Thursday, July 21, 2022
Ben Shapiro: Those who oppose US exceptionalism oppose Israel
It’s an honor to be here at the inaugural CPAC Israel or, as I like to call it, my bar mitzvah. I want to thank those who are working so hard to spread intellectual conversation about conservative values in the Jewish state, and all the organizations involved with this event tonight: Shibolet Press, publishing the very best English-language conservative thought in Hebrew; Sella Meir Publishing, bringing solid political literature to Israel; CPAC, with whom I’ve worked for years; and Tel Aviv International Salon, Israel’s largest speakers’ forum.International Conservative Conference with Ben Shapiro | In Tel Aviv - Israel
Our countries have something profound and vital in common: They are both gifts from God, blessed by Him, founded in liberty and consecrated to the idea that He is present in history, and that He guides history toward His ends.
As George Washington said in his first inaugural address, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.”
And as Menachem Begin told Jimmy Carter: “What you have just heard about the Jewish people’s inherent rights to the Land of Israel may seem academic to you, theoretical, even moot. But not to my generation. To my generation of Jews, these eternal bonds are indisputable and incontrovertible truths, as old as recorded time. They touch upon the very core of our national being.”
But our countries also have much that differentiates us. And so tonight, I want to talk about something deeply important: what Israel can learn from America, and what America can learn from Israel.
Ben Shapiro: US should learn from Israel’s common sense of destiny
Asked about Biden’s visit to Israel last week, Shapiro said the president “fell on his face.”Ohio Democrats Criticize J.D. Vance For Visiting America’s Ally Israel
“He arrived, shook hands, made some noises that sounded vaguely pro-Israel and then weird sounds started to emerge, like comparing the plight of the Palestinians to the Irish under British rule. It’s quite a feat to offend two key American allies and botch the history in the process,” Shapiro quipped. “Traveling to east Jerusalem and removing the Israel flag from the Beast [the presidential limousine] is him catering to his left-wing base, and he made a fool of himself in Saudi Arabia.
“He is uniquely bad at this job, completely utterly unable to say the thing that won his nomination, which is that progressives need to take a seat.”
Israel and the Democratic Party
When it comes to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Shapiro said he is “not worried about ‘the Squad’ taking over tomorrow. I’m worried that in 10 years from now they’ll still be around, and Nancy Pelosi is in her 80s. There’s a reason she’s posing in magazines with members of Squad.”
“Each generation of the Democratic Party is more progressive than the last,” he added. “The AOC wing is not ascendant now, but it’s hard to say how it wouldn’t be 15 years from now... to the great detriment of the Democratic Party.”
Shapiro said he understands the need for Israel to continue to “court Democrats,” but they should not compromise on principles while doing it.
“Don’t freeze settlements interminably with hopes that Biden likes you,” he said. “It’s good to be cordial to Biden and honor him. He’s president of the United States, you should do those things. Netanyahu attempted to maintain cordiality with a president who hated his guts, [Barack] Obama.”
Brad Kastan, chairman of the Community Relations Council of JewishColumbus, also said in a statement given to The Daily Wire, “Israel is our strongest and most important ally in the Middle East. All Americans and particularly the citizens of Ohio benefit from the strong strategic and economic ties, not to mention shared values, we enjoy with Israel.”
“Ohio Democrats or anyone who appreciates the role our U.S. Senators must play in foreign policy should strongly encourage, not discourage, our leaders to visit the Jewish state,” he continued.
Ryan has previously supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, which Israel opposed. Ryan criticized former President Donald Trump for pulling the U.S. out of that agreement. While campaigning for president, Ryan said he “would absolutely support entering a new version of the JCPOA that extends restrictions even further into the future.”
Kastan added, “I would encourage Tim Ryan to join with Mr. Vance in calling on the Biden Administration to reject any support of future nuclear agreements that allows Iran to grow their influence without completely dismantling their nuclear infrastructure.”
Sam Markstein, Republican Jewish Coalition national political director, also weighed in on the situation and pointed out that Ryan is endorsed by the Left-leaning J Street, which critics assert holds animosity toward Israel while supporting pro-Palestinian policies.
“It’s sad and troubling that far-left Democrat Tim Ryan’s campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party would criticize JD Vance for traveling to our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel,” Markstein told The Daily Wire in an e-mail. “Unfortunately, this reflects a growing trend of hostility to the Jewish state in the Democratic Party. Tim Ryan is endorsed by the anti-Israel group J Street, supports the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran that would endanger not only Israel but our regional partners, and consistently votes in lockstep with the failed Biden-Pelosi agenda.”
Markstein predicted Ohioans “will reject Tim Ryan and his radicalism this November.”
If Jesus was born a Jew, how can Jews be "Occupiers"?
No one disputes that Jesus (Yeshua) was Jewish. His mom was Jewish, all of his friends, colleagues – all of them were Jewish. He went on pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. And, he was born in in the town of Bethlehem in Judea. Hence- Yeshua – perhaps the most significant and influential person in history ever --- was a settler.Stephen Pollard: The dreadful Forde report completely misses the point about Labour antisemitism
How can millions worldwide accept the story of Yeshua, claim that a Jewish family raised this Jewish boy in this city – yet claim the Jews do not have history and the right to this land? There is nary a Christian alive who disputes that he was born in Bethlehem in Judea – the same city where King David had been born a thousand years earlier. And if that is the case, how can anyone in say that there is any "occupied" territory in Israel?
All of a sudden, some form of revisionist history is more important than the Christian ethos? Sounds more like modern-day Anti-Semitism.
The Jewish people – from way before the time of Jesus - have a Biblical, legal and moral link and connection to these areas which are part of the State of Israel, pre and post the 1967 War. All of the Land of Israel is rich with stories from the Bible – and Judea and Samaria belong to Israel as much as Tel Aviv does.
There is no factual basis to claim that there is occupied territory in Israel. As Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it clearly, “The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel has lasted for more than 3,500 years. Judea and Samaria, the places where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Solomon, and Isaiah and Jeremiah lived are not alien to us. This is the land of our forefathers.”
The Jewish right to the entire Land of Israel is eternal. The Jewish link to all of the Land of Israel pre-dates even Jesus (and, of course, Mohammed - but that is another article.).
In other words, Forde concluded – as did the EHRC – that Labour had a deep-seated antisemitism problem which was not being properly dealt with and which many in the party simply denied.BBC coverage of Forde Report promotes problematic past content
Forde could, and should, have left this aspect of the problem at that. But no, he could not resist weighing in further – and in doing so revealing a near total lack of understanding of the issue.
In among his comments about the existence of anti-Jewish racism in the party, he writes: ‘It was of course also true that some opponents of Jeremy Corbyn saw the issue of antisemitism as a means of attacking him. Thus, rather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of antisemitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.’
According to his biography, Mr Forde ‘has a practice which covers all aspects of Health Law’. I suggest that in future he sticks to that. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that he is right that the anti-Corbynites used antisemitism as a stick with which to beat him. Isn’t that wholly to their credit? What Mr Forde is saying is that they did not sit quietly on the sidelines saying nothing – they campaigned against the leader on the basis that he was presiding over a culture of racism, and as such was unfit to be leader (although the actual numbers who did fight against racism were pathetically small).
And yet for Forde, this is no more than a tit-for-tat political argument – racists versus anti-racists as two equally annoying factions – or, as he wrote:
‘The factions ended up in a cycle of attack and counterattack, with each side assuming that the other was acting in bad faith (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not) and responding in kind…Some anti-Corbyn elements of the party seized on antisemitism as a way to attack Jeremy Corbyn, and his supporters saw it simply as an attack on the leader and his faction – with both ‘sides’ thus weaponising the issue and failing to recognise the seriousness of antisemitism, its effect on Jewish communities and on the moral and political standing of the party.’
This is genuinely disgusting, equating those perpetuating racism with those fighting it, and dismissing the latter as ‘weaponizing’ the issue – exactly the word used, to this day, by the Corbynites.
But that isn’t the worst of it.
Although his remit did not include making proposals, Mr Forde decided to offer his wisdom in this area, too. Astonishingly, he suggests that a group called Jewish Voice for Labour, which was set up by a small group of Corbynites with the sole purpose of denying that antisemitism was a problem within Labour, and which has had members expelled from the party over antisemitism, be asked to conduct training in antisemitism. (And no, that’s not – as they might actually be qualified to do – in training as to how to be an antisemite, but how not to be.) Mr Forde writes: ‘There is a number of legitimate approaches that exist within the Party and the Jewish communities respectively.’
With just that one sentence, the entirety of the report is rendered unfit for purpose, because it shows that Mr Forde has not grasped even the most basic parts of the issue – that this was indeed a battle between good and bad, between those who perpetrated and perpetuated antisemitism and those who fought it. There are not ‘a number of legitimate approaches’ to this – one of which is to ask one of those groups which defended and denied the antisemitism to be involved in anti-antisemitism training. The idea is morally, politically and practically repellent.
Sometimes political problems require legal solutions, as the EHRC investigation showed. But sometimes they also need political solutions, as post-Corbyn Labour shows. Sir Keir Starmer will and should be judged on how he deals with antisemitism, not on what QCs he appoints tell him. This is an issue for Sir Keir to deal with. He has certainly made a start, but he needs to get on with it. Without the help of JVL or any of the other defenders of the Corbynite faith.
Nevertheless, the BBC chose to uncritically reamplify Corbyn’s inaccurate claim without informing readers of that aspect of the Forde Report.Morningstar's ESG: Proudly Leftist, Covertly Anti-Israel
At the bottom of the article, readers are offered “More on this story”, with the first item being a November 2020 item titled ‘A guide to Labour Party anti-Semitism claims’. As was noted here at the time, that BBC produced ‘backgrounder’ promotes the Livingstone Formulation – which was classed by the EHRC as “unlawful harassment”.
That 2020 backgrounder also suggests additional reading, including a link headed “Read more about the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism” which leads audiences to another item of BBC content produced in April 2016. As was noted here when that ‘backgrounder’ first appeared, it also amplifies the Livingstone Formulation:
“…others say the Israeli government and its supporters are deliberately confusing anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism to avoid criticism.”
“On the other hand, it’s regularly claimed that accusations of anti-Semitism are deployed to silence criticism of the Israeli government or to further other political ends.
Pia Feig, of Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestinians, told BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine programme that “anti-Semitism has been used to quieten down and suppress my concern and the concern of other people for Palestinians”.”
The same backgrounder also amplifies the ‘Zionism is racism’ canard and the ‘apartheid’ smear.
“Some anti-Zionists say Zionism itself is a racist ideology, because of how, in their view, the Palestinian people have been treated by the Israeli state. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it opposes all racism, including anti-Jewish prejudice and the “the apartheid and Zionist nature of the Israeli state” – although the PSC has itself been accused of racism for its anti-Zionist stance.”
Like the rest of the British media, the BBC has been reporting Labour party related antisemitism stories for nearly seven years. That should surely have been time enough for Britain’s national broadcaster to have produced a backgrounder on the issue which properly serves its funding public’s interests (and to learn to spell the word antisemitism) rather than simply recycling sub-par content that whitewashes antisemitism in the form of the Livingstone Formulation.
As troubling as Morningstar’s partisan crankery is, recent revelations about its ugly anti-Israeli bias are far worse. It turns out that Morningstar is a covert carrier of the BDS (boycott, divest and sanction) virus – a virus that infects investments with a radical anti-Israel bias.Jewish groups demand action from Morningstar following anti-Israel bias accusations
The vector of transmission for Morningstar, and through Morningstar to its clients, has been its acquisition and use of Sustainalytics, and its social rankings of various public corporations around the world. Sustainalytics’ work, like virtually all leftist “stakeholder activism” (Morningstar’s only acceptable kind of ESG, non-leftists apparently not being genuine stakeholders… for some reason) is biased from the jump by its exclusive reliance on deeply biased sources: in this case, deeply anti-Israeli organizations such as Who Profits, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Likewise, it establishes inherently biased metrics that, even when applied neutrally, create profoundly bigoted responses. Here, the joker metric, or one of them, raises the fact of doing business in or with regard to “occupied or disputed territories” to one of the major sins of international activity. Now, everyone knows – everyone knows – that this metric is included so as to permit “neutral” discrimination against Israel. There’s a lot of international evil in the world, but little of it has anything to do with occupied territories per se. The occupied and disputed territories in Israel are a problem, one that Israel has tried honestly to grapple with and to resolve for many years, only to be faced by hostility, intransigence and the instigation of aggression by adversaries many of which still do not recognize even so much as Israel’s basic right to exist. To include and elevate a category that is designed almost entirely to harm Israeli companies is simply and utterly anti-Israeli.
The anti-Israeli bias inherent in Morningstar’s rating metrics, and therefore in the ratings it sells to customers, was revealed by Richard Goldberg at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Goldberg recently wrote a report fisking a White & Case study, paid for by Morningstar, that at the top line absolved Morningstar of wrongdoing, but within the report provided countless examples of the dire bias shot right through Sustainalytics’ and Morningstar’s efforts and results, including those already considered.
“On a full reading of the Report, rather than exonerating Morningstar, the White & Case investigation instead demonstrates conclusively that Sustainalytics’ processes and products — including its flagship ESG Risk Ratings product — are infected by systemic bias against Israel,” Goldberg concluded.
Morningstar is of course free to give clients any information it wants, and those clients are free to pay for it. Morningstar is not free to misrepresent itself to its clients, to pretend that wildly anti-Israel ratings are anything but; or that ratings that that are infused with nonpecuniary or biased metrics or research are based only on the objective, fully researched fiduciary prospects of a company. Clients that suspect that they have been materially misled in the past may want to make inquiries of varying levels of aggressiveness, as might institutional investors. And as Goldberg points out in his analysis, officials in states with anti-BDS laws should apply those laws to Morningstar.
A wide swath of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations sent a letter to Morningstar executive chairman Joseph Mansueto and CEO Kunal Kapoor last week, urging the Chicago-based financial-services company to implement steps to root out anti-Israel bias at one of its subsidiaries.Stop celebrating ‘victory’ over Ben & Jerry’s
Signatories to the July 15 letter include the Anti-Defamation League; American Jewish Committee; Combat Antisemitism Movement; Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Christians United for Israel (CUFI); Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America; Jewish Funders Network; JLens; the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; and the Jewish Federations of North America.
The letter follows the release of a May report from White & Case, a law firm hired by Morningstar to investigate claims that the Sustainalytics’ Human Rights Radar risk ratings had anti-Israel bias and was signaling out Israel over human-rights abuses while neglecting serious abuses in other countries.
It also comes just weeks after the Illinois Investment Policy Board, which can put businesses who sanction BDS on a list of those who cannot do business with the state, closed an investigation in Morningstar citing its “openness and transparency on the issue.”
As part of its findings, White & Case laid out some 40 recommendations that Morningstar has committed to following to address the findings, including cutting ties with the vendor behind its now-discarded Human Rights Radar.
We are in a post-fact universe. We need to know the facts for our own good, but “countering” the lies with facts is a waste of time. Once the lie is out there, it’s too late. We need to work on ways to keep the lie from getting out there.
I am not now advocating, nor have I ever advocated violence. There are nonviolent ways to silence these disgusting hatemongers or at least force them to spend their money on cybersecurity, for example, instead of spreading their poison.
Education, of course, is an important element of a counter-campaign, but it’s not the only one. Venting on Facebook and Twitter feels good but for the most part, people talk to fellow members of their own political or social group. So, beyond the good feeling, it doesn’t help much.
Should there be a counterdemonstration across the street from every single BDS demonstration? Absolutely. Should their speakers be heckled and harassed? For sure. Should they feel the need for bodyguards and security? Why not? Should they have to hire expensive cybersecurity firms to stop their websites from constant hacking, DNS attacks, and viruses? You bet.
Those are the areas in which anti-BDS activists need to be seen (or not seen). Then maybe one day we can get a Ben & Jerry’s flavor called “Bye-Bye BDS.”
Antisemite Mohammed El-Kurd shares a horrifying Nazi-like cartoon graphic to his nearly 750k followers on Instagram.@instagram did not remove the graphic, citing "due to high volume of reports, our review team hasn't been able to review your report".
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 20, 2022
Unacceptable @Meta pic.twitter.com/vLGH7cRQBb
NCSS Issues Strong Position Statement on Antisemitism
On June 10, 2022, the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) issued a Position Statement on “antisemitism, antisemitic violence, and all bigotry and discrimination.” The statement reflects the urgency felt by NCSS members to respond to a spate of recent attacks on Jewish citizens and to a perceived increase in antisemitism in American society. It follows a 2020 resolution on antisemitism. The current position statement encourages educators to examine their understanding of the Jewish people and consider what constitutes antisemitism.Deranged Rantings, Courtesy of Salon and Chris Hedges
The position statement:
– Includes the widely adopted IHRA definition of what constitutes antisemitism
– Establishes that Jews are indigenous to the Middle East with their center of worship in Jerusalem
– Explains that Jews are a people comprised of individuals of diverse backgrounds and that grouping Jews as a race is prejudicial
– Elucidates that education about the Holocaust must include teaching the history of antisemitism. This history is not limited to Europe or America but includes antisemitism emanating from the Middle East and North Africa.
NCSS Position statements are developed through a consensus process to present a carefully considered position on a topic of importance. Individual members or regional groups can submit a resolution for approval to the house of delegates (HOD) representing all constituents, followed by approval from the Board of Directors. A resolution can include taking a stance on an issue, leading to a position statement. A position statement is written after a resolution is passed by the Board.
Where to begin with Chris Hedges’s latest unhinged rant? Perhaps by asking whether the folks at Salon have any shame. Even setting aside Hedges’s history of disdain for factual accuracy and past employment with Russian propaganda outlet RT America, his latest rant should’ve gone straight to the trash bin of any respectable media outlet.Weaponizing Food: How Condé Nast Transformed an Israeli City Into a Palestinian Town
Instead, on July 19, Salon published his “commentary,” which is a somewhat charitable way to describe the 2,000+ word hate screed for the United States and Israel, entitled “Final act of empire? U.S., Israel and the Saudis now heading for war with Iran.”
Hedges’s Continued Flight from Factual Accuracy
Start with some of the blatant factual inaccuracies written by Hedges and published by Salon.
Hedges claims there are “Jewish-only settlements” in Israel. This is false. Israeli law prohibits such discrimination. The Israeli Supreme Court itself has made this clear, ruling in Ka’adan v. Israel Lands Administration that the state may not discriminate on the basis of religion or nationality in allocating state land. There is an exception, however. In Avitan v. Israel Lands Administration, the Supreme Court held the government could discriminate in favor of Bedouin Arabs. In other words, while there can be no such thing as a “Jewish-only settlement” in Israel, there can be a “Bedouin Arab-only settlement” in Israel.
Hedges also writes, “The U.S. offers shameless support for Israel’s right-wing government…” In fact, the current government, far from being “right-wing,” is made up of a broad coalition of parties from across the political spectrums. The current prime minister is Yair Lapid from the left-leaning Yesh Atid party. Other left-wing parties, like Meretz and Labor, are also members of the coalition government.
Current Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid alongside former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas.
Also included is the Arab/Islamic Movement party United Arab List (also known as Ra’am). The sweeping assertion of an Israeli “right-wing” government, which ignores the role of an Islamist party in the current coalition, is particularly notable given Hedges’s suggestion that Israel “makes war on Muslims.”
Condé Nast, the global media conglomerate that owns Vogue and The New Yorker, published a piece this month, titled “The Unsung Food Destinations to Travel for Now,” which completely severs the connection between the city of Nazareth and the country where it’s located: Israel.Guardian warns Pro-Israel Americans are again exercising their democratic rights
Meanwhile, the Condé Nast Traveler feature deems the inhabitants of this Biblical town, associated in the New Testament as the home of the boyhood Jesus, as “Palestinian.”
The story, which purports to explore some of the great local food and flavors from around the world, portrays Nazareth this way:
…where Palestinian cooks, bakers, and producers proudly continue centuries-old traditions. At Elbabour, neighbors thumb earthy za’atar and tangy sumac, while at Almashedawi Bakery, regional staples like labneh and bitter greens are tucked into flatbread fresh from the taboon. And…skilled home cooks help the chefs at Luna Arabic Bistro turn out maqluba, an elaborate Palestinian dish of meat and rice—perfectly capturing a city where community and tradition are always on the table.
Yet this is how the Elbabour restaurant on its website describes its culinary offerings:
…a family business, lovingly handed down from generation to generation. Jarjoura and Tony Kanaza are the brothers who currently operate the Mill. They’re driven by the desire to promote a culture of authentic spices, based on the healthy, natural, and diverse Nazarethian-Galilean-Christian cuisine.
Similarly, Luna Arabic Bistro owner Luna Zreik has frequently cited her “Christian Arab household” as the inspiration for her much-talked-about eatery.
Regarding the Almashedawi Bakery, a visit to the Nazareth municipality website reveals a host of recommended establishments for those with a sweet tooth. Nowhere on this page is the word “Palestinian” used.
Further, to put the millions spent by AIPAC’s super Pac during this election cylce in some perspective: there are 2,163 super PACs tracked by the OpenSecrets (a organisation that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying), and those super PACs have raised a total of over $1.1 billion and spent $232 million so far during the 2022 midterm elections.Holocaust memorial vandalized in Berlin, swastikas carved in
Though McGreal noted big billionaire pro-Israel, Jewish donors to AIPAC such as Paul Singer, Bernie Marcus and Haim Saban, who gave $1 million each to the group, the largest single donor to super Pacs by far during the current election cycle, per Open Secrets, is Democratic mega-donor George Soros. Soros – in addition to his funding of NGOs hostile to Israel’s existence via his Open Society Foundations – has contributed $126 million in support of progressive and often anti-Israel candidates in 2022. (In fact, neither Singer, Marcus or Saban rank in the top 10 of large Super pac donors.) Yet, there doesn’t appear to be anything on the Guardian’s website about Soros’s impact on US elections.
As we’ve often demonsrated, it seems that, for journalists at the outlet, it isn’t the vast sums of money spent on US elections that disturbs them per se, but merely the money spent by pro-Israel Americans – Jews (and non-Jews) exercising the Constituational right that they and all citizens of the Republic possess to fully participate in the country’s democracy.
As we’ve argued previously, AIPAC is successful in large measure because it promotes a cause that’s popular with a large majority of Americans, grassroots support that has generally been lacking with the Palestinian cause. However, if pro-Palestinian groups want to create a similar PAC or super PAC, they’re of course free to do so with the help of wealthy foundations sympathetic to their cause. There’s no nafarious plot to stifle such an effort, nor are there any systemic barriers to entry.
A Holocaust memorial in Berlin was vandalized with antisemitic tropes on Tuesday.Trees dedicated to Holocaust victims chopped down at Buchenwald camp
Two swastikas and a commandership for Adolf Hitler were found carved into a concrete block in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the city.
Discovered by a security guard Friday morning, the antisemitic incident occurred in a memorial site near the Brandenburg Gate and the German parliament, the Bundestag.
The memorial is dedicated to the six million Jews murdered in Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its accessories. What do the authorities know?
Germany’s State Security Service has started an investigation with no recent knowledge about those responsible for the hate-fueled episode.
This is not the first time a holocaust monument has been vandalized.
Recently, there has been a surge in antisemitism in Germany.
For example, German police are additionally investigating the surge of inaccurate information circulating on Telegram channels stating that the German memorial site of a former concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, would be used to house Ukrainian refugees.
The Buchenwald concentration camp memorial says that seven trees dedicated to the memory of victims of the Nazi camp in eastern Germany have been chopped down.Yad Vashem makes historic strides in Argentinian Holocaust education
The foundation that runs the memorial tweeted on Wednesday that the trees near the site apparently were attacked the previous day. It posted pictures showing the trees severed about halfway up the trunk, and said it was “appalled at the deliberate attack on remembrance.”
The foundation said that it had filed a complaint to police.
One of the trees was dedicated to children killed at Buchenwald and the others to six prisoners at the camp.
The trees were part of a project called “1,000 beeches” and were planted on a route outside the actual camp along which prisoners were taken.
The Buchenwald concentration camp was established in 1937. More than 56,000 of the 280,000 inmates held at Buchenwald and its satellite camps were killed by the Nazis or died as a result of hunger, illness or medical experiments before the camp’s liberation on April 11, 1945.
During his recent visit to Buenos Aires, Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan met with Argentine President Prof. Alberto Ángel Fernández and other high-ranking Argentinian officials, and participated in the Latin American Forum to Combat Antisemitism.
On his first tour of his native Argentina since assuming the chairmanship last August of Yad Vashem – the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Dayan met with Fernández at Casa Rosada, the official seat of the Argentine presidency.
"In my discussion with the president, I expressed our deep appreciation for his support that has led to the signing of two important agreements, one with the Argentine Ministry of Education and the other with the Argentinian National Archives," Dayan remarked following the meeting. "We also talked about the rise of hate speech and antisemitism around the world. President Fernandez shared his great concern about this worrying phenomenon.
“I also took this opportunity to raise the issue of the terror attack on the headquarters of the AMIA (Argentine Jewish Mutual Association) in Buenos Aires 28 years ago, and the fact that despite the deaths of 85 victims, justice has not yet been served, with no one prosecuted to date,” he said. “President Fernandez expressed great frustration at this issue." Indeed, one of the most emotional elements of Dayan's trip was his participation in a commemorative event marking the attack.
Dayan kicked off his visit to the Argentine capital by participating in the Latin American Forum to Combat Antisemitism, together with international delegates, such as US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Commissioner of the OAS (Organization of American States) to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Fernando Lottenberg, and former president of Guatemala Jimmy Morales.
The German Embassy has issued a statement condemning the sales stating "Conscious of our historical role, we cannot be indifferent to the normalization of the nazi dictatorship, its accomplices, and its symbols" pic.twitter.com/7m9xe4IX8y
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 20, 2022
Alarm Among Toronto Jews as ‘Swastika Man’ Serial Offender Is Released by Court
A Toronto man who pleaded guilty to three separate hate crimes targeting Jews has been released on probation by a local judge, triggering concern in the city’s Jewish community.
Michael Park was sentenced on Wednesday to 36 months of probation following his guilty plea and will now be released. His probation is governed by a number of conditions, including not being allowed within 10 meters (32 feet) of a synagogue or other Jewish institution, along with a ban on possession of weapons and consumption of cannabis and other drugs.
Dubbed “Swastika Man” after being photographed with the Nazi symbol drawn on his chest, the 33-year-old Park was arrested three times during 2021 for three separate antisemitic incidents in the space of two months.
On July 6, a shirtless Park was photographed with a swastika drawn on his chest shortly after he was seen yelling antisemitic slurs and throwing objects at another person at Stanley Park, in the King Street West and Walnut Avenue area of Toronto. He was arrested nearby and charged with assault with a weapon, as well as two municipal bylaw infractions related to behavior in parks.
However, four days later, there was another antisemitic incident involving Park, this time in the Yonge Street and Elm Street area. Again, Park displayed a drawing of a swastika on his chest and was heard yelling antisemitic slurs at three Jewish women. When a man who witnessed the outrage confronted Park about his antisemitic language, he was punched multiple times.
Our embassies have atoms. Maybe it means we have an atomic bomb. https://t.co/ae0rvxhxJJ
— The Mossad Does Tweets (@TheMossadIL) July 20, 2022
Israel Exports to Grow 15% to Record $165 Billion in 2022
Israel’s exports are on track to hit a record $165 billion in 2022, up 15 percent from 2021, the Economy Ministry said on Wednesday.
Economy Minister Orna Barbivai attributed the rise from $143 billion last year — which was up 25 percent from 2020 — to opening more economic annexes globally that help exporters, as well as easing regulations for businesses and bringing foreign retailers to Israel.
Exports have risen sharply from $96 billion in 2016.
The ministry noted that much of the rise this year will come from services, such as transportation, tourism, and research and development from sales of start-up companies. Goods exports, it added, will rise due to growth in medical and optical equipment, chemicals, and diamonds.
Israel’s main exports are cut and uncut diamonds, pearls, and other precious metals and stones (33 percent of total exports), according to Trading Economics.
Europe remains Israel’s largest trading partner with $37 billion of bilateral trade over the first half 2022, excluding diamonds, followed by Asia with $21 billion, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed.
The United States stayed as Israel’s largest partner by country at more than $10 billion over the first half of the year, followed by China at nearly $9 billion.
My dear friends I am here in this amazing place the Jerusalem City Museum in the Old Jerusalem Fortress that tells the unique story of the city and the importance of Jerusalem to the three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Feel my energy! pic.twitter.com/gOLUBlP56O
— Uri Geller (@theurigeller) July 21, 2022
More apartheid in Israel. https://t.co/pgUbh4q4mJ
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 20, 2022
What’s the Story Behind Columbia’s Massive Judaica Collection? | Show & Tale: Columbia (Part 1)
18Forty Founder Rabbi David Bashevkin spoke with Columbia University librarian Michelle Margolis about the institution’s massive Judaica collection. In this first part, Michelle reveals the origin story of one of America’s most important collections.
Show & Tale is a new 18Forty video series that will take you inside some of the great libraries—both public and private—to explore books and treasures from Jewish history.
Michelle Margolis is the Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies at Columbia University. We spoke with her at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, located in Butler Library.
|
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
|
