Monday, October 05, 2020
Brutal Antisemitic Assault Outside Hamburg Synagogue Was ‘Terrorist Act,’ Says German Jewish Leader
The head of the Jewish community in the northern German city of Hamburg on Monday denounced a violent antisemitic assault on a Jewish student outside the city’s main synagogue as a “terrorist attack.”Merkel condemns ‘repulsive’ attack on Jewish student in Hamburg
Philippe Stricharz was speaking following the outrage on Sunday afternoon, in which a 26-year-old man who arrived at the Hohe Weide Synagogue for services celebrating the holiday of Sukkot was brutally beaten by an assailant in military fatigues wielding a foldable shovel.
Stricharz told the German dpa news agency that he had chosen the word “terrorist” because “such acts unsettle people and scare them.”
“There is a fear of whether one can even arrive at our Jewish facilities to celebrate festivals without injuries or harassment,” Stricharz said.
Hamburg police and the city’s public prosecutor are treating the attack, which occurred just before 4pm on Sunday, as attempted murder. The assailant — identified as a 29-year-old German from Kazakhstan who was dressed in military uniform — was said to have been in an “extremely confused” state when he was apprehended by police.
Investigators said they found a hand-drawn swastika on a piece of paper in the man’s pocket. They said they were attempting to establish how he came into possession of a military uniform.
German investigators said Monday they were probing an attack on a Jewish student outside a synagogue in Hamburg as attempted murder with anti-Semitic intent, a case condemned by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a “disgrace.”German officials express outrage over attack on Jewish student outside synagogue
The 26-year-old student was badly injured on Sunday by a man who repeatedly struck him on the head with a shovel outside the synagogue where the Jewish community was celebrating Sukkot, also known as the Feast of the Tabernacles.
The assault came a year after two people were shot dead by an extremist who tried and failed to storm a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle.
Jewish leaders and top politicians led condemnation of the latest attack, which Merkel’s spokesman described as a “repulsive” assault. Flowers, candles and a message reading “For an open and tolerant society – Anti-Semitism has no place here” are pictured in front of the Hohe Weide synagogue in Hamburg, northern Germany, on October 5, 2020 (MORRIS MAC MATZEN / AFP)
“Such an attack is repulsive, no matter what investigations about the motivation and the condition of the perpetrator might show,” said spokesman Steffen Seibert.
“And it must be clearly stated by everyone in this society: in Germany, every such act is a disgrace.”
The suspect, 29, was arrested by police officers who were assigned to protect the synagogue in the northern city.
The Jewish community in Hamburg was celebrating the festival of Sukkot, and the synagogue was busy with congregants at the time of the attack.German police probing attack on Jewish man as anti-Semitic attempted murder
A Hamburg rabbi said the community was “very, very shocked” by the assault.
“The question is: What have we not learned since Halle?” Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky said.
Germany’s leading Jewish group said the attack “can only be classified as anti-Semitic.”
“The situation that Jews increasingly become a target of hatred, must not leave anybody cold in a state of law like Germany,” said Josef Schuster, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Last year’s attack on a synagogue in Halle came on October 9 on Yom Kippur, the holiest festival in the Jewish calendar.
The attacker killed a passerby and a man at a nearby kebab stall after failing to force his way into the building. A neo-Nazi suspect is currently on trial for the crime
German investigators said Monday they were probing an attack on a Jewish student outside a synagogue in the northwestern city of Hamburg as attempted murder with anti-Semitic intent.
The 26-year-old student was badly injured on Sunday by a man who repeatedly struck him on the head with a shovel outside the synagogue, where the Jewish community was celebrating Sukkot.
The suspect, a 29-year-old German man of Kazakh origin, was arrested by police officers who were assigned to protect the synagogue.
Dressed in combat fatigues, the suspect had a piece of paper with a hand-drawn swastika in his pocket, said police and prosecutors in a statement.
“The current assessment of the situation suggests that this is an anti-Semitic-motivated attack,” they said, adding that investigators are treating the case as an “attempted murder with grievous bodily harm.”
The victim was wearing a kippa at the time of the attack, The New York Times reported.
Does the UN deserve another 75 years?
This historic achievement offered the UN a renewed chance to be on the right side of history, and I would have expected it to be a central theme of the UNGA’s high-level week. The UN had the chance to point to the accords as the very embodiment of the lofty ideals touted in its charter and on its walls: In a region where conflict all-too-often appears inevitable and intractable, nations have decided to “beat their swords into plowshares.”Behind New Khashoggi Group Are Anti-Israel Activists
Yet, again, I was sadly mistaken. While the secretary-general recognized progress made toward peace in Sudan, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world, he did not even mention this historic normalization event. After sitting through a week of speeches during the UNGA, I again found myself disappointed. Rather than applaud such bold action and encourage other Arab states to follow suit, the UN was unable to evince even the slightest praise, merely noting the agreement only as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than an outstanding achievement unto itself.
It appears that between the various bloated and redundant agencies and offices, the ever-expanding secretariat, professional staff and crippling bureaucracy, the UN, as it currently stands, is institutionally incapable of adapting to new realities. It may be forever doomed to live in the past, a relic of a previous age.
This has clear consequences. By failing to applaud the Abraham Accords, the UN perpetuates the falsehood that peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors, and peace between Israel and the Palestinians, are mutually exclusive. Rather than use this moment to encourage Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table, the UN sends the message that it prefers no peace to any peace, and perpetuates Abbas’s rejectionism and the Palestinians’ victimhood narrative.
The UN must act or it risks losing the little relevance and legitimacy it still has. If it is unable to acknowledge and embrace peace, recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, or even halt the malign actions of the most dangerous regime on the planet today, how can we expect it to be capable of any bold action tomorrow?
As the United Nations turns 75, it is time for an organization founded in the aftermath of global tragedy to make a critical choice: Will it remain mired in its usual ways, acquiescing to repressive regimes, unable to live up to its founding principles? Or will it find a way to seize upon the spirit of progress that Israel, the UAE and Bahrain represent, and truly be a world leader for a safer future? Will the UN mean anything to humanity in another 75 years? That choice is for the United Nations and its member states to decide.
A new organization intended to carry out the vision of late Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi is led and staffed by prominent anti-Israel activists, including a controversial lawyer who defended a dozen people allegedly involved in the 9/11 terror attacks.AOC submits (again) to anti-Zionist demands
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) bills itself as a new human rights group that seeks to "focus on violations by the United States’ closest Arab allies," according to a New York Times report this week on the group’s foundation. Khashoggi was reportedly working to launch the organization when he was killed in Saudi Arabia in 2018.
While the group positions itself as a pro-democracy watchdog, its leadership is comprised of controversial anti-Israel voices who have targeted the Jewish state. The group’s executive director, Sarah Leah Whitson, is a well-known Israel critic who most recently served as managing director for research and policy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an isolationist think tank that has pushed anti-Israel and pro-Iran viewpoints.
Whitson attracted widespread criticism in March when she likened Israel’s tough coronavirus quarantine measures to the plight of Palestinians living in the disputed territories. "Such a tiny taste. Missing a tablespoon of blood," Whitson wrote in a tweet that she later deleted after it prompted accusations of anti-Semitism.
DAWN’s board of directors includes the founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an anti-Israel group that was embroiled in an FBI probe into whether it was funneling cash to the terror group Hamas. Another board member served as legal counsel for Sudan when it was taken to court for alleged involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks.
Conclusion: AOC’s Cowardice AOC’s almost immediate submission to Twitter hysteria—and her apparent reticence to examine hyperbolic (and largely false) accusations in favor of accepting descriptions of the “lived experience of the Palestinian people” uncritically—sends clear and crucial messages. As Jonathan Tobin writes,Thirty Jewish Organizations Call on 165 Colleges to Combat Antisemitism on Campus
That she thought it necessary to acquiesce to the demands of a Twitter mob — led in this instance by an anti-Zionist writer for the far-left Jewish Currents publication — speaks volumes not only about her ideology, but about the disciplined nature of the intersectional left when it comes to policing its adherents with respect to Israel. Her overt snub of liberal Jews sends a loud message that there is no place for them in the party base if they are not willing to renounce support for Israel’s right to exist.
In withdrawing from APN’s event—and blaming APN rather than her own cowardice for the move—AOC reveals that she’s Congress’ intersectional Mean Girl; she’s willing to do whatever it takes to retain her star status among far-left cliques, even if that means betraying loyal Jewish supporters.
In a choice between honoring her commitments or chasing the approval of anti-Zionists—who won’t hesitate to excoriate her again if she ever steps beyond their purist anti-Israel line—AOC mistakenly chose the latter.
Thirty organizations, led by the Zionist Organization of America, have sent a letter to 165 colleges and university presidents across the United States, calling on them to address antisemitism on their own campus.
“Many Jewish students are feeling harassed, afraid to express their Jewish identity—including their support for Israel—and afraid for their emotional well-being and physical safety. Several of us wrote to you in September 2014 because we anticipated a frightening backlash against Jews on campus due to the Hamas war against Israel in the summer of 2014,” stated the Sept. 30 letter. “Back then, we urged you to take the necessary steps to protect your Jewish students, as you would surely do if any other vulnerable minority group on your campus was being targeted.”
“Such steps were required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” continued the letter, alluding to the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump last December that designated Judaism as a nationality under that law, which applies to institutions, including colleges and universities, that receive federal funding.
“Antisemitism on our college campuses has been equally alarming, particularly because the antisemites are finding new ways to target and persecute Jews,” stated the organizations. “There are still incidents of antisemitic vandalism on campus, with mezuzahs being ripped off of students’ doors in their residence halls, and swastikas defacing campus property.
“In addition, Jewish students are under siege from antisemitism related to Israel and Zionism,” they continued. “This form of antisemitism masquerades as legitimate political discourse, but in fact, it is yet another expression of Jew-hatred, causing Jewish students to feel harassed, threatened and even afraid for their safety.”
Please join me in saluting & supporting Zionist professors at USC, who are demanding an explicit recognition as bonafide members of the campus community.https://t.co/hieokT16TM
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) October 3, 2020
TTBOMK, such public demand is the FIRST in the history of Western Civilization. Interesting times.
Disgraced former YouTuber and "comedian" Owen Benjamin made up a pandemic song with the lyrics "Corona was a stupid thing, invented by Masons & Jews. I bet they are all gay... I'm diagnosed with coronu [sic]. Because I always believe the Jews.”https://t.co/OS8oPj0Lcw pic.twitter.com/6aSI7eFDG1
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) October 5, 2020
Nonsense you aren’t working to do anything of the sort @TwitterSafety you are letting Neo Nazis run rampant on your platform punishing Jews who dare to stand up to them, while you & @jack rake in massive profits. #twitterantisemitism https://t.co/eRQycq2jIL
— (((GnasherJew®גנאשר))) (@GnasherJew) October 4, 2020
Sweden may ban ‘racist organizations’ after neo-Nazi Yom Kippur campaign
Sweden is considering banning racist groups and making active membership of one a criminal offense, after neo-Nazis launched a hate campaign against Jews across Scandinavia on Yom Kippur, Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.Hundred Handers append far-right stickers to street furniture in Liverpool
“Racist organizations pose a threat to society that must be taken very seriously,” Johnasson said. “These organizations spread racist expressions. They also pose a threat to individuals… [and] are capable of committing serious, violent crimes and terrorism. Racist organizations are, therefore, a threat that needs special attention.”
The Swedish government has established an all-party committee to propose legislation to outlaw racist organizations and to make it a criminal offense to participate in activity instigated by such groups.
The Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, targeted Jews in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland with antisemitic harassment during the week before Yom Kippur.
The group reported that its members confronted Jewish worshipers and stood outside synagogues, hung antisemitic posters and distributed hateful flyers to “make the Nordic people aware of foreign customs and Zionist ruling plans throughout the Nordic region.”
Johansson said these actions “show once again the need to nationally and internationally combat antisemitism."
“The Swedish government condemns all acts of antisemitism and any other expression of racism. Such acts are threats not only to individuals but to us all and to our open and democratic societies,” he stated.
The neo-Nazi Hundred Handers group has appended far-right stickers to street furniture in Liverpool.Mezuza defaced with swastikas at the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, Berlin
The branded stickers, one of which reads “Britain Is Under Occupation” with a Star of David and the other “They Are Sexualising your CHILDREN”, were discovered in Walton Hall Park and posted on Instagram by a disgusted observer. They have apparently been removed.
The leader of the Hundred Handers, an online group that encourages users to print and distribute stickers and posters, was recently unmasked.
A few months ago, members of the proscribed National Action group were sentenced to prison, having engaged, amongst other activities, in far-right stickering and recruitment campaigns. At the time, Campaign Against Antisemitism commented that we have monitored and reported on far-right stickering operations, including on university campuses, for a long time, including by the far-right Hundred Handers group.
A mezuzah has been desecrated in the outside entrance to a synagogue in Berlin.After students make ‘list of Jews’, thousands sign petition calling for action against antisemitism at high school in California
It is believed that mezuzah capsule was opened and a swastika was graffitied on both sides of the parchment inside before the scroll was re-affixed to the door frame at the Tiferet Israel synagogue. It is thought that the incident occurred between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur. The perpetrator is yet to be identified.
The German Foreign Minister tweeted that “it simply hurt to see something so disgusting,” adding: “This crime must be quickly solved and those responsible punished!”
A recent report, from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), highlighted 1,253 antisemitic incidents had been registered in 2019 across four federal states in Germany, including Berlin. Far-right and neo-Nazi perpetrators accounted for a high proportion of these reported crimes.
Following a further increase in antisemitic incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has said that antisemitism in schools, on the streets and the internet are now “commonplace” for Jews in the country.
At a rally on 1st August, 20,000 protesters demanded an end to coronavirus prevention measures in the German capital, many of whom were seen carrying or wearing antisemitic propaganda, including swastikas and yellow stars.
A petition has been launched urging school authorities in Marin County, California to take immediate action against high school students who were active on an antisemitic social media page.
Earlier this month, an Instagram account titled “Redwood students organised [against] semitism” was discovered. The social media account, accompanied by an antisemitic caricature, named specific, local Jewish students and urged its followers to contribute additional Jewish names to a public Google document. The online list was decorated with images of bullets and a swastika. Several other accounts linked to the high school have also been found to feature antisemitic content.
The petition, which has attracted thousands of signatures, is addressed to the Tamalpais Union High School District’s (TUHSD) superintendent, Tara Taupier. It voices concern and disappointment at the lack of action taken against antisemitism by young people in the area. Redwood school officials were allegedly alerted to potential suspects in the case as early as March this year. Demands have been made for the swift discipline of the offenders to reflect a transparent zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism.
The Redwood student behind the petition said that her and fellow students were fearful that online harassment and psychological abuse could become a physical threat if this form of hatred was “swept under the rug”, and she drew parallels between the Google document and lists used during the Holocaust to record the Jewish population.
Others in the community have said that they are frightened of signing the petition and consequently being identified as Jewish.
Fascists in #Ireland joining the Irish Defence Forces. Good spot by ?@normcos?. https://t.co/tKDA8VIitI
— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) October 5, 2020
Israel set to be first nation to ban the fur trade
Israel is to set to ban the fur trade, becoming the the first country in the world to do so.Israel Export Institute, Dubai World Trade Centre sign cooperation accord
The plans were announced by Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel, who slammed the practice of buying and selling skin and fur in the fashion industry as "immoral."
"The fur industry causes the killing of hundreds of millions of animals around the world, and involves indescribable cruelty and suffering," Gamliel explained, adding that "Utilizing the skin and fur of wildlife for the fashion industry is immoral."
Future permits for the fur trade will be available, but only in special cases under certain limited criteria, the Environmental Protection Ministry said in a statement.
Permits issued by the Nature and Parks Authority are currently required to sell and purchase furs in Israel, but these new criteria would limit them to cases of "scientific research, education, for instruction and religious purposes and tradition."
The Israel Export Institute and the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) have signed an agreement to facilitate the participation of Israeli exhibitors in large-scale exhibitions by year’s end.US tech giant Nvidia unveils ‘breakthrough’ processor sired by Israel team
The accord is a first step toward a “comprehensive” trade agreement that will be signed in the coming weeks between Israel and the United Arab Emirates government, Amir Peretz, Israel’s minister of economy and industry, said in a statement on Monday.
The export potential to the UAE is estimated at $500 million per year across a number of key sectors including technology, agriculture, food technologies, cybersecurity and the medical sector, the statement added, citing Israeli government estimates.
The Monday agreement includes cooperation and participation in international conferences and large-scale exhibitions, organizing and exchanging business delegations between the countries, and support in realizing the “significant business opportunities” that exist in both countries, the statement said.
The accord was made possible after Israel and the UAE last month signed the Abraham Accords, which normalize relations and establish diplomatic ties between the sides.
The Israel Export Institute, responsible for Israeli participation in international exhibitions, will now take on this role for the first time in the Gulf States.
US gaming and computer graphics giant Nvidia Corp. unveiled on Monday a new and “very powerful” processor that enables the transfer of all data center infrastructure services onto one chip. The technology was initially created by Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the Israeli chip maker that Nvidia acquired in 2019 for $7 billion.Australia Securities Exchange eases terms for dual listing of Israel tech firms
The idea is to increase the workload capacity of servers by freeing up resources within the server by moving data center infrastructure services — which can take up some 30 percent of server resources — onto one chip. The new chip design that is the basis of the new processor enables “breakthrough networking, storage and security performance,” the firm said.
For many years Nvidia has worked on using the graphic processing units it has created to “accelerate applications for particular workloads like AI and data science that are used in the data center,” said Manuvir Das, the head of enterprise computing at Nvidia, in a briefing to reporters on Monday.
The company is now ready to get to the next “phase of acceleration,” which is to accelerate every server, every application running in the data center, “based on work that was done by the Mellanox team for many years, even before they joined forces with Nvidia. Now, with the power of the two companies together, we will take it to a whole new level.”
Companies that are listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and are seeking to list their shares on the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) as well will now find it easier to do so, as the ASX now sees Tel Aviv as an “acceptable home exchange.”Jews, Christians to take part in virtual pilgrimage, prayer to Jerusalem
This latest development reduces the compliance burden for TASE-listed companies that seek to list their shares both on the TASE and the ASX, said Max Cunningham, executive general manager of Listings at the ASX.
The ASX will recognize the rules that the TASE-listed company is already complying with for the purpose of listing on ASX, and the company won’t have to comply with two separate rulebooks, he said in a phone interview from Sydney. “Dual listings could already take place. But this makes it easier.”
TASE now joins exchanges such as Deutsche Börse, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Toronto, NASDAQ, New York and New Zealand as acceptable exchanges under ASX rules, he said.
Cunningham spoke to The Times of Israel with the coronavirus ravaging economies globally, and with Israel in its second lockdown. The spread of the coronavirus has contributed to a slowdown of Israeli firms seeking listings in Australia, mainly because ASX officials have not been able to visit Israel to drum up business as they have been doing since 2016.
Thousands of people from across the world will embark together on a virtual pilgrimage to Jerusalem on Saturday, as part of a first ever grassroots initiative launched by the Genesis 123 Foundation.This year’s Haifa Film Fest is all online, with 95 films to choose from
Called the Global Prayer for Israel and Virtual Pilgrimage, the initiative will see countless people from around the world, some of whom from countries without diplomatic ties to the Jewish state, will be able to gather together in an online event to pray for Israel and even share written prayers that will be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall.
The event is set to coincide with the end of the Sukkot holiday. Normally, Jews from across the world gather in Jerusalem for Sukkot, as the holiday is known for being one of the three holidays in which one should travel to Jerusalem for prayers and, in biblical times, offerings at the Temple. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, such in person pilgrimages were limited, if not outright impossible.
But this new initiative will allow both Jews and Christians to celebrate together.
“This is the first time that Jews and Christians can celebrate this festival together virtually, from all the corners of the world,” Genesis 123 Foundation president Jonathan Feldstein said in a statement.
Not only will some participants come from countries without ties to Israel, but some, who are Christian, will be from countries where their religion is either not tolerated or could put them in serious danger, should they worship openly.
The 36th Haifa Film Festival is taking place this Sukkot, as usual, but amid the pandemic, it is all online.
The annual film event began Saturday night, October 3, and will run through October 10, screening 95 films from Israel and around the world, in addition to the Israeli documentary competition, student film screenings, a pitching session for Israeli feature films, and a TV series conference.
It’s a smaller festival this year, said festival director Yaron Shamir, given that there were fewer Hollywood films to choose for screening, a result of the changes wrought upon the industry by the coronavirus.
“We had to choose from what was available, and the big feature films weren’t out there this year,” said Shamir. “Usually it’s which Hollywood movie is out and which stars are in which movie, especially for the opening film. This year, the decisions were based on what the staff liked, which made for a very quality selection.”
