Saturday, October 08, 2022

10/08 Links: NY Gov. Kathy Hochul pictured with Holocaust denier Maher Abdelqader; Terror attack in Shuafat: Border Policewoman in critical condition

From Ian:

NY Gov. Kathy Hochul pictured with fundraiser Maher Abdelqader, who shared Holocaust denial content
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took several pictures with a Democratic donor who has a history of sharing anti-Semitic content online, including propagating the conspiracy theory that 6 million Jews were not killed in the Holocaust.

Hochul, the Democratic governor running for election in the Empire State, attended a Harvard Club fundraiser in New York City last month where she stopped to take a few photos with Maher Abdelqader.

Abdelqader is the vice president at AI Engineers in New York and is also an activist who has propagated anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as sharing a video claiming that Jews are “satanic” and controlling the media and questions whether 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.

Abdelqader also promoted claims on social media that the Jews were not really from Israel and used his Facebook account to promote the boycott, divestment, sanction (BDS) movement targeting Israel.

“A great fundraiser by a small group of entrepreneurs and business leaders at the prestigious Harvard Club of NYC for NYS Governor Kathleen Hochul,” Abdel Qader wrote in his tweet. “Governor Hochul is an American politician serving as the 57th Governor.”

New York State Governor, Kathy Hochul speaks on stage during The 2022 Concordia Annual Summit - Day 2 at Sheraton New York on September 20, 2022 in New York City.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is running against Rep. Lee Zeldin.

The tweet has since been deleted after Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s campaign.

Will Reinert, spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association, told Fox News Digital, “Kathy Hochul unabashedly rubbed shoulders with a widely publicized radical anti-Semite — begging the question — who else in the Governor’s inner circle have anti-Semitic ties?”

“With friends like these, it’s no wonder recent polling shows Hochul on the ropes and Zeldin surging towards victory,” Reinert said.
‘The Man Is Brilliant’: Mandela Barnes Praised Rev. Jeremiah Wright After Speech Accusing Israel of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’
Mandela Barnes, the Wisconsin Democratic Senate candidate, praised anti-Semitic pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as "brilliant" after attending a speech in which the controversial preacher accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and the United States of committing "war crimes."

Barnes posted an Instagram photo of himself shaking hands with Wright at a small group dinner in Milwaukee in 2013. "What's for certain is that the man is brilliant. It was amazing to hear Dr. Jeremiah Wright speak this evening," Barnes, who was then serving as a state representative, wrote in the caption.

Barnes's comments could add to perceptions that the lieutenant governor holds radical views that are out of step with state voters. Barnes's applause for Wright came years after Wright's former congregant, Barack Obama, famously cut ties with Wright in 2008 due to the preacher's inflammatory anti-American remarks. Wright went on a public rant blaming "them Jews" for his fallout with Obama. Wright previously compared the United States to al Qaeda and claimed that the U.S. government invented HIV to kill black people.

Video of Wright's speech at the dinner, which was reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, included strong condemnations of the United States and Israel.

In his speech, Wright claimed the Palestinians "are undergoing ethnic cleansing as we gather here tonight."

Wright also appeared to compare the Holocaust to U.S. actions during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for "justice not just for the perpetrators of the war crimes at Auschwitz and in Germany, but justice also for the war crimes at Abu Ghraib, the secret CIA rendition camps where waterboarding is an everyday, commonplace occurrence."

Wright added that "war crimes" are being "committed against Gaza and the residents in Guantanamo" by the Israeli and U.S. governments. He described the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended World War II, as "murders."

While running for lieutenant governor in 2018, Barnes stood by his praise for Wright, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the pastor gave a "good speech that night." Barnes's original post about Wright is still on the Senate candidate's Instagram page.

Barnes campaign spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel told the Free Beacon after publication that "Lieutenant Governor Barnes rejects comments that sow division, and has always condemned anti-Semitism."
Canadian politician found guilty of hate speech against Jews
Travis Parton, the former leader of the Canadian Nationalist Party in Saskatchewan, has been convicted of hate speech against Jews, according to a Wednesday report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

A Canadian local court has convicted Parton of hate speech, following a video of him claiming that there is a "black sheep" or "Parasitic tribe" that controls the media and Canada's central bank.

In the video, he also said that "what we need to do, perhaps more than anything, is remove these people once and for all from our country."

The prosecution is asking for a one-year jail sentence according to the CBC.

Parton and the law
Parton has been having trouble with the law for the last few years, after he was found guilty of assault against two women, he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, and served just a year before being released.

The Canadian Nationalist Party dissolved earlier this year after failing to maintain an active party membership of at least 250.


Could We Have Done More? REVIEW: Ken Burns’s ‘The U.S. and the Holocaust’
Polling data Burns cites in the film don’t support that conclusion. As Europe careened toward destruction, huge majorities of the public expressed disapproval for the Hitler regime. There were genuine anti-Semites and Nazi sympathizers at all levels of American society—including the State Department, where some officials went beyond the requirements of the law to place obstacles in the way of Jewish immigration—but the main sources of opposition to a more generous policy seem to have been a combination of economic anxiety related to the lingering depression, disbelief that reports of mounting violence could possibly be true, and desire to stay out of European problems. Once again, these motives are hardly admirable. But they do not support an analogy between the United States and Germany.

Burns also stacks the emotional deck by focusing on the relatively small number of affluent, assimilated Central European Jews who were caught in the Nazi vise. Even without the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to understand how such cultivated, unthreatening people could have been regarded as economic, cultural, or security risks. But the vast majority of Hitler’s victims were Eastern European Jews whose appearances, manners, and lives struck most Americans—including many American Jews—as alien and undesirable. Retelling the story of the Frank family, as Burns does here, does not confront viewers with this still uncomfortable dilemma.

Despite its indictment of American public opinion and foreign policy, the film points toward the counterintuitive assessment that the United States was not a principal actor in the story of the Holocaust. America could have done more, but there was never any realistic chance of admitting all or even most of Europe’s nearly 10 million Jews. And Burns admits the Roosevelt administration had good reason to fear backlash even for its hesitant efforts to aid refugees. Perhaps the release of more information about the campaign of slaughter unfolding in Polish and later Soviet territories occupied by Germany might have shifted the political balance. By the time verified reports were available, though, the United States itself was close to entering the war. And formal belligerence against the Axis did not mean America had the immediate capacity to end or even slow the killing. In fact, the camps remained outside the range of American strikes until Allied forces entered Northern Italy in 1944.

Such considerations do not excuse refusal to help those who could have been saved. Nor do they diminish the courage of Americans inside and outside the government, both Jews and gentiles, who used all the means at their disposal to discover, publicize, and, when possible, help victims escape Nazi atrocities. But they do raise the question of whether the United States was either a principle cause or the major solution to the Holocaust. For all his shortcomings, FDR was probably right to think the best thing America could do for the Jews was to help win the war. But that was far from good enough.

Burns’s earlier work was popular partly because it treated the United States as, in Lincoln’s words, "the last, best hope of earth." The U.S. and the Holocaust may be popular because it punctures that myth, depicting America as complicit in the worst horrors of the 20th, or any other, century. Despite their apparent opposition, both assessments presume that American politics is the primary influence on the course of human events. The harder lesson is that sometimes we’re more bystanders than protagonists.
Church of England, British Catholic Church oppose moving UK embassy to Jerusalem
Two of the UK's most senior Christian authorities have recently come out against the potential decision of Prime Minister Liz Truss to move the British Embassy to the State of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In a letter sent to the prime minister, one of the UK's leading Roman Catholic Church authorities, Archbishop of Westminster Cardent Vincent Nichols has called on Truss to not move the British Embassy to the State of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"A relocation of the UK Embassy would be seriously damaging to any possibility of lasting peace in the region and to the international reputation of the United Kingdom."
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Cardinal Nichols, who serves as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales wrote a letter to Prime Minister Truss earlier this week, expressing his "profound concern" over her call for a review of the location of the British Embassy and the suggestion that she may consider moving it from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In a statement shared both on his official website as well as on his Twitter account, the Cardinal stated that "such a relocation of the UK Embassy would be seriously damaging to any possibility of lasting peace in the region and to the international reputation of the United Kingdom."

Nichols cited his connection to the Catholic Church as the reason for his opposition to the idea, saying that "Pope Francis and the leaders of churches in the Holy Land have long called for the international status quo on Jerusalem to be upheld, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations. The city must be shared as a common patrimony, never becoming an exclusive monopoly of any party."

Concluding his statement, the Cardinal said that he "can see no valid reason why a move needs now to be considered," adding that he asks the Prime Minister to "earnestly reconsider the intention she has expressed and to focus all efforts on seeking a two-state solution, in which Jerusalem would have a guaranteed special status.


Momentum builds for potential Israel-Pakistan normalization
Israel hosted a delegation from Pakistan last month, marking the latest step toward diplomatic normalization between the Jewish state and a Muslim-majority nation.

A Pakistani delegation led by Nasim Ashraf, the country’s former minister of state for human development, met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sept. 23. The delegation was hosted by Sharaka, an NGO fostering Israeli-Arab cooperation formed in the wake of the Abraham Accords, in cooperation with the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC).

In a statement, Sharaka said it was “honored to be leading efforts to build bridges of dialogue and understanding between Pakistan and Israel.”

“Hopefully, this interaction will lead to normalization and warm ties between the countries one day,” Dan Feferman, director of communications and global affairs at Sharaka told JNS. “Israel and Pakistan both need brave individuals to visit Israel and see the country more than anything.”

“Israel has no animosity towards Pakistan, as our guests saw firsthand,” he added.

Sharaka’s co-founder, Amit Deri pointed to Israel’s innovation as a way to strengthen the bond.

“So much of Israel’s innovation, especially in water and agriculture technology, can benefit the Pakistani people, especially as they suffer horrible flooding,” he said.
Terror attack in Shuafat: 22-year-old Border Policewoman in critical condition
A 22-year-old female Border Police officer is in critical condition, and a male security guard is in serious condition after a terrorist opened fire in the direction of a security checkpoint at the entrance to the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat on Saturday evening.

A third person was lightly injured in the attack. Israeli security forces are searching for the suspects behind the shooting. The driver of the car the terrorist rode in turned himself in later in the evening, with security forces assessing that he was not involved in the attack.

Israel Police Jerusalem District Commander Superintendent Doron Turgeman stated on Saturday night that one suspect had been arrested and police were searching for three others.

Police, Border Police, special forces and the helicopters of the police aerial unit were conducting searches throughout the area for the suspects. Turgeman stressed that "we will not rest until we place our hands on all those involved in this serious attack."

According to reports in Hebrew media, the terrorist arrived at the checkpoint on foot, firing toward the security guards before fleeing in the direction of the Shuafat refugee camp in a white Toyota vehicle.

The injured parties have been evacuated to Hadassah-University Medical Center, on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus for medical treatment.


Palestinian Authority: Israel waging all-out war on our people
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday accused Israel of waging all-out war on Palestinians after the killing of four Palestinians in clashes with the IDF over the weekend.

“Our Palestinian people are facing an all-out war that did not stop for a single moment,” said PA presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudaineh.

He called on the US administration to fulfill its promises “to stop all unilateral measures and to exert serious pressure on Israel to stop its comprehensive war against our Palestinian people before it is too late.”

Abu Rudaineh said that Israel was “delusional” if it believed that its “crimes” would bring security and stability.

Israel, he added, “must be aware that our steadfast people will remain committed to their rights and to defending their land and holy sites at all costs.”

The PA official hinted that the Palestinians would implement previous resolutions of the PLO to halt security coordination with Israel and suspend all signed agreements between the two sides.

Abu Rudaineh also threatened that the Palestinians would proceed with their efforts to prosecute Israel before the International Criminal Court and other international forums.

He warned that the continuation of the escalation would push matters towards “a comprehensive explosion, which will have devastating consequences for all.”


ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt praises Elon Musk as a modern Henry Ford, then reconsiders
Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League CEO, is having second thoughts about holding up a notorious hater of Jews as an exemplar of American genius.

Speaking on CNBC Friday morning, Greenblatt praised Henry Ford, perhaps the most notorious American antisemite and someone he has previously criticized, as an antecedent for a certain contemporary car manufacturer.

“Elon Musk is an amazing entrepreneur and extraordinary innovator is the Henry Ford of our time,” Greenblatt said about the prospect of Musk taking over social media behemoth Twitter.

“He’s taken on big huge complex tasks that no one thought could be solved like rocketry or mobility or solar,” Greenblatt added about Musk. “And to think what he can do with the public square. I mean, I’d certainly have some qualms about just a handful of companies controlling so much of the public debate, but I’m hopeful the regulators will give this a chance.”

It was a jarring analogy. After all, Google “Henry Ford + the Anti-Defamation League” and you might get a deep dive into how the automotive pioneer was one of the lead purveyors of virulent antisemitism a century or so ago. Or an analysis of whether his company profited from Nazi slave labor. In 2020, Greenblatt called on then-President Donald Trump to apologize for praising Ford.

It was also a 180 for Greenblatt and the ADL on Musk’s intended Twitter acquisition. In April, when Musk revealed his intentions, the ADL posted an analysis entitled “Elon Musk Plans to Buy Twitter. Right-wing Extremists Rejoice.” Greenblatt promoted the piece on Twitter, saying it was a “key perspective to pay attention to.” Indeed there has been widespread apprehension among Jewish officials at the prospect of Musk, who has derided the weeding out of hate speech, controlling Twitter.
USAF Academy pledges to ‘correct’ process that scheduled key training on Yom Kippur
The US Air Force Academy has pledged to “correct” its processes to ensure that it does not schedule key events on major faith holidays after a mandatory training exercise took place on Yom Kippur.

“The US Air Force Academy recognizes the importance of the holy days of all faiths. A training event was unintentionally scheduled this week during the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur,” Lt. Col. Brian Maguire, the director of public affairs, said in a statement his office emailed Thursday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“The Academy’s Academic Year Calendar is developed and maintained through an institutional process that includes input on faith considerations of the cadets,” he said. “We will correct our processes to ensure this, and mistakes like this, do not happen again.”

Maguire said cadets observing the holiday got the time off. “Religious accommodations were planned and made available to all Jewish cadets wishing to observe Yom Kippur,” he said.

“Commandants Training Day,” also known as “Commandants Challenge” is a once-a-semester mandatory activity when cadets show off the skills they have acquired. It is seen as key to advancement within the academy, which gives the day heavy publicity.

A website staffed by academy graduates wrote in 2019 that the day also provides a focus on “overall respect, religious respect, sexual assault prevention response training.”

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group led by a Jewish graduate of the academy, brought attention to the conflict in a blog post on the liberal political website Daily Kos.
Mohamed Hadid compares Zionists to Hitler in new Instagram post
Mohamed Hadid, the Palestinian-Jordanian father of Gigi, Bella and Anwar Hadid, is no stranger when it comes to anti-Zionism on his social media account. In one of his latest Instagram posts shared Thursday with his audience of 1.3 million followers, he compares Zionist Jews to Hitler.

The post was a picture from his son Anwar's recent interview with GQ Magazine paired with a long caption, the first sentence of which read: "A true Palestinian story and we have 10 million voices out there...show your blood."

Writing about how proud he was of his son, Hadid abruptly changed direction, writing: "Hitler labeled the Jews as terrorists and the Germans believed and cowardly did the crime of the century.

"And the Zionists labeled the Palestinians terrorists in their own land. Fear no longer, the Zionists are the terrorist in our own land."

He continues, "Show your Palestinian flag show your bloodline. Hide no longer come out if you want to be free...come out and say you are proud to be a Palestinian. They have done us enough harm."

"Comparing Jews and the Jewish nation to Nazi Germany is deemed antisemitic by the IHRA working definition of antisemitism," Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism told The Jerusalem Post. "Hadid’s ongoing rants demonstrate why it’s crucial for social media companies, publications, and corporations to adopt and enforce IHRA as inflammatory comments like his do nothing but endanger the lives of Jews around the world."
Kanye West shouts out Jewish people in now-deleted Instagram rant posts
Rapper Kanye West posted a screenshot of a conversation he had with another individual which the rapper calls out Jewish people within a series of Instagram posts on Friday. The rapper has since deleted most of the posts.

"Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me," he says.

West, who now goes by the pseudonym 'Ye,' also wrote for the caption of the photo: "Jesus is Jew." The context behind the posts is unclear.

The post was shared for his 18 million followers to see. In the captions of some of the other photos he posted in his rant, he makes multiple mentions of God and Jesus while in the content of the texts, he has included a lot of profanity.

What were the reactions to the posts?
Many had confused reactions to the rapper's post.

Zionist Instagram account @blackandjewishunity asked West: "Big bro. Please clarify what this is."

"Please delete this. For the sake of protecting your Jewish friends from the ever-growing antisemitism in the world," asked Lizzy Savestsky.

"Please leave the Jewish Community out of all this," another user said. Many also commented accusing the rapper of antisemitism. Other recent statements about Jews and Israel by Kanye West

This is not the only recent statement that the rapper has made about Israel and Jews. The night before he made the social media posts, West appeared in a segment alongside FOX host Tucker Carlson, where he claimed the Abraham Accords was signed "to make money" for the Kushner family's role in the Trump administration.
“Zionism is Genocide” Chalking at University of Wisconsin Embraced by Students for Justice in Palestine Group
University of Wisconsin’s Students for Justice (SJP) in Palestine endorsed antisemitic messages that were chalked on campus on September 7, the first day of fall term.

SJP Board Member and Representative Julian Cooper insisted, however, that “the chalking was not an SJP activity,” according The Daily Cardinal, the university’s student daily. .

“SJP supports the message of the chalking,” Cooper said. “Zionism is a project of racism, and genocide and ethnic cleansing and the stealing of territory and stealing of homes.”

Cooper’s comments come several weeks after University of Wisconsin Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin wrote to local Jewish leaders condemning the incident and confirming that several SJP students “took responsibility for the chalkings,” which said, “Zionism is Racism,” “Zionism is Genocide,” and accused “Zionist” student organizations of having “blood on their hands.”

“These statements went beyond political views about Israel and Zionism and included antisemitic statements that wrongly and unfairly ascribed actions and beliefs to our Jewish students,” Mnookin wrote. “It is critical for all of us to call out antisemitism as well as other forms of prejudice and bigotry.”

Chancellor Mnookin also pledged not to discipline anyone involved in the chalking.

“Because our speech rules as a public educational institution protect even deeply offensive speech, this engagement will be educational rather than disciplinary,” she continued.

Julian Cooper criticized the university’s official statements.

“The chancellors should be proud of the anti-apartheid and anti-occupation activism taking place on their campus rather than try to silence it and discredit,” he said.
University of Calgary Student Newspaper Slams Marvel for Daring to Feature an Israeli Character in Upcoming Movie
It is extraordinary for Ahmed to claim that Israel can somehow occupy its own historic homeland, and deny the Palestinians self-determination, when in fact it is only the Palestinian leadership which can provide this by accepting Israel’s entreaties for peace.

Ahmed’s column also appears to be lacking in even the most basic of research, superficially and baselessly attempting to link the name of the Israeli character, Sabra, with unrelated events which occurred in Lebanon 40 years ago.

“The poorly-timed announcement of Sabra came days before the 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 1982… it struck a nerve with many that an Israeli superhero has the same name as some of the most tragic days of Palestinian history.”

There is zero connection between the character’s name and the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 1982, when militants loyal to Elie Hobeika, a Christian Lebanese soldier, massacred Palestinians in Beirut.

The word Sabra is a Hebrew term referring to any person born in Israel. Drawing parallels to a prickly pear cactus, which is prickly on the outside but sweet on the interior, it means to describe Israelis as tough on the exterior, but soft and gentle on the inside.

Ahmed is quick to defend her opposition to Sabra’s inclusion in the upcoming film, claiming that “Sabra is not problematic because she is Jewish.” However, this defence rings hollow.

Today, roughly half of the world’s Jews live in Israel, the land where Jews have lived for three millennia, and where their faith, culture and language blossomed. Writing off virtually fifty per cent of the entirety of world Jewry, and then blithely professing no opposition to Jews is akin to speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth.

According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which is the most widely-accepted definition among the Jewish community, denying the Jewish People the right to self-determination, and claiming that the State of Israel is a racist endeavour, is in fact an act of antisemitism.
Wellesley’s student paper editorial board says anti-Israel Mapping Project ‘is providing a vital service’
Wellesley College’s student newspaper endorsed the controversial Boston “Mapping Project” last week in an article penned by the editorial board, claiming the project provides a “vital service.”

The project, published this past summer by BDS supporters, links a range of Massachusetts-based Jewish groups, synagogues, schools, police departments, media and other institutions that the anti-Israel activists claim participate in harmful activities and should be dismantled. The project’s website hosts a map with the locations of their targets and information about them, including the names of some of their staff.

“We believe that the Mapping Project is providing a vital service,” the Wellesley News editorial board wrote. “Collecting data about these institutions, tracing their financial and political activity and publicizing this information is incredibly important. Simply revealing that these ties exist is not justification for violence or bigotry of any kind. Rather, it forces us to reconsider our individual role in a systemic harm.”

According to the Mapping Project’s website, the purported aim of the project is the development of “a deeper understanding of local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine and harms that we see as linked, such as policing, U.S. imperialism and displacement/ethnic cleansing.” Following its launch, the project has been widely condemned by the Jewish community as steeped in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

The project lists Wellesley College on its map, accusing it of being complicit in propaganda, normalization and Zionism. It claims the college’s pro-Israel students and administration are using harassment and intimidation “to repress the organization efforts of Palestinian students and their allies creating a climate in which students who support Palestinian liberation, those on student visas in particular, no longer feel able to speak freely without risking consequences.”


'Jewish Twitter' IS a community and it's not just about fighting antisemitism
My relationship with Twitter is a bit like my relationship with my religion. It is complicated being a Jew who can’t really read Hebrew and isn’t sure she believes in God. It’s also complicated being on a site where I get abuse on a daily basis but have found like-minded friends who I can tell my deepest darkest secrets to.

While I certainly at least partially agree with David Baddiel’s musings that we Twitter Jews aren’t as powerful as we’d like to be I couldn’t disagree more with his thesis that we aren’t a community.

We are JTwitter. We may be the most boisterously argumentative of all Twitter groupings but, as I once explained to one of my bemused non-Jewish editors who’d seen me in the middle of a spat and asked if I was ok, debate is part of our culture.

God, we argue. But when push comes to shove, we come together. I’d like to think that British JTwitter has led the way on this forced, as we were, to put aside our myriad differences to fight Labour's antisemitism. Apart from the tokenistic Jews so loved by the BBC who would parrot ‘Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have a racist bone in his body’ the Labour leader managed the unthinkable and united us all.

For that brief time left wing Jews, right wing Jews, Remainers, Brexiteers came together to fight antisemitism and for many of us Twitter was where we did it. And where we are still doing it.

There are stars of British JTwitter such as blogger David Collier (@mishtal) who has 86,000 followers for his regular blogs uncovering antisemitism, Gnasher Jew (@GnasherJew) an anonymous collective finding antisemitism from the left and the right, and granny Gillian Lazarus (@GillianLazarus) who goes on the Corbynista Facebook accounts and exposes the horrific antisemitism that can still be found. All of them have stronger stomachs for this sort of stuff than me.
'Being gay is against human nature!': Shocking views of Qatari teacher who acted as David Beckham's interpreter in glossy promo film for World Cup host nation
Aged 35, she is a highly educated woman studying for a master’s degree at Ulster University (which runs courses in Qatar) while teaching in Doha’s children’s museum. She appears prominently in Beckham’s promo video, acting as his interpreter.

Telling me the story of her mother’s trailblazing emancipation with evident pride, she seemed to epitomise a new generation of enlightened Qataris: just the type of woman the emir and his clan purport to admire.

But when I asked if her liberal views extended to the LGBTQ community, whose state-sanctioned persecution is but one reason why Qatar is widely considered unfit to host the World Cup, Eman erupted.

‘No, that is not acceptable!’ she exclaimed. ‘It [homosexuality] goes against human nature, it goes against science and it goes against our culture! We are not animals here!

‘God has differentiated us from animals. God has created us as men and women. This only happens because people have been sexually abused (as children) and this has made them afraid of people of their own gender.’

I was lost for words. Yet there was more: she claimed Western countries such as Britain were out to tarnish Qatar. She then listed other nations that refuse to tolerate homosexuality — bizarrely naming Germany.

This, remember, was an otherwise sophisticated teacher who shapes the thinking of young Qataris; and the mother of five children. Her nauseating and deeply confused outburst reinforced the message from human rights groups: that gay football fans should steer clear of this World Cup, despite signals emanating from the emir’s palace that, for the tournament at least, there will be a degree of tolerance. Well, yes — up to a point.
Dutch Parliament Asked to Approve Comprehensive Plan to Combat Antisemitism
The parliament in the Netherlands has been asked to approve a comprehensive plan to combat antisemitism drawn up by the country’s government-appointed coordinator to combat the rise in Jew-hatred.

The 17-page plan was submitted to the legislature on Thursday by Dilan Yeşilgoz-Zegerius, the Dutch Minister of Justice, on behalf of Eddo Verdoner — a former Jewish communal official who was appointed as National Coordinator for Combating Anti-Semitism in April 2021.

In an extensive round of media interviews on Thursday, Verdoner warned that antisemitism among the Dutch public was reaching crisis levels similar to France and Germany, where the number of antisemitic attacks has increased annually during the past decade. He cited research conducted by his office which revealed that 71 percent of Dutch Jews will hide their identity, for example by removing their kippot, if they feel their personal security is being threatened. According to CIDI, the leading Dutch Jewish advocacy organization, 2021 was a record year in terms of antisemitic incidents, with a total of 183 reported. The Dutch Jewish community is estimated at 30-50,000 strong.

“Antisemitism is fertile ground for right-wing, left-wing and religious extremism, and is unfortunately an everyday part of our society,” Verdoner said. “The result is that Jews hide their identity, or apologize for it.”

Verdoner’s plan is based on three elements: monitoring and following up on antisemitic incidents, education and prevention, and commemoration and celebration of the Netherlands’ Jewish past.

Verdoner noted that 12 percent of teachers who give classes on the Holocaust had reported hostile reactions from their students. “The Holocaust took the lives of more than 102,000 Dutch Jews. As a result, there are fewer Jews who can propagate their culture. Unknown unfortunately makes for unloved,” Verdoner remarked.
Jewish groups, others in North Macedonia angered by ethnic Bulgarian club’s name
Left-wing supporters and nationalists in North Macedonia both voiced anger Friday at an ethnic Bulgarian association’s move to name itself after a Bulgarian monarch who is deeply resented for his country’s role in World War II.

Relations between the Balkan neighbors are poor, largely due to disagreements over regional history and culture that have led Bulgaria to block North Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union.

Hundreds of people protested Friday in North Macedonia’s southern town of Ohrid against the opening of the cultural club named after King Boris III.

Protesters held banners reading “No negotiation with fascists,” and threw eggs and stones at the club’s premises that were guarded by police. Earlier this year another ethnic Bulgarian cultural club caused a stir in North Macedonia by adopting the name of another divisive WWII figure.

Boris III reigned from 1918 to his death in 1943 and oversaw Bulgaria’s allying itself with Axis powers during World War II. That move enabled Bulgaria to occupy parts of neighboring Greece, Romania and what is now North Macedonia. Bulgarian forces accepted Nazi German demands to round up and deport to their deaths Jews in the occupied regions, but Boris successfully resisted pressure for Bulgarian Jews to face a similar fate.

North Macedonia’s main opposition nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party said Friday it would push for legislation to prevent the creation of similar clubs and their use of names linked with the fascist past. Party lawmaker Rashela Mizrahi said opening such clubs is “more than a provocation.”




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