Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Christine Rosen: Democrats Can Blame Their Headaches on Their Own Cravenness
Note to Nancy and the Squad: Criticism of a public official for questionable or misleading statements she made in the course of doing her job isn’t “tone policing” or Islamophobia or racism. It’s part of the job of being a public servant; you have to answer for your public statements.
At least Omar continues to receive plenty of cover for hers from mainstream media outlets. Intellectuals sympathetic to the progressive cause have leaped to her defense. Former New York Times columnist Elizabeth Bruenig, now at the Atlantic, argues that “of course no one should believe” that Omar would equate the Taliban with the U.S. or Hamas with Israel, and paints those who questioned the remarks as acting in bad faith.
There is no “of course” in this situation, however. Given Omar’s history of anti-Semitism and anti-American statements, the burden of proof should be on Omar to explain herself, not on the public to give her the benefit of the doubt every time she says something inflammatory or bigoted.
Bruenig is assessing the situation within the framework of internal Democratic coalition politics, and as such complains that while the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world roam free, “Democrats pick off their only honest lefties and coddle their pet right-wingers, such as Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, in hopes of stopping the somewhat further right.”
But should Democrats be embracing these so-called honest lefties? What’s popular among the Squad and the Bruenigs of the world turns out to be not quite as palatable to the average Democratic voter. A recent autopsy of the 2020 election by several centrist Democratic groups found significant challenges posed by progressive posturing on key issues. As National Journal reported, “The political autopsy, coauthored by Third Way, the Collective PAC, and the Latino Victory Fund, suggests that largely white progressive activists pushing a left-wing agenda on the party were blind to the ideological diversity within nonwhite communities.”
Efforts by some Democrats to move to the center are “being held captive by a network of progressive activists and donors who demand ideological fealty on policy positions that are politically toxic to middle-of-the-road voters of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.” Such assessments include the Squad’s irrational hatred of Israel; 75 percent of Americans hold favorable views of Israel, according to the most recent Gallup poll.
Perhaps Pelosi should occasionally rebuke the Squad when it indulges in excessive, misleading, or anti-Semitic rhetoric? Besides making her look more like a leader and less like a shill for the Squad, it might in part determine if Pelosi will be wielding or relinquishing her Speaker’s gavel in January 2023.
Emily Schrader: The anti-Americanism of anti-Israel activists - opinion
The problem with ignoring incitement and hate speech against specific groups or even nationalities, is that it doesn’t stop there. As we’ve seen throughout history, what starts with discrimination against one group never ends with only that group. Much has already been said about the rise of antisemitism online and in person in recent months, and it’s true that it has grown in part because of the outlandish and incendiary rhetoric on social media about both Israel and Jews. But one phenomenon that many in Gen Z don’t seem to fully grasp is that the same people who are obsessed with hating Israel are also hell-bent on smearing the United States as well – and not just because of the US aid to Israel as many would like to believe.Changing the Focus of Israel Advocacy
Almost any place you see aggressive, over-the-top anti-Israel activity, you see it coupled with radical anti-American ideas as well. Even going back to my campus days at the University of Southern California, the most prominent anti-Israel groups were also virulently anti-America, and would rant and rave about how we have to overthrow the economy in order to usher in a socialist (or communist in some cases) revolution. The events hosted on campus by anti-Israel groups like “Students for Justice in Palestine” also featured openly anti-American speakers who made inflammatory and untrue statements about Israel, while also condemning US soldiers – and all of this was in the pre-Trump era.
Today’s anti-Israel activists are even more extreme. Take for example, Mohammed and Muna El-Kurd, the twins from Sheikh Jarrah with millions of followers on social media who are on a constant international media tour, playing the victim and sharing their sob story about how “evil” Israel is. Yet while the international press is normalizing these activists, a quick glance at their social media will show you not only radical support for terrorism and violence, but also vehement hatred of the United States including celebrating the burning of an American flag in Colombia and whitewashing al-Qaeda. By failing to call out radicalism, we normalize it.
But sadly, the anti-Israel and anti-America voices have also become more mainstream in the government. In the United States, the inaccurate propaganda and the smearing of American allies has been normalized thanks to extremists like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Yet it still came as a shock to many when this month Omar compared the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban, claiming that “all” of them had committed “unthinkable atrocities” – horrific crimes against humanity. Her ignorant comments drew sharp criticism from her fellow Democrats who penned a letter demanding “clarification.” Instead of apologizing, Omar then claimed she was being pressured because of “Islamophobia,” and Tlaib backed her up.
Obviously, Omar’s comments and response are both absurd, but where were these Democratic lawmakers when Omar was standing on the House floor calling Israel’s right to self-defense “terrorism” when they strike Hamas military targets? Suddenly when Omar exposes her true anti-American beliefs, the world is surprised. When we fail to defend the truth when Israel is unfairly maligned, the United States is never far behind in the campaign of delegitimization.
Those who advocate for Israel often take a defensive posture in response to endless attacks from advocates for the Palestinians. The debate focuses entirely on Israel’s perceived imperfections. Instead, pro-Israel advocates should take an offensive posture, shifting the focus of debate onto Palestinian behavior and holding Palestinian leaders accountable for their malfeasance.
In recent years, Israel has fared poorly in the court of public opinion. Palestinian advocates have engaged in a well-organized offensive campaign of disinformation, while Israel and its advocates around the world have remained largely on the defensive.
This posture will guarantee the continued degrading of Israel in the minds of diplomats and the general public. Those who advocate for Israel should respond not defensively but offensively, focusing the world’s attention on the gross malfeasance of the Palestinian National Movement (PNM).
Over the past decade, Palestinian advocates became much better organized, especially on college campuses. The number of chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has steadily increased. They have a high profile and an aggressive agenda aimed at vilifying Israel and intimidating Jewish students. Many students and faculty, as well as diplomats and the mainstream media, scrutinize Israel under a microscope and condemn it for every perceived imperfection. No country could withstand that level of scrutiny.
In response to this relentless onslaught, most pro-Israel advocates have tended to spend the bulk of their time and energy defending Israel. While well-intended, this approach keeps the spotlight on Israel and gives the Palestinians and their leadership a free pass.
Antisemitism ‘mainstreamed’ in Western European politics, says Israeli study
Fringe ideas and political parties are moving into the mainstream in Western Europe, bringing with them antisemitic views, according to an Israeli study to be released Tuesday that found a worrying convergence of far-right and far-left hate.UK photographer fed up with antisemitic fake news turns lens to social media
“We are seeing the penetration of the extremes into the political mainstream,” said Adi Kantor, one of the authors of “Contemporary Antisemitism in the Political Discourse of Five Western European Countries: Germany, France, Britain, Spain, Ireland.”
The study, a joint project of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and the Jewish Agency, studied expressions of antisemitism by politicians and political parties in the five Western European nations between late 2019 and late 2020. The research does not include the spike in antisemitism that occurred in Europe and the US during Israel’s 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls against Hamas in May 2021.
“We wanted to try to understand how this phenomenon is on the one hand influenced by deep, global trends and broad social trends, where it is influenced by local characteristics, like Islamists in France, the right-wing in Germany, (former Labour Party leader Jeremy) Corbyn in the UK, and where it is influenced by unanticipated events like the coronavirus or the ‘yellow vest’ protests in France,” said INSS researcher Shahar Eilam, a former high-ranking IDF intelligence officer.
The project investigated antisemitism on the far right, which often distorts historical facts, claims victimhood, denies and minimizes the role of its country in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust, and scapegoats minorities, especially immigrants, Muslims, and Jews.
According to the researchers, far-right parties in Western Europe have been portraying themselves as Israel supporters and even defenders of Jews, at the same time that party members continue to use expressions of classic antisemitism.
They also examined antisemitism on the far left, which is usually disguised as criticism of Israel.
Well-known London-based photographer Blake Ezra is accustomed to being recognized for his pictures — not his op-eds or his Instagram account. As a prominent portrait artist, he has captured Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the royal family, international diplomats from former Prime Minister Tony Blair to US president Barack Obama, and Hollywood stars.NY Mayoral Candidate Maya Wiley Hosted Event With Anti-Semite Dropped From Women’s March
But recent events have turned Ezra’s focus to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to exposing fake news and global acts of antisemitism. Thousands read his viral mid-May blog post “I’m Fed Up” on The Times of Israel blog platform, and his Instagram handle @blakeezraphoto has gained such resonance that new followers may be confused why his moniker has the word “photo” in it.
Ezra told The Times of Israel that he never planned to become a prominent social media voice about the recent conflict escalation.
“It was absolutely not my intention to speak out in the way that I’ve spoken out,” Ezra said. “I was actually out one afternoon and just saw this tsunami of hatred coming towards Jews, towards Israel. And that’s one thing, but when you see so many blatant lies being shared on an industrial scale — that’s probably what bothered me the most.”
Ezra felt the need to vent when he got home, and quickly wrote and posted “I’m Fed Up.” The overwhelming response to that piece sucked him into intensive weeks of tackling misinformation online.
“Generally speaking, [my photography work has] gone on hold and it’s become a very exhausting and emotionally draining full-time job,” said Ezra.
While working to complete his existing photography assignments, Ezra spent hours on Instagram exposing falsehoods in social media memes and infographics — such as a photograph posted by Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid of the 1939 Palestinian soccer team, which was actually comprised of all Jewish athletes.
New York City mayoral candidate Maya Wiley (D.) hosted an event for anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour in 2017, calling her "one of the most thoughtful and strong but also gentle people I know."
Wiley, a professor and senior vice president for social justice at The New School who has been climbing in the Democratic primary polls, invited Sarsour to speak at the university for a fall 2017 semester course titled "Race in the U.S."
The lecture—which came after Sarsour claimed that pro-Israel women couldn’t be feminists and gave a speech at a 2015 rally thrown by anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan—could prove to be an obstacle for Wiley in a city with a large pro-Israel community. Sarsour’s comments on Israel and support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement have drawn controversy, as well as condemnation from many prominent Democrats. Last year, President Joe Biden issued a statement saying he "condemns her views and opposes BDS," after Sarsour appeared on a conference call for Muslim activists who were backing his campaign.
Wiley gave Sarsour a warm introduction at the September 2017 lecture on "Race in the U.S." and indicated that the two had a close relationship.
"I, from a personal standpoint, am so honored that Linda is here with us today," said Wiley during the introduction. "She is someone whose generosity of spirit and courage are things, I think, that we should celebrate in this country."
"I also want to say that she’s one of the most thoughtful and strong, but also gentle, people I know. And I say that because if you read accounts of her it really paints her in a way that is not a Linda that I know or recognize," added Wiley. "I think it’s an important opportunity to actually help see the human side of Linda Sarsour because she is a deep and important human being."
Sarsour said at the event that she was "an admirer of [Wiley’s] for so many years and had the privilege of working with her in many different times of my very short life."
Sarsour’s speech addressed her personal experience with anti-Islam bigotry in the wake of the September 11 attacks. She took aim at the Trump administration, arguing that there are "people who are actually neo-Nazis, or actually I’d say Nazis" in the White House.
She also defended herself against allegations that she is anti-Semitic, arguing: "By default, if you are a critic of the state of Israel, for some people, you are [attacked as] an anti-Semite."
Today at a Seattle City Council meeting.
— The Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) June 14, 2021
Far-left council member @cmkshama spends her minutes discussing her efforts to blockade Israeli ships from unloading/loading cargo in Seattle. She also blames racist police exchanges in America, on Israel: pic.twitter.com/OWcBtS2btD
Record Number of Antisemitic Incidents Recorded in London Amid ‘Free Palestine’ Protests in May
A record number of antisemitic incidents were recorded in London in May, the vast majority of them connected to the renewed armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.
Figures released on Tuesday by the Community Security Trust (CST) — the UK Jewish community’s voluntary security agency — showed 201 incidents targeting Jews in the British capital last month, including 12 assaults and 160 episodes of abuse.
The previous monthly record in London were the 174 antisemitic incidents registered in July 2014, at the height of the war in Gaza that year.
Dave Rich, director of policy for the CST, told the BBC that the attacks were carried out by people who “take out their feelings about the conflict with racist abuse on British Jews.”
Said Rich: “This abuse has nothing to do with Israel, it’s just racism directed towards Jewish people who are picked out on the streets, on the internet, because they are Jewish.”
During the fighting in the Middle East last month, the CST warned of a fivefold increase in antisemitic outrages. Among the incidents recorded was a convoy of vehicles driven by Islamist radicals through Jewish neighborhoods in north London, who screamed antisemitic threats through a megaphone.
Meanwhile, police in London revealed that a Muslim man leapt to the defense of two Jewish men who were assaulted as they left a kosher restaurant near the city’s West End.
Manchester, 12 June. A crazed, baying mob calls for Israel's annihilation. "From the river to the sea!"
— habibi (@habibi_uk) June 14, 2021
"With our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you, al-Aqsa!” "Allahu akbar!"
The Labour MP Afzal Khan is "proud" of the hatred rallies in his city. pic.twitter.com/ujMrv7t0dZ
TV Broadcaster in Spain Accuses Israeli Swimming Duo of Cover for ‘Genocide’
While two Israeli swimmers took to the podium to await the results in their final qualifying tournament before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, a broadcaster with a TV station in Spain took the opportunity to make anti-Israel and antisemitic remarks. The competition took place from June 10-13 in Barcelona.
According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which posted about it on Monday, “instead of highlighting the achievement of these Israeli athletes, Spanish channel @tv3cat’s commentator blames them for the killing of Palestinians and accused them of serving as a cover for ‘genocide.’ This inciteful rhetoric is a dangerous blood libel.”
Eden Blecher and Shelly Bobritzky, who competed in the artistic-duets category, ranked sixth after Sunday’s qualifying competition, according to FINA, which oversees several of the aquatic categories internationally.
They will be among nine artistic-duets teams to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in late July.
Absolutely vile. These Israeli athletes should have been praised for their performance. Instead, the commentary on Spanish channel @tv3cat holds them responsible for Palestinians killed in the recent war, and accuses them of serving as a cover for “genocide.”#BloodLibel https://t.co/LPedoqHHaQ
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 15, 2021
Lawmakers Move to Censure Squad Members for Anti-Israel Remarks
House Republicans are backing an effort to censure members of the far-left "squad" for their anti-Israel rhetoric amid Hamas's rocket attacks against the Jewish state last month.
The resolution, which Reps. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), and Jim Banks (R., Ind.) introduced on Monday, accused the far-left lawmakers of providing cover for Hamas by equating Israel’s self-defense to terrorist attacks launched from Gaza.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) emerged as Israel’s loudest critics during the crisis as more than 4,000 rockets rained down on the country, killing 12 civilians and injuring many more. During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in June, Omar compared Israel to the Taliban and Hamas, saying all three have committed "crimes against humanity" during wartime. Tlaib has accused Israel of "war crimes," while Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez joined their fellow squad members in calling Israel’s treatment of minorities a form of "apartheid."
Waltz, a combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan, said the squad members' attacks on Israel and the United States are "shameful" and ignorant of conditions on the ground.
"We cannot turn a blind eye to Members of Congress openly defending terrorist attacks by Hamas against our close ally Israel nor their dangerous rhetoric which has contributed to anti-Semitic attacks across the country," Waltz said. "I’ve personally been fired upon by terrorists hiding behind women and children and seen the Taliban place suicide vests on teenagers. For members of the U.S. Congress to make equivalencies to Israel and the American military, which puts its own soldiers at risk to avoid civilian casualties, is ignorant of the facts, shameful, and should be condemned in the strongest terms."
The push to censure the squad members comes as House Republican leadership weighs stripping Omar of her committee assignments, which include a seat on the Foreign Affairs subcommittee overseeing global human-rights issues. Politico reported Monday that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is considering moving forward with a resolution to remove the congresswoman from her committee assignements due to her anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Apologies and owning your mistakes matter - time will tell.
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) June 14, 2021
This however is a complete opposite of Ilhan Omar - never apologizing for her continued vile antisemitism and telling @GayleKing she doesn’t regret any of it! https://t.co/bHECebdZLT pic.twitter.com/4V5pGVKjpf
Marjorie Taylor Greene tours Holocaust museum, apologizes for comments
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the firebrand Georgia Republican congresswoman, toured the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and apologized for likening coronavirus protections to the Holocaust.‘Why Do Only Loser Congresspeople Like Us?’ Hamas Asks (satire)
“I have made a mistake and it’s really bothered me for a couple of weeks now, and so I definitely want to own it. The horrors of the Holocaust are something that some people don’t even believe happened, and some people deny but there is no comparison to the Holocaust,” Greene said Monday outside the Capitol, after completing a private museum tour.
“And there are words that I have said remarks that I’ve made, that I know are offensive, and for that I want to apologize; antisemitism is true hate, and I saw that today at the Holocaust Museum,” she added. “And I think it’s something that we should all remember and never forget. So I just wanted to come here today and say that I’m truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust, there’s no comparison. There never ever will be.”
Last month, Greene compared a supermarket’s decision to add a logo to the badges of vaccinated workers to the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi-occupied Europe.
With Rep. Ilhan Omar comparing the Islamist terror group to America and Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also strongly siding against Israel during the recent conflict, Hamas leaders are reportedly confused as to why only losers seem to like them.Israel has ‘perverted’ understanding of the right to self-defence, says MP Naz Shah
“I mean, it’s kind of amazing that anyone in America supports us, given how insane our charter is and given the fact that we want to kill all infidels,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told The Mideast Beast. “But it’s still a little depressing that the only people in Congress that will really go to bat for us are the woman who married her brother and the waitress with a jihad against cow farts.”
Mohammed Deif, who commands Hamas’s military wing, questioned why the much cooler members of Congress were either silent on or actively spoke out against Hamas.
“Why can’t we get any love from that guy with the eye-patch, or that brilliant woman who exposed the Jewish space lasers?” Deif asked. “I’ve heard one Senator is an astronaut. Why can’t he appreciate that we launched 4,000 rockets ourselves last month?”
Labour MPs have accused Israel of holding human rights in contempt and having a “perverted” understanding of the right to self-defence during a debate on Israel-Palestine on Monday.Holocaust Memorial Day should include ‘Palestinian genocide’ says Unite activist
Some Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative and SNP parliamentarians also called for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
The debate was held in response to two e-petitions: one calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood and the other urging government to block all trade with Israel and, in particular, arms.
Labour MP Afzal Khan urged Middle East Minister James Cleverly to end arms trading with Israel.
Mr Khan also claimed the Jewish state held “complete contempt for international law and human rights”.
Directly addressing Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Bradford MP Naz Shah said if any more “Palestinian blood is unjustly spilled”, she would push for Israel to be tried for war crimes in the International Criminal Court.
The MP also described Israel’s understanding of the right to self-defence as “perverted”.
Labour Friends of Palestine Chair, Julie Elliott MP, called for a boycott on goods coming out of illegal settlements in the West Bank and urged immediate recognition of Palestinian statehood.
A West Midlands Unite activist hascriticised Holocaust Memorial Day for ignoring the “Palestinian genocide”.Updated June 14 Scientific American Removes Article Promoting BDS
Steve Price wrote that he thought the national commemoration day dedicated to the remembrance of the six million Jews and other minority groups who were murdered by the Nazis should take into account Black Lives Matter, slavery, imperialism and “Palestinian genocide”.
“We are all deeply scarred by what the Nazis did to the Jews... And to the communists, the trade unionists, the Roma, the gay community, and the disabled. But this ‘memorial’ is too narrow,” he wrote. “Don’t Black Lives Matter, then? Can we talk about slavery, and reparations please. Can we talk about the violent bloody legacy of imperialism, of conquest and genocide after genocide?
“So, yesterday was ‘Australia Day’. Wave your f***in flag. Did you know there were protests about the shameful genocide of the native Australians? And how about the Native Americans, in the land of the free? And most poignantly, can we talk about the historic, and ONGOING, Palestinian genocide.”
Mr Price was allegedly involved in a 2018 plot to try to unseat moderate enemies of Jeremy Corbyn. Last week, it was revealed that Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge asked the police to investigate Unite over a series of emails suggesting it may have unlawfully funded political campaigns to topple the former leader’s opponents.
JUNE 14 UPDATE:On France24 Arabic, Khaled Gharabli’s Anti-Israel Rant Is Counter-Factual
After concerns were expressed by CAMERA staff and members regarding the science magazine's hosting of a BDS propaganda piece based on falsehoods (that formed the basis of a BDS petition), Scientific American withdrew the article with the following Editor's Note:
"This article fell outside the scope of Scientific American and has been removed."
Original Headline: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN BREAKS 176-YEAR LEGACY TO SHILL FOR TERRORISTS AND PROMOTE BDS
Founded in 1845, Scientific American is a venerable, American popular science magazine, published for the last 13 years by the Springer Nature group – an amalgam of the Nature, Macmillan and Springer Science & Business media. But for the past year since coming under the helm of science journalist Laura Helmuth, it has veered in a political direction.
On June 2, 2021, the newspaper published an "analysis article" that is being circulated as a petition by anti-Israel BDS activists on social media. Although the popular science magazine presented it as “an opinion and analysis article,” it is actually a pastiche of clichéd, anti-Israel libels and pro-terrorist propaganda devoid of truth that urges adherence to the antisemitic BDS campaign. The brazenness of its demands is shocking!
The authors introduce themselves as “health care workers and faculty from around the world who stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom and liberation.” They are mostly young, Palestinian BDS activists who are clearly far more passionately involved in anti-Israel incitement than in promoting good healthcare and medicine around the world.
Very little of Garabli’s “analysis” hold up to scrutiny:After Ignoring Palestinians Killed by Palestinian Rockets, NY Times Refuses to Correct
He claimed that Israel’s actions are graver because of its democracy and law-abiding conduct;
He maintained that these actions “amount to a war crime” and an international investigation will prove it;
He argued that US support for Israel is the sole obstacle towards a ceasefire;
And that the verified fact that Hamas regularly uses Palestinian civilians as human shields is merely “an Israeli excuse” that is “negated” by reality.
He also castigated the international community’s alleged silence about Israel’s actions, which he put on the same footing as Hamas’ war crimes, as “peculiar.”
In his rant, Gharabli heavily compromised the quality of journalism. France24 should strive for higher standards of analysis and commentary, including in Arabic.
The New York Times has refused to correct multiple factual errors about casualties from the fighting between Hamas and Israel. In its coverage of the conflict, the paper repeatedly told readers that Palestinians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets were actually killed by Israeli strikes.CAMERA Prompts USA Today Correction on U.S. Aid to Israel
The misinformation was part of the paper’s overall pattern of demonizing Israel while pushing the Hamas narrative. A week ago, an unprecedented front-page, above the fold feature sought to cast Israel uniquely as killers of children. Although the death of children in wartime is certainly newsworthy, the paper’s level of concern for such tragedies seems dependent on who they can cast as guilty. Children killed by American soldiers and drones, Israeli children murdered in Palestinian terror attacks, or children killed in other wars across the world—although no less tragic than those killed during recent fighting—haven’t been highlighted in this way. Why does the newspaper believe those casualties are less important for readers to take note of? (It’s worth recalling, too, that the paper buried its own reporting on three young Israeli children slaughtered with their parents in 2011 on page sixteen of the print edition.)
Meanwhile, as the New York Times News section reported false figures meant to inflate the number of casualties from Israeli airstrikes and obscure the harm Hamas inflicts on its own people, the Opinion pages became a platform for a relentless assault on Israel. One Guest Essay after another took aim at the Jewish state, while criticism of Palestinian behavior was apparently off limits. As did the paper’s news stories, an Opinion essay falsely attributed to an Israeli strike the death of Palestinian children killed by Hamas. Multiple essays called for no less than an end to Israel. One essay was accompanied by a series of maps purporting to show a shrinking Palestine that have been repeatedly shown to be false. And while the news side of the paper published a somber homage to children killed in the conflict, another Guest Essay outrageously defended and legitimized deadly Palestinian rocket attacks that targeted Israeli Jewish civilians and killed children.
After contact from CAMERA, USA Today has changed inaccurate wording in a May 18, 2021 report.Media Lies About Sheikh Jarrah Feed a False Narrative
That article initially claimed that “Democrats have been divided over the consistent economic and military support the U.S. has provided Israel since its founding.”
Yet, as CAMERA pointed out to USA Today editors, the United States did not provide military support to Israel at its founding. In fact, the U.S. initiated an arms embargo against the fledgling Jewish state. Further, as the Middle East scholar Dennis Ross detailed in his 2015 history of U.S.-Israel relations, Doomed to Succeed: The U.S. Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama, most scholars date the beginning of military cooperation between the two countries to President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 approval of HAWK missiles to Israel. Kennedy, Ross notes, “was the first American president to speak of a special relationship with Israel, to talk explicitly of our commitment to its security, and to overrule the prohibition on the provision of arms.”
Following contact from CAMERA, on June 10, 2021 USA Today changed the wording to note that “increasingly, Democrats have been divided over the long-term economic and military support [that] the U.S. has provided Israel.” USA Today also added a note to the top of the report notifying readers that “the article was updated to clarify the timeline around America’s economic and military aid to Israel.”
Whenever Sheikh Jarrah was mentioned, it was to highlight the false story of unfair and illegal evictions of Arab tenants, who were constantly described as having lived there “for generations.” While this latter fact may be strictly true, it gives the false impression that these Arabs lived on their own property since time immemorial.
Reuters headlined the events as “East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah becomes emblem of Palestinian struggle” and proceeded to give a history of the neighborhood beginning in the 1950s, conveniently leaving out events preceding—and not providing a single Israeli voice.
Envoys of the Middle East quartet from the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations released a statement noting with “serious concern the possible evictions of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for generations in Sheikh Jarrah.” This was echoed by the U.S. State Department and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Despite the truth of the matter, bloody riots soon erupted in Arab-Israeli towns in Israel to protest “Israeli theft of Palestinian land.” Many Jewish citizens were violently attacked by Arab gangs, and mobs lit buildings and vehicles on fire. Shortly thereafter, Hamas began an 11-day bombing campaign on Israeli civilians, unleashing more than 4,300 missiles.
The Palestinians have long understood the idiom, “If it bleeds, it leads”—meaning that the media only become interested when violence, conflict or death is involved. They have a willing international media, ignorant of or disregarding the conflict’s history and background, as well as the deeper context of the events they witness. They provide maximum space to the Palestinian narrative, which they broadcast frequently in its entirety, rarely providing context or complete facts, let alone an Israeli perspective.
It’s clearly time that American and foreign media commit to telling the whole story when conflicts between Israel and her enemies erupt. They should start by learning—and reporting—the millennia-old roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
If they did, it would mean the death of the Palestinian narrative. Likewise, the truth of Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon Hatzadik demonstrates that facts about current events are usually more complex than the media narrative—likely favoring Jewish legitimacy and destroying persistent Arab claims to the entire Land of Israel.
This is a flat out lie. More than that, this is direct incitement. @TwitterSupport, you cannot allow this to stand! https://t.co/8GSnVaauia
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) June 15, 2021
US Senate passes a resolution condemning the recent rise of antisemitism
The US Senate passed by a voice vote on Monday a resolution “unequivocally condemning the recent rise in antisemitic violence and harassment targeting Jewish Americans, and standing in solidarity with those affected by antisemitism, and for other purposes.”Paterson shop's swastika banner, aimed at Israel, provokes outrage at home
Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) and James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), co-founders and co-chairmen of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, led a group of 58 senators, 29 from each party, to join the resolution.
“Antisemitism remains a serious and growing danger for Jews in the United States and around the world,” the resolution reads. “In May 2021, antisemitic incidents and rhetoric have surged in the United States and around the world as hostilities between Hamas and Israel escalated.”
The resolution urges the president “to continue the leadership role of the United States in combating antisemitism internationally, including by nominating a qualified Ambassador to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism and engaging intergovernmental organizations to ensure that the anti-discrimination efforts of the organizations include combating antisemitism.”
President Joe Biden has not yet named his nominee for the position.
For three months, the banner hung outside a Paterson tobacco shop, with a message designed to provoke.UK fascist, neo-Nazi, ex-Ukip member sentenced to 23 years for terrorism
"Stop the New Nazis," it proclaimed, with a blue swastika emblazoned over an Israeli flag and a picture of longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defaced with a Hitler-like mustache.
The sign finally detonated over the weekend after pictures were posted online, stirring anger among local residents who condemned it as antisemitic and insensitive.
By Monday, the owners of Clifton Hookah had taken the banner down. It was meant as a critique of Israeli government policy toward Palestinians, but the argument was getting lost amid the controversy, said Layla Samara, an employee whose family owns the store. A swastika on a Paterson store's banner was condemned as antisemitic and offensive. The store's owners insisted they were criticizing Israeli policy toward Palestinians but not all Jews.
“When we put it up, we knew it would spark controversy,” she said in an interview. “It was supposed to make people uncomfortable. Talks like this need to be happening.”
Samara said she was trying to draw a comparison with Israel's harsh treatment of Palestinians, including expelling families from their longtime homes and killing and injuring protesters and civilians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Critics saw the banner differently, especially coming amid a surge in anti-Jewish attacks around the world and the raw emotions that followed last month's 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
"We are horrified to see such an obscene banner comparing the Jewish nation and former PM to Nazis," said Liora Rez of StopAntisemitism.org, a nonprofit whose Saturday tweet about the sign sparked the outrage. "When antisemitism and violence towards Jewish Americans is at an all-time high, members of the community need to stand together and build bridges, not fan the flames of hatred as the owner of Clifton Hookah has done."
A former member of Britain's Ukip (UK Independence) Party and self-declared fascist and neo-Nazi has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for terrorism offenses, according to a police statement.Neo-Nazi group British National Socialist Movement sticker found near Manchester’s Charedi Jewish community
Dean Morrice, 34, was a former driver in the British army and was a member of the Ukip Party, a right-wing political party led by Nigel Farage. However, he had left a few years ago and became increasingly more radical in recent years.
During his trial, despite denying the charges levied against him, Morrice described his current political views by saying: "I think it's fair to say I have fascist and neo-Nazi views," the BBC reported. Originally he had described himself as "apolitical," but later admitted to having lied to police as, according to him, he thought his right-wing views were illegal.
Though he claimed he did not advocate for violence or wish to encourage terrorism, Morrice was nonetheless charged and convicted on 10 counts of terrorism, which included disseminating terrorist publications, encouraging terrorism and possessing explosive substances.
Upon his arrest in his home in Paulton on August 20, 2020, Morrice was discovered to be in possession of manifestos of far-right extremist terrorists and had a video of the Christchurch mosque shooting, with a clip of himself playing the guitar as the massacre took place superimposed in the video.
A sticker belonging to the neo-Nazi group, British National Socialist Movement, was found on a lamppost near Manchester’s Charedi Jewish community.Five Israeli startups make World Economic Forum tech pioneers list
Discovered on 31st May, the sticker was affixed to street furniture on Great Cheetham Street West and bore the symbol of the racist organisation with the words “British Movement Manchester,” along with the group’s website.
Founded during the 1960s and having supposedly dissolved in the early 1980s, the movement exhibited antisemitism and advocated for violence towards ethnic minorities.
The group now appears, however, to have reactivated, with a website currently featuring several antisemitic tropes and images, including references to “globalists” and “cultural Marxists,” praise for Hitler, and images of people performing the Nazi salute.
Last year, we reported that the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think-tank, had published a report noting the “conspiracy theories propagated widely online” in connection with COVID-19 and calls for violence against minority communities, among them Jews. The report observed that “the pandemic has amplified antisemitic tropes and calls for violence against Jewish communities”, and also noted that there have been “calls online by groups such as the British National Socialist Movement for the virus to be ‘weaponised’”.
Five Israeli companies have been selected to be this year’s World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers, a group of 100 new tech firms chosen out of hundreds of candidates in the fields of artificial intelligence to fintech and healthcare that will become part of a community of firms that are “are poised to have a significant impact on business and society.”Australia only sends its best to immigrate to Israel - opinion
“The 2021 cohort of Tech Pioneers includes many future headline makers at the forefront of their industries,” said Susan Nesbitt, head of the Global Innovators Community, World Economic Forum, in a statement. “These companies show great potential to not only shake up their industries but offer real solutions to global problems. They’ll bring great value to the World Economic Forum’s mission of improving the state of the world with their participation in the Technology Pioneers community.”
The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers is a community of early growth-stage companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies and innovations, “and are poised to have a significant impact on business and society,” according to the Forum’s website. The Forum recognizes a limited number of companies each year as Technology Pioneers and includes them in its initiatives, activities and events, “where they bring cutting-edge insights and novel perspectives to world-critical discussions.”
Among the five Israeli startups selected is CropX, the Israel-based company that produces do-it-yourself farm management technology based on real-time soil data.
Founded in 2014, CropX has developed a hardware and software system that uses the power of big data, machine learning and cloud technology to boost agricultural output. The hardware part of the system is mushroom-like sensors that are installed in the ground by the farmers themselves, who are guided in their placement by CropX’s mobile app.
Australia sends her best to Israel. Israel benefits from Australian brains and energy. Australian olim bring an array of ideas, skills and energies. They become Israelis and rarely complain, but they feel that the Israelis are not hooked enough on cricket; Israeli tea and beer are too weak; and the frustrations of Israeli politics are the best argument for adopting the Westminster system.What Does Archaeology Tell Us About the Origins of Judaism?
Many Aussies make sure to attend the Australian Embassy’s Anzac Day and Beersheba commemorations, where they can sing “Advance Australia Fair” together with “Hatikvah.” Some even wear their Australian medals at these events (I do, though for the rest of the year they repose in a drawer).
What can one say about Australian Jewry? It’s relatively small in size, 10th or so in the league of world Jewry. But it’s top of the league in terms of love for Israel and its determination to sustain Jewish identity. The Jewishness of the community is vibrant and engaging. Jewish education is a growth industry, and the communal roof bodies are powerful and articulate, though some machers need more control.
There are dynamic askanim, articulate writers and solid scholars in Australian Jewry. Unfortunately, Australia has no leaders with vision and prophetic quality – but neither has Israel. Despite that defect, if you want to live Jewishly in Australia (even including Talmudic learning and Orthodox observance), you have every opportunity.
It wasn’t always like this; but even before the major changes of the 1940s, there were impressive people engaged in solid work for Jewish causes. The handful of international Jewish visitors who came to Australia in those days could hardly believe their eyes.
These days, other communities are moribund and hardly able to stay alive, but Australian Jewry is still growing and flexing its muscles. Australian Jewry has far more kiddush than kaddish. It is not perfect, but nor is it the sort of community to which one can apply the words of Abraham Carmel, “a vast army of the unattached marching from assimilation to apostasy.” It is not a community that you would willingly abandon.
Those who make aliyah from anywhere are highly motivated Jews and warm human beings. Israel is a lucky country, small in size, great in human resources. Aliyah has enriched it phenomenally, not least from the English-speaking countries, including Australia.
When you come across Australian olim, you see the evidence: Australia sends her best to Israel.
When did ancient Jews start keeping mitzvot? What kind of evidence do we have of observance of dietary and purity laws, or practices like wrapping tefillin? The Origins of Judaism Archaeological Project, a new project directed by Dr. Yonatan Adler, a senior lecturer at Ariel University, aims to shed light on some of these questions.Muslim Activist Educates on Israel & Holocaust to Promote Peace
“I’ve looked for a period of time when we know that something called Judaism exists, when we have clear evidence that ancient Judeans knew about the Torah and were keeping the laws of the Torah,” he said.
“The 1st century CE is a period of time when we have a lot of evidence for that, both textual and archaeological,” he added. “What I do in the project is going backwards from there.”
Adler’s research explores different topics, including the presence of ritual baths in Israel and the approach to figurative art.
The findings of the project are going to be published in a book by Yale University Press next year.
