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Thursday, July 23, 2020

07/23 Links Pt2: Jewish Actor Josh Malina Shames Pop Star Madonna for Promoting Antisemite Louis Farrakhan; The Corbynites have lied with impunity - now they face the legal consequences

From Ian:
Jewish Actor Josh Malina Shames Pop Star Madonna for Promoting Antisemite Louis Farrakhan
Actor Josh Malina criticized on Thursday pop legend Madonna for promoting notorious antisemite and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

“The little red string you wear doesn’t count for shit when you amplify the voice of an antisemite, @Madonna,” tweeted Malina, who is Jewish and is best known for his roles on “The West Wing” and “Scandal.”


The “little red string” Malina referred to is something worn on the wrist by followers of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, for protection from the “evil eye.” Madonna has been a proponent of studying Kabbalah in the past.

Earlier this month, the “Queen of Pop” posted on Instagram a trailer for a Fourth of July address given by Farrakhan, in which he called Jews “Satan” and promoted an anti-Israel conspiracy theory.

Despite receiving backlash for sharing the trailer and requests for it to be removed, Madonna has yet to delete the clip from her Instagram page.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said the “Material Girl” singer “owes Jewish people an apology and explanation why she chose to lend her platform” to Farrakhan.

More recently on Instagram, Madonna voiced solidarity with “Palestine.”
Caroline Glick: The Predicament of Liberal American Jews
In under a week, two events happened at The New York Times—the arbiter of liberal news and opinion—which highlight the growing precariousness of the American Jewish community's position in the Democratic Party.

On July 8, the Times published an op-ed by Peter Beinart, a far-left American Jewish writer and self-anointed spokesperson for liberal Jewish opinion on Israel.

Beinart's article, entitled, "I no longer believe in a Jewish state," argued that Israel no longer has a right to exist. It should be destroyed and replaced by a non-Jewish state. Beinart ended his article by urging American Jews to get over their Holocaust-induced fear of genocide and join him in his rejection of Jewish national rights.

To be clear, Beinart's position is anti-Semitic.

The Obama administration adopted the definition of anti-Semitism published in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). IHRA's definition includes a list of common manifestations of anti-Jewish bigotry. Among those manifestations are, "Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor."

Beinart's declaration that he has joined the jackals came as no surprise to those who had been paying attention. For the past decade, Beinart has been arguing that Israel's right to exist is contingent on its willingness to satisfy his American Jewish preferences. In his Times article, Beinart proclaimed that Israel is not delivering the goods. So as far as he is concerned, Israel needs to stop existing.

Beinart's advocacy of Israel's demise is significant not so much for what it says about American Jewish views of Israel (80 percent of American Jews support Israel and two-thirds feel an emotional attachment to the Jewish state), but for what it says about the political Left's view of Israel—and of Jews.

This is the case because for the better part of the past decade, Beinart has served as a weathervane of leftist opinion on Israel and Jews, and as a fig leaf for leftist anti-Semitism.


American Jewry in Transition? How Attitudes toward Israel May Be Shifting
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has been researching the attitudes of Jewish-Americans for the past two years. We may now be seeing a trend in Jewish-American attitudes that represents a narrower definition of "support" for Israel.

Our latest series of data shows moderately strong but less than enthusiastic overall support for Israel. We found mild-moderate but clear expressions of "sympathy" for the Palestinians.

There is deep concern over anti-Semitism, dissociated from concern over anti-Israel attitudes. At the same time, there is a lack of serious concern for anti-Semitism from the left-progressive elements of society.

Despite some concerns, there is a willingness to associate with possibly anti-Israel movements. Overall, there is a general endorsement of issues associated with liberal or progressive thinking.

Israel-related issues are not a deciding or "make or break" factor in the voting behavior of a significant portion of our Jewish-American sample.

There is considerable support for Black Lives Matter protests, despite awareness and concern that the BLM movement may lead to an increase in anti-Israel attitudes.

However, we found a marked reduction for being personally willing to support "affirmative action"-type initiatives. We also found a less marked reduction in support for defunding police and paying reparations to Black-American institutions.



Victim of 1974 NY anti-Semitic abduction, record-high ransom finally tells all
On the evening of November 12, 1974, 34-year-old New York businessman Jack Teich was abducted at gunpoint from the driveway of his suburban home in Kings Point, Nassau County.

“You’re a Jew, right?” Teich remembers his kidnappers asking.

“They knew I was a Jew,” he tells The Times of Israel in a Zoom interview. “They knew more than they let on.”

Dubbed “Operation Jacknap” by the FBI, Teich’s case was one of America’s largest kidnapping and ransom cases at the time with a demand for $750,000 — the equivalent of $4 million today.

In his new book “Operation Jacknap: A True Story of Kidnapping, Extortion, Ransom, and Rescue” Teich, now 80, breaks more than 45 years of silence, sharing painful details of the week he spent laying in the closet of a Bronx apartment with his wrists handcuffed, legs chained, and eyes covered with medical bandages.

Teich’s written account of his captivity sounds like a crime drama from the era — police gathered in the living room waiting for the ransom call, pressing the record button on a reel-to-reel tape when the phone rings, and coaxing family members to stay on the line long enough to trace the call. Indeed, the kidnapping was included in the James Patterson novel “Along Came a Spider,” which was later made into a movie starring Morgan Freeman.

But Teich’s memoir is also a disturbing reminder of enduring anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracy theories about Israel, some of which are again being propagated by extremists in the United States.

The mastermind of the home ambush, Richard Warren Williams, confronted Teich about being a member of the Jewish Defense League and said that Teich’s “arrest” was in return for crimes against poor people. Mumbling slurs such as “Jew slumlords,” Williams accused the Jewish people and the State of Israel of everything from planning Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat’s assassination (Arafat died of a stroke in 2004), to dropping bombs on African villages.

Calling his ransom a “fine” for these and other transgressions, Williams told Teich that the money was going to “help Palestinians and poor people.”
The Corbynites have lied with impunity - now they face the legal consequences
A year ago, the Labour Party declared all-out war on the BBC. Why?

I was the reporter on a Panorama programme in which seven former Labour staffers blew the whistle about antisemitism in Corbyn’s Labour Party. They explained how they felt a growing factionalism had created a safe space for antisemitic views inside the party.

Labour responded by accusing me of having flouted journalistic ethics. I had, Labour alleged, knowingly promoted falsehoods and invented quotes. I had misrepresented and fabricated facts.

It was, the party claimed, all part of my “deliberate and malicious” attempt “to mislead the public.”

It didn’t stop there. The party accused the whistle-blowers of being motivated by “disaffection” with Corbyn and the Labour Left; they had “personal and political axes to grind” as opposed to actually believing what they told me about the toxic climate they said had enveloped the party under the Leader’s office.

These were remarkably stupid things for the official opposition to say in public. It is the BBC’s job to subject any political party to careful scrutiny - but it is particularly important for the BBC to examine the actions of the party that aspires to be the next government.

Most politicians recognise that such criticism is an essential part of a democratic society. How did Labour react? By imputing a malign, dishonest, conspiratorial motive to BBC programme makers.

Labour claimed that I knew that Corbyn’s office was committed to dealing with antisemitism and was getting the job done. The party claimed that I maliciously tried to convince the public of the opposite of what I knew to be a simple truth.


UK Labour Party Pays Damages in Anti-Semitism Lawsuit


Labour’s reputation cannot be restored simply by saying ‘sorry’
A reputation cannot be fully restored simply by a few words, but for me and others involved in the Panorama ‘Is Labour Anti-Semitic’ programme, hearing the Labour Party describe the allegations against us as “untrue and defamatory” is a first step.

I have initiated many legal proceedings on behalf of the Party. Usually for the National Executive Committee in defence of one or other arcane paragraph from the rulebook. Or as a result of a breach of election law by our opponents.

I never expected that I would initiate libel proceedings against Labour, the Party I’ve been a member of for over 40 years and served as an employee for 25 years.

I’m not Jewish. When discussing antisemitism, I don’t even claim “some of my best friends are Jewish” (although some are). Being shown the daily experiences of many Jews, from casual, throwaway antisemitism to deliberately hateful and hurtful vitriol was a true eye-opener for me. That these were the experiences of members of the Labour Party, perpetrated in part by voices within the Labour Party, amplified by social media, and then discounted and diminished by people supposedly without an antisemitic bone in their body was bewildering. Jaw-dropping.

When I retired from working for the Labour Party in 2017 it was with an absolute recognition that we, as a Party, had failed to stem a rising tide of antisemitism. But I knew I left behind a team of people committed to tackling this stain on the reputation of one of the great political parties. And then, one by one, they too left or were invited to leave.

We all became observers of the failure of the Labour Party.


Tlaib or Not Tlaib? Detroit’s Jews Aren’t Sure
While he wishes Tlaib would change her stance on Israel — or at least do more to understand where Jewish people are coming from on the issue — he recognizes that it’s not the biggest problem facing the 13th district. The district’s residents deserve a devoted advocate for their own challenges, he said.

“She’s not there to represent the Palestinian people or to advocate for Israel,” he said. “She’s there to represent the people she’s representing.”

The Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus has also decided not to get involved in the 13th district’s Democratic primary.

“While MDJC has endorsed and supported five of Michigan’s seven incumbent Democratic members of Congress for the 2020 cycle, no plans exist for an endorsement in the 13th District,” a statement from MDJC Chair Noah Arbit reads.

From the right, the Michigan Jewish Action Council is not getting involved in this election, either. In a statement sent to the JN, the conservative advocacy group said they have concerns with both candidates — Tlaib because of her views on Israel and Jones because of her ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has a history of anti-Semitism.

“While we at MJAC think that Rashida Tlaib is a poor choice for Jews and for our country, Brenda Jones needs to clarify some of her positions,” reads the statement, signed by MJAC member Harry Onickel.

Jones welcomed Farrakhan to Detroit this year for the group’s annual “Saviour’s Day” convention in February. At the convention, Jones’ chief of staff Steven Grady told the crowd that she had sponsored a resolution to honor the 40th anniversary of the NOI’s newspaper, The Final Call, for its “truthful articles” and “courageous journalists” (the paper has a long history of publishing anti-Semitic content). Jones had previously shared a stage with Farrakhan in 2018.
Former UK Chief Rabbi Calls Chinese Persecution of Uyghur Muslims a ‘Desecration of Faith Itself’
A former chief rabbi of Great Britain on Wednesday strongly criticized the China’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims, calling it “a moral outrage, a political scandal, and a desecration of faith itself.”

The Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group native to the Xinjiang autonomous region in northwestern China, have been subjected to a brutal campaign of dislocation and “reeducation” by the Beijing regime in recent months, including deportations to camps, torture, unsanitary conditions and psychological pressure techniques intended to force them to conform to the ruling Communist Party’s line.

“As a human being who believes in the sanctity of human life, I am deeply troubled by what is happening to the Uyghur Muslim population in China,” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.

“As a Jew, knowing our history, the sight of people being shaven-headed, lined up, boarded onto trains, and sent to concentration camps is particularly harrowing,” he said.

He continued, “That people in the 21st century are being murdered, terrorized, victimized, intimidated, and robbed of their liberties because of the way they worship God is a moral outrage, a political scandal, and a desecration of faith itself.”
British University Lecturer Fired for Saying ‘Jewish People Are the Cleverest in the World’
A British university professor has been fired for, in part, saying that “Jewish people are the cleverest in the world.”

Stephen Lamonby, 73, a lecturer at Solent University in Southampton, made the remarks in question during a meeting with another academic, the Daily Mail reported.

The other academic, Dr. Janet Bonar, said she had a degree in physics, and Lamonby asserted Jews had “a particular gift” in that field.

Bonar objected to this, to which Lamonby replied, “I believe that Jewish people are the cleverest in the world. They are much maligned because of it.”

“I asked if you were Jewish because of your ability with maths/physics etc., which is a specialty of theirs,” added Lamonby.

Speaking at a disciplinary hearing, Lamonby said he was “excited to think she might be one of them — excited to meet a Jewish physicist, who had been my heroes since boyhood.”

He continued, “My comments were simply stating that, arising from my lifetime of experience, I have come to believe that certain nationalities have developed a higher level of skill in some areas.”

“This is directly related to the level of exposure to criteria such as industry and education,” he stated. “This is not radical thinking; it is simply a view that reflects environmental privilege in general terms.”

Lamonby said he was using “positive stereotypes” and made similar observations about other groups, such as “Germans are good at engineering” and “the Japanese and the Americans are all good engineers in my opinion too.”


Stop Noodging; We’ll BDS The Non-Jewish Causes As Soon As We Get Rid Of The Jews by Roger Waters, washed-up musician (satire)
My social justice allies and I have grown weary of partisan accusations of “hypocrisy” surrounding my support for Boycott, Divest, Sanctions measures against Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians, while we supposedly “ignore” or “downplay” the ongoing persecution of other peoples, and those partisan accusers – probably paid Hasbara trolls – try to silence our efforts by alleging that we act out of antisemitic motives. Balderdash. When we say, in response to questions why we never agitate for sanctions against other regimes, “You’ve got to start somewhere,” we mean it. Only by sheer coincidence do all BDS advocates happen to pick the same somewhere as their starting point. We’ll get to all the others after we finish there. Something final to solve the problem, as it were.

Palestinians have suffered dispossession, death, blockade, dehumanization, and settler violence unlike any other people, in the sense that the other people suffering from dispossession, death, blockade, dehumanization, and settler violence don’t have Jews as their enemies. That distinction makes the Palestinian cause, and the BDS we urge the world to adopt to assist the Palestinian cause, more urgent than any other people’s persecution or suffering: given the precarious nature of Jewish existence – their population has not even reached its pre-1939 levels yet – who knows how much longer they will be around, and therefore how much longer anyone will have the opportunity to fight for a cause that has Jews as the enemy? This may be the last chance the world gets. I certainly hope it is.

The Kurds are a a glorious, patient people, and their cause merits attention – right after we deal with Israel. Sorry, but anyone facing misfortune that we can attribute to malign Jewish activities such as Jews asserting sovereignty in the ancestral Jewish homeland takes priority over irrelevant folks with the lack of foresight not to choose Jews as their foe. That goes for the Uighur Muslims of China, as well. The images of them being shackled and herded onto trains to be taken to concentration camps and forced-labor factories are certainly a shocking thing to behold within living memory of Nazi depravities against Jews and other minorities, but, unfortunately, that doesn’t create a strong enough link to Jews for us to start demanding BDS against the Chinese Communist Party.

Also, it would risk reminding everyone that Jews can be victims, too, and we can’t let anyone develop sympathy for Jews.
Success for CAA as Twitter reverses locks on accounts with Stars of David, but questions remain as to why this policy was in place at all
After Campaign Against Antisemitism reported that Twitter was locking accounts featuring Stars of David in their profile pictures, Twitter is reviewing its policy, which it claims was directed at ‘yellow stars’ specifically, which it categorised as “hateful imagery”.

Several Twitter users recently contacted Campaign Against Antisemitism reporting that their accounts had been locked, and Twitter provided the following rationale: “What happened? We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically for: Violating our rules against posting hateful imagery. You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. As a result, we have locked your account.”

Twitter appeared to have deemed the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism and Jewish pride, to be “hateful imagery”, and was locking the accounts of users who displayed it.

Now Twitter has claimed that the policy was directed only at ‘yellow stars’. Yet the Stars of David in the profile pictures of locked accounts that we saw also included artistic blue Stars of David and graffitied white Stars of David.

Twitter has claimed in its statement that “While the majority of cases were correctly actioned, some accounts highlighted recently were mistakes and have now been restored.”

We are pleased that Twitter has taken remedial action in this individual cases, however questions remain as to whether this was a genuine policy ineptly administered, or whether Twitter has provided an after-the-fact rationalisation for why the accounts of Jewish users displaying their identities were locked.

In response to Twitter’s statement, Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Only one of the accounts locked featured a yellow star, and it very clearly did so as a means of reclaiming the yellow stars used by the Nazis. This is precisely the kind of inept response to antisemitism that we have come to expect from Twitter, which just last week tried to convince us that the viral antisemitic #JewishPrivilege hashtag was legitimate.
BBC’s Knell twice amplifies the false claim of a ‘siege’ on the Gaza Strip
Yolande Knell’s two reports both feature one particular case but tell audiences very little about the “lack of freedom of expression under Hamas rule” cited in Franks’ introduction.

Filmed:
“Suleiman al Ajuri was 25, a popular graduate from Gaza. In July he took his own life. Suleiman had led “We Want to Live” protests against poverty. They were seen as the greatest challenge to Hamas rule since 2007 and were violently broken up. Suleiman was arrested and accused of spreading chaos.”

Audio:
Knell: “He was a popular 25-year-old with a degree in accountancy. So why did he take his own life at the start of this month? Suleiman had been a leader of the ‘We Want to Live’ movement. In March last year it staged large protests against unemployment and poverty. They were seen as the greatest challenge to the Islamist group Hamas since it took full control of Gaza in 2007 and they were broken up violently. Suleiman was arrested and accused of spreading chaos.”

Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh reported earlier this month that al Ajuri had in fact been arrested and interrogated by Hamas on several occasions, his family home raided and that “[s]ome Palestinians who attended his funeral or visited the family home to offer condolences have been detained by Hamas security officers and militiamen”. Abu Toameh has also reported that some of the cases of suicide have taken place in Hamas detention centres.

Readers may recall that Yolande Knell’s March 2019 reports on the ‘We Want to Live’ protests failed to explain how Hamas’ prioritisation of terrorism has affected economic conditions in the Gaza Strip but promoted the notion that “[a]t the heart of Gaza’s economic woes is a blockade by neighbouring Israel and Egypt”.

Sixteen months on we see that Knell is still focusing audience attentions on Israeli and Egyptian counter-terrorism measures – including the promotion of the notion of a mythical ‘siege’ – rather than producing any meaningful reporting on social factors which may be connected to suicides in the Gaza Strip or the oppressive climate created by the authoritarian terrorist regime which violently took it over thirteen years ago.
Newsweek Corrects on Israel’s Capital, Legality of Settlements
In a second substantive error, Newsweek’s article this week had stated as fact: “The settlements are illegal under international law.” In a second reference to the settlements as illegal, the article had stated: “Netanyahu plans to extend Israeli sovereignty to the illegal settlements as well as parts of the Jordan Valley, comprising some 30 percent of all West Bank land.”

Yet, there are experts in international law who dispute this view, among them Prof. Julius Stone and former U.S. Undersecretary of State Eugene Rostow. In addition, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year acknowledged that “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law,” reverting to a position earlier voiced by President Reagan. Reagan had said: “As to the West Bank, I believe the settlements there — I disagreed when the previous Administration referred to them as illegal, they’re not illegal,” “Excerpts From Interview With President Reagan Conducted by Five Reporters”, New York Times, Feb. 3, 1981.)

In response to communication from CAMERA, Newsweek promptly and forthrightly corrected the two points. Instead of the mentioning Tel Aviv, the amended text now states: “Israel has thus far dismissed all international condemnation.”

In addition, the passage which had stated as fact that settlements are illegal under international law now acknowledges a dispute about their status under international law. The amended text reports:
The settlements are widely considered to be illegal under international law—including by the United Nations—though some in Israel and the U.S., including Secretary of State Mike Pomepo, dispute this.

Editors likewise removed the reference to “illegal settlements,” and the amended text now states: “Netanyahu plans to extend Israeli sovereignty to the settlements as well as parts of the Jordan Valley, comprising some 30 percent of all West Bank land.”
Moreover, editors commendably appended the following correction to the bottom of the article alerting readers to the changes:
660 News Wrongly Claims Israel Intends to “Seize Areas of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”
On July 17, 660 News reporter and anchor Tom Ross (pictured below) penned an article entitled: “Dozens of MPs join pledge demanding strong opposition to West Bank annexation”.

In his article, Mr. Ross erroneously claimed that Israel intends to “Seize areas of the occupied Palestinian territory.” By that, he was referring to Israel’s plans to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria inline with President Trump’s peace plan. What Mr. Ross failed to acknowledge is that Israel and the Jewish people have legal, ancestral and religious claims to the areas and cite security needs as a partial rationale to retain the land which was procured in a war of self defense in 1967. The Palestinians have never been sovereign rulers over this land and to claim that the territory is Palestinian denies Israel and the Jewish people’s claims and prejudges the territorial conflict.

Reporter Ross also misleadingly claimed the following:
It has resulted in condemnation from most members of the United Nations — including some European countries considering sanctions — as international law has also continually ruled that the settlements themselves are illegal.”

Contrary to this claim, many international law experts dispute the view that Israel’s settlements are “illegal”. For example, U.S. Undersecretary of State Eugene Rostow, Professors Eugene Kontorovich and Julius Stone. Furthermore, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged last year that “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law,” which saw the United States revert to a position held previously by President Ronald Reagan who had said: “As to the West Bank, I believe the settlements there — I disagreed when the previous Administration referred to them as illegal, they’re not illegal.”


German court convicts 93-year-old man for Nazi crimes
A German court convicted a 93-year-old German man of helping to murder 5,232 prisoners, many Jewish, at a Nazi concentration camp in World War Two and handed him a suspended two-year sentence in one of the last cases against Nazi-era crimes.

Bruno Dey, who had been an SS guard in the Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk in what is today Poland, was guilty of being involved in killings between August 1944 and April 1945, the Hamburg court said on Thursday.

Dey has admitted that he served at the camp and had knowledge of what took place, but has denied any complicity in the deaths of inmates – claiming that he never bought into the Nazi ideology.

"I don't bear any guilt for what happened back then," the defendant told the Hamburg court last year, according to the international public broadcaster. "I didn't contribute anything to it, other than standing guard. But I was forced to do it; it was an order."

“I probably knew that these were Jews who hadn’t committed a crime, that they were only in here because they were Jews,” Dey said before his trial evaluation last year, according to the German newspaper Die Welt. “And they have a right to live and work freely like every other human being.”

During closing arguments earlier this month, prosecutors claimed that the former guard was aware of the war crimes being committed at the Nazi death camp but chose not to act, or take the option of stepping down from his guard tower to proclaim that he "can't do this anymore."
Witness in SS Guard's Trial: "The Crematorium Couldn't Keep Up"
The pyres of burning bodies in the forests around Nazi Germany's Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig still haunt Marek Dunin-Wasowicz, 93, a witness in the trial of former SS guard Bruno Dey. Dunin-Wasowicz spent several months in the camp aged 17 after being arrested as a suspected member of the Polish resistance. He said he felt "honor-bound" to speak out for the more than 60,000 people killed at the camp and for the few survivors who are still alive.

By the time he arrived, the concentration camp was turning into an extermination camp, part of the Nazi plan to systematically eliminate European Jews. He remembers seeing "silhouettes" of people walking towards the gas chamber, undressing before entering, and later some prisoners who "hauled out the corpses." "The crematorium couldn't keep up with the cremations, so they started to burn corpses on pyres outside the camp," he said.
Neo-Nazi Gunman Wears ‘Big Grin’ as Court Views Footage of Yom Kippur Attack on German Synagogue
The second day of the trial of a German neo-Nazi for a gun attack on a synagogue in the central city of Halle on Yom Kippur last year saw the defendant smiling widely as video footage of his outrage was broadcast on a screen in the courtroom.

German media outlets reported that the 29-year-old gunman, Stephan Balliet, wore a “big grin” as prosecution lawyers replayed the same video that Balliet had livestreamed during the attack on Oct. 9, 2019.

Contrastingly, many of the plaintiffs attending the trial averted their eyes when the video was shown, while others left the room overcome by emotion.

The court was reminded of how, on the day of the attack, a heavily-armed Balliet had driven to the synagogue on Halle’s Humboldtstrasse just before noon, as more than 50 worshipers inside the sanctuary held religious services marking Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day.

After failing to break through the synagogue’s locked entrance despite exploding a grenade, a frustrated Balliet shot dead a 40-year-old female passerby. When additional violent attempts to force his way inside the building were similarly unsuccessful, Balliet left the synagogue in his car, driving to a a small kebab restaurant where he shot dead a 20-year-old man, believing him to be a Muslim.

During questioning on Tuesday, Balliet revealed himself as an obsessive antisemite who blamed the Jews for both his personal failings and the social tensions in his country.
Canadian Green Party Zoom Debate Disrupted With ‘F—king Jew,’ N—-r’ Messages
A primary debate for candidates vying to be the leader of the Canadian Green Party held on Zoom on July 21 was disrupted with messages of anti-Semitic and racial slurs.

According to Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), among the slurs used in the Zoom chat from outsiders were “f—ing Jew” and “n—-r.” One of the candidates in debate, Annamie Paul, tweeted, “My kids were watching. As a Black Jewish candidate, I’ve been subject to months of anti-Semitic & racist attacks. Party silence emboldened hate. It ends when I win.”

B’nai Brith Canada tweeted, “We strongly condemn the disgusting racist & anti-Semitic slurs directed at leadership candidate @AnnamiePaul at the @CanadianGreens debate last night. Hate is unacceptable in [Canada]. We need to work together with energy & resolve to combat racism in all of its forms.”

The Canadian Green Party released a statement on July 22 condemning the Zoombombing and have reported the incident to law enforcement.

“The Green Party of Canada strongly condemns racist, sexist and anti-Semitic attacks against two leadership contestants during an online town hall conducted on Zoom last night,” the statement read. “The vile language appeared briefly in the public chat space before moderators ejected the perpetrators from the event and deleted their hateful comments.”

Simon Wiesenthal Center Executive Director Rabbi Meyer May said in a statement that the July 21 Zoombombing was indicative of the recent rise in online anti-Semitism.
For antisemites in France, police are seen as ‘dirty Jews’
On April 27, Youssef Tihlah left his home near Paris planning to avenge what he later called “the situation in Palestine.”

Over the past decade, that has been the motivation for multiple perpetrators of antisemitic terrorist acts in Europe, who have targeted Jews as payback for their perception of Israel’s actions.

But Tihlah, a 29-year-old Muslim with a history of petty crime, was not after Jews. According to his own confession after the crime and a letter he had written before it, he decided to target police officers. Tihlah rammed his cars into two of them in the suburb of Combes, wounding one seriously.

French police officers and activists against anti-Semitism said the attack was the latest example of an emerging trend in France in which anti-Semites have come to see the police and other security services as extensions of “Jewish power” — a theme often discussed in the conspiracy theories that inspire and justify such attacks.

Claims of police brutality, inspired by protests in the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd, have “only poured oil on that fire,” said Sammy Ghozlan, a former police commissioner from Paris and the founder of the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism, or BNVCA.

“The antisemitic equation between cops and Jews is a new development borne out of conspiracy theories, and it’s already inciting violence and bloodshed,” Ghozlan said. “It’s dangerous not only to Jews, but also for the rule of law in France.”


Bringing Israeli cannabis science to the US wellness market
Not long ago, any chocolate bar or skin cream claiming to contain the cannabis compounds CBD or THC flew off American store shelves.

Today, with cannabis products saturating the market, consumers are choosier. They seek brands they can trust to deliver the effects promised on the label – such as soothing anxiety or speeding recovery.

Day Three Labs was launched earlier this year to bring Israel’s renowned cannabis science and innovation into the picture.

“We hear from brands that there is a real need to have differentiated products on the shelves,” says CEO and co-founder Josh Rubin, 35.

“That requires innovation, and Israel is the gateway to innovation for cannabis. Our idea is how to best deliver that innovation to the American consumer.”

One of the largest cannabis companies in the US asked Day Three Labs to help them create functional edibles with enhanced bioavailability and control of the user experience. This line likely will contain cannabinoids and terpenes less well known than CBD or THC.

Other companies – not only from the United States — have engaged with Day Three to develop products ranging from pet wellness to nebulizer solutions as a safer alternative to vaping.
U.S. Army Tanks in Europe Fitted with Israeli Active Protection System
Photos released on July 10 of U.S. Army tanks participating in the Defense Europe exercise show an M1 Abrams main battle tank equipped with the Israeli-made Trophy Active Protection System (APS). The Trophy can intercept and destroy incoming anti-tank missiles and other guided rockets using radar to provide continuous 360-degree protection.

Once a threat is detected, the system launches explosively formed penetrators that destroy the incoming round before impact. The Trophy system can also trace the origin of hostile fire, allowing a tank crew to almost immediately return fire. Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems delivered their first Trophy APS to the Army in October 2019, with plans to ultimately outfit four brigades of Abrams tanks with the system. First deployed in Israel in 2011, Trophy is the only combat-proven system of its kind currently in service.
8 Israeli inventions for greener farming
The coronavirus crisis proved that no country should depend on imports for food security, says Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Partner Michal Drayman.

“God forbid if we don’t have the internal ability to produce our own fresh produce,” she tells ISRAEL21c.

Yet Covid isn’t the only crisis affecting food security. Water is scarce due to climate change and wasteful farming practices. Pests, weeds and crop diseases are building resistance to the toxic chemicals used to control them.

Neither farmers nor consumers want their fruits and veggies coated with chemical residues, but there aren’t enough safe and effective alternatives.

All these factors are pushing forward a range of cost-effective eco-friendly solutions from Israel, a world leader in agricultural technology.

The need is even more acute now that the European Union has declared a goal of a 50% reduction in chemical pesticide use by 2030.

“Without technology, this will be very difficult to accomplish,” says Drayman. “We believe that the growing demand for environmental protection, along with regulatory requirements, are generating a significant market for agritech.”

International investors including corporate giants such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer are investing in green Israeli agtech, Drayman says. Domestic support comes from the government and several funds and accelerators, including JVP’s food-tech/agtech fund and innovation commercialization company Trendlines Group.

Below are 8 Israeli agtech companies working to green farms across the world, some already in business for years and others still in the R&D stage.


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