Monday, September 05, 2022

09/05 Links Pt2: German president: ‘Shameful’ it took Berlin decades to agree on Munich compensation; The Munich Massacre also killed our faith in the postwar order

From Ian:

German president: ‘Shameful’ it took Berlin decades to agree on Munich compensation
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted shame over the decades that it took for Berlin to agree compensation for the bereaved families of Israeli victims in the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, saying Germany had avoided responsibility over the massacre for too long.

“That it took 50 years to reach this agreement in the last days is indeed shameful,” said Steinmeier, standing next to his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, with whom he will be attending a commemoration ceremony in Munich on Monday.

A row over the financial offer previously made by Berlin to victims’ relatives had threatened to sour the ceremony, with families initially planning a boycott.

But a deal was finally agreed on Wednesday offering $28 million (NIS 94.4 million) in compensation. It also — for the first time — sees the German state acknowledging its “responsibility” in failings that led to the carnage.

In a speech at a state banquet for Herzog, Steinmeier acknowledged that “our responsibility as Germans includes shedding light on the many unanswered questions, the blind spots of the attack in Munich — and also the blind spots in our handling of the attack since then.”

“For far too long, we did not want to acknowledge the pain of the bereaved families. And for far too long, we did not want to acknowledge that we, too, had to shoulder some of the responsibility: it was our job to ensure the safety of the Israeli athletes,” he said, noting that some of the members of the Israeli team had been Holocaust survivors.

On September 5, 1972, eight gunmen of the Palestinian terror group Black September stormed into the Israeli team’s rooms at the Olympic village, shooting dead two and taking nine Israelis hostage.

West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer.

The Games were meant to showcase a new Germany 27 years after the Holocaust but instead opened a deep rift with Israel.

Herzog underlined the pain faced by the bereaved relatives, saying they simply “hit a wall” whenever they tried to raise the issue with Germany or even with the International Olympic Committee.

“I think there was tragic suppression here,” he said, noting the litany of failings that were “inhuman and incomprehensible” such as “the fact that the hostages were being led to slaughter and the Games went on.”

After an initial suspension, then-IOC president Avery Brundage had declared that “the Games must go on.”

Forty years later, the IOC was widely criticized for refusing to dedicate a moment of silence to the victims during the opening of the London Games
Israeli President Herzog’s speech at the 50th anniversary memorial of the Munich Olympics massacre
Below is the full text of the speech delivered by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the massacre of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics:

Dear families of the murdered athletes; survivors of the Munich massacre; Your Excellency, my friend, the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your brave and historic speech, which touched everyone’s hearts.

Your Excellencies, the Minister-President of Bavaria and Mayor of Munich; leaders and government officials from Germany and Israel; representatives and directors of the national Olympic committees; Jewish community leaders in Germany; loved ones, friends, families, and all those who cherish the memories of the murdered athletes, ladies and gentlemen.

“Why must my pain be endless, my wound incurable, resistant to healing?” So asks the Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:18), and so we ask today. Even fifty years after the horrific murder of the eleven Israeli athletes here and in the Munich Olympic village, with inconceivable cruelty and in cold blood—the pain is eternal. That awful event remains a wound, resistant to healing.

All those of us who remember those dark and endless hours in that bitter September of 1972 carry in our hearts the same scar, the same moments in which we followed with excruciating anxiety and boundless concern the conflicting reports coming in every few hours from the Olympic village in Munich. We struggled to fathom that Jewish and Israeli athletes, judges, and coaches were being held by terrorists on German soil. We prayed so hard for a different ending. But our hearts were pained and broken; our hopes dashed.

Within a day, we received the most agonizing of news: ‘None survived.’ Although I was only a young boy, I shall never forget that awful morning, driving with my father to school and in the car hearing together the horrific news, and we stopped breathing. I shall never forget the tears that welled up in our eyes, the sense of total shock, the grief, the gloom, and the angst that engulfed an entire country when the so-called ‘Cheerful Games’ were instantly transformed into the darkest nadir in the history of world sports and in the annals of the Olympics.
PMW: After 50 years, Munich Olympics massacre still a “quality operation” in PA narrative
Fifty years ago today, the world was shocked when Palestinian terrorists from Fatah’s terror organization Black September broke into the athletes' village at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972, kidnapped, and ultimately murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Still today, the attack remains a dark stain on the Olympics and has settled in the collective global memory as an illustration of the horrors of terrorism.

In Palestinian ideology and memory the attack is just the opposite. It is a source of pride and honor, and PA and Fatah leaders glorify the murderous attack and revere its planners as “heroes” and role models.

When PA and Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently refused to apologize for the Munich massacre during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz when a journalist asked him to, Palestinian Media Watch published examples and pointed out that Abbas’ reaction was not surprising at all. Rather it was an expected expression of PA and Fatah ideology. The PA and Fatah are proud of the Munich attack, which ranks among the top “quality operations” and most “successful” terror attacks in Palestinian history.

The following are additional PA/Fatah outpourings of praise and admiration from the last 3 years for the terrorists and their act of murdering the 11 Israeli athletes:
PA: Black September terrorists “gave the revolution… sacrifice and heroism,” they “must have constant presence and special status in our people’s memory”

Official PA TV News, on the anniversary of the death of Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad,” head of the Black September terror organization

Official PA TV reporter: “The 31st anniversary of the death as a Martyr of the three Fatah leaders Salah Khalaf, Hayel Abd Al-Hamid (i.e., one of the founders of Fatah), and Fakhri Al-Omari – who gave the Palestinian revolution a large measure of sacrifice and heroism – the Insan National Action Association, the “Set Your Goal” organization, and the Fatah Movement’s Jenin branch marked the anniversary under the auspices of the Rumana village council…

These activities were carried out with the participation of official and popular bodies and included planting olive trees named after the three Martyrs… They are among the movement’s most important patriotic schools that must have a constant presence and a special status in our people’s memory.”

[Official PA TV News, Jan. 11, 2022]


PA TV: Black September terrorists “gave the revolution… sacrifice and heroism”

Gil Troy: The Munich Massacre also killed our faith in the postwar order
Suddenly, the Munich Olympics were defined by the Palestinian terrorists in those ghoulish stocking caps and the discordant sweat suits, who sauntered into the Olympic village. After negotiating for hours, the Germans botched the rescue operation. Ultimately, the terrorists murdered their nine Israeli hostages and a German police officer.

During the Munich Massacre, historical images, ideas, and traumas collided. Germans were now protecting Jews. Jews were now athletes, not scholars. And the Middle East’s border wars went global, as terrorism exported conflicts from the world’s margins to the most vulnerable, normally peaceful venues – even the Olympics themselves.

Reeling, mourning these young Israeli heroes, one of whom tried barricading the door with his body, it was obvious to everyone I knew that these Olympic games should end. We didn’t know it at the time, but fearing more anti-Jewish violence, the Germans smuggled Spitz out of Munich. He and his coach were whisked to the airport, lying in the back of a car, covered by a blanket. Even back home in California, the Secret Service protected Spitz for the next three months.

This tragedy offered the International Olympic Committee (IOC) an opportunity to do penance for green-lighting the infamous 1936 Hitler games.

Yet, like something out of a novel, Avery Brundage, the same mean-spirited, severe-looking, antisemitic IOC president who approved Hitler’s hosting then, insisted the “games must go on” in Germany 36 years later.

The games continued – and many people’s faith in the international order, in the new post-Auschwitz world the Olympics and the UN promised, crumbled.

REMARKABLY, THE more Palestinian terrorists terrorized innocents, the more international recognition their cause achieved. Two years later, the UN welcomed the head of the PLO. Yasser Arafat, the grandfather of modern terrorism, became the first representative of a non-member organization to address the General Assembly – sporting a holster to back up his menacing tone.

In describing this “dramatic and tension-fraught” day, The New York Times reported: “Cameramen and other people who were near Mr. Arafat noticed that he was wearing a holster under his bulging windbreaker.” Characteristically, a PLO spokesman asserted “that the holster, if there had been one, had been empty.”

Since then, the UN has often functioned as the Third World dictators’ debating society, while sports have become increasingly politicized. In 1953, 55% of Americans told Gallup pollsters the UN “was doing a good job.” By 1975, only 32% approved – as the slogan “get the US out of the UN, and the UN out of the US” spread.

On this sad 50th anniversary, we mourn the 11 murdered Israeli athletes and the Western German police officer. We mourn the thousands murdered by terrorism globally, as the PLO’s brutality-driven success inspired terrorist copycats worldwide. But we also mourn the loss of faith: the postwar world order that was built on such high hopes now appears to be a delusion, mocked periodically at the Olympics and almost daily in the UN.
JPost Editorial: Munich Massacre is ghastly reminder of worst side of mixing sports and politics - editorial
Relatives of the murdered victims had threatened to stay away from today’s memorial as part of a campaign for an official German apology and additional compensation to the families. In 2002, Germany agreed to $4.5 million in compensation. Last week, embarrassed by the possible boycott of the memorial by the families, it agreed to pay $28 million. The families have long sought the compensation as part of an acknowledgment that German authorities were at fault for failing to protect the Israeli team, despite warnings, and for the botched rescue.

Over the years, there have been different, ongoing signs of Israel’s enemies using sports to attack or delegitimize the Jewish state. Last month, Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, when asked by a reporter at the German Chancellery in Berlin whether he would apologize for the Munich Massacre – with which he had financial ties – launched instead into a tirade against Israel, accusing it of committing “50 holocausts.”

Shamefully, from time to time competitors from Iran and other Muslim countries have refused to face Israeli opponents. This is not only bad sportsmanship; it is bad news for the world as a whole.

During his visit, Herzog will address the German Bundestag, and promised to speak about “major issues on the agenda, including the Iranian nuclear program.”

Nothing will bring the 11 murdered members of the Israeli Olympic team back to life and nothing can ever truly compensate the families for their loss, but we welcome the fact that the German authorities and Olympic officials finally acknowledge the tragedy. Fifty years on, it is important not only to acknowledge the Munich Massacre, but to learn from it.
50 Years Later: How the Media Reported on the 1972 Munich Massacre
Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Massacre, in which eleven Israeli Olympic team members were taken hostage and brutally murdered by Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists. According to some, the tragic events in the West German city, which were broadcast on live television and radio, forever changed the way the media cover terrorism.

Here's how the press reported the 1972 Munich Massacre.




The latest BBC reporting on the Munich Olympics terror attack
Five years ago we documented the BBC’s failure, for the most part, to describe the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre as a terror attack and its Black September group perpetrators as terrorists:

On July 31st news of an agreement concerning compensation to remaining relatives of the victims of that attack half a century ago prompted several BBC reports.

Listeners to BBC Radio 4 heard several reports from the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Tom Bateman in news bulletins:
Newsreader: “Germany has reached a compensation deal with family members of the Israelis killed during an attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics. The relatives have been threatening to boycott a memorial ceremony next week to mark the 50th anniversary of the atrocity. Here’s our Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman.”

Bateman: “On September the fifth 1972, eleven Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinians from the Black September group. The hostage taking killing [sic] took place amid a botched German security operation which also led to the death of a local police officer and the Israeli families have long sought more than the initial compensation sum they were given. Under the agreement twenty-three relatives will share a total of 24 million pounds. A joint statement by the German and Israeli presidents welcomed the move. They said it could not heal wounds but showed Germany accepted responsibility for the security flaws and recognised the terrible suffering of the victims.”
NGO Monitor: Analysis of New Israel Fund Grants in 2021
NGO Monitor analyzed New Israel Fund’s (NIF) 2021 financial report (latest available – released in July 2022), detailing grants to 260 Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We focused specifically on the approximately 13% of NIF’s funding that is distributed to 35 political advocacy NGOs claiming to promote human rights in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many of the NGOs in the NIF network also receive large grants from European governments, in some cases providing 90 percent or more of their total budgets.

NIF’s financial reports show:
2021 revenue — $31.8 million, a 37% decrease from 2020 ($50.9 million).
2021 total contributions — $29.3 million, a 28% decrease from 2020 ($40.8 million). NIF’s donor-advised contributions also decreased 83.6% to $1.4 million from $8.4 million in 2020 (See Table 1).
The amounts listed in the NIF’s annual financial statements comprise “core grants” made directly by the NIF, “donor-advised” grants, and grants from the Progressive Jewish Fund. NIF details the division between the “core” and “donor-advised” formats in a separate online chart (see Table 4). According to the NIF, “For reasons connected to the schedule of our grant payments, this figure may differ from the amount paid to a grantee in the reporting year.”

In analyzing NIF’s financial documents, NGO Monitor found that:
The NIF continues to fund a number of NGOs centrally involved in political advocacy activities related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, as documented by NGO Monitor. Of note are coordinated and concerted efforts by B’Tselem, Adalah, Breaking the Silence, Gisha, Combatants for Peace, Kerem Navot, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and Yesh Din.
Over the last two years, these groups have been part of a network of NGOs that promote artificial and manufactured definitions of apartheid to extend the ongoing campaigns that seek to delegitimize and demonize Israel. (Read NGO Monitor’s Policy Paper “False Knowledge as Power: Deconstructing Definitions of Apartheid that Delegitimise the Jewish State.”)
Do not confuse the Jewish story with white privilege - opinion
As an elementary school student at a Jewish day school in the New York area, I was brought, along with the rest of the students in my grade, to a Jerry-Springer-like television show where the producers had brought together children from all different types of American life to compare and contrast their American experiences. Our Jewish school was placed next to an African American school. The students began talking and soon we were comparing which group had the worst past.

We began comparing American slavery of African Americans and the Holocaust. We were too young to recognize there could be no greater apple and orange comparison than two tragedies and injustices as great as the Holocaust and slavery. I can’t speak to the experience of the African American students, but the discussion gave my friends and I our first look at the African American experience.

American progressive society tells me that as a male with white skin, having grown up in the United States, I had privilege not enjoyed by females or men with black or brown skin. As an Ashkenazi male with white skin that grew up in the United States and immigrated to Israel, Israeli progressives tell me that I am privileged.

I am told my privilege was unfairly given to me and I should feel somewhat guilty over my privilege. Society’s message is that I need to work hard to erase the privilege I enjoy – but did not merit – by giving advantages to the “underprivileged,” even if it’s unearned by merit. I have power they don’t enjoy, and I must even the power imbalance by giving up some of my privilege.

Looking at a picture of me, I look like the classic American WASP. I have light brown hair and fair white skin. I speak with an American accent and grew up as a middle-class American in a classic suburban small town. Yet, I’m not white in the sense that progressives on the “power imbalance trail” qualify people as white. I’m not the classic WASP that came to America from Europe, enslaved blacks from Africa and enjoyed advantages other Americans could only dream of for themselves.


Jewish Khazar Mafia Controls Ukraine: A New Jewish Conspiracy Theory
When it comes to bizarre conspiracy theories involving Jews, it is difficult to top Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)’s QAnon-inspired contention that the 2018 California wildfires were caused by space lasers controlled by the Rothschilds (that is, Jews).

But a recent article by the Institute for Strategic Studies, an organization that targets disinformation, highlights a new antisemitic conspiracy theory that comes close: “An Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory is Being Shared on Telegram to Justify Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.”

This conspiracy, used to justify Russia’s attack on Ukraine, was disseminated on Telegram, a cloud-based messaging app. It claims that Ukraine is controlled by a fascist cabal of “fake” Jews, the Khazars.

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic tribe of Turkic people that inhabited a large swath of territory north of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Caspian and Black Seas. An important and independent Khazar state existed from the late seventh century CE until the 10th century, when it was overrun by Russian forces. That’s not in doubt. What is in doubt is the legend that Judaism was adopted as the state religion of Khazaria in the eighth century CE.

The writing of a Spanish-Jewish poet and philosopher, Yehuda Halevi, gave the story of the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism widespread appeal. The “Kuzari,” completed in 1140 CE and originally written in Arabic, is a lengthy five essay dialogue between the pagan king of the Khazars and a Jewish scholar, who tries to convince the king that Judaism is the true faith. A prominent example of the long tradition of Jewish apologetics, the “Kuzari” is a stirring and epic tale that fascinated me when I studied it as a Hebrew school student a number of years ago.

Arthur Koestler’s “The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and its Heritage” (1976), in which he proposes that the Jews of Eastern Europe are/were the descendants of the Khazars, has given new life to the Jewish Khazar narrative. While the author’s intention was to nullify the racial basis of antisemitism, he actually encouraged it by abetting the efforts of antisemites and anti-Zionists to deny the Jewish claim to a homeland in Israel.
As Summer Recess Ends, the Boycott Israel Movement Marches On
The brief August flare up between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) produced a predictable but short spate of BDS activity. PIJ’s undeniable responsibility for Palestinian civilian casualties and rapid Israeli messaging campaigns blunted the impact — except for hardcore BDS supporters. The clash was overshadowed by Democratic primaries and upcoming midterm elections, in which a number of BDS supporting candidates were defeated.

The brief Gaza conflict caused a upsurge in unvarnished antisemitism from BDS groups, especially “Jewish” ones like IfNotNow. Predictably, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, Code Pink, and other BDS groups blamed Israel for the conflict and the casualties. A number of anti-Israel protests were held, including in New York City where participants chanted “We don’t want no two states” and “Palestine in ours alone.” BDS groups also mourned terrorists killed in the conflict, going so far as to distribute fliers with terrorists in PIJ uniforms. Protests were also held at Ohio State, Concordia University, McGill University, and on other campuses.

With regards to the midterm elections, one surprising outcome was Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s unexpectedly narrow margin of victory in her Democratic primary. Some pro-Israel groups had declined to support her opponent under the mistaken impression that she would dominate the race. Mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post predictably described her victory as a defeat for pro-Israel supporters, while failing to mention her antisemitism and support for BDS.

In Michigan, BDS supporter Rep. Rashida Tlaib easily won her Democratic primary. In New York City, noted Trump opponent and pro-Israel candidate Dan Goldman narrowly defeated BDS supporter Yuh-Line Niou. In a sign that BDS may be becoming toxic, at least in some districts, Niou initially stated explicit support for BDS, claiming it was not antisemitic, but later walked this back.

The overall success of Democratic candidates supported by AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups led to another round of bitter criticism that alleged the groups (especially AIPAC) were deliberately “dividing the American Jewish community.” IfNotNow promoted a typically antisemitic cartoon from Eli Valley, blaming AIPAC for progressive losses in the primaries.


No, BBC, Israel Never Required ‘Love Declarations’
Contrary to what may be inferred from Knell’s report, no foreigner needs to inform the government that they are involved in a casual relationship with a Palestinian. Rather, as stated explicitly on page 30 of the regulations, the government only needs to be informed 30 days from an engagement ceremony, wedding ceremony, or beginning of cohabitation.

This is due to the fact that the status of the foreigner has changed. It is imperative to note that similar regulations exist concerning a foreigner who wishes to come to Israel in order to marry an Israeli citizen.

Second, Knell writes that “If they marry, they will be required to leave after 27 months for a cooling-off period of at least half a year.”

The latter is simply not true.

Rather, once they declare their relationship, the foreign partner can apply for a formalization of status. If this formalization is approved by both the Palestinian Authority and COGAT, then the foreign partner will receive a Palestinian ID number and will be registered in the Palestinian population register, as stated on page 71 of the regulations.

However, if the formalization of status is denied, then the foreign partner may receive a spousal permit, which allows them to live in Area C with their Palestinian partner for up to 27 months (noted on pages 73 and 74 of the regulations).

With regards to the six-month “cooling-off period” that Knell mentions, this only appears in the regulations (on page 61) with regards to a foreign spouse who has come to visit their Palestinian partner. As they do not live in the West Bank, they are allowed to enter for three months (in exceptional circumstances, they are allowed to stay for six months) and then must leave once their visa expires. After six months, they are then allowed to apply for another three-month visa.

Thus, it seems that in her report, Knell has combined three different statuses (spouse with formal status, spouse with spousal permit, and spouse with visitor’s visa) into one, leaving the reader without a proper understanding of the regulations concerning foreign partners of Palestinians in Area C.
BBC’s Yolande Knell promotes inaccurate claim in apparent ‘churnalism’
So what exactly happened here? The headline of Knell’s report is remarkably similar to those used by some other media outlets reporting the same story. Ha’aretz, for example, ran with “Israel to Require West Bank Visitors to Declare Romantic Relationships With Palestinians” and the Times of Israel initially ran with “Foreign West Bank visitors must tell Israel if they fall in love with Palestinians” before changing that headline to “Foreign West Bank visitors must tell Israel if they ‘form a couple’ with Palestinian”.

All those reports, and others, include remarkably similar quotes from HaMoked director Jessica Montell.

Given the campaigning and legal action on this issue by HaMoked and other political NGOs, it would not be at all surprising if journalists had received a press release from HaMoked ahead of what it believed to be the start date for the new guidelines, perhaps including useful quotes.

While this would by no means be the first example of BBC ‘churnalism’ – the media practice of uncritically amplifying press releases and reports put out by third parties – in this case the NGO concerned jumped the gun, with the result being a BBC report which is now inaccurate as well as entirely one-sided but will remain online as ‘permanent public record’ unless amendments and prominent corrections are made.

Notably, Knell’s inaccurate report has already been used by another of the political NGOs frequently quoted and promoted by the BBC to advance the ‘apartheid’ smear:
Changing the Reality Editorializing Out Front in AFP’s Bethlehem Hotel Story
Governments always and everywhere make their own determinations about how to use their funds. They draw up budgets deciding to fund interest A over interest B. That doesn’t mean “there are insufficient funds to meet the needs” of interest B. It just means that the government has not prioritized that cause.

Yet Agence France Presse correspondent Rosie Scammell completely ignored that universal reality last week in her piece covering a hotel employment initiative to support intellectually disabled West Bank Palestinians (“Welcome: Palestinians with disabilities out front at Bethlehem hotel“). Addressing the stretched non-profit funds to support the project, she editorialized (in the bolded text below):
In May the World Bank warned that the Palestinian economy was in a “precarious” state.
The PA faces a fiscal deficit of more than five percent of gross domestic product, before financial aid, according to the World Bank.
There are insufficient funds to meet the needs of the territory’s intellectually disabled.

Given that the Palestinian government, like every government, has choices about how to use its funds, the reporter’s assertion that “There are insufficient funds to meet the needs of the territory’s intellectually disabled” is not a factual statement. It’s editorializing. Indeed, the Palestinian Authority has proactively decided it prefers to reward terrorists and their family members with payments worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. (In 2018, a New York Times correction acknowledged the PA’s exorbitant payments — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars — after outrageously dismissing the payments’ veracity as “far-right conspiracy theory.”) Imagine if just 10 percent of that sum was reallocated to the intellectually disabled. All of their needs would be met.
SUMMARY OF BBC NEWS WEBSITE PORTRAYAL OF ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS – AUGUST 2022
With no new reporting on internal Palestinian affairs appearing throughout August, stories that BBC audiences missed included the arrests of journalists and others by the PA security forces, a Fatah-run terror-glorifying summer camp, a raid on a university, a deadly explosion in the Gaza Strip, celebration of a terror attack and a strike by Palestinian workers objecting to having their wages paid into accounts run by the PA banking system.
Has Wolf Blitzer’s father just pulled the rug out from under filmmaker Ken Burns?
Testimony from the late David Blitzer about his experiences in Auschwitz was featured in CNN’s August 26 special about the Holocaust, hosted by his son, anchorman Wolf Blitzer. Among other things, the elder Blitzer denounced the Roosevelt administration’s refusal to bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz.

The airing of the Blitzer testimony comes just weeks before the PBS broadcast of a new documentary film by Ken Burns about America’s response to the Holocaust. In recent interviews, Burns has minimized the Roosevelt administration’s abandonment of the Jews and suggested there was not much the U.S. could have done to rescue Jews from Hitler.

Wolf Blitzer himself has written (in the Wall Street Journal in 1985) of what he called “the documented abandonment of European Jewish refugees before and during World War II.” And now the powerful testimony of his father has cut through all the excuses and rationalizations:

“The biggest puzzle for me is that they did not bombard the railroads leading to the crematoria. This is the biggest puzzle. We saw the airplanes—in 1944, we saw airplanes bombarding cities. We were laughing, we were happy, we were even praying to God—we could get killed from those bombs, but we couldn’t understand why they did not bombard—every day, thousands of people were burned and gassed in the camps, only because they had the possibility to bring those trainloads of people. If those rails had been bombarded, they couldn’t have done it so perfectly.”

In just a few sentences, the elder Blitzer reminded us of three key aspects of the bombing issue:
First, bombing the railroads and bridges leading to the camp would have disrupted the mass murder process. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were deported along those routes in the spring and summer of 1944. Twelve thousand were being gassed daily in Auschwitz. Damaged railways took time to repair—and damaged bridges took even longer. Every delay in the deportations—whether for hours or days—would have saved lives.

Those who today excuse the failure to bomb Auschwitz on the grounds that prisoners might have been harmed, are ignoring the fact that hitting the railways and bridges would not have involved a risk of civilian casualties.
Counting Crows' Adam Duritz talks working on kibbutz and surprising origins of Mr. Jones
When music lovers in Israel and around the world think of American rock band Counting Crows, one of the first things that undoubtedly comes to mind is the group's charismatic frontman Adam Duritz, characterized by his melodic voice and signature dreadlocks.

Duritz had rocked the dreadlock look for nearly three decades, until recently deciding "on a whim" to do a makeover, in a move that perhaps signals a new chapter for him and the band. The new chapter also appears to include new venues and destinations for performances - one of which happens to be Israel.

Playing shows at any place new after a 30-year career is exciting, Duritz said in a recent Zoom call with Ynetnews, ahead of Counting Crows’ first ever performance in Israel on September 14 at the Ra’anana Amphitheater.

It is especially so for the singer, who is of the Russian Jewish origin, when it comes to the Holy Land - the place he hasn't visited since he was 18.

"I’m very excited. I’ve visited before but thrilled about getting to play. Hopefully I’ll have time to explore as well," he says.

The show is Israel is part of a world tour, promoting the band's 2021 EP, titled "Butter Miracle Suite One." But, to say the band's discography is vast would be an understatement. Their catalogue includes 1993 multiplatinum debut "August and Everything After," as well as a hit single "Accidently In Love" - which was on the soundtrack of the animated film Shrek 2 and won the band an Oscar, Emmy and Grammy nominations "I have no idea what the show [in Israel] will be like. We don’t write the setlist for a show until sometime after dinner that night. I know we’ll play the entire suite that night but it’s only about 20 minutes long, so there’s plenty of concert left to play songs from every record," Duritz says, adding that "summer evening in Tel Aviv" is the perfect atmosphere for a concert.

Work on a kibbutz
As a teen, the singer worked at Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel. The kibbutz has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years, having become one of the most frequently targeted places by rocket fire from Gaza. But, some 40 years ago, the kibbutz was operating in the truest sense of its definition.

"It taught me what work is," he says. "To wake up at the break of dawn everyday to work with your hands."
Israeli Start-Ups Raised $1.1 Billion in August
Israel start-ups raised $1.1 billion in August alone, the Globes business daily reported on Sunday.

Citing research by the Israeli Venture Capital research center, the report stated that since some corporations choose to keep their investments out of the public domain, the actual figure might be even higher.

According to IVC, Israeli privately-owned digital companies raised a record $25.6 billion in 2021, more than double the previous record of $10 billion reached in 2020, the report continued.

Israeli entrepreneurs raised $10.9 billion in the first half of 2022. This means that despite falling short of last year’s record, companies have already raised more than all the funds raised in 2020, the report noted. In the first eight months of 2022, Israeli startups raised $12.7 billion in investments.
Israeli cybersec Sygnia selected by Indian Formula E racing team
While it is certainly less-known than its sibling in Pole Position, Formula E racing – the electric vehicle-based Formula racing tournament – is certainly no slacker when it comes to utilizing big tech. Cloud computing is particularly heavily used by racing teams to gather, track and analyze data from the lab and race track alike.

All of that critical data has to be protected, so racing teams often seek out the perfect cybersecurity team to keep their data safe. Indian Formula E team Mahindra Racing has decided to go Israeli.

This week, Mahindra Racing announced its selection of the Israeli company Sygnia as its cybersecurity partner. Mahindra was impressed with the incident response and cybersecurity consulting company’s extensive experience and expertise – attributes that have netted Sygnia a host of clients, including several Fortune 500 companies.

“We are proud to partner with Mahindra Racing and bring our depth of cybersecurity experience to enhance their existing measures and maximize their cyber resilience,” said Ram Elboim, Sygnia’s CEO. “Mahindra Racing and Sygnia share a drive to push innovation and a dedication to creating a sustainable future and a safer world.”
Were First Temple Jerusalemites living in lap of luxury? Rare ivory finds offer clue
Recently uncovered in Jerusalem’s City of David, a trove of ivory fragments — one of the most prestigious and luxurious materials of the ancient world — has scholars rethinking Jerusalem’s ranking among Near Eastern capitals.

These First Temple-period ivory artifacts are the first discovered in Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, and are rarely found in antiquity.

Some 1,500 ivory fragments were excavated from the City of David’s Givati Parking Lot, but only discovered during wet sifting in the nearby Emek Tsurim National Park.

The ivory pieces, which would have made up decorative inlays for furniture or a door, were discovered in a monumental building that was in use when Jerusalem was at the height of its power (the 8th and 7th centuries BCE) and was likely razed during the Babylonian Conquest of 586 BCE.

Ivory appears in the Bible in numerous locations, referring to extreme opulence, such as King Solomon’s “large ivory throne” (I Kings 10:18), King Ahab’s palace adorned with ivory (1 Kings 22:39) and firebrand warnings from the prophet Amos to stop lolling on ivory-inlayed beds and couches (Amos 6:4).

Other ancient capitals that are known for their decorative ivory finds include Nimrud, the capital of Assyria, and Samaria, the capital of the Israelite Kingdom, according to the excavation directors, Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures and Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority.




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