderous force that killed many innocent civilians. Hamas and Hizbullah are major military entities whose policies regarding the Jews of Israel are explicitly genocidal. During its 50-day war against Israel in 2014, Hamas and its terrorist partners in Gaza fired more than 4,500 rockets and mortars at the Jewish state. An article in Israel's left-wing newspaper Haaretz portrays Hizbullah as follows: "While the terror organization doesn't own planes and tanks, in every other way its improved capabilities match those of a medium-level army." The same article sets out the vast range of Hizbullah's weaponry, including many thousands of short-, medium- and long-range missiles.

These, then, are the "friends" of a man whose life has supposedly been committed to peace and non-violence? Though organized in a military style, ironically they lack the efficiency and moral qualities of the Israeli Defence Force, not long ago described by a group of high-ranking military experts as "the most moral army in the world", but which Corbyn accuses of war crimes.

Finally, those interested may also read about the 100 occasions when Corbyn showed his true face through meetings or other ties with parties for whom politics comes out of the barrel of a gun.
Melanie Phillips: "The Left is Racist"


CAA releases case files showing Jeremy Corbyn personally responsible for 24 antisemitic incidents, four times more than all candidates for other major parties combined
Campaign Against Antisemitism is today publishing the 29 case files from our database of more than 300 entries. The research, which is available now on our website examines involvement in antisemitic discourse by all parliamentary candidates and party leaders.

The research shows that Jeremy Corbyn is personally responsible for 24 incidents, which is equal to fifteen percent of all recorded incidents involving parliamentary candidates and party leaders. This means that, if Jeremy Corbyn were a political party, the ‘Jeremy Corbyn party’ would be responsible for almost four times more incidents than all the other major parties combined.

Moreover, far from investigating and eliminating antisemitism, Jeremy Corbyn is injecting more of it into Parliament, as 36 percent of incidents across all political parties were committed by Labour’s new candidates, who have not been MPs before.

Overall, Labour Party candidates for Parliament account for 82 percent of all incidents.

Our Antisemitism in Political Parties project is the most comprehensive long-term analysis of antisemitism among the officers of political parties ever undertaken in Britain. It examines officers from party leaders down to those who chair constituency branches of parties, and will be maintained as an online resource indefinitely, for use by journalists, researchers and the public. The project’s core aim is to assess how Britain’s political parties deal with antisemitism, and to publicly display a full ongoing record of antisemitic incidents in all parties.
Massive leak debunks UK Labour’s claim it is dealing with anti-Semitism
Documents refuting claims by Britain’s Labour party that it is adequately dealing with rampant anti-Semitism within the party have been leaked and were reported Sunday, days before the country’s general election.

The leaked files from the main UK opposition party’s internal disciplinary department show that many Labour members, several of whom had called for the extermination of all Jews, remained in the party for months and even over a year and were given a lenient punishment or none at all, according to The Sunday Times.

Jewish groups and others have rung alarm bells over the prospects of party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s promotion to No. 10 Downing Street with increasing distress as the December 12 British election has approached, accusing the far-left politician of allowing a massive rise in anti-Semitism within the ranks of the party, and of being anti-Semitic himself.

While Corbyn has repeatedly claimed that the issue of anti-Semitism was being dealt with in a serious and swift manner, a leaked internal recording from October showed that there were more than 130 outstanding cases, despite the vast majority of them having been reported 18 months prior to that, the report said. One such case has not been ruled upon for more than three years.

Some of the cases involve Labour members calling for the “extermination of every Jew on the planet” and labeling them “bent nose manipulative liars.”
Corbyn's Top 10 Anti-Semitic Incidents
A new anti-Corbyn campaign run by former Labour activists has launched today with a video listing just ten anti-Semitic incidents in Corbyn’s party. The group, called ‘Vote Corbyn Get Racism’ are on Twitter.


Lapid accuses UK Labour leader Corbyn of ‘old-school, plain anti-Semitism’
MK Yair Lapid on Monday called UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a racist and anti-Semite, urging British voters to keep that in mind as they vote for a new government later this week.

“Usually you’re not supposed to interfere with elections in other countries but in this case I’ll make an exception. Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite,” Lapid declared at a Conference of the Israel Allies Foundation, which brings to Israel lawmakers from across the globe who are supportive of the Jewish state.

“The experts on anti-Semitism are Jews. We can tell an anti-Semite when we see one,” said Lapid, who is the centrist Blue and White list’s designated candidate for foreign minister.

“This isn’t even a new form of anti-Semitism. This is old-school, plain anti-Semitism, just using new excuses. Everyone should take this into account going into the voting booth because racists are racists and Jeremy Corbyn is a racist.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far kept mum on the expected outcome of Thursday’s general election in the UK, carefully avoiding speaking on the record about the possibility of Corbyn becoming prime minister.

But Foreign Minister Israel Katz last week said about Corbyn, “I personally hope he doesn’t get elected.”
Maajid Nawaz's powerful monologue on the rise of anti-Semitism
In a powerful speech, Maajid Nawaz spoke of how anti-Semitism is a form of racism that the far left, far right and theocrats all advocate.

Maajid Nawaz asked if there was a point of no return with regards to anti-Semitism in British society - and have we reached it?

He spoke about the "one ring of racism" being anti-Semitism.

He explained why: "Racism against blacks and browns, people of colour, ethnic minorities, whichever word you wish to describe, coming from the right is usually directed from the right to people that look like me.

"But usually the left, the far left even, even the masked Antifa far left, doesn't attack people that look like me.

"On the other hand, if you look to other forms of racism, prejudice and bigotry, perhaps homophobia even, again, there are certain groups of society that discriminate against gay people and certain groups that don't.

"But there's one form of prejudice which, historically and today we witness it, is managing to unite disparate groups.

"Like the one ring that united evil people in Tolkien's saga around the evil Lord of Sauron and that one form of bigotry is anti-Semitism.

"It is no surprise to me that hating Jews is something that those on the far left advocate, those on the far right advocate, and the Islamist theocrats themselves also advocate. (h/t Zvi)
Why we in the Jewish Labour Movement have not campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn
Whatever way you want to spin it, more than 70 whistleblowers aren’t all effectively lying on oath because they want to smear Corbyn, No, they came forward because – like us – they joined the party because they lived its values of equality, tolerance and antiracism. When that turned rotten, when it became a greater priority to protect your political allies than kick bigots out, those whistleblowers, like us, knew they had to act.

Perhaps the most depressing aspect of this campaign has been the arms race of which party is the most racist. The Tories undoubtedly have a deep problem with Islamophobia. People should be aware of that.

But any Labour member who doesn’t think the party shouldn’t be better than the Tories on this issue and should hold themselves to a higher moral standard really needs to check their values. Maybe you think it doesn’t matter, compared with Brexit and the NHS. Maybe you think that as long as the Tories are as bad, it’s a score draw.

But our legal submission makes it clear that Labour’s antisemitism is so all-pervading that, to this day, the party has so actively resisted changing for the better, you can’t pretend it’s all a smear.

The only question remains: what do my fellow members want to do about it? We can’t take a rain check on calling out antisemitism just because the timing is inconvenient. Corbyn and his team have had more than enough time to sort it out. They decided not to.

While we wait for the EHRC to complete its investigation, the judgment on Corbyn’s choice lies with the people. (h/t Zvi)




Corbyn’s 1980s Socialist Newspaper Published Pro-Paedo Articles

Socialist Organiser – a newspaper very closely associated with Jeremy Corbyn – published pro-paedophilia articles in the 1980s, Guido can reveal. At the time of the articles’ publication the early 1980s, Corbyn was one of the most senior members of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory (SCLV). Socialist Organiser was their official newspaper.

Not only did Corbyn regularly write for the paper, he was also listed as a patron, and in December 1979 was elected to the number one spot on SCLV’s Steering Committee, topping the ballot. Socialist Organiser’s mailing address was the office of Hornsey constituency Labour party, where Corbyn served as chairman…

In January 1981, Socialist Organiser published an article by Gerry Byrne, entitled ‘Stop the PIE trial’, which called for the trial of four Executive Committee members of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange to be halted. The article described the proceedings as “a show trial, where what matters…is the creation of an atmosphere of hysteria, sensationalism, and a public cry for blood”. Corbyn remained closely associated with the paper for years after…
Smiles for an Arab, hatred for an Israeli
Over the past few years, I had been compelled to report on anti-Semitism which has been rearing its ugly head in Britain.
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Year after year I have reported about studies full of data on anti-Semitic attacks that have now earned the cleansed term "incidents", but I never thought I would become a statistic in one of these reports.

Last week, as I was making my way home from a movie theatre, two young men and a young woman boarded the bus I was on and sat down near me.

The woman – a white woman I might add – looked at me and smiled. "Are you Arab?" she asked. "No," I replied. "I am Israeli."

At that point, her smile disappeared. She began an impassioned speech against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but I promptly cut her off, saying, "I don’t want to talk about politics."

A few minutes later she attempted to restart the conversation. "I don't want to talk about politics or my country," I said to her in a polite but firm tone.

Then it began. "You are a stinking Jew, f**cking stinking Jew," she shouted at me on the packed bus. "All the f**cking Jews stink."
Brown Student Government Accuses Outside Pro-Israel Group of Intimidation
The student government at Brown University voted on Wednesday to affirm “the autonomy and privacy of University representatives” as it accused an outside pro-Israel group of an “attempt to intimidate” members of the school’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP), which voted on Monday in favor of the BDS movement that aims to boycott Israel.

Although the group was not named during the Undergraduate Council of Students meeting, The Brown Daily Herald reported it is Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF), which has a chapter at the university.

The council accused ACF of sending a student member of ACCRIP around 20 identical emails over several days, calling for the committee to “support the Jewish community at Brown and vote against the action to divest from companies allegedly contributing to human-rights abuses in Palestine.”

ACF Executive Director Avi Gordon said his group “aims to combat bigotry, and promote honest and respectful debate at universities. ACF’s members comprise more than 5,000 alumni who are an integral part of their communities at their alma maters.”
Columbia University, Tel Aviv University Partner to Offer Dual Degree Program
Ivy League institution Columbia University has partnered with Tel Aviv University (TAU) to launch a new dual degree program, the former announced Thursday. The program will welcome its inaugural class in the fall of 2020.

As part of the program, students will spend their first two years at TAU, choosing their focus area in one of several fields including psychology, philosophy, Middle Eastern studies, and life sciences. For the third and fourth year of their studies, the dual degree students will enroll at Columbia’s School of General Studies (GS), where they will select one of Columbia’s liberal arts majors. At the end of the program, students will have earned two separate bachelor’s degrees from each institution. Classes at both institutions will be held in English.
National University of Singapore Partners With Tel Aviv University on Quantum Research
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has signed an agreement for scientific cooperation in the fields of science and quantum research with Tel Aviv University, the latter announced Wednesday.

No additional details of the collaboration were disclosed.

The collaboration will be funded through Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) under under the Singapore Prime Minister’s Office.
In September, Tel Aviv University inaugurated a new Center for Quantum Science and Technology.
The media are helping to normalize antisemitism
A recently leaked report by the Jewish Labor Movement to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the official regulatory body devoted to promoting equality and human rights, included sworn statements by 70 current and former members of the party. They charge Corbyn with “making the party a welcoming refuge for antisemites.” The report noted that there is “an acute problem of abuse directed at Jewish members, simply because they are Jewish.”

As of this writing, The Washington Post has yet to note the leaked EHRC report. Indeed, the tweet accompanying the Post’s November 26 story initially asserted that the British Labour Party has “been hit by claims of antisemitism because of strong statements on Palestinian rights.”
Following contact from CAMERA, the Post issued a correction, noting, “Labour members have been accused of making anti-Jewish statements, which should not have been conflated with statements on Palestinian rights.”

But the newspaper isn’t alone in whitewashing antisemitism from the Left.

Many media outlets devoted considerable coverage to Israel’s decision to bar entry to US congresswomen Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). Both members of Congress support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which, per its co-founder Omar Barghouti, seeks the destruction of the Jewish state. BDS links to terrorist groups have been noted in April 19, 2016 Congressional testimony and elsewhere.

Yet, most major news outlets, including the Post, USA Today and Politico.com, failed to note that Miftah, an organization that has praised suicide bombers and accused Jews of consuming Christian blood, sponsored Omar and Tlaib’s planned trip. USA Today was even provided with documents from NGO Monitor, an organization that tracks non-profits, revealing Miftah’s sordid history – but declined to include that information in an update to an August 15, 2019 dispatch on Omar and Tlaib’s planned trip.

By all counts, it should be newsworthy that two members of Congress planned to go on a trip sponsored by an organization that traffics in blood libels. But when it comes to antisemitism, what “qualifies” as newsworthy is being selectively defined by a fourth estate that is unwilling to detail, much less confront, a virus that has, in living memory, murdered millions.

History will long remember what they’re covering up. And it won’t be forgiving.


MEMRI: Abd Al-Hadi Mahfouz, President Of Lebanese National Media Council: MEMRI Has Great Influence On Global Media, Brought About Removal Of Hamas, Hizbullah Accounts On Social Media
Abd Al-Hadi Mahfouz, the President of the Lebanese National Media Council, participated in a November 6, 2019 Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) discussion about the removal of social media accounts of Hamas, Hizbullah, and Islamic Jihad. Mahfouz said that the world's largest media companies are controlled by the Israeli lobby and, more specifically, by MEMRI, which he described as an international Jewish media institute that has "great influence" on those global media companies. The interview was preceded by a graphic about "digital double standards" that the "resistance" movements are allegedly held to by social media platforms. The graphic also says that U.S. Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick, Josh Gottheimer, Max Rose, and Tom Reed had warned Twitter's CEO that these accounts must be removed from his platform. Mahfouz made similar statements in the past following a Congress bill dealing with incitement by Arab broadcasters: See MEMRI TV Clip 2427 President Of The Lebanese National Media Council Abd Al-Hadi Mahfouz: If US Ends Al-Jazeera's Broadcasting, The Arabs Should End CNN's Broadcasting; Memri Behind Congress Bill.

"There Are Approximately 400 Media Companies That Constitute The Source Of [All] Information"

Abd Al-Hadi Mahfouz: "The media of the resistance have played a major role in exposing the falseness of the claims about the superiority of the Israeli army. The cameramen and the journalists who accompany the armed resistance have been an effective source of information about what is happening on the ground. It should be noted that there are approximately 400 media companies that constitute the source of [all] information. Most of these [companies] are American, European, and Japanese."

The Institute That Controls These Media Companies "Is Called MEMRI, And It Has Great Influence Over These Companies"

"These companies are controlled by the Israeli lobby – more specifically, by a certain Israeli media institute... Rather, it is an international media institute, in the sense that it is Jewish.
Film Version of ‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’ Premieres in Berlin
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is the first children’s book in the trilogy Out of the Hitler Time by Judith Kerr (1923 – 2019), a German-born British writer and illustrator whose books sold more than 10 million copies around the world. Kerr was the daughter of Alfred Kerr, an influential German theater critic and essayist of Jewish descent, who was forced to flee Germany in 1933, to avoid being arrested for his unabashed criticism of the Nazis party.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit was published in 1971, followed by Bombs on Aunt Dainty in 1975, and A Small Person Far Away in 1978. All three were presented by the author as adult books for children.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit had its world premiere in Berlin on Sunday, and will be released throughout Germany on December 26, Deutsche Welle reported. The film was directed by Caroline Link, who directed the Oscar-winning film, Nowhere in Africa (2001).

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit starts in Berlin, in March 1933, when nine-year-old Anna, the main character in the trilogy, finds out one morning that her father is missing. She and her brother, Max, discover that Papa expects Adolf Hitler to win the elections, and so has fled to Prague.

Because the family is of Jewish origin, and Papa is also a well-known critic of the Nazis, should Hitler win the elections, Mama, Max and Anna are instructed to join Papa in Switzerland. If Hitler loses, Papa would come back home to Berlin.
Poland wants to buy site of WWII Nazi death camp in Austria
Poland’s prime minister said Friday his government wants to buy from Austria the site of the former Nazi German death camp Mauthausen-Gusen where tens of thousands of Poles were killed during World War II.

Premier Mateusz Morawiecki said the intention is to preserve the memory of some 120,000 of the camp’s victims, who included many Polish intellectuals.

Set up in 1938 in Austria, Mauthausen-Gusen was the first death camp that Nazi Germany operated in a country that it had occupied. Until its liberation by Allied troops in 1945, some 335,000 people had been held there in conditions that led to massive deaths. The inmates included critics of Nazism, communists, homosexuals, Polish intellectuals, Spaniards and Russian POWs.

Poland’s history-minded government says that contemporary housing developments and business firms that cover a part of the site do not befit its nature. Warsaw has offered to buy the site from Austria in order to preserve it for history, Morawiecki said, but did not explain how the purchase could be carried out.

“We cannot allow this site of a former annihilation camp to be turned into some site not worth memorializing,” Morawiecki said.
In the US, the ‘groyper army’ seeks to make anti-Semitism mainstream
There has been some skilled pushback from mainstream conservatives. When a heckler in Arizona shouted that Crenshaw is “pro-sodomy,” the congressman capably parried.

“Bring it out guys,” Crenshaw said. “Let everybody know who you are.”

Ben Shapiro, the Jewish conservative pundit, last month called out the groypers at an event of the Young American Foundation, another conservative youth movement that has denounced Fuentes. Shapiro noted that despite his best efforts, Fuentes was not always successful at maintaining an ironic distance from his bigotry.

“You also happen to have the unfortunate habit of saying really disgusting things when you think other people aren’t listening,” Shapiro said, recounting an incident in which Fuentes questioned the number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust by considering whether Cookie Monster could have baked six million cookies in five years. Shapiro then quoted a Nazi official describing how Jews were murdered.

“But maybe he was just being ironic, bro,” Shapiro said.
New comic depicts a serial killer targeting Jews in Nazi Paris
Modern-day comparisons of people to Nazis are incredibly common, and many consider this problematic due to the apparent dismissal or understatement of the actual crimes of the Nazis. This is especially true in regard to crimes against Jews and other minorities.

But what if you were someone the Nazis themselves wanted to execute for killing Jews?

This was the case for the Butcher of Paris, a real-life serial killer in occupied Paris that is the subject of an eponymous comic series that is the newest title published by Dark Horse. The Butcher of Paris is written by Stephanie Phillips, drawn by Dean Kotz, colored by Jason Wordie and lettered by Troy Peteri.

And this isn’t a loose adaptation. The entire creative team has worked hard to keep the events as close to history as possible.
Israeli fish farmers give peckish pelicans free lunch
Migratory pelicans have long raided Israeli fish farms, which try to deter them with loudspeakers, laser beams and by firing blank rounds from rifles.

In their desperation, they have come up with another way: offering the birds a free lunch.

An estimated 50,000 pelicans stop off in Israel during their annual migration from the Balkans to Africa, where they enjoy a mild winter before returning to Europe.

They rest and feed in the Middle Eastern country for weeks, causing chaos for fish farmers, whose outdoor commercial pools and reservoirs provide rich pickings.

Before the pelicans reach Israel, "they have nowhere to stop and eat", said Eli Sharir, general manager of the Israel Fish Breeders Association.

The impact on the fish farms is enormous.

"We're talking millions of shekels a year," he said.

So six years ago Israeli fisherman came up with a solution -- providing alternative feed with unmarketable fish to try to keep pelicans away from the commercial pools. (h/t Zvi)
8 Israeli eateries on ‘World’s 50 Best’ Discovery list
The latest restaurant and bar list on the World’s 50 Best Discovery website includes seven Tel Aviv hotspots and one in Jerusalem.

In the bar category for Tel Aviv, Hotel B Berdichevsky’s Bellboy is recommended as a “fun hotel bar” and its “cute little sister” Butler is called a “chic secret bar.” The famed Imperial Craft Cocktail Bar is cited for its “flavour-led fun.”

In the Tel Aviv restaurant category, two Carmel Market eateries made the cut: HaBasta, recognized for its market-to-table small plates, and M25 for its charcoal-grilled prime cuts.

Also in the restaurant category, Pastel at the Tel Aviv Museum complex is recommended for its “modern brasserie masterpieces” and Milgo & Milbar is lauded for its “hip fish dishes.” M&M won a World Luxury Restaurant Award last August.
Automotive giant DENSO eyes deeper collaboration with Israeli start-ups
Japanese automotive manufacturing giant DENSO is planning to increase its collaboration with Israeli start-ups and academic institutions to accelerate the development of advanced mobility technologies.

The world's second largest mobility supplier, employing over 170,000 employees in 35 countries, launched a research and development hub in Tel Aviv in March 2018 - one of five hubs in DENSO's Global Innovation Network.

"DENSO will enhance the activities of its Israel Innovation Lab, bringing in more proof of concepts (PoCs) and joint developments than before,” Hiroshi Naganawa, head of DENSO Israel Innovation Lab, told a DENSO Tech Day meeting at the headquarters of Tel Aviv non-profit Start-Up Nation Central.
Electric Car Giant Tesla Begins Push to Enter Israeli Market
Electric and autonomous car company Tesla is moving forward with its plans to enter the Israeli market. The company has hired local lawyers and custom brokers to accompany Tesla Europe representatives from the Netherlands to meetings with the Israeli ministries of transportation and energy, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke to Calcalist on condition of anonymity. The purpose of the meetings was to examine the legal demands Tesla will face as a local car distributor, the people said.

Up until recently, Israeli law required companies importing cars to have at least 90% of their shares owned by Israelis, but, since September, a company only needs to be headed by an Israeli to operate. Last month, Tesla incorporated locally as Tesla Motors Israel. The company has also begun searching for a country manager, posting a wanted ad on its website.

One hurdle Tesla must surpass as it enters Israel is finding a way to service its vehicles. While Tesla is not required to set up its own auto repair shops in Israel and can in theory partner with existing shops, it has not been able to find shops that can adhere to its standards in Israel, the people familiar with the matter said. Shops already licensed to treat electric vehicles are bound by contracts with Tesla’s competitors that will not allow them to partner with the new local player, the people added.
Israeli, U.S. Researchers Develop Technology to Unblock Airways
Israeli and U.S. researchers have developed a new technology to unblock and remove secretions from the respiratory tract, Ben Gurion University (BGU) in southern Israel said on Sunday.

Researchers said the solution will allow children and infants suffering from respiratory tract diseases, such as bronchiolitis, asthma, cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), to breathe freely.

Statistics show that COPD affects over 5 percent of the population of Israel and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates.

The new technology, developed by researchers from the BGU, Soroka Medical Center, CBGUincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati in the United States, also prevents complications and shortens hospitalization periods. (h/t Zvi)
Israeli high school students to launch self-made satellite from Sriharikota
Jointly built by Herzliya Science Center and Sha’ar HaNegev High School students, the satellite is designed to help children “observe the Earth”.

Three youngsters from an Israeli school will travel to India next week to launch a satellite — Duchifat 3 — designed and built by them aboard PSLV C48 from ISRO’s Sriharikota launch site.

Alon Abramovich, Meitav Assulin and Shmuel Aviv Levi, all 17 to 18 years old, are students of Sha’ar HaNegev High school in Israel’s southern region. They will be leaving for India on the evening of December 9 while the satellite launch is on December 11.

Duchifat 3 is the third in the series of Israeli student-made satellites.

Jointly built by Herzliya Science Center and Sha’ar HaNegev High School students, the satellite is designed to serve children from across the country to “observe the Earth”. (h/t Zvi)
Israel welcomes Lebanon-born businessman who bought and is donating Hitler items
Hitler artifacts that a Swiss-Lebanese businessman purchased from a controversial German auction house in November will be donated to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, the head of the institution said on Sunday.

Abdalla Chatila, who has amassed his wealth from diamonds and real estate in Geneva, purchased 10 items associated with the Nazi fuhrer on November 20 from the Munich-based Hermann Historica auction house. He later announced that he acquired them to keep them away from neo-Nazis.

“We are not going to display it as a collection,” Avner Shalev, the chairman of Yad Vashem, told reporters alongside Chatila at the Keren Hayesod association’s headquarters in Jerusalem, while noting that the museum may use one or more of the artifacts in “the right context of telling the story of the perpetrators.”

Chatila, who toured Yad Vashem on Sunday and intends to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in January, said that he considered the prospect of the artifacts landing in “the wrong hands” a “potential lethal injustice.”
Why Did This Lebanese Businessman Donate Hitler's Items to Israel?
A wealthy Lebanese-Swiss businessman said Sunday he had bought Adolf Hitler's top hat and other Nazi artifacts to give them to Jewish groups and prevent them falling into the hands of a resurgent far-right. Abdallah Chatila arrived in Israel as a guest of Israeli Keren HaYesod organization, after purchasing the objects in a November 20 sale at a Munich auction house and deciding to donate them to the Jewish people -- instead of burning them. He spent about $660,000 for eight objects connected to Hitler, including the collapsible top hat. Chatila met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and paid a visit to Yad Vashem Museum. “It is a great honor to be here,” Chatila said at the president’s residence in Jerusalem, according to Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.




Gal Gadot goes retro in new Wonder Woman trailer
The new Wonder Woman 1984 trailer has landed on the internet, giving the audience a sneak peek into what the movie might hold.

With techno music and an 80s aesthetic, the new trailer shows us how things have changed for the character since the first movie. Israeli actress Gal Gadot elaborated at the Brazil comic con: “[Wonder Woman is] quite lonely, she’s lost all of her friends over the years, and she’s doing what she needs to do.”

According to the small amount of information revealed by Warner Bros., which owns the movie rights, Wonder Woman will be fighting both the Soviet Union during the cold war, and her long time comic book enemy, Cheetah. The movie premiers on June 4, 2020.

Gal Gadot is a former model who served in the IDF as a combat instructor, which helped get her a role in the movie “Fast Five”. She won the title of “Miss Israel” in 2004 and gained much attention after being cast as Wonder Woman for the 2017 film.




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