Thursday, March 17, 2022
Menachem Begin's legacy and the security of Israel
We remember not only what Begin did, but who he was, for this is what constitutes a legacy. His moral clarity and actions were consistent throughout his life. That is the source of strength of his legacy, and the magnitude of its contribution, precisely at the intersection represented by his commitment to be a “good, Jewish-style” prime minister.Melanie Phillips: The ominous subtext of Nazanin's release
Begin’s birth on the eve of Shabbat Nachamu, after Tisha Be’av, gave him his name – Menachem (Hebrew for “comfort”). His passing on the eve of Shabbat Zachor, before Purim, find expression in a verse that represents his moral compass, according to which “the eternity of Israel will neither lie nor find comfort, for it is not a human to be comforted.”
It establishes the inextricable link between consolation and memory, modeled by public service that transcends personal, tribal, geographic or small, intra-Israeli politics. It explains the interwoven thread connecting words and actions, throughout Begin’s journey: From the declarations that “there will be no civil war” aboard the Altalena, to “I am not a Jew with shaky knees”; from painful opposition to reparations for the Holocaust from Germany, to genuine lack of understanding of Dudu Topaz’s derogatory and divisive pre-election speech about “the Chachachim” (riffraff) – because for him: “Ashkenazi? Iraqi? Jews! Brothers! Warriors!”
He charted a legacy for his successors, with his request to be buried near Jewish underground fighters Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani on the Mount of Olives, without pompous speeches or a royal funeral. All of these testify that consolation can only be found in memory, and that by identifying present trials and tribulations, it is possible to pave a path to a better future.
Begin’s profound wisdom, that there is no inherent contradiction in the liberal-nationalism that guided him, is his legacy. It harbors the potential to continue the journey he began, diagnosing, understanding and addressing challenges facing the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and with necessary modesty and caution, even when the crisis concerns western liberal values.
Iranian sources always linked the release of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, along with other dual nationals whom the regime had effectively taken hostage, to an unpaid British debt of £400 million owed to Iran for the non-delivery of Chieftain tanks in the 1970s.Gut feelings on Amnesty International
The British government maintained it couldn’t pay this money without falling foul of international sanctions against Iran. Reports emerged yesterday that the government has now agreed to pay this debt — although it insists there is no link between that payment and the release of the prisoners.
But if it has now agreed to pay it, this means that the US is no longer objecting that such a payment would contravene the sanctions against Iran. And that suggests that — just as has been feared — the US is now lifting those sanctions in the unconscionable deal that it has struck with Tehran.
The announcement of that deal, which was expected more than a week ago, was reportedly delayed by Vladimir Putin’s demand that the US should lift its sanctions against Russia over Ukraine to allow Moscow to begin trading with Tehran. Since the Iran deal was being brokered by Russia, this threw a spanner into the works.
The release of the British hostages suggests that the Biden administration has found a way to circumvent that blockage — and finally do this deal with the devil that it has been absolutely determined to achieve.
It’s good that I wasn’t trying to eat lunch and digest O’Brien’s words at the same time. I’m not sure whether I would have choked or upchucked, but even now I find them hard to swallow. O’Brien’s gut instincts were a kick in the guts.
O’Brien, who is not Jewish, obviously knows better than me the nature of “core Jewish values.” I’m so unprogressive that I think they can be found in the Ten Commandments. The idea of tikkun olam, mending the world, is a later addition – although the more I hear people like O’Brien and Callamard, the more I think the world is in urgent need of being fixed.
The luncheon event was reportedly the first in a series hosted by the Women’s National Democratic Club that will explore “Palestine past, present and future.” The part about “Palestine’s past” could fit in during the appetizers – unless they intend hijacking Israel’s history for the narrative instead.
Israel’s ancient past, thriving present, and optimistic future as the Jewish state seems to be less interesting to the group. Maybe they’re afraid of biting off more than they can chew. More than they want to hear. Israel is a country with a population of more than nine million, of whom the vast majority, more than six million, are Jews. O’Brien should speak to a representative sample to discover what they think about the idea of dismantling the country they call home.
Following the publication of the Amnesty International report, even Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej, a Muslim Arab member of the left-wing Meretz party, declared: “Israel has many problems that must be solved, inside the Green Line and certainly in the occupied territories, but Israel is not an apartheid state.”
Whatever @SecBlinken imagined would result from embracing the leaders of #antisemitism under the facade of #HumanRights, this is an endorsement of their hate. @kenroth & @AgnesCallamard have done irreparable damage. 1/n https://t.co/BGQAqg01O8
— Prof Gerald M Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) March 17, 2022
30 years since Israeli embassy in Argentina destroyed in terror attack
March 17, 2022 marks 30 years since the deadliest terrorist attack on an Israeli diplomatic mission, when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the Israeli Embassy in Argentina and detonated.Report: US weighs dropping IRGC from terrorism blacklist
The incident resulted in the deaths of 30 people, including the suicide bomber, along with four Israelis and 25 Argentines, including a Catholic priest and many children. A further 242 people were injured in the attack.
The embassy was destroyed in the attack, along with a nearby Catholic church and a school.
Many have accused Iran of having known of the attack in advance, with the NSA having later uncovered evidence of this, as well as the involvement of Hezbollah agent Imad Mughniyah, who would later be charged by Argentina for his involvement. To this day, Israel still accuses Hezbollah of being behind the attack and Iran of financing it.
The bombing also resulted in straining diplomatic ties between Argentina and Iran, with Buenos aires expelling seven Iranian diplomats.
Full responsibility was claimed by the Islamic Jihad Organization, a Shi'ite Islamist militia that was linked to Iran and Hezbollah and that carried out numerous terrorist attacks, assassinations and kidnappings in the 1980s. This included a spat of deadly attacks in 1983, such as attacking the US Embassy in Lebanon.
Regarding the attack in Argentina, they claimed it was retaliation for the death of Hezbollah leader Sayed Abbas al-Musawi, who Israel assassinated in February of the same year.
Asked about the possibility of removing the IRGC from the US terrorism list, US State Department spokesman Ned Price declined comment beyond saying that sanctions relief is at the heart of negotiations to revive the nuclear deal.
Last week an Iranian official said the IRGC's removal from the blacklist had been under discussion as far back as June but that the issue had become more complicated after last summer's election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's president.
The Iranian official said the United States had made clear "they cannot remove it without major concessions from Iran," a stance he said had been rejected by Iran's lead nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani.
The IRGC's political influence in Iran's complex power structure has increased since the election of Raisi, who took office in August and whose government includes dozens of Revolutionary Guard commanders.
Raisi's election led to a five-month gap in the indirect US-Iranian talks over reviving the nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions, prompting Iran to start violating its nuclear limits about a year later.
Negotiations resumed in late November, with officials from other parties to the deal – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – as well as European Union officials coordinating the talks shuttling between US and Iranian representatives. An agreement would allow Iran to sell its oil abroad.
WATCH: @Ostrov_A, CEO of @The_ILF speaks on NGO Monitor's behalf at the #HRC49 debate on children in armed conflict. pic.twitter.com/YFG3PALQ78
— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) March 16, 2022
Sushi Fumi Victim Files Lawsuit
One of the victims of the Sushi Fumi attack in May 2021 filed a lawsuit on March 15, alleging that they were the victim of a hate crime.Covid in Israel: Reproduction Rate Ticking Upward, Close to One Again
The lawsuit, filed by Glaser Weil LLP, The Law Office of Arash Khorsandi, and Avenue Law APC, per a press release, stated that the victim was eating dinner in front of the Beverly Grove restaurant when a caravan with “megaphones and loudspeakers” that were “waving Palestinian flags” drove by and started shouting, “F— the Jews,” “Death to Jews,” “Dirty Jews,” and “Who is Jewish?” The people in the caravan hurled “glass objects” at the plaintiff and the Jewish diners and then exited their vehicles and started attacking them.
“The first target of the attack was one of [Plaintiff’s] friends who was rushed at by the [Defendants] and thrown to the floor,” the lawsuit stated. “[Defendants] kicked [Plaintiff’s] friend in the head and on his body. [Plaintiff] saw his defenseless friend being attacked and sprang into action to defend him from being viciously beaten. [Plaintiff] grabbed a nearby stanchion that had roped off Sushi Fumi’s outdoors dining area and used it fend off the attackers in self-defense and defense of his friends.” The lawsuit then alleges that four men began beating the plaintiff against a car and sprayed him with “an aerosol chemical irritant.”
“American Jews have suffered numerous high profile incidents of violent antisemitism in recent years,” Michael Yadegaran of Avenue Law APC said in a statement. “From Charlottesville to Pittsburgh to Poway to Colleyville—and now Los Angeles. The time to take action is now; a hate crime is a crime against all of us.”
“Antisemitic hate crimes are on the rise, and whether on college campuses, in houses of worship, at Jewish day schools, or out while dining, Jews are being targeted and terrorized at an increasing rate,” Julie Gerchik, Litigation Partner at Glaser Weil, also said in a statement. “Enough is enough.”
The reproduction rate of Covid-19 in Israel is inching back up again, nearly reaching one, fresh data released Thursday by the Israeli Health Ministry shows.Israel moves forward on laser-based rocket defense, will begin initial procurement
The R value currently stands at 0.92 and has been steadily creeping upward since a low point of 0.66 on February 11. At the height of the omicron wave, the R value reached as high as 2.12 on December 30.
The R number is based on data from 10 days earlier.
The reproduction rate is closely watched by health authorities as a sign that the virus is either slowing down or multiplying. The baseline of one means that each person is passing it on to another person. Any number above one indicates that the virus is multiplying.
A total of 6,738 Covid cases were registered over the previous 24-hour period, with a positive test rate of 11.93 percent out of 56,488 tests to detect the virus.
The number of patients listed in serious condition stands at 332, with 166 critical and 149 on ventilators.
There are currently 40,096 active patients in Israel.
A total of 10,405 people have died in Israel since the official start of the pandemic two years ago.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Thursday his office would be signing a contract in the coming days to begin procurement of a laser air defense system to protect Israel against rockets and UAVs.Israeli Arabs See Rise in Standard of Living, Life Expectancy and Education
“We are at the start of the journey. It will take time, it isn’t a short process, but we will get it done in the shortest amount of time possible,” Gantz told reporters.
His comments poured cold water on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s announcement last month that Israel would deploy the system within the year.
The ministry has been testing the laser-based defense system for several years, shooting down a drone with it last year. Its research and development department initially planned to deploy the anti-missile system by 2024, but the military has pushed for an earlier deployment.
This was apparently driven by concerns that in a future conflict, the military would not have sufficient interceptor missiles for the Iron Dome and other air defense systems to shoot down incoming rockets, missiles and drones.
According to the head of the ministry’s research and development team, Brig. Gen. (res.) Yaniv Rotem, the ground-based system will be ready within a “single-digit” number of years.
“We are completely ready to make the order… and begin full-scale development, which means finishing development and initial procurement,” Rotem said.
Arab society in Israel is being revolutionized by a rise in the standard of living, life expectancy and education. The number of Arab citizens of Israel was 1,595,300 at the end of 2020, 17.2% of the total population. They are 83% Muslim, 9% Druze, and 8% Christian. Over the last two decades, life expectancy for both Arab men and women has increased by three years, similar to the equivalent increase among Jews.MEMRI: Palestinian Political Analyst: The Coordination Between Hamas And Israel Is Closer Than Ever
The median number of years of education among Arabs has risen dramatically. In 1985, the median was 7.7 years for Arab women and 9.3 for Arab men; in 2017, the median for both sexes was 12 years. Matriculation rates in the Druze system are even higher than in the Jewish school system.
The number of Arab undergraduate students and their share of the total student population has almost doubled over the last decade, from 10% in 2009-2010 to 18.3% in 2019-2020. Students for an MA degree have risen from 6.5% in 2009-2010 to 14.6% in 2019-2020. The proportion of Arab Ph.D. students rose from 3.9% in 2009-2010 to 7.3% in 2019-2020.
In 2000, Arabs constituted 4.8% of civil service employees. By 2020 it reached 13.2%. The percentage of Arab board members in government companies has risen from 1.2% in 2000 to 12% in 2018.
In a February 22, 2022 article on the Palestinian Amad website, journalist and political analyst Ashraf Saleh addressed the current relations between Hamas and Israel, stating that the coordination between them is now closer than ever. This coordination, he noted, is based on the principle of "economy in return for quiet," whereby Israel bolsters Gaza's economy on the pretext of providing humanitarian aid, while Hamas keeps quiet, an arrangement that benefits both sides. Saleh warned that this arrangement is dangerous because it strengthens Hamas' rule, eliminates the PA's role in Gaza, creates a complete disconnect between the West Bank and Gaza and reduces the Palestinian cause to a series of economic demands. At the same time, he noted this arrangement can easily fail and that both sides are therefore hedging their bets: Israel attacks Hamas targets in order to keep it from gaining too much military strength, and Hamas maintains its ability to "change the equations in the blink of an eye," i.e., to revert to the use of force if the cooperation with Israel collapses.Gazans Outraged over Spending on Luxurious Mosques
The following are translated excerpts from Ashraf Saleh's article:[1]
"Having failed to market itself to the world as an alternative to the PLO, which is controlled by a Fatah majority, Hamas is trying to become a new version of the PLO, and is doing so in its own unique way that seems quite clever, at least to me as an observer. The coordination between Hamas and Israel is [now] closer than ever, and constitutes a political arrangement under the heading of '[meeting] humanitarian needs' or 'breaking the [Israeli] siege [on Gaza].' As part of this arrangement, it has been agreed that 30,000 Gazan workers will be admitted into Israel, most of whom will work in the settlements and perhaps even in army bases and bring millions of shekels into Gaza, and the first to benefit from this will be Hamas. This means strengthening Hamas' rule in Gaza by keeping the economy there from collapsing. That is, Hamas does not need a salvation government that will come to Gaza in the name of a reconciliation [with Fatah]. Nor does it need to draw closer to Ramallah in order to receive the external aid Gaza deserves, or in order to maintain [the situation whereby] Gaza's bills are paid by the [PA] government under [Prime Minister Muhammad] Shtayeh – which, as Shtayeh notes, is the government of all Palestinians. The money that will flow into Gaza – whether thanks to the Gazans working in Israel, the Qatari grants or countless other financial [sources] and projects – will increase the [intra-Palestinian] division and bolster Hamas' rule in Gaza…
"Israel knows very well that Hamas' demands include a sea port, an industrial zone and a power station [in Gaza], suitcases of cash and providing [the Gazans with] jobs. It also knows that Hamas' strategy is an exact replica of the PLO's, namely negotiating with Israel towards [the establishment of a Palestinian] state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Although Israel firmly opposes the two-state solution, it meets Hamas' small demands so as to give it a state within the Gaza [Strip], and it is also preparing [the ground for] leaving the PLO as it is, namely as [an entity with] a limited rule and limited influence over an area larger than Gaza but smaller than the [entire] West Bank. Israel is thus constantly working to coordinate with Hamas in order to perpetuate the existing situation. This is dangerous, because it means a complete disconnect between the West Bank and Gaza, in a way that reduces the Palestinian cause and transforms it into nothing more than [a few] economic demands, accompanied by an endless pursuit of an illusory political process that is already obsolete. Full coordination between Hamas and Israel is what might be called 'economy [in return for] quiet' and satisfies all the sides involved in this coordination – for Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt [all] understand that if the PA, which is the one who finances Gaza, is allowed to run everything there, it will need a sum of 10 billion dollars, according to 'expert economists,' as 'Azzam Al-Ahmad, [a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and of Fatah's Central Committee], has said, and that is impossible, considering the financial crisis afflicting the PA.
"Egypt naturally deals with this reality in the context of defending its national security, of which Gaza's security is a part. Qatar, too, deals with this reality and uses Gaza to remain in the Arab and international picture. But… if the desire for an arrangement [between Hamas and Israel] becomes a reality, this arrangement may [ultimately] become a permanent peace agreement, especially if things advance to the point of [establishing] a sea port, an industrial zone and a power station, enlarging the number of permits [for Gazans to work in Israel] and opening the gates for young Gazans to emigrate [from Gaza] – for these components are considered [tantamount to] a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel.
"What happens if the coordination between Hamas and Israel fails?
In recent years, the construction of luxury mosques has outraged the largely impoverished population of Gaza.No Deal with Iran is Better Than A Bad Deal
Imam al-Shafei Mosque in the al-Zaitoun neighborhood was built at a cost of $3.5 million, and the Al-Hassayna Mosque in Gaza City cost more than $2 million. The Al-Khalidi and Salim Abu Muslim mosques cost $1 million each.
Gaza citizen Mohammad al-Khalidi said, "Mosques can be built at a reasonable cost and the remainder of the donations could be used to build hospitals, schools or residences....Citizens have the right to ask how the state's funds or donations are being spent."
Mohammad Abu Samra, an expert on Islamic and Arab affairs, said, "Every few meters you find a mosque, constructed at extremely high costs."
Having conspicuously failed in its efforts to prevent Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration looks set to add to its global reputation for weakness by agreeing yet another flawed nuclear deal with Iran.GOP Moves To Bar Biden Admin From Lifting Iran Sanctions That Would Expand Russia’s War Machine
Russia has been fully involved in the latest talks to revive the deal, as the negotiator for the US. Western negotiators have claimed that Moscow was effectively supporting Iran to withstand pressure from the US to make concessions.
If true, the fact that Russia has assurances from Washington that sanctions will not affect its dealings with Iran is further evidence of the Biden administration's desperation to reach a new agreement with Tehran....
[I]ntelligence experts believe Iran's space programme [Iran just launched its second satellite into space] is being used to develop missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
"Iran's nuclear programme has never before been this advanced, and is exposing the international community to unprecedented levels of risk." — Corinne Kitsell, UK Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, March 8, 2022.
The problem for Mr Biden is that, by failing to address the very real threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will simply be presiding over a further erosion in America's standing as a global power.
Senate Republicans are moving to bar the Biden administration from lifting sanctions on Iran that will allow Russia and China to build out portions of Tehran's civilian nuclear program, according to a copy of legislation obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.In new Iran nuclear deal, 'groggers' won't help us deal with the problem - opinion
The bill, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and cosponsored by 12 other Republicans, comes one day after the Free Beacon reported that Russia's state-controlled energy firm, Rosatom, is poised to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant. Moscow will be permitted to make good on the contract after the Biden administration waives sanctions prohibiting this work as part of the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement, which was primarily negotiated by Russia and China.
Cruz's bill would prohibit the Biden administration from waiving congressionally approved sanctions on this nuclear work. It also would reverse a February decision by the Biden administration to preemptively waive sanctions on Iran so that Russia and China can work on civilian nuclear projects inside the country. Senior congressional sources who spoke to the Free Beacon said that Cruz's bill has been in the works since these waivers were issued but that it took on added importance Wednesday following the Free Beacon‘s report.
"The Biden administration is dismantling sanctions and is aching to secure a new agreement with the Iranian regime that is even weaker than the original catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal," Cruz told the Free Beacon. "The Biden administration is so committed to their deal that they are willing to make Iran a nuclear client for Putin, including work that amounts to a $10 billion subsidy for his war machine."
Finally, any deal with Iran would be presented to Congress for consideration and review pursuant to the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA). Indeed, given the consequential nature of such an agreement, it would be brought to the US Senate for ratification as a treaty in accordance with Article 2 of the US Constitution.Iran Defies Western Powers With Work on Near Weapons-Grade Uranium
We may soon find out whether the assembled parties will be able to reach an agreement and, if so, just what it entails. We know that time is of the essence. The current status quo will not hold. It is estimated that Iran may be only a few weeks or months away from enriching the uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon.
Reaching this nuclear threshold would considerably further destabilize an already volatile region, encouraging neighboring nations to pursue their own nuclear programs, and setting off another arms race.
The international community must not let that happen. The US must not let that happen. It is tempting to say that almost any new deal is better than no deal. But that cannot be the standard.
On Purim, we use groggers – noisemakers – to blot out the name of our enemy. In real life, however, we cannot but confront our adversaries on the stage of history. We hope that our negotiators in Vienna and our leaders in Washington understand the stakes and act with both wisdom and courage.
Iran has defied Western powers by converting some of its uranium enriched to near weapons-grade into a form less easily recovered, diluted and shipped out of the country, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday showed.New Iran Agreement Would Let Russia Cash in on $10 Billion Contract To Build Nuclear Sites
The move is unlikely to wreck indirect talks between Iran and the United States to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but it will make it harder to implement any resulting agreement to return to the limits on Iran’s stock of enriched uranium.
US allies France, Britain and Germany, which are involved in the talks, said as much in a joint statement issued last Tuesday in which they demanded that Iran not carry out the work.
“We strongly urge Iran to avoid undertaking any new escalations and in particular, call upon Iran to immediately cease all activity related to conversion of highly enriched uranium, which will have practical implications for returning to JCPoA limits,” they said in the statement, calling the deal by its full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The agreement, which diplomats say is nearing completion, would require Iran to get rid of its stock of uranium enriched above the deal’s limit of 3.67% purity. Its most highly enriched uranium is roughly 60%, close to the 90% of weapons grade, of which it has about 33 kg (73 lb).
Russia’s top state-controlled energy company is set to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out one of Iran’s most contested nuclear sites as part of concessions granted in the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement that will guarantee sanctions on both countries are lifted.Iranian hackers leak Mossad chief's personal information
Russian and Iranian documents translated for the Washington Free Beacon show that Rosatom, Russia’s leading energy company, has a $10 billion contract with Iran’s atomic energy organization to expand Tehran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia and the Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday that the new nuclear agreement includes carveouts that will waive sanctions on both countries so that Russia can make good on this contract.
"We, of course, would not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA," State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed on Tuesday, referring to the original 2015 nuclear accord. Russia’s foreign ministry made a similar statement on Tuesday, saying that "additions were made to the text of the future agreement on JCPOA restoration to ensure that all the JCPOA-related projects, [especially] with Russian participation, as well as Bushehr [nuclear power plant], are protected from negative impact of anti-Russian restrictions" by the United States and European Union.
The removal of these sanctions will provide Moscow’s Rosatom company with a critical source of revenue as American and European sanctions crush Russia’s economy in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The concessions to Moscow have generated frustration on Capitol Hill, with top Republican leaders accusing the Biden administration of weakening penalties on Russia to secure an agreement with Iran. Moscow has served as the United States' top interlocutor in talks, even as the country’s war machine rolls across Ukraine. The Free Beacon first reported on Tuesday that a policy document circulating among lawmakers exposes how the new nuclear agreement will create a "sanctions evasion hub" for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Iranian hackers on Wednesday published a video on an anonymous Telegram channel featuring personal photos and documents allegedly obtained from a phone used by the wife of Mossad Director David Barnea.Lifting sanctions on Iran will finance terror against Israel - interview with Rep. Torres
The video was posted on the "Open Hands" channel, which according to Israeli media was created on Tuesday. Its owners claimed to have obtained the information in a "lengthy intelligence operation" against Barnea, which began in 2014. Barnea was named head of the Israeli intelligence agency in June 2021.
"We've got a small gift for the Mossad; 'With LOVE for David'. Happy Purim," a post on the channel read, referring to the Jewish holiday celebrated this week.
The video has captions in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and includes photos apparently taken on a family vacation in Copenhagen in 2014, a photocopy of his ID, tax documents, plane tickets, and a satellite photo of what the hackers claim to be his home in central Israel.
The channel also published a quote from the Koran and a promise that more personal information on the Mossad chief would be released soon.
So far, the channel is followed by fewer than 100 people.
Lifting sanctions on Iran will fund terrorism against Israel and throughout the Middle East, US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) warned in an interview with The Jerusalem Post this week.
“I share Israel’s concern about lifting sanctions,” Torres said. “If we lift the sanctions, how are those dollars likely to be spent? I have no reason to think those dollars will be spent on an Iranian Build Back Better Act. I have every reason to think those dollars will likely finance acts of terrorism and proxy warfare and the Sunni Arab world.”
Torres also said he does not think that a majority of Congress would support lifting sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“If there was an ally of the US lifting sanctions on al-Qaeda in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, how would we feel?” he said, in making the case to Americans against lifting sanctions. “We would be outraged. That’s how Israelis feel about the lifting of sanctions on Iran and its proxies.”
For Americans, Torres said, lifting sanctions is an abstract idea, while Israelis will feel its concrete effects.
“Unlike the US, which is surrounded by two oceans and peaceful neighbors, Israel is largely surrounded by hostile neighbors” – like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – “and essentially shares a border with Russia. Most of us in the US have no concept of the fragile security situation; none of us have had to live with rocket fire or live in neighborhoods where bus stops double as bomb shelters or have [had] the trauma of children running to bomb shelters.
“Nothing in the American experience is remotely comparable to the volatility Israel faces every day.”
Iran’s destructive force harms the Arab world more so than any other group of people. As an Israeli I stand firmly with my Arab brothers and sisters against #Iran’s terrorism. We must not allow Iran to continue this destructive path destabilizing the region. pic.twitter.com/vZqmGl2XRI
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) March 17, 2022
Palestinian Islamic Scholar Yousef Makharzah: Europeans Practice Bestiality, Have Sex with Animals More than with Humans; Western Civilization Is Inferior, Asinine, Racist #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/OiCnPawkI3
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) March 17, 2022
"New Study Shows Faculty-Driven BDS Is Fueling Campus Antisemitism"
A new study, released on Wednesday by AMCHA Initiative, reveals that university faculty who have endorsed an academic boycott of Israel are directly fueling a surge in campus antisemitism.Stop Teaching Kids to Hate Jews
The study (Faculty Academic Boycotters: Ground Zero for Campus Antisemitism) examined antisemitic activity on campus from the onset of the Israel-Hamas War in May 2021 through the end of the school year and found that the presence and number of faculty who expressed support for an academic boycott of Israel strongly contributed to every measure of campus antisemitic activity.
“While much attention is paid to anti-Zionist student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, faculty are flying under the radar, yet they are a significant and dangerous contributor to campus antisemitism. Our new research overwhelmingly suggests that they are the ones instigating, inspiring, encouraging, and modeling the playbook for students to follow,” stated Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA Director and one of the lead researchers on this study.
“With the MESA vote looming and 3,000 primary purveyors of Israel-related courses and departmentally-sponsored events about to endorse an academic boycott of Israel – providing disciplinary legitimacy for such faculty abuse – the problem is likely to grow exponentially worse for Jewish students,” she said.
The study found that schools with five or more faculty academic boycotters were:
7.2 times more likely to have departments that issued or endorsed anti-Zionist statements;
5.6 times more likely to have a student government that issued an anti-Zionist statement;
3.6 times more likely to have acts targeting Jewish and pro-Israel students for harm;
4.5 times more likely to have incidents involving student BDS promotion and
3.3 times more likely to have incidents involving student anti-Zionist rhetoric.
When studying the Holocaust, students must learn that hate groups target youth because they’re susceptible to group-think, haven’t fully developed their empathy skills yet, and “are drawn to extreme ideas to help them make sense of the world,” Nikita Malik, former director of the Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism, wrote in Forbes. Kids with challenging family lives and other adversities are especially susceptible.Unmasked: British anti-Israel activists plotting mayhem across UK
After the Nazis lured children into the Hitler Youth, they sent them to die in World War II. If kids understand that hatemongers always martyr their disciples for an ideology, they’re likely to push back against brainwashing, like eighth graders in Chicago recently did when their teacher allegedly had them read “Mein Kampf “and make pro-Nazi propaganda posters, according to The Forward.
The good news is that the impressionability that lets kids be steered toward evil also allows them to be guided to good.
That’s why we should encourage Jewish and non-Jewish students to form alliances, in the vein of “Jews & Allies United to End Antisemitism” and “Creative Community for Peace.”
Take them on trips to the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, so that they can understand Jews’ pain as well as their joy and resilience.
Teach them about extraordinary Jewish people like director Steven Spielberg, actresses Gal Gadot and Mila Kunis, comedian Tiffany Haddish, musicians Drake and Pink, swimmer Dara Torres, human rights activist Natan Sharansky, biochemist Ruth Arnon, associate justice of the US Supreme Court Elena Kagan, and president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Force the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to investigate the numerous cases of antisemitism at schools and universities. Hold social media companies responsible for removing antisemitic accounts. Strengthen hate crime laws, fire lenient judges and district attorneys, and prosecute perpetrators.
Most importantly, end the complacency. At the school where I worked, we taught the Holocaust, read “Maus” and “Night,” visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and invited survivors into our classrooms. Still, one antisemite was able to brainwash our most vulnerable kids because we didn’t stop him. All of us must do better.
The leaders of an extreme anti-Israel network plotting mayhem across the UK can be exposed by the JC.The Meaning of Shahd Abusalama
Palestine Action co-founders Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard revealed details of a new campaign of destruction targeting Israeli-linked firms in a clandestine meeting in Manchester last week.
Also addressing the meeting, which was secretly taped by the JC, was notorious hard-left rapper Lowkey, who urged the excited crowd to “build on” previous acts of vandalism.
The JC can also reveal that Roger Waters, Pink Floyd’s multimillionaire bassist, and former Green Party parliamentary candidate Jeremy Parker are active supporters of the network.
The new wave of attacks is aimed initially at the offices of Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, but is set to be expanded to an array of companies linked to the Jewish state.
Mr Barnard, who at the gathering asked if there were any “Elbit spies” in the room, has described terrorists convicted by Israel as “heroes”.
We have seen that over the course of a couple of weeks Abusalama blamed the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Campaign Against Antisemitism as well as lashing out at the ‘Israel funded Jsoc’, ‘Hasbara brigades’ and the ‘Israel lobby’ for the investigation into her conducted by the university. Her words fell on fertile soil lapped up by a plethora of groups who stood in her support but they appear never to have been based on anything more than being contacted for comment by news outlets whose role is to report issues of interest to the Jewish community.Ben & Jerry's Meltdown – Conversations on Zionism – Episode 16
When the university dropped its investigation Abusalama claimed ‘a fantastic victory for Palestine’. But this has nothing to do with Palestine. It is to do with a junior academic at Sheffield Hallam University making insensitive comments that led to a complaint against her and the (apparently very minor) consequences. The investigation into Abusalama’s comments about the Holocaust has been wrapped up but the university should now take a very close look at the comments that she made while that investigation was ongoing. Her claims about the Jewish Society, about the IHRA definition of antisemitism and about the Jewish Chronicle using the word ‘Jewish’ to obfuscate between Jewish and Zionist bear closer examination, as does her more general conspiratorial rhetoric.
So what did we learn from watching all of this unfold? While seeing all this discourse online I couldn’t help but think that this is what the antisemitic conspiracy theory looks like in the 21st century. The ease with which claims that Zionist or Israel lobby groups are conspiring to silence an academic are accepted by people who should know better show the scale of the problem those combatting antisemitism are facing.
The discourse against ‘Zionists’ seems to imagine itself to be punching up against a powerful machine trying to suppress Abusalama, her allies and their point of view. The realities of the issue were quickly forgotten and little or no discussion took place about whether Abusalama’s arguments about her use of the word Holocaust held merit. Instead there was a wave of righteous indignation against the university for taking seriously a complaint made against her discourse. Hopefully this will change in the months and years to come but I don’t think this change will come easily.
The founders of Ben and Jerry’s, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, set off a firestorm after they announced the company would no longer allow its ice cream to be sold in parts of Israel. Tune in for an in depth look at the surprising legal, financial, and political response to their boycott of Israel, how Unilever is handling it, and other aspects of BDS you need to be aware of.
Why media selectively avoids certain Israeli-Palestinian conflict news
Attacking the world’s most persecuted peopleUSA Today Ditches Standards in Favor of Anti-Israel Narrative
The tracking experience has become a bit frightening. It’s frightening because the Times shows a very clear support for Jews who are distancing themselves from any connection with Israel, and even believe it shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.
It’s scary because nowhere does this long, meandering article mention that the “opinion” stating that Israel is guilty of genocide, is libel. It is simply a lie, unsupported by any data or fact. If this were about a private individual, the NYT would never dare to quote an interviewee without at least giving the accused the right to comment. This would be an absolutely justified cause for a libel suit.
It’s scary because it seems that The New York Times finds it very important to turn this young woman into a heroine and the justified party in the story. As if it were a crime for a pro-Israel synagogue to refuse to hire a teacher who outspokenly supports Hamas’ agenda.
It’s scary because the editorial stance is systematic and causes continuing damage to the glue which unifies the Jewish people – the most persecuted people on earth. There are only 15 million Jews in the world, most of whom are divided between Israel and the US, and the Times, for some reason, chooses to support their “right” to resent and split off from one another.
The continuous report is selective and lacking, thus creating a misleading picture of Israel as aggressive by nature and the Palestinians as never having done anything to anyone. In addition, false statements are quoted freely as “opinions” with not so much as a footnote to clarify.
This is not part of a legitimate debate; it’s slander. Add to this the fact that the editorial position is longstanding support for people like Beinart, in other words, preaching to cut off the ties between Zionism and Judaism. Tell me honestly – is this not a continuous attack on the future of Judaism as a whole?
“We will avoid all conflicts of interest,” USA Today’s standards and ethics declares. Yet, when it comes to Israel, the newspaper routinely violates its own “principles of ethical conduct for newsrooms.”Local NPR Station WXXI Spreads BDS Propaganda and Falsehoods About the Jewish State
Take, for example, the March 11, 2022 column “Stop Using LGBTQ people to justify differentiating between Arab and Ukrainian refugees.” The article by Hana Khalyleh, a producer for USA Today, appeared in several different outlets that are part of the newspaper’s network—and it is loaded with omissions and misrepresentations. It also raises questions about the newspaper’s ability to cover Israel-related news honestly and accurately.
Like other news outlets, USA Today is seeking to spuriously tie Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Israeli-Islamist conflict. And to do so, the author engages in one bad faith argument after the other.
“The United States and much of Europe,” Khalyleh writes, “have made moves to accept refugees running from the Russian-spurred devastation that has destroyed homes and killed loved ones.” True enough. But then the USA Today producer adds: “But I’m wondering where the government support was when, last Eid al-Fitr, missiles rained down on Palestine.”
Yet, as CAMERA has frequently noted, no Palestinian Arab nation called “Palestine” has ever existed. There was a British-ruled Mandate of Palestine, but the term itself derives from the second century C.E. when the Romans crushed the revolt of Bar Kokhba, retook Jerusalem and Judea, and expelled many of the native inhabitants—that is to say, Jews—and renamed the area Palaestina. There was no Arab presence in the land until well after the Islamic and Arabic conquests of the seventh century. In modern history, under the Ottoman Empire, the word “Palestine” was sometimes used to describe, often vaguely, a geographic area that was more commonly referred to as Southern Syria.
On Feb. 15, 2022, NPR member station WXXI in Rochester, NY, aired a biased and inflammatory segment of the program “Connections with Evan Dawson.” The episode was headlined “Discussing the motivations bringing Black Americans to the Palestinian cause,” and the participants were four anti-Zionist activists finding common cause between the Black Lives Matter mission in the U.S. and Palestinian, anti-Zionist activists in Israel. Both were cast as liberation movements against imperialists, colonialists, white supremacists and racists.Scottish outlet imagines Sheikh Jarrah evictions
Indeed, the anti-Zionist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has long sought to attach itself to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and garner support among black activists. BDS activist Ahmad Abuznaid co-founded a BLM-affiliated group, Dream Defenders, from which he urged black activists to follow in the footsteps Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and other Black Power radicals who were extreme anti-Zionists — Stokely Carmichael famously declared “the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist” — and called for re-establishing and fortifying the relationship between anti-Zionists and the new black American leaders in the “fight for liberation.”
Abuznaid recruited black activists to join his “Delegations to Palestine” to meet with BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti and embrace the BDS movement. His efforts succeeded, resulting in a 2015 publicly issued “Black Solidarity statement with Palestinians” using the jargon associated with eliminating the Jewish state – buzz-words like Palestinian liberation and settler colonialism. Even before the BLM movement emerged as the leading black rights movement in the US following the 2020 killing of George Floyd, its co-founder and (later to become) executive director Patrisse Cullors called on her followers to “end the imperialist project that’s called Israel” – in other words, eliminate the Jewish state.
The NPR program neither explored this background nor aired a nuanced discussion, debate or diverse views on the topic. Instead, the show featured the mendacious propaganda of Iman Abid-Thompson, recently appointed National Director of Advocacy and Organizing at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), the American branch of the BDS movement that seeks the elimination of the Jewish state.
An op-ed in the March 15th print and online editions of Scotland’s Evening Express (“Please can we make the current compassion we feel permanent?”, by Astrid Lucia) included the followingLondon Radio Station Sanctioned for Playing Jay Electronica Song With Antisemitic Lyrics
I couldn’t help but think back to being here in Aberdeen in May 2021, while the Israeli state forcibly evicted Palestinian families from their homes in Sheik Jarrah.
In fact, the Palestinian families at the center of the legal dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem were NOT evicted. They faced the possibility of eviction which – till this very day – has not been carried out. In fact, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on March 1st this year that the four Palestinian families in question will not be evicted until the Justice Ministry settles their ownership claims to the property – a process that reportedly may take years.
We complained to the Evening Express editors, per the accuracy clause of the Editors’ Code, asking for a correction.
British communications regulator Ofcom announced last week that it sanctioned a London-based community radio station for playing a song by rapper Jay Electronica that “contained antisemitic lyrics.”Denmark announces anti-Semitism action plan that boosts Holocaust education
Rinse FM aired the song “Better in Tune With the Infinite” on July 12, 2020. The track includes the lyrics: “The synagogues of Satan might accuse or jail me; Strip, crown, nail me, brimstone hail me; They might defeat the flesh but they could never ever kill me; They might can feel the music but could never ever feel me; To the lawyers, to the sheriffs, to the judges; To the debt holders and the law makers; F**k you, sue me, bill me.”
The radio station bleeped out the profanity in the song, but aired the rest of it unedited and without comment.
In a decision published on July 19 of that year, Ofcom found that by playing the track without edits or comment, Rinse FM breached Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code by airing content that “contained uncontextualized hate speech and derogatory and abusive treatment towards Jewish people, and was therefore also potentially offensive and not sufficiently justified by the context.”
As part of the sanctions imposed last week, Rinse FM must broadcast a statement about Ofcom’s findings and its ruling to listeners.
Ofcom also found that, “these lyrics would have been understood by some listeners as suggesting that Jewish people are evil or worship the devil and characterized Jewish people and Judaism in a negative and stereotypical light.”
Denmark announced earlier this month that it is launching an action plan to better tackle anti-Semitism in the country.Purim Shpiel: Government falls, next PM to be chosen in battle royale (satire)
The country’s new plan includes 15 initiatives, five of which aim at increasing knowledge about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism among children and the youth.
The initiatives include making Holocaust education obligatory in primary and lower secondary schools, and general upper secondary education; continuing and developing education about the Holocaust and other genocides; expanding dialogue among different religions; providing youths with more information about Jewish life and culture in Denmark; and preparing teachers on how to avoid students feeling excluded in schools.
“The action plan obligates the educational institutions to ensure that pupils obtain knowledge and skills, which remove prejudices and myths and call for tolerance and mutual respect between people,” described the plan on the European Union’s website. “This includes working systematically with critical thinking, in relation to for example propaganda and fake news, and challenging extremist and xenophobic attitudes and values.”
“The action plan also encompasses other initiatives to prevent anti-Semitism, including more research on anti-Semitism, prevention in specific environments, protection of Jews and Jewish institutions, improved instruction regarding anti-Semitic incidents and a focus on the fight against anti-Semitism in foreign policy.”
One hundred and twenty lawmakers will step into the Knesset plenum to decide the next prime minister in a contest of strength and skill that is definitely not fake, following the shocking collapse of the Israeli government.When ‘Saturday Night Live’ celebrated Purim and St. Patrick’s Day
After Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the reigning prime minister and headlining star of Israel, was betrayed by former minister Eli “the Excellent” Avidar, the Prime Minister’s Office was left vacant and President Isaac Herzog ordered a new premier be chosen.
“But you know, after so many elections in just two years, let’s do it differently and have everyone fight for it,” Herzog explained, saying that rather than an election and a mandate, the next premier will simply be the last one standing in the Knesset plenum after everyone else has been thrown out by their fellow lawmakers.
Odds are already being weighed on who is the most likely to emerge on top, but many analysts say this is opposition leader Benjamin “The Magician” Netanyahu’s chance to reclaim his top spot.
“I’m the longest reigning prime minister this country’s ever had, and this time, I’m going to prove that I’m also the best prime minister this country’s ever had!” Netanyahu told a screaming crowd of fans this morning. “Believe me: This time, Bibimania is gonna be running wild!”
The Likud legend is coming in with a huge number of supporting MKs, including the unsilenceable Dudi “Rudy” Amsalem, but once these MKs step in the Knesset plenum, it will be every politician for themselves.
New York Jewish Week — The joyous and, yes, slightly drunken holidays of St. Patrick’s Day and Purim both fall on March 17 this year. The last time these Jewish and Irish festivals collided was in 1984 — and of course the funny folks over at “Saturday Night Live” had a sketch to mark the occasion.
The “cold open” from the March 17, 1984 episode — which was hosted by Billy Crystal, with musical guest Al Jarreau — has been making the rounds on the internet in recent weeks, as it merrily (if drunkenly) sends up stereotypes of these two holidays, courtesy of the happy calendrical coincidence.
The spot begins with “SNL” cast member Mary Gross as Irish newscaster Siobhan “Juicy” Cahill, who thinks she’s live from The Green Birch cafe, recapping the day’s raucous St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
“What a fine, fine, fine St. Patrick’s Day it’s been,” she says. “The Unwed Mothers Marching Band played beautifully, there was green beer in the streets and green vomit in the gutters, and a belch on every lip.”
She’s soon interrupted by a “happy reveler” — Gary Kroeger — who says, in a drunken voice, “I’d like to wish you a happy Purim.”
“This might be St. Patrick’s Day to you,” he says. “But to us Jewish people, this is Purim… It’s a celebration of a day a long, long time ago, when the Jewish people didn’t get beat up again. So now we’re so happy, we drink.”
“Are you Jewish?” the confused Juicy asks.
“On Purim, everybody’s Jewish!” he says.
As the sketch continues, there are groggers, or traditional noisemakers, and there is Julia Louis-Dreyfus — yes, before “Seinfeld” and “Veep,” she was an “SNL” cast member from 1982 to 1985 — dressed as Queen Esther. Cast member Timothy James Kazurinsky makes an appearance as “Rabbi Father Timothy Owens,” who tells a completely nonsensical version of the “St. Purim” story.
