Saturday, December 10, 2022

12/10 Links: Eighty years since Tunisian Jews were rounded up by the Nazis; Vigil honors victims of 2019 antisemitic shooting in Jersey City

From Ian:

Eighty years since Tunisian Jews were rounded up by the Nazis
December 9 1942 marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Jews of Tunisia. The Germans occupied the country the previous month, and 5,000 Jewish males were marched off to forced labour camps. There was little that the Jewish community could do to resist this colossal force. France 24 commemorates 80 years since the first round-up:

Moncef Bey: signed every antisemitic decree
On December 9, 1942, when Tunisia had been occupied for a month by the Germans, 3,000 Jewish men over the age of 18 were ordered to do forced labour, but only 120 men showed up. The occupier then ordered a round-up. Nearly 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor in camps where they suffered ill-treatment.

“While the chief of SS rants, I mentally take stock of the situation, ” recalled community leader Paul Ghez.” We feel very small before the colossal force which has been unleashed. I look to my right at the pitiful group of gloomy and silent prisoners. I can make out the beard of the rabbi, I see a child shivering with fear.” On December 9, 1942, Paul Guez, head of the Jewish community in Tunis, turned out to be quite powerless. While the German occupier conducted the round-up in the Tunisian capital, the Jews could not put up any resistance. Nearly 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor camps.

This date marks a turning point. Until then, the Jews of Tunisia, about 90,000 people, had not suffered such persecution. Since the establishment of the Vichy regime, however, they were the object of anti-Semitic measures, according to the Statut des juifs promulgated in France in October 1940. “In this statute, article 9 stipulates that it is applicable in the countries of the protectorate”, explains the historian Claude Nataf, president of the Society for the History of the Jews of Tunisia (SHJT). “But for a draft law to be applicable in Tunisia, it must have the seal of the bey (the Tunisian sovereign)”, he says.

At the time, Ahmed II Bey ruled the country. “He is an old man who will die two years later. He is more concerned about his legacy and what he will bequeath to his children. He does not want to come into conflict with the Resident General of France, especially on the Jewish question”, says Claude Nataf. The statute was therefore introduced on November 30, 1940 and excluded Jews in public service and in the press, radio, theater and cinema. However, it turned out to be “more moderate” than in mainland France, according to the historian, since a second statue exempting certain professions was promulgated in June 1941.
The Adas Affair
The life and death of the richest Jew in Iraq

A woman makes a frantic journey from the southern city of Basra to the Royal Palace in Baghdad. Her name is Aliza (Alice) Adas. She is Shafiq Adas’s wife and will soon be his widow. Waiting for her inside the palace is the Hashemite prince Emir ‘Abd al-Ilah, the head of the Iraqi Royal Family. She genuflects before him, falling to the ground and kissing his feet. Little does she know in this moment that hanging in the balance is not only her husband’s life, but also the fate of the whole Jewish community.

It was September 1948. Together with her husband Shafiq, 40-year-old Aliza had brought into the world three sons (Zaki, Victor, and Sabah) and three daughters (Dolly, Vicky, and Stella). In this couple, Aliza was the local one, the daughter of a wealthy family engaged in the tea and sugar trades. Shafiq was born in Aleppo, Syria, and had followed his eldest brother Avraham to Iraq to try his luck in business after the First World War, in which Iraq was conquered by the empire on which the sun had not yet set. Iraq was a whole new world for them, a place of boundless business opportunities. Aliza had a broad face and sharp features, and her posture hinted at her hands-on disposition. Despite having been born and raised in Baghdad and speaking flawless Arabic, she was entirely illiterate in the language. Nevertheless, she had a masterful grasp of English and French, as expected among the Jewish elite in Iraq in that era.

The Emir, for his part, was much weaker than he appeared. Perhaps the most eccentric figure in the Iraqi Royal Family, ‘Abd al-Ilah knew that the opportunities facing him were extremely limited. Ever since his brother-in-law, King Ghazi, had been killed in a gruesome car accident at the entrance of the Royal Palace in Bagdad nine years earlier—a telegraph pole had fallen on his race car and sliced his head in two—the Emir had served as the formal head of the Iraqi state, since the legal heir, Ghazi’s son Faisal, was only four years old. As Queen Aliya’s brother, living with her in the palace, ‘Abd al-Ilah also became the interim head of the royal household, with the title of regent.

This regent had never managed to endear himself to the Iraqi people, most of whom saw him as a pro-British collaborator. He was a gazelle-like figure, wrote a British diplomat, with large eyes, a prominent forehead, and an oval face. His choice to fill his guestroom with photographs of the British Royal Family, and the fact that his main hobby was horseback riding, added nothing to his popularity. He once questioned how Arab he truly was at all. The rumors about his suspected homosexual tendencies did little to help him, either.
Vigil honors victims of 2019 antisemitic shooting in Jersey City
A vigil was held in Jersey City Thursday night to remember the victims of a 2019 antisemitic shooting.

At the vigil commemorating the three years since the deadly shooting at a local kosher grocery store, NJ First Lady Tammy Murphy said, "Detective Joseph Seals, Mindy Ferentz, Moshe Deutsh, Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, and Michael Rumberger. They were spouses, parents, children, neighbors and friends."

Investigators say two gunmen, 47-year-old David Anderson and 50-year-old Francine Graham, killed 13-year veteran Detective Joseph Seals.

They then targeted the Jewish deli and killed three people inside the store including 24-year-old Moshe Deutsch, 49-year-old Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, and 31-year-old Mindy Ferencz.

Later, investigators determined the pair had killed a fifth victim, who was their Uber driver, Michael Rumberger.

Police shot and killed both of the suspects.

Everyone who saw the scene that night or that next day will never forget how much worse it could have been.

As horrifying as the attack was three years ago, it was far from an isolated event. In fact, the experts say it was just a drop from of their hatred.

In early 2020, officials said there was evidence that the suspects had been planning the attack for months.

The gunman allegedly checked out the JC Kosher Market on Martin Luther King Drive on at least two occasions and entered the store during one of them, even driving by the business twice on the day of the shootings.

In the years since these lives were lost, antisemitism has been on the rise.


Uncommon Knowledge: “Bibi: My Story,” Benjamin Netanyahu on His Life and Times
Benjamin Netanyahu is the past and soon to be again prime minister of Israel. In his new book, Bibi: My Story, Netanyahu describes how he went from an Israeli American high school student in Philadelphia to a member of the Israeli Defense Force, detouring along the way to study architecture and get a master’s degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976. His studies were interrupted when his brother Yoni was killed in the raid on Entebbe, Uganda, which inspired Bibi to return to Israel and dedicate his life to protecting that state. This interview covers those events as well as his rise to the top of Israeli politics—multiple times.


Israel and Bahrain: When great leaders stand together against Iran - opinion
Not even the word historical can describe what happened this week in Bahrain when thousands of steps forward toward enhancing the unique relations built between my country and Israel.

Among the moments I personally view as another turning point in shaping the future relations between the two nations is the moment His Majesty warmly welcomed President Isaac Herzog and HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim, wife of HM the king welcoming Israel’s first lady.

It wasn’t just the heads of both states meeting to discuss issues of mutual interest but the whole trip was unique as it involved the First Ladies, both very highly respected and appreciated by women and we all know the significant role women can play in achieving warm peace.

And while the visit of the 11th President of Israel was a source of pride to hundreds of thousands of people in Bahrain, some insisted on condemning and rejecting this visit, assuming that their voices can ever be heard again. These were the voices of some who unfortunately choose not to believe that times have changed and hate language is not acceptable anymore.

And most of the voices condemning the visit did as a matter of fact come from the same faces associated to dissolved political parties involved in the 2011 coup attempt in Bahrain backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The same faces that carried the doomed yellow flags of Hezbollah prior to the incidents of 2011 seem to realize that their attempt to kidnap Bahrain has failed and would take advantage of any opportunity to burn the white and blue flag and praise former ayatollah regime representative Essa Qassim.

They are the exact same faces that went to the streets protesting former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett’s visit and the official inauguration of the Israeli Embassy in Bahrain.

Small crowds basically want to be vocal, not because of the Palestinian issue but because their loyalty remains to be toward Khamenei. And let’s not forget Muslim Brotherhood and communist political societies who insist they aren’t Muslim Brotherhood nor communists, thinking that they can still hide their real faces.


US opposes UN settlement ‘blacklist,’ says it poses ‘genuine threat’ to firms
The US declared Friday that it opposes the United Nations database of companies that operate in West Bank settlements, saying it has not cooperated with the office responsible and will not be doing so in the future.

The position laid out by US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel sought to balance between the Biden administration’s opposition to Israeli settlements and its belief that the UN is not a platform for dealing with such issues.

The settlement blacklist was created in February 2020 in response to a 2016 UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for a “database for all businesses engaged in specific activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The list contained the names of 112 firms — 94 Israeli and 18 foreign, including Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Motorola Solutions. In Norway, the list led the sovereign wealth fund to dump companies involved in settlements, citing concern over human rights violations.

The database returned to the news this week following a report in the Axios news site that the Biden administration has been pressuring the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights not to update the list.

Patel did not go as far as to say that the US was pressuring the UN on the matter, but he acknowledge that the administration has made its position against the blacklist clear to officials in the UN human rights office.

“The US opposes the creation of this database… and continues to oppose any work to update it,” he said.

“We have not provided and will not provide any information to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on this database, and our position has been repeatedly made clear in public statements as well as in meetings that we’ve had directly with the Office of the High Commissioner.”
Virginia’s Republican-led antisemitism panel blasts BDS, subtly critiques Trump
A Republican-led commission tasked with studying antisemitism in Virginia recommended a suite of actions, from improving Holocaust education to prohibiting Israel boycotts, while also referring to former US president Donald Trump’s recent dinner with a pair of prominent antisemitic figures.

The Virginia Commission to Combat Antisemitism, established by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, also concluded in a report released earlier this week that “political advocacy in the classroom has been associated with subsequent antisemitic actions.”

The report, which Youngkin ordered on his first day in office in January, comes just weeks after the US Department of Education opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitic harassment at a Fairfax County school district, filed by the right-wing Zionist Organization of America. Congress has since 2004 mandated an annual report on antisemitism worldwide, and a number of states have commissions on how best to advance Holocaust education and broader anti-hate measures.

In Virginia, the state that hosted the deadly 2017 Charlottesville march that thrust right-wing white nationalism into the American consciousness, the forming of such a commission to fight antisemitism was a potential model for other states to follow. While the report does touch on Charlottesville, it lays as much blame for antisemitism on anti-Israel activists and the state education system as it does on white nationalists.

Mirroring Youngkin’s own language about what he refers to as liberal bias in public schools, the report encouraged Virginia’s legislature to pass laws “prohibiting partisan political or ideological indoctrination in classrooms and curricula at state-supported K-12 schools and higher education institutions.”
Biden's Brazil Ambassador Pick with Antisemitic History Faces Possible Senate Confirmation Action
The nomination of longtime Democrat donor Elizabeth Frawley Bagley to serve as ambassador to Brazil returned to the Senate’s executive calendar this week, making it possible for leadership to rapidly schedule a vote for her alongside other nominees, potentially before the end of the year.

The Senate held a tumultuous hearing for Bagley’s nomination in May in which the current telecommunications professional with ties to top Democrats including climate czar John Kerry and Hillary Clinton faced bipartisan condemnation. Concerns centered around a 1998 interview in which she claimed that Democrats entertained “stupid” pro-Israel viewpoints because “the Jewish factor” of “money” influenced them. Multiple senators and Jewish organizations decried her remarks as antisemitic – and she apologized for the interview during the hearing – but the Biden administration did not withdraw her nomination.

Bagley’s history of antisemitic commentary is especially concerning given the presidential transition set to occur in Brazil in January. Staunchly pro-Israel conservative President Jair Bolsonaro is set to culminate his term and return executive power to convicted felon Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a hardline socialist who recognized Palestine as a sovereign state during his prior terms in power and strengthened the Latin American nation’s ties to Islamist Iran.

Bagley’s nomination resurfaced on the Senate executive calendar on Tuesday, alongside several other stalled ambassador nominations. This formality allows Senate leaders to bring up the nominations, potentially bundling them together for a vote, before the end of the year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is likely to try to push a slate of nominees through on unanimous consent before the end of the year, but since Bagley’s nomination was deadlocked in committee with an 11-11 vote that did not approve her, it is highly unlikely she would be part of any deal to fill vacancies.
"Israeli Arab Lawmaker Ayman Odeh Meets with UN Secy-Gen Guterres, J Street to Incite Against Israel"
Israeli Arab Knesset member Ayman Odeh met Friday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to discuss Israel’s incoming right-wing government led by Likud MK Benjamin Netanyahu.

Odeh, who heads the Hadash-Ta’al party, claimed that Israel’s Arab population needs “international intervention” for protection from the new government.

The lawmaker, known for inciting against Israel, presented a letter to Guterres during the meeting in which he claimed that incoming National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party, “has defended and glorified Jewish terrorists who have murdered Arab Palestinians and called for Arabs to be forcibly transferred from the state.”

Odeh claimed that Ben Gvir – who must obtain Netanyahu’s approval for his actions – “will be given a high level of control over state armed forces, including the police and border patrol. It is difficult to overstate the terror this has already caused by [Israeli] Arab Palestinian citizens.

“This is an extremely dangerous situation that requires international intervention to protect the lives of Arab Palestinian citizens,” he wrote.

He wrote in a tweet after the meeting [Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad] “Erdan does not represent us; we will represent ourselves. I met with the UN Secretary General today to talk about the immediate threat facing Arab citizens and everyone who believes in democracy from the next government.”

Odeh also addressed the annual far-left J Street national convention last week. He is a yearly favorite of the conference. “It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this moment is,” he told participants.
PA chief urges world to shun an Israeli government not committed to two states
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called upon the international community to “refrain from dealing” with the next Israeli government if it refuses to accept the principle of two states for two peoples.

“These days we do not have a partner in Israel who believes in a two-state solution on the basis of international law, previously signed agreements, and the rejection of violence and terrorism,” Abbas said while in Riyadh at the inaugural China-Arab States Summit.

The conference was hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also met with Abbas.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is currently working to form a government after his bloc won a majority of seats in national elections on November 1.

Though he once backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in recent years Netanyahu has changed his tune and spoken out against the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Palestinians say Netanyahu’s policies of settlement expansion in the West Bank have rung the death knell for two states by making it virtually impossible to establish a geographically contiguous Palestinian state. Supporters of Netanyahu note that when Israel has withdrawn from disputed territory — in south Lebanon in 2000, and Gaza in 2005 — it has been taken over by terrorist groups (Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively), and used to attack Israel.

When outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid used his own 2022 address to the United Nations General Assembly to back a two-state solution, the Likud party accused him of seeking to “hand over homeland territory to our enemies.”
The Israel Guys: Is it Really DANGEROUS to Visit Israel? | The Israel Guys
A recent survey awarded Israel 5th place the safest countries for tourists to visit. At the same time, there were two terrorist attacks this week. What’s the catch? Find out on today’s program.


Report: Israel warns will bomb Beirut airport if it’s used for Iran weapon shipments
Israel has warned Lebanon that it could bomb Beirut’s international airport, according to one Saturday report, after an earlier report claimed Iran had recently transferred weaponry to the Hezbollah terror group via civilian flights.

Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, cited unidentified Israeli political sources as saying Israel was investigating claims by the Saudi-funded al-Arabiya network that Iran recently smuggled weapons through Beirut International Airport.

According to Asharq Al-Awsat, Israel has warned the Lebanese government that it could strike the airport if it is indeed used for smuggling attempts.

The Israeli Air Force has admitted to conducting strikes in Syrian territory, targeting Iranian shipments of weapons meant for the Lebanese terror group to use against Israel. The IAF has largely abstained from conducting raids inside Lebanon itself, though it has indicated that it was prepared to do so.

Citing unnamed sources, al-Arabiya said Thursday that Tehran had used the airline Meraj, which recently started flying a direct route between the two nations’ capitals, to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.

Asharq Al-Awsat said the Israeli political sources were aware of the al-Arabiya report but did not actually confirm its authenticity.

Israel has in the past accused Iran of using direct flights to Lebanon to transfer equipment and arms to Hezbollah, but officials note the relative difficulty in doing so as the terror group does not control the airport. Therefore Iran prefers to first fly such weaponry into Syria and truck it over the border.


Lions' Den resurfaces, say Israel only understands 'blood and bullets'
The Lions’ Den armed group held a large rally in the Old City of Nablus on Friday, signaling the return of the militia after several of its leaders and members were killed and arrested by the Israeli security forces in October.

The rally, attended by dozens of masked gunmen, was the first of its kind in many weeks. Residents of the Old City of Nablus said 50-70 gunmen took part in the rally.

The group called on its men to remain ready for fighting Israel. “The enemy understands only the language of blood and bullets,” it said in a statement.

The reappearance of the Lions’ Den came despite attempts by the IDF and the Palestinian Authority to eliminate the group.

Israeli security forces have killed and arrested several leaders of the group over the past few months.

Several members of the group have reportedly turned themselves into the Palestinian Authority security forces to avoid being killed or arrested by the IDF.

Friday’s rally was also attended by members of another militia - the Balata Batallion.

The group, based in the Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus, is headed by Mohammed Abu Dira’, nicknamed al-Zankalouni.


Iran's Mullahs: When Will the EU Wake Up?
Does the EU know that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has received huge support for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? Iran has been supplying kamikaze drones to Russia. That is why the Ukrainian foreign ministry reportedly stripped Iran's ambassador in Kyiv of his accreditation and reduced the embassy's diplomatic staff there.

The Biden administration is also not putting any pressure on the EU to stop its business dealings with Iran's ruling clerics....

"Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us. And their stock of missiles is dwindling. Therefore, Russia went looking for affordable weapons in other countries to continue its terror. It found them in Iran." — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Jerusalem Post, November 4, 2022.

"Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear -- I fear greatly -- the storm will not pass.... It will spread to the South; it will spread to the North." — Winston Churchill, January 20, 1940.
At least five Jews arrested by Iran during protests against Islamic Republic
At least five Iranian Jews were arrested by Iranian security forces over the last few weeks during nationwide protests engulfing the theocratic Islamic state, The Jerusalem Post can reveal.

Karmel Melamed, an Iranian-American journalist who has deep sourcing within the Persian Jewish community in Iran and in the Iranian Diaspora, told the Post that "my contact source who is in contact with the Jewish leadership in Iran has confirmed that indeed five Jews have been arrested in Iran recently, but one was released after a one-week detention.”

He added that "the four remaining Jews are still in jail, awaiting adjudication of their cases by the Iranian authorities along with many other young people who have been arrested for their involvement in the protests. Of the four Jews are in custody, two of them are university students from Tehran who were rounded up with the scores of other student protestors.”

Some detained Jews are Tehran university students
Melamed, who has written extensively about Iranian Jews, said “one of the Jews in custody is a Jewish student from Shiraz who was arrested for flying a small drone in his city. The flying of any drones by civilians is strictly prohibited by the Iranian regime.”

According to Melamed, “right now, the Jewish leadership in Tehran is working closely with the regime's authorities to help secure their release.”

Armita Abbasi, 20, who sports a Star of David necklace in photographs of herself although she is not Jewish, was arrested and raped by the Islamic Republic’s security forces in October. CNN reported that, in contrast to most Iranian dissidents within Iran, she “did not anonymize her anti-regime posts” on social media.

The news network, which did not mention her wearing a Star of David, reported that leaked accounts “suggested that Iranian security forces tortured and sexually assaulted Abbasi.”


Anti-Zionist Protestors Disrupt CUNY Event on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Anti-Zionist protestors disrupted a panel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was held on Thursday night at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center.

Handing out flyers accusing Israel of “occupation,” “censorship,” and “genocide,” the protestors caused so much raucous that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to escort them from the building, Academic Engagement Network (AEN) Executive Director and panelist for the event, titled “A Conversation on the Language of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” Miriam Elman told The Algemeiner on Friday.

Other panelists at the event included, Donna Robinson Divine, Professor of Jewish Studies at Smith College and Professor Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.

“They rose up en masse and came in front of the podium and started shrieking,” Elman said. “It was very loud and they screaming slogans. And the audience didn’t just sit there. They were screaming right back. Later, NYPD [New York City Police Department] came into the room and escorted them out.”

“We lost fifteen minutes of the presentation of the event,” she continued. “It’s unacceptable.”

The City University of New York (CUNY) is the subject of a new Title VI complaint with the US Department of Education alleging that it has intentionally ignored “a sustained pattern of antisemitism.”

Filed in July by the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), it follows accusations of antisemitism at CUNY campuses aired during a New York City Council hearing on the issue last month, held after the CUNY School of Law faculty endorsed a boycott of Israel.


Yet again, the Courts find for John Ware and his BBC Panorama documentary ‘Is Labour Antisemitic?’
Documentary maker John Ware explains why he has brought three successful court cases against those who he believed had defamed him and the BBC Panorama programme he made about antisemitism in Corbyn’s Labour Party. ‘Testing the evidence before a Judge was the only way to set the record straight for me, my BBC colleagues and the many Jews demeaned by this uncompromising assault’ he writes.

On my home from Christmas shopping in Oxford Street in 2019, I passed by the BBC at New Broadcasting House where I saw about 40 fifty-somethings waving Jewish Voice for Labour placards and a Palestinian flag.

The demo was directed at me and my Panorama ‘Is Labour antisemitic?’ transmitted five months earlier and was organised by the publisher of a website called ‘Press-Gang exposing Rogue journalisms’.

Paddy French’s campaign accused me of deliberately deceiving 2m viewers by knowingly exaggerating the ‘extent and nature’ of antisemitism in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.

He disseminated his ‘evidence’ in glossy pamphlets and to thousands on social media parroting the language of a quasi-statutory body with portentous assertions like ‘Our Charge sheet…’ and ‘This damning report finds against the BBC…’

300 pamphlets were printed to be sent to broadcast and newspaper editors to inflict maximum harm on my reputation and BBC Journalism. Flyers were handed out to BBC employees.

My motive for knowingly deceiving 2m viewers? To help stop Corbyn becoming prime minister, according to French – despite my having accused Boris Johnson of lying as prime minister in another documentary just three weeks before the 2019 election.

Undermining Panorama has been central to Corbynite attempts to rewrite history because they consider the programme helped deprive Corbyn of the premiership.

Amongst French’s supporters were celebrity Corbynites Ken Loach and the multi-millionaire co-founder of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, French’s main financial backer. In one of Waters’ social media tirades against me, he said I was ‘entirely controlled by the Oligarchs….bought and paid for’.

For months French had told his supporters that only a trial offered the ‘unique opportunity for the issue of antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party to be explored in a forensic setting.’


Jewish groups urge influencers and tech platforms to stop hosting Ye interviews
Jewish and anti-hate organizations are urging social media influencers and tech platforms to stop hosting interviews with Ye, the rapper and artist formerly known as Kanye West, as he’s continued to make antisemitic statements and criticize Jewish people in his recent public appearances.

Representatives for five Jewish and anti-hate groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Jewish Committee, StopAntisemitism and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance called on influencers and tech platforms to take responsibility for their part in allowing Ye’s antisemitic statements to spread online.

“Anybody who gives him a platform, you’re basically complicit at this point,” said Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism. “The only goal of his is to spew hatred and further vilify Jews.”

The statements come after white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who has been working on Ye’s 2024 presidential campaign, livestreamed what he said was a call with Twitch star Adin Ross on Dec. 3, in which the two appeared to discuss a potential interview involving Ye and Ross. Ross, a popular Twitch streamer with 7 million followers, is Jewish and said that he was going to “stand up for the Jews” in the interview.

On Dec. 5, political streamer Hasan Piker said in a Twitch stream that he may participate in the interview. Piker has more than 2 million followers on the popular Amazon-owned streaming platform.

Neither Piker nor Ross responded to a request for comment. A Twitch representative responded by pointing NBC News to its hateful conduct policy, which forbids “behavior that is motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance.” The representative noted that if a guest on a Twitch-creator-hosted show broke its policies, it would most likely take down the stream and suspend the show's host.


BBC’s Bateman again whitewashes Palestinian violence
Bateman’s report includes a link to a police statement put out on Twitter and an account given by the officer concerned under the sub-heading “Disputed account” and next goes on to tell readers that:
“However, the accounts of four eyewitnesses who spoke to the BBC in Huwara did not match the police version of events.”

Having uncritically promoted the claims of those “four eyewitnesses”, Bateman goes on to cast doubt on the involvement of a knife in the earlier stages of the incident, despite the police having provided photographs of the weapon and the wounded officer’s face.
“Asked whether Mr Mefleh had a knife, all four witnesses insisted he did not. No weapon is visible in Mr Mefleh’s hands or anywhere in the photo of him lying wounded after being shot by the Israeli driver.”

Throughout his report, Bateman cites examples of reactions to the incident from one particular angle:
“Video of the shooting drew a massive reaction online and sparked a diplomatic rebuke by Israel to a top UN official who said he was “horrified” at the killing. […]

Palestinian leaders described it as an execution “in cold blood”.”

That ‘execution’ theme was copiously promoted on Palestinian social media in the hours after the incident, including by frequent BBC interviewee Husam Zomlot.

Once again it is amply clear that the aim of this latest report by Bateman on the topic of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces is to advance the delegitimising narrative of ‘excessive’ and ‘disproportionate’ use of force by Israeli soldiers and policemen who so far this year have had to deal with well over two thousand Palestinian terror attacks and countless incidents of armed attacks and violent rioting during counter-terrorism operations.
PodCast: How Fake History about Jews and the Evolution of European Finance Helped Create Modern Anti-Semitism
According to a highly influential 17th-century French manual of commerce, Jews were responsible for inventing bills of exchange—complex financial instruments, somewhere between money orders and checks, that were essential for international trade in the days before the telegraph and modern banking. While Jews did not, in fact, invent bills of exchange, the story found in this manual was repeated countless times over the centuries. Francesca Trivellato explains how the perceived link between Jews and the development of European commerce illuminates the connections between medieval and modern anti-Semitism.
‘Cursed Zionists’: Austrian Authorities Order Investigation into Rampant Antisemitism at Vienna Mosque
Austria’s education minister has ordered an investigation into a mosque in Vienna exposed as a hotbed of antisemitic and Islamist incitement.

Education Minister Susanne Raab said on Friday that the investigation of the Al-Hidaya Mosque in the Leopoldstadt neighborhood of the country’s capital was being launched in response to a detailed report on the mosque’s activities.

The 143 page report — compiled by the Documentation Center for Political Islam, a Vienna-based think tank — detailed the promotion of Muslim Brotherhood ideology by the mosque’s imam and president, Ibrahim al-Dermedash. Examining the sermons delivered at the mosque, its social media postings and the offerings contained in its library, the report concluded: “All three areas show support for the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.”

Hamas, which rules Gaza, is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks the establishment of Islamic sharia law as the basis for political rule.

One sermon delivered by al-Demerdash predicted that the 2020s would be a decade of Islamic “renaissance” heralded by the destruction of the State of Israel, which he described as the “cursed Zionists.”

“In 2027, Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth at the hands of men dedicated to Allah, a generation of youth whose hearts cannot be penetrated by fear,” he is alleged to have said.

The sermons delivered by al-Demerdash also contained visceral attacks on Muslims deemed to show a lack of piety.
Street mural project honors unknown ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in their homelands
In the year ahead, buildings around the world will be festooned with elaborate murals that celebrate “Righteous Among the Nations” who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

In the initiative launched by the group Artists 4 Israel, the first two murals were installed earlier this year on buildings in Portugal and Greece. Fundraising pending, the group’s vision is to celebrate hundreds of additional heroic “upstanders” with murals around the world.

“The purpose of the project is to force people to interact with the Holocaust, to learn and to find pride in fighting against antisemitism,” said Artists 4 Israel’s CEO Craig Dershowitz. “The beautiful murals are a psychological trigger,” he said.

In addition to people who see the murals in person, millions are reached through social media platforms curated by famous street artists enlisted for the initiative, said Dershowitz.

“With the ‘Righteous’ mural project, we have the opportunity to educate via positivity, by celebrating the heroes of a nation and giving citizens the chance to emulate their actions,” said Dershowitz.

Until this new “Righteous” project, in its more than decade of operation Artists 4 Israel has concentrated on bringing hundreds of artists to Israel, where they have painted bomb shelters in the south and created tattoo art on the bodies of wounded veterans and terrorism survivors.

“It is always important to look past the art and at what message the art is communicating,” said Dershowitz.




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