Pages

▼

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

06/16 Links Pt2: The Un-Jews - The Jewish attempt to cancel Israel and Jewish peoplehood; Baseless Israel Bashing Permeates Science, Medicine, and Education Unions

From Ian:

Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy: The Un-Jews - The Jewish attempt to cancel Israel and Jewish peoplehood
The clash between zealots for progress—or what some decided was progress—and Jewish traditionalism reaches back to the time of the ancients, too.

There were many Jews during Greek and Roman times who wanted to advance these appealing civilizations, which seemed to be giving birth to a brighter future. The Roman pantheon of gods seemed so much more majestic, more worldly, than the Jews’ one jealous God. These rebels would be happy to keep Jerusalem and other Jewish sites as relics as they marched along the road to a better tomorrow—backed by the imperial power of the Roman legions.

One of the Roman generals who helped raze Jerusalem and destroy the Second Temple may have been the first un-Jew. Tiberius Julius Alexander, the nephew of the leading Jewish philosopher Philo, “did not remain in his ancestral customs,” in the words of the ancient historian Josephus, a Jewish general who himself joined the Roman cause. Then, as now, those annoying Jews insisted on keeping their ghetto, their ethnonationalist state, if you will, and rejected the symbols of Rome’s more worldly multicultural empire.

Historians ultimately don’t know that much about Tiberius. What we do know is that despite his Jewish roots, he was anxious to help the world become civilized like Rome—and he unleashed the Roman legions against Alexandria’s Jews when he was prefect of Egypt from 66 to 69 CE. All this was warming up for his greatest crime against his people, serving as Titus’ second in command in 70 CE when the siege of Jerusalem plunged his own people into exile for nearly 2,000 years.

Today’s un-Jews remain as engaged with parts of their Jewish heritage, as appalled by other parts, and as anxious for acceptance, as their predecessors. Their undoing project doesn’t involve conquering the Temple in the name of civilization or converting the Jews to Christianity. Instead, they are divorcing the democratic State of Israel in the name of democracy and social justice. Today’s social justice warriors make war on Israel the same way that the Soviet communists made war on Jewish peoplehood and its institutions.

This assault goes far beyond “hugging and wrestling” or “daring to ask hard questions” or giving Israel “tough love.” Our objections to these new attacks are not attempts to dodge the difficult dilemmas we do need to debate regarding peace and war, proportionality and morality, Jewish and democratic values—or occupation, clashing rights, and defensible borders. We intimately know the many efforts that Israel’s political establishment and military take to maintain their moral compass. We wish there were more forums—such as a Global Jewish Parliament—where Israelis could discuss these and other dilemmas with world Jewry.

But we can only have those debates if we have empathy for one another and are willing to look out for one another. Ultimately, a broad, welcoming dialogue is important. But those who are set on denying the essence of Jewish peoplehood are rarely interested in the kind of respectful, mutual exchange that builds us all up. Rather, they are bent on destroying the most powerful force that has kept us together as a people through the ages—and without which they, too, will paradoxically wither away.


Phyllis Chesler: Baseless Israel Bashing Permeates Science, Medicine, and Education Unions
Until recently, the hard sciences proved impregnable to political propaganda and to Soviet-style boycotts and censorship. Not anymore.

From college campuses to medical and mental health professionals, people whose careers are rooted in inquiry and fact are falling over each other to condemn Israel for last month’s defensive war against Hamas — and in dreadfully uniform language.

I don’t know how to stop the lies about Israeli “massacres” when that lie has now been amplified by professors at so many universities, by the media, by students, and by countless authors in medical and scientific journals.

Physicians, both clinicians and scientific researchers, have also become politicized. According to a surgeon-friend: “I had to quit my women physician Facebook group because of rabid antisemitism in the guise of pro-Palestinian humanism. We formed a separate group called ‘physicians against antisemitism’ that quickly got 1,500 members.”

As it stands, we are currently undergoing a profound degradation of both experts and of expertise.

For example, in 2010, The Lancet, once a premier journal of medicine, blamed Israel for the alleged increase of “wife beating” in Gaza.
Senate passes resolution condemning antisemitism
The US Senate on Monday passed a resolution condemning the recent rise in global antisemitism fueled by Israel's 11-day conflict with Hamas last month.

The bipartisan resolution, which passed by voice vote, was introduced by Senators Jackie Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), co-founders and co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.

In addition to Rosen and Lankford, a total of 72 senators, 36 Democrats and 36 Republicans, co-sponsored the 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."

The resolution cites specific examples of recent antisemitic incidents related to the Israel-Gaza conflict, including a pro-Palestinian convoy in London calling to rape Jewish women, an attack on Jewish diners in Los Angeles and fireworks thrown at a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in New York City.

"As antisemitism surges in the United States and around the world, we must do all that we can to put a stop to these hateful actions," Rosen said in a statement.

The resolution also calls on US President Joe Biden to nominate a State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.


An Appeal to Politicians, Journalists, and Scholars: Stop Excusing Jew Haters
The spectrum of antisemitism is widening. The call for murder, which is what modern antisemitism amounts to, is also becoming louder. On the left, on the right, and in the center, hatred of Jews is related to identitarianism. Antisemites project their bad conscience or fear onto a delusional idea of the Jewish people, who supposedly represent a danger to their own community.

Right-wing radicals such as the terrorist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2018), or Halle in Germany (2019), who set out to kill as many Jews as possible, justify their hatred of Jews with the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Allegedly, all Jews are somehow responsible for immigrants coming into the country, threatening the “white race.” They speak of the government as a “ZOG” — Zionist Occupied Government.

The rhetoric against Zionists is even more prevalent among leftist anti-imperialists. They project onto Zionism, and the Jewish state, all that is evil in their worldview, such as colonialism and imperialism. On the other side, they see themselves and the Palestinians, whom they over-identify with, as the original, rebellious, and innocent par excellence.

Radical Islamists also refer to the pure and original, but with reference to Islam, according to which society should be structured and governed. They do not believe, as probably most Muslim Americans, that Islamic societies should be democratized or reformed, but that Islam is under attack and that we are in a global religious war led by the Jews, in which Muslims have a duty to defend Islam.

If antisemitism was limited to a few on the extreme fringes, that would be bad enough — but we would be able to contain antisemitic mania and render it largely harmless in everyday life. Society could give Jews a sense of security that, when in doubt, they would be assured of solidarity and help.

This is not the case, however, as shown by the fact that Jews largely feel left alone, and that many are afraid to identify themselves as Jews in public or even at school, more so in Europe, but increasingly so in the US.

Almost half of the European Jewish population avoid wearing symbols of Judaism in public, at least occasionally, because of safety concerns; 31 percent of American Jews have avoided certain places, events, or situations out of concern for their safety or comfort as a Jew.
Why Did BLM Hop on the BDS Wagon? Follow the Money
It was a grift designed and executed to profit from Black pain. And what better way to hide theft than to push a decentralized movement that makes it difficult to follow the money.

As evidence of theft and lies continues to surface, what better time for an organization to join one of the best grifts of modern times, the “Free Palestine” movement where, like UNRWA, BLM can launch a global con job.

First, local BLM groups splintered because co-founders decided that they wanted to become involved in politics on a national level instead of focusing on local community-based issues. They created a PAC, using money that was raised to fund local initiatives to wield national political power and influence, in addition to other misappropriations, fraud, waste and abuse.

More recently, assertions have been made that one of the original co-founders has used BLM organizational funds to pay for her personal real estate portfolio. After pitiful attempts to downplay and distract, she resigned from her official position with BLM. Around the same time as this was playing out in the media, the BLM organization released a statement that would launch the organization onto the global stage, standing in solidarity with Palestinians.

Is this a problem? The first question that came to my mind was, what do Palestinians have to do with Black lives and concerns about police violence? Then I remembered the phrase “follow the money.” When you follow the money, the trail will usually lead to clear answers to these kinds of questions. It is apparent that leaders of movements have learned from the best of them. If the cause a group originally takes on begins to falter, find a new cause to keep the coffers full.

BLM (the organization, not the movement- which should not be synonymous) took a page out of the UNRWA book. The United Nations General Assembly created UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East in 1949 “to provide relief health, and education services for Palestinians who lost both their homes and means of livelihood during the Arab-Israeli wars following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.”
‘Is This Antisemitic?’: New Poll Shows US Voters Influenced by Political Partisanship in Determining the Answer
A new poll released on Wednesday suggested that US voters from both parties are swayed by political partisanship when asked to judge whether a statement is antisemitic.

The poll, commissioned by Morning Consult/Politico, was conducted over the weekend, following separate controversies regarding hostile comments towards Israel made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and comparisons between COVID-19 restrictions and the Nazi Holocaust proffered by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

The survey of 1,994 registered voters asked half of the respondents whether they thought Omar’s tweet condemning “unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban” was antisemitic, without the second-term lawmaker’s name attached to it. The other half was asked the same question, but also given the Minnesota Democrat’s name and party affiliation.

Among the respondents who were not informed that Omar was the author of the contentious statement, 31 percent of voters – including 36 percent of Republicans – said the comment was antisemitic, while 41 percent said it was not.

However, a slightly greater share of voters — 35 percent — who knew that the remark was made by Omar deemed it antisemitic, driven by an 11-point increase among Republican voters.

The survey observed the same process with far-right lawmaker Greene, but in reverse.
Report emerges that courageous Muslim man stepped in to defend Jewish victims being punched in antisemitic attack in Central London
A courageous Muslim man is reported to have intervened to help defend two Jewish diners who were physically assaulted in an antisemitic attack late last month.

We previously reported that, on 23rd May, two visibly Jewish men were assaulted near a kosher restaurant on Baker Street. A video uploaded to Twitter by the activist Joseph Cohen shows the alleged victims describing the assault. One said: “We crossed the street and the next thing we know, we turn around and they’re essentially swinging for us.”

The other added: “They connected a few punches…[we] got hit in the head, got kicked.”

A woman across the road invited them into her café where they then called the police.

However, it has now emerged that a courageous Muslim man also intervened to defend the two victims after they were rushed and punched by two masked assailants on the corner of Melcombe Street and Glenworth Street. The Muslim man confronted the attackers, who then fled the scene.

The suspects are described as two Asian males in their late teens or early twenties, and the incident took place at 17:20 on 23rd May. They made antisemitic comments as they unleashed their attack, which is accordingly being treated by police as racially aggravated. It took place within hours of a pro-Israel rally elsewhere in the city.

Detective Inspector Kevin Eade said: “This behaviour has no place in our city and it will not be tolerated. All Londoners should be able to live free from harassment or abuse. In this case two men from the Jewish community were assaulted, but it was the intervention of someone from another faith that helped stop the assault.
Following Protests, Tobacco Store in New Jersey Removes Antisemitic Banner Calling Israelis ‘New Nazis’
An openly antisemitic banner that was hung outside a tobacco store in New Jersey for over three months was removed on Monday, following a flood of complaints.

Depicting former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache, the banner showed a swastika replacing a Star of David in the Israel flag, alongside the slogan “Stop the New Nazis.”

Layla Samara — whose family owns the the Clifton Hookah store in Paterson, NJ, where the banner was displayed — told local news outlet NorthJersey that its purpose had been to spark “controversy.”

“It was supposed to make people uncomfortable,” she said. “Talks like this need to be happening.”

The banner’s existence was publicized on Saturday by StopAntisemitism.org, a US activist group.

“We are horrified to see such an obscene banner comparing the Jewish nation and former PM to Nazis,” the group said. “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.”

Among those condemning the banner was the mayor of Paterson, Andre Sayegh, who last month addressed a pro-Palestinian rally in which he slammed Israeli settlement policies as “haram,” the Arabic word for “forbidden.”

“It just displays ignorance,” Sayegh said of the banner. “The swastika has so much sensitivity around it. It symbolizes hatred and what happened with the Holocaust. You have to be mindful of that.”
Headteacher apologises for considering picking charity that helps Israelis as well as Palestinians
A headteacher in Manchester has apologised for considering donating a school fund to the Red Cross, which help Israelis affected by the Middle East violence as well as Palestinians.

Following May’s spate of violence in Israel and Gaza, pupils at Stretford High School in Trafford raised £278.42 for charities aiding Palestinians.

However, headteacher Nicola Doward sparked an uproar when parents and students discovered the funds were planned to go to the Red Cross, which aids both Israelis and Palestinians affected by violence.

In a statement posted on the high school’s Facebook page, Ms Doward said: “I would like to put on record that I unreservedly apologise for a decision I made to consider sending the proceeds of the funds raised to the Red Cross.

“I made this judgment call as at the time I believed there would be no bias in doing so. Subsequently, I understand that this decision has caused offence to some members of the wider community.”

The Red Cross’s Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel Crisis Appeal provides medical and humanitarian aid and supports the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Palestine Red Crescent and Magen David Adom, Israel’s medical emergency service.

Parents at the school were “indignant” when they heard donations could reach people and charitable organisations based in the Jewish state.


Montreal Kosher Restaurant Vandalized in Possible Hate Crime, Attempted Arson
A kosher restaurant in Montreal was subjected to extensive vandalism and attempted arson on Sunday night, in what the municipal police (SPVM) are treating as a possible hate crime.

The front door of Chez Benny in Ville Saint-Laurent was smashed in with a rock, after which the vandals attempted to set the establishment on fire. The arson attempt failed due to lack of flammable material, according to B’nai Brith Canada.

Police suspect that the incident may constitute a hate crime for several reasons: no money or valuables were taken, making robbery unlikely; two adjacent non-kosher restaurants were not attacked; and it came in the wake of other incidents of antisemitic violence and vandalism in Montreal amid recent hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

Chez Benny’s owner Mike Assedo spoke with B’nai Brith Canada and said that he hopes to reopen on Wednesday. He also asked anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn commented, “It has been a difficult month and a half for Jews across Canada, so people are naturally on edge following this attack.”


Bella Hadid and Al-Jazeera share slanderous quotes of PM Bennett
Controversial 2013 misquoted comments allegedly made by newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett resurfaced on Monday via social media posts by supermodel, Bella Hadid and the Al Jazeera publication AJ+. The quotes by Bennett stem from a cabinet debate about releasing Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands.

In a recent Instagram story, Hadid told her 43 million followers that Bennett said: "I've killed lots of Arabs in my life, and there's no problem with that."

AJ+ similarly shared via Twitter that Bennett has "bragged about killing Palestinians."

Bennett, in a Knesset briefing in 2015, clarified that he was inaccurately quoted by former Joint List party member Haneen Zoabi as saying that "I killed a lot of Arabs in my life" when what he actually said was that he had killed many terrorists in the context of his army service. Bennett added at the time that "this is good – and it is a shame we didn't kill more terrorists."

At the time, Zoabi self-identified as Palestinian and considered the two-state solution to be unrealistic, as well as the description of Israel as a Jewish state to be racist.
Ilhan Omar and the art of not apologizing
It takes considerable skill to come up with the words to sound just apologetic enough to get your critics off your back, but without actually apologizing. It took Omar several tries, but the US congresswoman from Minnesota seems to have finally figured out the formula.

First, she tried the tactic of pleading ignorance. This goes back to 2012 when Omar was serving as campaign manager for a Minnesota state senator. During that year's Hamas missile jihad against Israel, Omar was furious that the international community, which was criticizing and pressuring Israel for defending itself, was not criticizing and pressuring it strongly enough. So, she tweeted: "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel."

Nobody complained about it at the time because Omar was, literally, a political nobody. But in January 2019, soon after she was elected to the US House of Representatives, the tweet resurfaced, and she issued what was to become the first in a series of non-apologies.

According to Omar, she didn't know that the words she used in 2012 would bother anybody. It was only afterwards, she said, "that I heard from Jewish orgs" that there was anything offensive about her language.

It was a classic shifting of responsibility. What she was saying, in effect, was that she couldn't possibly have known, on her own, that anybody would be offended by her saying that Israel is "evil" and controls the world. Those tardy Jewish organizations told her only after she said it, not before!

She added defiantly, "I will not shy away of [sic] criticism of any government when I see injustice." Of course, saying the Jewish state controls the world is not "criticism of a government," but that's how Omar deflects.
Florida representative introduces a resolution to condemn 'The Squad'
A group of House Republicans led by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Forida) introduced a resolution “condemning and censuring” Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), and Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts,) also known as “The Squad.”

Representatives Jim Banks (Indiana) and Claudia Tenney (New York) joined Waltz to introduce the resolution. “I’ve seen firsthand gross atrocities against women and ethnic minorities at the hands of the Taliban,” Waltz said in a statement. “I’ve personally been fired upon by terrorists hiding behind women and children and seen the Taliban place suicide vests on teenagers,” he added.

Last week, Omar tweeted: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”

Waltz said in his statement that: “for members of the US 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.” Waltz served over 24 years in the US Army including in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. He was awarded 4 Bronze Stars and 2 with valor, and he is the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.

Tenney said in a statement that “last week, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar compared the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban.” “Sadly, this is not out of character for ‘The Squad,’ who have made a habit of trafficking in antisemitic rhetoric,” Tenney added. “Their actions have been completely unchecked by Democratic leadership in the House, even as vile attacks against Jewish Americans are rising. Enough is enough. Antisemitism has no place in Congress or the Democratic Party.”
What Ilhan Omar’s latest scandal reveals about Democrats
It’s striking how rapidly things have changed since January 2019.

Back then, congressional Democrats still felt empowered to stigmatize leftist extremism, including open antisemitism. That month saw Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, so repulsed by the Women’s March leadership’s overt antisemitism that she penned an op-ed about why she wouldn’t march with them (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did). Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, publicly called out antisemitism from then-new Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, in February 2019 and urged the House of Representatives to "singularly condemn antisemitism" in March. In August 2019, Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, criticized Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, by name for sharing a political cartoon by Carlos Latuff, the runner-up in Iran’s 2006 International Holocaust Cartoon Contest.

House Democratic centrists are more muted now.

They’ve seen the House’s failure to condemn Omar by name for repeated antisemitism, Omar’s winning reelection with antisemitic smears, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s endorsing and donating to that reelection bid. Those concerned about leftist extremism are essentially on their own. So, when Deutch and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, recently criticized their leftist colleagues for endangering Jews with inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric, they did it without naming names.

In that context, it’s notable that 12 of the House’s 25 Jewish Democrats signed a mild statement, requesting that Omar "clarify" her "offensive" and "misguided" comments. Their statement came after Omar compared the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban — earning Hamas’s denunciation. The other 13 Democrats either don’t mind a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s blurring the line between democracies and designated terrorist groups, or very likely, they’re terrified of publicly criticizing her.

Those opposing Omar’s latest provocation should have been more numerous. Omar's was conduct unbecoming for a member of Congress. One also needn’t be Jewish to find it offensive. Where was the rest of the Democratic caucus? And why did the Democratic leadership subsequently issue a statement pretending yet again that Omar didn’t mean exactly what she said? As Pelosi made crystal clear, Democrats won’t be censuring Omar or stripping her committee assignments, even though Omar deserves both.
What the Washington Post Isn’t Telling You About Ilhan Omar and Hamas
“Only one thing in history is certain,” Winston Churchill once mused, “mankind is unteachable.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) proves Churchill’s point. And regrettably so does much of the news coverage—or the lack thereof—of her repeat offenses.

In a June 7, 2021, tweet, Omar—who serves on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee—wrote, “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of humanity. We have seen unspeakable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” Omar was widely condemned for comparing liberal democracies like the United States and Israel to U.S.-designated terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban.

The Congresswoman’s comments, and the resulting outcry, also received widespread media attention—including from the Washington Post.

In a June 10, 2021, dispatch, reporters Coby Itkowitz and Sean Sullivan wrote that Omar’s tweet “seemed to equate the actions of the United States and Israel with those of Hamas and the Taliban [emphasis added].” But this, of course, is too couched and too indirect; equating the U.S. and Israel with Islamist terrorist groups is precisely what Omar did. The rest of the Post’s report, however, was largely informative.

Itkowitz and Sullivan said that “Omar’s tweet is the latest among her frequent criticisms of the Israeli government that drew ire from lawmakers of both parties who have condemned them as perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes.” Later, the two reporters noted that Omar has “faced intense backlash from many of her Democratic colleagues over a string of comments she made that critics decried as antisemitic, including the suggestion that advocates for Israel ‘push for allegiance to a foreign country.’”

The Post report also reminded readers that Omar had previously been “forced to apologize for suggesting that supporters of Israel were motivated by money” when the Congresswoman tweeted: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby”—an incident which led the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to call Omar’s “use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters” deeply offensive.


As National Education Union plays down role of Warsaw Ghetto vandal in organising antisemitism training, CAA can reveal the sessions were led by two Jewdas activists
Jewish groups have expressed outrage at the involvement of a Warsaw Ghetto graffiti vandal in the organisation of antisemitism training for the National Education Union (NEU). Although the NEU insisted that Ewa Jasiewicz had no say over the content or delivery of the sessions, Campaign Against Antisemitism can reveal that they were led by two fringe Jewdas activists.

The three-part course was organised by Ewa Jasiewicz, through the North West Black Member Organising Forum of the NEU.

Ms Jasiewicz is infamous for spraying the slogan “Free Gaza and Palestine” on the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto in 2010. The vandalism breached the International Definition of Antisemitism and was roundly condemned by the Jewish community. Now with the NEU, Ms Jasiewicz was previously a union organiser with Unite and has spoken at an event with the pro-Corbyn pressure group, Momentum. She has previously had to apologise for comments that appeared to incite terrorism, and Jeremy Corbyn has reportedly called her a “very good friend”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to the NEU about Ms Jasiewicz’s involvement in the course. In a reply from the Joint General Secretaries of the union, Mary Bousted and the outspoken Kevin Courtney insisted that Ms Jasiewicz “facilitated the organisation of the event at the request of members but had no role in deciding or delivering the content of any sessions.”

However, Campaign Against Antisemitism can reveal who did lead the sessions and their content.

The course leaders, Eran Cohen, who works in the tech centre and is an Education Officer for the United Tech and Allied Workers, and arts activist Keziah Berelson, have both been involved in the far-left fringe Jewish group, Jewdas, and either support or have defended BDS — the campaign to boycott the Jewish state — the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of British Jews find intimidating. Mr Cohen is reportedly a self-professed anti-Zionist who has previously been described as a ‘Jewish’ Jeremy Corbyn.
Chilean Congress drafts bill to boycott goods from Israeli settlements
The Chilean Congress has drafted a bill to boycott goods, services and products from Israeli settlements, with Jewish Chileans expressing outrage at the latest anti-Israel move by Chilean parliamentarians.

The bill was drafted by the Chile-Palestine Inter-Parliamentary Group in the Chamber of Deputies of the Chilean Congress.

While the bill refers only to "territories occupied illegally" and does not make any specific mention of Israel or the Palestinian territories, Sergio Gahona – the leader of the initiative and a deputy of Chile – and a number of other parliamentarians referred to the bill as targeting Israel.

Gahona dressed in a Keffiyeh (an Arabian headdress) when he announced the bill, according to the Palestinian Community of Chile.

The bill calls for importers of products or services from "illegal settlements in occupied territories, as determined in accordance with international law and declared to be such," to be penalized with the punishments associated with the crime of smuggling.

Punishment could include a fine of up to five times the customs value of the goods.

Chile is thought to be home to the largest Palestinian diaspora community outside of the Middle East.
Stanford therapists allege ‘hostile climate’ for Jews in the workplace
Two Jewish mental health professionals at Stanford’s on-campus counseling clinic have filed workplace discrimination complaints after what they call “severe and persistent” anti-Jewish harassment from colleagues.

Dr. Ronald Albucher, a psychiatrist and associate professor in the medical school, and Sheila Levin, a therapist specializing in eating disorders, describe being pressed into joining a “whiteness” affinity group by staffers with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program, being told they were “privileged,” and seeing antisemitic incidents downplayed.

The university responded inadequately to their concerns, made over the course of a year, Albucher and Levin say, thereby fostering a “hostile and unwelcoming environment” for Jewish employees working for Stanford’s Counseling and Psychological Services office (CAPS).

Released publicly on Tuesday, the complaints – filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing – allege violations of state and federal laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Representing Albucher and Levin are attorneys with the Louis D. Brandeis Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focusing on Jewish civil rights issues on college campuses.

The trouble began in November 2019, Albucher and Levin say, when CAPS employees were asked to join weekly seminars run by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program within the clinic, formed earlier that year. The DEI program is facilitated by fellow psychologists and mental health professionals within CAPS.
Israeli’s Birthplace Switched From ‘Jerusalem’ to ‘Occupied Territories’ on New UK Passport
Israel’s Foreign Ministry is investigating a report that an Israeli woman had her birthplace changed from “Jerusalem” to “Occupied Palestinian Territories” upon renewing her UK passport.

Ayelet Balaban, a dual Israeli-British citizen who has held a UK passport all her life, said she was shocked upon receiving the new document, according to Israel’s Kan.

According to Balaban, she sent her old passport to England about two weeks ago, and received the new one on Monday. Upon discovering the change, Balaban checked with her brother, who renewed his British passport two years ago, and which still listed “Jerusalem” as his place of birth.

Her brother, who works at Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization helping Jews from English-speaking countries immigrate to Israel, said it’s the first time the organization has encountered the change, according to the report.

Balaban sent a letter to Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tzipi Hotovely, on Tuesday but said she hasn’t yet heard back.

Inquiries have also been sent to the British Embassy in Israel.


Al-Jazeera lies caught with their own cameras
Al-Jazeera has cynically joined the world of Pallywood – the production of videos showing fake injuries (and sometimes fake deaths) of Palestinian Arab civilians as part of the propaganda war against Israel.

Recently, the Arab world was awash with reports of Israeli police brutality against Al-Jazeera journalist Givara Budeiri when they apprehended her on June 5. In an interview with Al-Jazeera on June 6, her left arm in a cast, Budeiri describes the violence she endured at the hands of police officers. She claims to have been kicked both on the street and in the car on the way to the police station. When asked how she is, she replies:
“I am trying to be okay. They broke my hand. I spent all the night in the hospital. My back hurts me a lot. And here, my hand, from the cuffs, also they hurt so much because the soldiers in the car were tightening it all the time. I have a headache and my leg, I can’t walk very well.”

Unfortunately for those who want to believe the story, it is easy enough to debunk using Al-Jazeera’s own video footage from another report click (https://fb.watch/6048lE2rDK/) posted earlier that same day.

In this report of her release hours after having been taken in for questioning, we can see her freely lifting up her children who came to meet her, using her left hand quite vigorously when explaining how the Israelis are trying to muzzle Al-Jazeera reporting, and walking down the steps from the station to the street.

Below are screenshots of the incriminatory portions of their report of her release, which will forever be available for comparison with her later claims of the police having broken her arm and her difficulty walking.- even if the video linked of her release (on Facebook) above is removed.
BBC Complaints – eventually – stands by inaccurate map
Beyond the all too obvious conclusions concerning the level of efficiency of the publicly funded BBC Complaints procedure, this exchange of correspondence clearly shows that the BBC is not interested in providing its audiences with factual information which would broaden their understanding of the background to the conflict it so extensively covers.

Rather, by means of what it describes as a “general” map, the BBC steers its audiences towards one particular narrative which it deems ‘accurate’ because it is used by “politicians” and “the [UK] Foreign Office” and was endorsed seventeen years ago by BBC Governors adjudicating on a specific complaint.

That narrative declares land which was allocated by the League of Nations to the creation of a Jewish national home and subsequently invaded and illegally occupied by Jordan for nineteen years to be ‘Palestinian”. That narrative turns armistice lines which were specifically defined as not being borders into borders. That narrative ignores the fact that the representatives of the Palestinians agreed in the Oslo Accords to negotiate the final status of Area C.

In other words, the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, agreements signed between Israel and Jordan in 1949 and agreements signed between Israel and the PLO in the 1990s are all completely irrelevant as far as the BBC is concerned because it – along with some British politicians and civil servants – has already pronounced on the status of those territories regardless of what the actual parties concerned have agreed in the past or may agree in the future.
Jews walking in Central Park West after Shabbat pelted with eggs
On Saturday night, a group of Jews walking down Central Park West in New York City were followed by a car and pelted with eggs.

The victims were visibly Jewish. The women were dressed in Shabbat clothes and the men had on kippahs, reported website I Love The Upper West Side.

The incident took place in the Upper West Side neighbourhood of Manhattan.

The woman who gave an interview to the website said that one of the eggs hit her in the head causing a concussion.

“It was just so clear and obvious as to why we were targeted. There were so many people around us, and they only targeted us. A doorman who saw what happened said that they were behind us and sought us out. So in my eyes, it’s clear,” she said.

She immediately called the police but they refused to take a report unless she called an ambulance. She was in shock and instead went home. She later began to feel unwell and went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a concussion.

At that point, she called police who opened an assault investigation.


Ukraine to hold state event for 80th anniversary of Babyn Yar
Ukraine will be holding an official state event to mark the 80th anniversary of the Babyn War massacre, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced in a joint press briefing with the Head of the Office of the President on Tuesday.

On the 29th and 30th of September 1942, 33,771 Jewish people were shot and killed by the Nazis at Babyn Yar. Throughout the remainder of the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Kyiv, tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Roma, and mentally ill people were murdered at the same location. Babyn Yar is Europe's largest mass grave; an estimated 100,000 people were shot and left to die there by the Nazis.

Global and Jewish leaders, Holocaust survivors and Ukrainian Righteous Among the Nations, as well as Holocaust researchers and educators, will participate in the event which will will take place on October 6th, 2021.

The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre also announced earlier this year that they are developing a museum complex which will encompass dozens buildings, one of them a symbolic synagogue which has already been completed.

Two additional memorial structures will be unveiled by the Memorial Center ahead of the October 6th state commemorations.
After Months of Pandemic Isolation, 150 Holocaust Survivors Gather in Celebration at New York Concert
Around 150 New York-based Holocaust survivors attended on Monday afternoon a concert that honored their lives and drew attention to the struggles they faced during the coronavirus pandemic.

The concert featured a performance by popular Orthodox Jewish singer Yaakov Shwekey and was held at the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School. It was organized by the Nachas Health and Family Network, which helps the thousands of Holocaust survivors that live in the New York area, in coordination with The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The event marked the first large gathering for New York Holocaust survivors since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Rizy Horowitz, senior coordinator at the Nachas Health and Family Network, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

Holocaust survivors gathered at Nachas’ office in Borough Park, NY, and yellow school buses took them to the concert hall where they were given lunch before the start of the concert, which was also attended by students of the Jewish high school as well as youths with disabilities from The Special Children Center.

Horowitz said the event was organized to help celebrate the lives of Holocaust survivors, who have felt relatively isolated and lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had some survivors telling me that they feel like they’re back in the ghetto in Germany, in Europe, because of the pandemic,” Horowitz explained. She said about Monday’s event: “It was magnificent. The survivors felt that that they were important and they still count.”

Shwekey, who performed many classic Hebrew songs at the concert, told The Algemeiner, “It’s extremely important to honor our past heroes and let them know how much we care for them. [This was] one of the most important events of my lifetime!”
North American Immigration to Israel Spikes After ‘Year of COVID
Some 5,000 new immigrants from the United States and Canada are scheduled to immigrate to Israel by the end of 2021, according to new data published by the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization in conjunction with Israel’s Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund USA.

Nefesh B’Nefesh has reported a spike in the number of immigration requests and files opened during the COVID pandemic. In 2020, the organization received 14,022 requests, compared to 4,582 in 2019.

Since January 2021, 1,171 immigrants from North American have arrived in Israel, a 95 percent increase over the same time period in 2020 and 22 percent more than in 2019, the organization reported. In 2020, a total of 3,168 immigrants from North America arrived in Israel through Nefesh B’Nefesh.

This year’s immigration wave is expected to crest in August, when over 1,000 North American immigrants are slated to arrive.

One of the new immigrants is Max Goldman, 19, from Maryland, who is immigrating to serve in the Israel Defense Forces as a lone soldier.

“After I finished my pre-army preparatory academy at Kol Amir I started to feel how much Israel really is our country, and that I need to defend it. Israel is the main place that defends Jews all over the world, and being part of that and contributing to the country is something special,” said Goldman.







at