Pages

▼

Thursday, October 14, 2021

10/14 Links Pt2: The Woke Threat to America— and to American Jews; The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2021; Australia to adopt IHRA definition of antisemitism

From Ian:

The Woke Threat to America— and to American Jews
A century ago, anti-Semites sought to deny entry to Jewish immigrants on the grounds that they lacked the superior character traits of Northern Europeans who had populated this country in the 18th and 19th centuries and brought it to greatness. Now Jews face discrimination because they allegedly are co-conspirators with white supremacists or are simply part of the undifferentiated mass of American whites, the oppressor class.

The name-calling and stereotyping are bad enough, but if the equity agenda is broadly enacted, Jews will find few opportunities to land jobs in the civil service, education (especially in higher education), corporate America, and the innovation-based, creative economy emerging today. After all, Jews constitute only 2 percent of the population, but they are overrepresented in these fields. In the cause of pursuing equality of outcomes, quotas are now proposed as the solution to ensure proportional representation by every subgroup in every sector of the economy. Jews have seen this movie before: Their numbers at European universities were limited, as was their representation in the civil service of some countries; during the interwar era and well into the 1950s, American universities placed unofficial but very real quotas on Jewish enrollments on both the college and graduate-school levels. Under the “equity” regime, Jews will face the same obstacles. For a small minority population, this would lead to marginalization and downward mobility, and eventually emigration to countries that value merit.

The high-minded Jewish defenders of the “intersectionality” and “white privilege” (or “white supremacy”) industry are right about one thing: These terms and their implications are not sufficiently understood. In the name of these ideas, Jews are cast as part of the white, oppressor class, and their achievements through hard work, merit, and investment in vital institutions are denigrated. If Jews do not wake up to the threat that progressive ideology poses to their way of life in America, they will find themselves on a steep slope of downward mobility, or worse. For Jews, nothing less than their equality is at stake.

They are not alone. Other American minorities also have much to lose if these ideas gain traction. Hispanic Americans have been redefined by progressives as nonwhites and given a new name that means nothing to them—Latinx. This catch-all effaces the very real cultural, ethnic, and historical distinctions among immigrants of various Latin American origins. Even more damaging stereotyping now is applied to Asian Americans, perhaps the greatest victims of the progressive ideology. Arriving in the United States as poor immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries, these newcomers invested themselves in hard work and transmitted a strong work ethic to their children, with the result that their offspring have risen rapidly. Now these same Asian Americans are told that they actually are “white allies,” accomplices of the white oppressor group whose advancement in society should be limited by quotas and their earnings redistributed. As cases making their way through the courts make clear, some of these minorities are fighting back. A still silent majority of white and black Americans also does not accept the assumptions undergirding woke ideas.

Jews, once again, are the canary in the mine, but if they engage in the battle of ideas, they will find large numbers of allies prepared to marginalize the woke ideology threatening our country.
Bari Weiss: We Got Here Because of Cowardice. We Get Out With Courage
Courage means, first off, the unqualified rejection of lies. Do not speak untruths, either about yourself or anyone else, no matter the comfort offered by the mob. And do not genially accept the lies told to you. If possible, be vocal in rejecting claims you know to be false. Courage can be contagious, and your example may serve as a means of transmission.

When you’re told that valued traits such as industriousness and punctuality are the legacy of white supremacy, don’t hesitate to reject it. When you’re told that statues of people such as Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass are an offense to Americans of color, don’t politely nod along. When you’re told that “nothing has changed” for African Americans, don’t dishonor the memory of civil-rights heroes by agreeing. And when you’re told that America was founded to perpetuate slavery, don’t take part in rewriting the country’s history.

America is imperfect. I always knew it, as we all do—and the past few years have rocked my faith like no others in my lifetime. But America and we Americans are far from irredeemable.

The motto of Frederick Douglass’s anti-slavery paper, the North Star—“The Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are brethren”—must remain all of ours.

We can still feel the pull of that electric cord Lincoln talked about 163 years ago—the one “in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.”

Every day I hear from people who are living in fear in the freest society humankind has ever known. Dissidents in a democracy, practicing doublespeak. That is what is happening right now. What happens five, 10, 20 years from now if we don’t speak up and defend the ideas that have made all of our lives possible?

Liberty. Equality. Freedom. Dignity. These are ideas worth fighting for.


Elisha Wiesel [WaPo]: Elie Wiesel's Legacy Includes Unapologetic Zionism
What would my father have thought of being carved into a church?

Today a likeness of my father — author, activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel — is being unveiled in the stonework of the Washington National Cathedral. My family and I are deeply grateful to Dean Randy Hollerith and all the leadership at the cathedral for this profound measure of respect. It is good to see that five years after his passing, my father is still being recognized for his global work for human rights and his singular message of hope amid darkness.

But I wrestled with this honor, and I think he would have done the same.

My father - author, activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel - didn't advocate just for the people of Kosovo, Darfur and Cambodia. He also supported Israel and defended her right to exist in peace and security. My father understood what it meant to live in a world without a Jewish state, and he saw the anti-Zionist movement as an extension of millennia-old anti-Semitism, which unfortunately is becoming more common and acceptable today.

Accusers throw the word "apartheid" at Israel, ignoring that thousands of Arabs serve voluntarily in the Israel Defense Forces and take their oath on a Koran or New Testament. Some celebrities charge Israel with ethnic cleansing, disregarding that as of 2017, the population of Palestinian citizens in Israel is more than nine times as high as it was in 1948. Meanwhile, almost all states in the Arab Middle East are Judenrein - "cleansed" of Jews.


The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2021
In honor of The Algemeiner’s eighth annual gala, we are delighted to unveil our eighth ‘J100’ list of the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year. Before you work your way through this exciting list, we wanted to first share some of the thoughts that we discussed as we developed it. If we could group these ideas together, the first would be about creating lists, in general; then, what’s unique about lists and Judaism; some finer points differentiating our honorees from the organizations they lead; and important reflections on all those every day and anonymous-to-us heroes we also want to celebrate without ever knowing their names. And, of course, to thank everyone who helped create the list and worked hard to put together our ‘J100’ gala.

It’s no secret that the Jewish community and the Jewish state of Israel has seen significant and rising challenges over the past 12 months, specifically during the Gaza war in May. History has shown that misinformation and false accusations lead to hate speech, which rapidly evolves into the widespread attacks on Jewish people that we saw in cities around the world. It affirmed for us our shared long-held belief that truth saves lives. As such, in the compilation of this year’s ‘J100’ list we’ve placed particular emphasis on those standing at the forefront of the battle for truth. We hope you find your review of the list to be as valuable as we did.

On Lists

There are lists, and there are lists. From the Forbes 400 to the Time 100, we are witness today to a proliferation of many lists in various magazines and newspapers. The New Yorker even made a list of The Hundred Best Lists of All Time! It seems that in the feeding frenzy of our information overloaded society, categorizations and listings get our attention by presumably helping us make sense of the data flooding our psyches. Lists also carry an element of sensationalism – who made the list, who didn’t – feeding the hunger for competition – yet another staple of our superficial times. No wonder we don’t find such popularity contests waged in earlier centuries; living as desert nomads or inside of a shtetl, where everyone knew virtually no one else but their neighbors by name (for good or for bad), did not exactly lend itself to creating a top ten list of favorites. This is an exclusive product of the communications revolution and the global village it created.


Israeli Ambassador to UN Tells ‘J100’ Gala: ‘Biggest Threat Facing Israel and the Jewish People Is Deadly Combination of Lies and Disinformation’
Israeli Ambassador to the US and the UN Gilad Erdan argued in his speech accepting The Algemeiner’s “Warrior for Truth” award at its annual “J100″ gala on Tuesday that “perhaps the biggest threat facing Israel and the Jewish people is the deadly combination of lies and disinformation.”

Erdan, who has been active in combating anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, asserted that “these lies are the ammunition that our enemies use to incite hatred against so many innocent Jews and Israelis.”

“These lies are the weapons that our enemies use to delegitimize our fundamental right to defend ourselves,” he said.

“I am the proud grandson of Holocaust survivors,” Erdan explained. “Their horrific and heroic stories ingrained in me from a young age that the disinformation may only begin with words, yet physical violence is always only one small step away.”

As “the most recent example of the danger that distorting the truth poses,” Erdan cited Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, which saw a massive outbreak of antisemitic violence in the US and Europe.

“The facts were straightforward: Hamas fired 4,000 rockets indiscriminately at innocent civilians, including Jerusalem,” he said. “Israel, in stark contrast, did everything to protect human lives on both sides and to minimize civilian casualties. Yet those who hate Israel and the Jewish people began a campaign of lies and false accusations to defame Israel. And these messages spread quickly with the help of social media.”

“These lies translated into physical acts of violence against Jews around the world,” he noted.


Unilever warned against abdicating responsibility for Ben & Jerry’s BDS
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have warned Unilever PLC against claiming that it cannot overrule the BDS decision of its Ben & Jerry’s subsidiary.

A Letter sent by UKLFI to Unilever’s Chief Legal Officer points out that this claim would not comply with Unilever’s Code of Business Conduct, its Governance Report, statements in its Annual Reports, the UK Corporate Governance Code, or its premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

According to UKLFI, the provisions of the merger agreement that established Ben & Jerry’s independent board do not require Unilever to accept the BDS decision. On the contrary, the BDS decision is in breach of that agreement since it does not comply with Unilever’s Code of Business Conduct.

This means, on the one hand, that Unilever’s Board can assert control in this situation, if it has the will; but on the other hand, if it fails to do so, investors could lose confidence in the group.

The BDS decision has exposed Unilever to sanctions and legal action under multiple laws, some of which are detailed in UKLFI’s letter. Since the BDS decision, Unilever’s share price has fallen by 11% resulting in a loss of market capitalisation in excess of £12 billion. Over the same period, the share price of its rival, Procter & Gamble, has held steady.

Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever through its US subsidiary, Conopco, in 2000 under an unusual merger agreement which established an independent Board of the company that “shall be the custodians of the Ben & Jerry’s-brand image and shall have primary responsibility for safeguarding the integrity of the essential elements of the Ben & Jerry’s brand-name”.

Although Ben & Jerry’s is wholly owned by Conopco, the latter appoints only two out of eleven members of its Board. However, the merger agreement also requires all members of the Ben & Jerry’s Board to abide by Unilever’s Code of Business Conduct.

Unilever’s Code of Business Conduct in turn requires Unilever companies to comply with the laws and regulations of countries in which the Unilever group operates.
Watchdog group starts media campaign urging stores to stop selling Ben & Jerry’s
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has launched an ad campaign in Jewish newspapers urging stores to stop selling Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream as a means to pressure its parent company, Unilever, to confront anti-Semitism within its ranks. The campaign comes several months after the ice-cream maker announced that it would stop selling its product in parts of Israel come 2022.

“Ben & Jerry’s is boycotting Israel. Tell your grocer to stop selling anti-Semitic ice-cream,” says the ad, which appeared in the Sept. 24 issue of the Cleveland Jewish News, one of nine Jewish media outlets running the advertisement.

Also at issue, says the Wiesenthal Center, is the company’s current board chair, Anuradha Mittal, who has expressed support for BDS, criticized AIPAC and in her previous job at a think tank posted positive articles about the Hezbollah and Hamas terror groups.

According to the decision by Ben & Jerry’s, “it was never just about ice-cream sold in East Jerusalem. It is all about Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream company profits being leveraged by an activist anti-Semite who hates Israel and defends Hamas—and the corporate executives at Unilever letting it happen,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“This is about arrogance and irresponsibility, enabling the odious anti-Semitic BDS movement to use money from a global brand to brand Jews as occupiers in their own land at a time when there is a spike of violent attacks against Jews from Germany to the United Kingdom to the United States,” he said.
DC City Council Member Who Claimed Jews Control the Weather Announces Run for Mayor
A D.C. City Council member who claimed Jewish bankers control the weather is running for mayor, according to a Wednesday announcement.

Trayon White Sr. (D.) is the second city councilman this week to throw his hat into the mayoral race. He announced his candidacy on Instagram, in response to a post about Councilman Robert White (D.) launching his mayoral bid on Wednesday.

White's candidacy is likely to cause a stir due to his history of espousing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In 2018, he claimed that the Rothschilds—a historically wealthy Jewish family that is often the center of anti-Semitic assertions—manipulate the weather and control the levers of federal power.

"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation," White said in a video he posted on Facebook. "And DC keep talking about, ‘We a resilient city,' and that's a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful." During a city council breakfast meeting, White also argued that "the Rothschilds—control the World Bank, as we all know—infusing dollars into major cities."

"They really pretty much control the federal government, and now they have this concept called resilient cities in which they are using their money and influence into local cities," he said.

White's comments drew condemnations from Jewish groups and anti-Semitism watchdogs at the time. He later agreed to visit the Holocaust museum with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in an attempt to make amends but left without explanation halfway through the 90-minute tour.


Brendan O'Neill: Irish Author Sally Rooney and the Bigotry of the BDS Movement
If it is true that Irish author Sally Rooney is refusing to allow her latest novel to be translated into Hebrew because she supports the cultural boycott of Israel, then that's a new low for the anti-Israel set. It also speaks to the prejudices that swirl around the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

This has led to some despicable scenes in the UK and the U.S. in recent years: the booing of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; the cancellation of an Israeli-produced hip-hop opera at the Edinburgh Fringe; the jeering, harassment and No Platforming of speakers from Israel in certain universities; the removal of Israel-produced food from shop shelves. It's from the Jewish state? Then bin it, ban it, shout it down. This is the singular, dubious motivation of the BDS mob.

This is a species of bigotry. BDS treats Israel by a staggering double standard, in singling out Israel for a unique and extreme form of censorious punishment, for bans and boycotts that they do not seek to impose on any other state. Being "Israel-free," ostentatiously refusing to buy Israeli products or to engage with Israeli culture, has become the ultimate and most nauseating virtue-signal among smug radicals. It is prejudice dolled up as political principle.
Sally Rooney’s Israel boycott and Charles Dickens' antisemitism
As a writer, literature professor and one of the 82% of US Jews who report that “caring about Israel” is either “essential” or “important” to their Jewish identity, I am pained when I see authors whom I admire launch exaggerated or misinformed attacks on Israel.

But I also take solace in a correspondence, celebrated in a new children’s book, that showed how one Jewish reader engaged an author who she felt trafficked in anti-Jewish tropes. That the correspondence took place in the 19th century, and the author in question is Charles Dickens, does not make its lessons any less timely.

I was distressed when Irish novelist Sally Rooney said Tuesday that she wouldn’t allow her latest novel to be published in Hebrew by an Israeli publisher “that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.”

Saddened but not surprised: Earlier this year, Rooney signed a “Letter Against Apartheid” — a text issued in the wake of the latest round of violence between Israel and Hamas. It called for governments to “cut trade, economic, and cultural relations” with the Jewish state, which it said had committed “ethnic cleansing,” “massacres” and more in its response to the thousands of rockets fired into Israel by Hamas.

With their particular focus on words, writers should do better, especially when they organize, join or promote such endeavors. If their misrepresentations are without malicious intent, they’re in desperate need of further education.


Sally Rooney’s fight for Chick-Lit Intersectional Justice, by Jeremy Corbyn (satire)
Many us share a love for Young Adult Womens’ literature, but found it lacked a particular focus on boycotting a certain country. A country populated by certain Rootless Cosmopolitans who lacked a capacity for British irony. A country located to the Southwest of Syria, a nation whose leader I consider a friend. So imagine how chuffed I was upon hearing the news that Sally Rooney has decided not to translate her works into Hebrew.

As I told my comrades in the Islington Gardening Allotment this morning, Chick Lit finally has a champion in the struggle to erase the Zionist Entity for Palestine. Sally’s books now truly have “something for everyone”. Our steadfast colleague Diane Abbott noted that Sally’s female protagonists “display terrible choices in men that remind me of some of the choices that I once made as a young woman.” I’m not sure what she’s referring to, but it sounds like a rather authentic endorsement.

Ms. Rooney’s stand is truly a breath of fresh air. For too many months, the Progressive Left in this nation has been hectored by a series of reactionary Kulaks Blairites spinning yarns such as “Why did Cotbyn’s Labour rallies feature a sea of Palestinian flags but no Union Jacks?” Yet what these critics don’t understand is that the Northern Counties that abandoned Labour were not interested in jobs or their childrens’ education. Rather, they were waiting for a Woke Novelist to rally the Proletariat in the Struggle for Palestine.

Ms. Rooney, please consider yourself invited to my next High Tea at the House of Commons.


Facebook Sees 15 Times More Hate Speech Than 5 Years Ago As It Vows to Fight Antisemitism
A top Facebook officer on Wednesday said that the platform was removing 15 times more hate speech than it was five years ago and pledged to keep fighting the harmful expressions, the Associated Press reported.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was one of the government and social media representatives who attended the International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance in Sweden, where many blamed social media for contributing to widespread rises in antisemitism.

Participants at the Malmo conference, including Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union's executive branch, pledged to curtail harmful language online and in the real world by pushing back on hate speech, disinformation and the rejection of facts, the AP reported.

The European Commission chief said that Holocaust denial and antisemitism are "a threat to Jewish people, but it is also a poison for our democracies, our values and our open societies." The EU plans to develop "a network of young European ambassadors for Holocaust remembrance" in response, von der Leyen said.

"Who is in a better position to teach the lessons of the Shoah to their peers than our young?" she added.
Netflix Defends Dave Chappelle’s Comedy Special Featuring ‘Space Jews’ Joke
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the streaming service will not remove Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special “The Closer,” which has faced a backlash for featuring controversial comments, including an antisemitic joke.

After “The Closer” premiered last week, Chappelle was criticized by the LGBTQ+ community for poking fun at trans people and gender identity. The comedian was also denounced for making an antisemitic joke about “Space Jews” seeking world domination, which plays into a common antisemitic trope.

In a memo sent on Friday, Sarandos told senior staff members that “some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do.”

“Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long-standing deal with him,” he wrote. “As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom, even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful.”

Sarandos noted as an example the reality series “My Unorthodox Life,” about a fashion executive who left the ultra-Orthodox Jewish faith. He then explained that the streaming giant does not allow titles “designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line.”
Belfast Telegraph promotes ISM lies about IDF soldiers 'shooting children'
The pro-Palestinian propaganda, factual errors and the blurring of fact with mere claims in a recent Belfast Telegraph article would make Guardian editors cringe. The deceit in the piece (“How Palestine changed my life: NI teacher Charlotte Carson who stood in front of Israeli tanks to run for Assembly”, Oct. 13) begins in the first few sentences:
Belfast woman who risked her life acting as a human shield to prevent Israeli soldiers shooting civilians and demolishing Palestinian homes is to run as an SDLP candidate in the Assembly election. Charlotte Carson stood in front of bulldozers and accompanied women and children past army checkpoints in Gaza and the West Bank

Her friend Rachel Corrie, an American student, was crushed to death by an Israeli Defence Force armoured bulldozer in 2003.

As is evident further into the article, it’s merely the (completely unsubstantiated) claim by Charlotte Carson that, while volunteering with a radical anti-Israel group during the height of the 2nd Intifada, she was preventing Israeli soldiers from “shooting civilians”. The fact that the Belfast Telegraph journalist, Suzanne Breene, failed to make this distinction is a violation of the accuracy clause’s demand that the press must “distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact”.

The journalist also fails to note that an Israeli court ruled, in response to a lawsuit by Rachel Corrie’s parents, the her tragic death was an accident, not the result of criminal behavior by the driver of the bulldozer.

It continues:
After two years as a volunteer in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which was blacklisted by the Israeli authorities, Ms Carson was arrested and deported from the occupied Palestinian territories.

The journalist makes no effort to explain that ISM was “blacklisted” by Israel because it is openly pro-terrorism, and has directly supported terrorist organisations by, among other activities, serving as human shields for terrorist operatives, and even sheltering Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives involved in suicide bombing attacks.

Also unmentioned by the article is the reason why Carson was arrested and deported: she reportedly disrupted IDF soldiers operating against Palestinians who threw Molotov cocktails at them, preventing the terrorists’ detention. According to the soldiers, she also exposed a previous IDF ambush by shining a flashlight on them, jeopardizing the soldiers’ lives.
BBC Radio 4 documentary falls short on Palestinian refugees
Listeners are given no information that would help them understand what that would mean for Israel and the millions of Jewish former refugees and their descendants living there or for the chances of a peaceful solution to the conflict. Indeed Long then implies that “return for Palestinian refugees like Basma” would be a viable option were it not opposed by Israelis.

Long: “Basma is clearly in it for the long haul. But just listen to Michal Rozin, a member of the Israeli parliament for the Left-wing Meretz party. Michal has a long history of campaigning for refugees’ rights in Israel. Yet when I asked her about return for Palestinian refugees like Basma, as so often in this series, there was a but.”

Michal Rozin tells listeners that “you can’t solve the issue by bringing back millions of Palestinians back to [the] Israeli state” and predicts that most of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants will stay in other countries in the region while a future Palestinian state could absorb some.

Once again listeners are given no information that would help them understand Rozin’s position.

In her closing remarks Long states:
Long: “100 years ago the world decided refugee crises couldn’t continue indefinitely. Camps were not a solution. Yet 100 years on we have more refugees, more refugee camps, more endless cycles of exile. So how does this end?”

Clearly in relation to Palestinian refugees, Katy Long failed to provide listeners with the background information which would help them understand how their deliberately prolonged refugee status could be resolved.

By failing to address the issue of UNRWA’s perpetuation of the refugee status of Palestinians and the Arab League’s politically motivated exploitation of the topic, Long fell well short of her declared intention to “examine the refugee business” for Radio 4’s audience.
Australia to adopt IHRA definition of antisemitism
PRIME Minister Scott Morrison announced on Wednesday night that Australia will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

A month after federal Education Minister Alan Tudge told Jewish leaders the IHRA definition was being considered by the Morrison government and that he was “determined to see this implemented and adopted as government policy”, Morrison made the announcement at the Malmo International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism in Sweden.

“In the history of humanity the Holocaust serves as a perpetual and brutal reminder of exclusion, of racism, of systematic political hatred and evil, itself,” Morrison said via video link.

“My government pledges to embrace the definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“Australia does so as a people, and as a nation. Antisemitism has no place in Australia. It has no place anywhere in the world.

“And we must work together, resolutely and as a global community to reject any word or any act that supports antisemitism towards individuals, towards communities or religious facilities.”


European rabbis warn Jewish freedom of worship threatened
European Jewish Association Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin opened the annual gathering of Jewish leaders in the continent on Tuesday in Brussels, saying the newly published EU strategy to combat antisemitism by the European Union was not enough.

"We welcome any effort that seeks to do something positive in the fight against antisemitism, but it appears that the EU Commission has chosen to focus on the easy tasks while avoiding a clash with member states that are not making an effort to fight it," Margolin said, adding that the "main problem is the freedom of religion for Jews, which is being restricted by some member states."

According to Margolin, "the EU commission has been ignoring our pleas to act against states that have been limiting our ability to keep our tradition," referring to circumcision and kosher slaughter.

During the conference the EJA published a 10-point plan to rid the world of antisemitism, outlining the specific steps that need to be taken. The plans called for the EU to impose heavy monetary fines on social media groups that fail to take off antisemitic content, including hate speech that is directed against Israel. It also called for new legislation that would mimic the US measures in some states that prohibit fundraising from groups calling for the boycott on Israel.

Joël Mergui, the president of the Israelite Central Consistory of France which serves as the umbrella organization for the country's Jews, said that in some countries it is still taboo to talk about antisemitism perpetrated by Muslims. "This is the antisemitism that kills in Europe today; some countries have seen Muslims and Jews unite against the restrictions on their religious traditions, and Muslims have even been fighting the radicals Islamists," he said.


Canadian Jews Praise PM Trudeau’s Announcement That Special Envoy on Antisemitism Will Be Permanent Role
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that the role of special envoy to combat antisemitism created during his first term in government would be made permanent.

Trudeau made the announcement in a video address to a high-level international forum in the Swedish city of Malmo on antisemitism and commemorating the Holocaust.

Trudeau said the commitment was in line with “Canada’s commitment to promote and defend pluralism, inclusion and human rights.”

The current incumbent of the post, Irwin Cotler — a former Canadian Minister of Justice and prominent human rights advocate — was appointed in Nov. 2020. Trudeau’s announcement means that the antisemitism envoy, up until now an unfunded position, will have a budget and dedicated staff.

Trudeau remarked that antisemitism “isn’t a problem for the Jewish community to solve alone. It’s everyone’s challenge to take on, especially governments.” He pledged to “develop and implement a national action plan on combating hate, working in concert with Jewish communities and our special envoy.”

Canadian Jewish groups gave a warm welcome to Trudeau’s announcement.
Social Media Spread of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Exposing New Generation to Antisemitic Lies, Report Warns
The spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories on social media is exposing a new generation of users to antisemitic canards that they would otherwise be unlikely to encounter, a new report by a group of European anti-racist organizations has warned.

The report, published by the UK charity Hope Not Hate in partnership with the Amadeu Antonio Foundation in Germany and the Expo Foundation in Sweden, analyzed antisemitic content on nine social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and 4chan/pol.

“The most worrying finding of this report is that we found antisemitism on every platform we explored,” the introduction stated. “While the amount of different types of antisemitism varies between platforms, it remains possible to locate all forms and extremes of antisemitism on all platforms.”

Among the report’s key findings were that 4chan/pol/ — shorthand for “politically incorrect,” a sub-channel of the wider 4chan platform — features the most antisemitic slurs of all the platforms surveyed.

The channel could be likened “to a sewer overflowing with hate speech and bigotry, targeting every group imaginable but most usually women and minority groups, and especially Jews and people of color,” the report stated.
Swedish City Archive Covers Up Jewish Books to ‘Avoid Vandalism’
Malmö city archivist Anette Sarnäs decided to display Jewish books and posters books in the window of the city archive office only to be told to cover them to avoid potential vandalism.

The multicultural Swedish city is hosting a conference on the Holocaust this week and Ms Sarnäs decided to post the books and posters in the window to coincide with the conference and was shocked after she was told to cover them up.

“I was really upset and pissed off. I protested but the message I received was that it could be removed again on Monday when there are staff and security guards on-site,” she said, newspaper Expressen reports.

City archivist Adam Hidestål stated that the incident was a misunderstanding and that the purple blanket, which had been placed over the books, was later taken away.

“Of course, it sends an unfortunate signal that we absolutely do not stand for,” he said, claiming that the City Archives were “not afraid” to display such material publicly.
Millwall hooligans’ ‘attention Jews’ poster removed and reported to police
A “disgraceful” antisemitic poster put up by Millwall football hooligans has been removed by the club and reported to the British Transport Police.

The south London club took down a sign which had the words ‘Achtung Juden’ [attention Jews, in German], the Tottenham Hotspur symbol, and blood.

The poster included the symbol of hooligan group ‘Millwall Berserkers’, which has previously posted the neo-Nazi odal rune on its Instagram page, a Nazi-style eagle and death threats to the left.

After saying the poster had been removed from a cycle path by its stadium, near South Bermondsey station, the club said: “Millwall Football Club has a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind.

“This is a disgraceful action which the club immediately reported to the British Transport Police. Millwall will provide them with full and comprehensive cooperation with their investigation and any individual or group identified will be banned from the club for life.”
Walker cancels fundraiser with supporter who had swastika in her Twitter profile
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker canceled a fundraiser with a conservative film producer who until Wednesday used a rendering of a swastika as her Twitter profile picture.

Walker’s campaign said in a statement that the event at the Texas home of Bettina Sofia Viviano-Langlais has been “called off,” hours after the campaign initially contended the symbol wasn’t a swastika but a sign of opposition to vaccine requirements.

The candidate had come under heated criticism after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported details of the fundraiser hosted by Viviano-Langlais, who long featured a set of syringes arranged in a swastika as her Twitter profile picture. The Nazi symbol, which she removed shortly after the story published, is being used by some opponents of vaccine requirements in Texas.

Walker’s campaign spokeswoman early Wednesday said the swastika is “clearly an anti-mandatory vaccination graphic.” In another statement hours later, the campaign disavowed Viviano-Langlais’ usage of the symbol and said Walker opposed antisemitism and bigotry “in all forms.”

“Despite the fact that the apparent intent behind the graphic was to condemn government vaccine mandates,” the campaign said, “the symbol used is very offensive and does not reflect the values of Herschel Walker or his campaign.”
New Israeli Tech Can See Through Walls at Long-Range
A new Israeli technology that can “see through walls” at long-range is slated to be unveiled for the first time at a military expo in Paris next week.

Camero-Tech, part of the SK Group, is an Israeli firm that specializes in pulse-based UWB (ultra-wideband) “through-wall-imaging” solutions. Its latest invention is Xaver™ LR40 (XLR40), a portable system that can detect live objects hidden behind walls from over 50 meters (roughly 164 feet) away. The XLR40, which the company says is lightweight, can accurately pinpoint the presence and number of objects moving behind walls in real-time.

“The uniqueness of the XLR40 is the fact that we can now do it from a much longer range than before, [longer] than any other existing system in the world,” Ilan Abramovich, VP of business development, sales and marketing at Camero-Tech, told The Media Line.

The technology is particularly helpful in standoff situations or covert operations where a tactical team needs to remain at a safe distance from a target. It is also relevant for search-and-rescue operations.
Unpacked: Meet 669: the IDF's Elite Airborne Evacuation and Rescue Unit | Unpacked
For soldiers in 669, the IDF’s Airborne Combat Rescue and Evacuation Unit, every day is unpredictable. After all, this special forces rescue unit is dispatched when things go horribly wrong, from rescuing wounded soldiers, to civilians in need of emergency aerial evacuation. As one of the most elite units in the IDF, candidates go through grueling testing, tryouts, and 18 months of intense training. They become experts in survival; rescue at sea, under fire, and at night; as well as urban warfare, and complete full medic training.

669 responds to emergencies both in Israel and abroad. After the earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and Nepal in 2015, unit members were part of the IDF’s rescue missions. And in 2018 they were sent to assist the rescue of a Jordanian school bus that was swept away in a flash flood. It makes sense that this unit’s motto is “In distress you called and I rescued you” — in a time of need, 669 is on its way.









at