Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Amnesty International’s Campaign to Destroy Israel
It’s tempting to dismiss entirely the work of Amnesty and similar organizations, but neither Israel nor other states can afford to do so. Non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty occupy a prominent role in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as they can refer a matter for the prosecutor’s investigation. That statute empowers the ICC prosecutor to initiate an investigation on the basis of “information from…intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations,” even though neither Israel nor the United States is a party to it.David Mamet: American Occupation: Brave dissenters willing to defy an oppressive orthodoxy are our country’s best hope
In the absence of a cadre of investigators akin to a domestic law-enforcement agency, an “independent” human-rights organization’s assessment is potentially significant for the ICC prosecutor and judges. The organization’s views may influence the course of a prosecutor’s investigation, be relied upon as evidence, and ultimately influence the opinions of the judges. As the Rome Statute states: “The Court may ask any intergovernmental organization to provide information or documents. The Court may also ask for other forms of cooperation and assistance which may be agreed upon with such an organization and which are in accordance with its competence or mandate.”
Thus, Amnesty’s report and others like it add to the impression of a body of evidence and legal analysis supporting a warped view among the international legal elite that the Jewish State of Israel, like apartheid South Africa, is illegitimate and unwelcome in the brotherhood of nations. From this presumption of illegitimacy, a cascade of conclusions follows. Amnesty suggests “dismantling this cruel system of apartheid” by:
1. extending to all Palestinians “in Israel and the OPT” “equal and full human rights … without discrimination”;
2. extending the “right of return” to all “Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to homes where they or their families once lived in Israel or the OPT”;
3. providing “full reparations” to the alleged “victims of human rights violations, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law—and their families”;
4. encouraging countries to “pressure Israel into dismantling its apartheid system” through investigation of individual criminal liability of those who have committed the crime of apartheid;
5. inviting the ICC prosecutor “to consider the applicability of the crime against humanity of apartheid within its current formal investigation” of Israel’s activity in the OPT;
6. inviting the UN Security Council to either “refer the entire situation to the ICC” or to establish “an international tribunal to try alleged perpetrators”;
7. inviting the UN Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials implicated in the crime of apartheid, and a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel”; and
8. “calling on states to institute and enforce a ban on products from Israeli settlements.”
Any differences between this platform and those of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are purely cosmetic, not substantive. Amnesty’s recommendations come packaged in a glossy and colorful report, but this is legal warfare (“lawfare,” as some have aptly called it) against the Jewish state. The goal, unmistakably, is the destruction of Israel.
Finally, the human-rights organizations that have internalized the Palestinian narrative, and now aid and abet international lawfare, do the Palestinians more harm than good. If Amnesty lived up to its own mantra (“deeply held core principles of impartiality, independence and accuracy”), it might facilitate a more honest reckoning that could pave a pathway for peace. Instead, it furnishes maximalist Palestinian leaders with sham legitimacy and institutional cover to wage war and keep their people in misery.
If and when the peace we pray for finally blooms, it will be no thanks to Amnesty and its fellow travelers who have played the roles of obstructionists rather than facilitators, a crime greater than any charge they level against Israel.
Over the last two years in America, I’ve witnessed our own forces of evil with incredulity, despair, and rage. Corruption, blasphemy, and absurdity have been accepted by one-half of the electorate as the cost of doing business; as has the fear this acceptance generates. Does anyone actually believe that men change into women and women into men who can give birth, that the Earth is burning, the seas are rising, and we’ll all perish unless we cover our faces with strips of cotton?The Self-Righteous Idolatry of the Anti-Zionist Rabbi
No one does. These proclamations are an act of faith, in a new, as yet unnamed religion, and the vehemence with which one proclaims allegiance to these untruths is an exercise no different from any other ecstatic religious oath. They become the Apostles’ Creed of the left, their proclamation committing the adherent physically to their strictures, exactly as the oath taken on induction to the armed services. The inductee is told to “take one step forward,” and once they do he or she can no longer claim, “I misunderstood the instruction.”
Those currently in power insist on masking, but don’t wear masks. They claim the seas are rising and build mansions on the shore. They abhor the expenditure of fossil fuels and fly exclusively in private jets. And all the while half of the country will not name the disease. Why?
Because the cost of challenging this oppressive orthodoxy has, for them, become too high. Upon a possible awakening, they—or more likely their children—might say that the country was occupied. And they would be right.
Gandhi said to the British, you’ve been a guest in our house for too long, it is time for you to leave. He borrowed the line from Oliver Cromwell, and it’s a good one. The left has occupied the high places for too long, promoting dogma even as the occasions for their complaint have decreased (what position is closed to people of color, or women? Inclusion in all levels of the workforce; preference in higher education, a seat in the cockpit, in the Oval Office, in a movie’s cast, or admission to an elite school+? And yet the vehemence of their protests has increased, progressing into blacklisting and even rioting by those claiming to represent “the oppressed.”
Old-time physicians used to speak of the disease “declaring itself.” History teaches that one omnipresent aspect of a coup is acts of reprisal staged by agents provocateurs of the revolutionaries, and blamed on supporters of the legitimate government. It would be a historical anomaly if we were not to see such between now and the midterm elections.
For the disease has declared itself, and we are not now in a culture war, but a nascent coup, with its usual cast of characters. The Bolshevists could have been defeated by a company of soldiers in the suburbs of Moscow, Hitler stopped at Czechoslovakia, and the current horrors confronted at the Minneapolis police station or a meeting of the San Francisco school board. But those tragedies, and our current tragedies, were not just allowed but encouraged to run their course.
On March 30, Rabbi Brant Rosen of Tzedek Chicago, a synagogue on the heimish North Side of the city, made the unusual announcement that his congregation had “just voted to adopt anti-Zionism as a core value.” The proclamation arrived within days of 11 murders in a wave of terrorist attacks across Israel. On April 7, three more Israelis were killed on Dizengoff Street in the heart of Tel Aviv in this new wave of violence. It’s not often that an established synagogue declares its antipathy against the Jewish state as a core part of its identity—but then again, this wasn’t out of step for Rabbi Rosen, who’d been working himself up to this very moment for the better part of the past decade.
As it happens, I’ve known Rabbi Rosen since before “I was a man.” I grew up in Skokie, Illinois, and attended the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in neighboring Evanston, where Rabbi Brant held the rabbinate. Back then, he was, I suppose, a kind of liberal Zionist. I didn’t have much of an impression of him, other than that he seemed kind and Jewish. In 2002, when I became a bar mitzvah, Rabbi Brant led the service. In his notes on my d’var (which I recently read again), he seems reasonably sympathetic to Israel.
By the time Rabbi Brant left JRC in 2014, my father and I had heard through the grapevine that he’d become a radical pro-Palestinian activist, and in our family, “Rabbi Brant” became a catchall for a certain kind of Jew we simply could not understand. When I moved back to Chicago this past year, I couldn’t help but go back to the source. I wanted to know: Who are these people? What even is a “non-Zionist” synagogue during the most spiritually elevated time of the year?
To try to find the answer, I attended Tzedek’s 2021 High Holidays services over Zoom.
The High Holidays are my favorite time of year. They feel meaningful and personal in a way that no other holidays, religious or secular, do. Wherever I am in relation to my Judaism, I know that sometime in September or October, I will be called to assess my soul, no matter how brutal the accounting. In his opening remarks on Rosh Hashanah, it seemed Rabbi Rosen was on a similar path. “The High Holidays at its core allows us to step out of time, to reboot in a sense to affirm that we would start anew, to look back and look forward,” he said. “It’s this liminal in-between time that is inherently sacred time, and it’s also a time to think seriously about how we are accountable to one another and what we owe to each other and what we owe to the world.”
I thought, Who cares if we fundamentally disagree about Jewish destiny? We’ll endure the accounting together, as Jews. These days are about the spirit, not national identity. Things quickly took a turn, however, during the rabbi’s introduction of the portion on Hagar and Ishmael. Using the most obvious inference available—that Abraham and Sarah casting out Hagar and Ishmael is the biblical version of the contemporary conflict—he said, “It is our sacred obligation to see and respond to the children of Gaza, to their parents, and to all who cry out to us from the wilderness.” Of course, the rabbi was referring to the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Gaza, and he read from an LA Times piece about the terror endured by Gazan families. He said nothing of the deaths Israel suffered in the conflict.
The unconventional congressman
Ritchie Torres is a gay, Afro-Latino, millennial college dropout who has become a rising progressive star, yet the freshman congressman from New York has arguably received a warmer welcome from some corners of the Right than from some of his own ideological compatriots. This fact only scratches the surface of the complexity of Torres’s political identity.EU continues to support NGOs designated terrorist affiliates
A cable news fixture, the South Bronx Democrat has become one of the most prominent freshmen on Capitol Hill but has eschewed the most reliable formula to get there. While Cori Bush on the Left and Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Right have gotten attention as ideological bomb-throwers just as willing to attack their party leaders as those on the other side of the aisle, Torres has occupied a far more unusual niche.
The result has left Torres occupying a unique position in the party. He is not only a staple of friendly cable news interviews on CNN and MSNBC but has been the recipient of positive coverage from the New York Post and hailed by center-right pundits such as Bari Weiss and Bret Stephens. In contrast, he is a frequent target of outlets on the hard Left and eggs on that tension, such as when he preemptively announced to the New York Post that he would not join “the Squad,” the group of left-wingers constellated around Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a neighboring congressional district. He cited his strong support for Israel as a reason why. He left unmentioned, however, the fact that Ocasio-Cortez was actively campaigning in 2020 for one of his primary opponents, who was also backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
Torres has become the progressive for people who don’t like progressives.
It’s not that he isn’t liberal. He’s a member of the Progressive Caucus and supports the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. But he also almost seems to go out of his way to denounce the shibboleths of the online Left. Torres is a stalwart defender of Israel at a time when criticism of the Jewish state has become a way for some on the Left to virtue-signal. He has denounced efforts to defund the police as “absurd” and has become an advocate for cryptocurrency, a cause more commonly associated with the libertarian Right.
Political allies praise the New York congressman, who alternately described himself as “a pragmatic progressive Democrat” and “a traditional liberal Democrat.” They see him as “clearly destined for stuff” and on the path to long-term success. Sean McElwee, a prominent progressive operative and a friend of Torres, noted that despite how idiosyncratic Torres appears, all of his political views seem logical. “You know exactly where he’s going to be on 95% of the issues, and everywhere he is, you can understand how he got there.” The difference, then, is a matter of emphasis. His views on Israel, for example, are relatively common among progressive Democrats; it’s simply that Torres expresses them more forcibly than many other members. The New York Democrat is one of the few congressmen who is extremely vocal on the topic on social media. “Calling Israel an apartheid state,” he tweeted after Amnesty International issued an anti-Israel report, “as @amnesty has done, is a lie. The hysterical demonization of Israel will do nothing to alleviate Palestinian suffering. It will only incite hatred for the world’s largest Jewish community amid violent Antisemitism.”
The European Union and Palestinian NGOs have been working together to offset losses caused by Israel designating six of the NGOs as terrorist groups, under the guise of battling the “shrinking space for civil society organizations” among Palestinians, according to a document obtained by The Jerusalem Post.Zahra Billoo’s Antisemitism Unleashed with CAIR’s Backing
“EU and member states have continued to engage with the six designated organizations collectively showing solidarity both at technical level and [head of missions] level,” the minutes of a January 21 meeting between the EU Representative to the Palestinians and other European officials with Palestinian civil society leaders said.
The meeting took place following Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s decision in October to ban six Palestinian organizations – Addameer, Al Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) – due to their affiliations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist group in Israel, the US, the EU and elsewhere.
Among the ways Israel demonstrated that connection was a video of leading figures in the NGOs, including Khaleeda Jarrar and Abdullatif Ghaith of Addameer, Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq, Gebril Muhamad of Bisan, and Ahmad Saadat of the UPWC, at a PFLP event.
EU Representative Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff briefed the attendees on the designation of the NGOs, “reiterating the EU core belief that civil society is an essential part of a pluralistic and functioning democracy, particularly important in Palestine where the democratic processes are not in place... and civil society is constantly attacked by Israel.”
Referring to those taking Israel’s designation seriously, the meeting’s minutes state that “some players (including the EU) were holding a minority position that seemed to be currently contributing to the shrinking space for civil society.”
I’ve spent a lot of time in recent months chronicling the unabashed hatred spewed by Zahra Billoo, one of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s highest profile chapter directors.
But when it comes to antisemitism, Billoo is the gift that keeps on giving. And it’s abundantly clear that her bosses are not only perfectly comfortable with her views, but that they have her back.
She returned from a “sabbatical” in late February, just three months after giving a speech casting the vast majority of Jews as “enemies” because they support Israel.
She warned her audience to “pay attention to the polite Zionists” who seek to work together on social justice and other issues. They are behind “a well-funded conspiracy” to push “Islamophobia … to marginalize us, to imprison us, to deport us, to silence us.”
Jews. A well-funded conspiracy. To imprison us.
That kind of rhetoric might sound at home among tiki-torch carrying mobs in Charlottesville, but not from the leader of a “civil rights” group’s San Francisco chapter.
Yet, CAIR never asked Billoo to apologize for her comments. Instead, CAIR argued that she was the victim of an “online smear campaign.”
It was no surprise, therefore, to hear Billoo repeat her blanket dismissal of pro-Israel Jews on Saturday, during a program that was advertised as focusing on “Islamophobia” in France and India.
Ok one more joke:
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) April 12, 2022
What do @leilakhaled0 and D.B. Cooper have in common?
Neither of them are on twitter! pic.twitter.com/S8JaXMSh3H
The Blood Libels of Gigi and Bella Hadid
All these repellant events demand an explanation from Vogue, which Wintour herself ought to offer in order to set the record straight. Words matter. And incitement matters. But strangest of all is Vogue’s continued desire to work with, and promote, Bella Hadid. On May 16, 2021, Bella Hadid attended a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City and posted a picture on her Instagram account, surrounded by fellow protesters, with the caption: “The way my heart feels … To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place… it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!”
What she did not reveal was that in the same photo was Waseem Awawdeh, 23, a man who was arrested just days later for allegedly beating the kippa-wearing Joey Borgen in Times Square, calling him a “filthy Jew.” At the beating, which took place just four days after Hadid posted the picture of her “respectful, loving” fellow protester, Awawdeh was arrested and charged with gang assault and assault as a hate crime. The shocking video of the assault showed Borgen, on the floor, utterly defenseless, being beaten to a pulp by a violent mob. He incurred numerous injuries and was hospitalized.
It’s nice to see with whom Bella Hadid is proud to keep company.
By now you can probably predict that Bella and Gigi Hadid are not ones to let up on their Jew-hatred. It seems to be an innate impulse.
So, on April 9, 2022, Gigi Hadid, perhaps under pressure from business partners or sponsors, suddenly condemned the murder of three Israelis in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian terrorist. She said that the “Free Palestine” movement was not about murdering Jews. Of course, the sheer and utter hypocrisy of constantly defaming Jews, engaging in blood libels against Israel and false accusations that Jews murder scores of innocent people, and then pretending that one’s words have no consequences, is staggering.
At least Mark Ruffalo, the Hollywood Israel hater, had the decency to apologize for his disgusting and notorious lies about Israel committing genocide and admit that his words were inciting antisemitism. On 24 May, 2022 he tweeted, “ I have reflected & wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide.’ It’s not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful & is being used to justify antisemitism here & abroad. Now is the time to avoid hyperbole.”
On this occasion we’ll have to forgive Ruffalo for referring to his blood libel against Jews as mere “hyperbole.” But lest one believe that Gigi is capable of similar reflection, within hours of her post condemning the murder of innocent Israelis, she posted a screenshot from the account @eye.on.Palestine of a Palestinian man who was “assaulted by settlers” and called for her followers to “check their bias.”
The @eye.on.Palestine account, a sewer of propaganda against Israel, is filled with celebratory comments in favor of the murder of Israelis. So much for Gigi’s conscience.
But whatever the biases of a supermodel who abuses her platform to foment antisemitism, that is no excuse for a mainstream and supposedly responsible publication like Vogue to publish her drivel and promote her lies.
Antisemitism should never be in Vogue.
Horrific - audio footage of rabid antisemite Mohammed El-Kurd stating “if you heckle me, you will get shot” at Arizona State University this past Sunday April 10th.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 13, 2022
This hatred & incitement to violence is being welcomed and rewarded with big paychecks at schools like @ASU
1/3 pic.twitter.com/kWaA2wayGK
Anti-Israel terror supporter @AbierKhatib has tweeted over 10 times in the last 48 hours whining about @YosephHaddad in #Chile
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) April 12, 2022
Girl, my fiancé is living rent free in your head. Thanks for proving his work is impactful.
Cope
???? ???? pic.twitter.com/lMNl2MWYr7
Under Federal Scrutiny, NYU Law School Faces Uproar Over Anti-Semitism
New York University School of Law may be legally obligated to punish some of its star students after nearly a dozen student groups signed a statement that defended terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and bemoaned the "Zionist grip on the media."
The statement, drafted by NYU Law School’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, has elicited harassment complaints from Jewish students who say that the letter—and some of the responses it sparked from students—constituted vicious anti-Semitic attacks.
"The Zionist grip on the media is omnipresent," the statement read. "Palestinians are not obligated to engage in racialized ‘nonviolence’ theory and wait around for a United Nations action that will never come as their homes are taken from them."
Several students who signed and organized the statement are attending the law school on scholarship as part of the Root-Tilden-Kern Program, widely considered the most prestigious public interest law scholarship in the country. The scholarship’s winners have gone on to hold federal office: They include Lamar Alexander, a U.S. senator and former secretary of education, and Jenny Yang, who served as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during former president Barack Obama’s second term.
Current scholars include Zaynab Said, who signed on behalf of NYU’s Black Allied Law Students Association; Maya Goldman, who signed on behalf of the Disablility Allied Law Students Association; Yosmin Badie, who sits on the board of NYU's Students for Justice in Palestine; and Allison Hrabar, who signed with the valediction, "from the river to the sea"—a call for the elimination of Israel.
NYU may have no choice but to punish these students because the university in 2020 agreed to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward anti-Semitism as part of a settlement with the Department of Education’s civil rights office, which was investigating a string of anti-Semitic incidents at the elite scool. The agreement obligates NYU to "take all necessary actions, including pursuant to its student discipline process," to address anti-Semitism on campus. Should the Biden administration decide to enforce the terms of that agreement, inaction could jeopardize NYU’s federal funding under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The law school told students on Tuesday that it was investigating the harassment complaints "as required by our policies." But some students doubt the investigation will amount to much.
"Blatantly anti-Semitic remarks can be made in public with zero consequences at this law school," said Gary Dreyer, the president of NYU’s Law Students for Israel. "This has gone on for years, and it has only gotten worse."
WATCH:
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) April 12, 2022
At today’s summit on combating campus antisemitism with @HillelIntl and @ACEducation, AJC CEO @DavidHarrisAJC discusses the importance of this initiative and why we must all work to ensure students feel safe and protected from hate targeting Jews on college campuses. pic.twitter.com/8yFIHDxK6f
"The @UJS_UK has engaged in subversive activities on campuses across Britain attacking Palestinian rights, fabricating allegations of antisemitism & manufacturing claims that Jewish students feel unsafe"
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) April 12, 2022
"It has no place on campus" pic.twitter.com/mG3OAZgCK3
Former Prof David Miller lays bare his conspiracy theory about @UJS_UK and @nusuk "What they will try & do is try and destroy the NUS as a body altogether so they don't want anything that can challenge their power"
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) April 12, 2022
"they will try if they can to infiltrate the org to destroy it" pic.twitter.com/Tobfinhobv
HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz Speaks At UNESCO About Hate Crime Research
HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz spoke to representatives from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, at the body’s Paris headquarters on Tuesday, April 12.AFP’s Captions On Palestinian Teen Casualty Omit Reported Shooting
The invitation to address the agency’s Section of Global Citizenship and Peace Education within the Division for Peace and Sustainable Development, part of the Education Sector, followed HonestReporting’s research study which examined media coverage of hate crimes against minorities, including Jews, in the United States.
Our report received widespread international attention, with Daniel given the opportunity to discuss the relevant issues in interviews with news channels like CBS News and Fox News. He also penned an op-ed for Newsweek.
According to the executive summary of the study:
Jews are victims of more hate crimes per capita than all other groups in the United States, as tracked by the FBI. However, anti-Jewish hate crimes receive disproportionately little news coverage, by a disturbingly large margin. Hate crimes against Asian Americans, Americans with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community are similarly underreported.
By contrast, hate crimes against Muslims received the most news coverage of any group by a large margin and have begun to decline in recent years, indicating a possible correlation between adequate news coverage and increased safety for vulnerable populations.”
Pomerantz’s meeting with change-makers at UNESCO demonstrates the impact of HonestReporting’s work: we are transforming how the media reports on issues pertaining to Israel and effecting impactful change on the world stage.
UNESCO’s influence on global education standards makes it a leader in the development of policies for fostering cultural ties and cooperation among nations.
The agency is therefore an authoritative voice in the global media. In other words, it enjoys what is referred to in our industry as the “halo effect” — a cognitive reaction that results in UNESCO’s positions being given high credibility in the international news media, rightly or wrongly. This is why it is so important for us to speak directly to UNESCO, and to counter the sway that anti-Israel groups might attempt to have on such bodies.
Numerous April 11 Agence France Presse captions accompanying photographs from the funeral of 17-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Zakarneh, fatally wounded by Israeli fire, omit the key information that according to the Israeli army, the teen had fired upon Israeli soldiers.BBC contributor Abdel Bari Atwan celebrates terror attacks in Israel
As Haaretz reported: “The Palestinian, 17-year-old Muhammad Zakarna, was shot and wounded after opening fire on soldiers, according to the Israeli army.”
Similarly, Times of Israel noted:
According to the IDF, the soldiers entered the area, in the northern West Bank, in order to arrest two brothers of Ra’ad Hazem, the terrorist who killed three Israelis in a terror attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
The military said it shot Zakarneh after he fired at the soldiers from a passing motorcycle.
About the circumstances of his death, AFP’s captions selectively reported that Zakarneh, 17 “died of injuries sustained a day earlier during a raid by Israeli soldiers, during his funeral in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, on April 11, 2022.” There is no mention about the army’s information that he opened fire on troops.
Last August CAMERA UK published a catalogue of Abdel Bari Atwan’s hateful opinions titled ‘It’s time for the British media to stop normalising Abdel Bari Atwan’.BBC WS radio news fails on accuracy and impartiality
Since then the London-based editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Rai al-Youm has appeared in BBC Arabic content as an allegedly respectable commentator – including on Israeli affairs – at least three times, the most recent of which was on March 27th 2022. (h/t CST).
Those appearances and others debunk Atwan’s own claim from last November that he is “banned” from all UK television channels due to “Israeli pressure”. CAMERA UK had previously pointed out that Atwan’s claim was false and on other occasions he appeared on the French public broadcaster France24.
In the wake of the recent series of terrorist attacks in Israel, Atwan’s public support for terrorism and his dehumanisation of Israeli civilians was on display once again.
A BBC World Service radio news bulletin aired on the morning of April 11th and read by Neil Nunes included the following (from 01:42 here):Guardian contributor says she's NOT anti-Israel. Facts prove otherwise.
“Israeli troops have killed two women and two men in separate incidents as tensions continue across the country after a wave of attacks. Three were Palestinians but local media say the fourth was a Jewish settler, thought to be suffering from mental illness. He was shot dead after snatching a weapon from an Israeli servicewoman.”
The BBC’s audiences around the world were not informed that one of those Palestinian women had just stabbed a police officer in Hebron when she was shot while the other had approached troops in a suspicious manner and failed to stop when told to do so. The Palestinian man was throwing petrol bombs at a vehicle at the time of the incident but the BBC also failed to provide that relevant information.
CAMERA UK has found no evidence to support the BBC’s claim that “local media say the fourth was a Jewish settler”. For example, a report at the Times of Israel states that the man “was not immediately named” and makes no reference to his place of residence. Ha’aretz describes the man as “disabled” but likewise does not mention where he lived. A report by Kan 11 describes the man as “a resident of one of the communities in the south” while a report by Israel HaYom describes him as “a resident of one of the moshavim in the Lakhish district”.
CAMERA UK has submitted a complaint to the BBC pointing out the failure to include any information about what the three Palestinians were doing at the time of their deaths and inquiring whether it is now BBC policy to portray all Israelis as ‘Jewish settlers’.
So, is Palese telling the truth when she says she not anti-Israel?‘they hate jew’: NYC Subway Shooting Suspect Frank James Left Online Trail of Incitement and Bigotry
First, according to the Australian Jewish News, Palese didn’t merely retweet “about” the Sydney Festival boycott movement, but re-tweeted a tweet by Sydney Festival boycott organiser Fahad Ali praising artists who had withdrawn in support of BDS. (Note also that Fahad Ali isn’t merely a pro-BDS activist, but someone who demonises Zionism as intrinsically racist, and once tweeted approvingly of antisemitic comments by Mohammed el-Kurd.)
Palese also tweeted this – in 2018, not “over 10 years ago” – accusing Israel, presumably in the context of Hamas organised violent riots on Israel’s border a few days earlier, of “killing unarmed children” whilst condemning her country’s “shocking support” for the Jewish state.
Assuming she was referring to the May 18th Gaza border riots, Hamas later admitted that the overwhelming majority of those killed that day were members of the terror group.
There’s also this tweet – in 2020, not “10 years ago” – where she’s expressing her support for war crimes investigations against Israel.
But, most damning is this tweet – from 2018, not “over 10 years ago” – where she accused Israel of being an “apartheid” and “fascist” state.
Contrary to her claim in the Guardian, the record shows that Ms. Palese, by promoting BDS and supporting war crimes investigations against Jerusalem, smearing Israel with the libel that it murders innocent children, and falsely accusing the state of practicing apartheid and fascism, is, by any measure, anti-Israel.
The man named as a suspect in the shooting at a Brooklyn subway station on Tuesday that injured 29 people left a trail of hateful videos online targeting Jews and other minority groups.New Jersey: Suspect charged with attempted murder for running down Jewish woman
Frank James, 62, was formally named by the New York Police Department on Wednesday as a suspect in the shooting at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, after previously being identified as a “person of interest.” One of the still images of James released by the police was lifted from a video posted to his YouTube channel, where viewers can find several lengthy and rambling videos featuring James opining on issues from mental health to race relations.
The videos show James — who remained at large on Wednesday morning — making bigoted and demeaning remarks about various minority groups, including African-Americans. Explaining his support for the complete segregation of Black and white populations, James disclosed in one video that if white people “tried to exterminate us, I would not be mad for one f***ing bit.”
He continued: “They can’t live with each other, but they’re going to live with your Black ass? Your half-monkey, cursed by God, Black f***ing stinkin’ ass?”
As well as YouTube, where James’ used the moniker “prophet of truth 88” (numerals often used by white supremacists as code for “HH,” or “Heil Hitler”) he also posted similarly disturbing videos to Facebook, including one titled “they hate jew.”
Uploaded in 2017, the video consisted of James engaging in an antisemitic rant while displaying photos of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and several harrowing images of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.
“This is gonna be about Jews and my personal relationship with Jews, and the utter contempt that all the f***ing Jews I’ve dealt with show me at the end of the day,” James stated at the start of the video.
A driver ran down a woman in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey on Tuesday, seriously injuring her.Belgian car shop owner won’t serve Jews, claims Israel supports Russia
The incident occurred in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Tuesday morning at approximately 8:00 a.m. when the suspect suddenly swerved off the road and onto the lawn of a nearby house, driving his vehicle towards a female pedestrian.
The driver pursued the woman, who attempted to evade the suspect’s vehicle.
The suspect managed to run down the woman, running her over with his vehicle. He then turned around and continued his attack, running over her repeatedly.
According to RLS Media, the woman suffered serious injuries, but is now listed in stable condition.
Authorities located and arrested the driver, who has been charged with attempted murder.
The owner of a car repair shop in Belgium said he will not serve Jewish clients to protest Israel’s position over Russia’s war on Ukraine.Chair of Enfield Southgate Conservative Association suspended after photo emerges of him dressed in full Nazi uniform
The Forum of Jewish Organizations, a group representing Flemish-speaking Belgian Jews, said it will take legal action against Ludo Eyckmans, the owner of the shop in Stabroek near Antwerp. Denying service to individuals based on their faith, race or sexual orientation is illegal in Belgium.
“As of today, our Jewish clients are no longer welcome for maintenance of their cars or solving electronic problems,” Eyckmans wrote in an email that he sent to Belgian media last week, according to the Jewish group. He cited Israel’s “failure to recognize war crimes” by Russia’s army in Ukraine.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid last week asserted that “Russian forces committed war crimes” in Ukraine, but Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has not come down so harshly on Russia.
Israeli leaders are balancing complex interests in the conflict, including Russian involvement in neighboring Syria and the safety of Jews in both countries. The approach has allowed Bennett to play a role in seeking to broker talks between Russia and Ukraine, but it has also yielded criticism of Israel from those who would like to see it take a firmer stance.
The Chair of the Enfield Southgate Conservative Association has been suspended pending an investigation after a photograph emerged apparently showing him dressed in full Nazi military regalia.
The image appears to show Colin Davis, a former Head of Military Law at London-based firm Carters Solicitors, dressed in full Nazi uniform, in a back garden. It was apparently taken during the 1980s and was reportedly found at a property that Mr Davis and his former wife used to live in.
Mr Davis is said to be “well connected” with the British Armed Forces and claims that he may have been a member of the British Army Reserves at the time that the photograph was taken.
It has been reported that Mr Davis was meant to stand in the May 2022 local elections as a Conservative candidate, and had been tipped potentially for the Oakwood ward – which has many Jewish potential voters – in the north London council.
Enfield Southgate Conservatives have since removed Mr Davis’s profile from its website. A similar action seems to have been undertaken by Carters Solicitors.
Mr Davis told Jewish News: “I have a long history of representing all the principles for which the Conservative Party stands. I’m not familiar with the photograph you are referring to. I have in the past served as a councillor. I have done all sorts of things. I have exposed extremism wherever it is to be found. On the other hand like Voltaire, I have tended to defend those whose own extremism has sometimes manifested itself in extreme types of intolerance. That doesn’t include defence of Nazism.”
Leader of the Enfield Southgate Conservatives, Cllr Joanne Laban said: “Mr Davis has been suspended from the Party by Enfield Southgate Conservative Association pending investigation. The Conservative Party takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously and the swift action taken reflects this.”
“Antisemites, like other racists, are the lowest rung of our society.”
— Mayor Gabriel Groisman (@GabeGroisman) April 12, 2022
My response to an anti-semite who Zoomed in to spew venom in our Bal Harbour Council Meeting last night: pic.twitter.com/EBqnd3uuAI
Israeli tech companies raise $5.6 billion in first quarter of 2022
Fresh off an “extraordinary” funding year of a record over $25 billion in 2021 concurrent with a battering on Wall Street in recent months, Israeli companies raised close to $5.6 billion in the first three months (Q1) of 2022, according to a new report by the IVC Research Center and LeumiTech, Leumi Group’s banking arm for high-tech companies.Gal Gadot's mother takes aim at daughter's haters online
The $5.58 billion was raised over 212 deals in Q1 2022, and is on par with fundraising in Q1 2021, which amounted to $5.4 billion, but less than Q4 2021 which saw Israeli companies nab $8.1 billion in funding overall.
The 212 fundraising rounds overall in Q1 2022 included 14 “mega deals” of over $100 million each, making up 44% of the total amount raised.
Not surprisingly, given the performance of Israeli tech shares on Wall Street in recent months, IPOs (initial public offerings) shrank significantly this past quarter to just seven. These were part of 39 tech exits (defined as merger and acquisition deals or IPOs of shares) totaling $8.96 billion and largely comprising Intel’s intended acquisition of Israel’s Tower Semiconductor by Intel for $5.4 billion. Intel is also set to buy Israeli computing tech startup Granulate for about $650 million, in a deal announced last month.
Another notable acquisition that of Israeli threat detection firm Siemplify (officially, Cyarx Technologies) by Google for $500 million.
“After a phenomenal year for the Israeli high-tech [industry] it seems as though 2022 started [with] more restraint. Furthermore, it seems that investors have slowed [their] pace and are waiting for a correction in valuation in the private sector,” explained Timor Arbel-Sadras, CEO of LeumiTech.
Gal Gadot's mother has had enough of the online venom aimed at her daughter. Gadot, a famous Hollywood actress, has come under attack recently due to her silence on social media about the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Israel.
In an Instagram post mostly dedicated to the upcoming Passover holiday, Irit Gadot also took an apparent shot at her daughter's critics.
"Superheroes had to be invented," she said Tuesday in her post, which was accompanied by a photo from the movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" – with her daughter posing as her "Wonder Woman" character flanked by fellow actors Henry Cavill ("Superman") and Ben Affleck ("Batman").
"As a counter to the slander all around us, let it be that ahead of the holiday of freedom, characterized by spring, blossom, and renewal, human beings will perhaps change their ways and spread free love instead of poison," she wrote, hinting at her daughter's online critics and apparently evoking the Book of Leviticus 19:16: "Do not go about spreading slander among your people."
The choice of this verse, as stated, was most likely not unintentional. Since the outset of the current wave of deadly terrorist attacks, many online commenters have voiced their anger at Gadot, who resides in Los Angeles, for not using her massive online platform to address the security situation in her homeland.
She has 77.8 million followers on Instagram.
A beautiful, heartfelt #Passover #Pesach message from the Prime Minister of Australia, @ScottMorrisonMP. pic.twitter.com/39JWLC1wvp
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 13, 2022
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