Saturday, May 08, 2021

05/08 Links: For Jerusalem Day, the humble memorials to those who died unifying the city; Netanyahu says Israel protects right to worship; 186-year-old account of US diplomatic visit to Holy Land surfaces at auction

From Ian:

For Jerusalem Day, the humble memorials to those who died unifying the city
The 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, which this year falls out on the evening of May 9 and the day of May 10, is the anniversary of the day that Israeli paratroopers captured Jerusalem’s Old City in the Six Day War.

Almost immediately following the Old City’s liberation, the soldiers who had participated in the battle piled some rocks together along Jericho Road outside the Lions’ Gate and planted a flag in the ground.

It was their way of honoring the memory of their fallen comrades, killed on that very same road, when soldiers made a fatal navigational mistake. Israeli troops had conquered the Jordanian outpost at the Rockefeller Museum, but two large obstacles remained: the Old City, and the well-fortified Augusta Victoria complex on the Mount of Olives, which offered a clear view of the Temple Mount down below.

Soldiers heading for the Mount of Olives missed the turn onto the ascent and instead descended along Jericho Road. Unfortunately, from their position on the road, the Israeli forces couldn’t see the Jordanian troops standing at the ready atop the Old City walls. Thus, the soldiers were hit hard when they reached the curve in the road which serves as a bridge above the Kidron Valley. A savage battle raged on the bridge, and other Israeli troops were called in to extract their comrades.

Years later, the impromptu monument, an extremely emotional sight, was moved from the location of the battle to its permanent home across from the ascent to Lions’ Gate. Replacing the rocks is a sculpted eagle with one wing reaching to the sky. A second shattered wing tilts sadly towards the earth.




Temple Mount violence: Netanyahu says Israel protects right to worship
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Israel's intention to protect the right to worship during a meeting with numerous security heads following a night of violence in Jerusalem's Old City amid Temple Mount clashes.

Violent clashes broke out at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Friday between worshipers and security forces, just as tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers gathered to mark the last Friday prayers of the Ramadan month of fasting.

At least 17 Israeli police officers were injured in the clashes with approximately half of them needing treatment in hospitals, a police spokesperson said Saturday morning.

One of the injured was an Israeli officer who is in moderate condition after being hit in the face with a rock.
Lapid wishes officers a speedy recovery as Arab MKs blame police, gov't
Yair Lapid, who is currently working to attempt to form a unity government with Yamina's Naftali Bennett, wished wounded police officers a complete and speedy recovery in a tweet on Saturday morning.

"The State of Israel will not allow violence to rage within it and certainly not terrorist organizations to threaten it. Anyone who wants to hurt us should know that they will pay a very heavy price," Lapid added.

"This is a time of responsibility on the part of everyone, especially on the part of elected officials," he concluded.

Labor MK Omer Bar Lev said that "Palestinian violence on the Temple Mount must be stopped and resolved. But let us not be naive, there is a direct connection between the violence provoked by Ben Gvir in Sheikh Jarrah and the events yesterday."

"Throwing stun grenades into the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the same kind of tactical loss of police control that will ignite the Muslim world against us," he added.

The chairman of the Ra'am Party, Mansour Abbas, wrote on his Facebook page in Arabic: "The blessed al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, attacks on its sanctity and those who pray in it are unacceptable and we condemn them. We, in all parts of society and the public, must protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque. "

Joint List members issued similarly harsh condemnations for both the police's conduct on Friday and the Netanyahu-led government's role in helping to incite them, pointing out specific instances of police misconduct.

The most controversial incident of the night, which was captured on video and widely circulated online, was one in which Israeli officers appear to throw stun grenades directly into al-Aqsa Mosque, as Muslim worshippers were praying.

Hadash Party leader Ayman Odeh and Ta'al Party leader Ahmad Tibi both shared a video which showed an Israeli police officer throwing a stun grenade into a crowd of women and children in east Jerusalem on Friday.

Odeh also shared a video of Deputy Jerusalem Mayor and City Council member Aryeh King teasing a Palestinian protester which he seemed to know personally about a bullet wound to the rear which King said the protester received prior to the protest, adding "its a shame it didn't hit you here," and pointing to his forehead.
17 policemen, 200 Palestinians hurt as hundreds riot on Temple Mount
Israeli police burst into the Temple Mount compound on Friday evening after Palestinians threw rocks and bottles at officers, as widespread clashes in Jerusalem spread to the holy site following prayers held there on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Police said 17 police officers were hurt and around half of those hospitalized, with one in moderate condition after taking a rock to the head. Meanwhile the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least 205 Palestinians were wounded in clashes throughout Jerusalem, mostly around the Temple Mount and by Damascus Gate. Eighty-eight Palestinians were hospitalized, mostly for injuries with rubber-coated steel bullets, it said.

By midnight the violence — some of the worst in Jerusalem for years — seemed to have subsided, with most protesters dispersing.

Police said Friday evening that force used “riot dispersal means following violent disturbances on the Temple Mount, during which hundreds of suspects began throwing stone, bottles and objects at police officers.”

Video from the scene showed pitched battles, with Palestinians throwing chairs, shoes, rocks and bottles, and shooting fireworks, and police responding with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.” Several wounded demonstrators could be seen being carried away on stretchers.

Most of the Palestinians hospitalized were being treated at Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. The hospital was urgently calling for people to come and donate blood.
Seth Frantzman: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah join to incite terror against Israel - analysis
This is also a Hamas ploy for power in Jerusalem, a city it has had a foothold in but in where it has had difficulty raising its head. It is a Hamas ploy for power in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority postponed elections.

It is also a way for Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas to appear relevant. They also want to drive a wedge between Israel and its new peace partners in the Gulf, knowing that the violence in Jerusalem will pressure Bahrain, the UAE and others to make statements.

Similarly, they want to inflame tensions in Jordan. They know that Saudi Arabia has sought to tone down tensions with Iran and has been discussing rapprochement with Iran in Iraq, and with Turkey and Syria.

For Iran, this is a perfect opportunity to push tensions with Israel using the Jerusalem issue. Iran knows that on other fronts, whether nuclear weapons or entrenchment in Syria, it faces hurdles. However, it has long sought to play an increasing role in Palestinian affairs.

Iran’s media is pushing the line that Israel is in decline. The IRGC has made statements about how Israel’s “security bubble” has been burst. Iran’s Press TV now highlights Nasrallah and how other Muslim countries are condemning Israel. Hamas, on Saturday warned Israel not to “play with fire.” He has singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this statement, not noting the current political turmoil in Israel after Israel’s elections.

On Saturday afternoon, thousands of Palestinians were reportedly trying to make their way to Jerusalem as part of the protests and their desire to “defend” Al-Aqsa. The bubbling crisis could now affect Israeli relations with the Gulf and may also spark the interest of Washington and Europe.
Israel fears further escalation within days; Fatah warns of ‘all-out conflict’
Israel’s security establishment is preparing for several critical days in Jerusalem that could determine whether the country sees a return to calm or a major conflagration, according to media reports Saturday.

Police and the military were bracing for renewed violence a day after Jerusalem saw some of the city’s worst violence for years, with 200 Palestinians and 17 Israeli police officers wounded as hundreds rioted in the Temple Mount and cops broke into the compound to quell the unrest.

Channel 12 reported there are acute alerts of potential terror attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem in the coming days, after a week that has seen a deadly shooting attack, a failed shooting attack on soldiers and repeated clashes in the capital that have left dozens of policemen and hundreds of Palestinians wounded.

The network cited unnamed security officials as saying that with Saturday marking the holiest night of Ramadan and Sunday-Monday seeing Jewish celebrations of Jerusalem Day, the capital could potentially see an escalation in violence that would lead to a larger conflict. Israeli riot police clash with Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem Old City on May 7, 2021.(Jamal Awad/Flash90)

The central committee of Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, warned Saturday night that “the continuation of the settler attacks on the holy places and the homes of Palestinian residents, their expulsion and expansion of settlements — will lead to an all-out conflict in all the Palestinian territories.”
PA requests Security Council, Arab League meetings on Jerusalem violence
The Palestinian Authority said over the weekend that it was seeking emergency meetings of the United Nations Security Council and the Arab League members to discuss the latest upsurge in violence in Jerusalem.

Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups called for “stepping up the Jerusalem uprising and threatened to respond to Israeli “aggression” against the Palestinians.

At least 200 protesters and 17 policemen were injured in large-scale clashes that erupted in the evening at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount and other parts of east Jerusalem.

Commenting on Friday’s clashes between the police and thousands of rioters at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, PA President Mahmoud Abbas held the Israeli government “fully responsible for the dangerous developments and assaults in the holy city.”

In a televised speech, Abbas called on the international community to “assume its full responsibilities to halt this aggression on our people and holy sites.” He also repeated his call for providing intentional protection for the Palestinians.

“The terrorism of the settlers will only increase our determination to stick to our legitimate rights to end the occupation, attain freedom and independence and establish a sovereign and independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Sensing victory, Jerusalem 'shabab' turn Sheikh Jarrah into major crisis
The Palestinians have succeeded in turning the dispute over the ownership of a number of houses in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah into a major crisis that has now caught the attention of the United Nations, the European Union and the US administration, as well as several countries and local and foreign media organizations.

This success came on the heels of another “victory” proclaimed by the Palestinians two weeks ago, when Jerusalem police, responding to daily demonstrations, removed barricades it had placed outside the entrance of the Old City’s Damascus Gate.

The barricades, intended to prevent hundreds of youths from gathering at night at the gate entrance, were reinstalled two days later because the nightly skirmishes between the protesters and the police continued even after their removal.

Palestinians praised the removal of the barricades as a “big victory” and bragged about how the “shabab (youths) of Jerusalem” had forced Israel to capitulate and this perceived capitulation is seen as a sign of weakness that is further emboldening the “shabab.”

Leaders of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and other Palestinian factions were also quick to heap praise on the “heroic” east Jerusalem youths who forced Israeli authorities to remove the barricades. They further lauded the youths for “thwarting attempts by Jewish settlers to storm al-Aqsa Mosque and the homes of residents” of east Jerusalem.

To maintain the momentum, the Palestinians decided to focus on al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah, where a number of Arab families face eviction from houses that were owned by Jews before 1948.


Arabs across Israel protest Jerusalem clashes; cops block buses to Temple Mount
Arab Israelis protested throughout the country Saturday over the government’s actions in Jerusalem, including how it handled major violent clashes on the Temple Mount Friday and the potential eviction of dozens of Palestinians from an East Jerusalem neighborhood.

Largely peaceful protests were held in numerous communities. Protesters briefly blocked traffic on a section of Route 65 in northern Israel. Five people were detained in Umm al-Fahm in the north over suspicions they threw rocks near the city’s police station. In East Jerusalem, two people were arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks at police officers.

Several buses carrying Arab Israelis to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount were held up at a police checkpoint on the major Route 1 highway outside the city, which was bracing for further violence after seeing some of its worst clashes in years on Friday. Saturday night is Laylat al-Qadr, the most sacred night in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Worshipers were set to gather for nighttime prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The move caused massive traffic jams in both directions on the main highway to the capital.

Video showed passengers getting off the buses and marching along the highway, with some blocking traffic in both directions.

Police said they stopped the buses because they had intelligence indicating some of the passengers were planning to riot on the Temple Mount. They said only “suspicious” passengers would be forced off, while others would be allowed to drive on. The blockages were eventually opened up after some three hours.


'US extremely concerned about Jerusalem riots' - State Dept.
The United States is extremely concerned about ongoing confrontations in Jerusalem, says Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson.

“There is no excuse for violence, but such bloodshed is especially disturbing now, coming as it does on the last days of Ramadan,” Price added. “This includes Friday’s attack on Israeli soldiers and reciprocal ‘price tag’ attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, which we condemn in no uncertain terms.”

“We call on Israeli and Palestinian officials to act decisively to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence,” Price added in his statement.

“It is absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric, and preserve the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif / Temple Mount – in word and in practice,” he wrote.

“Leaders across the spectrum must denounce all violent acts. Security services must ensure the safety of all of Jerusalem’s residents and hold all perpetrators to account,” the statement reads.

“We are also deeply concerned about the potential eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of Jerusalem, many of whom have lived in their homes for generations,” he continued. “As we have consistently said, it is critical to avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace. This includes evictions in east Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions, and acts of terrorism.”


Saudi and UAE Condemn Israel Over Palestinian Clashes at Al-Aqsa
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday condemned Israel’s plans to evict Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers, following a night of violence in Jerusalem.

Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque late on Friday.

The clashes at Islam’s third holiest site and around eastern Jerusalem, which injured 205 Palestinians and 17 police officers, came amid mounting anger over the planned evictions.

“Saudi Arabia rejects Israel’s plans and measures to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem and impose Israeli sovereignty over them,” the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya.

The UAE, which normalized relations with Israel last year, “strongly condemned” the clashes and the potential evictions, in a statement by the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa al-Marar, and urged Israeli authorities to reduce tensions.

In the statement, carried by state news agency WAM, Marar stressed “the need for Israeli authorities to assume their responsibilities – in line with international law – to provide necessary protection to Palestinian civilians’ right to practice their religion, and to prevent practices that violate the sanctity of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque”.


Biden’s address left antisemitism unaddressed - opinion
President Joe Biden seems to care deeply about combating “hate” – unless it’s directed at the targets of the world’s oldest hatred. We all expected the president to speak about hate in America during his first address to a joint session of Congress. He did not disappoint. He talked about the murder of George Floyd, systemic racism and white supremacy.

He mentioned attacks upon blacks, Native Americans and women. He celebrated a hate-crimes act to protect Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Last weekend, in fact, provided Biden with an additional reason to discuss hate in America. Beginning Thursday night and proceeding through the weekend, four different synagogues and three vehicles were vandalized in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx. All were damaged in precisely the same way: smashed windows.

Every student of the Holocaust knows that the Nazis’ first wholesale violent attack on Jewish property was Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass. Seeing it replicated in microcosm on the streets of New York traumatized the Jewish community, and gave Biden the opportunity to assuage its concerns with words of healing.

There’s one problem: He passed.

President Biden spoke about “the viciousness of the hate crimes over the past year,” but never mentioned the community that is, according to the FBI, overwhelmingly the most frequent victim. Given the small Jewish population of the United States, merely 2% of Americans, a Jew is several times more likely to be the target of a hate crime than all of those who earned Biden’s mention.
Meet the Arab businessman terrorist
The security forces are baffled… How can this happen? A beautiful 19-year-old yeshiva student was murdered – and another is in serious condition – yet the murderer wasn’t the “usual” terrorist they were expecting. Let me introduce you to Muntasser Shalbi, yemach shmo.

Muntasser is 44 years old, married with 7 children. He is a successful businessman and is also a citizen of the USA. Arabs like that, or “Palestinians” as they are erroneously called, are not supposed to shoot Jews according to ISA profiles… but this one did… and the experts are baffled. How can he do such a thing?

Before I answer that question, let me tell you that you don’t need to worry about this beast. After an intensive four-day search, he was found in the village of Silwaad (near Ramallah) and immediately brought to Shaarei Zedek hospital for treatment. Yes, Jerusalem’s Shaarei Zedek hospital… you read that correctly.

The brave IDF soldiers of the Givati Brigade, together with vast numbers of other security forces, searched day and night until they found him, and these units did not rest until he was caught. When the Arab American Businessman returns to good health (at our expense), he will be interrogated over and over again until they find out what motivated him to shoot at innocent unarmed youing Jews standing at the Tapuach junction.

And there will be no surprises about this specific terrorist's reasons for murdering young Israelis. We have seen doctors, professors and men in business suits engage in terrorist attacks against Jews.
Gunned-Down Palestinian Terrorists Were En Route to Carry Out ‘Major’ Attack in Israel
The Palestinian terrorists gunned down by Israeli security forces on Friday were set out to perpetrate a “major” terrorist attack within Israel, security officials said.

The firefight broke outside a Border Police base near the West Bank-Israel border by the northern Palestinian city of Jenin.

Israeli border policemen were inspecting a bus of Palestinian workers crossing into Israel illegally when the terrorists opened fire; Israeli troops killed two members of the terror cell and critically wounded the third.

There were no casualties among Israeli troops.

“The sharp and professional actions of the border police officers helped prevent a major terrorist attack,” the head of the IDF’s Central Command Tamir Yadai said.

The three members of the terror cell were reportedly trying to reach the Israeli capital of Jerusalem.

The attack follows the overnight detention of a woman with a knife in the West Bank city of Hebron, at the Cave of the Patriarchs, as well as overnight clashes in Jerusalem’s east.
New reports map out Hezbollah’s missile arsenal, expose new military sites
Reported Israeli strikes once again lit up Syria’s night sky early on Wednesday, with Israeli missiles slamming into multiple targets in northwest Syria’s Latakia region, according to Syrian state media. The reports are the latest reminder of an ongoing shadow war raging between Israel and the Iranian-Shi’ite axis, in which the Iranians and Hezbollah attempt to smuggle and deploy advanced weapons to threaten Israel with and Israel sets out to disrupt this activity.

An Israeli organization closely monitoring this struggle is the Alma Education and Research Center, which monitors Israel’s northern borders and publishes in-depth studies on the activities of the radical Iranian axis in Lebanon and Syria.

“The reported airstrike in northwest Syria, in our estimation, targeted the precision missile project and related weapons to Hezbollah,” Alma tweeted on Wednesday, in reference to the latest airstrikes.

The precision missile project is the joint Iranian-Hezbollah initiative to upgrade Hezbollah’s projectiles and convert them into precision-guided missiles (PGMs). Unlike unguided rockets, precise missiles with guidance systems can strike targets within an accuracy of a 5-meter diameter.

The Alma Center has recently put together a detailed map of Hezbollah’s deployment of its arsenal while also exposing six new military sites used by Hezbollah in south Lebanon, which provides a glimpse into the scope of the terror army’s firepower, estimated to be larger in scope than that of most NATO armies.


Israel helped US track Qasem Soleimani using cell phone - report
Israel gave the US access to multiple cellphone numbers for former top Iranian official Qasem Soleimani to help enable his assassination in January 2020, Yahoo News reported on Saturday night. Soleimani was the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force chief.

The Jerusalem Post has previously reported that Israel’s role in the assassination was far greater than had been revealed.

For example, according to foreign reports, Israel was instrumental in keeping the idea of removing Soleimani from the playing board despite resistance by some of the US defense establishment as well as tactical assistance. Internal US debates are described in the Yahoo article.

Soleimani’s vehicle and a second accompanying vehicle were destroyed by US drones after he flew into Iraq from Damascus.

According to Yahoo News, “in the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a US military official.”

“In Tel Aviv, US Joint Special Operations Command liaisons worked with their Israeli counterparts to help track Soleimani’s cellphone patterns. The Israelis, who had access to Soleimani’s numbers, passed them off to the Americans, who traced Soleimani and his current phone to Baghdad,” said the report.

In addition, at an earlier date, “Israeli intelligence at one point tipped off the CIA about a courier for Soleimani who would travel outside Iran to pick up clean phones for the Quds Force leader and his inner circle, recalled a former intelligence official. The CIA got wind that the courier would visit a specific market in a Gulf country to procure these devices, and sprang into action. The agency executed a complex supply chain compromise, installing spyware on a set of phones that were seeded into the marketplace used by Soleimani’s courier,” said the report.
Massive fire breaks out near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant - Watch
A massive fire broke out in Iran’s southwestern city of Bushehr near the Islamic Republic's only functioning nuclear power plant late on Friday night, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.

Dozens of people in Bushehr were quick to upload footage of the fire to social media as bystanders moved away from the flames.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, according to Iranian media reports. The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that the fire was "intentional," without providing further details.

Last July, the city of Bushehr saw another large fire break out at the Delvar Shipyard. Iran has been witnessing dozens of mysterious fires and explosions across the country since mid-2020, many of which have taken place near nuclear facilities.
US Ready to Lift Many Sanctions but Iran Says It Wants More
The United States has expressed its readiness to lift many of its sanctions on Iran at the Vienna nuclear talks but Tehran is demanding more, top Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi told state media on Friday.

“The information transferred to us from the US side is that they are also serious on returning to the nuclear deal and they have so far declared their readiness to lift a great part of their sanctions,” Araqchi told state TV.

“But this is not adequate from our point of view and therefore the discussions will continue until we get to all our demands,” Araqchi said as indirect talks were scheduled to resume on Friday in the Austrian capital.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden said he believed Iran was seriously engaging in the talks but it was unclear what Tehran was actually prepared to do for both sides to resume compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Asked at the White House if he thought Tehran was serious about talks, Biden replied: “Yes, but how serious, and what they are prepared to do is a different story. But we’re still talking.”

US officials have returned to Vienna for a fourth round of indirect talks with Iran on how to resume compliance with the deal, which former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, prompting Iran to begin violating its terms about a year later.
Iranian ‘Supreme Leader’ Khamenei Delivers ‘Quds Day’ Rant Against Israel
Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered a lengthy speech devoted to the elimination of the State of Israel on Friday, as the Islamist regime marked “Quds Day” — its annual day of demonstrations and rallies dedicated to the Jewish state’s destruction.

The televised speech, also transcribed on his Twitter feed, repeated most of the themes articulated by Khamenei on similar occasions in the past. Much of what he said was taken from a book he wrote in 2011 entitled “Palestine,” which regime functionaries have energetically promoted.

“Israel is not a country, but a terrorist base against the nation of Palestine and other Muslim nations,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei predicted that the “willpower” of the Palestinians would eventually secure Israel’s defeat.

“Palestine and Quds has been described in the Holy Quran as the ‘Holy Land,'” he asserted. “It has been tens of years now that the most impure and malicious human beings have been occupying this pure land … They are racists who have been harassing, for more than 70 years, the main owners of the land by murdering, looting, imprisoning and torturing them, but, thank God, they have not been able to break their willpower.

He then declared: “All Palestinians – including the Palestinians in Gaza, in Quds, in the West Bank, in 1948 lands and even the ones living in refugee camps – form a single unit and they should adopt the strategy of coalescence.”
Iranian video threatens attack on Dimona nuclear facility
Following a series of incidents at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in Iran, those affiliated with the regime posted a video on social media depicting an attack on Israel's nuclear research center in Dimona.

The disturbing video was released on Friday when Tehran "celebrated" its own version of Quds Day ("Jerusalem Day,") which it instated in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and the Jewish state.

Quds Day, as the event is known in Iran, is the peak of anti-Israeli propaganda in the country. Iranian militia made sure inciting posters were put up in Palestinian villages. Also, its proxy militia in Iraq laid out American and Israeli flags and trampled and drove over them with their vehicles.

In addition, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to give a speech at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to mark the occasion.


Actor Lakeith Stanfield moderated a Clubhouse room full of antisemitism
Oscar-nominated actor Lakeith Stanfield co-moderated a room on the audio app Clubhouse in which participants made a slew of antisemitic remarks, The Daily Beast reported Friday.

The room in question had split off from another one on that was shut down on Wednesday night titled “Did Min. Farrakhan Tarnish His Legacy By Being Antisemitic?” The subsequent one was titled “Someone Ended The Room About Farrakhan.”

Participants from both told The Daily Beast that multiple people in each aired antisemitic tropes — including conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the media and the slave trade, in addition to comparisons between Jews and termites — which are often trumpeted by Louis Farrakhan, the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader.

Stanfield, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for his performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” co-moderated the second room on the app. The app, Clubhouse, launched last year and brings millions of users around the globe together to talk about certain topics and themes. “I was hearing a lot of antisemitism,” one Jewish woman in the room who remained anonymous told the Beast. “People were just allowed to go on and on.”

Stanfield did not make any of the antisemitic remarks.
Van Morrison's 'They Own the Media' faced with antisemitism claims
Singer-songwriter Van Morrison received backlash for his newly released song "They Own the Media," and although it does not specifically name Jews, many are calling him out for using an antisemitic trope as it runs closely in line with the QAnon conspiracies.

The song is one of 28 Morrison released on May 7, in his new album "Latest Record Project," which includes songs such as "Why Are You On Facebook," "The Long Con," and "Stop Bitching. Do Something."

Two-time Grammy Award winner and creator of the iconic song "Brown Eyed Girl," Morrison had already stirred headlines in the last year for spreading a negative rhetoric towards coronavirus safety protocols. This included, according to The Forward, calling out the UK social distancing restrictions and other government instated restrictions related to the virus.

This is not the first time Morrison has been accused of hiding antisemitism within his lyrics. In 2005, Morrison came under fire for his song "They Sold Me Out," as he reportedly spun tunes of antisemitism within its lyrics as well.

Many reviews of the new album mentioned that it could be an antisemitic trope.
Antisemitic Attacks Spike in NYC as COVID-19 Fades
It is, in some sense, speculative to connect these incidents. The three attackers had no ties to one another or to any organized group. That they were motivated by hatred of Jews is suggested only by their choice of target, not by any statements made or other insight into their beliefs or mentality.

Yet these incidents could also be the residue of a broader social disorder, itself the product of a set of policy choices made by New York’s political class. The Riverdale synagogue attacker was released from jail just hours after his arrest, thanks to New York’s recent bail reforms. Perhaps his release would have been inevitable anyway, given the city’s notably spotty record on punishing attackers who allegedly target Jews. The NYPD makes only one arrest for every four events that the department classifies as antisemitic hate crimes; the past decade saw just 21 prosecutions for criminal antisemitic hate crimes in Manhattan, representing a mere 6% of such incidents during that period.

The conditions in which last month’s attacks took place would appear to go beyond New York’s Jewish communities. Nearly everyone is getting less safe in the five boroughs. Crime increased citywide in early 2021, with shootings almost doubling year over year. Random attacks on Asian Americans, possibly fed by the same deterioration in public norms, have also surged in 2021, attracting national attention and outrage, most likely because of their seeming novelty.

That novelty is likely to wear off fast, as there’s been a 73% rise in hate crimes in New York this year compared to the same four-month period last year. Sinking baselines for public safety, a criminal justice system rapidly reorienting its priorities, and a society still coping with a cascade of dislocations imposed by pandemic-related restrictions, have combined to create a citywide feeling of helplessness and drift. Threats to Jews might be resurfacing because of factors that threaten vast numbers of other New Yorkers, too. These developments don’t seem to be going anywhere, and may well be getting worse.
'Hitler Gang' TikTok video showing classmates 'goose-stepping' like Nazis at a US school is probed by cops after being sent to a 14-year-old Jewish student
Police are investigating if any laws were broken after an anti-Semitic TikTok video was posted by a group of middle school students in Iowa.

The video - titled 'Hitler Gang' - was reported to the Grinnell Police Department by a concerned resident around 7:50am on Wednesday morning.

It was posted to multiple social media platforms.

The TikTok shows male students walking through a school hallway 'in a goose-step style manner with their right arms extended and palms down,' according to police. It's not clear if it was filmed at their own school.

The mannerisms are similar to the way Nazis typically marched.

The video was also posted with several hashtags that were racist and derogatory, including '#DONTBEAJEW,' '#IHATEJEWS,' and '#IHATEGAYPEOPLE.'

The Des Moines Register reports Ori Zaret, 14, was a direct recipient of the video on Tuesday morning and may have been targeted due to his Jewish faith and transgender identity.

'There aren't that many Jews in Grinnell to begin with, let alone LGBTQ Jews,' father Elliott Zaret told the newspaper.


Outrage after German anti-mask protesters co-opt Nazi resister Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl, the German resistance figure executed by the Nazis who was born 100 years ago on Sunday, has become an emblem of courage and a national hero for many.

But the legacy of the young woman sentenced to a brutal death for distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets has recently been co-opted by Germany’s anti-lockdown movement, to the dismay of historians and the Jewish community.

At a demonstration in April, one woman had a placard featuring a picture of Sophie Scholl draped on a string around her shoulders.

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace,” it read — words famously pronounced by the resistance campaigner.

Even one of her nephews, Julian Aicher, has prominently spoken at COVID-skeptic demonstrations, including on a stage decorated with white roses — evoking the name of Scholl’s resistance group.

In a country where right-wing extremism is seen as the number one threat to security, and where a record number of xenophobic and antisemitic crimes were recorded in 2020, historians say the misappropriation of Scholl’s memory is deeply alarming.

Some also warn that democracy itself is being attacked at a time when living witnesses of World War II have dwindled significantly in numbers.

“By trivializing the Holocaust and dictatorship, these activists are endangering democracy,” said Ludwig Spaenle, Bavaria’s antisemitism commissioner.
France arrests neo-Nazi group planning violent attack
Three members of a neo-Nazi group arrested in eastern France on suspicion of planning an attack on a masonic lodge have been charged, a judicial source said Saturday.

The suspects, two men aged 29 and 56 and a 53-year-old woman, were indicted on Friday evening by a Paris anti-terrorist judge on suspicion of forming a “terrorist criminal association,” the source added.

Three others also arrested on Tuesday — two men and a woman — have since been released.

Belonging to a group calling itself “Honor and Nation,” the suspects are believed to have planned a violent attack, although they were not on the verge of carrying it out, a source familiar with the investigation said.

They were arrested based on their communications, research into explosives, and scouting of the potential target.

The probe is just the latest into France’s far-right scene.

Last month anti-terror prosecutors requested a trial for nine members of a group calling itself OAS that was dismantled in 2017, suspected of targeting senior politicians or French Muslims.

Another organization suspected of planning attacks on Muslims, AFO, was taken down in 2018, the same year as still another group was believed to have been preparing an attempt on French President Emmanuel Macron’s life.
Candidate condemned for wearing yellow star, doing Nazi salute at count
Derek Jackson, standing as Liberal Party candidate, turned up outside the count on Friday with two followers wearing black suits, white shirts and black ties.

They all had a yellow star pinned to their jacket fronts with “UNVAX” written on it.

Jackson and another individual both posed for photographs with their right arms outstretched outside Glasgow’s Emirates Arena.

He was quizzed by reporters about his apparent Nazi salute but instead claimed it was a “love salute.”

Asked if the Yellow Stars on their jackets were related to the Nazi Holocaust, Jackson said they were protesting about Covid vaccinations.

Reports in the Daily Record and The Herald said police intervened outside the as the Liberal Party group approached the count hall with followers doing what looked like Nazi salutes.

When the Glasgow Times challenged him on what looked like a Nazi salute. He replied: “It’s a love salute. We love everybody. Do you love everybody?”
Israel sends 2nd planeload of medical aid to virus-wracked India
Tons of medical equipment donated by Israel arrived on Friday in India where the health system is collapsing under a wave of resurgent coronavirus infections.

The Indian Air Force plane that took off from Ben Gurion Airport was the second transport of the week, with further shipments to be sent in the coming days.

“The operation to bring medical aid to India is in full swing,” tweeted Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. “We stand by India in these difficult times just as India stood by us in the first weeks of the coronavirus crisis when they facilitated the arrival of vital medical equipment to Israel.”

The Foreign Ministry said Monday the shipments will include hundreds of oxygen generators and ventilators, as well as other medical equipment urgently needed by India.

Several ministries and other government bodies, including the Israeli and Indian embassies in each country, were involved in setting up the operation, the ministry said.

Last week the Kan public broadcaster reported that an unofficial request for medical equipment, including oxygen supplies and various drugs, was made to the Israeli embassy in India.

Israel and India have cooperated in the past on the coronavirus and last April, the New Delhi government reportedly sent Israel five tons of the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are used to treat malaria. At the time, the drugs were being reviewed in various countries as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.
Historian unearths WWII report in Moscow
Behind the classification is the Foreign Office decision, documented in the public files, that there would be no war crimes trials on British soil involving the Russians, apparently due to the chill in relations between Russia and itsWorld War II Allies in advance of the Cold War. The British deduced that the Russians were unlikely to pursue such trials, as the USSR regarded most of the Russian prisoners not as survivors, but traitors, so this would effectively permanently sweep the problem under the carpet. It is also likely that the authorities thought that the revelation of the presence of another “Belsen” and an SS concentration camp on British soil, and larger numbers of Jewish deathsmight be too much for the war-wearied British population.

In addition, it is likely that the British would have wished to avoid further questions as to why the Channel Islands were seemingly abandoned to Nazi barbarity, as well as questions about the extent to which the Germans (as in France and Holland) had penetrated the structures of island government and society on Guernsey and co-opted the police and civil authorities to help them.

The ruse of saying that there were only Russian victims, effectively denied the other Jewish, Muslim, European and African victims justice. It meant that the British government went directly back on its war-time promise to “pursue all war-crimes against Jews”.

On 17 December, 1942 Anthony Eden stated in the House of Commons, that official Government policy was that, while they would not rescue Jews, they would, when the war was over, ensure that, “those responsible for crimes shall not escape retribution” and that retribution would apply to “all persons who can be held responsible for these crimes, whether they are the ringleaders or the actual perpetrators of the outrages”.

The British government clearly went back on this promise as far as war-crimes against Jews on British soil were concerned, even white-washing them out of the narrative and this may well be one of the reasons for the shameful official secrecy concerning Alderney

Revealing the Pantcheff Report only shows how many more secrets are still potentially under embargo. This must comprise all of the raw investigation materials and notes of the investigators. The report records that Pantcheff screened 1,500 prisoners on Guernsey, 1,200 on Jersey, and 500 on Alderney. These key working notes are not publicly accessible, nor indeed of the other investigators such as Major Haddock, or Captain Kent and the results of their investigations and excavations. A master report on SS concentration Camp Sylt is also alluded to but not publicly accessible, as well as the presumed results of investigations into secret V1 tunnel installations.

Finally, the Pantcheff Report renews the concerns that laying the proposed FAB Link cable could damage or destroy Jewish and Russian grave, on and around Longis Common, especially as there is new evidence for multiple mass graves in the vicinity. It further highlights and strengthens the argument for an official Holocaust Memorial on Alderney, as it is not just be a question of memory, but as a tacit admission to a miscarriage of justice by the British authorities in their failure to prosecute Holocaust crimes on British soil.

The Pantcheff Report also gives a compelling answer as to the best site for the memorial — from the former Jewish prisoners themselves.

When Captain Kent visited the “Russian Cemetery” he noted that, “on the west side immediately after entering, there was an area of rough grass about 5 yards by 17 yards, where weeds were flourishing together with a few garden flowers. Richter explained that this was part of the ground cultivate by the Jewish workers in memory of their friends who are buried immediately adjacent.’ This must be the site of an official Holocaust Memorial.
186-year-old account of US diplomatic visit to Holy Land surfaces at auction
A detailed account of one of the earliest American diplomatic voyages to pre-state Palestine has surfaced as part of an upcoming auction in Jerusalem.

The account appears in a handwritten letter from one of the passengers of the USS Delaware, a US Navy ship that visited the Mediterranean Sea in 1834 and made a stop at the port town of Jaffa, then under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Sent from the Spanish island of Menorca and addressed to Circleville, Ohio, the four-page letter describes several historically significant moments in the sailing ship’s journey, including a stop in pre-state Palestine and a visit with the first American diplomat stationed in the region.

According to Kedem Auction House, the letter’s existence was entirely unknown to scholars who study the history of the Holy Land and US diplomacy in Palestine. The anonymous collector who spotted the letter and realized its importance usually focuses on the history of the Israeli postal service. That person bought the item from another collector who had been holding it as an artifact of relevance for US maritime and postal history.

“This letter is of great importance to both the history of American Jewry as well as to the history of the State of Israel,” Kedem Auction House CEO Meron Eren said in a statement. “It’s amazing to read, if only to learn about relations between the United States and Palestine at the time.”

The passenger who authored the letter, Lewis Woofley, describes traversing much of the Mediterranean on an eastbound route along the coasts of France, Italy and Greece with stops at various islands. Eventually, the sailing ship reached the port of Alexandria in Egypt. Well-versed in the geography of antiquity, Woofley is thrilled at the sight of various ruins, noting locations mentioned in ancient folklore.









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