Thursday, January 20, 2022

01/20 Links Pt2: A Stronger and Wider Peace: A U.S. Strategy for Advancing the Abraham Accords; UN adopts Israeli resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial; Don’t Bury Alberto Nisman Again

From Ian:

A Stronger and Wider Peace: A U.S. Strategy for Advancing the Abraham Accords
The normalization agreements that the United States brokered between Israel and four Arab states – the United Arab Emirates (the UAE), Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan – represent a major inflection point in the history of the modern Middle East. Struck in rapid succession over the final months of 2020, the Abraham Accords have the potential to shift the region’s strategic trajectory in ways overwhelmingly favorable to U.S. national security. These agreements hold out the prospect of ending the persistent conflict between Israel and a group of pragmatic Arab states, which since the early days of the Cold War has regularly frustrated Washington’s ability to establish an effective multinational framework for safeguarding vital U.S. interests in the Middle East.

Realizing their full potential will entail continued and concerted American leadership, both to help deepen ties among the members of the Accords, especially in the defense sphere, and to expand the agreements to include other pivotal regional actors – in particular Saudi Arabia. The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) convened the Abraham Accords Policy Project and this task force – comprised of leading retired senior American military officers and national security officials with deep Middle East experience – to understand and articulate how U.S. policies can capitalize on these historic developments to encourage further progress that will strengthen regional stability, boost America’s waning global influence, and ultimately leave it better positioned to compete against the growing strategic challenges posed by China, Russia, and Iran. As part of their research and deliberations, members of the task force conducted an extensive, high-level fact-finding mission to Bahrain, Israel, and the UAE in the fall of 2021, with a special focus on examining new possibilities created by the Accords for building defense cooperation and military-to-military ties.

This comprehensive report is intended to provide in-depth analysis and recommendations to help inform the work of American decision makers, both in the Biden administration and Congress, as well as the broader policymaking community and public. Its first section identifies the factors, both long-term and proximate, that made the Accords possible, and details some of the remarkable and unprecedented cooperation they have already spurred in the realms of diplomacy, trade, culture, and even defense. The second section contains the group’s key findings, anchored around the vital importance of sustained U.S. leadership and support for consolidating and widening the Accords, including taking full advantage of the multinational framework provided by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and Israel’s recent integration into its area of operations. In laying out a menu of policy prescriptions that range from less controversial low-hanging fruit to more ambitious, complex, and even transformative initiatives, the third and final section of the report emphasizes how the Executive Branch and Congress should maintain attitudes of flexibility and opportunism to seize upon the many strategic breakthroughs made possible by these landmark agreements.


The Arab influencer pushing the Abraham Accords from Abu Dhabi
At the age of 28, when Loay Alshareef, then a French language student from Saudi Arabia, stumbled into his homestay in Paris to discover he was surrounded by Stars of David — his instinct was to turn on his heels and find another family to stay with. “I didn’t feel comfortable at the beginning,” he told The Circuit.

Putting it mildly, Alshareef said he “didn’t have positive views about Israel or about the Jewish people,” at that time, in 2010.

“I called the school and they said ‘take your time’” — and with the gentle guidance of his “wise” host mother, he did.

That accidental and intimate almost year-long encounter with a Jewish family proved to be a turning point for Alshareef, an observant Muslim, whose father is originally from Egypt and who also has family from Bahrain, which he described as “a very nice mix.” Alshareef grew up in a middle-class household in Jeddah with his brother and sister.

Today, he is a prominent face among movers and shakers in the region who have embraced the Abraham Accords, normalization deals signed in September 2020 between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and are working to strengthen people-to-people ties between those countries and beyond. He’s caught the attention of Israeli, U.S. and Gulf leaders, and frequently meets with prominent figures visiting the UAE, where he has lived since 2020.

Alshareef owns a PR company in Abu Dhabi and works with both governmental and non-governmental entities, and also teaches English and Arabic. He has also learned Hebrew, largely from watching TV and listening to songs and podcasts, which he readily explained to The Circuit in the language. Prior to moving to the UAE, Alshareef lived in Bahrain, and spent a couple of years in the U.S., where he earned a master’s degree in software engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

He hasn’t yet visited Israel, but hopes to do so when the COVID-19 situation isn’t so rife — he’s waiting to visit his mother back in Jeddah for the same reason. Ultimately, he strives to get an academic degree in Israel and study the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls, further embracing his love of Biblical Hebrew which he describes as “very authentic and very deep.”

He said that while he appreciates the focus on Israel as a startup nation, “the history of Israel itself is also a beacon in our world and deserves to have more attention to it.”


Yisrael Medad: The 'In-Between' Mandate Period Arab Terror
Most anyone who has read opeds or non-academic articles knows that when tracing the subject of Arab anti-Jewish terror during thye years of the British Mandate, the time frame usually appears as

the riots of 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936-1938

Of course, to the unknowledgeable, that would imply that outside those years, everything was peaceful and calm. Arab terror was restricted only to those years. Nothing much, if at all, happened inbetween. The terror came it uncontrollable, as iut were, outburts and were a result of something the Jews did, as if a reaction to a provocation.

Reading a paper on the Mufti's activities, I spotted the examples I reproduce below as incidents from outside or inbetween those seemingly fixed time frames of Arab terror:


UN General Assembly adopts Israeli resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution aimed at combatting Holocaust denial on Thursday, in what was just the second time since Israel’s establishment that a measure its delegation brought before the forum managed to pass.

The resolution provides a specific classification for Holocaust denial, using the working definition put together by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It also provides actions expected to be taken by signatory countries in order to address the phenomenon, and demands social media networks remove posts that fall under the IHRA definition.

One hundred and fourteen countries cosponsored Resolution A/76/L30 and only Iran publicly voiced its opposition. The representative from the Islamic Republic — whose leaders have long had a history of Holocaust denial — claimed the resolution marked another attempt by Israel “to exploit the suffering of Jewish people in the past as cover for the crimes it has perpetrated over the past seven decades against regional countries.”

However, because Tehran has failed to pay its UN membership dues, its delegation has been stripped of some of its rights, and it was therefore unable to call for a formal vote on the Israeli resolution.

As a result, the initiative was approved by consensus.


Wannsee Conference: The most shameful document of modern history - opinion
The CEO of a major corporation once told me he had visited several Holocaust memorials, but most troubling was a site that resonated with his own life. It involved a group of leaders meeting around a conference table to solve a problem and coordinate the solutions required to achieve their goals.

But the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, was not about consumer trends, projected profits or shareholder value, it was about life and death. Specifically, systematic death: The bureaucratically organized annihilation of European Jewry. The meeting minutes, marked top secret, describe the scope of the problem: A list of 34 European countries with estimates of their Jewish populations totaling over 11 million. The CEO could identify with the business-like approach but could not reconcile that with the monstrous purpose: to plan genocide on a continental scale.

The minutes of that meeting, which took place 80 years ago today, are part of the massive documentation that survived, despite German efforts to destroy the evidence of their crimes. In postwar trials, American prosecutors called these minutes perhaps the most shameful document of modern history.

Although the idea of calmly discussing mass murder at a conference is chilling, what happened before and after are equally important to recognizing the warning signs of mass atrocities and genocide. As noted scholar Mark Roseman points out in The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration, the path from social and economic isolation, and forced emigration of Germany’s Jews to the extermination of Europe’s Jews was a twisted one. There were many warning signs, but no one single straight line from Hitler’s 1925 Mein Kampf, filled with hateful diatribes against Jews, to his 1933 rise to power, to the 1935 Nuremberg (citizenship) Laws, to the 1938 nationwide attacks on Jews (Kristallnacht), and to the wartime mass murders that began in 1939 and escalated in 1941 to the most radical step of all, systematic genocide, resulting in the murder of six million Jews.


Why We Must Remember the Holocaust Correctly
Part of the problem is that we think of Arbeit macht frei as a physical object rather than a meaningful phrase. The sign adorns the infamous gateway at Auschwitz-I, built in 1940. (Birkenau, which was built over a year later, is a good mile away.) A replica was put at the entrance after Neo-Nazis stole the original in 2009. The replica has since become a selfie hotspot for tourists.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has a replica on permanent exhibit too. Other replicas have appeared in stranger places. Until recently, it was possible to buy them on eBay. The International Auschwitz Committee awards miniature replicas of the letter “B” from the word Arbeit, to commend work against genocide.

This maelstrom of replicas has helped to turn Arbeit macht frei into a generic symbol whose meaning is determined by who’s wielding it, and in what context. In this respect, it isn’t unique. Much of our Holocaust remembrance has dislocated from the history that it means to remember. This enables the likes of antivaxxers and Capitol rioters to hijack the Holocaust to defend their social and political positions.

And it’s not just the lunatic fringe that’s devaluing historical reality. In Holocaust museums, it’s become vogue to immerse visitors in interactive exhibits that try to simulate what it felt like to be a Jew during the Holocaust. Such exhibits are emblematic of the “post-truth era,” in which feelings and facts are considered interchangeable. They won’t help anyone to understand how or why the Holocaust happened.

Our devaluation of historical reality has serious consequences. Schools, for example, are increasingly likely to teach the Holocaust through activities and reenactments. These turn history into a form of participatory entertainment, and reports from across the United States show that they’re prone to disaster. This year, as we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, it’s time to ask if our current ways of remembering the Holocaust do more harm than good.
Nazis infiltrate anti-lockdown movement
This is one of the most concerning trends we've observed amongst groups like Patriotic Alternative and the Goyim Defense League (Handsome Truth).


Daniel Gordis: A week of David Bateman, Andrew Sullivan and Big Duck
The first was a podcast (posted on Jan 7 but I didn’t hear it until this week) in which Andrew Sullivan hosted Yossi Klein Halevi and interviewed him about Israel. Sullivan had previously hosted a notorious critic of Israel; some of his listeners said that fairness demanded that he have a conversation with a moderate, thoughtful Israeli. Sullivan went for Klein Halevi—and indeed, there could have been no better choice.

Now, for the record, I’m a big Andrew Sullivan fan. He’s smart, reads voraciously, is an interesting mix of positions (some of which I agree with, some of which I don’t, but he’s ridiculously articulate and always leaves me thinking). The conversation between two very thoughtful and nuanced people was fascinating. Sullivan pushed Klein Halevi very hard on some issues, but Yossi returned the volleys admirably.

I wholeheartedly suggest you listen to the entire podcast. It was honest, painful at times, and interesting; throughout, it was warm and respectful. So much so, in fact, that Sullivan said on several occasions things like (this one at the very end, but there were others) “it’s hard for me not to want Israel to succeed, and it’s hard for me not to see Israel as an astonishing story,” adding that he admires “what has been positively built there, which is stunning.”1

But it couldn’t end there, could it? For lambasting Israel has become de rigueur on the political left. That quote about Israel being an “astonishing story” came just seconds before the conversation ended. Still, just as the curtain was dropping, Sullivan wished Klein Halevi well, and closed by noting that he prayed

“for you, and for your country, and for those who find your country such an intolerable source of oppression and misery.”

It was a stunning about face. It sounded like Sullivan had been quite taken with Klein Halevi, but then, at the very last minute, remembered his audience. So in what may have been an act of survival instinct not unlike Entrata’s, he preserved his bona fides with the world of his listeners, adding the entirely gratuitous comment about “oppression and misery.”
Don’t Bury Alberto Nisman Again
Those who successfully plotted to kill Nisman didn’t want to just bury his body. They wanted to bury the body of evidence he had collected while investigating the bombing of the AMIA, and, perhaps, the data that might have corroborated the incriminating evidence he had accumulated from some 30,000 legally obtained wire taps he said implicated Kirschner and her associates for seeking to whitewash Iran’s role in the bombing.

Today, AMIA-related INTERPOL red notices for current and former Iranian officials, including Mohsen Rezaei, and a Lebanese national remain in effect. Last week, the world witnessed Nicaragua hosting Mohsen Rezaee for whom Argentina also has an arrest warrant in connection with the AMIA bombing. He is also on Argentina’s terrorism list and is sanctioned by the United States.

Argentina issued a bland statement criticizing Nicaragua but did not fulfill its own obligation in a timely manner to seek his arrest and extradition so he could stand before an Argentine court of law to face justice. Argentina’s justice system is failing both the victims of the AMIA bombing and the Argentine public. Those with the legal duty to seek the truth have done just the opposite. They are seeking to bury Alberto Nisman and his investigation once again.

Those who care about justice, about holding Iran accountable and denying Hezbollah the means to carry out its malign activities, will seek to designate Hezbollah the terrorist outfit that it is. They will ensure that Iran’s entities and proxies perpetrating its terrorist activities abroad will be sanctioned and denied the legitimacy that they seek. Those who care will not let Argentina—or the world—rebury Alberto Nisman and his incriminating, meticulously assembled incriminating investigation.
Top Presbyterian Reverend in MLK Day Sermon: Israel ‘Enslaves’ Palestinians
A top Presbyterian reverend on Sunday accused Israel of enslaving the Palestinians and American Jews of not doing enough to stop it.

“The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel is 21st-century slavery and should be abolished immediately,” said Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, stated clerk of the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church USA. “Given the history of Jewish humble beginnings and persecution, there should be no ambiguity as to the ethical, moral and dehumanizing marginalization and enslavement of other human beings.”

Nelson made the remarks during his Martin Luther King Day sermon, which has since been published on the Presbyterian Church USA website.

“The United States of America must be a major influencer of calling this injustice both immoral and intolerable,” he continued. “I would also hope that the Jewish community in the United States would influence the call to join the US government in ending the immoral enslavement.”

Jewish leaders and organizations came out against the statements, which were made only one day after an armed terrorist took four Jews hostage in a Texas synagogue. The Jews made it out safely and the perpetrator was killed.

“To use the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make claims linking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to enslavement and then call on the American Jewish community to use its ‘influence’ with the American government is not only unfair, but it is also dangerous,” said the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in a statement. “The perception of ‘Jewish power’ appears to have been a key part of the distorted motivation of the terrorist who held four people hostage less than 48 hours before Rev. Nelson’s hateful attack.”
UK aims to outlaw BDS movement in ‘months,’ says British Parliament member
The British government will pass legislation to ban the BDS movement in the United Kingdom, British Parliament member Robert Jenrick announced during a virtual event.

“In the following months, we will be working to outlaw BDS in the U.K.,” said Jenrick on Tuesday while speaking at the Leadership Dialogue Institute’s 2021 online conference, which addressed anti-Semitism, Israeli technology and the coronavirus pandemic. He made the remarks during a discussion titled “Why Do So Many People Hate Jews?”

“I do think BDS is being beaten back here,” added the Conservative MP. He then claimed that “there is no political party in the U.K. that would support BDS today and [supporting BDS] is becoming much more of a fringe activity.”

Nevertheless, the British Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, passed a motion in September to define Israel as an apartheid state, impose sanctions on the Jewish state and demand an end to “the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza.”

The Conservative Party promised during the 2019 general election to “ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries.” Jenrick said on Tuesday the British government aims to uphold that commitment with a law against the BDS movement.
Miracle Winner of New Jersey State Senate Race Forced to Endure Lecture from Islamist Group
Within a few days of New Jersey's recent November elections, Edward Durr, the unexpected victor in the State Senate's 3rd Legislative District, was sitting in the hot seat in a meeting with the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations ( CAIR-NJ) to atone for being an accused "Islamophobe." Thanks to a misguided, two-year-old tweet aimed at Muslims, Durr agreed to subordinate himself to CAIR's reprogramming and indoctrination, rather than face calls for his immediate resignation.

However, CAIR-NJ and its radical partners are hardly the appropriate advisors to lecture anyone regarding hatred and bigotry. Among the New Jersey Muslim leaders to mentor the senator-elect on November 5 at the Al Minhal Academy of Islamic Education were several Islamists with appalling histories of misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Semitism.

Despite a public apology for calling Muslims "fools," Durr (third from left) was pressured to attend a meeting with CAIR-NJ leaders and other local Islamists, many of them guilty of their own offensive comments.

Durr's surprise victory over 20-year incumbent and Senate President Steve Sweeney shocked and astonished the political world. The press was awash with headlines of the win and stories of Durr, the underdog, who won a challenging race over an implacable opponent on a shoestring budget.

However, the euphoria lasted just a few hours after the race was called in Durr's favor, when a local reporter looking into the victor's social media history discovered a particularly offensive tweet. "Mohammed was a pedophile! Islam is a false religion! Only fools follow Muslim teachings! It is a cult of hate," Durr wrote in September 2019.

Durr, a blue collar conservative and nonunion truck driver who thinks of himself as "a simple guy," tried to apologize for his misstep, stating, "I support everybody's right to worship in any manner they choose to, the God of their choice. I support all people and I support everybody's rights."
‘Spread Cream Cheese, Not Hate’: University of Florida Students Give Away Free Bagels to Fight Antisemitism
Jewish students at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Tuesday rallied their peers to fight against antisemitism, just days after an armed hostage-taking at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, spotlighted the rise in anti-Jewish incidents nationwide.

As part of the third annual “Spread Cream Cheese, Not Hate” campaign, UF Hillel gave away free bagels to students who signed a pledge to “combat antisemitism and all forms of hate,” and ensure the campus “is a welcoming and safe place for all.”

“Students not only get a bagel, but also connect with fellow students who help educate them about antisemitism,” UF Hillel Rabbi Jonah Zinn told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “For many non-Jewish students, this is their first introduction to antisemitism and the engagement is eye-opening. We then follow up with people who sign the pledge with additional learning and advocacy opportunities.”

He said the “students involved love the initiative because it helps to raise awareness about antisemitism on campus and creates an easy entry point into an often difficult conversation.”

Jamie Zinn, UF Hillel’s development director and Rabbi Zinn’s spouse, told the Gainesville Sun on Tuesday that “Spread Cream Cheese, Not Hate” began in January 2020, in a bid to raise awareness of rising antisemitism on college campuses and proactively “ensure UF remains a safe and welcoming environment for student, faculty, and visitors of all backgrounds.”

More than 800 members of the UF community signed the pledge last January, while 1,665 did the same this year. One recent signatory, UF student Ifeoma Iheanyi-Okeahialam, told local outlet WCJB that “it’s a really good opportunity to just help others out.”


Food fight? Kosher restaurant in New Jersey targeted with bad reviews by anti-Israel activists
Online restaurant reviews are the latest battleground for anti-Israel activists who have recently targeted a kosher eatery in New Jersey with a barrage of anti-Semitic comments, including claiming that the food was “stolen.”

Located on what is referred to as a relatively small “kosher restaurant row” in Teaneck, N.J., Yalla is not on a major thoroughfare nor does it have a clientele base from outside of the Northern New Jersey Jewish community. What it does have, however, is an Arabic name—yalla, which is commonly used in Israel and means “let’s go”—and that has attracted some online attention, though not in a good way.

According to Yalla’s owner, Jacob Goldberg, who is Israeli, over the last few years, he has gotten a number of one-start reviews from people claiming: “I stole their land; I stole the name; I stole the food. It has nothing to do with anything here. It’s ridiculous.”

Most of the time, Goldberg simply flags the reviews on Google and asks that they be removed. “Sometimes,” he explains, “it’s very obviously hate speech, and it comes down. But if it’s food-related—like I found a hair in my food—even though someone from Damascus is posting it and has obviously never been to my restaurant, the computer doesn’t flag it.”
Thanks, Ben & Jerry!
Even governments that have been hostile toward Israel do not support BDS. Last October, Sweden's foreign minister became the first senior Swedish official to visit Israel since 2014, when Sweden recognized "Palestine" as a state. Earlier, she said, Sweden wants "more cooperation with Israel, not less," and that Stockholm does not support boycotts of Israel.

One of the governments that has been most critical of Israel and has politicians who support the boycott is Ireland. Meanwhile, Israel's exports to the country increased 517% in 2021.

Even more embarrassing is the ongoing relations between the Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel. Ben & Jerry's and other BDS advocates thousands of miles away face no consequences for telling Palestinians what's good for them, so it's not surprising the Palestinians ignore them. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Palestinians are happy to have jobs in Israel, and roughly 30,000 have no hesitation about working in those "obstacle to peace" settlements.

In addition, journalist Tom Gross noted that the most recent data (October 2021) published by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics indicated that exports of Palestinian goods and produce to Israel totaled $132.9 million, an increase of 19% from the previous month. Palestinians imported $624.7 million worth of goods and services from Israel in October, a 22% jump. In 2020, Palestinian imports from Israel were $2.77 billion and exports were $955 million.

Overall, Israeli exports around the world hit a record high of $140 billion in the pandemic year of 2021.

The rabid hatred of the Jews cannot be tempered by defeat; antisemites are undeterred and continue to use every possible avenue to delegitimize Israel. The United Nations specializes in the demonization of Israel, and the recent decision to appoint an open-ended investigation of Israel is one example of how the antisemites continue to receive encouragement. The BDS campaign promoted by Ben & Jerry's ill-informed celebrities, ignorant students and faculty, as well as Jews who act like village idiots, is just one more manifestation of antisemitism and evidence that despite all the investment in fighting the age-old scourge, it remains ineradicable.


CAA and others vindicated as neo-Nazi originally ordered to read classic literature is finally jailed after review of “unduly lenient” sentence
A neo-Nazi who was sentenced by a judge to read classic works of English literature has now been jailed for two years by the Court of Appeal, after his sentence was deemed “unduly lenient”.

Ben John, 21, was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court on 11th August 2021 of possessing information likely to be useful for preparing an act of terror — a charge that carries a maximum jail sentence of fifteen years. The prosecution told the court that the former De Montfort University student, who had collated 67,788 documents which contained a large quantity of National Socialist, white supremacist and antisemitic material, as well as information relating to a Satanic organisation, had previously failed to heed warnings by counter-terrorism officers. Lincolnshire Police had also said that Mr John “had become part of the Extreme Right Wing (XRW) online, and was studying Criminology with Psychology in Leicester when he was arrested”.

Nevertheless, Judge Timothy Spencer QC said that he believed that Mr John’s crime was likely to be an isolated incident and “an act of teenage folly”. He labelled Mr John as a “lonely individual with few if any true friends” who was “highly susceptible” to recruitment by others more prone to action. Judge Spencer went on to say that he was “not of the view that harm was likely to have been caused.”

Instead of jail, Judge Spencer instructed Mr John to return to him every four months in order to be tested on his reading of classic literature, urging him to read Dickens, Shakespeare, Austen, Trollope and Hardy. Mr John was also handed a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years plus a further year on licence, monitored by the probation service. Mr John was also given a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order requiring him to stay in touch with the police and let them monitor his online activity and up to 30 days on a Healthy Identity Intervention programme.

Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups condemned the sentence as a dangerous joke, and the Attorney General asked the Court of Appeal to review the “unduly lenient” sentence.


TOI investigatesHistorians bash ‘rubbish’ findings of investigation into Anne Frank betrayal
Overall, Van der Boom said he found the conclusions at the heart of “The Betrayal of Anne Frank” to be “downright ridiculous and reprehensible.”

“Perhaps all this will blow over once it’s established that this book proves nothing. But considering the very extensive media coverage — including a spot on ’60 Minutes’ — the damage might already have been done,” said Van der Boom. “Anne Frank, the worldwide symbol of innocence, was betrayed by a Jew.”

Historian Ad van Liempt, an expert on Holocaust-era Dutch “bounty hunters” who captured Jews in hiding, said the investigation was a missed opportunity.

“It is my impression that these [other Dutch] historians are right, in that the researchers of the Cold Case Team seem to have jumped to conclusions to make their research a success, historically and commercially,” said Van Liempt, whose articles on Dutch collaborators were cited in the book.

“[The investigation] was a pity,” said Van Liempt. “This was the best chance ever to find out who was responsible for the betrayal of the eight people in hiding on Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam. They didn’t succeed, I am afraid.”

In the end, the Cold Case Team’s use of artificial intelligence and metadata had little to do with why Van den Bergh was labeled as the top suspect, said Vastenhout.

“It is not entirely clear how these high-tech tools played a role in their eventual findings,” said Vastenhout. “The evidence that is provided is very shaky.”

Most scholars doubt the possibility that Anne Frank’s betrayer — if there was one — will ever be identified.

“For their own reasons, the Nazis destroyed 95% of their archives relating to the persecution of the Jews, so the one who did the betrayal took the secret with him to his or her grave,” said Houwink ten Cate. “If there had even been a betrayal, that is. The Frank family was taking so many risks, so the arrest also may have been the result of lack of caution.”
Estonia Orders More Than 500 Israeli-Designed Spike Missiles
Estonia has ordered more than 500 Spike SR (short-range) missiles designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Defense reported on Wednesday.

The order was placed with the EuroSpike company—a joint initiative by the Israeli company Rafael, and German companies Diehl Defense and Rheinmetall.

It’s part of a 40 million euros (about $45 million) agreement signed in 2019 for the supply of 18 Spike launchers to go to the Estonian military over a period of seven years, with the launchers arriving in 2020, according to the report.

The agreement included the option of purchasing tens of additional launchers.

Rafael said the shoulder-launched Spike SR, which uses advanced electro-optical seekers, can hit stationary and moving targets at ranges of up to 1,500 meters (some 5,000 feet). It was designed for infantry platoons.

Estonia’s President Alar Karis called for an increase in NATO troop numbers in his country last week following heightened tensions with Russia, Politico reported.


Irwin Cotler: Raoul Wallenberg rescued 100,000 Jews. He deserves better.
Twenty years later, the Durban legacy of hate finds expression not only in the old/new escalating, global antisemitism, but where this antisemitism is underpinned by a series of dynamics that are not as well appreciated as they should be. Advertisement

First, the mainstreaming, the normalization, the legitimation of antisemitism in the political culture — and the absence of outrage, underscored by indifference and inaction.

Second, the marginalization of antisemitism in the overall struggle against racism, where, for example, education and training within and without government tends to marginalize, if not even exclude, antisemitism.

Third, the laundering of antisemitism under the very cover of anti-racism, where Jews are seen as part of the white oppressor class and Israel, and the Jewish people, as part of the white oppressor regime.

Fourth. the revival of the classic antisemitic trope of the Jews as “the poisoners of the international wells,” where Jews, the Jewish people, and Israel are blamed for the manufacture of the coronavirus, for its spread, and for profiting from it.

None of this is intended to suggest that Israel is somehow above the law, or that Israel is not accountable to the international community like any other state. Nor are Israel or the Jewish people entitled to any privilege or preference because of the horror of the Holocaust or the threat of antisemitism. The problem is not that anyone should seek to place Israel above the law, but that Israel is being systematically denied equality before the law in the international arena.









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