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Monday, November 08, 2021

11/08 Links Pt2: The invention of Arab Jews erases Mizrahi Jewish history; NYTs Hires Journalist Who Blamed Israel for Palestinian Suicide Bombers

From Ian:

The invention of Arab Jews erases Mizrahi Jewish history
The status of Jews under Islamic rule varied between different regions, but generally, they did not enjoy the same rights as their Arab neighbors and were often persecuted. When the State of Israel was established, those same Jews were not "Arab enough" to their neighbors to be spared from violence and expulsion. Even the Jews of Iraq, who somewhat managed to integrate into the local society, were the targets of a violent pogrom in 1941, which became known as the Farhud.

These very same struggles are often erased by anti-Zionist organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In 2019, a coalition of Mizrahi organizations issued a statement against the appropriation and distortion of the history of the Jewish communities of the Middle East by JVP, who seek to strip the Jewish people of their indigenous origins.

However, why are anti-Israel media outlets like Al-Jazeera and antizionist groups like JVP trying to push this false narrative?

This false narrative is part of their bigger "Colonialism" lie. Anti-Israel forces have tried to delegitimize the Jewish State by calling it a colonialist project, claiming that Zionism is a Jewish-European colonialism project, despite it being a project of indigenous awakening.

Since more than 50% of Jewish-Israeli citizens are originally from families that have lived in the Middle East and North Africa, and not Europe, these anti-Israel forces had to make up a story to isolate the European Ashkenazi Jews from the broader Israeli-Jewish population, to fit their "colonialism" sham. They have totally falsified history and are spreading lies, to push their narrative of delegitimization and that the State of Israel shouldn’t exist.

Attempts to strip Jews of their Jewish identity and homeland always result in historical revisionism.

The existence of Jews in Arab societies has always been conditional, much like the existence of Jews in European societies has, not only in the 20th century, but throughout the entire history of the diaspora. Now that Jews finally have a place to rest, where we can feel safe in our indigenous homeland, we won’t let our adversaries distort our identity and history, just to delegitimize our very own existence.
America, perfidy against Jews is never a good thing
The 1967 liberation of Jerusalem and Judea & Samaria are intertwined. Both places are integral parts of the biblical heartland. Any accommodation with the Arabs must take this, and the topographic advantages of retaining the high ground, into consideration. Both must be controlled by Israel as an integral security necessity, as well as biblical legitimacy, in any agreement with the Palestinian Arabs.

It is puzzling that the Biden Administration is willing to put such strain on US-Israel relations over this minor issue of opening a consulate in the middle of Israel’s capital in west Jerusalem to serve non-Israeli Arabs who publicly declare Israel as an enemy state that must be annihilated.

When Israeli officials recommended that the State Department locate their office in Ramallah or in Gaza City, the State Department took great offence. Yet they remain deaf to Israel’s claims that there is no legal or historic precedent for a capital to be used by the United States to serve an external nation or entity, let alone an enemy.

Both sides of the warring Palestinian factions, backed by their Congressional supporters, are pushing the current Administration hard on this point.

It is clear that there is a growing anti-Israel, even anti-Semitic, groundswell in the Democrat Party, led by a radical grouping within the ruling government, that is dictating thought, language, and policy.

Some observers say that the anti-Israel strategy adopted by the US State Department is a sop to the leftist radical wing of the party. This is precisely the point. They are the ones who are calling the shots, not Biden in the White House, nor Blinken in the State Department.

As we have learned from our history, when a great power tacks away from its original and affirmative support and caters to those who are baying for Jewish blood, bad things happen.

Planting a consulate in Jerusalem to assist an enemy is akin to planting a stake in the heart of Judaism.

Perfidy against Jews is never a good thing.
Is Dave Chappelle an Admirer of Louis Farrakhan?
Again, that seems about right, but there’s more to be said. The gag that Chappelle offered about world-conquering Jews sounds a lot like the things Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam and a well-known antisemite, has said about Jews over the years.

Farrakhan, who has recruited a fair number of African-Americans into his movement, has described Jews as evil figures who dominate the world.

With his “space Jews” gag, Chappelle was channeling — and sanitizing — Farrakhan’s antisemitic bigotry.

I’m not interested in getting Chappelle canceled; I just want answers to the following questions that Letterman didn’t have the nerve to ask:

Was your introduction into Islam through the Nation of Islam? Do you think Louis Farrakhan represents a legitimate expression of the Muslim faith?

Why did you have your picture taken with Farrakhan at Muhammad Ali’s funeral in 2016? And why did you invoke Farrakhan’s presence at the funeral in such benign terms when you spoke to a journalist writing a piece for the New York Times Style magazine?

Dave, this is what you said: “I was at Ali’s funeral and I saw Farrakhan there, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I saw Bill Clinton. They all looked great, but I realized that these guys are getting old. And then I realized I’m getting old, and we’re all here because Muhammad Ali is dead!”

Is Farrakhan’s name one you want to drop so blithely?

In 2020, Christianity Today published an article by a fan of yours, who anointed you as the “cultural pastor America needs.” Well, OK, but who were the people who helped prepare you for this pastorship?

Was Louis Farrakhan one of your mentors?

And if he wasn’t, why are you retailing his brand of hate to a larger audience?


German Jewish Community Head Opposes Combined Remembrance Day for ‘Kristallnacht’ and Fall of Berlin Wall
As Germany marks the anniversary this week of ‘Kristallnacht,’ the head of the Central Council of Jews in the country said he viewed an initiative to commemorate the memory of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in 1938 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 in one event as “problematic.”

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is holding a collective remembrance event on Tuesday titled “1918 – 1938 – 1989: Commemoration of November 9.” In German history, Nov. 9 stands for three incisive dates: the proclamation of the German republic in 1918, the 1938 pogroms targeting Jews, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

“I think a day of remembrance that takes into account all historical events on November 9 to be difficult because they are very ambiguous,” Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told the German press agency.

When Schuster was asked about what Nov. 9 meant to him, he responded: “Nov. 9 is the day when the synagogues were devastated in 1938, when more than half of the synagogues in Germany and Austria burned and thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps. This is what this day stands for me above all, even if it is of course connected with the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

“But I fear that the majority of the population will not be able to do much with Nov. 9, 1938, spontaneously,” he added.

“This day in 1938 had a very serious negative impact on at least part of the German population: there was a danger to life and limb, deportations took place, even murders. On the other hand, there is the clearly joyful occasion of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. I think a single National Day of Remembrance for all these different events is problematic,” Schuster remarked.

Last year, a commission examining “30 Years of German unity” had proposed the National Day of Remembrance.

Steinmeier described the historical date as a “day of contradictions, a day of light and a day of darkness” that stands for the ambivalence of memory.
Synagogues destroyed on Kristallnacht to be digitally ‘reconstructed’
To mark Kristallnacht this year, 18 synagogues which were destroyed during the prewar Nazi-era pogrom in Germany will be digitally recreated and projected onto present-day buildings on November 9.

Video will be projected on buildings and screens at their original sites at 13 locations across Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and beyond, on Tuesday night between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., depending on location.

Another five projections will be staged in Austria.

The project, an initiative of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) with the support of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Federation of Austrian Jewish Communities, is designed to “shine a light on the richness and diversity of Jewish life in Germany” before the Holocaust.

The initiative in Germany is taking place under the patronage of its Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection Christine Lambrecht, while in Austria the projections will be under the patronage of Federal Minister of Justice Alma Zadić and Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution Karoline Edtstadler.

The digital reconstructions were created by the Technical University Darmstadt and the Technical University of Vienna.

Kristallnacht was a series of riots and pogroms organized by the Nazis in Germany on November 9-10, 1938, in which 267 synagogues were destroyed, dozens if not hundreds of Jews were killed, thousands of Jewish businesses were vandalized and looted throughout Germany and Austria, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

“The Nazis infringed on the most sacred buildings that provided shelter and solidarity for people. The destruction of places of worship was an anticipation of the Holocaust,” said WJC president Ronald S. Lauder, upon announcement of the project.
How rank and file fascists helped galvanize Europe between world wars
Hundreds of thousands of words have been expended on the character, ideology and crimes of Europe’s prewar fascist dictators.

Rather less attention, however, has been paid to the foot soldiers of the far-right movements that warped the continent’s politics in the 1930s and helped plunge it into conflict at the end of the decade.

A newly opened exhibition at London’s Wiener Holocaust Library seeks to address this gap by focusing on the experiences of rank-and-file members of fascist parties in the interwar years, examining their motivations and activities.

“This Fascist Life: Radical Right Movements in Interwar Europe,” which runs until February 4, 2022, and is being staged in association with the European Fascist Movements 1918-1941 project, also seeks to throw a light on what contemporary lessons can be learned from the past in the wake of the rise of the far right in present-day Europe.

“It seemed a timely moment to look at supporters of far-right nationalist groups and what motivated them,” says Dr. Barbara Warnock, the Wiener Holocaust Library’s senior curator and head of education. “Obviously the situation now is different and historical circumstances don’t repeat exactly but, at the same time, with somewhat similar phenomena in some cases being seen it seemed to be a good moment to try and investigate the historical case.”

Warnock adds that the curators were also keen to range beyond the traditional focus on Germany and Austria to show that fascist movements were found across Europe. Moreover, even where they were not in power, fascist movements such as the Croix-de-Feu in France — whose membership peaked at around 1 million — were able to generate substantial amounts of popular support.
Cultural boycott of Israel feeds anti-Semitism
There are key dates in mid-20th century history that, for me, stop all ephemeral thought. September 1st, 1939 was the day the Nazis crossed the border from Silesia and invaded Poland, the beginning of the end of the lives of 90 per cent of its Jewish population, including members of my own family. November 9th and 10th, 1938 is the date of Kristallnacht, the state-sponsored pogrom that terrorised the Jews of Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland; a precursor of what was to come. January 27th, 1945 saw the Soviet liberation of Auschwitz, the symbol of the Holocaust where one in six of all Jewish victims of the Nazis were murdered.

At this time of year, I naturally find myself reflecting on an indigestible family legacy while, simultaneously, weighing the atmosphere in Ireland, my home since 1986. European Jews from my background are especially wary of subtle changes in sentiment, all too conscious that where there is extreme social inequality, unemployment and austerity, eventually it will be the Jews who are blamed. It’s easier to scapegoat a familiar enemy than to look in the mirror.

Demonisation starts with language that was previously unacceptable creeping into the mainstream, and it ends . . . we know that ending very well. It’s a simple credo, perhaps, but I take care of my wellbeing by trying to live where the Gestapo do not.

My life in Ireland, living openly as a secular Jew, has not been difficult. anti-Semitism exists in every country, even those such as Japan which have almost no Jews. But by most measures, the Jews in Ireland are largely unmolested. They are integrated, assimilated and are Irish, twin identities that chime as easily with Catholics, Protestants or Muslims who also seem at ease with this duality. A recent report on anti-Semitism in Ireland by David Collier, however, makes for depressing reading. Among too many Irish politicians there is a profound ignorance of anti-Semitism and how their own words, wittingly or otherwise, do the work of dedicated Jew-haters.


New York Times Hires Journalist Who Blamed Israel for Palestinian Suicide Bombers
The New York Times is once again facing tough questions about its objectivity and impartiality regarding its coverage of Israel, as it has emerged that one of its most recent hires previously sought to justify and excuse terrorism against and, more specifically, blamed Israel for the actions of Palestinian suicide bombers who murdered hundreds of Israelis in the 2000s.

On November 3, The New York Times announced that it was welcoming a new reporter to its Jerusalem bureau. The press release on the Times’ website described Raja Abdulrahim as an “experienced foreign correspondent,” a “native Arabic speaker” and a “strong storyteller and writer.”

But that’s only part of the story.

In June 2002, while a junior at the University of Florida, Abdulrahim penned a guest column for the school newspaper, The Florida Independent Alligator, titled, “Palestinians driven to bombing,” in which she claimed:
Another suicide bomber has attacked and the finger pointing has begun in every direction. But the fact is that the finger belongs not on the Palestinian Authority or some ‘Islamic militant group,’ it belongs squarely on Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces.”

This column was written during the most intense period of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel.

Between 2000 and 2005, 141 suicide attacks claimed the lives of 587 people. In 2002 alone, there were no less than 47 lethal suicide bombings, which left 238 dead and many more injured. Among those killed were Holocaust survivors and pregnant women along with their unborn babies, as perpetrators deliberately targeted civilians.

They struck buses, cafes, discos, shopping malls and busy streets in a bid to kill as many Israelis as possible.

And yet, Abdulrahim sought to blame Israel — not the Palestinian Authority government or Palestinian terror groups such as Hamas — for the carnage.

There is a term for this: Victim-blaming.

For Abdulrahim, this was not an isolated occurrence. In September 2001, just weeks after the 9/11 attacks, she wrote a letter published in The Independent Florida Alligator contending that it would be erroneous to refer to Hamas and Iranian-backed Hezbollah as “fundamentalist” or “terror organizations.”

She continued by downplaying barbaric violence, risibly suggesting that these groups “are not ‘terrorizing’ Israelis, they are just defending their land and lives.”

In the same letter, Abdulrahim started a paragraph thus: “Ever since its occupation in 1948, Israel has killed innocent Palestinians…”
Jewish groups demand resignation of Twitter Middle East news director after anti-Israel tweets resurface
A former Al Jazeera reporter that was recently hired by Twitter to oversee its news coverage of the Middle East and North Africa was forced to issue an apology after her history of anti-Israel tweets resurfaced on social media last week.

Fadah Jassem, a London-based former television producer and editor came under fire after announcing her role as Twitter’s new "Editorial Curation Lead" on the platform. The announcement was accompanied by 17 flag icons representing various countries in the region, with the obvious exception of the trademark blue and white Israeli flag.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in a news release Tuesday addressed Jassem's appointment, writing, "No TWITTER, a person who erases Israel from the map cannot be Twitter’s Middle East gatekeeper. What’s next? Longtime Twitter user Ayatollah Khamenei on your board? Twitter empowers every anti-Semite by elevating this bigot to censor Middle East news."

Jassem eventually apologized for the omission, but not before GnasherJew, a UK investigative organization exposed a long history of tweets laden with anti-Semitism and bias against the Jewish State dating back to 2010.

In September of that year, Jasser wrote on Twitter that Israel was "not born" but "dropped like a bomb in the middle of Palestine." Several other tweets quote Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan – including one that takes issue with U.S. support for Israel. Farrakhan has openly promoted hatred against "the synagogue of Satan" and "Satanic Jews," as documented by the Anti-Defamation League. In that same year, Jassem refers to Farrakhan as a "great example of faith transcending boundaries."

Jassem, in her new role will be responsible for curating stories Twitter displays on its platform, and highlighting the "best, most relevant, and timely content that reaches, engages and delights one of the largest daily audiences in the world," according to her job description.


UNC and Duke University Event Literally Erases Israel
A 2021 webinar intended for K-12 teachers, published by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, presented a map of the Middle East and Africa.

The map, however, erased Israel and replaced it with “Palestinian Occupied Territories.”


A flyer promoting the webinar said prominently at the top, “How to Teach About the Middle East and Get It Right!”

The webinar titled “Hip Hop and Women’s Voices in the Middle East and North Africa” discussed seven female hip hop artists from Morocco, UK/”Palestine”, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and Egypt.

Not a single Israeli artist was included.

An obvious omission is Eden Dersso, a highly regarded Israeli-Ethiopian hip hop artist, described in a Vogue profile as “captivating,” “provocative,” and “a sensation.”

At one point, the webinar presenter — Angela Williams from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — spoke for more than six minutes while attendees looked at a slide saying “Free Palestine.”

The webinar moderator, Rima Hassouneh from the University of Michigan, has publicly supported an academic boycott of Israel.

The webinar featured an enthusiastically positive discussion of Shadia Mansour, a London-born Palestinian rapper. This is the same Mansour who wrote on Facebook, “Dear Israeli fan, Remember where you are and how you got there, you money hungry, water pipe stealing, illegal, irrelevant son of a b***h.”

Mansour also said on Facebook, “The only place Israel should exist is at an International War Crimes Tribunal.”
Pressure on Miss SA to boycott Miss Universe contest in Israel turns ugly
As Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane will represent her country at the Miss Universe competition to be held for the first time in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat on Dec. 12.

Mswane has come under immense pressure to boycott the event from anti-Israel activists from her home country and online, including under a trending hashtag of #notmymisssa. She appears poised to participate in the international event nonetheless despite the criticism.

On Instagram, the Johannesburg-based Palestine Solidarity Alliance lamented that "after weeks of trying to engage with @lalela_mswane with an intention of educating her with regards to the plight of the Palestinian people she had decided to block both the @psa_sa and the @psa_yl account.

"It is clear now that Miss SA does not care about the plight of the Palestinians and is only worried about her own self gains. With this said Comrades IT IS TIME TO FIGHT HARDER, TIME TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD, TIME TO MAKE OUR PRESENCE FELT, TIME TO ENSURE lalela lali A SO SELF PROCLAIMED 'Advocate of Children Empowerment' DOES NOT REPRESENT SOUTH AFRICA AS IS SHE IS CLEARLY NOT A REPRESENTATION OF OUR BELOVED COUNTRY!!!!"

The Miss South Africa organization, which also came under attack, told South African podcast producer TshisaLIVE it was "not getting involved in a political war of words and looks forward to watching Miss SA make the country proud on an international stage."
Jewish Student Groups Criticize Oxford University’s Decision to Accept Donation From Family of Notorious British Fascist Oswald Mosley
Jewish student groups at Oxford University strongly criticized the university’s decision to accept a donation from the family of a notorious British fascist leader, saying that it “serves to commemorate and revere” his legacy.

As originally reported in the Telegraph, Oxford received a donation of £6 million ($8.1 million) from a charitable trust that Max Mosley set up with an inheritance from his father Oswald Mosley.

Oswald Mosley was the leader of the British Union of Fascists, which during the 1930s was the vanguard of the UK far-right and a strong supporter of fascist movements throughout Europe, including the Nazi party.

Mosely was openly antisemitic and his followers famously clashed with left-wing and Jewish activists at the legendary Battle of Cable Street in 1936.

The Oxford Jewish Society and Union of Jewish Students both criticized the university’s decision to accept the donation, the campus Oxford Student outlet reported.

The groups issued a statement on Saturday saying that they “are distressed by the news that Oxford University and some of its constituent colleges have accepted donations from The Alexander Mosley Trust.”

“The Mosley Family name is synonymous with Fascism and Antisemitism in Britain,” they said. “The University’s decision to dedicate a professorship to this name serves to commemorate and revere the Mosley legacy.”

“Furthermore, the absence of any communication and consultation with Oxford’s Jewish students is inconsiderate and inappropriate,” the statement added.
An 'Islamophobe' Under Every Bush: Georgetown Fellow with CAIR Past Tries to Cancel Critics of Jihad
"One thing that I think could really bring meaningful impact [is] if Islamophobia starts to become seen in the same legal light as antisemitism," stated Muslim-American commentator Arsalan Iftikhar during a recent webinar. Hosted by the anti-"Islamophobia" Bridge Initiative of Georgetown University's Saudi-founded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), it was a natural fit for Iftikhar. This senior research fellow at Bridge was the former national legal director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamist group masquerading as a civil rights organization.

With ACMCU's founding director, Georgetown professor John Esposito, moderating, the Islamist Iftikhar discussed his new book, Fear of a Muslim Planet: Global Islamophobia in the New World Order. He explained the title to his employer and "mentor" as alluding to the 1990 Public Enemy rap album Fear of a Black Planet, as "Islamophobia" is a "form of global racism in the world today," as if Islamic faith formed a race. He discussed several notorious mass shootings, including Anders Breivik's 2011 rampage in Norway, the 2018 assault on Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, and the 2019 slaughter at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The perpetrators of all these massacres shared a belief in the "great replacement conspiracy theory," Iftikhar said, a "grand unification theory for racists worldwide." This conspiracy theory posits that nefarious forces are orchestrating a replacement of European-ancestry populations in various countries by nonwhite immigrant groups. The leading theoretician of this conspiracy theory worldwide is the Frenchman Renaud Camus. A "true and true race hustler that really hates everyone" including blacks and Jews, Camus's prior fame was "writing gay pornography," Iftikhar said.

Iftikhar asserted that Camus's "views are metastasizing across the world" among right-wing politicians such as Donald Trump, as if only bigotry motivates concern about Islam. Trump's 2015 "Islam hates us" statement "personifies Islam. It makes Islam sound like an eighth-grade bully that used to steal Donald Trump's lunch money in the cafeteria" and "solidifies Islam as a monolithic entity," Iftikhar claimed. He did not entertain the possibility that dangerous Islamic doctrines towards non-Muslims underlay Trump's comments and even dismissed the serious concerns motivating his carefully crafted "ridiculous travel bans."
BBC WS radio continues to promote a monochrome view of the PFLP NGOs story
Since news broke on October 22nd that Israel’s minister of defence had designated six Palestinian NGOs because of their links to the PFLP terrorist organisation, the BBC has demonstrated a remarkably uncurious approach to the topic.

Given that the story includes misappropriation of funding from European sources (with the European Anti-Fraud Office reportedly having already launched an investigation in August), one might have assumed that the BBC would have at least reported on the mechanisms allegedly employed. For example, terrorism financing expert Matthew Levitt of WINEP notes that an NGO that was designated before the six latest ones (notably with no media outcry) used a system of forged receipts:
“According to the Israeli indictment of Tisir Abu Sharbak, one of the four UHWC employees arrested in May 2021, the NGOs in question employed a variety of money laundering schemes to obfuscate their role as PFLP fronts. First, they forged documents and receipts to significantly inflate the cost of a given project as presented to donors. The difference from these inflated invoices would go to the PFLP. To facilitate this fraud, the NGOs negotiated deals with local businesses, which provided realistic-looking invoices the NGOs could use to pad their numbers. The NGOs would add 16 percent tax to these invoices, which they would pass on to the businesses for participating in the scheme. The NGOs also presented foreign donors forged invoices for purchases that were either never made at all or made for a fraction of the stated cost. In the words of one defendant, “There is real procurement and fictitious procurement in each project. Everyone knows what is real and what is fictitious with the aim of receiving the money from those who provide the funding.””

However the BBC has shown no interest in trying to find out whether similar methods were used by the six NGOs designated last month. Instead, its coverage of that story (see ‘related articles’ below) has focused on the uncritical amplification of talking points from interested parties, including the NGOs themselves and some of their international partners, thereby confirming the BBC’s place in a well-established echo-chamber.
Is Bitcoin the ‘Peaceful Protest That Palestinians Need’?
Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, designated a terrorist group by most Western countries, as recently as last week called on their 220,000 Telegram subscribers to support armed “resistance” against Israel by sending cryptocurrency to the Gaza Strip.

Ironically, just days earlier, Bitcoin Magazine ran an essay titled, “Bitcoin Is the Peaceful Protest That Palestinians Need.” Written by Suhail Saqan, the heavily slanted piece presented the cryptocurrency as a way for Palestinians to circumvent purported Israeli restrictions on financial systems in the West Bank and Gaza.

Industry experts such as Dr. Saifedean Ammous, author of global bestseller “The Bitcoin Standard,” subsequently shared Saqan’s article.

Yet, not a single paragraph in the October 28 Bitcoin Magazine essay makes reference to how terror groups have avidly adopted digital currencies in Gaza and the West Bank, where, parenthetically, the Palestinian Authority has warned civilians against using cryptocurrencies. Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news

Hamas’ Crypto Wallet Worth at Least $7.7 Million
In accordance with international treaties and United Nations resolutions, governments worldwide continue to crack down on the financing of terrorism. Consequently, terror organizations are constantly exploring novel ways to fund their violence.

For instance, Israeli border authorities in August seized 23 tons of chocolate bars that allegedly were intended to benefit Hamas.

As a result, terror groups are increasingly looking to digital currencies.

Over the last three years, virtually all terror organizations in the Gaza Strip — from ruling Hamas to small Salafi groups — have started accepting donations in cryptocurrencies in transactions that are, if even possible, very hard to track and trace.
BBC NEWS COVERAGE OF TERRORISM IN ISRAEL – OCTOBER 2021
The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks (Hebrew) during October 2021 shows that throughout the month a total of 159 incidents took place: 126 in Judea & Samaria and 33 in Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’. No attacks were recorded in the Gaza Strip sector.

In Judea & Samaria, Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ the agency recorded 124 attacks with petrol bombs, eleven attacks using pipe bombs, one stabbing attack, five shooting attacks, 17 arson attacks and one vehicular attack.

One member of the security forces was seriously injured in a vehicular attack near Qalandiya checkpoint on October 14th.

Neither that attack nor any of the others that took place during October received any BBC News website coverage, meaning that half of the first ten months of 2021 saw no reporting on the topic of Palestinian terrorism on the platform described by the corporation as ‘permanent public record’.
Jewish Residents of Austin, Texas Area Targeted With Hate Mail Amid String of Antisemitic Incidents
In another in a series of antisemitic incidents in the Austin, Texas area, Jewish residents have been targeted in recent days with antisemitic letters blaming them for the coronavirus pandemic.

The letters hit residents of the city of San Marcos and others in the Hays County area close to Austin, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

County Judge Ruben Becerra said that the letters came sealed in plastic bags with small rocks.

“Negative actions motivated in bias is an attack against an entire community and not just an attack on a single person,” he said. “This behavior is not acceptable.”

Rabbi Ari Weingarten of the Chabad Center of San Marcos said the community was working with local authorities and offering support to those targeted. He cited the Hanukkah holiday as a source of comfort, saying, “The message of Hanukkah is that light is stronger than dark and good prevails.”

The latest events are part of a string of antisemitic incidents in the Austin area.


Israel’s Carmel Future Combat Vehicle Concept Uses Artificial Intelligence to Locate Enemy
The arrival of artificial intelligence-powered ground vehicles is set to gradually transform Israel’s ground combat capabilities in the face of adversaries deeply embedded in urban settings, which are difficult to detect and respond to in time.

In October, Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced that Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta was chosen as the prime contractor for the Carmel future combat vehicle program after a two-year selections process.

In August 2019, the Defense Ministry held a demonstration in northern Israel of the three competing platforms for the Carmel program, created by IAI-Elta, Rafael and Elbit.

Yoav Turgeman, CEO of Elta, told JNS that the arrival of ground vehicles powered by artificial intelligence with autonomous capabilities will likely begin taking over land missions gradually just as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been doing in past decades in air forces.

“IAI is going back to what it did 50 years ago when it demonstrated the UAV. Initially, it was very difficult for air forces to accept this. Today, UAVs are active in every modern air force and conduct more flight time than manned aircraft,” he stated.

After air forces recognized the technological and operational advantages of UAVs, they began incorporating them into growing numbers of missions. “I think this will be the same with future armored vehicles. This is a breakthrough concept that the IDF is leading, alongside very few states in the West,” he added.

‘It does not require a human to drive it’
Israeli company can check heart rate with smartphone camera
Vital signs offer medical professionals the first indication of unsound health. Measuring them can assess a person’s well-being, hint if there is an underlying disease, and determine if a treatment is effective.

Israel’s Binah.ai can capture and extract a person’s vital signs ranging from heart rate, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation and more through the camera of a smartphone, tablet or laptop – all in under a minute.

The company’s Health Data Platform is powered by artificial intelligence and is a software-only solution, meaning it requires no additional wearable device or other dedicated hardware. The results are delivered to the user in a simple and accessible digital format.

“We want to make the world a healthier place,” said the company’s founder and CEO David Maman.

Binah.ai was founded in 2017. At the time, according to the World Health Organization, as much as 60% of humanity did not have access to the medical services it needed.

Maman said that today, most Western countries, including Israel, have around three doctors for every 1,000 people. But in some countries, including many in the Middle East, there is only one physician for every 10,000 people. And in others, like in parts of Africa, there is just one for every 30,000 people.
UK’s oldest continually used synagogue emerges from the shadow of The Gherkin
A short stroll from the Bank of England in the heart of London’s financial district, amid skyscrapers bustling with commerce, nestles — however implausible this may sound — the oldest continually used synagogue in Britain, possibly Europe, maybe even the world.

It’s not that Bevis Marks Synagogue is small, understated or deliberately making itself obscure. To the contrary. Opened in 1701, it is an imposing two-story building, with Hebrew text above the entrance proudly proclaiming its official name: “The holy congregation: Gate of Heaven.”

But it sits in a tranquil courtyard, encircled and overshadowed by the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie and the other thrusting glass and steel financial high-rises of the City of London, and you wouldn’t find it if you didn’t know it was there.

Some say its architecture was influenced by Sir Christopher Wren’s vast St. Paul’s Cathedral, a 20-minute walk away; others that Princess (later Queen) Anne donated its roof timber. Well, maybe.

Its internal arrangement certainly echoes the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, through which many of its early congregants had passed.

The synagogue is breathtaking — high-ceilinged, big-windowed and airy, with an extraordinary Torah ark across its eastern wall, 12 pillars for the tribes of Israel supporting the upper gallery, seven candle-bearing brass candelabras still used to provide much of the lighting, and even some of the original benches and flooring.
Israeli Soldier Has Amassed 1.7 Million TikTok Followers
St.-Sgt. Yael Deri, a Military Police officer, received a unique certificate of appreciation on Tuesday for promoting Israel and the IDF to over 1.7 million followers on the popular video-sharing social media platform TikTok, Kan reported.

Deri, who is nearing her release from the IDF, uploaded many videos throughout her military service. Some of them depicted her day-to-day training and tasks, while others showed her answering followers' questions, usually those based on strong anti-Israel sentiment.

In one video, Deri is seen dancing with fellow soldiers while a sentence appears, "Questions we get when people hear that we are in the Israeli army."

The first question is "How many children did you kill today?" An answer then appears, "0, We are actually saving them."

A different video begins with the heading, "Things people tell us when they hear that we are in the ISRAEL army." These include "My grandmother is older than your country," to which Deri answers, "But still... we have a country,"; "Israel brings models in uniform, you are not real soldiers," which she answers with "We? Models? Nahhhh"; "What is it like to live in a stolen country?" - "I don't know' you tell me"; "Are you forced to be in the army?" - "No, we are defending our country," and more.







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