Pages

▼

Monday, November 30, 2020

11/30 Links Pt2: David Collier: ‘the wrong sort of Jew’ – the left’s latest antisemitic conspiracy theory; Tlaib Promotes Slogan Associated With Calling For Elimination Of Israel

From Ian:

David Collier: ‘the wrong sort of Jew’ – the left’s latest antisemitic conspiracy theory
Last week one tweet by ‘Double Down News’ was shared 2000 times and received 3400 likes. It was an upload of a 9-minute video of Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi from Jewish Voice for Labour. On YouTube, the same video was watched over 120,000 times in 4 days.

Above the video ‘Double Down News‘ used the headline -‘Meet the Wrong Type of Jew, The Media Doesn’t Want You To Know Exists‘. Putting aside the fact that Idrissi and all of her JVL buddies have been given more than their fair share of mainstream media platforms, the underlying accusation here is stark. Zionists control the media. Why else would anti-Zionists not be given a platform? In other words, this is an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

The recent video even starts with Wimborne Idrissi saying she has been called the wrong sort of Jew. Except nowhere in any of the google searches was there any indication Idrissi and co regularly face such an accusation. All of the ‘wrong sort of Jew’ results were of Jews on hard-left websites batting away at an accusation that does not really exist.

They built the straw man and are now busy playing victims as they publicly demolish it.

The video by ‘the wrong sort of Jew.’
In just nine minutes, Naomi Wimborne Idrissi takes the viewer through most of the rancid arguments we have come to recognise in the fight against antisemitism. The pillars of hard-left antisemitic – anti-Zionist discourse.

That Jewish people are weaponising antisemitism and are harming the fight against real antisemitism.
Idrissi distorts the truth by implying that the Jewish community is evenly divided. She is well aware that her opinion resides in a fringe minority group.
She deals in historical distortion by decontextualising pre-Holocaust anti-Zionism.
Raises the antisemitic idea that the treatment of the Palestinians by Israeli forces is comparable to the way Jews were treated by the Nazis.
Touches on freedom of speech and truth – which is ludicrous hypocrisy coming from a spin artist who publicly calls for no platforming those she opposes.
Tell viewers that media has ‘sidelined and ignored’ left wing Jews because they support Palestine. Which is a blatant lie.
Takes ownership for the historical Jewish fights for justice.
Finishes off by saying that her group are the decent ones – people who want justice and peace. Which means that 93% of Jews must be indecent and against justice and peace.

A vile cocktail of lies and distortion.
J’accuse: In the shadow of Dreyfus at the European Union
On August 21, it was announced that the employee would be fired on 1 September. She was left with the cancellation of her medical insurance amid the COVID -19 pandemic.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center for over a year has acted in support of a Spanish Jewish employee, tenured since 1996 and now a senior official of the European Commission. In 2013, she was transferred to the EU diplomatic service, European External Action Service (EEAS), to work in the Middle East (Israel and Palestinian Territories).

One of her colleagues informed her that their Division Head allegedly suspected her of spying for the Mossad. She was thus transferred to the Turkish Division, entrusted with counterterrorism files.

According to her lawyers, then began a “slanderous... defamatory... campaign with antisemitic overtones.” She was again suspected of passing information to Turkish representatives. In 2016, she was dismissed “in the interest of this service.” Thus a long and painful process began. The story appeared in last week’s Paris Match weekly (Belgian edition). The author, Frédéric Loore, gave the official an anonymous identity, the nom-de-plume of “Eva.” Loore suggested that his article was fit for the cover of a novel by John Le Carré.

He questioned: “Has the EEAS been infiltrated by a Mossad mole or have some of its managers engaged in harassment on the grounds of antisemitism? Was there a Mata Hari in the ranks of the service in charge of the European Union’s foreign and security policy? Or was it a fabricated plot to get rid of a cumbersome senior civil servant of Jewish descent?”

“Eva” had sought an investigation to find out on what these gratuitous accusations were based. “In the end, it was carried out only to harm me... After six years, they still refuse to tell me who accused me of these facts and on what basis,” the employee said.
Alan Baker: The Audacity of Belgium
In an official announcement by the “Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs” department, on Nov. 6 the Belgian government voiced its condemnation of the demolition by Israel of structures built illegally and without any planning and zoning approval in parts of the disputed territories administered by Israel. The buildings were constructed with Belgian funding.

According to this official announcement, “Belgium supports such infrastructure projects because they meet urgent needs. They are always carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law … the demolition of infrastructure and housing is contrary to international humanitarian law, in particular, the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel’s obligations as occupying power, and UN Security Council resolutions.”

Belgium’s heavy involvement in illegal construction in violation of the planning, zoning, and construction regulations and requirements applicable in what the Palestinians and Israelis have denominated as “Area C” is made clear in the announcement:

“Since 2017, at the initiative of Belgium, a group of partner countries affected by similar actions has systematically intervened with the Israeli authorities to ask them to stop the demolitions and to repair the affected projects or to compensate for the damage suffered.”

Belgium’s audacity in demanding compensation is equaled by its blatant disregard of the legal infrastructure agreed upon between Israel and the Palestinians, applicable in the areas in which Belgium is so actively involved in illegal construction.


Israel Advocacy Movement: Israelis and Palestinian clash over Sheikh Jarrah
The pending eviction of the al-Kurd family from Shiekh Jarrah has made headlines for 40 years. In this video, we reveal the truth behind the headlines.


Democrat Rashida Tlaib Promotes Slogan Associated With Calling For Elimination Of Israel
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) promoted a tweet on her Twitter account on Sunday that contained a phrase that is associated with calling for the elimination of Israel.

StopAntisemitism.org highlighted the tweet that Tlaib retweeted, which stated: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

“Rashida Tlaib RT’s out the same message that got Marc Lamont Hill canned from CNN,” StopAntisemitism.org noted. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free – code for eradicating the State of Israel and its millions of Jews. Reminder – this is a sitting U.S. Congresswoman.”

The Daily Beast, a left-wing publication, wrote the following about the meaning of the phrase:
The river in this formulation is the Jordan, the naturally occurring eastern border of Israel and of the West Bank; the sea is the Mediterranean to the west. Uttered by advocates of the Palestinian cause for decades, the pithy slogan very pointedly makes no place for Israel. It evokes a strip of Middle Eastern land where Israel is no more, replaced by a unified Palestinian entity in the space it once occupied. It could be that this entity would welcome and protect a Jewish population. But when supporters of the Jewish state hear those 10 words, they worry about their potentially violent implications.

CNN did fire then-contributor Marc Lamont Hill in 2018 after he used the slogan, which The Times of Israel noted was associated with “Palestinian extremists,” during a speech at the United Nations. Hamas has repeatedly used the phrase, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). A recent report from the ADL described the phrase as “extreme.”


Democrat Nat’l Committeewoman Promotes Palestinian Islamic Jihad Member on Social Media
Rasha Mubarak claims there is a “strong dislike” of her in the Democratic Party. In October, the Party canceled an event that she was featured in, due to her participation. Mubarak says the party’s disdain for her is due to “Islamophobia” and “anti-Palestinian” prejudice, but given her support for Palestinian terrorists and her extreme bigotry aimed at Jews and Israel, Mubarak’s victimhood appears only to be an excuse to cover up for her insidious behavior. And she persists in doubling down. On November 11th, Mubarak once again embraced terror, when she used her social media to promote a “prominent” member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Maher al-Akhras, whose hunger strike has been widely reported, has been held prisoner in Israel, since his arrest this past July. The Shin Bet suspects him of being a “prominent Islamic Jihad activist.” According to the Asra Media Office (AMO), a Palestinian prisoner rights advocacy group, whose spokesman, Ali al-Maghrabi, is also a spokesman for the Hamas Office of Prisoners’ Affairs, al-Akhras is a PIJ leader. One photo shows him next to a PIJ flag, wearing a PIJ scarf. Other photos of him contain the PIJ logo appended to them. Al-Akhras has been arrested on at least five separate occasions for involvement in terror-related activities.

“FREE THEM ALL” – That is the caption atop the al-Akhras drawing Rasha Mubarak tweeted. The drawing depicts al-Akhras lying in bed, smiling as a little girl hugs him. It is a cynical propaganda ploy aimed at generating sympathy, by presenting Al-Akhras in a benign light to those unaware of his involvement in a brutal terrorist group that is responsible for the murders of over 100 innocent people, many via suicide bombings. Mubarak’s endorsement to free him and other killers is but one manifestation of her own psychotic rage and pathological rejection of all civilized norms.

This is not the only time Mubarak has shown support for Palestinian terrorists. This past June and July, Mubarak posted memorials onto her social media for car-ramming terrorist Ahmed Erekat, who was shot and killed after attempting to run over an Israeli border officer stationed at a checkpoint. At the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, along with photos of a jubilant Hamas, Mubarak tweeted, “Thousands of people celebrating in the streets of Gaza for the victory. Alhamdulillah. #VictoryForGaza.” Mubarak has promoted material from Hamas-related media, and she has personally been affiliated with the Hamas-linked groups CAIR and Islamic Relief.


Keir Starmer must lance the boil of Labour's anti-Semitism
Sir Keir Starmer speaks on Sunday to the Annual Meeting of the Jewish Labour Movement.

Appropriately socially distanced, he will not feel the mood of his audience, but he is well advised to remember the words of Emile Zola on the notorious Dreyfus scandal, which was the first to highlight antisemitism to the world;

‘My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul’.

The Jewish Labour movement, under their Zionist name Poale Zion, were there at the very founding of the Labour Party. My own family, from the Trade Unions, established the Leeds Labour Party with Jewish workers.

There will be, I have no doubt, lots of discussion and advice on the detail of how Sir Keir Starmer should rinse out the stain of antisemitism from the Labour Party. But the overwhelming mood will be one of anguish. His audience will include those who dedicated their life to the Labour Party but could not bring themselves to vote at the election. Those who persevered, despite the intensity of hostility and abuse they received. Those who were on the receiving end, every day for four years and still today of attacks and abuse because of their Jewish identity.

Some on the left refuse to allow Jewish people to be themselves. For too many, there are good Jews and bad Jews, and the only good Jews are those who agree with Corbyn.

Sir Keir Starmer’s speech is more than the usual rallying cry. It is about the battle for the soul of our country. We were not alone when we fought the Nazis, fascism and its inherent evil antisemitism, but we were unwavering. The British people can still recognise the stench of antisemitism and they do not like it.
What Corbyn’s favourite sociologists Greg Philo and Mike Berry get wrong about contemporary antisemitism
Controversially reinstated in the Labour Party, but denied a return to the Parliamentary Labour Party by the leader Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn’s defiant response to the recent EHRC report, which found the party had breached the Equality Act in its treatment of Jewish people under his leadership, continues to roil the UK left.

In his initial statement, Corbyn said he did not ‘accept all of [the report’s] findings,’ because in his view the ‘scale’ of antisemitism had been ‘dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.’ In a later interview, Corbyn clarified that this claim was based on supposed disparity between the general public’s perception of the number of Labour members ‘under suspicion of antisemitism’ and the actual number of formal complaints. While his most recent intervention, released shortly before the hearing which readmitted him to the party, made ‘clear’ that ‘concerns over antisemitism’ were not ‘overstated,’ he did not withdraw his contention that the ‘scale’ of the problem had been exaggerated.

On the face of it, Corbyn’s argument is flatly empirical, resting on raw numbers and unrelated to the wider question of antisemitism on the left. But this ostensibly value-free statement is premised on a series of ideological presuppositions that, once unpicked, demonstrate that the anti-Jewish discrimination the EHRC confirmed is not an inexplicable anomaly or random occurrence. Rather, it derives from a specific worldview, bordering on conspiracy theory, that has come to dominate large swathes of the left, and which is all-too-often receptive to antisemitism.
Councillor suspended for saying ‘no basis for a Jewish race, nation or homeland’
A Labour Councillor has been suspended after claiming there is “no factual basis whatsoever for a Jewish race, nation or homeland”.

Tower Hamlets official Puru Miah has been ‘administratively suspended’, the Labour Party has confirmed, as it investigates a claim of antisemitism. He issued a statement on Saturday saying “I unreservedly apologise for the hurt caused” and that he is “embarrassed” by what he wrote.

This comes after the Equality and Human Rrights Commission found evidence of “unlawful acts harassment and discrimination” as well as “political interference” in cases of antisemitism within the party.

Miah shared a post on Facebook in 2014, which said: “‘The invention of the Jewish people’ by Israeli historian Shlomo Sand'” was an “absolutely ‘must read’ for everyone who wants truth and justice for Palestine/Israel.

“The essential historical evidence will amaze you – there is no factual basis whatsoever for a Jewish race, nation or homeland, it is all a recently invented propaganda called ‘Zionism’.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”


BDS Faces Setbacks Amid New Political Landscape
The November election produced a mixed result for the BDS movement. The pro-BDS faction in the House of Representatives was enlarged, but large gains for Republicans in the House and in state elections portends continued opposition. The reelection of the “Squad,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) was expected. This BDS-supporting bloc has been augmented by the election of Democrat Cori Bush of Missouri.

In contrast, one newly elected progressive Democrat, Ritchie Torres of New York, has spoken strongly in favor of Israel and a two state solution. Torres, a gay Afro-Latino, noted that “pink-washing” attacks on him for participating in a trip to Israel had been shocking, but impelled him to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more deeply.

A Senate runoff election in January pits two Democrats against two Republicans for control of the Senate. One of the Democrats, Rev. Raphael Warnock, in the past signed a letter that alleged that Israel was an “apartheid state,” and made the accusation that the “government of Israel shoot down unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey.” He says that he supports Israel, and favors a two-state solution. Warnock also defended the notorious Rev. Jeremiah Wright and invited a Farrakhan-linked minister to his congregation on numerous occasions.

Biden’s presumptive cabinet repudiates progressives and mostly includes veterans such as Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, who have held close to the Clinton-era consensus on Israel. Other staff appointments are more problematic, including Reema Dodin, appointed deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Dodin, a Palestinian-American, was a student BDS activist at the University of California at Berkeley, who reportedly defended suicide bombings before attending law school and becoming a Congressional staff member.

In a manifestation of pressure from the far-left, BDS leader Linda Sarsour and other faith-based activists expressed preemptive disappointment with the Biden team, including for the candidate’s criticism of her support for BDS. Referring to current State Department efforts to combat BDS, Representative Rashida Tlaib also greeted news of Blinken’s appointment with the demand that he not “suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu’s racist and inhumane policies.”


Guardian letter by Palestinian artists and academics_ Zionists are racists
The Palestinian signatories then proceed to provide seven basic principles, which includes, in principle number one, their characterisation of Israel as a “predatory state”.

The fight against antisemitism…. is deeply distorted when geared towards the defence of an oppressive and predatory state.

In their second principle, we see again an example of why they wish to undermine IHRA’s defining as antisemitic the description of Zionism as an intrinsically racist endeavor

There is a huge difference between a condition where Jews are singled out, oppressed and suppressed as a minority by antisemitic regimes or groups, and a condition where the self-determination of a Jewish population in Palestine/Israel has been implemented in the form of an ethnic exclusivist and territorially expansionist state.

One of the basic principles of IHRA is that it recognizes that some forms of criticism of Israel is a new form of antisemitism, whereby the Jewish collective, Israel, is vilified in a manner that’s morally indistinguishable from classic antisemitism. In its relatively short history, Israel has been the target of hate and violence not because of what it’s done, because of what it is: a Jewish state. To deny that Israel has been hated largely because of its Jewish character is deny reality.

The fact is that crude, classic and often eliminationist antisemitism in the Middle East (especially in the Palestinian territories) has been demonsrated in opinion polls and countless examples, year after year, of antisemitic propaganda by both state and non-state actors. This hatred of Jews, it should be noted, took root not only before the 1967 war, but decades before statehood.

Are we really to believe that the widespread anti-Jewish racism throughout the Arab and Muslim world is not in any way related to their hatred of the Jewish state?

One of the best brief explanations on when criticism of Israel crosses the line to antisemitism was offered by dovish Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi, as he responded to a student asking why humanizing Zionists was acceptable, and compared that to asking black Americans to humanize members of the KKK.


BBC WS radio Gaza Strip reports demonstrate impartiality failings
Listeners were also told that the Hamas-run ministries in the Gaza Strip cannot impose a full lockdown because “people are poor” and such a measure would “break the economy, which is already broken” along with a context-free reference to “a blockade for more than 14 years now”.

Audiences however heard nothing about the terrorism which necessitates that blockade and which is prioritised by Hamas at the expense of public services and welfare, including healthcare.

A similarly context-free account was heard in another BBC World Service radio programme aired on the same day. In a programme described as “factual” called ‘The Documentary’ presenter Alan Dein ‘connected’ with a person presented only as “Mohammed in Gaza” (from 11:48) who recounted how – obviously like millions of other people in the world – his travel plans had been postponed because of the pandemic while making context-free references to “a tank”, “a soldier”, “buildings turned into ashes” and the fact that the Gaza Strip has no functioning airport or trains.

It was recently reported that the BBC has become the lowest-ranked British news provider on impartiality, according to OFCOM. These three items aired on BBC World Service radio serve as examples of how context-free promotion of a chosen narrative, inadequately presented contributors, unchallenged promotion of the agendas of NGOs and political activist interviewees and the failure to meet the simple practice of adequately identifying a person given a BBC platform harm the BBC’s claim to produce impartial news and current affairs coverage.
Israeli Search-and-Rescue Organization Signs Historic MoU With UAE Counterparts
The Jerusalem-based ZAKA International Rescue Unit announced this week that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its counterparts in the United Arab Emirates.

The Israeli humanitarian organization, made up of volunteers who lead search, rescue and recovery missions at home and around the world, said that it signed the MoU with the organizing committee of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD).

The signing ceremony took place on Wednesday at DIHAD headquarters in Dubai. According to ZAKA, the MoU “supports future collaborations between the two in the humanitarian field in international crises and disasters, and ensures the provision of all the necessary support to those affected, regardless of color, race, gender, religion or political opinions.”

ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, whose delegation was among the passengers that arrived on Thursday in Tel Aviv aboard the historic first direct commercial flight from Dubai, told JNS, “When the water cannon sprayed the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport—the traditional welcome for a historic flight—we felt that we were making history, twice in one day.”

“We see it as a great privilege, within the implementation of the Abraham Accords, to be the first Israeli humanitarian organization to sign a cooperation agreement with DIHAD. There is no greater expression of peace than volunteer units partnering for mutual humanitarian aid and assistance, as well as professional training in search, rescue and recovery,” he said.
Israeli tech company making water from thin air signs agreement in UAE
UAE-based agribusiness firm Al Dahra has signed a partnership agreement with the Israeli Watergen company, the two announced on Sunday – part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed when a delegation of Al Dahra executives visited Israel in October.

Within the agreement, Watergen will be tasked with supplying the UAE and other countries in the region with its patented water solutions that generate water out of thin air – serving economic sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality.

"From the moment that we signed this agreement, it has shown how important the signing of the Abraham Accords was and the tremendous wisdom of our leaders in making this breakthrough for our region and the world," said Watergen president and CEO Dr. Michael Mirilashvili.

"Though I had other plans, as soon as I learned of the accords, I rushed here in order to show the world the tremendous impact and importance of this historic step," he said. "With this agreement, we're showing our two nations, the region and the world, what is possible with peace." Created by the environmentally savvy Rishon Lezion-based tech company, Watergen's Gen-L water-from-air system taps into atmospheric water using patented heat-exchange technology, producing up to 5,000 liters of clean water per day – and requiring no infrastructure other than a standard electricity supply.

According to the company's website, it is “perfect for villages, off-grid settlements and factories.”
National Library welcomes Hannah Senesh archive
At an emotional online press conference on Monday, representatives of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem unveiled the full Hannah Senesh Archival Collection, which they had just received from Szenes’s family.

Hannah Szenes (sometimes spelled Senesh) is celebrated in Israel, both for her beautiful poetry and her wartime heroism. Her Hebrew poems, such as “Eli, Eli” (also known as “A Walk to Caesarea”) and “Blessed is the Match,” have been set to music and have become anthems.

Born in 1921 in Budapest, she came to Palestine in 1939 to study agriculture. In 1941, she joined the Hagana, the paramilitary group that preceded the IDF, and eventually volunteered for a mission in which she parachuted into Yugoslavia. The plan was that she and several other volunteers would cross the border into Hungary and bring supplies to anti-Nazi resistance groups, help downed Allied pilots and organize Jewish self-defense efforts.

Szenes was captured at the Hungarian border and executed after she resisted torture and refused to divulge information about her comrades. She was 23.

About a year after her death, a suitcase containing her poems, songs, diaries, letters and other items was found in Kibbutz Sdot Yam, where she had been living before embarking on the mission. Her mother, Katherine, came to Palestine with her daughter’s other writings and her estate was managed by her brother and his children. But now, the NLI has her entire literary archive, which it will display and make available to scholars.

In the press conference, Hezi Amiur, curator of the Israel Collection at the NLI, displayed handwritten poems, photographs, diaries and even a card she made for her grandmother, as well as her Hungarian typewriter and the suitcase in which the bulk of the poems were found.
UN must recognize Jewish refugees from Arab countries – opinion
You won't hear their stories in European Union meetings or see their photographs exhibited in the hallways of the United Nations. Their names cannot be found anywhere among the thousands of UN resolutions discussed and passed over the last seven decades. There is no special day dedicated to their communities or to their memory. They are the 850,000 Jewish refugees expelled from Arab countries and from Iran following Israel’s creation.

For international bodies such as the UN, they are forgotten refugees. But for us Israelis, their struggle will go on.

There is no argument over the facts: In a display of anger, after failing to prevent the November 29, 1947, UN Partition Plan and the subsequent creation of the State of Israel, Arab countries waged war not only on the newly established Jewish state but also against the peaceful and thriving Jewish communities that lived among them.

Entire communities from Morocco to Iraq, from Egypt to Syria, Lebanon, Iran and more were effectively wiped out. Along with them thousands of years of Jewish heritage, history and culture was erased, too.

The UN offered no help to those forced from their homes and has done little since to recognize the huge injustice they suffered. There was no international condemnation of the fact that these Jews were attacked and murdered, their property looted and their assets stolen, often by their neighbors and with the backing of the authorities.

In the decades since this treacherous expulsion, the UN has worked to only assist so-called Palestinian refugees. Billions of dollars have been handed over to UNRWA, which while caring for the welfare of families, simultaneously encourages terrorism and incitement through its school programs and, in the process, perpetuates a false narrative of the Palestinian’s “right of return.”



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
at