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Thursday, July 14, 2022

07/14 Links Pt2: The antisemites and their defenders; The Billion Dollar Industry of Hate; Reps. Omar and Tlaib among Democrats tied to group with alleged links to Hamas slaying

From Ian:

David Collier: The antisemites and their defenders
Whilst there is no doubt that much of the activism against Israel is driven by antisemites – these people feed from the lies being spread through the mainstream. Pushed mainly by Journalists who have long ago removed the mask of impartiality. This includes those at Sky News, the BBC, the Guardian, CNN and the NYT – whose networks rely on Palestinian support – and mostly produce pieces that bolster the disinformation campaign.

Just as they have always done, lies about Jews create the atmosphere for antisemitism to thrive.

And Jews are now not only the targets of antisemitic attack – they are even being attacked for complaining about being attacked.

Just recently, Amnesty’s general secretary Agnese Callamard said critics of their ‘Israel apartheid’ report ‘weaponise antisemitism’. Callamard runs an organisation that spread libels about Israel – driven by the Islamist extremists and antisemites in her own camp – and then attacks the Jewish people who stand up against her organisation’s racist falsehoods.

Jews ‘weaponising antisemitism’ is the latest of the anti-Jewish libels. Events on the subject are held globally and academics provide the neccessary ‘science’ to ‘prove’ the accusation is real. Websites are created about ‘bogus antisemitism’ and those called out for their anti-Jewish hatred receive applause as they claim they are victims of a ‘Zionist witch hunt’.

The media is happy to lend a hand, by publishing endless articles about how anti-Zionism is not antisemitism – or by promoting that view that it is all about silencing ‘legitimate criticism of Israel’. (BBC, Guardian, NYT, CNN, Irish Times, Independent, Washington Post )

Antisemites and their defenders. A partnership that has lasted over 1000 years. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The Billion Dollar Industry of Hate
The human rights industry is worth billions of dollars. This is serious wonga! According to recent statistics reported by the Business Research Company, the global human rights organizations market size was expected to grow from $16.60 billion in 2021 to $17.47 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate. That is a lot of lucre.

One could see why people are drawn to working for human rights organisations – after all who wouldn’t want to work for what they perceive is a noble and just cause? The two most notable organisations are Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. There are notable parallels between these organisations. Both of these once venerated NGO’s were founded by Jews. Both enjoy extremely high profiles and trust. Both are seen as the litmus test for evaluating human rights transgressions. Both have a clear obsession with the State of Israel. Both have seen their original founders publicly distance themselves from the organisations for fear they were headed down a dangerous, agenda driven road.

When an organization, no matter how noble their mandate is, starts to veer off course and head down a very dubious path it often raises question “who is funding them?”

For the purposes of this article, we will take a look at Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. (h/t Max Mendelbaum)
Rights Group Exposes Palestinian Torture Ahead of First UN Review
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas routinely torture human rights activists, women, LGBT persons, political opponents, so-called “collaborators,” and Palestinians who sell land to Jews, the non-governmental group UN Watch charged Thursday.

The Geneva-based human rights organization made its criticism in major new report to the UN Committee Against Torture, which will meet next week for two days, on July 19-20, to consider Palestinian compliance with the UN convention against torture and other cruel forms of punishment. The UN panel published the submission on its website.

“Evidence continues to emerge of widespread torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees held in Palestinian custody in the West Bank and Gaza,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

UN Watch representatives will present the report to the 10-member committee during a private briefing with human rights groups on July 18, one day before the experts are set to grill a delegation from the Palestinian Authority for the first time since it signed the treaty in 2014.

While the PA is expected to tout how it has fulfilled its promises, UN Watch said the PA’s 67-page response—submitted to the committee four years late—seeks to absolve Palestinian actors of responsibility for complying with the treaty’s prohibitions against torture, and instead points the finger at Israel to deflect attention from the PA’s own record, the actual subject of the UN review.

According to UN Watch legal advisor Dina Rovner, the Palestinian submission “contains no data on the pervasiveness of torture under the PA and Hamas, or on any practical measures implemented to prevent torture by security forces during interrogation, nor does it offer any information on individual cases of torture, justice for victims, or actions to address underlying causes of violations.”
NGO Monitor: UN Adopts Invented NGO Claims on Palestinian Minors to Threaten Israel with Blacklist
The EU is a significant funder of the primary NGOs behind the campaign to list the IDF on the Secretary-General’s CAAC annex. Indeed, EU-funded grant descriptions emphasize advocacy and collaboration with the UN to extensively lobby international actors and governments and ensure accountability.

In addition, many of the reporting and advocacy benchmarks are established in advance of the project or any documented wrongdoing, encouraging NGO grantees to invent and inflate claims in order to comply with the grant requirements.Between 2018-2020 alone, the EU provided at least €3.2 million to projects that advance the campaign to “blacklist” the IDF, alongside at least $6.7 million from European countries (UK, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, and others).

For instance, the EU disbursed €1.6 million to the Norwegian Refugees Council (NRC) in 2019-2020 for “Humanitarian Support to Protect Education from Attacks in West Bank, including East Jerusalem- phase IV”. France contributed $763,807 to this project in 2020.9 The project’s objectives included “Strengthening documentation, reporting, advocacy and communication (including dialogue with national and international authorities, and media outreach) on education-related violations,” as well as “Advocacy using field and desk research to produce materials, briefings and submissions to the international community in oPT, including EU and UN bodies and diplomatic missions, as well as EU and UN bodies based in Brussels, Geneva, and New York, and the U.S. Congress” (emphases added).

Similarly, in an earlier phase of this project to which the EU provided $929,000 in 2018, NRC was expected to produce three “education related advocacy materials (briefings, briefing documents, reports and formal complaints to UN special Mechanisms etc)” to “share[] with relevant stakeholders.” Additionally, officials in Brussels wanted “20 advocacy briefings on documented violations on the Right to Education,” and “3 instances when Third States and intergovernmental bodies condemn violations of the Right to Education” (emphases added).

In other words, it was already decided in advance of its work that the NRC would file complaints against Israel with the UN, and tangible success would be measured by lobbying and getting countries and intergovernmental bodies to condemn Israel.


Reps. Omar and Tlaib among Democrats tied to group with alleged links to Hamas slaying
At least eight Democratic members of Congress share close ties to a nonprofit group that is now subject to discovery in a landmark federal civil lawsuit that seeks to hold the group financially liable for the terrorist slaying of an American teenager in 1996.

David Boim was 17 when members of Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, shot and killed him at a bus stop in the West Bank in 1996. Boim's parents successfully sued a network of American-based Palestinian nonprofit groups in federal court for financing the terrorists that killed their son, and a federal judge ultimately awarded the family a $156 million judgment under the Anti-Terrorism Act following a jury trial in 2004.

But the groups never paid up. Shortly after the judgment was levied, the groups claimed they were bankrupt and went out of business. One of the groups, the Holy Land Foundation, had its monetary assets seized by the United States, and five of its leaders were sentenced to decades in prison in 2008 for providing material support to Hamas.

That's where American Muslims for Palestine, an Illinois-based nonprofit group that has since developed close ties with influential Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN), came into play, the Boim family alleged in a follow-up lawsuit filed in federal court in 2017.

AMP and its fiscal sponsor, Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, together are the alter egos of two of the shuttered groups that were found liable for the killing of Boim, the Boim family's 2017 lawsuit alleged.

AMP shared the same core leadership, carried out the same organizational purpose, and operated in the same manner as the two now-defunct groups, the American Muslim Society and the Islamic Association for Palestine, the lawsuit alleged.

"In every meaningful respect, AMP/AJP is nothing more than a disguised continuance of IAP/AMS — stripped of the burden of the Boim Judgement and the ignominy of having been found liable for aiding and abetting the murder of an American teenager," the Boims' 2017 lawsuit stated. "AMP/AJP are the alter egos and successors of IAP/AMS, and are therefore liable for the unpaid portion of the Boim Judgement."
Islamists Try to Renew Push for Ilhan Omar’s Flawed ‘Islamophobia’ Bill
The Combating International Islamophobia Act, which appears stalled in the US Senate, is receiving a new boost from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), and other Islamist organizations. It was among the issues pushed last month when a coalition of Islamic organizations gathered in Washington, DC, to meet with elected officials and Congressional staffers.

The bill, introduced in October by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), would create a new special envoy to monitor and combat Islamophobia globally. It passed the House last December 219-212, with near-unanimous support from Democrats.

It has not moved in the Senate, however, because this is an ambiguous initiative that could create more problems than the ones it aspires to address. If this bill becomes law, critics fear it will contribute to weakening US support of Israel, and disable criticism of Islamist activities both abroad and in the United States.

In December, the White House issued a statement supporting the bill as a way to protect religious freedom. “The Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world,” it said.

But the bill as written does not ensure equal dignity and respect of religions.

“This bill doesn’t make it clear whether the term Islamophobia includes, for example, criticizing radical Islamic terrorist groups or calling out the persecution of Christians,” Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), said before December’s House vote. “Is it Islamophobic to oppose unacceptably intolerant blasphemy laws or criticize those who call for the destruction of Israel? What about criticizing the Taliban’s brutal repression of women or condemning those who deny the Holocaust, as Iran’s Supreme Leader has repeatedly done?”
Social Media Plays Large Role in Fomenting Online Hate – UN, UNESCO, WJC
The study concluded that content moderation, such as removing inappropriate content and misinformation warnings, was the most effective way to curb the rise in hate speech and Holocaust denial.

For instance, roughly half of Holocaust-related content on Telegram – an app infamous for its lack of moderation – denied or distorted Holocaust history, according to the experts’ wide-ranging review. Holocaust-related posts on moderated platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, however, saw a much lower rate at 10% and 15% respectively.

“The report reveals that there are still social networks where Holocaust denial and distortion spread without moderation, and that this content is used to fuel hatred. We can fight against these phenomena by taking action on content and educating users,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who added that society “cannot only rely on the voluntary participation of platforms: We also need common principles and guidelines.”

An "an urgent wake-up call"
The WJC has previously forged partnerships with Facebook and TikTok in response to the rise in antisemitism, in which the platforms launched features encouraging users who search for keywords associated with the Holocaust to learn more by visiting the WJC and UNESCO site AboutHolocaust.org. The website, now available in 19 languages, has about 15,000 daily users and over a million all-time visitors.

“Understanding the history of the Holocaust is crucial to safeguarding our future… if we fail to identify and confront the lies and inhumanity that fueled past atrocities, we are ill-prepared to prevent them in the future,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote in the report’s foreword. “This report is an urgent wake-up call that must jolt us into action – to pursue truth, remembrance and education, and together build a world of peace, dignity and justice for all.”


FDD: Washington Should Keep the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya on Its Sanctions List
As part of negotiations to revive a version of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran is reportedly demanding the suspension of U.S. sanctions imposed on Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC’s) hub for infrastructure and construction projects. If the reports are accurate, Iran is effectively asking President Joe Biden to unshackle the IRGC’s key economic arm from sanctions, thereby undermining the administration’s decision to keep the Guard on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

The Revolutionary Guard operates in Iran’s economy through three key entities sanctioned by the United States: Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, and the Basij Cooperative Foundation. The two cooperative foundations are financial holdings investing in various firms across Iran’s economy, including publicly traded firms. Khatam is the largest construction firm in Iran, dominating infrastructure projects throughout the country.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Khatam is “the engineering arm of the IRGC that serves to help the IRGC generate income and fund its operations. Khatam al-Anbiya is controlled by the IRGC and is involved in the construction of streets, highways, tunnels, water conveyance projects, agricultural restoration projects, and pipelines.” As part of the IRGC, Khatam has a specific disbursement line in the country’s annual budget and helps finance Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile development, and terrorist activities.

Furthermore, using its influence, Khatam receives the lion’s share of the country’s infrastructure projects. Khatam is not just a key generator of revenue for the IRGC; it also provides the IRGC with opportunities to reward loyalists by appointing them to lucrative positions and to expand its web of influence in Iranian society.


Swedish court convicts Iran regime official for mass murder of prisoners
A Swedish court on Thursday issued the historic conviction of a former Iranian regime official who was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s.

Hamid Noury, 61, who was arrested at a Stockholm airport in 2019, was charged with war crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in 1988 at the Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, Iran.

"The accused has in the role of assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Tehran jointly and in collusion with others been involved in the executions, which took place after a fatwa from Iran’s Supreme Leader," Stockholm District Court said in a statement.

It said those were deemed as a "serious crime against international law" and murder. "The sentence is life imprisonment," the court said.

Amnesty International has put the number executed on government orders at around 5,000, saying in a 2018 report that "the real number could be higher."

Noury, who denies the charges, is the only person so far to face trial over the slaughter that targeted members of the Iranian People's Mujahideen (Islamic guerrilla fighters), which was fighting in parts of Iran, as well as other political dissidents.

During the wave of executions, Iran’s regime murdered Iranian Kurds, left-wingers and those who did not adhere to the radical theological state’s ideology.
Belgium advances deal to release Iranian terrorist
Belgian lawmakers gave initial approval to a prisoner-swap treaty that would release an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb an anti-regime rally in France.

The vote on the deal took place on Wednesday in the Foreign Relations Committee of Belgium’s lower house of parliament, after a two-day debate. The full chamber is expected to hold a final vote in the next two weeks.

If the treaty is approved, Belgium will release Assadollah Assadi, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021 after plotting to bomb a rally of the exiled opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, near Paris in 2018.

The treaty’s supporters say it could secure the release of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, detained in Iran in February. His arrest was first reported in Belgian media this week, and he is said to be in declining health.

Brussels University Professor Ahmadreza Djalali, who has dual Iranian-Swedish citizenship, has also been held by Iran since 2016 on trumped-up charges of espionage.

“People’s lives are at stake,” said Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, calling the treaty a “moral duty.”

Belgian lawmaker Michael Freilich said that “Belgium is making a grave mistake by yielding to blackmail, and I think we are opening the gates to hell by signing this treaty with the devil.”
Hizbullah Sec.-Gen. Hassan Nasrallah Threatens Gas Drilling Facilities Along Israel’s Shore
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a July 13, 2022 address that was uploaded to the Spot Shot channel on YouTube that if Lebanon is unable to extract offshore oil and natural gas, then no one will be able to extract or sell gas and oil, either. He said that Hizbullah is prepared to attack the Karish oil field and that war is more honorable than fighting over food and gas. He also said that while Hizbullah is supportive of Lebanon’s negotiations over demarcation of its maritime borders with Israel, it is not involved in the actual talks, and it reserves the right to “exert pressure on the enemy” and take steps that “serve the negotiations.” In addition, he said that the recent drone attack on the Karish field was deliberately carried out with unarmed drones in order to provoke Israel into firing missiles in response, which would send the FPSO boat workers the message that they are unsafe and under a serious threat.




ADL asks Iceland to act against Boston Jewish, Zionist org map project
The Anti-Defamation League called upon the government of Iceland in a Wednesday letter to take action against a Mapping Project of Jewish and Zionist institutions in Boston, which is allegedly hosted online by an Icelandic hosting company.

"An anonymous group, calling itself The Mapping Project, is threatening the Boston-area Jewish community by mapping and publishing addresses of Jewish individuals and institutions and calling for these individuals and institutions to be 'dismantled' and 'disrupted,'" wrote ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. "While we deeply respect freedom of expression, this website crosses the line into specific threats against individuals and institutions."

Hosted in Iceland
According to the ADL, the Mapping Project website is currently hosted by the Iceland-based hosting service 1984 Hosting. According to the project's domain history, it was previously hosted by Bulgarian hosting service Siteground. The initiative transferred to these hosting services after being ejected by its original host.

The ADL says that it previously contacted the Office of the National Police Commissioner in Iceland and Iceland’s ambassador to the US about the issue, but didn't receive "a substantive response." The Icelandic US Embassy and the Icelandic Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to The Jerusalem Post's request for comment.

"We deeply regret the apparent lackadaisical attitude of Icelandic officials toward this threat to the Jewish community," wrote Greenblatt.

1984 Hosting is a website hosting company that says, according to its website: "unwavering loyalty to our customers and their fundamental rights is a core value of 1984, hence the name," referring to George Orwell's dystopian sociological novel. This includes the protection of the freedom of expression.
US will 'reject BDS,' fight unfair treatment of Israel
The United States and Israel rejected the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and similar anti-Israel efforts in a joint strategic partnership declaration signed on Thursday.

"While fully respecting the right to freedom of expression, they [the US and Israel] firmly reject the BDS campaign."
The Jerusalem US-Israel Strategic Partnership Joint Declaration, 2022

"The United States and Israel affirm that they will continue to work together to combat all efforts to boycott or delegitimize Israel, to deny its right to self-defense, or to unfairly single it out in any forum, including at the United Nations or the International Criminal Court," reads the declaration. "While fully respecting the right to freedom of expression, they [the US and Israel] firmly reject the BDS campaign."

The UN has long faced accusations of undue focus on the State of Israel. In early June, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price responded to the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry into the situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza by saying that "the COI in its current form is a continuation of a longstanding pattern of unfairly singling out Israel.”

Illegitimate criticism of Israel
The declaration also touched on the intersection of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The determinations of what is legitimate criticism of Israel and what is antisemitism has been at the forefront of debates about the competing definitions of antisemitism. The definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which was adopted by the Knesset on June 22, contends that some criticisms of Israel cross into the realm of antisemitism, in line with the text of the US-Israel declaration. Some competing definitions of antisemitism do not see criticism of Israel as antisemitism.

"The two countries will use the tools at their disposal to fight every scourge and source of antisemitism and to respond whenever legitimate criticism crosses over into bigotry and hatred or attempts to undermine Israel’s rightful and legitimate place among the family of nations," read the declaration. "In this context, they express their deep concern over the global surge in antisemitism and reassert their commitment to counter this ancient hatred in all of its manifestations. "
The Hidden Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign
So, what are the lessons for everybody else?

First, be aware of what Goldberg calls “the hidden BDS campaign.” Much of BDS is open and explicit, but its influence in the ESG realm has not been.

Second, Marc Stern, chief legal officer at the American Jewish Committee, observes that sources matter: “Take slanted information and take it at face value, you’ll come out with slanted evaluations.” Investors should ask what sources an ESG rating provider is using. As is now clear, hidden assumptions built into corporate ratings may not be so neutral.

Third, Stern notes, “Social justice is not self-defining. If you ask people to have more social justice considerations in running companies, they should lay out clearly what that means and how they’ll deal with situations of conflicting views of social justice.” This particularly matters now, as “the SEC [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] has rules out to encourage more ESG disclosure.”

Fourth, Goldberg recommends that anyone concerned about these developments “ask your state treasurer and attorney general to raise these issues. Ask your member of Congress to raise the issue with the SEC, and make sure your state legislators and governors are enforcing the state’s anti-BDS laws where they exist.”

Fifth, with ESG’s rising popularity, Stern believes that when organizations like Human Rights Watch issue full-length reports on Israel, dissenters should “rebut them point by point; have something to go to pension funds with.”

Finally, Goldberg advises states with relevant anti-BDS laws and pension funds beyond Illinois to investigate whether they have unwittingly divested from Israel. Relatedly, Goldberg suggests state treasurers “ask [firms] upfront, ask them who their sources are, because they’re asking for a lot of your money.”

ESG offers investors an opportunity to feel like they’re doing good in the world, but there can clearly be a gap between theory and practice. Let the investor beware.
'My daughter was driven out of her school by antisemitic bullying'
Rachel’s daughter had been very happy as a pupil at a non-Jewish primary school near her home in south London.

But after moving up to secondary school, she was subjected to a campaign of hate that lasted months and included taunting with swastikas and Nazi salutes.

Yet teachers failed to acknowledge the incidents were antisemitic.

The daughter was so “deeply traumatised” she eventually felt forced to switch to a Jewish school a long journey away on the other side of London.

The troubling story told by Rachel (not her real name) to the JC is not included in the official statistics informing the shocking report on antisemitism in secondary schools revealed in today’s edition.

Her ordeal began towards the start of the last school year.

She walked into class before a lesson to find some of her classmates holding a large Palestinian flag.

Aware that she had close family members living in Israel, they were chanting: “Free, free, Palestine.”

Her teacher was present but chose not to intervene.

The school is a large and successful comprehensive rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Teacher told Rachel’s daughter that what she was experiencing was not antisemitic, and so the incident was never official recorded. Rachel says that in the months after the flag incident, her daughter was subjected to antisemitic comments in the playground.


Top Israeli Daily’s Exposé Paints Troubling Picture of New York Times’ Israel Coverage
In a recent exposé published by the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, journalist Lilac Sigan paints a disturbing picture of The New York Times’ coverage of Israel during the first half of 2022.

Based on her analysis of pieces published on the front page, the Opinion section, and the World section of The New York Times online, Sigan found that the “newspaper of record” disproportionately focuses on Israel, is overly selective in which Israel-related stories it reports on, and fails to provide its readers with the proper context in its coverage of news surrounding Israel and the Palestinians.

In her report, Lilac Sigan found that The New York Times’ coverage of Israel was excessive in comparison to other countries.

During the first half of 2022, Israel received 832 mentions in New York Times reports, while other Middle Eastern nations received far less attention: Turkey was mentioned 619 times, Iran received 518 mentions, and Syria appeared 498 times.

Meanwhile, the US-designated Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations were mentioned only 37 and 22 times respectively.

Not only does The New York Times seem to pay an inordinate amount of attention to Israel — but, from an examination of its Israel-related articles published in the first half of 2022, the publication seems to hold a predominantly negative view of the Jewish state.

Of the 118 pieces written about Israel, 53% portrayed Israel in a negative light, 34% were neutral, and only 13% were positive.

A prime example of The New York Times’ Israel fetish is its coverage of the killing of the veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh as she reported on an Israeli counter-terrorism operation in Jenin. During the month-and-a-half between Abu Akleh’s death and the end of the period under analysis, The New York Times published 14 articles concerning the incident in question, including a thorough “investigation” that found Israel responsible for killing Abu Akleh.
New York Times Gets Creative, Straining to Paint Israel as Sponging off American Taxpayers
How fanatically determined is the New York Times to portray Israel, falsely, as fattening itself on the generosity of American taxpayers?

Let’s have a look.

For years, the Times has been incorrectly depicting Israel as America’s most expensive foreign partner. A 2016 New York Times editorial, for example, said, “The existing agreement, which expires in 2018, provides $3.1 billion a year to Israel, making it the top recipient of American aid.” I noted then that even on that basis, it was a bogus claim: “In recent years, America has poured far more money into attempts to secure and rebuild Iraq ($2 trillion) and Afghanistan ($1 trillion). Military assistance to Israel runs about $30 billion over ten years, a bargain by comparison. Adjusted for inflation, America’s post-World War II assistance to rebuild Europe, about $103 billion in today’s dollars, also is more than what America has spent on Israel over any comparable time span.”

Likewise, a 2021 Nicholas Kristof column in the Times complained, “we provide several billion dollars a year in military assistance to a rich country and thus subsidize bombings of Palestinians. Is that really a better use of our taxes than, say, paying for COVID-19 vaccinations abroad or national pre-K at home?” I wrote then, “one wonders why the New York Times has chosen to single out American military aid to Israel rather than, say, the vast sums the US military spends defending South Korea, France, and Germany, which are also rich, but have fewer Jews….The idea that Israelis are coasting or not paying their fair share is nonsense — especially compared to NATO allies or East Asian countries or even Arab countries that benefit from the US defense umbrella.”

The situation changed in 2022, so that even a newspaper as careless about the truth as the Times could no longer, with a straight face, characterize Israel as the top annual aid recipient. The US has this year awarded $7 billion in aid to Ukraine, far more than it sends to Israel.
Framing in Jenin report on two BBC radio stations
Those “rights groups” were not identified, meaning that listeners have no way of judging their claims – and possible motives – for themselves. Likewise, the BBC did not bother to inform audiences of the UN human rights council’s long history of anti-Israel activity and bias either in relation to the audio report or the synopsis to the filmed version:

“Dozens of Palestinians have been killed during army incursions this year, and the UN’s human rights office has raised concerns over “excessive force” and “possible collective punishment” – accusations rejected by Israel.”

Instead, the BBC repeatedly preferred to frivolously promote that politically motivated talking point concerning Israel’s counter-terrorism operations as part of its framing of the story while downplaying or completely ignoring the considerably more relevant issue of the failure of the Palestinian Authority to effectively govern that area and the resulting “rearming” and proliferation of terrorist groups.

So much for the BBC’s obligation to provide its funding public with “a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers”.


Charges Filed After White Supremacist Pamphlets Left at Upstate New York Synagogue, Church
Police in an upstate town of New York have charged three suspects accused of leaving white supremacist leaflets and stickers at churches and synagogues.

Aubrey Dragonetti, 31, Dylan Henry, 30, and Ryan Mulhollen, 27, of Hornell, New York, each face 115 counts of aggravated harassment, the Hornell Police Department announced Monday — one for each pamphlet distributed.

Police in Hornell first received reports of the offensive acts on Sunday, according to a New York Times report, when a leaflet promoting the “Aryan National Army” was found tacked to the door of Rehoboth Deliverance Ministries, a predominately black church. Later, they were discovered throughout the community, with another left at the Temple Beth-El synagogue on Church Street.

On Monday, police caught Henry and Mulhollen in the act, the Times continued, and later searched their home and arrested them along with their alleged accomplice, Dragonetti. Mulhollen and Henry already have criminal records, including convictions for burglary, drug, and assault charges.

Founded in 1946 during a period of Jewish immigration to upstate New York, Temple Beth-El was designated as a Historic Place by the US National Register in 2016.

Hornell Mayor John Buckley told the Times that the incident was “shocking” and insisted that “This is something that is not reflective of Hornell.”

“These are three misguided individuals who have hate in their hearts,” Buckley said.


Israeli Researchers Lead Team That Finds Two New Planets
Tel Aviv University team uses AI to detect new worlds more than 600 light years away

A research team led by Israeli scientists has found two new giant planets in remote solar systems.

The planets are made mostly of gas and are about the size of Jupiter – which is 1,300 times bigger than planet Earth.

They are located so close to their suns that they can complete an orbit – equivalent to our 365-day year – in less than four days.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) headed a team that used data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia spacecraft (also called space observatory) to identify the planets

Gaia-1b, which is 1,186 light years from Earth, and Gaia-2b, which is 682 light years away, are named after the observatory.

The discovery “marks another milestone in the scientific contribution of the Gaia spaceship’s mission, which has already been credited with a true revolution in the world of astronomy,” the university said in a statement.

Gaia has been mapping a billion stars in our galaxy since it was launched in December 2013. The team used artificial intelligence to help them identify changes in the brightness of the many suns they were observing, a telltale sign that they were being obscured by an orbiting planet.

“Gaia is constantly monitoring hundreds of millions of stars, studying their various properties. Among other things, it is monitoring their brightness. As planets orbit the stars, they might hide part of their stellar surface, causing an apparent slight periodic dimming of the star,” Prof. Shay Zucker, one of the TAU researchers, tells NoCamels.
Tel Aviv Is One of the Greatest Cities in the World
When you visit Tel Aviv, you will feel a joy for life. This city is more alive than my beloved New York City has been for many years. After a three-week stint, I’m already planning to return again for a few weeks for so many reasons. I wasn’t aware that Time Out Magazine had called Tel Aviv the most fun city in the world, but I know they’re right.

The food choices are simply overwhelming — from the great coffee to fresh fruits, sushi to Mediterranean choices. Walk the streets of Carmel Market, and amidst the hustle and bustle of yelling shopkeepers, find Habasta, where the menu changes daily. Make sure to visit Meli Melo on Tuesday nights, when people dance on tables, or find any of the dozen restaurants where people congregate and enjoy life.

Rothschild Boulevard sees people walking hand in hand all hours of the day and night, and there are plentiful choices for entertainment and more. The Norman Hotel is one of the world’s best — gorgeous gardens and private settings for work and play.

The beaches are beyond compare; the water is warm, people play games for hours, public beach chairs are plentiful, and there’s a great public pool right on the beach — along with parks where you can work out.

The people are warm, fun, outgoing, and open-minded to those of all backgrounds. Beaches, dining, entertainment — its all done with style, taste, and fun.
Israeli Innovators Are Busy Solving Problems to Make the World a Better Place
You would think such a game-changing country would become a big story. A people returning home after 1900 years of exile, searching for refuge in the wake of the Holocaust, creating one of the hottest innovation hubs in the world and a source of solutions for some of humanity’s most pressing problems.

And yet, the world still yawns.

How is that possible? Why haven’t Israel’s stunning achievements become a bigger story? For one thing, because good news and Israel don’t mix well. Among the left, little must interfere with Israel’s failure to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians. Among the “tough love” crowd of Israel supporters, good news about the Jewish state tends to be downplayed as “hasbara”— just another tool to build good PR.

Among media outlets that are routinely biased against Israel, a transcendent story of a plucky and resourceful Jewish state helping humanity disrupts the familiar narrative of an all-powerful and guilty Israel.

At the United Nations, where Israel is condemned more than any other country, it would be unthinkable to celebrate it as one of the world’s most indispensable nations. Talk about cognitive dissonance.

In short, if you’re someone who’s used to putting down Israel, extraordinary news about Israel can really mess with your head.

I wonder if Israeli innovators worry about any of this stuff. I’m guessing they’re not spending too much time agonizing over BDS or the biased coverage of Israel or how Israel is treated at the UN. In their labs and tech centers, they’re agonizing instead over finding cures for chronic diseases or creating green technologies that will heal the planet.

I’m guessing they’re so busy solving problems that make the world a better place they’re probably oblivious to the fact that much of the world hasn’t noticed.

That indifference to hasbara and media accolades in favor of real achievement is also part of the story.
They Loved Me in Buchenwald
A tribute to Robert Clary, the French American actor who survived the Holocaust to take Hollywood by storm

Then came the pilot for the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, set in a Nazi POW camp, and his career-defining character as a tiny Frenchman, Louis LeBeau, who was not only a valiant little prisoner of war but also a gourmet chef (naturally). Some episodes featured him wearing a French chef’s white toque instead of his usual béret Basque. Successive seasons gave Clary more to do as his character developed, and his memoir, titled, like it or not, From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes—dwells on issues he had to contend with, with growing impatience, over the decades: No, he did not mind playing a prisoner of the Germans. The Germans in the sitcom were Luftwaffe and not necessarily Nazis, and a stalag observed the Geneva Convention and was not a concentration camp. The actors who played Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz—German Werner Klemperer, son of conductor Otto Klemperer, and Austrian John Banner—were Jews and he adored them as his “best friends” during the making of the show and as they aged together companionably in Los Angeles. Ivan Dixon, who played Kinchloe, was a brilliant performer who had already made the intense black-and-white movie Nothing but a Man in 1964; he would be the only cast member to quit the series for more ambitious work acting and directing. The only hint of tensions was with Bob Crane, who was the sole Republican.

Hogan’s Heroes, Clary notes, would remain a global hit for decades to come, even in Germany, under the name A Cage Full of Heroes.

Clary’s third act, after the daytime dramas, was a quiet one. His reticence about the Holocaust ebbed in the 1980s, when he was horrified by the soft and overt antisemitism of Patrick Buchanan and David Duke in the television news in the 1980s, and he started to speak out about his experiences. This was “the best thing I did in my life” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2015. His nightmares about the Holocaust, common since the 1940s, finally stopped.

There had been a time when it was common enough for World War II refugees to run into each other at parties, in major European and American cities, including Los Angeles, and in Clary’s telling, these encounters had always been low key. Where were you in the war? Prisoner? Me too. Where? Ah, you were in a camp, which one? Buchenwald. Ravensbruck, Treblinka ... How long? Right. And the subject was dropped in favor of current events, gossip, or sports.

But a much fuller catharsis came when Clary attended the World Gathering of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust in Jerusalem in 1981. He instinctively took to Israel, Jerusalem, and the survivor community, connecting with the now aged, paunchy Israelis he had known as skinny young Parisians. He visited Yad Vashem and gave an interview for a documentary, where, for the first time, he broke down weeping uncontrollably. He could not stop, or explain to the interviewer, Dr. William Rader, why he was crying, except finally to speculate, a few minutes later, “Maybe I should have died.”
Unpacked: Were Jews Responsible For Bringing Down The USSR? | The Jewish Story Explained
After centuries of fighting for survival, Jews in Western European countries were finally granted citizenship in the 19th century. However, Eastern European countries like Russia were still encouraging violent pogroms and antisemitism towards their Jewish populations.

Following the brutal events of World War Two, Jews in the Soviet Union attempted to escape their dire situation by applying for immigration to Israel. Unfortunately, these attempts were blocked by leader of the U.S.S.R, Joseph Stalin.

Enraged by the many injustices they faced, Jewish activists like Anatoly Shcharansky (later, Natan Sharansky) fought to help free the Jews of the Soviet Union, and in turn propelled the movement that successfully dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991.




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