Saturday, August 27, 2022

08/27 Links: The Use Of Human Shields Is A War Crime. America Must Hold Terrorists Accountable; Why are Israelis so happy? Because Israel is small

From Ian:

The Use Of Human Shields Is A War Crime. America Must Hold Terrorists Accountable
The administration and Congress should take several steps to more effectively counter the widespread use of human shields by PIJ and other terrorist organizations.

First, the administration should implement its legal authority to designate terrorists who use human shields. Despite strong evidence of human shields use by PIJ and other terrorists, and the requirements of U.S. law, neither Trump nor Biden has thus far imposed any human shields sanctions on anyone. Imposing sanctions on PIJ leaders for their use of human shields would be an important first step.

Meanwhile, Congress should reauthorize and enhance the existing sanctions law,which is set to expire on December 31, 2023.

In addition, the US, Israel, and other allies should work together, including with NATO, to press the UN and other international organizations to investigate, condemn, and encourage penalties for human shields use by terrorist organizations and their material supporters. For example, the UN human rights high commissioner and council should be encouraged to vigorously investigate, condemn, and encourage accountability for the use of human shields.

Finally, the militaries of Israel, the United States and other NATO members, and other allies must coordinate in sharing best practices for more effectively addressing the use of human shields by terrorist organizations.

A robust U.S. government response to the use of human shields by PIJ and other terrorist groups would concretely advance several American national security and foreign policy objectives. These objectives include protecting U.S. and other NATO troops against terrorist use of human shields; setting the record straight in the face of UN and other efforts to falsely accuse Israel of committing war crimes; and undermining PIJ, Hamas, and other terrorist groups while supporting Palestinians who are prepared to make peace with Israel.
Jonathan Tobin: An end to the delusions about Biden, Iran and Israel?
Like any gambler who is willing to seize on any glimmer of hope that irresponsible betting will be rewarded with an unexpected reversal of fortune, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was sounding hopeful this week. The Israeli government that he now leads spent the last year wagering the Jewish state’s security on the idea that better relations with the Biden administration and a decision to downplay differences would influence Washington to finally show some spine and stop appeasing Iran. So, it was hardly unexpected that Lapid would seize on the news that the United States had “hardened” its response to the latest Iranian counter-offer in the talks about renewing the 2015 nuclear deal.

The “good news” consisted of a report claiming that Lapid had been told by Washington that it would not give in to Iranian demands that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cease investigating Tehran’s nuclear program or take the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) off the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Shorn of context, that might be an encouraging development. But with the international media publishing multiple stories based on leaks from the administration about an agreement between the two sides being imminent, the notion that any victory on these two points, whether temporary or not, vindicates the decision Lapid’s tactics is risible.

Even taken in isolation, these points don’t mean that much.

As bad as giving in on that point would be, the IRGC issue is largely symbolic. If a new deal is reached, Iran’s terrorist arm will be immeasurably strengthened and enriched along with the rest of the regime, regardless of whether they’re on a U.S. list of terror groups. It’s also true that even if Iran doesn’t get Biden to agree to drop the involvement of the IAEA altogether, that means nothing. As the Iranians have demonstrated ever since former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign-policy achievement was put into force in 2015, violating they have no compunctions about repeatedly violating it, especially with regard to flouting the components requiring compliance with IAEA regulations.

More to the point, if these provisions and other points of equal importance are the only obstacles standing between an agreement, then Lapid knows his hopes of persuading the administration not to sign a new deal are negligible. As Lapid has recently reiterated, Israel’s position is that the United States and its partners in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are making a huge mistake. Mossad chief David Barnea has been adamant in insisting that the plan is a “strategic disaster” for Israel and based on “lies.”
‘Basmanny Justice’ and the Jews of Russia
Six months into the war in Ukraine, Russia is being Russia once again.

By that, I mean the predatory, bullying Russia that we know from history. The Russia that persecutes Jews and other minorities, whether under the tsars or the Bolsheviks. The Russia that sneers at freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the other precious individual rights that prevail in the democratic West, while pushing its own brand of nationalist, obscurantist ideology.

When it comes to the “Jewish Question,” as the Bolsheviks were fond of calling it, Russia’s hostility is eminently recognizable. For much of the Putin era, that reality has been obscured, as the Russian dictator actively promoted the impression of a benevolent disposition towards the country’s Jewish minority, assisted in this task by a number of Jewish influencers abroad who really should have known better. Yet as was predictable, with the first whiff of a geopolitical crisis, Jews have once again been cast in a villainous role.

In a recent interview with the Voice of America’s Russian-language service, Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet Jewish refusenik who served as head of the Jewish Agency from 2009 to 2018, observed that Russia is “almost completely isolated from the free world.” Like a wounded animal, it is lashing out at its adversaries as a result, trying to find and pressure any weak spots. Sharansky pointed to the example of Germany, where the coming winter is anticipated with dread given the German dependence on Russia’s heavily sanctioned energy sector.

“They are scaring Germany with the fact that people will start dying from the cold in winter,” said Sharansky.

In Israel, of course, the mild winters and the lack of dependency on Russian natural gas—earlier this year, the European Union even signed a deal to import Israeli and Egyptian natural gas as part of weaning the bloc off Russian supplies—mean that the regime in Moscow has to select a different pressure point. “In the same way, they are starting to put pressure on us, using the Jewish Agency,” emphasized Sharansky.

Russia’s campaign against the Jewish Agency, which assists Jews wishing to emigrate to Israel, was launched at the end of last month. The Russian ministry of justice filed a legal bid to close the agency’s local operations, alleging that a database of Russian citizens was being maintained in contravention of Russian law.


Greenblatt recounts details behind Abraham Accords, visible changes in Gulf region
Former White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt recounted some of the details behind the Trump administration’s efforts with Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pen the Abraham Accords, signed two years ago next month, as well as prospects for peace with the Palestinians during a Zoom discussion on Thursday.

The 45-minute discussion was hosted by Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, in coordination with the Republican Jewish Coalition, and focused on Greenblatt’s newly released book, In the Path of Abraham: How Donald Trump Made Peace in the Middle East—and How to Stop Joe Biden From Unmaking It.

Greenblatt worked at the start of the Trump administration as a special representative for international negotiations, having previously served as executive vice president and chief legal officer to former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. He was the chief architect of the “Peace to Prosperity” Mideast plan, which the Palestinians rejected, and was a key player in the development of the Abraham Accords.

The path that led to finalizing accords came from the realization that—despite what Arab leaders publicly said about Israel—their concern was that the United States had abandoned them for better relations with Iran when it concluded the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.

Before the Palestinian Authority broke off relations with the United States in 2017, when the Trump administration announced it was moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Greenblatt said that there was still hope among administration officials that they could get the Palestinian Authority to the negotiating table with Israel without preconditions. Along the way, they communicated with leaders from neighboring Arab countries.

But while speaking to Arab leaders in the region, who maintained the traditional talking points of a two-state solution based on 1967 borders with eastern Jerusalem as the capital, American negotiators noticed what Greenblatt called “green shoots of a recognition that Israel is an important neighbor that could, in theory, become an important ally.”

The conversations changed from where the word “Israel” was taboo to talking about it outright, never in a pejorative way.


Canadian diplomat tries to hide meeting with Rajoub after uproar
The Canadian Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority deleted a tweet about its top diplomat’s meeting with Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub, describing him as a “friend of Canada,” following an uproar.

Rajoub served time in Israeli prisons for terrorism. As Yasser Arafat’s top security adviser, he used torture to stifle political dissent. In more recent years, he has been the head of the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestinian Olympic Committee.

He led a campaign for FIFA to boycott Israel and was banned by the international soccer association for inciting violence against the Argentinian national team that had planned to play a friendly match in Israel.

The Canadian Representative Office tweeted a photo of its top diplomat, Robin Wettlaufer, with Rajoub and said she had “another fascinating discussion on Palestinian and regional politics with Lt.-Gen. Jibril Rajoub – a great friend to Canada.”

The tweet was deleted within hours, but not before it raised an uproar in Ottawa.

MPs Yaara Saks and Anthony Housefather of the ruling Liberal Party said they “vehemently object to Jibril Rajoub being described as friend of Canada. He has been charged with glorifying terrorism, and is guilty of inciting hatred and violence against Israelis by politicizing sport. He does not share our values as Canadians.”

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman tweeted: "A Canadian official tells a terrorist he’s a 'great friend to Canada.' Jibril Rajoub has been convicted of committing multiple terrorist attacks. He uses sports to incite hatred, FIFA agrees. A great friend?"


Six-year-old Israeli girl hit by stray bullet in West Bank
A six-year-old Israeli girl was injured by a stray bullet while playing in her home in the West Bank settlement of Kochav Ya'akov on Saturday.

Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics treated the girl, who was then rushed to Hadassah-University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus for further treatment, according to the hospital.

The IDF's Spokesperson Unit said the bullet most likely came from the direction of Kalandiya, a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem medical center added that the young child is in light-to-moderate condition and suffered light wounds to her torso.

Second stray shooting incident in a week
One week ago, a 10-year-old boy was moderately injured on Friday morning by stray gunfire in the village of Ein Mahal in Israel's Lower Galilee. A preliminary investigation by police revealed that unknown individuals opened fire at parked cars, and a stray bullet hit the nearby child.


SOHR: Israeli strike destroyed over 1,000 Iran-made missiles in Syria
An airstrike Thursday on the Syrian city of Masyaf that was attributed to Israel struck a missile warehouse containing more than 1,000 Iranian-made missiles, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Saturday.

The warehouse, in the city’s Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) complex, stored thousands of medium-range, surface-to-surface missiles assembled under the supervision of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “expert officers,” the report said.

Syrian air defense systems were activated in northwestern Syria on Thursday, with Syria’s state news agency SANA reporting that local forces were “confronting hostile targets” above Masyaf. Later, the agency said the airstrike was an Israeli attack.

According to SOHR’s report, 14 Syrian civilians sustained injuries with varying levels of severity during the Masyaf airstrike, in addition to casualties reported among officials of Iranian-backed militias guarding the SSRC.

In addition, several fires broke out in areas surrounding Masyaf due to shrapnel from the explosions of the warehouse, with nearby civilian houses and property suffering material damage, the report said.
Abbas' comparison of Israel to Nazis is prevalent sentiment in today's Germany You'd have to be quite bold, if not crazy, accept an official invitation to Berlin, to meet with the German chancellor and while there, claim that Israel had carried out "50 Holocausts" against the Palestinian people.

At first glance, it could be perceived as some sort of madness. Even if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is known to dibble in Holocaust denying, he should have known that some things must never be uttered out loud on German soil.

The perceived madness was compounded during an answer to a reporter's question about the possibility of an apology for the Palestinian massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics - an attack Abbas himself was alleged to have played a role in financing.

As I said, the comments might be perceived as an act of madness. But Abbas felt very comfortable saying these things precisely in Germany, he did not think at all that it would cause such a big uproar.

And why should he not think that? German and Israeli organizations and volunteers operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been for years alluding to an Israeli-perpetrated genocide on the Palestinian territories.

The massive German financial support for the Palestinian territories and for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), increased majorly after the Trump administration suspended its monetary aid in 2018. The funds are delivered without any supervision to ensure that they are not diverted to other objectives, such as support for terrorists and their families.

In recent years, Berlin has become the capital of hatred of Jews and the Jewish state.

Federally funded festivals and cultural events that were supposed to present Germany's beautiful face to visitors from all over the world, have become the stage of anti-Israel and antisemitic exhibits, where The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is being honored.

Germany officials are preoccupied with pleasing Iran, fond of Holocaust denying, in the wake of the nuclear deal, while local media's narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is egregiously one-sided.

Hate-filled and violent demonstrations by Palestinians warn Jews of another Holocaust right in the center of Germany's capital city. Only after an Israeli journalist was injured from a firecracker aimed directly at her in one such demonstration, did local police and the German courts ban such hate marches. Abbas under pressure to convene Fatah assembly, succession battle heats up
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is facing increased pressure to convene the general assembly of the ruling Fatah faction to make decisions that would pave the way for his loyalists to tighten their grip on the Palestinian leadership and possibly determine the identity of his successor.

The Fatah assembly, also known as the Fatah General Conference, is supposed to convene every five years to endorse the faction’s “political and military programs” and elect members of its two major decision-making bodies: the Fatah Central Committee and the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

The committee is often described as Fatah’s executive branch, while the council is seen as its legislative body.

The last (seventh) meeting of the Fatah General Conference took place in November 2016 and lasted for five days. At the meeting, attended by 1,411 delegates, Abbas was reelected as general commander of the faction.

The conference elected members of the committee and the council, and fully endorsed Abbas’s policies regarding the peace process with Israel.
Islamic Jihad, Hamas leaders meet in Beirut in effort to strengthen ties
The leaders of Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) met in the Lebanese capital on Friday as part of continued efforts to display a united front in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of Operation Breaking Dawn.

A Hamas delegation led by deputy head of Hamas' politburo, Saleh al-Arouri, met with PIJ secretary-general Ziyad al-Nakhala in the latter's offices in Beirut.

Hamas stayed out of the Islamic Jihad's confrontation with Israel earlier this month, meaning already tense relations between the two terrorist organizations have been further strained by Hamas' lack of action during the three-day operation.

In addition to the lack of coordination during the operation, a Hamas terrorist was accidentally killed by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket, The Jerusalem Post reported last week, according to information released by Hamas and Palestinian media during the conflict, together with corroborating statements made on Sunday by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Hamas, PIJ: Tactical disagreements don't affect relations
In a statement released by Hamas, it was said the two groups agreed that "any disagreement over a tactical approach would never affect their long-standing and strategic relationship."

Prior to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire being agreed between Israel and Islamic Jihad, the Post reported that Hamas leaders were exerting pressure on the organization to agree to a truce.
Lawyers Call on Martial Arts Federation to Reprimand Lebanese Athlete for Refusing to Compete Against Israeli
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLIF) is asking the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) to take action against a young Lebanese athlete who withdrew from a youth martial arts competition earlier in August to avoid going head-to-head with an opponent from Israel.

In an email shared with The Algemeiner from UKLFI Director Sam Green to IMMAF leadership, Green called on the sporting organization to punish Daher for his actions. The group of lawyers said the athlete violated a number of the federation’s rules with his behavior, including IMMAF’s code of ethics, equal opportunities policy and code of conduct.

“Only by taking appropriate action against Mr. Abu Daher, relevant members of the Lebanese delegation to the Championship, and the Lebanese IMMAF, can incidents like this be prevented in future, and prevent the IMMAF being drawn into national and international political issues it has no role in,” Green said in the email.

The IMMAF, which says it maintains “a zero tolerance of discrimination and harassment,” according to its code of ethics, has launched an investigation into Daher’s withdrawal.

The organization will “decide on appropriate actions since this is a matter IMMAF takes extremely seriously,” the group’s Communications Director Izzy Carnwath told The Algemeiner on Friday afternoon.
Still More Dangerous New Concessions by Biden Administration for a Nuclear Deal with Iran's Mullahs
Newly leaked information from inside Iran, obtained by Iran International, reveals that the Biden administration has made even more concessions to revive the nuclear deal, which have not been revealed to the public. According to the report, "the US guarantees that its sanctions against IRGC would not affect other sectors and firms: e.g. a petrochemical company shouldn't be sanctioned by US because of doing business with IRGC."

The Biden administration seems to have been bragging that Iran's leaders have dropped a key demand: removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US foreign organizations terrorist list. But if other sectors that are linked to the IRGC can freely do business under the nuclear deal, then the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization, as well as the sanctions against the IRGC, are merely cosmetic.

The IRGC has a large stake in almost every industrial sector in Iran, which includes the energy sector, mining, telecommunications, gold, shipping and construction. Private sector competitors are not permitted in these sectors because the more closed the economy, the more easily the IRGC can monopolize it.

As a result, any economic growth in these sectors will directly benefit Iran's military, the IRGC and its elite Quds Force branch, and Iran's militia and terror groups across the Middle East. Since Iran's economy is predominantly controlled by the IRGC or the state, additional revenues will likely be funneled into the treasury of the IRGC and the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The other critical concession being reportedly made is that "the participants note the firm commitment of the US President [without mentioning Joe Biden by name] for returning to JCPOA compliance as long as Iran remains committed to the deal." This probably means that future US presidents are obliged to continue with the implementation of the nuclear deal. But why should the US guarantee the implementation of the nuclear deal if it is not even a legally binding treaty, approved by two-thirds of the Senate, in accordance with Article II, section 2 of the US Constitution? In addition, it is illegal for any president to commit future presidents to anything that has not been approved as a formal treaty by two-thirds of the Senate.

This is a much worse deal than the 2015 nuclear deal. Because, first, the US or EU3 (France, the United Kingdom and Germany) cannot call for reinstating sanctions on Iran unilaterally even if they believe that the Iranian regime is violating the nuclear deal. In the previous nuclear deal, at least, any single party to the deal could unilaterally trigger the snap-back sanctions clause. In addition, with the new deal, restrictions on the regime's nuclear program could be lifted only two years after the agreement is signed; and the Iranian regime will not be obliged to reveal its past nuclear activities, which had military dimensions; and Russia will be trusted to store Iran's enriched uranium, a task for which Moscow will be paid.

Reportedly, another concession that the Biden administration has made to Iran is that the IAEA is expected to halt its investigation into the regime's past nuclear activities.
Lapid pushing for call with Biden amid Iran nuclear deal concerns
Prime Minister Yair Lapid has requested a meeting with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the US for the UN General Assembly next month, amid deep concern in Jerusalem over an impending nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran.

Lapid hopes to meet with Biden on September 20, the day that the US president is set to address the General Assembly, Channel 11 reported. The meeting would be a day or two before Lapid’s speech is likely to take place.

Meanwhile, Lapid has yet to be able to speak to Biden on the phone, despite recent advances in Iran talks, according to multiple sources. At first, the White House cited Biden’s summer vacation, but the president returned to Washington on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on a possible Biden-Lapid call or meeting.

Defense preparations


Defense Minister Benny Gantz called to upgrade military capabilities to face Iran, regardless of whether a nuclear deal is signed, in a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan over the weekend.

Gantz “emphasized the importance of maintaining and advancing operation capabilities for both defensive and offensive purposes in [the] face of Iran’s nuclear program as well as its regional aggression,” the Defense Ministry stated.

“This is regardless of the discussion surrounding the agreement,” the ministry added.

Biden has said that the US would attack Iran as “a last resort,” which some in Jerusalem have viewed as stopping short of a credible military threat that would deter the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon.

Gantz’s meeting with Sullivan came days after Washington submitted its response to Iran’s demands following a draft of the nuclear deal that was meant to be final, according to the talks’ coordinator, the EU.
Russia blocks adoption at UN of nuclear disarmament text
Russia on Friday prevented the adoption of a joint declaration following a four-week UN conference on a nuclear disarmament treaty, with Moscow denouncing what it said were “political” aspects of the text.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which 191 signatories review every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The nations had been gathered at UN headquarters in New York since August 1 participating in a month of negotiations, including a final session that was postponed for several hours on Friday.

In the end, the conference’s president, Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, said it was “not in a position to achieve agreement” after Russia took issue with the text.

Russian representative Igor Vishnevetsky said the draft final text, which was more than 30 pages long, lacked “balance.”

“Our delegation has one key objection on some paragraphs which are blatantly political in nature,” he said, adding Russia was not the only country to take issue with the text.

According to sources close to the negotiations, Russia was opposed in particular to paragraphs concerning the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is occupied by the Russian military.
Tehran Willing to Agree to Revised Nuclear Deal if US Is ‘Realistic,’ Iranian Minister Claims
The Iranian regime has signaled its willingness to agree to a revised version of the nuclear deal of 2015 that was abandoned by the US three years later, so long as the American side is “realistic.”

Speaking on an official visit to Zanzibar on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that talks in Vienna on reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the technical name for the 2015 between Iran, the US and five other world powers — were in their “final stages,” but that the US needs to be “realistic” if an agreement is to be secured.

The foreign minister’s statements echo a speech delivered on Sunday by Iran’s hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, in which he stressed that the Islamic Republic “will not tie people’s livelihood to any external factor and will persevere in its effort to solve the problems facing the country and people” — a statement interpreted by Iran analysts as referring to Tehran’s historic enmity with the US.

Separately, Iran has attempted to refocus concerns about nuclear weapons upon Israel during a UN conference this week on disarmament.

Addressing UN and international officials at a conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Iranian envoy Majid Takht-Ravanchi called on Israel — a state Iran refuses to recognize — to sign the treaty. A commentary on Press TV, the regime’s English-language broadcaster, praising the ambassador’s speech described the Jewish state as an “illegitimate entity [that] has, however, refused to either allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or sign the NPT.”


A ‘Don’t Look Up’ Moment for Peter Beinart, et al., on Antisemitism
This is an undeniable use of the classic antisemitic trope of Jews having too much power over institutions like governments, banks, and the media, and of using that power to advance sinister goals in an underhanded way.

From the forgery of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” to Henry Ford’s “The International Jew,” this trope has been a staple of the most vicious strands of antisemitism.

Even a United Nations report on antisemitism identified this trope as an example of the ancient hatred. In 2019, then UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion, Ahmed Shaheed, wrote:
Assertions that Jews … constitute a “powerful, global cabal” that manipulates governments, the media, banks, the entertainment industry and other institutions for malevolent purposes, are also expressions of antisemitic attitudes.

Beinart, too, has called out this trope when politically convenient. For example, in a 2019 article, he identified as an example of the use of an “anti-Semitic stereotype” a Trump campaign ad “which featured three Jews — George Soros, Lloyd Blankfein and Janet Yellin — alongside language about ‘global special interests’ that ‘control the levers of power.’”

Kothari’s remarks in July are blatantly antisemitic. Yet, Beinart and his cosignatories still chose to depict them as merely “insensitive” and as “criticism of Israel.”

It’s a clear illustration of what others have written elsewhere about “anti-Zionists” and their opposition to the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism. Instead, these anti-Zionists embrace the “Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism” (JDA), which finds quite a bit of support among those who themselves have histories of promulgating antisemitic tropes. As law professor David Schraub wrote last year about the JDA:
[A] good definition is characterized by what it excludes as much as what it includes. But in practice, the JDA is being interpreted almost solely as a tool for denying things are antisemitic. It scarcely ever is cited to actually declare something antisemitic, at least in a concrete and contested case. Consequently, the JDA has garnered enthusiastic reception from individuals whose main take on antisemitism is that we hear too much about it.

We can certainly count the signatories among those whose main take seems to be “we hear too much about” antisemitism. After all, according to them, the “right-wing,” “politically-motivated” organizations (i.e., the mainstream Jewish community) are insidiously “seizing this opportunity to leverage allegations of antisemitism.”


‘Prejudice Against The Jewish People’: State Treasurers Blast Major Financial Firm For Alleged Anti-Israel Bias
Several state treasurers, state auditors, and members of the State Financial Officers Foundation sent a letter to Morningstar’s Chief Executive Officer Thursday, accusing his company of anti-Israel bias in their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores.

“After reviewing your corporate statements of March 2021 and June 2022, an independent review conducted by White & Case, a follow-on analysis of the said report, and a recent letter sent to Morningstar by dozens of national and regional Jewish organizations around the country, it is clear to us that the environmental, social, governance (ESG) research and ratings products offered by Sustainalytics are deeply infused with anti-Israel bias,” the letter reads.

“As state financial officers, we have a fiduciary duty to ensure that the financial research our respective states rely upon is based on sound financial principles rather than BDS movement tactics meant to isolate Israel in the world economy and breed prejudice against the Jewish people,” the letter continues. (RELATED: Wall Street Does Damage Control After GOP Targets Woke Capital)

Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of The International Legal Forum, a network of lawyers and organizations that specialize in fighting legal battles against anti-Semitism, says Morningstar uses ESG to cover its support for the anti-BDS movement.

“Morningstar has essentially been engaging in BDS practices and economic warfare, by deceptively cloaking its systematic anti-Israel bias under cover of their ESG policy,” Ostrovsky said in a statement provided to the Caller.
Student returns to campus after being booted from sexual-assault survivors’ group for Zionist views
An Israeli student at a New York state college says she feels she needs to hide her national and religious identity as she heads back to campus for the fall semester, days after filing a civil-rights complaint against the school.

Ofek Preis, along with Jewish American student Cassie Blotner, allege they were harassed and kicked out of a sexual-assault survivors’ support group at the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz campus following Blotner’s independent social-media post last December expressing her Jewish identity, and Preis’s reposting of the message. Blotner is a co-founder of the New Paltz Accountability (NPA), the group in question.

“Neither one of us really knows what this semester will be like. We are heading into a campus where we don’t know what the environment will be like,” Preis told JNS this week as she moved back after the summer break. “We’re very grateful for all the support that we’ve received from outside sources. But we’re anxious about what will happen.”

Blotner and Preis’s complaint against the university was made with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging a violation of their rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prevents discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, including discrimination against Jews. They say university officials failed to provide security or protect them as required so they could attend classes without fear for their safety.

Preis said that she and Blotner were vocal with the university in the initial stages and attempted to reach various officials and channels throughout the university. “But the two of us felt very not-listened-to,” said Preis, leading to the development of outside resources, representation and support from other Jewish organizations and on social media. “We have definitely been tapped out from continuing to vocalize and vouch for ourselves because we felt so unheard.”
Emily Schrader: Berkeley Law Must Act to Protect Jewish Students
Many schools are still on summer break, but at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, antisemitic harassment has begun early, under the aegis of the nefarious forces of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). Once again, Jewish and pro-Israel students are being challenged and excluded on the basis of their core identities and beliefs. This attempt to turn Jewish and pro-Israel students into an unpalatable other at one of the West Coast’s premier law schools sets a dangerous precedent and must be defeated. Berkeley Law’s administration must step up and denounce this antisemitic bylaw without delay.

On or before August 21, 2022, A BDS-aligned organization called Berkeley Law for Palestine successfully convinced several affinity organizations at the law school, including the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Law Students of African Descent, the Women of Berkeley Law, and the Queer Caucus, to adopt a “bylaw divesting all funds from institutions and companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine, and banning future use of funds towards such companies[.]” There is now a public call for “ALL student organizations at Berkeley Law to… adopt the bylaw into their constitutions ASAP[.]” The bylaw would call for “wholly boycotting, sanctioning, and divesting funds from… any entity that… supports the actions of the apartheid state of Israel…” and asserts that participating organizations “will not invite speakers that have expressed and continued to hold views… in support of Zionism [or] the apartheid State of Israel.”

As the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has explained, “the predominant drive of the BDS campaign and its leadership is not criticism of policies, but the demonization and delegitimization of Israel. BDS campaigns promote a biased and simplistic approach to the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and present this dispute over territorial and nationalist claims as the fault of only one party – Israel.” In recent years, BDS has opposed anything that “normalizes” the State of Israel, and has called on activists to “not deal with any product or activity of a person or institution that has previously been involved in normalization [of Israel].”

As intended, the consequence has been the steady squeezing of Jews out of public spaces, especially those on the more progressive end of the spectrum. In 2017 in Chicago and again in Washington, D.C. in 2019, Jewish participants in the ‘Dyke March’ in those cities were denied the right to carry a Jewish rainbow pride flag with a Star of David at its center. In 2019, the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student Union (GSU) opposed a proposal by Hillel to increase kosher food options because Hillel (which represents Jewish students on campus) refused to disavow support for the State of Israel. Now the hate and exclusion have come to Berkeley Law.


Are We Willing to See the Truth?
And throughout it all, Zbyzsek Romaniuk is a witness, trying to make sense of his local history in light of the countless revelations that indicate that his townspeople were at best passive accomplices, and at worst willing accessories, in the murder of Bransk’s Jewish population.

In one fascinating scene, Romaniuk engages with high-school kids in Israel after they have just returned from a Poland trip. It is absolutely clear that he — someone who is clearly not a Jew-hater — is unwilling or unable to acknowledge the egregious collaboration by so many Bransk residents in particular, and Poles in general, in the willful extermination of their Jewish neighbors, notwithstanding the compelling evidence he sees every step of the way.

Stunningly, in a letter to Marzynski after the documentary first aired, Romaniuk wrote: “this film is your vision of events, with which I cannot fully agree … It is too bad that the subject of Shtetl was mainly reduced to the Holocaust as executed by the Poles.” Remarkably, he adds: “Why does no one in the film ask the Jews if in a reversed situation they would help the Poles? I have asked such a question, and nobody said: ‘definitely yes’ — and some said: ‘probably not.’”

For me, Romaniuk’s blinkered vision is almost as disturbing as the Polish collaboration. Sometimes, you can observe something in front of your eyes, and you still don’t see it. The evidence is there, but your brain is in denial, finding rationalizations that blunt its edge or simply airbrush it away. No amount of demonstrable, empirical proof will make any difference.

This is why every one of us needs to be on constant guard and conscious of this human failing — otherwise we can far too easily fall into the trap of denial as the go-to option, finding it so much easier than the pain which can accompany a vision of truth.

This explains the first word of Parshat Re’eh (Deut. 11:26): רְאֵה אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה — “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse.” The word “re’eh” — “see” — seems superfluous. But it isn’t.

Moses needed the nation to know that their eyes can lie to them, and that unless they are willing to see — really see — what is in front of them, what seems like a blessing might easily be a curse, which can result in the downfall of everything they consider important and precious.

Nothing has changed, least of all human nature. And “Shtetl” brought that reality into the sharpest focus.
Anne Frank’s Diary Back in Circulation at Texas School District
A graphic comic adaptation of Anne Frank’s Diary is back in circulation at libraries in Keller Independent School District (KISD), a spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday.

The book had been temporarily removed from the school district’s libraries earlier this month at the request of parents and community members. The move elicited a firestorm of national criticism, with Jewish and anti-censorship groups stepping forward to argue for the book’s place in the education of young people.

KISD’s school board president, Charles Randklev, discussed the controversy at a meeting on Monday, calling its news coverage a “misinformation campaign of lies.”

“The media has done an absolute[ly] terrible job on covering what’s happened over the last week within Keller ISD,” he said in a statement. “For the record, Keller ISD is not banning the Bible or Anne Frank.”

Randklev maintained that protecting students from “pornographic material” and “championing transparency”of the process under which books are acquired for students motivated the initial decision. Both editions of Anne Frank’s Diary include descriptions of her genitalia and discussions of same-sex attraction, which, one parent said earlier this month, likely prompted complaints against them.

During the meeting, school board members passed a new rule banning books with “illustrations or description(s) of nude intimate body parts,” but Frank’s will not affected by the measure, a district spokesperson confirmed with JTA.

According to JTA, other groups have pledged to donate hundreds of copies of it to the district.
Olympic Committee head to attend Israel's Munich Massacre memorial
President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has accepted an invitation from Israel-National Olympic Committee head Yael Arad to attend the country’s ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Munich massacre.

The ceremony – slated for September 21 in Tel Aviv – will mark the first time an IOC head has come to Israel since 2010 and the first time that one is attending a ceremony for the victims of the 1972 Munich games.

It was at those Olympics that Palestinian terrorists from the PLO-affiliated Black September terrorist group stormed the athletes’ village and killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches as well as a German policeman in 1972.

The ceremony will be the first-ever national commemoration ceremony organized by the Culture and Sports Ministry and Minister Chili Tropper. In addition to Bach, attendees will include President Isaac Herzog and families of the victims.

“Since his election, in 2013, President Bach has led countless innovative activities in many fields, has propelled the organization to the forefront and established himself an international and principled leader,” Arad said, in announcing that Bach would be joining the event.

“I am proud of his decision to join us in Israel for these fateful and important days for Israeli sports.”

IOC making moves to recognize Munich Massacre
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Bach instituted the long-awaited one-minute-silence commemorating the massacre. On top of attending the commemoration ceremony, Bach will also be visiting Yad Vashem, the President’s Residence and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Earlier this month, on a visit to Germany, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, when asked whether he would apologize for that attack, not only refrained from making amends but outraged Israelis and Germans when he answered that Israel had committed “holocausts” against the Palestinians.
Why are Israelis so happy? Because Israel is small
I frequently speak to groups, both Jewish and non-Jewish, about Israel, and one thing that often surprises them is how high Israel ranks in all those various annual happiness surveys.

When some folks hear that Israel regularly ranks in the top 12 in these surveys – this year the UN’s World Happiness Report put Israel ninth, behind a bevy of peaceful northern European countries and New Zealand – they look perplexed.

For non-Jews whose knowledge about Israel comes from the newspapers, which do not paint an overly promising picture of the Promised Land, when they think of happy lands they think of countries like the US with Disneyland and Hollywood, France with an abundance of wine, and Brazil with all those people dancing the samba – these are countries that just seem to exude happiness.

On the other hand, they associate Israel with all they see on the nightly news: rockets and terror and war and unending election cycles.

Tell them that despite all that, Israelis are genuinely a happy people, and some will say that this just proves that not only are they happy, but they must also be stupid because how could anyone with half a brain find happiness amid the rockets and terror and war and unending elections cycles?

That is the non-Jews. For Diaspora Jews who might know a little bit about Israel’s complexities, and a lot about Jews, when they hear the results of these happiness surveys, many of them, too, are taken aback. They think to themselves, “Since when are Jews happy?”

Why are Israelis happy?
Many are the explanations that have been proffered for Israelis’ happiness, from the sunny weather to the Mediterranean diet to a sense of fulfillment and purpose just living here. All that certainly plays a role.

But one of the leading factors that I have read about and makes the most sense to me is that in this geographically small land, one’s family and loved ones are nearby. It’s not America, where the parents live, say, in Denver, and the kids live a few thousand kilometers away in New Jersey. Here the parents live in Jerusalem, and the kids live – if they work in hi-tech – in Tel Aviv. They see each other... a lot.
Holy Land Uncovered: The land under the lens
Israeli photographer Eitan Elhadez-Barak has spent the last 15 years photographing Israel's traditions and religions, which he has now compiled into his life's work: a photography book




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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