So much sympathy for dead Jews - how about some empathy for live ones?
Another Yom Hashoah came and left.MEMRI: Moroccan Writer: The Jewish Holocaust Is An Undisputable Fact; Commemorating It Is Legitimate, Especially In Light Of Iran’s Threats To Eliminate Israel
One out of every three Jews on Planet Earth were slaughtered by Nazis and their various collaborators in the Holocaust. While there were unfortunately many other victims, Jews and Roma (“Gypsies”) were the ones targeted for total extinction. Of the six million Jews who perished, a million and a half were babies and children. The Nazis were proud of their work and took many pictures…
There were many worthy commemorative articles by esteemed authors regarding this somber annual event, but two especially come to mind that should be read. The first one by Meir Jolovitz gave me yet another reason to like the actor Morgan Freeman,. Ruthie Blum honored the martyrs beautifully as well
This year, due to the current pandemic, we all recalled these tragic events at home. Since the Hebrew calendar is both solar and lunar, the corresponding dates on the Western calendar change yearly.
I obviously agree that it’s good to have a day set aside to recall the Holocaust and its lessons. Indeed, I’ve worked most of my life trying to assure that “Never Again ! ” will be a truism forever by defending Israel, its right to thrive–not just survive–in relatively secure, far more defensible, real borders than those imposed upon the reborn Jewish State by the United Nations armistice lines in 1949.
The 1949 lines made Israel smaller in width (9-15 miles) at its strategic waist than the size of some Texas driveways, at least according to President George W. Bush.
Additionally, I’ve fought for relative justice for all peoples– Jew and non-Jew alike–with my pen, via other media, and additional means of communication and education for well over half century now. That’s also what http://q4j-middle-east.com is all about.
But, last year, before corona, I stayed away from this public display of sympathy for dead Jews.Putting it bluntly, too many people attending annual Yom Hashoah commemorations leave and then, either consciously or unconsciously, aid and abet those who claim that Arabs are now allegedly the new stateless, oppressed Jews; Gaza is the new Warsaw Ghetto; Jews are the new Nazis; and so forth.
If that above paragraph had even an iota of truth to it, Israel would have solved its Gaza terror problem long ago.
On January 24, 2020, one day after the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, which marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and was attended by dozens of leaders from across the world, Moroccan writer Kamal Ait bin Juba posted an article on the liberal website ahewar.org,[1] in which he noted that the Holocaust was an undisputable fact and an indescribable horror. He added that commemorating the Holocaust was legitimate and justified, especially in light of Iran’s threats to eliminate Israel, and called to continue commemorating it so that tragedies of its sort never recur. He also expressed sorrow that many Islamic countries today still teach children to hate Jews.Amb. Dore Gold: 100 Years Since the San Remo Conference
The following are translated excerpts from his article:
"I have no intention of discussing in this [article] who has the right to live in the Jewish lands in Israel today, for this is not the place to do so… But as human beings, we do not condone the extermination of any nation in the world, be it the Armenians, the Palestinians, the Rohingya Muslims, or anyone else. When the Jews accuse the dictator Hitler of exterminating millions of Jews in gas chambers in Germany [sic] as part of what he called the ‘final solution,’ the world knows they are not directing accusations against a person who brought joy to people’s hearts… but against a person who commanded vast, destructive military and intelligence forces… and who attacked others. And how can they [not accuse him], when he wrote in his book that capitalism and communism were both invented by the Jews, and expressed covert hostility towards them[?]…
"The truth is that, when I myself studied the issue of the Jewish Holocaust… I found it to be an undisputable fact… It was a terrible tragedy that befell the Jews of Europe in [the era of] Nazi Germany, [a tragedy] whose heinous nature cannot be imagined, except by those who are directly connected to it, being Jews or descendants of [Holocaust] survivors, who transmit from generation to generation the stories about this sad and tragic affair.
"On January 23, 2020, a ceremony was held in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Germany [sic], where many Jews were exterminated. The anniversary of this event becomes [especially] justified and meaningful in light of the existence of a state like Iran, which never stops threatening to wipe Israel off the map… by means of its supporters, who take every opportunity to chant slogans like ‘death to Israel, curse the Jews.’
"Moreover, hatred of Jews is still being taught in many schools across the world, [including] in so-called Islamic states, some of which may even have diplomatic ties and peace agreements with the state of Israel. These people [the Jews] are described [in their curricula] as devils, violators of agreements, etc.
In April 2020, the Jewish people will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Conference, convened in Italy from April 19 until April 26, 1920, in the aftermath of the First World War. British Prime Minister Lloyd George and his minister of foreign affairs, Lord Curzon, attended along with the prime ministers of France and Italy. Representatives of Belgium, Greece, and Japan also took part. They constituted what was called the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers. Most people have heard of the other great postwar conferences, like the Paris Peace Conference or the Geneva Conferences at the end of World War II. But San Remo has not been on many people’s radar screens, despite the fact that it created the geographic basis of the modern Middle East for most of the 20th century.
San Remo dealt with the disposition of territories that until 1920 were a part of the Ottoman Empire, which had been defeated in the war. Formally, the Ottomans renounced their claim to sovereignty over these lands, sometimes called Arab Asia, in the Treaty of Sevres, which was signed the same year as San Remo, on August 10, 1920. It was at Sevres that a draft peace agreement between the allies and the Ottoman Empire was worked out. What these postwar treaties enabled was the emergence of the system of Arab states, on the one hand, and the emergence of a ”national home for the Jewish people,” on the other hand. The Balfour Declaration from 1917 was in essence a declaration of British policy. But San Remo converted the Balfour Declaration into a binding international treaty, setting the stage for the League of Nations Mandate, which was approved in 1922. It has been noted that at San Remo, Jewish historic rights became Jewish legal rights.
Were these legal rights of the Jewish people superseded in subsequent years? At the time that the UN Charter was drafted in 1945, officials were cognizant that this argument might be raised. Therefore, they incorporated Article 80 into the UN Charter which stated specifically that “nothing in this chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties.” Thus, the foundations of Jewish legal rights established through San Remo were preserved for the future.
US Congresswoman and Palestinian Group Spread Lies About Israel and Gaza
US Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), helped American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) raise more than $20,000 on Saturday by speaking to the group’s “online gala.”J Street’s Twisted Passover Haggadah
Last week, I reported that Dingell and fellow Democrat Barbara Lee of California were slated to speak, despite AMP’s extensive record of hateful rhetoric and connections to a defunct Hamas support network.
AMP Executive Director Osama Abuirshaid smugly alluded to the article on Tuesday in a self-congratulatory email to supporters.
He accused me of “racism and hatred [that] did not prevail: Congresswoman Dingell delivered an amazing keynote speech, our impressive line-up of speakers brought down the house, and more than three thousand AMP supporters attended the gala!”
The original article contains specific and accurate information about AMP and the kind of hateful rhetoric common at its events. The piece is racism and hatred free.
But it is easier to deflect people’s attention with empty accusations of bigotry than it is to explain AMP’s numerous connections to the Muslim Brotherhood-created, Hamas-supporting Palestine Committee. Those include Abuirshaid’s own work with two committee branches founded by a Hamas political leader named Mousa Abu Marzook. This ploy is an attempt to evade questions about why it’s appropriate for AMP events to feature calls for Israel’s elimination.
Saturday’s online gala lacked some of the rabid country-erasing talk, but still managed to blame Israel, and Israel alone, for deteriorating conditions inside Hamas-run Gaza. Lee was a no-show. But Dingell was a principle contributor.
First, she echoed a chorus of Palestinian advocates concerned about the threat the coronavirus poses to Gaza.
“In Gaza right now,” Dingell said, “there are currently fewer than 100 ventilators that are available for over two million Palestinians residing there.” Recent US aid cuts make “Palestinians uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19 right now.”
Thankfully, the virus has not spread in Gaza. As of Sunday, there have been only 13 confirmed cases, all involving people who entered through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Most patients have recovered. None of the remaining cases appear life threatening, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported.
In addition, Israel has trained Palestinian medics from Gaza and is providing some testing.
Those details weren’t mentioned in the AMP event.
Like others who faced the challenge of holding a seder this year, my family resorted to Zoom to bring together my parents in Boca Raton, our older son in Houston, and our younger son serving in the IDF. We wanted to read from the same text, so I looked for a digital Haggadah that we could share on screen. I found traditional ones, do-it-yourself versions, and attempts at humor. I also stumbled across a Haggadah put out by J Street, which turns Passover into a holiday about Palestinian liberation.
The J Street Haggadah reads like one you would expect to be produced by the PLO. It proves the point Jackie Mason made in the article I cited last week — that J Street believes peace can be achieved “if only Israel didn’t do this or that.”
Curiously, many on the left decry paternalism except in the case of the Palestinians, who are portrayed as blameless for their plight, incapable of making their own decisions, and having no responsibility for their actions. J Street perpetuates Palestinian victimology, portraying them as innocent naïfs, while repetitiously asserting that Israel is mistreating them.
In the Haggadah, J Street equates the lives of Palestinians with Jews enslaved under Pharaoh. Indeed, roughly 98% of Palestinians are suffering under taskmasters — the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
The self-flagellation begins with Yachatz. Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg writes, “Israel grabs and settles territory out of fear that the enemy will return to decimate us. We are still victims.”
Does that include within your Democratic Party, with Members of Congress like @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib? https://t.co/AFdzd0q1R3
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 22, 2020
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Slammed for Failing to Mention Jews in Holocaust Remembrance Day Tweet
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — who has faced antisemitism accusations in the past — was criticized on social media on Wednesday after tweeting a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day that did not mentions Jews.
“This #HolocaustRemembranceDay == and every day — we pay tribute to the millions of lives lost and forever changed in one of the most horrific chapters of our world’s history,” Tlaib wrote. “May we honor them by fighting to ensure hate and bigotry #neveragain prevail. #YomHaShoah.”
The failure to point out that Holocaust Remembrance Day marks a particularly Jewish tragedy drew both outrage and sarcasm from social media commenters.
Jewish conservative activist Ben Shapiro replied to Tlaib, “You can say Jews, Congresswoman.”
The blogger Elder of Ziyon posted a past tweet by anti-Israel activist and Tlaib ally Linda Sarsour that attacked former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus for Holocaust Remembrance Day statement in 2017 that did not refer to Jews.
“How do you have a Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and not mention Jews?! Absolutely outrageous. Definition of anti-semitism,” Sarsour said.
“According to Linda Sarsour @lsarsour, @RepRashida @RashidaTlaib is an antisemite,” Elder of Ziyon noted.
According to Linda Sarsour @lsarsour, @RepRashida @RashidaTlaib is an antisemite.
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) April 22, 2020
(h/t @melissaeweiss) pic.twitter.com/GhdCrehWPx
Jews already fought back by building home in a land that’s rightfully theirs (Israel) where they can be Jews without being oppressed/persecuted. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that protect Jews from ethnic cleansing. A country YOU continue to attack and demonize... https://t.co/mElACqirzV
— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) April 22, 2020
AnalysisNew UK Labour leader tries to win back Jews while working with Corbyn allies
To many British Jews, the election of Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party this month has been greeted as an end to four years of fear and disappointment under his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
Starmer is a 57-year-old prosecutor-turned-politician whose wife is Jewish and who has said he wholeheartedly supports Zionism. Immediately after his election on April 4, Starmer acknowledged that Labour had failed to address its anti-Semitism problem under Corbyn for years.
With the far-left anti-Israel campaigner Corbyn at its helm, Labour was fractured by multiple scandals and lost the support and confidence of a large portion of the country’s Jewish population.
Three weeks into his leadership, however, Starmer has begun to walk a tightrope — between flushing out the anti-Semitism controversy and appealing to the large number of the party’s Corbyn loyalist holdovers — that has given some British Jews reason for concern.
Starmer has already promoted three lawmakers with strained relationships with the Jewish community to leadership positions.
Afzal Khan, Starmer’s pick for shadow deputy speaker of the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament, once shared a link on Facebook to an article titled “The Israeli Government are acting like Nazi’s [sic] in Gaza.” In 2015, Khan shared a video on Facebook with captions about the “Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate” and “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars.” He later apologized, but then reportedly claimed the video was not anti-Semitic.
Lisa Nandy, Starmer’s shadow foreign secretary, is chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East group, an internal lobbying platform. She has expressed support for fighting anti-Semitism within Labour but has endorsed on several occasions the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, a group whose Facebook and Twitter accounts often fail to delete the rampant anti-Semitic rhetoric on their pages. She also signed on last year to a platform that calls for the “return of Palestinians” to the State of Israel — a demand Israel’s advocates say is a euphemism for ending the world’s only Jewish sovereign nation.
This person @lisanandy is wrong on so many fronts. Israel’s imposition of sovereignty over its own territory is not against international law. If the Israeli government decides to do this, the UK should give it our full support. https://t.co/23tXPSWLog
— Rɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ Kᴇᴍᴘ ⋁ (@COLRICHARDKEMP) April 23, 2020
Former Labour MP Laura Smith defends Twitter user who says Labour is now under “Zionist control”, calling criticism a “witch hunt”
A former Labour MP has been discovered to have defended a Twitter user who said that the Labour Party is now under “Zionist control”, calling criticism a “witchhunt”Columbia University Student Government Postpones BDS Referendum Due to Pandemic
Laura Smith narrowly won election in Crewe and Nantwich in 2017 but lost the seat in 2019. She is currently a councillor on Cheshire East Council.
Ms Smith tweeted a defence of the controversial General Secretary of the Labour Party, Jennie Formby on 17th April.
A Twitter user replied to that tweet saying: “Sadly our Labour Party is now under Zionist control. Let’s form a new Socialist party with JC as leader”, presumably in reference to Jeremy Corbyn.
Another user, doubtless noting the suggestion that Labour was under the control of Israel or, if ‘Zionist’ was meant as a euphemism, the Jews, replied “antisemite”.
Ms Smith then replied to the second user saying “I’m sorry Joe but you witch hunting people on Twitter makes you as bad as the factions you supposedly despite.”
It is extraordinary that a recent MP should defend someone on social media suggesting that her Party is under “Zionist control” and rely on offensive tropes such as “witch hunt” to do so, instead of taking the opportunity to call out anti-Jewish racism.
Due to the United States and the world grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, Columbia University’s student government has postponed an undergraduate student referendum scheduled for this month calling on the university to divest from companies doing business in Israel.
In a statement on Friday, the Columbia Elections Commission (CEC) and the executive board of the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) said that it would not be conducive to hold the vote because students are not on campus to discuss the BDS referendum ahead of the vote.
The university switched to remote learning on March 11.
The vote has been pushed to the fall semester “or whenever campus returns to its normal operation,” said CEC and CCSC.
According to the two groups, “CCSC is constitutionally charged to foster ‘cohesiveness and community among the entire undergraduate population,’ and we do not believe that subjecting the Columbia College student body to a contentious discussion during these perilous times would align with this ideal. We are especially concerned about the toll that such a divisive conversation would take on Columbia College students who are already struggling to balance academic obligations with pressing family matters.”
Columbia President Lee Bollinger has expressed opposition to the referendum, calling the BDS movement “controversial,” and that it’s “a process of mentality that goes from hard-fought debates about very real and vital issues to hostility and even hatred toward all members of groups of people simply by virtue of a religious, racial, national or ethnic relationship. This must not happen.”
Bollinger also said “it’s wrong” for Jews to be targeted by antisemitism.
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) April 22, 2020
It is NEVER ok to punish the victim https://t.co/FWSGMALi6w
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) April 23, 2020
Latest Season of Israeli TV Series ‘Fauda’ Becomes Massive Hit in Arab World
The Israeli television series “Fauda” is already a global hit, but in a remarkable turn of events, its third season has now become the most-watched show in the Arab world.BDS: ‘Fine, You Can Watch Fauda’ (satire)
According to Israel’s Channel 13, the intense series, which depicts the activities of an Israeli undecover anti-terror squad, is the most-watched Netflix program in Lebanon, sixth in Jordan and third in the United Arab Emirates.
Television viewing around the world is at an all-time high at the moment because millions of people are confined to their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked why the series is so popular, co-creator Avi Issacharoff noted that a large amount of the show’s dialogue is in Arabic.
“I think part of it is the language, which means that ‘Fauda’ has crossed over into the Arabic language, and we are also bringing the story on both sides, not just from the Israeli side,” he said.
“Of course, the corona also — that is, the fact that people are sitting at home and have nothing to do, so it certainly encourages people to watch, even if it means an Israeli series,” Issacharoff added.
The leadership of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement announced that even if you are dedicated to the destruction of Israel, it is permitted to watch Fauda. The decision was announced along with other allowance such as permission to use any Israeli-made vaccines for the virus after they decided that its members were probably going to watch it anyway.Hold the front page: UK Jewish Chronicle sold; some of its buyers not yet named
The leader of the movement, Omar Barghouti, tweeted that they could watch the show without betraying the movement because it would provide entertainment during Corona-related quarantine and because “we already said they could take an Israeli made vaccine…. so I guess, fuck it”. He added that it would be in line with their cause if you rooted for the terrorists in the show, although he understood if some members were more interested in letting lead actor Lior Raz “occupy them long and hard”.
The BDS movement has been famous for not really following any of their rules anyway since a major part of computers, technology, and medicine are all partially developed or produced in Israel. A spokesperson for the Israeli government said that they had no problem with BDS supporters watching Fauda and expected nothing less from them because they are “gigantic pussies who aren’t willing to be bored for their cause, let alone die for it”.
The third season of Fauda premiered on Netflix last week and is the heartwarming story of secret Israeli agents looking for hookups in all the wrong places.
In a surprise move, a consortium including a group of Jewish philanthropists has purchased the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle (JC), which had been heading into liquidation and an uncertain future. Its new owners promised it would now have a “secure, sustainable, and independent future.”Israel and ‘Palestine’: It’s All the Same For The Irish Times
“We are delighted to announce that our effort to rescue the Jewish Chronicle from liquidation has prevailed. The oldest Jewish newspaper in the world will go to print next week, as it has done for the last 180 years. It is right and proper that its liabilities will be met, its creditors will be paid, and its staff made whole,” the Chronicle’s new owners said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “The Jewish Chronicle would have disappeared but for philanthropic support.”
The JC’s rival, the Jewish News (a Times of Israel partner), is to continue operations as before. The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News titles had previously contemplated a merger or a joint liquidation process from which a single title might have emerged.
Numerous members of the consortium are well-known figures, but some of its funding is coming from unnamed philanthropists, leading to questions about the paper’s ongoing independence and the buyers’ transparency. In their statement, the new owners said the unnamed donors were “entitled to their privacy,” but stressed they would have “no say in editorial policy, nor any beneficial ownership of the Jewish Chronicle. The current editorial direction of the Jewish Chronicle will be maintained under the leadership of Stephen Pollard and his editorial team.”
As part of a series looking at personal experiences under the coronavirus in different parts of the world, the Irish Times interviews Juliet Casey “originally from Walkinstown, Dublin, but now lives in Palestine, where she teaches ballet.”London Live sanctioned by Ofcom over interview in which David Icke said Israel was using COVID-19 to “test its technology”
Casey is asked “Where do you live now?”
I live in Palestine with my fiancé Fadi, who is from Jerusalem. We first met in Belgium and eventually I decided to visit him over here for three weeks. Almost four years later I’m still here. Fadi is a circus artist so his projects take him all over the country and overseas fairly regularly. I started teaching ballet and we moved to Haifa, which is a seaside city with a big Palestinian population.
Haifa, as we ascertain from the rest of the article, is where Casey lives. Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. Not “Palestine” as Casey states. So begins what looks like a deliberate effort either on the part of Casey or the Irish Times (or both) to confuse readers and conflate Israel with “Palestine.”
Ofcom has sanctioned the television channel London Live for airing an interview with the antisemitic hate preacher and conspiracy theorist David Icke on COVID-19.CAMERA Prompts NY Times Correction on West Bank Status
The regulator judged that Mr Icke’s views, which were unsubstantiated and went unchallenged in the interview with Brian Rose, “risked causing significant harm to viewers.”
In the interview, which aired on the first night of Passover, Mr Icke claimed that Israel was using the COVID-19 crisis to “test its technology”, among other conspiratorial contentions.
Ofcom commented that “we were particularly concerned by his comments casting doubt on the motives behind official health advice to protect the public from the virus. These claims went largely unchallenged during the 80-minute interview and were made without the support of any scientific or other evidence.”
London Live will have to broadcast a summary of Ofcom’s decision “on a date and form to be decided by Ofcom”.
After incorrectly referring to the West Bank as “Palestinian territory,” the New York Times today published a correction underscoring that there is no current sovereign in the West Bank. The correction was prompted by CAMERA after discussion with editors at the newspaper.
The paper’s April 20 story, “Netanyahu’s Power Is Extended as Rival Accepts Israel Unity Government” by David Halbfinger and Isabel Kershner, had initially referred to the Israeli prime minister’s intention to annex portions of the “occupied Palestinian territory.” The corrected version refers instead to “occupied territory” in the West Bank, and a correction appended to the story reads,
Correction: April 22, 2020
An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to West Bank territory Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel would like to annex. The land is occupied by Israel. The Palestinians want it for a future state but do not have sovereignty over it.
Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 from the Kingdom of Jordan, which had occupied the territory since its 1948-49 war with Israel. (While the West Bank was under Jordanian occupation, the New York Times incorrectly referred to the land as “Jordanian territory.”) Prior to 1948, the West Bank, like Israel, was administered by the United Kingdom.
In the 1990s, when Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the Oslo peace agreements, the sides agreed that the status of the West Bank would be decided in negotiations between the sides, and today its rightful and ultimate disposition remains under contention.
Surely other journalists will speak up about this. I look forward to @washingtonpost @nytimes reports in standing with their colleagues and reporting this threat. Also look forward to statements by @pressfreedom https://t.co/EuJvl4Tsef
— Sean Durns (@SeanDurns) April 22, 2020
German police open probe into hack of Israeli Holocaust memorial event on Zoom
Berlin police confirmed on Wednesday that a criminal investigation had been opened into an anti-Semitic incident that took place during an online Holocaust memorial event organized by the local Israeli Embassy.
Unknown persons interrupted the Zoom meeting with Holocaust survivor Zvi Herschel late Monday by shouting anti-Semitic slogans and displaying photos of pornography and of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Wednesday that the incident was “a disgrace, a despicable act.”
Seibert said the government expressed its deep regret to the embassy and to Herschel, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Herschel, who was born in 1942 in the German-occupied Netherlands, survived after being taken in by a Dutch Protestant family.
“The vast majority of Germans and the German government are firmly resolved to stand up to any form of anti-Semitism in our country,” Seibert added.
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, said on Twitter that the event had to be briefly paused due to the disruption.
Gee why do Orthodox Jews get so sensitive of how the media portrays them as non-compliant with social distancing guidelines when they highlight outliers as being representative. https://t.co/Q9Ky2HiGqk
— The Meturgeman (@HaMeturgeman) April 22, 2020
Preview: VIRAL : Antisemitism in Four Mutations Airdate 5/26/20 https://t.co/NvnUKrhg0k via @YouTube
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) April 22, 2020
Friends of IDF to conduct virtual Independence and Remembrance Day events
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), an organization dedicated to helping men and women in the IDF, has announced Wednesday that they will be arranging virtual events for both Remembrance Day and Independence Day in Israel, according to a press release from the organization.Morrissey reschedules May 2020 Israel concerts for 2021
On April 28, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, FIDF will commemorate Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers and civilian victims of terrorism, and on April 29, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern, there will be a virtual celebration of Independence Day.
The virtual events are only expected to last one hour, and are part of the FIDF's digital alternatives to community events and galas across diaspora communities that have been cancelled in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, FIDF also postponed planned events, including its annual mission to Poland and Israel.
Dr. Shmuel Katz, FIDF National Board Member of Miami, FIDF National Director and CEO Maj. Gen. (Res.) Meir Klifi-Amir, and Lt. Col. Shai Abramson, the IDF’s Chief Cantor, are all expected to participate in the virtual Remembrance Day ceremony. Reciting Kaddish for the event, a Jewish prayer of mourning, will be Alon Carmeli, father of fallen American-Israeli IDF Lone Soldier Sean Carmeli, who was killed in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
Singer and songwriter Morrissey has rescheduled two concerts in Israel planned for next month, due to the ongoing closures amid the coronavirus crisis.11 fun ways to celebrate Israel Independence Day in lockdown
Morrissey, who has frequently declared his love for Israel and has a strong fan base here, was planning two intimate concerts, at Zappa Amphi Shuni south of Haifa on May 9 and Tel Aviv’s Bitan 1 on May 11, both locations with limited seating.
Instead the former Smiths frontman will perform May 5 and 8, 2021.
Israeli promoter Shuki Weiss announced that tickets already purchased will be honored for the new dates.
10. Take a virtual tour of IsraelCelebrate life this Independence Day with 60 fabulous photos
This whole staying at home thing sucks, especially when we’d like to be out and about in celebration. But you can still take a virtual tour of Israel courtesy of ISRAELc’s “Postcards”, which we brought together in one gorgeous film. There’s no better time to celebrate the beauty of this tiny country.
11. Make a donation to battle Covid-19
For next year’s Independence Day celebrations to be the real deal, we need to find a way to overcome the global coronavirus pandemic. Heroic efforts are already underway to find a vaccine, to treat those who are ill and to support the sick and elderly in these trying times.
It’s time for the rest of us to show support, so pick a charity or initiative close to your heart, whether in Israel and abroad, and let’s make sure that we can all meet for a real-life L’chaim as soon as possible.
We’ve been stuck inside for what feels like an eternity, separated from loved ones, and unable to take part in the activities that bring us so much pleasure.
And this Independence Day, Israel’s 72nd, the people of Israel will be on lockdown again, unable to go out into the countryside or enjoy the traditional fun of an outdoor barbecue with friends and family, or a trip to the beach to watch the annual flyover – which has also been cancelled.
What better time for us to put together some photographs to remind us all of the beauty, color, warmth and humor of Israel.
Let’s celebrate life this Independence Day.
