Friday, May 13, 2022
From Congress to Instagram, We Must Always Call Out Jew-Hatred
Over the past few months, pro-Palestinian protests across the country in places such as New York City and Los Angeles featured shameless demonstrators burning Israeli flags and spewing the harshest rhetoric imaginable. The protesters were often chanting, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," and "We don't want two states, we want '48," both of which allude to the destruction of the Jewish state. In previous years, we would hear slogans suggestive of peace or a two-state solution, referring to living side by side; now, when it comes to the land, the pro-Palestinian side is not looking to share.Deborah Lipstadt: 'People, orgs. don't take antisemitism seriously'
Well, the truth is, they never were. If they were, they'd develop prosperous communities in Gaza and the West Bank—in the lands they've been given—instead of using these territories to launch missiles and plot suicide bombings. So now, after yet another episode of terrorizing Israel with weeks of Hamas- and ISIS-supported attacks on Israeli civilians, pro-Palestinian demonstrators here in the U.S. have a clear message: They are not looking to live side by side. They're asking for all of it—and the elimination of Jews as a bonus.
This is not a surprise for those who follow the politics of the region and how it has made its way here to the U.S. There is no such thing as simply being anti-Israel and not anti-Jewish, but the pro-Palestinian side was never audacious enough to say it. And if nothing more, these slogans heard on American street corners—openly calling for genocide of the only Jewish state on the planet—clearly and unequivocally merge the concepts of hate into one. They want Jews gone; as a country, and as a people.
It's quite telling of where we are in time. They are being clear about their message. But what are we, the supporters of the Jewish people and the Jewish state, doing in response? Put another way: How much antisemitism are we willing to tolerate, and how much further will their side's hatred go?
For a society that has become obsessed with equity and tolerance of all kinds, it is crazy to think when it comes to the world's most ancient monotheistic faith, there is now silence. And yet, antisemitism is everywhere.
Wherever you look, the sick and perverted tropes of Jew-hatred have penetrated. You hear it in formal settings such as American universities, our mainstream media and, notoriously, the hypocritical and sanctimonious United Nations, where countries with egregious human rights records are lionized while Israel is repeatedly recommended for investigations on bogus charges. You hear it from elected officials such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), whose Jew-hatred and focus on defaming and delegitimizing Israel ring louder than any demonstration of love for the country they serve. Woke companies such as Ben and Jerry's launched a boycott against Israel, all inspired by leadership more consumed with antisemitism than with perfecting the Chunky Monkey.
Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, the new envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, participated on Thursday in her first public event since being confirmed by the Senate last month.Bassem Eid: Abolish ‘Nakba Day’
In a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Lipstadt said that “too many people, organizations and institutions do not take antisemitism seriously.”
“They fail to include it in their litany of legitimate prejudices,” she said. “They wonder, 'what is it that Jews are complaining about? After all, they're powerful. They have no reason to complain.' Conversely, too often, when there is an act of antisemitism, those who condemn it cannot bring themselves to focus specifically on this particular prejudice, they condemn antisemitism together with all other acts of prejudice.”
“It's as if antisemitism is not a true outrage and cannot stand alone as something of real concern,” said Lipstadt. She also said that “we must acknowledge that antisemitism does not come from one end of the political spectrum. It is ubiquitous and it is espoused by people who disagree on everything else.”
“This does not mean that all threats are of equal severity,” she continued. “Sometimes the threat from one group might be more severe than that from another. One of the striking features, however, of this ubiquitous nature of antisemitism is irrespective of where it's coming from, it relies on the same template of charges.”
She said that too often, the antisemites use Israel as a foil for their antisemitism.
“They camouflage their antisemitism in attacks on Israel: 'We're not attacking Jews, we're criticizing the sovereign state,' they assure you,” said Lipstadt.
"Let me state something which the United States government has repeatedly affirmed - criticism of Israeli policies is not antisemitism. But when there is an imbalance in the criticism, a failure to see the wrongs of others, and attributing of blame to only one party and the use of double standards, one is compelled to ask what's the basis for this imbalance.”
The difference between a Palestinian culture taught to celebrate grievance and an Israeli culture that idealizes freedom is stark. The Christian minority population, for example, has plummeted in Palestinian Authority-controlled territory. In Bethlehem, it has dropped from 84% to 22% in the last decade alone. Meanwhile, a party with Islamic foundations has a critical role in Israel’s current government, and Israel’s Supreme Court recently appointed its first Muslim justice, Khaled Kabub.
Palestinians should celebrate our rich heritage and, like our Jewish cousins, grieve our losses. But now is the time for negotiated reconciliation, not the perpetuation of generation-old victimhood. “Nakba Day” is part of the victimhood problem, not part of the forward-looking solution. Reconciliation happens only when both sides take a step back and acknowledge joint suffering. “Nakba Day” does the reverse. Whereas Israel has three times offered Palestinians peace, dignity and independence, Yasser Arafat launched — and Mahmoud Abbas has failed to contain — the violent public culture of the 2000-05 Second Intifada, for which the 1998 establishment of “Nakba Day” can be understood as a buildup.
The fetishization of Israel’s very existence as a catastrophe is a distortion that wounds our children and leads them to war and suicide bombing. Nearly 1 million Jews in Islamic lands faced their own nakba after Israel’s independence. Perhaps if more Palestinians understood this, we would better understand our Israeli neighbors.
We must teach our children about our neighbors, seek understanding and champion peace. The Palestinian leadership should reverse course on the incitement against Israel and Jews — including the spread of antisemitic stereotypes — in public education and media. Instead, Palestinian schoolchildren and citizens should learn the history, the joys and the traumas of our neighbors the Israelis, with whom we have a great deal in common. In so doing, we can lay the foundations of a new Middle East, and cities like my native Jericho in the Jordan Valley can blossom as hubs of international cooperation and commerce. This can only be achieved if we learn to understand our neighbors’ grief, not exacerbate our own.
“Nakba Day” does the opposite and should be abolished.
Israel needs to get ready for Russia-style sanctions
None of this clears Israel, but it did help raise questions and prevent the immediate conclusion that Abu Akleh had been killed by Israel. If this can even be called a win, it is merely tactical.i24 News: Hillel Neuer on Why the U.N. Demonizes Israel
The details can help convince officials in the Pentagon and the White House as well as foreign military officers, but they will not sway public opinion – and that is where Israel is going to get hit hard in a future war against Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Does anyone really believe that when Israel does to Beirut what looks like what Russia did to Mariupol, the world will stand by and applaud?
If that bombing were to happen, it would of course be different. Russia has indiscriminately targeted Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. If Israel were to bomb Beirut, it would only be after thousands of rockets were fired into the Jewish state, and only against targets that are being used for military purposes.
But that is merely the “details,” like the question of whose bullet killed Abu Akleh. Most people don’t bother to learn the details since their minds are already made up by the Santoses and Hasans of the world, who never pass up an opportunity to put a picture of bombed-out Gaza or Beirut next to a picture of Mariupol and ask why the world isn’t sanctioning Jerusalem like it did Moscow.
This is going to be one of the greatest challenges for Israel in the coming years.
While the IDF has proven an amazing ability to accurately strike targets in Gaza with minimum casualties – as shown in last year’s operation in giving people an hour to vacate their buildings before attacking – that will not be possible in a future war with Hezbollah.
When that war erupts, Israel will be under unprecedented rocket fire across the country. There won’t be time to call buildings or “knock on roofs,” as the non-lethal tactic is called. The IDF will naturally need to retaliate, and though it will be justified, legitimate and purely out of self-defense, will Israel’s “good friend” Santos stand by Jerusalem’s side? Will companies like Apple, Google, Visa and Netflix not come under pressure to stop operations in Israel like some have done in Russia?
We know the answer. Israel needs to get ready.
266 views May 14, 2022 UN Watch's Hillel Neuer on Israel and the United Nations, from 1947 to today. Interview with Laura Cellier of i24 News on the early history of this relationship and thoughts on why Israel is singled out like no other country in the world. May 2022.
Is Israel an apartheid country?
You’ve asked me how to respond to your close friend who says Israel is an apartheid state, just as Amnesty International has claimed. You’ve visited Israel and you’ve read my book, which is why you wrote to me, but you feel that since you don’t live here you can’t know for sure that your friend isn’t right.What do Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens think about security, Israeli governance? -survey
In the book I included the charge of apartheid among the ways that Israel is accused of being the worst place in the world. It’s nothing new, as you know, for Jews to be maligned like this. At different times in history we were considered responsible for deicide, plagues and all the evils of the world. Now the Jewish state, where more Jews live than in any other country, is perceived as the world’s worst place. The United Nations, much more influential than Amnesty International, treats Israel this way. Every year the UN censures Israel far more than any other country.
There’s a very detailed and accurate analysis by NGO Monitor that explains all that is false in the Amnesty International report. One of the most striking observations of their analysis is that Amnesty International chose not to compare Israel in any way to apartheid South Africa. Yet, the term apartheid has only been used to describe what life was like in that one country. Amnesty International simply applies the label without having to acknowledge that there is no comparison possible.
In fact, people who lived under apartheid in South Africa are outraged that apartheid is trivialized by mislabeling Israel in this way. The terms Amnesty International used such as apartheid and occupation were ways of denigrating Israel without having to provide evidence. In fact, since Jimmy Carter published his book, Peace, Not Apartheid and since apartheid weeks began on campuses in the US, UK, Canada, and EU, apartheid has been the favored accusation against Israel. It’s the current worst thing in the world, the modern version of considering Jews to be the murderers of Jesus, the cause of the black plague, or responsible for all the evils afflicting Germany during the time of the Holocaust.
But, what can you say to your friend? Telling her about the Israel you experienced when you visited here probably won’t help. She may already know that Israel is actually the only country in the Middle East where Jews, Muslims, Druze and Christians are living together with full rights and freedom, where all professions and buying property are open to any citizen. She’s likely aware that members of all these groups serve in the Knesset and that everyone can freely practice their religion or not practice any religion. Why would Israel be rated the ninth happiest country in the world, and why would Arab Israelis report such high degrees of life satisfaction and belonging if it were an apartheid country?
I’ll take a guess that when your friend talks about Israel she is simultaneously talking about Palestine, and that she is really referring to all the area “from the river to the sea.” I’m sure you’ve heard the anti-Israel slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Have you heard the newer slogan? “We don’t want two states; we want all of it.” This one is not as catchy as the first, but it is less ambiguous.
A survey conducted IDSF/Habithonistim — Israel's Defense & Security Forum, asked Jewish and Arab Israelis their thoughts on Israel’s current security situation, as well as opinions on long-standing issues within the greater Israeli-Arab conflict.MEMRI: Jordan Continues To Provide Safe Haven For Ahlam Al-Tamimi, Who Has Been FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Since 2017
The survey found that 61% of all Israeli citizens are generally fearful of the current security situation in Israel — especially amid the wave of terror attacks in 2022 thus far. While 69% of Jewish Israelis said the situation was frightening to them personally, only 43% of Arab Israelis shared this sentiment.
Further, roughly 47% of all Israeli citizens said they feel the security presence was lacking, though more Israeli Arabs believed this to be the case — 71% — compared to just 44% within the Jewish sector.
While disagreements remain, Jewish and Arab Israelis both share a distrust for law enforcement — 66% of all citizens of Israel do not trust the police, with the lack of trust among Israeli Arabs standing at 73%.
Contrary to the Police, Israel’s National Guard is seen in a positive light, with support from 66% of the general public, including 44% of Israeli Arabs. 37% of Israeli Arabs even said they would serve in the national guard for the purpose of providing aid in disaster situations or restoring public order, compared to 54% of Jewish Israelis.
70% of Jewish respondents claim that Jewish violence against Arabs receives more media coverage than Arab violence against Jews — a sentiment that, surprisingly, 33% of Arab respondents agreed with.
While Jewish and Arab Israelis do share agreements, major points of contention remain. When asked of the Jewish People's sovereign right to live in the Land of Israel, merely 25% of Israel's Arabs responded that the Jewish People have a right of sovereignty to the Land of Israel, with a significant majority of about 75% believing that there is no justification of the Jewish People's right to sovereignty over the Land of Israel.
U.S. Attempts To Obtain Al-Tamimi's ExtraditionMEMRI: Antisemitic Messaging In Jordanian State Daily: Lavrov's Claim That Hitler Was Jewish Is Correct; Israel Exploits, Exaggerates The Holocaust
Over the years, there have been numerous U.S. attempts to obtain Al-Tamimi's extradition including a series of letters by Members of Congress.[11] The most recent letter,[12] sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 23, 2022, and signed by 11 Members, set out the details of the attack orchestrated by Al-Tamimi, her role in it, and her fame in Jordan and the region.
The letter included a quote from the 2011 MEMRI TV clip[13] of Al-Tamimi's response when asked in an interview if she would carry out "such a large-scale attack" again. She said: "Of course. I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not. This is the path... Do you want me to denounce what I did? That's out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner." It also asked for Blinken's response to a number of questions about the request for her extradition, how the State Department might obtain her extradition in light of Jordan's refusal to comply with the request, and the possibility of sanctions against Jordan.[14]
Al-Tamimi's family in Jordan has urged King Abdullah to "close the file" and "reject the U.S. demands that are based on political considerations, not legal ones."[15]
There is a precedent for extradition: In 1995, immediately after the two countries signed the treaty, Jordan extradited Eyad Ismail Najim, a Jordanian citizen charged with driving the van that carried a bomb into the World Trade Center in the February 1993 bombing.[16] But Najim was reportedly extradited only after he signed documents agreeing to stand trial in the U.S., not because of a court ruling.[17]
The issue of Al-Tamimi's extradition and withholding aid to Jordan over it came up during the Trump administration. In written answers to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ambassador to Jordan Henry Wooster, who was the nominee at the time, stated: "The United States has multiple options and different types of leverage to secure Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi's extradition. We will continue to engage Jordanian officials at all levels." Asked specifically if aid to Jordan would be part of that leverage, Wooster replied: "If confirmed, I would explore all options to bring Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi to justice, secure her extradition, and address the broader issues associated with the extradition treaty."[18]
Over the last 15 years, annual U.S. aid to Jordan has nearly quadrupled in historical terms. The U.S. has provided economic and military aid to Jordan since 1951 and 1957, respectively; as of April 14, 2022, total bilateral U.S. aid to Jordan through FY2019 amounted to approximately $23.8 billion. The President's FY2023 budget request includes $1.45 billion for Jordan.[19]
Mocking The U.S. On Arab TV For Its Powerlessness To Extradite Her
From her home base in Jordan, Al-Tamimi regularly goes on Arab TV to mock the U.S. government for its powerlessness to extradite her. In fact, she specifically said, in March 2019 on Al-Jazeera TV: "Being in Jordan has given me strength because Jordan does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. This led to the issuing of a legal decision [in Jordan] refusing my extradition, and Jordan's position on that matter is very clear."
She also regularly praises the terror operation that she orchestrated, and her own part in it. Most recently, in a video posted on the "Gathering4youth" YouTube channel on October 4, 2021, she called the bombing "the crown on my head" and bragged that she had "joined the annals of history by committing the best act."
In 2011, she boasted of the number of casualties she caused in the bombing:
The tension between Israel and Jordan over the events at Al-Aqsa during the recent weeks is reflected, inter alia, in an increase in the anti-Israeli tone of the Jordanian state press. In addition to articles scathingly critical of Israel's policy, the Jordanian state daily Al-Rai also published several articles that included antisemitism and Holocaust denial. The authors of these articles justified the recent statements by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said that Hitler was of Jewish origin and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is proof that Jews are capable of adopting Nazi ideology. One of the writers even provided historical "evidence" that that Hitler was a Jew.Jordan’s FM says Jerusalem holy sites are ‘occupied Palestinian land’
The articles also stated that the claims about the scope of the Holocaust are exaggerated, that Israel amplifies the Holocaust and uses it to extort the West and squeeze it for money, that Israel presents the Jews as the only victims of the Nazis, and that the Zionist movement collaborated with the Nazi regime.
Some of the articles also made other antisemitic claims. One stated that Global Zionism, headed by the Rothschild family, spreads terror in the world, and another claimed that the Jews had a hand in causing the downfall of the Soviet Union.
The following are translated excerpts from these articles in Jordan's state daily Al-Rai.
Jordanian Journalist: Israel Exploits The Holocaust; Russian FM Lavrov Was Right In Saying That Zelinsky's Judaism Is No Proof That He Is Not A Nazi Sympathizer
Al-Rai columnist Muhammad Kharroub wrote on May 8, 2022 that Israel trades in the Holocaust to extort money from the world, and that Jewish and Zionist leaders made deals with the Nazi regime. He also stated that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was right when he said that Zelinsky being Jewish does not mean he cannot be a Nazi sympathizer. Kharroub wrote: "Even before, and especially after the racist settlement plan of the Zionist movement succeeded in Palestine with the creation of its state on the ruins of the Palestinian people – this [movement] never stopped exploiting [the Holocaust], i.e., extorting financial compensation and military, political and diplomatic support [from various countries], and using the weapon of [accusations of] antisemitism against anyone who opposed or questioned the Zionist narrative. The Zionists' exploitation of the crimes committed by the Nazi monster, and their claims that the Jews were the only victims of the Nazis, never ceased, while the historical facts and the information on the ground proved that the crimes of the Nazi machine also targeted members of other religions, [ethnic] groups and nationalities. Proof of this is the UN resolution that designated January 27 as the [international] day for commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. [The UN chose this date] because January 27, 1945 was the day on which the Soviet forces liberated the detention and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, [even though] the victims at that camp were not all Jews but belonged 56 different nationalities, [ethnic] groups and religions. And yet the Zionist Movement and Israel did not accept the UN resolution, and chose their own day [for commemorating the Holocaust], so as to monopolize the Holocaust and continue to trade in it and commit extortion in its name…
"The persistent Zionist-Jewish exploitation of the Holocaust continues and has even increased, so that the imperialist Western countries have continued to succumb to the Zionist blackmail and narrative since the establishment of the state and until this very day. [This is accomplished] by defaming and leveling accusations of antisemitism… at anyone who dares to expose the facts or tries to shed light on the deeds of the Nazi monster against members of [other] religions, [ethnic] groups and nationalities who were targeted by the Nazi war machine.
Amid ongoing tensions in Jerusalem, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Tuesday that Israel has “no sovereignty” over holy sites in the city, which he said were “occupied Palestinian land.”Stop Jordan’s false claims of control in Jerusalem
Jordan ruled the West Bank and East Jerusalem from 1948 until the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel captured the area and subsequently claimed sovereignty in the Old City and an expanded Jerusalem. Jordan has long maintained that its treaties with Israel grant it custodianship over Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim holy sites; while Israel has never accepted this claim, it grants day-to-day administration of the Temple Mount to the Jordan-funded Waqf.
In an interview with Jordanian Al-Mamlaka TV, the top diplomat proclaimed that “Israel has no sovereignty in the Al-Aqsa Mosque — it is a place of Muslim worship. Only the Jordanian Waqf has full authority over the management of the compound.”
Safadi expressed hope that tensions at the holy site will soon calm down, but said that “the only way is by respecting the status quo.”
He accused Israel of “making it difficult for the Waqf to take steps in order to maintain security in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as interfering with Waqf members’ duties.”
“The Waqf has appointed dozens of new workers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex but Israel is putting obstacles in their way,” Safadi said.
According to numerous media reports, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan wants Israel to relinquish any last vestiges of control over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Instead, the Jordanians are baselessly claiming exclusive “custodianship” over the holy site.The Israel Guys: King of Jordan LIES About Israel Persecuting Christians
This week, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi brazenly declared that “Israel has no sovereignty over the holy sites in Jerusalem! It is a Muslim place of worship, and only the Jordanian Wakf has full authority over the management of the compound,” he avowed. And with additional chutzpa, he added “This is occupied Palestinian land.”
Two weeks ago, the overheated Jordanian Prime Minister, Bisher al-Khasawneh, saluted Palestinian rioters on the Temple Mount “who proudly stand like minarets, hurling their stones in a volley of clay at the Zionist sympathizers defiling al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the Israeli occupation government.”
All this, on the eve of today’s meeting in the White House between Jordanian King Abdullah and US President Joe Biden, with the issue of Jerusalem expected to be one of the main topics of the meeting.
Israel has good reason to fear that Abdullah and Biden are cooking up an attempt to impose new pro-Arab “arrangements” on the Temple Mount, with Biden coming to Israel in late June to closely oversee this issue.
Jordan claims that Israel is violating the “historic status quo” – which is a bad joke because the so-called “status quo” has been killed by the Wakf and radical Islamists who have turned the Temple Mount into ground zero for battle against Israel.
The king of Jordan went to New York this week to try and conjure up support from the Christian community for the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. The only problem is, that the responsibility for this persecution lies squarely on him and the Palestinian Authority, not Israel.
While in New York, he also received the Path to Peace Award, presented by the Path to Peace Foundation affiliated with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in appreciation of his role in promoting interfaith harmony and dialogue, as well as bolstering prospects for peace, and in recognition of Jordan’s humanitarian efforts to host refugees.
Mark Regev: Human rights vs public safety: Administrative detention in Israel
The critics point to the fact that the administrative detainee has yet to commit a crime, detention being a preventative tool based on the concern that the individual plans to break the law in the future. The detainee is therefore imprisoned without having committed a crime and in the absence of the due process to which he or she is entitled.JCPA: Ra'am and the Israeli Islamic Movement's Interaction with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood
B’Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, characterizes the process thus: “The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations, with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released and without being charged, tried or convicted.”
Although international law permits administrative detention – it has been used in democracies like Australia, Britain, India, and the United States – the practice does undoubtedly involve the abandonment of normal legal procedures: the specifics of the charges are not presented in an open court, the state’s evidence is not introduced in a transparent manner and the defendant’s legal team is incapable of cross-examining prosecution witnesses.
The Israeli government counters that it is untenable to wait for an attack to materialize and only then bring the perpetrator to trial. It holds that if there are reasonable grounds to conclude that an individual is a risk to public safety, it is only right to preempt and arrest, as effective counterterrorism necessitates a strategy based on prevention.
And if prevention is key, then efficient intelligence gathering is vital. The Shin Bet, the government agency at the forefront of Israel’s counterterrorism efforts, works hard on obtaining actionable intelligence on upcoming terror attacks to thwart their occurrence.
The agency argues that often information on planned terrorist activity will come from an intelligence source whose exposure in an open courtroom will destroy its future effectiveness. If a human source is disclosed, presumably the Shin Bet’s agent will immediately face murderous retribution from terrorist organizations. If it is an electronic method of gathering information, the divulgence of a specific means can bring into question its continued viability.
Statements on the Question of the Islamic Movement’s Link with the Muslim Brotherhood and HamasCanada’s Future Prime Minister Needs to Come Clean About Her Nazi Collaborationist Grandfather
Yahya Sinwar’s pronouncements seem to reflect a process of dialogue and consultation between the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement and Hamas on the question of Ra’am’s joining Israel’s coalition government. Sinwar said Hamas had opposed such a step from the beginning, but respected the decision that the Islamic Movement reached following a situation assessment.
In an interview to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper on June 26, 2021, after Ra’am joined the coalition, Mansour Abbas referred to the Southern Branch and Ra’am’s dialogue with Hamas on the issue by stating:5 “No one can say what positions Hamas takes on this matter, since it left it to us on the basis of the people of Mecca understanding the narrow paths better than others” (i.e., trusting Ra’am’s judgment because it is familiar with the political circumstances in Israel).
The expression—“people of Mecca understanding the narrow paths better than others”—was paraphrased from Ra’am’s heading for its statement in response to Sinwar’s speech.
In the same interview to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Abbas did not deny that there would be future contacts between Ra’am and “Gaza” (i.e., Hamas, the power broker there) to help promote the goals of the Palestinian people.
On Jan. 26, 2022, in the midst of Russia’s preparations to invade Ukraine, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a statement outlining why Canada—home to the largest Ukrainian diaspora outside Russia—would support Ukraine unconditionally, outlining a Manichean view of a “struggle between democracy and authoritarianism.” “Canadians—our own parents and grandparents—fought and died,” she continued, “to establish a rules-based international order during and after the Second World War.”German police: 5 stabbed and wounded on train in suspected Islamic terror attack
Freeland’s Ukrainian grandfather on her mother’s side, Michael Chomiak, did nothing of the sort. During the War, he edited Krakivski Visti, a Nazi propaganda rag in occupied Krakow that was printed on a press confiscated from a Jewish newspaper. Freeland, of course, is not her grandfather, nor is she responsible for his actions. But she is responsible for bringing him up at every opportunity to portray him as a liberal democrat who profoundly influenced her politics.
“My maternal grandparents fled western Ukraine after Hitler and Stalin signed their non-aggression pact in 1939. They never dared to go back, but they stayed in close touch with their brothers and sisters and their families, who remained behind,” she wrote in a 2015 essay for the Brookings Institution titled “My Ukraine.” “For the rest of my grandparents’ lives, they saw themselves as political exiles with a responsibility to keep alive the idea of an independent Ukraine, which had last existed, briefly, during and after the chaos of the 1917 Russian Revolution. That dream persisted into the next generation, and in some cases the generation after that.”
A Toronto Star puff piece from 2015 described Freeland’s grandfather as a “lawyer and journalist” who fled western Ukraine after the Soviets invaded, while conveniently ignoring the nature of his journalism. “All my grandparents loved Canada but my Ukrainian grandfather was the most passionate,” Freeland said. In 2016, she used the occasion of Black Ribbon Day, which perpetuates a false equivalence between Nazism and communism, to tweet a loving tribute to her maternal grandparents. “They were forever grateful to Canada for giving them refuge and they worked hard to bring freedom and democracy to Ukraine,” Freeland tweeted.
Police have arrested an Iraqi-born man and are investigating a possible Islamic extremist motive after five passengers received knife wounds on a regional train in western Germany, authorities said Friday.Outrage as prosecutors agree to slash sentences for pair of NYC lawyers who firebombed NYPD van during 2020 BLM riots: Face just two years behind bars instead of life
The train was traveling near the western city of Aachen Friday morning when a man began attacking fellow passengers “randomly and arbitrarily,” state interior minister Herbert Reul said, according to the news agency dpa.
There were approximately 270 passengers on the train, Reul said. A police officer who happened to be among the passengers overpowered the 31-year-old suspect with the help of two other passengers, state police confirmed.
Reul described the incident as “a gruesome crime that was stopped in an enormous act of courage.”
In total, five people were wounded, Reul said. Police confirmed the casualties were being treated at local hospitals and that none of them was in critical condition.
Reul said the suspect was already known to authorities. However, he added that authorities suspected, but have not confirmed that he had an Islamist motive for the attack.
A top police union boss has blasted the decision to dramatically-shorten the sentences for two lawyers who admitted firebombing an empty NYPD van during the 2020 BLM riots.CAA writes to Leeds University over its website linking to Twitter account with numerous tweets that breach of International Definition of Antisemitism
Patrick J. Lynch, President of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, hit out as it was revealed Colinford Mattis, 35, and Urooj Rahman, 33, now face just two years in jail.
The pair had originally faced up to life behind bars after torching the van in Brooklyn in May 2020, days after George Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.
But the disgraced former lawyers had their terrorism charges reduced to conspiracy to commit arson thanks to a plea deal, according to a letter filed Tuesday.
Prosecutors have said they'll ask for the pair to be given between 18 and 24 months behind bars, although the sentencing judge has the discretion to impose a sentence of up to five years.
During a hearing at Brooklyn Federal Court in October 2021, the pair were still facing 10 years behind bars - but are now set to score a much lighter sentence.
Lynch told Fox News: 'The judge must reject this request. There is absolutely no justification for lowballing the sentence for an anti-police terrorist attack.'
Previously on EoZ (2020): The anti-Israel “human rights lawyer” who tried to firebomb an NYPD police car
Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the University of Leeds to point out that its website links to a Twitter account with numerous tweets that breach the International Definition of Antisemitism.Student sues Temple University in Philadelphia for allegedly taking no action over her complaints about her roommate’s antisemitism
Ray Bush, who holds the Emeritus Professor of African Studies and Development Politics, has a profile page on the University’s website that links to his Twitter account.
Last year, Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to the University regarding Prof. Bush, who was then a Professor of African Studies and Development Politics. Prof. Bush appeared to have tweeted from the Twitter handle “@raymondobush” a large number of tweets that breach the Definition.
There were three types of breaches.
First, the tweets stated that Israel’s existence itself is unacceptable, using the exact language of the Definition in referring to Jewish self-determination as “a racist endeavour”. The Definition states that “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is antisemitic.
It has been reported that a student at Temple University in Philadelphia is suing the University after she claimed that administrators did not do enough after she made her complaint about her roommate’s antisemitism.Expelled Labour member and controversial filmmaker Ken Loach reportedly set to headline Unite union event for political recruits
Sasha Westrick, 18, alleges that Temple rejected her complaints about her roommate’s alleged repeated antisemitic outbursts. They included abuse over the social media platform Snapchat, in which Ms Westrick was sent an image of herself with the caption “I hate Jews” underneath.
Ms Westrick was given the alleged perpetrator as a roommate during the autumn 2021 semester because they were both on the rowing team. However, their relationship quickly soured, with the roommate allegedly mocking Ms Westrick for the way she was dressed before attending a Shabbat dinner. The roommate then asked Ms Westrick for money on the grounds that all Jews are wealthy. It is also alleged that Westrick’s other roommate participated in the antisemitic bullying.
Though the University acknowledged in a written statement that the roommate did indeed make antisemitic remarks, Ms Westrick claims that the administration did nothing to help her.
Ms Westrick’s lawyer, Robert Mozenter, said in a press release that his client was “being bullied by two of her roommates and crew teammates and Temple University did nothing to help her and eventually used the University’s own policies and procedures to make Sasha’s situation worse.”
Ken Loach has reportedly been advertised as the keynote speaker at an event organised by a leading union for its top political recruits.‘F—ing Jew’: Chicago Councilwoman Reports Former City Official for Antisemitic Invective
The controversial filmmaker, who was expelled by the Labour Party last year, has been invited to headline the Unite Political School, an annual event in Durham in July.
Mr Loach is billed as a “great socialist filmmaker” for the two-day conference of guest speakers, group activities and panels.
Mr Loach’s voice was among the loudest of those who attempt to dismiss Labour’s antisemitism crisis as non-existent and a right-wing smear campaign. He claimed that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was subjected to a “torrent of abuse” that was “off the scale” and that regardless of what he did, the “campaign” of antisemitism accusations was “going to run and run”. He described the BBC’s Panorama investigation into Labour antisemitism as “disgusting because it raised the horror of racism against Jews in the most atrocious propagandistic way, with crude journalism…and it bought the propaganda from people who were intent on destroying Corbyn.”
He was also reportedly behind a motion passed by Bath Labour Party branding the Panorama programme a “dishonest hatchet job with potentially undemocratic consequences” and asserting that it “disgraced the name of Panorama and exposed the bias endemic within the BBC.” John Ware, the programme’s reporter, is apparently considering legal action against Mr Loach for his comments.
A Chicago city councillor has filed a formal complaint against a municipal official after he was caught on voicemail using an antisemitic slur about a local rabbi.West Mercia police won’t investigate Nick Griffin over tweet showing giant grotesque spider with Star of David on its head urging forward horde of zombies to destroy civilisation as it isn’t “racially offensive language”
Local news outlet Chicago Block Club reported on the incident on Thursday. Alderperson Samantha Nugent reported her ward superintendent, Andrew Szorc, to the city’s Department of Human Resources after she was made aware of the voicemail from a call made last September, she said.
The incident was investigated by the city’s Office of the Inspector General, which recommended the Department of Streets and Sanitation fire Szorc and place him on the city’s do-not-hire list, according to the office’s quarterly report, which was released last month. Street and Sanitation officials agreed. Szorc retired before he could be fired, the paper reported.
Szorc had been trying to get ahold of a rabbi at a local school to discuss trash and overgrown weeds on campus, according to the report. After leaving a message, Szorc did not hang up and the voicemail continued recording. He was heard saying to another person, “Yeah, yeah, I left two messages for [unintelligible]. He didn’t call me back. F***ing Jew,” according to the report.
The rabbi who received the voicemail forwarded it to another rabbi, and they brought it to the attention of Nugent, who said she had spoken up in defense of both the rabbi, who was not named, and her Jewish constituents.
West Mercia Police have declined our request to investigate the former leader of the BNP after assessing that his tweet suggesting a giant grotesque spider with a star of David on its head urging forward a horde of barbarians – whom he appeared to say should “burn in hell” – to destroy civilisation did not qualify as “racially offensive language”.Historian accuses NY’s Jewish Museum of sanitizing filmmaker’s World War II record in new exhibit
Nick Griffin posted the tweet on 6th December 2021 before deleting it. In it, he wrote: “If anyone had told me 5 years ago that I’d post this, I’d have said they’d gone mad. But now the world has gone mad (thanks to its current masters) so this is where I have to stand. All other differences must be left aside until the #GreenResetters burn in hell.”
The text accompanied an image of a giant grotesque spider with a star of David on its head urging forward a horde of zombies waving flags and banners in favour of LGBT rights, Black Lives Matter, feminism and equality – essentially representing different minority groups apparently under the influence of the Jews – against a Saracen and Christian crusader, presumably representing Western and Islamic civilisations. The clear message is that Christianity and Islam must unite to repel Jewish subversion of civilisation.
The tweet from the notorious figure was originally reported to Gloucestershire Police and then transferred to West Mercia Police, which declined to investigate, logging the case merely as a “hate incident” rather than a crime, despite the explanations that we provided for the numerous antisemitic tropes in the image, ranging from Jewish power to parasiticism and Jewish inhumanity to the corrupting influence of the Jews.
Nevertheless, the police force appears consistently to have looked only at the text of the tweet, explaining that “for an offence to be made out under section 127(a) of the 2003 [Communications] Act the accused must intend for the words to be grossly offensive to whom they relate or must be aware that they may be taken as such. The post was not considered grossly offensive, although it was not pleasant, and would shock and offend, however, there was no use of racially offensive language in the post and it was not directed at one particular group or person.” The police repeatedly failed to address the image in their assessments. Had they done so, they would surely have found that the provisions of the act were made out.
We are considering further legal options.
A historian is accusing the Jewish Museum in New York of distorting the truth about a major artist’s ethically contentious conduct during and after World War II.Antisemitic German COVID-19 Conspiracy Theorist Will Face Incitement Charges After All
Lithuanian-born Jonas Mekas, the godfather of American avant-garde film, who died in 2019, is the subject of a major exhibit currently running at the museum.
The exhibit, “The Camera Was Always Running,” celebrates Mekas’ role as a “filmmaker, poet, critic, and institution-builder” who “was forced to flee his native Lithuania and [was] unable to return until 1971.” Although Mekas was not Jewish, he ran a series of film screenings at the museum in the late 1960s, when it was one of the few major venues in New York City hosting contemporary art.
According to Michael Casper, a researcher at Yale University who specializes in the history of Lithuania (and Hasidic Brooklyn), Mekas was more involved with the Lithuanian movement that aided the Nazi cause than he had ever let on.
A few years before the exhibit opened, Casper published an essay in the New York Review of Books documenting Mekas’ role in running two newspapers containing Nazi propaganda and antisemitic bile during World War II. Casper also noted that “unlike other members of his activist circle, Mekas was not an anti-Semitic polemicist.”
The historian argued that Mekas, in his extensive repertoire of films and writings, and in interviews, fostered confusion about his wartime experience by conflating dates and fudging certain details while allowing many to believe he was a Jew or a Holocaust survivor, or that he had spent the war fighting against the Nazis.
An outspoken COVID-19 conspiracy theorist in Germany who was cleared of antisemitic incitement charges last November is to face criminal proceedings after all.UK Couple Offers to Remove Hate Tattoos at No Charge
The public prosecutor in the state of Schleswig-Holstein announced on Thursday that Sucharit Bhakdi — a former professor of microbiology at the University of Mainz who emerged as a vocal conspiracy theory advocate at the height of the pandemic — would now have to answer to incitement charges on two separate counts.
The charges relate to comments Bhakdi made in a video that was widely circulated online to support his failed bid for election to the German parliament. Bhakdi, a German citizen born in the US to parents who were Thai diplomats, said that Jews were a people who had “learned the evil” from their Nazi persecutors.
“The people who fled this country, where there was arch evil, and founded their own country, they have turned their country into something that is even worse than [Nazi] Germany was,” Bhakdi opined.
“That’s the bad thing about Jews: They learn well,” he continued. “There is no people that learns better than they do. But they have now learned the evil — and implemented it. That is why Israel is now … a living hell.”
To the chagrin of Jewish leaders, the public prosecutor in the city of Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, decided last November that Bhakdi’s remarks did not constitute incitement. “The statements of the accused in the video are directed primarily against the State of Israel as such, while drawing on the local policy in the context of measures to curb COVID 19 pandemic concerns,” a statement from the prosecutor’s office explained at the time.
A couple in the United Kingdom who have a tattoo studio is offering to remove swastikas and other hate tattoos from customers for free.Fears of antisemitic vandal attack on Licoricia statue in Winchester
Hayley Allen and Richard De’Ath, who have a tattoo parlor in Cliddesden in Southern England, said they had been previously asked to remove hateful tattoos and decided they want to help people who got such tattoos “by mistake” and no longer want them.
“I know that people’s opinions can be quite strong with regards to this. And I think everybody’s entitled to a chance to make amends for their mistakes,” Allen told the Basingstoke Gazette. “So we decided that we were going to open the campaign to help people to get rid of any tattoos that encourage hate, anti-Semitic, racist, sexist, homophobic and anything like that.”
According to the publication, Allen has been a tattoo artist for 18 years, and De’Ath has recently been trained in tattoo removal.
Allen told Campaign Against Antisemitism that she has received positive feedback for her initiative. She said one man who wanted to remove his swastika tattoo “was embarrassed by it, and he’s an older guy now. … I think it was a younger, stupid mistake.”
“I’m not very judgmental of people, and I do believe that everyone should have the option to change any mistakes that are made,” she said. “I wasn’t shocked, I wasn’t disgusted or insulted or anything. And that again is why we decided to do the campaign. We want people to have the option to change, and I’m not going to discriminate against them.”
There are fears that a recently unveiled statue of Britain’s most prominent medieval Jewish woman has been damaged by antisemitic vandals.Now in spotlight, Dubai Jews struggle for public synagogue
The life-size bronze statue of 13th-century businesswoman Licoricia and her son, Asher, which was installed at Winchester Discovery Centre in February, seems to have been disfigured around the boy’s face. The figure’s eye, nose and mouth appear to have been peeled.
Local Jewish resident David del Monte said: “I fear that this could be an act of antisemitic vandalism.
“I think the council may need to look at improved CCTV for the statue. While most of Winchester has welcomed the artwork, there are some who have not.”
The JC was passed evidence of one local expressing hostile views about the statue. The resident wrote online:
“This is the council that took such pride in erecting a statue of a medieval loan shark and her slum-landlord progeny.”
The statue was unveiled at a ceremony featuring the Chief Rabbi in February this year.
Tony Stoller, a trustee of the Licoricia of Winchester Appeal, told the JC there appeared to be “minor damage” to the statue.
“The charity is currently seeking advice on how it could be repaired”, he added.
Every Saturday, in secluded beach villas, hotel banquet halls and luxury apartment towers across Dubai, Jews arrive to worship at some of the world’s most hidden synagogues even as the United Arab Emirates encourages the dramatic growth and openness of its Jewish community.80 Israel-founded unicorns now dot the United States
Plans to build a permanent sanctuary for Dubai’s fast-expanding congregation have sputtered to a standstill, Jewish leaders say. The new community is running up against hurdles that religious groups long have grappled with in this federation, where the state’s official religion of Islam is closely monitored, non-Muslim practice is controlled and religious buildings are limited.
The fast-growing population of Jewish immigrants to the UAE — including an influx of Israelis after the countries normalized relations in 2020 and recently of Russians after the war on Ukraine — may feel freer than ever to express their identity in this autocratic Arab sheikhdom, which has sought to brand itself as an oasis of religious tolerance.
A Jewish nursery has sprung up. So has a mikvah, or ritual bath for women. New kosher restaurants do brisk business. Recent Passover seders drew thousands. But without a home base, some Jewish leaders fear a state of perpetual limbo.
“You cannot grow a community in a hotel,” said Elie Abadie, senior rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates. “It gives the feeling of instability, of not belonging.”
Religious groups seeking to establish new sanctuaries contend with convoluted rules in the country, where expats outnumber Emirati Muslims nearly nine to one. Dubai has declared just two space-starved zones buildable for religious sanctuaries.
The main church compound — land the government is now offering for a synagogue — rests on the furthest reaches of the city, a dusty area by the Jebel Ali Port and local aluminum smelter.
There are now 80 Israeli-founded unicorns — -privately held companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more — based in the United States, according to the United States–Israel Business Alliance https://nyisrael.org/ (USIBA).What to do and see on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street
Each of these unicorns has at least one Israeli founder and global or regional headquarters in the United States.
Making an analogy to racecars, USIBA President Aaron Kaplowitz said that Israeli innovation might be compared to “a flashy red Corvette that draws considerable capital investment on the strength of exciting game-changing solutions” but actually is more like a Ferrari, “a powerful economic engine that employs tens of thousands of Americans and generates billions of dollars in local economies.”
The nine states with Israeli-founded unicorn headquarters are California (32), New York (26), Massachusetts (10), New Jersey (4), Florida (2), Illinois (2), Texas (2), Oregon (1) and Washington (1).
The combined total valuation for all 80 unicorns amounts to $224.8 billion.
Kaplowitz said that although Manhattan and Silicon Valley are generating Israeli-founded unicorns at “an unprecedented clip,” the real story here is that Israeli founders are identifying states beyond New York and California as viable options to grow their companies, source local talent, and establish a robust US presence.”
Jerusalem is mostly known for its impressive history and revered sacred sites, but it also contains one of the liveliest streets in Israel.
On a visit to the pedestrian-only Ben Yehuda Street, you’ll discover trendy cafés, mouthwatering street food, street musicians, boutique hotels and superb gift shops that will make you go Tel Aviv who?
Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem is a midrachov (in Hebrew, midracha means sidewalk, and rechov means street) closed to vehicular traffic.
It is one of the busiest spots in Jerusalem, mostly due to its central location: Ben Yehuda joins King George Street and Jaffa Road to form the “Jerusalem Triangle.”
This prime hangout attracts tourists from all over the world looking for Jerusalem’s best shopping experience and is no less popular with locals, who are in-the-know about the best eateries around.
In this ultimate street guide, we will veer you away from the tourist traps and give you an insider look at the best that Ben Yehuda has to offer.
The rest is history
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