Friday, November 06, 2020
“Al Quds Day” leader Nazim Ali, who blamed “Zionists” for Grenfell Tower tragedy, found to have brought pharmaceutical profession into disrepute, following complaint by CAA
A pharmacist, Nazim Ali, who leads the annual “Al Quds Day” march through London, has been found to have brought the pharmaceutical profession into disrepute following a two-week hearing that culminated today arising from a complaint by Campaign Against Antisemitism.David Collier: The General Pharmaceutical Council spits in the face of British Jews
However, the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) fitness to practice tribunal let Mr Ali off with a warning after ruling that his remarks were grossly offensive and that his fitness to practise was impaired, but that his statements were not antisemitic.
Remarkably the GPhC did not present expert testimony from academics or Campaign Against Antisemitism on what constitutes Jew-hatred.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s complaint related to Mr Ali’s actions in 2017, when he led the pro-Hizballah “Al Quds Day” parade for the controversial London-based organisation calling itself the Islamic Human Rights Commission, just four days after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in which over 70 people were burned alive.
Heading the parade, surrounded by the flags of Hizballah, the genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation, Mr Ali shouted over a public address system: “Some of the biggest corporations who are supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell. The Zionist supporters of the Tory Party. Free, Free, Palestine…It is the Zionists who give money to the Tory Party to kill people in high-rise blocks. Free, Free, Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
At another point he told marchers: “Careful of those Rabbis who belong to the Board of Deputies, who have got blood on their hands, who agree with the killing of British soldiers. Do not allow them in your centres.”
The events were filmed by members of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit.
What Nazim Ali said Nazim Ali’s words were blatantly antisemitic. This is some of what he said – these sentences were the key phrases used by the fitness to practise committee for their deliberations: #1 It’s in their genes. The Zionists are here to occupy Regent Street. It’s in their genes, it’s in their genetic code. #2 European alleged Jews. Remember brothers and sisters, Zionists are not Jews. #3 Any Zionist, any Jew coming into your centre supporting Israel, any Jew coming into your centre who is a member of the Board of Deputies, is not a Rabbi, he’s an imposter. #4 They are responsible for the murder of the people in Grenfell, the Zionist supporters of the Tory Party.A Final Push to Free Yemen’s Remaining Jews
He also said the BoD had ‘blood on their hands‘, and that Zionists ‘give money to the Tory Party, to kill people in high rise blocks‘.
It is quite plain that even just based on those above, the decision is easy. #1 Zionists do not have a ‘genetic code’ – Jews do. #2 The comment about ‘alleged Jews’ is clearly a reference to the antisemitic Khazar myth. #3 The ‘imposter’ sentence is also a pharmacist publicly arguing against interfaith with 93% of British Jews. #4 References to Grenfell and murder is classic blood libel. A tragedy happens, the finger points where it always does.
My evidence I was called to give evidence – and it took 3 long years to arrange the hearing. My recordings from the day were used for the hearing. Although under quarantine I was given an exemption and I was the first witness to give evidence. Ali’s lawyer was then allowed to ask me questions. His first was about my daughter.
For those that don’t know my daughter is currently in Israel preparing to join the IDF. Back in 2017 she had stood with me in that crowd as we listened to Nazim Ali. At the time, her thoughts were only about going to university in the UK. I cannot be 100% sure that what unfolded in the UK during 2016-2019 was responsible for my daughter’s change of heart – but it is hard to believe she would have gone otherwise.
Because the atmosphere in the UK had deteriorated for British Jews and my daughter had decided to leave for Israel – my loyalty was being questioned. The lawyer asked a few more questions and within about 15 minutes it was over. The time had come for the members of the panel to ask any questions – they had none. The prosecuting lawyer had none either.
In early 2016, nearly a year after the initial email had made its rounds, two families totaling 11 people were rescued from the city of Raida. Missry was at dinner when he received the call from Rabbi Sultan. “I excused myself from the table and began to cry.” In March 2016, 18 Yemeni Jews were brought to Israel, culminating a yearlong effort that joined the U.S. State Department and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
But even the joy brought danger. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posed with members of the group and an ancient Torah scroll that was smuggled out of Yemen, in what was soon a widely circulated photo-op. As a result, Libby (Levi) Salem Mousa Merhabi, the Jewish man still in Yemen suspected to have helped smuggle the scroll out, was jailed. He remains there today and his mother continues to beg for his release.
U.S. Rep. Max Rose, whose congressional district (which includes Staten Island and parts of Southern Brooklyn) houses one of the largest Yemeni communities in the United States, sees an opening for progress. “We have an opportunity here as a result of the Abraham Accords for the remaining Yemeni Jews to be put in a better situation,” he told me, stressing that “while the resources from the Sephardic community in my district have been tremendous, we really need to rally the international community as well.”
As of today, an estimated 26 Jews remain in Yemen. This figure does not include a number of women who have been kidnapped as young girls and remain hostages in their own homes, many of them now with children of their own. I recently spoke to one woman who escaped Yemen for London in 2007 before coming to the States. She asked to remain anonymous, so as to not jeopardize the life of her sister, who was kidnapped as a young woman when the family of nine sisters all lived in Raida. But she spoke fondly of her childhood spent in the small village of Beni Abt. The family had some animals, cows, goats, and a few chickens. Her sisters would rise as early as 4:30 in the morning to tend to them. When she was 8 years old, she and two of her sisters moved to Raida. There was a small school where she “learned tehilim all day,” although they never spoke Hebrew outside of school. Her parents joined them in Raida a few years later. They moved into a big house, complete with beds, sheets, showers, and baths—“like here,” she said. “We went to stores and schools. People were nice. There was some violence in the neighborhood, but that was all normal.”
Everything changed after a cousin and sister were kidnapped, “just because they were Jewish.” Her father whisked her and another sister to Sanaa, where they remained in a hotel for four months while he secured visas to the United Kingdom. “I just want to help the people get out,” she told me. “I want to do everything I can.” As it was for the Jews in Syria in the 1990s, the fear of government retaliation is great, and tangible. But make no mistake, the plight of Yemen’s Jews is clear and a global Jewish and governmental response should follow.
France vs Islamism: how does Macron hope to prosecute his war?
It is from antecedents such as the murderous anticlericalism of the Revolution itself that the French seem preternaturally attached to secularism (laïcité) including the ironically sacrosanct nature of blasphemy. With the Revolution, which included the widespread killing of priests and nuns, France replaced worship of God with worship of the state, an extreme secularism with its own holy trinity of liberté, egalité and fraternité.Palestinian Islamic scholar: Emmanuel Macron promotes 'Zionist agenda'
But this idea of secular France, which has squashed the nation’s cultural and religious Catholicism, is also a weakness. It’s incompatible with proselytizing Islam, where the overwhelming majority of believers, even those unlikely to commit violence themselves, cannot accept any justification for insulting their prophet. That alienated, uneducated, unemployed young men are prepared violently to defy the Republic in defence of their religion is not startling. With an estimated six million Muslims in France, and more arriving all the time, there is a plentiful sup- ply of potential jihadists. Six of the last 20 terror attacks have been committed by recent immigrants.
Reaction in the Muslim world to Macron’s speech and his subsequent elaborations has been predictable. President Erdogan of Turkey pronounced Macron to be a mentally deranged Islamophobe. Mobs took to the streets across the Arab world and the subcontinent. In London, demonstrators chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ outside the French embassy and even the West End store of a French-owned retailer of expensive handbags.
After 130 rock fans were slaughtered at a Paris music venue, Jewish schoolchildren shot dead at their school in Toulouse, 86 killed in the 2016 Bastille Day attack in Nice, a priest murdered on his altar in Normandy and the slaughter of a dozen journalists at Charlie Hebdo, the government insists it’s thwarting plots on a daily basis. But the evidence for these claims is hard to judge.
On Monday, French children returned from their half-term. Schools were told to devote the morning to ‘reinforced’ civics instruction, in homage to Samuel Paty. Yet head teachers warned that in many schools with large numbers of Muslim students the planned lessons would be disrupted. It was feared some pupils would record these on their phones and post the clips on YouTube, embarrassing the President.
Cue the predictable U-turn. There would be a minute’s silence and an hour’s lesson, but it was not attempted everywhere. In some of the most sensitive schools, the silence was observed only in staff rooms.
If the French state is scared of high school students, what chance has it got?
Palestinian Islamic scholar Mraweh Nassar claimed in an interview with Turkish TV channel Qanat, and reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in late October that there are three reasons behind France's "hostility" towards Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.Dutch teacher in hiding after threatened for Islamic cartoon discussion
Nassar, who is the Secretary-General of the Jerusalem Committee of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, explained that the first reason is "the fear of Islam spreading throughout Europe," as "scientific circles in the world predicted that "the number of Muslims in France has reached 10 million, and that France is slated to become an Islamic country in 2030."
"France and some other European countries have begun to fear that Islam is going to spread now. We can see that more than 350 mosques have been opened in what used to be churches," Nassar said.
"People are drawn to Islam's justice and logic. It is not a religion of terrorism, as they claim," he claimed.
However, he also added that "there are warnings even from some Arab countries, and the latest one was issued by one of the sheikhs at Al-Azhar University, who said that 50% of Muslims in Europe are terrorists."
"He is throwing around accusations just like that," continued Nassar.
"The second reason," he said, "is that they seek to distract the Muslims from the issues of normalization and the Deal of the Century" and Arab normalization with Israel, Nassar said.
"The third reason," he continued, "is that French President Emmanuel Macron is "promoting a Zionist agenda" because his wife is related to the Rothschild family - "the richest Jew."
Dutch police said on Friday they had arrested a young woman in Rotterdam on suspicion of inciting threats, after a teacher went into hiding following a classroom discussion on the killing of French school teacher Samuel Paty last month.Austria shuts two mosques visited by Vienna terrorist
It was not clear if the unidentified 18-year-old, who police said posted messages on social media, was a student at the Emmauscollege high school in Rotterdam.
Schools in the Netherlands, France and Germany had been asked to hold a moment of silence on Monday for Paty, who was beheaded by a man of Chechen origin in a Paris suburb last month after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
During a classroom discussion at the Emmauscollege, students noticed a satirical cartoon that had been hanging on a bulletin board for years and some took offence.
The cartoon, which won a national prize in 2015, shows a decapitated figure labelled "Charlie Hebdo" sticking its tongue out at a bearded man with a bloody sword.
A photo of the image began circulating on social media and within a day the teacher had gone into hiding due to what police said were serious threats.
On Thursday a second school in Den Bosch said one of its teachers was staying home after a similar incident.
The Rotterdam case was condemned by Dutch lawmakers and sparked a wider political debate.
The Austrian government ordered the closure Friday of two mosques in the capital Vienna frequented by the jihadist gunman who shot dead four people in the city center earlier in the week.German Police Raid Homes Of Men With Ties To Vienna Gunman Who Tried To Join ISIS
The shooting on Monday was Austria’s first major attack in decades and its first blamed on a jihadist, identified as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai, who was killed by police.
Integration Minister Susanne Raab told a press conference that the government’s religious affairs office “was informed by the interior ministry that Monday’s attacker, since his release from prison, had repeatedly visited two Vienna mosques.”
The two mosques are in Vienna’s western suburbs, one called the Melit Ibrahim mosque in the Ottakring district and the other being the Tewhid mosque in the Meidling area.
The BVT domestic intelligence agency “told us that the visits to these mosques furthered the attacker’s radicalization,” Raab said.
Only one of the mosques was officially registered as such, Raab said.
A statement from the officially recognized Islamic Religious Community of Austria said one officially registered mosque was being shut because it had broken rules over “religious doctrine and its constitution”, as well as national legislation governing Islamic institutions.
Police in Germany raided the homes and businesses of four men suspected to have links to the gunman who opened fire in Vienna on Monday in what has been called an “Islamist terror attack,” numerous sources reported.Antisemitism rife at meeting backed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
German police raided sites in Osnabrueck, Kassel and the Pinneberg area that belonged to the men. Although they are not believed to have helped carry out the deadly attack, there was evidence that they have links with Kujtim Fejzulai, the 20-year-old gunman, the Associated Press reported.
Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 after trying to join ISIS in Syria, but was released early in December. He also had North Macedonian citizenship and was born to ethnic Albanians, the Wall Street Journal reported. He was shot dead by police after the attack that left four dead and 14 injured.
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said Fejzulai was possibly linked to a radical Islamist network that extended to Switzerland and another country that he did not name, according to Deutsche Welle. Two of Fejzulai’s acquaintances were detained near Zurich, Swiss federal police said Thursday, according to Deutsche Welle. The acquaintances were reportedly ages 18 and 24.
Austrian authorities have searched 18 homes and detained 15 people in connection with the attack, four of which had previous terror-related convictions. Several others had criminal records, according to Euro News.
Jeremy Corbyn expressed his support of a Labour Party meeting in which members claimed antisemitism was being privileged above other forms of racism, The Jewish Chronicle reported.High Court rules it was permissible for CAA to call Palestine Solidarity Campaign founder Tony Greenstein a “notorious antisemite” in humiliating case of legal action backfiring
The claims came during a virtual meeting of the pro-Corbyn "Don't Leave, Organise" group of left-wing activists, at which Corbyn's wife, Laura Alvarez was also in attendance.
"I worry about privileging the racism faced by Jewish communities in this country as more worthy of resources than other forms of discrimination - such as against black people, Palestinians, Muslims and refugees," said Labour councilor Jo Bird. “Privileging one group over another is divisive - it is bad for the many, as well as bad for the Jews."
Bird claimed that she "wept" when she read the full report by Britain's Equality and Human Right's Commission into the Labour Party's handling of antisemitism allegations, and expressed her belief that the report "vindicates" the defense put up by Jewish Voice for Labour, over what it said were false smears of antisemitism leveled against Mr Corbyn.
The claim that Corbyn was a victim of a false antisemitism smear campaign, which has also targeted "all progressive movements" due to their criticism of Israel's handling of the Palestinian issue, was further made within the meeting by Salma Yaqoob, a former Labour candidate for the West Midland Mayoral post
The High Court has today ruled that it was permissible for Campaign Against Antisemitism to call Tony Greenstein a “notorious antisemite” in a humiliating case of legal action backfiring, as he loses a defamation case that he himself brought against us after we called him just that.NGO Monitor: France’s Funding of an Anti-Peace Group in Jerusalem
An expelled member of the Labour Party and founder of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Mr Greenstein has long sought to have Campaign Against Antisemitism struck off the register of charities, and last year he brought a case against Campaign Against Antisemitism alleging that we had libelled him when we said that he was antisemitic.
We applied to strike out Mr Greenstein’s case because it had no hope of success at a full hearing and should not proceed.
Today, the court agreed to dismiss the entirety of his libel claim, leaving only other minor aspects of the case to be determined at a later hearing.
In a 21-page judgement, Mrs Justice Tipples referred to the International Definition of Antisemitism in the case, noting that “on any objective assessment, an honest person could form the view that these tweets, in which the claimant has referred to ‘Jewish Nazis’, used the word ‘Zios’ (which he knows is antisemitic…) and, having done so, referred to collaboration with the Nazis, were antisemitic statements he made.”
Mrs Justice Tipples also ruled that “The claimant’s tweet compares the people of Israel to the Nazis and, on any objective assessment, an honest person could have held the opinion that that was an antisemitic statement from the claimant.” She added: “The claimant has no real prospect of succeeding on this issue [of libel].”
A significant part of Mr Greenstein’s argument was that Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Chief Executive, Gideon Falter, had been malicious in describing Mr Greenstein as an antisemite and that he did not honestly believe that he was one, but Mrs Justice Tipples dismissed those arguments, finding that “this plea of malice is insufficient and should be struck out.”
In May 2020, France (Agence Française de Développement [AFD]) authorized an €8 million grant to the anti-peace Palestinian group NGO Development Center (NDC), to manage a project titled “Action for East Jerusalem’s Identity and Resilience (AJIR).”Federal agencies probe SFSU for attempting to host terrorist Leila Khaled
NDC is soliciting proposals for the project, and therefore the identity of the NGO grantees is currently unknown.
This grant appears to echo a narrative similar to those of other European Union funded projects in Jerusalem that aim to “protect the Palestinian identity of the city.”
NGO Development Center (NDC) NDC is a “Palestinian non-profit, non-governmental organization supporting Palestinian NGOs and their representative entities to more effectively respond to the needs of the most disadvantaged groups in Palestinian society.” NDC is highly politicized, promoting discriminatory BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns and rejecting normalization with Israel.
- NDC “facilitated” and funded the 2008 “Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct,” which demands that Palestinian groups reject “any normalization activities with the occupier, neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.”
- In 2013, NDC published “A Strategic Framework to Strengthen the Palestinian NGO Sector” (2013-2017) document funded by AFD that outlines “strategic objectives” of Palestinian NGOs and includes as “Programs/Projects/Activities”: “BDS Campaign[s]”; “Campaign[s] for Academic and Cultural Boycott”; “Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign[s]”; “Anti-normalization Campaign[s].” (See screenshot below.)
- Boycott and calls for boycott are illegal under French law.
“A Strategic Framework to Strengthen the Palestinian NGO Sector” Source: https://www.ndc.ps/sites/default/files/NGO-Sector-Strategy-English.pdf NDC funding to highly politicized NGOs
The NDC provides funding to a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Health Work Committees (HWC), Al Mezan, Al-Haq, Defense for Children international – Palestine (DCI-P), BADIL, Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation (PYALARA), and East Jerusalem YMCA. Some of these organizations promote antisemitic rhetoric; publicly reject anti-terror contractual requirements; and have reported links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
The US Department of Education is probing whether San Francisco State University (SFSU) broke federal rules when they attempted to host an event with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist Leila Khaled, the New York Post reported. The Department of Education has also asked the Justice Department and the US Treasury to examine the case.Campus Cops Identify Offender Who Posted ‘Hitler Is Right’ Signs at Florida University
The Lawfare Project, a non-profit that provides pro-bono legal services on issues of Jewish civil and human rights, pushed for the investigation, the Post reported.
“In normal circumstances, people like Leila Khaled would be barred entry into the United States,” Lawfare Project senior counsel Gerard Filitti told the Post. “However, now we’re living in a world in which Zoom and teleconferences and videoconferences are the norm, and it would be a perversion of justice if terrorists were allowed to spread their message and indoctrinate students by Zoom.”
According to the Lawfare project, SFSU may have provided material support to terrorists when they offered to give her a platform, potentially violating the 18 USC Section 2339B anti-terrorist statute.
An official from the Department of Education told the lawfare project that “SFSU’s conduct concerning Leila Khaled and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine may be subject to the Department of the Treasury’s sanctions authorities” and passed the information to the Treasury and the Department of Justice.
The official also told the Lawfare Project that the Department would examine the possibility that SFSU's webinar was in violation of civil rights rules and federal grant conditions. They will decide if to fully investigate the matter within 30 days, according to the Post.
Police at a Florida university announced on Thursday that they had identified the person who plastered antisemitic signs — including a sticker bearing the slogan ‘Hitler is right’ — around the campus last weekend.Three New York Times Pieces on Whether Trump Kept Promises All Ignore Jerusalem Embassy
The Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Police Department said on Thursday that the alleged offender was not a student or university employee and had no other affiliation with the school.
“We know the same fliers have been put up on other campuses including the University of Central Florida,” a statement from the police noted. “Our legal recourse is rather limited, but we can and should all speak out to reject and condemn these hateful communications and make those who choose to practice it know they are not welcome at FGCU.”
The person identified will be issued a trespass warning for the FGCU campus.
Several students at FGCU expressed outrage when they learned about the signs, which also included posters attacking “white guilt” and “cultural Marxism.”
“It’s just so crazy because going to a school where they say everyone has a right to feel comfortable and everyone is supposed to be a family. How are you going to be a family when people say things like that?” junior Alyssa Stammer said in an interview with the news outlet Wink.
Some students said their shock had been more intense because of the physical closeness of the signs.
Instead of Jerusalem or Iran, the Times article focuses on the border wall with Mexico, cutting taxes, appointing conservative judges, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and renegotiating trade deals.
This effort was the third such attempt by the Times in recent months to check on whether Trump has kept his promises. A September opinion column by Nicholas Kristof was headlined “‘I Keep My Promises,’ Trump Said. Let’s Check.” It billed itself as “a report card on whether the president met his 2016 campaign pledges.” That column, too, ignored both the Iran nuclear deal and the Jerusalem embassy.
An October episode of the Times podcast “The Daily” also tackled the promises-kept question. “We look at whether Mr. Trump has made good on his commitments from 2016,” is how the episode was introduced. The podcast did, to its credit, acknowledge, “He pulled us out of the Iran nuclear accord, which was meant to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for them promising not to build a nuclear weapon.” That podcast, however, entirely ignored the Jerusalem embassy move, too. “The Daily” host Michael Barbaro did acknowledge what he described as “a fairly long and meaningful list of promises kept.” That’s better than the Times news article, which only offered, “In reality, Mr. Trump has broken about half of 100 campaign promises, according to a tracker by PolitiFact.” The tracker handles the Iran deal by describing it as a broken promise to renegotiate the Iran deal, which is a strange way to handle it — and the opposite of how “The Daily” podcast handled it.
Is it too much to ask the Times to serve readers who might care about these promises? It seems like just the most recent example of the Times’ weird blind spot when it comes to Jewish issues. I can understand why the Times would prefer to forget or omit the Jerusalem embassy move, to pretend it never even happened. The newspaper looks silly, because the Times predicted the move would cause violence and prevent peace. In fact, peace agreements have ensued. In the run-up to an election, though, voters deserved straightforward and complete information to make informed decisions, not news tilted or filtered to avoid embarrassing the Times for its past mistakes.
Al Jazeera Media Network is funded by the deeply anti-Semitic Qatari government. WATCH and SHARE our video exposing the rampant anti-Semitism within Al Jazeera's hipper, viral entity AJ+ #AJPlusAntiSemitism pic.twitter.com/PRU9JZooe0
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) November 5, 2020
Is @ajplus Managing Director Dima Khatib infusing her conspiracies into her programming? "Behind US support for Israel there is a huge Zionist lobby with economic and media power." #AJPlusAntiSemitismhttps://t.co/ie0ZtNj24z pic.twitter.com/8B64mwRCLw
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) November 5, 2020
Countering Antisemitism and the message of hate
“When we see antisemitism start to take hold and spread,” says Professor John J. Farmer Jr, director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics of Rutgers University and the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience, “it’s a good indication that civilization itself is about to crumble.” On Monday, November 9th, the eighty-second anniversary of Kristallnacht, the ‘Night of the Broken Glass,’ March of the Living, in collaboration with the Miller Center at Rutgers and the Jewish Community of Frankfort, will launch “Let There Be Light,” a global virtual campaign to preserve the memory of Kristallnacht. The campaign calls on individuals, institutions, and houses of worship to keep their lights on during the night of November 9th as a symbol of mutual cooperation and the joint struggle against antisemitism, racism, hatred, and intolerance.Officials Urge Pro Soccer Teams to Give Red Card to Jew-Hatred by Adopting International Antisemitism Definition
As part of the virtual Kristallnacht initiative, people from all over the world will be able to add their voices to the campaign. Individuals of all religions and backgrounds are invited to write personal messages of hope in their own words at the campaign website.
The Miller Center works towards the protection of vulnerable populations and has assisted a wide range of communities, ranging from the Muslim community in Brussels, Belgium to the Jewish community in Whitefish, Montana in the struggle against hatred. Farmer says that it is difficult to fathom what motivates people to extremism. Nevertheless, he says, “it is explainable when you have a hatred of the other, and there is a process of demonization that occurs. As the original Diaspora community, Jews have experienced that dynamic to a greater extent than anyone else.” Antisemitism has the unique aspect of being much older than other forms of hatred, he notes. He added that hatred of other groups reflects the immaturity of our civilization in rejecting the ‘other’ and it not knowing how to assimilate the ‘other’ without hatred developing. While diasporas of other ethnicities and religions have experienced the same dynamic, Farmer says that the lineage of that hatred doesn’t exist for most of the others. “Certainly, the extent to which the Jewish community has suffered has far exceeded that of any other group over time.”
“To some extent,” says Farmer, “the sources of antisemitism have been constant through history, such as resentment of the other.” When one adds all the factors caused by the pandemic, he notes, including economic stress, lockdown, feelings of isolated, paranoia, suspicion of the outsider, and populist demagogues who thrive on people’s insecurities, there is a potential cocktail for antisemitism.
A large group of officials from around the globe have signed an open letter urging professional soccer teams to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.Greek court convicts newspaper publisher for defaming Jewish leader
The letter was prompted by the fact that antisemitism is not uncommon during soccer matches with boisterous and sometimes violent fans often use offensive language, including antisemitic slurs.
The letter noted a rise in antisemitism around the world, particularly amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and pointed out that several prominent British soccer teams had already adopted the IHRA definition.
Addressing teams directly, the letter said the definition’s “adoption will of course send out a very strong message about your club’s ethos that will be very warmly received by local and global Jewish communities and especially Jewish football supporters and employees.”
“This message is key for all citizens and football lovers, as antisemitism and all forms of racism and xenophobia constitute an attack on democracy and is contrary to our values of human rights, equality, freedom, respect of human dignity, regardless of identity, origin or belief,” the letter said.
The UK’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord John Mann, initiated the letter. He told The Guardian, “Good procedures can isolate and remove the problem. If stewards and clubs know what they’re looking for there won’t be any antisemitic banners. They’ll be removed. Some of it is straightforward. Some of it is more challenging.”
A Greek court has convicted a newspaper publisher of hate speech and defamation for running an op-ed that called a Jewish community leader a thief.International March of the Living shines light on Kristallnacht with new campaign
The Athens Court of Justice of First Instance last month levied a $2,200 penalty on Stefanos Chios, publisher of the Makeleio newspaper, according to a statement by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece on Tuesday. Moissis, co-founder of the SYNERGON Partners banking and finance firm, filed a lawsuit against Chios three years ago.
"A crude Jew who runs a loan-shark firm has bought the debts of poor Greeks. The president of the Jewish Community who pretends to be our friend, is stealing our money through the back door," wrote Chios in a piece in 2017 about the previous president of the Jewish community of Athens, Minos Moissis.
Along with defaming Moissis personally, the newspaper "contributed deliberately to the reproduction of a rhetoric of hate against Greek Jewry," according to the court.
Amid growing hate crimes around the world, a new online campaign is calling on people to personally commit to standing up to hate.Ukraine to build synagogue on site of Babyn Yar massacre
International March of the Living will mark 82 years to Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass," with its #LetThereBeLight campaign, which invites individuals, institutions, and houses of worship across the world to keep their lights on during the night of Nov. 9th, as a symbol of solidarity and mutual commitment in the shared battle against anti-Semitism, racism, hatred, and intolerance. As part of the initiative, people from all over the world will be able to send their own personal messages of hope that will be projected onto the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, the central synagogue in Frankfurt, as well as other significant sites across the world.
To add your message to the campaign website: www.motl.org/let-there-be-light.
Among the many leaders, organizations, and spiritual institutions that have come out in support of the March of the Living initiative are President Reuven Rivlin, the Foreign Ministry and its many embassies around the world, the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates, the Jewish community of Frankfurt, Holocaust survivors, the Miller Center, the Jewish Agency, Taglit-Birthright Israel, the Peres Center, KKL-JNF, as well as US Congresswoman Alma Hernandez, the "Imam of Peace" Mohammad Tawhidi, and former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan.
In a statement, Rivlin said, "While the ovens of the Nazi crematoria have long since been extinguished, the flames that consumed Jewish houses of worship, homes, and businesses on Kristallnacht still burn to this day. They are the flames of hatred, intolerance, and racism. My hope and prayer is that humankind will learn from history, lest we repeat it. Am Yisrael Chai [The people of Israel live]."
Dr Shmuel Rosenman, World Chair of March of the Living, said, "Kristallnacht was one of the critical moments in the chain of events which led to the Holocaust, and this year we decided to launch an international awareness campaign with the Jewish community in Frankfurt and many partners around the world. By illuminating houses of prayer - synagogues, mosques and churches - we convey the message that burning and destroying synagogues and Jewish institutions is not just a Jewish issue. Eighty-two years have since passed, and synagogues are still burning, windows are still being smashed, and anti-Semitism is on the rise. Kristallnacht is not a chapter that is closed. Today we see acts not only of Jew-hatred, but hatred of 'the other' across the world."
Ukraine will build a synagogue at the memorial site commemorating the victims of Babyn Yar, one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, the head of the memorial site Max Yakover told Reuters on Friday.6 Jewish-themed films in NYC online documentary film festival
"This should be a significant thing with a very deep meaning," he said.
The synagogue is expected to open next year to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the killings, and would be Kyiv's first new synagogue built since Ukraine's independence in 1991.
The Babyn Yar massacre marked the start of Ukraine's Holocaust in which a pre-war Jewish population of about 1.5 million was virtually wiped out to fulfill Adolf Hitler's goal of a Europe with no Jews.
Mass shootings, mainly by automatic gunfire, on the edge of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women and children on Sept. 29-30, 1941.
A memorial project for the victims is being financed in part by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, Ukrainian tycoon Victor Pinchuk and former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
DOC NYC is one of the world’s foremost documentary film festivals, and this year it’s all online, just like most other arts festivals in this pandemic moment.Indian Ambassador Says Strategic Partnership With Israel Is Crucial to Coping With Fundamental Disruptions
Among its 200-plus films are six gems with powerful Jewish themes — from a look inside the powerful AIPAC pro-Israel lobby to the chronicling of Black-Jewish friendship forged in the process of taking a racist case to the Supreme Court.
All the movies will be accessible for $12 each, or in special packages of 5 or 10; there are all-access passes as well. The festival runs from Nov. 11-19.
Here’s more on the Jewish-themed films:
“Kings of Capitol Hill” directed by Mor Loushy Loushy, who has won multiple Ophir Awards — Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars — for her documentaries, takes a hard look at the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and discovers some cracks in its normally unified facade. She interviews some disaffected members who are unhappy with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, despite how the leaders’ records might look on paper.
“A Crime on the Bayou” directed by Nancy Buirski The Peabody and Emmy Award-winning director of “The Loving Story” unearths the story of Gary Duncan, a 19-year old black man who was arrested and convicted for touching a white boy’s arm in 1966. His young, Jewish attorney, Richard Sobel, refused to accept the decision made by a rural Louisiana court and fought the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. The film tells that story and about the lasting bond formed between the two men.
India and Israel need to harness each other’s strengths to cope better with fundamental disruptions happening in the world economy stemming from technology, decoupling between the world’s two largest economies, rising sentiment against globalization, climate change and now coronavirus, said India’s Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla.How Ezra the Great fed the poor of Aley
Singla told CTech that major and complex geopolitical challenges faced by both countries require a strategic convergence between India and Israel, with trade being just one necessary part of the strategic partnership.
“I think the sheer size of India’s economy – it is the world’s fifth-largest economy – and its depth and diversification not only offer a huge scale for Israel but also a base for exports to the rest of world and near-shoring supply chains,” said Singla, who was appointed as the ambassador to Israel last year after serving as private secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. “Further, India has a huge reservoir of scientific and technological manpower which, combined with Israel’s strengths in niche areas, provide opportunities for having R&D and design centers in India (like many major US tech firms have done) as also for collaboration in new emerging areas like AI and quantum computing that are harbingers of major changes in the economy. And, of course, both countries are vibrant democracies, something which is essential to inculcate an irreverence that drives innovation.”
“We have to look at how we can use our mutual strengths to enhance the competitiveness of our economies at large,” Singla added. “For example, it is one of India’s software giants that is helping to increase the competitiveness of your financial banking services by establishing a technology platform for new banks in Israel – such as the New Digital Bank, Israel’s first new bank in nearly four decades – and is building a complete banking services bureau.”
Only the walls of the synagogue in Aley, in the Shouf mountains of Lebanon, survived the 1975 Civil War, but it remains a monument to the philanthropy of Ezra Anzarut, who built it in 1892. So generous was Ezra el Kebir (as he was dubbed) that he was respected not just by the Jews, but the local non-Jewish population. His great-grand-daughter Edna Anazarut Tuner tells his story.
The Anzaruts were Cohannim and were an Orthodox practising Jewish family. They were so pious that my Gt. grandfather Ezra would build a synagogue as close to where he was living as possible, so that he would not have far to walk during the Sabbath or the High Holy Days.
He built one adjacent to his lavish country house in Aley (in the Shouf Mountains of Lebanon). This synagogue had electricity, which the one in Beirut lacked. He also built one in Camp de Cesar in Alexandria (Egypt), within a few minutes’ walking distance from the family villa.
These synagogues were always built "In honour of his father Jacob".
I was informed that the Anzarut synagogue in Alexandria has now been turned into a mosque. The one in Aley was badly damaged by rockets during a Lebanese Civil War. One of my relatives who was in the IDF and was stationed there for a while, took photographs of it.
The exterior walls are still standing. In the middle of the floor in what was the Great Hall, he found the Anzarut alms box, which he took back to Israel. I was shown it when I visited the family in Jerusalem.
According to tradition, Great Grandfather Ezra and Great.Grandmother Rachel were not only extremely philanthropic but they were also very hospitable, and the Sabbath and High Holy Days were a time for wonderful family gathering and togetherness.
One of my father's cousins Ezra Charles of Melbourne (Australia) recalls that the dining room table was so big that it could easily accommodate three families.
"He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 6, 2020
— Psalm, 121:4 pic.twitter.com/s26Idd3ZhU
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