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Thursday, December 02, 2021

12/02 Links Pt2: The targeting of Jewish teenagers on Oxford Street is a wake-up call; Academia and the Dehumanization of Jews

From Ian:

The targeting of Jewish teenagers on Oxford Street is a wake-up call
When a friend shared a video of drama on Oxford Street on Monday night, I knew it would go viral. The clip showed a gang of men harassing a group of Jews on a bus, spitting, cursing, making obscene gestures, and even appearing to perform a Nazi salute.

This was a group of Jewish teenagers being taken by their rabbi to see the Chanukah lights at Trafalgar Square. They had stopped on Oxford Street and, in their exuberance, left the vehicle to do a Jewish dance on the pavement. That was when it happened.

Let’s start with the good news. I knew this story would attract attention because such naked demonstrations of hate are, thankfully, widely pilloried in modern Britain. We saw it when the Israeli ambassador was hounded at the LSE; we saw it when a lone aggressor walked around Stamford Hill hitting random Jews; we saw it when convoys of men abused London Jews during the Gaza conflict. On each occasion, the vast majority was appalled.

But it’s bad news from here on in. The reality that Jewish people live with every day will come as a surprise to many. Every synagogue in the country has long been patrolled by security officers, and the prominent ones are watched by police.

Every Jewish school is equipped with advanced security systems and guards, and there are at least two charities specifically dedicated to keeping the community safe.

Sadly, with good reason. The everyday threat that British Jews encounter spans the spectrum from antisemitic graffiti at one end to full-on terror attacks at the other.


Thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia instils grave concern
Several years ago, Putin gave a passionate address to celebrate the founding of the intelligence services in the USSR. He read out a rollcall of legendary Soviet agents. The first name on the list was Yakov Isakovich Serebryansky, an agent who infiltrated the early Zionist immigration to Palestine and lived there for several years. In 1926, he moved to Paris where he led a secret group of Communist sympathisers which carried out assassinations and kidnappings.

“Uncle Yasha’s group” possessed its own laboratory and utilised chemical weapons in its struggle against the anti-Soviet opposition in Europe. Many Jews then believed passionately in the Soviet future and thereby justified throwing morality to the wind.

As with the Soviet predilection for poisons, Putin has followed his predecessors in the USSR for spreading disinformation — “fake news” — to create division in democracies. In 1959, General Ivan Agayants, who headed the KGB’s disinformation department, initiated an antisemitic graffiti campaign in West Germany to discredit Konrad Adenauer’s rule and implicitly compare it to the blemish-free Communist East Germany.

Under KGB supervision, swastikas were painted on headstones in Jewish cemeteries, antisemitic slogans written on synagogue walls and Jewish-owned shops, hate mail sent to rabbis and threatening telephone calls made to Jewish leaders. The unspoken suggestion was that not too much had changed in West Germany since 1945.

Today there have been repeated Russian attempts to stir the fires of populism and racism in an outreach to the European far Right — to figures in the British National Party, the Hungarian Jobbik and the French Front National.

And then there is the manufactured crisis of hapless refugees sandwiched between Belarus and Poland. For Jews, it brings to mind the time in 1938 when stateless Polish Jews, expelled from Nazi Germany, were located in the limbo of Zbąszyń on the Polish-German border. Close to 10,000 Jews were marooned in deteriorating, insanitary conditions while both Poles and Germans refused to budge.


Academia and the Dehumanization of Jews
November 19 saw a virtual gathering of notable Jew-haters and terrorist apologists to discuss “resistance across borders.” The webinar was purportedly a response to Israel’s terrorist designation of six “nonprofits” linked to the U.S.-designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist Palestinian terror group known for hijacking planes full of Jews and murdering teenagers.

The event instead turned into an exposé of the dangerous and violent bigotry of anti-Israel extremists on campuses. Featuring university professors, students, and alumni – and even representatives of terrorist-linked groups – the virtual event illustrated a growing trend of academics attempting to normalize antisemitism and even terrorism.

The Participants
The event was sponsored by notorious anti-Israel groups like National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Adalah, Samidoun, and Within Our Lifetime.

Most notable among the participants, perhaps, was David Miller, the disgraced Bristol University professor who used his academic position to weave fantastical conspiracy theories about how Jewish students were really just agents of Israel.

Some of the materials Abdulhadi’s students were provided, as well as the image of Mohammad Hamad, a graduate student Abdulhadi served as faculty advisor for at San Francisco State University, wielding a knife on social media with the caption, “I love this blade…it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier” and publicly threatening SFSU Jewish students.

Rabab Abdulhadi and Tomomi Kinukawa, who also spoke, are two SFSU professors best known for trying to host an online event featuring PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled (whom Abdulhadi calls an “icon”). Abdulhadi has also called “welcoming Zionists on campus” a “declaration of war,” and her program once hosted an event in which students could make posters that read “My Heroes Have Always Killed Colonizers” along with pictures of Khaled.

There was also Omar Zahzah, of the Palestinian Youth Movement and Eyewitness Palestine, who likes to call for the destruction of Israel “from the river to the sea.” He also holds dissonant beliefs, like labeling Zionism a “European colonial movement” while simultaneously accusing Zionists of “minimizing” the struggle of “Jews of color.” Perhaps he prefers we just outright erase Mizrahim and Sephardim – who form a majority of the Israeli Jewish population – like he does.

Most egregiously, the event included Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator for Samidoun, a “human rights” nonprofit that was designated by Israel for its connections to the PFLP terrorist group. In 2016, she was one of a three-member “delegation from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” including known terrorists Muhammad al-Khatib and Khaled Barakat (who also happens to be Kates’s husband), to lobby a diplomat in Brussels. It’s hard to imagine how that’s not unlawful “material support” to a terrorist group.
ILF fights antisemitism with new legal platform
The International Legal Forum (ILF) has launched its new ‘Legal Network Resource Center’ - a platform intended “to bring light in the fight against antisemitism & delegitimization of Israel.”

The initiative has the support of the Israeli government and is being touted as a tool to help cultivate and strengthen legal networks around the world working “to counter antisemitism.”

Through the platform, lawyers and activists will have access to a variety of documents including policies, laws, articles and more all available in one location in order to “equip them with the necessary legal tools to make the case for Israel and combat surging antisemitism and the delegitimization of the Jewish people.”

Resources focus on Antisemitism, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), International Law, Labeling and Blacklist, and Anti-terrorism. Content will be added on an ongoing basis as members submit relevant findings.

Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the ILF stated in a press release: “Enabling prominent members of the legal community to connect and collaborate with one another underscores the belief that we are always far stronger together, as a network.”
Dutch far-left party: Holocaust commemoration 'inherently racist'
A Dutch far-left party is calling for the cancellation of the main Holocaust commemoration ceremony held the Netherlands, saying it is "inherently racist."

The BIJ1 party, which defines itself as "anti-racist and decolonialist," made the call in a draft of its program for the municipal elections of March 2022 in Amsterdam, the Jonet.nl news site reported last week.

During the official May 4 commemoration in Amsterdam for the victims of the Holocaust and the Dutch victims of the war, "the Indonesian, Surinamese, Korean, Iraqi victims of the Dutch [or of the violence supported by the Netherlands] are not commemorated," the draft text states.

As long as this is the case, "Amsterdam should not serve as a platform" for the event, the party argued.

The appeal of the BIJ1 party, which, in the general elections last March, won one of 150 seats in parliament, sparked protest from Jewish associations. Ronny Naftaniel, vice president of the Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands, declared that the call was "astonishing."

Jazie Veldhuyzen, a member of the BIJ1 party running for a seat on the city council, has since said the party has changed its position. He is not really looking to have the event suppressed, but to "make it more inclusive," he told broadcaster RTVNH.
BDS Comes to the Campus, the Streets, and Politics
In November, BDS in academia was marked by efforts to cancel speakers perceived as pro-Israel, such as Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s talk at the London School of Economic. While the talk proceeded with high security, Hotovely was threatened by a large mob afterwards and had to leave the school under security escort. The incident was widely condemned by British politicians — but defended by BDS activists.

Also blatant was the vandalizing of a fraternity house and a miniature paper Torah scroll at George Washington University. This also produced widespread condemnation from the university community, as well as national and local officials. A public march was held to protest the incident, but an investigation has yet to solve the case.

In the aftermath, however, Palestinian students staged a march to protest the removal of a “virtual processing space” that had been set up for them by the university’s “Office of Advocacy and Support” (which has directly supported BDS) in the “aftermath of Gaza.” The university president then announced support for the Palestinian students and an investigation of their allegations.

At Barnard College, the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapter attempted to prevent a talk by a leading scholar of antisemitism and an author of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, Kenneth Stern — on the grounds that his presence was “legitimizing apartheid.”
Canadian University Postpones Event with PFLP Terrorist Amid Outcry from Jewish Groups
A program scheduled at the University of British Columbia on Dec. 2, which was to include a talk by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the airing of a movie that glorified a convicted terrorist, has been postponed, according to a university spokesman.

Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs, said “at this time, the event in question is postponed pending a safety and security review in accordance with university procedure.”

The event was titled “Fedayin: Georges Abdallah Film Screening,” which organizers say “chronicles the course of a Lebanese Communist imprisoned in 1984 for his involvement in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine and Lebanon from Zionist occupation.”

It was being sponsored by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and was to include a talk by Khaled Barakat, who has been named as part of the leadership of the PFLP abroad.

While the movie seeks to paint Abdallah as a political prisoner, he is a convicted terrorist who was found guilty of murdering Lt. Col. Charles R. Ray, a U.S. military attaché in Paris, and Yacov Barsimantov, an Israeli diplomat in 1982.

The decision to postpone the event came amid an outcry by Jewish groups, which noted that the PFLP is a designated terror group in both Canada and the United States.
First Amendment Protects Boycott of Israel, New York Times Article Claims
If you are a corporation or a union wanting to spend money on political speech expressing your views, the New York Times doesn’t think the First Amendment should protect you. If you are an anti-abortion protester outside a reproductive health clinic, the New York Times doesn’t think the First Amendment should protect you. If you’re a Colorado wedding-cake baker refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding, the New York Times doesn’t think the First Amendment should protect you.

Yet there is at least one realm where the Times, all of a sudden, and in contrast to its usual pattern, has suddenly embraced free-speech absolutism, at least to judge by an opinion piece the newspaper published recently. That’s — you maybe guessed it by now — boycotting Israel. The Times opinion article is by an Arkansas newspaper publisher who preposterously claims it somehow violates the First Amendment to comply with his state’s law against boycotting Israel.

The logic that says it violates free speech to ban a boycott of the Jewish state would be a dagger aimed at pretty much every sort of anti-discrimination law. If a court rules that a boycott of the Jewish state is protected political speech, how could the same reasoning not apply to refusing to sell to individual members of a discriminated-against religious or racial group? What’s next? Is the Times going to claim that the First Amendment protects the ability of Arkansas innkeepers to deny hotel rooms to Jewish families? Or that the First Amendment protects the ability of non-church employers to deny jobs to Jewish job applicants?

The author claims that “states are trading their citizens’ First Amendment rights for what looks like unconditional support for a foreign government.” That’s just silly — and also hypocritical, because supporting a boycott of Israel sure looks like unconditional support for another foreign government — Iran, the radical Islamist fundamentalist regime that, like the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, openly wants to wipe Israel off the map.
Toronto student union walks back resolution that called for kosher ban
After an outcry and a rebuke from the University of Toronto president, the student union at a satellite campus of the university modified a proposed ban on kosher foods in any way affiliated with Israel.

A resolution passed November 29 by the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Student Union protects the rights of Jewish students to “enjoy freedom of expression on campus, including the articulation of political views, the practice of religious beliefs and the display of Jewish symbols,” according to a screengrab posted on Twitter by Jewish on Campus, a group that serves as a watchdog on behalf of Jewish university students.

That followed an original resolution, passed November 24, which had reaffirmed the union’s commitment to the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel and prohibited a range of engagements with groups, businesses or individuals with ties to Israel — including kosher food distributors.

According to a copy of the resolution obtained by the pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon, the student union wrote that “efforts should be made to source kosher food from organizations that do not normalize Israeli apartheid” — although it said exemptions would be considered because of the relative scarcity of kosher food.

The revised resolution, which no longer mentions any proposed restrictions on kosher food providers, came after condemnations by the university leadership and Canadian Jewish organizations. B’nai Brith Canada said the original resolution would have “effectively shut down Jewish life” on the campus because the union “controls clubs funding, room booking and many other aspects of student life at the Scarborough Campus.”
Is McGill University’s ‘Blacklist’ Another Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory?
Last May, Students in Solidarity with Human Rights (SPHR) at McGill University in Montreal accused “Zionist students” of using a “Blacklist” to “terrorize” pro-Palestine activists.

SPHR published the names of six student union leaders “who may have known about, had access to, or contributed to the list.” The group also alleged that McGill was complicit and illegally monitoring Palestinian Arab students. The sinister index has supposedly been around “for decades,” passed down through generations of Zionist Jewish students in an effort to undermine “anti-Israel” student union candidates.

If the list exists, it has not been working.

Anti-Israel students have prevailed in college elections, and the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s 2021 “divestment” policy specifically targets Israel.

Nevertheless, the McGill student union investigated SPHR’s claims. Apparently, they did not find anything. On November 11, SPHR denounced the inquiry as a “sham,” lambasting the investigators for asking pro-Palestinian activists to reveal their identities despite assurances of confidentiality. Yet, while SPHR withheld its sources’ identities for fear of retribution, it simultaneously circulated unfounded, serious indictments against several student leaders.

The organization said it keeps its sources anonymous because McGill, in cahoots with Zionist students, retaliates against pro-Palestine campaigners. Although the US and Canadian governments may have been wary of Arab nationalists in the 1960s — when many were avowedly Marxist and affiliated with terrorists — no one was harassed or punished in any way for participating in November’s “BDS Week.” And being anti-Israel on US and Canadian college campuses is becoming not just acceptable, but celebrated.
Hitler Stickers Appear at Dickinson College Jewish Center Near Harrisburg, Pa.
Police are investigating an antisemitic incident at the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.

Someone placed stickers with Hitler’s image at the Jewish center, which has a student lounge and vegetarian kitchen open to all, reported ABC News 27 on Sunday night.

Rabbi Marley Weiner, director of the Asbell Center, said the sticker had “two little young smiley face stickers, but with a little mustache, a little swoopy, so clearly indicating a cartoon iced version of Hitler’s face.”

He added, according to the report, that “as a community, we have to take it seriously every single time. Because we don’t know whether it’s just somebody trying to shock or whether it’s truly a sign that something that is dangerous to the physical safety of our students is coming.”

In response, university administrators wrote a letter stating: “We do not tolerate hate, and we do not tolerate discriminatory acts. Every member of the Dickinson community must work to create a culture that is respectful and inclusive.”


Eric Zemmour, Antisemitism, and the New York Times’ ‘Paper Pogrom’
Mitchell Abidor and Miguel Lago’s Dec. 2 New York Times opinion essay attacking French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour as a racist is an especially remarkable document, though for entirely ironic reasons.

I hold no brief for Zemmour. He strikes me as yet another in a long list of dangerous buffoons and demagogues that typify today’s global populist movement. None of this, however, justifies Abidor and Lago’s despicable slanders against the French Jewish community — which in themselves constitute precisely the kind of racism and antisemitism the two authors claim to condemn.

They assert, for example, that while France does have a long history of antisemitism, “with the advent of mass immigration from France’s former colonies, antisemitism was largely replaced by anti-Black and, especially, anti-Arab racism.” They charge further that “Mr. Zemmour, an Algerian Jew, is demonstrating a perverted version of Jewish assimilationism.”

“The threat posed by French right-wing antisemitism is long dead,” they explain. “The attacks on French Jews in recent years have been the work of isolated individuals, mobs, or terrorists.”

“In Mr. Zemmour, the Jew, formerly the outsider, is now an insider, and the Jewish insider defends France even when it has harmed its Jews,” they state.

While they admit that “the Jewish community, like all of France, is deeply split over Mr. Zemmour,” they then assert that “given this split, among the many things the Zemmour campaign represents is the assimilation of French Jewry.”

The takeaway from Abidor and Lago’s essay is quite clear: French Jews are now a protected and privileged class. French Arabs have become the new Jews. Jews are perpetrating and perpetuating racism in order to serve their own assimilationist interests.
German Public Broadcaster DW Stung by Antisemitism Scandal as Social Media Posts of Arabic Service Employees Are Exposed
Germany’s state-financed national broadcaster announced on Wednesday that it was commissioning an external investigation following revelations that employees of its Arabic-language service made virulently antisemitic and anti-Zionist remarks in public — including the denial of the Nazi Holocaust, threats to execute Arabs who engage with Israelis as “traitors,” and statements of support for an Islamic State onslaught upon the State of Israel.

In a statement acknowledging the allegations, broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) said the investigation would “deal with the statements made by DW employees in other publications and their private profiles on social media.” DW — which broadcasts in 30 languages and is funded by the German taxpayer with more than $450 million annually — pledged to take “immediate action” against the employees should they be found guilty of violating the broadcasters’ code of conduct.

An investigative article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) published on Tuesday revealed that several employees of DW’s Arabic department had made antisemitic remarks or had affiliations with antisemitic organizations.

Bassel Aridi, who was appointed as DW’s bureau chief in Beirut in 2019, threatened Arabs who met with Israelis in a social media post that was later deleted. “Anyone who has anything to do with the Israelis is a collaborator and every recruit in the ranks of their army is a traitor and must be executed,” Aridi tweeted on June 1, 2014. Prior to joining DW, Aridi worked as a correspondent for Al Jadeed TV, an independent Lebanese broadcaster, where he filed reports “in which [the Iranian-backed Shi’a terrorist organization] Hezbollah, their leader Hassan Nasrallah and their successes in the 2006 war against Israel were portrayed quite positively,” the SZ reported.
Meta removes over 140 Facebook accounts linked to Hamas
Over 140 Facebook accounts, 79 pages, 13 groups and 21 Instagram accounts linked to the Hamas terrorist group were removed by Meta in November for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" (CIB), the company announced on Wednesday.

The relevant accounts, pages and groups were being operated from the Gaza Strip and primarily targeted people in the Palestinian territories, and to a lesser extent in Egypt and Israel. The pages and groups were managed by fake accounts.

Meta describes CIB as "coordinated efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts are central to the operation." When such efforts are discovered, the company removes both inauthentic and authentic accounts, pages and groups directly involved in the activity.

According to Meta, some of the pages claimed to be operated by news entities and communities from the West Bank, Israel and Sinai Peninsula, while others claimed to be independent news pages in the Palestinian territories.

The accounts primarily posted news stories, cartoons and memes in Arabic about current events in the region, including the postponed Palestinian election, criticism of Israeli defense policy, Fatah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and supportive commentary about Hamas.
Antisemite Wiley suspended again by Twitter but not before direct attack on CAA, and he continues to post on Instagram
Once again, the antisemite Wiley has been able to create an account on Twitter and spout racist hate towards Jews, even directly attacking Campaign Against Antisemitism. Twitter has suspended his account after we called on the platform to do so.

The rapper Richard Kylea Cowie, who is known as Wiley, went on an antisemitic tirade on social media in July 2020, has gone on another tirade this week, culminating today. Using the handle @WileyRecordings, he has tweeted an image of himself in Hasidic garb and a video titled “the Jewish Faces that Control Hiphop and Mainstream Black Music.” He posted a further video “discuss[ing] historical tensions between blacks & Jews” and, in another tweet, asserted: “The more they block me the harder I go and when I get through the door I will stand there and look in their faces with the same look they don’t wanna see….They are just angry they can’t control me…”

Wiley then went on to target a senior figure in Campaign Against Antisemitism directly, changing his profile picture to an image of this member of our team and tweeting a further picture of him. He then proceeded to taunt him in a series of tweets, including calling him a “coward” and then posting a video on Instagram taunting him.

The rapper, who recently released an album unsubtly titled “Anti-Systemic”, told our member on Instagram this morning: “Don’t hide” and “come outside”. Wiley has recently been charged with assault and robbery. We are in touch with the police over the taunts and are examining legal options.

At this minute, Wiley is currently live on Instagram spewing antisemitic rhetoric, talking about banks that are owned by “Jewish families” and speculating that maybe Jews do in fact control the world. We are in contact with Instagram, calling on the platform to ban him immediately.
Trudeau reappoints Cotler as envoy to fight anti-Semitism, foster Holocaust education
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reappointed Irwin Cotler as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating anti-Semitism, the prime minister announced on his website.

A renowned scholar and international human-rights lawyer, Cotler was first appointed special envoy in November 2020 following his career as a minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, as well as a member of the Canadian parliament for the Liberal Party from 1999 to 2015. The position of special envoy was created last year; his reappointment is for a term of up to one year.

“Anti-Semitism has no place in Canada or anywhere else, and we will always stand with Jewish communities to fight hatred in all its forms,” said Trudeau. “As special envoy, Mr. Cotler will continue to ensure that the painful lessons of the Holocaust and the memories of those who lived through it are never forgotten. Only through effective education, research and remembrance can we foster a society free of prejudice and discrimination.”

In the position, Cotler will lead the Canadian government delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Top Australian Jewish Organization Finds 35% Rise in Antisemitic Incidents Over Last Year
Australia has seen a serious rise in antisemitism over the past year, largely fueled by Israel’s May conflict with Hamas and the COVID-19 pandemic, a top Australian Jewish organization has found.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) research director Julie Nathan told the group’s annual conference that there had been a 35% rise in antisemitic incidents over 2020, with 447 incidents in total, the Australian Jewish News reported Tuesday.

This includes 272 physical attacks and 175 threats made through various channels. Abuse and harassment were up 14%, graffiti by 152%, antisemitic posters and stickers by 157%, and vandalism by 10%.

Nathan noted the eruption of racism during the May conflict in Gaza, which included attacks on Jewish institutions and homes, as well as the copious use of antisemitic imagery by anti-Israel protesters.

This included an antisemitic rally in Sydney held by the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which featured speakers calling for the genocide of Jews.


Israeli-founded hospitality company Selina heads for Wall Street debut
Hospitality company Selina, founded by Israeli entrepreneurs, is headed for a Wall Street debut after the company announced on Thursday that it was entering a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger agreement with Boa Acquisition Corp, a blank-check company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal values the merged company at approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2022, after which the combined company will operate as Selina Hospitality, and its ordinary shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SLNA.”

Selina was founded in 2014 by Daniel Rudasevski and Rafael Museri as a co-working and traveling hospitality service, first in Central America, where the two were traveling at the time, and then the rest of the world. Today, the company says it operates a network of 134 properties across North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East (of which 83 are open and the rest under works).

The company has been backed by investors such as US multinational industrial group Access Industries, the Dubai investment firm Abraaj Group, and fellow Israeli Adam Neumann, the co-founder and former CEO of troubled co-working space company WeWork.

Combining affordable accommodation, co-working spaces, fine dining, wellness, volunteering initiatives, and other local experiences, Selina caters to millennial and Generation Z travelers and workers, or “digital nomads.” According to the company’s estimates, these remote workers and frequent flyers spend approximately $350 billion a year on travel.
Israel’s Innovid begins trading on NYSE at $1.3b valuation
Israeli tech company Innovid, which has developed a platform for analyzing and measuring digital ads on smart TVs, has completed its SPAC merger with ION Acquisition Corp. 2 and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today under the CTV ticker. ION announced yesterday that its shareholders' meeting approved the deal by an overwhelming majority of 97.4%.

Innovid has merged with the SPAC at a company valuation of $1.3 billion. When the merger was first announced in June, Innovid was due to raise $403 million including $253 million from the SPAC and $150 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) from investment institutions including Fidelity and Israel Phoenix Assurance Ltd. (TASE: PHOE).

Subsequently the PIPE investment was raised to $200 million, meaning that Innovid would raise $453 million, after investors asked to increase their stakes. But ION's report yesterday said that Innovid would only be raising a total of $251 million, meaning that 80% of the SPAC investors preferred to cash in their shares before the merger and not participate in the deal. The increase in the PIPE investment only partially offset this.

Innovid was founded in 2008 by CEO Zvika Netter, Tal Chalozin and Zack Zigdon.
Israel Donates Cows to Rwanda Residents
On Nov. 25, 20 vulnerable families in Rulindo District were given a cow each by the Embassy of Israel in Rwanda, in line with the government's Girinka program, also known as "One Cow Per Poor Family," initiated in 2006.

Israeli Ambassador to Rwanda Ron Adam said, "A cow is one of the most sustainable supports you can give because the beneficiary is able to get milk and fertilizer, and can make money out of it."

When a heifer gives birth, the first female calf is given to another vulnerable family.

In 2020 and June 2021, Israel donated 40 cows to families in Nyamasheke and Gisagara Districts.
New Graphic Novel Tells the Story of Malaysia’s Lost Jewish Community
Scholars do not know exactly when Jews first came to Penang, one of the smaller states in Malaysia, located on the Southeast Asian nation’s western island.

The Jewish cemetery in the region’s capital city of George Town, on a street formerly called Jalan Yahudi — “Jewish Way” — gives an estimate: its first burial was of a Mrs. Shoshan Levi, in 1835. By the turn of the 20th century, a census showed a Jewish population of 172.

But Jews no longer roam the streets of George Town, and haven’t in large numbers for decades. Jalan Yehudi has since been renamed for a Malay writer, Zainal Abidin, and the former synagogue around the corner has not been inhabited by Jews since it closed in 1976. Without enough Jews to fulfill a minyan, or Jewish prayer group of 10 men, the building is now a trendy coffee shop.

And in recent years, Malaysia has been identified by the Anti-Defamation League as among the most antisemitic nations outside of the Middle East and North Africa. Much of that hatred can be credited to its former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who famously declared himself proud to be antisemitic. Israel and Malaysia do not maintain diplomatic relations and Israelis are barred from visiting.

“The only thing that does exist [in Malaysia today] are people of Jewish origin, say, people who have a Jewish ancestry somewhere in the family tree, but those people converted to Islam in order to intermarry into the Malay community,” said Zayn Gregory.




Final Miss Universe beauty contestants land in Israel

Western Wall stones for sale as digital images






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