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Sunday, July 31, 2022

07/31 Links: How Norway and EU Are Undermining the Oslo Accords; The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: How Norway and EU Are Undermining the Oslo Accords
Norway and EU member states have restored funding to six Palestinian civil society organizations designated by Israel as terror-supporting organizations, thereby rejecting evidence submitted by Israel that such organizations are linked to the universally outlawed terror organization: “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

Funding terror contravenes international counter-terrorism conventions and resolutions to which Norway and the EU are party that criminalize funding terror. It also undermines distinct counter-terror provisions in the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords between the Palestinians and Israel and is incompatible with their active involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

This decision to restore funding to terror-supporting NGOs is particularly serious in light of Norway’s and the EU’s special status both as witness to the Oslo Accords, but more so in light of Norway’s active involvement as the principal facilitator, mediator, host, and patron of the accords.

Contrary to its special status as witness, sponsor, and facilitator of the Oslo Accords, Norway has consistently conducted a one-sided, partisan policy aimed at prejudging the issues that are still to be negotiated between the parties, such as the issue of Jerusalem and the permanent status of the territories.

Facilitating international funding for supporting and encouraging Palestinian terror, including providing funds for salaries and benefits of terrorists serving prison sentences, is the antithesis of any genuine international action to promote human rights, peace, and stability in the Middle East.
David Singer: The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan
It would appear that back channel negotiations have been going on since the release of the Saudi plan on 8 June to refine it to reflect - with more precision - the starting positions of Jordan, Israel and the PLO in any negotiations.

Those agreed starting positions include:
The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler King Abdullah – which Hashemite dynasty has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years.

The right of return to Israel by Palestinian Arab refugees will not be pursued. Instead The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will integrate those refugees within its borders

The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will include
-Jordan with its current borders
-The Gaza Strip
A-reas of the 'West Bank' inhabited by Palestinian Arabs and bordering Jordan that are contiguous and not divided into islands
-The retention by Israel of the Jordan Valley and other areas of the 'West Bank' such as Oslo-designated Area C, where all the Jews in the region live, will be resolved in the negotiations

Neither the Arabs nor the Muslims will seek to expel Israel from Jerusalem. However it remains as a bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinian Arabs in securing any agreement and giving the Holy Places in Jerusalem a special status.

Any agreement will need to be ratified by a free popular referendum by Arab voter constituencies consisting of all Jordanians and residents of the 'West Bank' and Gaza Strip and those who are stateless such as the residents of the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Arabs who are settled in other countries and who enjoy full citizenship will have no vote.

The rationale for creating The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine is based on the fact that Jordanians and Palestinians are Sunni Arabs from the same region and integrating them will not cause any ethnic or sectarian fault lines in the long run.

Jordan has received a flurry of visits from Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s President Herzog, since the Saudi Plan was published.

Lapid’s visit now when he is only caretaker Prime Minister is highly significant. It could indicate the commencement of negotiations is supported by the majority of Israel’s political parties even though nothing can go forward until after the next government is formed post November elections.

And then - let the negotiations begin.


League of Nations Mandate Centenary
This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar marking the League of Nations Mandate Centenary. It took place on 21 July 2022, and features a special introduction by the President of the State of Israel, H.E. Isaac Herzog and a talk by Professor Steven Zipperstein. Jonathan Turner is the chairman.

The Mandate for Palestine was adopted by the Council of the League of Nations (the forerunner of today’s United Nations) in London on 24 July 1922. It mandated the British Government to put into effect the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917.

The Mandate explicitly recognised the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that territory. It transformed the unilateral declaration of the British government into an instrument of international law and provided the legal basis for Britain’s administration of Western Palestine until 1948. Its impact on the development of the Jewish national home into the modern State of Israel cannot be denied, and the rights and obligations set out in its provisions arguably remain relevant today.


Kushner: Netanyahu axed annexation in exchange for triple normalization
Two years after the Abraham Accords were first signed, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and confidant of former US President Donald Trump, has written a book in which he reveals new details about the historic Middle East breakthrough.

In Breaking History: A White House Memoir, due to be published on Aug. 23, Kushner says that he received news that the United Arab Emirates wanted to recognize Israel a year Trump, then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Crown Prince of the UAE Mohammed Ben Zayed (MBZ) first discussed the matter in a phone call.

According to Kushner, UAE Ambassador to Washington, Yousef al Otaiba, met with him secretly at the White House on May 26, 2019 and told him that MBZ had asked him to "personally deliver" an important message – that he was ready to move forward with recognition of and full normalization with Israel. Kushner writes that the envoy told him that US efforts had "changed the face" of the Middle East region, and based on the trust that had been built, the Emiratis wanted to be "the first" to normalize with Israel.

Al Otaiba reportedly added that the step was a dangerous one for the UAE and could open his country up to harsh criticism.

Kushner goes on to describe the hard decision that had to be made between Israel moving ahead with a decision to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, which the US administration had promised to support, or Middle East normalization, as the Emiratis had threatened to take the later off the table if Israel proceeded with annexation. Kushner also says that he personally and the Trump administration as a whole were "committed" to Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and that a mapping committee charged with laying out the future borders had completed its task.

Kushner's claims align with a theory posed by former US Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, as well as a probe by Israel Hayom into Israel's decision to drop the application of sovereignty over the Green Line.

Kushner writes that a year later, on June 25, 2020, special representative for international negotiations Avi Berkowitz and then-US Ambassador David Friedman met with Netanyahu in Israel. According to Kushner, Berkowitz had been given the job of finishing the border mapping, which he said would achieve the goal of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kushner writes that the US proposal was "fair" – Israel would annex only areas where there was already settlements, and in exchange, Palestinians would receive control over some areas of the West Bank that were already home to Palestinians. This idea, he says, would have allowed Netanyahu to declare sovereignty in disputed areas. However, Kushner says that three days into the talks, Netanyahu rejected the US proposal, and Kushner felt unable to recommend the counter-offer to Trump.

After the talks about Israeli sovereignty failed, Kushner writes, a series of consultations with the UAE began. Kushner says that at first, the Emiratis wanted partial normalization, on the condition that Israel gave up the idea of annexation, but Berkowitz said that partial normalization would not be enough. The idea of full peace with Israel was put on the table.
Netanyahu, Trump rift almost nixed US embassy move to Jerusalem - Kushner
The Trump administration’s decision to relocate the US Embassy to Jerusalem was almost scrapped due to then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indifference toward the move, Jared Kushner wrote in his upcoming memoir.

In his new book, the senior adviser to president Donald Trump recounted a 2017 phone conversation in which Trump told Netanyahu he was “part of the problem” after receiving a less-than-enthusiastic response to the news of the embassy relocation, The Forward reported on Friday.

Rapper Kanye West shows a photo on his mobile phone to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner during a meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss criminal justice reform at the White House in Washington, US, October 11, 2018. (credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)Rapper Kanye West shows a photo on his mobile phone to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner during a meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss criminal justice reform at the White House in Washington, US, October 11, 2018. (credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)

“Trump began to second-guess his decision,” Kushner reportedly wrote in Breaking History: A White House Memoir, set for publication on August 23.

Netanyahu's disappointing response
According to Kushner, Trump was furious after Netanyahu told him that “if you choose to [move the US Embassy to Jerusalem], I will support you,” expecting a less apathetic approach from the then-prime minister.

Kushner recalled that at first, Trump thought Netanyahu did not fully understand the implications of the embassy move, which would also see the United States officially recognize Israel’s capital.

“Again, Bibi responded with less-than-expected enthusiasm,” Kushner continued.“I could tell that Trump was frustrated.”

The tense phone call recounted by Kushner was dated December 5, 2017, a day before the president authorized the move.
Jared Kushner claims Netanyahu didn't want US to move embassy to Jerusalem
In his new memoir, Jared Kushner, special advisor to former President Trump, says that then-Prime Minister Netanyahu's tepid response to Trump's plans to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital almost caused Trump to reconsider the announcement.

Daniel Shek, political commentator and former Israeli ambassador to France, outlines the reasons why Netanyahu may have reacted coolly to the move.




Is the Israeli Palestinian conflict the worst conflict in the world?

Despite deduction of 'pay-for-slay' funds, PA won't feel impact due to Israeli loan
Israel will effectively transfer of 600 million shekels ($176 million) to the Palestinian Authority, despite deciding on Sunday to deduct a similar amount deducted due to Ramallah's policy of paying terrorists and their families. The deduction is required under a law that seeks to punish the Palestinian Authority of its constant payment fo salaries to those who have perpetrated terrorist acts or to their families, but a separate mechanism that has already been set in motion will offset this.

Previously, the PA received NIS 500 million ($147 million) as a loan from Israel, a sum it has not yet repaid. In addition, Israel moved up the payment of import taxes collected on behalf of the PA (since it does not have its own borders). This means that through this accounting trick – the loan and the tax money – the Palestinians will not be significantly impacted by the deduction of the "pay-for-slay" funds.

Earlier, the defense, foreign, and finance ministries concealed the amount of a loan for the Palestinian Authority of about half a billion shekels. The secret loan goes against the law and supports terrorist stipends.

The move was approved by Defense Minister Benny Gantz after meeting PA leader Mahmoud Abbas.
PMW: PA to raise salaries of terrorists who bombed the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
To date, the PA rewarded the terrorists responsible for the bombing 8,022,600 shekels ($2,579,614)
Every month the PA pays them an additional 63,950 shekels ($20,563)
This month the PA will raise the salaries of 4 of the terrorists by 14.29%

On this day 20 years ago, Palestinian terrorists exploded a bomb in the Frank Sinatra cafeteria of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem murdering 9 people, including five American citizens, and injuring over 80 others. This attack was one of many terror attacks carried out by the same terrorist cell.

Four of the members of the terrorist cell that carried out the attack - Wael Qassem, Wassim Abbasi, Alla Aldin Abbasi and Muhammed Odeh - were arrested shortly after, in August 2002. Having now spent 20 years in prison, this month, the PA will give each of the terrorists a 14.29% rise in their basic salary, from 7,000 ($2,251) to 8,000 shekels/month ($2,572). Since the terrorists were residents of Jerusalem, the PA pays them an additional supplement of 300 shekels/month ($96).

To date, the PA has paid each of the these four terrorists a sum of 1,034,500 shekels ($332,637).

Four of the other terrorists convicted for their part in the attack on the university and other attacks include Muhammad Arman, Walid Anjas, Abdallah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed. Each of these terrorists is similarly receiving a monthly salary from the PA.

While Palestinian Media Watch learnt of the payment of the salaries by the PA to the terrorists through the official PA media and thereafter by researching the relevant PA laws, in a rare incident, PMW received copies of official PA documents that proved the payment of the salaries to a number of prisoners.


Israel to accelerate development of joint industrial park with Jordan
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a proposal to accelerate the creation of a joint industrial zone straddling both sides of the border with Jordan, according to a statement by Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s office.

Known as the “Jordan Gateway,” the initiative is geared towards increasing cooperation between Israelis and Jordanians and was first proposed during talks on the 1994 peace accord.

“Twenty-eight years since the peace agreement with Jordan, we are taking the good neighborly relations between our two countries another step forward,” Lapid said in the statement. “It will allow Israeli and Jordanian entrepreneurs and businesspeople to communicate directly. It will produce joint initiatives in trade, technology and local industry….

“This is a breakthrough that will contribute greatly to developing and strengthening the region,” the prime minister added.

The plan includes an existing bridge joining the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the park, and Sunday’s decision calls for advancing the construction of a terminal in Israel for pedestrian crossings that will house a facility for hosting businesspeople and guests who arrive from Jordan.
UK’s Prince Charles took £1 million charity donation from bin Laden family – report
The United Kingdom’s Prince Charles met with a relative of Osama bin Laden in 2013 and accepted a £1 million donation (approximately $1.21 million) for his charity from the bin Laden family, Britain’s Sunday Times reported.

The report alleged that the heir to the British throne accepted the payment from Bakr and Shafiq bin Laden, half brothers of the notorious founder of the al-Qaeda terrorist group and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who was shot and killed by US special forces in 2011.

The report suggested that the donation was agreed on during a private meeting held between the Prince of Wales and Bakr in London on 30 October 2013.

It also claimed that Prince Charles accepted the donation despite vocal objections made by some of his advisers, who had warned him of the potential repercussions of accepting money from people related to the person believed to have orchestrated the September 11 attacks.

The money was deposited in the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation (PWCF), the report said.

Neither Bakr nor Shafiq bin Laden have been found to sponsor or support any acts of terrorism. The bin Laden family formally disowned Osama as far back as 1994.
‘Alarm bells’ in Israel over China aid that could up Syria’s intel capabilities
A new aid deal between China and Syria that will include the delivery of communications equipment to Damascus has set off “alarm bells” within the Israeli security establishment, according to a report by news site Breaking Defense.

Israeli sources told the outlet that while the exact nature of the Chinese products remains unknown, they are expected to “fill current gaps in Syria’s military communications network.”

One source said that Israel has indications that Chinese experts in recent months visited Syrian military installations that were damaged heavily during the civil war.

“We believe that many [facilities] of the Syrian army will be rebuilt by the Chinese, who have the capability of bringing in thousands of workers to complete the work in the shortest time,” the source was quoted as saying in the report.

While Chinese state media outlet Xinhua said the assistance was meant to “improve local network infrastructure, especially in those areas hit hard during the Syrian crisis since 2011,” Israeli officials reportedly fear the equipment will be used to enhance Damascus’s intelligence capabilities.

China has donated tens of millions of dollars in aid to war-torn Syria over the past decade.
Palestinian charged with terror for paving stone attack that seriously injured man
Terror charges were filed Sunday against a Palestinian accused of bashing a Bnei Brak man over the head with a piece of paving stone and seriously injuring him earlier this month.

Prosecutors said the terror attack was aimed at sowing panic among the Israeli public.

Ahmad Rashdan, 33, a resident of the West Bank town of Einabus, near Nablus, was indicted at the Tel Aviv District Court for attempted murder and aggravated assault as acts of terrorism, as well as obstruction of justice.

According to the indictment, Rashdan “tried to murder a person of Jewish origin” with a paving stone for “a nationalist-ideological motive and with the aim of raising fear or panic among the public.”

Prosecutors say the attack was premeditated and that Rashdan had visited the footbridge between the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak and neighboring Givat Shmuel two days earlier to plan how to carry it out.

Then, on July 5, he arrived at the bridge and put a piece of paving stone he found into his bag.

Rashdan noticed Yitzhak Dahan, 47, as he was heading to morning prayers. The two walked past each other, at which point Rashdan pulled out the paving stone and used it to hit Dahan on the head. Dahan fell to the floor bleeding and Rashdan ran off, prosecutors said.
Palestinians protest arrests, torture by PA security forces
The families of dozens of Palestinians held in Palestinian Authority prisons and detention centers have called for the release of the detainees.

The families and Palestinian human rights activists claimed that some of the detainees were brutally tortured while being held in the PA’s Jericho Prison, which is notoriously referred to by many Palestinians as the “Jericho Slaughterhouse.”

The detainees who are being held in PA prisons include university students, academics, political activists, as well as people suspected of affiliation with Hamas.

According to the Palestinian group Lawyers For Justice, the PA security forces have intensified the crackdown on Palestinians in recent weeks.

Since the beginning of June, the group noted, it has documented 63 instances of “political detentions” by the PA security services in the West Bank.

Most of the detentions and arrests are carried out by the General Intelligence Force and the Preventive Security Force.

The detainees are often accused of fomenting sectarian strife, illegal gathering, illegal possession of weapons and collecting and receiving illegal funds, Lawyers For Justice pointed out.
Hamas claims Israel bombed facility holding captive remains of IDF soldier last year
The Hamas terror group on Sunday claimed that a facility where the body of an Israeli soldier was being held captive was bombed in an IDF airstrike during last May’s fighting.

The alleged revelation, which could not be immediately verified, was almost immediately denied by an anonymous Israeli official, who told reporters that it was a lie meant to drum up interest, amid a renewed push by Hamas to negotiate the release of the remains of two fallen Israeli soldiers — both killed roughly eight years ago in the 2014 Gaza war — and two living Israeli citizens.

In a statement, Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said the strike last May hit the facility where one of the two soldiers’ bodies was being held, killing one of the officers tasked with guarding the remains and wounding three others.

The dead Hamas officer was not named. The terror group said it would release his identity at a later date.

The terror group did not identify which of the two soldiers’ remains was being held at the facility.

August 1 marks eight years since Hadar Goldin, was killed and his body was captured by Hamas. The other soldier, Oron Shaul, was killed and captured earlier in the 2014 war. Both were operating inside Gaza at the time.

The claim, if true, would likely raise questions about Israeli intelligence and targeting during the war, with the military either not knowing that the remains were being held at the location, or knowing and targeting the site anyway.

The statement came days after Israeli military officials briefed reporters on what it said was intelligence showing Hamas rebuilding military infrastructure in crowded urban areas, near schools, a mosque, and a factory.

The briefing was apparently intended to defuse criticism over possible future strikes, after coming under harsh criticism during the war for hitting buildings where no military activity was obvious.


Iran says it will ‘build nuclear warheads’ and turn NY into ‘hellish ruins’
Iran expert Ben Sabti tweeted that an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “Telegram channel threatens to produce atomic warhead for missiles,” citing the channel’s message: “Iran can immediately return to Emad project and build an atomic bomb if Natanz facilities are attacked.”

The Emad, cited in the message, is an Iranian long-range missile.

The IRGC-linked Bisimchi Media (Radioman Media) Telegram channel published a video titled "When Will Iran's Sleeping Nuclear Warheads Awaken," according to the London-based Iran International news outlet.

Turning New York into hellish ruins
The short video declares that Iran’s regime will develop nuclear weapons in a rapid-fire period of time “if the US or the Zionist regime make any stupid mistakes.”

Per Iran International, the video states that Iran’s ballistic missiles have the capability of “turning New York into hellish ruins,” in an ostensible reference to Iran’s space program.

“The nuclear facilities of Fordow have been built deep under mountains of Iran and are protected against trench-busting bombs and even nuclear explosion… all infrastructures required for nuclear breakout have been prepared in it,” the video said, according to Iran International.
Man arrested with AK-47 outside of dissident Iranian journalist’s Brooklyn home
A man armed with a loaded AK-47 was arrested on Thursday outside of the Brooklyn home of Iranian dissident journalist Masih Alinejad, according to sources and charging documents.

Khalid Mehdiyev, 23, was found with the assault rifle, a high-capacity magazine and more than $1,000 worth of cash when he was arrested after lurking for two days, according to a federal complaint.

The complaint makes no explicit connection between Mehdiyev and Alinejad but says the accused had focused on an unnamed Brooklyn “residence.”

Law enforcement observed Mehdiyev sitting in a gray Subaru Forester SUV with an Illinois license plate for several hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Feds said he ordered food to his car and looked inside of the windows and attempted to open the front door of the residence he was parked outside of, the complaint says.

NYPD officers stopped Mehdiyev on Thursday after he rolled through a stop sign. Cops found he was driving without a license and he was placed under arrest.

Police later searched his vehicle and found the loaded AK-47 with multiple magazines, additional rounds of ammunition and a suitcase full of cash. Two other different license plates were also found.


Ben & Jerry’s Bid to Block Sale to Israeli Licensee Reveals How It Views Jewish State as Uniquely Bad
An exclusive report in Reuters revealed last week that Ben & Jerry’s had been unable to reach an agreement with its parent company Unilever following a dispute that arose over the latter’s arrangement to sell the ice cream maker’s Israeli business to a local licensee.

Last month, British conglomerate Unilever announced the sale of Ben & Jerry’s in Israel to businessman Avi Zinger after months of wrangling with its Vermont-based subsidiary over its decision to stop selling its ice cream beyond Israel’s pre-1967 boundaries.

However, just days later, Ben & Jerry’s said it would sue Unilever to block the sale, arguing in a lawsuit filed in a New York federal court that the decision had been without the approval of its independent board, which under the terms of its original sale to Unilever in 2000 had reserved the “primary responsibility for safeguarding the integrity” of the brand that is “synonymous with social activism.”

Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever agreed to a July 28 deadline to try and reach an out-of-court deal regarding the sale, but a source who was reportedly present during the mediation told Reuters that no such agreement was forthcoming because Ben & Jerry’s did not want to “cave” on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Unilever CEO Alan Jope is said to have argued that “there is plenty for Ben & Jerry’s to get their teeth into in their social justice mission without straying into geopolitics.”

Apparently, Ben & Jerry’s does not agree with Jope’s assessment.

The ice creamery’s position is revealing: the board’s refusal to back down over the Israel boycott speaks volumes, particularly when the company could have still claimed it as a moral victory. As HonestReporting pointed out, the company could still be comfortable in the knowledge that it is not profiting from the sales of its products in what it views as “occupied land.”

But Ben & Jerry’s refusal to back down is indicative of how its board views Israel as utterly unique.


Guardian 'reveals' that pro-Israel group supports pro-Israel candidates
It’s not the fact that it calls for two-states. In fact, a 2019 non-binding resolution calling for two-states, introduced by Congressman Alan Lowenthal, had 192 co-sponsors and passed the House overwhelmingly because it was rightly seen as a pro-Israel bill, framing two-states as necessary to “enhance security and stability” for both Israel and the Palestinains without singling out either party for blame. Stevens voted in favour that two-state resolution.

By contrast, the text in Levin’s non-binding resolution, as Shany Mor explained in his analysis of the bill, which got little support from fellow Democrats, put all the blame for the failure to achieve two-states entirely on Israel, while failing to mention Palestinians decisions since Oslo – the 2nd Intifada, their rejection of Israeli peace offers, the rise of Hamas following Israel’s Gaza withdrawal – inimical two-states.

Further, Levin’s bill claims Gaza is still “occupied” by Israel; calls for the US to require products imported from Jewish communities in east Jerusalem and the West Bank as produced in “the occupied Palestinian terroritories”; and designates all of Jerusalem beyond the 1949 armistice line as “Palestinian”—including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and holy sites such as the Temple Mount and Western Wall.

More evidence that Levin, whose campaign has been generously funded by J Street (an advocacy organisation focusing on criticism of Israel) is outside the American, and Jewish-American, mainstream when it comes to Israel is that he recently held a campaign event with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. Tlaib is a supporter of BDS who has evoked antisemitic tropes and rejects Israel’s right to exist within any borders. Levin also defended Congresswoman Ilhan Omar against accusations of antisemitism, ignoring multiple examples of the Minnesota congresswoman using racist langauge about Jews and Jewish influence.

Finally, Levin, channeling the Corbyn wing of the Labour Party, also argued that antisemitism is not a serious issue on the left, and seemed to blame Israel for antisemitism when he asserted, during a webinar with the radical anti-Zionist group If Not Now, that “unless Palestinian human rights are respected, we cannot fight antisemitism”.

AIPAC is a pro-Israel organisation. Thus, they’re supporting Haley Stevens, the candidate in the race they view as more pro-Israel than Andy Levin. It really isn’t rocket science.
German scholars make their best-selling annotated version of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ available online
The German research institute that published an annotated scholarly version of “Mein Kampf,” which sold tens of thousands of copies and drew criticism from Jewish leaders on its release in 2016, has put a free and searchable version of Adolf Hitler’s notorious screed online.

In a news release on Thursday, the director of the Munich-based Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ), Andreas Wirsching, said he wanted to fight fire with fire: since the internet is rife with versions of the text “from very dubious sources,” his institute’s “serious, scientifically sound” text would “provide political-historical education in the best sense of the word.”

The intention is to facilitate “scholarly research into the history of Hitler, the German nationalist movement and National Socialism,” Wirsching said. The edition now online includes explications of every chapter and of historical terms, providing context throughout.

Hitler wrote the book, a rant against Jews and communists, while in prison in 1923 following his attempted coup in Munich. After he came to power in 1933, many editions came out, including one given free to newlywed couples and another to mark Hitler’s 50th birthday in 1939. After WWII

After World War II, the Bavarian Finance Ministry inherited the copyright and barred publication in Germany until the copyright expired, in an effort to limit the spread of Hitler’s ideology. But it was published elsewhere, and is reportedly one of the most purchased books in the world. Contemporary neo-Nazis and others still cite “Mein Kampf” as inspiration.


Why Israeli Influencers Are Taking Over LinkedIn
Israeli tech and business influencers have migrated their social-media activity over the past few years, becoming more active on LinkedIn.

In the past, many professionals in the Israeli ecosystem focused more on Facebook. Since the pandemic, however, more Israeli entrepreneurs and investors have been using LinkedIn to cultivate awareness around expertise in a certain area.

With just under 900 million users (and growing), LinkedIn is the most important place for entrepreneurs, investors, and business executives to build meaningful thought leadership online.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 55 percent of decisionmakers use LinkedIn content to determine which organization to work with, and “1 in 5 investors says it’s the best platform when you want to learn about a topic.”

As such, many thought leaders built their presence online by parlaying LinkedIn.

Yam Regev, a global marketing executive and adviser, believes that LinkedIn offers a unique opportunity for professionals to share their stories online:

“The opportunity to engage professionals by telling personal stories on a professional-based platform is something that can happen only here, and this is LinkedIn’s secret sauce. After all, we are all humans first and only after that we are professionals,” he says.
"Israeli NGO Brings 'Safe Water' to Ukraine as Russian Forces Bomb Mykolaiv, Killing Grain Dealer"
Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID has provided four reverse osmosis water filtration systems to the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, about 130 kilometers east of Odessa.

Mykolaiv has seen its water infrastructure severely damaged in the fighting with Russia.

Working in collaboration with the Mykolaiv municipality, the Israeli water sanitation systems will restore safe drinking water to many of the city’s 476,000 residents.

Mykolaiv was also hit with heavy shelling early Sunday, according to local officials quoted by CNN, who said at least one person was killed and two others were injured.

Oleksii Vadaturskyi, 74, owns the major grain trading company Nibulon — but he was killed during Russian shelling in Mykolaiv on Saturday night (July 30), according to Ukrainska Pravda, quoting Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration.

“It has been confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that a Russian shell hit Vadaturskyi’s house, and his wife was also killed,” the news outlet reported. “It’s true; their house was hit. The wife’s body has already been taken out,” Kim said, lamenting the loss.

“Vadaturskyi has done a lot for Mykolaiv Oblast and for Ukraine. His contribution to the development of the agricultural and shipbuilding industry and the development of the region has been invaluable.”






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