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Wednesday, October 26, 2022

10/26 Links Pt2: After West Jerusalem shift, will Australian Labor also turn on Israel at the UN?; Will canceling Kanye West turn the tide on anti-Semitism?; What Explains Ireland's Extreme Antisemitism?

From Ian:

Dave Sharma: After West Jerusalem shift, will Labor also turn on Israel at the UN?
The government’s signalling that it no longer considers Israel to be sovereign over West Jerusalem leads to some odd conclusions.

Far from advancing the cause of peace, which Labor professes to support, this reversal only sets peace back. The only states and entities that assert Israel has no claim to West Jerusalem are the same ones that assert Israel has no entitlement to a sovereign state whatsoever: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It is very odd company for the Labor government to be keeping.

Will Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong now refuse to meet Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem, as countless of their Labor predecessors have done, and as the UAE Foreign Minister did just in September? If Labor considers West Jerusalem to now be disputed territory, this is the only feasible conclusion.

Of equal importance, does this presage a larger shift in Labor’s attitude towards Israel in international forums?

The Howard government in 2004 altered Australia’s voting position on a number of annual, one-sided UN General Assembly Resolutions that single out Israel as the obstacle to peace, whilst remaining silent on the obligations of other parties. Under the Rudd/Gillard governments, many of these positions were reversed, before being reversed again under subsequent Coalition governments. It appears likely that the Albanese government will once again shift these votes.

The bigger question though is whether the government will follow through on the commitment in the ALP’s official platform to unilaterally recognise a state of Palestine, absent the usual criteria for statehood. In 2021, in a motion introduced by Wong, Labor’s national conference adopted this as official policy.

If the Albanese government goes through with this, it would separate Australia from some of its closest allies and partners, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, France, Germany and Canada.

A profound shift such as this would not make the emergence of a future Palestinian state any more likely. But it would break a strong Labor tradition of support for the state of Israel, and harm one of Australia’s closest and most valuable relationships in the Middle East.

Foreign policy should proceed on the basis of established facts and national interests. Labor’s approach risks ignoring both.
Sky News corrects claim that Australia 'recognised Tel Aviv' as capital
We tweeted several Sky News [UK] editors and journalsts before one responded, upholding our complaint regarding an Oct. 19 Sky News article, written by Amarachi Orie, falsely claiming that Australia recognised Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital. The article in question focused on news that officials in Canberra had rescinded the previous government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

However, the country’s decision to no longer recognise Jerusalem didn’t mean that it therefore recognised Tel Aviv as the capital – as the official government statement on the matter from the foreign ministry shows.


David Collier: What Explains Ireland's Extreme Antisemitism?
Collier said there are different causes behind the virulent anti-Zionist/anti-Israel atmosphere in Ireland. The first is the "distinct anticolonial strand going through the whole of Irish politics" which is evident in the rise of Sinn Fein, "historically the Republican Independence Movement" political party. Many Irish people, who "hate England," mistakenly believe "Britain gave the Jews Israel" and are convinced that the Jewish State epitomizes "settler colonialism." Ironically, as Israel was being established post-1945, the Zionists fought to oust the British from its mandate in Palestine.

The second cause of rampant antisemitism in Ireland is found in the country's "strand" of "classic antisemitism," now seen coming from both the "far left and the far right." Collier pointed out that even though the Irish were "officially independent" during World War II, "many of the Irish Republicans sided with the Nazis." The third cause of Irish antisemitism is rooted in the second — particular "ideologies within Christianity", which are "very strong in the Irish Catholic Church." The church is replete with belief in "replacement ideology, supersessionism, or the idea ... the Christians are the new Jews."

That the Jews have returned to their ancient homeland in Israel creates a "major ideological problem" for the Catholic Church, driving it to align with the Palestinians. Collier said that Christian charities will donate to anti-Israel non-governmental organizations (NGO's), some of which are affiliated with Palestinian terrorist groups. He said an exception in Ireland to the widespread antisemitism is that Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and whose predominantly Protestant citizens identify with the British, tend to be pro-Israel.

The fourth and final issue driving Irish antisemitism, Collier said, is attributable to "Islamist extremism." Whereas the U.S. and England experienced Islamist attacks after mistakenly, over the past three decades, "placing the bar for extremism far ... too high," he said Europe is "paying a deep price for it now." In Ireland, which has not experienced a large influx of Muslim migration, the antisemites there share the same "anti-colonial, anti-imperial" messages with Islamists, whom "they've accepted ... wholesale." The Islamists, essentially, are "coming in speaking the same anti-colonial, anti-imperial messaging, that the Irish do." Collier said, "anti-Zionist rhetoric," unabashedly rife on Irish streets, also creates a "hostile environment" for Jewish students on campuses. He said there are mosques preaching hate, Irish universities with Islamist academics, and the local church, all in league "bashing the state of Israel."

Collier believes that Sinn Fein's growing popularity will be accompanied by an "escalation" of antisemitism in Ireland, which he tracks through social media. He is dismayed at the trends because he said Hitler and the Holocaust "didn't just happen." Rather, their emergence can be traced back to "European antisemitism and beyond it, Christian antisemitism."


Two Years after Samuel Paty’s Death, Islamist Violence Remains a Real Threat to France
On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty, a teacher at a French high school, was beheaded by a young Muslim man after showing a picture of Mohammad to his class. Liam Duffy observes that, on the two-year anniversary of the murder, prominent French newspapers of the left, right, and center lamented the fact that little seems to have changed. As Duffy explains, they had a specific reason for their pessimism:
[J]ust days before the anniversary, a schoolteacher was forced into police protection after receiving death threats and anti-Semitic abuse in a letter promising the same fate as Paty. Another teacher was threatened by the relative of a pupil for merely discussing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in class.

Far from being deterred by the knowledge of Paty’s fate, campaigns and threats against educators have continued unabated in the two years since, and in some cases have crossed the Channel.

There’s a sense that schoolteachers are on the frontlines in the defense of republican principles, [what in the U.S. would be called democratic values], which is under assault from the religious right (Catholic or Islamist) and the identity-obsessed left. But it is France’s Islamist scene that clearly sees the classroom as a frontline. A confidential government report recently sounded the alarm that Islamist “influencers” have been waging an online offensive to destabilize institutions and undermine laïcité (official secularism) in the school. Large accounts on mainstream social-media platforms encourage young people to confront staff on matters of religious contention, to pressure other students, and deliberately to violate school rules on dress code and religious attire.
Rashida Tlaib: Terrorist-Affiliated Charities ‘Inspire Me Every Single Day’
When US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) argued last month that true progressives cannot “back Israel’s apartheid government,” she and her supporters insisted it wasn’t an antisemitic statement that covered the vast majority of American Jews.

As I noted at the time, however, the Michigan Democrat’s previous statements show her problem is not with the Israeli government, but with the existence of the Jewish state.

She again made that clear last week in a video praising six Palestinian charities that Israel shut down in October 2021 due to their ties to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorists.

“These incredible people inspire me every single day,” she said, “and countless others, with their dedication and their courage to shine the light on the horrors of Israel’s apartheid government despite the extremely serious risks.

“Criminalizing and targeting their work is a cowardly attempt to hide the truth, and I know it will fail, because there are too many of us speaking truth to power.”

The video was part of a campaign dubbed “Stand with the six,” and was posted by one of the designated groups, Al-Haq.

But there’s a truth out there that Tlaib overlooks.

For example, Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin’s PFLP ties have been publicly known at least since 2007. That’s when Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a travel ban against him, with one judge saying, “Some of his time is spent conducting a human rights organization, and some as an operative in an organization which has no qualms regarding murder and attempted murder, which have no relation whatsoever to rights. Quite the opposite, they reject the most basic right of all, without which there are no other rights, the right to life.”
The secret history of Ilhan Omar
Many Americans know of Omar because of her anti-Israel record and shocking anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about American Jews using their “Benjamins” to buy control of Congress. Omar apologized for some of her racist comments, but her Democratic colleagues refused to take disciplinary measures against her, and her constituents did not reject her at the polls.

In other words, the congresswoman wears a Teflon hijab.

Omar’s hatred of Israel is only the tip of the various foreign alliances the former Somalian has fostered. She has met with the leaders of Pakistan—including an ousted prime minister—and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. She rails against U.S. ties with India because of the country’s alleged human rights violations against Muslims, but has barely said a word about the ongoing citizens’ revolt in Iran or the Iranian regime’s brutal attempts to suppress it. Omar also voted against the U.S. ban on Russian oil and funding for Iron Dome.

Red flags ignored
Minnesota State Senator Ilhan Omar announced her intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2018. According to the Federal Election Commission, by August 2018, she had begun to receive campaign contributions from CAIR:

The Washington Post has reported that CAIR was “named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) in Texas. Officials from the Holy Land Foundation were later found guilty of diverting funds to Hamas.”

During the trial, “evidence in the case put CAIR’s founder, Nihad Awad, at a Philadelphia meeting of alleged Hamas supporters that was secretly watched and recorded by the FBI,” the Associated Press reported.

CAIR had been grooming Omar for national office since 2017. She was the keynote speaker at CAIR’s Annual Banquet in Chicago that February. At the 2019 Banquet, she debuted as a member of the House of Representatives. Omar is now a regular speaker at CAIR events.

In Sept. 2017, while still a state senator, Omar met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in New York. The reasons for such a high-level meeting are unclear, but it is not improbable that it was to express CAIR’s support for Erdoğan. Indeed, CAIR leaders met with Erdoğan the same day. The Turkish president was in need of such support, as he was facing criticism from the U.S. government and American Jews after he allowed Hamas—which had just been expelled from Saudi Arabia—to establish itself in Turkey.

Moreover, Omar was leading a delegation of Somalis who were apparently members of the Somali parliament. Details of the meeting were few. A Somali-English newspaper published in Minnesota, The Tusmo Times, ran an account of the meeting, but alas, the story disappeared from the internet.

Thanks to internet recovery archives and a translation, the Tusmo Times article was found. Omar told the paper that, in her one-hour meeting, she “discussed with Erdogan how to promote the 10 members of the Somali parliament and the Somali parliamentarians.” The Tusmo Times continued, “Omar also discussed with Erdogan how his government would contribute to the development of the fisheries sector in Somalia, investment and trade cooperation between Somalia and Turkey. Omar and Erdogan also discussed strengthening relations between Somalia and Turkey in the United States.”

Who was Omar representing? The Minnesota Senate or Somalian politicians? Was she required to register with the U.S. Justice Department as a foreign agent for Somalia? Did the Tusmo Times article disappear in order to cover up her violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act?
With Vile Attacks on Reality TV Star, Haters Push Anti-Jewish Alternate Reality
By now, American Jews have gotten used to progressively being excluded from more and more public spaces, especially if they refuse to disavow support for the Jewish nation — Israel.

Last December, two Jewish students at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz were pushed out of a sexual assault awareness group and harassed because of their Jewish and pro-Israeli identities. More recently, nine affinity groups at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law — including those for female and LGBTQ+ law students — adopted a bylaw excluding all supporters of Israel’s existence, becoming what alumnus Kenneth Marcus has termed “Jewish-Free Zones.” Now, the antisemites are coming after Jews in the media, starting with reality TV.

On October 16, executive producer Andy Cohen announced the cast of the reboot of the hit show “Real Housewives of New York City.” One of the seven cast members is Elizabeth “Lizzy” Savetsky, mother of three and self-described “Proud Jew and Zionist.” She is also known for being religiously observant, and frequently posting about practices related to Jewish holidays and occasions. The presence of this inspirational figure offers visible representation to the one million Jews who live in New York City’s five boroughs, not to mention the over 2.1 million Jews living in the greater New York area.

However, representation of Jews is exactly the problem — definitionally — for the antisemites. The amount of misogynistic and racist vitriol directed toward Savetsky would be shocking to anyone who hasn’t noticed the abuse directed at other Jewish celebrities online over the past few years.

The comments that should be unprintable have been nonstop. Andy Cohen, the executive producer, was forced to tweet: “[t]he amount of antisemitism coming from all corners is f***ing alarming[.]”
Israel-hate and the rise of academic terrorism
Despite the paper’s tweet claiming that their inclusion of the Mapping Project is of a “nuanced nature,” the editorial is not in fact nuanced at all. The editors clearly believe that targeting Jewish and pro-Israel sites is of immense value. One could point out that publishing the names and addresses of Israel’s supporters is no different from a White Citizens Council in Mississippi publishing the names and addresses of civil rights supporters 60 years ago. But this would not matter, as the News has already made it clear that it does not believe Jews are entitled to the same rights as other peoples.

This alone would be reason enough to say that Wellesley College has just gone from a beacon of liberalism to a beacon of shame. Obviously, it should never have gotten to this point. Pro-Palestinian activists have won their 50-year propaganda war and their long march through the institutions, just as the Nazis did in Weimar Germany. And American Jewish leaders—just like in the 1930s—let them get away with it.

At this point, all Jews need to call this what it is—academic terrorism. And it is time to fight it. Fight it by electing politicians that will pull funding from anti-Semitic institutions, by parents withdrawing their children from universities that fail to address the issue and by publicly shaming campus anti-Semites and the administrators who enable them.

But this is also part of a larger problem: Universities no longer feel a need to act like universities. I was an international relations major at the University of Pennsylvania. I took dozens of political science courses. Not once was I aware of my professors’ personal politics, because it was considered unethical for them to reveal it, let alone impose it. Today, professors create classes based entirely on their own opinions.

So, the question for universities today is: Do you want to continue to be called a university? Do you want to be a place where the emphasis is on critical thinking and not indoctrination? Where students seek knowledge—facts—not propaganda? If so, we need to see a detailed plan on how you’re going to do so.

In the meantime, every university that allows academic terrorism to rule its campus needs to publicly answer for it. Wellesley, now that you are fully aware of what your students wrote regarding “liberation,” what will be your next response? Your reputation as an ethical, liberal university depends on it.
US students report jump in mental scarring from campus antisemitism, but see no end
Some Jewish students like Gritz choose to stick it out. Others, such as Avi Zatz, decide enough is enough. The agroecology major transferred from UVM to the University of Florida this year, ahead of UVM’s Title VI investigation.

“I love it here. The administration is supportive. People are comfortable being who they are and bigotry is shut down quickly, where at UVM it was accepted,” Zatz, a junior, said of his new school where of the 34,881 undergraduates, 18%, or just over 6,000, are Jewish. Avi Zatz says he transferred to University of Florida from the University of Vermont because of antisemitism. (Courtesy: Avi Zitz)

Zatz said he felt something was amiss at UVM when students marched down Burlington’s main street in support of BDS during the High Holy Days in 2021.

“It was uncomfortable. There were also really popular clubs on campus that I wasn’t able to join because of my background,” he said. For example, the UVM Book Club, a university-recognized student club, has a group “University of Vermont Revolutionary Socialist Union.” In May 2021 that group publicly announced it would ban Zionists.

No longer comfortable wearing anything that might identify him as Jewish, Zatz went to the administration.

“Long story short, they didn’t care. They made it clear they were not going to condemn antisemitism,” Zatz said. “I felt isolated and insecure. I thought I’m not supported and no one is being held to account. I didn’t know what to expect in college, but nobody expects to be excluded based on their background.”

While the Department of Education continues its investigations and antisemitic incidents continue unabated, SUNY New Paltz’s Preis said she hopes people will consider the emotional toll antisemitism takes on students.

“This will follow me, this feeling that our safety and well-being as a Jewish student is not considered,” Preis said. “All of it has made me question why I am here in America studying, whether I even want to stay here after I graduate. I’m not sure I see a future here anymore.”
Jonathan Tobin: Will canceling Kanye West turn the tide on anti-Semitism?
Still, the blowback against West shouldn’t lead anyone to think that anti-Semitism in public discourse is in retreat. To the contrary, a lot of the commentary it engendered and the way other instances of Jew-hatred are being given a pass indicate that the problem is growing worse, not better.

Perhaps what is most curious about the controversy is that it took this long for the pop- culture establishment to notice what has long been apparent to those who paid any attention to the music industry. The pervasive influence of anti-Semitic hatemonger Louis Farrakhan among hip-hop and rap performers is nothing new. While West is now the focus of public anger for claiming that Jews are manipulating and exploiting black performers—as well as a host of other anti-Semitic tropes—such ideas have become commonplace among these musicians and, by extension, their vast audiences, which cut across demographic lines.

At the same time, the debate about West also exposed the way the tribal culture wars between left and right help create safe spaces for anti-Semitism on both ends of the political spectrum.

West found vocal supporters on the political right, even as he doubled down on his anti-Semitic hate, simply because some conservatives believe he is an ally on issues like support for former President Donald Trump and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement and abortion. As I noted previously, Daily Wire podcaster Candace Owens not only stood up for West, but had the nerve to talk down to outraged Jews by telling them that “no honest person” would perceive his comments as anti-Semitic.

That the website continues to tolerate her, even as founder Shapiro correctly condemned West and stated his disagreement with Owens, is problematic; it’s exactly the sort of thing that the outlet condemns when it emanates from the left.

Owens’s credibility was further undermined a few days later, when it was revealed that West had purchased the failing social-media site, Parler. Owens’s husband, George Farmer, just happens to be the CEO of Parler, and stood to profit greatly from the transaction.

But she wasn’t alone.

The dustup over West began when he was given a platform by Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his highly rated show. Carlson edited out the most outrageous statements about Jews. This indicated that, despite his claims of neutrality where the content of the program was concerned, he knew exactly what he was trying to legitimize.
The Kanye West effect terrorizing America's Jewish youth - opinion
I was actually talking to this group of 10-graders during their history class about antisemitism in Europe. I rhetorically asked if any of them ever experienced antisemitism and wasn’t expecting to get too many answers. I thought that the worst-case scenario would be someone that got yelled at once or twice on the street, but I was wrong.

I remember way back in the day that Europe and specifically European Jewry, were under attack. Terrorist attacks such as the Toulouse massacre at the Jewish Otzar Hatorah school; the terrorist attacks at Hyper Cacher in Paris and outside of a Copenhagen synagogue - caused European Jewry to change their approach towards security and the threat of antisemitism.

I asked many Jewish leaders back then if they thought there was a need for Jewish American institutions to increase security and reassess their situation. “We aren’t Europe,” they all said in a chorus. “We are the United States of America,” they said proudly and added that “America is different than any other diaspora community in Jewish history,” they expressed their full faith in their country and leadership.

A few hours later I spoke with a group of students from the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee (BIPAC). A group of them came directly from a protest they helped organize at Harvard University against Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer and poet who lives in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

“When a professor asked me why I am protesting, I answered that El-Kurd wants people like me and my family dead,” one of the students who participated in the demonstration told me. They had to outsmart Harvard security and find a way in - without an official Harvard badge.

According to the Anti Defamation League (ADL), on a few occasions, El-Kurd has alleged that Jewish Israelis and Zionists eat the organs of Palestinians or have an inherent bloodthirstiness. He tweeted that Zionists have an “unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood.”

This is what Jewish teenagers need to go through on college campuses. This is the new reality of young American Jews and it's getting worse and worse.
LA Holocaust Museum Receives Torrent of Abuse After Kanye West Declines Invitation
The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles said it has received a flood of messages “filled with hate, threats, and vitriol,” after the rapper Kanye West (who has legally changed his name to ‘Ye’) rejected the museum’s offer for a private tour.

The museum made the offer in a public Instagram post on Oct. 11 after the rapper’s tirade of antisemitism, urging Ye “to come visit us at Holocaust Museum LA to understand just how words can incite horrific violence and genocides.”

Ye, however, rejected the offer on the “Drink Champs Podcast” and reportedly said Planned Parenthood was his Holocaust museum.

“We are still in the Holocaust,” Ye said, according to BET. “A Jewish friend of mine said, ‘Go visit the Holocaust Museum,’ and my response was, let’s visit our Holocaust Museum: Planned Parenthood.”

The comment quickly set off a storm of social media abuse against the museum.

“Ye, since we invited you to visit us at Holocaust Museum LA we have received a tremendous amount of social media messages and comments,” the Museum tweeted after Ye’s rejection. “Some filled with hate, threats, and vitriol. Others were saddled with hurt and yearned for further discourse.
Kanye loses billionaire status, 50% of net worth after Adidas cuts ties
Following a slew of over-the-top antisemitic remarks coming from the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, now known as Ye, he has been losing brand deals left and right. Yet even as world-famous brands severed ties, his talent agency dropped him and celebrity peers condemned him, the musician has shown no remorse.

One more major change might just make Ye change his tune, however: losing his billionaire status.

According to Forbes Magazine, the loss of West's $1.5 billion deal with Adidas has left him with a net worth of just $400 million, less than half of what he was previously worth.

The remainder of his net worth is made up of various investments and financial earnings, real estate, cash, his music catalog, and a small 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, Skims.

According to Forbes, Ye's initial spot on the billionaire's list was a cause for conversation between the musician and the global business and investment media company. His removal from the list marked what Forbes referred to as a "years-long saga between the rapper and Forbes."

According to the publication, West always felt that his net worth and reported numbers just did not add up. When he first made the billionaire list in 2020, clocking in at $1 billion, the rapper commented, “It’s not a billion,” he wrote in a text message to Forbes officials. “It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
Candace Owens claims she's being threatened for supporting Kanye
Conservative political commentator Candace Owens said on Tuesday she has been "fielding threats" following her public dismissal of claims that Kanye West – who has legally changed his name to "Ye," was antisemitic after his since-deleted tweet earlier this month stating that he would "go death con 3 on Jewish people." Owens said that statement was not actually demonizing Jewish people.

"I have been fielding threats for two weeks straight," Owens wrote on Twitter. "How is it possible that any person is allowed to openly message 'don’t mess with the Jews' to me? Rochel Leah is just one of many who have been openly threatening me and many other black podcasters. Why is this okay?" Owens' post continued, referencing Rochel Leah Boteach, the daughter of well-known Orthodox American Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

What are the "threats" Owens is referencing?
The younger Boteach runs the Instagram account "Thirsty Souls," a platform in which she has outspokenly condemned Owens after the latter responded to Ye's rant, which also included him warning Jews about toying with him and claiming that “Jewish Zionists” are controlling the media, by saying on an episode of her political talk show Candace: "If you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic."

Boteach posted a photo of herself on Thirsty Souls, with the words: "don't mess with the Jews." – and tagged Owens and West. Owens did not elaborate in her tweet who else is included in the "many who have been openly threatening me," or what the alleged threats are.

Owens, who works for the Daily Wire news site run by Jewish political commentator Ben Shapiro, continued in her defense of Ye, saying that "you did not think that he wrote this tweet because he hates or wants to genocide Jewish people. This is not the beginning of a Holocaust."

"If you were an honest person, when you read this tweet, you had no idea what the hell he was talking about. I had no idea, when I read this tweet, what the hell he was talking about," Owens continued. "This tweet inspired questions, not answers."


Jewish Educator Resigns From Donda Academy Amid Kanye West’s Antisemitic Comments
The educational consultant for Kanye “Ye” West’s unaccredited K-8 private Christian school, who holds a prominent position at two Jewish educational institutions, has resigned, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Tamar Andrews, who worked with Donda Academy since July and officially resigned earlier this month, is the director of early childhood education at both Temple Isaiah and American Jewish University, per websites for both institutions. Allison Samek, president of Temple Isaiah of Los Angeles, told THR in a statement: “Dr. Andrews immediately resigned from Donda Academy following Ye West’s tweet. Her last day was October 11, 2022 as she felt she could no longer support the organization.”

West has been widely condemned in recent days for his repeated antisemitic comments. Andrews has yet to respond to THR’s multiple requests for comment, and AJU declined to share a statement.

The rapper quietly opened Donda Academy, located in Simi Valley, in November 2021. Tuition hovers at $15,000 annually, and to attend, students (which currently total less than 100) are required to sign an NDA, and they are often seen wearing Adidas Yeezy Foam RNR shoes as part of their uniform. The head of school is Pepperdine University graduate student Brianne Campbell (who doubles as choir director for Ye’s Sunday Service group).


Associated Press’ Toothless Response to Photojournalist Who Called Zionists ‘Filthy Pigs’
The AP’s rather muted response to such serious charges against Elshamy seems all the more inadequate today in light of how other news organizations have reacted to similar revelations about their own staff and contributors.

This month, for example, the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), which is the charitable arm of Reuters, rescinded an award that had been conferred upon Palestinian journalist Shatha Hammad after HonestReporting discovered numerous tweets praising Hitler and expressing support for the genocide of Jews.

Both the TRF and the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund, which had chosen Hammad as the recipient of the 2022 Local Reporter Award, sprang into action immediately following the worrying revelations, and released a joint statement confirming robust action had been taken.

In August, the New York Times, VICE News, the BBC, The Guardian, SBS Australia, and ABC News Australia all severed ties with a Palestinian freelancer and fixer, Fady Hanona, after HonestReporting put a spotlight on his horrifying social media history that included describing Jews as the “sons of dogs” and calling for killing every “Jew, Israeli or Zionist, or anyone else who speaks Hebrew.”

In September, we also revealed how two other freelancers working for the New York Times, Soliman Hijjy and Hosam Salem, had lauded Hitler and Palestinian terrorism in multiple chilling Facebook posts.

The fact is, compared to competitor news outlets that found themselves in similar positions, the AP’s response to Elshamy’s social media posts was insufficient. It appears that nothing– barring asking him to delete the offending tweets — was done in the way of disciplinary action.

We have since reached out to AP to ask why this was — why did the AP not distance itself further from Elshamy’s antisemitism, and did the agency not think any further measures should be taken against him?

For the sake of credibility, it is critical that AP answers these questions.
Producer slams BBC for ‘kow-tow’ after it cancels show that hosted anti-Israel extremist
The departing editor of a cancelled BBC television news programme which regularly featured an extremist anti-Israel commentator has accused the corporation of “kowtowing” to its critics.

Nick Guthrie, veteran executive producer of Dateline London which ran on the BBC News and World channels for 25 years, criticised the BBC for cancelling his show earlier this year.

“Just because a particular group, government, lobby groups, whatever, object to views expressed by others does not mean the BBC has to kow-tow,” he said in a speech at a farewell party after 57 years of working for the BBC.

The anti-Israel commentator Abdel Bari Atwan was a regular guest on the programme, most recently appearing to express sympathy for Salman Rushdie’s assailant’s extremism.

The JC has repeatedly exposed Mr Atwan for praising terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians as “martyrs” and describing a Palestinian gunman’s attack in Tel Aviv as a “miracle”.

Mr Guthrie ran the show through his own production company TV Talk Ltd, claiming it attracted 12-15 million viewers each week. Episodes were broadcast nine times across BBC News and BBC World over a weekend, and were recorded every week without breaks for 25 years.

Last year the BBC was forced to apologise after the programme’s presenter said Israel had a responsibility to vaccinate Palestinians against Covid-19 under the terms of the Oslo Accords, even though the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry had initially said it would seek vaccine supplies through the World Health Organisation.

Following a viewer complaint, the BBC conceded that the agreements signed by Israel and the PLO in 1993 and 1995 “give the PA oversight of public health under the principles of self-determination.”
CNN Takes Down ‘Palestine’ Reference Following HonestReporting Action
CNN’s apparent nod to Palestinian statehood can hardly be dismissed as a mere typo or figurative slip of the tongue, considering the significant role that PA unilateralism plays in the continuation of the conflict. Indeed, Abbas’ unilateral moves — a clear breach of international agreements to which the Palestinians are a party — have made peace more elusive than ever.

In “Fact-checking The New York Times: There Is No Palestinian State,” HonestReporting explained that there is a path to Palestinian independence. The Oslo Accords forged in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority the following year. The agreement was based on a promise by the Palestinian leadership to renounce terrorism and resolve all outstanding issues with Israel via bilateral negotiations.

To date, the Palestinian leadership has failed to live up to its obligations under the Oslo Accords that lay out a path to possibly establishing a “State of Palestine.” Accordingly, the current status of the West Bank and Gaza is not that of a sovereign country, as evidenced by Palestinian leaders who have said as much.

In the same October 25 article, Kareem Khadder also attempted to sanitize Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), writing that “Saraya al-Quds, the Armed Wing of Islamic Jihad, released a statement saying their affiliated group the Nablus Brigade were [sic] ‘engaged in violent armed clashes’ with Israeli military forces who ‘stormed the city.'” [Emphasis added]

It is imperative to note that PIJ is an Iranian-backed terror organization responsible for some of the worst terrorist atrocities in the Jewish state’s history. The group, which is proscribed in its entirety by the Western world, has carried out numerous horrific attacks targeting innocent Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel.

CNN’s attempt to fabricate a distinction between Islamic Jihad’s “armed wing” and other parts of the organization is all the more ridiculous given the fact that — unlike Hamas — PIJ generally doesn’t provide any social services, and is less involved in politics.

Following the story’s publication, HonestReporting immediately sprang to action, contacting the journalist directly while simultaneously setting the facts straight in a Twitter post. Some five hours later, the broadcaster moved to take the entire text down, replacing it with a new piece by CNN correspondent Hadas Gold and Abeer Salman.

The new article correctly identifies Mahmoud Abbas as the “Palestinian Authority President” and makes no mention of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s response to the events in Nablus. One is left guessing why Khadder, who has promoted the anti-Israel apartheid libel on social media in the past (see here, here, and here), did not simply update his existing piece.


The Italian right turns against anti-Semitism
“Tragic irremediable darkness” was how Giorgia Meloni, who is now poised to become Italy’s next prime minister, described the events of Oct. 16, 1943. On that day, she said in her condolence text, “the Nazi-Fascist fury” undertook the “vile and inhumane deportation of Roman Jews … torn from life—women, men and children, house by house.”

Meloni, who was accused of being a “post-fascist” anti-Semite during the recent election campaign, added that the deportation of Rome’s Jews must be remembered “by all Italians” in order to combat anti-Semitism in all its forms.

Her condolences come as one of many such messages from all of Italy’s political parties, in remembrance of the 1,259 innocent people, including 207 children, who were dragged from their homes at dawn, half-stripped and terrified, all sent to die at Auschwitz.

Meloni’s strong words were not unusual. Equally intense language was used by Senate President Ignazio La Russa and House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana, along with other right-wing figures. Former Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia Party, Silvio Berlusconi, called the deportation “a barbarity we cannot forget” and Lega Nord Party leader Matteo Salvini emphasized, “Anti-Semitism must never be underestimated or, worse, tolerated.”

This strident rhetoric is part of the Italian right’s unprecedentedly strong stance on fighting anti-Semitism. For Meloni and her Brothers of Italy Party, this is more than anything else an educational task, especially among children and students who are often abysmally ignorant of Jews and Jewish history, including the Holocaust. Meloni certainly knows this.
Albanian PM: ‘Antisemitism is a cause for everyone’
Combating antisemitism is not just about protecting Jews and Israel, but about preserving universal values, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said during his visit to Israel this week.

“Antisemitism is a cause for everyone, not just for Israel or for Jewish people,” Rama said on Monday night at an event in Jerusalem honoring him and Albanian families who protected Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust.

“This is why being against antisemitism is not [about keeping the] flag of Israel but of keeping the flag of humanity,” he said.

It was his country’s long experience of standing up for Jews, he said, that inspired it to help Afghans fleeing the Taliban in 2021.

“I thought from the first second that Albania couldn’t shy away as richer and bigger countries did. We had to open our door and welcome these Afghans that would otherwise be victims of the Taliban’s revenge,” he said.

“We didn’t do it just for the Afghans, we did it for who we are, we did it for our kids, we did it for the memory.”

Albania has a majority Muslim population, a strong Christian minority and a very small Jewish community, whose history dates back 2,000 years to the Roman conquest of ancient Judea and the fall of the Second Temple.

Rama recalled the story of how some 3,000 Jews shipped out into slavery overcame their Roman captors and found safety on the Albanian shores.
Chief rabbi of Russia calls on Moscow to denounce official’s ‘vulgar’ anti-Semitism
Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar on Wednesday called on Moscow to denounce a top official’s “vulgar” anti-Semitism, saying it posed a “huge danger” to the Jewish community in the country.

The call to condemn Alexei Pavlov, assistant secretary of Russia’s Security Council, came in response to an article (Russian) he wrote claiming that “neo-pagan cults,” including the Chabad movement, had taken over Ukraine.

Pavlov added that Chabad’s guiding principle was to enshrine its superiority “above all nations and peoples,” and therefore it had become “increasingly urgent to carry out the de-satanization of Ukraine.”

In a letter shared with Haaretz, Lazar, leader of Chabad in Russia, “demand[ed] condemnation from the government for the nonsense” written by Pavlov, which was “an insult to millions of Jewish believers, including the vast majority of Jews in Russia.”

Such a statement, “uttered by a member of the Russian Security Council…poses a huge danger; therefore, we demand an immediate and unequivocal response from society and the authorities of the state,” Lazar added, according to the report.

Concerns have risen among Russia’s Jewish community since Moscow in February launched its invasion of Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin repeatedly citing as a justification the need to “de-Nazify” the country.

On March 7, about a week-and-a-half after the start of the war, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who was then still the chief rabbi of Moscow, and his wife, Dara, left their home in the Russian capital, hoping to get out of the country as quickly as possible.

After moving to Israel, Goldschmidt warned in an interview in August: “There is danger [in Russia] for Jews, no doubt. The Jewish community is being held hostage in the diplomatic war between Russia and Israel, and that’s not a position the Jewish community should be in. It’s a very dangerous situation.
Petaluma man’s antisemitic stunt draws Gov. Newsom’s ire
Jon Minadeo II, the longtime Sonoma County resident known for his virulent and prolific antisemitic hate speech, has gotten the attention of everyone from the Anti-Defamation League to Polish police authorities, who arrested him in early September for a brash demonstration outside the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has joined Minadeo’s opposition.

Newsom on Monday issued a statement in response to an incident that recently took place on an overpass above the busy Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. As with most of the stunts executed by Minadeo and the group he fronts, the Goyim Defense League, the latest Los Angeles event was tiny but vicious. A handful of people draped banners over the rail of the overpass and delivered Nazi salutes visible to passing motorists.

One of the hand-drawn banners read, “KANYE IS RIGHT ABOUT THE JEWS.”

It was a reference to troubled rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, who recently made antisemitic comments about Jewish control of American media. Tuesday, the shoe company Adidas pulled its sponsorship of West, an agreement that brought the entertainer $220 million annually, according to Forbes.

Jon Minadeo II’s Gab post detailing his arrest in Poland, where he held up a sign outside the Auschwitz concentration camp meant to demean Jews.

Portions of two anti-Semitic flyers that have been distributed around the Bay Area, including Napa.

“This weekend’s public display of anti-Semitic hate is another wake-up call to all of us that we must remain vigilant to protect our values and freedoms as Californians,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. “The former President gave a platform to extremists spewing hate speech and we continue to see the dangerous consequences — from the insurrection on Jan. 6 to Nazi salutes and anti-Jewish signs over the 405 freeway here in California.

“Our state is committed to protecting our diverse communities and will continue to lead the fight against racial, ethnic, and religious hate wherever it rears its ugly head.”


Hebrew University, Meta AI launch joint artificial intelligence program
The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and the university’s technology-transfer company Yissum have announced a new research partnership with Meta AI.

HU joins Meta AI to strengthen the ties between academia and the tech industry. With headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Meta AI later launched smaller satellite research labs in Seattle, Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv, Montreal and London, and most recently a laboratory in Manhattan.
"Meta’s choice to collaborate with the Hebrew University is proof of our institution’s scientific excellence and the commercial success that Yissum has achieved for its leading professors."
Yissum CEO Dr. Itzik Goldwaser
The company conducts research to advance state-of-the-art artificial intelligence through fundamental and applied research in open collaboration with the community. Doctoral students who are accepted into the HU program will have the opportunity to merge theory with real work experience, gain a better understanding of emerging technologies and develop new ones.

The results of the research conducted as part of this strategic partnership will be published for the benefit of the scientific community and industry. Meta will assign the HU students mentors and scholarships to deepen their understanding in AI and machine learning, and students will have access to Meta’s computational infrastructure and facilities.

Meta AI belongs to Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly known as Facebook, Inc.). It began as Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), which was officially announced in 2013. Research at FAIR pioneered the technology that led to face recognition, tagging-in photographs and personalized feed recommendation.

Its latest AI advances include the BuilderBot, which allows users to generate virtual worlds by using voice commands. Other tools include the No Language Left Behind, a system capable of automatic translation between written languages, and a Universal Speech Translator, a system capable of instantaneous speech-to-speech translation.
Mobileye stocks to begin trading on Nasdaq
Israel-based Mobileye will begin trading stocks on the Nasdaq exchange on Wednesday, after the company announced the previous day it had finalized a price per share of $21 to raise $861 million in its Initial Public Offering, according to U.S. media reports.

The IPO, the largest-ever for an Israeli business, values the company at nearly $17 billion, significantly lower than the $50 billion mark originally sought.

Intel, which bought Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion, will retain a large stake, including 99 percent of the voting rights by virtue of owning all the Class B shares, said the reports.

Mobileye, which makes self-driving car systems, reported $854 million in revenue for the first six months of the fiscal year, up 21% from the same period last year, according to Reuters. The company posted a net loss of $67 million.

Mobileye is selling only a 5% stake in itself, less than the typical 10% to 20% stake for most IPOs, to offset the lower valuation.
Mossad volunteer seeks reward for assisting Iraqi smuggling operation
An Iraqi Jew now living in Israel is demanding a monthly allowance in recognition of his work as a volunteer helping the Mossad with the smuggling of more than 700 Jews over the border in Iran in the early 1970s. Israel Hayom reports:

Jews were persecuted, expelled from their property, fired from their jobs, imprisoned and executed. Khaled Musa, a Jewish resident of Baghdad, helped to smuggle more than 700 Jews out of Iraq after he himself created an organized smuggling infrastructure. Now, at the age of 87 and without a pension, he is asking the state to recognize him as a Mossad operative.

For nine months, Musa worked secretly to get dozens of Jews smuggled out of Iraq by Kurdish smugglers to Iran, where Mossad representatives were waiting for them to bring them to Israel. The stories about Dan reached Mossad representatives from the Jews who came to Tehran. Khaled Musa, now Dan Bar Moshe, acted of his own free will, without assistance, without compensation and at enormous personal risk. At the last minute, after being warned that he and his family were in danger, he fled to Iran. He remained in Tehran for another month and a half, at the request of the Mossad representative there, Nachik (Menachem) Navot, in order to find a replacement for him who would assist the Mossad in smuggling the Jews out of Iraq.

Sixteen years ago he was decorated by the Ministry of Defense, but since he was never officially recognized as an employee of the Mossad, he also never received a reward from the state for his actions. Now he asks: ‘recognize me officially and let me grow old with dignity’.

All his life Dan was independent and worked hard. Today, at the age of 87, without a pension, he lives on an old-age pension and an income support pension, as well as compensation he receives once a year from the state for being recognized as a second-generation Holocaust survivor, when he was a child during the Farhud in Iraq.
US Postal Service Celebrates Hanukkah With ‘Forever’ Stamp
American Judaica artist Jeanette Kuvin Oren is well-known for her work in many media. She designs unique Torah mantles, ark curtains, chuppah wedding canopies, ketubah marriage contracts, papercuts, stained glass and nearly any ritual object or decoration a synagogue, Jewish home or family would ever need.

On Oct. 20, Kuvin Oren added “designer of a U.S. Postal Service stamp” to her impressive résumé. The “Hanukkah Forever” postage stamp is based on one of Kuvin Oren’s works.

“Jeanette’s art came to my attention several years ago and I am very happy to be able to bring her work to a very wide audience,” Ethel Kessler of Kessler Design, who serves as art director for stamps at the USPS, says enthusiastically. “Her work has a glowing and joyful spirit and that’s what I wanted to add to our US Hanukkah series.”

A first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the stamp was held last Thursday at Temple Emanu El in Orange Village, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland. This year, Hanukkah begins on the evening of Dec. 18.

Kessler adds, “Stamps are a joy for me to art direct. What it entails is getting familiar with people across the country who are making interesting art that can be used at stamp size.”

The USPS states, “The stamp art features the design from an original wall-hanging. The fiber art was hand-dyed, appliquéd and quilted to form an abstract image of a hanukkiah.”

The stamp is being issued in panes of 20. It will always be equal in value to the current First Class Mail one-ounce price (currently 60 cents). Kessler acknowledges, “First class mail may have dropped off in the past decade…But we still print over 10 million Hanukkah celebration stamps.”




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