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Thursday, June 17, 2021

06/17 Links Pt2: Sometimes it takes a few pogroms; 200 Rabbis blast Pelosi's failure to strongly reprimand Ilhan Omar; Noa Tishby tackles Bella Hadid's latest anti-Israel rant

From Ian:

MEMRI: Shaheen Nassar Of The Council On American-Islamic Relations Los Angeles (CAIR-LA): The 'European Jewish Colonizers' In Palestine Converted To Judaism In The Middle Ages, Have No Connection To Ancient Israelites; Antisemitism Is A Way Of Persecuting A Group For Falsely Claiming To Descend From Historic Palestine
Director of policy and advocacy for the Los Angeles branch of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR LA), Shaheen Nassar, said that antisemitism is a uniquely European phenomenon, and it was a way of persecuting a group of people for the "false historical accusation" that they are the descendants of the people of historic Palestine. He made his remarks during a lecture held at the Islamic Society of Orange County, which was posted on the IOSC Masjid YouTube channel on June 11, 2021. Nassar explained that Muslims and Arabs are Semites, and that "most historians recognize" that the vast majority of European Jews and the "European Jewish colonizers" in Palestine are Europeans who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages, and it is in fact Palestinians who most likely to have the blood of the Israelites running through their veins. He added that it is ironic that while Zionism is a "supremacist ideology," Jews are also the target of antisemitism, which he conceded is a "real thing." He went on to explain that white supremacists hold Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian lives in equal contempt.

Antisemitism "Was A Way Of Persecuting A Group Of People... For The False Historical Allegation That They Descended From Historic Palestine"

Shaheen Nassar: "Palestinians and Arabs are Semites themselves. Antisemitism is, throughout much of history, a uniquely European phenomena. It was essentially a way of saying... it was a way of persecuting a group of people for the false history accusation, this false historical allegation, that they had descended from historic Palestine. The reality of course, as most historians recognize, is much of European Jews and much of the European Jewish colonizers of Palestine are all descendants of medieval converts to Judaism, and that realistically the blood of the ancient Israelites most likely flows in the blood of Palestinians.

"Zionism Is A supremacist Ideology... There's No Direct Blood Relation Between The Ancient Israelites And The European Colonizers"

"If Zionism is a supremacist ideology, isn't it ironic that also Jews are the targets. And by the way this is legitimate, antisemitism is a real thing. I may not necessarily agree with its relevance to the issue of Palestine, but antisemitism is a very real thing, and there are white supremacists out there who hold Jewish lives and Muslim lives and Palestinian lives with equal contempt.

"A lot of the people that were massacring Palestinians, the people that I mentioned who would kill, in such horrific and gruesome ways, Palestinian children, committed acts of sexual violence... These death squads, the Irgun, the Hagana, the Black Hand, they would later evolve into the modern Israeli defense forces.

"There's no direct blood relation between the ancient Israelites and the European colonizers."


Sometimes it takes a few pogroms
In my book, The Ideological Path to Submission... and what we can do about it (Mantua Books), I agree with the approach of Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum to distinguish between Muslims who can adjust to lives of freedom, responsibility, women’s rights, rights of other religions including Judaism and non-violence, and other Muslims, usually called Islamists who seek Jihad, conquest, a world-wide Caliphate, forced conversions, Sharia Law and violence. My book deals mainly with Islam in America, Canada and Europe, but I hold the same distinctions must apply to Islamic Israelis.

The only Muslims that should live in Israel are those non-Islamists who accept the virtue of the Jews, the Torah and that the Qur’an says that the land of Israel is for the Jews.

Sometimes it takes a few pogroms to drive home the problem and the solution alike.

The Russian and Ukrainian pogroms in the early 19th century were the determining factor for Russian Jews to depart Russia and the Ukraine for America. A lot of Jews paid with their lives so that others would understand that the time had come to leave.

My father’s cousin, upon liberation from Auschwitz, decided to go back home to Lodz Poland. He and others were met with a violent pogrom from the Poles who did not want the Jews back. After a few years, he and his new wife made Aliyah.

Pogroms against Jews in contemporary Europe and the danger that riots in America might turn into pogroms will induce Diaspora Jews to make Aliyah. But they must see an Israel that understands that Arab Israelis must not only be cleansed of guns and other weapons, but must clearly support reformist Islam and not Islamism. At a time when Muslims up 20% of Israel’s population, it is essential to adopt this paradigm about Muslim neighbours and co-workers.

The mini-pogroms that started a couple of weeks ago must make it clear to both antisemites and Jews everywhere that the best thing for all concerned is a division between modernist more liberal Islam and the Islamists, and only the former should populate Israel, and perhaps the rest of the West. Those who follow radical hegemonic Islamism might stay in one of the numerous Islamic theocracies.

Sometimes it takes a few pogroms.
How antisemitism links various world conflicts
The pro-Armenian lobby, meanwhile, has a chronic antisemitism problem that is exposed through its social media activity. In tweets promoting the theme of "Christian Artsakh" during March 2020, the ANCA described Nagorno-Karabakh as "an ancient #Christian land, modern democratic republic, and home to 1st Century holy sites – under attack by #Azerbaijan's oil-rich #Aliyev dictatorship." The ANCA repeatedly used the same language to target supporters of Azerbaijan such as Jewish lawmaker Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). In addition to weaponizing Christianity for political purposes, the ANCA promoted anti-Semitic tropes – including by tweeting a painting of the arrest of Jesus, invoking the myth that Jews killed Jesus, and a photo of silver coins, conjuring the antisemitic conspiracy theory of Jewish control over financial markets and governments.

This activity is not surprising when considering that, according to an Anti-Defamation League study, Armenians believe a variety of antisemitic stereotypes are "probably true" – and that they agree with those tropes at an even higher rate (58%) than Iranians (56%).

Armenian antisemitism is also apparent in the country's history of glorifying Nazi collaborators such as Garegin Nzhdeh, commander of the Armenian Legion, a unit that rounded up Jews and resistance fighters and marched them to concentration camps. Nzhdeh is honored through statues, streets, or memorials in nearly 20 Armenian municipalities.

A third parallel between the Israeli-Palestinian and Armenia-Azerbaijan conflicts pertains to the violent nature of protests taking place abroad. Much like Jews were physically attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters in major US cities last month, Armenian protesters attacked a group of two-dozen Azerbaijanis in Los Angeles in July 2020, causing injuries that required urgent medical care and prompting a hate-crime investigation into the incident.

For Israel, which maintains deep ties with Azerbaijan but at times projects a neutral or silent stance toward the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the takeaway for the new government should be clear: stand with Azerbaijan, a crucial Muslim-majority ally, and stand against Armenian antisemitism. US Jews should arrive at the same conclusion, understanding that antisemitism coming from pro-Palestinian activists and pro-Armenian activists are branches of the same tree.
Secret WWII Jewish British Military Commandos Finally Come Out of the Shadows
X Troop is the fiercest British World War II commando force you have likely never heard of.

Formally known as “No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando, 3 Troop,” its 87 members were mainly Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria who were hell-bent on exacting revenge on the Nazis who had destroyed their families and home communities. Some commandos were themselves survivors of incarceration in Nazi concentration camps.

Sworn to secrecy about their true identities for their own safety, these brave young men assumed English noms de guerre. Only one person, a secretary at MI5, who worked in the casualty division, had access to the list of the men’s original names and places of origin.

After a year and a half of intensive training in Wales and Scotland, the X Troopers were assigned to the spearhead of Allied forces that invaded Europe and fought into the heart of the Third Reich. Utilizing advanced combat and counterintelligence techniques, and their native German language abilities, they undertook dangerous missions to infiltrate behind enemy lines. In battle, they captured and immediately interrogated the enemy, providing invaluable information to the advancing Allied armies.

The X Troopers never fought as a joint force. They were seconded individually or in small groups to various Allied troops and divisions. Over half of them were killed, wounded or went missing in action.

“Nothing was going to stop them,” said Leah Garrett, author of a new book about this highly selective and motivated unit, whose exploits have largely been lost to history due to their clandestine nature.
The Tikvah Podcast: David Rozenson on How His Family Escaped the Soviet Union and Why He Chose To Return
The Soviet Union was deeply against religion, and in particular was deeply against Judaism, so that the full embrace of Jewish religious observance, or the study of Hebrew, or the slightest approval of Zionism were often seen as criminal offenses against the state. Some Jews, like Natan Sharansky, resisted—brave refuseniks who wouldn’t give in to enforced secularization and who organized underground networks of Jewish life. Eventually, through American and international pressure, the Soviets allowed those desperate Jews to leave. But what of the Jews who didn’t flee, who remained in Russia even after the demise of the Soviet Union? What’s their story?

David Rozenson, the executive director of Beit Avi Chai, a Jewish cultural center in Jerusalem, was born in the Soviet Union before his family escaped to the United States. Years later, as an adult, he returned to Russia and stayed there for years. On this week’s podcast, in conversation with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, he tells his family story, and explains why, despite his family risking so much to leave, he chose to go back and serve the Jews of the former Soviet Union.
Rabbis blast Pelosi's failure to strongly reprimand Ilhan Omar for her anti-Israel comments
More than 200 American rabbis sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, condemning her for her failure to reprimand Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and calling on her to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

'We reiterate that the mob attacks on American Jews today are directly attributable to the rhetoric of Rep. Omar and those who stand with her within and beyond Congress,' the letter, obtained by Fox News, read.

'To protect Jewish Americans and, moreover, safeguard the integrity of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we thus insist upon the removal of Rep. Omar from her appointment,' the rabbis, members of the Coalition of Jewish Values, wrote.

Their letter comes more than a week after Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, came under fire for a controversial tweet, in which she said: '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.'

She later tried to clarify the statement, saying she did not mean to equate Israel and the United States with terrorist organizations.

Speaker Pelosi was asked about the Democratic leadership's response to the controversial tweet, and said she would not take any retaliatory action against Omar.

'I think that she clarified her remarks, and we accept that, and she has a point that she wanted to make and she has a right to make that point,' she said.

'There's some unease about how it was interpreted,' Pelosi continued. 'She made her clarification.'
ADL CEO: Tlaib Tweet Accusing Israel of “Ethnic Cleansing” is “Dangerous”
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted on June 16 that Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” is “dangerous.”

Tlaib’s tweet came in response to Israel launching airstrikes against Hamas targets in response to incendiary balloons fired from the Gaza Strip.

“After racist and violent ‘death to Arabs’ marches earlier today in Jerusalem, children in Gaza are being woken by bombs in the middle of the night,” Tlaib tweeted, referencing a flag march earlier in the day. “Israel’s government doesn’t value Palestinian lives. It has managed a decades-long ethnic cleansing project, funded by the U.S.”

Greenblatt tweeted in response, “We can and should have policy debates. But pushing a narrative libelously accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing or not seeing Palestinians as human – or focusing only on Israeli airstrikes without recognizing those are responses to attacks by terrorists – is wrong and dangerous.”

Stop Antisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “We are the first to say these horrific death chants must ALWAYS be condemned. That being said, it’s highly irresponsible of a sitting U.S. Congresswoman to blindly point the finger at our closest [Middle East] ally without mentioning the REASONING behind the bombing of Gaza – the two dozen terror balloons that set the south of Israel ablaze this entire week. This type of agricultural terrorism would not be tolerated anywhere in the world and for Tlaib to hold Israel to a different standard is just pure and simple antisemitism.”


Canada’s Jews say antisemites declared ‘open season’ on them since Gaza conflict
Last month’s armed conflict between Israel and Hamas set the stage for antisemites in Canada to unleash unprecedented, social media-fueled attacks — in-person and online — including physical violence, incitement, and harassment.

At pro-Israel rallies in several cities Jews were physically assaulted, verbally abused, spat upon, and pelted with rocks. Elsewhere, their businesses and neighborhoods were targeted. At anti-Israeli protests, demonstrators donned swastikas, gave Nazi salutes, and burned Israeli flags.

By June 11, the ongoing attacks caused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to announce he would convene an emergency summit this summer to address the crisis. The conference will be led by former justice minister Irwin Cotler, who is serving as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism.

The severity and frequency of incidents in the current wave are on a different level than in previous years. B’nai Brith reports the number of antisemitic assaults recorded in May of this year far surpassed the total for all of 2020.

Canada experienced a record 2,610 antisemitic incidents in 2020, according to a B’nai Brith Canada report — up 18.3 percent from the previous year. Statistics Canada found that Jews were on the receiving end of the highest number of police-reported religious-based hate crimes in the country in 2019.

If there is any solace to be found, it is in the number of federal, provincial and municipal leaders, including the prime minister, who strongly denounced the hateful onslaught.
MESA’s Troubling ‘Statement of Solidarity With the Palestinians’
Following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after an intense 11 days of military activity, universities published statements of support. Surprisingly, however, this support was not for the region’s only thriving democracy and American ally, Israel — but for Hamas, the designated Islamist terror group that rules over Gaza, and whose lethal use of thousands of rockets — sent into Israeli towns and cities with the object of killing Jewish civilians — instigated the recent violence.

As a network of some 40,000 faculty members on over 3,000 campuses around the world, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) has followed developments in Gaza and Israel — and we’ve been very troubled by the response, particularly from the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), a scholarly association that purports to “promote high standards of scholarship and teaching, encourage public understanding of the region and its peoples, and defend academic freedom…”

Given the history of MESA’s public support for the Palestinian cause and denigration of Israel through repeated calls for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, it is not surprising that the MESA board has produced yet another one-sided response.

MESA’s statement claims that it is the product of scholars, and yet it presents a juvenile morality tale: Palestinians only suffer, always as victims of Israel. Not a mention of Hamas, a designated terror group whose charter calls for Jewish genocide, or Hamas’ attacks on Jewish civilians, and even Palestinians. This bizarre presentation of the situation defies any conceivable notion of honest scholarship, but it does permit silence about Hamas and the attribution of malevolence to Israel.

Despite not mentioning Hamas, the declaration follows closely the directives for journalists of Hamas’ media department: “All victims are civilians. Do not show Hamas firing rockets, especially from civilian areas.”

We hear in detail about aggressions against Palestinians, but nothing of their aggressions against Israelis, from the TikTok attacks that started the open conflict to attempted lynchings of isolated civilians, or to 4,000 rockets fired at civilian targets. And we certainly don’t hear about Hamas’ treatment of its own people, including their brutal suppression of press and academic freedom, and their open and proud use of their own people as human shields.
Noa Tishby tackles Bella Hadid's latest anti-Israel rant
As model Bella Hadid continues her smear campaign against the Jewish State, Israeli actress, producer and author Noa Tishby does not lag behind and keeps advocating on behalf of her country.

Most recently, Hadid shared with followers on Instagram a photo in which she holds up a fist and wears a necklace seemingly in the shape of Greater Israel. The same geographical outline, however, is often used by the Palestinians to assert their claim to the land.

Hadid has 43 million Instagram followers. The controversial post received more than 1.5 million likes and thousands of supportive comments.

In response, Tishby, who in 2011 founded the first Israel-focused online advocacy and rapid response organization, Act For Israel, and who over the years has become a powerful voice for Israel on the international stage, shared an earlier photo of herself, wearing the exact same necklace and holding her book Israel: a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, which she wrote as part of her pro-Israel advocacy.

In the post, she said: "Hey @bellahadid – I was there first! Not just with the necklace but with the actual people in the actual land. The Jewish people are the indigenous people of the land of Israel.

"I know it's an inconvenient truth, but it doesn't make it less true. That is, of course, only if you understand how history, science or archeology work ... [or] if you follow any of the three monotheistic religions … But thanks for wearing a necklace of Israel anyway! We appreciate your support!" Tishby jeered.
Secret tape from inside Palestine convoy revealed
An audio recording obtained by the JC from inside the leading coach of Saturday’s Palestine convoy reveals activists calling Naftali Bennett “Satan” and claiming that the UN was being manipulated by a shady network in favour of Israel.

In an impassioned rant, the demonstrators, who left Forster Square in Bradford at 8.30am, claimed that members of the supposed network were Islamic mythological demons called “Dajjals”.

They even praised North Korea for its support for the Palestinians, demanding that the dictatorship send warplanes to destroy Israel.

It comes a month after a convoy notoriously drove through Jewish areas of London, with activists shouting “f*** the Jews, rape their daughters” out of car windows.

Four men were arrested after that incident, though none have so far been charged.

Jewish groups have called on the police to take tougher action to stem the tide of antisemitism that has swamped British streets at pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent weeks.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), said: “The organisers of the convoys claim that their purpose is not to drive across the UK inciting hatred and instilling fear.

“They claim that those who called for Jewish children to be raped are an isolated case.

“This secret recording reveals the demonstrators’ true colours.




Zara Faces Calls for Boycott Over Head Designer’s Exchange With Palestinian Model on Israel Conflict
Social media users have called for a boycott of the Spanish apparel company Zara after one of its head designers sparred with a Palestinian model over the latter’s pro-Palestinian posts on Instagram.

Palestinian male model Qaher Harhash, who has accused Israel of “apartheid” and “occupation,” shared last week a screenshot of a private Instagram message he allegedly received from Vanessa Perilman, Zara’s head designer for the women’s department, in which she voiced support for Israel and criticized the model’s portrayal of Israel as “a horrible evil country.”

“Maybe if your people were educated, then they wouldn’t blow up hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza,” Perilman reportedly said, in part. “Israelis don’t teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do.”

She added, “I will NEVER stop defending Israel and people like you come and go and in the end, as the Jews survived the Holocaust, we will survive this bulls**t circus media that you are positing.”

After screenshots of her comments were posted online, social media users shared the hashtags “BoycottZara” and “ZaraMustApologize,” and accused the brand of Islamophobia. Others also called on Zara to fire Perilman.

Perilman soon after reached out to Harhash and said in a series of private messages on Instagram that she was sorry for her harsh remarks. She explained she is concerned about losing her job and the safety of her children, and told the model her and her family have received death threats as a result of her comments.
Seth Rogen in online spat with head of pro-Israel group StandWithUs
Dickson replied: “Hi Seth. Thanks for reaching out. Here’s the thing: I was taught to stand up to bullies. I called you out because instead of using your celebrity platfrom for good, you’re using it to bully. That’s the truth, whether you see yourself that way or not.

“Your MO at the moment (ridiculing my name) is pretty pathetic. Ironically, it says a lot about how little you know. My ancestors changed their name as they fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe searching for a better life, like many Jews did. Hilarious, right?

“You say you’re horrified by antisemitism and then enable those who harass Jews endlessly online. And then you make light of antisemitism.

“So you’re not the victim here and neither am I. It’s the proud, young Jews who face down antisemitism online and in the real world every day. Michael Dickson’s message to Seth Rogen

“If you’re not going to use your platform to help them, then do yourself and them a favour and stop talking about these issues.”

When asked by JN for comment, Dickson said: “At a time of heightened antisemitism in word and deed, Seth Rogen could be using a huge platform for good.

“Instead, he is providing cover for extremists who seek to ridicule, bully and troll Jews online.

“I thought it was important to call out his behaviour with the hope he can reflect and change.”

Representatives for Rogen have not responded to Jewish News’ request for comment.
California Public School Teachers: The Latest Dupes in the Campaign to Demonize Israel
The language of the UTLA resolution is characteristically unctuous and one-sided, expressing “solidarity with the Palestinian people and [a] call for Israel to end bombardment of Gaza and stop displacement at Sheikh Jarrah.” Sheikh Jarrah, of course, is the neighborhood where Arab squatters have been living in Jewish-owned property for years, some paying no rent at all, but instead of looking at this as a landlord/tenant property dispute to be decided in a court—as it would if it was happening anywhere else in the world except Jerusalem and if the owners were not Jewish and the tenants Arab—the union, and Israel critics elsewhere, have seen the imminent and lawful evictions as part of Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and emblematic of Israel’s oppressive behavior of towards its Arab neighbors. Contrary to the language of the resolution, however, Israel’s government is not involved in the property disputes at all, and only in the mind of Israel’s ideological foes are the evictions representative of any injustice. In fact, Jewish owners are the actual victims here, not the Arab residents who are illegally occupying the properties.

It is interesting how elementary school teachers, or English and anthropology professors, or queer studies majors, or student activists—many with no actual knowledge of the history of Israel and its neighbors—feel free to make uncompromising determinations about Israel’s acceptable behavior and give unwelcomed and unrequested advice concerning Israel’s diplomatic, military, legal, and political activity—frequently with no context or actual facts. The current legal dispute about the Sheikh Jarrah properties is the perfect example, especially since it is referred to as an example of Israel’s perfidy in many of the anti-Israel statements circulated since the current Gaza conflict.

Critics claim that the prospective evictions are tantamount to the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem by ethno-nationalist settlers, but this is both a misreading of the law and an intentional distortion of what is an entirely legal process on behalf of Jewish property owners. In a paper entitled “Understanding the Current Sheikh Jarrah (Jerusalem) Property Dispute,” for instance, Professor Avi Bell noted that “Contrary to the claims of the critics, permitting private Jewish landowners to exercise their rights in court does not constitute ‘illegal settlement activity.’ No reasonable interpretation of the various provision of the Geneva Conventions and other treaties cited with respect to the legal dispute on ‘settlements’ could possibly lead to the conclusion that international law requires stripping Jews of all private property rights in land in areas that critics of Israel call ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories.’ While critics of Israel like to pretend that international law forbids Jews to reside in any lands claimed as part of the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories,’ that claim has no foundation in international law.”

But when Israel is involved, ideology is what matters, not facts, just as lying about facts serves as a way to justify Hamas’s aggression and terrorism against Jewish civilians. According to the union’s defective resolution, Israel’s “pattern and practice of dispossession and expansion of settlements has been found to be illegal under international law” and “In response to Palestinian demonstrations against these illegal practices and the forcible displacement of families in Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli police attacked demonstrations in many instances, injuring hundreds including a raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a place of worship.” There, of course, is no mention of thousands of Hamas rockets targeting Jewish neighborhoods, no mention of violent demonstrations and rioting on the Temple Mount where Arabs, on their supposed third-holiest site, hurled rocks at Jewish visitors to the site. There is no mention of the incendiary kites and balloons, the knife intifada, the ramming of Jewish pedestrians by Arab sociopaths, no mention of any Arab aggression, truculence, “Days of Rage,” and the unrelenting campaign to drive Jews into the sea and destroy the Jewish state. There is no context or historical background to any of the union’s accusations and condemnations, and its selective outrage over the actions of Israel—while ignoring a host of conflicts and human rights crises elsewhere around the world raises the obvious question of why the Jewish state, and always the Jewish state, is singled out for opprobrium and condemnation.
Review 'The Rage Less Traveled A memoir of surviving a machete attack' by Kay Wilson
Though the word “courageous” is often over-used in our discourse, that adjective is, if anything, a profound understatement when recounting the harrowing story of how Kay Wilson, British-born Israeli tour guide, survived an indescribably brutal Palestinian terror attack.

In her book, ‘The Rage Less Traveled: A Memoir of Surviving a Machete Attack‘, Wilson recounts the details of the 2010 attack, in the Mata forest near the town of Beit Shemesh, which took the life of her Christian friend Kristine Luken, her long and painful recovery, and her crusade for justice.

To characterise the attack as vicious doesn’t due it justice. Wilson sustained thirty broken bones in all, which included six open compound fractures of her ribs. Her sternum was broken in two places. She also suffered thirteen machete lacerations in her lungs and diaphragm.

Wilson, who was holding a penknife, fought back and managed to stab her attacker with a pen knife. The DNA from his blood stains were one of the main factors which helped police solve the case.

What is most striking – in addition to Wilson’s strength and determination – is her honest and detailed account of her emotions in the aftermath of her attack: her guilt over Luken’s death, the impact of her severe PTSD on her loved ones, her agonising rehabilitation, and the moment in court when she was forced to sit a few metres away from the terrorist who savagely attacked her, a Palestinian who previously acknowledged his goal that December day was to murder as many Jews as possible.
Sixteen years of the BBC Middle East editor’s narratives
A fanatic is defined as “a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause”. It is hard to place the leaders of an organisation that exists solely in order to wipe a sovereign country off the map in the name of religion into any other category – but Jeremy Bowen does just that.

In order to do so, he of course has to airbrush Hamas leaders’ rants about “treacherous Jews”, “cancer” and “thieves, murderers and criminals”. He has to ignore Hamas calls to “cut off their heads”, “strike their necks”, “rip out their hearts” and “trample the heads of Jews”. He also has to whitewash Hamas’ end game which remains the same regardless of any temporary “truce” that might be in the offing.

It is no coincidence that on Jeremy Bowen’s watch, BBC audiences never see reports about such incitement from Hamas leaders and supporters. It is also no fluke that the BBC has for years whitewashed the basic religious aspect of Hamas’ terror war against Israel, preferring instead to turn it into a story about “occupation”, “blockade” and “an open-air prison”. A story about Iranian backed religious extremists seeking to wipe out the one sovereign country of an ethnic minority is of course much less photogenic for Western audiences and does not contribute to the political narrative adopted by so many members of the media.

That narrative boils down to a long popular theme in British culture: the plucky underdog; the weak battling the strong. And so when those Jeremy Bowen insists are “not ranting fanatics” launch thousands of military grade missiles at Israeli civilians primarily in order to burnish their own political credentials as ‘defenders’ of their faith and its religious symbols, the BBC’s Middle East editor has a typically self-centred spin ready for that too:
“Without question, Israelis suffered too during the recent 11-day war. I was in Ashkelon, in the south, as it suffered repeated red alerts as missiles that had not been stopped by the Iron Dome system came in. It is frightening when the sirens sound and a phone app blinks a message that you have seconds to take cover. But the two experiences, in Gaza and Israel, were not the same. Asymmetric warfare between the strong and the weak guarantees that.”

Asymmetric is the perfect word to describe Bowen’s article with its overwhelming focus on one human side of the story and what few mentions of Israelis there are presented using only the broadest of brushstrokes. Anyone familiar with the products of Bowen’s periodic excursions to the region will not be remotely surprised, but it is that one-sided, terrorism erasing narrative which has dominated BBC coverage for sixteen whole years, despite the fact that it fails to meet the aim of the Middle East editor job description as defined by the BBC: “enhance our audience’s understanding of the Middle East”.


Federal Jury Convicts Massachusetts Man Who Attempted Arson Attack at Jewish Retirement Home
A federal jury in Massachusetts has convicted a 37-year-old man in connection with the attempted firebombing of a Jewish retirement home one year ago.

The jury’s decision followed the week-long trial of defendant John Michael Rathbun. Rathbun’s indictment in June 2020 charged that he had tried and failed to ignite a partially-filled five-gallon fuel canister next to the driveway entrance to Ruth’s House, an assisted living facility in the town of East Longmeadow.

“The jury has spoken: Mr. Rathbun is guilty of lighting a firebomb right at the entrance to a Jewish assisted living facility — a cruel and senseless crime,” said Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell following the court announcement. “Thanks to the jury’s verdict and the good work of prosecutors and investigators, the man who targeted vulnerable members of our community will not be a threat to public safety anytime soon.”

Joseph R. Bonavolonta — Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division — stressed that the threat posed by Rathbun was “very real.”

“By trying to ignite a firebomb outside a Jewish assisted living facility, he put the lives of innocent people at risk,” Bonavolonta said in a statement.

Rathbun’s improvised explosive device consisted of a five-gallon Scepter fuel canister filled with gasoline and a Christian religious pamphlet as the wick. Forensic analysis identified Rathbun’s DNA on the canister and pamphlet.
Ex-Auschwitz prisoner cannot sue publisher in Poland, says EU top court
A former prisoner of the Auschwitz death camp set up in Poland by Nazi Germany cannot sue a German publisher in Polish courts over use of the phrase "Polish extermination camp," the European Union's top court ruled on Thursday.

Nazi Germany attacked and occupied Poland in 1939 at the onset of World War Two and later built camps on Polish soil in which millions of people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease.

References in Western media to the camps as "Polish" have drawn furious responses from the government and others in Poland who think such a description inaccurately implies that Poles were responsible for the crimes committed in them.

A Polish national referred to as "SM" in court documents took legal action in the Warsaw regional court over a 2017 article published online that referred to Treblinka as a "Polish extermination camp." A former prisoner at Auschwitz, he alleged the article infringed on his personal rights, in particular national identity and national dignity.

Lawyers for publisher Mittelbayerischer Verlag KG argued the case should be heard in Germany.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) agreed that use of the term "Polish extermination camp" infringed SM's personal rights but said the case could not be brought in Poland because he was not individually identified in the article.
Top Polish artist confronts country’s Holocaust past in Jewish museum exhibit
Warsaw’s Jewish history museum opened an exhibition Thursday featuring works by a renowned Polish artist that confront the lingering and melancholy presence of the Holocaust in Poland, where Nazi German forces carried out their destruction of Europe’s Jews and other atrocities.

“Wilhem Sasnal: Such a Landscape” opened Thursday at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The dozens of paintings and drawings on display confront the Holocaust in the nation’s physical and mental landscape and the difficulty in addressing an unsettled past.

Sasnal, who is not Jewish, has for two decades been grappling with this history. The 48-year-old described a generational need to confront the past, also because parts of Polish society refuse to acknowledge that while Poland was victimized by Nazi Germany, there were also some Poles who joined in the despoliation and murder of the nation’s Jews.

For decades after World War II, such discussions were taboo, with the themes of Polish sacrifice and honor dominating historical memory. But with the new openness that came with the fall of communism in 1989, scholars and artists began studying and speaking openly of anti-Semitism and the participation by some Poles in the German crimes. Each new book or film has touched a raw nerve.

“The history of the Second World War was obscured until 1989,” Sasnal said.

It was then “extremely shocking,” he said, when scholars began to reveal wartime wrongdoing by Poles, including the 1941 killing of hundreds of Jews by Poles in the town of Jedwabne.

“At the beginning, I felt anger and shame,” he told The Associated Press.

“And it’s still so difficult to see that people don’t want to acknowledge it. People totally refuse, and this is the mainstream Polish government attitude.”
Germany to punish troops over birthday party for Hitler
Some 30 German soldiers are being recalled from service in Lithuania, with ringleaders facing immediate dismissal, after they were accused of making racist and antisemitic remarks and of sexual violence, a German military spokesperson said Wednesday.

The soldiers were in Lithuania as part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence mission providing protection to the republic as well as to Latvia and Estonia by deterring Russia.

German weekly Der Spiegel reported that some German soldiers had got so drunk in a hotel that military police had to be called. Further investigations found that soldiers had sung a birthday song for Adolf Hitler at an earlier gathering.

Beyond violating their oaths, the soldiers were accused of "giving offense with racist and antisemitic overtones and showing extremist behavior," the spokesperson said. They would be back in Germany on Thursday.

"Such behavior is not only inexcusable but brings shame on us all," she added.

Much of Germany's post-war foreign policy has been focused on showing atonement for the crimes of Hitler's Third Reich, which murdered many millions of Europe's Jews in the Holocaust, one of the worst crimes in human history.
British Neo-Nazi, Ex-Army Driver Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison on Terror Charges
A neo-Nazi who served as a driver in the British army has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for terrorism offenses.

The BBC reported Monday that Dean Morrice, 34, of Paulton, Somerset, was convicted on ten counts.

Morrice admitted in court that he had “fascist and neo-Nazi views.”

He was also a member of the nativist UKIP party until “a few years ago,” but asserted that he did not believe in “committing acts of violence towards ethnic or religious groups.”

His attorney Narita Bahra said in Morrice’s defense that he suffered from mental health issues that had grown worse due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Judge Peter Lodder said at Morrice’s sentencing, “You have described yourself as a patriot. You are not a patriot, you are a dangerous neo-Nazi, your bigotry and hatred is abhorrent to the overwhelming majority in this country.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, commented, “Morrice was stopped before he was able to carry out any physical act of terror but the evidence showed that he actively encouraged terrorism to others with his toxic ideology and had the intention and potentially the capability to commit one himself.”


Israeli Companies on Wall Street Reach Historic $300 Billion Market Cap Landmark
Software company WalkMe’s IPO on Nasdaq on Wednesday brought the aggregate value of Israeli companies traded on Wall Street to $300 billion. According to data gathered by Oppenheimer Investments Bank, there has been a $100 billion surge since the beginning of the year, $75 billion in new companies that have either gone public or merged with SPAC companies, and a $25 billion increase in the value of existing companies.

The “Israeli” portfolio in New York, which includes 85 companies, recorded an increase of more than 12% since the beginning of the year — more than Nasdaq, which recorded a return of 9% since January. This leap in the value of Israeli companies traded in the US means they have surpassed the total value of the 507 companies traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (52 of which are traded in both), which stood at NIS 962 billion (about $297 billion) on Wednesday.

“What is happening with the large IPOs of Israeli companies on Wall Street is exactly what the Israeli economy needs. It creates long-term growth, as the companies expand,” said Avivit Mannet-Kalil, co-CEO of Oppenheimer, in a conversation with Calcalist. “It is also not similar to what happened in 2000, because these are mostly companies that work in the established and healthy SaaS model, which provides the ability to assess and anticipate ahead. The only exception is the electric and autonomous vehicle segment, which is more futuristic and similar to drug development because after years of development, technology can catch on and make the company huge, but it can also fail.”

How long can this party last?

“There is a lot of money in the market, and interest rates are low. It is a wave that can last two or three years because there is new money coming into the system and there is demand for these companies, but there are cycles — and at some point, it will calm down.”
Israel’s WalkMe raises $287 million in Nasdaq IPO at $2.5 billion valuation
The shares of Tel Aviv based WalkMe Ltd., a maker of software that helps website owners and software developers create interactive onscreen guidance for users to complete complex tasks, are scheduled to start trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after the company held its initial public offering of shares.

The company said it priced its offering of 9,250,000 ordinary shares to the public at $31 per share, raising $287 million at a $2.5 billion valuation, according to an estimate by Calcalist.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,387,500 ordinary shares at the initial public offering price, the company said.

The Tel Aviv-based company, founded in 2011 by CEO Dan Adika, president Rephael Sweary and Eyal Cohen, has raised $308 million to date from investors including Vitruvian Partners, Insight Partners and Singapore’s EDBI, Greenspring Associates, Vitruvian Partners, Scale Ventures, Mangrove, and Gemini.
Jewish Athlete From UAE Becomes First Gulf Athlete Chosen to Compete in Maccabiah Games
Dubai-based athlete Yves Friedman has made history by becoming the first athlete from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to be slated for competition in the Maccabiah Games, it was announced on Monday.

Friedman — who specializes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — will be a part of the UAE delegation competing in the Maccabiah Games, which will take place July 12-26, 2022, in Ramat Gan, Israel. Friedman, 42, is a Belgian citizen who has been living in Dubai since he was a young child.

The GCC is an organization comprising of the states of the Arabian Peninsula, excluding Yemen. The Jewish Council of the Emirates joined the Maccabi Europe association in February 2021.

Often dubbed the “Jewish Olympics,” the Maccabiah Games is an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event held every four years in Israel. The Jewish community of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to send a delegation to the Games, marking the first time that athletes from the UAE will participate in the competition.

“I am looking forward to the moment when we enter the stadium in Ramat Gan with 50,000 applauding our small delegation with Emirati flags,” Alex Peterfreund — a co-founder and cantor of the Jewish Community of the Emirates (JCE), who worked on the UAE’s joining Maccabi Europe — told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “This is a historic moment in time and something we will tell generations to come.”
'Every Oxygen Concentrator We Provide Can Save 20 Lives’: Israeli Aid Continues as India Faces Possible Third COVID Wave
As India prepares for a possible third wave of COVID-19 after recording over 29 million infections, Israel is sharing its advanced technology for the rapid manufacturing of oxygen concentrators, generators and different kinds of respirators.

“Israel shares all of its achievements and knowledge, from successfully fighting the pandemic and the latest technology that was developed in the country to very efficiently and rapidly manufacture oxygen concentrators,” Ron Malka, Israel’s Ambassador to India, said in an interview with The Algemeiner. “During the catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 infections which took India by surprise, Israel has continued sending aid cargo with oxygen concentrators and respirators to India.”

Israel has already sent a few batches of life-saving medical equipment to India, including over 1300 oxygen concentrators and 400 respirators, which arrived in New Delhi over the past month. So far, the Israeli government has sent more than 60 tons of medical supplies, 3 oxygen generators, and 420 ventilators to India. Israel has allotted a public fund of over $3.3 million for the aid effort.

“Even as hundreds of missiles were fired at Israel from Gaza during last month’s hostilities, we continued this operation and collected as much as possible because we understood the urgency of the humanitarian need. That’s why we didn’t stop this operation as every hour counts in providing live-saving equipment,” said Malka.

“There were some oxygen concentrators which were used on the same day they landed in India saving lives in hospitals in New Delhi,” he added. “What the Indians say is that every oxygen concentrator we provide can save 20 lives on average.”

Israel has also launched a special campaign for raising funds to buy medical equipment and support aid to India from businesses. One of the organizations helping to rally support is Start-Up Nation Central, which raised about $85,000 from the private sector to buy 3.5 tons of equipment, including oxygen concentrators.







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