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Monday, February 06, 2023

02/06 Links Pt2: How 'The Collective Voice of the Muslim World' Weaponizes the UN against Israel; Fisking Mira Fox at the Forward on Jenin; Israeli grandfather of MP3 passes away at 86

From Ian:

How 'The Collective Voice of the Muslim World' Weaponizes the UN against Israel
OPEC and the OIC are infused with nearly incalculable wealth and most member states of the OIC have found themselves upbraided for questionable ethics.

One critic suggested: "If the OIC Summiteers are serious about the burning issues of justice, freedom and good governance, then they should schedule a special debate on the Transparency International's (TI) 2003 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which ranked 38 of the 57 OIC member nations in its latest chart of the corruption levels of 133 countries... [it] is dismal reading for OIC as it is an overall indictment of the failures of the OIC countries to grapple with the problem of corruption..."

The UN itself is certainly not above reproach in the corruption department, as evidenced, among other cases, by the "Oil-for-Food Program;" the extensive history of "food for sex" with children by "peacekeepers" who enjoy immunity from prosecution; or the trial of Chinese executive Julia Wang, who attempted to purchase an influential UN post.

One may wonder why Nicaragua, not an Islamic country, and with significant problems on its own home front, would trouble itself with submitting the motion. A cursory investigation reveals some significant motivation: "With the majority vote of the Sandinista Caucus, the National Assembly today approved the Loan Agreement signed between the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Republic of Nicaragua... The project, which has an estimated investment of 23 million dollars, of which the OPEC Fund will finance 20.5 million..."

The OIC even attempted to co-opt UN forces as a pretext for Islamic military support of Lebanon's offensive against Israel.

Returning to the pre-1967 lines -- simply the armistice lines from 1949 where fighting had happened to stop -- is nothing short of suicide for Israel; it would be virtually indefensible, and the UN and all of its sponsors are well aware of that.

It would seem... that protecting freedom of religion, outside of Islamic fundamentalism, is not of any particular concern to the OIC or what now stands mostly as its legitimizing but rapidly crumbling front, the UN. The collaboration between the OIC and UN is simply a pretext to twist international law -- and public opinion -- to their own purposes, whether they are promoting themselves or delegitimizing the State of Israel.
Fisking Mira Fox at the Forward on Jenin
I wrote a chapter in my book on the Jenin “Massacre” as the supreme example of Lethal Journalism turning into Own-Goal Journalism with Western demonstrators, at the news of invented Israeli massacres, cheering on Jihadi suicide terrorists who would soon attack them. Now, over two decades later, a journalist writing in the (Jewish) Forward presents a remarkably twisted account of what happened then in which she channels the Palestinian libels, in order to characterize what is happening now in Jenin.

When I first read the words of the apocalyptic Saudi theologian in 2001 about the intifada
it is the Zionist’s duty to fight for the opposing side

I thought, how ridiculous. What Jew, much less Zionist, would fight for the insane hatreds of apocalyptic Jihadis with their ambitions to conquer the world and their weapon of suicide terror? Well, here we are in 2023. And Jewish Own-goal Journalism is thriving at the Forward. (Don’t they have any fact-checkers?)
A controversial documentary upended the narrative on Jenin 20 years ago. Has anything changed since?
Last week’s violent killings in Israel and the West Bank echo events from decades ago
Two decades ago, during the Second Intifada, Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp. In the aftermath of the 10-day battle, Israel blockaded the camp for days, forbidding medical teams, journalists and a U.N. fact-finding mission from entering. But Muhammad Bakri, an Arab-Israeli actor, snuck into the camp with a camera, interviewing numerous residents.

Bakri did not slip into the camp during the fighting, but came (weeks) after to interview Palestinians (only). In the opening footage he dates the end of filming around June 23, 2002. Anyone who has actually seen the film would know these interviews were not during the fighting.
The resulting film, Jenin, Jenin, which Bakri released shortly afterward,

If several months later is shortly afterwards…
told the Palestinian side of what West Bank residents refer to as the Jenin massacre, painting a very different story — with a much higher civilian death toll — than the version from the Israeli government.

This formulation is strange and, as will be seen below, disinformative. The Western media, with the help of Human Rights NGOs, had been circulating the Palestinian claims of massacre for weeks. The Israeli narrative took time to take shape, and was widely ignored even after the evidence came to light. Also note the post-modern take: two versions, two stories, as if de facto, the evidence of honesty in the narratives were irrelevant.

And yet, the most outstanding trait of Bakri’s film was the extensive, consistent, pervasive, dishonesty of the “witnesses,” from the old man whom Israeli’s helped but claimed they shot at him in cold blood, to the head of the hospital who claimed the israelis shelled his hospital and denied them deliveries of food and medical supplies. All of this was refuted by subsequent documentaries including Pierre Rehov’s The Road to Jenin, and Martin Himmel’s Jenin: Massacring the Truth.


Jew People
“The danger is the mixture between fact-based comments and absolute nonsense,” says Avner Shavit, Israeli journalist and senior film critic for Walla, who notes that You People employs a manipulative tactic in which lies about the Jewish people are sandwiched between facts. “Two of the lies that Akbar and Fatima tell are preceded by valid comments. The father says that Jews are not targeted by police violence to the same degree as Black people. One hundred percent—we all agree. The comment about slavery is not valid. Unfortunately, some Jews in the Netherlands were involved in the slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries, but Jews were nothing more than a footnote in the history of slavery and, in any case, these are not the Jews to which Fatima refers. Arnold’s and Shelley’s parents or grandparents—they likely immigrated from Eastern Europe in the late 19th century or early 20th century. Not only were they not involved in the slave trade, they had no money, no privilege, and no wealth.” Nor do we hear that, Akbar’s own sense of the news aside, Jews remain the most targeted ethnoreligious group in the United States, or that Orthodox Jews are regularly beaten up on the streets for exactly that—wearing a yarmulke.

“The callousness with which it stereotypes and ridicules Jewish people is nauseating,” said Noa Tishby, a TV producer, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth and Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism. “It is heartbreaking that with the current rise of both racism and antisemitism, a Jewish and a Black writer were unable to find an actual way to bridge the gap and instead are perpetuating age-old antisemitic tropes which historically have caused bloodshed.”

Others were even more pointed. The film “drives a dangerous wedge between our communities, reinforcing conspiracy theories and painting Jews in positions of supremacy—when we are the age-old underdog,” said Allison Josephs, founder of nonprofit organization Jew in the City.

You People “is a Jews don’t count fest,” said David Baddiel, English comedian and author of the bestselling book Jews Don’t Count. “The Jewish family is positioned as white, privileged, and racist. The Black family just has a stern dad. At the end there’s much Jewish apologizing for racism. None for antisemitism. That word never appears.”

That You People was co-penned by Hill, who is Jewish, has struck some observers as particularly upsetting. In one scene early in the film, Ezra is out on a date (at a Beverly Hills deli) with a large-nosed Jewish woman who comments to Ezra on how “exciting” it must be to “work with so much money all the time.” Later, Ezra presents the Tiffany engagement ring he bought for Amira to his best friend and co-podcast host, Mo (Sam Jay), for her approval. The diamond is small, and so Mo suggests Ezra make up a story to apologize for the ring’s “baby-ass” size. “I’m just gonna be like, it’s my grandma’s Holocaust ring,” shrugs Ezra. Mo’s response: “It’s not a Holocaust box. You gotta put it in a satchel and dirty it up. I think you should Holocaust it down.”

“I just read a survey that 25% of Dutch people think the Holocaust is a myth or an overblown story,” Shavit told me. “If Netflix wants to control the world, then go for it. But if this is Netflix’s vision, to be the most important platform, then it’s my responsibility to take its work seriously and to deconstruct it. And my main concern is that because Netflix is an international platform—available in Turkey, the Netherlands, Japan—not everyone will understand the film’s subtleties. The film can argue that it plays with stereotypes, but that is a very American perspective. The non-American audience understands it very differently. It’s still terrible, of course, when viewed by an American audience, but in other countries where they don’t have this American perspective, it’s even worse.”
Netflix's 'You People' branded as damaging to Jews

Netflix slammed for portraying Jews as 'white, privileged and racist' in hit rom-com ‘You People’
Allison Josephs, a Modern Orthodox Jewish influencer and founder of the Jew in the City nonprofit which works to combat stereotypes about religious Jews, claimed the film conflated white privilege and the experience of American Jews.

Jewish characters in the Netflix hit “can just call his Jewish family friend” to get a job, “Because it’s what we all do. We get our jobs with all those Jewish family connections,” she scathing wrote online.

Ms Josephs told American magazine Newsweek that many Jewish people she had spoken with were “really, really upset by this movie.”

“I think the film is irredeemable. And I think it’s horribly damaging, and I think it will increase a division, a wedge between the Black and Jewish community. I think this movie will endanger Jews. I think it’s a really irresponsible movie.”

“It was a really painful movie to watch,” she continued.

The UK-based antisemitism charity Campaign Against Antisemitism also complained that: “‘You People’ normalises harmful rhetoric against Jewish people and contains several unchallenged tropes.”

CAA also said it was disappointed that the film “repeatedly played the Holocaust for cheap laughs,” adding that: “the word ‘antisemitism’ does not appear in the entire film”.

"The antisemitic trope that Jews were en masse slave traders is perpetuated. Again this is not really challenged at all,” they went on.


Masoud Jailed For Rejecting Officer Rothman After Plea to Assaulting Man Waving Israel Flag
Saadah Masoud was indicted for punching and dragging Matt Greenman, who was wearing a flag of Israel, on 42nd Street near the United Nations.

On July 5, 2022 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote held the arraignment of Masoud on Federal hate crimes charges. Inner City Press covered it, as the only media in the courtroom.

After Masoud pled guilty and while he was out on bond awaiting sentencing in March, his Pre Trial Services officer compiled and filed a list of violations of conditions, not abiding by curfew, not proving employment. A hearing was held on February 3 by Judge Cote and Inner City Press was exclusively there.

The Assistant US Attorney said Masoud had refused to work with an Office Rothman --

Masoud's defense lawyer said, This is about Israel, not about being Jewish.

Masoud was ordered "remanded" - two US Marshals moved in and handcuffed him. Inner City Press will cover his sentencing by Judge Cote on March 3.


Kanye West fails to raise any money for presidential bid after antisemitic tirades
Kanye West received a grand total of zero donations to his presidential campaign in the last quarter of 2022 after he went on multiple antisemitic tirades last year.

Campaign finance documents filed with the US Federal Election Commission and published this week show that the rapper, now know as Ye, received no donations to his campaign, but spent over $142,000 primarily on travel, as well as administrative services.

The documents also reveal that his campaign paid nearly $15,000 to self-declared white supremacist and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes for travel expenses, and British right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos received nearly $50,000 for "domain transfer" and "campaign wrap up services".

Kanye West announced in November last year that he was running for president in the 2024 election in the wake of series of antisemitic tirades that started in October, including saying he that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and praising Adolf Hitler on Infowars.

He launched merchandise to support his presidential bid, and his campaign website, still named 'Kanye 2020' from the previous election cycle, remained open for donations.

However, campaign filings published this week reveal that West received $0 in donations in the period covering October to December 2022. Not a single person, campaign, or political action committee donated any money to support his presidential bid.
Illinois Taxpayers Fund Jew Hatred and Black Separatism
Illinois taxpayers are currently supporting an organization that promotes the teachings of a man notorious for conspiracy theories about Jews and references to white people as "devils." Public records indicate that the Build Illinois Bond Fund, established in the mid-1980s to promote economic development in the state, gave the Coalition for the Remembrance of Elijah Muhammad (CROE) $500,000 in 2021 and 2022 and has signed off to give the same amount to the organization in 2023.

CROE, which has not responded to an FWI inquiry, was established in 1987 to "remember a man who was slowly being written out of history"—Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. While Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation of Islam for four decades, did not espouse traditional Islam, he played a significant role in promoting helping the faith gain a substantial following in the black community in America.

According to CROE's website, Elijah Muhammad, whom they refer to as "The Messenger," taught that "the White man first appeared 6,000 years ago on the Island of Patmos or Pelan in the Aegean Sea, where they had been made by a 600-year process of selective breeding called grafting. Under the auspices of a brilliant Black scientist named Yakub, and by the divine authority of Allah Himself, the Blacks who came with Yakub to the island were placed under a system of laws by which mating was based on skin color and in which only lighter-complexioned babies were allowed to survive."

CROE promotes black separatism, declaring, "We want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves, to be allowed to establish a separate state or territory of their own," and continues, "We believe that the offer of Integration is hypocritical and is made by those who are trying to deceive the black people into believing that their 400 year-old open enemies of freedom, justice and equality are, all of a sudden, their 'friends'."

The organization's website links to an online bookstore, which sells Elijah Muhammad's book, The Fall of America, in which Muhammad says, "Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. admitted to me that I am teaching right. He admitted that the white man is the devil, but he was afraid to take a stand and preach that the white man is the devil."

Another book sold on the website, The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, claims that "Deep within the recesses of the Jewish historical record is the irrefutable evidence that the most prominent of the Jewish pilgrim fathers used kidnapped Black Africans disproportionately more than any other ethnic or religious group in New World history and participated in every aspect of the international slave trade," and says, "Jews have been conclusively linked to the greatest criminal endeavor ever undertaken against an entire race of people – a crime against humanity – the Black African Holocaust."


BBC framing continues to blur understanding of terror
Previously we discussed three articles written by some of the journalists tasked with making sure that BBC audiences are up to date with what is going on in the Israel-Palestinian arena, noting how serial omissions in their reporting compromise audience understanding:

Since the beginning of February the BBC News website has published two more items in the same vein, both attributed to the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Tom Bateman and both including many of the same serial omissions.

February 1st saw the appearance of a third report on the topic of the US Secretary of State’s recent visit to the Middle East under the headline ‘Israel and the Palestinians: Blinken’s Jerusalem visit offers few solutions’.

In that report Bateman begins by telling readers that there are several “pivotal moments” that have led to increase tensions in the region:
“It is a long list. First is the accelerating rate of bloodshed. Next comes the most radically nationalist governing coalition in Israel’s history, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies).

The coalition is asserting “exclusive” Jewish rights to all the land (ie ending any idea of a future independent Palestinian state).”

As in the previous reports on Blinken’s visit, readers are told nothing of the multiple Palestinian factions which likewise claim “exclusive” rights to “all the land” and seek to bring an end to the existing Jewish state and so once again BBC audiences are led to understand that Israel’s new government is the prime factor standing in the way of a two state solution.

Bateman’s brackets binging portrayal goes on:
“Then there is a near complete collapse in control by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in parts of the occupied West Bank (seeing waves of Israeli military raids and helping create a new generation of armed militants), an ageing and unpopular PA leader (who this year marks Year 18 of his four-year elected term in office), and his announcement last week to ditch so-called security co-ordination with the Israelis (a move that could lead to a complete security collapse in the West Bank).”

As in his previous article relating to those issues, Bateman avoids mentioning the increased involvement of Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – as well as members of the PA security forces – in the escalating terrorism and violence. His portrayal of Mahmoud Abbas does not include the relevant topic of the ‘succession struggle’ that is already in evidence. Issues such as PA sanctioned glorification of terrorism, incitement and financial support for terror perpetrators are as ever absent from Bateman’s portrayal.

Returning to the “accelerating rate of bloodshed”, Bateman once again uses the ‘chicken and egg’ formula, failing to clarify that counter-terrorism operations by Israeli forces in supposedly PA controlled areas are the outcome of Palestinian terrorism.
The Times misses chance to call out Palestinian 'martyrdom' culture
Again, the Times journalist misses an opportunity to shed light on some of the key drivers of the conflict: the fallacious Palestinian belief that millions of them will one day “return” to places in Israel where their ancestors may have once lived; and the fact that Palestinians leaders, their Western supporters and (especially) UNRWA perpetuates their misery by continuing to house them in such ‘camps’, rather than assimilate them into proper Palestinian cities, while nurturing the fantasy of their eventual ‘return’.

But, it’s a paragraph near the end of the article where we see most glaringly not only the journalist’s penchant for denying Palestinian agency, but an illustration of the media’s tendency to employ abstractions which blur cause and effect:
But there is no peace process. There is only the endless“situation” drawing another generation into its morbid grip. Robbing Asher Morali of his young life. Pushing Mahmoud Tawalbe and his friends into a cycle of martyrdom.

The 14 year old boy, Asher Morali, killed in Jerusalem’s Neve Ya’akov neighborhood, along with six others, on Holocaust Rememberance Day, didn’t lose his life as the result of being the “grip” of a “situation”.

He was murdered because a particular Palestinian man, Khairi Alqam, made the conscious decision to open fire on a group of Jewish civilians near a synagogue. And, if the 17 year old Mahmoud Tawalbe follows in his uncle’s footsteps and, one day, also murders innocent Israelis, it will be because of a choice that he made of his own volition.

The ultimate irony is that pro-Palestinian activists and their supporters sometimes claim that all they desire is for Palestinians to be “humanised”, while simultaneously infantilising them, and imagining that the normal laws of causation – what commentator Rob Henderson describes as the “reliable connections between good choices and good outcomes and bad choices and bad outcomes” – don’t apply in their situation.

A more dehumanising portrayal would hard to imagine.
Reuters Glowingly Describes Palestinian Terror Teen as Wannabe Chef Who Loved Football
The bizarre terrorist puff piece quotes people who knew the teenager and are “puzzled about what could have prompted him to carry out such an act.”

Perhaps Chacar should have probed this professed incredulity at Aleiwat’s motivation considering there are more than a few incentives that might have influenced the young man, including the Palestinian Authority’s “pay-for-slay” fund which offers financial rewards to Palestinian terrorists, and the textbooks Aleiwat studied that glorify Palestinian suicide bombings.

Indeed, Chacar even had the audacity to include comments from Souhair Mikkawi, 57, Aleiwat’s school principal, who expresses her surprise at the “shocking” news.

We are presumably supposed to believe that Mikkawi was unaware that books issued at her school encourage impressionable youngsters to “cut the throats of enemy soldiers” and “don explosive belts.”

Chacar’s attempt to absolve Aleiwat continues with the inclusion of extraneous and heartwarming details about his innocent interests, such as his “passion for football” and his desire to work in a professional kitchen.

An implied justification for the attack is also conveniently offered midway through the article:
Many Jews believe the ancient City of David stood on the site of Silwan and Jewish settlers have bought properties there, which Palestinians see as part of a policy to drive them out.

About 600 settlers now live among 50,000 Palestinians in Silwan, according to Aviv Tatarsky at Ir Amim, an Israeli organisation that monitors Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.”

Apparently buying and subsequently residing in a property is only a problem when one is Jewish in which case they are “settlers” who are attempting to “drive out” tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Even more incredibly, Aleiwat is not the only terrorist to whom Reuters gives an extreme makeover.

The mother of Wadi’ Abu Ramuz, a 17-year-old in possession of a Hamas flag and a knife when he was shot dead during a riot in which firebombs and Molotov cocktails were hurled at Israeli police, is quoted claiming her son was not even involved in the clashes but was simply “trying to drag a wounded friend to safety.”

Who among us has not been caught with a blade and terrorist flag when bravely administering first aid?

The entirety of the Reuters article reads more like a press release from a PR firm representing Palestinian terrorists than it does a serious piece of journalism.

That said, what terrorists need PR when they have the world’s biggest news agency rehabilitating their image for free?


Israeli grandfather of MP3 passes away at 86
Famed Israeli computer scientist Prof. Abraham Lempel, whose revolutionary work on lossless data compression algorithms served as a precursor of ubiquitous file formats such as MP3 and ZIP, passed away on Sunday at 86.

Lempel’s innovative work together with electrical engineer Prof. Jacob Ziv helped transform the field of computer science and is considered one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in the history of the State of Israel and the Technion, the leading research institute where he was professor emeritus.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan eulogized Lempel as one of the most consequential researchers in the university’s history. "The late Prof. Emeritus Lempel was a source of inspiration for all of us, and was among the greatest researchers the Technion has produced in its hundred years," he said.

“The Lempel-Ziv algorithm has contributed to the world, free of charge, an unprecedented technology that enables the transfer of data quickly and without loss of data.

In his professional life, Prof. Lempel embodied the connection between deepening in basic science and excelling in applied research. Few are the researchers whose work has had such a broad impact on technological progress and our daily lives. May his memory be a blessing".

Prof. Lempel was born in Poland in 1936 and began his studies at the Technion in 1959. He completed his three academic degrees in just eight years.

He taught electrical engineering and computer science at the Technion and served as the dean of the Taub Faculty of Computer Science between 1981-1984.
Ruth Wisse: Free as a Jew
Order Ruth Wisse's "Free as a Jew" here. Ruth R. Wisse was Professor of Yiddish literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University from 1993–2014 and before that, helped found the Jewish Studies Department at McGill University. Currently a senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund and recipient of its Herzl Prize, she has written widely on cultural and political subjects for the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, National Affairs, and other publications. Her books include The Schlemiel as Modern Hero, The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey Through Literature and Culture, No Joke: Making Jewish Humor, If I Am Not for Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews, and Jews and Power. In 2007, she was awarded the National Medal for the Humanities, and in 2004, an Honorary Degree by Yeshiva University.


Netanyahu plants tree in honour of Jerusalem terror victims for Tu Bishvat
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led a tree-planting ceremony on Monday to mark Tu Bishvat in the Neve Ya’akov neighborhood of Jerusalem, where a Palestinian terrorist killed seven people last month.

Netanyahu was joined by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and family members of the murder victims, as well as police officers, medics and paramedics who treated the wounded at the scene of the Jan. 27 attack. The following day, another Palestinian terrorist shot and seriously wounded an Israeli father and son near the entrance to the City of David National Park adjacent to the Old City in the Israeli capital.

“Dear bereaved families, I know the pain that you are going through, our heart is with you, the heart of the entire people. This tree is the tree of life. They come to sow death and we plant life. Several days ago, they murdered seven of our loved ones and here we are, a few days later, deepening our roots in our land,” said Netanyahu on Monday.

“We know that the proper response to terrorism is to strike at it and to deepen our roots in the soil of our homeland. We are striking at terrorism. A day later, a murderous band tried to carry out another murder at a restaurant at Almog Junction, to murder dozens of Israeli citizens and—miraculously—they failed. Today, IDF soldiers, together with the ISA [Shin Bet], have eliminated five of these terrorists, two of whom tried to carry out the attack at Almog Junction,” added the prime minister.

Netanyahu was referring to an operation overnight Sunday by Israeli security forces in which they arrested the terrorist cell responsible for an attempted mass shooting at a restaurant near Jericho.


Tu B’shvat: The Jewish ‘New Year for trees’



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