Thursday, October 21, 2021
Climate group refuses to rally with 'Zionist organizations'
The Washington, DC chapter of US climate action group Sunrise Movement is being accused of antisemitism for turning down a role in a voting rights rally taking place this Saturday over the participation of "Zionist organizations."
“Given our commitment to racial justice, self-governance and indigenous sovereignty, we oppose Zionism and any state that enforces its ideology,” Sunrise DC said in a statement it posted Tuesday on Twitter. The group named the National Council of Jewish Women, the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs as groups supporting Israel, which it calls a "colonial project."
The Freedom to Vote Relay and Rally is a bike ride from West Virginia to Washington, DC in support of voting reform legislation in the US Congress. The participants of the ride will be greeted by demonstrators in the nation's capital.
Sunrise DC called for Declaration for American Democracy, one of the main organizers of the rally, to remove the pro-Israel Jewish groups from the coalition it put together.
The refusal to take part in this event because Jewish organizations are participating is unfortunate & wrong, & I am disappointed by this decision. This type of action is unhelpful and counterproductive, & takes needed attention away from such a vital issue as voting rights. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/0WoX6bVX5j
— Grace Meng (@RepGraceMeng) October 21, 2021
Sunrise distances itself from, but doesn’t condemn, boycott of Zionist groups
The Sunrise national climate organization said Thursday that it was not involved in the decision by one of its local chapters to pull out of a voting rights rally in Washington due to the participation of several Zionist groups.
However, the Sunrise Movement defended Sunrise DC’s “ability to act independently” and refrained from condemning the local chapter’s decision.
The national movement said it “reject[s] all forms of discrimination, including antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism.”
It went on to note that it has hundreds of local chapters like Sunrise DC, and that each “has the ability to act independently — whether it’s organizing protests, supporting candidates, or sending out public statements.”
“Sunrise DC made a decision to issue this statement, and we weren’t given the chance to look at it before it became public,” the Sunrise Movement continued.
“As a national movement that supports freedom and dignity for all people, we will always welcome anyone who acts on our principles and chooses to join the fight for collective liberation,” the umbrella group continued, indicating that it believed Sunrise DC’s boycott of Zionist groups was rooted in its principles.
Yonah from IfNotNow defending Sunrise’s vile antisemitism … almost as if on cue. https://t.co/a7ajK6EPOb pic.twitter.com/mpr1pU2ezn
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) October 20, 2021
Abraham Cooper: Until Messiah, forecast is cloudy skies with 100% chance of antisemitism
Like today’s COVID-variants, history’s oldest hate refuses to die, it just continues to metastasize.Answering European antisemitism
In 1972, I visited the epicenter of state-sponsored antisemitism. Together with fellow activist David Koenigsberg, we spent a month with embattled Jews in six cities across the Soviet Union during the Cold War. We watched in awe as they fought a seemingly hopeless battle against a heartless atheistic regime bent on silencing three million Jews with its antisemitic cultural genocide.
We returned to the US transformed by these heroes but unsure how or if world Jewry could stop their brethren from being crushed by the mighty Soviet Union and fearful that its mighty propaganda behemoth would step up its vicious antizionist and antisemitic vendetta throughout the Iron Curtain, at the UN, and beyond.
Fast forward. The Soviet Union is no more, and more than a million Russian Jews were able to make aliyah.
The Chanukah menorah is kindled annually in Red Square. And one-time Gulag bound Refusenik, Natan Sharansky, was freed to leave a mighty imprint on his beloved state and people - in the Israeli Cabinet and as head of the Jewish Agency.
Most importantly, the official state-mandated, top-down drumbeat of antisemitic poison is no more. No more vile cartoons in Pravda, no more Moscow-led anti-Israel diplomatic crusades the UN, across Eastern Europe, in Third world capitals, or in the Arab world.
And yet today, we would be hard-put to find young Jews born in this century who have even a superficial inkling about those desperate days. Why? Because there are no victory parades in the war against antisemitism. It has roared back, perhaps even more unpredictable, and dangerous than the horrible Cold War era.
How did we get from there to here? How do we inoculate ourselves from today’s insidious variants?
A new European task force is going hard against antisemitism in a last-ditch effort to save the continent from its oldest and most self-destructive sin. It’s good news for Jews, but even better news for non-Jews seeking to solve Europe’s post-Christian identity crisis.New European Survey Finds Anti-Semitism, Anti-Israel Bias
Once upon a time, Europe was home to most of the world’s Jews. Today, only 10 percent of the world’s Jewish population lives in Europe, the rest were either killed or forced to flee after seventeen centuries of persecution. Lately, a new batch of conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19 has given life to old obsessions with Jews and the State of Israel, which, aggravated by a growing Muslim population, have turned much of Europe into a pressure cooker. Of the 1.5 million Jews still living there, 85 percent feel that antisemitism is a serious problem, and 90 percent think it’s getting worse. Nearly half have experienced anti-Jewish hatred firsthand.
But the European Union’s new strategy, released on Oct. 5, intends to change all that. Remarkable in its scope and aggressiveness, the document takes on right-wing, left-wing, and Islamic antisemitism by name, condemning acts of violence as well as subtle “conspiracy myths and disinformation” that poison public culture. Historically, the EU has lumped antisemitism and racism together, but European leaders see that the time has come for a direct response to antisemitism. Their plan calls for new legal and political measures backed by sizeable funding and urges EU member states to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of antisemitism and to apply it.
One of the more interesting aspects of the plan is its focus on “fostering Jewish life” by preserving heritage sites and educating Gentiles about Jews and Judaism. “To dismantle prejudices and to achieve full recognition of Jewish life as part of Europe’s society,” the document notes, “awareness and knowledge of Jewish history and culture need to be increased among the general public.” It cites a recent poll that finds only 3 percent of Europeans feeling “very well informed” about Jews and 68 percent “not informed” at all, revealing a mental gap that anti-Jewish fantasies can easily fill.
But even more interesting is that the EU, known for its hostility to Israel, comes off as surprisingly warm. It praises Arab-Israeli cooperation under the Abraham Accords, calls for more fact-finding trips to the Jewish state, and describes Israel itself as a key partner. It also notes that today the greatest source of antisemitism is anti-Zionism, a principled objection to Israel’s existence that often masquerades as simple criticism of Israeli policies. That’s big news in itself—and welcome news.
The pan-European Action and Protection League surveyed anti-Semitic prejudice in 16 EU countries between December 2019 and January 2020.WaPo: If Sally Rooney believes in her own writing, she should want Israelis to read it
On average, respondents in Greece agreed with traditional anti-Semitic prejudices and opinions in an exceptionally high proportion. Romania appears to be the second most anti-Semitic country.
Poles, Hungarians, Slovaks and Austrians also accepted anti-Semitic statements at a significantly higher rate than the European average.
In contrast, very few in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK accept traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Responses showing sympathy for Israel were given by 23-35%, with 35% supporting the statement that Israel is an important ally in the fight against terrorism.
The average rate of responses in favor of Israel is highest in Romania, the Czech Republic and Germany, and lowest in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Interestingly, in many countries where anti-Semitic responses are high, the proportion of sympathizers with Israel is also high, such as Poland and Romania.
The responses that I've heard and seen from friends and colleagues in Israel, people with clear anti-occupation politics, have ranged from anger to apoplexy. Rooney's human rights concerns appear focused on one small country, where everyone is presumed guilty until proven innocent.Israel's Boycotters Are Only Prolonging Conflict in the Middle East
So a blanket boycott of Israel ends up being a gift to the country’s political right. See, say right-wing politicians, they object to Israel as a country, no matter what we do — and therefore, why do anything different? The economic impact of the boycott movement has been minimal, but the right exaggerates the threat to discredit any criticism of the occupation.
A cultural boycott makes even less sense than an economic one. Beyond aesthetic pleasure, there's a subtle political side to the transformative experience of reading fiction. The best novels do what manifestos and, alas, opinion articles cannot: They make us see people more fully, in all their contradictions and dimensions. They demand subversive empathy.
A novel placed elsewhere and else-when may do this more effectively, because it lowers our defenses. Jane Austen’s world was utterly different from mine, but she pushes me to question my own pride and prejudice. The doomed lovers of Dorit Rabinyan’s “All the Rivers” are an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, but the book can make readers in faraway countries question belonging, enmity and boundaries. If Rooney believes in her own writing, she should want Israelis to read it.
One more plot twist is possible. Like any good character, Rooney can change her mind. She can approve an Israeli publisher. If she’d like, she can give the meager royalties from this small country to Palestinian and Israeli groups working for change.
She can give this story a better ending.
It is surely ridiculous to believe that a book could be translated into Hebrew, but only if it is done in a way which complies with a boycott of Israel. Why would a publisher pay for the translation but not then sell it in the only country where the language is widely read? But that is exactly what author Sally Rooney appears to think.Sally Rooney's Anti-Israel Stance Flows from a Long Irish Tradition
No one would say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not important, but with 200 territorial disputes around the world, why do so many only seem to campaign against the world's only Jewish state, a tiny country of just nine million people? Books are routinely translated into Mandarin and sold in China, a country accused of genocide against the Uyghurs. Few object to cultural ties with Russia, where the government imprisons opponents at home and murders them abroad.
It is a grotesque slur to call Holocaust survivors who escaped Europe to establish a refuge from centuries of pogroms or the Jews who fled persecution in Middle Eastern countries "settler colonialists." The Israel obsessives hold Israel to standards never applied to other countries but utter not a word about the genocidal terrorists of Hamas who are opposed to any peace agreement, want to wipe Israel off the map, and murder the Jews who live there.
In May, Palestinian authorities raised a flag outside Ramallah's city hall to celebrate one of its longest-standing allies: the Republic of Ireland.ADL Under Fire for Teaming Up With Anti-Israel Activist Who Defended Terror Groups
People shouldn't have been surprised when novelist Sally Rooney announced that she would not allow an Israeli publisher to translate her latest novel into Hebrew because of her support for a boycott of Israeli companies.
For decades, Ireland has been an ally of the Palestinians.
The IRA felt a kindred spirit in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), whom they saw as fellow freedom-fighters.
Today, huge murals in Derry, Northern Ireland, use the backdrop of a Palestinian flag.
In the first half of the 20th century it was the Zionist cause that tugged at the sympathies of the Irish; here was a group who had also known great suffering and the pain of colonial oppression.
But after the creation of Israel in 1948, support shifted to the Palestinians.
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign boasts 15 branches.
The Anti-Defamation League is under fire for participating in a conference that will see the nation's oldest anti-Semitism watchdog group share the stage with an anti-Israel activist who has defended the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups.Ivy League Firebombers Plead Guilty, Face 10 Years Under Terror Law
ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt appeared in Pittsburgh this week for the inaugural "Eradicate Hate" conference, a summit that brought ADL together with Salam al-Marayati, a member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an anti-Israel organization that has advocated for Middle Eastern terrorist groups to be removed from the United States' terrorism list, according to Jewish News Service. Al-Marayati has also defended Hamas and Hezbollah and accused Israelis of being responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks. The summit, which ran from Oct. 18 to 20, is billed as a response to the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where an anti-Semitic man killed 11 Jews.
The ADL's decision to participate in an event alongside al-Marayati is generating pushback from other pro-Israel organizations. It is the latest controversy to hit the ADL under the leadership of Greenblatt, a former Obama administration official, who critics view as undermining the ADL's mission and turning the historically apolitical group into a partisan outfit.
"We are horrified Salam al-Marayati, a man who claims Jews ‘weaponize anti-Semitism' and blames 9/11 on Israel, has been chosen as a key speaker for the Tree of Life anti-hate summit in Pittsburgh," Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism.org, told the Washington Free Beacon. "The Tree of Life shooter was an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist like al-Marayati; his involvement in this summit does nothing but spit on the victims' graves."
The ADL did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment.
Two New York City lawyers pled guilty in a Brooklyn federal court Wednesday morning to one charge relating to the firebombing of a police vehicle during the George Floyd riots.Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s crisis is escalating
Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman each pled guilty to one count of possessing or making a destructive device, a charge carrying as much as 10 years in prison under a terrorism sentencing enhancement. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan will determine the length of the prison term, which could run much shorter than 10 years, at a sentencing proceeding in February 2022.
Liberal legal elites flocked to the defense of Mattis and Rahman following their arrest in May 2020. Those advocates broadly accused Trump appointees at the Justice Department of railroading the defendants to underscore their tough on crime agenda in the midst of nationwide unrest following Floyd’s death. And they’ve urged the department’s Biden-appointed successors to chart a friendlier course.
The Washington Free Beacon reported in 2020 that an intelligence official in the Obama administration, Salmah Rizvi, guaranteed Rahman’s bail. Rachel Barkow, a former member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and a major figure in criminal justice reform circles, urged the new Biden-appointed U.S. attorney in Brooklyn to stop pursuing the terror enhancement in a New York Daily News piece. And media outlets including NPR and BuzzFeed News published sympathetic profiles of the defendants.
Mattis and Rahman made short statements Wednesday morning confessing and expressing regret for their actions. Following the allocution, prosecutors read direct messages the pair traded, meaning to underscore that their acts were planned. The defense and sympathetic observers have cast Mattis and Rahman as righteous crusaders who made a terrible mistake in the heat of the moment. Cogan rebuked the prosecution, saying their intervention was not relevant to Wednesday’s proceeding.
Until about three weeks ago the Ben & Jerry’s website continued to proudly promote the “independent” board’s anti-Israel decision while it has not at any stage even been mentioned on Unilever’s website. It has now vanished from Ben & Jerry’s website.'Unilever falsely claiming its hands are tied on Ben & Jerry's boycott'
Mittal still remains a strident, anti-Israeli activist but has had the wit to try to de-escalate Ben & Jerry’s very public conflict with its parent company. She has deleted her tweet of the independent board’s’ toxic criticism of Unilever, and the “independent board” now presents itself as reconciled to Ben & Jerry’s continued availability in Israel after 2022 but not in “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
So do Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the Jewish founders of Ben & Jerry’s, who in a recent embarrassing Axios on HBO car crash interview were unable to explain why Israel was uniquely targeted by Ben & Jerry’s when other states to whose politics they object were not.
UNILEVER IS paying the price for playing with politics. Over 30 American states are considering either divesting from, or prohibiting any investments in, Unilever, and legal action is being considered against Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever for their violation of US anti-BDS laws and other laws.
Time is running out for the existing Ben & Jerry’s license in Israel. Unilever has the embarrassment of being unable to explain what new arrangement it intends for the production and continued availability of Ben & Jerry’s in Israel after December 2022, and the “independent board” claims a veto on any new production license and sales arrangement with which it disagrees.
Whether Unilever envisages the sale of Ben & Jerry’s throughout Jerusalem after 2022, or whether it will prohibit its sale in east Jerusalem and proclaim part of Israel’s capital as occupied territory and how that might work, is unknown.
How depriving any Israeli or Palestinian of ice cream advances Ben & Jerry’s much proclaimed marketing commitment to “peace and love” or contributes to conflict resolution also remains a mystery.
Pro-Israel lawyers in Great Britain have warned Ben & Jerry's parent company Unilever against falsely claiming it cannot overrule the ice-cream maker's boycott of Judea and Samaria.StandWithUs, IAC Urge Unilever to Overturn Ben & Jerry’s Israel Decision
In a letter to the multinational consumer goods company, UK Lawyers for Israel, which has the support of dozens of lords and barons in Great Britain, noted Ben & Jerry's Judea and Samaria boycott was in breach of Unilever's Code of Business Conduct.
Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Turner said that "instead of trying to disclaim responsibility for the decision of its subsidiary, Unilever should take back control by requiring full compliance with its Code of Business Conduct."
If it failed to take control of the situation, investors "could lose confidence in the group," UKLFI said.
The group noted Ben & Jerry's move to halt sales to Judea and Samaria "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 capitalization in excess of £12 billion (around $16.6 billion).
According to the lawyers, the code of conduct requires Unilever companies to act in compliance with laws and regulations in countries where Unilever operates. It noted Israeli laws prohibiting discrimination against communities in Judea and Samaria as well as anti-BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) legislation signed into law in various US states.
StandWithUs and the Israeli-American Coalition (IAC) for Action urged Unilever in an October 15 letter to overturn Ben & Jerry’s decision in July to withdraw from the “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The letter, written by StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein on behalf of both organizations, stated that they were “disappointed” that Unilever is claiming that they cannot overrule Ben & Jerry’s on the matter because their contractual agreement states that Ben & Jerry’s has full autonomy to engage in social justice activism. Rothstein argued that Ben & Jerry’s is actually in violation of their contract with Unilever over its Israel decision because the contract states that Ben & Jerry’s can only engage in such action when it is “commercially reasonable.”
“Neither Unilever nor Ben and Jerry’s has explained how it is commercially reasonable to effectively boycott Israel—because it is not. Boycotting an entire country is, in fact, commercially unreasonable, especially when it triggers counter-boycotts by states and consumer groups and divestment of state pension funds,” Rothstein wrote. “In fact, since the boycott announcement, Unilever has underperformed competitors, suggesting that the boycott decision has harmed your investors.”
Rothstein also noted that the contract between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever states that the ice cream company is required to “use commercially reasonable efforts” to “conduct all facets of the Business in Israel.” “Ben and Jerry’s must explain—to you and to the investing public—how its social mission requires such a boycott when it signed a contract showing that doing business in Israel was consistent with its social mission,” Rothstein wrote. “Clearly, it is Ben and Jerry’s that is in breach, and it is within Unilever’s rights to reverse the Board.”
It's almost 90 days since @Unilever's @benandjerrys decided to boycott a single country, @Israel.
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) October 20, 2021
We know Cuomo signed EO 157 mandating NYS divestment of BDSers.
We know the NYS Comptroller is reviewing the case.
But we've no clue what @GovKathyHochul thinks or intends to do! https://t.co/E0quBt0PVd
Black Eyed Peas to perform in Jerusalem in November
Hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas, represented by will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo, will perform in Jerusalem’s Pais Arena on November 29, 2021, for the country’s first pandemic-era headlining concert.Anti-Israel Groups Are Spearheading the ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Pushing Amazon and Google to Cut Business Ties With Israel
The band, which last performed in Israel in 2006 and 2007 along with former lead singer Fergie, is being brought by Improvate, the innovation organization established by entrepreneur Irina Nevzlin.
Nevzlin, who also serves as the chair of Anu, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, is the daughter of Russian-Israeli billionaire Leonid Nevzlin and Anna Nevzlin. She is married to Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, a former health minister.
The band bonded well with locals during previous visits, making friends and contacts.
In 2014, will.i.am, born William Adams, was in Israel looking for high-tech investments in Israeli companies, and to introduce his latest device, a smartwatch.
A coalition of longtime anti-Israel activists and groups is spearheading a "grassroots" campaign by Google and Amazon employees calling on the companies to cut business ties with Israel, drawing accusations that it's an astroturf operation.Students at University of Essex chant 'from the river to the sea' to protest British colonel's talk
On Oct. 12, a group of "anonymous Google and Amazon employees" published an open letter in the Guardian calling on their employers to pull out of a project with the Israeli government to develop a cloud data system—called Project Nimbus—and "cut all ties with the Israeli military." The authors said they were withholding their identities "because we fear retaliation" and claimed "more than 90 workers at Google and more than 300 at Amazon" had signed on to the letter.
The next day, a group calling itself No Tech for Apartheid launched a website. The group claimed it was created in response to the employee letter, saying it was "heeding the call from hundreds of Google and Amazon workers to rise up against" Project Nimbus, and linking to the Guardian article.
The group registered the website—NoTechForApartheid.com—nearly two months prior to the Google and Amazon letter's publication, and it sat dormant until the day after the "anonymous" letter was published, according to domain respiration data. The fine print at the bottom of the website notes that it is a "joint project" of Jewish Voice for Peace and MPower Change, two prominent anti-Israel groups that are active in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
While the No Tech for Apartheid campaign bills itself as an organic effort, the two anti-Israel groups leading the project—Jewish Voice for Peace and MPower—have no significant ties to the tech industry but lengthy backgrounds supporting boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. MPower's leadership role in particular could become a credibility problem for the campaign due to its controversial executive director. The group is run by Linda Sarsour, a prominent BDS activist who was kicked off the Women's March board and denounced by President Joe Biden due to her affiliation with anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan. Sarsour, who has claimed that Israel is "built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else," spoke at a 2015 rally organized by Farrakhan, who has called Jews "termites" and "satanic." Last year, Biden issued a statement saying he "condemns [Sarsour's] views and opposes BDS" after Sarsour participated in a conference call for his supporters.
Dozens of students at the University of Essex chanted anti-Israel slogans on Tuesday in protest of talk on campus by a retired British army officer.
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was giving a talk to the university's Conservative Society about the UK’s troop withdrawal last month.
Col. Kemp is a staunch advocate of Israel’s right to defend itself and his appearance provoked a protest from students who claimed in a statement issued that he was attempting to “erase the identity and histories” of Palestinian students on campus
Demonstrating outside the building where the talk was taking place they chanted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“From the river to the sea" is a common refrain made by anti-Israel campaigners who advocate the dismantling of the Jewish state. It has also long been a Hamas rallying cry.
A spokesperson for the Pinsker Centre, a think tank which defends free speech on campus and campaigns against antisemitism, said: “There is now enormous pressure on student unions to permanently blacklist and no-platform anyone deemed even remotely sympathetic to Israel, even if they don’t speak on the subject.
Students at The University of Essex chanted anti-Israel slogans to protest a talk given by @COLRICHARDKEMP last night at the university. pic.twitter.com/Zn44j9yF8M
— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) October 20, 2021
University of Illinois at Chicago Grapples With Antisemitism as Students for Justice in Palestine Foments Hatred
The university in response issued a letter from Chancellor Michael D. Amiridis condemning the posters that “defame, insult and negatively portray Jewish members of our campus community.”In New Statement, University of Manitoba Student Union to Show ‘Solidarity’ with Israeli, Jewish Students
Yet, instead of simply denouncing the blatant case of Jew-hatred, Amiridis also encouraged “all members of our university to exercise their right to free speech in a manner that recognizes these principles and avoids prejudice or stereotypes.”
Just days after the email was sent to staff and students, another stack of fliers was discovered (one was tacked onto a public bulletin board) that included the vile suggestion that the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust was inflated: “…But when you question the 6 million [Jews killed by the Nazis] they put you in jail in 17 countries.”
The fliers also maliciously and falsely stated that “Zionists” operate and own the “largest Concentration Camp in the world today” in reference to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The University of Illinois at Chicago is not alone in wrestling with rising antisemitism and hatred directed toward Israel, but for a school that prides itself on diversity, it will still come as a surprise to many.
Several weeks after a contentious discussions surrounding a statement “in solidarity with Palestinian students,” the University of Manitoba Student Union (UMSU) will issue a second statement expressing support for Israeli and Jewish students on campus.Arkansas law school dean accused of antisemitism by Jewish professor after Clinton clash
The Oct. 7 USMU board vote came after the earlier message was approved in September, after several hours of debate over whether it should specifically focus on Palestinian students or include broader language.
The new statement, The Daily Manitoban reported Tuesday, will declare “solidarity and support towards all students, staff and faculty at the University of Manitoba impacted by recent events in the Middle-East … In addition to reiterating the safe spaces, mental health and spiritual supports on campus for all Jewish, Israeli and other affected community members.”
During deliberations of the motion, the UMSU board heard testimony from students who had faced online bullying and threats. Ari Glikman, who introduced Motion 0521, told the newspaper, “I think it means that hate, hopefully, is being acknowledged.”
“The antisemitism we’re facing, as well as the harassment that some of our students that came forward with the motion have faced, is going to be taken seriously,” he said.
In September, the UMSU Board had declined to approve a draft statement addressed to “all students affected by events in the Middle East” after some students analogized it to the “all lives matter” slogan.
An Arkansas law professor formally accused his school’s dean of antisemitism in a complaint filed Monday with the university’s human rights department.Mezuzah Torn From Northeastern University Hillel House in ‘Despicable Act’
Robert Steinbuch leveled the charge against Theresa Beiner, the dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen Law School.
The two have been at odds since Mr. Steinbuch and a former professor objected to the sudden application of former President Bill Clinton’s name to a teaching chair that had not had such a title since it was launched in 1999.
The kerfuffle at Bowen Law School has also triggered hearings in the Arkansas state legislature, and a warning from Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert that the school should carefully avoid reprisals against Mr. Steinbuch or other employees.
In a written statement, Mr. Steinbuch said Ms. Beiner tried to complicate his professional life after he had a federal judge lecture his classes on days he could not attend while observing Jewish high holy days.
Both Mr. Steinbuch and another Jewish professor, Joshua Silverstein, said Ms. Beinert has denied their requests to teach a constitutional law class, despite their seniority and credentials, the two said.
“Dean Beiner has refused to allow me and my colleague … to teach the Constitutional Law class at the law school now that the class has come open, notwithstanding that we are both the most senior and the most qualified,” Mr. Steinbuch wrote.
“We are both Jews. No Jew has ever taught that class. Dean Beiner’s antisemitism has become obvious at this point,” he wrote. (h/t MtTB)
A mezuzah torn from the door of the Hillel House at Northeastern University prompted condemnations from Jewish groups and university president Joseph E. Aoun, who said Wednesday that campus police are still investigating the incident.San Francisco State University Prof Says Jewish Pot is Making Black Men Gay
“No matter its origin, this despicable act has left members of our Jewish community justifiably upset, saddened, and even fearful,” President Aoun said Wednesday. “They are experiencing firsthand an instance of senseless hate, coming at a time when the ancient scourge of antisemitism is on the rise across the US and around the world.”
The ritual scroll of parchment, traditionally affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes, was discovered to have been ripped from the Jewish center’s entrance on Monday, as students arrived for morning services.
Gilad Skolnick, Northeastern Hillel Executive Director, said that Jewish life will continue to “thrive” at the Boston-area campus.
“We are working closely with our university and community partners to ensure all Jewish students feel safe on campus.” he told The Algemeiner. “We are saddened by the recent destruction of our mezuzah from our building but we know that Jewish life is thriving at NU and will continue to do so.”
Wesley Muhammad believes that the U.S. government and the Jews are using marijuana to make black men gay. The “Pot Plot” is a popular theory in Muhammad’s Nation of Islam cult.PMW: Following PMW’s complaint, Police open criminal investigation against Facebook Israel for terror incitement
At the Saviours Day Convention in Chicago, an official Nation of Islam event, Wesley Muhammad claimed that, "It is Jewish genius that has helped… to weaponize the weed so that it may effeminize the black male of America. And be clear, it is Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam that is standing in between the total demasculinization of the black man in America.”
Some years back, Wesley Muhammad's lecture, “How to Make a Homosexual: The Scientific Assault on Black America" was canceled at a Philly black beauty expo because of its hateful content. But what wasn't good enough for the 23rd Annual International Locks Conference, a black natural hair expo, is unfortunately all too welcome at San Francisco State University.
It’s not too surprising that a black “wholistic” hair expo has higher standards than the most antisemitic university in America. Or that Muhammad fits in so well at SFSU.
"It is clear that the two most powerful lobbies in America - the Jewish and the Homosexual - are hellbent on the information in this lecture, 'How To Make A Homosexualm (sic)' NEVER makes it to the public's awareness," Muhammad complained on Facebook.
Palestinian Media Watch submitted a complaint on May 23, 2021 to Israeli police against Facebook Israel and its CEO for aiding and abetting Fatah incitement to terror, under clause 24(b)(1) of the Anti-Terror Law.CEO of Social Media Platform ‘Gab,’ Favored by Neo-Nazi Behind Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre, Takes Aim at ‘Judeo-Bolshevik’ Society
PMW has now been informed by Israeli police that it has opened an official investigation pursuant to our complaint. Conviction for someone who “publishes direct calls to commit acts of terror” is up to 5 years of imprisonment.
Background: In April and early May, Mahmoud Abbas' PA and Fatah were actively inciting violence and terror. The Palestinian population was furious that Abbas had cancelled elections to prevent a Hamas victory, and Abbas was trying to distract them with a terror wave in defense of Jerusalem. With over a quarter of a million followers, the avenue of choice for the PA and Fatah to promote violence and terror was Fatah’s Facebook pages.
On May 9, 2021, PMW alerted Facebook, writing to the CEO of Facebook Israel Adi Soffer Teeni, that Fatah was using its many Facebook pages to publish calls to commit acts of terror. PMW demanded that Facebook close Fatah’s Facebook pages.
PMW warned Facebook: “If you fail to act as the violence [in Jerusalem] rages and as Fatah and its leaders continue to abuse the Facebook platform to spread violence, we will have no choice but to submit an official complaint to the Israeli police against Facebook in general and key personnel in particular, for the aiding and abetting the violence. We expect your quick and decisive response.” [PMW letter, May 9, 2021] However, Facebook continued its policy of allowing Fatah to post incitement to hate and terror, and to publish direct calls to commit acts of terror, thus fanning the terror in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel throughout the Gaza war with Hamas.
The CEO of Gab, the social media platform used by the neo-Nazi gunman behind the worst antisemitic atrocity in American history to announce his deed, fired off a series of his own antisemitic tweets this week.Smooth and Doesn’t Burn NY Times Dubs Arab Town in Israel ‘Palestinian’
Andrew Torba — whose social media platform has been embraced by neo-Nazi and far right groups — embarked on an antisemitic tirade on Tuesday using Gab’s account on Twitter.
“We’re building a parallel Christian society because we are fed up and done with Judeo-Bolshevik one,” Torba declared, invoking an antisemitic trope traditionally pushed by the far right which holds that communism is a Jewish plot.
Torba also tweeted a lurid graphic of a serpent with multiple heads each of which were marked with the far-right’s most hated targets, including “Judaism,” “Islam,” “Liberalized Christianity,” “Atheism” and “Marxism.”
Another tweet shared a cartoon that mocked the term “Judeo-Christian.” Alluding to the crucifixion of Jesus, the cartoon showed a nail labeled “Judeo” followed by second drawing of a bleeding, upturned palm with a nail through it that was labeled “Christian.”
The Gab platform was the site of numerous postings by Robert Bowers, the gunman who carried out the Oct. 27, 2018 massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in which 11 worshipers were murdered.
Demonstrating a total abandonment of the journalistic imperative mandating strict adherence to factual accuracy, The New York Times is refusing to correct a blatant error: the misidentification of Rameh, an Arab town in northern Israel, as “Palestinian.Finnish tourists give Nazi salute at concentration camp memorial
The Oct. 19 food article, “Where Olives Go Back 7,000 Years,” (online here and in print Oct. 20), by cookbook author Reem Kassis carried the subheadline, both online and in print:”Rameh, a Palestinian town surrounded by olive groves, has long had a reputation for producing especially good oil.”
Similarly, the article itself erroneously states in the first paragraph: “It was the dead of winter in this Palestinian mountain village in the Galilee . . . ” Contradicting the “Palestinian” characterization, the article’s dateline accurately refers to “Rameh, Israel.”
While some residents of Rameh might identify as Palestinian – just 7 percent of Arabs living in Israel self-identify primarily as Palestinian, according to a 2020 survey – the geopolitical reality is that Rameh is located within Israel’s internationally-recognized pre-1967 armistice lines. Thus, Rameh is internationally recognized as part of the State of Israel. Does The New York Times oppose the international community on this point?
Two Finnish tourists made Nazi salutes on Sunday at a memorial site in Dachau concentration camp in the region of Bavaria, southern Germany, according to German media, including the country’s largest news site , Der Spiegel, as well as the DPA news agency.Vile anti-vaxxer graffiti comparing Australia's vaccine rollout to Nazi death camps appears on the streets of Melbourne
Nazi salute, Hitler salute or Sieg heil hi was a greeting used in the 1930s and 1940s and performed by extending the right arm into the air with an outstretched hand. It is illegal in Germany today and considered an offense punishable by up to three years in prison.
German police told local media that two Finnish men, aged 50 and 52, photographed themselves saluting outside the visitor center at the memorial site. A third man in their group also took photos of the incident, police added, before eyewitnesses reported it to police.
A police spokesperson told media that the Finnish men admitted to saluting but viewed it as a “joke”. Tourists were reportedly under the influence of alcohol at the time, the spokesperson added.
The Finnish men also said they did not know that saluting was a punishable offense in Germany.
“But maybe they got the idea that this is not welcome in Germany,” the police spokesman told the media, adding that criminal proceedings had been initiated in the matter.
The three men involved were banned for life from the memorial site.
Vile anti-vaxxer graffiti has been sprayed along roadsides comparing Australia's vaccine rollout to Nazi death camps.
'Vaxx Macht Frei' and a swastika appeared on concrete road barriers and on the side of a building at Punt Road and Olympic Boulevard in Melbourne on Thursday.
The words are a play on the Nazi slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei', which means 'Work sets you free', and appeared on the entrance to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps.
The vandalism angered the Jewish community and added to a surge in public health measures and Covid-19 vaccinations being likened to the Nazi Germany regime.
Dvir Abramovich, chairman of Jewish lobby group Anti-Defamation Commission, said in a statement there is no excuse for the 'hateful comparison', which is an insult to those who died during the Holocaust and to those who survived.
'To exploit the slogan used by the Nazis at the entrance of Auschwitz, the site of the largest mass murder in history, where 1.1 million men, women and children were systematically annihilated on an unfathomable scale, is indefensible and cruel,' he said.
'I don't know if these activists enjoy mocking the Holocaust, but they will not escape my condemnation.
The first pogrom, and the deadlier, had taken place a year and a half earlier between April 19 and 21, 1903 in which close to 50 Jews were murdered, 600 injured and hundreds of homes and stores destroyed. pic.twitter.com/y8dh7Aufob
— On This Day in Jewish History (@dailyjewish) October 19, 2021
New York City to remove Jefferson statue commissioned by Jewish naval officer
New York City lawmakers have voted to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson, one of the United States’ founding fathers, from the council chambers because of his slave-owning past.Dozens of Alaska Museums ‘Stand in Solidarity’ With Jewish Museum After Repeated Antisemitic Vandalism
The move comes amid fierce debate in the US, following last year’s widespread racial justice protests, over what to do with monuments deemed offensive to minority groups.
Many activists say statues of some historical figures are symbols of systemic racism. Historians tend to argue that the figures themselves were complex and shouldn’t be airbrushed from America’s history.
Latino and Black council members in New York have for years demanded the removal of the seven-foot Jefferson statue, which was commissioned in 1833.
Their push was given impetus by last year’s nationwide racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
City officials voted unanimously on Monday to remove the statue from council chambers, but delayed a decision on where to put it. (h/t jzaik)
The umbrella organization for Alaska’s museums expressed solidarity on Tuesday with the Alaska Jewish Museum (AJM), which has been the target of antisemitic vandalism this year.Israeli startup unveils electric ‘flying car’ for consumer travel
In a statement to the Anchorage Press, Museums Alaska noted that Leslie Fried, the AJM’s curator, has twice discovered swastika stickers affixed to the doors and walls of the museum.
The AJM and the advocacy group StandWithUs’ Northwest division are offering a $5,000 reward for information on the perpetrators of the vandalism.
Museums Alaska Director Dixie Clough stated, “Alaskan museums are appalled by the attacks, and they are eager to show support for the Alaska Jewish Museum and the Alaska Jewish Campus as they seek to address these crimes and ensure the safety of their facilities and community.”
“There has been an increase in antisemitic behavior in Anchorage over the past few months, and we saw a role for museums as community educators to stand up against these hateful acts,” she said.
Clough added, “We want to ensure that the museum attacker is brought to justice, and that the Alaska Jewish community knows that they are not alone. They have support across the state.”
An Israeli startup has unveiled the design for its debut “flying” vehicle, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for individual consumers, and said it was accepting pre-orders.Plant used in ‘Cleopatra’s scent,’ Temple rite found on ancient Jerusalem seal
The Pardes Hanna-based startup, called AIR (formerly Porality Mobility), was first conceived in 2017 by Chen Rosen, an aviation expert, who was later joined by serial entrepreneurs Rani Plaut and Netanel Goldberg. Plaut is also the executive chairman of Israeli automotive startup Moodify, and an executive board member at Tactile Mobility, a Haifa-based startup that provides smart cars with the ability to “feel the road.”
AIR developed the aircraft AIR ONE, an all-electric two-seater eVTOL that offers a range of 110 miles (177 km) on a single charge at speeds of up to 155 miles (250 km) per hour, with a flight time of one hour. The aircraft has collapsible wings for easy parking and the ability to take off from or land on any flat surface.
The startup said in a statement that it “combines sustainable aerospace innovation with automotive know-how” and is tapping into a nascent eVTOL market estimated to reach $12 billion by 2030.
“AIR is looking to make a true difference by making the freedom of flight truly accessible to people,” Plaut, who serves as AIR’s CEO, told The Times of Israel in a phone interview on Thursday.
An amethyst seal engraved with what is thought to be the earliest depiction of a plant used for incense in the Second Temple — and for perfume by Cleopatra — has been found in Jerusalem.
The 2,000-year-old amethyst seal, which was designed to be worn as a ring, has an engraving of a bird next to a branch of what appears to be the expensive biblical persimmon used to make the fragrance.
The seal — depicting the plant known variously as biblical persimmon, bosem or balsam, or even the Balm of Gilead — was discovered at the Foundation Stones of the Western Wall, according to a statement released Thursday.
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the biblical persimmon plant is unrelated to the modern-day fruit. It was used at the time of the Second Temple as an ingredient to produce the temple incense, perfume and other balms and medicines.
First-century Jewish historian Josephus Flavius wrote that Mark Antony gave Cleopatra received valuable persimmon groves that formerly belonged to King Herod. Scholars believe that this was so she could have an unlimited supply of the expensive balm extracted from the plant.
The 104th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba is coming up. A number of ceremonies will be held in Be’er-Sheva on 31 October to mark this important occasion. Please see below for more information.#LestWeForget@HintonWendyNZ pic.twitter.com/X4WxbGg5QK
— Paul Griffiths ???? (@AusAmbIsrael) October 20, 2021
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel honored with bust in US National Cathedral
The late Holocaust survivor, human-rights activist and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel became the first modern Jew to have a bust of his face sculpted into the stonework of the Washington National Cathedral's Human Rights Porch on Oct. 12, the last to be installed among four luminaries such as Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks.
A small, invitation-only audience attended an unveiling ceremony lasting more than two hours, where Wiesel was eulogized by distinguished individuals such as former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; historian John Meacham; Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, former chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council; Sara Bloomfield, director of the US Holocaust Memorial and Museum; Mehnaz Afridi, director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center; Wai Wai Nu, founder of the Women's Peace Network; and Rabbi David Saperstein, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
The Very Rev. Randolph Hollerith, dean of the cathedral, said that Wiesel's bust was added because of his Jewish faith and not in spite of it.
"His global activism was rooted in and fueled by his belief in a just and merciful God," Hollerith said.
The event's last speaker was Wiesel's only child and son, Elisha Wiesel, who thanked the cathedral for the honor and for recognizing his father as an observant Jew, even introducing a blemish into the bust to address biblical concerns against graven images.
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