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Monday, September 14, 2020

09/14 Links Pt2: David Collier: Fake Jews, the Scottish PSC and anti-Jewish hostility in Scotland; Medieval libels in today’s PA: “Israel openly murders Palestinian children”

From Ian:
David Collier: Fake Jews, the Scottish PSC and anti-Jewish hostility in Scotland
In Scotland they have antisemites who pretend to be Jews. The fake ‘Jewish’ activist is then promoted by the antisemites in the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). In turn the SPSC has access to the heart of the Scottish Government and Justice system. In Scotland Jews can be stalked and have their complaints fall on deaf ears. Jewish business has already been chased out of the country. When they eventually try to defend themselves, Jews end up being smeared by a hostile press. Nobody can fairly say that Scotland is safe for Jews.
The ‘Jewish’ activist at the football match.

Last week I reported on a vile demonstration that took place in Glasgow, when a few extremist groups protested about Scotland playing against a football team from the Jewish state. My article focussed on the presence of several notable antisemites. A recent video from the pro-Iranian Press TV brought to light something even more sinister. Their reporter Robert Carter tweeted a video of an interview that took place during the demonstration. Carter introduces the person as a ‘Jewish activist’. The footage went viral.

The person in the video is called Jola AlJakhbeer. In 2018 she married a Palestinian from Gaza, Younis Al Jakhbeer. Her name on Facebook is currently AlJakhbeer Jola but the Facebook URL suggests she may also have used Lola Hazel at some point.

In the interview AlJakhbeer says she is there representing ‘Scottish Jews against Zionism’. It is worth watching the interview and listening to her talk about ‘us’ and ‘we’ and ‘Jewish values’.

Jola is a key campaigner for the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). She appears to have used many aliases, such as Daria Krysta and Daria Auerman.

After the invention of ‘Scottish Jews against Zionism’, the name ‘Jola Litwitz’ began to appear on letters from Scottish Jewish anti-Zionists. I found occurrences in the National, IJAN and on posts belonging to the SPSC and JVL. It is possible that there are two women with the name Jola in Glasgow that are running Scottish Jews Against Zionism, but it is highly unlikely. Far more logical is that Jola AlJakhbeer has used a surname that sounds more Jewish.

For about three years, Jola went by the name of Jolanta Hadzic. She claimed she was the wife of Bosnian Muslim Muhammed Hadz. At the time this is what Hadz had to say about Jews – that we are all ‘Khazars‘.
Israel Advocacy Movement: Chris Williamson shared a 'Jewish' Holocaust denier


Lib Dems drop shortlisted London mayor candidate over ‘don’t vote for a Jew’ footage
A Liberal Democrat shortlisted to stand for London mayor has been dropped by her party it emerged she had called on voters not to back a Jewish candidate.

The JC has seen footage of Geeta Sidhu-Robb using a megaphone during the 1997 election campaign in Blackburn to urge Muslim voters not to vote for her Labour opponent, former Labour Secretary Jack Straw, because he is “a Jew.”

After the Lib Dems were sent a complaint about the candidate’s remarks, which were filmed for a Channel 5 documentary, the party released a statement saying: “Geeta Sidhu-Robb has been suspended from the Liberal Democrats and will not be on the ballot paper to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London.

“There is an investigation underway in accordance with due process."

Then a Conservative candidate, the health food entrepreneur was shown in the footage saying she was going to “take the gloves off” after accusing the local Labour Party of telling Muslim voters she was “against Islam”.

Ms Sidhu-Robb, once a senior figure in the People’s Vote campaign, could be seen making allegations about the local Labour campaign, accusing it of “making it racist, it's making it personal….. particularly considering the fact that my husband actually is Muslim.”

She then announces: "So, we are just going to pull the gloves off. I am going to get a car and walk around, and drive through town telling everyone Jack Straw is a Jew. How is a Muslim going to vote for someone who is Jewish?


Why Jews would vote for Trump: Answering Abe Foxman
The “more in sadness than in anger” trope is on full display in a recent Times of Israel op-ed by Abe Foxman about Jewish voters and President Trump. Foxman, who served as head of the Anti-Defamation League for decades and oversaw its shift from mainstream community defense organization to a shill for the left, offers a harsh critique of President Donald Trump’s record of unparalleled support for Israel and fails to make mention of the virulent anti-Semitism that now flows from the lips of the ascendant “progressive leadership” of the Democrat party; including Ilhan Omar, Rashid Tlaib and AOC. Let me set the record straight.

President Trump’s record is a story of perseverance and success in the face of overwhelming opposition – and his every success has benefited the United States and the Jewish community.

By removing onerous regulations at home and negotiating fair trade agreements abroad, President Trump pushed opened the door to the greatest period of economic growth we’ve seen in this country in decades. Unemployment fell to historically low levels, in particular for minorities, improving the lives of millions of American families. Likewise, the Trump administration has opened educational opportunities for underserved students, safeguarding the rights of parents and students to choose the education that is best for them, including Jewish students.

Foxman pays lip service to President Trump’s pro-Israel actions, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. But there is much more to praise in the President’s Middle East policy. First is the President’s decision to take the US out of the disastrous Obama-Biden Iran nuclear deal, a badly conceived effort that let Iran continue to cheat its way toward nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to carry them. Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy against Iran has deprived the mullahs of the resources to pursue their nuclear dreams and limited their ongoing nefarious deeds as the largest state sponsor of terrorism – which was funded by American cash as part of the nuclear deal.

Next was President Trump’s decision to buck the warnings of failed diplomats and show true friendship to Israel. He recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and began discussions with the Israeli government about the extension of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank, moves that made it clear that the US backs Israel’s national and sovereign rights. Trump’s policies implicitly called on the Arab world to recognize the State of Israel’s legitimacy and permanency. This not only strengthened the US-Israel alliance, but made possible the incredible diplomatic successes of the UAE-Israel peace treaty and the Bahrain-Israel agreement. Real, concrete peace has begun between Israel and Arab states, for the first time in 25 years. That is truly historic.



PMW: Medieval libels in today’s PA: “Israel openly murders Palestinian children” and “poisons water and air” – in op-ed in official PA daily
Numerous hate promoting libels demonizing Israel and the Zionist movement were blended into an article that also criticized Israel's political positions such as rejecting “return” of refugees to Israel, in a recent op-ed in the official Palestinian Authority daily.

In a long list of accusations against Israel - many said to have been supported by “Israeli governments” throughout history – one of the regular columnists for the paper, Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, included allegations that echo antisemitic libels of the Middle Ages, for example “murdering Palestinian children… poisoning the air and water” and others:

“At the end of the 19th century, the first groups of murderers of the Zionist colonialism that uproots [natives] and settles [foreigners] set foot on the land of Palestine. Since then… and until this very day, this barbaric and inhuman colonialism… has been using the most despicable methods of expelling and murdering the members of the Palestinian Arab people – the owners of the land, the history, the identity, and the cultural heritage in the land of Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea – in order to achieve its goal: [Population] transfer and taking complete control of the Palestinian land…

Their system does not cease to gradually and daily gnaw away at the interests and rights of the members of the Palestinian Arab people: Arrests; revoking of the identity cards of residents of Jerusalem; checkpoints; home demolitions; unchaining the herds of settlers and the unofficial Zionist gangs that are being supported by the Israeli governments throughout history so they will set houses, places of worship, and cars on fire, and will cut down trees; openly murdering Palestinian children, young people, young women, [adult] women, and elderly; imposing the lethal blockade; poisoning the air and water; imposing limitations on the freedom of import and export; stealing the people’s money and resources; preventing the independence of the Palestinian economy; controlling the air, crossings, wells, and natural resources; violating the signed agreements; the gradual elimination of peace and the two-state solution in the June 4, 1967 borders; attempting to annex [territories]; rejecting the Palestinian refugees’ right of return; continuing the colonialist settlement enterprise on the Palestinian land that was occupied in June 1967; annexing Jerusalem; insisting on annexing the Jordan Valley; the daily excavations underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to destroy it and establish the Third Temple in its place; assaulting the Palestinian heritage and folklore and the popular foods, and other war crimes.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2020]

The writer also repeated the PA projectionist libel that Israel – “the Zionist colonialists” – strive to create a “Greater Israel” reaching “from the Nile to the Euphrates.” This libel is often spread with “Greater Israel” reaching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea:

“The Zionist colonialists – all of them except for a few – are working to implement the colonialist and racist slogans and laws with various and parallel methods and ways, as these all contribute to the Zionist colonialist mother project that says that ‘The borders of the State of Greater Israel are from the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River].’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2020]

“Free Palestine” Vandalism of Kenosha Synagogue During Riots is Par for the BLM Course
Conclusion

The above examples are only a few of many instances in which supposedly “anti-racist” organizing in the wake of George Floyd’s tragic killing has invited or promoted anti-Semitism. Yet Rabbi Dena Feingold of Kenosha’s Beth Hillel has dismissed her own synagogue’s defacement as “trivial”; she maintains that the vandal is not representative of the broader BLM movement, and that any anti-Semitism expressed during BLM protests is “not about us [Jews]”.

In a recent interview, Rabbi Feingold insisted:
[The graffiti is] 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.

…We can clean up graffiti. It’s not something that lasts, like the killing of a human being or paralyzing of someone, and people of color living in fear when they go about their daily lives.

On the one hand, I sincerely appreciate Rabbi Feingold’s declaration of her community’s continued, determined opposition to racism; no amount of anti-Semitism from BLM proponents (or anyone else) should be enough to end Jews’ long, rich history as empathetic and committed fighters for others’ civil rights.

On the other hand, I think Rabbi Feingold is missing the forest for the trees and ignoring a dangerous trend; the vandalism of her synagogue by a BLM rioter did not emerge in a vacuum. Instead, the sentiment and action are consistent with the stated worldview of most BLM organizations. Nor were Temple Beth Hillel’s decades-long history of anti-racist activism, vocal support for Black Lives Matter, and Rabbi Feingold’s involvement with left-wing anti-Israel groups enough to inoculate the synagogue from attack (however easy to clean) by a BLM participant.

As historian Yisrael Medad wrote in response to Rabbi Feingold’s remarks:
Earlier this year, the synagogue had signed an interfaith letter that condemned “a broken societal system which disproportionately affects communities of color.” Incidentally, it was originally built with a gym and basketball court because, back in the 1920s, Jews were not welcome at the nearby YMCA.

…Progressives, in lending their support to the radical movements we witness rampaging through America’s streets, in identifying with their goals and, most importantly, in subjugating the interests of Jews to these, they increase not only the probability of Jewish community debilitation but in physical attacks on Jewish institutions as well. Physical attacks on Jews is the next stage.

If BLM and Rabbi Feingold seek toward a truly healed, egalitarian society, they should condemn in equal measure all “racist systems”—even systems that define and perpetuate certain bigotries as aspects of “justice”.


Jordan Is Harboring Brutal Terrorists Wanted by France and America
Speak to policy analysts or policy-makers about the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and you’ll frequently encounter a series of truisms. For example, that Jordan is both a friend of the West and a vital, respected component of the Arab world at the same time. Or that Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel in 1994 has helped save the region from an all-out war in the face of global Islamist terrorism and Iranian expansionism. Or that the overthrow of the ruling family — in situ since the early part of the 20th century, thanks to its alliance with the British Empire — would be a catastrophe for the country and for the cause of moderation in the region, with immediate shattering effects in the West Bank to boot.

I don’t intend to dispute any of those claims here. On the contrary, by taking them at face value, we are afforded a glimpse of the rank hypocrisy exhibited by Jordan and its defenders when it comes to the kingdom’s continued harboring of two brutal terrorists who are subject of foreign arrest warrants. Their separate missions, 19 years apart, were to kill unarmed Jews dining in kosher restaurants — in both cases, unfortunately, meeting with success.

Of the two terrorists in the frame, one is better known (relatively speaking), while the second may find himself the subject of renewed attention now that his partner has been arrested by counterterrorism police in Norway.

The first is Ahlam Tamimi, a Hamas terrorist and current resident of Amman, Jordan’s capital, who has been the subject of a US Department of Justice arrest warrant since 2016. On Aug. 9, 2001, Tamimi orchestrated the suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in downtown Jerusalem that claimed the lives of 15 people. Tamimi deliberately targeted the pizzeria during the lunchtime rush, where it tends to be filled with parents and children, causing more than 100 wounded in the attack as well.
Cancel culture: antisemitism is the acceptable for of racism
The cultural Marxists are busy 'cancelling' every historical writer who they perceive was in any way associated with racism. Yet the same people are today celebrating 'Roald Dahl Day', with many new books about his works and new initiatives to get children's to read his books. Being openly and proudly antisemitic is apparently just fine (note: I don't believe any writers should be 'cancelled' - just pointing out the hypocrisy).



Twitter Must Deplatform Anti-Israel Canadian Org. CD4HR for Claiming 9/11 was Committed by Zionists (Jews)
Each year on September 11th, we commemorate the thousands of innocent lives lost to radical Islamic terror, but abhorrently, Canadian hate mongers have usurped this tragic event to propagate antisemitism and to incite hatred against Jews.

The anti-Israel non-profit organization Canadian Defenders for Human Rights (CD4HR), who has previously engaged in antisemitic tropes claiming that former Jewish Member of Parliament, Michael Levitt, has dual loyalties, posted to Twitter on September 12 the virulently antisemitic conspiracy theory that 9/11 was an inside job perpetrated by the Zionists (Jews) and the U.S., an odious claim without any foundation.

Importantly, the IHRA working definition of antisemitism states the following:

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:…

Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”

HonestReporting Canada has called on Twitter to remove CD4HR’s Twitter page (@cd4_hr) in light of its engaging in antisemitism and have called on Twitter to reaffirm its position calling for zero tolerance against Jew hatred on its platform. Hate has no place on Twitter.


Lawmakers slam Disney over Mulan thanking Xinjiang authorities in credits
A bipartisan group of 13 senators and six congressmen slammed Disney on Friday after the film credits for its live-action remake of Mulan thanked Chinese Communist Party entities accused of oppressing China’s Uighur population.

“We are writing to inquire about The Walt Disney Company’s cooperation with elements of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s security and propaganda authorities in the production of Mulan,” the lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, wrote to Disney CEO Bob Chapek. “Disney’s apparent cooperation with officials of the People’s Republic of China who are most responsible for committing atrocities — or for covering up those crimes — is profoundly disturbing.”

Pointing out that the closing credits of Mulan extend thanks to the “Turpan Municipal Bureau of Public Security” and the “Publicity Department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee” and other local XUAR propaganda groups, the lawmakers noted that, in October 2019, the Commerce Department added the Turpan Municipal Bureau of Public Security to its sanctioned Entity List for “engaging in activities contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States” and being “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the XUAR.”

The letter also said that “the XUAR Publicity (or Propaganda) Department — which is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — has denied, distorted, and otherwise covered up these crimes against humanity that also include forced labor and a campaign of mass sterilization, forced abortions, and birth suppression against Uyghurs.”




CAA reveals that BBC journalist Nimesh Thaker, now under investigation by the BBC, shared antisemitic posts and trolled BBC colleagues in his own name
Campaign Against Antisemitism can reveal that the BBC journalist, Nimesh Thaker, who has recently been criticised for antisemitic comments on his anonymous Twitter account, also had another – now-deleted – Twitter account in his own name, which he used to post antisemitic material and criticise other BBC journalists.

Using the handle, @thaker_nimesh, Mr Thaker, who has been a BBC journalist for more than twenty years at BBC World News, posted tweets describing antisemitism accusations against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party as “smears” and trolled public figures who were campaigning against antisemitism.

He used the account to troll Campaign Against Antisemitism and to harass the editor of the Jewish Chronicle and the actress and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman, tweeting at them dozens of times. He has also retweeted controversial political activists who themselves have come under fire for antisemitism, such as the notorious antisemite Jackie Walker, trolled Labour MPs over antisemitism, and defended Ken Livingstone and supported the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson.

As with Mr Thaker’s subsequent anonymous Twitter handle, @BotheredThat, Mr Thaker openly used his @thaker_nimesh handle for work purposes, such as booking interviews on the BBC. He also used the handle to criticise the BBC and his colleagues, such as BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, whose Twitter account he accused of being “officially the Tory fan club message board” and whom he urged to “do some digging…what is the money for journalism please,” among other claims.

Abandoning this personal account in favour, apparently, of pseudo-anonymity, Mr Thaker then adopted the handle @BotheredThat for both work and abusive tweets, accusing antisemitism campaigners of “smears” (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here for examples) and claiming that antisemitism campaigners believe that anyone who criticises Israel is an antisemite,
Economist and Telegraph amplify debunked 'confused Serbian president' narrative
However, two days before the Economist article was published, and a day prior to the Telegraph’s piece, Lahav Harkov, the Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent, debunked the initial interpretation of the clip:

Many interpreted [the Serbian president’s] reaction to mean that Vučić didn’t know he was supposed to be moving the embassy to Jerusalem and had been blindsided by Trump.

Vučić’s reaction was actually to the July date Trump mentioned for the embassy opening, which seemed far off, considering that Serbia plans to open its trade office this month.

Sources close to Vučić pointed out on Thursday that the Serbian president had already announced at the AIPAC Policy Conference in March that his country would open a trade office in Jerusalem, and the intention had been to take a first step toward opening an embassy in Israel’s capital.

“The idea that [Vučić] wasn’t aware doesn’t conform to the facts,” a source said.

In fact, a team led by Serbia Chamber of Commerce President Marko Čadež – the target of Vučić’s sideways glance in the video – was in Israel this week to open that trade office, meeting with real estate agents in Jerusalem on Thursday to find the right location.

As far as we can tell, neither the Economist nor Telegraph based their claims on any actual reporting. Instead, they seemed to rely solely on the Serbian president’s momentary facial expression, other unsubstantiated media reports, and speculation on social media.

We’ve reached out editors at the Economist and Telegraph regarding their extremely misleading claims.
Ex Albania minister becomes 1st Muslim to join Combat Antisemitism Movement
Valentina Leskaj, a former Albanian government minister from 2002 to 2017, joined the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM) Advisory Board, thus becoming the first Muslim member of the board.

The CAM is a non-partisan, global, grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending antisemitism in all its forms around the world.

She joins an impressive list of advisers leading the fight against antisemitism worldwide such as Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog, the late former US Sen. Joe Lieberman, human rights icon Natan Sharansky, Frankfurt Mayor Uwe Becker, UK lords John Mann and Eric Pickles, and acclaimed Harvard academic Dr. Ruth Wisse.

“The disease of antisemitism is becoming increasingly prominent in countries across the world. It is not just a danger to Jews and Jewish communities. It is a threat to every decent society and therefore to people of all backgrounds: Muslim, Christian and beyond," Leskaj declared.

"Therefore, I have always been determined to fight against the scourge of antisemitism, wherever it is found," she said. "I am delighted to contribute to the important work being done by the Combat Antisemitism Movement and to join the distinguished names already on its Advisory Board."

While a member of the Albanian parliament, she served as minister of Labor and Social Affairs, deputy speaker of Parliament and vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe.
No convictions for antisemitic crimes in Bulgaria last year, says report
There were no convictions for antisemitic crimes in Bulgaria in 2019, the second year in a row, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

In a report released on September 10, the FRA documented antisemitic incidents that have occurred in the European Union from 2009-2019.

Nine antisemitic incidents were reported in 2019 by Bulgarian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Georg Georgiev, who is the national coordinator on combating antisemitism, and the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria. Six of them were forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office.

There have been seven convictions for antisemitic crimes in Bulgaria throughout the years covered in the report – one each in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 and two in 2015, the report said.

The manner with which many European countries report and document antisemitic incidents impedes the FRA from collecting satisfactory data, the report said.
Colorado mountain park vandalized with antisemitic, racist graffiti
Daniels Park, a Denver Mountain Park, was vandalized with antisemitic and racist graffiti, according to the local CBS News affiliate CBS4.

Reporter Rick Sallinger described the graffiti as "not just spray paint, but vicious racial derogatory epithets and antisemitic slurs."

CBS did not show the more graphic slurs or epithets, but rather those directed at the golfer's and members of The Sanctuary.

“The state of Colorado is gorgeous and for somebody to be defacing it is just sad,” golf pro at the Sanctuary Rudy Zupetz told Sallinger.

The Front Range, where the vandalism took place, is home to bison and spectacular views of the Colorado mountainside. Many patrons of the park were unhappy that the vandalism has reached the mountainside.

“We enjoy getting away from downtown Denver and to have it out here, that’s sad,” said David Rathbun, a regular park visitor.
Denver Parks and Recreation told CBS4 that they are aware of the graffiti and that it will be taken care of.
Legendary Broadcaster David Attenborough Recalls the Jewish Sisters His Family Saved From the Holocaust
Legendary British broadcaster and documentarian David Attenborough made some rare comments on Sunday about the Jewish refugee children his family took in during the Holocaust.

The Sunday Times reported that the children, Helga and Irene Bejach, aged 12 and 13, arrived in Britain as two of the almost 10,000 Jewish children who were rescued from Nazi Germany by what has come to be called the Kindertransport.

The sisters had already lost their mother to illness and their older sister was prevented from taking part in the rescue due to her age — though she survived the Holocaust and is still alive at age 99. Their father, who was a prominent Berlin official, was later murdered at Auschwitz.

Attenborough recalled that his mother told him and his brothers, “We absolutely love you boys but we will have to show even more love to these girls because they are here on their own and without their parents. It is entirely up to you, darlings, if they stay.”

The brothers did not object, and the Bejachs stayed with the family for seven years, becoming what Attenborough described as “our sisters really.”

The girls ultimately departed to live with relatives in the United States.

Irene and Helga are both now deceased, but Attenborough held a reunion for their descendants last year, and Helga’s daughter Beverly commented, “I think that when he looked at all of us leaving, it hit him that we would probably not have existed if it was not for the humanitarian kindness of his family.”
Over $15 million raised at first-ever virtual FIDF national gala
Thousands of supporters from across the globe joined Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) in saluting Israel’s soldiers and veterans Sunday evening at the first-ever virtual FIDF National Gala. The 2020 FIDF National Gala, themed “A Night of Heroes,” raised a total of over $15 million to support well-being and educational programs for Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, with donations still being made.

The program featured several segments honoring IDF soldiers, including Lone Soldiers, who join the IDF with no immediate family in Israel.

Among those being recognized at the gala was a female Black Hawk Pilot, Cpt. T., who participated in an opening segment called “Air, Land, and Sea,” in which active-duty soldiers took the audience on a training mission. Another feature, focusing on one family’s multi-generational story, highlighted FIDF’s Witnesses in Uniform Program.

The gala featured a live performance by global pop star and active IDF soldier Noa Kirel, who recently signed a deal with Atlantic Records, the largest ever for an Israeli artist. Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel also performed live, as did the IDF Musical Ensemble featuring IDF soldier Eden Alena, who will represent Israel in the next Eurovision Song Contest.

FIDF National Chairman Rabbi Peter Weintraub and Israeli-American actress, model, and host Moran Atias presided as masters of ceremonies.
Israeli ‘Wonder Woman’ Star Gal Gadot Donates Thousands to ‘Real Wonder Girl’ Raising Money for Muscular Dystrophy
Israeli actress and “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot donated more than $4,000 to the fundraising campaign of a 6-year-old British girl who suffers from a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy.

Carmela Chillery-Watson, who was diagnosed with LMNA Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (L-CMD) in 2017, is walking 300 kilometers in 30 days while dressed as her favorite superhero Wonder Woman to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy UK. Her mother, Lucy, said the young girl, from Devizes in Wiltshire, began her walking challenge with “specially designed crutches” on September 1, the BBC reported.

On Wednesday, Gadot posted on Twitter about Carmela, calling her “my real wonder girl.” She added, “You’re a true hero. So inspiring and strong. I hope one day we get to meet each other. Until then I’m sending you lots of love and a big big hug.”

The following day, Carmela’s initial £6,000 ($7,108) fundraising goal was met when Gadot donated £3,442 ($4,077). A spokeswoman for Muscular Dystrophy UK said that Warner Bros. confirmed “the donation was made by Gal Gadot,” the BBC said.

Carmela was “absolutely chuffed when she heard the news,” her mother said, adding, “We couldn’t believe it when we found out that Gal had made such a huge donation. We’re over the moon that we’ve smashed our target already.”

On Thursday, Carmela replied to Gadot’s Twitter message in a sweet video she uploaded onto her own Twitter account.






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