Wednesday, February 15, 2023
The Truth Behind the Palestinian ‘Catastrophe’
ON AUGUST 5, 1948, not quite three months after the new state of Israel was invaded by five Arab armies, a short volume titled Maana al-Nakba (later translated as The Meaning of the Disaster) appeared in Beirut to popular acclaim. The author was Constantine K. Zurayk, a distinguished professor of Oriental history and vice president of the American University of Beirut.Irwin Cotler: To combat antisemitism, we must first agree how to define it
Zurayk was the wunderkind of the Arab academic world. Born in Damascus in 1909 to a prosperous Greek Orthodox family, he was sent off at 20 to complete his graduate studies in the United States. Within a year he had obtained a master’s from the University of Chicago. One year later, he added a Ph.D. in Oriental languages from Princeton. He then returned to Beirut and the American University.
Zurayk soon became one of the leading advocates of the liberal, secularist variant of Arab nationalism. After Syria won its independence in 1945, he was chosen to serve in the new nation’s first diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C., and also served with the Syrian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.
Zurayk’s book reflected the sense of outrage among the Arab educated classes over the 1947 UN partition resolution and the creation of the Jewish state. Zurayk’s anger was even more personal, since he had participated in the UN deliberations on the Palestine question. His 70-page book then became a reference point for future pro-Palestinian historians and writers. Yoav Gelber, a prominent Israeli historian of the 1948 war, cited Zurayk’s work when he told me he didn’t think there was much new in Arafat’s 1998 Nakba Day declaration. “The Nakba was at the basis of the Palestinian narrative from the beginning,” Gelber said. “Constantine Zurayk coined the phrase in 1948.”
In previous writings about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, I wasn’t able to comment on Zurayk’s book. A limited-edition English translation of Maana al-Nakba appeared in Beirut in 1956, but it was never published in the United States. It was only recently that I found a rare copy in a university library and finally read the real thing.
It was not what I expected. The Meaning of the Disaster actually isn’t about the tragedy of the Palestinian people. According to Zurayk, the crime of the Nakba was committed against the entire Arab nation—a romantic conception of a political entity that he and his fellow Arab nationalists fervently believed in. And, it turns out, Zurayk was no champion of an independent Palestinian state.
In an introductory paragraph, Zurayk writes about “the defeat of the Arabs in Palestine,” which he then calls “one of the harshest of the trials and tribulations with which the Arabs have been afflicted throughout their long history.” Zurayk’s only comment about Palestinian refugees is that, during the fighting, “four hundred thousand or more Arabs [were] forced to flee pell mell from their homes.” (All italics added.)
Zurayk predicted that all Arabs would continue to be threatened by international Zionism: “The Arab nation throughout its long history has never been faced with a more serious danger than that to which it has today been exposed. The forces which the Zionists control in all parts of the world can, if they are permitted to take root in Palestine, threaten the independence of all the Arab lands and form a continuing and frightening danger to their life.”
The IHRA definition provides examples of both forms of antisemitism. The examples addressing older forms include stereotypes of Jews as controlling the media, world governments and the economy. Examples of newer forms include denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination and holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel.Gil Troy: Moral idiocy: Academics fuel Palestinian terror against Israel - opinion
These latter examples have provoked some opposition, with opponents alleging that the IHRA definition will stifle criticism of the actions of the Israeli government, as well as advocacy for Palestinian human rights. This claim is as misleading as it is unfounded.
In fact, distinguishing between what is and what is not antisemitic enhances and promotes free expression and peaceful dialogue. In particular, the IHRA definition explicitly states that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Accordingly, the definition serves to protect speech that is critical of Israeli policy — which I have myself engaged in — so long as it does not cross the delineated boundaries into antisemitism. Conversely, using this definition, genuine antisemitism, such as those examples listed above, can be defined and recognized.
The IHRA definition therefore sets the parameters for a healthy, democratic, tolerant debate and dialogue. It fosters non-hateful communication, and prevents both actual instances of antisemitism as well as unjust labelling of antisemitism. In doing so, it aligns with Canadian values of equality, diversity and human rights.
My hope for 2023 is that the Canadian jurisdictions that have not yet adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism will do so, and that the ones that have adopted it begin to implement and use it. The IHRA definition is an indispensable resource in helping to identify, recognize and define antisemitism, and adopting it is the critical first step towards Canada’s collective effort to combat the rising tide of antisemitism.
Imagine the hate required to overrun fellow humans at a bus stop. Imagine the super-sized evil required to keep accelerating when you notice six- and eight-year-old brothers standing there, innocently chatting with their dad. And imagine the perversity involved in celebrating such murders. Friday proved – again – how deep anti-Jewish demonization has been drilled into too many Palestinian hearts, deforming their souls.
Until the world acknowledges this wickedness – which on Friday ended three lives – more such murderers will be mass-produced – with Western dollars, progressive encouragement, and, in modern Jewry’s sickest trend, some Jews’ validation too.
Too many Blame-Israel-Firsters discount this cultivated ugliness which mocks their delusions that peace will descend once Israel retreats, creating a Palestinian dictatorship – er, state – next door. These pie-in-the-skiers keep deciding that Palestinian abominations confirm Israeli iniquity. They theorize that only desperate individuals driven by evil “occupiers” would act so viciously.
Jews have often been blamed for their enemies’ enmity. This Palestinian addiction to violence, however, reveals more about the killers than those killed.
This, the real cycle of violence, with Palestinian rejectionism and antisemitism fueling terrorism, poses the biggest obstacle to peace. The terrorist rot infects Palestinian identity. Contrast Israel’s army, which will abort legitimate missions to minimize civilian casualties, with Palestinians’ death cult, which targets kids and often blackmails the most vulnerable Palestinians into terror.
The Terrorist-Intellectual Complex
An academic recently challenged some other centrists and me for attacking the Netanyahu-Deri corruption yet ignoring the “occupation’s corruption.” Actually, I’m struck by many critics’ corruption, judging us long-distance through ivy-clouded lenses.
Their “Terrorist-Intellectual Complex” perpetuates violence. Palestinians keep deluding themselves that terrorism works, emboldened by ever-accumulating stacks of UN resolutions, academic treatises, “human rights” proclamations, and student petitions – amplified by retweets and likes.
Many have long noted that only intellectuals could figure out how to call themselves “progressive” while supporting sexist, homophobic, Jew-hating, murderers. Today, “woke” parents training their kids in self-abasement and cravenness to dodge confrontations, even in self-defense, nevertheless cheer Palestinians’ killing cult. And self-proclaimed “Social Justice Warriors” justify this most unjust movement, forgiving the Palestinian Authority and Hamas autocracies.
Andrew Roberts: Paul Johnson, 1928–2023
Paul considered himself a historian as much as journalist. His greatest bestseller, A History of the Modern World—published in the United States as Modern Times in 1983—provides a master class in how history ought to be written, blending narrative with insightful commentary. The extraordinary commercial successes of Paul’s books—it was said that his History of the Jews was given as a present at half the bar mitzvahs in America—meant that Paul never accepted advances from publishers, so he started receiving royalties from the moment the first copy of each book was sold. It is an almost unheard-of practice, but it gave him the satisfaction of knowing that he never needed to earn back advances, which of course made him popular with publishers, as did his practice of always indexing his books himself. His close and long friendship with the maestro publisher George Weidenfeld, who published much of Paul’s vast output, gave both men enormous pleasure.Paul Johnson’s Philo-Semitism
Paul had an innate gift for friendship. Among his other close friends was Norman Podhoretz, the former editor of COMMENTARY and father of its present editor. Paul and Norman were contemporaries; both edited magazines of the left, then moved to the right, enduring ferocious criticism in the process. Among his younger American friends, the historian Amity Shlaes got to know him well in later years, around the time he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in December 2006. “Our country honors Paul Johnson,” Bush said at the investiture ceremony, “and proudly calls him a friend.” Richard Nixon became a fan after leaving office. He would not have been a fan when in office, however, as Johnson attended anti–Vietnam War demonstrations outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square in London.
In 1957 Paul married Marigold Hunt, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Hunt, physician to Prime Ministers Churchill, Attlee, and Anthony Eden. She is a sparky, delightful, and engaged woman whom Paul adored for the next two-thirds of a century. Her attractive personality deflected some of the more bitter criticism that would otherwise have been directed at her occasionally rebarbative husband. “Paul is offense,” their son Daniel has said, “and Marigold is defense.”
Marigold was educated at Oxford and later campaigned against poverty with prison reformer Lord Longford, the father of her great friend, the historian Antonia Fraser. In 1974, she stood as a Labour candidate in the safe Tory seat of Beaconsfield and never joined her husband in his admiration of Margaret Thatcher’s politics. On meeting Thatcher at a reception once, Marigold tried to make small talk, later recalling, “I was standing with a glass of Champagne and I said nervously: ‘Isn’t it lovely to be here, a real treat.’ And Margaret looked at me with such contempt and said, ‘I don’t get up in the morning and think about treats. I think about what work there is to do that day.’” In fact, of course, Marigold’s life extended to much more than treats, and she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her work on the Northern Ireland peace process. She and Paul had four children, among them the aforementioned Daniel (a Commentary contributor, as was Paul) and the successful businessman Luke Johnson.
Among many other things, the late historian and journalist Paul Johnson was, in the words of J.J. Kimche, “one of the greatest philo-Semites of our time.” Kimche carefully analyzes the ideas and attitudes that underly Johnson’s A History of the Jews, as well as his engagement with the Judaism and the Jewish past in other works:Barcelona canceling Israel ties 'big mistake,' not reflecting all of Spain - Ayuso
Eschewing the fashionable conclusion that Jewish communities scattered across various continents and millennia represent merely a loose constellation of disparate cultural units, Johnson insisted that the Jews are what they have traditionally imagined themselves to be: a single national entity, whose unique place in history is secured by their disproportionate contributions to the broader human story. In Johnson’s eyes, the Jews are special because they taught the world a set of indispensable guiding principles.
Such principles are not the contingent results of organic cultural stirrings or historicized necessity, but rather immutable convictions about God, humanity, and the world. The Jews’ embodiment of these principles as a religious and social modus vivendi has shaped, even determined, the contours of Jewish history, which is guided primarily by internal ideals rather than the vagaries of external circumstance. Put simply, Judaism created the Jews, not vice-versa.
Johnson’s insistence on the range and depth of the Jewish story constitutes a resounding rejection of accusations of Jewish ossification. Johnson’s investigations reveal two millennia of vigorous and turbulent exilic Jewish life, demonstrating that Diaspora Jewry satisfied all the criteria for a thriving national organism. In this narrative, there was no truly “quiet” era of Jewish history, let alone cultural atrophy. Jewish accomplishments in the religious, economic, political, social, and intellectual spheres placed them at the epicenter of many great civilizational narratives. The Jews have no need of reintroduction into world history, for the simple reason that they never left.
A senior Spanish politician decided to visit Israel to counteract Barcelona’s recent announcement that the city will no longer be twinned with Tel Aviv, citing claims of “apartheid” and “violation of human rights.”PodCast: Using Lawfare To Peel Back The Face Of The BDS Movement: A Fireside Chat With Ron Machol, Chief Operating Officer Of The Zachor Institute
“The city of Barcelona did something that is a big mistake and that doesn’t represent the whole of Spain and it does not represent Madrid,” Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid told The Jerusalem Post during a 48-hour visit this week.
Almost 7 million people live in the autonomous Community of Madrid, of which Ayuso is the senior figure. She is also the president of the Center-Right People’s Party of Madrid.
“My message doesn’t go against anyone. It goes in favor,” she said of the relationship with Israel. “We want to share experiences for start-ups and affordability and also to strengthen the relations between Israel and Madrid.”
How has Ayuso worked to boost relations with Israel and Madrid?
Ayuso shared that she introduced the history of Sephardi Jewry to the local education system of the Madrid region.
“Two years ago, we introduced the history of Sephard to all of our schools.” Now all schools in the region learn about the rich Jewish history in the country as well as about Spanish Jews during the period of the Holocaust, she said.
“We have promoted initiatives against BDS [boycott, divestments and sanctions on Israel], we’ve promoted initiatives against antisemitism at the European Parliament and, of course, we commemorate the Shoah, the Holocaust,” she said, adding that “we also remember the links between us, at every opportunity.”
While the BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) movement portrays itself as a grassroots campaign using legal means to combat alleged Israeli crimes, at its core, the movement is radically different.Biden’s Ed. Dept. delays rule to protect Jewish students from ethnic discrimination
In addition to spreading anti-Israel disinformation, BDS campaigners also frequently use tools of discrimination in their attempt to demonize the Jewish State. While these efforts can take place anywhere, college and university campuses, as well as inside the halls of government, are frequent targets for this battleground aimed at delegitimizing Israel.
In the face of these campaigns, many pro-Israel efforts have been launched in response, including the use of legal means. In this week’s podcast, we sit down with Ron Machol, the Israel-based Chief Operating Officer of Zachor Legal Institute. Ron has a hi-tech background and is responsible for project development and outreach at the organization.
The U.S. Department of Education under President Joe Biden is dragging its feet on a rule change that would better protect Jewish students from discrimination based on their ethnicity.Antisemitic attacks target three University of Denver students
The department’s Office for Civil Rights has postponed codifying new guidance for interpreting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act until at least December 2023, marking the second time it’s delayed the action.
The rule change had been put forth as a result of then-President Donald Trump’s 2019 Executive Order 13899, titled “Combating Anti-Semitism.”
“While Title VI does not cover discrimination based on religion, individuals who face discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin do not lose protection under Title VI for also being a member of a group that shares common religious practices. Discrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when the discrimination is based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin,” Trump’s order stated.
Inside Higher Ed reported in January that the Education Department pushed off “updating the regulations for Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect students from harassment and discrimination because of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics until December 2023.”
“The department has previously said it would issue a new rule in December 2022 as part of an effort to combat antisemitism.”
From Feb. 9 to Feb. 12, three Jewish University of Denver students were targets of antisemitic attacks, including pork left at one student’s doorstep and smeared on the door, and mezuzot ripped off two students’ door frames. (Some news reports referred to the pork as “glued” to the door.)
A mezuzah is a ritual object that contains the Shema prayer written on parchment, affixed to Jewish doorposts. The attacker tampered with the scrolls in the students’ mezuzot, destroying one of them, according to StandWithUs.
“The students are all identifiable Jews or Jewish leaders on campus,” the international nonprofit stated.
StandWithUs said that vandalism of mezuzot is on the rise in the county but these attacks were particularly shocking given the way they centered on Jewish religious practice, including the prohibition against consuming pork.
The private, nearly 160-year-old university, which has an enrollment of about 14,000, condemned the incidents and opened an investigation. “We stand together in deploring these acts and in committing ourselves to promoting a warm, welcoming campus in which all community members can thrive,” the school stated on Twitter.
Antisemitism is skyrocketing in the U.S., specifically on university campuses. Often times, administrations attempt to brush these types of incidents under the rug.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 15, 2023
We need to ensure that doesn't happen and a full investigation happens @denverpost @DenverChannel @KyleClark
Biased Exam Question about Israel Prompts Condemnation and Calls for Investigation
Activists and lawmakers in New York are calling on the New York state Education Department (NYED) to investigate why a recently administered standardized test for high school students included questions which allegedly simplify the history of the founding of Israel.EHRC lifts Labour out of special measures, as antisemitism problems remain in Party despite progress.htm
In January former New York State Assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism (AAA) Dov Hikind (D) revealed images showing that the Global History and Geography Regents II test, one of five exams required for attaining a high school diploma and taken by over 50,000 students a year, contained questions asking if the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine’s (USCOP) 1947 partition plan to divide Mandatory Palestine between Jews and Arabs was prompted by the Holocaust and whether “Zionists and Jewish immigrants” have benefited most from territorial changes that have taken place since then.
“There’s clearly an agenda to undermine the State of Israel, to undermine its legitimacy,” former NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D) said on Monday during an interview with The Algemeiner. “It’s the kind of stuff created to foster antisemitism, and it’s happening constantly. The problem is so huge, and I don’t think we have a strategy in the Jewish community for dealing with it.”
Hikind also noted that efforts to found a Jewish homeland date back to the late 19th century, when Theodor Herzl, fearing the consequences of rising antisemitism in Europe, wrote Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) and founded the Zionist Organization.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has announced that it is lifting the Labour Party out of special measures, following the conclusion of the Action Plan agreed between the EHRC and the Party.The anti-Semitism claims that have plagued Sir Keir Starmer's Labour: Scale of problem under Jeremy Corbyn's tenure is fully exposed as figures show party has handled almost 700 cases of anti-Jewish hatred in the past three years
The Action Plan was imposed after the EHRC released its damning report in 2020, following an investigation in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the originating complainant.
The EHRC has described itself as “content with the actions taken” by Labour, in justifying its decision to end its monitoring of the Party.
In 2020, at the time of the publication of the report, Campaign Against Antisemitism filed disciplinary complaints against over a dozen sitting Labour MPs against whom no action had yet been taken.
Over two years later, still no action has been taken.
Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Despite our status as originating complainant in the EHRC’s investigation into Labour, the Party has not carried out disciplinary investigations in relation to more than a dozen complaints that we submitted over two years ago against sitting MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, who remains a member of the Party, and Angela Rayner. It is therefore hard for us to feel that a corner has been turned.
“While welcome progress has been made in the fight against antisemitism under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, justice is yet to be done in too many cases for anyone to conclude that the problem has been rectified. We will continue to press Labour on these complaints and its other failings, just as we do with all political parties. The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn plunged the Jewish community into a state of fear that could all too easily return unless antisemitism is firmly rooted out.”
The Labour Party was found by the EHRC to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Labour has dealt with almost 700 cases of anti-Semitism since Sir Keir Starmer took charge, as the party today is finally given the all-clear by the equalities watchdog.Keir Starmer confirms Corbyn will not stand for Labour in next election
The scale of the problem that developed under former leader Jeremy Corbyn can be exposed today in the latest figures. They show two-thirds of all complaints handled in the past three years have concerned anti-Jewish discrimination.
And some party members are still having to wait over a year for their cases to be heard, it is claimed, after its internal panels were overwhelmed by the number of reports.
Today the Equality and Human Rights Commission ends its monitoring of the party for breaching law and declares that Labour has made the required changes.
It was been more than two years since a damning investigation found 'significant failings' in how anti-Semitism complaints were handled and 'specific examples of harassment, discrimination and political interference'.
Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election, his successor Sir Keir Starmer confirmed this morning.
Speaking at a press conference in east London in the wake of the news that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has taken the party out of special measures, Starmer said unequivocally: “Let me be very clear about that; Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election.
“What I said about the party changing I meant, and we are not going back, and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next general election.”
In a conciliatory yet defiant speech in the presence of representatives and leaders of the Jewish community, Starmer declared that there will be “zero tolerance or patience” for those who downplay or deny antisemitism.
It follows on from comments he made on the Today programme last December when he said that he did not "see the circumstances in which Jeremy Corbyn will stand as a Labour candidate", adding that Labour is continuing apace with its selection processes.
In a blunt message to those who have been vocally opposed to changes made to the party under his leadership, Starmer said that the party is unrecognisable from 2019 and it will “never go back”.
Oh no. His poor, poor constituents. https://t.co/hqG3A59D1m pic.twitter.com/LnRfzQp0nY
— habibi (@habibi_uk) February 15, 2023
#ELBIT , technology helped Israel save #Turkish victims of the earthquake Palestine action Thugs and antisemites continue their violent action against them london date time to proscribe @Campaign4T pic.twitter.com/GyfrzswCMY
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) February 15, 2023
"It is imperative to note that similar regulations exist concerning a foreigner who wishes to come to Israel in order to marry an Israeli citizen."https://t.co/8RFV8V6Tgl
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 14, 2023
Stephen Sizer is one of Britain's most repulsive antisemites.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) February 15, 2023
Garry Ettle is Amnesty UK's "Country Co-ordinator for Israel-Palestine".
Amnesty has been reduced to a far left racist hatred group. pic.twitter.com/MXanb288YM
Amnesty UK's "Campaigns Manager" spends his days hating Israel on Twitter.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) February 15, 2023
And Hamas? He's mentioned the terrorists just 5 times over the last 5 years. Only to criticise their treatment of Palestinians and Assad.
Not a word about their atrocities against Israelis. Not a word. pic.twitter.com/19wk5HGrGp
For years, @BenJerrysIsrael has bought supplies from Palestinian farmers, providing them with a steady livelihood. B&J's Israel also has Arab distributors that rely on them. Most of B&J's sales in the West Bank are to Palestinians.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) February 14, 2023
(2/7)
Ilhan Omar Withdraws Support For East Palestine After Learning It’s In America https://t.co/bQ7vR44ZvC
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 14, 2023
BBC NEWS COVERAGE OF TERRORISM IN ISRAEL – JANUARY 2023
The Israel Security Agency’s report on terror attacks during January 2023 shows that throughout the month a total of 251 incidents took place: 187 in Judea & Samaria, 61 in Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ and three in the Gaza Strip sector.BBC News jumps the gun on legalisation of outposts
In Judea & Samaria, Jerusalem and inside the ‘green line’ the agency recorded 158 attacks with petrol bombs, 49 attacks using pipe bombs, 24 shooting attacks, twelve arson attacks, four stabbing attacks and one vehicular attack. In the Gaza Strip sector two incidents involving the launch of eight rockets and one incident of anti-aircraft fire were recorded.
Seven people were murdered and ten people were wounded in attacks during January.
A BBC News website report published towards the end of January told audiences that throughout the month some 30 Palestinians had been killed, describing them as “both militants and civilians”. A report published at the beginning of February stated that “more than 30 Palestinians” had been killed in January. Details of those incidents (and the fact that the majority of those killed were engaged in violence or carrying out attacks at the time or members of terrorist groups) can be found in the ITIC’s weekly reports:
It is the planning committee that is a branch of the Defence ministry’s Civil Administration which approves building in Area C, meaning that Mackintosh’s claim that “mass construction” had already been announced by “Israeli authorities” is also premature. The Times of Israel reported that part of the story as follows:
“Netanyahu also said that his cabinet members agreed to have the Defense Ministry body responsible for authorizing settlement construction convene in the coming days to advance plans for new Israeli construction in the West Bank.”
Mackintosh did not however forget to promote the standard yet partial BBC mantra concerning ‘settlements’ and ‘international law’:
“The international community regards all settlements as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Palestinians see settlements as a major obstacle to a peace deal with Israel.
They want all settlements and outposts to be removed from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which they seek for a future Palestinian state.
Israel has built about 140 settlements housing some 600,000 Jews since it occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.”
That partial messaging was repeated in the caption to the image illustrating the report (which was taken in Beit El rather than an outpost) and in the sub-heading presented on the ‘Middle East’ page.
As is almost always the case in BBC reporting, readers were told nothing about alternative legal views on that topic or the related issue of Jordan’s illegal invasion and 19-year occupation of the territory concerned, with the result being that the BBC actively avoids providing the “range and depth of analysis” essential for audiences to make up their own minds as “informed citizens”.
Last week, @joerogan went on his podcast, which has an average audience of 11 million listeners per episode, to condone @IlhanMN's previous antisemitic comments & to push the idea that "Jews are obsessed with money."
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 15, 2023
HonestReporting breaks down why these statements are so wrong. pic.twitter.com/vGK01X38xE
History lesson for @NPR: Israel did not "occupy Jerusalem in 1967."
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 15, 2023
Jerusalem was divided by an armistice line between Israel and Jordan in 1948, which left Israel in control of the western side of its capital city.
Jerusalem was reunited in 1967, not occupied. https://t.co/P9j3n0i7Ml pic.twitter.com/HVRQmW7WQQ
Another suspect nabbed in brutal 2021 NYC anti-Semitic attack
Another suspect has been arrested in connection to the caught-on-camera beating of a Jewish man during a rally near Times Square nearly two years ago, prosecutors said.
Mohammed Said Othman, 28, was arrested Thursday morning and later arraigned on an indictment in connection to the May 20, 2021 attack on Joseph Borgen – who was knocked to the ground, punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed, struck with crutches and assailed with anti-Semitic statements on Broadway near West 49th Street.
He was charged with first-degree gang assault and third-degree assault as a hate crime, according to the indictment.
During the arraignment, Judge Juan Merchan set bail at $75,000 cash.
Prosecutors had requested a higher bail – $200,000 cash – and for Said Othman to surrender his passport.
Video shows the brutal anti-Semitic attack on Joseph Borgen. Mohammed Said Othman, 27, is one of the suspects.
He will next appear in court on March 9.
Another man named Mohammed Othman – Said Othman’s younger brother – was previously arrested in connection to the attack, police sources said.
Anti-Semitic thug Suleiman Othman trial starts today! He savagely beat up Blake Zavadsky in Dec 2021! Is this the only time Othman has been involved in antisemitic violence? WATCH TO FIND OUT!https://t.co/U7vna1Isea pic.twitter.com/zz6po0dM0P
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) February 14, 2023
German Court Sentences Violent Holocaust Denier to Fourteen Months in Jail
A court in Germany on Tuesday sentenced a notorious Holocaust denier to a fourteen month prison sentence with no possibility of parole.German Band With Alleged Neo-Nazi Ties Gets Dropped by Leading Music Company
51-year-old Reza Begi, who is of Iranian origin, has been on trial at the Berlin-Tiergarten district court since last August. According to the German news outlet Tagesspiegel, he faced 25 charges, including incitement and violence against law enforcement officials, over a period extending from May 2020 to Sept. 2021. Throughout the trial, he has continued with his agitational activities, joining neo-Nazis on a march through the city of Dresden as recently as last weekend.
At the start of his trial, the former taxi driver told the presiding judge “I am the Messiah” when asked to state his profession. Begi’s numerous violations of Germany’s legal prohibition against Holocaust denial included delivering an antisemitic speech at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial and falsely claiming that the Holocaust was fabricated in a demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in the German capital.
On another occasion in Dec. 2020, Begi loudly denied the Holocaust outside the same district court where his own trial was held while attending the separate trial of Ursula Haverbeck, a 94-year-old Nazi sympathizer who has been convicted of Holocaust denial on numerous occasions.
Begi has also incited violence. On a May 2020 demonstration outside the German parliament against the government’s public health measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Begi, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, urged his fellow protestors to storm the building.
The music company Universal Music Group has decided to sever ties with the German rock band Weimar after an investigation from a news outlet based in Germany revealed that some of the group’s members have had neo-Nazi affiliations, Billboard reported.
“Based on the information we recently learned from a journalist’s inquiry, we terminated our relationship with Weimar, which consisted of distribution of one album,” Universal Music Group in a statement. “That has been stopped with immediate effect. The information that has come to light made clear that any relationship with the band was absolutely unacceptable to us and inconsistent with our values. We feel deceived by the band. If we knew then what we know today, we would never have released the album in the first place.”
Three of Weimar’s four members met in the neo-Nazi scene in Thuringian in central Germany, according to an investigation conducted by the German publication Der Spiegel. The news outlet said band member Christian P. has been accused of spreading neo-Nazi propaganda and in 2002, he released an album named Murder Squad that featured a swastika on the cover and included antisemitic lyrics denying the Holocaust. He also allegedly has ties to Blood And Honour, an international far-right group that organizes neo-Nazi bands, and was accused of illegally possessing weapons.
Der Spiegel additionally noted that musician Steffen P., who goes by the name Kurt Ronny Fiedler in Weimar, has previously attended a right-wing concert and band member Konstantin P., who goes by the name Till Schneider in Weimar, was once in a neo-Nazi band called Dragoner that released songs also promoting Holocaust denial.
We are sick to our stomach to see what appears to be the antisemitic slur "k*ke" carved into a barrack wall at the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp in Poland (@AuschwitzMuseum). pic.twitter.com/jdxSvARkkp
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 14, 2023
Antisemite who threatened Chuck Schumer’s life gets 5 months in prison
Johnathan Ryan McGuire was sentenced to five months in prison for leveling threats, a homophobic slur, and an antisemitic insult against Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).Netflix show star poses wearing Anne Frank pants
The Oceanside (near San Diego) native left hateful messages on Schumer’s voicemail on May 3, 2022, including stating he would “send some bullets your way.” He also referenced Schumer’s position on abortion. “Yeah, you guys are real upset, huh?” he said in the voicemail message. “You can’t murder babies anymore.”
The hateful call was apparently inspired by the events of the previous day, when a draft of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade leaked to the press.
McGuire’s attorney claimed mental health and drug abuse problems were responsible for his client’s actions. They were “a cry for help,” the lawyer said.
The alleged cry for help included a host of expletive-ridden messages, which also referenced the senator’s Jewish faith. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories
The May 23 indictment noted that McGuire possessed two registered firearms, which he purchased in September 2020 and May 2021.
McGuire, who pled guilty last October, told U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson he took “full responsibility for my vulgar and despicable actions.” The judge expressed concern given McGuire’s conduct in earlier years.
Anne Frank hung pictures of movie stars on the walls of the secret annex where her family hid from the Nazis. But that does not mean it is appropriate for television stars to pose wearing her image on their pants.Morocco venture capital firm seeks more investments in Israeli tech startups
That’s just what interior designer Amanza Smith did when she posed recently for New York Fashion Week with fellow stars of the Netflix reality show “Selling Sunset” Mary Fitzgerald and Romain Bonnet. Smith’s pants contain dozens of black-and-white portraits.
Several commenters on Instagram noticed Che Guevara’s likeness. “Che Guevara hated gay men and had concentration camps in Cuba where he shot them,” one wrote. “Educate yourself first, Amanza.” Another shared a vomiting emoji and added “Killer.” “Omg this woman with Che,” another wrote. “This communist what a shame,” with the crying emoji.
“Amanza you have a communist on your pants! Study your history!” wrote another.
Another commenter professed love for Smith, but added, “I really think that you should be aware about the meaning of the pieces you are wearing. For instance, those pants. It has a picture of the Che Guevara. That man did a lot of damage in Cuba and that man did basically the same as [Hugo] Chavez did to Venezuela.”
What went unnoticed was Anne Frank’s unmistakable likeness on Smith’s pants a few heads below Guevara. Fitzgerald shared multiple photos of the trio with her 2.1 million Instagram followers. Sammie the Stylist shared another image with 27,700 Instagram followers. And Smith shared a video with the pants—which drew extensive praise from commenters—with her 1.1 million Instagram followers. Photographer Babak Rachpoot shared images of the pants with another 14,300 followers.
“Wearing Anne Frank’s image for fashion doesn’t seem right to me,” one person commented, using a pensive emoji. “Amanza’s outfit is incredibly tone deaf.”
Moroccan venture capital firm UM6P Ventures is looking to expand investments in Israeli technologies to help scale up biotech solutions in Africa.Unique Israeli radar system used to help locate Turkey earthquake survivors
“Israel is a champion in many deep-tech domains and we are currently looking into and evaluating a couple of startups in Israel,” CEO Yasser Biaz told The Times of Israel on the sidelines of the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in Jerusalem. “We are planning to add at least four Israeli startups to our portfolio this year, in addition to the two that are already in our portfolio.”
Biaz, who is visiting Israel for the first time said that UM6P is seeking to invest in early-stage startups in such areas as biotechnology and alternative protein related to agriculture and the alternative food market sector.
Casablanca-based UM6P was founded to advance entrepreneurship and boost scientific innovation in Morocco and Africa. The early-stage venture firm is investing in pre-series A startups and operates two funds: one which is focused on digital transformation mainly in Africa and the other specializes in deep-tech technologies.
In 2022, the company made investments in some 20 startups. Its deep-tech fund is focused on agriculture and food, water and energy, pharma and medical, and artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Radar that lets rescuers see through walls was used by the IDF Home Front Command Search and Rescue Brigade to help locate survivors of last week’s earthquakes in Turkey.
At least 40,000 people were reported killed after massive quakes struck Turkey, causing thousands of deaths in Syria as well. A large Israeli delegation helped in search-and-rescue efforts. Micro-power radar helped locate survivors
Camero-Tech, a member of the SK Group, supplied its Xaver 400 and 100 systems to the search-and-rescue expedition, the company said.
“With the help of these systems, the IDF Home Front Command SAR Unit expedition has been able to locate survivors and rescue people who have been trapped in the ruins for days.”
The company describes itself as a “pioneer and world leader in the design and manufacture of pulse-based UWB [ultra-wide band] micro-power radar ‘Through Wall Imaging’ systems.”
Camero-Tech founder and CEO Amir Beeri spoke about using the technology to assist in Turkey.
“As our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this tragic event, we are proud that we have been able to assist the rescue efforts, using Camero systems to successfully save lives,” said Beeri.
The system was sent to Turkey where it was used to help rescue a woman in her 30s. This type of technology was also used to locate and rescue survivors of the 2017 earthquake in Mexico, where the company sold some 20 systems in 2012.
The unique radar can be used alongside other search-and-rescue technologies and systems. Rescue teams use dogs to search and microphones to listen for survivors. Specialized scopes can also be sent down into rubble.
The IDF “Olive Branches” humanitarian aid delegation has officially concluded and the teams have safely made it back to Israel.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 15, 2023
Here is a summary of what our delegation accomplished during their time in Türkiye. pic.twitter.com/dawbGr9Hmj
Actor David Duchovny Learns About Harrowing Journey His Jewish Ancestors Faced to Escape Eastern Europe
Actor David Duchovny made discoveries about his Jewish family members from Eastern Europe and their journey to immigrate to the United States in Tuesday’s episode of the PBS show Finding Your Roots.
Duchovny, who recently starred as a Jewish father in the Netflix film You People, started off by learning that his paternal grandfather, Moshe Duchovny, was born in Berdychiv, which is in now in northern Ukraine. The actor, whose mother is Protestant, got emotional reading his grandfather’s petition for American citizenship filed in 1940.
“It just makes me so sad that I didn’t get to meet him really,” he told Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr. “We missed one another on this plane of existence, right? But here he is coming back.”
Moshe Duchovny died in New York in 1960 at the age of 58 when David was an infant. He was an accomplished Yiddish writer who was also a reporter for a local Yiddish language paper and published several novels. David learned all this from reading an obituary about his grandfather that was presented by Gates Jr.
“You realize that these people who are figures to you had full lives,” said the X-Files star, 62, after reading about his grandfather’s life. “Just to think of him, I mean I knew he was just a reporter of some kind, but I don’t know how vibrant he was and how busy.”
David also discovered that his father’s family in Russia ran a dairy farm and lived in an area where the Jewish community faced antisemitic violence and restrictions. When they were granted permission to leave Russia, they traveled in 1910 to Jaffa, which was then part of Palestine, where they ran an inn.
Their stay in the city was short though when in December 1914, the local Ottoman government violently deported 6,000 Jews, including the Duchovnys, and sent them on a boat to Egypt. The expelled Jews were also robbed of most of their possessions and arrived in Egypt with nothing. David got emotional once again after reading a newspaper article about the devastating fate that befell his great-grandparents and their family.
Two years after arriving in Egypt, David’s great-grandfather and grandfather boarded a ship bound for the United States. The rest of the family arrived in New York in 1920. David said he was “proud” to learn about his family’s perseverance throughout all their hardships.
British Jew killed in Ukraine war had ‘lifelong passion for Israel,’ served in IDF
A British Jew who served in the Israel Defense Forces was killed fighting in Ukraine in December, his family said on Wednesday.
Originally from Glasgow, 45-year-old Jonathan Shenkin died in an “act of bravery” and received a “Valour in Combat” medal while serving as a paramedic in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, his brother Daniel wrote on Facebook, without elaborating on the location or details of his death.
Tens of thousands of people have traveled to Ukraine to join its military’s foreign legion after Russia launched its invasion last year. The Washington Post reported last month that 1,000 to 3,000 remain active, with the bulk of recruits returning home.
Jonathan “made the ultimate sacrifice to defend values we all believe in,” the social media post read.
“Spending much of his life helping others, he was notably involved in the 2009 rescue of an American citizen held hostage in the West Bank,” Daniel wrote, apparently referencing the operation by a group of former IDF soldiers to extract an American woman married to an abusive man. She and her son were rescued from a Palestinian village, according to Hebrew-language media reports.
Shenkin had a “lifelong passion for Israel,” Daniel wrote, noting that his brother ran his own security firm, and traveled to several “hostile arenas around the world.”
POLAND—This is Jozef and Wiktoria Ulma.
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) February 15, 2023
On 24 March, 1944 they—along with their young children—were executed by Nazis for hiding Jewish families. Wiktoria was pregnant with their 7th child.
The entire Ulma family— including the unborn child—will be beatified on Sept. 10. pic.twitter.com/CsztEkMfML
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