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Tuesday, July 12, 2022

07/12 Links Pt2: Will CEOs Finally Learn Their Lesson on Boycotting Israel?; New Jewish Group Slams ‘Progressive Assault’ on Israel; Shocking videos of CUNY antisemitism hearing

From Ian:

Richard Goldberg: Will CEOs Finally Learn Their Lesson on Boycotting Israel?
The Ben & Jerry's news parallels Airbnb's ill-conceived 2018 boycott of Israel that ended with a similar reversal after the company faced state blacklisting threats and litigation.

Given the difficulties faced by Airbnb and Unilever, you'd think the CEOs and chief counsels of large corporations would have learned their lesson. Apparently not. The next potential target for state anti-BDS laws, congressional investigations, and litigation? Chicago-based financial research giant Morningstar, whose ESG research subsidiary Sustainalytics appears to use the BDS playbook to produce negative ratings of companies connected to Israel despite full knowledge such ratings may drive divestment.

Before its acquisition by Morningstar, Sustainalytics had a long track record of promoting boycotts of Israel. It produced an "Occupied Territories Involvement Report" that encouraged investors to avoid territories controlled by Israel. When numerous companies and churches boycotted Israel, Sustainalytics was there providing research support.

In January 2021, the investment group JLens placed Morningstar on its "Do Not Invest" list because of Sustainalytics' ties to anti-Israel boycotts. Though Morningstar initially brushed off the criticism, it eventually hired an outside law firm to address the allegation. The firm mysteriously concluded Morningstar had no systemic bias against Israel and was not in violation of any state anti-BDS law. The facts presented in the report, however, did not match these conclusions. Instead, they painted a picture of a firm that heavily relies on deeply flawed anti-Israel sources, and automatically finds companies involved in entire sectors of Israel's economy to be complicit in human rights abuses.

Morningstar committed to firing one outside vendor, but still refuses to come to terms with the fact that Sustainalytics is engaged in a boycott of Israel through its ongoing use of BDS assumptions and sources to promote divestment. With anti-BDS laws on the books in 34 states today and a corporation continuing to make potentially misleading statements to investors, we know how this movie will end.

Boycotts of Israel carry legal and reputational risks. The next time a company gets scooped up by pressure from the antisemitic BDS mob, the story of Unilever will be one to remember.


New Jewish Group Slams ‘Progressive Assault’ on Israel
With anti-Semitic hate crimes on the rise, veteran pro-Israel activist Charles Jacobs says the organized Jewish community in the United States is asleep at the wheel.

Jacobs, who has spent four decades at the forefront of the Jewish human rights world, says establishment Jewish organizations are led by "people who refuse to fight for Jewish interests" and contribute to the dangerous climate Jews face in the United States by appeasing far-left, anti-Israel forces. The American Jewish community’s alphabet soup of establishment organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), among others, "have failed to inform the community of the dangers of Islamic radicalism and anti-Semitism and instead have vouched for radical Muslims posing as ‘moderates,’" according to Jacobs.

That’s why he and several other likeminded Jewish activists have joined together to form the Jewish Leadership Project (JLP), which adopts a more right-leaning philosophy and seeks to undo the damage the group says has been caused by the mainstream Jewish world's near total embrace of Democratic Party politics. The JLP, Jacobs told the Washington Free Beacon, "will demand that major Jewish organizations—including the JFNA, the ADL, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs—cease subordinating the safety and welfare of the Jewish-American community to partisan ideology."

The JLP intends to wage an internecine war with the mainstream Jewish communal world to drag it away from "the progressive’s assault and demonization of the Jewish state and its supporters," said Jacobs.

Organizations like the ADL, which is currently led by Obama administration alum Jonathan Greenblatt, have drifted away from their original mission statements to defend Jewish interests in the United States, instead embracing liberal ideologies that paint Israel as a pariah state. These groups, Jacobs said, "have accommodated, rather than battled the insidious and harmful ethnic studies and critical race theory ideologies that are teaching American students that Jews are undeservedly privileged, ‘white-adjacent’ people who support the ‘racist’ state of Israel."

For years, organizations like the ADL have faced accusations that they isolate conservative-leaning Jews and are overly deferential to Democratic Party politics. These groups, critics say, behave more like Democratic advocacy organizations than protectors of the Jewish people. And while a plurality of American Jews are Democratic voters, Jacobs and his allies say there is a silent and more marginalized segment of the American-Jewish community that is concerned by the party’s leftward lurch.
Emily Schrader: We cannot continue to minimize antisemitism
This reluctance to call a spade a spade is a part of the larger problem of antisemitism in the world, particularly in America: Jews aren’t the victims the world likes.

This is the reason that despite the fact antisemitic hate crimes have topped the FBI’s list of religiously motivated hate crimes in America for my entire life – by more than double any other religious minority – Jews continue to be pushed out of spaces where minorities work to fight oppression.

Efforts to change the subject
This is also the reason that in the aftermath of the Highland Park shooting, instead of discussions on antisemitism in America, we saw a discussion on whether or not Anne Frank had white privilege trending on Twitter.

Why are Jews targeted? Because they are a minority which has risen above hate, which has succeeded in many fields beyond its tiny 2% of the US population and most of all, because it’s easy to give in to the age-old hatred of antisemitism. Apparently, it’s too complex for the media to acknowledge that Jews are both a historically oppressed minority who have succeeded beyond expectation, but also that they face tremendous persecution and hate today at the same time.

We are less than 100 years since the Holocaust, yet somehow Jews are no longer interesting victims. Is Jewish blood not important enough to make headlines? Are the threats against Jewish communities worldwide not enough for the media’s clickbait?

It’s time to call out the blatant, antisemitic coverage that’s providing cover to the rising wave of antisemitism in the US and beyond.


The Weak and Dishonest Case for Tammy Wittes
President Joe Biden is headed to the Middle East this week for the first time as president, in part to advance the historic peace agreements the Trump administration helped secure between Israel and many of its neighbors.

It’s bad timing for one of his nominees, Dr. Tamara Cofman Wittes, who spent the Trump years as a Twitter warrior trashing the Abraham Accords and —well, now it’s awkward.

We assume that’s why, according to our Alana Goodman, the Jewish Democratic Council of America is rushing in to shore up Wittes’s street cred with a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from "leaders in foreign policy, national security, and the Jewish community" attesting to her stellar support for the Abraham Accords: "As Dr. Wittes said during her hearing," Jewish Democratic Council CEO Halie Soifer writes in the letter, "the Abraham Accords ‘offer a foundation for regional cooperation between Arab states and Israel, on shared issues like energy, water, and health.’"

It would be hard to come up with a sleazier, more dishonest, more lawyerly case for Wittes’s nomination.

Wittes may have regurgitated platitudes at her confirmation hearing intended to assure lawmakers of her support for the Abraham Accords that are now Biden administration policy, but one has to think she was more honest when she wasn’t gunning for votes. That’s when she slammed the peace agreements as a "new Naksa"—that is, a setback or catastrophe—for the Palestinian people, called the normalization agreements between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Israel a step "in the wrong direction," and took to her podcast to mock their significance: "For your average Israeli, what is most exciting about this is that instead of having to fly to Istanbul to get to Southeast Asia, they can fly through Abu Dhabi and Dubai, it is much faster," she sneered.

Consider those remarks in light of the rest of the letter, which describes Wittes as an "open-minded and principled" woman who "always finds time to listen to alternative views and give them full consideration."


Charges dropped against two men accused of antisemitism in north London 'hate convoy'
Charges of stirring up racial hatred have been dropped against two men who travelled to north London in a “Convoy For Palestine” during the war between Israel and Hamas in May last year.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Wood Green Crown Court that charges have been dropped against Asif Ali, 26 and Adil Mota, 27.

Both men had travelled from Blackburn in the convoy that drove through London on 16 May 2021.

The CPS is still set to move ahead with its case against two other men also from Blackburn, Mohammed Iftikhar Hanif, 28, and Jawaad Hussain, 25 on charges of “using threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behaviour, with intent, likely to stir up racial hatred”.

All four men were arrested after a video circulated on social media in May last year, in which antisemitic abuse could be heard being shouted as vehicles draped with Palestinian flags travelled in a convoy through or near heavily Jewish areas.

All four men had pleaded not guilty when they were charged last year. Neither Mr Mota nor Mr Ali was required to attend the court for the hearing on Friday. Their lawyers took part by video link. Mr Mota’s solicitor Ghafar Khan told the JC: “We are glad that the case against our client has been dismissed.“We had advanced the innocence of Mr Mota from the outset, he has stressed he is not antisemitic and has nothing against Jewish people.”

Mr Khan said his client was part of the convoy that travelled to North London but didn’t take part in the threatening or abusive behaviour. The lawyer said: “There was a car protest in which he took part to protest the difficulties faced in Palestine for the Palestinian people.”
The Hogwash That Is ‘Pinkwashing’: Columnist Attacks Israel for Promoting Its LGBT-Friendly Values
The so-called “pinkwashing” accusation is one that has been leveled at Israel on numerous occasions.

First coined by Sarah Schulman in an article for The New York Times in 2011, the term suggests Israel’s progressive stance on LGBT+ rights is a component of a “deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.”

In the years following Schulman’s op-ed, the portmanteau has been frequently found in the lexicon of anti-Israel campaigners, who have also adopted the “washing” suffix to accuse the Jewish state of every kind of diversionary tactic imaginable, such as greenwashing, artwashing, and even funwashing.

As HonestReporting has noted previously, the pinkwashing claim evokes historical antisemitic libels, specifically that anything Jews do that is good or beneficial must be a part of some nefarious ulterior motive — in this case, diverting attention from Israel’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians.

It is, therefore, disturbing when reputable publications use the word without so much as an acknowledgment of its connotations.

The latest example of this was an opinion piece on the website of the British daily newspaper, the i, by chief foreign commentator Michael Day, ‘Pro-gay’ dictators are using LGBT rights as a fig leaf for other human rights abuses, which took aim at Israel for marketing itself as a “gay-friendly Middle Eastern oasis.”

In Day’s narrow view, the only reason Israel could engage in nation branding — that is, the use of corporate branding techniques to encourage tourism — is to “distract attention from its treatment of Palestinians.”


Watch: Shocking videos of CUNY antisemitism hearing
New York City Council’s Higher Education Committee held a long awaited hearing to examine Antisemitism at CUNY. I and my colleague NYC Council Member Eric Dinowitz chaired the meeting.

The hearing was originally set for June 8, 2022, but was rescheduled to the end of the month to accommodate CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, as he said it was “important for him to attend.” Then, the night before the hearing, the Chancellor backed out in cowardly fashion and did not attend. Instead, he sent a lawyer and two CUNY representatives, who attended on Zoom.

Dozens of past and present CUNY students and faculty members lined up to testify and tell their stories about pervasive harassment, discrimination, bullying and assaults that the CUNY administration blatantly refuses to address. The line was so long that the hearing went on for close to eight hours.

CUNY is a publicly funded school system that claims to protect students from ethnic/religious discrimination. The City Council hearing demonstrated that in fact, CUNY actually enables ethnic/religious discrimination against only one group – Jews.

The Chancellor’s inaction and cowardice are unacceptable. He takes a salary of $670,000 from taxpayer dollars and has yet to do his job.

Those at the meeting demanded that CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez immediately RESIGN from his public, taxpayer-funded position and have initiated a campaign to achieve that result.
Jewish Students/Faculty Complain to American Bar Ass’n that CUNY Law School Discriminates With Pervasive “Anti-Zionist” Anti-Semitism
On June 27, 2022, a group calling itself Students and Faculty for Equality at the City University of New York (SAFE CUNY) filed a discrimination claim with the American Bar Association (ABA) against CUNY School of Law. The complaint letter charges that CUNY Law discriminates against Jewish and Israeli students and faculty members.

While the woke ABA may have been tempted to laugh off the complaint – since “diversity” administrators often not only refuse to confront anti-Semitism, but actually foment it – CUNY did not have that luxury. On June 30, its chancellor was scheduled to appear before the New York City Council Committee on Higher Education for a hearing about anti-Semitism on campus.

The complaint letter charges that CUNY’s law school discriminates against students, faculty, other employees, and prospective students, faculty, and employees on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and nationality. It also charged CUNY with violating academic freedom. In particular, the complaint charged that the law school faculty’s recently-adopted BDS policy puts the school out of compliance with ABA requirements.

The scope of that [faculty BDS] commitment is only revealed by a link in a footnote, which leads to an extensive BDS website. A few clicks will then take readers to the “Guidelines for the International Academic Boycott of Israel,” which include “the cancellation or annulment of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israeli academic institutions or that otherwise promote the normalization of Israel in the global academy [including] conferences, symposia, workshops, book and museum exhibits.”

If honored by any law school, these limitations would constitute a blatant violation of academic freedom for future teachers, scholars or students interested in understanding Israel – beyond its purported crimes – in their research or education. At a public law school, such sweeping viewpoint restrictions on conferences, symposia and book exhibits – prohibiting anything that “normalizes” Israel – also violate the First Amendment.

The ABA’s law school standards prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion and nationality, currently require law schools to have a “commitment to diversity and inclusion,” and require them to have an academic freedom policy. The letter asks the ABA to
review these unprecedented and deeply discriminatory policy adoptions and take all appropriate measures… including withdrawal of accreditation, sanctions, and/or remedial action until such time as CUNY Law rejects its discriminatory policies and returns to compliance with the ABA Standards.

The law school faculty’s BDS resolution is only the latest in CUNY’s recent history of rabid anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism. A few months before the faculty resolution, students had adopted a pro-BDS resolution. In June 2021, the CUNY faculty union adopted a resolution claiming Israel “massacred innocent Palestinians during the spring conflict in Gaza. The measure did not mention, much less condemn, any actions by Hamas.” A number of faculty members subsequently resigned from the union. By June 30, 2022, that number had reportedly reached 300.


SUCCESS CTV Amends Article to Acknowledge Israel's Security Concerns and that Israel is Jewish People's Ancestral Homeland
We are pleased to report that CTV News Ottawa has amended its online article about an incident that took place at St. Francis Xavier High School in Gloucester, a suburb of Ottawa, where students walked out of class in support of the Palestinian people.

As we noted in our original alert on May 20, the broadcaster allowed itself to be a platform for the dissemination of extreme anti-Israel disinformation, with students accusing Israel of carrying out a “genocide” of Palestinians.

The amended article now includes an editor’s note and additional context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including that the Jewish people claim that the land of Israel is its ancestral homeland and an acknowledgment of Israel’s security concerns.

On July 7, BellMedia’s Director of News & Information Programming, Peter Angione, wrote the following to HonestReporting Canada:
“After reviewing this story again, we accept your point that taken in isolation, this story lacked some additional context on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

That said, in an effort to address your concern, we have updated an initial version of the story to include the following information:

Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank say they are suffering because of Israeli actions. Israel argues it’s only acting to protect itself and its citizens from Palestinian violence. The United Nations considers Israeli’s control over the West Bank an occupation. Israel claims the land based on historical and religious rights as the ancestral land of the Jewish people.”

We thank CTV News for amending the story and for adding more context surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to better inform its readers.
BBC World Service radio bolsters Oxfam political campaign
Listeners were not informed that other political NGOs involved in the campaign include ‘Al Mezan’, ‘Medical Aid for Palestinians’, ‘Gisha’ and ‘Save the Children’. Unsurprisingly, the record of anti-Israel activity of those NGOs – and that of Oxfam itself – was not clarified to the BBC’s listeners worldwide.

Citing a report by ‘Save the Children’, Stevenson asserted that depression among children in the Gaza Strip has risen to 80%. Notably absent from his portrayals was any mention of the Israeli children who have grown up under constant threat of terror attacks and rocket fire for the past twenty-one years and the effects on their mental health and fulfilment.

Worricker subsequently brought in his guests to comment. Kate Clark promoted the inaccurate notion of a “non-violent first Intifada” while Tony Connell absurdly asserted that Gaza “is one of those forgotten conflicts”. Claiming to have “covered the Israeli-Gaza war in 2009 for several weeks” (it lasted 23 days), Connell then dusted off a favourite old media canard, referring to “the bombing campaign by Israel and the obviously disproportionate number of Gazans who had been killed compared to the numbers on the Israeli side”. He went on to claim that the current conflict in Ukraine “kind of reminds people of that disproportionate effect, the ratio of deaths”.

Notably, while listeners to this item were presented with over eleven minutes of entirely one-sided sympathetic commentary from two contributors, two guests and a presenter, at no point did they hear an Israeli point of view.

Despite the abovementioned editorial guidelines, it is clear that the BBC did not “remain independent and distanced” from this Oxfam campaign at all: in fact it self-conscripted to its promotion, with obviously insufficient consideration given to the effect on “perceptions of the BBC’s impartiality” of the airing of worldwide amplification of “a third party’s” overtly political ongoing campaign.
Guardian refuses to hold Palestinians responsible for their bad decisions
McKernan isn’t telling the truth.

As CAMERA UK previously noted, even the BBC has acknowledged that it isn’t the blockade (security measures to defend against terror groups which seek Israel’s annihilation) that caused the dirty water, but bad decisions by Palestinians and their leadership:

Here’s what BBC’s Middle East correspondent (who’s of course no friend of Israel) wrote just last year:
The piped supply for Gaza’s two million residents is drawn from a natural aquifer under the Strip. But it is polluted because over-pumping causes Mediterranean seawater to flood in.

A document jointly produced by the INSS and EcoPeace (an Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian peace and environmental organisation) in 2017 – and updated in 2018 – explains in greater detail the process that led to the problem:


Jewish org in New Zealand reports sharp rise in antisemitism online
A Jewish organization in New Zealand has reported a rise in the country’s online antisemitism, according to a report by 1News.

“The organization has collated content from New Zealand users and platforms over the past year and says there is a risk it will cause real-world harm,” the local news site said.

New Zealand Jewish Council representative Juliet Moses told 1News that many of the comments online refer to the Holocaust – such as “Hitler was right,” “Hitler should have finished the job” – and that she found swastikas and caricatures straight out of Nazi propaganda.

“I’ve never seen so much antisemitism,” Massey University Sociology Prof. Paul Spoonley told 1News. “A lot of it is fueled by far Right conspiracy groups in the United States, in particular QAnon.”

What do most New Zealanders really think about Jews? Because Jews make up just 0.2% of New Zealanders, one of the questions asked in a new survey was if most New Zealanders even knew a Jew.

The survey
In the survey, 1,017 people over age 18 were questioned, and had 18 internationally recognized statements presented to them to measure the level of their antisemitic views. For the purpose of the survey, antisemitism was defined in accordance with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition.

The Survey of Antisemitism in New Zealand 2021 found concerning levels of antisemitic sentiment, which may be influenced to a greater or lesser degree by one of the following forms of antisemitism.
German University Weighs Removing Name of Antisemitic Founder
Trustees at Germany’s University of Tübingen will vote this month on whether to rename the institution, which is formally known as Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen, following student complaints about commemorating its founder and one of his descendants, the UK’s Times reported on Monday.

After founding the University of Tübingen in 1477, Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg — known as “Eberhard the Bearded” — placed a moratorium on issuing letters of protection that allowed Jews in the state to live and work there. Its charter, according to Prof. Horst Junginger’s 2017 work, “The Scientification of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Nazi Germany,” explained that the bigoted measure was for the “protection of students from Jewish usurers.” In his will, Eberhard said it was his last wish that no Jews be allowed to “settle in our dominion.”

Eberhard, the Times report said, also possessed an antisemitic pamphlet about Jews who were burned at the stake in Trento, Italy, over a blood libel incident in which local Jews were coerced under torture into accepting responsibility for the death of two-year-old Simon of Trent.

The school’s name also honors Eberhard’s descendant, Duke Karl Eugen von Württemberg. Eugen, who assumed power of Württemberg at age nine following his father’s death, was not known as an antisemite — in 1744, for example, he ordered that the gibbeted corpse of a Jewish financial advisor, Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, receive a proper burial — but is remembered as a despotic ruler who sold teenage soldiers to allies and used public funds to build ostentatious palaces.

Students at Tübingen, according to the Times, have called for dissociating the university from Eberhard and Eugen since the 1970s.

A recent study of Eberhard by a panel of Tübingen scholars determined that he was “influenced by the widespread antisemitic currents of his age” but declined to issue an opinion on the upcoming vote, which has been criticized by the mayor of the southwest German city.
Jews in Chile Outraged by Use of Notorious Antisemitic Meme in Ad for Discount Liquor
Jewish community leaders in Chile have expressed outrage at the publication of a newspaper advertisement for cut-price liquor that featured a notorious antisemitic meme.

The advertisement that appeared in the Monday edition of the journal Las Últimas Noticias displayed the “Happy Merchant” — an internet meme depicting a bearded Jewish man with a hooked nose and a sly smile rubbing his hands with glee — alongside discounted bottles of whiskey and rum. The ad was placed by Arbol Verde, an alcohol distribution company located in the city of Valparaiso.

In a statement carried on its Twitter account, the Jewish Community of Chile denounced the advertisement for reviving a “classic stereotype of Nazi propaganda” that had led to “the genocide of six million Jews” during the Holocaust.

A spokesperson for Arbol Verde told local news outlet BioBioChile that it had used the illustration to highlight the discounts for customers paying in cash, and that there had been no intention of causing offense to the Jewish community.

Responding in support of the Jewish community’s tweet, the Israeli Embassy in the capital, Santiago, scoffed at the distribution company’s answer, remarking: “Not having the intention to offend does not explain or reduce the seriousness of the facts.”

Separately, Gabriel Silber — a former member of the Chilean parliament and a Jewish community activist — lamented the general lack of condemnation of the advertisement.

“It’s not in the press of Nazi Germany, it’s in the Chile of today,” Silber tweeted, adding that “antisemitic caricatures in other countries would result in cross-communal repudiation.”


Israeli Gaming Industry Reached $8.6 Billion in Revenue in 2021
Revenue of Israeli digital gaming companies surged to $8.6 billion in 2021, an eightfold increase over a period of five years, a report by Israeli gaming community GameIS and Deloitte has revealed. Israeli industry revenues accounted for 5% of global industry revenues ($175 billion) in 2021.

According to the report, the sector has experienced an impressive average yearly growth of 54%, with revenues increasing by about 760% over the last five years. The aforementioned market consists only of game distributors, and does not include companies that provide supporting services or that serve the gaming industry.

The GameIS and Deloitte report shows that the gaming industry in Israel is a flourishing market with a great deal of potential. In 2021, Israel was home to some 190 companies with around 14,000 employees. In comparison to 2017, where workers in the field numbered some 4,000 employees, this marks a 250% increase in the number of employees, and an average annual growth of 38%. In addition, there has been an 11% growth in the number of companies during this time frame.

The report surveyed 200 leading companies in the Israeli and international market, among them: Beach Bum, Overwolf, Ilyon, Tiktok, Gliding Deer, Huuuge, Playtika, Gigantic, Remagine Ventures, AppsFlyer, Snap and CrazyLabs.

The GameIS community was established during 2008, a re-birth of IGDA Israel, in order to coordinate the national activities in video game development.
Rafael unveils new 5th-generation 'Ice Breaker' missile
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled a new 5th generation air-launched long-range attack weapon system that can be launched against a variety of targets up to 300 kilometers away.

Called “Ice Breaker” the missile is an “aerial force multiplier, designed to overcome the modern warfare arena challenges,” Rafael said in a statement.

The system, which “provides surgical, pinpoint precision strike capabilities from standoff ranges” is “resilient to electronic countermeasures and is fully operational in GNSS-denied arenas.”

The unveiling of the missiles comes a year after the defense company introduced its Sea Breaker which serves as the naval and land-based version of the Ice Breaker. The missile is based on a shared foundation of the company’s SPIKE NLOS and SPICE missiles.

“The Ice Breaker offers the full scope of commonality incorporating not only the land and naval platform application, but now across all domains with enhanced capabilities,” the statement added.

What so special about the "Ice Breaker"
It features an advanced IIR (Imaging Infra-Red) seeker, ideal for stationary or moving land and maritime target engagement in advanced Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) arenas,

With a 250 lb. penetration, blast and fragmentation warhead, Ice Breaker is a multi-service operational solution with the same missile that can be operated from air, sea and ground launchers.

Compatible with various aerial platforms and stand-off capabilities, it can be launched from fighter jets, light aircraft, helicopters and ships. It is fully operational in all weather conditions.
German Rock Band Scorpions Show Solidarity With Ukraine at Tel Aviv Concert
During a concert in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, German rock band The Scorpions expressed support for Ukraine while performing one of the group’s biggest hits.

As frontman Klaus Meine led the audience at Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim Arena to sing along with “Winds of Change,” he held an oversized Ukrainian flag while massive blue-and-yellow peace signs were displayed behind him. At one point during the song, Meine also draped the Israeli flag around his shoulders before throwing it to a concertgoer.

After the show, the “Rock You Like a Hurricane” singers shared on Instagram a clip from the concert that included the segment dedicated to Ukraine, captioning the post, “Thank you Tel Aviv for a great rocking Night … We love you.” The band’s stop in Israel is part of a world tour to promote “Rock Believer,” their first album since 2017.

When the group’s concert in Israel was first announced in February, Meine said in a video, “We really love Israel and are waiting breathlessly to return and perform. We’ll rock you like a hurricane.”
Pop Singer Noa Kirel to Represent Israel at 2023 Eurovision Song Contest
Israeli pop singer Noa Kirel has been selected to represent her home country at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported on Monday.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) said a committee internally selected the Ra’anana-born singer, 21, from a shortlist of 78 artists “with rich and proven experience in standing in front of a large audience.” Kirel’s spokesperson said, “We received the news with complete surprise. We are happy and grateful for the choice of Noa and are proud to represent the State of Israel with dignity.”

IPBC announced last month that Israel’s representative in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected by a professional committee for the first time since 2014. Artists chosen in the past by the committee have included Rita, Dana International, Sarit Hadad and Lior Narkis.

From 2015 to 2020, the Israeli contestant for Eurovision was the winner of the Israeli television show and singing competition “HaKokhav Haba.”

The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest was originally set to be held in Ukraine, after Ukrainian entrant Kalush Orchestra won this year’s event, but those plans were nixed due to the war currently raging in the country. The European Broadcasting Union said in June it was talking with the BBC about hosting the competition in the United Kingdom, but no final decision has been made.
Israeli hospital trains Palestinian health workers in remote care for pregnant women
An Israeli hospital has launched a program to train female Palestinian healthcare professionals to provide remote care for pregnant women in the Hebron area in the West Bank.

Under the Sheba Medical Center’s OB-GYN Beyond initiative, announced on Tuesday, Palestinian healthcare workers were trained to use telehealth technologies that will enable them to remotely monitor the health of both the mothers and their fetuses.

Gynecologists, midwives, nurses, a pediatrician, a nutritionist, a physical therapist and a psychologist all received training in the program and will have ongoing clinical support on a bimonthly basis from Sheba, the medical center said in a statement.

Video released by the hospital showed that at least some of the training was in English.

The program is being run in collaboration with Project Rozana, which brings Palestinian patients from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to Israeli hospitals, as well as providing training for Palestinian medical workers.

The organization said the initiative will mean that women who otherwise may struggle to gain access to prenatal healthcare will be able to get the care they need.


Remembering James Caan, Jewish-American actor best known for The Godfather





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

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