What Did Mike Pompeo Mean?
In his November statement, Pompeo noted that the settlements are not “per se” illegal; meaning that they are not in themselves intrinsically illegal. Last Wednesday, the Secretary of State said that the settlements were not “inherently” illegal; meaning in a permanent, immutable, or fundamental way. Kinda sounds like the same idea, different day.
Kontorovich further places great stock in the combined effect of Pompeo simultaneously “disavowing” any and all legal or other reasoning in the Hansell memo concluding that the settlements are, de facto (a third semantic variation to consider), illegal.
As I understand the combined effect, the language remains somewhat equivocal, leaving Pompeo some “wiggle room” for future negotiations, interpretations, whatevers. Per se/inherently a distinction without a difference.
Pompeo explicitly rejects the Hansell memo. But he stops short of an unequivocal declaration on the legality of all settlement activity by qualifying them as not being inherently illegal. Otherwise, why split hairs? Why not just omit “inherently”?
I know from direct experience that there are many Hansell-like memos and “opinions” yellowing in the off-site archives of numerous foreign services. Diplomatic thinking on the issue has been frozen for 40 years, reflecting a blind commitment to the falsehood of chronic Israeli breaches of the Geneva Convention. The fact that Israel defended its eastern border from an unprovoked attack by Jordan, and subsequently trounced the Kingdom’s forces, made the Six Day War a defensive war, which is treated very differently under international law. But that doesn’t fit the upside-down narrative that has captured the imaginations of generations of leaders and foreign policy influencers: that Israel is the aggressor and chief violator of international decency.
Pompeo should be commended for exposing the Hansell sham, but he has by no means slain the beast.
Lyn Julius: In Arab Countries, Restoring Synagogues Means Never Saying Sorry for Past Crimes
Last week, to much fanfare, the largest synagogue in the Middle East was reopened in Alexandria, Egypt. Some 300 guests, including Egyptian Antiquities and Tourism Minister Khaled al-Anany, were on hand for the festive occasion.Israeli model says Lebanese designer banned her from show
The event made headlines from the United Kingdom to China — but only The Jerusalem Post pointed out that just three Jews were in attendance.
According to reports, only a handful of Jews now live in a country which once boasted 80,000–100,000. (Israeli diplomats and Egyptian-born Jews living outside the country are planning their own celebration next month, but these visitors will be returning to their homes in Israel, Europe, and the United States after the party.)
The Eliyahu HaNavi synagogue will never again host Jewish weddings or bar mitzvahs, nor will it ever muster a minyan. It will be no more than a museum to an extinct community, and a perfunctory tourist stop.
The media coverage of the event was typical of a trend hailing the restoration of Jewish buildings in countries with no more than a handful of Jews as somehow indicative of pluralism and tolerance in the Arab world. Even Jews fall for the fantasy, grateful for the slightest acknowledgement that members of the Tribe once lived in these countries.
“I’m very proud of what my country has done, and it symbolizes living together — today there is no difference between Egyptian Muslim, Christian, and Egyptian Jew,” gushed Magda Haroun, leader of the Cairo “community” of two Jews. “It is recognition that we have always been here and that we have contributed to a lot of things, just like any other Egyptians.”
No journalist covering the restoration story bothered to ask why a once-glorious community has been reduced to a handful of souls in Cairo and Alexandria, the youngest of whom (Magda herself) is reportedly 67.
Arbel Kynan, a top Israeli fashion model, wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday that a Lebanese designer refused to have her take part in his runway show at the Haute Couture Week in Paris, which starts on January 20, because of her nationality.
“Truthfully... it’s still hard for me to digest....” Kynan wrote. She then told of how she arrived in Paris a few days ago to be photographed by a “very respectable fashion company,” and was told she would also walk the runway in next week’s show, which is a coveted job in the modeling industry.
“Many times, people ask us where we are from, and on the day of the shoot they asked me where I am from and, of course, I answered with a big smile that I am from Tel Aviv.” The shoot continued as usual, Kynan said, and they finished early. According to Kynan, a few days passed, and then on Tuesday, she says, “I received an email from my agency stating that the client is Lebanese and he does not want me to take part in the show, because I live in Tel Aviv, Israel – this is the content of the email I received.”
Soviet Dissident Recalls Jews And Christians Stood United Against Fear
“In the Soviet Union, the important thing was to overcome the fear.” That is what former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky told me over tea in a Jerusalem cafe.David Singer: Israeli Right Does Not Seek Overthrow of Jordan’s Hashemite Monarchy
In the totalitarian, atheist Soviet Union, Jewish identity was forcibly submerged. “The only Jewish thing that was in my life,” Sharansky says, “was anti-Semitism!” That was until 1967. Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, Sharansky says, changed the way the Soviets viewed Jews, and changed the way Soviet Jews viewed themselves. They were now, to friend and foe alike, part of something larger than themselves, connected to the Jewish state and to Jews the world over. With this knowledge, Soviet Jewish dissidents were no longer afraid and had the courage to confront the Evil Empire.
Sharansky has told this story many times before, but faced with the rising tide of anti-Semitic attacks and libels against Jews worldwide, I asked him about an often forgotten aspect of the crusade for human rights in the Soviet Union. There were many dissident groups with different goals, but the group that was best organized and had the most reliable contacts with the outside world were the Jewish “Refuseniks” (Soviet Jews who were denied the right to emigrate to Israel).
Sharansky, their spokesperson, was happy to help others. And that included many, many persecuted Christians.
Reports about the abuses suffered by Christians in the Soviet Union made their way through Sharansky’s network to the Western press and human rights groups. With each new revelation, demands on the Soviets to respect freedom of religion increased.
The importance of this channel wasn’t lost on Christians. “A group that I helped to establish their first contacts to reach the foreign press and to speak to the world were Pentecostals. I was very pleased later to find out that when I was arrested, there were tens of thousands of Pentecostals in Siberia who were fasting in solidarity with me.”
When the Soviets arrested Sharansky and sent him to the Gulag, his communist tormentors thought they might break him by placing him in a cell with a Christian activist. A religious Jew and a religious Christian would surely tear each other apart, they thought. But it did not turn out that way.
The claim that “The Israeli right has no solution for civil rights for Palestinians after annexation, except for overthrowing Jordan's Hashemite monarchy” is a canard that must be totally rejected.
This defamation of the Israeli right needs to be debunked before it is allowed to become accepted fact in the run up to Israel’s elections on 2 March.
I feel qualified to call out this baseless allegation as the founder of the “Jordan is Palestine Committee” (JIP) 40 years ago.JIP was formed to inform public opinion that:
• Jordan comprised 76.9% of the territory once called Palestine
• The key to ending the conflict between Jews and Arabs required direct negotiations between Israel -17.1% of former Palestine -and Jordan -to allocate sovereignty of the remaining 6% of former Palestine – Judea, Samaria and Gaza – between their two respective States
• Jordan’s population alone should determine who Jordan’s ruler should be. JIP constantly pointed out the role the Hashemite monarchy had played for 60 years in preserving the major part of Palestine as an exclusively Arab State in which Jews were not permitted to live.
JIP contrasted this with the failed efforts of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to secure sovereignty in one square metre of territory attempting to wipe Israel off the map.
JIP’s stated policy was actually challenged by one member who sought its replacement with a new policy calling for the overthrow of the Hashemites by replacing King Hussein with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. JIP members rejected this argument and the disgruntled member quit the organisation.
However he did more – registering JIP in his name in Israel – then seeking to restrain my organisation using the name in Israel in connection with an international conference.
Jordan’s Abdullah: Israel imposing an ‘unthinkable situation’ on Palestinians
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Wednesday that Israel has been trying to “impose an unthinkable solution” on the Palestinians, lamenting that hopes were fading for the two-state solution backed by the international community.Trump’s ex-Mideast envoy isn’t sure Israelis and Palestinians ready for peace
In a speech in front of the European Union Parliament on the tensions boiling across the Middle East, the Jordanian monarch said Israel’s construction of settlements in the West Bank and “disregard of international law” could be summed up as “one state turning its back on its neighborhood, perpetuating divisions among peoples and faiths worldwide.”
Abdullah accused the Israeli government of being “propped up by structural inequalities with Palestinians as second class citizens.”
He went on to assert that a one-state solution to the conflict would lead to perpetual violence that would destabilize the entire region. “I will say it again and again: A more peaceful world is not possible without a stable Middle East and a stable Middle East is not possible without peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said to applause.
“What if Jerusalem, a city that is close to my heart personally and of great historic significance, remains disputed? Can we afford to rob Christians and Muslims alike of the spirituality, peace and coexistence that this city symbolizes and instead allow it to descend into political conflict?” asked Abdullah, who carries the hereditary title of “custodian” of holy Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem.
While security ties between Israel and Jordan have flourished, political relations have soured recently over a number of matters including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge in September to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, if he is given another term in office.
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s former Middle East negotiator, made his first public speech since leaving the White House on Sunday night.Obama’s Middle East policy team has a new home in Warren’s campaign
Greenblatt, 52, who worked as a lawyer for Trump for two decades prior to joining the administration, spoke at Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck, New Jersey, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where he is a member. The event was organized by the Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial & Education Center to raise money for a new Holocaust memorial in the township, which has a significant Jewish population.
Sporting a black yarmulke and an American and Israeli flag lapel pin, Greenblatt delivered a long and wide-ranging speech that recounted how his Hungarian-born parents survived the Holocaust and how their stories had impacted him. As his wife and four of his six children listened in the audience, he also denounced the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks, though he cautioned against pointing fingers at anyone in particular for the increase.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency spoke with Greenblatt after the event. Here is the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Are you hopeful about peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
I think they have a lot of very tough issues to work out. I don’t know if the two sides will come to agreement on those tough issues. I don’t think anybody can be sure. These are complex issues that the two sides are extraordinarily divided on, and even within the two societies, so I don’t think anybody can sit here and say peace can be achieved. But I think it would be a shame if we didn’t continue to try desperately.
Do you think you brought Israelis and Palestinians closer to that goal?
I think we’ve gotten closer to creating a plan that both sides should take seriously. And if they really spend time on it and actually talk to each other, they could make progress. Will they do that? That remains to be seen.
Much of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign narrative subtly casts her as the anti-Obama, the potential president who will not broker sweetheart deals for big business.Jerusalem deputy mayor to UK: Don't fund anti-Israel Palestinian textbooks
That was the subtext — actually it was the overt text — of a buzzy Politico magazine article in September titled “‘Why Are You Pissing In Our Face?’: Inside Warren’s War With the Obama Team.” It chronicled tensions at the beginning of Barack Obama’s first term, when Warren, then a Harvard law professor, was the most prominent critic of the bailout championed by the president.
It’s been a narrative useful to the Massachusetts senator as she vies with Sen. Bernie Sanders to be the no-compromise candidate the party’s left is dreaming about.
But there was a hiccup in the anti-Obama narrative last month when reports emerged that Obama was “talking up” Warren in private conversations with donors.
Now a CNN story on Warren’s foreign policy team reveals that her Middle East policy advisers are nearly all Obama-ites.
The UK must stop funds for UNRWA unless it agrees to stop anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement in its schools, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum plans to tell the UK House of Lords on Wednesday.Young Israeli Diplomat Torpedoed Russia’s Attempt to Move $17 Million to UNRWA
Hassan-Nahoum is set to attend a cross-party meeting in the House of Lords to discuss the UK’s recent pledge of £65.5 million to UNRWA for 2019-2020. She pointed out that the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand and Belgium suspended donations to UNRWA due to its corruption and incitement.
“Hamas has penetrated UNRWA to the extent that most teachers and administration are Hamas members,” she said ahead of the meeting. “Hamas actually has representatives in each UNRWA school in order to attract students to join” the terrorist organization.
UNRWA schools’ curriculum, designed by the Palestinian Authority, “perpetuates incitement, antisemitism and glorification of martyrdom,” Hasson-Nahoum said.
For example, an entire textbook chapter teaching Arabic reading comprehension to fifth-grade girls is dedicated to praising Dalal al-Mughrabi, who massacred 38 people, including 13 children, in 1978.
The capital’s deputy mayor also plans to discuss the poor quality of the education in Jerusalem’s UNRWA schools, which she says is “woefully inadequate in basic Hebrew, English, mathematics and technological skills” and is not giving the children educated in those schools a chance for success.
Thanks to a brilliant idea of a young diplomat on Israel’s UN mission, Yaron Wax, Israel in late December torpedoed a Russian move at the UN, supported by the PLO, to approve an additional $17 million budget for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Ynet reported.In milestone, Israel starts exporting natural gas to Egypt
In 2019, for the first time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres proposed to the Fifth UN Commission, which approves the organization’s annual budget for 2020, to allocate $17 million to the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to assist in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes in Syria, mainly in the context of chemical weapons.
To date, Russia and China have opposed funding this UN agency, and it has been operating on donations alone. The Western countries, including Israel, supported the Secretary-General’s proposal, but Russia, China and their allies resisted. In an attempt to kill the Guterres proposal, Russia counter-proposed adding $17 million to UNRWA, which recently has been mired in scandals and corruption, and, like IIIM, relies on country donations for its funding.
Israel has started pumping natural gas to Egypt from two massive offshore fields, marking a major milestone and a historic cooperation between the countries, according to a joint statement.Report: Israel to use EU funding to build natural gas pipeline for Gaza
The move comes shortly after natural gas started flowing from the massive Leviathan gas field, and some seven years after Israel starting pumping gas from the nearby Tamar field.
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz last month signed permits for the export of gas to Egypt, calling it “a historic milestone for the State of Israel.”
On Wednesday, Steinitz heralded “the start of the most significant cooperation ever between Israel and Egypt, in energy and the economy, since the peace treaty.”
Jerusalem’s and Cairo’s energy ministries issued the rare joint statement on Wednesday morning, calling the move “an important development that will serve the economic interests of both sides.
“The step will both enable Israel to export some of its natural gas to the region via Egypt’s gas liquefaction plants, and promote Egypt’s status as a regional gas hub,” the statement said.
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has asked the government-owned Israel Natural Gas Lines to submit a detailed plan for the construction of a pipeline to the Gaza Strip, financial daily Calcalist reported on Tuesday.JCPA: New Tensions between Egypt and Hamas
According to the report, the move followed a series of meetings between Energy Ministry officials and international bodies, during which it was agreed that the project, estimated at $60 million, would be funded by European Union contributors.
The construction of the pipeline would require Israel and Gaza, which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist group, to sign a gas contract.
Egypt has been leading indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in an effort to broker a long-term ceasefire.
A ministry source told Calcalist that if an agreement is reached it could be signed during the first quarter of 2020, allowing for the pipeline to be completed by 2022.
Should the plan come to fruition, the pipeline will be designed to supply Gaza with up to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, which could significantly alleviate the energy crisis plaguing the Strip.
In another move, Egypt raised the price of cooking gas that Egypt provides the Gaza Strip. This caused great anger in the Gaza Strip, and Gaza gas importers have decided to stop importing it from Egypt.Palestinian Authority 'deeply concerned' over Israel-Hamas truce deal
Furthermore, the Egyptian media, which for a long time had been restrained from bad-mouthing Hamas, so as not to damage the good atmosphere between the two sides, renewed its attacks on Hamas’ relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization in Egypt.
The Egyptian media’s attack this time dealt with Khaled Mashaal, a senior official of Hamas, who plans to run for head of the movement in internal elections.
Egyptian journalist Amani al-Khayat revealed on January 11, 2020, in her “News Extra” segment that Khaled Mashaal asked the Muslim Brotherhood senior official Khairat el-Shater, during the reign of President Mohamed Morsi, the following three things:
- Establishing a Hamas representative office in Cairo that will be unconnected to the PA, just like the Hamas offices in Doha and Istanbul.
- Establishing a bank in Egypt that Hamas will partner together with a large Arab bank.
- Finding a way to get rid of senior members of the military wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and its leader Mohammed Deif and in order to integrate his people into the organization.
Sources in the Gaza Strip believe that Egyptian intelligence is behind this revelation, which is now trying to create a dispute between Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh ahead of Hamas’ internal elections.
The two are contesting for Hamas leadership, and there is a great rivalry between them.
Egypt is not interested in severing ties with Hamas leadership because of its national security interests. Egypt is interested in achieving a lull in tensions in Gaza so as not to damage national security in Egypt and prevent Hamas from renewing its relationship with ISIS’ branch in northern Sinai. However, Egypt apparently wants to teach Ismail Haniyeh a lesson and restore its national dignity. Therefore, more Egyptian measures should be expected to signal Egypt’s displeasure with Hamas’ renewed ties with Iran.
Palestinian officials in Ramallah have expressed deep concern over reports that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a long-term ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.Fatah official: Arafat hinted for us to launch Second Intifada after Camp David
The officials warned that Hamas was not authorized to conduct negotiations with Israel or any other party, particularly regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The warning came as Hamas announced that Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Jamie McGoldrick, returned to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to pursue efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire deal with Israel.
Shortly after the UN official arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Erez Border Crossing, Palestinians fired four rockets (from the Gaza Strip) into Israel. The IDF reported that two of the rockets fell in open territory, while two were intercepted by Iron Dome. It was not immediately clear who was behind the rocket attacks.
In addition to the UN, Egypt and Qatar have also been working toward enforcing previous understandings reached between Israel and Hamas to achieve calm and ease restrictions on the Gaza Strip.
A Fatah party official said Yasser Arafat hinted for Palestinians to launch the Second Intifada following the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2000 at Camp David.
“Yasser Arafat, may he rest in peace, signed the Oslo Accords and came here [to the Palestinian territories],” Abd Elah al-Atira said in an interview with Palestine TV earlier this month. “When he went to Camp David and saw that Jerusalem, or part of it, was not part of the deal, he came back and hinted to us to start the Second Intifada.”
“Fatah’s thermometer is ready to move in any direction,” he added, according to a translation of his remarks from the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Atira, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, also said Arafat was behind deadly rioting that broke out after Israel opened the Western Wall tunnels to the public in 1996.
“When he saw [the opening of] the Western Wall tunnel, he was the one who told the people to take to the streets and fight, and so we waged an Intifada,” he said.
Fatah Revolutionary Council Member Abdel-Elah Atira: Arafat Hinted to Us to Start the Intifada pic.twitter.com/8fezpI3bgt
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 15, 2020
This thing's ugly in more ways than one https://t.co/x2sSofWx3W
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) January 15, 2020
I am glad to see the people of #Gaza expressing their musical talents and would prefer to see more of this and less of them expressing their genocidal talents. https://t.co/RH84Wmf5E5
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) January 14, 2020
I can imagine this latest exercise in false hope and incitement cost a pretty penny, money that could have been better spent on needed infrastructure and other things Gazans complain they are without. https://t.co/A2k4Gr7T0L #Gaza
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) January 14, 2020
Israel, Russia to Jointly Mark Auschwitz Liberation at UN
In recent months, Israel and Russia have been forging a unique partnership at the United Nations.Linking Israel’s founding to Holocaust, once cause for outrage, is now accepted
Amid the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon and his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya, decided to join forces and convene a historic event to mark the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp, to be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York next week.
The event will be attended by Auschwitz survivors and Russian veterans who took part in the Soviet military campaign to liberate the camp. Also attending will be UN Secretary General António Guterres, other senior UN officials, ambassadors from across the globe, and representatives from pro-Israel organizations.
Danon and Nebenzya will also inaugurate a photography exhibit about the Auschwitz liberation.
“Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz by the Allied forces, we will commemorate that historic event in the place where the decision was made that paved the path to the establishment of the Jewish state. This is the hour for cooperation between [Israel and Russia],” Danon said.
A decade ago, in a speech in Cairo addressing the Islamic world, President Barack Obama issued a call to understand Israel’s importance in the context of the Holocaust — and it started a political firestorm in the world of Jewish politics.‘Avoid tokenism and empty gestures’ on Holocaust Memorial Day, MPs told
Not so this week.
A nonbinding resolution on Holocaust education introduced recently by three Republican lawmakers essentially echoes Obama’s call, but it has barely evinced a peep.
Why the differing reactions?
First, people tend to pay more attention to the leader of the free world making a signature foreign policy address than a pack of backbenchers introducing your everyday nonbinding resolution. It’s also understandable to chalk up any inconsistency to our political culture of selective outrage.
In this case, however, a third possibility should be considered: Maybe there was nothing wrong with what Obama said in the first place? Or, more to the point, maybe the president never said what his critics say he said.
The Holocaust Educational Trust has urged MPs to avoid “tokenism and empty gestures” on Holocaust Memorial Day as it warned against the “expanding poison of antisemitism” in the UK.London to donate £300K to Auschwitz-Birkenau ahead of HMD
“We cannot ignore the difficult year we leave behind us, where we faced adversity and sometimes felt abandoned by some we thought we could count on,” warned the trust’s chief executive Karen Pollock on Monday.
“We are not interested in tokenism and empty gestures but in sincerity and truth,” she wrote in a strongly-worded email to MPs.
The stark message comes ahead of 27 January, a national day organised by the trust to commemorate victims of genocide and mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
London is to donate £300,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to help preserve the remains of the camp and its accompanying exhibits.
Mayor Sadiq Khan signed off on the city hall grant which will help preserve the ruins of the site’s gas chambers and crematoria, barracks, collections and exhibits.
The decision was announced on Wednesday ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, which will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, now visited by around 300,000 people from the UK each year.
An estimated 1.1 million were killed at the concentration and extermination camp, with the overwhelming majority of victims Jewish.
“As the years pass, and as we have fewer survivors to pass on their stories, it is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site and ensure younger generations learn the lessons from history,” Khan said on Wednesday.
“These lessons are all the more significant as we see antisemitism and hate crime on the rise,” he added. “By joining others from around the world in giving a grant to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, we will be able to preserve this hugely important site and educate people about the Holocaust and the history of many Jewish Londoners for decades to come.”
I was supposed to be attending this event.
— Fíonn Grünspan (@Fionn_Grunspan) January 15, 2020
I am appalled at that the 3 speakers:
Secker - “Jews are in the gutter”.
Sayed - ‘There is good violence’.
Brodbin associates with antiSemites.@TowerHamletsNow, they need be removed instantly, or the event will be boycotted. pic.twitter.com/YLAs3xacLZ
Germany donates $4.4 million to Dutch Holocaust museum
Germany has pledged nearly $4.5 million toward renovating the Dutch national Holocaust museum.Inside the secretive Black Hebrew Israelite sect of Harlem, linked to Monsey stabber
Emile Schrijver, director of Amsterdam’s Jewish Cultural Quarter, an organization comprising five museums and institutions in the Dutch capital, announced the funding Monday.
“We expected a donation of half a million or a million euros,” Schrijver told Het Parool.
The National Holocaust Museum of the Netherlands opened in 2017 in a former religious seminary that was used to smuggle hundreds of Jewish children to safety from an adjacent building in which they were held. Their parents were interned across the street at the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a theater that the Nazis converted into a detention facility.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect as I made my way to a chair and someone handed me a Bible. Later, I was given a copy of the Apocrypha, a collection of religious teachings central to the beliefs of the Black Hebrew Israelites.
My relative who was part of the group had once described what was involved in their religious conversions. Basically, it amounted to this: Everything I had been taught in my Christian faith was a lie. Blacks were the “true” children of God. We were the lost Israelite tribes. We could go to heaven if we followed the Ten Commandments and stayed away from eating pork and shellfish, among other beliefs. White people were our oppressors, she said. According to my relative, as an African American woman, I was a “true Jew” even though the religion uses elements from both Christianity and Judaism.
“Jesus Christ loves Israel,” said one of the high priests. He spoke in a strong, proud voice, addressing the congregation, which consisted of me and five other people. “Our people are lost because they have been lied to by the European people.”
The priest went on to say in a determined and matter-of-fact voice that the mission of the church was to tell people these truths. Somehow, I expected him to be louder, to wave his arms around, maybe even to stomp his feet. But there was none of that. Instead, there was a measured and calm assurance that what he was preaching was simply the truth.
“There is no other church on the planet earth that will teach you the true word of God,” he continued. “Other churches are the Anti-Christ. You must be a part of the Israelite church to hear the truth.”
Frightening video out of #Brooklyn captures yet another #antisemitic attack as a black male screams at Jewish males stating "you ain't no (expletive) Israel, I'm the real (expletive) Israel".
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) January 14, 2020
Police from @NYPD71Pct later showed up and he was taken in. pic.twitter.com/zXlWyAzmKT
Florida Democratic Leader: Criticism of Israel’s ‘Apartheid Policies’ Not Antisemitic
The treasurer of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party in Florida on Tuesday said criticism of Israel’s “apartheid policies” is not antisemitic.NGO Monitor: Human Rights Watch Hypocrisy on Settlements
“What I will NEVER do is pretend that honest criticism of Israeli apartheid policies is anti-semitism. So you won’t see me calling out criticisms of Israeli ethnostatist polices as anti-semitism, because that’s not anti-semitism,” tweeted William Byatt.
What a nice chap! This Antisemite and racist is also a leader of The Democrats in Miami 🤦🏻♂️ https://t.co/ZrUOqq5rM0
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 14, 2020
Previously a founding board member of the People’s Progressive Caucus of Miami-Dade, Byatt is a senior software engineer at accounting and advisory firm Kaufman Rossin, according to the Miami-Dade Democratic Party website.
“As indicated on his [T]witter page, Mr. Byatt’s opinions are his own and do not reflect the views of the Party,” the Miami-Dade Democratic Party told JNS. “The Miami-Dade Democratic Party will continue to support a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity.”
This promotion of Armenian settlement products and groups directly contradicts HRW’s assertions regarding Israel. In this context, HRW – and Whitson personally – argue that business activity in Israeli settlements violates international law. They have launched several BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) campaigns targeting corporations that operate there, extensively lobbied for and promoted the UN Human Rights Council “database” of Israeli settlement businesses, and have lobbied the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes because of its West Bank policies.Rep. Zeldin brings anti-boycott act to Congress
This is not the only example of Whitson’s human rights hypocrisy. She has a well-documented history of currying favor with despotic Middle Eastern regimes:
- In 2009, Whitson traveled to Saudi Arabia, using the specter of the “pro-Israel pressure groups” to raise money from Saudi elites.
- In 2009, Whitson also visited Libya, claiming to have discovered a “Tripoli spring.” In particular, Whitson praised Muammar Qaddafi’s son Seif Islam as a leading reformer. In two articles promoting this façade of reform, she repeatedly praised him for creating an “expanded space for discussion and debate.”
Whitson has also repeated antisemitic tropes, antagonizing American Jews and equating the situation in Gaza with the Holocaust:
- In February 2019, referring to a tweet on antisemitism in the UK Labour party, Whitson echoed classic antisemitic tropes and Jewish conspiracy theories, tweeting “Why is this #Israel interference in domestic UK politics acceptable? Is it only a problem when Russia does this?”
- In January 2015, Whitson commented on a tweet about the US Holocaust Museum’s display of “death and torture in Syria,” stating that the Holocaust Museum should “also show pics of death and destruction in #Gaza” – equating the 2014 war with Hamas to the Holocaust and the extermination of 6 million Jews.
- In an April 2011 op-ed in the Huffington Post, Whitson baited American Jews, asked rhetorically “Why should American Jews, who have a history of deep engagement with the U.S. civil rights movement, support settlements built on these kinds of laws and policies in Israel?”
- In the same piece, she writes “This is why Human Rights Watch, which extensively documented these discriminatory practices in a report, has called on the EU to clearly label settlement-produced goods, on businesses to review their activities in the settlements, and on the US to cut aid to Israel equal to what Israel spends on the settlements and to investigate tax exemptions for settlement charities.”
A House bill introduced Tuesday would extend penalties for boycotting Israel to compliance with boycotts organized by international organizations.South Dakota 28th State to Say NO to BDS
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican from New York, would amend the anti-boycott Export Administration Act of 1979 “to prohibit boycotts or requests for boycotts imposed by international governmental organizations against Israel,” Zeldin said in a statement.
It ratchets up pressure on Democrats who in recent years have increasingly opposed expanding penalties targeting Israel boycotters, saying they impinge on speech freedoms. A separate bill in the Senate last year garnered the support of just over half the party’s caucus. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House speaker, has resisted considering the measure in the US House of Representatives.
The bill specifically names the United Nations and affiliated bodies, and the European Union, entities that in recent years have recommended boycotts of goods made in Israeli settlements.
It had 59 cosponsors, 58 of them Republicans. The sole Democratic cosponsor is Tom Suozzi of New York.
StandWithUs applauds South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for signing an executive order prohibiting state offices, agencies, commissions, and departments from contracting with companies that engage in boycotts against Israel. The Executive Order is meant to protect taxpayer funds and state policy from companies which discriminate against Israel. It applies only to contracts of $100,000 or more.York University reinstates both pro-Israel, anti-Israel student groups after clash
South Dakota is the 28th state to either pass legislation of enact an executive order to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes economic warfare against Israel, the only viable democracy in the Middle East and a reliable U.S. ally. The order does not impact any individual’s or company’s right to free speech.
Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, commented, “When states stand up against anti-Israel bias and discrimination, it benefits the state's economy, joint research projects with Israel in agriculture, science and environment, and says a firm “NO” to the BDS movement which encourages antisemitism and discourages a peaceful negotiated solution between Israel and its neighbors."
Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, an international Israel organization, commented, “When states stand up against anti-Israel bias and discrimination, it benefits the state's economy, joint research projects with Israel in agriculture, science and environment,and says a firm “NO!” to the BDS movement which encourages antisemitism and discourages a peaceful negotiated solution between Israel and its neighbors."
York University in Toronto, Canada, reinstated a pro-Israel student group on Monday after it was suspended following Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) protesting a local Herut Canada event on Nov. 20, which featured reservists from the Israel Defense Forces.‘Jeopardy!’ Apologizes for Airing ‘Flawed’ Bethlehem Clue, Blames ‘Human Error’
Before, during and after the event, anti-Israel SAIA protesters clashed with pro-Israel students.
SAIA was also suspended and reinstated.
The suspensions meant that the student groups’ privileges were temporarily revoked, including reserving rooms, and putting up posters and tables around campus for other events.
“The only thing Herut is guilty of is trying to have a meaningful discourse about Judaism and Zionism on a college campus plagued by Jew-hating fanatics,” said Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project, in a statement. “While we strongly disagree with the initial suspension, we are pleased that the university has taken the right action now by restoring Herut’s status on campus. Hopefully, this action marks the beginning of increased scrutiny of campus anti-Semitism.”
Producers of the popular game show “Jeopardy!” apologized on Monday for stirring controversy with a clue about the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem — where Christians believe Jesus was born — during its Friday night episode.
One of the clues in the “Where’s That Church?” category read, “Built in the 300s A.D., the Church of the Nativity.” Contestant Katie Needle buzzed in first, replying, “What is Palestine?” but host Alex Trebek said her answer was incorrect. Fellow contestant Jack McGuire then buzzed in, answering, “What is Israel?” and his response was deemed correct.
Israel captured Bethlehem — along with the rest of the West Bank — from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1995, as part of the Oslo II Accord, Israel ceded political and military control of the city to the Palestinian Authority.
“Jeopardy!” producers published a video on Monday titled “Correction to Jeopardy! Bethlehem Clue.” In an accompanying statement, they explained they had never meant to air the Church of Nativity clue after concluding there was no clear correct answer.
“In the process of taping this clue, ‘BUILT IN THE 300s A.D., THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY’ we became aware that the clue was flawed as written and that determining an acceptable response would be problematic,” the statement read. “In accordance with our rules and in the interest of fairness, we voided the clue and threw it out. We restored Katie’s and Jack’s scores to what they were prior to the clue. The outcome of the game was not affected. We then continued the game with this replacement clue. Unfortunately, through human error in post-production, the uncorrected version of the game was broadcast. We regret the error and we will make every effort to ensure this never happens again.”
Sorry @richards1052, but despite your best efforts to embolden Iran, you have again failed. Your post is complete bollocks! https://t.co/uE74872GzA
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) January 14, 2020
NYT’s Headline Deemed Too Jew-Friendly for UK News Site
The New York Times’ reporting on Israel and Jewish affairs is regularly critiqued by us, but in this case, a story, penned by Isabel Kershner about Jewish women learning the Talmud, is positive and well-balanced.
Which may be exactly why British newspaper The Independent, which subsequently republished the article, felt the need to change the headline for something more… downbeat.
Compare the original New York Times headline, below:
…with the revised headline when the article was republished by The Independent:
Not only is the new headline significantly more negative, but the claim that the Talmud is a “forbidden text” is clearly at odds with the content of Kershner’s article.
This is a disgusting piece of delegitimization, aimed at making the presence of Jews in their homeland invalid. That simply won't rub.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) January 15, 2020
Nazi flag removed from Australian home
An Australian woman has taken down the Nazi flag she was flying from her home following a joint effort by neighbors and local police, as well as a Jewish member of Parliament.Secret Hitler board game removed from 3 Montreal stores
Cheryl Lawdron told reporters that she had German ancestry and had the right to fly the flag featuring a large swastika and other Nazi symbols on her property in the country town of Beulah.
Victorian state lawmaker David Southwick of the Liberal Party contacted the municipal council, local police and residents to assist in coordinating efforts to have the flag removed.
The incident drew condemnation from the local community. The flag was removed late on Tuesday evening.
“Once again, this incident demonstrates the rising wave of anti-Semitism and racial hatred in Victoria and highlights the need for greater State Government action to crack down on incidents such as these in the future,” Southwick, who is Jewish, said in a statement.
A board game called Secret Hitler was removed from the shelves of three stores in Montreal.Israeli researchers create algorithm to predict gestational diabetes
Branches of the Tour de Jeux chain removed the game following a call from B’nai Brith Canada. Harvey Levine, B’nai Brith’s regional director in Quebec, told the Montreal Gazette that his office had received complaints from members of Montreal’s Jewish community about the game, which is about the rise of fascism.
“Anything that depicts anything regarding Hitler is a very sensitive issue, especially with growing antisemitism throughout Canada, the U.S. and around the world,” Levine told the newspaper.
The game, set in Germany in 1933, divides players into two teams – the liberals and the fascists. The fascists work to put their leader in place, while the liberals try to find and stop the player who is designated the Secret Hitler. The game came out in 2017; it was removed from the Tour de Jeux stores on Sunday.
It remains available on Amazon, which calls it a “fast-paced game of deception and betrayal” with “beautiful wooden components” and “Hidden roles and secret envelopes for five to ten players.”
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science say they have created an algorithm that is able to identify women who are at high risk of gestational diabetes — even before they get pregnant.Israeli researcher develops molecule to block lupus
The study found with just nine questions, they could tell whether the subject was likely to developing gestational diabetes, a condition of high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy. If this information is available in the early stages of pregnancy or even before the woman has gotten pregnant, it might be possible to reduce her risk of diabetes through lifestyle measures such as exercise and diet.
“Our ultimate goal has been to help the health system take measures so as to prevent diabetes from occurring in pregnancy,” said Prof. Eran Segal of the Computer Science and Applied Mathematics and Molecular Cell Biology departments, a senior author of the study, in a statement.
The findings were reported by the researchers in Nature Medicine. The study analyzed data on nearly 600,000 pregnancies available from Israel’s largest health organization, Clalit Health Services.
Israeli researchers and stateside colleagues have recently discovered a way to prevent the release of DNA associated with the development of lupus, an autoimmune disease affecting 5 million people around the world.US Christian students come to Holy Land to connect to biblical and modern Israel
The researchers identified the pathway through which“pro-cell death proteins” and mitochondrial DNA exit cells – a process that triggers autoimmune diseases –and created a molecule to block this route.
The molecule, called VBIT-4, was created by Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz of Ben-Gurion University and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.
She tested the discovery on mouse models of lupus with Dr. Jay Chung from the US National Institutes of Health. Their research was recently published in the Science journal.
The pathway that the researchers identified is called mitochondrial protein voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC1). In some autoimmune diseases VDAC1 is over-expressed, meaning that a large pore composed of several VDAC1 units is formed, allowing the release of pro-cell death factors and mitochondrial DNA.
The researchers used VBIT-4 to prevent the formation of this large pore and the subsequent release of pro-cell death factors associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as the mitochondrial DNA associated with lupus.
Five hundred college students streamed into a large party venue in southern Jerusalem with a panoramic view of the Old City. They noshed on mini shwarma sandwiches and cotton candy, and danced with abandon to Israeli pop music — some creating a mosh pit near the DJ’s stage at the front of the hall.Formula One's Williams Racing signs first ever Israeli driver Roy Nissany
But they weren’t participating in Birthright Israel, the mega project that since it was founded in 1999 has brought upwards of 750,000 young Jews to the country. These young Americans were in Israel this month with Passages, an organization that brings practicing Christian college and graduate students from all over the United States to the Holy Land for a 10-day trip to connect with the biblical roots of their faith, and with modern Israel.
In operation since January 2016, Passages is expected to bring 10,000 students to Israel by the end of 2020. The students are accepted through a selective application process. This winter break alone, Passages brought more than 1,000 students to the Jewish state on the highly subsidized trip.
British Formula One motor racing team and constructor ROKiT Williams Racing announced that they have signed 25-year-old Israeli Roy Nissany to their 2020 driver lineup as their official test driver.The Story of a Blind IDF Officer
With this move Nissany joins the illustrious list of Williams drivers, following in the footsteps of world champions like Brazilians Aryton Senna and Nelson Pique, Frenchman Alain Prost, Finland’s Kimi “Iceman” Raikonen and Keke Rosberg, as well as Britain’s Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.
During the announcement at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon, Williams Racing Group President and Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams, warmly welcomed Nissany onto the team.
“It is a pleasure to welcome Roy Nissany to ROKiT Williams Racing in the role of our official test driver,” Williams said at Wednesday’s event. “Roy demonstrated his capabilities driving in the post-season Abu Dhabi test last year and we were extremely impressed with what he could do in a short space of time. He is a hard-working individual who we are excited to be working with this year.”
Ori is a blind officer in the Israeli Air Force. You should take a minute to hear her incredible story!
Is Israel the best country to live in? The verdict is in
Israel maintained its standing as the 29th best place to live in a newly published US News and World Report index.Israel's Top 10 songs in the 2010’s
The 2020 Best Countries report, which ranks countries using a variety of metrics, has Switzerland at the top, followed by Canada and Japan.
The United States made it to the seventh spot, with Lebanon coming last at 73rd place.
"Collectively, the 73 nations represented in the 2020 Best Countries rankings account for nearly 95 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and represent about three-quarters of the world's population," the report says.
"Israel, the only Jewish nation in the world, is a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. For its relatively small size, the country has played a large role in global affairs. The country has a strong economy, landmarks of significance to several religions and strained relationships with many of its Arab neighbors," the report notes, adding that "Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with cut diamonds, high-technology equipment and pharmaceuticals among its major exports."