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Monday, August 30, 2021

08/30 Links Pt2: Palestinians seek to erase Jewish history; Reflections on Crown Heights, 30 Years Later; Public School educators’ obsessive hatred of Israel

From Ian:

Palestinians seek to erase Jewish history
Jerusalem has and continues to be the main flashpoint in the fight to erase history. Senior Palestinian leaders summarily dismiss Judaism’s holiest site, The Temple Mount, as an "alleged Temple." Ze’ev Orenstein, director of International Affairs for the City of David, an archeological site for ancient Jerusalem, told Fox News, "There is no place in the world which holds more significance for more people than Jerusalem. Yet, today, both the U.N. and Palestinian leadership are seeking to erase the Jewish and Christian heritage of Jerusalem."

"Every single day, archaeological excavations in the City of David – the place where Jerusalem began…are affirming not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact, the millennia-old connection of Jews and Christians to Jerusalem," Orenstein added. "This includes the discovery of millennia-old inscriptions affirming biblical events; ancient seals with the names – in Hebrew – of figures straight out of the pages of the Bible, including that of the biblical King Hezekiah – direct descendant of King David from 2,700 years ago."

Orenstein says that by visiting the City of David, people can witness this history "with their own eyes, touch with their own hands, and walk upon with their own feet."

Yet, while the erasure campaign is especially charged around Jerusalem, Regavim, an Israeli nongovernmental organization, warns that the cradle of Jewish history has been under constant attack for years.

"The Palestinian Authority has undertaken a very carefully and purposefully orchestrated program of historical revisionism, in an attempt to blur and eventually erase the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel," Naomi Kahn, Regavim’s international spokesperson, told Fox News. "Because Judea and Samaria are the cradle of Jewish history, these areas are quite naturally the focal points of this insidious campaign."

She said, "The Palestinian Authority and its supporters have proven willing, even eager, to destroy the physical remains of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian culture in an attempt to make way for a fictitious quasi-historical narrative that supports their political agenda."


30 European MPs call on states to drop UN conference tainted by antisemitism
A coalition of more than 30 members of parliament from across Europe and the UK today launched a global appeal, spearheaded by the Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group UN Watch, urging countries to pull out of the UN’s upcoming commemoration of a 2001 conference on racism that was plagued by virulent displays of antisemitism. (See text of appeal and list of signatories below.)

The September 22nd follow-up meeting of the Durban Conference, named after the South African city where the first edition was held in 2001, is scheduled to bring together world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Citing concerns over antisemitism, numerous countries have already announced they are boycotting what has become known as “Durban IV,” including Austria, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic. France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

“We welcome these announcements and hereby call on all other countries to follow,” said the lawmakers. “We recall that the Durban process, since its inception at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, has included ugly displays of intolerance and antisemitism.”

The 33 parliamentarians — from Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK — called attention to “a worldwide surge of anti-Jewish violence and inflammatory language that demonizes the Jewish state as uniquely evil,” which they said echoes accusations of “genocide” and “apartheid” leveled in 2001 in advance of the Durban conference at a UN preparatory meeting in Tehran.

“We urge all UN member states not to legitimize this event,” said the MPs. They voiced firm support for combating racism “outside of the tainted Durban process,” where nations “must continue to work to combat racism, bigotry, and racial discrimination in all forms and all places.”

In tandem with the parliamentary appeal, UN Watch has launched a new petition and website calling on Brazil, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand and other countries to pull out of Durban IV.


Largest Belgian party calls on gov’t to boycott Durban conference
Belgium’s opposition New Flemish Alliance Party (N-VA) has called on the country to boycott the UN event marking 20 years since the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which was stained with antisemitic and anti-Israel expressions.

Bart De Wever, chairman of the Flemish nationalist, conservative political party, the country’s largest, and N-VA MP Michael Freilich said Belgium should join its neighbors Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and France, as well as its allies the US, Canada and Australia, in boycotting Durban IV next month.

Those countries and more “have already indicated that they will not participate in this conference, which is for racism rather than against it,” Freilich said. “Belgium has thus become an island in our region in the midst of our neighboring countries.... What is this government waiting for?”

“Staying away is the only right decision,” de Wever said. “[We] must send a strong signal that we will not take it when the UN is being hijacked by extremist ideologies to propagate Jew-hatred.”

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes plan to attend the UN General Assembly in September, Freilich said. Durban IV will take place on the sidelines of the GA.


Pitching Abraham’s tent: The human dimension of UAE-Israeli normalization
In the past year, many have written on the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states, focusing on economic interests and emphasizing shared security interests in the region. Case studies, however, indicate that relations between countries are improved when they encompass aspects related to the lives of citizens. Incorporating an element of cultural affinity between countries, a dimension that is far less susceptible to abrupt transformation, can serve as a means to stabilize bilateral relations in the face of unforeseen challenges, shifts in regional dynamics, or changes in leadership.

A new issue brief from scholars at the Atlantic Council, the Emirates Policy Center, and the Institute for National Security Studies examines three powerful drivers to bolster people-to-people connections: religious dialogue, sports, and higher education and research. The authors include: Yoel Guzansky, Sarah Feuer, Tomer Fadlon, and Ari Heistein of the Institute for National Security Studies; Shalom Lipner and Jonathan Ferziger of the Atlantic Council; and Ebtesam Al Ketbi and Noura Al Breiki of the Emirates Policy Center.

These elements of soft power play an important role in the national life of both Israel and the UAE, holding the potential to improve relations between the two countries and their peoples. This report also addresses the obstacles—primarily political—to building and maintaining people-to-people relations, as well as the pivotal role of American leadership in ensuring the success of the process. DOWNLOAD PDF


Bari Weiss:‘The far Left have won and taken over America’s elite institutions – we need to start again'
She sees the driving force of the culture war in its ground zero, America, as “a far Left world-view that tries to brand itself as progressive but is deeply, deeply anti-liberal – [trying to] divide the world into binaries” along dangerously tribal, often racial lines. In this world-view – becoming pervasive in Britain, too – people are either “victims, in which case you have moral authority” or “victimisers, in which case you’re born into that position” and are stuck there.

Weiss sees only one solution to the cultural takeover by the identity-obsessed Left – “they have won, they have taken over all the elite institutions in America, full stop” – and that is to start again: with new publishing houses, newspapers, film studios, think tanks, even schools and universities.

She “would love” to set up something like the glitzy Aspen festival of ideas, “only with real ideas”, and has ambitious plans to build a media company. “If there’s a hope, and I believe that there is, it’s not about reforming those old institutions, it’s about building new ones. Because I think the old ones are so thoroughly captured,” Weiss explains.

This has been especially clear at universities in the US and UK, where the fixation with victimhood, and who does and doesn’t have the right to speak, has overshadowed the ability to teach, learn and think freely. At Oxbridge, visiting scholars have been disinvited for having the “wrong” views (Jordan Peterson was a high profile example). New Netflix drama The Chair, which skewers the Kafka-esque climate of universities today, has been painful for many academics to watch; it’s too close to home.
StandWithUs: The Toxic Rise of Campus Cancel Culture
Andrew Pessin is a professor of philosophy at Connecticut College and campus bureau editor at the Algemeiner. He is the author of numerous books, including The Jewish God Question, Anti-Zionism on Campus: The University, Free Speech, and BDS, as well as three novels. His latest novel, Nevergreen, is an academic satire that examines campus cancel culture and its impact on the Jewish community. Join StandWithUs TV LIVE in conversation with Andrew Pessin as we talk about Nevergreen, antisemitism on campus, and more!


Reflections on Crown Heights, 30 Years Later
The Crown Heights Riot of 30 years ago is barely remembered today. One of its primary instigators, Sonny Carson, has been forgotten. My introduction to Carson, once an important figure in Brooklyn politics, came in 1990 when I walked from my home in Victorian Flatbush to Church Avenue.

Walking along Church I heard shouting. There was some kind of tumult erupting. The Family Red Apple grocery store was being picketed by Carson and his minions.

An ugly dispute had broken out between the Korean owner of the store and Giselaine Felissaint, a Haitian woman. The owner charged she had stolen goods, while Felissaint said she paid for them. Carson insisted that the Koreans’ 24-hour greengroceries were setting out to destroy the black communities and black culture. He insisted that the store be transferred to black ownership, and his goons threatened anyone who entered the store. As I did. Demonstrators shouted, "We make you into chop suey" in mock-Chinese accents. Carson declared, "We’re at war" and stood outside the Red Apple shouting, "Funerals, not boycotts."

Carson, a Korean War veteran who achieved notoriety for threatening white, mostly Jewish teachers during the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville Kulturkampf strike, bragged, "I transformed thousands of black kids into little Sonny Carsons." One of the kids he inspired was the young Al Sharpton.

In 1974 Hollywood produced a hagiographic biopic, The Education of Sonny Carson. The movie, typical of its time, depicted Carson’s thuggery as being of a piece with black revolutionary violence. The movie depicted Carson’s shakedowns in the best possible light. In 1975, Carson was sentenced to four to seven years in prison in connection with the killing of a man accused of robbing a Brooklyn hotel. After his prison term Carson would make famous the "No Justice, No Peace" slogan later adopted by Sharpton.

Mayor David Dinkins for months declined to enforce a court order against Carson’s picketing against the Red Apple. Much to the mayor’s embarrassment the picketing would go on for 16 months, draining his authority. (Dinkins was elected in the wake of Ed Koch’s three-term mayoralty as a racial healer. His victory in the 1989 Democratic primary was in large part a reaction to the murder of Yusef Hawkins by a white mob in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. But Dinkins allowed his authority to dribble away.)
Germany’s ‘Antisemitism Is the Socialism of Fools’ Enters a Third Century
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner, the largely pro-Iranian regime Social Democratic Party, is polling even with her Christian Democratic Union ahead of the Sept. 26 federal election.

A profound insight about left-wing Jew-hatred — namely, that “antisemitism is the socialism of fools” — is frequently attributed to the German Social Democrat August Bebel (1840-1913). It still rings true regarding great swaths of German left-wingers.

Over the last four years of Merkel’s fourth and last term (she is not running for reelection), the Social Democrats have contributed to the rise of German antisemitism and delivered repeated shots in the arm to the world’s worst sponsor of terrorism, Holocaust denial, and lethal anti-Jewish, anti-Israel sentiment and action: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

If the Social Democrats secure representation in the next federal government, then it will be business as usual, continuing the trajectory of a party that was born in the ideas of the enlightenment and reform but has degenerated into a force hostile to Israel and Jews.

Let us consider one of the most egregious examples. Germany’s Social Democratic foreign minister, Heiko Maas, has consistently sent high-level diplomats to Tehran’s embassy in Berlin to celebrate the Islamic Revolution that ushered in the radical clerical regime in 1979.

That a politician like Maas, who said he went into “politics because of Auschwitz,” is mainstreaming a regime that denies the Holocaust while all the time issuing genocidal statements about bringing about a second one is telling.
NGO Monitor: PFLP terror group leader addresses an EU-funded workshop
On August 18, 2021, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) — NGOs with links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — organized “a workshop on the role of women in the union elections” with the support of the European Union, via funding provided to the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC). The PFLP is an EU-designated terror group.

Samira Abd Al-Alim, a PFLP leader and a UPWC official, addressed the event.

The participation of a member of a terror group in an EU-funded activity clearly violates the European Union’s anti-terror funding requirements.

Samira Abd Al-Alim’s ties to the PFLP
- A 2015 article published on the PFLP website describes Abd Al-Alim as a “member of the PFLP Central Committee’s subcommittee.” According to the article, she participated in an event titled “Support for Our Prisoner Heroes” that was organized by “the international campaign for solidarity with the national commander comrade Ahmad Sa’adat.” The event, which took place in the Rafah headquarters of UPWC, was decorated with PFLP flags and pictures of PFLP leaders, including Secretary-General Ahmad Sa’adat.
- In July 2021, the Palestinian Bar Association referred to Abd Al-Alim as the “Popular Front’s Head of Women Affairs Framework.”
- According to UPWC, as of July 2019, Abd Al-Alim was UPWC’s head of Rafah area. In April 2020, UPWC, referred to Abd Al-Alim as “a member of UPWC’s board of directors.”

EU anti-terror statements and policy
The potential abuse of European Union funds by terror-linked NGOs has been widely discussed in Europe over the last two years, in particular after five senior employees, including financial directors of EU-funded Palestinian NGOs, were charged in relation to the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in August 2019.

In 2019, the EU introduced a new requirement in its contracts with Palestinian NGOs, under “General conditions applicable to European Union-financed grant contracts for external actions” (Annex G.2, Annex II, Article 1.5 bis). It stipulates that “Grant beneficiaries and contractors must ensure that there is no detection of subcontractors, natural persons, including participants to workshops and/or trainings and recipients of financial support to third parties, in the lists of EU restrictive measures.” These lists include terrorists and terrorist organizations designated as such by the EU (e.g. Hamas, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).

At a May 19, 2020 meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi stated that he had instructed the heads of EU delegations to Israel and West Bank/ Gaza to “look deep[ly]” into allegations that some EU funds go to terror-linked or terror-supporting NGOs, declaring that such funding “will not be tolerated.” To date, no public information about this internal review has been made public.




Public School educators’ obsessive hatred of Israel
While public school teachers and their unions demonstrated a shocking obstinacy during the ongoing pandemic regarding opening up of schools to in-person learning for America’s students, they seemed to have found the energy at the same time to continue their activism and advocacy for teaching children to hate themselves because of the color of their skin, distrust law enforcement, blame white supremacy for systemic racism and the victimhood of marginalized people of color, identify their gender fluidity, and a bucket full of other progressive notions that animate what now currently passes for public education.

While a covert campaign to make critical race theory part and parcel of school curricula has been the most visible part of the activist educators’ efforts to corrupt teaching of America’s children, not far behind has been a troubling, pernicious campaign to demonize Israel and Zionism and to make the Palestinian cause the centerpiece of a campaign to slander the Jewish state and indoctrinate students with lies, contortions of history and fact, and outright propaganda that perpetuates Palestinianism as part of the cognitive war against Israel.

In May, as one troubling example, soon after Israel had initiated its campaign to suppress Hamas’s rocket fire from Gaza during an 11-day conflict, the 6200-member United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) teacher’s union passed a grotesque “Resolution in Solidarity with the Palestinian People” which, in addition to calling on the Biden administration to end all aid to Israel, denounced Israel’s alleged “forced displacement and home demolitions” of Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem and its imposition of “a regime of legalized racial discrimination.”

The resolution concluded by committing its membership to sign on with the anti-Semitic BDS campaign itself, stating “that UESF endorse the international campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against apartheid in Israel,” thereby becoming the first K-12 teachers’ union in the United States to endorse the BDS movement.

Not to be outdone by its union brethren further north, chapter chairs of the United Teachers Los Angeles, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the second largest teacher’s union in the country, also voted overwhelmingly in May in support of a statement, almost identical to the San Francisco version, that expressed its “solidarity with the Palestinian people and call for Israel to end bombardment of Gaza and stop displacement at Sheikh Jarrah . . , [called] on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to stop aid to Israel [and endorsed] the international campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against apartheid in Israel.”


Elders of Zion: “Only 20% of Europeans Believe Jews Control the World? We Really Need to Up Our Game” (satire)
A relatively recent survey has found that only one fifth of Europeans polled in a survey of 16 European countries, among them Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland, believe that a secret network of shifty Jews – the Elders of Zion – controls global political and economic affairs.

The findings of the survey caused immediate consternation among the Elders. The Mideast Beast sat down with the Jewish cabal at a secret location to talk about what it’s like to control the world and get such scant recognition in return.

“This is obviously bad and causes us to worry a great deal”, said one of the Elders, “If only 20 % of Europeans believe that we control global political and economic affairs then we are obviously not doing a very good job at all. Not to mention that they didn’t blame us for climate change, and only a handful hold us responsible for the Judenvirus or ‘Covid-19’ as it’s commonly referred to, both of which we’ve been working really hard on.”

“This is like bad, really bad”, another (slightly younger) Elder told the Mideast Beast, “It kinda makes you feel unrecognized and unappreciated. It definitely makes you question whether controlling the world is even worth it. Elders of Zion have feelings, too, you know. It’s not as if we’re expecting a medal or anything, but like, it would be nice for recognition to be a bit broader, you know?”
Impact: HonestReporting’s Work Garnering Global Media Attention, Translating Into Political Action
HonestReporting’s effort to ensure truth, integrity and fairness in journalism — specifically as it relates to coverage of Israel — is accelerating rapidly. In less than two months, the editorial team published 42 news critiques, 15 educational articles and eight videos.

The impact has been profound.

HonestReporting’s work was cited by media outlets worldwide — including in the United States, The Netherlands, Poland and even the Indian Ocean island Reunion — at least 35 times since we produced our previous success report on July 6. All the while, our Twitter posts have garnered some 1.8 million impressions.

In July, we pushed back on Ben & Jerry’s announcement that it would no longer sell its products in what it called “Occupied Palestinian Territory;” that is, the disputed West Bank. HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz published an extensive analysis of the legal implications of the decision and was thereafter quoted in The Washington Post. Additionally, we filed a complaint with the US Office of Antiboycott Compliance.

Clearly, The New York Post — which has some 2.2 million followers on Twitter — has also been keeping a close eye on our articles. On August 28, the Post published a report about alleged self-dealing by Anuradha Mittal, the head of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors. According to a complaint filed to the American tax authorities, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation sent over $100,000 in grants to the pro-Palestinian Oakland Institute, where Mittal was simultaneously employed. HonestReporting previously reported on this issue. While correlation might not prove causation, it is clear that our work is on the NY Post’s radar.
Fact-checking The New York Times: There Is No Palestinian State
The New York Times has twice in the past week turned reality on its head by effectively declaring the creation of ‘Palestine.’

On August 23, Will Shortz, editor of the NYT’s crossword puzzle, produced a “clue” referring to the “Largest city in the Palestinian state.” August 23, 2021 New York Times crossword puzzle claiming there is a “Palestinian state.”


The NYT crossword puzzle in 2019 surpassed the 500,000 subscription mark, an increase of more than 100,000 during the preceding 12-month period. As the crossword is syndicated by hundreds of others news outlets, millions upon millions of people are potentially exposed to it each day.

And then there’s this August 30 headline that appeared on The New York Times website:
The New York Times is regarded by many as the “newspaper of record” and therefore as an authoritative source. The paper claims its digital platforms are the top destination for “opinion leaders” and, overall, reach more than 164 million people. Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of the outlet’s US audience is apparently made up of impressionable Gen Z and Millennial readers.
Economist gets Israeli view of Palestinian conflict completely wrong
First, it’s misleading to claim that Israelis have “lost faith in peace”. It’s more accurate to say that, whilst a plurality of Israelis (including the alternate Prime Minister) still support two states, most Israelis, due to Palestinian peace rejections, the rise of Hamas and the barbarism of the 2nd Intifada, have lost faith in the Palestinian leadership’s desire to truly live in peace with the Jewish state.

But, there’s one more major error in the Economist’s analysis.

Their claim that “Israel’s military might…security barriers and its deployment of anti-missile defences mean that, for most Israelis…the conflict is out of sight and out of mind” would suggest that the relative dearth of terror casualties makes Israelis less disposed to take the pursuit of peace, and the Palestinian issue more broadly, seriously. If you follow this logic, it would seem that a major increase in Israeli fatalities would be a net positive, making the country more amenable to further territorial withdrawal and peace.

However, something closer to the opposite is true.

If Hamas stopped launching terror attacks on Israeli cities from Gaza, and the PA ceased their institutionalized terror culture in the West Bank and committed to co-existence projects and negotiations with Jerusalem without pre-conditions, the likely result would be an Israeli electorate more open to making relations with the Palestinians a priority.

But, of course, to acknowledge such a dynamic – the necessary relationship between Palestinian behavior and Israeli-Palestinian peace – would be to impute agency to Palestinians, something foreign reporters covering the region are loath to do.
It's time for the British media to stop normalising Abdel Bari Atwan
In the same video he also justified the Taliban’s mistreatment of women Afghanistan, saying “this is their culture” (6:55), and – seeming to justify the group’s extremism – maintained that a “moderate” Taliban would not have “liberated” the country (7:40), wondering: “the Viet Cong, when they liberated Vietnam, were they moderates?”

Atwan’s words are particularly disturbing given the fact that he’s often invited to speak his mind on respectable British media platforms, like publicly funded BBC Arabic, Ofcom regulated Sky News, IMPACT-regulated 5Pillars and IPSO-regulated Daily Mail to name a few. In Europe he also frequently appeared on public television stations, namely French France24 and German Deutsche Welle.

Will his latest rant influence editors and producers to finally make the decision that Atwan’s views should not be given a platform? Perhaps. But, we’re here to note that such a measure should been taken long ago.

Atwan’s antisemitism and support for violence against Israeli civilians were well known to his Arabic-speaking audience for decades, and his hate speech was flagged not only by CAMERA UK but also by the Jewish Chronicle.
Denver Police Arrest Fifth Suspect in Murder of Yeshivah Student
The Denver Police Department announced on Thursday that they have arrested the last suspect in the murder of a Jewish yeshivah student there.

Samuel Fussell, 19, was arrested in the town of Greeley, Colo., some 60 miles northeast of Denver, for the Aug. 17 murder of 18-year-old Shmuel Silverberg.

Silverberg was standing outside of his school, Yeshiva Toras Chaim, when he was shot. A native of Ohio, Silverberg managed to get just inside the doors of the building when he lost his life.

In announcing the arrest, the Greeley Police Department said that on Aug. 25 they, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Denver Safe Streets unit, had “actionable information” that Fussell was in the area.

Officers from the Greeley PD Special Enforcement Team (SET) “positively identified Fussell as he entered a vehicle” and, together with K9 officers and patrol units, conducted a “high-risk” traffic stop. “Fussell, along with two other females, was taken into custody without incident and transported to Denver.”

He was one of five young men—all of whom have been apprehended—who police said allegedly went on a crime spree on Aug. 17 that included car-jackings, robbery and culminated in Silverberg’s murder.
FBI paid over $100,000 to neo-Nazi for insider info - report
A convicted felon linked to a US neo-Nazi hate group was paid over $100,000 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) over the course of 18 years in order to provide information about his fellow group-members, a recent court document has revealed.

The informant, Joshua Caleb Sutter of Columbia, South Carolina, was a member of a neo-Nazi terrorist network called The Atomwaffen Division, listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and as a terrorist group by multiple governments. Members of the Atomwaffen Division have been convicted of a number of murders, planned terrorist attacks and other criminal actions, including the alleged killing of a gay Jewish college student in January 2018.

Sutter married the owner of a publishing house self-described as a "decidedly darker spiritual press" that printed neo-Nazi propaganda and eventually began to operate the company himself. He also worked as an employee at a store for racist memorabilia.

But Sutter has also secretly worked as an FBI informant since 2003 and accrued a nice salary, according to investigative journalist Ali Winston.
Meet the Fly That Could Help Save the Planet
An Israeli startup has drafted an environmental warrior, the South American black soldier fly, to help cut back on greenhouse gases while producing high-protein animal feed.

Black soldier flies (hermetia illucens), like most insects, have a distinct lifecycle: A female fly lays her eggs (some 500 at a time), which turn into larvae. After eating voraciously – the flies increase their body weight 7,000 times in a matter of weeks – the larvae turn into pupa and then into a mature adult fly.

The fly is the least interesting part of the process, at least for Entoprotech.

“Black soldier flies mostly sit on the wall,” CEO Sasha Babitsky tells ISRAEL21c, because unlike the hungry larvae, the adult flies “have no digestive system. The fly will mate, a female will lay her eggs and then, after seven days, the fly dies.”

But the larvae are chock full of protein – up to 50% of their dry weight – and can be turned into a variety of products.

The main one is insect protein meal that can replace fish meal, which is widely used as a source of feed for pigs, poultry and aquaculture.
Paralympics 2021: Israel rises to 7 medals, 4 gold
Israeli swimmer Ami Omer Dadaon won gold in the Men's 200m. freestyle and Mark Malyar won bronze in the men's 100m. backstroke on Monday, bringing Israel to a total of seven medals in the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics, including four gold medals.

At just 20 years old, Dadaon has previously won three gold medals in the 2021 European championships in Portugal – in the 50m., 100m. and 200m. freestyle races. This is his first time competing at the Paralympics; he will be competing in an additional three events before the end of the games.

Malyar, a Haifa-born athlete with cerebral palsy, is an experienced swimmer, having picked up the skill along with his twin brother as part of physical therapy as a child.

Since then, he has seen considerable success in competition, being named Athlete of the Year by the Israeli Paralympic Committee in 2017. He previously won gold in both the European and world championships and set a world record in 400-meter freestyle swimming. However, this is the first time he has ever been in the Paralympics.

On Sunday, Malyar won a gold medal in the men's 400m freestyle swimming competition. Moran Samuel won a silver medal in the finals of the Women's Single 2000 meters row, with an end time of 11:18.39 minutes.

Besides being a world-champion rower, Samuel is also a paralympic basketball player. This is her third Paralympics Games participation, and she already has a bronze medal from the Rio Paralympics under her belt.







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