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Tuesday, November 08, 2022

11/08 Links Pt2: No More ADL; The Dangerous Mainstreaming of Kanye West and Kyrie Irving’s Brand of Antisemitism; First Israeli to Be Wounded by Gaza Rocket in Sderot to Become IDF Officer

From Ian:

No More ADL
To understand why, think, for a moment, about Kyrie Irving. What would the head of a serious version of the ADL have done? It’s actually pretty simple. First call attention to how messed up this situation is, not by issuing pompous statements with corporate logos slapped all over but by doing exactly what a bunch of Jewish kids did at a Brooklyn Nets home game earlier this month: wearing a T-shirt that says “Stop Anti-Semitism” in the front row of the stadium. Those kids probably invested a few hundred bucks, and in return received news coverage all over the world, appearing not as shadowy peddlers of indulgences but as what Jews actually are: outsiders getting pummeled left and right by bigots and haters.

Then, this ADL chief would go on TV and instead of cozying up to Sharpton, America’s greatest living pogromist, simply deliver the following speech: “I feel bad for Kyrie. I admire what seems like his willingness to seek out knowledge and to stand alone for what he thinks is true. But for all his alleged seeking, he still can’t find the right answer. He’s making the same mistake that millions have made throughout history—being smart and curious enough to wonder how the world works, but only finding imaginary Jews at the end of every road. This is the road to ignorance and misery, not to knowledge.”

Except, of course, that you can’t give that speech if your current or hoped-for donors are made up of the real thing Kyrie would uncover if he looked a bit more carefully: the very large corporations who have melded with government to create an almost impregnable, opaque, all-containing blob that controls American life, from dictating public health priorities to changing the way we produce and consume food.

Instead, all you can do is shame people who are confused and undereducated using the brute force you have at your disposal: corporate power. Cancel their contracts! Nix their ad campaigns! Make them bleed cash! Which, as we all saw this week, only amplifies the original noxious allegation.

This is why having no ADL would be so much better than having the one we currently have. Because of its own massive conflicts of interests, the ADL under Greenblatt may very well be , inadvertently or otherwise, contributing to the growth of antisemitism, not its diminishment.

This is as much of a philosophical question as it is a practical one. If your goal is to exterminate antisemitism—make the world’s most ancient and persistent hatred disappear, vanish, go kaput—then what we’ve seen from Greenblatt this week is understandable: Let’s educate or punish one hater at a time, until they’ve all reformed or disappeared. But if you believe, like me, that antisemitism will never go away, this approach is nothing more than a silly game of whack-a-mole. If we believe antisemitism is here to stay (and if you doubt it, do I have a few really good history books for you), then what you need is a real defense organization—one that doesn’t waste time with selling indulgences but instead forms bonds with groups and communities across the American spectrum, remains very vigilant to every attack no matter the perpetrator’s identity, and provides real education in large part by, ya know, speaking the truth clearly and unequivocally.

Here, then, is my solution to the problem that is Jonathan Greenblatt’s ADL: Let’s accept that the ADL is no longer a Jewish organization and ask for a divorce. Greenblatt can keep everything: His anti-racism, AstroTurf organization and all the corporate money trees he shakes on its behalf. We amcha Jews walk away with nothing—nothing, that is, but our dignity and our safety, both improved by no longer being pawns in a profit game that is endangering us more by the day.
A Little Piece of Ground
Elizabeth Laird is a renowned British children’s author, twice nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Ironically, it is her ability to tell a gripping story with vividly realized Arab protagonists that makes her novel A Little Piece of Ground so powerful – and so pernicious. (The metaphoric title reveals the author’s bias: Just as Israeli soldiers deny the boys of Ramallah “a little piece of ground” for soccer practice during the Second Intifada, so Israel denies the Palestinians their “little piece of ground.”)

The book was recently listed as required reading for sixth grade in the Newark, New Jersey public schools, a choice that has been challenged by the Zionist Organization of America.[1] This isn’t the first time the book has raised hackles.

Written in collaboration with Palestinian teacher Sonia Nimr, A Little Piece of Ground met with controversy from the moment it was published in Britain in 2003. Phyllis Simon, co-owner of a Vancouver, Canada, bookstore, urged Laird’s publisher (Macmillan) to reconsider the book, pointing out that “there is not even one mildly positive portrait of an Israeli in the entire book. . . . A Little Piece of Ground . . . is for children, the overwhelming number of whom clearly haven’t a clue about this conflict, and thus depend on books like this for the opinions they form about what goes on in the Middle East.”[2]

Laird’s answer was disingenuous. “The book is written through the eyes of a 12-year-old who just sees men with guns,” she wrote. “It would not have been true to my characters to do otherwise.”[3]

Perhaps, but who made the decision to paint the Middle East conflict exclusively through the eyes of a twelve-year-old Arab boy living in Ramallah during the Second Intifada? Karim sees his father humiliated at checkpoints; not only has he no idea why the Israelis have set these up in the first place, it’s a question he wouldn’t think to ask. Karim and his friends are confined inside by endless curfews which to them seem arbitrary, and there is no voice in the novel to explain them. Soldiers damage his school; are they just throwing their weight around, or are they looking for stashes of weapons? The reader isn’t told.
First Israeli to Be Wounded by Gaza Rocket in Sderot to Become IDF Officer
Shila Naamat was just one year and eight months old when a rocket from the Gaza Strip hit his home in the southern city of Sderot back in March 2002.

Shrapnel from the rocket moderately wounded Naamat, who was playing on the balcony of the home when the projectile landed, and was evacuated to a hospital in moderate condition

Naamat was the first Israeli civilian in Sderot to be wounded by rockets from the Palestinian enclave.

The incident happened when there was no safe space and bomb shelters on every corner of the bombarded city, including private homes. There were also no rocket alert sirens, and certainly, no Iron Dome that could protect the civilians.

Every Qassam rocket that was fired from the Strip at Sderot in the first few years had fatal and destructive consequences. Residents of the city and other communities near the Gaza border were forced to adapt to a new reality, which sadly continues to this day.

Naamat sustained a major wound to his leg and was fitted with platinum in his leg that has accompanied him all his life. But, he decided his injury will not hold him back. On the contrary, the injury eventually provided him with the needed drive to achieve his life goals - becoming an IDF officer.

"The IDF officer's training meant a lot to me, I learned many things about the IDF command, Israeli society, and of course the security system," Naamat says.

"I have more ambitions and I won't let my injury stop me, I want to reach senior commanding positions, and in the future do some public service, especially for the Israeli periphery."

"Me and my cousin, who is an Israeli Air Force officer, are working with the Sderot Youth Council to open up the young people of Sderot to important and commanding positions in the IDF.


These Jewish candidates say their experience as immigrants led them to run as Republicans
It’s a familiar pitch from American Jewish politicians: Our ancestors fled repression to enjoy the freedoms America offers, and your vote for me will help preserve them.

The difference for these three Jewish congressional longshots is that they are Republicans, and the flight from the oppression they describe happened not generations ago, but in their lifetimes.

Karina Lipsman in northern Virginia, Yuri Dashevsky in Brooklyn and Angela Grabovsky in Indianapolis are all candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives who were born in the former Soviet Union.

None is likely to enter Congress, but their candidacies are significant because their stories illustrate a conventional wisdom about the subset of American Jewry that was born in the Soviet Union: They are the flip side of the majority of American Jews who overwhelmingly favor liberal policies and Democratic politicians.

Polling of Soviet-born American Jews is scant, but at least one poll in 2004 bears out the commonplace assumption that Russian-speaking Jews are more conservative, with a majority favoring Republican President George W. Bush that election year.

Not one of the Soviet-born candidates had heard of the other two, but their campaigns have one theme in common: Their experiences as Jewish youngsters in the Soviet Union, and their parents’ experiences, have led them to believe that Republican policies are the best way to beat back what they say is a threat of socialism here.

It’s the same emotional appeal the dozens of Jewish Democratic candidates who run each cycle frequently use to make their case, citing their families’ flight from Nazi-occupied Europe and Tsarist Russia, except in those cases, the perceived threat is coming from the right.
The New York Times claims that schools, not crime, explain US haredi voting
The New York Times has had it in for the haredi religious Jewish community for some time now. While many communities have problems that deserve diligent coverage and public scrutiny, New York’s haredi Jews ( called ultra-Orthodox, a pejorative) have been covered and scrutinized to a degree that is wildly out of proportion to their relatively small population. A group of 50,000 to 100,000 people is not small, but in a city of eight million and a state of 20 million, it is impossible to justify the scorn to which they have been subjected.

Since 2012—although the Times’ disproportionate coverage of the community began well before that—the Times has written about the haredi community’s tendency to under-report crimes, as if this did not happen in many other communities, published long pieces on how difficult it is to leave the community, blamed it for measles outbreaks and mocked it for its stance on Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

The most striking case was a Timeseditorial in Yiddish that called on anyone who didn’t like their yeshiva education to contact the paper!!. This corresponded with a massive exposé on the state of haredi education. The Times is the paper of record in a state that is ranked 23rd in education despite more per-pupil spending than anywhere else in the country, yet it did not put out a public call for information on the shoddy state of non-Jewish public schools.

During the current election campaign, New York’s haredi population has largely shunned Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathy Hochul, endorsing her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin. The Times appears to have come up with an explanation why. A push notification sent to all subscribers was labeled, “A Political Force in New York: Challenges to the Hasidic community’s management of its schools pose a rare threat to the outsized political clout its leaders have built.”
Tom Gross: Saying ‘democracy itself is at stake’ simply means ‘we might lose’: Is such alarmism a vote winner?
Tom Gross on the 2022 US mid-term elections and the 2024 presidential election campaign. Nov 8. 2022


Explosion Of Liberal Extremists In Congress
The past election cycles have witnessed an explosion of radicals entering congress. They have almost all been coming from the left-wing.

According to the non-partisan group GovTrack, the number of extremists (scoring in the most extreme 0.10 ideology scoring) among Republicans was cut in half – from 22 to 11 – from 2018 to 2020. Many of the most extreme conservatives left the House of Representatives including Jeff Sessions who became U.S. Attorney General, Mark Meadows who became the president’s Chief of Staff, and Kevin Cramer who moved to the Senate.

Meanwhile, the number of liberal extremists jumped from 4 to 14. Seven of those radicals were newly elected to Congress.

While Republicans typically elect one to three radicals into its freshman class each election cycle, Democrats historically had only voted for new moderates. That changed dramatically in the 2018 elections.

The Democratic leadership warmly embraced the freshmen extremists and rewarded them with plum committee assignments, including in financial services and foreign affairs. Every left-wing extremists got two or three committees. In total, the freshmen radicals accounted for 18 committee seats, while the Republican radical freshmen had five.

Several of these freshmen radicals voted against providing Israel with funding to replenish the Iron Dome system it had used to defend itself against the barrage of missiles that the US-designated terrorist group Hamas launched into Israeli cities. The no votes included Representatives Garcia, Pressley, Tlaib and Omar. Ocasio-Cortez voted ‘present’.

The alt-left wing Democratic Socialists of America is continuing to back several of these extremists, include Rep. Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez. They are also backing many candidates in statewide races. Many of the DSA’s endorsed candidates fortunately lost to more moderate voices in the primaries. Hopefully, that is a harbinger for the general vote on November 8.
Barnes Campaigns With Celebrity Anti-Israel Activist on Eve of Election
Mandela Barnes, the Wisconsin Democratic Senate candidate, capped off his campaign by hosting a fundraiser on Sunday with actor and anti-Israel activist advocate Mark Ruffalo, who is under fire after objecting to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism.

Ruffalo, who is best known for his supporting role in 13 Going on 30, on Sunday headlined a "Save Democracy" fundraiser for Barnes, which also included appearances by actors Don Cheadle and Rosario Dawson. Ruffalo has called for sanctions against the Jewish state, compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa, and had to apologize last year after accusing Israel of "genocide."

The event with Ruffalo comes as Barnes has faced criticism for praising other prominent Israel-bashers—including Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and anti-Semitic pastor Jeremiah Wright.

"Wisconsin … ASSEMBLE," wrote Barnes in a Twitter post promoting the fundraiser. "Can't wait to be joined by @markruffalo, @doncheadle, @rosariodawson, @YOSOYCORDOVA, and @clarkgregg to send Ron Johnson packing."

Ruffalo recorded a video inviting fans to the "exclusive live-streamed event." "We're gonna fight for the safeguard of American democracy against these nutjobs," said Ruffalo in the video.

Ruffalo sparked outrage on Friday after he posted an article on Twitter from Qatar-funded news outlet Al Jazeera opposing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism, which has been adopted by the United States and dozens of other countries.

Anti-Israel activists have objected to the definition because it categorizes certain attacks on Israel, such as calling the Jewish state a "racist endeavor" and comparing Israeli policy to "the Nazis," as anti-Semitic.


John-Paul Pagano: The Dangerous Mainstreaming of Kanye West and Kyrie Irving’s Brand of Antisemitism
And the Black Hebrew Israelite claim, which had broad appeal, sometimes stirred a bitter sense of displacement and effrontery. Bishop Swan tweeted in 2018: “The Jews you see in Israel today are descendants from European Jews that settled there after WWII… They are not the Jews of the Bible.” And more recently: “Christians are followers of a Black, Palestinian Jew who was lynched by the Roman Empire…” He rails against the oppression of Palestinian Arabs by “European” Jews, despite the fact that approximately half of Israelis are Sephardic and Mizrahi—often darker-skinned Jews of Middle Eastern and African descent.

This is because narratives of racial supersession are conspiracy theories more than theologies—dualistic myths rather than assessments of the real world.

The idea of a stolen birthright requires an antagonist to do the stealing. Whether it’s Kanye West complaining that “Jewish Zionists” spread sexual stories about his wife because they’re “about that life,” or Kyrie Irving boosting misinformation about Jewish slavers inventing the Holocaust to distract from their crimes—white Jews are demonized as all-powerful, misanthropic imposters who humiliate Black people and enrich themselves at their expense.

“Kanye West has been publicly buck broken,” complained Bishop Swan, referring to a phrase that was adopted to describe the open sexual humiliation of a slave. “He apologized to the Jews, but not to Black people.”

In his role as a prominent NAACP leader, Swan was invited in March to become a member of the Massachusetts Hate Crimes Task Force.

Bishop Talbert Swan.

In the last three years, violent men who were motivated by exclusive and conspiracist Black Israelism have attempted two mass murders—one left six people dead, while the other left a rabbi and four others suffering machete stab wounds after being attacked during a Hannukah celebration. With street violence against Jews continuing to rise—including incidents where attackers disparage the Jewish identity of their targets as fake—it’s hard to imagine Swan being an effective advocate, at least on behalf of the victims.

When white Christians push exclusive theologies of substitution, we have no problem recognizing them as antisemitic. Spiritual self-identification is natural, but there should be no doubt about the nature of what Kanye and Kyrie are promoting. In Irving’s case, it even includes Holocaust denial.

A religious leader and civil rights activist like Talbert Swan should be the first line of defense against the dangers of paranoid, racialized religion. He should not be propagating it.


Shmuley Boteach: Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro err in defending Kanye ally Candace Owens
Yet Owens, who owns her rise in part to my dear friend Prager and who is employed at the Daily Wire by Shapiro, actually defended this vicious antisemite. After his tweet about going “Death con 3 against Jewish people,” Owens wrote on 11 October, “If you’re an honest person you did not think that this tweet was antisemitic.” Get it? She is the woman defending diabolical antisemitism and is the honest person. We, who are calling him out, are a bunch of liars.

But Owens wasn’t finished. She added, “You cannot even say the word ‘Jewish’ without people getting upset.”

Say what?

Owens, you think we have any issue with people saying the word Jewish? Umm, not really. We do have an issue with people saying they’re going to war with greedy, bloodsucking Jewish parasites.

If I were truly unkind I would add that in December 2018, Owens famously said, “If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well – ok, fine.” But I have no wish to be unfair and I believe strongly the quote was taken out of context and that Owens was simply defending nationalism, as opposed to defending antisemitism, albeit in a supremely ignorant way.

But on West there is no doubt. Owens has come to the public rescue of her friend, West, who is an appalling, depraved, and despicable antisemite.

And here’s where Shapiro, the founder of The Daily Wire entered the fray. Those of us who admire his ardent defense of Israel were shocked when he refused to condemn Owens’ remarks.

I WANT to be clear. I reject cancel culture and I do not believe for a moment that Shapiro should have fired Owens. But I do believe in the First Amendment and in Jewish pride. And Ben should have immediately and publicly rebuked her unforgivable defense of a putrid antisemite.

Instead, he said, “On a personal level, I get Candance defending her friend.” He also tweeted that while West’s comments are “clearly antisemitic and disturbing,” the rapper’s “moves toward pro-life, faith, and family conservatism are encouraging.”

Please! So Shapiro, you’re saying that while West clearly detests Jews, at least he’s opposed to abortion?

This is where all this gets rather sickening. What Shapiro is guilty of, as are an increasing number of Jewish Republicans, is putting Conservatism and the Republican Party before decency, fighting hatred and defending the Jewish people. Why is Shapiro putting party before principle and politics before his people? Are we going to see the Daily Wire give West an award for being the foremost pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-Conservative antisemite in America?

And here I have to do something I do not otherwise wish to do. I love Prager and I know him to be one of the great Jewish activists and leaders of our time. His ideas and thoughts, not to mention his profound love and friendship, have had an indelible effect on me for which I will always be both indebted and grateful but those of us who put Dennis on a pedestal are supremely troubled at his surprising defense of Owens. I don’t care how right-wing Owens is, there is no excuse to defend antisemitism.
Kanye’s And Palestinian Arabs’ Antisemitism
Kanye / Ye has a large following, including 31.8 million on Twitter and millions more on other social media platforms. His espousal of Jewish hatred and incitement to antisemitism finally cost him in some manner, with Adidas and several other companies finally severing lucrative commercial deals with him.

Alas, not so with Palestinian Arabs.

Denying and Stealing Jewish Identity
Kanye said that Jews are imposters and not really descendants of the Children of Israel from the Bible. He claimed that those are actually Black people, with “When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are.” He also offered “I can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.” In an interview with Chris Cuomo he said “You’re saying it’s anti-Semitic, but I don’t believe in that term. One thing is, Black people are also Jew. I classify as Jew also, so I actually can’t be an anti-Semite. So the term is actually, it’s not factual.”

Palestinian Arabs say much the same.
The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas falsely stated “this land [Israel] belongs to the people who live on it. It belongs to the Canaanites, who lived here 5,000 years ago. We are the Canaanites!” His “mainstream” Palestinian party Fatah has posted frequently that Jesus was the first Palestinian martyr. Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American “activist” often promoted by leftists, tweeted that “Jesus was a Palestinian of Nazareth.” Nicolas Massard, a Palestinian-American professor at Columbia University calls the ancient Jews “Palestinian Hebrews.” Supermodel Bella Hadid with over 100 million Instagram followers tweeted that “Jesus was a Palestinian” with a hashtag to keep it an ongoing movement.

Palestinians and Kanye are not simply trying to claim a piece of history for themselves and embracing the cultural appropriation of Jews. They are simultaneously trying to rob Jews of their history, and libel them as cheaters, imposters and thieves.
Amar’e Stoudemire defends Black Hebrew Israelites amid Kyrie and Kanye antisemitism
During an appearance on ESPN last week, Stoudemire had called on Irving to apologize, but stopped short of supporting a suspension. (Irving was suspended the following day for his initial refusal to apologize.)

West then called out Stoudemire in a tweet. “They make us attack each other,” West wrote. “Even our brothers who know who we truly are.”

Stoudemire responded in a video on Instagram.

“Kanye tweeted something about me, as if I’m turning my back on the community, as if I’m advising Kyrie to apologize for being a Hebrew Israelite,” Stoudemire said in the video, which is no longer on his page. “I would never ask Kyrie to apologize for being an Israelite, are you kidding me? I dedicated about 20-plus years of my life on researching and learning who we are as a people.”

Stoudemire went on to say that Irving’s apology was instead for “the little portion that’s inside the video that’s hurtful to the Jewish people.” He added that, “as an Israelite it’s our job to be a holy nation, so we understand that.”

It is not clear to what extent Stoudemire, who formally converted to Judaism while living in Israel in 2020, still identifies with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Stoudemire left his coaching job with the Brooklyn Nets earlier this year because he said it interfered with his Shabbat observance, and he frequently posts on social media about his study of Jewish texts.

Also over the weekend, the NBA’s lone Israeli and only known Jewish player, Deni Avdija, told reporters he agreed with Irving’s suspension.

“I think people look up to him,” Avdija said when asked about it in the locker room following a game between the Nets and his Washington Wizards on Friday night. “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.”

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


The Washington Post Embraces Colonialism
Colonialism, Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor told readers in 2016, “isn’t something to celebrate.” Yet the Post fully embraces colonialism when it is in the service of an anti-Israel narrative. The newspaper’s recent reporting and commentary provide ample proof.

A mere fraction of Arab citizens of Israel prefers to exclusively be called “Palestinians.” A 2020 survey by Tel Aviv University found that nearly a quarter (23 percent) of Israeli minorities define themselves as “Israeli,” and half (51 percent) self-identify as “Israeli Arab.” By contrast, only seven percent choose to call themselves “Palestinians.” But this hasn’t stopped foreign reporters, from a foreign newspaper, from telling Israeli Arabs what they should be called.

With growing frequency, many news organizations are now referring to Israeli Arabs as “Palestinians.” The Washington Post is foremost among them.

An Oct. 31, 2022, dispatch by reporter Claire Parker, for example, was headlined “Palestinian Israelis are divided and disillusioned as election nears.” An Oct. 28, 2022, article by Jerusalem bureau chief Steve Hendrix and reporter Shira Rubin, similarly referred to Israeli Arabs as “Palestinians.” Ditto for a November 2nd column by Tharoor himself.

Entitled, “After Israel’s election, it’s the Palestinians who need to vote,” Tharoor’s commentary is replete with his trademark misleading omissions and distortions.

As CAMERA has documented, Tharoor’s Israel obsession—in the year of COVID-19 he wrote almost as many columns about Israel as he did on China—has been mocked by other journalists. He has authored puff pieces on antisemites like Issa Amro, even comparing him to Gandhi. Amro has a long history of associating with supporters of Hamas and of antisemitic blood libels. When Amro was later detained and reportedly tortured by the Palestinian Authority, his chief booster in the Washington Post was silent for months. Apparently, if he couldn’t blame it on the Jewish state, it wasn’t worth writing about.

Tharoor has also consistently failed to mention the numerous instances of Palestinian Arab leaders rejecting statehood if it meant living in peace next to a Jewish state. His latest tirade is no different.

Palestinian Arab leaders have rejected offers for statehood since 1937. In more recent years they’ve refused U.S. and Israeli proposals in 2000 at Camp David, 2001 at Taba and 2008 after the Annapolis Conference. The latter offer included more than 93% of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), with land swaps for the remaining percentages and a capital in eastern Jerusalem. It was rejected out-of-hand by Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas. Subsequent proposals in 2014 and 2016 were based on this offer. But they too were rejected.

Yet in dozens of articles decrying the lack of a Palestinian state, Tharoor has never mentioned this long history. Instead, he prefers to call the PA, which rules over most Palestinian Arabs, a “helpless bystander.” Like the colonialists that he abhors, Tharoor deprives Palestinians of independent agency, preferring to cast them as perennial victims.
Press Advisory CAMERA Arabic Prompts Rare BBC Apology For Complaints Handling
CAMERA issued the following press advisory on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CAMERA Arabic Prompts Rare BBC Apology For ‘Unacceptable’ Complaints Handling Regarding Arabic Anti-Israel Bias

JERUSALEM – The BBC has issued a rare apology acknowledging its years-long failure to properly address complaints concerning its Arabic coverage of Israel following CAMERA Arabic’s submission of dozens of corrections requests.

“We apologise for the unacceptable delay and will ensure formal responses are issued as soon as possible,” a BBC spokesperson told the London-based Jewish Chronicle, which has circulated a petition calling for an inquiry into the corporation’s troubled coverage of Jews and Israel.

Since the May 2021 fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, CAMERA Arabic submitted 26 complaints to BBC concerning regarding factual errors and other failures to adhere to the corporation’s own standards at the taxpayer-funded Arabic service.

“Only seven received a proper, timely response and resolution,” a spokesperson for CAMERA Arabic told The Jewish Chronicle. “The BBC’s complaints system is unable to meet its own standards when it comes to content in Arabic about Israel and Jews.”

The BBC Charter calls “transparent, accessible, effective, timely and proportionate methods” to evaluate the 250,000 complaints it receives annually and to address reporting errors or other shortfalls.

At the time that The Jewish Chronicle reached out to the BBC last week for comment, the corporation upheld 14 of CAMERA Arabic’s 26 complaints, with some corrections delayed for many weeks. While BBC did not reject any of the watchdog’s complaints, it neither answered nor corrected most of the rest.

After initially standing by several BBC Arabic articles, the BBC eventually backtracked, amending, for example, coverage about a gruesome murder of a Palestinian gay man at the hands of Palestinian homophobes which included irrelevant and inaccurate criticism of Israel; the Arabic term demonizing Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount as “foreigners”; and references to Jewish prayer as “Talmudic ritual,” an additional Arabic dog whistle inciting against Jews.
Crickets, No Barks Media Silent on Hebron Mayor’s Bounty For Slaughtered Dogs
AFP, in particular, has previously demonstrated a very heightened interest in animal welfare items, publishing numerous items underscoring care, refuge, and evacuation to safety:
“In Gaza, traumatised Palestinians tend to shell-shocked pets,” June 1, 2021
“West Bank refuge welcomes unfancied donkeys,” March 9, 2021
“Hamas calls quits on beach time for Gaza’s dogs,” July 8, 2020
“More than 40 zoo animals evacuated from Gaza Strip,” April 7, 2019
“Lions, other animals to be saved from Gaza zoo; welfare group,” March 20, 2019
“Palestinian ex-banker devotes her life to West Bank dogs,” Aug. 26, 2017 (Diana Babish, the Bethlehem shelter founder featured in this article, has vehemently condemned Mayor Abu Sneineh, and her shelter accused him of responsibility for the hanging, running over, shooting and abuse of countless dogs.)
“Lion cubs relocated from impoverished Gaza to Jordan,” July 5, 2015

Though the Associated Press has displayed less interest in covering our furry companions, it has nevertheless touched on their fate in the past, likewise adhering to the familiar narrative of Palestinian compassion and care, with “Gazans defy taboos to rescue, neuter stray animals,” and “Gaza parrot gets treatment from Israeli animal rights group.”

As soon as events took a less warm and cuddly turn, news agencies bolted, abandoning their previously doted-upon subjects to those loyal Palestinians and Israelis who extend a helping hand, even as the international press looks away.
Elon Musk tweets meme featuring Nazi imagery
Elon Musk, who became the owner of the social media platform Twitter in October, tweeted imagery of a German Nazi soldier in a meme comparing modern social media to communication methods in the early 20th century on Monday.

The tweet, featuring an image of a German soldier in what is ostensibly the WWII era, had a notification bar – similar to the one users see on Twitter – on the back of a crate used to transport carrier pigeons, which were used during both world wars as a way of carrying messages beyond enemy lines.

The tweet came amid a series of antisemitic remarks by US celebrities, namely rapper Kanye West and NBA player Kyrie Irving.

“Hi Elon, not sure if you did so intentionally, but that picture is of a Nazi soldier," replied human rights lawyer and CEO of The International Legal Forum Arsen Ostrovsky, who advocates for pro-Israel and Jewish causes worldwide. "Given the relentless hate already directed at Jews on this platform, and this week marking 84 years since Kristallnacht, may I respectfully ask you to please withdraw this image.”
Australian auction house to sell Nazi memorabilia – again
Australian antique auction company “JB Military Antiques” has come under heavy criticism – once again – for auctioning memorabilia belonging to Nazi Germany’s army in World War II.

The auction company, which has come under criticism in the past for hosting a Nazi memorabilia auction, is set to sell 635 items at their November 20 auction – including Nazi firearms, uniforms and even a Luftwaffe helmet that already has a high bid of AUD 17,500 ($11,330).

“Profiteering from the proceeds of history’s darkest crime is beyond sickening, and if Hitler were alive today, he would be applauding JB Military Antiques for celebrating his regime’s machinery of death,” Australia's Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said in a statement regarding the sale.

Abramovich was also vocal in opposing JB Military’s 2021 auction, where they sold personal items that belonged to Adolf Hitler – including his personal tableware, cups, a wine cooler, a metal hair brush, a hand mirror and silverware.
Italian soccer officials investigate antisemitic chants by Lazio fans
Italian soccer authorities are investigating alleged antisemitic chanting from Lazio fans during the weekend’s Rome derby, Serie A announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, Italy’s top division said that a “follow-up investigation” would be carried out to verify the number of supporters making the offensive chants, videos of which circulated on social media after Lazio’s 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.

Serie A said the “boorish, outrageous and religiously discriminatory” chants were aimed at Roma fans “several times before the match and once during the game itself.”

On Monday Lazio condemned “expressions of antisemitism and racism which happen in almost every match at every stadium in Italy.”

“They’re not part of our culture and don’t represent our fans,” the club added in a statement.

Fascist fan groups are common across Italy, including at Roma, but Lazio’s hardcore supporters have a connection to the extreme right that stretches back to at least the 1970s.

Lazio’s historic ultras group, the Irriducibili, had friendly relations with its equally right-wing counterparts at Inter Milan and Verona.

Last season the handler of Lazio’s eagle mascot praised dictators Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco after being suspended by the club for performing a fascist salute at the end of a game.


Jewish Urban Farms Take Root in Australia
Growing up in Sydney, with its year-round beautiful weather, Mitch Burnie loved spending time outdoors in nature and gardening. Today, at 29, Burnie has turned that love into a project serving the city’s Jewish community: an urban farm.

After high school, Burnie avoided going to university: “I wanted nothing to do with it,” he told me. “I had no intention of going.” Instead, he earned what he dubbed “life experience” working as an informal Jewish educator at the Emanuel School, a Jewish school in Sydney, and as a Habonim youth leader in the U.K., after which he started working with a Sydney-based organization called Shalom, tasked with creating community activities for young Australian Jews. “Through these activities I was growing community and building connection,” he said.

As part of his role at Shalom, Burnie looked at Jewish communities around the world to see if there were programs that could be emulated in Sydney. In 2018, he traveled to the United States, where he met with many Jewish organizations doing interesting things for young people, including Hazon, Moishe House, and Jewish Outdoor Farmer. After meeting those Americans, he realized that there was a growing movement focused on “connecting agriculture to Judaism,” he said. “To identity and community. To tzedakah. And when I saw all of this, I thought, this is it!”

After returning home, Burnie wanted to open an urban Jewish farm in Sydney, but there was a problem: “I didn’t yet have the skills or knowledge.” So, he took a short sabbatical from his job to seek out the training he needed. In early 2019, he was accepted to Hazon’s three-month Adamah Fellowship, a program for adults in their 20s and 30s that integrates organic agriculture, farm-to-table living, Jewish learning, community building, social justice, and spiritual practice.

“I was the first and only Aussie to have ever been on it,” he said. “Before I went, I spoke to the British person who runs the Jewish community urban farm in London. I realized this didn’t just have to be an American thing—it could be global as well.”

The fellowship, which he spent living in a tent on Lake Miriam in Falls Village, Connecticut, at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, was a formative experience for Burnie. “I woke up every day at 5 a.m. and sang the Shema with a group of like-minded Jews from across America,” he recalled. “We were all there learning about regenerative agriculture and how to link it to Jewish festivals. We were delving into our people’s history before exile.”
Emergency surgery in Israel saves life of premature Syrian baby
A logistically and diplomatically complex medical operation in Israel ended up saving the life of a premature baby from Syria, it was revealed Tuesday.

Two-week old Johnny Yusuf is one of triplets born to a Syrian refugee family living in Cyprus. Weighing a mere one and half kilograms (3.3 lbs) at birth, he was diagnosed with a life threatening congestive heart defect and required an emergency operation to save his life, one unavailable at Cyprus hospitals.

As his situation worsened, the Cypriot Health Minisrty contacted Professor Einat Birk, the director of The Institute of Cardiology at Schneider Children's Medical Center Petah Tikva, who recommended he'd be flown for treatment to Israel immediately.

Since the baby was a Syrian national, his flight to Israel required the intervention of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Cyprus in order to obtain the necessary permits.

Professor Gil Klinger, the director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital, flew to Cyprus along with his team and the medical equipment necessary to transfer the baby safely. The baby's 21-year-old brother, Aref, traveled with him.

"For over a decade, we've brought over babies from Cyprus who needed this sort of operation," Prof. Brik said. "With a population of only 800,000 people, there's no way Cyprus could have the required residency for congenital heart defects in babies. We've operated on dozens of babies, the latest one just last week. Johnny's story is unique because he's both very small and needed the operation right away.
Letters From a Jewish World War Two Veteran
Charles L. Fletcher was drafted just shy of his 20th birthday in September 1943, and served until being honorably discharged in February 1946. “Love and Kisses, Charlie: WWII Letters from a Jewish-American Serviceman” is a collection of the more than 600 letters, telegrams, and postcards, that Charlie sent home to his family. Below is an excerpt from the preface and an example of one of Charlie’s letters.

As Veteran’s Day approaches, please consider rummaging through your own attics. Perhaps you will discover a voice from the past or a family story that can be shared and enrich us all.

In Spring of 2017, I visited my parents in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for the holiday of Passover. Together with my wife, Devora, and young son, Eli, we had made the trip from our home in Jerusalem, to spend much-needed quality time with our extended family. I’d always been a history enthusiast, but after becoming a new father, there was, simultaneously, born a newfound appreciation and an interest in my learning more about my own historical family roots.

It was this curiosity that found us rummaging through the many boxes in my parent’s attic one afternoon during our stay. Box after box of old family photos and mementos were opened and looked through. One of the final boxes of the day became the catalyst for an unexpected yet wonderful four-year journey.

Within the large box were eight smaller shoe boxes, filled with what appeared to be countless old envelopes, stacked together. Devora picked one letter from the box — completely at random — and began to read aloud.

Wednesday, May 16, 1945
Hello Folks,
Another swell package from you … There are some Polish Jews in this town, and I must have met them all yesterday, about 51. The majority have been in concentration camps for over five years, and they certainly have some stories to tell…God knows what’ll become of them.
The Poles treated them terribly and none want to go back there. When you see something like this, you begin to realize why Palestine would be such a grand place. These people actually have no place to go. They all speak Yiddish and I understood them, just like hearing my Old Man speak it. A lot came from Warsaw, and they say it was a terrible place for the Jews…
That’s all now.
Love and Kisses,
Charlie

We were left speechless, in awe and astonishment.

It was not news to me that my Pop-Pop, Charlie Fletcher, had been a serviceman in World War Two. I had grown up hearing him repeat the same two or three Army anecdotes, had happily listened while he sang his unit’s song very heartily, albeit off-key. But holding his letters, seeing his handwriting, and reading his short but powerful message written more than 70 years before, was among the most profound experiences of my life.
Uzzi Ornan, Linguist and Former Irgun Member, Dies at Age 99
Uzzi Ornan, Irgun fighter, linguist and a follower of the Canaanite movement, died on Thursday in Nofit, in the Lower Galilee, at the age of 99.

Born Uzziel Halperin in Jerusalem in 1923 to a Chassidic father and an atheist mother, he grew up in Tel Aviv.

He was a member of the Irgun underground militia, and took the name of the Jebusite king called Ornan in the 1 Chronicles and Araunah in 2 Samuel, in an effort to deceive British authorities.

Nevertheless, Ornan was arrested in 1944 for assembling bombs, and detained in British prison camps in Eritrea, Sudan and Kenya until Israel achieved independence.

After his return to Israel in 1948, he became a linguist and promoted the ideology of the Canaanite Movement, which was founded by his older brother, Uriel Shelach, better known by his literary pseudonym, Yonatan Ratosh. Canaanism espoused an identity aiming to disconnect Jews from their Jewish past and create a new one that encompassed the Middle East’s Arab population as well. This included the idea of switching to the Latin script for Hebrew.

Ornan’s father, Yechiel Halperin, was a Hebraist, raising Ornan’s older siblings to speak Hebrew even before the family immigrated from Poland. But Ornan told this writer that he “picked up Yiddish from ‘here and there’ nevertheless.”

He went on to get a PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964, and became a professor of linguistics. He also became a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, which sets the standards for the modern language.

Israeli-born Australian linguist Ghil’ad Zuckermann, who holds the chair of Endangered Languages at the University of Adelaide and is the president of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies, recalls how he enjoyed debating with Ornan, whom he had known since the 1990s.

He described Ornan as “an original thinker with very unique ideas.”




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