Monday, December 06, 2021
David Collier: What type of Jews do we want to be?
We do not help ourselvesBBC demonised our children, parents of Oxford street victims say
Antisemitism is undoubtedly on the rise, yet what we witness in Europe and the United States are only the events that explode into violence, and it is only these we seem to be willing to deal with. The undercurrent – the atmosphere that is being created which leads to the explosion of violence is something we do not want to address.
And far too many of us are even willing to point the finger of blame at Israel, as if somehow if Israel just ended the ‘occupation,’ all the antisemitism would just go away. It is as if 3,000+ years of history have taught us nothing.
I had two exchanges this week with parents about their children who go to Jewish schools in London. The first was a parent who told me that during a discussion about Judaism, one of their teachers compared the Maccabees to the Taliban.
The second parent told me that their child had been approached at school by a teacher who told them they had seen them at a street demonstration about Israel. The student replied in a surprised fashion that they hadn’t seen the teacher – to which the teacher responded – ‘no – I was on the other side.’
If this is the message they are receiving from their teachers in Jewish schools, what on earth will the next generation of Jews in the diaspora end up believing? In truth we are failing ourselves, our children, and our community, and when in the future the angry mob come knocking on our children’s door, they may even believe they deserve it. We are teaching our children to be victims without pride.
Time to change
There is no reward for remaining passive and believing it will all blow over. It won’t. Whether we are active (Israel) or passive (London) – they will still demonize us. It is what antisemites do.
Corbynism was just a warning sign. U. of Bristol professor David Miller? There are 100 Millers out there teaching the next generation of leaders. Wikipedia? I’ve lost count of the number of antisemitic editors that are butchering the online encyclopedia. Amnesty? Amnesty actually employs anti-Israel activists to write their reports. Journalists? May well have been taught at university by one of the David Millers’. And we live in a world today where everyone is too scared to address the elephant in the room: the level of extremism and antisemitism in parts of the Muslim community.
It really is time to wake up. We need to decide just what type of Jews we want to be. Those that sit and wait and cross their fingers, or those that stand up to take action. Because next time, when enough of us are angry enough to turn up at Parliament Square, it might just be too late.
Parents of the Jewish victims of last week’s antisemitic incident on Oxford Street have accused the BBC of "demonising" their children, as outrage continues to mount in the community over the corporation’s reporting of the story.
A line in the BBC’s coverage read: “A slur about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus. The Met Police has said the incident will be looked at ‘in its entirety’.”
“BBC News has demonised my son, who was on that bus, to serve their anti-Jewish agenda,” said Yechiel Wilhelm in a tweet. It also came to light that a packing crate was thrown at the children as they fled.
Rabbi Schneur Glitzenshtein, who organised the original bus trip, confirmed that none of the victims had used Islamophobic language. “Not one word,” he said.
"Only good things. Happy words, happy songs. We came with the light, with happiness.”
He added: “Everyone can see we just came, we danced and were happy.”
Last Monday, a bus of Jewish children who had gone to watch the Chanukah lights were accosted by a group of thugs as they danced on Oxford Street.
The BBC originally claimed that several "racial slurs” were expressed by the Jewish children. On being contacted by the JC, the corporation rowed back, saying that one person inside the vehicle had said “dirty Muslims”, and the article was amended to reflect that.
But the GnasherJew Twitter account said on Friday that it had investigated the clip and found the phrase “Tikra lemishehu, ze dachuf” translated into English as "call someone, it's urgent" could be heard rather than a slur.
The Board of Deputies called on the BBC to apologise, saying: “The BBC thought that they heard a slur in English. What they were actually hearing was a distressed Jewish man speaking in Hebrew appealing for help.”
Outrage as BBC Falsely Insinuates Victims of Antisemitic Attack Spread ‘Anti-Muslim Slur’
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is at the center of another controversy with claims that a report on its website wrongly insinuated that Jewish youths on the receiving end of an antisemitic tirade had made “racial slurs” during the assault against them.
On December 1, a group of Jewish youths celebrating Hannukah on a bus in central London were accosted by men who performed Nazi salutes and spat at them. The video of the incident sparked concerns for the safety of British Jews. However, a report filed by senior BBC journalist Harry Farley about the incident alleged, apparently baselessly, that “some racial slurs can be heard from inside the bus.”
After the GnasherJew investigation team examined the audio track from the incident, it became clear that no such slurs were audible. On Friday, the team claimed that only the Hebrew words “tikra lemishehu, ze dachuf,” — meaning “call someone, it’s urgent” — were said.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews urged the BBC to issue a correction and an apology to the victims, saying: “The BBC thought that they heard a slur in English. What they were actually hearing was a distressed Jewish man speaking in Hebrew appealing for help.”
There has been no suggestion from officials that the victims used any kind of racial slurs. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the video of the anti-Jewish attack “disturbing,” and the Metropolitan Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
When challenged, Farley claimed that the slurs were captured in the above-referenced video and pointed to a specific time code, said GnasherJew. But no such slurs are audible. A screenshot reveals that Farley also claimed the alleged slurs were “picked up by my editors not me.”
Prominent Jewish celebrity Rachel Riley, who appears on the popular television show Countdown, tweeted that a “big mistake has clearly been made, now it’s time to own it and apologise.”
Absolutely right. A big mistake has clearly been made, now it’s time to own it and apologise. @bbc @BBCLondonNews @BBCNews https://t.co/hNcyj4N13E https://t.co/9ijXK3SUOx
— Rachel Riley 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) December 4, 2021
The journo in question has history of misrepresenting Jews to the public. Of course there were some Jews who supported Corbyn (under whom Labour was found institutionally AS) but he deliberately suggests this was sizeable, against all contrary data, to protect that AS institution pic.twitter.com/eBP39r7cAj
— leekern (@leekern13) December 5, 2021
Amid Internal Antisemitism Scandal, German Public Broadcaster Breaks Ties With Arabic Station Over Inflammatory Israel Reporting
As it continues to deal with an internal antisemitism scandal, the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) has separately ended a cooperation agreement with a Jordanian TV station, citing the presence of antisemitic and virulently anti-Zionist language and images in its social media feeds.
In a statement on Sunday, DW announced that it would no longer cooperate with Roya TV, a privately-owned satellite channel based in Amman, because it was spreading antisemitic comments and caricatures.
A senior DW executive promised that the taxpayer-funded German broadcaster would “now even more critically review our partner selection internally, especially with regard to antisemitism and racism.”
“We are truly sorry that we did not notice these disgusting images,” DW’s managing director in charge of distribution, Guido Baumhauer, said, in reference to the antisemitic content pushed by Roya TV.
Following last week’s revelations in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) that several employees of DW’s Arabic department had made antisemitic remarks or had affiliations with antisemitic organizations, a separate Vice investigation into Roya TV — which co-produces an Arabic talk show with DW — discovered that the Jordanian station had “been spreading propaganda against Israel for years.”
Israel is never referred to by its internationally-recognized legal name on the station, Vice reported, and is instead dismissed as “the occupier.”
Why is fashion/beauty/entertainment site @TeenVogue peddling anti-Israel propaganda? As editor-in-chief @versharma knows, the best way to validate antisemitic anti-Zionism is to wheel out an anti-Zionist Jew; and that's exactly what she's done. https://t.co/taGRjhvs9Z
— Never Again (@Never_Again2020) December 6, 2021
SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – NOVEMBER 2021
Throughout the month of November 2021, twenty-seven written or filmed reports relating to Israel and/or the Palestinians appeared on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page, some of which were also published on other pages and seven of which were carried over from the previous month.Philadelphia Commerce Dept. Head Resigns After Reports of Antisemitic Comments, Workplace Harassment
Two reports related to a private company based in Israel which is part-owned by a London-based firm:
NSO Group: Israeli spyware company added to US trade blacklist (3/11/21 to 10/11/21)
Apple sues Israeli spyware firm NSO Group (24/11/21 to 30/11/21)
One item concerned the Hamas terrorist organisation:
Hamas to be declared a terrorist group by UK (19/11/21 to 25/11/21) discussed
Visitors to the BBC News website saw no coverage of internal Palestinian affairs throughout November despite considerable unrest in Palestinian Authority controlled areas and the closure of four universities. Hamas’ handing down of death sentences also did not interest BBC reporters. The exposure of a large Hamas network in Judea & Samaria did not receive any BBC coverage whatsoever.
The head of the Philadelphia’s Commerce Department resigned on Sunday, days after allegations surfaced of antisemitic comments and abusive behavior in the workplace.New Hampshire legislature leaders condemn antisemitism among state representatives
“My continued service would serve as a distraction from the work of the Department, which is far too important to the City and region,” Michael Rashid said in a statement. “I also have had the opportunity to speak with leaders of the Jewish community in Philadelphia and apologize for my previous comments which were inappropriate and insensitive. I look forward to future engagement with the community going forward.”
Among other incidents, department staffers had told the Philadelphia Inquirer of multiple instances when Rashid discussed the film Schindler’s List, the 1993 historical drama based on a German industrialist who saved the lives of Jews. Rashid allegedly related to them how he had previously thought the film was “Jewish propaganda” and avoided watching it, but later did so and changed his mind, the paper reported.
Offensive social media posts by Rashid have also emerged, including one in which the official quotes Malcolm X as complaining that while “Jew Town” neighborhoods have Jewish stores, Black areas did not have equivalent shops. Another criticized the portrayal of a “white Jesus” as a “psychological tool” that “subliminally engrains the myth of white superiority into the subconscious minds of people of color,” according to PhillyVoice, which first surfaced the posts.
Commerce Department staffers had also accused Rashid of fostering a toxic work environment and verbally abusing employees, with several leaving the agency in protest.
“The work of the Commerce Department is far too crucial — and it’s important that the Department stays focused on its mission of supporting Philadelphia’s business community at this critical time as we continue to recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who appointed Rashid in 2020, said in a statement accepting the official’s resignation. “The City is committed to ensuring a fair and inclusive working environment where the values of respect and dignity are upheld.”
Leaders of the New Hampshire House of Representatives released a statement last week condemning antisemitism after a lawmaker for the US state tweeted in support of Palestinians using a slogan many deem to be antisemitic.Israel, sans West Bank, officially joins EU’s huge flagship R&D program
Speaker of the House Sherman Packard, a Republican, and House Democratic leader Renny Cushing wrote in a joint statement Thursday that “any form of bigotry — anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry — has no place in our society” and “it is unacceptable that any member of this historic legislative body is involved in perpetuating hate in any form.”
The statement came after the third incident in the past year in which a member of the state’s House of Representatives was accused of sharing an antisemitic post to social media.
Less than one percent of New Hampshire’s residents are Jewish, according to a study conducted in 2019, and officials estimate that there are around 10,000 Jews in the state.
In the most recent incident in November that prompted the joint statement from the State House leaders, Rep. Maria Perez, a Democrat, tweeted the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The phrase refers to the Jordan River which separates the West Bank from Jordan, and the Mediterranean Sea, which borders Israel to the west. It is widely understood to constitute a call to eliminate Israel, and was included in a 2017 statement of principles by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction.
While many believe the phrase to be antisemitic, it is also frequently used as a slogan by Palestinian activists. Perez also called Israel an apartheid state and later said that she supports a one-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians would share a binational state.
Israel officially joined the European Union’s largest research and innovation program on Monday, opening the way for Israeli academics and companies to bid for billions of euros in research funding. The Horizon Europe program will allocate 95.5 billion euros ($111 billion) in grants from 2021 to 2027. Formal talks with the EU on Israel’s association with the program concluded on October 9. Both sides completed their internal ratification processes in the ensuing weeks. Haim Regev, ambassador to the EU and NATO, signed the agreement in Brussels alongside EU Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. “Reflecting back on the 25 years of cooperation, I am proud of our breakthroughs in ICT, health, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and climate,” said Gabriel in a statement marking the signing. “I look forward to new success stories. In partnership with Israel, I hope to boost our innovation capacity in support of green and digital agendas and enhance science cooperation in the region as a tool for greater peace and security.” The deal over Israel’s participation in the previous European research partnership program was initially held up over EU guidelines on funding for programs and companies in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The sides eventually agreed that a clause would be added to the Horizon 2020 pact stating that Israel does not accept the EU’s definition of territory beyond the 1967 lines.Israeli smart energy tech firm SolarEdge to list on S&P 500 index
Israeli-founded firm SolarEdge Technologies, a maker of smart-energy solutions, is set to list on the S&P 500 index later this month, joining companies and multinationals such as Apple, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook), Pfizer and Netflix on the index, made up of 500 of the largest companies traded on either the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, or Cboe (Chicago Board Options Exchange). The announcement was made Thursday by the S&P Dow Jones Indices.Intel to acquire Israeli company Screenovate, maker of screen mirroring tech
SolarEdge is currently listed on the S&P MidCap 400 (or S&P 400) and has been traded on the Nasdaq since 2015. Headquartered in Herzliya, the company is incorporated in the US and currently has a market cap of $16 billion. Firms must have a market cap of at least $13.1 billion to be listed on the S&P 500.
The market cap makes SolarEdge the second most-valuable Israeli company currently, after NICE Systems Ltd (worth $18.5 billion) and ahead of cybersecurity giant Check Point Software Technologies (worth $14.5 million), according to Israeli business daily Globes.
Founded in 2006, SolarEdge sought to make solar energy more affordable and widespread. It developed an inverter solution for harvesting and managing power in solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. In 2010, the company commercialized its SolarEdge direct current (DC) optimized inverter system to increase power generation and lower the cost of energy produced by the solar PV system.
“Being recognized as one of the top companies on Wall Street means that the company is one of the best businesses globally,” said Lior Handelsman, a co-founder of SolarEdge, alongside the late Guy Sella, Yoav Galin, Meir Adest, and Amir Fishelov. The company is led by CEO Zvi Lando, who joined in 2009.
Semiconductor giant Intel announced on Monday that it is acquiring Israeli company Screenovate, a developer of beaming and mirroring solutions for mobile devices, for an undisclosed amount. Business daily Calcalist estimated the sum of the transaction at roughly $150 million. Screenovate was founded in 2009 by Joshua Glazer, commercializing a cross-platform software solution that duplicates and displays the contents of a smartphone screen to other media platforms such as televisions, car displays and PC monitors. Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital, had previously invested in the Ra’anana-based company in 2014. Intel said in a statement Monday that it will continue to develop and market Screenovate’s existing products and “work together with the company’s team to improve user experience on personal computers.”Italian Firm Buys 25 Percent of Israel-Egypt Gas Pipeline
Europe's biggest gas pipeline group Snam (SRG.MI) said on Thursday it had completed the acquisition of a 25% stake in East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), which owns a pipeline between Israel and Egypt, marking its entrance into a high gas demand area.Contestants of the Miss Universe pageant in Israel
The 90 km-long Arish-Ashkelon gas pipeline, part of the so-called Peace Gas Pipeline, is one of the main energy supplies sources for Egypt, linking the Israeli terminal of Ashkelon to the Egyptian receiving station of Al-Arish.
Snam said it paid around $50 million for the stake which it took over from Thai energy company PTT Energy Resources Co.
Israeli's Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and U.S. major Chevron Corp (CVX.N) have both equity investments in EMG's top shareholder EMED.
International contestants of the Miss Universe pageant enjoy Jerusalem and the Dead Sea before the main event kicks off in the southern Israeli city of Eilat. Welcome to Israel, Queens!
Amazing #Hanukkah moment in Israel: Thousands of Israeli fans participated in a beautiful lighting of the menorah during a local soccer game. Happy Hanukkah! ?? ???? pic.twitter.com/KBT9L5B2lI
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) December 5, 2021
The victims of antisemitic abuse on Oxford Street earlier this week have returned to the scene to light the menorah for the final night of Chanukah. pic.twitter.com/0JDhWEbfDC
— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) December 5, 2021
Israel's Foreign Affairs Min.: Becoming a Jewish Refugee: Levana Zamir's Story
As a young girl, one morning, Levana and her family left their home in Egypt with just nine suitcases. They never returned. This is their story & the story of 850,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab lands & Iran. Today and every day, we remember them.
