Sunday, November 06, 2022

11/06 Links: Melanie Phillips: How Jew-hatred has to fit the narrative; ADL creates 'more antisemitism,' divides Jews, black people -Candace Owens

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: How Jew-hatred has to fit the narrative
Last week, a Palestinian Arab terrorist murdered 50-year-old Israeli Ronen Hananya and injured 5 others. But Hananya was murdered in Kiryat Arba in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, and so was considered a “settler”. Since such Israelis are thus blamed for their own murder, Hananya’s killing went unreported by western media.

It was part of an escalating campaign of Palestinian Arab terror attacks in which 27 Israelis and others have been killed so far this year. Who can be surprised? For Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, has been calling on social media for “an escalation against the… settler herds”. That is, Israeli Jews.

Nazi-style antisemitic tropes demonising Jews constantly pour out of the PA. None of this is reported by the western media, which instead turns the Palestinian Arabs into martyred victims and the Israelis into their oppressors.

The watchdog Honest Reporting has revealed that a letter published last month on the Jew-baiting website Mondoweiss, signed by more than 300 Palestinian and Arab reporters, supported several journalists who had posted pro-Hitler messages on social media.

One signatory herself compared the Israel Defence Forces to Nazis. Another likened Jews to “dirt and rats” and, in response to a tweet about the death of a young Palestinian, replied: “Do you still ask why Hitler killed the Jews?”

Read anything about that in the mainstream media? Of course not. It doesn’t fit the narrative.

West’s views about Jews haven’t appeared in a vacuum. He’s channelling Jewish conspiracy theories and links between the Jews and Satan pushed by Nation of Islam’s leader Louis Farrakhan, as well as claims by the Black Hebrew Israelite group that black people are the real Jews and that “so-called” Jews have stolen their identity and birthright.

These views are commonplace in America’s black community. Yet Farrakhan is still indulged by the Democrats, and you won’t hear a peep about black antisemitism from the mainstream media.

Instead, everyone is “shocked” by a rapper’s Jew-hatred, while a murderous attack by an antisemite on a public figure is turned into a political football.

As if antisemitism weren’t bad enough, this makes it truly heartbreaking.


ADL creates 'more antisemitism,' divides Jews, black people -Candace Owens
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) creates more antisemitism, political commentator Candace Owens said on Saturday night in the wake of the Kanye West and Kyrie Irving antisemitism scandals, sharing a tweet by an anti-Israel activist claiming that the NGO created Jewish insecurity to justify Zionism.

"I think the ADL is like BLM [Black Lives Matter] and the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]. They create more antisemitism just like BLM created more racism." wrote Owens, explaining why she shared The Grayzone News editor Max Blumenthal's tweet. "They work only to further divide groups—in this circumstance, black and Jewish people."

In the tweet shared by Owens, Blumenthal had written that "White American Jews are living through a golden age of power, affluence and safety," and that "Acceptance of this welcome reality threatens the entire Zionist enterprise, from lobby fronts like the ADL to the State of Israel, because Zionism relies on Jewish insecurity to justify itself."

He added that Irving and West did not threaten American Jews in any concrete way, and the result of the ADL's attempt to justify its existence was "Jewish paranoia and Black humiliation is the result." Owens warned Blumenthal that he could "get into a lot of trouble" for his statements, and that she had experienced backlash over similar statements about BLM.

"When you disrupt the trauma economy and call out the not-for-profits that benefit from it, you become their next target," she said.

The US political commentator further called upon Americans to "fix fractured relations between Jewish and black Americans." She decried the cancel culture response to Irving and West.


Wokeness and anti-Semitism go hand-in-hand
In Britain, there have also been countless articles and several books on the phenomenon of Corbynism and anti-Semitism. However, these have tended to focus on the internecine disputes in the Labour Party, rather than the woke belief system.

As the first book-length treatment of the subject, Woke Anti-Semitism: How a Progressive Ideology Harms Jews would appear to fill an important a gap. And Bernstein does a great job in exposing the toxicity and the harms of woke anti-Semitism. However, he never mounts a full-frontal assault on the ideology behind it.

Much of Woke Anti-Semitism is autobiographical. It was as a student at Ohio State University that Bernstein first encountered woke ideas in embryonic form. At a 1987 conference for Jewish students, he came across what would today be called ‘social-justice warriors’. These students insisted on politically correct language and believed in ‘celebrating difference’. They also proved wholly unwilling to debate – a rare attitude on campus at the time.

Bernstein also writes about an early encounter with the threat identity politics poses to Jews. At the UN’s 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, draft documents produced by the committee painted Israel and Zionism as exemplifying the evils of colonialism. During the conference, representatives from the Arab Lawyers Union handed out pamphlets full of anti-Semitic caricatures – including images of Jews with blood-dripping fangs. They sought to portray Israeli Jews as Nazis oppressing terrified Palestinians.

Jewish progressives were shocked by the vitriol shown at the conference. It was the first time they had been subjected to racism by people who claim to be fighting racism. The hostility was so great that the US and Israeli delegations even ended up withdrawing from the negotiations, without signing the resolution. It was telling that this vile anti-Semitism had been legitimised by the ‘anti-colonial’ social-justice framework we now know so well.

As Bernstein describes these events, he makes valuable points along the way. For example, he takes on the postmodern idea of ‘standpoint epistemology’ – the notion that your expertise on a given issue is derived from your position in the power structure of society. From this perspective, not having the relevant ‘lived experience’ of oppression means someone higher up in a privilege hierarchy simply cannot understand the perspective of someone lower down. Individuals deemed ‘privileged’ are expected to defer the views of those deemed ‘oppressed’.

Bernstein shows how this logic makes it possible for organisations to cherry pick the voices of minority groups who happen to share their views. This allows social-justice warriors to insist that everyone should defer to this supposedly ‘authentic oppressed voice’ – one which conveniently happens to agree with them.

Much of the book describes how woke activists have captured key Jewish institutions in the US. In many cases, a vocal woke minority has managed to intimidate a larger, often quiescent majority.

The final three chapters detail practical ways to address this challenge. This advice is meant primarily for the Jewish community. Bernstein focuses on ways to recover ideas of liberalism and social justice from within the Jewish tradition. He concludes by arguing that American Jews should abandon the long-standing alliance many have with the progressive left. Instead, he argues, they should work with those in the political centre and those sections of immigrant communities who cherish America’s liberal-democratic ideals.
Are conservatives held to a different standard regarding antisemitism? -opinion
Republicans and Democrats
When past US President Barack Obama broke with his controversial Pastor Jeremiah Wright, who absurdly claimed that ‘ethnic cleansing is going on in Gaza,’ the matter was dropped. Obama then went on to win with over 78% of the Jewish vote.

After pressure from Republicans several years ago, numerous Democrats were forced to denounce Farrakhan after revelations that they had met with the antisemitic minister surfaced. Once they publicly repudiated Farrakhan, the issue was largely forgotten.

And while liberals assail Republicans, like Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene over stupidly appearing at rallies with right-wing antisemites, their fickleness when highlighting disturbing associations is evidenced by muted reactions when leftist party members cavort with progressive Jew-haters.

Last month’s Fox News story on New York Governor Kathy Hochul attending a Harvard Club fundraiser while posing alongside donor Maher Abdelqader, a promoter of antisemitic conspiracy theories, has received scant attention.

In 2020, several Democrats agreed to speak at an online plenary session at the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) Advocacy Days. The group allegedly harbors financial links to the terrorist group Hamas and has accused Israel of ethnic cleansing.

Still, AMP boasts a rising number of lawmakers who admire their mission. Last year’s recipient of the organization’s “Champion of Palestinian Rights Award,” Illinois Democrat Rep. Andre Carson, stated that AMP’s recognition of his work was a deep honor.

Combating antisemitism requires dropping a politically partisan guard. For some, hollow anger involving West is paired with bolstering people, policies and movements that attack Israel. While stylistically different, the consistent demonization of Israel reflects a Jew-hatred equal to that of West.

Those who performatively spent last month lauding their activism should ask themselves, “have they held those who libel the Jewish homeland accountable for their antisemitism? Have they employed the moral courage to reject antisemitic progressive organizations and explore alternative avenues to address social injustice?” If the answer is “No,” how genuine is this fight against antisemitism?


AIPAC spends big against Pittsburgh-area progressive congressional candidate
Outrage at AIPAC’s spending flared on Twitter from Lee’s progressive supporters.

“The billionaires who fund AIPAC are spending $1 million against [Lee] because she stands with working people and against corporate greed,” Sanders tweeted. “Democrats must unite and condemn this Super PAC and do everything possible to elect Summer.”

“Reminder that AIPAC has not spent a dime to help any Democrats beat Republicans this cycle and has instead endorsed 109 Republican insurrectionists,” Omar tweeted, without mentioning the 148 Democrats endorsed by AIPAC.

Ocasio-Cortez condemned AIPAC’s involvement and called for supporters to volunteer in Lee’s campaign.

“Shamefully, AIPAC is working for Republican control of Congress and further destabilization of U.S. democracy,” she tweeted.

Lee also attacked AIPAC, calling her Republican opponent extreme.

“This is the same Super PAC that attacked me during the primary for not being ‘sufficiently Democrat.’ Now they’re trying to elect the Republican. They want to paint young Black women as extreme because we have a vision for a safer future for all of us,” Lee tweeted.

“A vision that doesn’t involve corporate tax cuts for billionaires, but living wages for working people. Where our reproductive freedom is protected [and] Medicare is funded. Because they want a different extreme. Right-wing extremism: Anti-abortion. Anti-gun safety. Anti-Social Security [and] Medicare. Antisemitic. Pro-Corporate Handouts. Pro-Insurrection,” she said.

AIPAC replied to numerous such tweets by stating it and its two million grassroots supporters were proud to support the overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party that backs a strong U.S.-Israeli alliance but opposed Lee because of what it called her dangerous views on the relationship with Israel.

AIPAC also criticized J Street for supporting Lee despite calling itself a pro-Israel organization.

“If [J Street] was trying to elect PRO-ISRAEL Democrats, why did it endorse Summer Lee in the primary? Lee supports conditioning aid to Israel, questioned Israel’s right to defend itself during the 2021 war, and has closely aligned with Israel’s biggest critics in Congress,” AIPAC tweeted.


Ruthie Blum: Bibi’s victory, Biden administration blues
It’s bad enough that Team Biden pushes policies that exacerbate the problems it supposedly strives to solve; the false “two-state” paradigm is a prime example.

It’s worse when the world’s top diplomat bolsters and becomes a laughing stock among self-aggrandized despots like Abbas, who is reviled by his own people for a host of reasons, among them the quelling of any opposition. The day after his phone call with Blinken, for instance—as Khaled Abu Toameh reported—he banned Palestinian activists from participating in a video conference in Ramallah to demand reforms, and detained journalists who came to cover the event.

With whom, then, does Blinken imagine he’s engaged in “joint efforts to improve the Palestinians’ quality of life and enhance their security and freedom”? In the absence of an answer, the go-to culprit, as always, is Israel.

The certainty of the chattering classes that this attitude would change without Netanyahu at the helm was exposed as the idiocy it was. Imagine their delight at the emergence of a new bogeyman—Ben-Gvir—on whom they can pin Palestinian intransigence and left-wing accusations of Israeli wrongdoing.

The good news, especially if the Republicans take back the House of Representatives and the Senate, is that the ploy won’t work. Nor will the question of when Biden deigns to welcome Bibi back be of relevance.
Bahrain committed to advancing ties with Israel after ‘always expected’ Netanyahu win
Bahrain will continue to build bilateral ties with Israel following last week’s general election in the Jewish state, a top Bahraini official said on Saturday.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-religious bloc secured victory in the elections, with 64 out of 120 Knesset seats.

“We have an agreement with Israel, part of the Abraham Accords, and we will stick to our agreement and we expect it to continue in the same line and continue building our partnership together,” said Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, according to Reuters.

The diplomatic adviser to the Sunni Muslim country’s king added that Netanyahu’s victory was “normal and always expected,” adding, “We will want to make an example and succeed together and face all the threats,” in an apparent reference to shared concerns over Iran.

Netanyahu was prime minister when Israel in 2020 normalized ties with several Arab states, including Bahrain, under pacts brokered by the Trump administration.
Smotrich blames Israeli security forces for Yitzhak Rabin assassination
Religious Zionist leader Bezalel Smotrich accused Israeli security forces for "failing to protect" former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, during a Knesset ceremony memorializing the assassinated prime minster on Sunday.

Smotrich insisted that it was not "harsh words" that killed Rabin, rather "a vile murderer in the form of Yigal Amir and those who failed to protect prime minister Yitzhak Rabin."

Smotrich additionally claimed that security forces "encouraged" the man who assassinated Rabin, Yigal Amir, to murder the prime minister with "irresponsible manipulations, which until today have not been fully revealed."

The Religious Zionist party leader appeared to be citing conspiracy theories which claim that officials seen as allies of Rabin in the Israeli government and Israeli security forces orchestrated the assassination of Rabin.

The party leader additionally welcomed the decision by Rabin's family to not speak during the ceremony, calling it "precisely the message of reconciliation that it is time for us all to carry."

Smotrich expressed outrage that many far-right activists were blamed for inciting the assassination, saying "the factory of blame that even today, 27 years later, produces more and more accusations against more than half of the nation that is accused of responsibility for the murder committed by a vile murderer. 'He pulled the trigger,' they say, 'but you all stood behind him.'"
Israel-designated terror group representative calls for destruction of US, EU in Brussels
Not only Israel, but also the United States, Canada and the European Union must be conquered, a top representative of an Israel-designated terror group said at a recent event in Brussels.

“Defeating Israel means defeating the United States. Defeating Israel means defeating Canada. These settlements [that] exist on the back of the indigenous people and the black people,” said Mohammed Khatib, the E.U. coordinator for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

He made the comments at a rally outside of the E.U. Parliament during the Oct. 29 “March for Return and Liberation,” planned by the Masar Badil, or Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement.

“Defeating Israel means defeating this colonial institution [the E.U. legislature]. It means payback for all Africans … second and third generations [who] are in Brussels. We’ve built this city and we still face fascism and racism. So, we will say no to this not only in Palestine [sic], but here in Europe, there in the United States and in all Arab countries,” Khatib added.

According to Samidoun’s website, the march had numerous clear principles, including the demand for “the liberation of Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea and the right to return [to Israel] of all Palestinians.”




A month late, Allenby crossing launches pilot of Biden-promised plan to run 24/7
A pilot program testing the capacity of the Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan to operate at all hours of the day was launched on Sunday after months of pressure from the Biden administration, spokespeople for the Transportation Ministry and Airports Authority confirmed to The Times of Israel.

The launch was pushed back several times, drawing the ire of the US administration, which had announced over the summer that Allenby would begin running 24/7 permanently in September. Recognizing the long waits that Palestinians often endure at the crossing, the initiative was included in a package of steps unveiled by the US aimed at improving Palestinian lives.

Israeli authorities initially notified their American counterparts that they didn’t have the staffing capacity to meet the US deadline and proposed the idea of a pilot program instead. The Transportation Ministry announced that the trial would launch on October 24, only to see that start date be missed as well when the chairman of the Airports Authority objected to a rollout in the middle of an election campaign. The Airports Authority directorate subsequently met and decided to move forward with the plan on Sunday.
Palestinians to push for review of 'ongoing occupation' at the Hague
In a last ditch effort involving the United States, Israel will attempt to torpedo a Palestinian move to pass a UN resolution, calling for an urgent opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on the legality of Israel's alleged "ongoing occupation."

The special "politics and de-colonization" committee is expected to discuss the matter on Wednesday, and if consensus is reached, the Palestinians will table it for a second round of vote at the UN General Assembly in December. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said he will demand a vote on the issue this Friday in an attempt to nullify the Palestinian effort to pass the move for the ICC to weight in on the "occupation" without a proper vote.

The Palestinian move to push for an ICC opinion came days after publication of a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in the West Bank and Gaza, which concluded that Israel has committed “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” against the Palestinians in the wake of 2021 Gaza war dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls.

Israeli officials suggested the move was coordinated with the report's committee, led by Navi Pillay, from the start.

The move also comes one year after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speech to the UN General Assembly, in which he said that if Israel won't leave the West Bank, he will take the matter to The Hague to force the ICC to issue a legal opinion on the legality of the occupation.

The Palestinian initiative seeks for the ICC to "determine the legal ramifications deriving from Israel's continuous disregard for the Palestinian people's rights for self-determination, the ongoing occupation, the annexation of Palestinian territory annexed in 1967, including steps that were designed to alter the demographic situation and the status of city of Jerusalem, the affirmation of discriminatory legislation to that effect, the manner in which Israeli policy affects the occupation's legal standings and what are the legal ramifications stemming from this move with regards to the international community and the United Nations."

The Palestinians are seeking for the ICC to rule that the Israeli occupation is not temporary - as described by resolution 242 of the UN Security Council - but permanent, making it a de facto annexation. The ICC could also recommend the manner in which to engage with Israel, whether operatively, by sanctions or boycott.
PMW: “Daddy gave me a present, a machine gun and a rifle”– young girl sing to imprisoned father
A young Palestinian girl sent a message to her imprisoned father via official PA TV’s program, Giants of Endurance – a program entirely for and about imprisoned terrorists. The girl dedicated to her father a song promoting terror with the words: “Daddy gave me a present, a machine gun and a rifle”– young girl sings to imprisoned father,” and which vowed “victory over America and Israel”:

Daughter of prisoner Muntasir Abu Azzoum: “I want to dedicate a song to dad:
Daddy gave me a present, a machine gun and a rifle.
When I am big, I will join the Liberation Army.
The Liberation Army taught us how to defend our homeland.
We will achieve victory over America and Israel.”
[Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, Sept. 29, 2022]

The girl is the daughter of Muntasir Abu Azzoum – a Palestinian imprisoned in Israel. PMW was unable to determine the nature of his crimes.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on other very young Palestinian children singing this and similar songs in the past, including Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi’s pride in his two-year-old grandson singing a similar song with the words: "Daddy, buy me a machine gun and a rifle, so that I will defeat Israel and the Zionists." 

This is consistent with what PMW has repeatedly reported that it is PA/Fatah policy to educate the young Palestinian generation to favor violence and terror as the best means to “ achieve victory over” Israel.




6 killed in Syrian shelling of tent encampment, say first responders
Syrian government forces shelled tent settlements housing families displaced by the country’s conflict in the rebel-held northwest early Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, opposition war monitors and first responders said.

The shelling is the latest violation of a truce reached between Russia and Turkey in March 2020 that ended a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib province that is the last major rebel-held stronghold in Syria.

The truce has been repeatedly violated over the past two years, killing and wounding scores of people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — an opposition war monitor with unclear funding and questionable veracity — reported that government forces fired about 30 rockets toward rebel-held areas, including the Maram camp Sunday morning, killing six and wounding 25. It said the dead included two children and one woman.

The tent settlement is just northwest of the provincial capital of Idlib.

Rebel factions responded by targeting government positions with artillery and missiles in the area of Saraqib, east of Idlib, and the al-Ghab plain, the observatory reported.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, reported that six people were killed, including two children and a woman, and 75 injured in shelling targeting at least six camps west of the capital.


Fire breaks out on Iranian oil pipeline, IRGC office nearby attacked
A fire broke out on an oil pipeline in the port city of Bandar Mahshahr in southwestern Iran on Sunday, sparking suspicions of foul play as protests continued to rage across Iran.

Video reportedly from the scene showed a large plume of smoke rising from an area near oil tanks. The fire caused damages, but no casualties were reported, according to IRNA.

The governor of Bandar Mahshahr told IRNA that the fire was contained and that the cause of the incident is under investigation.

While Iranian social media users theorized that the fire could have been caused by sabotage, there were no reports by opposition or regime media indicating that this was the case.

Additionally on Sunday, a military headquarters belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was targeted by an "attack," with the IRGC officers killing one of the attackers while a second attacker escaped. The IRGC did not provide further details.

Oil workers threaten to launch protests, strikes
In September, the Organizing Council for Protests of Oil Contract Workers warned that oil and petrochemical workers would strike if the suppression of protesters continued.

Workers at multiple oil facilities launched strikes in recent weeks, with a number arrested and imprisoned, according to the organizing council.


Israel's Deni Avdija supports punishment for Kyrie Irving antisemitism
As a Jewish forward for the Washington Wizards, Deni Avdija was naturally going to be asked about Kyrie Irving.

Especially when his team just finished playing against the Brooklyn Nets.

Avdija said Friday night he tries to stay positive in the face of antisemitism, but he also believes there should be consequences for players’ actions. The 21-year-old from Israel spoke for a few minutes in the Washington locker room after the Wizards lost to the Irving-less Nets.

Brooklyn suspended Irving on Thursday for posting a since-deleted link to an antisemitic work. The fallout from his post continued Friday with Nike announcing the company has halted its relationship with Irving.

“I think people look up to him,” Avdija said. “You can think whatever you want, you can do whatever you want. Just, I don’t think it’s right to go out in public and publish it and let little kids that follow you see it, and the generations that come after to think like that, because it’s not true, and I don’t think it’s fair.”

Avdija is in his third NBA season. He’s the league’s lone Israeli-born player.

“I’m Jewish, and I love my culture, I love my country,” he said. “It’s a little upsetting to hear some stuff about your religion. Just spread love, man. Love everybody, love all cultures.”


Thomas Friedman, an equal-opportunity Israel-basher
Longtime New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman warned this week that, as a result of the Nov. 1 Israeli election, “the Israel we knew is gone” and the Jewish state is “entering a dark tunnel.”

If you’d never read an article by Friedman before, you might assume that it was the rightward turn by Israeli voters that set the columnist against the Jewish state. You would think, in other words, that Friedman’s ire is Israel’s fault.

You would be wrong. Very wrong. The truth is that Friedman’s hostility towards Israel has nothing to do with the reelection of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister or the center-right governing coalition he is about to form.

For nearly half a century—going all the way back to the early 1970s—Friedman has publicly attacked every Israeli government, whether it was right-wing, left-wing or somewhere in between.

Yitzhak Rabin was prime minister in 1974 when Friedman and his fellow leaders of the “Middle East Peace Group” at Brandeis University publicly denounced the Jewish state for not negotiating with PLO chieftain and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. That was 19 years before Arafat even pretended to be willing to make peace with Israel.

Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir were alternating prime ministers in a Labor-Likud coalition government in 1989 when Friedman derided Israel as “Yad Vashem with an air force” and said rioting Palestinian Arab mobs where using “non-lethal civil disobedience.”

During those Peres-Shamir years, Friedman wrote, “The Israelis are getting a bad press because they deserve it” and that Israel was suffering from “megalomania.”

Ariel Sharon was prime minister when Friedman wrote that Israel “had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office.”
Daily Express Turns Iron Dome Into a ‘Lethal Weapon’
Israel’s Iron Dome is an air defense missile system that destroys incoming rockets aimed at Israeli civilian targets. It saves Israeli lives by intercepting rockets before they can cause mass casualty events and it saves Palestinian lives by reducing the necessity of IDF ground operations in densely populated civilian neighborhoods from where terrorists fire their rockets.

According to the Daily Express, however, Iron Dome is a “lethal weapon.”
It’s important not to mischaracterize Iron Dome as a weapon. Doing so promotes the false narrative that Palestinian terrorists and Israel are, at times, involved in a tit-for-tat exchange of rockets. The real lethal weapons are the Palestinian rockets that would undoubtedly kill and injure hundreds more Israelis were it not for Iron Dome’s remarkable success rate.

HonestReporting contacted the Daily Express, which, to its credit, changed the headline to reflect the reality:


Reviewing BBC News website coverage of Israel’s 2022 election
By way of comparison, in 2013 the BBC News website published thirty-four reports about the election and ahead of the first election in 2019, fifteen articles were published before voting even began.

As can be understood from those headlines and the accompanying chosen images, BBC coverage of the 2022 election overwhelmingly focused audience attentions on just two contenders: Binyamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Audiences were not provided with any information about the vast majority of the thirty-nine lists running in the election and their platforms. Issues of interest to Israeli voters such as the cost of living, housing and crime within Israeli-Arab communities were completely ignored by the BBC’s journalists, who also failed to provide the corporation’s world-wide audience with any information about how the Israeli electoral system works.

The November 3rd report about the final results of the election did not inform readers that the Meretz party and the Balad party failed to cross the electoral threshold.

Most of the BBC’s six reports include links to or quotes from outside contributors (Israel Democracy Institute, Hebrew University, a pollster) and/or from journalists (Axios, Jerusalem Post, Walla!, +972 Magazine, Ha’aretz).

In the two reports by Yolande Knell readers find heavily veiled references to the ongoing wave of Palestinian terrorism without any serious analysis of how that may have influenced voting patterns:
“As with the previous four inconclusive elections, this looks like a referendum on Mr Netanyahu rather than a vote on Israel’s top security and diplomacy issues, notably Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the conflict with the Palestinians.

That is despite an increase in deadly violence in the occupied West Bank ahead of election day.”

“His [Lapid’s] tenure also saw the deadliest year for Israelis and Palestinians since 2015, amid an upsurge in violence. Yet his government continued to pay little attention to ways of solving the Israel-Palestinian conflict.”

Notably, none of the BBC’s reports make any reference to the May 2021 rioting in Israeli cities such as Acco and Lod and the later violence in parts of the Negev which some observers think also influenced voters in this election.

As has been the case in previous years, BBC coverage of Israel’s latest election once again failed to provide audiences with a broad perspective, thereby hampering their ability to fully comprehend the story.
AP Corrects After Arabicizing Historic Israeli Site
Arabicizing Hebrew place names is one method used to delegitimize Israel and Jewish roots in the region. The mainstream media, however, are expected to refer to the names of villages, towns and cities in modern-day Israel by their common Hebrew usage.

That’s why we called out Associated Press for this:

Rosh Hanikra is a chalk cliff on the beach of Upper Galilee on the border between Israel and Lebanon, chiseled out into labyrinthine grottoes filled with seawater formed by the geological and biological processes and by waves lapping on the soft rock.

It was known during the Arab conquest of the region as Ras-A-Nakura. AP’s reference to “Ras Hanikra” appears to be an erroneous amalgam of Arabic and Hebrew. But it is certainly wrong.

The error has now been corrected as a result of correspondence between HonestReporting and AP.


Jewish Group Urges Federal Judge to Block New York’s Synagogue Gun Ban as FBI Warns of Increased Threats
As a threat of violence hangs over their heads, a group of Jewish gun owners in New York is asking a federal judge to allow them to carry guns in their places of worship.

Plaintiffs in Goldstein v. Hochul, backed by the NY State Jewish Gun Club, sent a letter on Thursday to federal judge Vernon Broderick of New York’s southern district, an Obama appointee, asking him to issue a preliminary injunction against the state’s new gun-carry law. The group is challenging a provision that bars everyone, including those with valid licenses, from carrying a gun at any place of worship inside the state. It said the FBI’s recent warning of credible threats against synagogues in neighboring New Jersey was further evidence Judge Broderick needs to issue an order against the ban immediately.

“The absence of a decision in this matter means that plaintiffs can neither exercise their fundamental right to self-defense in “places of worship or religious observation” nor seek review and redress from the Second Circuit to allow them to do so,” Ameer Benno, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said. “This has real-world consequences. Hours ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) released a bulletin that it had received ‘credible information of a broad threat to synagogues’ in New Jersey.”

The FBI reported they had identified the source of the threats on Friday and verified there was no longer a “danger to the community.” But the group said the warning, coupled with the rising rate of violent crimes targeting Jews in the state, demands action from Judge Vernon.

“The Southern District Court still has not made a decision as to whether to enjoin the law that the NYPD and the AG say will be enforced while the FBI reports antisemitic activity in an area where Jews were targeted and killed previously,” Cory Morris, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Reload. “Our clients have to choose between being felons or losing their faith every minute this Court fails to act.”

Lawmakers passed New York’s latest gun-carry regime in response to the Supreme Court striking down the state’s previous law as unconstitutional. State lawmakers promoted it as a rebuke to the Court, but judges have blocked significant portions in two separate federal cases. The places of worship restriction, which is the strictest example in the country, has been found unconstitutional by both federal judges. Judge Glenn Suddaby of the Northern District of New York issued a temporary restraining order in early October against most of the law’s controversial provisions, including the church and synagogue ban. Judge John Sinatra of the Western District of New York issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday that extended his previous temporary restraining order blocking the state from enforcing its places of worship gun-carry ban.
Birmingham, Alabama, synagogue arson wasn’t an antisemitic attack, rabbi says
A man was taken into custody after authorities in Birmingham, Alabama, investigated a suspicious fire adjacent to a synagogue there on Friday.

The fire, which came as Jews across the United States are on high alert, was determined not to be motivated by hatred against Jews, Rabbi Steven Henkin of Temple Beth-El told congregants over Shabbat. The man had also set other fires in the city, Henkin said authorities had determined.

“There is no evidence of an antisemitic attack,” Henkin said during Friday night services, which were streamed on Facebook. “He has admitted to lighting it and said it had nothing to do with us being a synagogue.”

But the rabbi, who addressed the incident again against during Saturday morning services, said the motive for the incident was almost immaterial at a time of rising antisemitism in the United States.

“It doesn’t really matter whether it was antisemitic or if it wasn’t. When we didn’t know, it certainly felt like it could have been,” Henkin said. “As a community, we should all be grateful that it wasn’t and it still makes us a little fearful and scared and anxious that with everything going on in the world as it is, we are aware that it just as easily could have been.”
Police arrest man who assaulted elderly Jew, stomped on kippah in Toronto
A Toronto man who assaulted an elderly Jew and stomped on his kippa was arrested last Friday, Toronto Police said in a press release.

Khristoff Gordon, 29, was identified as the man who approached a 70-year-old man and assaulted him unprovoked on October 26. When the senior's religious head garb fell to the ground, Gordon stomped on the kippa "while yelling racial slurs."

The assailant, who has no fixed address, was charged with assault and mischief. The police treated the incident as a hate-motivated crime.
All smiles as Mercury Rev comes to Tel Aviv - review
MERCURY REVTel Aviv Museum of ArtNovember 2

At the outset of last night’s Mercury Rev show at the Tel Aviv Museum, Wednesday night, guitarist and frontman Jonathan Donahue had a big smile etched on his face.

“I want to let you know just how happy I and Grasshopper (band co-founder and guitarist Sean Mackowiak) are to be back in Israel,” Donahue told the packed audience. And for the next hour and a quarter that smile accompanied the band’s acoustic performance, which opened The Piano Festival in Tel Aviv.

Different from any of its previous shows in Israel
Entitled Whisper and Strum, the band’s fifth appearance in Israel was different from any of its previous shows here, and for that matter, anywhere. “Since 1998, we really haven’t had the chance to play these songs the way they originally came to us,” Donahue said, recalling how the band first created its music in an upstate New York attic in the early 90s.

Opening the show with “The Funny Bird” from their 1998 breakthrough album Deserter’s Songs, the band played an enchanting and eclectic mix of their own work and covers, reflecting the stripped-down, really thin, quiet music of Mercury Rev past. If you closed your eyes, you could almost imagine sitting in that attic in the Catskills 30 years ago.
Israeli Woman Finishes Second in New York City Marathon
Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter has finished second place in Sunday’s New York City Marathon. Salpeter finished seven seconds behind the winner, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, who ran the 26.2 mile race through the city’s five boroughs in a time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds.

Salpeter, 33, was born in Kenya and moved to Israel in 2008 to work as a nanny for the children of Kenya’s Ambassador to Israel. She married Israeli running coach Dan Salpeter in 2014.

It is the best final result for an Israeli man or woman in the history of the race, which is in its 51st year.

Salpeter set an Israeli national record in 2020 when she ran a marathon in 2:17:45.

Evans Chebet of Kenya won this years men’s race with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes 41 seconds


Heading for Africa, thousands of great white pelicans make annual stopover in Israel
Hordes of migrating great white pelicans descended on Israel over the weekend, making their annual stopover as they head for warmer climates in the southern hemisphere.

An expected 50,000 pelicans will pass through Israel from mid-August to November to reach wintering grounds in Africa. They do not stay long before flying off to the Sinai Desert and continuing down the Nile to reach their winter ponds.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority lays on a feast for the birds, filling water reservoirs and pools in the Hefer Valley central regions with tons of fresh fish for the guests to eat. More fish are distributed at another location in the north of the country.

Aside from helping the birds on their way — they fly better on a full stomach — the fish help keep the flocks away from commercial fish farms.

Flanked by vast deserts to its east and the Mediterranean Sea to its west, Israel forms a key flyway and bottleneck for hundreds of millions of birds that travel between Europe, Asia and Africa every spring and fall, including perching birds (passerines), waders and birds of prey.

More than a million raptors pass through every year, including most of the world’s Levant sparrowhawks and endangered steppe eagles, and hundreds of thousands of honey buzzards and steppe buzzards.

Last month the first of tens of thousands of migrating cranes arrived at the Hula Lake nature reserve in northern Israel, kicking off a season that should see 80,000 to 90,000 of these birds arriving.

Of those, around 30,000 to 40,000 are expected to winter in Israel, and will not leave until early to mid-March. The remainder stop for a rest before flying onto Africa.




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