Friday, July 02, 2021
David Harris: Ilhan Omar Has a Problem With Jews
It's high time to address Rep. Omar's pattern of offensive commentary. Her party also needs to address Omar's selective outrage when it comes to her repeated assertions of moral authority. When the House of Representatives overwhelmingly adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which resulted in the systematic murder of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkey a century ago, Omar opted out by voting "present." In other words, she was unwilling to acknowledge one of the greatest human tragedies of the 20th century.Jonathan Tobin: Why are liberal Jews still covering for Ilhan Omar?
Why? Well, it seems, she has a soft spot for Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which also may explain why she refused to join the vast majority of her congressional colleagues in condemning the Turkish leader's consistently egregious human rights violations.
And she's not exactly been outspoken, to say the least, when it comes to the decade-long tragedy in Syria, in which hundreds of thousands have been slain and millions exiled, or in Iran, where dissidents, gays, religious minorities, and feminists have been dealt with harshly on a daily basis.
But there's one final irony to the Omar story. While she rails against those Jews in Congress as failing to be "partners in justice," it's actually Jews, both past and present, who have been among the most vocal and consistent supporters of some of the issues she claims top her list.
In fact, but for a Jewish House member from New York named Emanuel Celler, people like Omar and her family might not have even been admitted to the United States. As Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Celler spent literally decades seeking to overturn America's exclusionary and racist immigration policy. The Hart-Celler Immigration Act of 1965, supported by organizations like American Jewish Committee, did just that.
Had it not passed, it would have been possible that a refugee family from Somalia or anywhere else in Africa might not have been given a new start in America, much less the life-changing chance to be elected a member of Congress only 23 years after her arrival in this country.
There should be clear-cut consequences for any member of Congress, of either party, responsible for a growing list of unambiguously bigoted comments. In the case of Congresswoman Omar, will there be?
For example, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism who had nothing to say about Omar's attacks on Israel and Jews. But he actually endorsed Omar's attempt to co-opt Jewish history in her defense with a fawning tweet: "Thank you Rep. Omar for lifting up this history. We need our communities standing together in the fight for justice and against antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry," he wrote.
With the leader of the political arm of the largest Jewish denomination in America behind her, Haaretz was right to claim in a headline that, "Jewish Democrats Back Ilhan Omar."
Nor was the RAC alone. Two Jewish members of the House Democratic caucus, Representatives Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and David Cicillone (D-RI) also spoke up in her defense with the latter claiming all the fuss was the work of "right-wingers" who were "trying to create a controversy where there is none." Halie Soifer, the head of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which has recently signaled that its mission is to advocate for both Israel and "Palestinian rights" amid the Hamas attacks on the Jewish state also "strongly welcomed" Omar's comments.
It should be remembered that the majority of House Jewish Democrats chose to be silent or actually support Omar rather than join with those who condemned her comparison of Israel to a terrorist group.
It isn't only progressives who seek to cozy up to anti-Semites. This past week, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was called out for planning to host a fundraiser with alt-right anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who has previously been shunned by mainstream conservatives. Like Omar when she was asked about her "Benjamins" slur, Gosar claimed ignorance of who he was dealing with. But the point here is that Jewish Republicans were quick to condemn Gosar rather than support him.
By contrast, progressives are blinded both by their partisan aversion to taking on their ideological allies like Omar, but also often effectively silenced by her status as a woman of color. The Jewish left has bought into the toxic myths of critical race theory and intersectionality and are so conscious of having "white privilege" to the point where they are simply incapable of realizing the connection between leftists and attacks on Jews and Israel.
That inability to spurn anyone, no matter how egregious their behavior, who can fit into a race category that denotes "oppressed status," acts as a permission slip for Jew-hatred that Omar is happy to accept. That Omar is effectively given a pass by the media establishment (including Jews like Tapper, who failed to challenge her attack on Jews in his interview with her) is bad enough. But that progressive Jews are still lining up with her tells you everything you need to know about the partisan sickness and ideological madness that is doing such terrible damage to the country's political culture.
Alan M. Dershowitz: Recent Petitions Singling Out Israel for Condemnation Are Anti-Semitic
The bigots who promote these petitions, and the useful idiots who sign them, cannot possibly be motivated by a concern for universal human rights. If they were, they would focus on nations with really horrendous human rights records, such as Iran, which hangs gays, China, which imprisons Muslim dissidents, Russia, which murders dissenters, Saudi Arabia, which oppresses women, Syria, which gases its own people, as well as Palestinians, and many other nations that face no external threats.
Israel, on the other hand, faces existential threats, and acts in self-defense. It does more to protect innocent civilians than any country faced with comparable threats. Yet it is the only country that is subject to petitions by teachers unions, faculty senates, student bodies, and other groups....
"Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest." — Thomas L. Friedman.
There is an old joke about a Hitler rally in which the Fuhrer shouts out a rhetorical question: "Who is to blame for all of Germany's evils?" And before the crowd can shout "the Jews," a man in the front row screams out: "The bicycle riders." Hitler stops and turns to the man and asks him, "Why the bicycle riders?" To which the man responds, "Why the Jews?" .... There is no good response.
Therefore, let us stop pretending that these hateful, one sided and mendacious petitions are anything but what they are: anti-Semitic bigotry, pure and simple. History will judge the bigots behind them harshly. So should all decent people today.
Chabad rabbi stabbed and wounded in attack outside Boston Jewish center
A Chabad rabbi was attacked and stabbed multiple times outside a Jewish center in Boston on Thursday in an apparent antisemitic attack. He was hospitalized in stable condition.The IDF Arrives in Surfside
Rabbi Shlomo Noginski was attacked while outside Shaloh House, a Chabad institute for Russian-speaking Jews in the Brighton neighborhood, Chabad.org reported.
The report said a man approached Noginski, who was outside talking on his phone. He drew a gun and told Noginski to take him to his car. When he tried to force him inside, Noginski tried to flee and the man stabbed him repeatedly.
Rabbi Dan Rodkin, the executive director of the Shaloh House, said Noginski was stabbed eight times.
A Boston Police Department spokesperson said the victim was stabbed outside the building that houses the school and synagogue on Chestnut Hill Street in Brighton at 1:19 p.m.
The attacker was apprehended by police, who later identified him as Khaled Awad, 24. He has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer.
The need to establish some basic certainty in the midst of a ceaseless horror extends beyond the families. Much of the community feels that need, and felt it from the moment they heard the news of the tower’s collapse. For many, the answer to uncertainty was action. At 2:30am last Thursday, about 80 minutes after the disaster, Zushie Litkowski and Svia Bension, both in their mid-30s, were already on the phone with a third friend, Efraim Stefansky, planning a relief fund, which launched about an hour later. The effort now has the support of Hatzalah of South Florida and The Shul, and its total now stands at over $1.3 million. On Wednesday, Bension was helping to coordinate a team that has grown to 250 volunteers, who are delivering items and sorting through donations. Both Bension and Litkowski say they’ve gotten two to three hours of sleep each night since the collapse. “More and more volunteers started to come in,” Bension recalled of the early hours of the crisis. “Someone asked, are you in charge? I said yeah, sure, why not.”
Bension served for six years as an officer in Magav, the IDF’s border patrol unit, where she spent time as a SWAT team squad leader. She moved to Florida from New York last November. Israelis are unavoidable on the north end of Miami Beach, which would be the case if United Hatzalah, Magen David Adom, and the IDF had never traveled here. At the Bal Harbour Publix, a man shouted into a phone in Hebrew while he loaded ice into a golf cart; at the media tent, someone in a Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue uniform conversed with officers from the IDF team in the visitors’ native tongue. One of the leaders of Yedidim, a volunteer group that has been ubiquitous across Surfside, is an Israeli who arrived in Florida 18 years ago.
“The Israelis are bringing their Israeliness,” Elbaz-Starinsky said of the teams that had arrived in Miami. But the Israelis have been bringing their Israeliness to Miami for a while now. This week, Surfside and Bal Harbor have been an image of a Jewish world where the psychic distances were getting shorter and where Israel and the diaspora were direct extensions of each other rather than opposite poles, for reasons running far deeper than the political or religious climate in either context. Perhaps that would have been the case even if the tower were still standing, and the local Israeli-Americans hadn’t needed to snap into crisis mode, a condition that their native country had mastered through hard necessity.
The IDF is expected to stay in Florida through the middle of next week. No one can predict how long it will take to clear the rubble at the Champlain Towers. Residents speculate darkly about a weeks-long process, or about funerals being held every day for a month. Donated items are being moved out of The Shul, both because the synagogue’s day camp for children started this week and because the space will likely have to be used for shiva calls, though no one knows when those will begin.
It is the unknowing that still marks this tragedy, just as it did a week ago. Sandhaus recalled that during one of the family visits to the site, a relative of the missing came up to him and asked, “‘Be honest: Will I have something, anything to bury—a finger, anything?’ I did not know what to say.” Then a dog on the pile started barking. “I said, these dogs only bark when they sniff something. That’s your answer. It gave him comfort to know there’s hope. All he wanted was something to be able to bury.”
The worst possible form of closure constitutes hope in Surfside now, where 147 people remain unaccounted for, but the power of having a definite answer—along with the certainty of some basic final solace—should never be underestimated. Moments before I spoke with Rabbi Harlig, who wore a badge identifying himself as a police chaplain, a man approached him and another officer, and “opened a yellow envelope, and took out a picture of him and his son,” Harlig recalled. “He said, ‘I want to let you know that my son was in the building. And yesterday they notified me that they found my son. And he gives us a hug and says: Thank you so much for bringing back my son so that I could bury him.’”
If you want to know how much the @IDF values and respects life, watch how IDF Col. Golan Vach speaks about the rescue operation in #Miami
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) July 2, 2021
THANK YOU to these heroes who have worked around the clock after tremendous tragedy.
???? ???? America, Israel will always have your back pic.twitter.com/eh1YG5UO2z
These are the Jewish victims of the Surfside building collapse
The Champlain Towers South building collapse is a national tragedy, one that has claimed nearly 20 lives so far and left over 140 still missing in the rubble as of Thursday.David Collier: Reject Antisemitism – an open letter to all the Lancaster City Councillors
Among other groups, it struck a unique nexus of the American Jewish community in South Florida, home to a mix of Latin American immigrants, Israelis and retirees from the Northeast. The town of Surfside, the site of the collapse, is at least a third Jewish, with a large Orthodox population.
Several of the victims identified were part of this Jewish community. We’ve gathered information here on those we could confirm as Jewish.
Unfortunately, this list may grow as the days pass and more bodies are found.
To the Lancaster City CouncillorsGoogle Backs Diversity Team Member Who Smeared Israel
This letter is about the anti-Israel motion you recently passed. I have seen the motion, read the minutes and watched the video of the ‘debate’. I wish to keep this letter short, and there are far too many issues to address – so I will just stick to several key points.
Having watched the video, it is quite clear that you were lied to. The successful vote was the consequence of people not having sufficient knowledge to counter the lies that were spread at the meeting.
It was quite disturbing viewing. The proposer admitted he knew nothing about pensions. He also said he had no idea about BDS ties to terrorist groups. He even added that he did not understand the international law upon which he based his entire argument. Yet despite these admissions and the clear ignorance of the person who brought the motion to the table – 39 out of 50 of you still chose to vote in favour of his motion or abstain. This alone should send shudders down the spines of every single person you represent.
I have to be completely honest, it is not easy writing this to you and remaining calm. What you did was slap the Jewish community around the face. This isn’t about peace – it is a divisive move that strengthens only those that seek conflict. You were even told that it was antisemitic. You didn’t care – you went ahead and voted for it anyway. Knowing what I do about the conflict, rising antisemitism and the extremists behind BDS – seeing a Council in the UK vote with such ignorance – for something so toxic – even as convoys of ‘BDS supporters’ call for the rape and murder of Jews on our streets – explains perfectly why British Jews are right to feel so uneasy.
Over the past several weeks, Google has grappled with a series of events that have elicited frustration from Jewish employees. The Free Beacon reported in June on the anti-Semitic remarks of a senior member of Google's diversity team, Kamau Bobb, who argued in a 2007 blog post that Jews have "an insatiable appetite for war." The company said little in the wake of the incident and transferred Bobb to a different team. Google's HR department also okayed an employee's use on an internal company profile of the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," which promotes the eradication of Israel, as the Free Beacon reported last week.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a global anti-Semitism watchdog group, launched an online ad campaign in June criticizing Google for its "failure to address anti-Semitism in its workplace."
In internal Google correspondence obtained by the Free Beacon, O'Beirne slammed the United States as an "imperial, colonial nation-state" and denounced the "Israeli military and their process of state-sanctioned violence" in the post. She also encouraged staffers to read a book called Apartheid Israel, which accused Israel of engaging in South Africa-style apartheid.
"If you dispute that there is a settler-colonial apartheid happening in Israel & Palestine, please read any of these books (in particular: Apartheid Israel)," wrote O'Beirne.
O'Beirne urged other Google employees to "upvote" a post submitted by another staffer on Dory. The post asked Google's leadership to address "state-sponsored violence in Palestine and Israel" during a weekly meeting in which company executives field questions from employees that receive the most "upvotes."
"What is our plan, comms approach to humanitarian crisis in Palestine following air strikes, disproportionate loss of Palestinian life?" wrote the staffer.
A spokesman for Google declined to comment. O'Beirne did not respond to a request for comment.
I will never stop speaking out and fighting against antisemitism. Thank you for this! ?????? ???? https://t.co/EX6eNkZsLr
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 2, 2021
NYPD Footage Shows Three Suspected of Tagging Goldman Sachs, Verizon Buildings With Israeli Flag Bearing Swastika
New York police are seeking three people seen tagging Goldman Sachs and Verizon office buildings with stickers depicting a swastika on the Israeli flag, according to the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.Antisemitism Comes to NYC Public Schools
On Friday, the Task Force tweeted footage of the three suspects, who it said were observed on June 24 tagging several buildings in Lower Manhattan with the antisemitic stickers.On 6/24/21, at approx. 10:38 PM three individuals were observed affixing multiple stickers, depicting a swastika on an Israeli flag, onto buildings in the vicinity of 200 and 400 West St. @NYPD1Pct. Info? ☎️1-800-577-TIPS. @NYPDShea @NYPDDetectives
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) July 2, 2021
@simonwiesenthal @ADL_NYNJ pic.twitter.com/ATi38zPjai
The buildings tagged included Goldman Sachs’ headquarters and the Verizon Building, both on West Street, according to the New York Post.
In recent weeks, banners or images of the Israeli flag branded with a Nazi swastika instead of the Star of David have been seen in London, Paris and Sydney.
In June, one such banner also depicting former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache was removed from outside a New Jersey tobacco store, following local complaints.
A group of New York City public school teachers sent a clear message at the end of the school year — their classrooms are no longer a welcoming or safe space for Jewish students.CUNY Law School Dean Defends ‘Free Speech Rights’ of Pro-Palestinian Activist at Center of IDF Sweatshirt Row
This group, called “New York City Educators for Palestine,” released a letter that outlines a series of disturbing and hateful views on Israel.
Without context, the letter declares that Israel killed 212 Palestinians last month. The letter fails to mention how many of those killed were Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) combatants, as opposed to civilians.
It also omits the fact that multiple casualties were caused by the 680 failed rockets fired by Palestinian militants that fell short and killed Gazans. There is no mention of the terrorist organization Hamas at all, nor the 4,300 rockets fired at Israeli civilians over the course of less than two weeks.
These educators claim they want to help their students understand the world — but their letter does just the opposite. Their one-sided framing of last month’s Israel-Hamas escalation does a tremendous disservice to anyone who reads it, including NYC public school students. Misrepresenting the conflict in this way not only tips their hand as dishonest educators, but also makes it clear that Jewish students are not safe in their classrooms.
As New York witnesses skyrocketing antisemitic crime rates, a letter pushing the formal adoption of a position that accuses Israel of terrorism, Zionist censorship, and ethnic cleansing — all talking points used in the targeted harassment of and violent attacks on Jews — is intolerable and dangerous.
The Dean of the City University of New York School of Law spoke out on Wednesday to defend the “free speech rights” of Nerdeen Kiswani, a student and pro-Palestinian activist who has previously drawn controversy over a video in which she appeared to threaten to set fire to a man wearing an IDF sweatshirt.Disgraced Bristol University professor David Miller accused of using £400,000 research grant to further research on “British Zionist scene”
In a statement, Interim Dean and Professor Eduardo R.C. Capulong said school officials “have found no cause to discipline” Nerdeen Kiswani, a law student who founded the NYC-based Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime.
“‘Criticism of Israel is protected speech’ and should not be tarred as antisemitic,” Capulong said, citing a 2016 report by the CUNY Board of Trustees. “The Law School supports the free speech rights of Nerdeen Kiswani, other Palestinian students, and their Jewish and non-Jewish allies, who have been vilified for their activism.”
“CUNY Law is a diverse community with differing political beliefs,” he continued. “But we are united in opposing all forms of racism, including anti-Palestinianism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia; we condemn anti-Palestinian, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and other racist violence; we recognize and respect one another’s right to be a part of our community; and we have found no cause to discipline Ms. Kiswani, who remains in good standing with our institution.”
In September, a video emerged online appearing to show Kiswani holding a flaming lighter near the stomach of a man wearing a sweatshirt displaying the logo of the Israeli military, and saying “I hate your shirt. I’m gonna set it on fire. I’m serious!”
The circumstances of the film, including the identity of the man and whether the video was in fact genuine, were unclear.
The school initially condemned the incident, saying, “CUNY School of Law stands against hate and antisemitism.”
Disgraced Bristol University professor David Miller has been accused of using a research grant of £401,552 to further his research on the “British Zionist scene.”Fighting Public School Teachers Who Attack Jews and Israel
It was reported that between 2013 and 2016, Prof. Miller used this funding to produce a paper called “The Israel Lobby and the European Union”, in which he accused Israel “lobby groups” of coercing politicians and the public into looking favourably upon Israel.
He was also said to have made a map of the “British Zionist scene”, where he attempted to draw a link between the Israeli Government and pro-Zionist groups to political parties in Britain, and in an article that was based on his own research, Prof. Miller stated that the “Zionist movement” was one of the “five pillars of Islamophobia.”
Prof. Miller, a Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol, is a conspiracy theorist with a history of controversy relating to Jewish students. In his latest outburst, which is being investigated by the University and the police, he asserted that “Zionism is racism”, declared his objective “to end Zionism as a functioning ideology of the world” and accused the Bristol University Jewish Society of being part of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy, adding that it is “fundamental to Zionism to encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”. At the same online event, Prof. Miller also observed that the Jewish Society and the Union of Jewish Students are Zionist, thereby implying that Jewish students (and the wider Jewish community) inherently “encourage Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism”.
He also portrayed the International Definition of Antisemitism as an attack on free speech and accused the Israeli Government of engaging in an “all-out attack” on the global Left as part of an “attempt by the Israelis to impose their will all over the world”. In comments reminiscent of the darkest years of the United Nations, Prof. Miller insisted that “Zionism is racism” and asked how “we defeat the ideology of Zionism in practice”, “how is Zionism ended” and about the way “to end Zionism as a functioning ideology of the world”.
In our topsy-turvy world, teachers are now bullying students — if they’re Jewish or like Israel.
The Seattle Education Association (SEA) recently passed a resolution endorsing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel, and perpetuating the “Deadly Exchange” Lie — i.e., that the IDF is supposedly coaching the Seattle police and others in the aggressive policing techniques that killed George Floyd.
Tellingly, the triumphant SEA press release tweeted out on June 14, was misspelled, saying “The resolution endoreses [sic] the Palestinian call to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel.”
The mistake says it all: if, as its website claims, SEA truly was #CommittedToOurSchools, wouldn’t the leadership focus on getting the facts right, getting the spelling right, and representing all teachers and students equally rather than alienating the Jews and non-Jews who support the Jewish state?
I take this issue personally because I grew up in a teachers’ union’s warm embrace. I know how much good they can do. Both my parents were teachers. What they lacked in disposable income, they made up for in job security and union health benefits. We could go to top eye doctors and physicians, because the UFT — the United Federation of Teachers — was behind us. Had the union distracted itself with delegitimizing Israel or other offensive crusades, my brothers and I might not have had the basic services my parents could not otherwise afford.
Inspired by Soviet antizionism, which was based on Nazi antisemitism: https://t.co/1p2Z9oGX4g pic.twitter.com/OBT2WLcz69
— Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) July 1, 2021
With #antisemitism exploding across the United States, I hope many people, especially non-Jews, will come out in solidarity with the Jewish community, at this #NoFearRally in Washington D.C. on 11th July. pic.twitter.com/2dxs8bv2Wm
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) July 2, 2021
Another superficial BBC report on Gaza fishing
That fisherman is presented only as Rajab and it is hence impossible to verify or put into context his claim of having been shot in the eye with a rubber bullet by Israeli naval forces.Gangsters vs. Nazis
Bateman: “We’re leaving the harbour now. But for these guys, they’re not like any other fishermen. What they’re heading to is a military zone. It’s effectively like a front line for them. Israel imposes a limit on how far they can go out. Beyond that point they risk arrest or even being shot at, if they cross over that line. Now Israel says it imposes this as part of its blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons getting to Hamas and other militant groups. But for these fishermen who are going out just for their catch to feed their families and to sell what they get, it of course makes the entire thing fraught with risk, fraught with danger.”
Subtitles: “According to the Gaza Fishermen’s Association, since January 2021 there have been 134 incidents including arrests and shootings. Rajab says he has been shot twice. Most recently with a rubber bullet.”
Subsequently, viewers are told that:
Subtitles: “Israel says it only acts to defend itself and to secure the area near the Gaza Strip. During the recent conflict in May, Israel didn’t allow any fishing at all. As tensions between Israel and Hamas ebb and flow, so does the fishing limit.”
In short, the only explanations of why limitations are imposed on the Gaza fishing zone throughout this entire three-and-a-half-minute film come in those two “Israel says” sentences:
“Now Israel says it imposes this as part of its blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons getting to Hamas and other militant groups.”
“Israel says it only acts to defend itself and to secure the area near the Gaza Strip.”
Audiences are told nothing about the actual cases of arms smuggling by sea and other incidents that explain what “Israel says” but have been serially ignored by the BBC in the past.
Emboldened by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, and fueled by the Great Depression, anti-Semitism increased throughout the United States, and over 100 anti-Semitic organizations sprung up across the country. They had names like the Friends of the New Germany (Nazi Bund), the Silver Shirts, Defenders of the Christian Faith, the Christian Front, and the Knights of the White Camellia, among others. Protected by the constitution’s First Amendment, they held public rallies, paraded through the streets in their uniforms carrying Nazi flags, published scurrilous magazines, and openly flaunted their hatred for Jews. American Jews were intimidated and frightened. Fearful of stirring up even more anti-Jewish sentiment, the American Jewish establishment’s response was often tentative and cautionary. They worried that what happened in Germany, home to Europe’s elite Jewish community, could easily happen in America. One group of American Jews who had no compunctions about meeting the anti-Semites head-on were Jewish gangsters. Not bound by conventional rules and constitutional legalities, they took direct and violent action against the Jew haters.White Supremacist Killer in Massachusetts Was Allegedly Heading for Local Synagogue, Say Witnesses
Nazi Bund rallies in New York City in the late 1930s created a terrible dilemma for the city’s Jewish leaders. With 20,000 members, the Nazi Bund was the largest anti-Semitic group in the nation. They organized large public rallies and marched to drumbeats wearing brown shirts and swastikas, and carrying Nazi flags. Jewish leaders wanted the meetings stopped, but could not do so legally. Nathan Perlman, a judge and former Republican congressman, was one Jewish leader who believed that the Jews should demonstrate more militancy. In 1935, he surreptitiously contacted Meyer Lansky, a leading organized crime figure born on the 4th of July, and asked him to help. Lansky related to me what followed.
Perlman assured Lansky that money and legal assistance would be put at his disposal. The only stipulation was that no Nazis be killed. They could be beaten up, but not terminated. Lansky reluctantly agreed. No killing. Always very sensitive about anti-Semitism, Lansky was acutely aware of what the Nazis were doing to Jews. “I was a Jew and I felt for those Jews in Europe who were suffering,” he said. “They were my brothers.” Lansky refused the judge’s offer of money and assistance, but he did make one request. He asked Perlman to ensure that after he went into action he would not be criticized by the Jewish press. The judge promised to do what he could.
Lansky rounded up some of his tough associates and went around New York disrupting Nazi meetings. Young Jews not connected to him or the rackets also volunteered to help, and Lansky and others taught them how to use their fists and handle themselves in a fight. Lansky’s crews worked very professionally. Nazi arms, legs, and ribs were broken and skulls cracked, but no one died. The attacks continued for more than a year. And Lansky earned quite a reputation for doing this work.
The white supremacist shot dead by police in Massachusetts on Saturday after he murdered two African American bystanders was allegedly heading for a local synagogue in his stolen truck, witnesses have said.Dutch broadcaster uses Nazi-era subtitles for German anthem in Euro 2020
Sandra Pellegrino — president of Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop, Mass. — told her local CBS News affiliate on Wednesday that the consequences could have been disastrous had the gunman, 28-year-old Nathan Allen, reached his target.
“We were here in the morning,” she said. “Some of us would have still been in this building.”
Pellegrino added: “It’s just beyond my comprehension how anyone would have wasted energy to have such hate.”
The synagogue is planning to hold a community gathering to reassure the shocked local community. “It’s very hard for us to deal with as a temple, that because of his idea of coming here filled with hate, that he took it out on the two people,” Pellegrino said.
“While we await further investigation from law enforcement, the reports of this synagogue being an alleged target are deeply disturbing,” said Evan Bernstein, National Director and CEO of the Community Security Service, a nonprofit which works to protect Jewish institutions.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” Bernstein told The Algemeiner. “With the current climate, Jewish communal leadership — not only in the Boston metro area but across the country — must continue to prioritize security.”
Allen, who was married and had no past criminal record, stole a plumber’s truck from a garage in Winthrop which he then crashed into an unoccupied home, causing extensive damage.
Dutch broadcaster NPO issued an apology to Germany on Thursday after it had accidentally used Nazi-era subtitles over the German national anthem when broadcasting their Tuesday Euro 2020 soccer match against England, UK media reported.$26 Billion in 4 IPOs, All in One Week of Work for Israeli Tech
The anthem, officially titled "Das Lied der Deutschen" (meaning "The Song of the Germans"), has been the German national anthem since 1922. The music for the anthem was composed in 1797 as the hymn "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," with its politically charged lyrics having been written in 1841.
However, while the song has, ostensibly, stayed in use, it has been tweaked slightly throughout time.
The song has three verses, with the first focusing on Germany as a glorious and powerful nation. This emphasized by the repeated phrase "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt!" (Germany, Germany above all, Above all in the world!).
The second verse reflected on German wine, women and song, though some critics have called it sexist, while the third verse focused on the liberal values of unity, justice and freedom for the German people.
Since 1952, it was only this third verse that was used as part of the national anthem. But under the rule of the Nazis, only the first verse was used, and to this day it remains intrinsically associated with the Nazis.
How intense and red-hot is the tech IPO market in New York? Analysts and investors who participate in presentations of companies seeking to go public say Zoom rooms are increasingly sparse as they haven’t got enough time for all the meetings, meanwhile, prospectuses are submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission with more and more typos.Israel cybersecurity firms raise record $3.4b, 41% of global sector investment
The IPO market is in a state of pandemonium, which is not expected to stop any time soon, and Israeli technology companies are enjoying the momentum. The value of all the Israeli companies trading on Wall Street has already passed $300 billion, which is more than the entire Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Similar to the general statistics, the Israeli IPO scene signals one thing clearly: this is the kind of celebration not seen since 2000.
And while four new Israeli companies began trading on the Nasdaq this week, the real story lies within the magnitude of the funds raised and the valuations that the companies receive. Those historic figures for the Israeli ecosystem leave private fundraisers in the dust and remind the market that despite all the superlatives unicorns and the venture capital funds that nurture them received, the really big money is still in the public market.
Investors are looking for more risks
Software company ironSource, which for now holds the title of the largest Israeli offering, raised $2.15 billion through a merger deal with a SPAC company at a record value of $11 billion. This past Thursday it was joined by cyber company SentinelOne, which raised $1.2 billion at a value of $9 billion, the largest cyber IPO in the history of Wall Street.
When compared to the two cyber companies Payoneer’s IPO, which raised $1 billion at a value of $3.3 billion, and Taboola’s IPO, which raised half a billion dollars at a $2.6 billion valuation, suddenly seem like much smaller deals. This exceptional week was motivated by the general hot air and the big money flowing in the financial system, as well as by the calendar. Many want to finish their IPOs before the end of the second quarter so they can avoid updating their prospectuses, and enjoy their July 4th holiday.
In the first half of the year, Israeli cybersecurity companies raised $3.4 billion in 50 deals and seven of them became unicorns, or private companies valued at over $1 billion, the Israel National Cyber Directorate said.Hewlett Packard Enterprise buys Israel’s Zerto to expand cloud data protection
The money raised in the first six months of this year exceeds the sum raised by Israeli cybersecurity startups in the whole of last year, itself a record-breaking $2.9 billion, the directorate said. The half-year figure accounts for 41% of the total funds raised by cybersecurity firms worldwide, and is three times the amount raised in the same period a year earlier, the data shows.
More than a third of worldwide cybersecurity unicorns are Israelis, the data showed, with some 13 in Israel out of 30-33 globally, the directorate said.
In the first half of 2021, there were 18 acquisitions of Israeli cybersecurity firms, for a total of $2.2 billion, the data showed.
The data comes as Israeli founded cybersecurity firm SentinelOne on Wednesday held an initial public offering of shares, raising $1.2 billion at a massive $9 billion valuation, touted as the largest IPO by a cybersecurity firm.
The massive investment numbers are an “indication of Israel’s continued leadership in the cybersecurity sector,” said Roi Yarom, director of economy and growth at the directorate. Even and perhaps especially during the coronavirus pandemic, when other sectors suffered from the lockdowns, the cybersecurity sector thrived, as businesses and employees moved to working from home and the world transitioned online – necessitating more security as hacking threats surged.
“We are seeing a maturing of the local industry, which is taking an even larger share of the global cybersecurity market,” Yarom said in a phone interview. The sector is a growth engine for the nation’s economy, he said, and it will increase Israel’s resilience to cybersecurity attacks of the future.
Houston, Texas-based multinational firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) said Thursday it has entered an agreement to buy Israel’s Zerto, a maker of software to manage and protect data stored in the cloud, for $374 million in cash, to expand its cloud data services to customers.Hadera residents to start getting delivery by drones in pilot project
Zerto’s products are used by 9,000 customers globally, providing them with disaster recovery, ransomware protection, and data and application mobility across hybrid, multi-cloud environments, the US company said in a statement.
Zerto was co-founded in 2009 by brothers Oded and Ziv Kedem, and is co-headquartered in Herzliya and Boston. The firm currently employs some 500 workers.
Zerto’s management team will join that of HPE at the close of the transaction, expected in the fourth quarter of HPE’s fiscal year 2021 and subject to regulatory approvals, the statement said.
“Data is now the most critical asset,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of HPE. “With the explosive growth of data at the edge and across hybrid environments, organizations today face significant complexity in managing and protecting their data.”
Zerto’s cloud data management and protection software expands HPE’s cloud data services, “allowing customers to protect their data and rapidly act on insights, from edge to cloud,” Neri said.
Israelis in and around the city of Hadera will be able to start ordering in hamburgers and pizza, cosmetics and medicine to their doorsteps, part of the nation’s drone pilot program started earlier this year.
The National Drone Initiative, which began its flights over urban areas in January 2021, entered a second phase in its pilot program, which includes flights over residential areas in and around Hadera.
This new phase is part of a series of eight demonstrations that are expected to take place during the coming two years, in which tens of thousands of sorties will take place in the skies above Hadera. The goal is to help fine-tune drone technology and ultimately help cut road congestion by creating a network of air corridors for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deliveries of medicine, medical examinations and equipment and ecommerce.
“The National Drone Initiative is reaching new heights, initiating services to customers,” said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, in a statement. “The Israel Innovation Authority sees great value in ensuring that Israeli citizens will be able to benefit from local innovation and enjoy advanced services such as receiving goods delivered via drones to their home.”
The project will enable participating companies to test out their technologies in “real-world settings, in which multiple drone companies are operating in real time,” he said. This will help improve their performance and their competitive position in the global market.
The pilot project, which transforms Israel into a beta site where drone test flights and deliveries take place, aims to help players in the field — drone makers, retailers and regulators — understand what our skies will look like in the future as hundreds and thousands of drones pepper our firmament to fulfill various needs.
