Saturday, March 13, 2021
Only Arabs in Israel have true democracy
Which of the hundreds of millions of Arab citizens in the Middle East will be able to vote in free and fair elections this year?MEMRI: Gaza Ceremony On International Women's Day Lauds Palestinian Women Terrorists Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, Leila Khaled, Dalal Al-Mughrabi
It’s obviously not Syria. Even before a brutal civil war that killed half a million people and made almost half the population refugees, the country was a brutal dictatorship. Libya is in carnage and Yemen is still the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
Egypt is under a state of emergency and the President’s main opponents were banned from the last election. Whilst there are varying degrees of political development in the Arab monarchies, the unelected Monarch retains the final say in all of them.
The first election for nine years eventually took place in Lebanon in 2018, after being called off by the government three times. Elections also take place in Iraq but are marred by corruption and Baghdad comes down hard on anyone who really tries to exercise self-determination, as the Kurds found out with the military action and blockade they faced after their referendum in 2017.
Many won’t want to hear it, of course, but apart from Tunisia, the likelihood is that the only Arab citizens in the whole of the Middle East who will get to elect the people who run their country in free and fair elections live in Israel.
Almost 380 million Arab citizens live in two dozen countries stretching across five million square miles and the only ones who truly have a say in who runs their country are the 1.9 million in the tiny state of Israel.
Later this month, all nine million Israeli citizens, whatever their religion, race, ethnicity or heritage, will have exactly the same rights at the ballot box. All citizens of Israel vote on an equal basis and Arab voter turnout for the 2020 election reached 64.8%, its highest level in the last two decades.
Visit the Knesset and you will see one of the most diverse and disputatious legislatures in the world representing every shade of opinion from the far left to the extreme right.
The Palestinian Authority's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs held a ceremony in Gaza in honor of freed female prisoners on International Women's Day. It was aired on Palestine TV on March 8, 2021. The governor of Gaza Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja spoke on behalf of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He condemned the new UAE ambassador to Israel and added: "Damn him and his country!"
Senior official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Maryam Abu Daqqa lauded Palestinian women and said that they have been an integral part of the armed-struggle and resistance against Zionism, from the early days of the "Zionist invasion" to the "modern-day Palestinian revolution." She said that Palestinian women are part of a "triangle of terror" threatening the Zionist entity – on land, at sea, and from the air. She gave the example of PFLP member Shadia Abu Ghazaleh who was killed while preparing a bomb in 1968, Leila Khaled who was the first female plane hijacker, and Dalal Al-Mughrabi who had participated in the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre in Israel.
Gaza Governor Al-Naja: "Palestinian Women Have Sacrificed Like No Other Women In The World; [They] Send Their Sons... To Go [Fight] For The Sake Of Their Cause"
Announcer: "And now to the speech by President Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, which will be delivered on his behalf by the governor of the Gaza Governorate, Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, Abu Wael, please. "
Gaza Governor Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja: "Palestinian women have sacrificed like no other women in the world. Palestinian women are still role models, because they are seekers of freedom, they are mothers, they are sisters, they are fighters, they are martyrs and they are bereaved.
"Look at how these women send their sons, one after the other, telling them to go [fight] for the sake of their cause, for the sake of freedom in the world, and for the sake of human rights.
"This is the message that the world has ignored. This is the message that was rebuffed by the enemies of our nation and our people. This is the message that our [Arab] brothers do not want to understand. They want to erase our history. This is a disgrace. We reject and condemn this and we do not want this to be recorded in the annals of our nation's history.
"Yesterday, an ambassador of a country we used to call 'brotherly' presented his credentials...
French Jews Remember Anniversary of 2012 Terror Attacks That Culminated in Massacre at Jewish School
France on Thursday began commemorations for the ninth anniversary of a devastating Islamist terror spree that claimed the lives of seven people, including three children at a Jewish school and two soldiers in the French army.
The tributes to the victims — murdered in the Toulouse region by Islamist terrorist Mohamed Merah between March 11-15, 2012 — coincided with the Europe-wide national memorial day for the victims of terrorism. That event takes place on March 11 to commemorate the 2004 terror attack on the same day upon the Atocha train station in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The French Jewish communal organization CRIF tweeted a tribute to the first of the seven victims, Imad ibn Ziaten, a parachutist in the French armed forces from a Muslim family of Moroccan origin. Ziaten was shot dead by Merah at point blank range after refusing to obey the terrorist’s instruction to lie on the ground.
“A few days later, six people including two other soldiers, three children and a father were also murdered,” the CRIF tweet noted.
On March 19, 2012, Merah launched a gun attack on the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse. He murdered Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, who taught at the school, together with his two sons, six-year-old Aryeh and three-year-old Gabriel.
Merah then grabbed another child, eight-year-old Miriam Monsonego, and shot her through the head before escaping. Following a 30 hour siege at his apartment building in which six agents were wounded, Merah was shot dead by a police tactical unit on March 22.
Largest Pro-Israel Group in US Launches Ads Against Biden Pentagon Pick
A prominent pro-Israel group is launching a targeted ad campaign calling on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W. Va.) to oppose Pentagon nominee Colin Kahl, citing Kahl’s "antagonism" toward Israel and "disturbing" positions on Iran.Seth Frantzman: Why can’t Israel avoid more crises with Jordan - analysis
The series of ads will run in six West Virginia newspapers early next week, ahead of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s vote on Kahl’s nomination for undersecretary of defense for policy, which is expected to take place on Tuesday. Manchin has said he is still undecided and is likely to hold the swing vote on the committee.
The ads feature a statement by Pastor Doug Joseph, Christians United for Israel’s state director for West Virginia, describing Kahl as an "antagonistic anti-Israel voice" and asking constituents to call Manchin’s office and voice their opposition.
The ad campaign comes as a number of Republicans have come out strongly against Kahl, due to his positions on Israel and Iran, as well as his inflammatory Twitter comments. Kahl has referred to the GOP as the "party of ethnic cleansing" and a "clown show," and approvingly linked to an anti-Israel blog that claimed the "Israel lobby" was trying to start a war between the United States and Iran.
"Kahl’s nomination may well hinge on one vote. And that vote will very likely be our state’s own Sen. Joe Manchin," wrote Joseph. "Given his West Virginia values and common-sense approach to the Middle East, I am hopeful he’ll make the right decision and decline to support such a misguided nomination."
"The stakes are high. I have every confidence that Sen. Manchin is disturbed by Kahl’s record on Israel because, like the majority of West Virginians, the senator has Israel in his heart," he added.
Christians United for Israel is the largest pro-Israel advocacy group in the country and has over 77,000 members in West Virginia, according to a spokesman.
"Kahl’s hostility toward Israel is beyond unconventional. It’s outlandish," says Joseph in the ad. "While serving in the Obama administration, he led an effort to strip recognition of Israel’s true capital of Jerusalem from the Democratic party’s platform."
"Kahl’s disqualifying positions are not limited to his antagonism toward Israel. He has held numerous positions concerning Iran that call his judgment into question," the ad continues. "Among the most disturbing was his opposition to America's designation of Iran’s ruthless Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization."
The king has no clear relationship with Netanyahu. This may date from historic anger over Netanyahu’s behavior going back to the 1990s. Despite claims that Jordan and Israel have very good relations on other levels, the high-level incidents continue to shock those who follow relations between the two countries.PA, Arab League condemn opening of Czech diplomatic office in Jerusalem
Israel is also on a high because of its new ties with Gulf states. But Jordan is close to the same Gulf monarchies that made peace with Israel. Jordan is also close to Saudi Arabia.
During the early years of the Trump administration, the king sought to prevent a crisis over Jerusalem. When the US moved the embassy, the kingdom was invited to Turkey as Ankara sought to bring Jordan into its orbit. The kingdom did not become close to Turkey but nevertheless has many challenges at home, from the economy to refugees to COVID now.
The issue here is that the kingdom enjoys unique rights in Jerusalem and close ties to the Palestinian leadership. It has historic ties to the West Bank but it wants a two-state solution. It was nonplussed by Netanyahu’s trip to Oman in 2018 and said as much in 2019, noting that Israel needs to make movement on two-state issues, a point Safadi has made repeatedly and one Amman has stressed at Manama Dialogue conferences.
In 2017 an Israeli security officer at the Israeli Embassy in Amman shot two Jordanians after being attacked. That was one more crisis in relations. This was quietly resolved.
But reports have suggested security ties with Jordan could be at risk over the last several years. A quarter century after the signing of the peace treaty, ties are not great publicly. Jordan ended Israeli leases on lands in 2019 that were part of the peace deal. In 2017 Jordan also freed the Jordanian soldier responsible for the 1997 Island of Peace massacre. Back in 2013 a total of 110 of 120 members of Jordan’s parliament signed a petition for his release.
Incidents like this, as well as Netanyahu meeting the security guard who was involved in the 2017 incident, have made ties appear cold. Nevertheless there are other agreements that appear to work, such as having Jordanians come to Eilat for work..
The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League on Saturday condemned the opening of the Czech Republic’s diplomatic office in Jerusalem, calling the move “a flagrant violation of international law,” according to Reuters.Architect of North Carolina’s Woke Curriculum Supports Obama’s Anti-Semitic Pastor
Prague opened the Jerusalem office of its embassy Thursday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.
In response, the Palestinian Authority foreign ministry said it considered the move “a blatant attack on the Palestinian people and their rights, a flagrant violation of international law,” adding that it would harm peace prospects, the report said.
At the same time in Cairo, the Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that “the legal status of Jerusalem will be affected by the decision of one country or another to open representative offices.”
“East Jerusalem is an occupied land under international law,” Gheit added, despite the diplomatic mission being located in the western side of the city.
Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967 and later extended sovereignty over it in a move never recognized by most of the international community. It considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
“We keep our promise,” said Babis, standing in the shadow of the historic YMCA building in the Talbieh neighborhood of Jerusalem. “The Czech Republic will have a full-fledged diplomatic mission here in Jerusalem. It will deal with a lot — ranging from politics, economic cooperation, consular agenda and other topics. It will have a permanent staff and work under the lead of our embassy in Tel Aviv.”
The North Carolina State Board of Education member responsible for pushing new radical curriculum standards on K-12 students recently lauded anti-American and anti-Semitic preacher Jeremiah Wright.South Africa’s Zulu King Remembered as ‘True Friend’ to Israel
James Ford, whom Democratic governor Roy Cooper hand-selected for the state board of education, tweeted in February that the black church "left Jeremiah Wright out to dry."
"Let us never forget how many black preachers left Jeremiah Wright out to dry," Ford tweeted. "Neither defending him or the black theological tradition. Glad he is getting his flowers here."
Ford replied to a tweet in January that asked, "We all agree that Colin Kaepernick was right, yea?" with, "Throw Rev. Wright in there too."
Wright's infamous "God Damn America" sermon surfaced in 2008 while the reverend was serving as then-presidential candidate Barack Obama's spiritual adviser. In that speech, Wright compared American leaders to al Qaeda and said the U.S. government manufactured the AIDS epidemic to kill black people.
Obama distanced himself from Wright and denounced his sermon. Wright blamed "them Jews" for the rift.
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini arrives to hear Former US President Barack Obama delivering the 16th Nelson Mandela annual lecture, marking the centenary of the anti-apartheid leader’s birth, in Johannesburg, South Africa July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoIsraeli car accidentally enters East Jerusalem, is pelted with rocks
The South African Jewish community and Israeli officials honored on Friday King Goodwill Zwelithini, the longtime leader of South Africa’s Zulu nation who died at the age of 72.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) extended “sincerest condolences to the Royal Family and the Zulu nation,” praising Zwelithini’s ties to the country’s Jewish population.
“In a reign spanning half a century, King Zwelithini was the recognized representative leader whose royal stature embodied the greater history, heritage and culture of the Zulu people in South Africa. Appointed to that position at the height of the apartheid era, he helped to unite and encourage his followers during the difficult years leading up to the democratic transition and in adapting to the new challenges of healing and nation building,” the group, an umbrella organization for the country’s Jewish groups, said in a statement.
“King Zwelithini will also be gratefully remembered by the Jewish community, particularly in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, as a warm and generous friend whose door was always open. Over the years, successive generations of Jewish communal leaders, businessmen and philanthropic organizations in KZN enjoyed his support in a range of far-reaching initiatives that brought lasting benefits to the people of the province and further afield,” the SAJBD continued.
Israeli diplomatic officials also remembered Zwelithini, the monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group for 50 years, who had supported close ties between the country’s ruling African National Congress party and Israel. In 2018, after the party voted to downgrade relations with Israel, he lauded the Jewish state’s water management technology and his work with local pro-Israel groups on combating HIV.
Lior Keinan, the Israeli Ambassador to South Africa and several other countries in the region, extended “heartfelt condolences to the Royal family and the Zulu Kingdom.”
An Israeli man’s car was pelted with rocks Saturday after he accidentally drove into the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya.On 10th Anniversary of Syrian Uprising, US Holocaust Museum Calls Out International ‘Failure’ to Apply ‘Never Again’ Principle
The man was lightly injured and treated at the scene, according to Hebrew media reports.
Photos showed his rear windshield was shattered.
Police were searching for the rock-throwers.
Earlier Saturday, a group of some 10 masked alleged Israeli settlers beat and threw rocks at a Palestinian family in the West Bank in an attack the family captured on video.
According to the B’Tselem organization, the Alyan family — two parents and their eight children — were working on their agricultural land near the illegal settler outpost of Mitzpe Yair, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, when the attack took place.
In the footage, the assailants can be seen throwing rocks and brandishing batons as the children scream and cry in the background.
Also Saturday, the Yesh Din rights group reported an attack the day before by settlers in the northern West Bank. According to Yesh Din, some 20 settlers coming from the direction of the Yitzhar settlement threw rocks Friday at a neighborhood in the town of Hawara, damaging two parked cars. The group has recently reported other attacks in the area.
In a sharply-worded statement to mark the tenth anniversary of the uprising against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) asserted that the world’s failure to stop the mass atrocities committed by pro-Assad forces, Islamist terror groups and pro-Turkish militias showed that it had “failed to fulfill the promise of ‘Never Again.'”US Repeats It Will Not Offer Iran Unilateral Incentives for Talks
In the intervening decade, more than 500,000 Syrian civilians have been killed, and more than 12 million — half the country’s population— have been forced to flee their homes. Numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape, mass executions and the use of proscribed chemical weapons, have been documented by international organizations.
“We continue to stand in solidarity with the Syrian people at this somber moment — they have not been forgotten,” said Naomi Kikoler, director of the USHMM’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. “We honor the brave Syrians who have risked so much to come forward, bear witness to these horrific crimes, provide life-saving care, and advocate tirelessly for justice, accountability and an end to the killing. Their heroism has tragically been met with the abject failure of the international community to protect them, contributing to the devastating consequences that continue today.”
The USHMM statement further noted that the international response to Syria’s ongoing agony “continues to be impeded by the politicization of humanitarian norms, contributing to an ongoing paralysis in the UN Security Council.”
It continued: “These crimes demand justice. Both formal criminal prosecutions and broader transitional justice are needed to repair the fractured Syrian mosaic, restore dignity to victims and communities, and provide the opportunity to build trust and collective memory.”
The United States repeated on Thursday it will not offer Iran unilateral incentives to attend talks about both sides resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.US Engaged in Indirect Diplomacy with Iran, Says White House Adviser
“We will not offer any unilateral gestures or incentives to induce the Iranians to come to the table. If the Iranians are under the impression that, absent any movement on their part to resume full compliance with the (nuclear deal), that we will offer favors or unilateral gestures, well that’s a misimpression,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Price suggested Washington would consider each side taking steps to resume compliance with the agreement once they are at the negotiating table.
“If and only if Tehran comes to the negotiating table would we be in a position, would we be prepared, to discuss proposals that would help push both sides back on that path of mutual compliance to the deal,” he said. “Ultimately, that is where we seek to go: compliance for compliance.”
Price was referring to the deal between Iran and six major powers under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for the easing of US and other economic sanctions.
The United States and Iran have begun indirect diplomacy with Europeans and others conveying messages about how they might resume compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.Iranian investigator claims Israel behind attack on cargo ship in Mediterranean
“Diplomacy with Iran is ongoing, just not in a direct fashion at the moment,” he told reporters.
“There are communications through the Europeans and through others that enable us to explain to the Iranians what our position is with respect to the compliance for compliance approach and to hear what their position is,” Sullivan added.
The new administration of US President Joe Biden has rejected giving Tehran unilateral incentives to begin talks but has held out the possibility of both sides taking reciprocal steps to resume implementing the deal, an approach Washington calls “compliance for compliance.”
“We are waiting at this point to hear further from the Iranians how they would like to proceed,” Sullivan said. “This is not going to be easy but we believe that we are in a diplomatic process now that we can move forward on and ultimately secure our objective, which is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and to do so through diplomacy.”
The United States on Feb. 18 said it was ready to talk to Iran about both nations resuming compliance with the pact that aimed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, seeking to revive a deal that Washington itself abandoned in 2018.
Iran began violating the deal in 2019, about a year after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it and reimposed economic sanctions. Tehran has accelerated its breaches in recent months.
Each side has insisted the other go first in returning to the deal, with Tehran demanding Washington remove its economic sanctions and the United States demanding that Iran reinstate limitations on its nuclear program.
Israel is the likely suspect behind an attack this week in the Mediterranean that damaged an Iranian cargo ship, an Iranian investigator told local media Saturday, according to Reuters.Israeli Study Finds Vaccinated Mothers Pass Coronavirus Antibodies to Newborns
An unnamed member of the investigation team told the semi-official Nournews that “considering the geographical location and the way the ship was targeted, one of the strong possibilities is that this terrorist operation was carried out by the Zionist regime,” the report said.
The ship was slightly damaged by an explosive object but no one on board was hurt, Ali Ghiasi, a spokesman for state-run shipping company IRISL told semi-official Nournews on Friday.
The accusation comes a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has targeted at least 12 ships bound for Syria, most of them transporting Iranian oil, with mines and other weapons.
The alleged attack occurred on Wednesday. “Such terrorist acts amount to naval piracy,” he added, identifying the ship as the Shahr E Kord, and said it was traveling from Iran to Europe.
Ghiasi said the blast caused a small fire that was extinguished by the crew.
A new Israeli study found that breastfeeding mothers vaccinated against the coronavirus are able to pass on antibodies to their babies through breast milk.Coronavirus in Israel: Cases continue to drop as death toll nears 6,000
“Encouraging data shows that vaccinating nursing mothers promotes the production of important antibodies in breast milk, thereby protecting their babies from disease,” stated the new study conducted by Tel Aviv University and the Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), according to i24 News.
The study was aimed at discovering whether the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine could produce antibodies in mothers who nursed and analyzing the level of protection they could potentially pass on to their infants.
The research, which took place from January to February on a very small sample of 10 vaccinated women, discovered an increase in antibodies in the blood and in breast milk 14 days after the first vaccine shot and seven days after the second.
The research also found that the antibodies in breast milk could possibly counter COVID-19.
Just under 3,000 Israelis were reported to have been infected with COVID-19 over the weekend, continuing the downward trend seen in recent weeks, with 613 patients classified in serious condition, down from 675 the day before. The positivity test rate is at 2.9%.AI can predict whether someone will die if infected with COVID-19 - study
In addition, the Military Intelligence Directorate reported on Friday that the current R rate in Israel – the rate which measures the ability of the disease to spread, indicating how many other people each person carrying the virus will infect – is at 0.83.
There were 2,386 coronavirus cases diagnoses on Friday out of 84,286 tests that were conducted according to the Health Ministry's Saturday report. Another 409 Israelis tested positive from midnight on Friday night, bringing the total number to 2,795.
The current number of active cases stands at 35,593, among which 626 are in critical condition and 214 are intubated. The death toll, ever-nearing the 6,000 mark, currently stands at 5,988.
The Health Ministry also reported that some 91% of those hospitalized in coronavirus wards were not vaccinated against the virus. In lighter news however, 5,125,054 have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, while 4,120,276 have received their second dose.
Artificial intelligence can predict with up to 90% accuracy if someone is going to die from the novel coronavirus before they are even infected, a group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Science have found in a study published in the science magazine Nature.Ukraine’s Zelensky Speaks With Netanyahu on Pandemic Coordination, ‘Grateful’ for Israeli Vaccine Aid
Machine learning – or artificial intelligence-based computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience by using the collected data – was developed during the study and was found to be able to predict the risks at the different stages of illness.
The researchers studied 3,944 positive cases in Denmark and used positive cases taken by UK Biobank for "external validation" and took common risk factors such as age, BMI and hypertension into account to formulate the algorithm.
The AI model predicted risk of death at different stages: at diagnosis, at hospital admission, and at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. Out of the 3,944 patients who were tracked for the study, 324 died of COVID-19. The men who died were all between 73 and 87 years old with clear signs of high blood pressure and BMI impacting the results.
This group of men proved to be the one with the highest risk of mortality as a result, and so the AI program would predict that men in that age range with high blood pressure and BMI are at higher risk.
Ukrainian Prime Minister publicly thanked his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu Friday, after the two leaders spoke by phone to coordinate on pandemic travel measures and COVID-19 vaccine distribution.UCL provost criticised for suggesting Holocaust denier could talk at university due to free speech.Grateful to @netanyahu for his willingness to help speed up #COVID19 vaccine supply. I wish the people of Israel good health. Green pass can resume ✈️ travel between 🇺🇦 & 🇮🇱. We're ready to discuss this initiative. Welcome to the 30th anniversary of 🇺🇦 independence. pic.twitter.com/vKmUfqIn8z
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 12, 2021
Israelis who have been fully vaccinated can be eligible to receive the “green pass,” a digital or physical document authorized by the Ministry of Health that will grant access to events and activities previously restricted by social distancing measures.
The two discussed a possible agreement based on the passes that would restore travel between Israel and Ukraine. The latter’s travel restrictions during the 2020 Rosh Hashanah season were controversial among some Breslov Hasidim in Israel, a number of whom travel annually to the Ukrainian town of Uman for the Jewish new year.
Some observers noted that European countries were increasingly turning for help to Israel’s world-leading vaccine campaign, which has inoculated nearly half the country with two doses.
“It feels like more countries may soon be relying on #Israel for vaccines than the #EU Commission. Perhaps Ursula von der Leyen should dare more Netanyahu,” tweeted the German journalist Philipp Fritz, referring to the president of the European Commission.
The European Union has struggled to get sufficient doses of the vaccine into the hands of its member states, with per capita inoculation numbers lagging countries like the United States and United Kingdom.
On Thursday, Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, also to discuss restoring travel and vaccine production and development.
“We appreciate the fact that they’ve opened up missions in Jerusalem and also that they assist us on the international stage as true friends do. In the spirt of that friendship, they came here to Jerusalem to see how we can cooperate on COVID,” said Netanyahu at a press conference.
University College London’s provost has come under fire for suggesting that his commitment to free speech is so deep that he would allow a Holocaust denier to address students.Black Lives Matter is a politically correct ISIS
Dr Michael Spence has been urged to apologise for Jewish students over remarks he made during a radio interview this week.
During a discussion about free speech on campus, he said: “We would have anybody to speak who was invited by an academic or by a student, so long as the speech was lawful and there weren’t going to be public order problems that we couldn’t control or whatever. We’re deeply committed to the notion of free speech.”
Dr Spence, who took up the role of president and provost of UCL in January after spending 13 years as vice-chancellor of Sydney University, was asked whether he would allow a Holocaust denier to speak since it is not illegal in the UK to deny the Holocaust.
He told Times Radio that if a Holocaust denier were to be invited to speak, the university “would obviously have a responsibility to make sure that its Jewish and other students and staff were looked after, that the event took place in an environment in which other views were expressed and all the rest of it – but yes our commitment to free speech is deep.”
There is no specific crime of Holocaust denial in the UK but it is banned in several European countries including Austria, Germany and Poland.
Jonathan Hunter, chair of The Pinkser Centre which campaigns against anti-Semitism on university campuses, said: “The fact the Holocaust – the murder of six million Jews – occurred, is not open to debate.”
In a letter to Dr Spence, Mr Hunter explained that while it is “technically lawful” to express Holocaust denial views, these have “no place” in any university environment.
In July 1793, announcing the first anniversary of the end of the monarchy, the French revolutionaries issued a decree that shocked Europe. To "cleanse" the nation of the memory of the kings, the National Convention ordered the destruction of the royal tombs in the basilica of St-Denis, near Paris. The coffins were emptied and the lead removed for remelting.Jewish Groups Charge Grammy Awards With ‘Insensitivity’ for Featuring Farrakhan Supporter Tamika Mallory
The Bourbon crypt was opened as a prelude to the execution of Marie Antoinette. The bodies were removed and in the middle of the night there was a great deal of traffic among the bones of the dead kings, taken from the coffins and stripped of what they could have on them of precious stones.
ISIS in its ferocity went so far as to destroy the tomb of Jonah in Mosul, that of the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul Paulos Faraj Rahho, of the priest Ragheed Ghanni and of the saints at Mar Elian, to name but a few.
The destruction of historical and\or ancient tombs marks every great totalitarian phenomenon in history.
The anti so-called racism inspired by Black Lives Matter is no less grotesque, at least for now.
Adam Smith's grave was included in the dossier of sites related to "slavery and colonialism" by the city council of Edinburgh, the Telegraph reveals. The philosopher of the Enlightenment, the first market theorist and "father of capitalism", is buried in the city of Canongate Kirkyard.
The Labor-led Council has launched a review of sites that "perpetuate racism and oppression" following the Black Lives Matter protests, with the option of "removal or reinterpretation" for problematic monuments. Smith's gravestone and his statue on the Royal Mile will now be under review by the city council's "Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group", which will report on how it can be "reconfigured."
In doing so, the West is digging its own grave.
The Grammy Awards is facing criticism from Jewish groups for listing Women’s March co-leader Tamika Mallory — who is also a longtime supporter of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — as a “performer” for the 2021 award show, set to air live Sunday on CBS.
Mallory has been repeatedly condemned for her anti-Israel remarks, such as calling the establishment of Israel a “human rights crime” and saying Israel has no right to exist “at the disposal” of the Palestinians. On social media, she has promoted Farrakhan’s annual “Saviour’s Day” events in which he attacks Jews, called him “GOAT” (the “Greatest of All Time”) and praised him for telling the “hard truths.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday that Grammy Award producers “must be aware of [Mallory’s] toxic attitude toward Jewish community and Israel.”
“For decades, Americans have embraced [Martin Luther King Jr.] and his vision of a future with the color of one’s skin isn’t the decisive factor but the quality of one’s deeds, a message and value that The Grammys have chosen to forsake,” he said. “To heal, our nation needs a counsel culture not a cancel culture.”
The Recording Academy, which presents the awards, did not respond to The Algemeiner’s request for comment.
According to Sami a Steering Committee member of @stwuk (who have blocked us BTW), "Zionists get paid and have big internet centres in Israel"
— (((GnasherJew®גנאשר))) (@GnasherJew) March 12, 2021
Sami can you let us know where our payments are, because the last time we checked we had not received a penny? 2/ pic.twitter.com/Ch0w3MC5PY
OK, so what's the bad news? pic.twitter.com/hTYjBlqGnO
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 13, 2021
Brazilian police raid church whose pastor prayed for another Holocaust
Federal police in Brazil raided the church whose pastor had prayed with congregants for another Holocaust.Montreal Police Arrest Man in Connection With Desecration of Synagogue
Friday’s raid in Rio de Janeiro was part of an operation titled “Shalom” by the federal police against Tupirani da Hora Lores, who heads the Pentecostal Generation Jesus Christ Church, Globo reported. Police confiscated literature there.
Last year, da Hora Lores was filmed preaching and praying with his congregants, saying “Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations.” His congregants are heard repeating his words passionately.
“They contrived, went with prostitutes, and when they were told to repent they said they’d do it but they lied,” the pastor said, possibly in reference to the forced conversions to Christianity during the Inquisition.
“God, what you have done in World War II, you must do again, this is what we ask for in our prayers to you: Justice, justice, justice!” da Hora Lores shouted at his church, a small and radical evangelical congregation.
Raniery Cavalcanti, a lawyer for Sinagoga Sem Fronteiras, a network of Jewish communities in Brazil, filed a complaint for incitement against da Hora Lores. The Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro and the CONIB National Jewish umbrella also took legal actions against da Hora Lores.
The pastor “should have been detained,” Rabbi Gilberto Ventura, the Sao Paulo-based founder of Sinagoga Sem Fronteiras, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “But the fact police raided his church is already a big development.”
Canadian Jews expressed relief this week after police in Montreal arrested a man in connection with the desecration of a synagogue in the city last year.Israeli Platform Brings Female Intuition to Artificial Intelligence
In a statement on Thursday, B’nai Brith Canada said it had been informed by Montreal police that the man, named as Patrice Belley-Gervais, was arrested on Thursday and appeared in court. His next court date is set for April 30, and he is facing one charge of breaking and entering.
After a lengthy closure due to COVID-19 restrictions, congregants entering the Congregation Sepharde Kol Yehouda in Côte Saint-Luc on May 27, 2020 found that the small institution had been ransacked, with some religious items, including Torah scrolls, dumped on the floor, and others stuffed into toilets.
“Some of these items are considered extremely sacred in Judaism, to the extent that they are typically buried in a cemetery rather than disposed of in any other manner,” B’nai Brith noted.
The organization’s CEO, Michael Mostyn, expressed gratitude to the police for making the arrest.
“We are thankful and relieved that a suspect has been arrested in connection with this deplorable incident,” Mostyn said. “The wanton desecration of places of worship must carry consequences, regardless of motivation.”
On the heels of International Women’s Day, Intel-Israel and Supersonas are developing an artificial intelligence platform, termed AI for Women, which is based on female intuition. After collecting data and advice from thousands of successful and high-achieving women in the public and private sectors, the AI platform aims to gain insight from important tips gleaned from older professional women that can help young women at the beginning of their career paths. As part of the project, Intel has collected thousands of tips from successful Israeli women who have been influential in their sectors, and distilled it into an advanced model database of artificial intelligence filled with collective cognitive wisdom.Cellphone obsessives are grinding their teeth, losing sleep — Israeli study
Some of the data gathered has been given by leading figures in Israeli society such as Yamina MK and former Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked; former columnist Emily Amroussi; Yeruham Mayor Tal Ohana; Prof. Galia Rahav, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at Sheba Hospital; Efrat Duvdevani, CEO of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation; and Yesh Atid MK and former Minister of Social Equality Meirav Cohen, among others.
Bella Abrahams, public affairs director at Intel-Israel, is the woman behind the AI for Women initiative. “If we want to bring about real change, we must work together,” Abrahams said in a company video, along with other leading women.
“We have a moral responsibility as successful women to help other women succeed,” said Hana Rado, who is founder and president of Supersonas, an Israeli organization that promotes equitable female presence in Israel and is leading the project. On their website (in Hebrew), women can upload their own tips to help others. The AI platform then studies women’s behavioral patterns based on the advice and tips they have provided, and draws its own conclusions, lending it a female “voice.”
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, can lead to actual physical pain, Israeli researchers are claiming.Why Israeli short films are winning international awards
They focused specifically on FOMO as manifested by cellphone fixation for fear of missing messages, posts or notifications. The researchers found a direct correlation between device dependency and two markers of stress and anxiety: teeth grinding and jaw pain. People who are less attached to their phones also sleep better, with less interrupted shut-eye.
“We believe these symptoms are related to FOMO, fear of missing out,” said Dr. Pessia Friedman-Rubin, of Tel Aviv University’s dental school. “People are constantly using their phones because they are worried they will miss something, and check WhatsApp, Facebook and other apps.
“This creates a cycle of growing dependency on cellphones, which leads to feelings of stress and anxiety, and the feeling that someone might write something on social media and I’ll miss it and not be in the loop. In short, phones are actually causing many people stress, and we’re seeing physical manifestations of this.”
Friedman-Rubin and her team took advantage of a uniquely Israeli characteristic of electronics usage, in the study that integrated the Ph.D. thesis of her student Dr. Yitzhak Hochhäuser, a member of Israel’s Haredi community.
Many ultra-Orthodox people shun regular smartphones and have so-called kosher phones instead — devices stripped of social media and most other apps, at the advice of rabbis.
Israeli short films tell storiesMyHeritage Genealogy Website Adds Millions of Lithuanian Jewish Records
“White Eye” is not only on the Academy Awards’ Oscars shortlist. It is also on the list of short Israeli films that have made it that far. In 2015, “Aya” and “Summer Vacation” had that honor.
“Strangers No More,” shot at the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, won a Best Short Documentary Oscar in 2011. Guy Nattiv’s “Skin” won Best Live Action Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Omer Ben-Shachar’s “Tree #3” won a Student Academy Award.
Aside from the Oscars, Israeli short films have been prolific award-winners at film festivals for the past two decades. A recent example is “Ashmina” by Dekel Berenson, which garnered 28 nominations and 13 wins including the Tehran Short Film Festivals’ Special Jury Prize.
“Israeli films and TV shows in general have gotten popular on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime,” says Neta Ariel, director of Ma’aleh School of Film and Television in Jerusalem.
“Israeli filmmaking has become so high quality that it opens a lot of doors. And shorts are part of this phenomenon,” she says, pointing out that the short film form provides “an amazing opportunity” to indulge a national penchant for storytelling.
Israel is home to 15 film schools and university film departments, an unusually high number for its size.
Says Stanislav Semerdjiev, executive director of CILECT, The World Association of Film and Television Schools, “Yes, compared to many countries Israel has probably quite a lot of film schools per capita. I believe the reason for this is that in general the Israeli people love to tell stories and tell them well!”
Ariel tells ISRAEL21c, “Israel has a lot of ambitious and creative filmmakers and is a very special society that deals with a lot of conflicts. These are stories that give rich content to film. If something is perfect, it isn’t a good story.”
The Israeli genealogy website MyHeritage announced on Tuesday that several millions of Lithuanian Jewish historical records have been added to the website’s database as part of its partnership with a US nonprofit organization.
LitvakSIG is the primary online genealogy resource site for Lithuanian Jews, also known as Litvaks. The records in the collection now published by MyHeritage were originally translated and indexed by LitvakSIG and represent almost all of LitvakSIG’s body of work over more than 20 years.
The Lithuanian Jewish records are currently searchable for free on the MyHeritage platform; however, a subscription is required to view the full records and access record matches.
MyHeritage, the world’s leading platform for discovering family history, has billions of historical records and family-tree profiles. It also has one of the largest consumer DNA databases with 4.8 million customers.
“Adding this collection from LitvakSIG provides a valuable resource for anyone of Lithuanian-Jewish origin,” said MyHeritage CEO and Co-founder Gilad Japhet.
“On a personal level,” he said, “some of my own ancestors appear in this collection, including my paternal grandmother and her siblings from the small Lithuanian town of Valkininkai [Olkieniki], making this addition especially meaningful for me and my family.”
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