Pages

▼

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

02/19 Links Pt2: The UN Should Be Ashamed of Its Anti-Israel Boycott List; The Only Way to Fight Anti-Semitism Is through Policy Action, Not with Lip Service

From Ian:
The UN Should Be Ashamed of Its Anti-Israel Boycott List
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has produced a handy catalogue of companies that supporters of Israel can give their business to. Of course, this was not its intention. The roster was compiled at the request of the UN Human Rights Council. This is a body in which countries whose idea of human rights is gender-neutral torture and equal-opportunity ballot-rigging get together and pass reams of vexatious resolutions against Israel.

The BDS movement's economic warfare against the Jewish state has had little success but that's not the point: a UN body is tacitly legitimizing its agenda and even doing the research for it. What OHCHR's list is about is the UN's institutional hostility towards Israel and support for "de-judaizing" Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

Jerusalem is Israel's capital; before that it was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. However hard the UN strives to erase the Jewish character of the city, its historical record isn't going anywhere. When Israel captured Judea and Samaria in 1967, they did so not from any state called Palestine (no such state has ever existed), but from Jordan, whose annexation was almost universally unrecognized - it was an illegal occupation - and prior to this these lands had been part of Mandatory Palestine.

Mandatory Palestine was created by the League of Nations to "secure the establishment of the Jewish national home." The Israelis have many innovations to their name, but perhaps their greatest feat is being the first nation-state in history to "illegally occupy" their own territory.

The people the UN harms when it works to isolate and delegitimize Israel are the Palestinians. It tells them that their long, painful campaign of national self-harm is just and holds out false hope that it will one day triumph. It won't.

The priority of anyone who professes to be pro-Palestinian should be convincing the Palestinians to recognize that Israel is here to stay and, on that basis, finally accept offers of peace and statehood.
The Australian Editorial: A Brazen Anti-Semitic "Blacklist"
The UN Human Rights Council's "blacklist" of 112 international and local companies operating in the territories is a shameful attempt to strike a blow against the Middle East's only functioning democracy and upholder of the rule of law and religious freedom. No wonder Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein described publication of the blacklist as "a witch-hunt that reminds us of Nazi-era boycotts of the Jewish people." There is no precedent for any UN body taking similar action over a disputed territory, and no basis in international law for it to do so.

As Dr. Rubenstein pointed out, it is not in breach of international law for the 112 companies to operate in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. "They are legitimate businesses providing goods and services...they are not breaking any international laws." Australia must waste no opportunity to condemn and counter the council's brazen hypocrisy and the sinister witch-hunt it has embarked on.



Against (Honest Discussions of) Anti-Semitism
Last October, protesters from the anti-Israel group, Students for Justice in Palestine, disrupted a panel on anti-Semitism hosted by Bard’s Hannah Arendt Center. The disruptors thought it appropriate to single out an all-Jewish panel focused on hatred of Jews to vent their spleen at Israel. According to Batya Ungar Sargon of the Forward, who served on the panel, the protesters were even applauded by some of the invited conference attendees. These “vaunted intellectuals, flown in from across the country to discuss racism, were commending a display of racism against Jews.”

Racism against Jews? Perish the thought, replied distinguished defenders of the protest. These students weren’t saying that the Jews, alone among peoples, should be hounded when they discuss threats to their safety. No, they were there mainly to protest the distinguished scholar of Yiddish literature and Jewish history, Ruth Wisse, who is, after all, some kind of conservative. Moreover, Wisse had made an imprecise remark about the exploitation of Palestinian suffering decades ago, and that, her critics maintain, suffices as evidence of anti-Palestinian racism. Finally, Wisse’s talk on the panel focused on left-wing anti-Semitism, so why shouldn’t Students for Justice in Palestine protest? Case closed.
spies of no country ad

Yes, as Ungar-Sargon reported, one of the protesters said that the Israel issue is inextricably bound to the question of anti-Semitism—that is, the protest could properly have taken place against any panel on anti-Semitism. Of course, the pro-Palestinian left doesn’t just go around targeting anti-Semitism panels. Don’t be ridiculous!

Not so. Last Thursday, Deborah Lipstadt, gave a talk on anti-Semitism at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Lipstadt, a distinguished scholar of modern Jewish history and author of the 2019 book, Antisemitism: Here and Now, is not a conservative. Even the unjust haven’t gotten around to accusing her of anti-Palestinian racism, except insofar as they consider all Zionists racists. And Lipstadt, though she attends to left-wing anti-Semitism, doesn’t single it out. She is perhaps best known for combatting right-wing Holocaust deniers.

So the left—to be fair, just a few—turned up to protest.
JCPA: The Only Way to Fight Anti-Semitism Is through Policy Action, Not with Lip Service
Anti-Semitism turns dangerous when it becomes the organizing principle of a society, which occurred during the last century under Nazism and Communism. Anti-Semitism was a basic domineering system of thought for both, binding together the cultural and social mosaics by catering to the general mood of their populaces. Anti-Semitism becomes dangerous when it not only solidifies the theoretical foundations of a political system but also paves a political path.

This is why today’s anti-Semitism, with its increase in murderous attacks and all kinds of despicable expressions, has become politically significant. Its constant bias against the Jewish People (and thereby Zionism), Israel’s existence, self-defense, policies, as well as Israel’s image, has progressively intersected with institutions of the current systems of power. It has entered into the mindset of many on the Right and the Left, who live under the same roof of “intersectionality,” i.e., those feeling oppressed by myriad sources and who harbor social frustration in diverse forms. The blame attributed to the Jewish people and, therefore, to Zionism is tied to the social disapproval of the latter, like the indispensable tail of a kite high in the wind. Moreover, the continuous promotion of widespread institutional anti-Semitism, particularly at the EU and UN, has given it political credibility.

For example, the debate about ethnic differences, gender, culture, etc., are all commingled. A feminist or a university professor, or a member of the LGBT community, a Hollywood director, or a member of a child-defending NGO, attacks Israel for reasons that can vary from pink-washing, women oppressed by the occupation, dead Palestinian children, White Supremacy, to neo-colonialism. There are infinite themes available. This commingling of poisonous biases not only animates but also strengthens such thinking. In this manner, the fuming claimant becomes a harmonious part of the current, pacifist, or anti-nationalist systems of thought. Along with the typical anti-Semitic stereotypes, the State of Israel is repeatedly represented as warmongering, colonial, and racist in nature; therefore, Judaism, which generated Israel, is responsible for this distorted Weltanschauung (world view). The circle of anti-Semitism closes in on the simple idea that Judaism includes the entire Jewish people.

Today, the most important institutions postulate this line of thinking even if not explicitly. The parents of contemporary anti-Semitism, together with universities, publishing houses, and movie companies, are the same who appear in conferences, institutions, synagogues, and even in Israel to proclaim their campaigns against anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, not a single significant institution such as the EU or the UN, which, under the pretense of humanitarian or international authorities, promotes an agenda disapproving of Israel and thereby the Jewish people.
Why Young Europeans Can’t Understand Israeli Settlers
A core values conflict
Without necessarily trying to broadcast it, the Jewish state is a Biblical throwback and an ethnic-nationalist state — and therefore stands for Bible and God, nationalism and family, self-determination and self-defense. Even the majority of the Israeli left espouses most of these core values.

Europe, on the other hand, is post-God, post-nationalism, post-family, and post-Holocaust — and is therefore understandably at odds with the very concept of Israel.

Moreover, Europe is not just Europe. It is a mindset that can be found across the ocean in places like The New York Times, and on many American college campuses. For them, the Bible is no rationale at all, nationalism is repugnant, and Israel is the aggressor, not the victim.

The enemies of Israel seek to exploit and enhance this Euro-mindset by creating an atmosphere where the pillars of Israel are further undermined. According to their teachings, Israel cannot base its claims on an ancient book, Israeli nationalism is nothing but repressive colonialism, and claims of the Holocaust are grossly exaggerated — recognizable rhetoric to young Europeans.

Is dialogue possible?
Many Israelis and Israel proponents have identified some of these landmines and have tried to create language to bridge the gaps. Therefore the Jewish state’s image has gone through “nation-branding” cycles where Israel has been recast as the startup nation, gay capital of the Middle East and bikini-clad night-life destination. But these do little to mask Israel’s Biblical and nationalistic character, and neither do they succeed in undoing the damage caused by the exploiters of the post-God, post-national Euro-mindset.

Sadly, the intellectual gaps between today’s Europe and Israel are unbridgeable — and there is not much to do about it. However, as the adage goes, a conservative is just a liberal who has been mugged. While Europe’s winds are to the left today, they are liable to swing back to the right in the future. Such is the case with the United Kingdom’s Brexit for example, or the resurgent nationalism of Eastern Europe.

Unlike Europe’s current whim, Israel’s nationalism, Biblical heritage and yearning for self-defense are age-old truths that will eventually overcome the intellectual vicissitudes of today. That is what I told my young German journalist guests. Did they like hearing it? Not exactly. But at least they got a straight answer and were no longer dumbfounded as to why they can’t understand why Jews fight to live in Judea.
Questions Lawmakers Should Ask CMEP Leader Mae Cannon
Founded in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is a lobby organization supported by approximately 30 churches and church-related organizations in the United States.

The organization, which works to influence Congress, the White House, and the State Department regarding American foreign policy in the Middle East, sends alerts to its supporters who in turn are asked to contact government officials about their concerns.

The churches that support CMEP, particularly mainline Protestant churches, sometimes broadcast these alerts to their members. In its messaging about the Arab-Israeli conflict, CMEP mainlytargets Israel and the U.S. with criticism and demands while remaining largely silent about the misdeeds of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

With its one-sided testimony about the conflict, CMEP has served as a de facto replacement for the PLO’s diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C. that was shut down by the Trump Administration in 2018.

CMEP and the Palestinian Authority are on the same page when it comes to condemning the Trump Administration’s Peace to Prosperity Peace plan put forth in late January. When CMEP’s executive director Rev. Mae Cannon, Ph.D, issued a statement condemning the plan, the Palestinian Authority posted it on its website.

During a recent conference call organized by the Global Immersion Project, another so-called “peace” organization, Cannon said that her organization would call on its supporters to declare that they are opposed to the Trump peace plan. On its website, CMEP declared that the “inevitable result” of the plan “will be more human rights abuses, trauma, and violence.” With statements like this, CMEP is giving the Palestinian Authority the cover it needs to refuse to negotiate a final settlement, something it has failed to do in good faith for years.

It’s a strange thing to see from an organization led by a “peace” activist who declared in 2018, “Throwing mud at peace negotiations does not bring peace closer. It just adds yet more burdens to negotiate for peace, and more pretext for those opposed to peace.”

Who is throwing mud now?
Does Churches for Middle East Peace Leader Really Want Peace?
Earlier this month, Mae Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), an anti-Israel propaganda organization supported by mainline Protestant churches in the United States, told supporters that sometime in the next few days, her organization was going to issue an “action alert.”

The alert would tell CMEP supporters to express their opposition to the “Peace to Prosperity” proposal put forth by the Trump administration on January 28, 2020. Cannon made this declaration during a February 5, 2020 podcast organized by Jer Swigart from the Global Immersion Project, another so-called “peace” organization — which, like CMEP, brings activists to the Holy Land, who then agitate against Israel when they get home, all under the guise of peace.

“This is a critical moment for the church in terms of the way we respond to this moment in world history,” Cannon said during the podcast. “I’ve been crying a lot about this deal.”

Prior to the podcast, Cannon issued a statement condemning the Trump plan because it suggested that a number of villages south of Haifa become part of the future Palestinian state. Israeli Arabs, who have regularly complained about their minority status in Israel, have made it perfectly clear that they do not wish to become part of the Arab majority in a state run by the Palestinian Authority. Cannon declared that the proposal to shift these villages to the Palestinian state is “meant to maximize the amount of land under Israeli control while minimizing the number of Palestinians living on the land.”

With her condemnation of the proposal to transfer the “triangle” villages into the future state of Palestine, Cannon implicitly acknowledged something she doesn’t want to admit publicly — no one in their right mind would want to live in a future state of Palestine, because the people who would likely govern the country are corrupt, violent, authoritarian, and inept. But this hasn’t stopped CMEP and so many other Christian “peacemakers” from carrying water for unaccountable Palestinian elites, who use anti-Israel sentiment to distract rank-and-file Palestinians from their thieving ways.

In her cri de coeur, which was posted on the Palestinian Authority’s website, Cannon declared, “The plan presented by President Trump and further fleshed out by Prime Minister Netanyahu is nothing less than a recipe for endless oppression and injustice.”
Jewish leader fundraises for candidate who said ‘Israeli lobby’ controls GOP
Norm Coleman, the chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a former senator from Minnesota, is fundraising for a candidate for Senate in the state who once said the GOP is “controlled” by the “Israeli lobby.”

Coleman will host a February 27 fund-raiser for Jason Lewis in Washington. Lewis, a congressman from Minnesota from 2017-2019, hopes to win the GOP primary to face off against incumbent Democratic Senator Tina Smith.

CNN’s KFile last year uncovered audio from a talk radio show Lewis hosted in 2013 in which he discussed the opposition among some in the pro-Israel community to former president Barack Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, a former GOP senator from Nebraska who once referred disparagingly to the “Israel lobby.”

Lewis on the radio show alleged that dual Israeli-American citizens in Congress and in government influenced Israel policy. He named John Bolton, then a former UN ambassador, among them, although Bolton is neither a citizen of Israel or Jewish.

“They do have, they do control of the Republican Party right now,” Lewis said. “The Republican Party is essentially a neo-conservative party that believes in unending support for Israel. A blind loyalty towards Israel is the linchpin of being a good Republican. And when you get those sort of dual loyalties, what happens if it’s not in America’s best interest?”

Lewis also referred to a “very strong American Jewish lobby” to explain US support for Israel but said he does not see that “as a negative.”
Bernie Articulates Nightmare Middle East Vision: US Must Support Hamas, Tehran
Below, I’ve enclosed a transcript of Senator Bernie Sanders’ February 18 appearance on CNN’s Presidential Town Hall. It is a fine example of leftist thinking about reality in the Middle East that is so mired in the 1970s it would take a force as big as Yoko Ono, perhaps, to break it up. Point by point, Sanders reveals his deep ignorance about a region which has undergone breathtaking changes over the past decade – but said changes, alas, have made no impression on Bernie’s consciousness. And then there’s Bernie’s old lefty line about the Jewish State’s involvement in all this that goes: It all began when Israel retaliated. It’s a classic.

Oh, and he makes it all glide good into the oven on a thick shortening agent he calls “as somebody who is Jewish.”

We know you’re Jewish, Bernie, we just don’t know why God did it to us.

So, here are the full quotes, courtesy of People for Bernie, in response about a question from the child of Israeli yordim regarding US-Israel relations under the Sanders Administration. Bernie said:

“To be for the Israeli people and to be for peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support rightwing racist governments that currently exist in Israel.”

This is a repeated argument by Sanders, which is yet to be challenged: should the US withhold its support from governments it deems rightwing and racist? Is that the President Sanders doctrine? Would the Sanders administration revoke its 10-year, $38 billion military aid contract with Israel, signed by the last Democrat in the White House, whom so many of us believed was anti-Israel?

Of course, it can’t be done, because that particular aid package is anchored in Congressional legislation, which would take a majority in both houses to dismantle. But Bernie, right off the bat, announces his intent to go to war against the Israeli government, should it be led, once again, by PM Benjamin Netanyahu or someone like him.

Good to know.


Labour Party expels councillor who said “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” after brief suspension
The Labour Party has expelled a councillor who said that “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” after suspending him last month.

Andy Kay, who has also referenced “Zionists’ attempts to influence our political processes” and added for good measure that those supposed efforts were “racist”, had been serving as a cabinet member for finance and governance on Darwen Council in Lancashire.

Cllr Kay also wrote that “Jewish leaders are worse than Nazis” in 2014 in a post on Facebook that was reportedly ‘liked’ by Kate Hollern MP, who went on to become a Labour MP and Private Parliamentary Secretary to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. She subsequently apologised.

In 2018, Cllr Kay also shared an article on social media describing Labour’s antisemitism crisis as a “blatant attempt to undermine Corbyn’s leadership”, adding the remark about Zionists. In the comments section of that post in a discussion about the International Definition of Antisemitism, Cllr Kay also said: “I was taught that Judaism was/is a religion, not a nation. In fact one of the tenets of Judaism prohibits the nation state… but I suppose that also depends on which wing of the fantasy you believe.”

Three days later, Cllr Kay reportedly shared an article that claimed that the Definition was “designed by Israeli propagandists to aid their many mass lobby attempts” and referenced the “largely-mythical antisemitism ‘crisis’ in the Labour Party,” which was described as “one of the few tools left to ailing and desperate establishment hacks wanting to smear Corbyn and maintain UK support for Israel.”
TalkRADIO fined £75,000 over George Galloway’s lack of partiality in discussion of Labour antisemitism, days after the former MP spread false story of murder of Arab child
The radio channel, TalkRADIO, has been fined £75,000 for breaching rules on impartiality in three programmes hosted by the controversial former MP, George Galloway. Two of the programmes concerned antisemitism in the Labour Party.

In assessing the breaches, Ofcom concluded that the programmes, one of which covered the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal, had “failed to preserve due impartiality on a matter of major political controversy or a major matter of current public policy”. Ofcom observed that “alternative viewpoints were only reflected to an extremely limited extent over the course of these programmes, each of which was three hours in duration”.

Ofcom further noted that “it was also the case that the limited viewpoints featured in the programmes which did not align with Mr Galloway’s were treated in a very different way to those that did.” For example, in the programmes on antisemitism, Mr Galloway apparently described one listener who expressed a dissenting view as “gutless coward”, “ignorant moron”, and “cowardly”. “These statements had the effect of dismissing and denigrating listeners who held views that did not reflect Mr Galloway’s,” Ofcom explained, “and constituted a clear difference in the treatment of such views.”

Ofcom found the breaches to be both serious and repeated, because the same set of rules were breached on three separate occasions over five months, and in two of the occasions in respect of the same topic.

The fine comes after Mr Galloway again courted controversy by falsely suggesting that “illegal Israeli settlers” had murdered an Arab child who was in fact tragically drowned by rainwater. At least one other broadcaster echoed the accusation.


‘Palestinian’ Instructor at NYU Leads Goons in Wreaking $100K Damage in NYC Subway System
New York City’s subway system is licking its wounds and repairing some $100,000 worth of damage after a self-styled “Palestinian” adjunct instructor from New York University led an anarchist group on a rampage through the train stations last month.

The group “Decolonize This Place” led by Amin Husain wrecked turnstiles, spray-painted messages such as “F**k Cops,” and in general made it impossible for commuters to catch their ride home.

Husain is one of the co-founders of the anarchist group, according to a report published in the New York Post.

The 44-year-old NYU adjunct instructor proudly claims to be from “Palestine,” according to the New York Post. Husain reportedly exhorted people in a Jan. 31 post on social media to “f—k sh—t up,” and ultimately caused $100,000 worth of damage in city property. Thirteen arrests were also made.

Husain is also a founding member of NYC Solidarity with Palestine, a group that describes itself as “seeking to broaden the work being done on Palestine by opening up more expansive spaces of resistances.”

According to the NYU website, Husain is a “New York-based artist and organizer who works combines research, aesthetics, and action.” He is on the faculty of the university’s Center for Experimental Humanities.


Leftist Billionaire Soros Wants Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Removed. Accuses Him Of ‘Mutual Assistance Arrangement With Donald Trump’
On Monday, billionaire leftist George Soros, seemingly panicked that President Trump might be reelected, attacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, demanding that they be removed from their posts because Zuckerberg will not capitulate to leftists’ calls for censoring or banning political ads.

Writing in Financial Times, Soros accused Zuckerberg of having a “mutual assistance arrangement” with Trump that will “help him get re-elected.” His open letter, in which he referred to an article in Financial Times on Sunday penned by Zuckerberg, stated:

Mark Zuckerberg should stop obfuscating the facts by piously arguing for government regulation (“We need more regulation of Big Tech”, February 17). Mr. Zuckerberg appears to be engaged in some kind of mutual assistance arrangement with Donald Trump that will help him to get re-elected.

Facebook does not need to wait for government regulations to stop accepting any political advertising in 2020 until after the elections on November 4. If there is any doubt whether an ad is political, it should err on the side of caution and refuse to publish. It is unlikely that Facebook will follow this course. Therefore, I repeat my proposal, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg should be removed from control of Facebook. (It goes without saying that I support government regulation of social media platforms.)

Zuckerberg had written that he wanted to wait for regulation because he wanted a fair set of rules for everyone across the board, opining:

We believe advertising is more transparent on Facebook than television, print or other online services. We publish details about political and issue ads — including who paid for them, how much was spent, and how many people were reached — in our ads library. But who decides what counts as political advertising in a democracy? If a non-profit runs an ad about immigration during an election, is it political? Who should decide — private companies, or governments?

Another theme is openness. I’m glad the EU is looking at making data sharing easier, because it enables people to build things that are valuable for society. International agencies use Facebook’s Data for Good program to figure out which communities need help after natural disasters, and governments use our publicly available population density maps for vaccination campaigns. Of course, you should always be able to transfer your data between services.



Private Eye imagines pre-67 Palestinian sovereignty
An article in the latest issue of Private Eye critical of the Palestinian Authority also manages to take a brief, and entirely dishonest, swipe at Israel.

The writer’s claim that the new US peace plan grants Palestinians “half the land” they had “before the 1967 occupation” is a lie, due to the simple fact that, prior to the 1967 war, Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza. (Before that, of course, the land was controlled by the British – and before that, the Ottomans.)

Much like the maps recently being paraded by Palestinian leaders purporting to show how much of “Palestine” their leaders have been willing to compromise, Private Eye has peddled a historical fiction, obfuscating the simple fact that there has never been – at any time in history – a sovereign Palestinian state.

Indeed, PA self-rule in areas A (military and administrative) and B (administrative) in the West Bank granted by Israel since the 90s, has been the only time Palestinians have ever enjoyed real political autonomy. Further, the US plan would actually greatly increase the amount of land they control, not decrease it.

We’ve complained to editors about this gross distortion.


New Film Explores the ‘Virus’ of Global Antisemitism
Why has the virus of antisemitism endured so long and spread so far? “It is because of its power to adapt and deceive,” concludes director Andrew Goldberg.

His new film “Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations” adopts a comparative approach. It canvases the globe and examines antisemitism among the far-right fringe in America, the far-right government in Hungary, the far-left in the United Kingdom and Islamic radicals in France.

“Of its mutations, this is the story of four. It could have been 4,000,” Goldberg told The Algemeiner.

The film sets out to interview antisemites, victims, politicians and commentators, among others.

Goldberg was spurred a few years ago to begin making a film about antisemitism after learning about the defacement of two cemeteries in the US. “This is a conversation that I thought we needed to have,” he said.

The film opens with audio of the 911 calls in Pittsburgh during the shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who survived the massacre, later said, “Many are surprised it took so long before there was a shooting at a synagogue. I think it was inevitable that something like this was going to happen.”

In the film, former President Bill Clinton spoke of the promotion of racism, religious bigotry and paranoia: “If you do it long enough, you’ll pick up someone eventually crazy enough to do what was done in Pittsburgh.”

The film interviews a man who conducts defense training in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.

There is one scene where a local rabbi shows a prayer book where a bullet cut through the name of God.
Chelsea to host antisemitism conference with Chief Rabbi, prominent politicians and leading Israeli newspaper
Chelsea football club intends to host a conference on antisemitism in conjunction with The Jerusalem Post newspaper, which will feature Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the Israeli ambassador.

Other proposed speakers at the March event, which will also cover bilateral ties between the UK and Israel, include the former Labour MP Lord Mann, who now serves as the Government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, as well as the parliamentary chair of Conservative Friends of Israel and senior Israeli politicians. The captain of Israel’s national women’s football team is also due to feature.

The event is due to take place at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, and is part of the club’s “Say No To Antisemitism” campaign, which was launched in January 2018.

The club’s chairman said that the event could “further highlight the importance to tackle the rise of antisemitism we have seen across the world.”

In January, Chelsea unveiled a mural dedicated to footballers who were interned in concentration camps, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. The club has also adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

At the unveiling of the mural, Lord Mann told football clubs to enhance their efforts to tackle antisemitism and racism in stadiums, warning that “I have a voice and it will get more brutal if they don’t.”


Israeli technology detects early-stage cancer ‘navigating’ inside lungs
Israeli start-up Body Vision has created technology that allows doctors to detect early-stage lung cancer through a minimally invasive procedure navigating the affected organ.

Lung cancer global survival rate is just around 10%, making this form of cancer one of the deadliest in the world. In the US, where advanced medical facilities are available, the survival rate stands at about 18%. In order to increase the chance of survival, a big difference can be made by how early cancer is uncovered.

Body Vision technology involves minimally invasive bronchoscope navigation of the affected organ instead of the current approach of “watchful waiting” that a lesion in the lung will disappear. The watchful waiting approach is often used today to avoid the risk of an invasive alternative: surgical or CT-guided biopsy procedures for diagnostics.

The Ramat Hasharon-based company’s CEO, Dorian Averbuch, has a background in mechanical engineering, but he has been working in the field of pulmonology for the past 20 years, as he explained to The Jerusalem Post.
Israeli defense firm Elbit wins $670 million contract with Asia-Pacific country
Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems said Tuesday that it had won a contract worth some $670 million to supply defense products to an unnamed country in the Asia-Pacific region.

The deal will be carried out over a 25-month period.

“This significant contract award is a testament to the trust that customers place with our solutions and to the leading position we hold in the market,” Elbit CEO Bezhalel Machlis said in a statement.

Elbit has disclosed over $1 billion in contracts since the start of 2020.

The company has made several deals in the region in recent months.

On February 10 Elbit said it had secured $136 million in contracts to provide Asia-Pacific customers with airborne laser defense systems over a four-year period.

The Direct Infra-Red Counter Measure systems will equip Airbus and Boeing aircraft to counter heat-seeking ground-to-air missiles. The system protects commercial Israeli airlines, and is used by the Italian and Brazilian air forces.
Insight Partners Backs Israel-Linked Cybersecurity Company SentinalOne in $200 Million Investment
The investment spree of New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners continues. Insight has recently led a $200 million investment in Israel-linked cybersecurity company SentinelOne, incorporated as Sentinel Labs, one person familiar with the matter told Calcalist Tuesday.

This is not Insight’s first investment in the company. In June 2019, Insight led a $120 million round in the company, which brought its then-funding to $230 million. Back in June, SentinelOne did not disclose its valuation for the round, but co-founder and CEO Tomer Weingarten told Calcalist in an interview that it was nearing $1 billion. Now, this new round has given the company an estimated valuation of $1.1 billion, the person familiar with the matter said.

The goal of the current investment is to support the expansion of SentinalOne’s activity, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, the person said. In a June 2019 interview, Weingarten said that the company sees itself on the side of the buyers and not as a target for acquisition. “We are currently actively searching for companies that can expand our technological offering,” he said.

According to the person, the current round is estimated to be the company’s final one before attempting to go public, most likely in 2021.

Founded in 2013 by Weingarten and Almog Cohen, SentinelOne develops artificial intelligence technology for identifying abnormal behavior in enterprise networks. Unlike veteran cybersecurity companies, SentinelOne’s technology provides a comprehensive endpoint solution. The company employs 500 people in its offices in Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Oregon, Singapore, and Tokyo, and reports some 3,500 global customers.

Other investors in SentinalOne include Sound Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, NextEquity, Third Point Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Data Collective, UpWest Ventures, and Tiger Global.
The Hawaiian Warrior Who Trains IDF Special Forces
Nadav Tzadok Yair is a small Hawaiian man with a fascinating life story, Mako reported on Friday.
Born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, he had been trained in the local martial art of Kapu Kuialua – double shot – since the age of nine. This tribal version of warfare, which shaped centuries of local wars between the various groups on the islands, shaped his life and destiny.

In his quiet home in Kfar Tapuach, he shared his unique journey into the Jewish faith and in training IDF Special Forces – among them Blue and White politician Gabi Ashkenazi, who told reporters that Yair, “is an expert in jungle warfare, night operations, sneak attacks and survival.”

“The IDF owns him a lot for what he taught us,” he added.

Yair used to be a staunch advocate for Hawaiian independence from the US – like Bympy Kanahele and the late Internet sensation, singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – and was bitter over how peaceful dialog with US authorities became the mainstream choice for native people around him.
Trained in warfare, he claimed to have killed 18 people before meeting an Israeli couple who was visiting the islands. They told him about Israel and he followed the sun there, embraced the Jewish faith, changed his name and became the father of six children, five boys and one girl – all of whom have Hawaiian names along their Hebrew ones.


We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
at