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Saturday, December 14, 2019

12/14 Links: Bernie Sanders Has a Big Jeremy Corbyn Problem; Jersey Mayor: Gunmen wanted to target next door yeshiva with 50 kids inside; Adam Sandler's frenetic new film ‘Uncut Gems’

From Ian:
Melanie Phillips: The British working-class saves Britain – and its Jews
Among shallow, tunnel-visioned Corbyn supporters, the Chief Rabbi’s plea not to vote for Corbyn merely served to identify British Jews with the Conservatives and therefore with right-wing capitalism.

But the northern working-class was having none of that. For them, the antisemitism scandal confirmed their view that the Jews were the potential victims of bad forces within the Muslim world just like them, and were also the victims of those trying to silence such concerns by claims of “Islamophobia”.

In fact, these decent working people would doubtless be baffled to learn that most British Jews are on the other side of that particular issue. Its leaders grotesquely equate antisemitism with Islamophobia, and hardly breathe a word about Muslim antisemitism.

And most British Jews voted Remain. For although the Jewish community has mostly voted Conservative since the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, it also mostly subscribes to liberal universalist principles that seek to erase national borders because it believes that affinity to the nation-state creates nationalism and antisemitism.

Such British Jews thus deny the facts staring them in the face and which have caused them so much fear and grief: that liberal universalists are now the principal incubators of antisemitism.

The seismic shift at this election may herald a realignment of British politics along the lines envisaged by the thinking known as “Blue Labour”.

This embodies the insight that working-class communities have always been innately small-c conservatives deeply attached to traditional values. Consequently, Blue Labour stresses personal responsibility and attachments to family, community and nation. And of course, these are at root Jewish values – the very ones that have been under assault from liberal universalists for decades.

Corbyn has been defeated. That danger has now passed. But the antisemitism remains; and the culture war over the soul of Britain and the west goes on.

Noah Rothman: Bernie Sanders Has a Big Jeremy Corbyn Problem
Don’t take my word for it; take that of Sanders’s own surrogates. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of Sanders’s most visible endorsers with whom the senator frequently shares the stage, has apologized for some of what she’s admitted were anti-Semitic remarks. Or, if that’s not good enough, take the Democratic Party’s verdict. Those anti-Jewish slights for which Omar declined to show remorse had been targeted by her fellow caucus members for censure before a revolt of the party’s progressives and Black Caucus Members scuttled the initiative.

Amid the failed Democratic effort to condemn Omar, Sanders’s foreign-policy adviser, Matt Duss, attacked the maneuver as one purely designed to “police criticism of Israel.” It is worth recalling that the remark Duss considers scrutiny of Israel was Omar’s claim that pro-Israel lawmakers exhibit an “allegiance to a foreign country.”

Duss joins Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, as two of the more prominent members of the Sanders team who have been implicated in the propagation of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In 2012, when Duss served as the Center for American Progress’ Middle East director and Shakir edited the organization’s blog, Think Progress, the institution’s writers were accused of drafting statements that groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center regard as indicative of anti-Jewish bias.

Another Sanders endorser and surrogate on the stump, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, is similarly implicated in blurring the lines between opposition to Israel and anti-Semitism. The congresswoman has made absurd and callous claims about the Holocaust, shared anti-Semitic artwork online, approvingly compared the often anti-Semitic (according to the ADL) Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement to the Boston Tea Party, and blamed the massacre of Jews at a Jersey City kosher market on “white supremacy” (the alleged perpetrators killers in fact associated with the hate group Black Hebrew Israelites).

Sanders may be insulated from the charge that he shares these suspicious sentiments because he is Jewish, but this clear pattern raises some disturbing questions. It is incumbent on the press to ask them. To at least a degree, Sanders clearly evinces some of Corbyn’s instincts on policy, but his affiliations suggest a similar tolerance for the radical left’s occasionally anti-Semitic indulgences.

Sanders stands a good chance of winning his party’s presidential nomination, and any major-party nominee can win the White House. If the Democratic Party is on the verge of succumbing to the same sordid temptations that consumed the Labour Party, the public deserves a full understanding of all that would entail. In that event, the abolition of private health insurance might be the least of our worries.
An American Corbyn? Jewish Groups Demand Sanders Abandon Anti-Semitic Surrogates
The same day Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was going down to defeat in Great Britain — in part due to his party’s uncomfortably close relationship with anti-Semitism — an American Jewish group became the latest to demand Corbyn’s ally Sen. Bernie Sanders disavow his anti-Semitic surrogates and supporters in the 2020 presidential campaign.

In recent days, two Jewish organizations publicly condemned Sen. Bernie Sanders’ association with two different campaign surrogates accused of anti-Semitism, the latest in a series of controversies involving bigotry by Bernie supporters.

Sanders’ troubles began Thursday with a statement from J’accuse Coalition for Justice, a think tank dedicated to combating anti-Semitism, over Sanders’ decision to campaign with notorious anti-Semitic congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in the key primary state of New Hampshire.

“Given the critical role New Hampshire plays in shaping our presidential elections, Democratic primary voters have an obligation to hold Senator Bernie Sanders accountable for the people he associates with his campaign,” Executive director Zach Schapira told InsideSources. “Now, in the immediate aftermath of the most recent anti-Semitic attack in Jersey City, it feels particularly insensitive for him to choose to appear alongside someone who has had a troubled history with anti-Semitism.”

A day earlier, the American Jewish Congress released a letter urging the Vermont senator to stop using anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour as a campaign surrogate as well. Sarsour, who the group describes as having “a long history of flagrant anti-Semitism and hatred for the State of Israel,” campaigns for Sanders.



Jersey City mayor: Gunmen wanted to target next door yeshiva with 50 kids inside
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Friday that he believes that the two gunmen who attacked a kosher store in the city, killing three people inside, were actually planning to target a yeshiva next door that had 50 children inside at the time of the assault.

“My opinion is that as more info comes out it’ll become increasingly clear that the target was the 50 children at the Yeshiva attached to that store.” Fulop, who is Jewish, tweeted: “We will never know 100% but the doorway to the yeshiva was 3 feet away + it seems he goes in that direction 1st.”

Fulop said that if police had not managed to trap attackers in store, the result would have been much worse.

“This is a horrible tragedy but even in so much darkness with lives lost there is some light in that without question had the bravery/quick response of the police not trapped them in the store this could have been much much worse,” he said.


Jersey City market employee was killed after helping save wounded Jewish victim
Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, a 49-year-old father who died in the shooting at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, helped save a wounded Jewish customer, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

According to the report, Chaim Deutsch arrived at the JC Kosher Supermarket on Tuesday afternoon with his cousin Moshe, who was killed in the Tuesday attack. Deutsch was wounded and fled toward the back door, which Rodriguez, a non-Jewish immigrant from Ecuador who worked at the store, held open for him. Deutsch was able to escape to safety, but Rodriguez was shot and killed as he attempted to flee.

The Daily News report was based on the account of Chaim Fried, a Jersey City resident who heard the story from Deutsch at a Jersey City hospital on Tuesday night.

“When the shooting started, he opened the door so [Deutsch] could run out,” Fried said. “And Miguel got shot at the door. He was going to run out but Miguel got shot before he could escape. He was shot, and he fell to the ground.”
‘Miracle’ Door That Prevented Yom Kippur Massacre at German Synagogue to Become Work of Art
The enormous door at the entrance to the main synagogue in the central German city of Halle that withstood the neo-Nazi gunman who attempted to massacre worshipers on Yom Kippur this year is to be turned into a symbolic art object, the head of the Jewish community announced on Friday.

More than 50 people were attending services on Oct. 9 to mark Judaism’s holiest day when the gunman — Stephan Balliet — tried to break into the building, in an attack that was livestreamed on the internet.

Foiled by the heavy security door to the synagogue, Balliet subsequently murdered a 40-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man who were in the vicinity of the building.

The transformation of the door into an art work was announced by the head of Halle’s Jewish community, Max Privorozki, who added that the exact nature and location of the project was still to be determined.

“Maybe we will put the door in the courtyard outside, so that when you come to the synagogue, you can see how this door saved us,” Privorozki said.

The door had previously been hailed as the “miracle of Halle” by Bishop Friedrich Kramer of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. But other observers took a more critical perspective, arguing that the security door’s effectiveness had masked the failure of German law enforcement agencies to properly protect the country’s Jewish communities.

“Only one door prevented the death of 50 Jews in the middle of Germany on the most holy day of the Jewish calendar,” Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, commented in the wake of the attack.
Concern at anti-Semitism extended beyond Jews, played a key role in Corbyn loss



David Horovitz: Corbyn, and the anti-Semitism swirling around him, repudiated in Johnson victory
Anti-Semitism reverberated beyond the Jewish electorate

Political experts linked the anti-Semitism crisis which has roiled Labour under Corbyn’s leadership to the party’s defeat.

“Voters have cared about the anti-Semitism issue beyond the Jewish community,” argued the BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, as the scale of Labour’s defeat began to unfold. Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary, similarly suggested anti-Semitism had played a big part in the rout Labour suffered.

The Jewish Labour Movement demanded Corbyn resign, saying in a statement: “After this historic election defeat, Jeremy Corbyn must stand down immediately. His team and supporters who have been responsible for Labour’s moral and political failures must take responsibility themselves for allowing five more years of Tory rule.”

In a message of congratulations to Johnson, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Marie van del Zyl, said that “history will not look kindly on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, where anti-Jewish racism has been allowed to run amok.”

The result will also be warmly welcomed in Jerusalem given Corbyn’s fierce anti-Zionism and deep antipathy towards Israel. The Conservatives are pledged to ban local authorities from boycotting Israeli goods. Labour, by contrast, had vowed if it won to ban settlement goods and immediately recognize a Palestinian state, curtail some arms sales to Israel and adopt a more hostile stance towards the Jewish state at the United Nations.
Far-Left French Leader Blames Israeli 'Networks' for Corbyn Defeat
Leader of the far-left France Insoumise (Unsubmissive France) Jean-Luc Mélenchon has taken a leaf out of Ken Livingstone’s book by blaming an Israeli right-wing party for Jeremy Corbyn’s election defeat.

In a long-form post published to his official Facebook page on Friday, the far-leftist claimed that Corbyn had appeared “weak” before the electorate because he remained silent in the face of accusations of antisemitism from the UK’s chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. He further claimed that the party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the centre-right Likud Party — had “influential networks” operating in the UK.

Mr Mélenchon said: “Corbyn spent his time being insulted and stabbed in the back by a handful of Blairite MPs. Instead of fighting back, he remained composed. He had to face the crude accusations of antisemitism, without defence, from the Chief Rabbi of England and the various influential networks of Likud…

“Instead of fighting back, he spent his time apologising and giving guarantees. In both cases, he displayed a weakness that worried voters.”

The far-leftist then proceeded to say that he would not be forced to “genuflect before the arrogant orders of CRIF communitarians”, CRIF, or the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, being the official French affiliate of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).
Bernie Sanders has an anti-Semitism problem
Bernie Sanders may be ethnically Jewish, but his campaign is rapidly turning out to be the most anti-Semitic in decades.

The latest scandal to rock the Vermont senator's campaign is his overnight reversal on endorsing Cenk Uygur, the Armenian genocide-denying founder of liberal news network The Young Turks. Sanders retracted his endorsement of Uygur for California's 35th congressional seat since vacated by Katie Hill, after rare bipartisan backlash.

Among other malfeasance, Uygur has written countless misogynist screeds, advocated for the legalization of bestiality, and perhaps most alarmingly, favorably interviewing former KKK leader David Duke.

Even if Uygur had given Duke a challenging interview, it's still irresponsible to give Duke and his ilk a platform.

In a vacuum, that Bernie even gave this thug the time of day at all would have been bad enough. Uygur's misogyny and general grossness has been well-known for years, but his anti-Semitism is just a part of a pattern of the vile creatures Sanders has now surrounded himself with.
Government antisemitism adviser to launch hate probe into The Canary and other far-left websites
John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, is to launch a probe into the role of the Canary and other far-left websites in the growth of Jew-hate in the UK.

The former Labour MP resigned from Parliament in September in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's failure to tackle rampant antisemitism within the party.

Lord Mann – who was MP for Bassetlaw for 18 years and was made an independent peer in October – wrote on Twitter on Friday: “I can this morning announce that as government adviser on antisemitism that I will be instigating an investigation this January into the role of the Canary and other websites in the growth of antisemitism in the United Kingdom.”

Lord Mann’s announcement included a repost of a tweet by Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Editor-in-Chief of the Canary, accusing Jewish Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland of “manufacturing” the election result.

Ms Mendoza has repeatedly defended former MP Chris Williamson and other Labour figures accused of antisemitism.

Lord Mann told the JC in an interview in September: "When Corbyn goes the problem doesn't go with Corbyn.
Three guesses who is to blame, and the first two don’t count. By Jeremy Corbyn (satire)
Yesterday the Progressive Community was hit by a Disaster, a Naqba if you will. Labour lost huge swathes of Districts across the Nation. You see, Labour’s loss affected me deeply. I truly felt pain. A stabbing pain. In the back to be precise. But today we must take stock of our losses and identify just how this happened to us. Or more appropriately, who did this to us. Walking in the Heath yesterday, I had some time to reflect, and had an epiphany. I believe that I know the root cause of our loss. I will give you three guesses who is to blame for our calamity, but the first two don’t count.

Perhaps there is a group of people out there. A bit different. Unfamiliar with British irony. Perhaps they live clustered along a certain rail line in London. Just for the sake of argument, let’s say the Northern Line. I had a chance to discuss this with Ken Livingstone last night at Momentum’s weekly potluck and he seemed to be two steps ahead of me. He truly has a talent for seeing hidden truths. I believe the younger people would call this “being Woke”. But anyway, we agreed there was a group of people out there. People with a knack for finances. People who also live in a certain country along the Western Mediterranean Coast. But not Lebanon or Syria.

Our friends in Hamas and Hezbollah have perhaps an even keener insight into this group of people. In fact I was simply delighted to learn that Hamas even included folktales about these people in their Charter. I simply did not know how ecologically-minded Hamas was until I heard their folklore about the group of people whom we are currently discussing and how even the rocks and the trees of Palestine knew what we in Britain are just learning now. Fascinating. Simply fascinating.

Have you guessed yet?
Israel is missing the opportunity of the century
We have always accused the Palestinians of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This is an accurate if sad assessment of their predicament, and a consequence of having a morally bankrupt leadership. At every given juncture when Palestinian leaders were given the choice between conflict and stability, they chose conflict. When they had the choice between statehood and terrorism, they chose terrorism. Ultimately their people have suffered because of the intransigence and plain selfishness of their leaders.

I shudder to compare any Israeli leadership to that of the Palestinians, but the people of Israel are currently victims of a different sort of intransigence from our own leaders. We are caught in a political deadlock that is freezing the development of our country, and which will very soon affect our ability to function on a day-to-day basis. We are quickly approaching the reality of no new budgets in both government ministries and municipal authorities.

But even worse, the lack of a functioning, stable government has led us to a historic blunder. We are missing what may very well be the opportunity of the century. With each passing day we are missing the opportunity to benefit from the partnership of the most pro-Israel administration is US history.

Like many politicians on the Right in Israel, I too hope that President Trump is re-elected for another term. But as we know, elections are unpredictable. What is crystal-clear is that we are wasting every hour of every day that we could be could be using to create a better Israel because we are stuck on silly infighting and ego wars.

In the few short years of the Trump administration we have scored more diplomatic achievements than ever in the history of our people, short of creating our own state. Things move slowly in government – processes are put in place that take decades to bear fruit, to shift minds and find budgets to build consensus.
In Face of US Opposition, UN Renews Scandal-Ridden Palestinian Refugee Aid Agency
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly renewed the mandate for a UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees for another three years amid misconduct allegations and a cash shortfall triggered by a halt in US funding.

The mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was extended until June 30, 2023, with 169 votes in favor and nine abstentions, while the United States and Israel voted against.

UNRWA, which as established in 1949, provides education, health and relief services as well as housing and microfinance assistance to more than 5 million registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The agency has faced budgetary difficulties since last year, when the United States — its biggest donor — halted its aid of $360 million per year. The United States and Israel have both accused UNRWA of mismanagement and anti-Israel incitement.

The Islamist group Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, hailed the UN vote as a defeat for the United States and a failure of its attempts to pressure UN member-states against UNRWA.

“We welcome the decision to renew the international mandate to UNRWA and we see it as another failure to hostile US policies to the Palestinian rights,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Palestinians, Jordan welcome UN vote to renew UNRWA mandate
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday welcomed the United Nations vote to extend the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) mandate until 2023 and said it was "a clear message to the international community that the resolutions of international legitimacy are not subject to bargaining or extortion.”

Noting that 169 countries voted in favor of the resolution, Abbas said that this was proof that the entire world stands by the Palestinians, their historical rights and just their just cause.

The vote, he said, “represents a victory for international law and the rights of the Palestinian refugees until their issue is resolved in accordance with UN resolutions.”

Abbas thanked the countries that voted in favor of the resolution and urged the international community to work toward a “just solution to the Palestinian cause to achieve peace, security and stability in the region.”

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said that the overwhelming vote in favor of extending the mandate of UNRWA “represents a victory of international legitimacy and a defeat for political and financial extortion.”
Ignoring Rest of World, UN General Assembly Approves Eight Anti-Israel Resolutions
The UN General Assembly on Friday approved eight anti-Israel resolutions that were adopted last month by its Decolonization Committee, in a session that focused exclusively on the Jewish state’s alleged violations of humanitarian law while ignoring the rest of the world.

The texts condemned Israel for “repressive measures” against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, and renewed the mandates of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the Palestinian refugee agency currently mired in a corruption scandal — and the UN’s “special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories,” a body first created in 1968.

A prominent human rights watchdog on Friday labeled the fixation with Israel at the proceedings of the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee “surreal.”

“Last month, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group assaulted Israeli civilians with a barrage of 400 rockets — while the UN’s General Assembly and Human Rights Council stayed silent,” Hillel Neuer — executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch — declared in a statement on Friday.

“The world body now adds insult to injury by adopting eight lopsided condemnations, whose only purpose is to demonize the Jewish state,” Neuer asserted.

Neuer highlighted the fact that one of the resolutions — condemning Israel for so-called “repressive measures” against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights — was drafted and co-sponsored by the Iranian-backed regime of President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

“It’s astonishing,” Neuer said. “After the Syrian regime has killed half a million of its own people, how can the UN call for more people to be handed over to Assad’s rule?”


Palestinian Authority arrests scores of Hamas supporters
Palestinian Authority security forces arrested dozens of Hamas supporters in the West Bank in the past few days.
The arrests came as Hamas celebrated the 32nd anniversary of its founding by holding mass rallies in the Gaza Strip.

At least 66 Hamas supporters have been arrested or summoned for interrogation by PA security forces in recent days, according to Hamas spokesman Abdel Rahman Shadid.

He warned that the crackdown would have a negative impact on PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.

Hamas has welcomed Abbas’s initiative, saying it was planning to participate in the upcoming elections.

Shadid said, however, that the PA campaign against Hamas supporters does not bode well for the prospects of holding a free and fair vote.




Khaled Abu Toameh: Iran's Plan to Foil the Gaza Ceasefire
The protesters are saying, in other words, that the Iranian people are fed up watching their country deliver hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist groups instead of improving the economic situation in Iran.

iran is apparently determined to pursue its goal of exporting its "Islamic Revolution" to as many Arab countries as possible, including the Palestinian arena. Another Iranian goal: the elimination of Israel.

This is how Iran's leaders see the situation: "We are not sending these groups and militias cash and guns so that they can strike ceasefire deals."

That is why it is safe to assume that even if the Egyptians manage to secure any kind of a ceasefire between the Palestinian groups and Israel, the leaders of Tehran will do their utmost to obstruct such an agreement.
Hatem Bazian's BDS feta fail at Trader Joes
Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner Hatem Bazian has issued a call-out on his Facebook page to boycott Trader Joe's for daring to stock Israeli feta cheese.

Hatem writes
"Trader Joe’s is having Israeli Feta on its shelves! One more reason to stop shopping at the store. "

Hatem has tagged a short list of friends and colleagues to help promote the boycott of the beloved Trader Joes grocery chain.

Hatem may not remember the 2009 BDS action against Trader Joes. Trader Joes refused to be bullied and promoted the products with floor to ceiling displays. Consumers followed with a "buycott' that ultimately lead to Israeli products sold out from stores coast to coast. In their zeal to be supportive, people bought cases of Israeli couscous. They began asking "what is this small grain and what do I do with it?" Shortly after, recipes began appearing in the blogsphere.

It was, as they say, a BDS fail of epic proportion, and a triumph of community led-grassroots activism.

The BDS cru retreated rapidly, sipping their kombucha and plaintively whimpering for their moms.

Since 2009, Trader Joes has added many more Israeli products to their shelves.
CAMERA Prompts NY Times Correction on BDS Goals
CAMERA secured a correction from the New York Times the after an editorial had downplayed the extremist goals of the anti-Israel boycott movement.

The Dec. 12 editorial had characterized the so-called BDS campaign as merely “a movement advocating economic measures opposing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.” In fact, the BDS campaign has made perfectly clear — including in a letter to the editor published in the Times — that its aim is not an end to the occupation and create a Palestinian state alongside Israel but rather a series of measures that amount to an end to the Jewish majority and the Jewish state. And it has made clear that the “economic measures” it insists on would continue even if the occupation of the West Bank were to end.

According to an Editors’ Note now appended to the editorial, a passage elaborating on BDS’s goals was unintentionally removed from the piece. In the current version of the editorial, the claim that BDS opposes the occupation remains, but it is followed by language highlighting BDS supporters’ opposition to Israel’s existence and the widely held view that BDS is antisemitic:
The campaign’s Palestinian founders initially called for changes in Israeli policies, but many supporters have taken it up to oppose Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Many supporters of Israel have said the boycott movement is anti-Semitism in disguise.
Another chapter in a story the BBC stopped reporting in 2014
When the BBC News website last reported on the story in November 2014 it informed audiences that:

“…lawyers representing the Comoros vowed to appeal against the decision, saying it was a “struggle for justice, humanity and honour”.

“Our struggle is not over. We will appeal to a higher court for a review and hopefully achieve a favourable result,” attorney Ramazan Ariturk said.”

Insofar as we aware, the BBC News website did not produce any follow-up reporting relating to that story throughout the last five years. Nevertheless, in a backgrounder published in June 2016, it once again chose to promote the notion of “war crimes” – despite no investigation having been carried out by the ICC.

“In November 2014, a preliminary examination by the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor concluded that it should not take further action despite a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes… were committed”, because it had to prioritise war crimes on a larger scale.”

Although that backgrounder remains available online, the BBC has not made any effort to date to update it with the news that the case has so far been rejected by the ICC three times.
Radio Canada Issues Corrective For Failing to Mention Syrian Rockets Fired at Israel
HonestReporting Canada is pleased to report that Radio-Canada has recognized its mistake and issued the following corrective (our translation below):

“Our account of the political crisis shaking in Israel contained an inaccuracy. Towards the end of the report, journalist Sylvain Desjardins discussed military tensions involving Israel in the region. He referred to a ‘… response to a Hamas assault in Palestine …’ and the bombing by the Israeli army of ‘Iranian positions in Syria …’ For the sake of precision, it should have been added that the attack in Syria followed rockets fired against Israel the day before.”

“Notre récit sur la crise politique secouant Israël contenant une imprécision. Vers la fin du reportage, le journaliste Sylvain Desjardins abordait les tensions militaires impliquant Israël dans la région. Il a évoqué sa « …réplique aux assauts du Hamas en Palestine… » et les bombardements, par l’armée israélienne, « des positions iraniennes en Syrie… ». Par souci de précision, il aurait fallu ajouter que l’attaque en Syrie faisait suite à des tirs de roquettes contre Israël, la veille.”

We commend Radio-Canada for taking this remedial action to set the record straight.
MEMRI: Fascist, Neo-Nazi Vlogger On BitChute Aims To Appeal To Young Viewers; Promotes White Supremacism; Calls On 'Aryans' To Carry Out Violent Acts Against Communists, Women, Media; Warns Of 'America's Kristallnacht' Following 2020 Reelection Of President Trump
Since December 2018, "KommandantBase211" has been posting fascist and white supremacist videos on the BitChute website,[1] where he has 789 subscribers. He also has accounts on Minds[2] (146 subscribers) and Gab[3] (six followers), but these accounts have been inactive since May 2019. On his BitChute account he asks readers to "contact the Kommandant and other Base 211 personnel at" an email address on the ProtonMail encrypted email platform.[4]

The name KommandantBase211 refers to this user's claim that he is kommandant (commander) of "Base 211" or "Station 211," which according to conspiracy theories was a Nazi military base in Antarctica[5] where the Nazis experimented with and created weapons using "secret" technologies – for example the "Haunebu," which is supposed to be a kind of UFO or flying saucer. As part of this persona, KommandantBase211 also claims to be over 100 years old.

KommandantBase211's appearance and voice are very distinct. His voice is artificially distorted, sounding unearthly. He wears a black leather suit and helmet, and a black leather gas-mask type mask with a filter and hose is fitted with blinking lights for eyes. He wears the Black Sun symbol over his right collarbone and the Life/Death Rune symbol over his left collarbone, as well as the totenkopf – German for skull and crossbones – used in many white supremacy circles, on his helmet. In the background is a large Black Sun symbol.
German ‘Nazi grandma’ denied early prison release
A German court decided Wednesday that a notorious 91-year-old neo-Nazi serving a two-year sentence for Holocaust denial shouldn’t be released early.

“Nazi grandma” Ursula Haverbeck was convicted of incitement by a court in the northern town of Verden in 2017 and started serving her sentence last year.

Haverbeck has repeatedly asserted that the Auschwitz death camp was just a work camp. She has been convicted several times but long avoided prison due to lengthy appeals. Germany’s highest court threw out her case against the Verden conviction.

It is common in Germany for people to be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. But news agency dpa reported that the state court in Bielefeld, where she is in prison, said Wednesday it has decided not to release Haverbeck in January. It didn’t give reasons for the decision.

Haverbeck’s sentence is due to end next November.
Israel hails UNESCO’s rejection of Belgian carnival over anti-Semitism
Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Saturday welcomed the UN cultural body’s decision to remove a Belgian carnival from its world heritage list over its anti-Semitic displays.

“I welcome the right and moral decision to remove the carnival from the Intangible Cultural Heritage list,” Katz said in a statement.

“In the 21st century, as anti-Semitism attempts to rear its ugly head, there is no place for tolerance on the phenomenon,” he said. “We expect the Belgian government to voice a clear and decisive position against the inclusion of anti-Semitic displays at the carnival.”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Friday withdrew an annual carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst from its heritage list.

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage said it was removing the carnival “over recurring repetition of racist and anti-Semitic representations” at the event.
Successful Heart Surgery Using Sound Waves Takes Place for First Time in Israel
A cardiac catheterization using sound waves was successfully performed for the first time in Israel on Sunday by the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

The procedure was done to treat a complex case of severe arterial congestion, reported the Tazpit News Agency.

The 66-year-old patient had calcium build-up, and doctors used special equipment developed by SHOCKWAVE after a previously performed catheterization failed to help the issue.

The treatment consists of “the deployment of a tiny balloon filled with fluid and tiny balls at the point where there is a build-up of calcium within the artery,” according to Tazpit. “After the balloon is in place, sound waves are triggered to create a rapid movement of the balls which create cracks in the calcium inside the artery. The cracks allow for the elasticity of the artery and the insertion of a stent in the same location, without damaging the artery.”

Dr. Yaron Almagor, director of the Catheterization Unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, said the new method is “significant news for many patients who have up until now had to undergo complex treatments and surgeries.”
Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod brings its talent to Morocco
Despite massive pressure to cancel its participation and cries from BDS activists to boycott the festival, Israeli Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod performed at the Andalussyat Festival in Casablanca, Morocco and garnered praise for producing and performing the opening concert earlier this month.

The orchestra, which performed on December 4, only made the news public on Wednesday after all its members returned home safely.

The Israeli musicians who performed Andalussyat music, the musical style that evolved in Muslim-Spain in the 9th century, were warmly accepted in Casablanca for their choice to bring the Jewish traditions of that musical style back home.

During the Almoravid dynasty of the 11th century, North Africa and Spain were united under Muslim rule, which is why Andalussyat music is a vital cultural tradition in Morocco.

Among Jews with North African heritage, Andalussyat music is widely used in religious music. This made the 16th edition of the Musiques Andalouses festival a rare opportunity for residents of Morocco to re-experience the wide cultural diversity that once flourished there.


Adam Sandler dishes on plunging into the Safdies’ frenetic new film ‘Uncut Gems’
Adam Sandler was waiting to be thrown into a midtown fountain on Sixth Avenue for a scene in Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Uncut Gems” when he noticed a familiar face on the sidewalk.

The Safdies like to capture as much authentic New York energy as possible in their films and frequently plant their cameras across the block for scenes like the one Sandler was about to shoot. So Sandler was hiding in a parked car, trying not arouse any attention, when he called out to the passerby.

“I say, ‘Lorne!’ He looks in the car and gets in and talked to me for a minute,” recalls Sandler of spotting his old “Saturday Night Live” boss, Lorne Michaels. “I said I’m doing this movie — I’m going to fill you in on the young and the hip — with the Safdie brothers.’”

“He goes, (here Sandler dons the requisite Michaels impression) ‘I know the Safdie brothers. They grew up in my building,’” Sandler says, laughing and shaking his head. “I can never get anything over on Lorne. I thought I had one cool thing.”

The central setting of “Uncut Gems” — the 47th St. diamond district — is just a short walk from the NBC studios at 30 Rockefeller Center where Sandler broke through in the early 1990s on “Saturday Night Live.” As far as Sandler has traveled since then — and his latest will strike many as his greatest departure yet — the wild, chaotic, unhinged “Uncut Gems” is just a stone’s throw from Sandler’s beginnings.

It’s not that Sandler hasn’t since proven his considerable dramatic range. Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” revealed the sensitivity beneath the genial man-child persona of his comedies. And while Sandler has never strayed from stand-up or the broader comedies he’s currently churning out for Netflix, he has consistently dipped his toe into drama every few years, including the James L. Brooks romantic comedy “Spanglish” (2004), Judd Apatow’s meta comedy “Funny People” (2009) and Noah Baumbach’s family drama “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” (2017).

But the scuzzy, frenetic neo-realism of the Safdie brothers is something else, entirely. In it, Sandler stars as Howard Ratner, a gemstone merchant and compulsive gambler whose wide web of debts, betrayals and schemes render his life a mad scramble. He’s like a plate-spinner who drops every plate but keeps throwing up five more. His downfall, and perhaps his destiny, is perpetually and harrowingly close at hand.


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