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Wednesday, February 01, 2023

02/01 Links Pt2: NGO Monitor: The Links between the PFLP and the European Government-funded NGO Network; An Unholy Rant on a Day of Remembrance

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Clear and Convincing: The Links between the PFLP and the European Government-funded NGO Network
On October 22, 2021, Israel designated six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist entities due to their links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), Al-Haq, Addameer, Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), and Bisan Center for Research and Development (Bisan). A seventh – Health Work Committee (HWC) – had been designated in January 2020. The PFLP itself is designated as a terrorist organization by a number of countries and bodies, including the US, EU, Israel, and Canada.

Since then, the NGOs, donor governments, and allies in civil society and the UN have claimed they have not seen anything to justify the designations.

The evidence presented in this report – compiled exclusively from open source materials – proves this narrative inadequate and inaccurate. Irrespective of the information possessed by the Israeli government and intelligence agencies and the criteria for designation, there is overwhelming, publicly available evidence that ties these NGOs and their leadership to the PFLP. On its own, this should have been enough of a reason for European governments not to fund and/or partner with the NGOs.

Of particular note, we found:
The PFLP has issued statements of support for the designated NGOs, and numerous other sources indicate organizational links between many of the designated entities and the terror group.
Three NGO officials – Samer Arbid, Walid Hanatsheh, Abdel Razeq Farraj – indicted and standing trial for their alleged involvement in a deadly August 2019 bombing that killed an Israeli teenager. All of them have been claimed by the PFLP as members of the terror group.
Nine NGO officials convicted for their involvement in planning or executing other terrorist attacks.
Thirty-seven additional NGO officials affiliated with the PFLP.
Five financial institutions – Citibank, Arab Bank, American Express, Visa, Mastercard – shut down online donations and accounts of PFLP-linked NGOs.
In 2022, the Dutch government announced the results of an 18-month audit conducted by a Dutch firm that identified 34 individuals who held positions in both UAWC and the PFLP between 2007-2020. As a result, the Netherlands canceled its contract with UAWC

As European sources and officials have noted, simply affiliating with a terrorist organization can disqualify an organization or individual from receiving EU support. For instance, as confirmed in a June 2020 letter from the Office of the President of the European Commission to NGO Monitor, “[EU] rules make the participation of entities, individuals or groups affiliated linked or supporting terrorist organisations incompatible with any EU funding.”
Click Here to Read Full Report
An Unholy Rant on a Day of Remembrance
A quick rule of thumb: whenever you read a sentence that begins with "The Jews," or words to that effect, it is in all likelihood the beginning of an antisemitic rant. Ever since the German ultranationalist historian and politician Heinrich von Treitschke in an 1879 essay first used the phrase "The Jews are our calamity" (Die Juden sind unser Unglück) – a phrase, incidentally, popularized and widely used by the Nazis to buttress their persecution, oppression and mass killing of European Jews – blaming "the Jews" has become the standard m.o. of in-your-face, often quite unsophisticated, antisemites.

On Friday, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed across the globe, a group of five contributors to Kentucky's Courier Journal, joined this rogues' gallery with their opinion piece,"Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time to remember more than one atrocity."

This article is offensive on many levels, but let's begin with the crude antisemitism inherent in their one-sentence paragraph, "Jews do not have a monopoly on persecution and atrocities," which sets up the straw man for their insidious premise: "Jews," the authors imply none too subtly, care only about the persecution of and atrocities perpetrated against Jews and are indifferent to the plight and suffering of others.

Never mind that this is not, and has never been, the case. Never mind that major Jewish organizations—the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the World Jewish Congress, among many others—are at the forefront of condemning and commemorating genocides and crimes against humanity committed against any and all peoples, whether in Rwanda, Bosnia, Myanmar, or anywhere else.

Never mind that the 1948 Genocide Convention—the brainchild, incidentally, of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Ukrainian Jew—applies by its terms to attempts to destroy any "national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Never mind that it was Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, who condemned the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and Africa in a 2014 New York Times op-ed writing that "just as I will not be silent in the face of the growing threat of anti-Semitism in Europe and in the Middle East, I will not be indifferent to Christian suffering."

The antisemitic conclusion the authors of the Courier Journal op-ed want their readers to take away is that "the Jews" are only concerned about themselves. Tell that, incidentally, to the families of Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwermer, two New York Jews killed in 1964 together with James Chaney while registering African-Americans to vote in Mississippi.
We are not in competition to win a victimization sweepstakes
The Courier-Journal writers, by trivializing the immensity of Hitler’s crimes, do history no favors. Over the past couple of decades, we’ve already seen the trivialization of the Holocaust, with references to “Nazi-like behavior,” concentration camps, the gestapo, and yes, genocide tossed about with abandon for everything or everyone who may not agree with us.

The Jewish people have no reason to apologize for expecting the world to take one day in 365, to commemorate the attempt to destroy our people. At the same time, one will find many from our community that have been, and are at the forefront of calling out racism, prejudice, bigotry, violence and genocide wherever they are manifested. Indeed, listen to the speeches of those delivered on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and you will hear a similar refrain in each: “Can we not learn the lessons of the Holocaust?” To suggest we don’t care, or look away, or are interested only in pride-of-place is, pure and simple, a calumny.

I fear that the message of the Louisville Courier-Journal article will lead to a further dumbing down of history or—worse—an erasure of it. It took almost 60 years for the international community to recognize the need to remember the attempt to destroy world Jewry. That act was long overdue. Now, along with so many other tropes and canards that come our way, we are told not to be so selfish. And that the dictator who carried all of this out was no better or no worse than many others.

Holocaust education is an urgent priority today, as an escalating number of Holocaust survivors succumb to the biological clock. The editors of the Courier-Journal, and the op-ed writers, ought to begin their education by sitting down with survivors themselves, the people with the tattoos on their arms who experienced and witnessed the degradation and the brutality. Or perhaps a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Or a guided visit through the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, or others in what was Nazi-occupied Europe.

Until then, their shocking and facile charges against the Jewish community will remain a stain on the code of responsible journalism.


Tevi Troy: Ed Koch, Ten Years Gone
Almost as bitter was his feud with Jimmy Carter, in which Koch’s Jewishness again played a role. Even though Koch was largely aligned with Carter on domestic policy, they strongly disagreed on Israel, and Koch was not shy about pointing out their differences. Carter was particularly irked when Koch referred to five senior Carter-administration officials—Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, UN Ambassador Donald McHenry, former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Harold Saunders—as an anti-Israel “gang of five.” As Koch later recalled, “If I had not just been to China (where the Gang of Four was big news), I might not have used that phrase. But I thought it was a good phrase, and it certainly stunned them.” He was right. As Carter wrote in his diary about the incident, “Koch is almost acting like a fanatic this last couple of days.” Carter’s ire was not limited to his diary scribblings. At a fundraiser in 1980, Carter grabbed Koch and said to him, “You have done me more damage than any man in America.”

Koch did endorse Carter in 1980 and even campaigned for him. They were, after all, both Democrats. But it was a typical half-hearted Koch endorsement. Even while stumping for Carter, he warned that Carter should “rot in hell” if he did not honor promises he made to Koch to be more supportive of Israel in his second term. (Given Carter’s increasing hostility to the Jewish state in subsequent years, Carter should consider himself lucky that he did not win that second term and subject himself to Koch’s curse.) And Koch was also courteous to Carter’s opponent Ronald Reagan when Reagan visited New York. “I am not here to defend Ronald Reagan,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, I like him. He’s a man of character.” His tone angered Carter and other Democrats but served Koch well when Reagan won the election and became the president whose time in the White House overlapped the most with Koch’s three terms. “I never voted for him,” Koch said. “But I loved him.”

Koch’s Jewishness was not a part of the feud with Trump, but it was central to his feud with Jesse Jackson. In 1988, there was a bitter contest in the New York Democratic presidential-nominee primary. Michael Dukakis was leading, and would win the party nomination, but both Tennessee Senator Al Gore and the racial firebrand Jesse Jackson were still in the race. Koch backed Gore, who was staunchly pro-Israel at the time, and set his sights on Jackson, who in 1984 had used the word “Hymietown” to refer to New York. Koch attacked Jackson relentlessly in the campaign, hitting his pro-Palestinian views, calling Jackson a liar, and, most famously, saying that Jews “would have to be crazy to vote for Jackson.” This statement angered both blacks and Jews, and Koch later admitted that he had gone too far, saying, “My attacks on Jesse Jackson have backfired.” Gore would also apologize to Jackson for Koch’s behavior. Backfire or not, Koch was right again.

Dukakis won the state primary, with Jackson finishing second and Gore a distant third. On Election Night, Jackson supporters chanted “Koch is a crook,” referring to corruption scandals that were plaguing Koch in his third term. Jackson and Koch mended fences that August at a session hosted by Cuomo. Jackson said that he “did not seek to extract from the mayor an apology…. The April campaign is behind me.” But he would get a measure of revenge the next year when David Dinkins defeated Koch in the 1989 Democratic primary, ending Koch’s electoral career after three terms and 12 years in City Hall.
Local Congresswoman Accidentally Spends A Decade Being An Antisemite
Poor Ilhan Omar.

“I certainly did not or was not aware that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope,” the congresswoman told CNN’s Dana Bash this week. “I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. That has been a very enlightening part of this journey.”

And what a journey it’s been. It’s merely happenstance, Omar would have you believe, that she—along with her bestie, Rashida Tlaib, a woman who gets a “calming feeling” when thinking about the Holocaust’s aftermath and believes pro-Zionist Jews exploit “regular Americans” for “their profit,” etc.—keeps tripping into old-school Jew-baiting. What are the odds?

Omar’s been living in the United States since her early teens. She graduated from high school in a major American city. She earned a BA from North Dakota State University in political science and international studies. One assumes she’s consumed plenty of American culture over the years. You’re telling me that in all this time, in all her many interactions as an academic “fellow” and a government employee, she never once heard a stereotype about Jews hypnotizing nations or being motivated by money? That’s quite an accomplishment.

Of course, Omar shouldn’t lose her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee because she believes rootless cosmopolitans are brainwashing the world for the “Benjamins.” She should lose it because she downplays 9/11 and equates the United States with theocratic terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Taliban. She is neither ideologically nor morally prepared for the job. She should be denied a seat because Nancy Pelosi created a new precedent by not only denying Kevin McCarthy his choices for the Jan. 6 committee, effectively creating a show trial, but also stripping Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor-Green of their committee appointments over ugly things they said. Republicans should unseat Omar using her standards.
Sarah Idan: Sarai Talk Show Episode 1 (interview with Hillel Neuer)
Hillel C. Neuer is a Canadian-born international lawyer, writer, and the executive director of UN Watch, a human rights NGO and UN watchdog group based in Geneva, Switzerland.


Life Lessons With Doctor Bob: Israeli Anti-Terrorism Activist Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
In this new episode, Dr. Bob is joined by Israeli activist attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. Since 1997, she has been leading the struggle to fight the Palestinian and Islamic terrorist organizations in the courtroom. As the director of the Israel based civil rights group, Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, she is currently representing hundreds of terror victims in lawsuits and legal actions against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, Hizbollah, Iran, Syria, Egypt, North Korea, UBS, The Arab Bank, Bank of China, and LCB. The cases, being litigated in the Israeli, American, Canadian and European courts, allow the victims of terrorism to fight back.

Shurat HaDin is a fully independent non-profit organization, unaffiliated with any political party or governmental body. Based in Tel-Aviv, Shurat HaDin works together with western intelligence agencies and volunteer lawyers around the world to file legal actions on behalf of victims of terror. Shurat HaDin has succeeded in winning more than $1 billion in judgments, freezing more than $600 million in terrorist assets and in collecting $120 million in actual payments to the victims and their families.

Don’t miss this vital discussion!


Palestinian Authority calls to dismantle Israel
The Palestinian Authority, PLO and Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) last week called “on the peoples of the world and their democratic and progressive forces” to actively participate in the BDS Movement against Israel and to “dismantle Israel’s system of settler colonialism, apartheid, and military occupation.”

The joint P.A.-PLO-BDS statement demands “the dismantling of Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid.” Their communique refers to Zionism as a “racist, genocidal ideology that encourages terrorism and fascism.”

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior project manager at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) and ex-head of the IDF Military Intelligence research division, told JNS that “the communique calls for the direct destruction of Israel and praises terrorism.”

The boycott calls emerged from a series of conferences and meetings in which the P.A.’s Ministry of Justice and the PLO joined the BNC to discuss their “anti-apartheid agenda.”

The first conference was held in Al-Bireh, a city situated adjacent to Ramallah, under the rubric “Towards a Global Front to Combat and End Israeli Apartheid.” The second event was a “Press Conference to Announce the Call of the First National Conference and Preparatory Committee to Combat Apartheid and Settler Colonialism.”

Open cooperation between the BNC and the P.A. is a break from their traditional modus operandi. The BNC, founded in 2005, aims to promote the boycott of Israel and has affiliations with extreme political groups.

Kuperwasser explained that “BDS wanted to be seen not as an official government organization, but rather as a grassroots movement.” He also noted “that in BDS, there are also many actors from very different political groups, and not all of them support the P.A.”


Likud MP Demands Inquiry into Germany's Foreign Ministry's Anti-Zionism
The heated debate over the widening scandal involving Germany's foreign ministry and its NGO German-Israel Friendship Association's alleged boycott of the Israeli Zionist organization Im Tirtzu prompted Likud MK Ariel Kallner to call for a special investigation.

Kallner, chairman of "Zionist Horizon," told The Jewish Press that "With friends like these, who needs enemies? The investigation of the Im Tirtzu Movement reveals a very disturbing picture: the German-Israel Friendship Assocation (DIG) under the leadership of Mr. [Volker] Beck is not a supporter of Israel at all, but is completely intertwined with the left-wing side in Israel and denies the legitimacy of right-wing Zionist positions such as support for the Jerusalem flag march. The exposé revealed by the Im Tirtzu movement on the German 'price tag'actions, is that of a blood libel."

The leftist German Green party politician Beck accused Im Tirtzu on an audio recording obtained by The Jewish Press of sending a "Price Tag" message to the "Israeli left," saying Im Tirtzu left a sign for Israeli leftists with the motto "Watch out, we were there." Beck offered no evidence for his claim.

Kallner added "Those who call themselves friends of Israel cannot boycott Zionist organizations from the right side of the map and accept the controversial activity of the New Israel Fund as legitimate. Beck's words regarding the sanctions on behalf of the German Foreign Ministry require a special investigation and if they are true, then the State of Israel cannot let pass them by in silence."

Kallner issued his statement prior to the formation of the new Israeli government in late December.

Im Tirtzu alleges that Volker Beck and the national DIG executive board members intervened to ban Yonathan Shay, the head of the Im Tirtzu Hasbara (Israel Advocacy) Department from speaking in Germany. A number of local DIG chapters had invited Shay, who is a fluent German speaker, to deliver talks.
Church Bans Vicar for 12 Years for _Virulently Antisemitic_ Posts Despite Character Reference from Corbyn
As sure as night follows day, the people Jeremy Corbyn choses to associate with are exposed as antisemites. A Church of England vicar, Stephen Sizer, has today been banned from church for 12 years by a tribunal. The tribunal upheld four antisemitism complaints, including one from 2015 in which Sizer claimed Israel was responsible for 9/11. This was the very same claim Corbyn once defended.

At the time, the Mail revealed that Corbyn had sent a letter to church authorities in which he claimed Simon was victimised because he “dared to speak out against Zionism”. Corbyn added that:
“Reverend Stephen Sizer seems to have come under attack by certain individuals intent on discrediting the excellent work that Stephen does in highlighting the injustices of the Palestinian Israeli situation”

Before defending Sizer on the basis that “the internet is a complicated piece of technology”. All in a days’ work for the “lifelong campaigner against racism”…


Israeli Olympic Shooter Pulls Out of World Cup After Being Told He Cannot Compete With Israeli Symbols
Israeli Olympic shooter Sergy Rikhter pulled himself out an international competition after organizers refused to allow him to compete with any symbols that represent Israel, according to the French Jewish publication Alliance.

The 2023 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle & Pistol taking place from Jan. 27 – Feb. 7 in Jakarta, Indonesia, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, is the first of four World Cup competitions this year that athletes need to compete in and excel in order to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Rikhter, 33, competed in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after winning the gold medal at the 2019 European Games.

On Jan. 25, the day before Richter was set to leave for Jakarta for the ISSF World Cup, he received a message from the tournament’s organizers telling him that he will not be able to compete in Indonesia with Israeli symbols, including the Israeli flag on his official uniform and rifle, Alliance reported. His rifle is also engraved with the letters “ISR,” representing Israel.

World Cup organizers reportedly added that they would only allow Richter to participate with his weapon if he competes with identification symbols of the ISSF or the flag of the International Olympic Committee. Richter refused their demands and instead chose not to compete in the World Cup at all.

“I will never accept to participate in a competition without the ISR on my competition suit, on my personal rifle and on the results screen,” he said in a statement reported by Alliance. “I do not understand how the Olympic movement approves the holding of international competitions and the brands identification of the countries the athletes represent.”
Psychologists Group Supports ‘Voiceless’ Jewish, Israeli GW Students
A group of 300 clinicians, academics and trainees called Psychologists Against Antisemitism published a letter on Facebook today supporting psychology students at George Washington University, following allegations that a GW professor targeted them as Jews and Israelis.

“Although several letters have been disseminated in support of your instructor Dr. Lara Sheehi, we have not seen any support for the voiceless students,” the group wrote.

“Many of our psychology colleagues have chosen to label your experiences as ‘specious,’ without any evidence or knowledge of what really happened,” it added. “They have chosen to politicize this case and attack the media outlets and others who have given voice to your experiences, portraying them as right-wing and conspiratorial (an old antisemitic trope).”

The letter of support comes several weeks after StandWithUs filed a complaint against GW with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The professor, who is a facilitator of the program’s mandatory diversity course, targeted Jewish and Israeli students in fall 2022 in a pattern of persistent, discriminatory and retaliatory acts, per the complaint. That included disparaging and attacking their identities and encouraging others to do the same, it stated.


Princeton University English Department to Host ‘Blatantly’ Antisemitic Speaker for Memorial Lecture
Mohammed el-Kurd, a controversial pro-Palestinian activist whom Jewish groups have accused of “blatant” antisemitism, will speak at Princeton University on Feb. 8, according to announcement by the university’s Department of English.

Currently a columnist for the left-wing magazine The Nation, the 24-year-old el-Kurd has trafficked in antisemitic tropes, demonized Zionism, and falsely accused Israelis of eating the organs of Palestinians. Over the past two years he has toured American university campuses, heightening concerns about rising antisemitism and harassment of pro-Israel students. During stops last year at Duke University and Arizona State University (ASU) el-Kurd insulted students and told the audience at ASU, “if you heckle me, you will get shot.”

At Princeton University, El-Kurd will deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture, titled “Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal.” The lecture is part of an annual event commemorating Edward Said, a Palestinian-American public intellectual whose major contributions included the founding of “postcolonial studies” and publishing of the widely read 1978 book Orientalism, which argued that Westerners, consciously and unconsciously, subject Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims to stereotypes that depict them as culturally inferior and primitive.

“For the Princeton English department to sponsor an event with a notorious antisemite is immensely disappointing,” Jared Stone, the outgoing president of Princeton University’s Tigers for Israel chapter, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “The whole department needs to take a moment to reflect on why its hosting el-Kurd during a time of unprecedented Jew hatred. ”


Ohio Homeschooling Couple Indoctrinates Thousands of Children Through Nazi Education
Ohio’s department of education is investigating neo-Nazi ‘Dissident Homeschooling’, a homeschooling network that claims public schools are run by ‘Zionist scum,’ teaches kids to say ‘Sieg Heil’ in class and instructs fellow parents not to give their kids ‘Jewish media content.’ The couple who are running the organization are Katja and Logan Lawrence, or ‘Mr. and Mrs. Saxon.’

There are more than 2,500 members of the “Dissident Homeschool Network,” a channel on the social network messaging app Telegram. The “dissidents” are a group of Nazi parents who share homeschooling lesson plans extolling the virtues of Hitler and white nationalism — while relying on a popular social media account run by a Jewish woman to provide ammunition for their hatred. The founders of the group were recently unmasked by a hate group monitor as a couple in rural Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

“There is absolutely no place for hate-filled, divisive and hurtful instruction in Ohio’s schools, including our state’s home-schooling community,” Stephanie Siddens, the interim superintendent of public instruction at Ohio’s education department, told Vice News. “I emphatically and categorically denounce the racist, antisemitic, and fascist ideology and materials being circulated.”

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, along with Rep. Bob Latta, whose district encompasses Upper Sandusky, and Rep. Jim Jordan, all gave statements to Vice News condemning the group.

“We are so deeply invested into making sure that [our] child becomes a wonderful Nazi,” the founder of Dissident Homeschool Network, who goes by the pseudonym “Mrs. Saxon,” recently said on a neo-nazi podcast to promote the group. She has been identified by the Anonymous Comrades Collective, an anti-Nazi group, as well as Vice News and HuffPost, as Katja Lawrence, a Dutch immigrant who currently lives in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
Rudoren Unhinged
Jodi Rudoren became known to many people during her years as the Jerusalem bureau chief for the New York Times. From that perch, she attempted to educate the paper’s liberal and international readers of the evil ways of the Jewish State which infect Palestinian society. She left the Times in July 2019 and became the editor-in-chief of the far-left Jewish paper, ‘The Forward’.

Who could have imagined that her invective could become worse?

On January 20, Rudoren published an interview she had with an affable Jewish actor named Joshua Malina, about his career on ‘The West Wing’ and other shows. One would imagine something light-hearted.

Ha.

She opened her Malina piece with some personal comments about The West Wing‘s fictional White House pondering Middle East Peace compared to reality today: “Of course Netanyahu’s far-right and racist partners would not even consider the proposals for refugee resettlement and international control of parts of Jerusalem…. It is difficult to fathom these extremists even sitting for Shabbat dinner while their Palestinian counterparts pray outside.“

There was no such observation about the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying, Palestinian Arab terrorist neighbors.

After feeding (choking) the witness, Malina responded that while he was a “lefty” in politics, he had to contend with co-stars who were “super lefty.” These alt-left Jews (very much like Rudoren) were extremely aggressive, “particularly the Jews, the liberal Jews behind the scenes and in the cast, had a hard time finding space for the Israeli perspective. I remember trying to be a proponent of nuance.“

Perhaps sensing the rebuke, Rudoren responded “I, too, am a committed proponent of nuance.“

What a joke.

And sickness.
Two BBC reports, two different accounts of rocket attacks
Those decidedly vague and inconsistent instructions lead to situations such as the one above in which audiences accessing one report which currently bears the vague date stamp “4 days ago” are informed that two rockets were fired into Israel while another report published just hours later and currently carrying the date stamp “3 days ago” correctly states that six rockets were fired. As usual, no link to the second, more up to date, report has been added to the first one in order to avoid audience confusion.

Roughly a week after a report appears on the BBC News website, the date stamp changes from “x days ago” to the actual date (but not time) of initial publication but no indications are given regarding subsequent significant updates. By contrast, many other online media outlets clearly state at the top of their reports both the date and time of publication, together with the date and time of any updates.

The BBC could “avoid materially misleading users” by adopting that simple practice as well as by making sure that new information on a specific topic that is later reported in a separate article is added to earlier reports, for example as a link under the “more on this story” heading at the bottom of the article.
The Truth About the ‘Controversial’ American-Israeli Police Exchange Program
Numerous tweets posted in the last few days have accused Israeli police of being indirectly involved in the incident because the Memphis Police Department’s former director Larry Godwin, who retired from his job more than 10 years ago, once reportedly visited Israel as a delegate of the Homeland Security International Conference in 2010.

In addition, the current Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis was a participant in a leadership exchange session with Israeli police, as well as other international exchange programs.

Apart from this, there is scant evidence to say the Memphis Police Department was involved in the exchange program.

Furthermore, even if they had, the actions of the officers involved in the recent incident were far removed from any known Israeli approach to policing.

Indeed, Amnesty was forced to backtrack on its criticism of the program after admitting that allegations that the US police had been taught tactics of ‘neck kneeling’ by Israeli secret services were not documented.

Of course, the libel that Israel is training law enforcement in the US to brutalize black men is a blatant example of antisemitism and clearly falls foul of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, specifically by accusing Jews of being responsible for wrongdoing committed by others.

While this vicious smear is currently being spread mainly on Twitter and primarily among the most extreme anti-Israel campaigners.

But in the coming days expect to see the lie travel far and wide.

More importantly, be ready to counter it with the truth: that it is nothing more than antisemitic propaganda designed to whip up animosity toward the world’s only Jewish state.
SBS Australia Journalist Who Tweeted ‘#F*ckIsrael’ Unsurprisingly Produces Biased Reports
Can a journalist who once tweeted “#F*ckIsrael” and called the Jewish state “the BIGGEST terrorist in the world” be trusted to report on the Arab-Israeli conflict without bias or agenda?

On January 31, 2023, in a news podcast titled “‘Calm tensions rather than inflame them’ – Anthony Blinken in Israel,” Australia’s publicly-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) omitted several key facts:
On Monday, shortly before Mr. Blinken’s arrival, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the flashpoint city of Hebron. The Palestinian Health Ministry says that Nassim Nayef Salman Abu Fouda was shot in the head by soldiers. His death brings the total of Palestinians killed in January to 35.”

The segment by journalist Essam Al-Ghalib failed to mention reports that Abu Fouda had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack by ramming his vehicle into a group of soldiers. Al-Ghalib also left out that the 35 Palestinians killed in the first month of this year were virtually all terrorists associated with terror organizations designated by Australia.

Al-Ghalib works as a “cross-platform journalist” for SBS and previously served as a freelance producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Assigned to SBS’ world news desk, Al-Ghalib has numerous produced reports on various issues surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, including the death of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, the 2021 conflict between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently-formed coalition government.

“#F*ckIsrael”
In tweets published between 2014 and 2015, uncovered by HonestReporting’s research team, Al-Ghalib makes no effort to hide his overt hatred of the only Jewish state. The Australian journalist dubbed Israel “the BIGGEST terrorist in the world,” employed the hashtag “#F*ckIsrael,” and accused “a f***king Israeli soldier” of choking a Palestinian child, among other libels.

Al-Ghalib moreover described IDF troops as “bloody murderers,” called for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, and claimed Jerusalem put Palestinians in “concentration camps” — a nauseating charge that would be considered antisemitic under the widely-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition.

Following the publication of our tweet, Al-Ghalib swiftly moved to delete his posts.


Israeli series with never-before-heard Eichmann confessions comes to Amazon video
Americans subscribed to Amazon Prime Video can now listen to never-before-heard recordings of Adolf Eichmann confessing to his crimes, in his own voice.

“The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes” is a three-part documentary series that combines interviews from Holocaust survivors, key witnesses at the Eichmann trial, historians, and experts on the Holocaust with reenactments of the historical events. The series, which first aired on Israel’s Kan public broadcaster last year, tells the story of Adolf Eichmann’s role in orchestrating the Final Solution during the Holocaust.

Eichmann, whom Israel executed in 1962, spent much of his trial maintaining that he was a mere bureaucrat following orders. But the 28 hours of taped confessions, which were recorded in 1957 in interviews with Nazi journalist and propagandist Willem Sassen while the two were living in Buenos Aires after the war, clearly indicate that Eichmann, in fact, coordinated the Final Solution, and often carried out his duties with enthusiasm.

In just the first episode, Eichmann can be heard saying, “I didn’t even care about the Jews that I deported to Auschwitz. I didn’t care if they were alive or already dead.”

After Eichmann’s capture in Argentina by the Mossad in 1960, Sassen sold the transcripts of his recordings to LIFE Magazine, which published excerpts from the tapes.

The Israeli Supreme Court did not approve of the transcripts as evidence, requiring the prosecution to rely instead on other forms of documentation to convict Eichmann, and the content of the rest of the tapes remained a mystery for decades.
John Barnes criticised for controversial comments on Adolf Hitler and black jews
John Barnes has sparked a debate after suggesting World War Two would not have broken out if Adolf Hitler had invaded African countries.

The England football legend questioned if the conflict would have happened if the Nazi dictator gone into non-European nations. He tweeted: “If he took over black countries in Africa, the other non-white countries in Asia or South America, where the Allies didn’t have a vested interest, would WW2 have occurred?”

The ex-Liverpool ace also wrote: “WW2 started because the Allies wanted to stop Germany becoming too powerful, nothing to do with right or wrong.

"Had Hitler left the European Jews alone and went to Ethiopia and committed the same atrocities to the black Falasha Jews, I doubt WW2 would have started.”

Speaking on Rob Moore's Disruptors Podcast, he also said that Nazi ideology was “based on what Europeans have been doing around the world for hundreds of years”.


France’s updated plan to counter antisemitism will bring students to sites of attacks
The French government updated its plan for fighting antisemitism and racism, which will require teachers to receive training on the topic and all French schoolchildren to visit the site of an antisemitic or racist incident.

Those visits could include Holocaust sites, and roving exhibitions about antisemitism and racism will also be set up in schools, France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Monday.

The plan was first adopted in 2015 but is required to be updated every three years. In addition to the educational additions, French law will also be adapted to make charges of serious antisemitic or racist offenses enough to stop the accused from fleeing the country.

The plan was put together by the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight Against Racism and Antisemitism, or DILCRAH, as it is known by its French initials, with advisory input from the American Jewish Committee.

“DILCRAH has long recognized that antisemitism endangers all of French society, not only Jews. It is essential for the government to have a robust strategy dedicated to confronting antisemitism in all its forms,” said Anne Sophie-Sebban, director of AJC Paris. “Significantly, for the first time, the plan includes an AJC recommendation to create indicators to measure how each component of the government’s strategy plan is working.”
Man Charged in NY Synagogue Attack Plot Is New York City Government Employee
A suspect in an alleged plot to shoot up a New York-area synagogue worked as a New York City government employee responsible for child safety, federal court filings have revealed.

Jamil Hakime, who has worked as a youth development specialist in the Administration for Children’s Services since 2014, allegedly supplied a pistol to Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer, who were arrested in November while heavily armed, according to court papers filed in the federal courts of the Southern District of New York.

Hakime is charged with multiple federal gun trafficking offenses for his involvement with Brown and Mahrer and for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Hakime’s job at the Bronx Juvenile Detention Center involves the “custody and care of juveniles in secure detention” and “juvenile safety and security.” He also has degrees from two Jewish institutions of higher learning, Touro College and Yeshiva University.

Hakime was denied bail in December and again on appeal in January because he poses a “danger to the community.”

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) told The Algemeiner that Hakime was the subject of a disciplinary matter following his arrest, has not returned to work, and is no longer being paid. Prior to his arrest, he worked on an administrative assignment. According to its website, ACS “protects and promotes safety and the well-being of New York City’s children and families.”

“Hakime procured a gun for two individuals intent on criminal activity and promised another convicted felon that he would procure a gun for that person upon release from prison,” US District Judge Analisa Torres wrote in her Jan. 13 decision denying Hakime bail. “Hakime conducted his gun trafficking activity from his residences in Manhattan and in Pennsylvania. The weight of evidence against Hakime is strong and includes photos, surveillance, and recorded phone calls.”
Judge hikes bail for Army vet accused of threat to synagogue
A courtroom outburst by a man accused of telephoning threats to “shoot up” a Southern Nevada synagogue prompted a judge to increase his bail on Wednesday, despite the man’s father’s account that his son is a military veteran with “a mental issue” resulting from head injuries.

Michael Sanchez, 37, blurted out a complaint about “false information being presented on both sides about my issues” before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini told him she was increasing his bail amount from $20,000 to $100,000.

“Those are alleged threats,” Sanchez said of accounts of his actions, prompting prosecutor Max Anderson to note for the judge that Sanchez appeared to admit guilt.

Sanchez faces a felony charge of threatening an act of terrorism. He was not asked to enter a plea, pending a preliminary hearing of evidence scheduled Feb. 15.

Chelini also ruled that if Sanchez can post bail for release from jail, he must be on high-level electronic monitoring.

The judge told Sanchez her decisions were "based upon this conduct here today and how you’re acting now to this court, to your attorneys, in the courtroom and the violent nature of the tone of your voice."


12-Year-Old Jewish Boy Attacked by Antisemite in London
A 12-year-old visibly Jewish boy in London was attacked Monday by an adult antisemite while riding a bus home from school in the city’s Stamford Hill neighborhood.

The Stamford Hill Shomrim organization reported in a tweet that a 50-year-old man grabbed the boy by the throat and threw him off the bus.

Anti-Semitic incidents in Britain reached a record high in 2021, the most recent year for which are there are statistics.

According to the annual report by the Community Security Trust (CST) there were 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 percent over the previous year.

The London-based Shomrim organization helps hate crime victims file reports with the police, and accompany such victims to court as well.


Israel’s Apollo Power opens ‘world’s first’ factory for flexible solar film panels
The Israeli solar energy company Apollo Power that developed technology turning surfaces into an energy source using the sun’s rays, and is deployed by e-commerce giant Amazon and German car manufacturer Volkswagen, has opened a flagship factory for the mass production of solar panels, which it says is the first of its kind in the world.

The 10,000 square meter facility, which was built at an investment of NIS 100 million ($30 million) to step up Apollo Power’s production of flexible solar panels is located in Yokneam’s Mevo Carmel Science and Industry Park in Israel’s north.

The automatic facility is expected to reach an annual production output of 1.5 million square meters in solar film, or an annual capacity of about 190 megawatts, which equals the average consumption of 35,000-40,000 households, the company said.

Founded in 2014 by CEO Oded Rosenberg and CTO Eran Mimon, Apollo has developed technology for the manufacturing for flexible, lightweight, durable and high-efficiency solar films that it says can turn any sun-kissed surfaces into energy-producing surfaces that generate electricity.
Israeli smart freight firm to list on Nasdaq via SPAC merger at $500m valuation
Freightos, a Jerusalem-based smart freight booking and payment platform, will start trading on Nasdaq on Thursday through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) at a valuation of $500 million.

The firm is listing on Nasdaq after closing its merger with Gesher I Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded SPAC. The combined company will be called Freightos Limited and will start trading on Nasdaq under the new symbol CRGO. In June, the two parties first announced the merger agreement to list Freightos at a pro forma enterprise value of about $435 million.

Freightos said it raised over $80 million in capital through the transaction, including $10 million from Qatar Airways, the world’s largest air cargo carrier, and $60 million from M&G Investments and the Prudential Assurance Co.

The funds will be “invested in further scaling the business, to increase transaction growth and revenue and to further develop the technology stack, to drive additional value for customers, and improve margins,” the firm said in a statement.

“Going public through the combination with Gesher and raising capital is designed to fuel our aggressive efforts to scale our booking and payment platform and enhance our leadership position,” said Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber.
Watch how Israeli-German tv anchor ended a broadcast about Hitler - in Hebrew
In an emotional and powerful way, an Israeli-German journalist on German TV ended a broadcast that discussed the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler with the words Am Israel Chai, the people of Israel are alive.

Journalist Antonia Yamin, a daughter of a German woman and an Israeli father who works as a correspondent and commentator for the Bild German television station, was an anchor of a special broadcast that commemorated 90 years since Nazi leader Adolf Hitler came to power.

The broadcast focused also on antisemitism today and among the guests in the studio was Felix Klein, who is the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism.

"Thank you for being with me here in the studio," Yamin said to the camera while wearing a Star of David necklace. "Let's learn from history. We will never forget [the Holocaust," Yamin said dramatically.

"90 years sounds like a long time but even today Jews in Germany feel insecure; even today, right-wing forces are getting stronger. It may be 90 years after Hitler came to power, but Am Israel Chai [the people of Israel are alive]," she said and added "Shalom and goodbye."

Yamin served as Israel's Channel 11 European correspondent for the past few years, living with her husband and daughter in Berlin, Germany. She recently joined the Bild and covers a variety of topics with an emphasis on Israel, Holocaust issues and the Jewish community.

In 2017, Yamin held a rare interview with Hitler's maid after she kept her secret for 70 years. In 2018, Yamin penetrated into the heart of a neo-Nazi group in East Germany and filmed a Nazi Rock festival. She also interviewed former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz twice, as well as former German chancellor Angela Merkel on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yamin converted to Judaism during her service in the IDF, since her mother doesn't come from a Jewish background.
NBA player Meyers Leonard opens up on his antisemitism scandal to Jewish ESPN reporter
Nearly two years after NBA player Meyers Leonard was caught using an antisemitic slur on a video game platform, the former first-round pick opened up about the incident and his subsequent journey toward forgiveness in an interview with Jewish ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap.

“I know that I made a huge, huge mistake,” Leonard told Schaap, an 11-time Emmy winner who has produced other Jewish-themed content for ESPN. “And like, how in the world did this ever happen? I couldn’t harm a fly.”

Leonard, then a member of the Miami Heat, used the word “kike” while livestreaming a “Call of Duty” video game on the Twitch streaming platform in March 2021. The backlash was swift: Leonard was suspended by the Heat and fined by the league. He was then traded and released.

Leonard apologized the following day, writing, “I am deeply sorry for using an antisemitic slur during a livestream yesterday. While I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong.”

The 7-footer was also injured at the time of the incident, and hasn’t played in the NBA since. But now he is healthy and attempting a comeback, having recently worked out for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Schaap spoke to Leonard for the ESPN Daily podcast, relaying the experience to host Pablo Torre.

Leonard, who said he has not yet forgiven himself, told Schaap about the toll the mistake took on him, which included needing 24-hour security because of threats made against him and his family. He even thought about ending his life.
The Meyers Leonard story | Outside The Lines
Jeremy Schaap interviews Meyers Leonard, who was suspended by the NBA after he used an antisemitic slur during a video game livestream in 2021.


Using Ancient Fingerprints to Interpret Jerusalem’s History
A forensics expert for the local police department, Ido Hefetz has been working with the archaeologist Shulamit Terem to study the fingerprints left many centuries ago on ceramics found in the Motza neighborhood of Jerusalem. Hillel Kutler writes:
Beginning in November 2019, excavations at the three-acre site uncovered traces of structures and artifacts from the early Byzantine period (the end of the 4th century CE to the beginning of the 7th century): a church, an olive press, a wine press, and a kiln. An alcove adjacent to the kiln contained clay fragments of lamps and roof tiles, with remnants of jugs and bowls lying nearby. . . . More than one-third of the 230 shards were covered in centuries-old fingerprints.

The clay used to make the pottery was of fine quality, ensuring the prints were well preserved. Hefetz could plainly see that the fingerprints were predominantly of the left and right thumbs, with their depth revealing something of the potters’ technique: oth thumbs were pressed hard into the clay to compress it into a mold.

Furthermore, the same adjacent thumbprints appeared on both the top and bottom sections of each lamp, suggesting that one person had multitasked. Scores of the fingerprints were identical, leading Hefetz to conclude that one individual was the primary potter. One or possibly two additional people produced the rest of the lamps. Most revelatory on a fundamental level was Hefetz’s realization that fingerprint patterns today are virtually unchanged from 1,500 years ago.

With further work, Hefetz hopes to be able to draw conclusions about the age and sex of the potters.
“Good Morning Tel Aviv” documentary screened in Rome
After its successful debut at the Rome Film Fest, “Good Morning Tel Aviv,” the documentary written and directed by Giovanna Gagliardo, is being screened at select theatres in Italy, in the presence of the director during January.

“Good Morning Tel Aviv” tells the visual story of 24 hours in Israel’s high-tech capital, the most secular and cosmopolitan city in the Middle East, and features interviews with Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, economists, architects, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, artists and writers.

Italian film director and screenwriter Gagliardo decided to make a documentary about the city after a visit to Israel four years ago. The film depicts Tel Aviv as a young, inventive and creative city and raises important issues such as the city’s future and its high cost of living.

Israel’s cultural attaché in Italy, Dr. Maya Katzir, said, “I am very happy about the collaboration with the historic Cinecittà Studios, a leading name in the world of international cinema, and especially for the wonderful initiative of the director, Giovanna Gagliardo to visit and fall in love with Tel Aviv. “Good Morning Tel Aviv” shows a different and fresh side of Israel – young, alive, funny, diverse, critical and ironic. An Israel which also has a city like Tel Aviv, next to the better-known Jerusalem. These two cities, side by side, and many other cities, make up the complete puzzle called Israel.”


New archives center tells history of Israel through Ben Gurion's eyes
A new archives center at the Ben Gurion visitor center in Sde Boker shed light on the creation of the state of Israel, while also revealing snippets from the personal life of the country's first prime minister.


Israeli singer performs Emirati anthem at Abu Dhabi Holocaust Memorial
'The Emirati hospitality is one of the most welcoming and inviting that I've experienced.'

Israeli American Singer Nicole Raviv describes her experience singing the UAE's national anthem at a historic Holocaust Remembrance event in Abu Dhabi.


Amos Yadlin Remembers His Friend Ilan Ramon
Major General (Res.) Amos Yadlin is one of Israel’s greatest living warriors. The son of a veteran of the Palmach, Yadlin saw active combat as a fighter pilot during the Yom Kippur war in 1973. He would go on to have a sparkling flying career, which included flying F-16s from Israel to Baghdad to destroy Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981. As a flag officer, he served as head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, and as defense attache to the United States.

Last month, Yadlin graciously granted Tablet Magazine an interview during which he shared insights about his storied career as well as some personal memories of his close friend Ilan Ramon, a fellow fighter pilot and Israel’s first astronaut. A first-generation Israeli and the son of Holocaust survivors, Ramon began his flight career as one of the first Israelis to train on the F-16. Proud to represent the Jewish people during his flight on the space shuttle Columbia, Ramon famously decided to consume only kosher food during his orbit and carried with him a tiny Torah scroll that had survived the Holocaust. Tragically, the Columbia disintegrated upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Menachem Butler: In the 1970s, you served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. When did you join the Israeli Air Force?
Amos Yadlin: I joined in November 1970. So, 52 years ago.

When did you first meet Ilan Ramon?
When I was an instructor in the Air Force Academy, right after the Yom Kippur War, Ilan was my student. I was an instructor for his class. And I first met him and I first got to know his unique character. On the one hand, he was a very good pilot, and on the other hand, a very soft spoken, modest personality. And I liked him. In this time, which was I think, the early summer of 1974, Ilan had his first accident. And when I thought about it after the Columbia crashed, I thought that the Almighty had given him a couple of warnings. The accident was in the Fouga Magister, which was the training airplane that we used at that time.

He had another accident in 1976—a midair collision, though both airplanes landed safely—when the two of us served in the same squadron, in a Mirage-5. The third accident happened in 1983. I was the deputy commander of an F-16 squadron and he was my deputy. It was another midair collision with another pilot. Both ejected safely, but the two F-16’s were destroyed. Ilan came to me and I said, “Maybe, it’s about time that you stop flying.” He took a weekend to think and decided to continue. He continued flying missions all the way to becoming Israel’s first astronaut. And we are all very proud of him and very, very sorry that we lost him.




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