Saturday, December 11, 2021

12/11 Links: PA Textbooks ‘Encouraging Violence’ Found on Teenage Girl When Arrested for Jerusalem Stabbing; The Unmitigated Gall of Ilhan Omar

From Ian:

Palestinian Authority Textbooks ‘Encouraging Violence’ Found on Teenage Girl When Arrested for Jerusalem Stabbing
A 14-year-old Palestinian girl suspected of stabbing a woman in Jerusalem on Wednesday was carrying a number of Palestinian Authority textbooks with messages of violent incitement when she was caught, an Israeli watchdog revealed Thursday.

Police said they arrested the teenager at her school shortly after she stabbed 26-year-old Moriah Cohen — her family’s neighbor in the flashpoint neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — while the victim was walking with her five children.

IMPACT-se, an Israeli nonprofit that reviews educational materials used by the PA, said that the girl carried books containing a number of “violent” materials in a school bag when arrested. These included a lesson on reading comprehension describing a terror attack on Israeli civilians as a “barbecue party,” a statistics lesson using a frequency table that featured the numbers of “martyrs” killed by Israel, and a social studies text portraying armed resistance as “natural” and “legitimate.”

“It is hard to imagine a more tragic metaphor for the brazen antisemitism and encouragement to violence in the Palestinian curriculum, than a 14-year-old Palestinian girl stabbing a visibly Jewish woman while carrying the Palestinian Authority’s inciteful textbooks in her backpack,” the groups CEO Marcus Sheff commented. “These textbooks are strategically created by the PA to promote a culture of hate and violence among 1.3 million children.”

“I truly hope those countries that still support the Palestinian Ministry of Education and UNRWA are paying close attention and drawing the appropriate conclusions,” Sheff said, referring to the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees that has come under fire for employing antisemitic and violent materials in its schools.
The Unmitigated Gall of Ilhan Omar
You may recall a few years back when the Democratic Party backed out of censuring Omar for her numerous repulsive comments because of “fierce backlash” from the Congressional Black Caucus (a group whose members have held strategy sessions and meetings with Louis Farrakhan, because the normalization of certain kinds of hatreds is nothing new on the left.) Censures and resolutions are almost always useless exercises in political theater. But Pelosi showed a special kind of creativity when she decided to reprimand Omar with a watered-down, platitudinous “anti-hate” resolution, which mentions Alfred Dreyfus, Leo Frank, Henry Ford, and “anti-Muslim bigotry,” but not Omar.

Parties are reluctant to censure their own members, no matter how odious the words, as that sort of thing telegraphs weakness and upsets the base. And the opposition likes to exaggerate the influence of backbenchers. Take the Washington Post’s partisan pseudojournalist Greg Sargent, who absurdly argues that Boebert et al portend emerging Republican attitudes. Certainly, the faction is not irrelevant, but it’s wishful thinking to say that they will “continue gaining adherents and intensity.” Not a single one of these Republicans is driving any serious policy initiatives. And Kevin McCarthy certainly isn’t posing with the Greene and Boebert on the cover of Rolling Stone in their “Women Shaping the Future” issue.

The Squad — who are surely “gaining adherents and intensity” as moderate Democrats shed seats due to the party’s progressive turn — already have outsized power. They can stop bills right now. A few months ago, they nearly sunk funding for Israel’s defensive “Iron Dome” system — perhaps the only spending that Squad members passionately oppose. (AOC was in tears because she had abstained from cutting off spending on a system that saves thousands of lives.) The Biden administration already uses AOC’s branding for its climate-change agenda. And virtually every Democrat defends the administration’s every move. These are consequential politicians treated with reverence by the press.

That said, the cynical effort to focus on the most absurd members of the opposition party is nothing new — especially as a means of deflecting attention away from your own problems. But when your champion is one of the most repugnant voices in Washington, the effort is transparently preposterous.
Former BBC chairman tells broadcaster: ‘Prove anti-Muslim slur claim or apologise’
Former BBC chairman Lord Michael Grade has urged the corporation to finally prove its claim that Jewish victims of an antisemitic attack on Oxford Street used an Muslim slur or apologise.

The Conservative peer’s dramatic intervention heaps further pressure on the broadcaster after a week of unbridled anger over its reporting of a sickening attack on a busload of Charedi youngsters celebrating Chanukah in central London.

The BBC’s report appeared to blame the Jewish teenagers on the bus for “anti-Muslim slurs” – while describing the shouting, spitting and Nazi salutes from outside the bus as “alleged” antisemitism.

In the audio someone is heard saying in Hebrew: “Tikra lemishehu, ze dachuf” – “Call someone, it’s urgent”. It is believed the BBC took this be someone shouting in English: “Dirty Muslims”.

The teenagers on the bus categorically denied they uttered any abuse and Jewish News learned that the claim of anti-Muslim slurs was added after the reporter filed his story, apparently by senior BBC staff.

On Tuesday the Board of Deputies sent a formal complaint from to BBC director-general Tim Davie, chairman Richard Sharp and head of news Fran Unsworth. Three days later the BBC is yet to respond


In Oslo, Rabin aimed to prevent a one-state solution
Although many saw the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 as a historic breakthrough that could lead towards a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For then-prime minister, Yitzhk Rabin, the accords were a way to ensure Israel's continued existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

For Rabin, who saw matters of security as paramount, the agreement was the way to prevent a bi-national future for Israel.

This was forgotten by those who saw the accords as a strategic error on the part of the government, and an illusion that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was set on making peace with Israel.

Rabin was a proponent of having Jordan as a partner to any future agreement with the Palestinians. But his position changed after the start of the First Intifada, which broke out in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He concluded that the continued occupation of the territories is harmful to Israel's security.

In his view, if Israel continued to occupy the territories, it would eventually have to grant full citizen rights to Palestinians, thereby losing its firm Jewish majority, or be considered an apartheid state by the international community.

The Oslo Accords, he hoped, would result in a separation between Israelis and Palestinians and allow an autonomy in the territories.

In hindsight, 28 years after the Declaration of Principles - which launched the Oslo process - was signed, Rabin's effort to prevent a bi-national state was at least partially successful.

In contrast with the romantic vision of a new Middle East, held by then-foreign minister, Shimon Peres, Rabin's coveted political separation from the Palestinians came to pass.

The accords birthed the Palestinian Authority creating a separate entity for of the West Bank and Gaza for the Palestinians.
Can Middle East activists get US Democrats to join the Abraham Accords?
To many Israelis and Gulf-state Arabs, the Abraham Accords are a historic fulcrum for peace in the region. But to some Americans, the accords are viewed with suspicion, an imposition by former US president Donald Trump on the Middle East.

It’s to challenge this misconception that the NGO Sharaka sent a delegation of diverse Middle Eastern voices to tour the United States from November 7-14.

Sharaka is an organization that was created to be a civil society “extension of the Abraham Accords, which were mediated by the US,” said Dr. Majid Al Sarrah, founder and UAE CEO of Sharaka. “We sent this delegation to show Americans the fruits of these efforts.”

The diversity of the delegation was itself a testament to the success of the accords. The delegation included Emirati Fulbright Scholar Omar Al Busaidy, Druze-Israeli digital public diplomat Lorena Kahteeb, Syrian-born American journalist Hayvi Bouzo, Bahraini peace activist Fatema Al Harbi, Amazigh-Moroccan artist Chama Mechtaly and Sharaka’s Global Affairs Director Dan Feferman, an Israeli Jew.

For seven days, the group of activists traveled through Democratic strongholds on the West Coast. (h/t Zvi)
Documents show Italy ignored warnings ahead of 1982 terror attack on Rome synagogue
Italian media on Friday published documents that appeared to confirm long-held accusations that Italy had agreed on a deal not to interfere with Palestinian terror attacks on Jewish targets and had failed to prevent a 1982 assault on a Rome synagogue in which a 2-year-old boy was killed.

The documents showed that Italian intelligence had clear information on the planned attack on the synagogue but did not stop it, and police even reduced security around the Rome house of worship.

The allegations have been known since 2008, when former Italian prime minister and president Francesco Cossiga told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth that Italy had “sold out its Jews” and signed a deal that allowed Palestinian terror groups a “free hand” to operate against Jewish and Israeli targets in Italy in exchange for not attacking other Italian interests.

“In exchange for a ‘free hand’ in Italy, the Palestinians ensured the security of our state and [the immunity] of Italian targets outside the country from terrorist attacks. As long as these objectives do not collaborate with Zionism and with the State of Israel, ” Cossiga said.

At the time, the allegations were strenuously denied in Italy and Cossiga was portrayed as delusional.

However, documents unearthed now by Italian media showed that Italy clearly ignored threats against Jewish and Israeli institutions, particularly in the case of the 1982 attack on the Rome synagogue.
Hamas source says weapons cache that exploded in southern Lebanon was ‘for defense’
A source from the Palestinian Hamas terror group said Saturday that a weapons cache which exploded in southern Lebanon was “for defense” purposes.

Some reports said up to 12 people were killed in the explosion on Friday night, while others denied there had been any fatalities at all. There were reports of around a dozen injuries.

The Hamas source told the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper that the blast was caused by a fire. The newspaper said prosecutors have opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the explosion.

Arms stored for the terror group exploded in the Burj Shamali refugee camp in the port city of Tyre on Friday night.

A Lebanese security official said on Friday that authorities had no exact numbers of the casualties but that there could be as many as 12 dead.

However, the Reuters news agency reported on Saturday that local media and civil defense workers on the scene, as well as a security source, denied that there had been any fatalities in the explosion.

Initial reports said a fire had started in a diesel tanker and spread to a nearby mosque controlled by the Palestinian terror group.

The fire triggered explosions of some weapons that appeared to have been stored inside the mosque, according to the residents.

Reports said the army cordoned off the area, preventing people from entering or leaving the camp.


Hamas claims COVID oxygen bottles, not weapons, exploded in Lebanon blast
The Palestinian terror group Hamas claimed Saturday that explosions that shook a refugee camp in southern Lebanon were caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used to treat coronavirus patients.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported that arms stored for Hamas exploded Friday in the Burj al-Shamali camp, killing and injuring a number of people. A security official also said the explosions caused casualties but did not give a breakdown.

Hamas in a statement Saturday described the explosions as an “incident,” adding that a fire in the refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre caused limited damage. It gave no word on casualties but residents in the camp said at least one person was killed.

Hamas said the oxygen bottles and containers of detergents stored at the camp were to be distributed as part of its aid work.

“Hamas condemns the misleading media campaign and the spread of false news that accompanied the incident,” the terrorist group said in its statement. It added that reports about the cause of the blast and the “deaths of dozens” were baseless.


Just imagine If the PA would stop paying salaries to terrorists
Over the last decade, foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority has plummeted by more than 90%. According to financial reports published by the PA, in the first 10 months of 2011, the PA had already received 2.605 billion shekels in international aid. By the end of October 2017, the aid had dropped by almost 50% to 1.335 billion shekels. As of the end of October 2021, foreign aid to the PA had dropped to just 224 million shekels, half of which was received during the month of October itself.

What happened in 2011 that caused this plunge in financial support for the Palestinian Authority?

As the steadily rising foreign aid to the PA reached its peak in 2011, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas took advantage of the surplus in foreign revenue in the PA coffers to give a huge salary hike to the Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons, raising the salaries by hundreds of percent. Proud of his achievement, Abbas’ official PA media provided extensive details of the soaring terrorist salaries, which reached as high as 12,000 shekels a month, more than three times the average Palestinian salary.

Palestinian Media Watch immediately recognized this as PA abuse of donor funding and released a series of reports to the international community, first in the US Congress and then in European parliaments, exposing the full scope of what would later be known as the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy. The PA terror rewards include high salaries to terrorist prisoners, guaranteed lifetime salaries and positions in the PA for released terrorists, and monthly lifetime allowances to the families of dead terrorists and to wounded terrorists. Hundreds of millions of dollars were flowing each year, from the donor countries to the PA and from the PA to terrorists, to incentivize and reward terror.

The international donors were livid. PMW’s documentation showed them that the taxes paid by their citizens and given to the PA in foreign aid were being misappropriated by the PA to reward terror. Donor countries condemned the PA and demanded that it cancel its salary rewards to terrorists, and when the PA refused, donors one by one started to scale back their aid to the PA, while some decided to cut all aid completely. In 2015, the US administration of president Barack Obama passed legislation cutting US aid to the PA by the amount the PA rewarded convicted terrorists.
Palestinians vote in local elections amid Hamas boycott
The first phase of the Palestinian municipal elections began on Saturday morning as voters headed to polling centers in rural areas of the West Bank.

The elections, the first since 2017, are boycotted by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, who protested Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to call off the parliamentary elections that were supposed to take place last May.

Abbas, 86, announced the indefinite postponement of the parliamentary and presidential elections on the pretext that Israel refused to allow the vote to take place in Jerusalem.

PLO official Ahmed Majdalani accused Hamas of obstructing the elections by refusing to allow them to take place in the Gaza Strip. He pointed out that despite the boycott, Hamas supporters have participated in elections for various unions and other bodies in the West Bank.

Saturday’s local elections are the fourth since the establishment of the PA in 1994.

The second phase of the elections is scheduled to take place in March 2022.

Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) Chairman Hanna Nasser said that the first phase of the elections includes 154 localities.
Gaza groups call for stepping up ‘all forms’ of attacks
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have called for stepping up “resistance” activities in the West Bank after Friday’s violent clashes, during which a Palestinian from the town of Beita, south of Nablus, was reportedly shot dead by IDF soldiers.

Palestinian sources, who identified the victim as 31-year-old Jamil Abu Ayyash, claimed that the soldiers used live bullets, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas during the clashes with dozens of Palestinians from the town during the weekly protest against the nearby Evyatar settler outpost.

Dr. Abdel Jalil Hanjal, a volunteer with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, told the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa that Abu Ayyash was still carrying his slingshot while he was being rushed to the hospital in Nablus. “The slingshot was tied to his finger,” Hanjal said. “It was cut before he reached the hospital.”

The IDF said that during the riot, hundreds of Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires at soldiers.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing of Abu Ayyash as a “crime,” pointing out that the man was among a group of residents “defending” their land.

During Abu Ayyash’s funeral, hundreds of mourners chanted slogans in support of Hamas and its military commander, Mohammed Deif.
Gaza Militant Group Raises Funds via Cryptocurrency for Jihad Against Israel
Via the militant group’s media wing, al-Buraq, Liwa al-Tawhid, a Salafi-jihadist group in Gaza and a member of al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, recently published a message requesting support in the form of cryptocurrency to fund their jihad against Israel.

“Madad campaign – To support the mujahideen of the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, Liwa al-Tawhid. Contribute to equipping a mujahid in occupied Palestine. The Prophet said, he who equips a mujahid, or took care of a mujahid’s family, Allah rewards him as if he also went to jihad,” the message stated.

The group also published a Bitcoin address where the virtual cryptocurrency could be sent to. For those not technically inclined, the group stated a user could contact the administrator of the channel and make arrangements to deliver funds.

The use of cryptocurrency by Gaza’s militant groups as an alternative to raising funds and circumventing international anti-terrorism laws has gone mainstream over the last several years. Groups sanctioned as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the United States such as Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have adopted this method of fundraising with varying degrees of success.

Citing a senior Hamas official, The Wall Street Journal reported in June a ‘spike’ in bitcoin donations to Hamas during the conflict against Israel and that ‘some of the money gets used for military purposes [al-Qassam Brigades] to defend the basic rights of the Palestinians.’

This is likely the reason behind Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s July decision to sign an administrative seizure order for the cryptocurrency wallets and addresses used by Hamas to funnel funds to the militant group.


The Iran Nuclear Deal: Biden Administration's Fatal Mistakes
[T]he Biden administration's objective is not to halt Iran's deeply flawed nuclear program permanently -- the biggest flaw being that in a few years Iran is permitted in its "sunset period" to have as many nuclear weapons as it likes -- but just to limit Iran's program for a period of time while removing the sanctions that hurt it economically.

The Biden administration has suggested a new sunset period of 25 years -- assuming the Iranian regime does not lower it to 10 or 5 years. This will allow the Islamic Republic to resume enriching uranium at any level they desire, spin as many advanced centrifuges as they want, make its reactors fully operational, build new heavy water reactors, produce as much fuel as they desire for the reactors, and maintain higher uranium enrichment capability with no restriction after the period of the agreement.

All that is really needed is for Iran to stop enriching uranium. Totally. No enriched uranium, no nukes. But the realistic chances of Iran complying with anything even resembling that are less than zero.

[T]he Biden administration is also planning to lift the remaining sanctions against Iran's regime on the first day of agreement -- before Iran has even complied with anything. Washington will then have no actual leverage against the regime.

This is the same dangerous mistake that the Obama administration made.... All four rounds of UN sanctions that were putting pressure on Iran -- which had taken decades and a significant amount of political capital to put in place -- were lifted on day one.

Finally, the Biden administration has not so much as mentioned curbing Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. A report by Iran's... Afkar News... stated: "The same type of ballistic missile technology used to launch the satellite could carry nuclear, chemical or even biological weapons to wipe Israel off the map, hit US bases and allies in the region and US facilities, and target NATO even in the far west of Europe."

Why would the Biden administration want to propose a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime that will only empower and embolden the malign actions of the ruling mullahs?
Israel consulted with US ahead of Iran strikes - NYT report
Israeli officials consulted with the US on two separate occasions before launching covert strikes against Iranian facilities, the New York Times revealed on Saturday morning.

The strikes took place in June against an Iranian factory used for building nuclear centrifuges, and in September against a missile base, according to anonymous officials briefed on the actions.

But despite this, the relations between Israel and the US are becoming increasingly strained over the Iran issue.

US President Joe Biden recently asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to review the Pentagon's revised plan to take military action against Iran if necessary in the event of a diplomatic collapse.

The reason for his doing so was two-fold, the NYT alleged based on conversations with anonymous sources.

Firstly, the move was intended to signal to Tehran that the United States was running out of patience for Iranian delays in the Vienna nuclear negotiation.

Secondly, however, it was intended to appease Israeli officials who feel that the US is not doing enough to stop Iran and that as a result, Iran are able to continuously increase their nuclear advances.
Wisconsin Dem Fundraises With Anti-Semite Valerie Plame
A swing-district Wisconsin Democrat fundraised on Wednesday with failed congressional candidate Valerie Plame, who has blamed Jews for America's wars.

Deb McGrath, who is running for Congress in the state's Third Congressional District, hosted the virtual fundraiser with Plame. The event's invitation, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, shows that supporters were charged up to $1,000.

Plame, a former CIA operative, faced criticism in 2017 when she tweeted an article titled, "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars," which suggested Jews who appear on television should have a "warning label," "kind of like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison." In since-deleted tweets, she defended the post, saying "many neocon hawks ARE Jewish." Plame eventually apologized, however, blaming the tweet on "multitasking."

Despite Plame's problematic rhetoric, in 2020 she received 25 percent of the Democratic primary vote in New Mexico's Third Congressional District. VoteVets, a progressive group funded by the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, spent tens of thousands of dollars backing Plame's candidacy. Her campaign also received multiple contributions from prominent Holocaust denier Pete McCloskey, a former California congressman.

McGrath's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Seven US State Treasurers Urge Unilever to Reverse Ben & Jerry’s West Bank Boycott
A group of seven state treasurers urged Unilever in a Thursday letter to override Ben and Jerry’s boycott of Israeli territories, pressing the conglomerate to explain why it has not yet acted on its subsidiary’s decision.

In their letter to Unilever CEO Alan Jope and the company’s board of directors, the treasurers from Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma, Nebraska, West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi pointed to recent legal analysis arguing that the company, as Ben & Jerry’s parent, has the ability to override its subsidiary on the issue.

The ice cream maker announced in July that it would no longer sell its products in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem — areas that the company called “Occupied Palestinian Territory” — because it was “inconsistent with our values.” Unilever has in the past suggested it has no authority over the boycott decision, and Jope previously said, “This was a decision that was taken by Ben & Jerry’s and its independent board in line with an acquisition agreement that we signed 20 years ago, we have always recognized the importance of that agreement.”

The treasurers attached to their letter a copy of an email sent to Jope in October by the pro-Israel advocacy groups StandWithUs and the Israeli-American Coalition for Action. “A review by legal experts of the acquisition agreement indicates that the Ben and Jerry’s Board has exceeded its contractual powers and that Unilever thus has the right to reverse the Board’s decision,” the groups argued at the time.

Spearheaded by Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, the treasurers referenced that argument on Thursday, writing, “Your company has sought to deflect responsibility for Ben & Jerry’s boycott by suggesting that you have no authority over your subsidiary’s decision in this case. Key legal experts have recently attested to Unilever’s authority and discretion after reviewing the Ben & Jerry’s acquisition agreement.”
Video Reveals How NY Times Egregiously Misinformed Readers
Last month, CAMERA revealed that the New York Times misled readers by whitewashing hatemonger Refaat Alareer.

The newspaper claimed that Alareer, who endlessly spews profanity online about “Zios,” and who downplays the Holocaust by casting Israeli Jews as “far worse than” Nazis, is a surprising champion of Israeli poetry and bridge-builder in the classroom.

Video of Alareer candidly teaching students about Israeli poets—the same lesson cast by the New York Times as humanizing of Israelis—shows that the opposite is true. Both online and in his lectures, Alareer demonizes, misrepresents, and incites hate.

CAMERA’s video shows footage from Alareer’s 2019 lecture in which he reviles Israeli poetry.


The Nation’s “Palestine Correspondent” Crosses A Line
The 156-year old literary and politics magazine The Nation has long been considered outside the mainstream, on the far-left edge of the political spectrum. Biased, anti-Israel screeds such as this one by unhinged activist Ariel Gold are par for the course in the print and digital publication. But even within that context, the publication has crossed a line.

On Saturday, December 4, 25-year-old Mohammed Shawkat Salima stabbed a Jewish Israeli man near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. The full video, shared on social media by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shows Salima walking slowly across a street before turning suddenly and violently stabbing the man who had been walking behind him. The two struggle in the street until the police arrive. After that, as the Jerusalem Post reports, it appears that the police shot Salima twice, with the second shot killing him.

Yet, The Nation’s “Palestine Correspondent,” Mohammed El-Kurd, tweeted an out-of context clip to his 240,000 followers, showing only Salima being shot by Israeli police. He included the caption, “Breaking: Israeli occupation forces shoot a Palestinian young man near Damascus Gate in occupied Jerusalem.” But he omitted the fact that just seconds before, the Palestinian had committed a stabbing attack (which, as noted above, was captured on video in its entirety). Even after other Twitter users pointed out the full scene, El-Kurd didn’t delete his tweet or add any information. Such blatant disregard for the truth is not fitting even for The Nation.
Washington Post Headline Gives Terrorist the Benefit of the Doubt
Video footage taken on Dec. 4, 2021 shows a Palestinian Arab man, later identified as Muhammad Suliman, stabbing an Israeli passerby in the neck in Jerusalem. The terrorist was subsequently shot dead by Israeli border police. The Washington Post, however, decided to afford him the benefit of the doubt.

Footage of the attack was widely available prior to the Post filing its report, which was initially titled “Clashes break out in Jerusalem after Palestinian who allegedly stabbed Israeli is killed by police [emphasis added].” It is interesting—and revealing—that the Post gave the benefit of the doubt to the Palestinian terrorist and not the Israeli police.

The newspaper quickly changed the wording of the headline to read “Clashes break out in Jerusalem after Palestinian who stabbed Israeli is killed by police”—but not before it had already tweeted out the original version. Contravening standard practice in journalism, the Post did not note that the headline had been changed.

Importantly, journalists seldom choose or write the headlines of their reports. Indeed, Post reporter Shira Rubin wrote that “Israeli police later released footage of the incident, which in all lasted about 30 seconds. It shows the Palestinian man crossing the street, turning to stab the ultra-Orthodox man as he passes, then lunging at Israeli police officers before being shot and ultimately killed by them.” Thus, Rubin’s report makes the Post’s decision to choose the initial headline even more inexplicable.
How did medieval Christians embrace false blood libel?
Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial (1992, Yale) by Professor of European History at New York University Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, is an important addition to our understanding of ritual murder trials that took place throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.

These were trials of Jews accused of murdering Christian children in order to obtain their blood to use in Passover rituals. There were estimated to be ca. 150 such trials, which usually resulted in the torture and execution of tens of Jews and often the decimation of whole Jewish communities. The first instance of such a blood libel was in 1144 in Norwich in England.

The importance of the current book is that the trial of the Jewish community of Trent (Trentino in Italian) for the supposed ritual murder of a Christian child named Simon in 1475, was copiously documented in a collection of 614 numbered folios in German, Latin and Italian. These folios were kept in a Viennese convent from 1613 until they were acquired in an auction in 1987 in NY and then donated to the Yeshiva University Library.

On March 26, 1475 (Easter Sunday), the body of a small boy was discovered in the basement of the house of the leader of the Jewish community in Trent. The boy was naked and had cuts and abrasions on his body. His body was floating in the water that flowed through the basement, which was used as a mikveh (ritual bath). Apparently, the body had been floated into the basement through the hole in the wall that allowed the water to flow in.

The leaders of the community went directly to Chief of Police Giovanni De Salis, who immediately arrested the whole Jewish community, including the women and children. A Christian of good repute was not tortured without good reason, however a Jew could be tortured, and it was necessary to torture them to obtain the truth. The standard torture, the strappado, was to hoist a person up by their hands behind their back. If it was felt that they were not being cooperative it was permissible to jolt the ropes or undo the rope so that they would fall to the floor, and to beat them with the rope.
Post-1967 prisoners’ ordeal described on video
It is a little known fact that Egypt took its revenge for its defeat at the hands of Israel in the Six Day War by arresting 400 Jews – almost the entire Jewish male population in the country between the ages of 16 and 65. They were paraded as Israeli PoWs and sent to the Abu Zaabal and Tourah detention camps near Cairo. Some were released after a few weeks; the last prisoners were only freed after three years and summarily deported.

Scholars appear to have ignored this episode. Egyptian historians deny that Jews were imprisoned. The story is mentioned by the historian Michael Laskier. But it does not figure in the book The dispersion of Egyptian Jewry by Joel Beinin, although while researching his book, Beinin had actually spoken to several people who had survived the ordeal.

It was to plug this gap that Dr Rami Mangoubi recorded a series of videos in October and November 2021 with Sami Douek of the organisation of Jews from Egypt in Brazil.

Rami Mangoubi was 15 in 1967. His brother Sami was interned in the notorious Abu Zaabal camp. The police who came to take Sami away from the family apartment promised it would only be for 10 minutes. As Rami wrote in the Jerusalem Post, ten minutes turned into three years, nine days, 17 hours and 58 minutes.

The third and fourth of Rami’s video diaries carry a health warning – not for the faint-hearted : in them Rami describes the appalling conditions in the detention camps, where 70 inmates were crammed into a 9-square metre cell. Each prisoner had so little room he had to sleep on his side. Disabled Jews were interned and abused, often by prison guards who boasted they had been trained by Nazi war criminals given refuge in Egypt. Rami’s uncle was left with a permanent twitch after he was tortured. Inmates were made to walk on broken glass, the rabbi of Alexandria was chained to a door and publically beaten. Young and fair-skinned prisoners were sexually abused. Some were so traumatised they committed suicide after their release.


Two Antisemitic Tweets Annually for Every Member of UK Jewish Population, New Report Calculates
A new report published on Friday revealed that Twitter users in the UK can view up to 495,000 explicitly antisemitic posts each year — approximately two antisemitic tweets annually for every member of the 290,000-strong British Jewish community.

Research for the report was carried out by the Woolf Institute on behalf of two UK Jewish communal organizations, the Antisemitism Policy Trust and the Community Security Trust.

Researchers discovered that antisemitic posts were highly visible in Twitter debates over the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state, and in discussions on racism, antisemitism, the situation of the Palestinians and similar areas.

The report also broke down the demographic data of Twitter users posting antisemitic material. According to the report, 34 percent of antisemitic postings come from males, 19 percent from females, and 47 percent from “unknown.” The top ten locations for those posting antisemitic material included major cities with significant Jewish communities like London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow as well as smaller locations with fewer Jews, such as Redcar and northwest Leicestershire.

Julian Hargreaves, Director of Research at the Woolf Institute, remarked that the report showed that “if antisemitism online and within our societies is to be effectively tackled and reduced, we will need platforms, in this instance acting as agents of harm, to better understand and to act upon what the evidence is clearly telling them.”

The report contended that Twitter’s mechanisms for reporting offensive content remain woefully inadequate, as evidenced by the volume of antisemitic content found on the platform. “Policies to deal with online abuse aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if companies cannot effectively enforce them,” Danny Stone of the Antisemitism Policy Trust said in a statement. “This new report makes it crystal clear that Twitter’s systems for discovering and acting against anti-Jewish racism still aren’t good enough.”
‘Appalling’ Antisemitic Graffiti Found in Mount Holyoke College Dorm for Third Time This Semester
A swastika and anti-Jewish slur were found scrawled in black ink in a Mount Holyoke College bathroom, President Sonya Stephens confirmed Friday, the third such incident this semester at the prestigious Massachusetts women’s college.

In a statement, President Stephens said all three incidents had taken place in the same residence hall, and that an investigation of the incident by local and federal law enforcement officials is ongoing.

“Based on all of the information that we have available to us, we believe that these incidents are the acts of an individual Mount Holyoke student who is living on campus,” Stephens said. “We find abhorrent, and take extremely seriously, such acts of hatred against fellow members of our community. We underscore the seriousness of any attack on our Jewish community, and reiterate that we have pursued, and will continue to pursue, the investigation with vigor and diligence.”

“The association of the specific drawings found were intended to convey the murderous legacy of the Nazi regime, antisemitism, hate and white supremacy — none of these have any place at Mount Holyoke or in the many international communities of which we are so much a part,” Stephens continued. “Whether these actions are the result of an embedded white supremacist on campus or some other motivation, we genuinely seek to understand and purposefully address these acts with any individual involved so that they end immediately. At the same time, our focus is on compassion for and protection and support of Jewish community members.”

She urged members of the community to come forward with any information.


Exclusive interview with Miss South Africa: I had to visit Israel
“If I had not come to Israel to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, I think I would have regretted it for the rest of my life,” said Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane, who defied the South African government that pressured her to boycott the contest, because it is being held in Israel. She spoke in an interview on Thursday night, in between rehearsals for the pageant’s musical numbers, breaking her silence about the pressure she has faced.

The pageant will take place on Monday morning at 2 a.m. in Eilat, and will be broadcast around the world. This is the first time it has been held in Israel.

“My soul would not have been at peace if I had skipped it,” said Mswane, a law school graduate, model and dancer. A devout Catholic, she said that she was moved when she visited the Old City of Jerusalem with the other contestants, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where she felt “calmness and a sense of renewal.”

This feeling of calmness was particularly welcome because the 24-year-old who became Miss South Africa in October has been in the eye of a storm of controversy since she won the title. The South African government’s Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture came into conflict with the organizers of the South African pageant after the government called for Mswane to boycott, citing Israeli “atrocities against Palestinians.” South Africa has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel in recent years and withdrawn its ambassador. South African politicians released statements calling on Mswane to boycott, describing Israel as an “apartheid regime” and questioning how any South African could choose to participate in an event held in the country. The government withdrew its support, although the national pageant continued to back her.

Stephanie Weil, CEO of the Miss South Africa organization, wrote on Instagram: “Lalela will be a role model to young women – not just across the country, but across the African continent. Anyone who wants to rob Lalela of her moment in the spotlight is unkind and short-sighted.”









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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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