Wednesday, July 06, 2022

07/06 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: Boycotting Israel Isn’t Free Speech; The Nazi Roots of Islamist Hate; Judge Denies B&J’s Bid for Restraining Order Preventing Sale of Its Israeli Business

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Boycotting Israel Isn’t Free Speech
The idea that anti-BDS laws violate free speech has been embraced by progressives, and by Democratic lawmakers wary of anti-Israel primary challengers, as a way of fighting for BDS while claiming not to support it. Meanwhile, Axios reported last October that Ben & Jerry’s founders were stumped when asked why they were boycotting Israel alone.

The company broadly condemns what it views as injustices around the world, including “systemic racism” in America. Axios’s Alexi McCammond asked Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield: “You guys are big proponents of voting rights. Why do you still sell ice cream in Georgia? Texas—abortion bans. Why are you still selling there?”

“I don’t know,” Mr. Cohen replied. “It’s an interesting question. I don’t know what that would accomplish. We’re working on those issues, of voting rights. . . . I think you ask a really good question. And I think I’d have to sit down and think about it for a bit.” She pressed him on the abortion question and he said: “By that reasoning, we should not sell any ice cream anywhere. I’ve got issues with what’s being done in almost every state and country.” Which leaves the question: Why boycott only Israel?

Unilever is the second major company in recent years to walk back an Israel boycott. The first was Airbnb. Human Rights Watch goaded the company to adopt a boycott on West Bank rental listings. States terminated contracts and investment with Airbnb pursuant to anti-BDS laws, and the company agreed to drop the boycott to settle lawsuits brought by Israelis who were harmed by its policy.

Efforts to push companies to boycott Israel won’t fade away soon. The primary goal isn’t economic harm, but making it culturally and politically acceptable to shun the Jewish state. What is most important about both the vindication of the state anti-BDS laws and the repudiation of the ice-cream embargo is their underlying message: The moralistic rhetoric of Israel boycotts can’t disguise their bigotry.
Jeffrey Herf: The Nazi Roots of Islamist Hate
Husseini’s hatred, which Küntzel calls “Islamic antisemitism,” was the result of the fusion of Husseini’s indigenous, autonomous interpretation of Islam with the modern conspiracy theories of Nazism. Küntzel argues that the decision of the Arab Higher Committee and then of the Arab League to go to war in 1947-1948 should be understood as a continuation of a decade-long anti-Jewish war that Husseini and his followers and associates in the Muslim Brotherhood had been waging since 1937—that is, before, during, and after his presence in Nazi Berlin. Küntzel presents the fateful decisions to reject partition and invade the new state of Israel to be direct consequences of the Islamic antisemitism that emerged in the previous decade.

The non-indictment of Husseini and his return to the Middle East was understood at the time by American liberals and leftists to be one of the bitter fruits of an anticommunist consensus that diminished, if not displaced, the passions of wartime antifascism and anti-Nazism. Though in the crucial years of 1945 to 1949, the State Department was well aware of the extremism of the Muslim Brotherhood, it declined to bring that evidence to the public or to incorporate it into the public themes of American diplomacy.

The actions of the Soviet Union at first differed sharply from the Western desire to sweep Islamist Nazism under the rug. From May 1947 to May 1949, the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes in Poland and Czechoslovakia offered consequential diplomatic and, in the case of Czechoslovakia, military support for the Zionists and then the new state of Israel. They did so at a time when the British government was doing all it could to prevent Jewish emigration to Palestine, and when the United States supported an embargo on arms to the Middle East. The arms that the Jews needed in 1948 came, in violation of the UN arms embargo, from Communist Czechoslovakia. But when Israeli Communists received only 3.5% in the first Israeli elections in 1949, and Ben-Gurion was able to form a coalition government without including the pro-Soviet Mapam party, Stalin realized that the new Jewish state was not going to be a pro-Soviet bastion and reversed course, launching antisemitic purges in Europe, and shifting Soviet foreign policy in favor of the Arabs and against Israel.

From 1949 to 1989, the Soviet Union engaged in a depressingly successful propaganda campaign that suppressed public memory of the brief era of Soviet-bloc support for the Zionist project, the UN Partition Plan, and Israel, as well as abundant evidence of the Arab Higher Committee’s Nazi collaborationist era. In place of the actual linkages between leaders of the Palestinian Arabs and the Nazi regime, the Soviet Union and the PLO claimed that the real Nazis and racists in the Middle East were the Jews and the Israelis. This campaign of lies has proven to be among the most successful in world politics.

It was only in the aftermath of the Islamist attacks of 9/11 that historians drew renewed and necessary attention to the role of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ideological fusion of Nazism and Islamism in the 1940s. As Hassan al-Banna hoped in June 1946, Haj Amin el-Husseini and the Arab Higher Committee did indeed “continue the struggle” waged by Hitler against Judaism, Jews, and the Zionist project. Whether the scholarship about these issues receives the attention it deserves, and whether it has any impact on changing political attitudes toward Israel and its adversaries, remains to be seen. But it is getting harder to ignore.
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies: a danger to Jews and all Americans
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, officers, policies, and programming are being increasingly embraced in American institutions, from government to the corporate workplace. This is particularly true in education, from leading American universities to elite prep schools. In fact, one sampling of leading American universities found DEI staff making up an average of 3.4 positions for every 100 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and outnumbering by a factor of at least four the staff dedicated to helping students with disabilities.

The ostensible goals of DEI are positive: to promote the representation, participation, and fair treatment of historically marginalized groups. In practice, though, DEI, which is closely linked to critical race theory (CRT), has been deployed to advance a radical agenda that undermines fundamental American values by promoting equality of outcome over equality of opportunity, collective identity (race, gender, etc.) over individual character, censorship of opposing viewpoints over freedom of speech, and a victim culture that crudely bifurcates society into oppressors and oppressed.

Along with embracing other favored radical causes, DEI is also being weaponized against Jewish students, maliciously portraying them and the Jewish State as wanton oppressors. Thus, with the expanding number and power of amply funded and staffed DEI offices that, rather than thwarting the rise of anti-Israel sentiment and restraining hostility toward Jews, actually contributing to it, American universities are becoming hotbeds of antisemitism.

The rise of antisemitism on college campuses is continuing and has already been well documented. A 2021 survey by Hillel and the ADL found that one in three Jewish college students personally experienced antisemitic hate in the previous academic year. Jewish students regularly have to contend with the demonization of Israel and its supporters, obscene Holocaust comparisons and minimization, negative stereotyping, and other common antisemitic tropes.

According to a December 2021 Heritage Foundation report, “Inclusion Delusion: The Antisemitism of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Staff at Universities,” which analyzed the Twitter feeds of hundreds of DEI university personnel, there is a disproportionate hostility toward Israel among university DEI staff. Malicious charges they have levied against Israel on Twitter include describing the Jewish State as an “apartheid” or “colonial” state and accusing Israel of engaging in “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing.”


Palestinian arrested over suspected Bnei Brak terror attack, says Shin Bet
The Shin Bet security agency said on Wednesday that a Palestinian man who allegedly attacked and seriously hurt a Bnei Brak resident a day earlier had been arrested.

Early Tuesday morning, Yitzhak Dahan, 47, was wounded in a suspected terror attack on a pedestrian bridge between the ultra-Orthodox city and neighboring Givat Shmuel. His condition has since improved.

The Shin Bet did not say where or when the suspect was arrested and further details relating to the attack were barred from publication due to a court-imposed gag order.

Dahan told Channel 12 news on Wednesday that he passed the alleged assailant at the entrance to the bridge as he saw him reaching into a bag. “And after a few seconds, he came up behind me and inflicted blows on my head with something, probably metal,” Dahan said.

Citing unsourced assessments, Channel 12 said the weapon could have been a hammer or an axe.

Dahan was taken by medics to the Tel Hashomer hospital in Ramat Gan, which said he was suffering from a wound to his head.
European Parliament members denounce the use of international law to single out Israel
Two European Parliament members spoke out on Monday against the European Union’s use of international law to condemn the Jewish state for “illegal settlements” while not making such legal claims against any other nation in the world. The MEPS made their comments in the European Parliament plenum in Strasbourg.

Netherland MEPs Bert-Jan Ruissen and Michiel Hoogeveen made their remarks in the European Parliament plenum in Strasbourg following numerous statements regarding Israel’s “occupation” from the European External Action Service led by E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Both MEPs belong to the European Conservatives and Reformists Group,

Ruissen, vice-chairman of E.U.-Israel Relations in the European Parliament, introduced the subject, saying that Borrell’s characterizations of Israeli settlement activity were “incorrect and careless.”

“He constantly talks about occupation. According to international law, this is a term that should only be used if the occupied territory belongs to another recognized state,” said Ruissen. “But who did the West Bank belong to before 1967? Not to Jordan, not to the Ottoman Empire, not to Britain. It is peculiar that in the case of Northern Cyprus, where its legal status is crystal clear, the High Representative does not speak of illegal settlement activity,” he added.

Hoogeveen said the European Union focuses on Israel to the exclusion of all other territories in the world that are considered occupied.


Fighting for Israel on the digital battlefield
The Israeli Foreign Ministry understands this challenge and has been training its people in the field of social media and digital diplomacy. It has expanded its online presence exponentially, and even developed platforms that reach out to the Arab world in Arabic. Some of the Foreign Ministry's electronic messages have reached more than 500 million people, including the people of Iran in the Persian language. However, messages based on truth and complexity find it hard to compete with simplistic blood libels.

Another way to reach people in the social media world is through "influencers." The Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles has developed such methods. Thankfully, there are courageous pro-Israel social media influencers who are prepared to expose lies, destroy dangerous distortions and shine a spotlight on the complex reality of Israeli society and the Middle East.

In an effort to elevate and amplify the important voices of these influencers, the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest partnered this month with the Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) California for a morning discussion with two of the most prominent and followed web warriors – Yoseph Haddad and Emily Schrader.

This fearless couple battles furiously against United Nations falsehoods, racist celebrity-fueled campaigns and BDS tropes that proliferate across every corner of social media. Their life experience gives their perspectives indisputable credibility. As Yoseph mentioned, when he tells people that, as an Israeli Arab IDF officer, he had Jewish soldiers under his command, it takes the wind out of their false claims that Israel is an apartheid state. The couple's impact, as with most influencers, is incalculable. With every tweet, post and image, they expose an unvarnished truth about all the complex and yet inspiring aspects of the State of Israel. They are modern warriors in the legitimacy combat zone.

WIZO California, as a vibrant Zionist organization, has focused not only on Yoseph and Emily, but also on other powerful personalities who are courageously fighting in different modern ways to counter antisemitism, anti-Zionism and BDS. This is the modern Zionism. The fight for the truth, the fight for hearts and minds, often under a barrage of abuse, is a battle for the future of Israel-U.S. relations.
The rise of the anti-Zionist Jews
Radical messianism, generally speaking, has followed a consistent pattern over the centuries, and usually occurs in four stages. The formulation that follows is my own, but it stands on the formidable shoulders of the great scholar of the Kabbalah Gershom Scholem, particularly his book The Messianic Idea in Judaism.

Antinomianism: After declaring the arrival or imminent arrival of the messianic age, the Messianists assert that Jewish tradition and law have been superseded, transformed or completely vitiated, and often engage in behavior that directly challenges Jewish norms. The most famous example is the 17th-century movement surrounding the false messiah Sabbatai Zevi.

Spiritualization: As part of this rejection of the law, Messianists "spiritualize" it. The rabbinic tradition is rejected as too much of this world to wield practical authority in the next, and is declared to be, at best, an expression of spiritual truths. Practice, in effect, becomes faith.

Heresy: Antinomianism and spiritualization inevitably lead to outright heresy. For example, the person of the messianic claimant is often declared Divine, contrary to Jewish prohibitions on idolatry. The ultimate result is usually a complete break from Judaism itself through conversion or even the founding of a separate religion – the most obvious example being Christianity.

Retaliation: Having split from Judaism, the now independent Messianists turn on it, denounce and demonize their former brethren and often incite or commit acts of considerable violence. The long history of Christian antisemitism is the best-known example, but cults like the 18th-century Frankists – who aided in a blood libel case after abandoning Judaism en masse – have also followed this pattern.

In the case of the anti-Zionist Jews, we are seeing this process repeat itself. First, the anti-Zionist Jews are proudly antinomian. They reject, in whole or in part, the moral consensus of the Jewish people – which is, whether the anti-Zionist Jews like it or not, profoundly Zionist. Indeed, if it were not, the anti-Zionist Jews would have no reason to exist, given that they base their entire identity on violating that particular norm.
Federal Judge Denies Ben & Jerry’s Bid for Restraining Order Preventing Sale of Its Israeli Business
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday denied ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s application for a temporary restraining order against its parent company, Unilever, which the Vermont-based manufacturer is suing in an effort to prevent the sale of its business in Israel to a local licensee.

The judge also ruled that Unilever must prove by July 14 why a preliminary injunction should not be granted.

Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against Unilever on Tuesday at a federal court in New York. The ice cream company claims Unilever’s move to sell Ben & Jerry’s to an Israeli licensee — which would allow the frozen desserts to continue being sold throughout Israel – is “inconsistent” with its company values and was a decision made without the approval of the brand’s independent board.

Ben & Jerry’s announced in July 2021 that it will discontinue sales of its products in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, areas it described as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

It said in its lawsuit this week that its brand is “synonymous with social activism,” and that as part of Unilever’s acquisition agreement with the ice cream company in 2000, it maintained the “primary responsibility for safeguarding the integrity” of the Ben & Jerry’s brand and its social views through its independent board.

“While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it,” Ben & Jerry’s said in an Instagram post last week. “We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry’s values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”


Avi Zinger’s Attorney on Ben & Jerry’s Lawsuit Against Unilever: ‘It’s a Done Deal’
Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, who represents Avi Zinger and his outfit, American Quality Products (AQP), the Israeli manufacturer and distributor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, on Tuesday responded to the news of Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit against its parent Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) to block the sale of its Israeli business to a local licensee, saying: “It’s a done deal,” congratulating Unilever for taking the high road in this torrid affair.

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported that Ben & Jerry’s was suing Unilever because the compromise it had reached with Zinger’s company was “inconsistent with its values to sell its ice cream in the occupied West Bank.”

The settlement that was reached in late June prevents Ben & Jerry’s from boycotting Israel and ensures that Zinger will hold on to his 34-year-old license to manufacture and sell Ben & Jerry’s ice cream throughout Israel and Judea and Samaria without interruption.

As part of the settlement that followed AQP’s March lawsuit, Unilever has sold its Ben & Jerry’s business interests in Israel to Zinger. The Ben & Jerry’s complaint that was filed in US District Court in Manhattan argued that the sale undermines the “integrity” of the Ben & Jerry’s brand. When Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, the ice cream maker’s board retained the right to protect said “integrity.”

Antisemitism, thy new name is Integrity.

The board voted 5-2 to sue, the two objections came from the two Unilever board appointees.


Sheridan College Instructor Doubles as Anti-Israel Columnist for Al Jazeera
It’s no secret that college and university campus in North America have played host to anti-Israel activity. This has included BDS (Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions) referendums, Israel Apartheid Week, anti-Israel events, and more.

But perhaps one of the most pernicious elements of this campaign foisted on post-secondary campuses has been the involvement of professors and lecturers in disseminating anti-Israel disinformation from their positions of influence, both in the classroom and in the news media.

In this category, Andrew Mitrovica has been a very prominent player.

Mitrovica, a journalism instructor at Oakville’s Sheridan College, also serves as a columnist for Al Jazeera, where he has written more than half a dozen columns lambasting Israel in the last six months alone. While Mitrovica is certainly entitled to his own opinions, his columns have veered far outside of legitimate disagreement with Israeli policy and into blatant anti-Israel disinformation.

In a June 19 column entitled: “Gaza’s children are suffering: Trudeau’s shame is Canada’s shame,” Mitrovica refers to Gazans as “victims of incessant Israeli perversions,” claiming that “Israel murdered and maimed many Palestinians” in 2018, and refers to the 2021 Hamas-Israel war as “an 11-day Israeli turkey shoot.”

Mitrovica ignores the actions of Hamas, the terrorist group in charge of Gaza, including its firing of more than four thousand rockets into Israel in May 2021, its widespread usage of its own people as human shields against Israel and its abuse of young Palestinians as child soldiers in its terror war against Israel. He also falsely gives the impression that Israel purposefully targets Palestinians in Gaza, rather than take extreme precautions to avoid civilian casualties, including sending warning leaflets, making calls and sending text messages in advance of attacks on terror targets in civilian neighbourhoods.
Lichfield MP slams Palestinian protestors targeting Shenstone factory
The Palestinian Action Group picketed UAV Engines claiming they make drone engines for the Israeli Army.

However, Mr Fabricant claimed protesters have got their facts wrong.

He said: "The ignorance of the so called Palestine Action group who have once again intimidated local workers at the UAV Engines site at Shenstone is breathtaking.

"They claim to have ‘taken aim’ at Elbit’s Shenstone factory, because ‘UAV Engines Ltd manufacture engines for Israeli drones.’ They do not! The Israeli company have their own factories in Israel which manufacture engines for the Israel Air Force and Army."

He added: "The Shenstone factory provide equipment for the British Armed Forces for the defence of our islands and for the operation of British forces overseas. The childish actions of the Palestine Action Group endangers the lives of British servicemen and is a nuisance to local people in the area."

Shenstone is represented by Tamworth MP Chris Pincher who was forced to resign the Conservative Party whip this week due to groping allegations.

Mr Fabricant added: "Both Chris Pincher, who represents Shenstone, and I have been in contact with the local police commander in Lichfield saying they should take tough measures against this small group of demonstrators to deter them from future action. I am not convinced the police action is as robust as I would like."


Coldplay Dedicated Song to Notorious Anti-Semite, Analysis Finds
A British boy band recently dedicated its live performance of a terrible song to one of the most virulent anti-Semites in American history, a Washington Free Beacon analysis has determined.

"We're playing this for my brother Louis and his brothers," Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said while introducing the song "A Sky Full of Stars" during the band's May 29 concert at Soldier Field in Chicago. "There's so many people in here today who help other people, and so we're playing this for them."

Martin is the ex-husband of vagina-centric pseudoscience entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, who starred in numerous films distributed by Harvey Weinstein's production company. He is also a hippie liberal with a tendency to spout political nonsense such as, "No one is wrong. It is just a question of when people engage. Like with the climate crisis."

There is ample evidence that indicates the "brother Louis" Martin referenced at his Chicago concert is Louis Farrakhan, the notorious Nation of Islam leader who has described Jews as "termites" and Adolf Hitler as a "very great man."

• Martin does not have a biological brother named Louis.
• The Nation of Islam is headquartered in Chicago, where Farrakhan owns a $1.1 million home.
• Martin and Farrakhan appear to have posed for a photo together before Coldplay's concert in Chicago on August 17, 2017.
• Farrakhan recently recounted the time when Martin visited his home "with some Jewish friends" because "he wanted to hear me play the violin."


The Washington Post and the ‘Khashoggi Way’ of Journalism
Khashoggi’s murder is a tragedy. But it also worth noting that not only was he a vocal supporter of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, he didn’t even write his own columns. Yes, you read that correctly. The man being lamented as a fallen journalist didn’t even write his own columns for the Post—and the newspaper has even admitted it.

Buried in a Dec. 22, 2018 article, the Post revealed that “text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post, proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government.” The newspaper also acknowledged that Khashoggi “appears to have relied on a researcher and translator affiliated with the organization.” Further, as the Security Studies Group, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, noted: “We heard from reliable sources familiar with the investigation [into his death] that documents showing wire transfers from Qatar were found in his apartment in Turkey,” but were “immediately put out of reach by Turkish security services, so they did not show the collusion between Khashoggi, Qatar, and Turkey prior his death.”

Whether or not Khashoggi was an asset of Qatar, a Saudi enemy and supporter of terror groups like Hamas, the Post’s inability to properly vet his submissions and to tell the full truth about the columnist, reflects poorly on the newspaper. It is standard practice for submissions to be both original and for columnists to disclose conflicts of interest.

As the late writer Petra Marquardt-Bigman noted in Haaretz in 2018, Khashoggi kept close company with Azzam Tamimi, a Hamas promoter who has praised suicide bombings. And in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, Khashoggi described “smuggling 7 metre-long Grad rockets” into Gaza as “a miracle.” He praised the “distinguished combat performance of [Gaza’s] men and the huge network of tunnels that extends for miles under Gaza and the borders with Israel and Egypt,” saying they “were used brilliantly.” Hamas, he said, “wasted no time while ruling in Gaza.”

None of this stopped several NGOs and D.C. City Councilmen from holding a ceremony naming a street “Jamal Khashoggi Way”—after a Hamas supporter who didn’t even write his own columns and violated the Washington Post’s own standards. Indeed, those attending the ceremony included other anti-Israel activists from organizations like Code Pink and Amnesty International.

The event was also promoted by the National Press Club, which as CAMERA has documented, has gone so far as to hide the knife of a Palestinian “journalist” who was shot while trying to stab IDF soldiers at a checkpoint. In late June 2022, NPC bestowed the John Aubochon Award to Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub. As CAMERA highlighted, Ayyub has indulged in conspiracy theories and blood libels, claiming that the Jewish state wantonly and intentionally murders Palestinians and journalists.

This is the state of journalism in 2022. Not writing one’s own columns gets one memorialized as a “journalist.” And blood libels aren’t an impediment to getting awards from formerly prestigious bodies. And anti-Israel activists and allegations get free ad space and platforms.
BBC NEWS COVERAGE OF TERRORISM IN ISRAEL – JUNE 2022
The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks (Hebrew) during June 2022 shows that throughout the month a total of 189 incidents took place: 147 in Judea & Samaria, 41 in Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ and one in the Gaza Strip sector.

In Judea & Samaria, Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ the agency recorded 117 attacks with petrol bombs, 42 attacks using pipe bombs, eleven shooting attacks, sixteen arson attacks and two stabbing attacks. One rocket attack was recorded in the Gaza Strip sector.

Three people were wounded during May.

Visitors to the BBC News website saw no reporting on the June 18th rocket attack directed at the southern city of Ashkelon which was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

A shooting attack at Joseph’s Tomb, near Schem, on June 30th in which two civilians and a member of the security forces were injured was likewise ignored by the BBC, as were all the other incidents throughout June.

In the first half of 2022 the BBC News website reported just 1% of the terror attacks against Israelis which actually took place and 89% of the resulting fatalities.
Film on Execution of Nazi Mastermind Adolf Eichmann to Make Israeli Debut at Jerusalem Festival
A new drama about the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is heading to the Jerusalem Film Festival, where it will make its Israeli debut this month.

The Hebrew-language feature “June Zero,” which recently made its world premiere in the Czech Republic, is set in the days leading up to Eichmann’s execution in Israel in May 1962. Its storyline follows three individuals — a 13-year-old boy who works at a factory that is commissioned to build a crematorium to incinerate Eichmann’s body; Eichmann’s chief prison guard during his trial, sentencing, and hanging; and a Holocaust survivor who, after assisting in the war criminal’s capture and trial, is undertaking his first trip back to Poland.

New York-based director Jake Paltrow, brother of Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, told Deadline he developed an interest in events surrounding Eichmann’s hanging after learning that authorities secretly commissioned a portable cremation oven to dispose of Eichmann’s body after his execution. The director, who has Polish Jewish ancestry, visited Israel in 2018 to interview people who were involved in building the oven.

Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval joined the film as a co-writer, and pushed for the feature to be shot locally and in Hebrew. It also filmed partially in Ukraine.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage in NY unveils an exhibit on the Holocaust
A new exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City called “The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do” offers a showcase of history told through personal stories, objects, photos and film – many on view for the first time.

More than 750 artifacts are on display at the 1,115-square-meter exhibition, which opened on Friday, and was curated by a team of esteemed Holocaust scholars, historians and museum curators, including Prof. Michael Berenbaum.

“Remember, these people saved it from 1939 onward because this represented the quest for freedom for them,” Berenbaum told press during an advanced viewing of the exhibit on Thursday.

He pointed to displayed memorabilia from the MS St. Louis, the ship full of Jews seeking asylum that was turned away at the shores of the United States and sent back to Europe to face the Holocaust.

The audio tour guide accompanying the exhibition, available for download through the free Bloomberg Connects app, features narration from Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning actress Julianna Margulies and Tony-nominated director and actress Eleanor Reissa.

Highlighting stories about Jewish life
The exhibit highlights stories about Jewish life before, during and after the Holocaust. It also showcases the establishment of Israel. Opening against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the collection explores the history of Ukrainian Jews.

“Each room and each object contains generations of experiences and information about who Jews are, what sustains Jewish communities, and what life was like during the period of European modernization, World War I, and the political and social movements that brought about the rise of the Nazi Party,” the museum said.
Judge gives Brazilian pastor who called for a second Holocaust historic 18-year prison sentence
A pastor who was filmed two years ago praying for another Holocaust was sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison, a historic penalty that made headlines across Brazil.

“A historic sentence in the fight against anti-Semitism. It is the largest penalty applied in Brazil for this type of crime, which will help to inhibit this odious practice,” said Ricardo Sidi, legal director at the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, the country’s umbrella Jewish organization, who acted as assistant to the prosecution.

Tupirani da Hora Lores, who heads the Pentecostal Generation Jesus Christ Church in Rio, came under spotlight for inciting his small but fervently radical religious audience.

“Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations,” da Hora Lores prays in a sermon captured. His congregants are heard repeating his words passionately.

“They contrived, went with prostitutes, and when they were told to repent they said they’d do it but they lied,” the pastor added, possibly in reference to the forced conversions to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition. “God, what you have done in World War II, you must do again, this is what we ask for in our prayers to you: Justice, justice, justice!”

Last year, federal police raided his church and confiscated literature from it as part of an operation titled “Shalom.”
British Columbia to Rename Geographical Sites Honoring Nazi Collaborator Pétain
Three geographic sites in British Columbia will no longer be named after Marshal Philippe Pétain, the notoriously antisemitic leader of France’s wartime collaborationist government created after the Nazi invasion.

The names of Mount Pétain, Pétain Creek, and Pétain Glacier were rescinded on June 29, according to a letter B.C. Provincial Toponymist Trent Thomas sent to B’nai Brith Canada and other advocacy groups.

“[Pétain] was recognized as a hero of the First World War for his role in the defense of Verdun. The creek and the glacier were subsequently named because of their association to the mountain,” Thomas wrote. “During the Second World War Pétain headed the Vichy Government, an ally of Nazi Germany that created many antisemitic and other racially-based polices.”

The late Calgary resident Geoffrey Taylor first petitioned to scrub Pétain’s name from the sites in 2016, the Calgary Herald reported Monday, an effort later taken up by his son Duncan. In November, B’nai Brith Canada joined a campaign urging the renaming of the sites, which sit near the B.C.–Alberta border.

B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said Tuesday the organization was “pleased that B.C. has taken the right steps on this issue.”

“There is no room for celebrating Nazi collaborators in Canada,” he added.
Antisemitic hate crimes in California increase by 32%, report shows
There is a record increase in anti-Jewish crimes in California, California's Attorney-General Rob Bonta showed in the Executive Summary of Hate Crime in California study released on Tuesday.

According to the report, a hate crime is “a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” From 2020 to 2021, the number of hate crimes rose from 115 to 152, at an increase of 32.2%, the report states.

The report also noted that anti-Catholic acts increased from 6 to 16 over the same time span. An overall increase in attacks involving religious bias is closely associated with the overall 89.6% increase in Californian hate crimes over the past decade. What do the stats mean for the public?

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the US-based antisemitism tracker, reported a 217% rise in attacks in the Los Angeles area — with a total of 367 incidents — as California, and the US, reach all-time highs.

“We’re seeing a new, but unfortunately age-old, kind of epidemic in our city – and it is one of antisemitic hatred,” said Jeffrey I. Abrams, regional director of ADL. “These heinous acts of harassment, vandalism, and propaganda all cause a ripple effect, with the perpetrators seeking to instill fear among not just the Jewish community, but all minority and marginalized communities. And this we cannot, and will not, tolerate.”


In first, Israeli cycling team’s rider wins stage of Tour de France
An Israeli team made history in the Tour de France on Wednesday when one of its riders won a stage of the world-famous race.

Australian Simon Clarke of Israel Premier Tech won stage five of the tour in a photo finish after a 157 kilometer (97.5 miles) run from Lille to Arenberg featuring 20 kilometers (nearly 12.5 miles) of cobbled mining roads.

It was the first time an Israeli team has ever done this well.

The 35-year-old Clarke used a bike throw on the line in a razor-thin victory over Taco van der Hoorn, after Native American Neilson Powless launched a sprint in a bid for the yellow jersey, but fell just short. Clarke completed the course in 3 hours 13 minutes 35 seconds.

Speaking after his victory, Clarke thanked the Israeli team for taking him on board and creating the opportunity to compete in the race.

“I had no team and Israel-Premier Tech rang me up. I was given that chance,” Clarke said in an interview published on the official tour website. “Today is the reality check that everything can happen if you take the opportunity.”
Israel National Cyber Directorate Teams Up With Boeing on Cyber Defense
The Israel National Cyber Directorate signed a cyber defense cooperation agreement with the American aerospace giant corporation Boeing, Israel Hayom said in a report on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed by directorate head Gabi Portnoy and the president of Boeing Israel, former Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Ido Nehushtan. It outlines cooperation on knowledge-sharing, threat identification, and promoting understandings and methodologies.

“The civilian aircraft sector could be characterized by its many technological developments, which create new complexities and cyber challenges,” INCD and Boeing said in a statement. “These developments require advance preparations for proper cyber defenses.”

Tamir Goren, director of technologies at the directorate, explained that “the agreement is a product of a continuous dialogue which increased trust between the sides, which is critical for partnering in the cyber aircraft arena. The agreement will facilitate a deeper understanding of the cyber dangers to aircraft and will contribute to civilian airport security as the business area rises out of the coronavirus crisis.”

The development is part of a strategic joint plan drawn up by the Directorate and Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority to advance cyber defense capabilities in civil aviation, according to the statement.
50 Cent to Israel for roaring crowd on the 4th of July - review
Pregnant women, Orthodox Jewish men, Arab Israeli families and children under the age of 10. You’d be surprised who turned up for the return of American rap tycoon 50 Cent to Israel’s stage after 16 years, on Monday night. His last show was in 2006 and in 2013, he was back just to promote his headphone brand, SMS Audio.

The full house at Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim stadium roared, as 50 Cent came on stage by 9:30 pm, after a short opener from Tel Aviv’s DJ Milia Rose. Rose heard 50 Cent was coming and advocated for herself hard enough to get the warm-up gig. 50 Cent was accompanied by two unknown backup singers and showmen the entire night. A handful of the songs included four female dancers, who donned red thong body suits on both the main stage and the raised platforms on the left and right sides of the stage.

50 Cent opened the night with “What Up Gangsta” and went into his biggest hits that gained him fame like “Hate it or Love it,” “P.I.M.P.” and “Candy Shop.” Fans in cornrows and hip-hop style jumpsuits mimicked 50 Cent’s moves, swaying one hand over the head from left to right and it seemed that most people in the crowd knew the lyrics to his songs, even the lesser-known ones. Fire and confetti shot out from the stage several times and 50 Cent had three outfit changes throughout the night, though the swaps were just a switch of T-shirt to accompany simple black pants. 50 Cent also wore two different NY hats and his signature diamond 50 Cent chain, which could be seen shimmering from across the stadium.

50 CENT was on stage for around an hour and a half, but it felt like the crowd truly loosened up only toward the end of the show with “Ayo Technology,” a song originally created with Justin Timberlake. The entire stadium burst into dance.
Buckle up for the Return of the Pixies to Israel
Nearly two years to the day after its scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv was canceled due to COVID-19, veteran American alt rock pioneers the Pixies will take the stage at the Tel Aviv Expo on Monday, July 11.

This is the third visit to Israel for the Pixies. Its Holy Land debut came at a sold-out Bloomfield Stadium in Jaffa in 2014, and the band sold out two shows at the Caesarea Amphitheater in 2017.

Bearer of myriad musical descriptions
Bearer of myriad musical descriptions – from indie, noise and surfer rock to psychedelia – the Boston-based band was founded in 1986 by fellow University of Massachusets Amherst students front man Charles “Black Francis” Thompson (aka Frank Black) and guitarist Joey Santiago. Within just two years, the Pixies made an impact with the 1988 release of its first full-length album, Surfer Rosa. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic introduced in the album forever changed music, influencing seminal groups such as Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey, but most prominently Nirvana, which adopted the technique as part of its grunge arsenal.

One year later, the Pixies released its first major label album, Doolittle, catapulting the band – that at the time also included drummer David Lovering and bassist Kim Deal – to rapid fame. The band broke up in 1993, but not before releasing two other albums, Bosssanova and Trompe le Monde.

After years of reunion rumors, the Pixies got back together in 2003, and over the next decade appeared in major festivals worldwide but released very little new music.

In 2013, Deal left and was replaced by Kim Shattuck, who was quickly replaced by Paz Lenchantin, the Pixies’ bassist till today. Since reshuffling the deck, the band has released three more albums, including its latest, Beneath the Eyrie, in 2019.

Monday’s show in Tel Aviv, which will feature an opening set by Alice in Chains founder, songwriter, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Jerry Cantrell, comes at the outset of the Pixies’ European tour. It also comes on the heels of the video release of the song “Human Crime.”

Contrary to expectations, “Human Crime” will not be on the Pixies’ upcoming album, Doggerel. What will be on the album, which is scheduled to go public on September 30, is the recently released “There’s a Moon On”… along with some 40 other songs that Black has written. And based on a recent interview with Pitchfork, Doggerel represents something very different for the band.




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