Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Jonathan Tobin: Zionism won. So why is it still under attack 125 years after Basel?
Anti-Semitism has not only survived but thrived in the last 125 years as it attached itself like a parasite to a variety of different political movements—fascism, Nazism, communism, and in our own day, Islamism and woke neo-Marxism—all of which have helped perpetuate hate for Jews. Instead of eliminating the raison d’être of anti-Semitism, Israel has become the focus of it.
Anti-Zionism is not merely masquerading as something other than that hatred; it is the essence of 21st-century anti-Semitism. Its premise is not only to deny rights to the Jews that no one would think of denying to any other group. It is the mechanism by which intimidation, delegitimization, violence and terrorism against Jews are rationalized and justified.
That is why Jew-haters demonstrate against a commemoration of Basel, as well as calling for the abrogation of every milestone along the path to Jewish statehood—the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1947 Partition Resolution. Their global anti-Semitic BDS movement aimed at stifling the Israeli economy has largely failed. Nevertheless, it has provided a framework by which Jew-haters can not only organize themselves but do so while pretending to be advocates for the human rights of Palestinians, whose goal is to eliminate Israel.
It has also allowed the same world body that authorized Israel’s creation—the United Nations—to be the stronghold of those who believe not unrealistically that they can libel Zionism as racism and eventually isolate and ultimately destroy the Jewish state.
That is why advocacy for Zionism—the national liberation movement of the Jewish people—is not only relevant today; it is absolutely necessary in order to preserve not just Herzl’s legacy, but to fight back against a movement whose goals could only be achieved through the genocide of Israel’s 7 million Jews.
Though Herzl was wrong to think that a Jewish state would solve the problem of anti-Semitism, he was right to believe that one was necessary, as well as a just solution to the plight of Jews in Europe and the Middle East where they would never be fully accepted as equals or safe.
Long after the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty in Israel has become a reality, it may seem odd that we must continue to discuss the right of the Jews to their state. The triumph of Zionism was something that few Jews or non-Jews thought was possible in 1897. Yet as unthinkable as the destruction of the Jewish state is today, the fact that hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people believe its destruction is a good idea points to the persistence of anti-Semitism. Just as important, it should remind all people of goodwill—Jews and non-Jews alike—of the necessity for continued Zionist activism.
UAE Founder of First Holocaust Memorial Gallery in Arab World Speaks at Zionist Congress in Basel
H.E. Ahmed Obaid AlMansoori of the United Arab Emirates, Founder of the First Holocaust Memorial Gallery in the Arab World, was among the key speakers at the 125th Anniversary of First Zionist Congress in Basel.A celebration of Zionism: Thousands mark 125th anniversary of First Zionist Congress Israel sentences Gaza aid worker to 12 years for funding Hamas terror
AlMansoori revealed a rare letter handwritten and signed by Theodor Herzl, currently on display at his museum in Dubai. Advertisement
“Jews have always been an important part of the Middle East and I am committed to telling the story of the Jewish People and of Zionism to the Arab World,” said AlMansoori, who is also the Founder of the Crossroads of Civilization Museum in Dubai and a former member of the UAE Federal National Council.
The Crossroads of Civilization Museum started as a private collection in AlMansoori’s home in 2006, and went public in 2011 at the Emirati government’s request, who identified its potential.
Located at the Royal House on the main road in the historical area of Dubai, the award-winning museum has housed historical Jewish documents, letters and coins since its established – long before the signing of the Abraham Accords peace treaties.
AlMansoori has dedicated a significant portion of his museum to displaying the rich history of the Jewish People in the Middle East, highlighting that Jews are an indigenous and important part of the region.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2021 (Yom HaShoah), and in the wake of the peace treaties signed between Israel and Arab states, AlMansoori took his commitment to promoting Jewish-Arab relations even further by establishing the first and only Holocaust Memorial Gallery in the Arab world.
The Crossroads of Civilizations Museum Holocaust Memorial Gallery has since evolved into an international hub for Holocaust commemoration events and ceremonies; a center for advancing peace, tolerance and Jewish-Arab solidarity in the Middle East; and an important place of gathering for the Emirati Jewish community.
Hanna said Halabi intended to appeal the verdict and the sentence to the country’s Supreme Court.
The prosecution said it was also considering an appeal, believing the sentence to be too light.
“These are very severe deeds, the defendant funded terror with millions of shekels, helped strengthen the Hamas tunnel network,” Moran Guez of the southern district attorney’s office.
“We asked for 16-21 years prison. We’ll read the sentencing and consider our actions,” she told reporters.
In response to the ruling, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the diversion of funds a “reprehensible act committed at the expense of the welfare of the Palestinian residents of Gaza,” and acknowledged both World Vision’s condemnation of terrorism and Halabi’s right to appeal.
It added that Israel is committed to working with aid groups such as World Vision “in a manner consistent with security considerations and applicable standards.”
Halabi had been convicted of membership in a terrorist group — Hamas — and financing terrorist activities, having “transmitted information to the enemy” as well as the possession of a weapon.
Much of the evidence against him was kept secret, with Israel citing “security concerns,” prompting his legal team to question the verdict’s legitimacy.
In its sentencing, the court said Halabi had joined the military wing of Hamas in 2004 and was “planted in World Vision” the following year.
The court said that besides 12 tons of steel and other materials provided to Hamas for its tunnels and positions, Halabi also gave the terror group “millions of dollars” of World Vision’s money “to fund terror.”
The 12-year sentence was also meant to deter Gazans working in international aid groups from aiding Hamas, according to the court.
“There are huge amounts of money that, if they reach terror organizations, will contribute to strengthening the terror regime in Gaza,” the sentencing said.
When will the EU stop advocating as Chief Counsel for Palestinian terror groups and start showing respect for Israeli democratic process? @EUpalestinians @EUinIsrael @eu_eeas @JosepBorrellF https://t.co/aWkUaidoKV
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 30, 2022
Ruthie Blum: The latest Yad Vashem fiasco
When Effi Eitam was tapped in 2020 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the new chairman of Yad Vashem—to replace Avner Shalev, who had held the position for nearly three decades—all hell broke loose on the left. The religious-Zionist retired brigadier general and former Knesset member and Cabinet minister was falsely accused by most of the media and academia, both in Israel and among Jews across the ocean, of being a right-wing fanatical racist.Why the anti-Israel industry is obsessed with South Africa
The controversy was filled with the customary falsehoods, though mud-slinging would be a more apt depiction of the vilification of one of Israel’s best and brightest. The politicians, Jewish organizations and Holocaust survivors who opposed the appointment pointed to Eitam’s comments on Palestinians and Arab Israelis, on the grounds that such criticism is not fitting for an institution commemorating the mass slaughter of innocents.
What they really meant is that Eitam would never go along with the effort to universalize the Shoah.
The carry-on was so intense that he didn’t stand a chance. In his stead, Dani Dayan was selected and approved for the job. Dayan, a member of the Yad Vashem Council, had just returned to Israel after completing a four-year stint as the country’s consul general in New York.
During his tenure in the Big Apple, he managed to shake his own “dubious right-wing” reputation—as a previous chairman of the “far-right-wing” umbrella organization of settlements, the Yesha Council—and become palatable to liberal circles at home and abroad.
Unfortunately, since taking the reins, he has demonstrated the ability to accomplish this by toeing a politically correct line.
The anti-Israel industry and anti-Zionists the world over are obsessed with nothing so much as South Africa. Their relentless invocation of that country's now defunct system of racial segregation – "apartheid" – in their attacks on Israel has reached the point at which one often feels compelled to ask whether it might be more sensible to simply leave Israel aside and discuss South Africa. It is, after all, the only thing they seem to want to talk about.Berkeley Law School dean responds to BDS
I will leave aside the issue of the obvious inaccuracy of the apartheid libel, as many others have dealt with and discredited it at length. It is worth asking, however, why South Africa has become the object of such an obsession. Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
There are several reasons why, but the first and most obvious is that it is easy. For good reason, there now exists a global consensus that apartheid was a monstrous system that violated the most elementary human rights of black South Africans, and that it died a well-deserved death. In short, more or less everyone agrees that apartheid South Africa was an evil regime.
As such, the invocation of apartheid serves more or less the same purpose as the invocation of Nazism. It is simply another name for the devil, and it is the moral obligation of any decent person to strike down the devil. This relieves the anti-Israel industry of the need to delve into the moral ambiguities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It can simply invoke South Africa and be done with it. This is a lazy tactic but often a rhetorically effective one.
There is a darker motivation behind the exploitation of apartheid as a totem of evil, however. Put simply, apartheid South Africa – like French Algeria or the Confederate States of America – is one of the few historical examples of a regime that was utterly destroyed with the general approval of the world. For those who want to see Israel destroyed, that global consensus is invaluable. In most cases, the desire to see a nation destroyed is considered monstrous, but if the equation to apartheid can be successfully made, this is turned on its head, and the desire to see a nation survive becomes monstrous. The moral implications of this are enormous because it means that the apartheid libel has become, in effect, a warrant for genocide. It holds that the destruction of the Jewish nation would not be a horrific crime, but an actual positive good. As a result, genocidists can wrap themselves in the halo of moral rectitude. All sins – including terrorism and ethnic cleansing – are absolved, and murder becomes God's work.
The dean of Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, responded last week to a new wave of BDS activity at the school, describing it as "troubling" in an email to students.MEMRI: Pro-Jihad Kuwaiti Islamic Scholar And Muslim Brotherhood Leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan: Muslims In The West Should Advocate Against Zionism On University Campuses — Like My Daughter At Harvard
He made it very clear that "the Law School takes no position on these issues, or for that matter on any issues." He also pointed out that it is the "First Amendment right of students to express their views on any issues."
Dean Chemerinsky continued, writing: "It is troubling to broadly exclude a particular viewpoint from being expressed."
Finally, he reiterated that he deeply supports "the right of all...students to take positions on this and all issues." LSJP and anti-Zionist Jews push back
LSJP drafted a statement in response to the dean's email and posted it on social media. They disputed any claims of antisemitism on their part and explained the moral basis on which they choose to support the BDS movement and encourage others to do the same.
They also attached a statement from anti-Zionist Jewish Berkeley law students enforcing their points and adding that "nothing in these by-laws prohibits speakers in question from appearing on campus, participating in law school-sanctioned events, or engaging with students.
"The by-laws are simply a clear enunciation that the groups in question...will choose to prioritize speakers whose values align with [their] core values."
Pro-jihad Kuwaiti Islamic scholar and Muslim Brotherhood leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan said in a video posted on his YouTube channel on August 15, 2022 that Muslims in the West should engage in political activism and anti-Zionist advocacy. He described his daughter's anti-Israel activism on the campus of Harvard University, and he said that this is something Arab students can do on college campuses throughout the West. He also said that the Jews comprise only 3% of the U.S. population, yet they are united and control the media and finance industries in the United States, and he said that Muslims in the West should unite and engage in political activism in order to influence their countries to support the Palestinians and "reduce their support for the Zionist entity."Senior Israeli official hints J Street hurts Israeli interests
Muslims At Western Universities Should Organize, Lobby For The Palestinian Cause, Like My Daughter At Harvard
Tareq Al-Suwaidan: "I lived in America for 17 years, and, Allah be praised, I played a role in supporting the Palestinian cause. In addition, my daughter, Mafaz, is now at Harvard University, in Boston. She is the most committed person to the Palestinian cause, and she is involved in dialogue and continuous activities.
"Why did I mention her name? Because she is very active, and young [Arabs] in the West — in Europe or America — can collaborate. This is the first thing you should do, collaborate among yourselves in organizing activities and establishing lobbies.
"There Is A Huge Number Of Leading Actors, Athletes, Journalists, And Even Models Who Are Not Muslims, But They Support The Palestinian Cause, But Nobody Contacts Them Properly And Brings Them Together... They Are Willing To Donate Millions"
"Another thing you can do is to try to exert pressure on the universities.
"This was successful in several American and Canadian universities, and ultimately led to these universities boycotting the universities of the Zionist entity. This is one of the significant things you can do.
"There is a huge number of leading actors, athletes, journalists, and even models who are not Muslims but they support the Palestinian cause. But nobody contacts them properly and brings them together. By the way, they are willing to donate millions.
Jews In The U.S. "Are United, Support One Another, And Of Course Own The Media And The Money... This Did Not Happen Overnight"; Muslims In The West Should Do The Same, "Act In The Political Scene, In Addition To The Media And The Financial Realm"
A senior Israeli official hinted on Monday that the lobbying group J Street can no longer be seen as a pro-Israel organization because it has allegedly been actively undermining Israeli interests in Washington, particularly on Iran.Dissonance as a way of life
J Street was founded in 2008 with a goal of being "the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people." It believes in the two-state solution.
In recent weeks, J Street's endorsements of various candidates ahead of the midterm elections have drawn criticism from pro-Israel groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, the large pro-Israel lobby in Washington, has said some of the J Steet-endorsed candidates are clearly pro-Palestinian anti-Israel. AIPAC has subsequently accused J Street of no longer being pro-Israel as a result of those endorsements.
When asked about AIPAC's accusation, the Israeli official would only say – after a long pause – "We work really well with AIPAC," implicitly criticizing J Street.
The official's comments come amid the ongoing tension with the US over the return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The administration has said that it plans to submit a deal to Congress, where J Street is expected to rally lawmakers to support it. This would run directly against Israel's campaign to derail the new arrangement.
This is not the first time that J Street has come under fire from pro-Israel elements. Its views surrounding Israel's actions in various flare-ups in Gaza, including on the Goldstone Report, as well as its support of Palestinian statehood and contact with anti-Israel activists who called for boycotting the Jewish state have all irked Israeli officials.
The most blatant example of this type of dissonance has to do with the education system and integrating progressive indoctrination into the educational curriculum while circumventing parental involvement in decisions that directly affect their children as young as first grade.Yeshiva University Asks Supreme Court to Block LGTBQ Club
School boards are taking on the mindset that parents are nothing but a nuisance and demand the right to mold children’s minds while completely ignoring the wishes of the parents. Basing whole curriculums on Critical Race Theory (based on teachings of the late Jewish historian Howard Zinn), and gender education are the most blaring examples of ignoring the will of the public and giving rise to dissonance on a wide scale.
Had the public school systems excelled in educating our children they would parade their successes for all to hear and see, but the truth is as the progressive indoctrination has permeated the school systems everywhere, the level of schooling and educational achievements have been regressing and showing a consistent decline in scores and abilities. School parents are in a constant state of dissonance having no outlet for turning the clock back and are simply being scared into silence.
Black American bigotry and anti-Semitism appears to be rising in recent years with Jews being physically attacked almost daily on the streets of Brooklyn or while commuting on the subway, almost always by young Black Americans, usually randomly, but sometimes in planned attacks. The dissonance felt by many American Jews has reached new heights yet little has been provided in terms of real information as to what drives this violent anti-Semitism on the part of young Black Americans.
Despite Jews serving as influential advisers to civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and despite the list of Jews who devoted themselves to black causes being literally all but inexhaustible, the Black American- Jewish alliance has never been a two-way street.
Malcom X was a known anti-Semite: “The exploiters of blacks are the Jews,” and “the Jew is behind the integration movement.”
Stokely Carmichael, an influential black leader: “The only good Zionist is a dead Zionist,” and “We must take a lesson from Hitler.”
These examples pale in comparison to the record of Louis Farrakhan, who the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called “the leading anti-Semite in America.” His assaults on Jews as “termites,” his description of Judaism as a “gutter religion,” his declaration that Hitler was a “great man” (later modified to “wickedly great”) have been widely reported. His Nation of Islam has distributed the notorious fabrication The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as well as a tract of its own, The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews, which Henry Louis Gates Jr. condemned as “the bible of the new anti-Semitism.”
All of this basic information about how the Black American community has been historically led by Black American anti-Semites has been withheld from the public. The judicial system's releasing of black criminals and felons and its allowing them immunity from prosecution, have contributed to the runaway violent anti-Semitism perpetuated by Black Americans.
Yeshiva University (YU) has asked the US Supreme Court to stay a lower court ruling that ordered it to recognize a LBGTQ-pride student club.FIFA confirms Israelis can purchase hospitality packages for World Cup Qatar 2022
In April 2021, a group of alumni and students sued the university for allegedly violating New York State’s Human Rights Law when it refused to charter a chapter of YU Pride. In June, a state judge ruled that Yeshiva University is not a religious organization and must grant the group “the full equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other students groups.”
In Monday’s filing, the university maintained that it does exist “for a purely religious purpose” and that its initial decision is justified by the Torah. Citing the case, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo-Oyez, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Catholic social service agencies can deny gay couples’ applications for child adoption, it also argued that ruling in its favor safeguards the First Amendment and the public interest.
“When secular authorities try to tell Yeshiva University that it is not religious, you know something has gone terribly wrong,” senior counsel Eric Baxter said Monday. “The First Amendment protects Yeshiva’s right to practice its faith. We are asking the Supreme Court to correct this obvious error.”
Yeshiva University president Ari Berman said, “the Torah guides everything that we do at Yeshiva.”
The world soccer federation FIFA has confirmed that Israelis may purchase hospitality packages for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 directly from its central hospitality website, even though there is not currently an agent that deals with Israel.Jewish investor network: General Mills partially reverses removal of Pillsbury products from Israel
“We are pleased that FIFA has clarified that Israelis and Israeli residents are able to buy hospitality packages for the World Cup directly, even though currently no agent has been allocated to them,” said Caroline Turner, director of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
UKLFI had accused FIFA of discriminating against Israelis and breaking its own codes of conduct by not allowing them to purchase hospitality packages via an agent. FIFA responded that its hospitality packages are organized exclusively by MATCH Hospitality, but an agent could not be found to sell tickets to Israeli customers.
The FIFA World Cup, which is set to take place in Qatar from Nov. 21 through Dec. 18, has a website that offers the public help in purchasing hospitality packages, but Israelis looking for their country were originally given the sole option of “Palestinian Territories, Occupied” rather than “Israel.”
“Crucially, not every territory or country in the world has a sales agent appointed, which is the case with Israel,” FIFA told UKLFI.
After the Jewish investor network, JLens placed General Mills on its “Do Not Invest” list, it says the conglomerate is partially reversing its decision to remove its subsidiary Pillsbury brand entirely from Israel, months after selling its stake in a Jerusalem refrigerated-dough manufacturing plant.Jeremy Corbyn praises ‘good messages’ of anti-Zionist rapper Lowkey
JLens CEO Julie Hammerman told JNS that her organization “spent the past couple of months engaging in dialogue with General Mills and also doing our own research.”
Hammerman said that after sending people into grocery stores in Israel to survey shelves and see what Pillsbury products were available, and after talking to business people in Israel, “it seemed as though there was a de facto boycott of Israel going on.”
She said General Mills offered false information about its plans for the Pillsbury brand, stating that they only sell Pillsbury-branded refrigerated dough products in Israel. JLens claims that General Mills sells more than a dozen Pillsbury-brand non-refrigerated products in Israel, including dry mixes and baking products.
“We had asked for information about the products that Pillsbury was selling in Israel, other than refrigerated dough,” said Hammerman. “Through our research, we found they were pulling the entire brand of Pillsbury from Israel and concluded, in our opinion, they were acquiescing to the extensive BDS campaign that’s been waged against the company.”
After JLens placed General Mills on its “Do Not Invest” list, the company responded with an Aug. 17 statement titled “Update on Our Israel Business,” saying, “We tailor our brand presence based on local tastes, business strategies and performance. … We felt it was time to sell our stake in a joint venture in Israel, which principally marketed dough products under the Pillsbury brand, as well as other non-dough Pillsbury products, which accounted for only 2% of sales. That sale was consistent with our overall business strategy,” the statement read. “We look forward to bringing more products to Israeli consumers which will be distributed without restriction and in full alignment with our values of non-discrimination.”
Jeremy Corbyn has expressed his admiration for a controversial UK rapper whose lyrics are littered with anti-Zionist sentiment.
Lowkey - real name Kareem Dennis - performed a song earlier this year called Long Live Palestine, which includes the words “nothing is more anti-semitic than Zionism” and “Israel is a terror state, they’re terrorists that terrorise.”
But late on Sunday evening over the bank holiday, former Labour leader Mr Corbyn, who now serves as an “independent” MP, took to Twitter to praise the rapper.
Responding to the 36-year-old artist’s tweet about his tour of four Dutch cities, Mr. Corbyn wrote: “Well done Lowkey, what energy and good messages you carry!”
Other songs on London-born Lowkey’s current set list contain references to the “Zionist lobby” and he has previously called Israel a “racist endeavour”.
Lowkey is a supporter of Mr. Corbyn, releasing a Vote Corbyn rap on the even of the 2019 general election.
In March this year, a row broke out after the National Union of Students invited Lowkey to perform at a conference for students from marginalised groups. He withdrew after concerns from Jewish students but the NUS was criticised for advising them to “go into an existing safe space” at the gig.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism told the JC: “The controversial rapper and activist Lowkey has previously described Israel as a 'racist endeavour' and Zionism as 'antisemitic', and has spoken of the 'Zionist lobby' in the context of global capitalism.
Full video here: https://t.co/18ZRYHa94f
— Ian McKelvey (@ian_mckelvey) August 29, 2022
Nice try at stealing a photo from a Tel Aviv restaurant from Google, label it as a "palestinian" breakfast...and forget that commercial cherry tomatoes were developed in Israel, by the Hebrew University 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/VGWPUsmcvl
— Maor Malul (@maor_x) August 28, 2022
Guardian apoplectic over Aviv Geffen's apology to settlers
Normally, given the politically polarising times we live in, you’d expect an apology offered by a public figure for comments he made demonising a segment of the population would be framed as sign of hope – a corrective to the tribal, populist fever infecting the public discourse.Oporto Jewish community files complaint with EU over ‘anti-Semitic abuse’
But, not at the Guardian. Or, at least, not when the figure expressing contrition is Israeli and associated with the left, and the former target of his incendiary rhetoric is on the right.
An article at the outlet by Ben Lynfield reports on Israeli pop artist Aviv Geffen, one of the most popular singers in the country, who apologised recently to settlers for past comments demonising religious Jews and those living in the territories. The piece (“Israeli rock star praises ‘brother’ settlers as he recants past views in move to right“, Aug. 29) explains the reconciliation between Geffen and residents of Judea and Samaria thusly:
The Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, once a symbol of the country’s peace movement, has sparked controversy by apologising for his past views during a concert at a fervently nationalistic settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The public repentance on Thursday at the Beit El settlement can be seen as a cultural milestone in Israel’s move further to the right and another nail in the coffin of the more peace-oriented legacy of the assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, with whom Geffen had been associated.
However, Lynfield doesn’t adequately explain what Geffen apologised for.
As Geffen himself acknowledged, he was saying hateful things about settlers, religious Jews and his country since he was 19. He called the settlements a “cancer”, referred to settlers a “psycho” and “criminal”, and once said he wanted to go back to 1967 lines, and bring back all the settlers, “dead or alive”.
As Lynfield does note, he also referred to the IDF as the Israel Death Forces.
Though Lynfield quotes Geffen’s explanation that “As I have matured, I’m very sorry about it. I learned a lot of things and I am here out of love and unity.”, the reporter seems unmoved by the artist’s embrace of tolerance – and his flight from moral certainty –
The Jewish community of Oporto, Portugal, which claims it has endured an anti-Semitic smear campaign of national proportions, filed a complaint with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on Aug. 26. The complaint details what the community claims are false accusations against it aimed at undermining a 2015 law granting citizenship to descendants of Portuguese Jews.Authorities claim that French Jew wasn't killed for antisemitic reasons
The campaign will “destroy the credibility of a law, and harms community leaders and people whose Sephardic origin had been certified in compliance with the law,” Gabriel Senderowicz, president of the Oporto Jewish community, told JNS.
A new stipulation to the 2015 Nationality Law for Portuguese Sephardic Jews, aka the “Sephardic Law,” has made it impossible for candidates to meet the law’s requirements, he said. Descendants must now show certificates proving inherited real estate in Portugal, something which is “logically impossible,” the complaint notes, as Sephardic Jews had their assets confiscated centuries ago. The new requirement goes into effect on Sept. 1.
According to the complaint, the campaign against the Sephardic Law began in April 2020 with a parliamentary debate initiated by three politicians: Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, Justice Minister Francisca Van Dunem and Socialist Party Parliamentary group vice president Constança Urbano de Sousa.
The complaint attributes anti-Semitic motives to Sousa, noting she “compared the exponential reproduction of the Sephardim to the coronavirus.” It also suggests Santos Silva may be motivated by his anti-Israel attitudes. “Santos Silva is a politician closely linked to extreme leftist theories about Israel and Palestine,” said Sederowicz, noting that Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has said of the affair that “it is a ‘Palestinian issue’ of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
A young Jewish man from Djerba, the late Eyal Haddad, was barbarically murdered in a town northeast of Paris by his Muslim neighbor about ten days ago. The victim's body was found in the forest recently, following the killer's confession that he murdered him because he was Jewish.
The chief rabbi in Tunis and member of the Conference of Rabbis of Europe, Rabbi Haim Bitan said on Tuesday: "We were shocked to hear about the murder of our hometown boy in Djerba, Eyal ben Michael Haddad, who was murdered by a criminal in France. We ask the French government to prosecute the murderer according to the severity of the law and to conduct a transparent investigation and the prosecution of the despicable murderer, in order to prevent more cases like these."
Rabbi Moshe Levin, senior advisor to France's Chief Rabbi and a member of the Conference of European Rabbis told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the authorities have investigated the matter and that it's not antisemitic.
Yet social media posts have displayed the alleged assassin burning the flag of Israel.
Eyal Haddad was murdered by an antisemite because he was Jewish.
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) August 30, 2022
Shame on France.
Left, Eyal Haddad. Right, his neighbor photographed burning an Israeli flag. pic.twitter.com/AisuhrCKGM
It’s open season on Brooklyn Jews.
— Yaakov (Jack) Kaplan (@JackKaplanNY) August 30, 2022
Don’t worry “The @BrooklynDA is taking this case very seriously”
Every politician in @NYSA_Majority is “deeply troubled and concerned” but not enough to change back flawed laws that allow these people to be back on the streets in 30 min. pic.twitter.com/07a8UN07jJ
10 Ukrainian refugees train with United Hatzalah to become EMTs
Ten members of an EMT training course, specially designed for members of the Breslev community in Uman who fled Ukraine during the onset of Russia’s invasion, celebrated their graduation ceremony on Aug. 25. Held in Jerusalem, the course ended six months after the commencement of the fighting on Feb. 24.How Jewish communities across the US helped resettle 1,900 Afghan evacuees this year
The program was taught by United Hatzalah instructors Yechiel Mayberg and Uriel Amrani. Its aim is to strengthen emergency-response teams in and around the community of Uman, and to lessen the time to handle medical emergencies. The newly graduated EMTs hope to return to Uman soon and offer their acquired skills in the region in light of the country’s current reality.
“You came to Israel, and invested your time and efforts in order to learn how to give the most professional response to medical emergencies in Uman and throughout Ukraine,” said United Hatzalah’s vice president of volunteer operations Eliezer Hyman, thanking the graduates for their dedication. “Your actions are worthy of the highest praise. You are the latest reinforcement to United Hatzalah’s extensive activities in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.”
Deputy head of the Uman chapter of United Hatzalah Aharon Ben Harush stated that “our activities in Uman and throughout Ukraine start upon receiving news of the emergency and only end when the patient is discharged from hospital. Our dedicated team of volunteers accompanies patients to the hospital in order to assist them with any language difficulties, helps translate instructions from the medical staff and assists patients throughout the course of the medical treatment. We are delighted to see new EMTs join the chapter in these challenging times.”
On September 1, 2021, Hadiya (last name withheld for security reasons) fled her home in Kabul with her parents Mirwais and Zarmina, and her older sister Marwa. All they took with them were their cell phones, a laptop computer, and the clothes on their backs.‘Saudi’ Jew wants to return
Hadiya, 22, and her family escaped the Taliban takeover and the chaotic United States military withdrawal from Afghanistan following a 20-year war. Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the end of the pullout resulting in the evacuation of tens of thousands of US-affiliated and at-risk Afghans.
“We had to get out. My father had been a journalist in the past with Radio Azadi [formerly Radio Free Afghanistan] and was at the time working for the Afghan army. And my sister had a high profile position in the Afghan interior ministry,” Hadiya said.
Rather than heading to the mobbed Kabul airport, Hadiya and her family laid low at home until an American advisor told them to drive to another province seven hours away. They stayed there 20 days until the Taliban agreed to terms for their exit. The US military flew the family to a base in Qatar. They were there for a month before being transferred to a military base in Virginia, where they lived with other evacuees for more than two months.
In an interview with The Times of Israel from her new home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Hadiya said that her family would have been in “a bad situation,” had they not been helped by volunteers from the Harrisburg Jewish community.
Hadiya referred to a partnership between Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Shapiro Foundation in a $1 million initiative to support Jewish community organizations in resettlement efforts of over 1,900 Afghan evacuees across 15 communities and 12 states.
This article in the Wall Street Journal has been causing a stir. The writer, David Shuker, has fond memories of his childhood in this corner of Saudi Arabia and wants to exploit the Kingdom’s improved relations towards Israel to return. But Najran was only under Saudi rule for 14 years before its Jews were airlifted to Israel, along with Yemen’s Jews, for their own safety. They are unique for having been permitted to carry arms and even served as royal bodyguards.4,000-Year-Old Israelite Settlement Discovered in Binyamin
I am the last survivor of the Jewish community that lived near the southern Saudi Arabian city of Najran.
Around sixty Jewish families once lived in Najran and the small villages around it. Some worked for King Abd-al-Aziz Ibn Saud in the 1930s and 1940s, maintaining his soldiers’ weapons. Others were employed as locksmiths, carpenters and tanners. Contrary to the rule in neighboring Yemen, the Jews of Najran were allowed to carry the traditional dagger, the jambiya, on their belts. To this day, I remember the king’s soldiers spoiling me with sweets and patting my curly hair.
Najran became part of Saudi Arabia under the 1934 Ta’if Agreement, under which Saudi troops took control from Yemeni forces. In the years that followed, the Jews lived under the protection of the king and felt secure.
After the State of Israel was established in 1948, the Jews were called by the king’s representatives to gather in the main square. A convoy of camels was waiting there for 260 people, mostly children like me. I was born in 1944. Our families’ belongings were loaded onto the camels and before sunset we began walking toward the Yemeni border.
As my 80th birthday approaches, I long to return, to see my parents’ home and pray at the graves of my ancestors. I am eager to refresh the memories of my happy childhood, to taste once again the sweet dates, and to see the “Qasr al-Yahud,” Castle of the Jews, in a city that has expanded and developed dramatically since we left.
An archeological dig at Tel Tibnah in the Binyamin region has led to the exposure of a 4,000-year-old settlement, dated to the time when the Israelites entered the Land of Israel (2100 BCE).New documentary, ‘Illumination: Light of Am Yisroel on the World,’ follows the stories of Jewish heroes
At the end of a month of excavations at Tel Tibnah on behalf of the Binyamin Regional Council and Bar Ilan University, many finds were also uncovered from an ancient city that served as the capital of the district at the end of the Second Temple period.
The excavation at Tel Tibnah, directed by Dr. Davir Raviv from Bar Ilan University, is one of the first in Judea and Samaria since the 1980s.
The results of the surveys at the site, as well as its mentions in historical sources, show the presence of a central settlement from the early Bronze Age to the Ottoman period, with regional administrative and military importance.
The site is identified with Yehoshua bin Nun’s city of Timnath Serah and is considered by traditional sources to have been the town where he lived and was buried. It was later known as Timnath-Heres, a Hellenistic-Hasmonean fortified site that served as the district capital in the Roman and Byzantine periods.
The excavations exposed a large public mikvah (ritual bath), and complete pottery, coins, and bones. A rare coin from the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans (70 CE) was also found, with the inscription “Year two of the freedom of Zion.”
Shards of pottery indicating continuous settlement were also found in the excavations, along with 18 coins, four of which were identifiable. One is a Roman coin from 58-89 CE, and another is a silver Mamluk coin from the 13th century bearing the figure of a lion – the symbol of the Mamluk Sultan Baibars.
“600 million?” “A billion?” “1.5 billion?
The new documentary “Illumination: The Light of Am Yisroel on the World,” released this past Tisha B’Av, opens with narrator Rabbi Yoel Gold asking people on the street to guess how many Jews there are worldwide. An ordained Rabbi and former Yeshiva high school teacher, Gold has devoted the past three years to creating videos chronicling inspiring Jewish stories.
The interviewees throw out guesses ranging from 25 million to 1.5 billion, with a majority on the higher end of the spectrum. One woman doesn’t venture a numerical guess. “I know it’s a lot of them, and they’re all over the world,” she tells the camera.
After letting viewers listen to a host of high estimates, Gold reveals that the true number is far smaller. There are only 15 million Jews worldwide—.2% of the global population, just a speck in the population universe.
I’ll admit that as strangers from Los Angeles, New York, and London threw out their far-too-high estimates, my first thought was that I was about to witness a film on anti-Semitism; non-Jews have long exaggerated the global Jewish presence in their own minds, maintaining that Jews control the media, the banks and other powerful institutions. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the film would take a far different path.
Setting the scene for the remainder of the program, Gold recounts that God promised the Jewish people “national recognition” so they could be a source of light, inspiring others and paving the way for positive action in the world. Amplification of the Jewish presence allows the values instilled in its people by religious doctrine to suffuse broader society.
“As Jews, we have a responsibility to be a model, an example and a blessing to the world, and today, with the advance of technology and social media, we can each do that in our unique way,” Gold wrote in an Aug. 28 statement to JNS.
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