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Friday, April 08, 2022

04/08 Links Pt2: Caroline Glick: The nuclear deal is not unavoidable; Republican Senators Push Bill to Cut Federal Funding to Amnesty International

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The nuclear deal is not unavoidable
While the anti-Israel camp has long been the minority camp in the US, it has always been a powerful minority. And facing the divisions in US views of their country, Israelis have also divided themselves into two opposing camps with competing views of how to safeguard and expand the US alliance with Israel.

Former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu has led the first camp for the past 30 years. Lapid, Gantz, and Bennett, (who follows their lead), are today the outstanding representatives of the opposing camp.

The first camp, which we can call the American camp, recognizes that Israel cannot influence members of the anti-Israel camp in any of its various factions. But it also recognizes that this camp is the minority in the US and while it is the dominant camp in the Democrat Party, it isn't the only faction in the party. Members of the American camp believe that the way to preserve and expand US support for Israel is to support and strengthen Israel's supporters on both sides of the partisan aisle. The American camp advances this goal by speaking straightforwardly and unapologetically about Israel's interests and actions, and how both advance US interests and values. Members of this camp believe that by drawing clear lines for Israel's American allies, whether on Iran or the Palestinians or other key issues, Israel empowers its allies, puts its opponents on the defensive, strengthens Israel's standing in the US, and attracts the attention of its regional neighbors and states around the world who see in Israel a regional power that they ought to work with – for their own benefit.

The second camp, which we can all the elitist camp, begins from a very different basic assumption about the nature of US support for Israel and the best way to preserve it. Members of elitist camp believe that the anti-Israel camp, particularly its Arabist and progressive factions is all-powerful. In their view, the State Department is the beginning and the end of U. foreign policymaking. Under these circumstances, Israel's job is to foster good relations with the anti-Israel camp and seek to appease it, even if that appeasement undermines the credibility of Israel's supporters.

Israel's radical left supports the elitist approach because its members share the US anti-Israel camp's hostile ideological convictions about their country. The Lapid camp is a major faction of the elites' camp because its members are elitists. Lapid and his supporters prefer the company of progressives and Arabs, who share their habits and personal preferences to the company of security hawks and Evangelicals. The Gantz camp adopts the submissive approach of the elitist school because its members simply do not understand US politics or the complex way that foreign policy is crafted in America.

Initially, 15 Democrats were scheduled to participate in the news conference on Wednesday, but only five showed up. Those who attended communicated a message that tracked with the weak opposition Bennett, Gantz and Lapid have communicated. Like Bennett, Lapid and Gantz, the Democrat lawmakers didn't object to the administration's nuclear appeasement of Iran per se. Instead, they said they want a better deal and that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps should not be removed from the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups.

As lawmakers defying their president and party leadership, the five lawmakers could not be more critical on this issue than Israel is. There is good reason to believe that the Bennett-Lapid-Gantz government's tepid criticism of the administration's betrayal of Israel vis-à-vis Iran played a role in the decision by the ten lawmakers who were scheduled to attend the conference not to show up. If Israel doesn't view Biden's nuclear deal as a source for urgent concern and a cause for outspoken opposition, then why should Israel's Democrat supporters?

Across the generations, and most notably in recent years, the American camp has been responsible for the greatest leaps forward in US-Israel ties. As is the case today, over the same period, the elitist school has strengthened the anti-Israel camp in Washington and across America by refusing to stand up for Israel's interests and to support Israel's friends when they want to voice their support.
Call Me Back: A conversation with Ambassador Ron Dermer
The security situation continues to deteriorate in Israel — tragic developments, including right in the heart of Tel Aviv. We continue to monitor developments and stay in close touch with Israeli family and friends. While Israel is a major focus of today’s conversation, the security crisis is not. We focus on the political impasse in Israel, which may be connected to the security crisis.

Today we sit down with Ambassador Ron Dermer, who served as Israel’s chief envoy to the United States from 2013 to 2021 – working closely with the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. During that time, he was widely regarded as one of the most consequential ambassadors from any country.

Ambassador Dermer was one of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s closest advisers and played a key role in what led to the US relocation of our embassy to Jerusalem, U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, implementation of the maximum pressure campaign against Iran, and the historic breakthrough that led to the Abraham Accords. He is a graduate of the Wharton School and completed a degree at Oxford.

In this episode, we focus on three topics:
What to make of the current Israeli political crisis? (Will the Government fall?
Will Netanyahu return to power?)
What are the real prospects for a new Iran nuclear deal? And what to make of America’s role in the Russia-Ukraine crisis?
Melanie Phillips: Ill-conceived Holocaust memorial halted
Wow! A London court today halted the Holocaust memorial that was to be constructed in a small park near the Houses of Parliament.

This is excellent news and a really tremendous victory for those who have protested against this ill-conceived plan in the teeth of ministerial pressure, character assassination and bullying of objectors by some members of the Jewish community.

As I have repeatedly written, here, here and here, the plan was badly flawed on grounds of both environmental concerns and ideological purpose.

The proposed location, Victoria Tower Gardens, is a small green oasis in which the proposed memorial and “learning centre”, with its 23 tall, bronze fins, would be an eyesore. As a tourist attraction, it would be submerged by people and traffic. And as Lord Carlile, the government’s former reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the planning inquiry, its location would turn it into a terrorist target.

A more profound objection was that the project would undermine the uniqueness of the Holocaust as the intended genocide of the Jewish people by equating their fate with the horrific but different persecution of others, including “the victims of subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur”. In other words, it would relativise, and thus diminish, the extermination of the Jews.

In an address in 2020 to the Oxford Jewish community of which she is a member, Baroness Deech, the lawyer and former head of St Anne’s College, Oxford and one of the project’s principal objectors, observed that Holocaust memorials were increasingly being used to promote “a self-congratulatory and sometimes self-exculpatory image of the country that erects them”. She said:
The more the national Holocaust Remembrance Day events are packed out, the more the calls for sanctions on Israel that would result in her destruction, and the more the Holocaust is turned against the Jews. I hear it in parliament — “after all you people went through, look what you are doing to the Palestinians; have you learned nothing” etc.


Biden Admin Suggested High-Level Israeli, Palestinian Meeting at White House: Report
The Biden administration has suggested a meeting at the White House between top Israeli and Palestinian officials, Axios reported Thursday, citing multiple American and Israeli sources.

The White House raised the possibility of such a meeting last December and low-profile discussions on it have been ongoing, according to Axios. It would be held between national security advisors and concentrate on security and economic issues. The United States, Egypt, and Jordan would back the talks.

The proposal has faced some obstacles, including reservations from conservative Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. The premier does not support the establishment of a Palestinian state, and went into office with a diverse coalition of right, centrist, left, and Islamist parties that agreed to maintain the status quo with the Palestinians due to their opposing views.

Nonetheless, he did not immediately rule out a possible meeting when it was raised again by the White House in February, and elected “to see whether the idea gained momentum,” Axios reported.

The proposal hit a significant snag on Wednesday, however, with the sudden resignation of a lawmaker from Bennett’s right-wing party over religion-state issues, which robbed his coalition of its thin parliamentary majority and plunged the government into its latest crisis.

Bennett is now trying to shore up support within his party, severely constraining his ability to make significant diplomatic moves.
The Israel Guys: UPDATE: Why Things in Israel are ABOUT TO CHANGE
With the recent wave of terror attacks, a war raging in Ukraine, a global pandemic that has been ongoing for 2 years, and now the government of Israel that may be falling apart, what is going to happen in Israel?

Joshua is bringing you all the LATEST cutting edge news along with, what he feels, is a huge transition that is about to happen in Israel. You definitely don't want to miss today's show.


IDF captures 120-kilogram drug shipment on Egypt border
Israeli troops foiled an attempt to smuggle three-quarters of a million dollars worth of drugs into the country from Egypt overnight Thursday, the military said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras spotted the drug smuggling attempt and dispatched troops to the scene.

Suspects from the Egyptian side tossed the drugs over the fence, apparently for accomplices on the Israeli side to later pick them up.

Troops seized more than 120 kilograms (265 pounds) of an unspecified drug, estimated to be worth NIS 2.4 million ($745,000), according to the IDF.

No arrests were made.

Israel says Egyptian smugglers operate by tossing contraband over the border to Israelis, who then sell the drugs in Israel. The smugglers mostly traffic in marijuana from grow houses in the Sinai Peninsula, but sometimes harder drugs like heroin are smuggled as well.
Exposed: The Russian Companies That Will Get Billions From New Iran Nuclear Deal
Several of Russia's top state-controlled nuclear companies stand to gain billions of dollars in revenue as part of a new nuclear accord with Iran that will waive sanctions on these firms so that they can build up Tehran's nuclear infrastructure, according to a U.S. government-authored document reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Russia's state-controlled Rosatom energy firm and at least four of its major subsidiaries will receive sanctions waivers under a new accord so that they can complete nuclear projects in Iran worth more than $10 billion, according to the 2019 document, which details all the Russian entities involved in these projects.

The document's authenticity was confirmed by a former senior U.S. official, who said it was used by the Trump administration during internal talks about potential sanctions on Iran's nuclear program and its Russian enablers.

With a new nuclear accord being finalized, the Biden administration has repeatedly guaranteed Russia that it will not face sanctions for its work on Iranian nuclear sites, even as Moscow faces a barrage of international penalties for its unprovoked war in Ukraine. Already, the Biden administration renewed a series of sanctions waivers to permit Russia's nuclear work in Iran as part of a package of concessions meant to entice both countries into signing a new accord. These waivers were rescinded by the Trump administration in 2020 as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran.

The removal of nuclear sanctions on Iran will hand Russia's Rosatom a financial lifeline, even as the United States and European nations seek to isolate Moscow for its ongoing assault in Ukraine. Republicans and Democrats are sounding the alarm on these concessions, criticizing the Biden administration for undermining its own pressure campaign on Moscow to ensure that a nuclear deal is inked. Critics of the deal have in recent days seized on the carveouts for Russia following a series of Free Beacon reports outlining how sanctions relief would turn Iran into a "sanctions evasion hub" for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"Russian state-owned firms stand to gain billions of dollars under a revived Iran nuclear deal and would be exempted from U.S. sanctions," said Andrea Stricker, a veteran nuclear proliferation expert who has closely tracked Iran's program as a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. "Washington should be working to close every one of the Kremlin's revenue streams, not letting Moscow enrich itself while it is committing mass atrocities."

Information disclosed in the U.S. government document seen by the Free Beacon shows that four Rosatom subsidiaries—Rusatom Energy International, Atomstroyexport, TVEL Fuel Company, and Techsnabexport—will be given the green light on their nuclear projects at Tehran's Bushehr nuclear plant. This includes supplying Iran with reactor fuel, removing spent fuel, overseeing plant operations, and carrying out new construction on the site.


Murphy Under Fire for Pushing To Lift Sanctions on Top Iranian Terror Group
Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) is under fire for recent comments that advocate lifting sanctions on Iran's top terror group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is responsible for killing more than 600 Americans and fueling attacks on U.S. outposts across the Middle East.

His comments elicited fierce pushback on Thursday from Iranian Americans for Liberty, a grassroots advocacy organization comprised of Iranians and opponents of the hardline regime.

"Let us be clear—diplomacy with the world's leading fiscal and logistical sponsor of terrorism will never succeed. More importantly—diplomacy with the Islamic Republic will not benefit the American people, our allies in the region, or the liberty-seeking Iranian people," Bryan Leib, Iranian Americans for Liberty's executive director, told the Washington Free Beacon. "Shame on … Senator Chris Murphy and any elected official who believes removing the IRGC from the [Federal Terrorist Organizations] list will do anything but further embolden the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Murphy has been a vociferous defender of the Iranian regime, even as the IRGC and other Tehran-backed terror groups wage attacks on American military members, civilians, and U.S. facilities in the Middle East. The senator was forced to admit in 2020 that he had held a secret meeting with Iran's then-foreign minister, Javad Zarif, who played a central role in forming the 2015 nuclear accord that provided Iran and the IRGC with billions-of-dollars in cash windfalls. Murphy also objected to the Trump administration's 2020 assassination of IRGC terror leader Qassem Soleimani, which he controversially described as "the equivalent of the Iranians assassinating the U.S. secretary of defense."

On Thursday, Murphy again lent his support to the IRGC when he told MSNBC in an interview that the removal of sanctions on the terror group—which is being considered by the Biden administration as part of a package of concessions to Tehran included in the new nuclear accord—is "inconsequential."

"Yes. I mean, the practical impact of designating [the IRGC] as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is inconsequential," Murphy said.

Iranian Americans for Liberty, in a statement, said it is not surprised that Murphy is in favor of waiving sanctions on the IRGC due to his ties to an Iranian-American lobbying shop that has been accused of carrying water for the hardline regime.
Republican Senators Push Bill to Cut Federal Funding to Amnesty International
Republican Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) on Thursday introduced a bill that aims to prevent assistance from the federal government to go to Amnesty International.

The human-rights organization has been criticized by lawmakers and pro-Israel groups for publishing an anti-Semitic report in early February accusing Israel of apartheid. Added to that, the director of Amnesty International USA Tom O’Brien said at a Woman’s National Democratic Club lunch last month that Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.”

According to a release from Scott’s office, Amnesty International has received more than $2.5 million in federal funding in the past two decades.

“[It] has proven itself to be a sham of a ‘human rights’ organization that perpetuates anti-Semitic propaganda and refuses to hold the world’s dangerous and genocidal regimes accountable, like Communist China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela,” Scott wrote in the release. “Just last month, the Amnesty International USA director said, ‘We are opposed to the idea that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.’ Under no circumstances should American taxpayer dollars subsidize this or any organization that continually acts against U.S. interests and demonizes our great ally, Israel.”

Scott said the bill is intended to send a clear message that the United States will not support the “radical left’s dangerous anti-Israel agenda.”

“Israel is such an important ally to the United States, and an organization that uses its platform to undermine their sovereignty should not be receiving U.S. taxpayer funds,” said Braun in the release.
Ben & Jerry’s Israel in NJ Court: Unilever ‘Conceded’ Key Argument Over Refusal to Engage in Illegal Boycott
Attorneys for Ben & Jerry’s distributor and manufacturer in Israel, American Quality Products (AQP), argued in a rebuttal brief filed with the US District Court of New Jersey on Tuesday that the ice cream maker’s parent company Unilever “effectively concede[s]” that the only reason not to renew AQP’s license was its refusal to engage in an illegal boycott of Israeli territories.

AQP and its owner Avi Zinger said Unilever is minimizing as a “side show” the Israeli company’s argument that it is illegal to end a business relationship due to one side’s refusal to commit an unlawful act — which, in this case, would be AQP discriminating against customers in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem by not selling Ben & Jerry’s products there.

The Vermont-based ice cream company announced its boycott of areas it termed “Occupied Palestinian Territory” in July 2021. Zinger has argued that because AQP refuses to comply with the boycott demands, his company is now being “forced out” of its decades-long licensing agreement with Ben & Jerry’s.

In March, AQP filed a lawsuit against Unilever in the US District Court of New Jersey for wrongful termination of their licensing agreement. It seeks a court injunction that would allow the company to continue making and distributing Ben & Jerry products throughout Israel.

AQP pointed out in their rebuttal brief that Unilever is “pejoratively diminishing” as a “red herring” the fact that its boycott demand violates Israeli law; the 2001 antitrust Consent Decree of the Israeli Competition Authority; United States export law; and anti-boycott laws and public policies of the United States and many states.

“Defendants effectively concede that the only reason for not renewing AQP’s license is AQP’s refusal to engage in illegal conduct,” the brief said. “They do not dispute AQP’s understanding of the Israeli and American laws and policies that Defendants’ demand would have forced AQP to violate.”


After Whistleblowing on DW’s Anti-Israel Bias, Vice Must Clean House
While Vice has done an exemplary job shining light on anti-Israel content at Deutsche Welle Arabic, the independent media outlet ironically has been less successful addressing hateful content at its own Arabic platform.

As German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle was licking its wounds and taking appropriate steps in light of an antisemitism scandal embroiling its Arabic news department, Vice’s German platform revealed last December that DW’s antisemitism problem was even bigger than previously understood.

Two exposés by Felix Dachsel and Jan Karon, both of Vice’s German subsidiary, described how DW’s partnerships Jordan’s Roya TV and Lebanon’s al-Jadeed endured even as the Arab partners repeatedly railed against Israel. DW’s prompt action following the first investigative item on the Jordanian station indicates Vice successfully held DW accountable to its own standards of conduct.

When it comes to addressing anti-Israel content of its own, however, Vice has serious work to do. Vice Arabia’s contributors engage in campaigns demonizing Israel and Israelis, using Vice’s Arabic website to promote an extremely partisan presentation of historic and present events. At times, problematic content originating from the Arabic site also appears on Vice’s English platform, like this report which erases terrorism targeting Israeli civilians.

Just like their counterparts at Roya TV and al-Jadeed, Vice Arabia reporters regularly refer to Israel in general, not just to the military authorities controlling the occupied territories, as “the Israeli occupation” or “the occupation state,” and delegitimize the country by placing scare quotes around “Israel.” In addition, interviewees consistently espouse a very narrow set of anti-Israel opinions and refer to the country as “the Israeli enemy,” “the Israeli imperialism,” “the occupied Palestinian interior” (here here), as well as the all-time favorite: “the Zionist entity.” Anti-Israel pundits enjoy a pass from Vice hosts who fail to challenge them. Op-eds by Vice Arabia journalists regularly espouse the same hostile anti-Israel worldview.

Vice Arabia’s clear bias is also evident in its references to Israel’s internationally-recognized territory inside the 1949 ceasefire lines as “the occupied interior,” “the 1948 occupied territories” (here and here) or “the 48 territories.” Its reporters regularly claim that internationally-recognized Israeli territory is currently under “more than seventy years of occupation.” They also vilify Jewish communities inside internationally-recognized Israeli territory as “settlements” and their residents as “settlers.”
BBC WS uses propagandists to tell ‘the real story’ about the Negev summit – part one
As documented here last month, the BBC News website uncritically amplified unevidenced Iranian regime claims regarding its missile strike on the site in Erbil – which Marandi has also promoted at other media outlets such as RT. Marshall made no effort to challenge Marandi’s unsupported claim concerning a “major base” despite a recent report from Reuters which tells a different story.

Marshall: “If the Iran nuclear deal – the JCPOA – is revived as many seem to think that it will be very soon, do you expect hostility from this grouping to increase or lessen?”

Marandi’s reply to that question promotes similar themes to those he made two weeks earlier in yet another interview with RT.

Marandi: “It’s hard to say. I think that as time goes by, the United States and its European allies are going to have more difficulty in maintaining hegemony and dominance over parts of our region. And that is because of the general rise of Asia, general relative decline in Europe and North America, which I think has been intensified by the war in Ukraine. So these countries, they have to accept a new reality and that is to have decent relations with Iran. The Israeli regime is not going to be able to help them. The Israeli regime itself is a small regime. The only reason why they want good relations with this regime is because they feel that through Israel they can get more from Washington. They can get to the heart of Washington and have greater influence. But the United States, though a superpower, is not the United States of twenty, thirty years ago.”

Marshall: “That was Dr Seyed Mohammed Marandi from the University of Tehran…”

Apparently the producers of this programme – which will remain available online for “over a year” – were of the opinion that listener understanding of the historic meeting in the Negev would be enhanced by hearing talking points from an inadequately presented Iranian regime propagandist who, in the two weeks prior to this interview alone had called BBC Persian journalists “mercenaries”, the British prime minister a “murderer” and who regularly appears on a Russian channel which had its UK licence revoked.

However Marandi was not the only far from objective contributor to this ostensible attempt to provide BBC audiences around the world with ‘the real story’ behind the Negev summit, as we shall see in part two of this post.
Guardian cartoon All Lives Matters massacred Ukrainians
Bucha, a Ukrainian suburb northwest of Kyiv, has become a synonym for horror following the discovery of over 400 bodies in a mass grave in the town in the aftermath of six weeks of Russian occupation in which civilians – including children – were reportedly subjected to torture, rape and summary execution by soldiers. This adds to the thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed since Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion of the country on Feb. 24th.

The Guardian published a cartoon about the massacre based on a now iconic image, which you can see in the bottom right photo in this tweet.

Here’s the Guardian cartoon, by their long-time political cartoonist Steve Bell.


On the right, the sign in Ukrainian, reads: Prosecute the entire Russian army for war crimes. (Translated by CAMERA staff)

On the left, the sign in Arabic – consistent with Bell’s own English title – reads: Prosecute ALL war crimes. (Translated by CAMERA Arabic)

So, Bell appears to be ‘All Lives Matter’-ing the slaughtered Ukrainians in Bucha.

We can infer this from his cartoon, as well as from his March 17th retweet of a tweet by conspiracy theorist John Pilger of an article by Diana Johnston (who’s notorious for denying the Bosnian genocide) that Bell blames the West, particularly NATO aggression, for Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine and for the campaign to ‘demonise’ Vladimir Putin. Indeed, Bell’s body of work in over four decades at the Guardian, has often revealed a knee-jerk, Corbyn-style contempt for not only Israel, but for the West more broadly, which he believes is guilty of oppressing communities of colour and displaying hypocrisy when condemning atrocities around the world.


EasyJet apologizes for sharing image of Auschwitz-like flight number arm tattoo
EasyJet on Thursday tweeted, then quickly deleted, an advertisement with an image of a man with his flight and seat number tattooed onto his right arm.

The tweet said, “You never forget your first flight.”

The deleted image, which was saved and then shared by Israeli flight enthusiast Jon Siva, had obvious Holocaust connotations.

All Jewish and some non-Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp complex were tattooed on their left arms with identification numbers.

Some 960,000 Jews, 74,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma and tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners of war were murdered at Auschwitz.

The tattoos became lifelong scars for the survivors of the camps and a symbol of the genocide.
Notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz found guilty of communications offence after action by CAA
The notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz has been found guilty of a communications offence after action by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

The two-day trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court concerned a video of the scene in the classic Oliver Twist film when Fagin, a fictitious Jewish criminal (a character that has come under significant criticism over the past century for its antisemitic depiction), is explaining to his newest recruit how his legion of children followers pick pockets. Ms Chabloz uploaded the video and sings an accompanying song of her own about how Jews are greedy, “grift” for “shekels” and cheat on their taxes.

The video appeared to be either a bizarre fundraising effort for her mounting legal costs due to numerous charges she has faced, including several ongoing prosecutions in which Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided evidence, or an attempt at mockery of Campaign Against Antisemitism for pursuing her in the courts.

At court, Ms Chabloz tried to suggest that the video was part of a personal quarrel and that her racism is directed not at “Jews” but at “Zionists”. She expressed scepticism about the facts of the Holocaust on the stand, and replicated a racist Quennelle gesture, which she has performed in the past. She rather insightfully observed that “antisemitism is not a crime. If it was, the prisons would be full.”

Summing up, the magistrate said that the defendant “was making up evidence” as she went along, and she did not accept Ms Chabloz’s claim that her song was about the controversial activist Tommy Robinson, describing that suggestion as “ludicrous”. Instead, the magistrate said, “I have not doubt” that the song related to Jews. She further noted that, given Ms Chabloz’s previous convictions, she “knew exactly what she was doing” and that she had a propensity to commit these types of offences.

The prosecution asked the court to take into account that the whole Jewish community was a victim in this crime. Sentencing is due to take place next week, and Ms Chabloz’s incomplete report of her previous sentences may be considered an aggravating factor.
Waves of protest after Prime Minister of Peru praises Hitler
The Prime Minister of Peru has claimed that remarks appearing to praise Hitler were misunderstood and has offered to apologise in person to the Israeli ambassador.

Anibal Torres reportedly praised the Nazi leader for turning Germany into the “first economic power in the world”, a comment met with protest by both the Israeli and German embassies.

The 79-year-old Prime Minister made the remark in Huancayo, an Andean town at the centre of ongoing protests over the economic situation in the country. Mr Torres praised Hitler’s and Mussolini’s infrastructure policies, saying: “On one occasion Hitler visited the north of Italy, and Mussolini shows him a highway built from Milan to Brescia, Hitler saw this and went to his country and filled it with highways, airports and turned Germany into the first economic power in the world. We have to make an effort, make sacrifices to improve our roads.”

The Israeli Embassy said that “Regimes of death and terror cannot be a sign of progress,” adding: “Hitler was responsible for the death of six million Jews, to praise him is an offense to the victims of that world tragedy.”

The German embassy said: “Adolf Hitler was a fascist and genocidal dictator, in whose name the worst war of all time was carried out from Germany and the genocide of six million Jews was committed. Against this backdrop, Hitler is not the right reference as an example of any kind.”
Ariel University Wins First Place in Tactical Robotics Competition
Ariel University won first place on Wednesday in a tactical robotic systems competition, part of a wider event held this week in the southern Israeli town of Yeruham.

Twenty start-up companies and other organizations, specializing in robotics and mini-drones, competed in the event, organized by the Israeli Defense Ministry and US Department of Defense, as well as the Merage Institute, which promotes trade as a vehicle for economic growth between Israel and the United States.

The event, the Mobile Standoff Autonomous Indoor Capabilities Challenge (MoSAIC), is the first of its kind.

Israeli companies Shield AI and Combat Ready both received second place in the robotic systems competition.

American company GSI won the object tagging competition.

Another US company, EpiSci, which develops next-generation autonomous technologies for defense, aerospace and commercial applications, came first in the navigation competition, while American company Xanconnect won first place in the competition to detect humans indoors.
Israel's 2nd astronaut launched into space
The final countdown to the launch of the Rakia mission was heard in Cape Canaveral, and Eitan Stibbe became Israel's second-ever astronaut as he flies on board the Axiom mission 1 (Ax-1) to the International Space Station.

The mission, led by Israel’s Science and Technology Ministry and the Ramon Foundation, selected 35 different experiments for Stibbe to undertake during his 10-day stay in orbit.

The experiments cover a wide variety of different fields of study, including testing or demonstrating the viability of certain technologies, observing scientific phenomena, studying mechanisms of theorized concepts and groundbreaking tests on food and agriculture.

Also on board with Stibbe is a sculpture made by Tel Aviv University physicist Dr. Yasmine Meroz and artist Liat Segal. Dubbed the "Impossible Object," this water sculpture can only form in space amid the absence of gravity. The sculpture is made of brass pipes and rods that carry water. In zero gravity conditions, the water envelops the brass to form a 3D shape that resembles an endless staircase. Ax-1 is the first fully private space mission headed by Houston-based start-up Axiom Space. The four took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The crew are set to dock at the ISS on Saturday.
Morocco, Israel, Bahrain, UAE Sign ‘Culture and Sports for Peace’ Agreement
Meeting on the margins of Expo 2020 Dubai, representatives from Morocco, Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have signed the “Culture and Sports for Peace” agreement.

The agreement was signed by Morocco’s Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid; the UAE Minister of Culture and Youth, Noura Al-Kaabi; the Bahraini Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Ayman bin Tawfiq Al-Moayyed; and the Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports, Healy Trooper.

In accordance with the December 2020 tripartite agreement between Morocco, Israel, and the United States, this agreement allows for the deepening and intensification of cultural and sports cooperation between the four signatory countries.

The agreement especially includes the development of partnerships, the holding of consultative meetings, and the exchange of cultural experiences between the four nations, as well as the organization of joint cultural and sporting events.

In addition, the agreement entails assistance for the cultural industry as well as the sharing of opportunities and services among Morocco, Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America.

In a joint statement, the four officials noted that the signing of this agreement stems from their countries’ recognition of the relevance of culture in cross-sectoral collaboration, as well as the significance of establishing people-to-people relationships via culture and sports.

In particular, the text of the agreement calls for the four countries to commit to providing a proper environment for improved interaction among young people from said countries.
Documentary With Adolf Eichmann’s ‘Lost Confession’ to Premiere in Israel
A documentary featuring a previously hidden interview with Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann will premiere at a Tel Aviv film festival on the 60th anniversary of his trial, the festival announced on Tuesday.

The 24th edition of Docaviv — the largest Israeli film festival and the only one dedicated to documentary films — will take place from May 26 to June 5. Its opening film is “The Devil Speaks: Eichmann’s Lost Confession,” directed by Yariv Mozer.

The documentary highlights original recording reels of an interview conducted by Nazi journalist Wilhelmus Sassen with Eichmann in Argentina, which had become a safe haven for Nazi war criminals after World War II. In the interview, Eichmann spoke openly about his role architecting the Holocaust, undermining later claims made at his trial that he was only acting on orders. Mozer, an investigative documentary filmmaker, hunted down the original recording reels that had disappeared for several decades, Variety reported.

The film will compete in Docaviv for the Best Israeli Documentary Award. The prize is ILS 70,000 ($21,704), with an additional grant of ILS 100,000 ($31,007) to promote the film in preparation for the Academy Awards. It is the largest cash prize offered in Israel for documentary filmmaking, Docaviv said.

The festival will take place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, venues around the city, and online.
Oskar Schindler’s Jewish secretary, who drew up his worker lists, dies at age 107
Mimi Reinhardt, who drew up lists for German industrialist Oskar Schindler that helped save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, has died aged 107, her family said Friday.

As Schindler’s secretary, Reinhardt was in charge of drawing up the lists of Jewish workers from the ghetto of the Polish city of Krakow who were recruited to work at his factory, saving them from deportation to Nazi death camps.

“My grandmother, so dear and so unique, passed away at the age of 107. Rest in peace,” Reinhardt’s granddaughter Nina wrote in a message to relatives seen by AFP.

Austrian-born Reinhardt, herself a Jew, was recruited by Schindler himself and worked for him until 1945.

After World War II, she moved to New York before deciding to move to Israel in 2007 to join her only son, Sacha Weitman, who was then a professor of sociology at Tel Aviv University.

“I feel at home,” she told reporters when she landed in Israel.

Schindler, who died in 1974, was named by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum as a member of the “Righteous Among the Nations” — an honor for non-Jews who tried to save Jews from Nazi extermination.

The lists which Reinhardt compiled for him helped save the lives of some 1,300 Jews at considerable risk to his own life.




 

 

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