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Thursday, March 03, 2022

03/03 Links Pt2: Danny Ayalon: Why Israel Must Fight the Legal Wars Waged Against It; European MEPs Will Fight EU’s Funding of PA’s Illegal Takeover of Area C

From Ian:

Danny Ayalon: Why Israel Must Fight the Legal Wars Waged Against It
Unlike the peace treaties that Israel signed with Egypt and Jordan, its conflict with the Palestinians is not about changes to territorial borders, and therefore cannot be resolved in this manner.

While exchanging territory for peace worked with Jordan and Egypt, with the Palestinians, this would not lead to the same result. The Palestinian aspiration remains to replace all of Israel with an Arab-Muslim state. This is illustrated in textbooks in Palestinian Authority (PA) schools that make no differentiation between Judea and Samaria, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Jaffa, or Haifa. Hamas relays this same ideology day and night.

As a result, the conflict spans military, terrorist, and economic arenas. It includes actions such as the organization of boycott movements — a potent weapon that the Palestinians have sought to employ against Israel.

The political-legal arena is a vital dimension in this conflict. The Palestinians would, if they could, eject Israel from all international institutions, and place it under sanctions.

This political-legal war is being waged at the Hague, the United Nations, UNICEF, and UNESCO. All of these efforts are part of the political war to combat Israel, isolate it politically, and create opportunities for a future economic or military assault against it when conditions are ripe.

On this front, unfortunately, there is no daylight between the PA and Hamas, even though IDF protects the PA from being toppled by Hamas in the territories, as it was in Gaza in 2007.

Without Israel’s security presence in areas B and C of the territories, the PA would have vanished long ago, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas would have been thrown out of power in Ramallah by Hamas.

When talking about international institutions, it is vital to understand that the Palestinians enjoy a relative advantage over Israel, as opposed to in the economic, military, and technological arenas, where Israel has the upper hand.

This is because the Palestinians have an automatic majority in international organizations. Two-thirds of the UN’s 193 member states are non-democratic states. Dozens are members of the Organization of Islamic States or are dependent on Arab oil.

Before even placing a condemnation resolution on the table, the Palestinian Authority already has a majority to utilize. It receives on-demand anti-Israel resolutions whenever it so wants them.
U.S. Returns to UN Human Rights Council, Rejects Commission of Inquiry Against Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday on the occasion of the U.S. rejoining the Council. After discussing the Russian attack on Ukraine, Blinken added, "We will continue to counter anti-Israel bias and the unfair and disproportionate focus on Israel on the Council. The Commission of Inquiry and standing Agenda Item 7 [on Israel] are a stain on the Council's credibility, and we strongly reject them."
European MEPs Will Fight EU’s Funding of PA’s Illegal Takeover of Area C
European Members of Parliaments from the Netherlands and Belgium have announced they will battle the European Union’s (EU) massive financing of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) illegal takeover of Area C in Judea and Samaria.

Area C is under full Israeli control as per the Oslo Accords and has been subjected to a campaign conducted by the PA to gain control of the area, a campaign financed by the EU and almost uncontested by the Israeli government.

Samaria Council Chairman Yossi Dagan met with MEP Koen Metsu of Belgium and Dutch MEP Gidi Markuszower and agreed to establish the Judea and Samaria lobby and fight the EU’s financing of the PA’s campaign in area C.

Dugan presented them with data showing the EU’s funding of a half-billion dollars of the PA’s illegal construction in Area C, as well as funding for the “Settler Violence” incitement campaign against Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. The MEPs were shocked by the data presented to them and promised to act on the issue.

Markuszower said after the meeting with Dagan that the EU “funds terrorist organizations that steal territories and build illegal structures in Area C. This must stop, as this is the illegal theft of territories belonging to Israel. The Palestinian Authority is stealing territories, and this situation must stop. This illegal act is detrimental to peace.”

“We talked about the EU, which includes the Netherlands, which unfortunately funds terrorist organizations and Palestinians who actually kill peace. We want to promote peace, to invest more in positive actions, as Yossi Dagan does in Samaria. We hope we can influence the EU to change its investments, and create real peace, not terrorism against Israeli citizens,” he underscored.

Metsu expressed concern over the situation Dagan presented and said that “Palestinian houses being built without permits, I think it is just shooting ourselves in the foot.”


Headlines with the Haddads - Lebanon, UNRWA, and the UK
On this episode of Headlines with the Haddads, Emily and Yoseph discuss the Lebanese economic meltdown, the problem of Palestinian refugees with Dr. Einat Wilf, and sit down with Israeli Ambasador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely to discuss UK antisemitism and UK-Israel relations.


Pinsker Center Podcast: Ep. 16 - Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran - the Holy Trinity of Israel Hostility
In this week's podcast, Policy Fellows Michelle, Marina and Jordan discuss the most pressing security concerns facing Israel.


Israeli President Isaac Herzog Lands in Cyprus for Official Visit
Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday for an official visit at the invitation of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, according to an official statement.

Herzog was received by Anastasiades at a state ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, which was followed by a private meeting between the two and then an expanded bilateral meeting, with the participation of both delegations.

Later in the day, Anastasiades awarded Herzog Cyprus’ highest honor, the Grand Collar of the Order of Makarios III, “as an expression of the strong friendship between Cyprus and Israel,” according to the statement.

In his statement following the day’s meetings, Herzog first addressed the situation in Ukraine, calling Russia’s invasion of that country “an affront to the international order.”

“I am deeply concerned for the citizens of Ukraine and members of the Jewish community in peril. I hope, and we all hope and pray, [that] this war ends quickly,” he said.

Israel had reaffirmed its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and joined the international community in supporting the United Nations General Assembly Resolution censuring Russia for its actions, he continued.

“Israel is working to advance a diplomatic solution in Ukraine and has offered its services in this regard. We are also sending an unprecedented amount of humanitarian aid: 100 tons. We see this as a moral obligation,” he said.

The Israeli prime minister then turned to the subject of Israel’s strengthening relationship with Cyprus, calling it a “pillar of Mediterranean stability, and a key to sustainable, healthy and prosperous region and future.”
The Supreme Court’s dangerous ruling on Sheikh Jarrah
All those who demanded that the Arab residents of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shimon Hatzadik, also known as Sheikh Jarrah, honor the district and magistrate’s court rulings and vacate the Jewish-owned homes there must now honor the Supreme Court’s contrary ruling. Israel’s highest court has overturned the lower courts’ rulings, allowing the current residents to remain for the time being.

The judges recognized in their 96-page ruling that the point at the heart of the dispute was the “recognition of the registered owners’ rights of the Jewish committees that purchased the land at the end of the 19th century and of the Nahalat Shimon company that filled their shoes.” They were nevertheless divided, however, over the question of the Arab tenants’ right to the homes. They decided that until a real estate arrangement is completed at the site and the question of rights to the land is made clear, the current inhabitants can continue living in the disputed homes.

With that being the case, we must, unfortunately, conclude that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, who took over the Arab residents’ struggle in Sheikh Jarrah, have won. Palestinian terrorism and violence have won. It may be temporary, but it is a victory nonetheless.

The justices have done their work, and their decision must be honored.

While they certainly did not intend for it to be the case, their ruling could provide a tailwind to terror. The Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday could encourage further attacks on Jews and provide a tailwind to those setting fire to Jewish cars and homes, those who tried to stab Moriah Cohen, a resident of Shimon Hatzadik, to death, those who for many months now have pelted rocks and Molotov cocktails at Jewish homes and residents in Shimon Hatzadik.

The ruling could also encourage those who seek to leverage their struggle for Sheikh Jarrah to ensure their all-out war on Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem is restored to the agenda.
Amid Ukraine invasion, Jerusalem court nixes transfer of Old City property to Russia
The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday annulled a decision giving the Russian government control of the prominent Alexander’s Courtyard church compound in the capital city, the Globes newspaper reported.

The verdict was given following a petition by the Orthodox Palestine Society of the Holy Land, which owned the property until last year.

The complex is located near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.

In 1859, Czar Alexander II purchased the land on which Alexander’s Court — also known as the Alexander Nevsky Church — was built. Until the Russian Revolution of 1917, the area was under the control of the Russian Imperial government.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved giving Alexander’s Courtyard to Russia in 2020. The move was seen as a goodwill gesture following Russia’s release of Naama Issachar, an Israeli woman who was imprisoned after a small quantity of marijuana was found in her backpack during a layover in Moscow.

After the Russian government was registered as the rightful owner of the church, the Land Registry Commissioner responded to a string of appeals against the move, explaining that the Russian Federation had been recognized by international bodies and by the State of Israel as a “continuing state” of the Russian Empire.
Christian group in Bethlehem slammed for ‘hosting’ Yehuda Glick
A Palestinian Christian nonprofit organization in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem, is facing sharp criticism for “hosting” former MK Yehuda Glick.

Glick posted on his Facebook page a photo of him visiting the Beit Al Liqa organization in the Christian town together with German tourists.

“Tourism is back,” Glick wrote. “Talking to 50 German tourists in Bethlehem house of peace Beit Al Liqa Organization.”

Established in 1996, the Palestinian Christian organization says that it seeks to serve the Palestinian community through various programs. It also provides job opportunities for Palestinian families in the Bethlehem area. The organization is located in the middle of Beit Jala.

Glick’s Facebook post sparked a wave of condemnations by many Palestinians, who accused the organization of hosting a “right-wing extremist” and “promoting normalization” with Israelis.


Palestinian man arrested over pair of stabbing attacks near Jerusalem
Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian man on Thursday afternoon for allegedly carrying out two stabbing attacks in the West Bank town of Hizme outside Jerusalem.

Police said the 20-year-old suspect was arrested in his home in the Shuafat refugee camp by Border Police and Israel Defense Forces troops, after they received information from the Shin Bet security agency.

On Thursday morning and on Wednesday afternoon two Jewish Israeli men in their 40s were separately stabbed in a store in Hizme under near-identical circumstances.

Both men were taken to a hospital in Jerusalem in moderate condition, according to medics.

According to the IDF and police, both stabbings appeared to be terror attacks, and were allegedly carried out by the suspect.

He was taken for further questioning by the Shin Bet, law enforcement officials said.
PMW: PA calls for terror - “popular resistance” – like the first Intifada when “we were masters of the roads” and “the settlers were like hiding rats”
While the PA maintains that “popular resistance” is “peaceful” and non-violent, Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the terms “popular uprising/resistance” and “peaceful uprising/resistance” are used by PA leaders to refer not only to peaceful protest but also at times to deadly terror attacks and terror waves.

For example, PA Chairman Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." At the time Abbas said this, 14 Israelis had already been murdered.

Now the PA has again intensified its calls for “popular resistance,” and several PA and PLO officials have urged Palestinians to engage in activities like the first Intifada - the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel 1987-1993, in which approximately 200 Israelis were murdered.

Referring to meetings within the PLO and Fatah, Director-General of Popular Activity in the PA-controlled Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall Abdallah Abu Rahma explained that the “main topic” there, and for Abbas too, is “popular resistance.” Abu Rahma clarified what they mean by the term - violence intifada style:
Abu Rahma: “The main topic of the [PLO] Central Council meeting yesterday was popular resistance. All the sessions, meetings, and conferences, whether of the Fatah Movement or of the other factions, and also His Honor President [Abbas calls] in all his speeches to initiate popular resistance… We can’t enjoy peace and security without popular resistance actually spreading. The method of the popular [first] Intifada of 1987 (i.e., Palestinian wave of violence, 1987-1993), is the best proof of this, when we actually were the constant masters of the roads, moving freely, and the settlers were like hiding rats moving under the [Israeli] army’s large security protection. Despite this [protection] they were beaten and faced confrontations. Therefore, I again say that we need to initiate popular resistance.”

[Official PA TV, Feb. 8, 2022]




Abbas says Christians, Muslims must ‘fight together’ against Israel
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has called on Christians to join the fight against Israel in a meeting in Ramallah with Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. The comment was aired on official Palestinian TV News and shared by the NGO Palestinian Media Watch.

“We know that the prime Zionist goal is emptying this land of its Christians and Muslims,” Abbas said on January 17. “They [the Jews] don’t want anyone here other than themselves. The Christians before the Muslims, because the Christians were here on this land before the Muslims… The Christian is the brother of the Muslim. They celebrate together, suffer together, live together, work together and fight together against their enemy, because we have been the owners of this land since this land’s existence.

“We will remain in this land forever, while the attackers [the Jews] have no place in Jerusalem and no place here,” Abbas concluded.

The statements mirrored comments made early by the Palestinian Authority, which Palestinian Media Watch shared in a separate report on Fatah’s Waed magazine.


PLO, Fatah, and Abbas want “popular resistance,” like first Intifada

All of Israel - with Lod, Ramle, the Negev, Jaffa, and Haifa - is ”Palestine” and “belongs to us”

All of Israel is Islamic land - “waqf” - “from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River”

Accommodating Iran Will Be No More Successful Than Accommodating Russia
It is entirely reasonable to assume that Iran is seeking the protection that nuclear weapons clearly provide Russia to impose its will on its neighborhood—and to do so with impunity. And the new world that Iran seeks to create will be dominated by Tehran: It will be characterized by fierce competition with the United States for hegemony over the Persian Gulf and by efforts to cement alliances to confront Iran’s ideological and geopolitical antagonists in Riyadh, Ankara, Jerusalem, and Cairo. This will apply to a range of issues, including Iran’s all-consuming hostility to the existence of Israel or to any political accommodation with it.

But it will hardly stop at the Jewish state. Emboldened by its nuclear breakout, Iran’s revolutionary leadership will seek to cement partnerships and dependencies and establish its dominance far beyond the Middle East, using a new power and prestige to turn the tables on Western powers. The consequences will be severe, and the possibility for conflict far deadlier than what we are seeing in Ukraine can hardly be excluded.

Tehran makes no secret of its aspiration to become the node for all anti-Western and anti-global movements. Today’s Iran dreams of transforming itself into a Soviet Union redux, racing to the aid of anti-Western revolutionaries. Tomorrow’s nuclear Iran will be able to fulfill that dream. It will back a network of radical, violent groups that will rush to Tehran in search for a powerful patron. Tehran will then be only a small step away from becoming as potent a sponsor of subversion throughout the world as Putin’s Russia.

This scenario is not as far-fetched as it might appear. Iran already has important friends in Europe and stirs up revolutionary fantasies among hardcore Western Marxists. Links between Europe’s far left and Iran’s brand of radical Islam are well-established. Their mutual loathing for Western capitalism and democracy trumps differences they might have on issues like gender and homosexuality. At the opposite end of the political spectrum, expressions of sympathy and support for Iran are also evident among the far right, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, which spurred numerous far-right organizations in Europe to idolize Russia, Hezbollah, and Iran as supposed defenders of Christian minorities and bulwarks against Sunni Salafists. Iran has since cultivated this image through foreign propaganda channels.

Nor would an emboldened, nuclear-capable Iran not stop at supporting anti-global political forces on the extremes of our political systems. It would consolidate an already existing international coalition of states that share Iran’s ideological antagonism toward the West. Iran’s alliances with Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba in Latin America have strengthened over the past decade. Whenever elections flip pro-Western governments across the developing world, Iran will have an easier time offering itself as their paladin—investing in their economies, topping up the bank accounts of compliant leaders, training and supplying their armies, and providing political support in international forums. Russia and China will be more than happy to use Iran as a hammer to strike at Western interests and security arrangements that interfere with their own ambitions.

As we watch Putin’s Russia destroy Ukraine, we should realize we are about to cross a similar threshold with Iran.


Amid global crunch, Iran says it will step up oil output once US sanctions lifted
Oil-rich Iran says it is ready to step up its crude exports once US sanctions are lifted if talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal succeed, official media reported Thursday.

The comments came as global oil prices have surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with West Texas Intermediate Thursday crude topping $115 per barrel, the highest since 2008.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to increase its production and exports to the pre-November 2018 level,” Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji was quoted as saying by the official IRNA agency.

Owji was referring to November 5, 2018, when the US under then-president Donald Trump reimposed sanctions against Iran’s oil sector, following its withdrawal in May that year from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

“It is up to the major consuming countries to take the necessary steps to maintain stability and calm in the oil market,” Owji had said Wednesday after an OPEC meeting, according to Shana, the ministry’s official agency.

In that meeting, the oil-rich Gulf states had failed to respond to Western pressure to increase crude output, prioritizing their own strategic and economic interests.


UK Union Slammed for Stoking ‘Division’ by Featuring BDS at Student Strike
The umbrella organization for British Jewish university students criticized the largest student union in the United Kingdom for featuring anti-Zionist activism at its “Student Strike for Education” protest on Wednesday.

The National Union of Students (NUS) organized the demonstration in January, saying it hoped to win “fully funded, lifelong and democratic” education after UK government officials proposed reforming the tuition fee repayment system.

NUS, which is affiliated with 95% of university student unions in the UK, tweeted on Monday that the event will include a program on “organizing Palestine solidarity on campus,” with a focus on divestment campaigns targeting Israel. “We’ll talk through university investments in companies that support Israeli apartheid” and more, the group wrote.

The session was led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which promotes the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Leaders of the international campaign often controversially accuse Israel of implementing “apartheid,” or a system of race-based discrimination, against Palestinians, and reject any Jewish national connection or rights to Israel.

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS), which represents 69 Jewish student societies in the UK and Ireland, called the inclusion of BDS programming in the protest “disappointing.”

“This places [NUS] in a position of division rather than dialogue; isolating and excluding many Jewish students,” UJS spokesperson Shiri Wolff told The Algemeiner. “We see year on year, that these types of events create a hostile environment on campus and further polarize communities, rather than building consensus and cooperation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Ben & Jerry's Israel asks New Jersey court to halt settlement boycott
Ben & Jerry's Israel has sought an injunction from a US District Court in New Jersey to stop its parent companies from boycotting Jewish territory over the pre-1967 lines and potentially the country itself.

The independent board of the global Ben & Jerry's, a subsidiary of the London-based Unilever, decided to end its contract with the Israeli franchise at the end of 2022. It did so after its owner Avi Zinger refused to halt ice cream sales to Jewish areas over the pre-1967 lines. The ice cream itself is produced in southern Israel.

In the lawsuit filed on Thursday, attorneys Edward J. Dauber and Linda G. Harvey claimed that both Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever were in breach of contract of both Israeli and US law. On their client's behalf, they asked for relief damages of $75,000 in addition to punitive damages to be determined later.

The termination of Zinger’s contract after 34 years was solely due to their client’s refusal to comply with a demand that was illegal both under Israeli and US law, the attorneys wrote.

“The demand was in and of itself a violation by [the] Defendants of Israel law, US anti-boycott policy and policies of the States of New Jersey, New York and many other states,” the attorneys wrote.
Iowa Senate Follows House With Israel Anti-Boycott Bill Targeting Ben & Jerry’s
The Iowa Senate passed a bill on Monday to prohibit state funds from being invested in companies that boycott Israel, in a move that lawmakers said specifically targets the ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s and its boycott of eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.

House File 2373 was passed by a 40-5 margin and will now be sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds. The bill passed the Iowa House of Representatives last week by a vote of 61-35.

Amending a 2016 Israel anti-boycott law signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad, the bill will include any company that is a “wholly-owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, parent company, or affiliate of such business or business entity.” The 2016 law only pertained to companies that it defined as “any business or business entity that is publicly traded and that is not based in the United States.”

Ben & Jerry’s, a Vermont-based company, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British conglomerate Unilever.

“As far as I can tell, the sole purpose of this bill is to amend Iowa Code so that Iowa is able to crack down on Unilever for allowing Ben & Jerry’s to refuse to sell their ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Rep. Mary Wolfe (D-Clinton) said as the bill was being debated in the House last week.

Rep. Carter Nordman (R-Adel), the bill’s House floor manager, said the legislation would “ensure that our public investments are not funding companies that participate in the boycott, divestment and sanction of Israel movement.”


Aussie SBS News Article Cites Two ‘Experts’ Who Oppose Designating Hamas a Terror Group
Hamas’ crimes against Palestinians are well-documented. In 2021 alone, the Gaza Strip’s rulers — deemed a terror group in its entirety by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Israel and Japan — killed dozens of Palestinians while violently dispossessing over 20 families of their homes.

After severe flooding this winter season, Palestinians accused Hamas of diverting funds earmarked for much-needed infrastructure projects to the building of tunnels, often used to smuggle weapons and carry out terror attacks against Israel. This, even though Hamas reportedly has $500 million stashed away in a secret foreign investment portfolio.

Yet, even as Gazans are increasingly protesting against Hamas’ brutality, Australia’s SBS News recently published a piece titled, “Concern Australia’s Listing All of Hamas as a Terrorist Organisation Will Harm Ordinary Palestinians.” The publicly-funded broadcaster produced the piece in the aftermath of Canberra’s declared intention to designate all of Hamas as a terror organization.

Up until then, the Australian government had only proscribed Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. As HonestReporting has noted, there is no meaningful distinction between Hamas’ “military” and “political” wings and the failure to make clear that they are two sides of the same coin has contributed to whitewashing the Palestinian group’s totalitarian and genocidal ideology — and its violent manifestations.

Besides several factual inaccuracies in the SBS News article, it also uses quotes from two clearly biased “experts” to inflate baseless claims that “designating the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organi[z]ation will make life harder for Gazans and sweep up ordinary Palestinians and Australians in counterterrorism laws.”
Newsweek Vs. History on Palestinian Statehood
The history of Palestinian governance over any territory is very brief, dating back only to the 1990s. It takes a certain level of journalistic incompetence, therefore, to repeatedly misreport this particularly short chapter of history.

Newsweek has the dubious distinction of having achieved this feat, repeatedly tripping up on visions of a mythic Palestinian state that never was.

Thus, in 2018, Newsweek “corrected” after accurately reporting “no Palestinian state has ever existed.” It’s so-called correction stated:
This story has been updated to remove information that includes an error that says no Palestinian state has ever existed.

Following ridicule, Newsweek somewhat backtracked, but still couldn’t be sure that no Palestinian state had ever existed. So its next corrective attempt equivocated:
This story’s previous reference to “historic Palestine” has been deleted; the legal and historical status of a Palestinian state remains a subject of controversy and debate.

More than three years later, the great minds at Newsweek have apparently chosen a side in the alleged great “controversy and debate” concerning the history of Palestinian statehood. Unfortunately, the esteemed journalists did not choose the side of history.

In his Feb. 27 article, “Ukraine Resistance Like Palestinians Fighting Israel, Shaun King Suggests,” Scott McDonald makes the following ahistoric assertion:
Palestinians had much of their homeland stripped from them following World War II, and they have fought to not only maintain what they say is theirs, but from Israeli attacks as well.

Until the Oslo Accords in the 1990s in which Palestinians gained control over parts of the West Bank, Palestinian Arabs never had any sovereignty over any land that they now claim. As Newsweek rightly noted in 2018 before its misguided “corrections,” at no point in history was there a Palestinian state.
Kentucky Republican’s anti-abortion speech links Jewish scientists to Nazi killing methods
Jewish women mate for life. Jewish scientists invented the gas that Hitler used to kill them — and the abortion pill, and that might make them the same thing. Which is why Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Or something.

Kentucky state Rep. Danny Bentley, a Republican, floated all these canards in a speech Wednesday morning.

His speech — supporting legislation that would severely restrict the use of RU-486, also known as “the abortion pill” — digressed into the sex lives of Jewish women, conflated two Jewish chemists, and apparently confused Nobel prizes given for chemistry and peace.

It was the second controversial invocation of Jews in the legislature in two weeks. Last week, two Kentucky lawmakers used the term “Jew them down” to describe bargaining.

Bentley, a pharmacist elected to the state House of Representatives in 2017, later apologized for the speech after it was condemned by the legislature’s sole Jewish lawmaker, Sen. Karen Berg, a Democrat, and national and local Jewish groups.

“I meant absolutely no harm in my comments today and sincerely apologize for any they caused,” he said in a statement to the Courier-Journal. “Last week we received a heartbreakingly sad reminder that antisemitism still exists in our society,” he said in apparent reference to the “Jew them down” comments, “and I apologize if my comments today caused similar pain or any doubt that I stand with the Jewish community against hatred.”

In his speech, Bentley appeared to be reacting to a letter from the National Council of Jewish Women opposing the bill. A Democrat had cited NCJW’s objections earlier in the debate.

“In fact, the person who developed [RU-486] was a Jew,” the Louisville Courier-Journal quoted Bentley as saying. “Since we brought up the Hebrew family today.”
New ADL Report Highlights Alarming Spread of White Supremacist Propaganda Around US
The distribution of white supremacist propaganda in the United States again reached historic levels in 2021, with all but one state targeted with antisemitic and racist materials, according to a new report issued on Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The report from ADL’s Center on Extremism registered a 27 percent rise in propaganda targeting Jews and Jewish institutions. A total 4,851 cases of racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages were recorded, making 2021 the year with the second-highest level of incidents reported since ADL began tracking such data.

Hateful propaganda appeared in every state except Hawaii, with the highest levels of activity reported in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington State , Maryland and New York State. At least 38 white supremacist groups distributed propaganda, but three groups – Patriot Front, New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA) and Folkish Resistance Movement (FRM, formerly known as Folksfront) – were responsible for 91 percent of the activity, according to the ADL.

The lions’ share of propaganda distribution lay with the Texas-based Patriot Front, which was responsible for 82 percent of the national total of incidents. Members of the Patriot Front — led by a 24-year-old white nationalist named Thomas Ryan Rousseau — are required to meet weekly propaganda distribution targets, the ADL said.

The report also examined the coast-to-coast flyer campaign launched by the so-called “Goyim Defense League” (GDL), a neo-Nazi group that has staged demonstrations in cities around the US blaming Jews for the COVID-19 pandemic and denying the Holocaust.
CAA publishes latest Antisemitism Barometer, showing detrimental impact of antisemitism surge, with British Jews also pointing fingers at criminal justice system, Labour Party, Green Party, universities and social media
Today, Campaign Against Antisemitism publishes our latest Antisemitism Barometer , comprising a survey of the British public’s views toward Jews and a poll of the Jewish community.

The Barometer’s poll of the British public’s views towards Jews utilises the Generalised Antisemitism Scale. The survey was designed and analysed by Dr Daniel Allington of King’s College London, with fieldwork carried out by YouGov.
Using the twelve-question Generalised Antisemitism Scale, the survey shows that 57% of British adults do not harbour any antisemitic views; they did not affirm a single one of the twelve statements.
The other side of the coin, however, is that there is deeply troubling normalisation of antisemitism, as 43% of British adults did affirm at least one antisemitic statement, although over half of them only agreed with only one or two antisemitic statements.
11% of British adults have entrenched antisemitic views, affirming four or more antisemitic statements.
The most popular antisemitic statement was that “Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews”, with which 24% of British adults agreed. That view is antisemitic under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the Government.

The Barometer also includes a separate survey of British Jews designed and analysed in consultation with Dr Allington and carried out by Campaign Against Antisemitism and Jewish community partners. The survey reveals that:
The events of 2021, when antisemitism surged on British streets and campuses, online, in workplaces, schools and hospitals and in other institutions, have left their mark. British Jews are now less optimistic about their future in the UK, and a record 46% also decline to display visible signs of their Jewish identity due to antisemitism.
The antisemitism that arose during the conflict between Hamas and Israel weighed particularly heavy with British Jews, almost eight in ten of whom disclosed that the various demonstrations in the UK during the conflict caused them to feel ‘intimidated as a Jew’.
British Jews’ confidence in the criminal justice system is lower than ever: the Crown Prosecution Service has always performed poorly in our polling, but for the first time ever, a majority of British Jews do not believe that the police or the courts do enough to protect them either.
British Jews reserve significant opprobrium for political parties: over eight in ten British Jews still feel that the Labour Party is too tolerant of racism against Jews, belying Sir Keir Starmer’s claim to have “shut the door” on antisemitism in his Party. For the first time, a majority of British Jews also believe that another party is too tolerant of antisemitism: the Green Party.
In the first ever poll on the subject, almost all British Jews believe that antisemitism in universities (92%) and on social media (96%) is a problem, underscoring the need for urgent action.
Unpacked: India and Israel's Complicated History
With their own distinct cultures, religions, political challenges and even sizes, India and Israel appear to be completely different. Yet these two nations actually have a lot in common, including being home to two of the world’s earliest religions: Judaism and Hinduism. From the spices they use, their advancements in high tech, and even their shared history of establishing independence from British rule, it would appear these very different countries aren’t so different after all.






Read all about it here!
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