Friday, June 18, 2021

06/18 Links Pt2: How the Media Ignore Jew-Haters; Palestinians reject 1 million Israeli COVID vaccines; EU releases delayed report on incitement, anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks

From Ian:

Christine Rosen: How the Media Ignore Jew-Haters
In the wake of George Floyd’s killing in 2020, Google issued a lengthy statement outlining its commitments to racial equity in hiring and promotion as well as the money and support it had promised to the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet Google has said nothing about the recent spike in anti-Semitic violence, including brutal beatings of Jews on the streets of American cities, despite the fact that Jews are the targets of hate crimes in the U.S. far more frequently than other racial or religious groups.

Part of that has to do with the fact that Google’s workforce is progressive, particularly on matters related to Israel: According to The Verge, some members of the Jewish group at Google to whom Bobb privately apologized claim that the group itself “was not a safe space to express anti-Zionist beliefs,” and they formed their own anti-Israel splinter group. That group demanded that Pichai make a public statement condemning Israel’s response to the recent Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel that would include “direct recognition of the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence.” Not surprisingly, no pressure was placed on Pichai to condemn Hamas’s terrorism, which directly targeted Israeli civilians. The letter further demanded funding for Palestinian causes and “termination of contracts with institutions that support Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, such as the Israeli Defense Forces.”

Google’s inconsistent application of its own supposed principles of diversity and inclusion should be more widely known, but the mainstream media long ago accepted uncritically the notion that anything labeled an effort at fostering diversity cannot and should not be questioned—unless the diversity is ideological. Thus James Damore, a white man, is fair game for dismissal by Google for criticizing diversity dogma, and his story is widely discussed; Kamau Bobb, a black man, remains protected by his institution for his anti-Semitism, and his behavior is barely mentioned in the press. Which is why, as of this writing, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and most other mainstream-media outlets that avidly covered the Damore case have completely ignored the Kamau Bobb story. They employ their own Kamau Bobbs, and that is sufficient for them to cast a blind eye on the matter.

Although appeals to “diversity” are ubiquitous in corporate America, there is little consensus among Americans about what, exactly, diversity means—and little incentive on the part of woke executives or the mainstream media to find out. As the internal contradictions of intersectionality continue to reveal themselves, perhaps the media could spend less time on self-congratulatory reporting of its own “moral clarity” on race and more actual reporting on the hypocrisies embedded in our culture’s pursuit of those things that Kamau Bobb’s former title claimed he represented: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.


Seth Mandel: The Jews Who Are Complicit in Jew-Hatred
It was an astonishingly vile and aggressive coordinated attack against the Jewish group. The ADL was silent. JDCA was silent. The Democratic Party sided with the Squad. The Jewish community had been abandoned to the rise of the dominant left-of-center ideology according to which Jews are part of a white power structure of which Israel is a prime example.

Corbyn’s attempt to separate the Jews from the Jewish state in the UK failed miserably. But the Squad’s efforts to do the same here are not failing. And it’s not just in the halls of Congress. The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner suggested it would be a good tactic not to beat up Jews, as part of an overall strategy to undermine Israel’s legitimacy. (This after the New Yorker’s union put out a statement of solidarity with the Palestinians that included the phrase “from the river to the sea.”) Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times wrote a column with a headline so instantly infamous that the Times eventually and quietly changed it: “Attacks on Jews Over Israel Are a Gift to the Right.”

Meanwhile, the comedian Sarah Silverman objected to attacks on Jews in Los Angeles not on the grounds that they were evil acts of anti-Semitic violence but rather because “WE ARE NOT ISRAEL.” For his part, Kenneth Roth, the obsessively anti-Israel executive director of Human Rights Watch, declared, “It is WRONG to equate the Jewish people with the apartheid and deadly bombardment of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government.”

Throwing fellow Jews to the wolves is abominable moral behavior. Delicately excising the name and words of a chic Democratic politician from a list of anti-Semitic statements to protect her—or to protect the organization you run from her wrath—constitutes an act of complicity in the violence that ensued in whatever small measure from her remarks. And the man who was thus complicit—Jonathan Greenblatt—had the nerve to act surprised. The anti-Semitic street violence in America is “literally happening from coast to coast, and spreading like wildfire,” Greenblatt told the Times. “The sheer audacity of these attacks feels very different.”

It feels different because it feels so familiar. And if the American Jewish community is to survive, it must start acting like it. And we must start by cleaning our own corrupted house.
Liel Leibovitz: No, Jews Aren’t White
A modicum of immersion in Jewish life would save these Jews from the maws of their own obliviousness. But herein lies their second misfortune: Religion, to them, has become not the communal pursuit of study and practice, as it had been for Jews since at least Moses, but one more lifestyle decision among many. For the most part, the modern progressive Jew is Jewish the same way she’s vegan, say, or a socialist, or a fan of matcha lattes. Like nearly a third of American adults, she likely defines herself as spiritual but not religious, ignoring the fact that religion emerged in precisely the same way across cultures and continents precisely because humans realized that spiritual stirrings alone were meaningless unless tethered to the ground by rituals that had to be performed together with other people.

The young secular Jews who identify as white have none of that. As they are not likely to belong to a synagogue or a faith community, they practice their Judaism as they do their aversion to gluten, privately and sporadically, as the mood suits them. It’s much easier than accepting the yoke of obligations—from holding space with other Jews you may not like to performing practices, like keeping kosher, you may not fully understand—but it also offers far less protection against being swallowed by the tide of a hostile culture.

Which brings us to misfortune number three: Being all too human, progressive Jews are eager to belong to something. And because their own parents spent decades and hundreds of thousands of dollars telling them that the greatest good is to be found in the quad of an Ivy League school or the sparkling boardroom of a Fortune 100 company or any of the other temples of the all-American meritocracy, they are happy to pay any price to fit in among the swells.

If you grew up in a household where Shabbat candles were rarely if ever lit and no one bothered reading a page of Talmud, but where SAT scores were obsessed over and Penn and Princeton stickers, coffee mugs, and sweatshirts ordered as soon as those thick admission envelopes arrived in the mail, you would understandably pay any price to stay in the good graces of the priestly class that maintains these hallowed institutions. So if the priests demand that you identify as white and say a little prayer of repentance for your sins, well, isn’t that a small price to pay for the American dream?

That nothing good ever came to the Jews from groveling, that we survived—indeed, thrived—precisely because we refused to compromise our beliefs, is lost on these lost souls. In their airless world, nothing is true and nothing is permitted except for parroting the articles of faith passed down by those who hold power. Thankfully, as some Jews continue to torment themselves by trying to fit in with a milieu that will never accept them for who they are, most young Jews are traveling in the exact opposite direction. According to the latest Pew Survey, released earlier this year, only 3 percent of Jews 65 and older define themselves as observant, while among adults under 30, the number skyrockets to 17 percent. This means that many among the coming generation of American Jews have no use for obscene formulations like “Jews are white.” They have only one identity marker, the only one they ever had, the only one that matters: Jews are Jews.


Palestinians cancel deal for Israel to supply 1 million COVID vaccines
The Palestinian Authority on Friday evening dramatically announced that it was canceling a deal in which Israel would supply it with some 1 million Pfizer vaccine doses to help with its floundering coronavirus vaccination campaign.

The PA said the doses, which Israel began shipping to the West Bank on Friday, are too close to expiring, however, Israeli officials insisted they were fine and should not be wasted.

“The competent teams in the ministry found that the vaccines we received today from Israel did not meet the specifications, so the government decided to return them,” said PA Health Minister Mai al-Kaila.

PA government spokesman Ibrahim Milhim said that Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has ordered the cancelation of the agreement and the return of the vaccines to Israel. He said the Palestinians would not accept “about-to-expire” vaccines from Israel.

PA officials had come under heavy criticism on social media after the agreement was announced earlier Friday, with Palestinians accusing them of accepting subpar vaccines and suggesting they might not be effective.

There was no immediate official Israeli reaction to the cancellation, which came after it was Shabbat in Israel, but Army Radio quoted a Health Ministry official as expressing incredulity.

“We don’t know what they want, the vaccines are fine,” the official said.

The Ynet news site said the vaccinations transferred to the Palestinians on Friday were good until the end of June and July, with Israel deliberately sending those first so they would not be wasted. The rest of the vaccines have a later expiration date and were good for several months.
EU releases delayed report confirming incitement, anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks
The European Union released its delayed report on Palestinian textbooks on Thursday, confirming that Palestinian Authority textbooks contain anti-Semitism and incitement to violence.

“The report has been released after three declarations of the European parliament condemning anti-Semitism and hate in the P.A. curriculum, dozens of questions in parliaments around Europe and the E.U. sitting on the final version for months,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.

“While deeply flawed, it states what has been obvious to all for years: that the Palestinian Authority systematically incites over a million children to anti-Semitism, hate and violence every school day. The question remains: Will the E.U. finally take action to condition funding to the Palestinian authority on reforms to the curriculum as the European parliament has demanded?”

According to IMPACT-se, the report “confirms that anti-Semitism, glorification of terrorists and their acts, calls to jihad and martyrdom, negation of Israel’s existence and messages which exacerbate the conflict are present throughout the P.A. curriculum.” However, the watchdog group said that the E.U. report also has “serious shortcomings” in terms of how it presents its findings and what it missed.


David Harris: A Jewish Call to Action: Ten Ways to Fight Back
Seemingly overnight, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic incidents are being reported near and far. Many American Jews, who not so long ago thought these were threats faced by Jews elsewhere in the world but not here at home, are suddenly waking up to new realities.

From the halls of Congress to Silicon Valley, from high schools to universities, from Hollywood to labor unions, and from local town boards to globalized social media platforms, this has become a chilling version of Whack-a-Mole, where you don’t know the next source but do know it will rear its head — and with a vengeance.

One overarching question is how to respond. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but here are ten possibilities:

First, elected officials should be held accountable for how they react or fail to react when Israel is maligned, or Zionism is demonized, or Jews are threatened or, for that matter, when the IHRA working definition of antisemitism comes up as a proposal for adoption.

Politicians who seek support in every election cycle should understand that these are factors that matter to many of us. They should not be allowed to get away with practiced soundbites or glib phrases when they appear in front of, say, a synagogue, but then take a different stance elsewhere.

Case in point: In the 11 days of fighting last month triggered by Hamas-launched rockets at Israel, many political leaders stepped up to express their support and clear understanding of the story line. But others, including some who purport to be friends of the pro-Israel community, were missing in action or resorted to whispered comments for fear they could otherwise potentially jeopardize their careers. That should be unacceptable.
StandWithUs: Have you heard the latest antisemitic conspiracy theory?
WATCH: Anti-Israel extremists work hard to falsely blame Israel and Jewish groups for the horrific killing of George Floyd and other incidents of police brutality. Their lies and efforts to scapegoat don't just harm Jews. This campaign of hate distracts from real problems in society and makes it harder to solve them


Israel Advocacy Movement: CJ Werleman's latest blood libel

In Corporate America and Academia, Silence Speaks Volumes
But in corporate America and academia alike, the solidarity did not extend to the American Jewish community when it experienced a more recent surge of anti-Semitic attacks and violence in the wake of renewed Middle East violence. The sudden silence of corporate America is a striking contrast to the flood of corporate speech on hot-button political issues over the last year.

Among the Fortune 100, it is easier to count the companies that spoke up than those that stayed silent: Just two, Amerisource Bergen and Pfizer, issued statements about the rash of anti-Semitic violence that extended from New York City to Los Angeles in the wake of last month's conflagration between Israel and Hamas. Google acknowledged an "alarming increase in anti-Semitic attacks" after sheepishly reassigning a top member of its diversity team, Kamau Bobb, whose anti-Semitic writings the Free Beacon exposed.

Just 6 of the top 20 institutions of higher education issued statements about the attacks. Of those that did, some, like Columbia, offered a variation of the "All Lives Matter" trope, condemning "harassment … of people who are Jewish or Palestinian or anyone else." Others, like Yale University, saw faculty members voice support for "the Palestinian struggle as an indigenous liberation movement confronting a settler colonial state" while making no mention of anti-Semitism.

The anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism of the intersectional left have been largely ignored by a cultural and business elite eager to embrace the social justice movement—or inoculate itself from the movement's attacks.

But for Jews, the institutionalizing of this new anti-Semitism at schools and businesses across the country—complete with a bureaucracy of diversity officers like Google's house anti-Semite to enforce it—is a threat that cannot be ignored.
Israeli Container Ship Docks at Canadian Port After Temporarily Blocked by BDS Picketers
An Israeli container ship successfully unloaded its cargo at a Canadian port on Wednesday, two days after the vessel was prevented from docking by a group of protesters boycotting the Jewish state.

The Volans, owned by Israel-based ZIM Shipping Services, Ltd, was able to unload its cargo at Prince Rupert Port Authority in British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday night, according to the group B’nai Brith Canada.

A self-described “Block the Boat” protest group backing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement had on Monday temporarily stopped the ship from docking by picketing the terminal entrance.

Block the Boat had previously prevented the Volans from docking at the Port of Oakland on June 4, and has also staged protests and unsuccessful boycott efforts at ports in Vancouver, New York and elsewhere.

Based in the Israeli port city of Haifa, ZIM controls 1.5% of global container capacity.

B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn called Block the Boat demonstrations “deplorable” and antisemitic.

“These attempts to block Israeli shipping to Canada are deplorable and fortunately, so far unsuccessful,” he said, “In a clear case of antisemitism, extremists in various Western countries are targeting these vessels solely because they are linked to the Jewish State.”


Fashion Retailer Zara Condemns Comments Made by Jewish Head Designer About Israel-Palestinian Conflict
The retail company Zara denounced on Tuesday comments made by one of its head designers about the Israel-Palestinian conflict after the remarks resulted in social media users calling for a boycott of the Spanish fashion brand.

Vanessa Perilman, Zara’s head designer for its women’s department, who is Jewish, got into a heated conversation with Palestinian male model Qaher Harhash on Instagram over the latter’s support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel.

Harhash has accused the Jewish state of perpetrating apartheid and the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. On Thursday morning, the Jerusalem-born model claimed in his Instagram stories that the Israeli government “makes sure [Palestinians] never learn to speak Hebrew, so we could remain unemployed, in order for us to stay under the poverty-line … their whole country is built and continues to be built on our ethnic cleansing.”

On June 9, Perilman had written to Harhash on Instagram over direct message, saying, “Maybe if your people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza. Israelis don’t teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do.”

She also told the model, “The people in my industry know the truth about Israel and palestine and I will NEVER stop defending Israel and people like you come and go in the end.” Perilman later apologized for her comments in a series of messages to Harhash.

After the model posted screenshots of Perilman’s messages to his Instagram stories, social media users called for a boycott of Zara and demanded that the store fire the designer.


Ilhan Omar et al, the Democrats, and the Jews
The vulnerability of Jews, now defined as a race, has increased with the transformation of anti-Semitism into anti-Zionism. And, if it has not been obvious, neither the Holocaust nor the ethnic cleansing of Jews in the Muslim world has evoked sympathy for the maligned people.

While America was thought to be the last place where thugs would force their way into public places such as restaurants and call out Jews for collective punishment for policy decisions made by Jews in a foreign country thousands of miles away, that is patently no longer true.

Amid the absurdity of identity politics and intersectionality, collective guilt has become the norm. A white child born today in America is responsible for all the crimes, real and imagined, that white people have committed for centuries. This is the new and dangerous ideology, one as pernicious as the Nazi racial laws, for it is based on the same foundations—racism and collective guilt, and the right of the designated victim class to exact collective retribution.

And this brings us back to Omar’s portrayal of Jews as wicked, and being as mendacious and ruthless as Islamic terrorist groups, a statement walked back with a clumsy and absurd justification that is being embraced by the Democrat establishment. This gives them a patina of justification to placate Jewish Democrats, whose votes and money are needed, but whose security and respect are inconsequential.

Will Jews wake up to the dangers they face? It is doubtful, for American Jews believe, as did non-Aryan Catholics, that their status will protect them.

Jews who think their embrace of progressive politics and woke culture will protect them are in for a rude awakening.
Sarah Silverman wishes Ilhan Omar’s ‘Squad’ had a ‘progressive Jewess’
Would Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman join “the Squad,” the outspoken group of progressive House representatives that includes Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

Probably not, she said — but she wishes a “progressive Jewess” was part of the group.

On Tuesday, Omar posted a photo of the women of the Squad — the others are Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Cori Bush of Missouri — on Twitter. Another member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, was not pictured.

The next day, Silverman commented: Love this group!! You give me hope!” and added “Wish there was a progressive jewess in there … someday.” “You could run and join us,” Omar responded with a smiley face.

Silverman’s response: “[M]y skeletons have skeletons.”

Silverman campaigned for progressive flag-bearer Bernie Sanders during the Vermont senator’s two presidential runs and often comments about antisemitism on her self-titled podcast. In a recent episode she lamented what she sees as a lack of public figures standing up for Jews in the wake of antisemitic attacks triggered by the latest Israel-Gaza conflict.
Linda Sarsour to Convert to Judaism After Learning Women and Arabs Serve in Parliament, Supreme Court, and Just About Everywhere Else in Israel (satire)
Known for her advocacy on women’s rights, Linda Sarsour has become a major leader in the world of feminism, and not loving Jews as much as their mothers do.

However, earlier this week, Ms. Sarsour announced her plan to convert to Judaism. Sarsour told The Mideast Beast that she started thinking about her decision during the recent transition to the “government of change”. She originally began following Israeli politics on television in order to find criticism of the Jewish State, and also because it was either that or scroll through her Netflix ‘recommended list’ for hours and simply becoming overwhelmed with choice.

“I was just amazed at how many women serve as political leaders in Israel,” Sarsour commented. “And I’m pretty sure I spotted some Muslims in the back row. And who knew that Israel has had an Arab Supreme Court Justice? And Arabs are in the Israeli military and even heads of major banks and famous journalists? So, then it hit me that maybe I should give them a chance. Clearly there’s a load of Jews that hate Netanyahu as much as I do.”
Leadbeater’s Palestine Plea Letter in Batley & Spen
It looks like the pretence that Kim Leadbeater is running her Batley & Spen campaign on local issues has finally gone out the window. In a new letter forwarded to Guido today, the Labour candidate claims she will be “a strong voice for Palestinian human rights and statehood”, and promises to “use [her] voice in Parliament to speak out against the injustice of the Israeli occupation“. From Batley & Spen, for Gaza & the Golan Heights…

Sources tell Guido that Labour activists circulated the letter across the Mount Pleasant area this morning – which happens to have a predominantly-Muslim population. Hardly surprising: Leadbeater’s already posted campaign leaflets outlining her position on Palestine/Kashmir, and Starmer stood at the despatch box to essentially beg for votes on the same topic. When Keir said he wasn’t embarrassed to wave the flag, who knew it would be the Palestinian flag? The disaster in Chesham and Amersham won’t have done much to calm their nerves…
Maintaining Columbia University’s Ties to Israel
Yet we at Columbia have a responsibility to recognize the complexity of the region’s politics and avoid ideologically charged language that is designed to inflame passions on both sides of the conflict. The mission of a great university is to explore and debate complex questions. We are at our best when we evaluate competing arguments, hone in on the facts, recognize nuances, and seek the truth.

We are not writing this letter to endorse any one approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but to stand up for a vision of the university. We are members of an academic community at one of the world’s great research universities. Columbia institutionally and Columbia scholars individually carry out the university’s and our profession’s basic mission of teaching and research all over the world, in a wide variety of political environments. We do so because we believe that free academic practice is a force for good.

Individual members of our community are of course welcome to make their own choices about where and with whom they engage, but to make all academic activities conditional on the policies of the government of any country where they take place would be severely limiting for the University. To apply the condition only to Israel, a democratic nation, with growing ties to other governments in the region, where Columbia’s academic activities are open to Israelis and Palestinians, would represent an unacceptably selective application of this highly problematic principle.

Proposing disengagement from Israel, in rhetoric that harshly characterizes the Jewish national project, has consequences here in New York too. At a moment when violent hate crimes, often including antisemitic violence, have erupted across the world, including here, it is all the more important for Columbia to model an environment in which students feel free to air competing perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For all these reasons, we strongly affirm Columbia’s connection to Israel.

ADD YOUR NAME to the growing list of faculty members who value Columbia University's ties to Israel.
Kosher wines at Dan Murphy’s targeted
STICKERS calling to “Boycott Israeli Apartheid” have been discovered on a number of kosher wines made in Israel sold at a Dan Murphy’s store in Melbourne.

The discovery was made on Wednesday by a Jewish man in his 50s whose late grandparents were Holocaust survivors, shopping at a Dan Murphy store in East Brighton.

When the individual alerted staff, the stickers were immediately removed.

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich told The AJN on Thursday morning, “Members of the Jewish community cannot even go shopping without being assailed by a full-throated antisemitic movement.

“This dangerous action, reminiscent of the Nazi campaign of ‘Don’t Buy from Jews!’ must be forcefully condemned.

“Who would have thought that a liquor store in Melbourne would be hijacked by BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) advocates who are willing to use underhanded tactics, intimidation, and the vicious slur of apartheid to promote their warped cause?”

Stating that calls to boycott Israeli goods “creates a climate of incitement and hostility”, Abramovich added, “We call on Dan Murphy’s to be extra vigilant in ensuring that such incidents do not occur again.”
Social Work Schools Group Rejects Effort to Boycott Israel, Adopts Call for Peace in ‘Huge Loss’ for BDS
A leading group of social work schools adopted a resolution calling for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Monday, rejecting efforts from some members to endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, according to an education nonprofit.

Announced on Monday by International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) President Annamaria Campanini, the statement said, “In the recent Palestinian-Israeli Conflict we are appalled at the inordinate violence, loss of innocent civilian lives and the gross infringement on human rights to live peaceably. In solidarity with the people in Palestine and Israel who want peace, we support constructive ventures of social work and social development in Palestine and Israel.”

The group said it would support social development in the region and “engage social work educators in Palestine and Israel to take action towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

Outlining its approach, IASSW said its efforts would “ideally be grounds up involving consultation and participation of Palestinian and Israeli colleagues, separately or jointly.”

The statement came after IASSW members had called for the group to ban Israeli academia and condemn the Jewish state for alleged crimes against humanity, according to Miriam Elman, Director of the Academic Engagement Network, a nonprofit organization that promotes education and research about Israel.
Parent Group Calls On Teachers’ Union Head To Denounce Anti-Semitic Statements
Parents Defending Education’s letter urges Weingarten to denounce the California unions for their anti-Semitic statements. The signatories recommend that the American Federation of Teachers develop training to confront anti-Semitism within its ranks and work with the California affiliates to "repair the damage" caused by their statements.

On June 14, Weingarten wrote to the Anti-Defamation League that the American Federation of Teachers has "long fought to eradicate antisemitism." She did not comment on the unions’ endorsement of sanctions against Israel, saying only that teachers have the "democratic right" to chastise "governments we consider to be violating people’s rights."

Nicole Neily, president and founder of Parents Defending Education, said Weingarten’s dismissal of anti-Semitism as diversity of opinion "speaks volumes."

"The fact that Ms. Weingarten cannot bring herself to acknowledge anti-Semitism in her union, referring to the embrace of [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] and anti-Semitic rhetoric as differences or questions of policy speaks volumes," Neily told the Washington Free Beacon. "It’s a vivid illustration of the saying, ‘A fish rots from the head.’ Discrimination has no place in America’s schools."

The American Federation of Teachers has not responded to the letter as of this writing.

Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, questioned why teachers' union leaders are spending time lobbing anti-Semitic statements instead of working on fixing the American education system.

"No wonder the number of children being homeschooled has doubled over the last year and a half," said Schilling, whose organization also signed onto the letter. "Not only are the teachers' unions bankrupting us, they are destroying the next generation of Americans. They must be held accountable."
BLM-BDS Bigotry Not New at UCLA
“Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, will deliver the 2021 Commencement address for the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs,” the prestigious UC campus announced back on March 30. According to UCLA dean Gary Segura, “Patrisse Cullors is at the heart — and the foundation — of a movement for human rights, social change and genuine equality under the law.” So Patrisse Cullors “is the ideal person to deliver a message of mission to our 2021 graduates.”

What Cullors told the graduates in her June 11 virtual address is hard to find. On the other hand, the Black Lives Matter co-founder drew attention for her 2015 statement at Harvard Law School that “Palestine is our generation’s South Africa, and if we don’t step up boldly and courageously to end the imperialist project that’s called Israel, we’re doomed.” As it happens, a call to abolish the state of Israel is not out of step for UCLA.

Under “Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” Jerry Kang, UCLA became a safe haven for Jew-hatred. Groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) enjoyed free reign – and even encouragement – by faculty and administrators. The strongest response to this hatred came not from within UCLA but from “outside provocateur” David Horowitz.

Posters reading “Students for Justice in Palestine” and “#Jew Haters” began appearing at UCLA. Horowitz called on UCLA to remove campus privileges and funding of SJP because they are a hate group and as such violated UCLA’s “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance.” On April 19, 2016, Jerry Kang responded with a letter to the entire UCLA community.

“Back in November 2015,” Kang wrote, “someone put up hostile posters accusing two student organizations – the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – of being murderers and terrorists.” These were posted anonymously but “an outside provocateur named David Horowitz eventually took credit.” This harkened back to the days when reactionary administrators blamed “outside agitators” for activism they didn’t like.


BBC portrayals of Israel’s new government omit Muslim and Druze ministers
However, readers are not informed that Issawi Frej of Meretz has been appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation, that Druze MK Hamad Amar of what the BBC dubs “the right-wing nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu” has been appointed as a minister in the finance ministry or that Mansour Abbas of Ra’am has been appointed Deputy Minister of Arab Affairs in the Prime Minister’s office and deputy speaker of the Knesset.

Less than two months ago the BBC chose to uncritically amplify Human Rights Watch’s ‘apartheid’ smears concerning Israel on more than one of its platforms and that baseless trope is mainstreamed disturbingly often in BBC content.

That makes the fact that in all three of those ‘permanent public record’ BBC News website reports about Israel’s new government, no effort was made to inform audiences of the fact that it includes Muslim and Druze ministers and deputy ministers (or that six of the parties currently represented in the Knesset also include Muslim, Christian and/or Druze MKs) all the more noteworthy and worrying.


Melbourne ultra-Orthodox school vandalized with 'Free Palestine' graffiti
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in the city of Melbourne was defaced with graffiti on Friday, prompting outrage from the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), an Australian civil rights organization.

Parents discovered the graffiti when dropping their children off at Cheder Levi Yitzchok school, where they found the call 'Free Palestine" sprayed on the school's driveway.

Parents reported the graffiti to the ADC, who then proceeded to inform the Port Philip City Council in order to have it removed from the driveway.

The ADC also reported the graffiti to the Victoria police.

“What is happening here in Melbourne? Let’s be clear: to attack a Jewish institution in order to express a hatred against the state Israel is antisemitism pure and simple, and these extremists have torn up the rule book of decency and are now targeting Jewish schools with their vicious propaganda and calls to destroy Israel. Their desire to threaten the Jewish community and sow fear knows no bounds and this is a matter of grave concern. Incitement can lead to violence," said Chairman of the ADC Dvir Abramovich in response to the graffiti.
Ku Klux Klan Fanatics Distribute Antisemitic, Homophobic Flyers Targeting School Board in Virginia
Police in Virginia are investigating a series of violently antisemitic and homophobic flyers targeting a local school board that were distributed by a white supremacist group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Flyers denouncing the school board in Fairfax, Va., as “Jew-inspired, communist, qu*er-loving sex fiends violating the words of the Holy Bible” were discovered on Wednesday, ahead of the board’s meeting on Thursday night. The flyers carried the insignia of the “Loyal White Knights,” one of several groups around the country that compose the organized KKK movement, along with the warning that “Yahweh is Watching!”

Members of the school board spoke out about the flyers during their meeting on Thursday night, local news outlet WTOP reported.

“Those messages were targeted to all of us up here on this dais,” Springfield District representative Laura Jane Cohen said. “No matter where we come from, no matter what we look like, the hate was equally distributed to every one of us up here tonight.”

In a statement, Guila Franklin Siegel — associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington — noted “the particular insidiousness of targeting a district that is represented by a Jewish school board member who has been subjected to antisemitic rhetoric on previous occasions.”

“Our leaders should not have to endure threats of this kind and such virulent hate has no place in our community,” Siegel continued.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the “Loyal White Knights” (LWK) is based in Pelham, North Carolina, and is “the largest and the most active Klan group in the country with approximately 100 members.”
SHOCKING ROAD RAGE: Jewish Man Assaulted, Causing Three Car Crash In Crown Heights
A Jewish man was viciously attacked in a road rage incident Wednesday night on a Crown Heights street, causing a chain reaction that led to a three-car crash.

The incident began on East New York Ave by the intersection of Albany Ave around 11:00pm Wednsday night, when a black male driving a dark blue 2006 Honda Odyssey rear-ended a Jewish man driving a minivan. Inexplicably, the black male jumped out of his vehicle and approached the Jewish driver, opening up the driver side door and viciously punching the Jewish man in the face.

A bochur leaving the bodega on the corner witnessed the assault, running over just in time to push the assailant off the Jewish victim as he was attempting to grab something from the victim’s pocket, according to video from the incident.

After a short tussle, the assailant ran back to his vehicle and grabbed something from inside, according to the witness.

Fearing a gun, the bocher began weaving in and out of cars as the black male pursued him. The assailant eventually gave up and jumped back into his car before peeling off.

The Jewish victim, still dazed from being punched, had jumped back into his own vehicle and attempted to escape, crashing his van into two other cars in front of the Razag Ballroom.

Shomrim and 911 was called, and a police investigation is underway.
German Army Chiefs Tried to Cover Up Scandal of Hitler Songs, Antisemitic Chants at Soldiers’ Party in Lithuanian Hotel, Newspaper Claims
German defense officials tried to cover up an internal scandal involving antisemitic and far right provocations that is currently rocking the country’s armed forces, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper has alleged.

On Wednesday, a furious Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany’s Defense Minister, confirmed that an entire infantry platoon of 30 soldiers had been withdrawn from Lithuania, where they had been serving with a NATO mission to the Baltic republic. A party organized by the soldiers at a provincial hotel had featured antisemitic and racist songs, including a birthday tribute to Adolf Hitler, later degenerating into reports of violence and drunken sexual assaults.

“The misconduct of some soldiers in Lithuania is a slap in the face of all those who serve the security of our country day after day in the Bundeswehr,” Kramp-Karrenbauer declared on Twitter. Any soldiers found guilty would be “punished with the utmost severity,” she said.

According to the SZ, however, army chiefs initially tried to prevent the scandal from being publicized. While the party took place on April 30, the incident was not officially reported until June 8, the paper said on Wednesday. “According to SZ’s sources, the defense ministry is now investigating indications that superiors tried to settle the incident ‘internally,’ i.e. outside the reporting channel,” it said.

The same paper quoted “top defense ministry officials” acknowledging that the party was not a “singular event,” and that the same platoon had previously attracted concern over its antisemitic and extremist tendencies.


Radios and night vision: Elbit closes more deals with US, Swedish armies
Elbit Systems Ltd. has announced two major new contracts with the US and Swedish armies, via its German and US subsidiaries.

Elbit Systems' German subsidiary has been awarded an approximately $23 million follow-on contract by the Swedish Defence Material Administration ("FMV") for the supply of additional Software Defined Radios for the Swedish Armed Forces. The contract will be performed over a period of 30 months.

Elbit Systems will now supply additional E-Lyn SDR vehicular dual channel configurations, as well as vehicular configurations in full duplex multi-channel technology, as part of Sweden's tactical radio upgrade program.

The E-LynX family of SDR is designed in an open architecture approach, featuring unique waveforms and enabling the adoption of European and NATO waveforms. The E-LynX SDR solution was selected by several Armed Forces across Europe including Switzerland, Spain and other NATO countries.

Haim Delmar, General Manager of Elbit Systems C4I & Cyber, said: "We appreciate the trust placed in our digital communication capabilities by the Swedish Armed Forces, attesting to the technological quality and credibility of our solution. Sweden is an important market for Elbit Systems, and we hope to continue in growing our activities in Sweden."

Meanwhile, Elbit Systems of America has been two orders with an aggregate value of approximately $29 million by the US Army's Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier under an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract issued in 2020. The orders will be executed from the Elbit Systems of America facility in Roanoke, Virginia with deliveries through September 2021.
Israeli camouflage tech makes soldiers ‘invisible’
Israeli survivability products company Polaris Solutions has developed a camouflage technology that renders soldiers on the battlefield virtually undetectable.

In cooperation with the Defense Ministry, the company recently unveiled Kit 300, an innovative camouflage sheet made out of a material that provides multispectral concealment.

According to Polaris Solutions, nothing else like its camouflage sheet exists on the market today.

“As far as we know, or as far as we saw in other armies around the world, we are very unique,” Asaf Picciotto, co-founder and CEO of Polaris Solutions, told The Media Line. “To establish that, we actually registered a patent on it in many countries around the world.”

The lightweight sheet is made out of a special thermal visual concealment (TVC) material, comprised of metals, polymers and microfibers. Thanks to TVC, soldiers are much more difficult to see both with the naked eye and with thermal imaging equipment. Thus, it can be used for counter-surveillance in a wide variety of military scenarios.
Getting serious for a change, Jon Lovitz reflects on childhood, faith and Israel
He credits much of his insight to a 1978 trip to the Jewish state he took when he was 20 with his friend David Kudrow (actress Lisa Kudrow’s brother), that they added onto a backtracking trip across Europe.

After landing at Ben Gurion Airport, Lovitz called home. He told his father he was in Israel and wanted to connect with relatives in Tel Aviv — whom neither he nor his father had ever met. When he phoned the relatives, the man on the other end of the line immediately asked for his location and told Lovitz that he’d pick him up.

The problem, Lovitz said, was that neither knew what the other looked like.

“Cars would stop, and people would get out, and my friend David would go, ‘Is that him?’ and I would go, ‘No.’ Anyway about 20 minutes later a guy gets out of his car looking around, I look at David, and I go, ‘That’s him,’” said Lovitz.

Not only did the driver resemble Lovitz’s father and uncle, he looked like a photograph of Lovitz’s great-grandmother that hung in the hallway of Lovitz’s childhood home. The man, who was Lovitz’s father’s first cousin, then introduced Lovitz to a 75-year-old woman who was waiting to see the young American. Family members explained the connection: When the woman was 4 years old, her brother, Feivel Ianculovici, left Romania for the United States. Now, more than 65 years later, her brother’s grandson was seated before her.

The woman didn’t speak English and Lovitz didn’t speak Hebrew, but at that moment “she looked at me, and held my face and started crying, and I started crying,” said Lovitz. “It was so emotional.”

The trip was formative, he said.

“I remember getting off the plane, and of course I’d never been there, and I just felt like I belonged,” he said. “I kissed the ground at the airport. I just did it and then I went and prayed at the Wailing Wall, and I’m not religious, but I did. I got this rush of energy, it was amazing.”

Decades have passed since Lovitz’s trip. Since then he’s gone on to play “Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar,” “Master Thespian” and “Hanukkah Harry” on SNL and appear in movies, including “A League of Their Own,” “Coneheads,” “The Wedding Singer” and “Rat Race.” His long list of television credits include “Seinfeld,” “The Critic,” “Friends” and “The Simpsons.”

He remains focused on his career but at this moment he is cognizant of his place within Jewish history and his relationship to Israel.

“This whole generation of people that are Jewish and are ‘anti-,’ they don’t know what’s going on and it’s a problem,” he said. “Do I really know what’s going on there? No, but neither does anybody in America. You have to go there and find out to see what’s really going on.”









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