The Plot for America: Remembering Civil Rights Leader Joachim Prinz
The influential Newark rabbi was a confidante of Martin Luther King, but he’s been all but ignored by history
On the evening of June 26, 1937, thousands of Berlin Jews packed the city’s grand Brüdervereinshaus to bid farewell to Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who had been ordered by the Gestapo to leave Germany immediately or face an almost certain death sentence for political subversion. Prinz had been the most popular, outspoken, and inspirational champion of Jewish national rights and Zionism in the dark years since the Nazis’ rise to power, preaching to overflow crowds at Berlin’s most important temples about the need to leave Germany and immigrate to Palestine. By the summer of 1937 he had already been arrested a half-dozen times by the Gestapo, but he always managed to elude deportation. This time, however, he was warned by his “friend” and informant, Gestapo Obersturmbanführer Kuchman, that his days were numbered, and he reluctantly decided to emigrate to the United States, sponsored by his friend and patron Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Among the uninvited guests at Prinz’s farewell was a Nazi functionary, Adolf Eichmann.
Eichmann’s presence was to have important legal ramifications more than two decades later. In the initial discovery proceedings to establish Eichmann’s identity before his 1961 trial in Jerusalem, Benno Cohen, the foremost Zionist leader in pre-war Berlin, positively identified the defendant, testifying as follows:
We held a valedictory meeting to take leave of Rabbi Dr. Joachim Prinz who was leaving the country. He was one of the finest speakers, the best Zionist propagandist in those years. The large hall was packed full. The public thronged to this meeting. Suddenly, as chairman of the event, I was called to the door and my office clerk told me, “Mr Eichmann is here.” I saw this same man, for the first time in civilian clothing, and he shouted at me, “Who is responsible for order here? This is disorder of the first degree.” … I watched him the entire time from my place in the chair.
As a young rabbi in his late twenties, Prinz was already addressing congregations of thousands in Berlin’s largest temple, the magnificent Neue Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse, whose stunning façade has recently been restored. And less than two years after arriving in the United States after his expulsion from Germany by Eichmann’s goons, he was appointed rabbi of New Jersey’s largest Jewish house of worship, the magnificent Greek Revival Temple B’nai Abraham, which towered over Newark’s then-fashionable and heavily Jewish Clinton Hill section, where hundreds of young people swarmed to hear his Friday-night orations.
As Prinz so evidently delights in repeatedly recalling in his posthumously published memoir, Rebellious Rabbi, the Jews of both Berlin and Newark—especially “the younger generation” to whom he mainly dedicated his ministries—did not so much “go to shul” for an encounter with the divine as they “went to Prinz” for an encounter with the rabbi. The combination of Prinz’s charismatic personality and his distinctly un-theological and nationalistic understanding of the essence of Judaism proved as attractive to the nervously Americanizing Jews of mid-20th-century New Jersey as it had been to the deeply assimilated and newly imperiled Jews of early Nazi Germany. Prinz’s nationalist theology was first expressed in his classic work of Jewish defiance, Wir Juden, which was published in Berlin in 1934 and quickly became a best-seller among Germany’s deeply demoralized Jews. He used his experiences leading the Jews of Nazi Berlin to develop an almost metaphysical notion of Jewish national identity, which he referred to as the “doctrine of Jewish inescapability.”
Prinz’s initial, exploratory visit to the United States, in March 1937, just a half year before his final emigration from Germany, was marked by all manner of disappointments with the “Golden Land.” Prinz complained bitterly about America’s complacence in the face of the threat posed by Nazi Germany. In his first recorded impressions of the country, he found almost nothing that compared favorably with his native Germany. America’s cities are depicted as ugly and rundown, racism against blacks disturbingly pervasive, its political culture naïve and intellectual life second-rate, and its people primitive and poorly dressed.
The Pope, the Jews, and the Secrets in the Archives
In early 1953, the photograph of a prominent nun being arrested was splashed across the front pages of French newspapers. Over the next several weeks, other French clergy—monks and nuns—would also be arrested. The charge: kidnapping two young Jewish boys, Robert and Gérald Finaly, whose parents had perished in a Nazi death camp. The case sparked intense public controversy. Le Monde, typical of much of the French media, devoted 178 articles in the first half of the year to the story of the brothers—secretly baptized at the direction of the Catholic woman who had cared for them—and the desperate attempts by surviving relatives to get them back. It was a struggle that pitted France’s Jewish community, so recently devastated by the Holocaust, against the country’s Roman Catholic hierarchy, which insisted that the boys were now Catholic and must not be raised by Jews.
What was not known at the time—and what, in fact, could not be known until the opening, earlier this year, of the Vatican archives covering the papacy of Pius XII—is the central role that the Vatican and the pope himself played in the kidnapping drama. The Vatican helped direct efforts by local Church authorities to resist French court rulings and to keep the boys hidden, while at the same time carefully concealing the role that Rome was playing behind the scenes.
There is more. At the center of this drama was an official of the Vatican curia who, as we now know from other newly revealed documents, helped persuade Pope Pius XII not to speak out in protest after the Germans rounded up and deported Rome’s Jews in 1943—“the pope’s Jews,” as Jews in Rome had often been referred to. The silence of Pius XII during the Holocaust has long engendered bitter debates about the Roman Catholic Church and Jews. The memoranda, steeped in anti-Semitic language, involve discussions at the highest level about whether the pope should lodge a formal protest against the actions of Nazi authorities in Rome. Meanwhile, conservatives in the Church continue to push for the canonization of Pius XII as a saint.
The newly available Vatican documents, reported here for the first time, offer fresh insights into larger questions of how the Vatican thought about and reacted to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, and into the Vatican’s mindset immediately after the war about the Holocaust, the Jewish people, and the Roman Catholic Church’s role and prerogatives as an institution.
Exploring Titus, Trump and the Triumph of Israel
Below is an excerpt from the book Titus, Trump and the Triumph of Israel; The Power of Faith Based Diplomacy, by Josh Reinstein (Gefen Publishing House).Accepting nomination, Trump touts his 'kept promise' on Jerusalem
In 2004, when I started the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, I aimed to get more people — not just people who read the Bible — to start looking at Israel through a biblical lens in order to better understand the dynamics in the Middle East. More practically, my objective was to mobilize Christians’ growing concern for Israel by creating a framework for political action. This initiative gained momentum, resulting in a shift from spiritual support into worldwide political support.
While observing this recent change in the diplomatic landscape through interactions on my TV show, Israel Now News, and while speaking to various groups across the world, I realized that many issues needed to be clarified. The questions came from all sides. Many Christians didn’t understand the Jewish perspective. Some were confused about why many traditional Jews keenly collaborated with Christians on worthwhile projects, while Reform Jews, although proud of their Judaism, seemed to work more readily with Muslims than with evangelical Christians.
From another angle, Jews were observing the increasing wave of Christian kindness and enthusiasm to help Israel but were ignorant about the theological motivations behind it. Why, they wondered, are some churches the biggest supporters while others are virulently anti-Semitic, even divesting from Israel? Also, many Jews who supported Israel were not entirely aware of the powerful connection they felt toward the land. They innately comprehended it, aware that just three generations ago, most of their grandparents were religious and that without their ancestors’ allegiance to the Bible and their traditions, Judaism would not have survived. But they still needed to clarify their current relationship to the state within a modern context.
On a broader scale, people were puzzled by certain groups, whose ideology should have resulted in strong advocacy for Israel but who instead tried to condemn it. Why, for example, is much of the liberal media so biased against the most liberal country in the Middle East? Their views on a multitude of policies — from individual rights to gender equality to freedom of speech — seem to align with those of Israel, in contrast to the Arab regimes. Yet instead of seeing Israel as a model to promote freethinking and tolerance, that portion of the media relentlessly and irrationally blames Israel for any conflict, while remaining silent about the bloodshed endorsed by its Arab neighbors. Similarly, many university campuses, the centers for Western education and enlightenment, have become breeding grounds for bigotry — filled with angry students picketing, shouting, and protesting this tiny country that thrives amid third world chaos.
President Donald Trump blasted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as a hapless career politician who will endanger Americans' safety as he accepted his party's renomination Thursday on the South Lawn of the White House, touting the administration's policies both at home and abroad.Pence, Grenell, Kellogg Applaud Administration’s Pro-Israel Accomplishments
Facing a moment fraught with racial turmoil, economic collapse, and a national health emergency, Trump delivered a triumphant, optimistic vision of America's future. However, he said that brighter horizon could only be secured if he defeated his Democratic foe, who currently has an advantage in most national and battleground state polls.
"We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years," Trump said, referring to the former senator and vice president's career in Washington.
"When I took office, the Middle East was in total chaos: ISIS was rampaging, Iran was on the rise, and the war in Afghanistan had no end in sight. I withdrew from the terrible one-sided Iran nuclear deal," Trump said.
"Unlike many presidents before me, I kept my promise, recognized Israel's true capital and moved our embassy to Jerusalem," he continued, before moving on to celebrate the latest diplomatic breakthrough he has helped broker between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which is expected to yield a full-fledged peace deal in the coming weeks. "This month we achieved the first Middle East peace deal in 25 years. Thank you to UAE, thank you to Israel," Trump said.
On the third night of the Republican National Convention, US Vice President Mike Pence, former US Ambassador to Germany and acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg—Pence’s national security advisor—heralded US President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel accomplishments.Nikki Haley’s stellar performance as ambassador and at the RNC – opinion
“Last year, American armed forces took the last inch of ISIS territory, crushed their caliphate and took down their leader without one American casualty,” said Pence at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where America successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British Navy during the War of 1812. “And I was there when President Trump gave the order to take out the world’s most dangerous terrorist. Iran’s top general will never harm another American again because Qassem Soleimani is gone.”
Soleimani, general of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was targeted in a US airstrike on Jan. 3 at Baghdad International Airport.
Pence also remarked that the administration has “stood up to our enemies, and we’ve stood with our allies.”
“Like when President Trump kept his word and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel, setting the stage for the first Arab country to recognize Israel in 26 years,” said Pence, referring to the Aug. 13 US-brokered normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It was the first such agreement between Israel and a Gulf Arab state.
In his speech in Washington, DC, Grenell said, “After the end of the Cold War, Democrats and Republicans in Washington bought into the illusion that the whole world would start to resemble America. And so they started to pursue unlimited globalization. They welcomed China into the World Trade Organization. They engaged in ‘nation-building’ in Afghanistan and tried to export democracy to Iraq. They signed a nuclear deal with Iran and a global climate agreement in Paris.”
The United States withdrew in May 2018 from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions lifted under it, along with enacting new penalties against the regime.
Grenell went on to warn that “a return to the Biden way of thinking means America gives the radical terrorist regime in Tehran a planeload of cash in the middle of the night.”
“President Trump also sent an aircraft in the middle of the night to deal with Iran. But that plane was on a different mission—an airstrike to take out the head of Iran’s terror machine who plotted the deaths of Americans,” said Grenell, referring to the elimination of Soleimani.
Nikki Haley is a star. There’s no other way to describe the former governor of South Carolina, whose subsequent two-year term as America’s ambassador to the UN was one of the most memorable in recent history.Cotton’s RNC Speech Set to Blast Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Record
Her appointment to the latter post by then-President-elect Donald Trump came as somewhat of a surprise. She had supported Marco Rubio in the Republican Party primaries, and when he dropped out of the race, she backed Ted Cruz.
When Trump became her party’s nominee, she announced that she would vote for him, in spite of her reservations about his character and abilities. She then called on him to release his tax returns, a move that elicited one of his notorious Twitter offensives.
Nevertheless, he selected her for the sensitive position based on what he considered to be her professional merit. This did not prevent critics from highlighting her lack of experience in foreign affairs.
To be fair, Haley seemed to many at the time who hadn’t heard of her to be an odd choice for a job that requires not only familiarity with global politics, but a rejection of conventional diplomacy – certainly by representatives from countries like the US and Israel.
Indeed, the best envoys sent by Washington and Jerusalem to the snake pit in midtown Manhattan have been those who refuse to cower before their ill-deserving counterparts, focusing instead on putting delegates from despotic regimes in their place. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jeanne Kirkpatrick and John Bolton are examples of previous ambassadors whose very large shoes Haley was charged with filling.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) will savage Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s track record on foreign policy issues in a speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, according to an advance copy obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.Kenosha synagogue still supportive despite vandalism during BLM riots
The Arkansas senator, who has become a top ally of President Donald Trump’s, will focus on Biden’s decision making in three major areas: China, the Middle East, and his overall grand strategy. In the Middle East and otherwise, Biden’s caution and weakness on defense spending stand out to Republicans as places of Biden’s potential vulnerability. On China, Cotton sees Biden's record as even more shaky.
"China’s not giving up—in fact, they’re rooting for Joe Biden," the speech reads. "America’s other enemies won’t give up either. But Joe Biden would be as wrong and weak over the next four years as he has been for the last 50. We need a president who stands up for America—not one who takes a knee."
Biden’s record includes a long list of left-wing positions, but particularly striking is his stance on China. For decades, Biden has aligned with engaging China, moving to reward it for behavior consistent with international norms, arguing for Beijing's status as "Most Favored Nation" in 2001. Biden has also repeatedly spurned prospects of a closer relationship with Taiwan in favor of the status quo in cross-strait relations.
Biden also opposed the killing of prominent terrorist leaders in the Middle East. In the days following the strike against Qassem Soleimani, Biden loudly opposed the operation. As vice president, Biden was one of the few in Barack Obama's decision room who opposed the strike that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. Over the years, Biden has given differing accounts of his reaction to the strike, at times denying that he opposed it. Biden’s opposition is clearly documented, however, in the memoirs of former defense secretary Robert Gates and then-CIA chief Leon Panetta.
In early June, as anti-racism protests swept the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Beth Hillel Temple in Kenosha, Wisconsin, signed onto an interfaith letter supporting peaceful protest and condemning “a broken societal system which disproportionately affects communities of color.”Fire at Jewish Student Center Ruled Arson
This week, Kenosha became an epicenter of renewed protest after a police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back. And on Wednesday night, the 93-year-old synagogue’s driveway was graffitied with the words “Free Palestine.”
Critics of the Black Lives Matter movement have cited similar vandalism as evidence that protests have devolved into rioting. But has the graffiti changed the synagogue’s support for the racial justice movement?
“Absolutely not,” said Rabbi Dena Feingold, who has led the Reform congregation for 35 years. “That’s a trivial matter. What’s happened these last few days is not about us and what’s happened to us. It’s about the issues of systemic racism that plague our society. About police policy, about implicit bias, white privilege and those bigger issues is what this is about. It doesn’t change anything at all.”
Feingold said the protests have felt like they’re happening in the synagogue’s backyard. Beth Hillel Temple is in Kenosha’s downtown, a block away from where two people were shot dead following protests on Tuesday, allegedly by a teenaged gunman from out of state who saw himself as having responsibility for protecting local buildings. It is also near two churches, at least one of which was also graffitied on Wednesday.
The University of Delaware's Jewish student center was torched by an arsonist who is still at large.Joe Biden calls Delaware Chabad torching ‘deeply disturbing’
The university's Chabad Center for Jewish Life went up in flames late Tuesday night, causing approximately $150,000 in damages. A Delaware fire marshal announced that the fire was arson and a criminal investigation is underway. The university has withheld labeling the incident a "hate crime" until the investigation is complete, though it affirmed its solidarity with the Jewish community. The building was not occupied at the time of the fire.
"At this time, the Fire Marshal's office has found no indicators that this case was a hate crime," university president Dennis Assanis said. "The Chabad Center … is an active part of UD's religious, faith, and spiritual diversity. We affirm our solidarity with the Jewish community at this difficult time."
The pro-Israel group BDS Report told the Washington Free Beacon that it is actively calling on university officials to condemn what appears to be anti-Semitism. "We condemn this attack on the University of Delaware's Jewish community and call on the university officials to condemn the rise of antisemitism on college campuses," a spokesperson said.
Universities have increasingly become a haven for anti-Semitism—often in connection with anti-Israel activism. At Florida State University, the student senate elected as president a student who said "f— Israel" and "stupid Jew" with little backlash. At Pomona College, the university refused to condemn its senior class president for claiming Jewish people "hate brown [people]" and "worship" World War II.
Delaware Chabad students kickstarted a GoFundMe campaign to help rebuild the historical center. In less than a day, the group raised more than $120,000.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the torching of the Chabad center at the University of Delaware.
The incident “is deeply disturbing — as an alum of @UDelaware and as an American,” read a tweet Thursday from Biden’s Twitter account. “We need a full and swift investigation into what happened Tuesday night. With anti-Semitism on the rise across the country, we all have a moral obligation to speak out and give hate no safe harbor.”
The Tuesday night blaze, which resulted in damages estimated at $150,000-$200,000, was ruled an arson by the state fire marshal on Wednesday. The blaze required 45 firefighters, including from neighboring fire companies, to bring the fire under control, according to local media reports.
“It is heartbreaking to learn the fire at the Chabad Center was set intentionally,” Jerry Clifton, the mayor of Newark, Delaware, said in a statement. “This is a sickening act of hostility that threatens the safety and security of our inclusive, welcoming neighborhoods. My thoughts are with the Jewish community and those affected by this tragedy.”
The Delaware fire comes just a week after another Chabad center, in Portland, Oregon, caught fire twice, though the cause of those blazes is still unknown.
The entire clip is far worse.
— The Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) August 27, 2020
It’s alleged that Jews who push back against Linda Sarsour or Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Jewish ideology and statements aren’t “normal Jews”. pic.twitter.com/x1uMKW7XA8
Missing context: He popularized the term "No Justice, No Peace" when helping lead an anti-Semitic mob against Jews in Crown Heights. https://t.co/nZu32yb3RD
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) August 27, 2020
College leaders: It’s time to stop antisemitism on campus – opinion
The antisemitism that Rose Ritch endured at the University of Southern California (USC) has been all over the media. Ritch recently resigned as vice president of USC’s undergraduate student government after she was harassed for months by fellow students for one reason only: Ritch is proudly Jewish and openly expresses her Jewish identity by supporting the Jewish state of Israel.Progressive Academics Voice Support for Jewish USC Student Over Anti-Zionist Harassment
Students launched an aggressive social media campaign against Ritch to “impeach her Zionist ass.” Heartbreakingly, Ritch felt that she had to resign, to protect her physical safety and mental health.
Ritch’s ordeal is outrageous and unacceptable. But sadly, it’s not surprising or new. Ritch is the latest example of what Jewish students have been enduring on their campuses for years.
Consider, for example, what happened in 2015 to UCLA student Rachel Beyda, whose application to serve on the Student Council’s Judicial Board was initially rejected after several council members questioned her fitness based on her identity as a Jew. Beyda was asked, “Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community, how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?”
Beyda’s expression of her Jewish identity – she belonged to a Jewish sorority and was involved in UCLA’s Hillel – had absolutely nothing to do with her fitness to serve on the judicial board. She was eminently qualified to serve. But that didn’t stop antisemites from bullying Beyda and trying to derail her nomination simply because she proudly affiliated with her Jewish community.
Consider, too, what happened to Jesse Arm in 2015 when he was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. Members of an antisemitic, anti-Israel student group on campus (“Students Allied for Freedom and Equality,” or SAFE) instigated what can truly be described as a witch hunt against Arm. They called for his removal from his position in the student government simply because he exercised his right to object to the timing, taste and appropriateness of an anti-Israel display in the center of the campus. SAFE set up the display on the very same day that two deadly terrorist attacks occurred in Israel, killing five people.
A group of progressive American scholars have come to the defense of a Jewish student whose experience of antisemitism led to her resignation as University of Southern California student vice president earlier this month.Antisemitic BDS Movement Making Inroads in Germany, New Report Reveals
In a statement published this week under the title “Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist?” — a deliberate nod to the McCarthy-era harassment of leftists in the 1950s — the Alliance for Academic Freedom (AAF) said that it “condemns the treatment of Rose Ritch … following a campaign that featured denunciations of her support for Israel, including some with antisemitic overtones.”
In an open letter published on Aug. 6, Ritch said that she was stepping down because she had been “harassed and pressured for weeks by my fellow students because they opposed one of my identities.”
She explained: “It is not because I am a woman, nor because I identify as queer, femme, or cisgender. All of these identities qualified me as electable when the student body voted last February. But because I also openly identify as a Zionist, a supporter of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, I have been accused by a group of students of being unsuitable as a student leader. I have been told that my support for Israel has made me complicit in racism, and that, by association, I am racist. Students launched an aggressive social media campaign to ‘impeach [my] Zionist a**.’ This is antisemitism, and cannot be tolerated at a University that proclaims to ‘nurture an environment of mutual respect and tolerance.’”
Ritch’s letter drew a supportive note from USC President Carol Folt, who told students in an email that she condemned “the antisemitic attacks on her character and the online harassment she endured because of her Jewish and Zionist identities.”
In its statement, the AAF said that while Folt’s statement was welcome, “the administration and faculty [of USC] failed to speak out forcefully and early enough.”
The group noted that “Ritch is far from the only college student who has been harassed in recent years for their pro-Israel politics.”
Amid growing concern over antisemitic violence on German streets and anti-Israel activism on the country’s campuses, the U.S.-based policy research institute Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) has published a detailed report looking at the activities of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Germany.
The 27-page monograph authored by Benjamin Weinthal, a FDD research fellow and Jerusalem Posts’s Europe correspondent, is perhaps the most comprehensive overview of the BDS movement in Germany so far. The report examines the emergence of the BDS movement in Germany (Germany is “a late arrival to the campaign,” the monograph explains) and makes policy recommendations on how Germany can help fight the antisemitic activism in Europe given its historical responsibility.
While the report lauds the German government and parliament for taking a unequivocal stand against the anti-Israel boycott campaign, it calls on Berlin to go beyond symbolic gestures and take effective steps in combating BDS-driven antisemitism
On May 17, 2019, German parliament Bundestag passed a landmark resolution condemning BDS as antisemitic. It received overwhelming support from lawmakers belonging to the ruling Christian Conservatives (CDU-CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD), as well as the center-right Free Democrats (FDP) and the ecological Green party.
The Bundestag resolution “brought a new sense of democratic legitimacy to the effort to counter BDS initiatives, since the parliament spoke on behalf of more than 80 million inhabitants of the most populous country in the European Union,” the report says.
“I commend the German Bundestag for labeling BDS antisemitic. And that is important. However, there is much more that can be done to advance the impact of the non-binding resolution,” Weinthal told Legal Insurrection.
Today I visited Zorganika - an organic date farm blacklisted by @UNHumanRights for “raising human rights concerns.”
— מיכל קוטלר-וונש | Michal Cotler-Wunsh (@CotlerWunsh) August 27, 2020
Well - there is no concern. I met the faces behind the company, the Israelis & Palestinians, who work together “as family.”
Listen for yourself.@mbachelet pic.twitter.com/MqVqqX3iDA
Seriously @Harvard? Only way this not laughable is if course by @ErakatSaeb is how *NOT* to conduct diplomacy! Because after decades of failed efforts, Erakat has only brought misery & violence! @benshapiro @Imamofpeace @RichardGrenell https://t.co/I3M6pvdrNS
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 28, 2020
We are live!
— University Antisemitism Map (@UniASMap) August 28, 2020
We Launch with more than 140 map points at over 50 universities, including our favourites, SOAS, Birkbeck & Bristol.
We will, of course, update as necessary so please keep your tips coming in for our team to investigate and log.https://t.co/GgS545KAUs pic.twitter.com/zRVaQd4tUp
Open Letter to Canadian Media: Adopt Internationally Recognized IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
On the heels of the important AdoptIHRA campaign, where 140 NGO’s from around the world urged Facebook to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, HonestReporting Canada issued this open letter calling on Canadian media outlets to adopt this internationally recognized definition of antisemitism.Monitoring The Bad & The Ugly: HR on Social Media
It’s imperative that the Canadian media adopt the IHRA definition now, especially at a time when antisemitic incidents have reached near historic levels and Jews remain the most targeted minority group in Canada. Without a recognized definition for the term, there’s no way for various stakeholders (journalists, school administrators, police, union representatives, judges, etc.) to identify instances of Jew-hatred and enforce laws and policies to counter the scourge of antisemitism.
IHRA’s membership consists of nearly 40 member countries including Canada, the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, etc. each of whom “recognizes that international political coordination is imperative to strengthen the moral commitment of societies and to combat growing Holocaust denial and antisemitism.”
Today’s antisemites deny Israel’s right to exist, reject Jewish self-determination in our historic homeland and employs Holocaust denial and revisionism, while subjecting the Jewish people and Jewish state to demonization, double standards and delegitimization. That’s why it’s imperative for the media to know how to identify antisemitism and its many manifestations in order to know how to combat it, and to not give it an undue platform.
Each week, HonestReporting reviews countless news articles, setting the record straight when journalists portray Israel unfairly by casting it as an aggressor and responsible for the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, or disseminate antisemitic tropes.BBC Radio 4 platforms Islamic Relief Worldwide’s talking points
That’s one of the many reasons why HR is active on social media. By using online platforms, HR can simultaneously expose bias and misinformation, and directly reach a given writer or outlet instantaneously to inform them of any errors. In this way, we are able to have an immediate impact, with the ultimate aim of garnering corrections.
So, for those not familiar with Twitter, below is a roundup of some of our media critiques from the past seven days.
Stay informed
Let us know where to email your free, daily news roundups:
1. Yahoo News depicts one-sided, distorted story of recent events in Gaza
When Yahoo News picked up a video produced by the Turkish media outlet TRT World, it wasn’t surprising that the information provided therein was supremely biased. The video omitted crucial facts and was devoid of vital background regarding Hamas’ policy of using violence to extort Israel as well as its practice of hiding behind “human shields.” It also mislabeled Israel’s security barrier as a “wall,” and mislead readers by using source material from six years ago, during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.
Woeful misinformation being peddled by @trtworld, and recycled by @YahooNews.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 27, 2020
1. Israeli planes have been striking *Hamas assets* in Gaza, not all of Gaza. Citing @AlJazeera should be a hint as to the credibility of the claim. pic.twitter.com/GoDA6zrrQj
2. Hezbollah terrorists target Israeli troops, but The Times headline ignores the full picture
In recent months, Hezbollah has been attempting to catch Israel out on its northern border. From last year’s revelation that the Iranian proxy had constructed a network of subterranean tunnels crossing into Israeli territory, to its launching of a botched attack in late July, the IDF has been preparing for an inevitable flare-up. And it came this week, with Hezbollah firing at Israeli soldiers, thereby precipitating a response. A woeful London Times headline confused cause and effect .
Of course, Israel launched the air strikes after Hezbollah terrorists fired shots into Israel. But readers won't know that unless they read the article.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 27, 2020
Poor headline, @TheTimes. pic.twitter.com/4CEpL4Ca3b
Last month we noted that the BBC News website had completely ignored news of the resignation of a senior official at a prominent UK charity following exposure of his social media posts promoting antisemitism and supporting Hamas, along with the opening of a related investigation by the Charity Commission:Germany’s Continental says it used slave labor to supply Nazis, test shoe soles
BBC WEBSITE IGNORES RESIGNATION OF UK CHARITY OFFICIAL OVER ANTISEMITISM
Last weekend the Times – which exposed those posts in July – reported (£) that another trustee at Islamic Relief Worldwide – Almoutaz Tayara – had also been found to have posted messages supporting Hamas and consequently the charity’s entire board was due to resign.
Once again we have to date been unable to find any reporting on that story on the BBC News website, including on its ‘Charity Commission’ page and ‘Charities’ page but the story was featured in the August 24th edition of BBC Radio 4’s “ethical and religious issues” programme ‘Sunday’.
Presenter William Crawley introduced the item (from 36:32 here) as follows:
Crawley: “The entire board of trustees of the charity Islamic Relief Worldwide has stood down in the wake of revelations that two of them had shared extremist antisemitic comments on social media. Following an internal review of their governance, a new board was elected yesterday with none of the previous board members standing for election. Dr Lorenzo Vidino is the director of the programme on extremism at George Washington University. He uncovered the social media posts and he spoke earlier to Rosie Dawson.”
Dr Vidino’s interview with producer Rosie Dawson included the following:
Vidino: “I think it’s pretty clear that some of its leaders historically and today have sympathies for groups like the Brotherhood or Hamas.”
German car parts maker Continental revealed Thursday that it played a key role in the Nazi war effort and used thousands of slave laborers during World War II.Austrian Government Announces Plan to Combat Antisemitism Following Assault on Jewish Leader
Continental was the world’s biggest producer of rubber materials at the time, supplying the Nazi war machine as the horrors of the Holocaust unfolded.
Historian Paul Erker, tasked by the company with researching its relationship with the Nazis, said it ended up as a “pillar of the National Socialist armaments and war economy.”
Continental is the latest German company to shed light on its Nazi past as they continue to confront their role in the country’s darkest period.
The company used about 10,000 forced laborers in its factories during the war, Erker’s 800-page report said, including concentration camp prisoners, in what he called “inhumane” conditions.
The study shows that “Continental was an important part of Hitler’s war machine,” the company’s chief executive Elmar Degenhart said.
One of Continental’s major products in the 1930s and 40s was shoe soles, making it a vital supplier to the army.
It tested them at Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin where prisoners were forced to march 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) a day around the central courtyard with its looming gallows.
Any who weakened and fell to the ground were executed by the SS guards, Erker said.
Austria’s government announced a “roadmap” to combat rising antisemitism in the country on Friday, with measures that will include a new department in the Chancellor’s office to confront the problem and an offer of Austrian citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled during the Nazi era.Cyber giant Palo Alto Networks to acquire Crypsis Group for $265m.
The plan was announced following a meeting in the southern city of Graz between Chancellery Minister Karoline Edtstadler and Elie Rosen — the head of the local Jewish community who was physically assaulted by an Islamist last weekend, a few days after he cautioned against the atmosphere of “left-wing and anti-Israel antisemitism” in Graz.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Edtstadler said that the attack on Rosen had spurred her into action.
“That is why there will be a corresponding staff unit [to combat antisemitism] in the Federal Chancellery from 2021, which I will be entrusted with,” she explained.
A new platform is also being created for the reporting of “antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents.”
Expressing the desire for better statistical reporting of antisemitism, Edtstadler commented that “many incidents are not reported out of shame, perhaps because one has already come to terms with the fact that something like this happens when it shouldn’t.”
As a “gesture of reconciliation,” Edtstadler confirmed that the descendants of Austrian Jews expelled by the Nazis would be offered citizenship of the country without having to give up their existing passports.
She said she had spoken with Austrian Holocaust survivors who told her they wanted “their children and grandchildren to have Austrian citizenship, even if they may now live in other countries around the world.”
Leading cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Crypsis Group, a leading incident response, risk management and digital forensics consulting firm.
Under the terms of the deal, Palo Alto will acquire Crypsis for a total purchase price of $265 million, subject to adjustment, to be paid in cash. The proposed acquisition is expected to close during PAN's fiscal first quarter, Palo Alto said in a press release.
"The proposed acquisition of The Crypsis Group will significantly enhance our position as the cybersecurity partner of choice, while expanding our capabilities and strengthening our Cortex strategy. By joining forces, we will be able to help customers not only predict and prevent cyberattacks but also mitigate the impact of any breach they may face," said Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto's chairman and CEO.
According to the company, as threat actors continue to professionalize and grow in sophistication, the risk of revenue and reputational impact of a security breach increases dramatically. In order to focus on the health and growth of their business, organizations need trusted partners to not only quickly and efficiently respond to and contain attacks but also leverage their learning and insight to prevent future attacks.
🚨BRAND 🆕 TRAILER for Jonny Gould’s Jewish State: “For those who listen, for those who are willing to listen”⤵️https://t.co/h8hAOjxzYq
— Jonny Gould’s Jewish State 🎧 podcast (@jonnygouldpod) August 27, 2020
Israeli team to help fight catastrophic California wildfires
A team of Israeli firefighters is slated to fly to California on Sunday to help battle the catastrophic wildfires that are engulfing huge swathes of the state.IDF: A Holocaust Survivor's Dream Turned Into Reality
The Israeli delegation, which includes rescue workers and experts in forest and brush fires, as well as Foreign Ministry representatives, is expected to spend some two weeks helping.
The Foreign Ministry is organizing the team and is coordinating with US authorities via the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. A representative of Israel's Fire and Rescue Services is leading the logistics and will direct the team at the fire sites themselves.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said, "Israel's quick enlistment to help its friend the US is an expression of the deep friendship between the people and the excellent ties between the two countries in a wide variety of fields. I congratulate the members of the team and wish them success in their important mission."
Abba Naor never imagined that he would live to see the Israeli Air Force fly by the concentration camp in which he was imprisoned 75 years ago.
Abba, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, was a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp. During the Holocaust, he and millions of other Jews had no Jewish state to come to their rescue. Last week, he witnessed the Israeli Air Force and German Luftwaffe fly side-by-side, committing to a better future and together affirming: Never Again.