UNRWA's Moment of Truth
First Step to ReformForbes’ Fundraising Appeal on Behalf of UNRWA
Perhaps the most important step UNRWA can take is to adopt the same standards as the UNHCR. Specifically, UNRWA must take real measures toward the ultimate resettlement of refugees in the host states as envisaged by its original mandate, so as to transform them from passive welfare recipients into productive and enterprising citizens of their respective societies. This is not something that can occur overnight, or even in a few years, but unless a realistic 10-year resettlement plan is crafted, the ever-increasing numbers of perpetual "refugees" kept in squalid camps will never decrease.
UNRWA must take real measures toward the ultimate resettlement of refugees in host states.
While there have been numerous studies, audits, and assessments of UNRWA's operational deficiencies—from resistance to reform, to cover-up of gender issues and sexual abuse by UNRWA workers, to overall human resource and commercial transaction mismanagement—no independent, external financial audit has ever been demanded by the donor states to account for the use, or possible abuse, of their decades-long massive donations to UNRWA: How much of this money is spent on anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement through funding of PLO-dictated textbooks and teachers' guides? How much money is spent on wages for Hamas-affiliated employees who are not legally permitted to be on UNRWA's payroll, and how much on providing facilities for summer training of schoolchildren in terrorism? And above all, how much donor money is spent on perpetuating the Palestinians' "refugeedom" rather than to "start [the refugees] on the road to rehabilitation and bring an end to their enforced idleness and the demoralizing effect of a dole," to use the words of the 1949 Economic Survey Mission, whose recommendations informed UNRWA's original mandate.[29]
Donor states are not only entitled to know how their taxpayers' monies are being spent but have an obligation and responsibility to assure that they are spent on the purposes for which they were donated, and not on those that violate U.N. directives or international law. To date, this has not been done. Only an audit by the donor states will empower reform.
Conclusion The time has come for the geopolitical realities of the 2020s to be confronted head-on. The PLO, while clinging to its eternal rejectionism as evidenced among other things by its "destroy the Zionist entity" school curriculum, is nevertheless not the PLO of Yasser Arafat. Hamas, though still committed to its ultimate goal of destroying Israel, is amenable to suspension of hostilities in return for humanitarian aid, either directly (e.g., regular flow of Qatari money to Gaza) or indirectly (e.g., training Gaza medical students in Israeli hospitals, hospitalizing serious COVID-19 patients in Israeli hospitals).[30] And the Arab states seem less inclined than ever to make their national interests captive to the whims of the Palestinian leadership as evidenced by the recent normalization accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan and the strengthening relations between the Jewish state and the other Arab states.
In addition, UNRWA faces its greatest challenge in decades as Washington, its largest donor, slashed its financial support while the U.N.'s own oversight watchdogs investigated the agency's financial irregularities as it pleads impoverishment over a deficit figure variously ranging between $332 million and over $1 billion.[31] But UNRWA's plea seems to strike a weaker chord even in the European Union where the narrative of the perpetually impoverished Palestinian refugees seems to have worn thin and where the unquestioned propping up of UNRWA's failed mission is coming under growing scrutiny by those who used to be its most vocal champions.
As the Arab and Western states face their long-overdue obligations to help proactively to resolve the Palestinian "refugee problem," the agency's 70-year-long "works" must either profoundly reform or become irrelevant.
Given that well over 90 percent of the Palestinian population lives within Area A, which is fully under Palestinian civilian and security control, the assertion that every time a Palestinian steps outside s/he is “confront with occupation” is absurd. Indeed, a map published by the United Nations’ own Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs plainly shows that, checkpoints — where Israeli soldiers are found in the West Bank — are scattered, and Palestinians can travel freely within their communities and also to other locations without encountering soldiers or settlers.
Abramiam’s article was full of praise for UNRWA schools and their teachers, ignoring that the same institutions have come under heavy criticism for their indoctrination of youth with anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement. UNRWA staff have called for the murder of Jews, revered Hitler and celebrated the deaths of Israelis.
In an article about UNRWA’s funding shortfall, ForbesWomens’ Abramiam neglected to mention that Switzerland and the Netherlands suspended their donations to UNRWA for several months in 2019 due to an internal ethics report alleging mismanagement, including sexual misconduct. Deutsche Welle reported in July 2019:
The Swiss foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that it would suspend funding of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), after the agency’s own ethics department reported allegations of sexual misconduct, nepotism and discrimination.
Such revelations, however, would belie Lewis’ parting message that “UNRWA is extraordinary–with an amazing cadre of educators and staff that need support. The potential and the possibilities have been stolen and need to be restored.”
David Collier: The Guardian – lost between antisemites and oblivion
The Guardian newspaper is on a mission. Over the last few days, it has published several ‘Jew-hostile’ news and opinion pieces. For example, two that attempted to discredit the EHRC (the statutory body that conducted the investigation into Labour’s antisemitism), and two more that set out to undermine the IHRA definition of antisemitism.Anti-Semitism and Israel's Right to Exist
The David Feldman piece The criticism of the IHRA definition of antisemitism came first in the form of a letter signed by over 100 Arab ‘intellectual’ voices. Most are names that are instantly recognisable as political anti-Israel activists. The other attack on the IHRA was an article written by David Feldman. Feldman is director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck, University of London.
David Feldman was rolled out because he is Jewish. Just as the Guardian loves to print anti-Israel letters from the Jewish modern Yevsektsiya groups. The haters learned long ago, that if you want to effectively attack Jews, make sure you pick up a Jew to do it with.
Feldman’s main positions are that the IHRA definition curtails free speech and that he believes in an ‘all lives matter’ approach to racism. As David Hirsh expertly points out, ‘the All Lives Matter‘ approach is far from helpful. Hirsh’s article is well worth a read and therefore I have no intention of covering all that ground here.
Another major problem with the ‘all racism matters’ approach is that whole strands of anti-Jewish racism today are coming from parts of the Muslim community and Black Lives matter activists. Jews are explicitly ‘othered’ by members of these groups and often cannot enter their spaces to discuss racism with them.
The right to free speech Much of the Jewish community, along with the Government have been campaigning to pressure universities to adopt the IHRA definition.
The argument over the right to free speech is an important one. Frivolous accusations of antisemitism should be shouted down loudly. Calling someone an antisemite because they do not like the Likud or Israeli building in parts of Jerusalem is not antisemitism. But then the IHRA doesn’t say that it is. People who raise these sorts of arguments are deflecting.
Jewish people need defending – especially on campus. The main thrust of the opponents of the IHRA definition is coming from antisemites who want to continue to be antisemitic. They must be pushed back.
The 122 Palestinian and Arab intellectuals (Letters, 29 November) have taken it upon themselves to define antisemitism and the struggle for Jewish rights. This is a mistaken approach which also fails to understand the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Antisemitism manifests itself, in part, by denying to Jews their collective right to self-determination under international law. That is why the view of Israel as a “racist endeavour” is an example within the IHRA definition. A Jewish majority state is no more racist than a Muslim or Christian one.
The current plight of Palestinians, far from being an intrinsic feature of Zionism, is the outcome of a tragic conflict between two peoples. In recent decades, Israel has made at least four offers to partition the land and create a Palestinian state, with every offer rebuffed, often violently. Palestinian rejectionism is thus the main cause of their statelessness.
The IHRA definition does insist that legitimate criticism of Israel, similar to that levelled against other countries, cannot be antisemitic. Denying Israel its right to exist as a sovereign state is a different matter.
Israel envoy challenges Nakba ‘lies’, as expulsion of Mizrahi Jews remembered
Israel’s Ambassador to the UK challenged the “lies” spread by the Nakba Day movement and called for more recognition of the plight of Arab Jewish refugees.Link between antisemitism and extremism highlighted in new report
Speaking at an event to mark the persecution of Jews from Arab countries and Iran on Tuesday evening, Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely said: “Here in this country, the perception about Israel is: ‘Some European colonialists came to the Middle East and found shelter for the Jewish people’.
“That is not historically right.”
She added: “It’s important to remember Jews were always part of the Middle East and we are natives like our Arab neighbours. We are not colonialists who came from Europe.”
She also condemned the ‘Nakba Day’ movement – a so-called ‘disaster’ day designated by Palestinians after the state of Israel was founded in 1948.
She said: “They choose to deny the right of the Jewish State to exist… as if they were exiled from Israel. They don’t tell the whole story”.
Ambassador Hotovely said the persecution of Jews from the Middle East was a key part of the current political narrative.
She said: “All too often their plight has been forgotten outside Israel…
“Jews born in Arab states came to rebuild their future in Israel… it’s so important we remember it.”
Antisemitism can be a warning sign of extremism, a revealing new report by the Community Security Trust (CST) reveals.Omar and Tlaib Headline Anti-Israel Hatefest
The Pathway to Terror briefing, which focuses on the recent terrorism trial of Shehroz Iqbal – who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison – displays the connection between antisemitism, hate crime and terrorism.
Iqbal was a serial antisemitic hate crime offender in the years leading up to his terrorism conviction, during which CST had to do a large amount of work to protect the Jewish community in Gants Hill and its neighbouring areas, specifically from the threat he posed.
Iqbal’s extremism began with antisemitic verbal abuse on the streets of London when Iqbal made threatening and antisemitic comments to a visibly Jewish motorist in Stamford Hill. Iqbal is alleged to have shouted, “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill all of you Jews, you killed my brothers”, for which he was arrested. Following his arrest, Iqbal pleaded guilty of having made antisemitic death threats and received a suspended 16-week jail sentence with 80 hours of unpaid work.
But Iqbal’s online activity also showed he was descending further into a world of Islamist extremism. He showed a growing interest in posts about attacks on Jews and developed an online connection to senior figures associated with the proscribed UK terrorist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun. It was this online activity, specifically the posting of an ISIS propaganda video from 2015 showing ISIS fighters in battle, alongside a video of himself outside the Royal Festive Hall, in which he called for various central London locations to be attacked, which led to his arrest and conviction.
Throughout this period, CST tracked Iqbal’s increasingly threatening behaviour towards the Jewish community, worked with counter terrorism police and provided security advice and reassurance to those in the Jewish community that Iqbal targeted.
Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Betty McCollum (Minn.) headlined a conference this weekend run by one of the nation's most prolific anti-Israel advocacy groups, lending their support to an organization that champions boycotts of Israel and has partnered with individuals tied to terrorism.Corbyn Calls for Fellow Suspended Cranks to be Re-Admitted into Labour
The lawmakers, known for their anti-Israel rhetoric and promotion of anti-Semitic materials, appeared at the American Muslims for Palestine's (AMP) annual conference, which was held virtually over Thanksgiving weekend. The conference featured outspoken critics of Israel, including those with reported ties to the Hamas terror group. AMP, which itself has been tied to terror financiers, is a leading promoter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which seeks to wage economic warfare on Israel by boycotting Jewish-made goods.
The lawmakers gave remarks alongside speakers such as Tarek Hamoud, executive director of the Palestinian Return Center, which has reportedly been linked to Hamas. Other speakers included Huwaida Arraf, a BDS promoter and lawyer who represented a Palestinian terrorist. AMP has also employed individuals who worked for the Holy Land Foundation, which was probed by the FBI in 2001 for illicitly funneling upward of $12 million to Hamas. AMP's founder, Hatem Bazian, is the creator of Students for Justice in Palestine, a notoriously anti-Semitic campus group that has harassed and assaulted Jewish students.
During the three-day conference, speakers from across the pro-Palestinian advocacy scene discussed their efforts to push the incoming Biden administration into adopting a more hardline stance against Israel that includes rolling back critical U.S. security aid. Organizations like AMP are fighting for a seat at the table in Joe Biden's White House, as lawmakers such as Omar and Tlaib work to mainstream anti-Israel voices.
Tlaib, in her remarks, lashed out at American "supporters of the occupation," a reference to pro-Israel organizations in America that support Israel's right to exist. She claimed these groups are "working to criminalize our right to boycott and organize—literally our freedom of speech and First Amendment."
Guido tuned into a Zoom call last night billed as “Hands off our MP”, which promised a speech by independent backbencher Jeremy Corbyn. While crankery was to be expected (the conference was organised by “Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn” which brands itself with the colours of the Palestinian flag), Corbyn knocked it out of the park. The former Labour leader said, in no uncertain terms:Prof. Phyllis Chesler: Are you pro-Israel? Then we'll pan your books on feminism
“I obviously contest [the decision to suspend me and block my re-admittance to the PLP] very very strongly and we together will all campaign on this thing, and above all we’ll make sure that we win this thing.
Not just for me, but for the right of free speech in our party and, of course, the need for other people who have sadly been suspended because they spoke out at constituency meetings all over the country; I want to see them all back in the party as well, and that is what I’m absolutely determined to achieve.”
While this call will include the re-instatement of multiple hard-left constituency Labour Party officials who have been suspended for ignoring Starmer’s edict banning motions calling for Corbyn’s re-admission.
Corbyn’s socialist solidarity is such he is now actively campaigning to have all these people “back in the party”, despite Jewish members describing their horror and distress watching them push pro-Corbyn motions. While Guido knew he’d become a flagrant crank post-leadership, this is shocking even by Corbyn’s standard…
First, I want to thank Julie Bindel for her scathing review of my new book Requiem for a Female Serial Killer. It was far too vitriolic. After picking myself up off the metaphorical floor (in reality, if only I could! But how would I get up?) I began to wonder: Really, what could be going on?Antisemitism Watchdog Urges Georgetown to Act Over Article Insulting Kristallnacht
My feminist work, as contained in twenty books, thousands of articles, speeches, campaigns, Speak-Outs, and in my having co-founded feminist organizations that are still standing after fifty years—speak for themselves.
But, like Bindel, who is more than a generation younger than I am, we are both abolitionists in terms of sex slavery, pornography, surrogacy, and transgender issues. Her burning issues have been my burning issues for a very long time. We have both been de-platformed and dis-invited because of our politically incorrect views.
Why would Bindel not find a way to embrace my book which some blessed others have viewed as a “classic,” a “masterpiece,” a version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in terms of raising consciousness about female sex slavery, and eliciting sympathy for such tormented slaves?
Ah, there is something else that may stand between Bindel and myself, something so important that it may have blinded Bindel. Only a wee bit of digging explained what else might be going on. It could even be unconscious—it sometimes is. Bindel’s review confirms how certain other agendas may cloud a reviewer’s vision; how some Thought Crimes can never be forgiven; how strong differences of opinion about a completely unrelated issue may color a review of a work on another subject entirely.
It is anti-Zionism/Judeophobia which continues to operate as a veiled hand, pretty much everywhere but it’s also always hidden—exactly as the Jews were once described in Megillat (The Scroll of) Esther. Instead of a sister-liberator, a Foremother, actually, Bindel may, first and foremost, only see a Zionist Jew, the worst kind of traitor—a former leftist who has been bitten by reality, and who must therefore be purged from the pure-blooded ranks of feminist abolitionists.
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement, an antisemitism watchdog group, is calling on Georgetown University to take concrete action over an article in a publication of one of its programs.Electronic Intifada’s Jihad Against Former WaPo Israel Correspondent
The article, written by Austrian political scientist Farid Hafez in the Bridge Initiative—a multi-year research project on Islamophobia in Georgetown University—“exploited and cheapened the memory of the Kristallnacht pogrom, in order to criticize the Austrian government’s actions tackling radical Islamism,” the group said.
In the piece, Hafez criticized the recent questioning by Austrian authorities of dozens of people it suspects of being radical Islamist activists, which “reminded” him of the treatment of Uyghur Muslims by China. He also claimed that the actions of the Austrian government “undermines the credibility of its Kristallnacht commemorations,” noting that the arrests occurred on the anniversary of the infamous pogrom.
Officials in Austria have spoken out about Hafez’s article. Two federal government ministers, Susanne Raab and Karl Nehammer, have condemned it. Raab termed Hafez’s Kristallnacht reference a “monstrous comparison,” while Nehammer called it “completely tasteless.”
Meanwhile, Austrian sociologist and Islamic theologian Mouhanad Khorchide also censured equating “the beginning of the murder of millions of Jews with a raid.”
Critiquing Electronic Intifada (EI), whose raison d’etre, as the name denotes, is to wage digital war against Israel, might be viewed as futile. The site will continue to to be virulently anti-Zionist and, by default, simply mentioning it brings unwarranted attention to its existence.Florida State University passes resolution acknowledging International Definition of Antisemitism despite “shameful attempts” to halt it
Case in point: Ali Abunimah, one of EI’s co-founders, has described Zionism as “a dying project, in retreat,” and is a leading proponent of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — essentially, a recipe for the destruction of the Jewish state’s inherent purpose and resulting character.
Generally, enough said.
However, an exception must be made in this case given HonestReporting’s core mission of not only criticizing journalists when they get the facts wrong, but also commending them when they get the story right or are unjustly attacked. This applies to EI’s slandering of well-respected former Jerusalem-based Washington Post journalist Ruth Eglash, who recently left her position to become Chief Communications Officer and Advisor to Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations and incoming Ambassador to the United States.
In a December 1 article, Washington Post reporter moves from covering Israel to working for it, author Michael F. Brown perfectly encapsulates Electronic Intifada’s insidiousness and outright opposition to Jewish self-determination.
A resolution seeking to combat campus antisemitism at Florida State University (FSU) has finally been passed following multiple “shameful attempts to derail and distort” it by opponents.University of Birmingham adopts International Definition of Antisemitism
The resolution, which included an acknowledgement of the International Definition of Antisemitism, was approved in the FSU Student Senate by 26 votes to fourteen.
The local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other groups reportedly campaigned heavily against the resolution.
According to one activist in favour of the resolution, Jewish students had been “disappointed” by the many “shameful attempts to derail and distort” the resolution. “Multiple amendments” had been put forward, he said, some of which had been adopted “without the consent” of Jewish students or the Jewish community.
The University of Birmingham has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.Are universities producing the anti-Israel foot soldiers? - opinion
The adoption comes after a call from the Education Secretary for universities to adopt the Definition.
Recently, Lancaster, Cambridge, Manchester Metropolitan and Buckingham New Universities have adopted the Definition.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has consistently backed efforts by the Government to encourage widespread adoption of the Definition by local authorities, universities and public bodies. The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “The Philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” If Lincoln’s statement holds true, stormy days may be in store for bilateral relations between the US and Israel.
The last three decades have ushered in a hostile discourse surrounding Israel on university campuses. With the war in Vietnam ending and a post-communist world order emerging, Israel became a convenient target for the far Left in academia. Jews were now builders and creators of the most ethical and moral country in the Middle East, no longer shrouded in a post-Holocaust victimhood status. This newfound Jewish resilience, coupled with a rise of anti-Zionist sentiments at US universities fueled by overseas funding, could result in shifting dynamics between the US and Israel.
I can recall taking a course at George Washington University 20 years ago titled “Imperialism in the Middle East.” As part of the course curriculum, we were required to visit Georgetown University one evening to hear Edward Said speak. As he embarked on his remarks disparaging the Jewish state, I remember looking around the auditorium and being in awe of the sheer number of people who came out to hear him.
Without a doubt, Said helped pave the way for academics such as Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer to mainstream Antisemitism with the publishing of their book The Israel Lobby in 2007. He also helped elevate the careers of many professors schooled in anti-Zionist ideology such as Prof. Rashid Khalidi, who serves as an endowed chair in Said’s memory at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. More recently, Palestinian terrorist hijacker Leila Khaled was invited to speak at San Francisco State University. Under the guise of being a free marketplace of ideas and thoughts, it would seem that even terrorists are now being welcomed onto University campuses.
This is what happened when @PeterBeinart discussed his idealistic vision of a one state solution. He was rejected outright. Even in one state, Zionism must be destroyed.
— The Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) December 2, 2020
“From the river to the sea” is very clear and has always meant the same thing. https://t.co/oWVRrNqRQA pic.twitter.com/kuJa7Pe6cM
Twitter bans content that ‘dehumanizes’ based on race, national origin
Twitter said Wednesday it was expanding its definition of hateful content to ban language that “dehumanizes” people on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.CBS Fails to Correct on Jonathan Pollard ‘Return’ to Israel
The new policy would apparently ban anti-Semitic and some anti-Israeli comments from the platform.
In a blog post, the social media giant’s safety team wrote: “In July 2019, we expanded our rules against hateful conduct to include language that dehumanizes others on the basis of religion or caste. In March 2020, we expanded the rule to include language that dehumanizes on the basis of age, disability, or disease. Today, we are further expanding our hateful conduct policy to prohibit language that dehumanizes people on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
Twitter said it would remove offending tweets when they are reported, and offered examples such as describing a particular ethnic group as “scum” or “leeches.”
“If an account repeatedly breaks the Twitter rules, we may temporarily lock or suspend the account,” the company said.
CBS has failed to correct the straightforward factual error in a Nov. 21 article and headline that former spy Jonathan Pollard is free to “return to Israel.” The headline errs: “Spy sentenced to life in U.S. prison can now return to Israel after completing parole.” Likewise, the first sentence states: “A former spy who was once convicted to life with the possibility of parole under the Espionage Act has completed his parole and can return to Israel, his lawyers said Saturday.”SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – NOVEMBER 2020
Pollard, an American who received Israeli citizenship in the 1990s while serving his jail sentence, had not lived in Israel, and thus he would not be “returning” there, but moving there. For that reason, contrary to the article, his lawyers did not say he “can return to Israel.” Rather, they state:
Specifically, Mr. Pollard is no longer subject to a curfew, is no longer prohibited from working for a company that does not have U.S. government monitoring software on its computer systems, is no longer required to wear a wrist monitor that tracks his whereabouts, and is free to travel anywhere, including Israel, for temporary or permanent residence, as he wishes. . . .
We look forward to seeing our client in Israel.
Though CAMERA informed CBS about the clear cut error, the network has yet to correct the error.
In summary, 20% of the reports appearing on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page throughout October related to the topic of normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab states and a further 20% to a visit by the US Secretary of State. 16% of the month’s content concerned events in Iran which – despite there being no proof to date of Israeli involvement – were tagged ‘Israel’. Visitors to the BBC News website once again saw no meaningful reporting on internal Palestinian affairs such as social, economic or legal issues and no coverage of Palestinian terrorism.Rapper Lord Jamar says 500,000 Jews at most died in the Holocaust
Lorenzo Dechalus, a well-known rapper whose stage name is Lord Jamar, said that at most only 500,000 Jews died in the Holocaust.
Dechalus, a New York City-born producer and former cast member of the television show “Oz,” made the comment during an with Rizza Islam, a member of the Nation of Islam.
“Check the records: There wasn’t even six million Jews in Europe at that time,” Dechalus, 52, said. “There was about 500,000 over there, in Germany, in Europe, there was no six million, so what are we talking about? Stop it.”
The video is available on Facebook, which in October said it would ban Holocaust denial from its platform. Britain’s Campaign Against Antisemitism group wrote about it Sunday.
Dechalus added: “I’m not saying they didn’t do some of the horrific things that they did but it wasn’t to the scale that they’re saying it was done.”
Islam reacted by saying: “That’s a fact.” He also said that Adolf Hitler “was a horrible dude” but “he learned how to use a system of eugenics and sterilization through the vaccines and other things of that nature from California, from America.”
British Islamist Dr. Abdur-Rahman Dimashqiah: The Holocaust Was Divine Punishment, Hitler Justified It in Mein Kampf; The Jews Committed a "Holocaust" against Jesus - Christians Should Not Sympathize with Them pic.twitter.com/OhXXmZh3Ww
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 3, 2020
German soldiers suspected of involvement in antisemitic chat room
German authorities have uncovered a group of 26 soldiers suspected of involvement in a chat room with links to antisemitism, right-wing extremism and pornography.
The allegation, disclosed in a German Defence Ministry document, was described by one Opposition politician as showing that claims of far-right sentiments in the German military being merely “isolated cases” was “just a fairy tale.”
According to the report, many of the 26 soldiers belong to a logistics unit in Neustadt am Ruebenberge in northern Germany. After the accusations became known in October, civilian and military prosecutors started investigations immediately. So far, three soldiers have been banned from the military.
The case is the latest far-right scandal to surface in the German military. In June, Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer disbanded a company of the elite KSK Special Forces after alleged recurring incidents involving the far-right.
In 1969 the Iraqi Ba’ath party falsely accused Iraqi Jews of partaking in a “Zionist” plot against the country.
— The Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) December 2, 2020
Innocent Iraqi Jews were hanged in public, as half a million people bussed in from around Iraq watched and celebrated.
This is Antizionism:
⚠️ graphic images. pic.twitter.com/79ZBHAVc5f
English Premier League adopts IHRA definition of antisemitism
The English Premier League, the highest level of soccer in England, has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, the organization said on Thursday.Greece’s oldest Holocaust survivor dies at 96
In a press release, the league said it had adopted the definition as a part of its “ongoing commitment to promote equality and diversity, and to combat discrimination of any form in football.”
Executive director Bill Bush said: “The Premier League is committed to tackling any form of discrimination in football,” adding that “our adoption of the IHRA’s working definition will enable us to be more effective in dealing with any antisemitic behavior targeting our clubs or personnel.”
Former Labour Party MP Lord John Mann, who is the UK government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, said that “the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism by the Premier League will rightly be heralded by the footballing community and clubs worldwide.
“I congratulate our Premier League for setting the global standard... I hope others will now step up and be counted.”
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement welcomed the announcement, with director Sacha Roytman-Dratwa saying: “As the most popular competition in world football, the Premier League is sending a hugely important message to countless fans across the world: that there is absolutely no place for antisemitism in today’s world. We hope that it will inspire people to join the fight against antisemitism, racism and hatred.”
Εsther Cohen, Greece’s oldest Holocaust survivor, has died of “old age,” a representative of the Jewish community in northwestern Ioannina where she lived said Wednesday. She was 96 years old.At Algemeiner ‘J100’ Gala, Actor Jesse Eisenberg Calls Playing French Mime Who Saved Jewish Orphans During Holocaust ‘Most Fulfilling Experience’
Cohen was 20 when she and other Jews were rounded up in 1944 and sent to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, in occupied Poland.
It was at the Auschwitz gates that she last saw her parents and other family members.
Only 110 Jews survived the Holocaust among some 2,000 deported from the city, whose Jewish community dates to the ninth century under the Byzantine Empire.
In 2014, during a visit to Ioannina by Germany’s then president Joachim Gauck, he met Cohen at a public event, in tears as he kissed her and begged forgiveness for the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
The moment was captured in a photograph that appeared on newspapers’ front pages around the world.
Actor Jesse Eisenberg talked about his Jewish identity and how it tied into his latest film role on Tuesday at the seventh annual Algemeiner “J100” gala, held virtually from New York City and broadcast to a global audience.Spanish King's Palace Uses Israeli Tech to Purify Air from Covid-19
In “Resistance,” Eisenberg plays the late famous mime Marcel Marceau, who joined the French Resistance during World War II and whose courageous efforts saved hundreds of Jewish orphans.
Eisenberg lost relatives in the Holocaust and said he has a family member who lives in Poland whom he tries to visit often and even wrote a play about.
During his interview with gala director Rosh Lowe at Tuesday’s Algemeiner event, in which “Resistance” director Jonathan Jakubowicz also took part, Eisenberg commented, “For me, this movie really fuses those two things I feel about Jewish culture: both my interest in the war and how it’s kind of impossible to kind of sort out and make sense of the horrors of it, as well as what I so love about Jewish culture, which is all of the kind of wonderful curiosities, and artistic inclinations and kindness.”
“It turned out to be the most fulfilling experience I’d ever had,” Eisenberg explained about playing Marceau, “because every other job I’ve done had some thing of material response and this was purely me helping out with no ego boost. It was just the most relaxing, enjoyable experience I’ve had in my life.”
Eisenberg was also asked by Lowe what he would advise people who had lost hope. Eisenberg responded by encouraging people to think beyond themselves and how they could help others.
Madrid's Palace of Zarzuela, in which the King of Spain welcomes foreign guests and holds government meetings, has incorporated Israeli technology that purifies the air tainted by coronavirus.S. African sensation ‘Jerusalema’ tops 260 million YouTube views
Aura Air, founded by brothers Aviad and Elder Schneiderman, is the company behind the technology. The system installed in the palace makes it possible to monitor, analyze, and purify the air in order to provide King Felipe VI and his guests with a safe, clean environment.
Sensors examine the particles in the air, as well as temperature, humidity, the amount of carbon dioxide, organic gases, and more. When the sensors detect unusual phenomena or a dangerous increase in pollution, the system creates a complete turnover of the air at an average rate of 2.5 times per hours in order to purify it.
A study conducted at Sheba Medical Center determined that the system has the ability to destroy various viruses, including coronavirus at a rate of 99.9%.
Aura Air's system measures the air inside and outside the room in real-time, offering recommendations and insights regarding air quality management. Additionally, the system can predict future scenarios regarding hazards or air quality problems. For example, it detects a fire in a room even before there is smoke by detecting a high level of burnt plastic molecules and carbon dioxide.
A gospel-influenced house song about Jerusalem and faith has become a global phenomenon over the past year, received over 260 million views on YouTube (and counting), and inspired a viral social media challenge for decidedly viral times.
“Jerusalema,” by South African artists Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode, features Zulu lyrics and speaks of salvation, home and togetherness, with Jerusalem as an embodiment of such yearnings.
The song lifted global spirits darkened by the pandemic and inspired the “Jerusalema dance challenge,” which saw people across the world sharing clips of the same choreography in various settings.
Front-line medical workers, soldiers, stiff-limbed clergymen, diners at swanky European restaurants and even the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra — everyone seemed to want to shake a leg.
“The feedback was crazy,” says 24-year-old Master KG, who co-wrote and performs the disco-house track with Zikode.
Lucius Banda, organizer of the annual Sand Music Festival on the shore of Lake Malawi, says “Jerusalema” became a “Covid anthem” — a source of joy at grim times.
The chart-topping song bagged the Best African Act at this year’s MTV European Music Awards.
Kissing the ground, hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants welcomed to Israel
Waving Israeli flags as they came down the steps of the aircraft, over 300 members of Ethiopia’s Jewish community arrived in Israel on Thursday in a special airlift from Gondar headed by Absorption and Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata.
The celebratory arrival, attended by several of Israel’s leaders, marked the opening phase of a plan to bring some 2,000 members of the community to Israel from Ethiopia in what has been dubbed Operation Tzur Israel.
Critics have urged the government to speed the arrival of all 2,000, as well as thousands more community members estimated to be waiting to emigrate from the war-torn country.
The first of the 316 immigrants to emerge from the Ethiopian Airlines jet led a young girl with one hand and with his other blew a ram’s horn, or shofar, that in Jewish tradition is used to signal a moment of redemption.
Some of the passengers kissed the ground as soon as they reached the tarmac, another tradition for those arriving for their first time in the Holy Land. Many were dressed in traditional Ethiopian robes, and many women held babies in their arms. Festive Hebrew songs were blasted over loudspeakers.
The arrivals, some of whom have waited 15 years or more to emigrate and many of whom have family here, will not be able to be reunited with their relatives immediately, due to coronavirus guidelines that require all arrivals to isolate for two weeks. They are slated to spend their first several months in Israel at an absorption center in the north, where they will learn Hebrew.
My wife Sara and I stood with tears in our eyes at the welcoming ceremony, when we saw our Jewish brothers and sisters from Ethiopia leave the plane with baskets – like we remember, like I remember from my childhood – they come down and touch the ground, the land of Israel. pic.twitter.com/Q4VM4eONoR
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 3, 2020