Tuesday, April 26, 2022

04/26 Links Pt2: Under attack from the conspiracy theories of the Guardian newspaper; Genocide Awareness Month: Public responsibility to build a better future

From Ian:

David Collier: Under attack from the conspiracy theories of the Guardian newspaper
The Guardian Kirchgaessner phone call

We spoke on Friday evening (Friday evening is always a good time for a journalist to call someone Jewish). I informed her that I consider the Guardian a hostile newspaper. This cut through any need for unnecessary pretence and she got straight to the point. She wanted to suggest that my Amnesty report had been funded by NSO in order to ‘retaliate’ for the Amnesty investigation into NSO.

In my head I was falling off my chair in hysterics at the thought that my hand-to-mouth research has ever been seriously ‘funded’ by anyone.

The call ended with Kirchgaessner arguing about dates, in a strange (and exceedingly silly) attempt to protect her thesis – because she needed to convince herself that my interest in Amnesty only came about after Amnesty’s interest in NSO. *sigh*. Does anyone not know about Amnesty’s blood libel over Jenin in 2002? One of my closest activist friends, Richard Millett, was even physically threatened by Amnesty’s anti-Israel obsessive Kristyan Benedict at an event in 2011. I have a decades-long list of complaints. Kirchgaessner is obviously totally ignorant of the subject she is trying to build a conspiracy around.

During the call Kirchgaessner went on to tell me two other things of interest. One, is that she is friendly with (and she used the words ‘full disclosure’ as she told me this) – Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General at Amnesty. The other nugget was that the idea that my report was somehow an NSO funded attack – was also part of Amnesty’s own considerations.

This means that following discussions with her friends at Amnesty over my report – a Guardian journalist came hunting in order to try to discredit my report by linking my motivations in fighting antisemitism to NSO money.

Wow.
Holocaust Inversion: Unmasking the False Comparisons of Palestinians to the Holocaust
I.F. Stone, a Zionist advocate and left-wing political journalist of the 1940s, describes a particularly horrifying account of how several Nazi collaborators who were part of pro-Nazi Arab military units arrived in Palestine to battle the newly founded Jewish state. About the Arab refugees who fled from the fighting, Stone states, “While the Arab guerrillas were moving in, the Arab civilian population was moving out.” It is ironic that Shabtai Levy, the mayor of Haifa, pleaded with Arab leaders to remain in their homes. They told Levy that the Arab Higher Committee, chaired by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Nazi collaborator Haj Amin al-Husseini, ordered them to leave.

Referring to the “Nakba,” anti-Zionists falsely claim that over 700,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since the establishment of the Jewish state. But as stated above, that distorts the history and also ignores the similar number of Jews who were expelled from Arab lands just for the crime of being Jewish, and were forced to come to Israel.

Furthermore, the Palestinian population has grown significantly since 1948. Anyone with a modicum of critical reasoning ability can see that the claim of ethnic cleansing or genocide against the Palestinians is just absurd.

In 2020, the Arab population in Israel comprised 1.96 million people, or 21.1% of the population, compared with 20.2 percent in 2008. Since 1960, the Palestinian population has increased by 2.65% every year. Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship also have the same rights as all Israelis, and serve in the Knesset, the Supreme Court, the IDF, and every facet of public and private life.

Somehow, Jews were never afforded any of those privileges by the Nazis.

Despite this factual evidence, antisemitic groups like SJP, have made it common practice to fabricate facts about the Holocaust on social media, and even to harass Holocaust survivors.

Furthermore, in examining Palestinian leadership during World War II, it is distressing to learn that the Palestinians collaborated with the Nazis.

Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, participated in Hitler’s vision to annihilate the Jewish people. He encouraged Muslim recruits to join the SS regiments in the Balkans, promoted Nazi propaganda in the Arab world, and even toured death camps in Europe and met with Adolf Hitler.
Emily Schrader: Genocide Awareness Month: Public responsibility to build a better future
The battle for recognition of the Armenian genocide has been ongoing for decades. Only 33 countries have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide and sadly Israel is not one of them.

Between 1-1.5 million ethnic Armenian Christians were systematically murdered by the Ottoman Turks in the Armenian Genocide, which began in April 1915. In the aftermath, Turkey, which is the modern descendant of the Ottoman Turks, has gone to great lengths to deny the genocide and refuse to take responsibility, much less make reparations. It has been the policy of every Turkish government to deny the genocide and in some cases to punish Turks who do publicly recognize it. Further, Turkey has destroyed evidence of genocidal crimes and threatened diplomatic crises with other sovereign nations who do recognize the Armenian Genocide.

When the US Congress and president finally recognized the Armenian genocide in 2021, Turkey strongly condemned the action and threatened relations with both the US and NATO. Turkish officials called the announcement of recognition by President Joe Biden outrageous and stated there would be reactions of different forms and kinds and degrees in coming days and months. Similarly, in 2010, when the issue arose with Sweden and the US recognizing the genocide, Turkey threatened to expel 100,000 Armenians in Turkey in retaliation.

Turkey has repeatedly threatened Israel and the fragile diplomatic relations between the two, over the issue of the Armenian genocide, which is in part the reason for Israel’s continued and embarrassing moral failure to recognize the genocide formally. Yet, how are we in Israel, or globally, expected to educate about genocide and prevent further atrocities when political considerations prevent us from even acknowledging what happened?

Some things should rise above politics, and genocide recognition is one of them. Genocide should not be used to score political points nor to promote antisemitic policies (as Iran does), nor should it be used to bully the world due to security and diplomatic considerations as Turkey is doing.

End Holocaust denial. End genocide denial. Blindness to the past impedes building a better future.


Don’t Believe the Lies: Zionism Is a Movement of Peace
One of the biggest lies ever told about Zionism is that the supposed subjugation or oppression of the Palestinians is somehow a central tenet of the movement.

Jewish Voice for Peace — an anti-Zionist organization with chapters at several universities — posits that “the Zionism that took hold and stands today is a settler-colonial movement, establishing an apartheid state where Jews have more rights than others,” and that “Palestinian dispossession and occupation are by design. Zionism has meant profound trauma for generations, systematically separating Palestinians from their homes, land, and each other.”

These claims are also spread by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on campuses all over the US, including recently at the University of Chicago and John Jay College. At UChicago, the local SJP chapter called for a boycott of all Jewish groups remotely affiliated with Israel, including the ADL and Visions for Peace classes, which discuss peacemaking in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At John Jay, SJP went even further and labeled terrorism against Israeli citizens as justified “resistance.”

But Zionism has nothing to do with Palestinians. For over two millennia, Jewish communities across the Diaspora have maintained strong ties to the land of Israel, and there has always been a Jewish presence there. For example, in the first half of the 19th century, many Jews lived in Jerusalem, long before the emergence of political Zionism.

Political Zionists like Theodor Herzl were concerned with the plight of Jews in Europe and across the world; they sought a safe haven for Jews who were being persecuted and murdered. They never envisioned oppressing anyone — but hoped Jews could live in peace with their neighbors.
Israel Has Retained Its High Favorability Among Americans
According to the February annual Gallup poll of country favorability, 71% of Americans accord Israel a “very favorable” and “mostly favorable” rating. This matches Israel’s average favorability since 2013, compared to 58% in 2002, 71% in 2012, 69% in 2019 and 75% in February 2021. Israel’s all-time high favorability was in February 1991 (79%) in the aftermath of the January-February Iraqi Scud missiles striking Tel Aviv.

Israel is ranked seventh among countries rated by Gallup, trailing Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Germany and India. However, none of these countries have been targeted — as has Israel — for daily criticism by the US State Department (which fiercely opposed Israel’s establishment in 1948), the United Nations, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC and many of the political and social-science departments on North American campuses.

While Israel is considered favorably by 71% of Americans, the Palestinian Authority earned a meager 27% favorability rating, at the bottom of the favorability scale along with Cuba, 40%; Pakistan, 21%; China, 20% (an all-time low); Libya, 19%; Iraq, 16%; Iran, 13%; Afghanistan, 12%; Russia, 12%; and North Korea, 10%.

Furthermore, Israel has retained a high level of favorability among all three major US political groups: 63% of (mostly moderate) Democrats, 71% of Independents and 81% of Republicans. At the same time, the Palestinian Authority received a 38% favorability rating among Democrats, 29% among Independents and 14% among Republicans.

The 2022 Gallup poll reflects the unique bottom-up phenomenon of the US attitude towards Israel, which is largely determined by the US constituency’s traditional affinity towards the Jewish state, contrary to the top-down phenomenon of US policy towards other foreign countries, which is generally determined by the White House and the State Department.

The poll also demonstrates the wide gap between most Americans (who are largely supportive of Israel) and the “elite” media (which is systematically critical of Israel).

Israel’s 71% favorability rating attests to the fact that most Americans realize the inaccuracy and immorality of the State Department’s claim of moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians. They identify Israel as a reliable, democratic and productive ally, and view the P.A. as a member of the rogue entities of the world, associated with terrorism, in general, and enemies and rivals of the United States, in particular.
Amb. Alan Baker: Criticizing Israel Has Become a Permanent Obsession
In the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Palestinians voice concern that the international community is overly immersed in the Russia-Ukraine war rather than pursuing Israel.

Their expressions of indignation seek to equate the low-intensity Israeli-Palestinian dispute with the high-intensity open warfare conducted by Russia against Ukraine, with its massive bombardment of civilians, use of illegal weaponry and millions of refugees.

This disproportionate attempt to invent a false equation is misplaced and malicious, indicative of the blindness caused by the obsession to criticize Israel.

Such obsession has also been voiced by a fringe US anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace claiming that “The Israeli government is settling Jewish Ukrainian refugees on land it illegally occupies and prevents seven million Palestinian refugees from returning to…”

Similarly, American Jewish pro-Palestinian propagandist and apologist Peter Beinart, stated in the left-wing magazine Jewish Currents:
Ukrainians, a mostly white and Christian people battling an American foe, are viewed as fully human, and thus entitled to fight for their freedom. Palestinians, a mostly nonwhite and non-Christian people battling an American ally, are not.

Similarly malicious comparisons have been echoed by former Human Rights Watch director Sarah Leah Whitson, by the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Lara Friedman, the president of the Arab American Institute in Washington James Zogby and British Labor MP Julie Elliott.

The attempts to equate the immensity and lethality of the Russia-Ukraine war with the Palestinian issue are false, misguided and presumptuous. They misrepresent the nature, history and complexities of Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and ignore and undermine the ongoing Middle-East peace process sponsored and supported by the international community.
Repost: Ken Roth’s Legacy: Distorting and Exploiting Human Rights to Demonize Israel
As head of HRW since 1993, Roth is among the world’s most influential unaccountable political actors, with massive funds, favorable media coverage, and direct access to the UN and world leaders. He also hired many other obsessive anti-Israel activists. Roth adopted and amplified the Soviet-led effort to equate Zionism with South African apartheid, as well as many of the methods, and in late 2001 and early 2002, he oversaw HRW’s central role in the blatantly antisemitic NGO Forum of the Durban conference. Building on this foundation, he led HRW’s political campaigns based on false allegations, including “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” to delegitimize Israel’s response to mass terror attacks. He has disproportionately channeled HRW’s resources into lobbying the UN Human Rights Council to create and conduct one-sided “investigations,” such as the discredited 2009 Goldstone report on the Gaza conflict. In parallel, he has pressed the International Criminal Court prosecutors to adopt false versions of international law in order to justify investigating Israelis, including using an invented version of apartheid. He has used the term “primitive” in the context of Jewish religion and tradition (2006), and among hundreds of tweets denouncing Israel, has blamed Jews for antisemitism. HRW’s April 2021 “report” claiming that Israel had “crossed the line into apartheid” is a reiteration of this 20 year history.

My work as an academic focusing on soft power, particularly in the Middle East, has included researching and publishing analyses of the unchecked power of the NGO industry, as exemplified by Roth’s behavior and impact. Beginning in 2004, I corresponded with and met Robert Bernstein, the founder of HRW, who expressed his intense disagreement with the political direction that Roth had taken the organization, specifically regarding singling out Israel. The frequency and intensity of our discussions increased and expanded to include other board members. Roth’s and HRW’s obsessive campaigns grew. In 2009, following the 2009 Goldstone report episode, Bernstein took the unprecedented step of denouncing HRW in a NY Times column and in a series of speeches, which repeated key points from our conversations. Also, many of HRW’s donors ended their support.

However, Roth is a very skilled fund-raiser, and after getting $100 million from George Soros, he added other secret donors, such as a Saudi billionaire whose 2012 “contribution” (the existence of which was denied for many years) was only revealed in 2020. Roth’s long time Middle East head Sarah Leah Whitson, another vitriolic anti-Israel propagandist, went to Saudi Arabia on behalf of HRW, and to Libya to tout the Ghaddafi family as “human rights reformers.” (In 2020, Whitson suddenly departed HRW when information on the Saudi gift was leaked.)

Long after Roth’s departure from HRW, no doubt to be accompanied by numerous orchestrated tributes, the damage to the integrity of human rights will remain.


Jen Psaki Refuses To Rule Out Funding Anti-Semitic Organizations Even As Attacks On Israel Continue (h/t MtTB)



Ex-MP Labour Candidate Claimed 'Long Tentacles of Israel' Influence UK Elections
Former Labour MP Martin Linton is hoping to stage a political comeback at the local elections in nine days. Having lost his Commons seat in 2010, Linton is now running as a councillor candidate in the Lavender ward of Wandsworth. A triumphant return after 12 years in the wilderness…

Just weeks before he crashed out of the Commons back then, however, Linton spoke at a meeting organised by ‘Friends of Al-Aqsa’ to discuss Israeli house demolitions. Here’s what Linton had to say as a sitting Labour MP:
“There are long tentacles of Israel in this country who are funding election campaigns and putting money into the British political system for their own ends… when you make decisions about how you vote and how you advise constituents to vote, you must make them aware of the attempt by Israelis and by pro-Israelis to influence the election.”

Linton was forced to apologise, although he still caveated the mea culpa by insisting he was ‘not aware’ of the antisemitic connotations of the image of the Jewish octopus. A mystery why he lost.

Now he’s back with a Labour rosette on his lapel, despite Starmer claiming he had “closed the door on antisemitism” in the party after Corbyn’s leadership. The “long tentacles of Israel” funding election campaigns isn’t exactly subtle – it’s one of the oldest tropes in the book to suggest Jews control the media and politics. Labour were forced to claim his views don’t represent the party back in 2010. What does Sir Keir think now?
Georgetown Law Scheduled to Host Antisemite Who Claims Israelis ‘Harvest Organs of the Martyred’
Georgetown Law is hosting Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian poet and writer with a long history of antisemitic comments, on campus this Tuesday. The event, hosted by the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), features El-Kurd and Harvard Law School attorney Rabea Eghbariah discussing “the ongoing legal battle settler organizations are waging to displace Palestinian families from East Jerusalem,” according to a flyer posted on the Georgetown Law SJP’s instagram.

El-Kurd’s antisemitic comments, which include attacking “Israeli Jews” as “nothing but spineless colonizers,” tweeting that Israel is a “terrorist, genocidal nation,” and that “Zionists . . . have an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood & land,” calling “Zionist settlers” “the sadistic barbaric neonazi [sic] pigs that claim to be indigenous to our land,” and writing in his book that Israelis “harvest organs of the martyred” and “feed their warriors our own,” led the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to raise concerns in a full profile of the writer on the group’s website. The ADL writes:

An analysis of his social media and his book of poetry, titled “Rifqa,” reveals a troubling pattern of rhetoric which goes far beyond criticism of Israel and into antisemitism. El-Kurd has accused Israelis of eating the organs of Palestinians and of having a particular lust for Palestinian blood. He has compared Israelis to Nazis, negated the historic Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, and vilified Zionism and Zionists…his willingness to employ these tropes raises serious concerns.

El-Kurd’s brand of anti-Zionism goes far above and beyond the normal criticisms of Israel — he regularly refers to Zionism in terms such as “murderous,” “sadistic,” “fascist,” and “genocidal,” and has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany. But at times, the virulent anti-Zionist rhetoric has crossed over into outright antisemitism. Last year, El-Kurd accused a non-Israeli Jewish person of “KILLING MURDERING BOMBING ETHNICALLY CLEANSING COLONIZING LYNCHING KRISTALLNACHTING US IN REAL TIME CURRENTLY RIGHT NOW,” suggesting that he draws no distinction between the policies of the Israeli government and Jews writ large:


Muna El-Kurd Jews are Zionist Dogs, and ‘Palestine’ Should Be Ethnically Cleansed of Them
On April 23, video of a conversation involving Muna El-Kurd was posted on an Instagram account, during which El-Kurd begins by urging someone named Fathi not to suggest that there are Jews (not Zionists, not Israelis, but Jews) in solidarity with Palestinians. Fathi responded that yes, there is a Jew from the “left-wing” there. At this point, El-Kurd angrily interjects:
“There is no left-wing! It is all right-wing, it is all settlers, and it is all Zionist dogs. If someone wants to be in solidarity with me, he should get out of Palestine, [then] be in solidarity with me.”

This statement, at best, is an open call for “Palestine” to be ethnically cleansed of Jews. This would include all of Israel, considering that she openly declares that “Palestine” is from “its sea to its river.” Considering that polls show that as many as 95% of American Jews have favorable views of Israel, the embodiment of Zionism, it seems Muna has some rather dehumanizing terminology for diaspora Jews, too. Referring to Jews as “dogs” is a common antisemitic term, particularly among Palestinians and even among antisemites at the United Nations. Chants of “Jews are our dogs” are heard fairly regularly at demonstrations. No matter what way you slice it, Muna’s words are deplorable and overtly bigoted.

The statement also exposes the emptiness of the supposed “principles” of individuals like El-Kurd. While openly calling for the ethnic cleansing of Jews, her social media accounts are replete with cries to “#EndEthnicCleansing.” It’s yet another example of how much of anti-Israel activism is not about principled human rights, but about the destruction of the Jewish state and the denial of Jewish self-determination.
"Dershowitz, 17 Other Law Professors, Team Up in Support of Texas Anti-BDS Law"
Eighteen leading constitutional and business law professors have teamed up to submit an unprecedented brief in support of Texas’ anti-BDS law, currently being reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. As some of the nation’s most celebrated legal scholars, these professors hail from across the ideological spectrum, demonstrating the broad consensus on the legality of anti-BDS laws.

Thirty-five states have passed “anti-BDS laws” in the past eight years, and CMEIL Director Prof. Kontorovich is widely regarded as the “intellectual architect” of such laws. These laws recognize that refusing to do business with people just because of their connection to the Jewish State, rather than their individual conduct, can be considered a form of antisemitism. When done by state contractors, it robs the state residents of the benefit of having what might be the most cost-effective and innovative products and services employed by those who work on their behalf – and the amici note this case is a good example of that. None of these laws ban such boycotts – but just prevent them from being subsidized with tax-payer dollars.

Among the law professors on the brief are Professor Alan Dershowitz, formerly of Harvard Law School; Richard Epstein of New York University School of Law; and Eugene Kontorovich of George Mason University Scalia Law School. Jerome Marcus, another member of the counsel for the amici curiae, is a Fellow at the Center for the Middle East and International Law (CMEIL) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. This is the largest number of scholars to submit an amicus brief on either side of the anti-BDS litigation that has played out in courts across the country over the past several years.

The brief, filed on Thursday, powerfully argues that refusing to do business with companies or people because of their connection to Israel is commercial conduct that the state can regulate. Supporters of the “Boycott Divest Sanction” movement against Israel argue that anti-BDS laws, such as the one in Texas, violate the First Amendment. These professors point out that the Texas law deals with what state contractors do, not what they choose to say, and thus does not enjoy Free Speech protection.

Despite a litigation onslaught by national groups such as CAIR and the ACLU, anti-BDS laws remain good law in every state that has passed them. As the impressive list of scholars who have joined our brief shows – and the trial court recognized – these laws do nothing more than what the Supreme Court has clearly and unanimously permitted.
Princeton Will Not Adopt BDS-Inspired Measure After Controversial Referendum
After a contentious referendum at Princeton University, the administration has affirmed it will not heed a call to boycott the Caterpillar Inc. construction company over its business with Israel.

Following a campus-wide vote, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) on Wednesday upheld an appeal by opponents of the measure, even as the body ruled it had technically passed. Students opposed to the referendum, which was inspired by the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, argued that the process was marred by inconsistent guidance from election officials about the status of “abstain” votes.

As a result, the USG explained last week, it would not support or oppose the measure before the university on behalf of students, as would be typical after a referendum.

On Friday, according to the Daily Princetonian student newspaper, university president Christopher L. Eisgruber confirmed the school will not implement a boycott of Caterpillar machinery.

Pointing to university guidelines, Eisgruber noted that “considerable, thoughtful, and sustained campus interest” in favor of taking a political position over its investments is a prerequisite.

“There is quite obviously no consensus on campus or in the broader University community about issues of Middle Eastern politics or what to do about them,” he said in an email to USG officials.

Such decisions are decided by the Board of Trustees, he emphasized, not the USG or the administration.
New York Rally Features Transparent Support for Terrorism
It should surprise no one that the New York chapter of Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, used recent rioting on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount as an opportunity to spew lies, support for terrorism, and advocate for more violence against Israel.

“But we say unapologetically and boldly: Hamas are freedom fighters! PFLP are freedom Fighters! Islamic Jihad are freedom fighters! Fatah armed forces are freedom fighters! All of our people in Palestine are freedom fighters,” Lamis Deek, an attorney and Al-Awda’s New York representative exclaimed on April 16.

Al-Awda has a history of embracing terrorism and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. It has co-sponsored rallies in which crowds chanted “Smash the settler Zionist state,” “We don’t want two states. We want ’48,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The organization was an original member of the Global Palestinian Right of Return Coalition (GPRRC), as the Jerusalem Post reported in 2019. The coalition is part of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), which coordinates global activities aimed at isolating Israel economically and politically.

Last Saturday’s Al-Awda rally followed skirmishes between Palestinians and Israeli forces on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, home today to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, but Muslims still have access to the mosque.

Israeli police entered the mosque to prevent violence and deaths after Palestinian militants reportedly gathered rocks and other projectiles to throw at Jewish worshipers. That violence comes amid a spate of recent terrorist attacks that left 14 Israelis dead.
Concordia University Student Newspaper Whitewashes Anti-Israel Rally
In a recent article in The Link, Concordia University’s student newspaper, “Palestinian Montrealers protest Israeli police raids on al-Aqsa Mosque,” Zachary Fortier, one of the newspaper’s news editors, covered a recent anti-Israel rally in Montreal.

If The Link decides that 100 anti-Israel protesters – out of a metropolitan Montreal population of two million – constitutes newsworthiness, that’s their prerogative. But the article contained a number of instances of misinformation, half-truths, and problematic quotes from demonstration participants, which were repeated uncritically.

“Beginning on Friday, April 15, Israeli police raided the third holiest site in Islam, the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem,” according to the article, which added that, based on suspicions that Jews would ascend the Temple Mount – upon which the mosque is built – Palestinians began to “preemptively stockpile stones and other methods of defense inside the mosque.”

This is simply absurd and is akin to claiming that a bank robber justifiably carried a gun to pre-emptively defend himself against the police. The Palestinian rioters inside the Al Aqsa Mosque and on the Temple Mount did indeed stockpile rocks and other incendiary weapons, and they used them against Jewish worshippers in the Western Wall Plaza, as well as against a Jerusalem municipal bus, which had its windows shattered.

The Palestinian rioters who lobbed rocks at Jewish worshippers, pedestrians, and Jerusalem police were not defending themselves with any just cause whatsoever. The mosque, which Muslims hold to be the third holiest site in Islam, and which is built atop the Temple Mount, the site of two ancient Jewish Temples, the holiest site in Judaism, was defiled by these Palestinian extremists who are purporting to be defending it.

The Link’s coverage of the demonstration also featured a number of quotes from participants, who spread hateful disinformation about Israel.

Fortier quotes Sarah Abdelshamy, one of the protesters, who tells the newspaper “The attacks in al-Aqsa are just one example of many. The Nakba, which is the day of catastrophe, is every single day. The Zionist forces—the occupation forces—use any force necessary to oppress and dispossess Palestinians every single day.”
University Professor In Calgary Spreads Anti-Israel Disinformation on Al Jazeera
In a recent opinion article published on Qatar-based Al Jazeera, “The cause, and the goal, of Israeli violence,” Mark Muhannad Ayyash, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, attempts to weave together anti-Israel disinformation and a wholesale rewriting of history into a single pop sociological lecture.

This is not the first time that a Canadian university professor took to the pages of Al Jazeera, a Qatari state-funded news outlet that is banned in many countries because of its antisemitism and bias, to spout anti-Israel propaganda. Last October, a Sheridan College lecturer dehumanized Israeli soldiers in a shocking opinion column.

For his part, Ayyash referred to Israel’s “attack on Palestinian worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” and attempted to frame it as part of Israel’s identity, built “on a foundation of settler colonial sovereignty.”

This is fanciful, ahistorical fiction.

With respect to the violence in the Al Aqsa Mosque (built atop the ancient Temple Mount), it was caused – as it was in May 2021 as well – by the stockpiling and throwing of rocks and incendiary devices by Palestinian extremists. Some of these rocks were used to pelt Jewish worshippers in the Western Wall plaza located below the Temple Mount and others were hurled at Israeli Police.

It was as a result of this wanton violence that Israeli police entered the mosque, and where Palestinian rioters responded with further violence.

Not only was Ayyash’s depiction of Palestinian rioting on the Temple Mount as being somehow Israel’s fault driven by ideology, not facts, his attempt to describe Israel as a settler-colonial state, which purportedly “must secure and expand supreme sovereign control over the land of historic Palestine,” is even more fantastical.


The New York Times finds the term 'occupied' so confusing
The "West Bank" is "occupied" by Israel. Wait, no, only part of it is.

The Palestinian Arabs are "stateless." Wait, no, a large segment of the region actually is "governed by the Palestinian Authority."

These and other contradictory statements all appeared in a single article in The New York Times on April 17 by news correspondent Raja Abdulrahim. I almost feel sorry for her; she seems so confused.

It's not, however, a confusion based on facts that are perplexing or unclear. It's based on the blatant contradictions between the actual situation in Israel and the version that the Times wants its readers to believe.

Abdulrahim is a new addition to the Jerusalem bureau of the newspaper. Pro-Israel groups such as CAMERA have previously documented Abdulrahim's long record of bias, going all the way back to her days as a journalism student at the University of Florida.

But it would be a mistake to assume that she is somehow more biased or more extreme than her colleagues in the Jerusalem bureau. It's obvious from their reporting – long before Abdulrahim arrived – that they all share the same goal: bringing about an Israeli return to the nine-miles-wide pre-1967 borders.

Promoting that narrative requires claiming that "the West Bank" is "occupied" by Israel, as the April 17 article asserted in its opening sentences. The only way to advance the idea that Israel must retreat is to claim that Israel is "occupying" the entire area.
NY Times Whitewashes Palestinian Attackers to Equate Them with Israeli Terror Victims
So much, then, for Abdulrahim’s third detail, too: her claim that Zakarneh was merely coming home from work. Indeed, a statement by the Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad, which was also published days before Abdulrahim’s article, confirmed that Zakarneh (who they also describe as a 17-year-old) was killed “while confronting [Israeli] forces.” An Islamic Jihad martyr poster portrays Zakarneh as member of terror organization and shows him holding a rifle.

The New York Times account of Ghada Sabteen is less egregious, but still misleading. Abdulrahim tells readers that Sabteen “was shot in the leg as she approached soldiers at a checkpoint.” Readers can hardly be expected to glean from this language that Sabteen was running toward the soldiers at close range, as video of the unfortunate encounter showed.

The third individual, Mohammad Assaf, was indeed tragically killed in the crossfire during clashes between other Palestinians and Israeli troops. But he is seemingly an outlier among the 14 Palestinians, whom Abdulrahim leaves readers to conclude were innocent victims of Israeli violence.

Ahmad Sa’adi was a terror commander for Islamic Jihad, and was killed while attacking Israeli soldiers. Shawkat Kamal Abed was said to be killed “during clashes.” Fayaz Hamayel was killed “during clashes.” Omar Muhammad Alyan fell “during clashes.” Maha Zaatari was killed after stabbing an Israeli soldier. So was Abdallah Taysir Srour. Muhammed Ghnaim is said to have been throwing Molotov Cocktails, as were others among the Palestinian fatalities. Islamic Jihad operatives Khalil Tawalbeh, 24, from Jenin, Saif Abu Libdeh, 25, from Tulkarm, Saeb Abahra, 30, from Jenin were killed during a gunfight with Israeli soldiers.

Abdulrahim and her editors seemingly don’t want her readers to know about these acts of violence by many of the Palestinians killed, because there isn’t a hint about it in her New York Times story.

The distortions are not surprising from a newspaper that’s increasingly more interested in peddling an anti-Israel narrative than in informing readers about the realities in the region.
New York Times’ Latest Hire at Jerusalem Bureau Scrubbed Twitter Account of Anti-Israel Posts
Which brings us to our latest update about The New York Times’ Jerusalem office, specifically that its latest hire is a journalist who has already appeared on HonestReporting’s radar.

Hiba M. Yazbek, a graduate of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ), has contributed to numerous articles for the Times, including Patrick Kingsley’s April 22 piece.

In February, we drew attention to a number of tweets — since deleted — that Yazbek posted that appear to undermine her ability to report objectively and impartially about matters pertaining to the Jewish state.

In one, she claimed that she was living under “mental occupation,” while in another, she asserted that Palestinians are a “minority in [their] own land,” which seemingly indicates her opposition to Jewish self-determination in any territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

In another tweet, which is still available to view on Twitter, Yazbek provocatively claimed a man — allegedly a Hamas fighter — was “murdered” after he was caught in Israeli airstrikes that were prompted by the terror group having launched a barrage of rockets at Jerusalem last May.

In our piece that exposed Yazbek’s contentious Twitter history, we questioned whether global news wire service Reuters has a habit of associating with and hiring individuals who have openly expressed their hostility towards the Jewish state.

We revealed that one such reporter for the agency, Henriette Chacar, has accused Israel of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “Jewish supremacy.”
Guardian journo fails to fact-check wild Palestinian claim
Last week, we tweeted journalist Faten Elwan a simple question, based on a highly unlikely claim in her Guardian article (“Rebuilding Nablus: the brothers bringing life to ancient Palestinian streets”, April 15) published at the outlet’s Global Development page, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Here are the relevant passage:
Detained as a 20-year-old after protesting against the Israeli occupation in Nablus in the West Bank in 2004, Basel, 38, says he got through 15 years in prison by dreaming of renovating ancient parts of his home town, which had suffered years of neglect and attacks.

The West Bank has seen many restoration projects launched in recent years after repeated Israeli attacks. However, these projects focus on locations of historic significance, and are largely funded by international institutions – funds the Palestinian brothers can’t access because they are regarded by some as “terrorists” because of the time they spent in jail.

So, in response to our query concerning an unsourced and highly unlikely claim, which she published in a global media outlet, that her Palestinian protagonist served 15 years in an Israeli prison for merely “protesting the occupation”, the journalist spouted an unintelligible non-sequitur.

We then decided to looked into it ourselves, doing the fact-checking that Ms. Elwan should have done, and quickly confirmed, based on court documents (Hebrew), that Kittana was in fact convicted for acts of terror he perpetrated in 2002 – the height of the 2nd Intifada – which included firing at soldiers and throwing a grenade at them.

We’ll be complaining to Guardian editors, asking that the article be amended to note Kittana’s conviction for terror offences, including attempted murder.


Combatting antisemitism through strategic venture philanthropy
For the past two decades major Jewish organizations have been sounding the alarm bells about the exponential rise of Jew-hatred in America and globally. They have been asking their members to financially support them in the fight against the resurgence of this centuries-old disease.

But while substantially more philanthropic dollars are being funneled to legacy organization for the purpose of fighting Jew-hatred, it is undeniable that antisemitism is continuing to grow in the United States. According to the ADL’s and AJC’s Hate Crime Reports, 2019 and 2020 were, respectively, the highest and third-highest years on record for cases of vandalism, harassment, and assault against Jews in the U.S. since 1979.

For generations, the traditional Jewish organizations have been focused on developing effective programs to promote Jewish continuity, education, leadership, community engagement, and many other social and cultural projects. But given these rising incidents of Jew-hatred in the United States, it’s worth asking whether or not they are as effective in fighting antisemitism, and if not – why.

For these large organizations, it is hard to change and adopt new strategies to combat antisemitism. Many of them disagree as to what is considered antisemitism and what isn’t. As such, they have difficulties on agreeing on policies and action plans to combat this evil.

The legacy groups have created unbelievable redundancy, with dozens of virtually identical organizations operating in silos, mired by conflicting interests and competition for donors.

Why would the large institutions change when very few of their donors demand that they do things different. Most donors, large and small, are giving in order to feel good, to belong to a social network, to interact with relevant business associates, to receive naming opportunities, and to obtain honors, respect, and influence. Making an impact with their donation dollars is a secondary priority for them.

This is why it is so critical that we complement what the legacy organizations are doing with new and different approaches. We need to fight against Jew-hatred by going on the offense, exposing and holding antisemites accountable, and we also need to convince Jewish donors to support impact-oriented projects, out of the box ideas, and innovative initiatives that can move the needle.

While there are no silver bullets, over the past two decades of battling in the trenches, I became acquainted with the unique vision of strategic venture philanthropy, a multi-network collaboration model that generates synergies among philanthropists and the most effective small and medium, startup-like organizations to effectuate real change.
Antisemitic incidents spike by 34%, break US records in 2021 - ADL
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism released its annual audit of antisemitic attacks on Tuesday, indicating a record number of such incidents in 2021 since the organization started to track incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault in the United States in 1979.

The ADL tabulated 2,717 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States in 2021.

“This is a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents tabulated in 2020 and the highest number on record,” the organization noted.

Most of the 1,776 incidents were cases of harassment. The number represents a 43% increase from the 1,242 recorded in 2020. The second most common incidents were cases of vandalism, with 853 overall.

An alarming uptick of 167% was also recorded in the number of antisemitic assaults, with 88 in 2021 compared to 33 in 2020. According to the ADL, these incidents involved 131 victims, and none of the assaults were deadly.

“Of the physical assaults against Jewish individuals, the vast majority (77 of 88) were perpetrated without the use of a deadly weapon,” the report said.


B’nai Brith Canada Marks Uptick in Antisemitism for Sixth Year in Row
For the sixth consecutive year, the number of antisemitic incidents in Canada has increased according to an audit by B’nai Brith Canada.

According to the report, a total of 2,799 incidents were recorded in 2021—up 7 percent from 2020—though officials believe that the number of cases may be even higher since not all are reported. In May 2021 alone, during the rocket barrages being launched by Hamas in the Gaza Strip into Israeli civilian populations, more than 250 instances of Jew-hatred were recorded.

“Most worrisome,” said the report about the rise in violent incidents, which went from “nine in 2020 to 75 in 2021, a stunning increase of 733.3 percent.” Vandalism accounted for more than 260 incidents with more than 2,400 reports of harassment.

While the number of antisemitic incidents in Ontario—Canada’s most-populated province—declined some 27 percent from 2020, other areas saw major increases.
Jews in Finland face discrimination, EU antisemitism expert says
The EU's antisemitism watchdog, Katharina von Schnurbein, told Yle that Finnish authorities need to do more to combat hate speech, including antisemitic narratives.

"Our surveys suggest that one in two Europeans sees antisemitism as a problem in their home country. Among Finns that figure is 17 percent," she said, noting that Finland's relatively small Jewish community may have impacted the results.

Some 1,500 people in Finland practice Judaism.

Schnurbein noted that antisemitic awareness was also relatively low in Finland.

"If we want to fight antisemitism, we have to make that effort visible," she said.

On a practical level, von Schnurbein said she wanted to see Finland take a stronger approach in tackling different forms of hate speech, including Holocaust denial, a point the Commission also made last year.

In Finland, antisemitism or Holocaust denial are not punishable offences, though they could amount to incitement to hatred, which is a criminal act.

Religious slaughter
During a recent visit to Finland, von Schnurbein heard the Jewish community's concerns regarding changes to animal welfare laws that could prevent Kosher slaughter, a non-stun slaughter method.

"We can't only consider the animals—we also have to think about the people. Ritual slaughter is important for Jews and Tatars. We're not talking about many animals," von Schnurbein explained.
Who is the anti-Zionist owner of the 'world's greenest football club'?
However, Vince has also used Forest Green to also promote his political agenda, not just his ecological one.

In an April Sky Bet League Two match played in Forest Green's award-winning eco-friendly field, the club hoisted the Palestinian flag "in solidarity with the Palestinian people," according to Vince.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has "all the same ingredients as the one in Ukraine," Vince wrote on Twitter to explain the decision. "Palestine has been under siege by Israel - by air land and sea, for decades."

"The US allows this, pumps billions into Israel to support its economy and military and uses its veto to block any meaningful action by the UN," Vince continued.

"What’s happening there is a disgrace to nations that collectively self-identify as the West," the green entrepreneur claimed. "It stands in stark contradiction to ‘our’ claims to moral superiority, civilization and democratic values."


Award-Winning Israeli Series ‘Beauty Queen of Jerusalem’ Coming to Netflix
The award-winning Israeli period melodrama “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” will be released on Netflix in select areas next month, Israel’s yes Studios announced on Monday.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Sarit Yishai-Levy, the series stars Michael Aloni (“Shtisel”), Hila Saada (“Beauty and the Baker”), Itzik Cohen (“Fauda”), Yuval Scharf (“McMafia”), Mali Levi (“The Angel”), and actress Swell Ariel Or in her debut role as Luna Ermosa, the title character.

Coming to Netflix in the US, UK, France, Spain and other markets, the first season will air in two parts on May 20 and July 29, each consisting of 10 episodes. For the first time in Israel, Aloni has dubbed his own character, Gabriel, into English for international audiences. The show was filmed in Hebrew, English, Ladino, Turkish and Arabic.

“The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” is set in the early-mid 20th century during the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate period and Israel’s War of Independence. Beginning in 1917, it tells a multi-generational story of the Sephardi Ermosa family, “interwoven with Judeo-Spanish traditions and the history of a fledgling country,” said yes Studios, the Tel Aviv-based producer and distributor behind “Fauda,” “Your Honor” and “Shtisel.”

The show won four awards at the Israeli TV Academy Awards in March, including best daily drama. It is the most expensive investment for yes TV and one of Israel’s priciest productions, filmed throughout the country including in historical locations in Jerusalem and Safed.

The series was created by Shlomo Mashiach, Ester Namdar Tamam and Oded Davidoff; written by Shlomo Mashiach (“Your Honor”); directed by Oded Davidoff; and produced by yes TV, and Dafna Prenner and Shai Eines from Artza Productions.
Israeli Embassy in India Unveils Art Mural Honoring Jewish Indian Actresses
Israel’s embassy in New Delhi, India, unveiled on Monday a street-art mural marking 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and paying tribute to three famous Indian-Jewish actresses.

The Israel Embassy in India collaborated with the Delhi Street Art initiative to create the mural honoring Pramila (a stage name for actress Esther Victoria Abraham), Sulochana (Ruby Myers) and Nadira (Florence Ezekiel). These actresses, all of Iraqi-Jewish descent, “made a mark in the early years of Indian cinema,” a plaque near the mural reads.

The artwork outside New Delhi’s Connaught Place was unveiled by Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon and Meenakshi Lekhi, India’s minister of state for external affairs and culture.

Pramila won the first Miss India pageant in 1947. The actress and model, who was born in Kolkata, starred in about 30 films as a stuntwoman. She also became the first female film producer in India after founding the Silver Films production company with her husband, and used her influence in the industry to push other women to take on acting roles, according to the Hindustan Times.

Sulochana, one of the most successful silent film stars in India, started her career in 1925 in “Veer Bala,” the Indian publication noted. By the mid-1930s she was one of the highest-paid female actors in India, according to the Hindustan Times. In 1973, she was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, Indian cinema’s highest honor.


Rapper 50 Cent to Perform in Israel This Summer
Fresh off his surprise Super Bowl halftime show performance in February, American rapper 50 Cent is heading to the Holy Land this summer, it was announced on Monday.

Curtis James Jackson III will be in Tel Aviv on July 4 for one show at Menora Mivtachim Arena, with tickets starting at over $100.

The Tel Aviv show is part of his world tour that opens this June 10 in London.

50 Cent last performed in Israel in 2006.

The summer concert season promises to be a big one in Israel after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting international travel and big events.

American pop rock band Maroon 5 will perform at Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Park on May 9 and 10. Also, English rock band Deep Purple is scheduled to perform on May 22 at the Menorah Mivtachim Arena and the following night at the Payis Arena in Jerusalem.


Venice’s frayed, shrinking 500-year-old Jewish Ghetto is planning a renaissance
Through a narrow, fraying sottoportico, or Venetian alleyway, and across a wooden footbridge, there is a wide square enclosed by rows of multicolored buildings.

Stepping into Venice’s Jewish Ghetto feels a bit like traveling back in time. On March 29, 1516, the Venetian Senate gated the city’s Jews here near a cannon factory, in one of the earliest examples of forced religious segregation.

In contrast to their Muslim, Greek Orthodox, and Christian neighbors, Venetian Jews were allowed to freely practice their religion as long as they remained inside the Ghetto, paid their taxes and rents (higher than other citizens), and stuck to a few occupations: moneylenders, doctors, traders and rag sellers.

They endured, and over time the Ghetto, crammed into the space of an acre, became the vibrant Jewish cultural capital of Europe. Early printing presses produced religious and secular works in Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish within the Ghetto; the 1609 Venice Haggadah is one of the most famous examples of the book that guides the Passover seder.

Centuries later, much of the architecture is in a precarious state, and the local Jewish community is much smaller than it was. It’s taking action — small steps at first — to reverse those trends in the wake of the failure of other high-profile campaigns.

“The community’s population probably peaked around 1630 with about 5,000 Jews of German, Italian, French, and Sephardic descent. Before the Shoah, between 1500 and 1800, they lived here. Nowadays, we are approximately 450 Jews,” said Paolo Navarro, vice president of the Jewish Community of Venice organization.
Actor Ben Foster on Body Transformation for Holocaust Biopic, Having Nightmares About Nazi Concentration Camp
Jewish actor Ben Foster committed to losing all of the weight necessary to play a Holocaust concentration camp inmate in the new biographical film “The Survivor,” telling Variety in an interview that the physical transformation shaped his experience of the role.

“I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror if I was in the camp scenes and didn’t reflect some version of loss that felt credible,” the actor told Variety about shedding the weight, in addition to performing the film’s fight scenes with real impact punches. “We see the documentaries, you see the photos, and you can’t forget that. So that was an opportunity to explore. I wanted to just see how far I could go and still be able to fight.”

“The Survivor,” from Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson, stars Foster as Harry Haft, who was forced by Nazis to box other prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp. After surviving World War II and moving to New York, Haft used his high-profile bout against Rocky Marciano in 1953 to find his lost love Leah. The film shows Haft during his time in the camp and also his present life, as he searches for Leah while living with trauma from the Holocaust.

The biopic, based on the book “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano” by Alan Haft, premieres April 27 on HBO.

Foster told Variety the film’s production team suggested using digital effects to portray the character’s weight loss and gain in the movie. But, Foster explained, “The one thing I knew was that I needed to lose the weight for myself, and fortunately, Barry and production were able to support that and we were able to shoot in order. So I was able to drop 62 pounds for the camp [scenes], and we took five weeks off, and I put on 50 for the ring. And then the last section of the film was the last decade with Harry and his story and I was able to indulge a lot more.”

Foster noted that while he would not encourage anyone to undergo such a drastic physical transformation, he is happy he took on the challenge.

“There’s a sensual element to the work that always draws me into a character. It’s got to be in the body,” he said. “So getting the opportunity to test myself, it’s kind of a selfish act, but for me, when you’re at such a deficit it makes my job easier. It’s easier to be hungry than to act hungry, right? And having that hunger inform the rest of Harry’s experience, I don’t think it’s something that you shake. The comedown of a role like this was much harder than getting into him.”
Global Jewish Population Not Yet Recovered From WWII, According to Israeli Data
The global Jewish population remained lower in 2020 than it was on the eve of the Second World War, according to statistics released on Monday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

At the close of 2020, the world Jewish population stood at 15.2 million, compared to 16.6 million in 1939, according to the CBS.

The report was released ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, which will be marked this year on Thursday.

On the other hand, the figures indicated astronomical growth in the percentage of Jews who reside in Israel, up from 3 percent in 1939 to 45 percent in 2020— marking the largest Jewish population in the world.

The global Jewish population in 1948 was 11.5 million, of whom only 650,00 (6 percent) resided in Israel, according to the figures.

At the end of 2021, the number of recognized Holocaust survivors living in Israel was about 165,000.

Out of the current Jewish global population, 6.9 million live in Israel and 6 million live in the United States. Some 445,000 live in France, 393,000 in Canada and 292,000 in the United Kingdom, according to the figures. Around 175,000 Jews live in Argentina, 150,000 in Russia, 118,000 in Germany and 118,000 live in Australia.

In Israel, out of a Jewish population of 6.9 million, 5.4 million were born in the country and 1.5 million were born abroad. Of those who immigrated, 1 million were born in Europe or North America, 284,400 were born in Africa, and 153,700 were born in Asia, according to the CBS.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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