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Monday, February 20, 2023

02/20 Links Pt2: This is how antisemitism thrives; ‘Queering Anti-Zionism’ and the academic boycott of Israel; How is this pastor healing the rift between Black, Jewish communities?

From Ian:

This is how antisemitism thrives
The key point here is that this is how antisemitism became so pervasive in Labour. It wasn’t just because of people who are actively, deliberately antisemitic, though obviously it was because of them too. It was because too many left-wing journalists and thinkers, too many Labour members and online activists decided to look away. They made excuses, ignored things they didn’t like, refused to believe what was right in front of them because it was uncomfortable. This is how antisemitism thrives.

This dynamic is still happening. A couple of days ago, the Brixton branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) posted a pamphlet online calling for Zionists to be sacked, calling them a “brainwashed, racist minority”, and urging the public to not speak to anyone who believes in Israel’s right to exist. Nobody on the left made any comment on this, of course, because the people involved with PSC are on the left; Jeremy Corbyn is, naturally, a patron.

In recent years, antisemitism has been demonstrated to be a real problem on the political left again and again and again. If you spend a day madly tweeting about Starmer barring Corbyn from candidacy without once mentioning antisemitism as the reason why, it becomes very apparent that you are not at all bothered by anti-Jewish racism; to you it is something to sidestep rather than confront.

It’s all very well going around calling yourself an anti-racist, but if you go silent or move into damage limitation mode the moment racism pops up on your side of the fence, you’re no fearless campaigner against bigotry. Spending your time minimising or deflecting antisemitism makes you a big part of the problem; an enabler of all the awful things which have happened these last few years. To make use of a quote Corbyn has tweeted in his time, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

The left is still ignoring antisemitism or covering for it; it has learnt nothing these last few years. But it has at least given the rest of us a good look at how hollow the claims of “anti-racism” are. You want to oppose racism? Start by looking closer to home.
‘Queering Anti-Zionism’ and the academic boycott of Israel - review
Over the last two decades, academic spaces that had once been open for lively and heated conversations about differing opinions have become increasingly isolating and homogeneous, leaving little room for accepting those with whom you disagree, Corinne E. Blackmer states in the premise of her new book, Queering Anti-Zionism.

In Queering Anti-Zionism, Blackmer examines the way in which the BDS movement has taken over the world of academia, in particular the world of queer and feminist studies.

In 2008, Blackmer, a professor of English and Judaic studies at Southern Connecticut State University, came face to face with the discrimination that many Jewish academics endure, despite never having publicly announced her Zionist beliefs prior to that point.

However, as an openly Jewish and openly gay woman, she became the target of a series of homophobic and antisemitic hate crimes over the course of several months, paving the way for her to explore the connection between LGBTQ+ identities and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically within the confines of academic freedom and campus activism.

The infringement on academic freedom
In her introduction to the book, Blackmer states that while the book acknowledges and attempts to do justice to opinions on many sides of the conflict, she believes that the BDS movement is “an infringement on open expression and academic freedom,” which in turn “undermines the respect for complex issues for which there are no right or wrong answers.”

The theme of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict having no simple answers runs throughout the book as Blackmer examines the complex identities of LGBTQ+ Palestinians and Israelis and the reality that exists on the ground, as well as the black-and-white thinking of many anti-postmodernist academic activists when it comes to Israel.

Through examining the works and writings of Sarah Schulman, Jasbit Puar, Angela Davis, Dean Spade and Judith Butler, Blackmer paints a picture of progressive academic thinkers who have all produced profoundly impactful works in their own right, but who seem to fall at the hurdle of treating Israel, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the same respect and open-mindedness with which they treat their other subjects.
Heroes Amid the Holocaust
"Righteous Among the Nations" is an official title awarded by Yad Vashem—the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel—on behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Four basic conditions are listed by Yad Vashem for granting the title. First, there must have been "active involvement of the rescuer in saving one or several Jews from the threat of death or deportation to death camps." Second, there must have been "risk to the rescuer’s life, liberty, or position." Third, the "initial motivation" must have been "the intention to help persecuted Jews: i.e. not for payment or any other reward such as religious conversion of the saved person, adoption of a child, etc." Finally, there must be "existence of testimony of those who were helped or at least unequivocal documentation establishing the nature of the rescue and its circumstances."

As of January 1, 2022, 28,217 individuals have been awarded the title, many nominated by the very people they rescued.

While there are several names that are well known—including Oskar Schindler, portrayed by Liam Neeson in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List—there are thousands more whose courage and relentless morality in the face of unimaginable evil remain unknown to most.

Richard Hurowitz’s In The Garden Of The Righteous: The Heroes Who Risked Their Lives To Save Jews During The Holocaust provides a deeply emotional window into several of these lesser-known and yet equally heroic figures.

Noting that rescue during the Holocaust "remains both a celebration of what is best in us and, in its extreme scarcity, an indictment of the worst," Hurowitz establishes a central purpose of the book: to study "what motivated the rescuers" in order to "perhaps distill the values and manners we wish to cherish and to encourage," exploring 10 accounts of rescue from among the 28,217.


Richard Hurowitz in Conversation with Abe Foxman: In the Garden of the Righteous
At a moment when bigotry, intolerance and authoritarianism are once again ascendant, Richard Hurowitz has written In the Garden of the Righteous, an extraordinary volume chronicling not only the heroes and heroines who rescued Jews but, as Golda Meir once said, “saved hope and the faith in the human spirit.” In conjunction with the opening of our Violins of Hope: Every Violin Has a Story exhibition, part of the Violins of Hope programming at Temple Emanu-El’s Bernard Museum of Judaica, Hurwitz joins us on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day for a conversation with Abe Foxman about the people who refused to close their eyes or immerse themselves in passivity and the lessons they pass on about kindness and conviction.


Palestinian Terrorism-Linked Group Pocketed Massive Amounts of Covid-19 Cash
A nonprofit group in Arizona closely affiliated with Palestinian terrorism received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-backed COVID-19 relief loans, which were later forgiven during the Biden administration, records show.

Alliance for Global Justice was hit with an IRS complaint in January because it fundraised for a French group called Collectif Palestine Vaincra that partners with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terror organization. The federal government handed this same controversial Arizona group over $254,000 in May 2020 as part of the Paycheck Protection Program and forgave the loan in November 2021, according to public loan data.

"Never in my life did I think I would see the day that our government and charities gave handouts to known terrorist organizations. There needs to be accountability and transparency in where our tax dollars are going," Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner, adding that it's "shocking" and "outrageous" AFGJ received PPP funds.

In May 2020, then-President Donald Trump authorized the program through his signing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill meant to provide emergency aid to people affected by COVID-19. The Small Business Administration administered PPP, which allocated $953 billion in aid for businesses, nonprofit groups, and other entities.

PPP has also been notoriously ripe with fraud. It has been estimated that around $100 billion was unlawfully siphoned from the federal program. A government watchdog said on Monday that $5.4 billion may have gone to entities with invalid social security numbers.

Alliance for Global Justice is a left-leaning group that was an offshoot of a network linked to the socialist Nicaraguan Sandinista regime, and it fiscally sponsors entities linked to the PFLP, the Washington Examiner reported. CPV, the French group AFGJ was fundraising for, is part of an anti-Israel coalition called Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.

AFGJ sponsors Samidoun, which has members who double dip as PFLP members. The PFLP has been responsible for major bombings and plane hijackings through the years.
Israeli Rugby Team Launches Program to Promote ‘Respect and Inclusion’ After South African BDS Campaign
Israel’s national rugby team Tel Aviv Heat announced on Sunday its new program that aims to help it connect with players, clubs and supporters from around the world shortly after the Israeli team was disinvited from an international competition in South Africa.

Contributions to the “Bridges Through Rugby” program will be used to support existing and aspiring rugby players develop their skills while also help further the team’s partnerships with professional clubs, unions and academies around the world, including in South Africa. The program will also support international rugby players who want to live and play in Israel for local clubs and well as those who are seeking eligibility to represent Israel as part of Tel Aviv Heat.

The program will also help fund the team’s “sustained campaign of outreach, goodwill events, editorial content, and legal action to thwart BDS propaganda and threats.”

In a document explaining the new program, Tel Aviv Heat quoted former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, who said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”

In August 2022, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) invited Tel Aviv Heat to compete in 2023 Mzansi Challenge — also known as the Currie Cup First Division — starting on March 24 with teams from Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe, and six South African provinces. On Feb. 3, SARU rescinded its invitation following pressure and alleged threats from supporters of the South African BDS Coalition.

In explaining its decision, SARU President Mark Alexander, “We have listened to the opinions of important stakeholder groups and have taken this decision to avoid the likelihood of the competition becoming a source of division.”

Tel Aviv Heat includes a number of South Africans and its coach, Kevin Musikanth, was born in South Africa.
CUNY investigation retaliatory, Jewish professors say
Two Jewish professors at Kingsborough Community College say the New York City community college is targeting them with retaliatory investigations for their complaints about antisemitism on campus. They further allege that the college and its outside counsel acted in bad faith, failing to provide either with a copy of the complaint.

To complicate matters, the college insinuates that the two professors shared the complainant’s address with a news outlet, causing her to fear for her safety. JNS has viewed evidence that the school, which is part of the City University of New York, included the complainant’s address on a letter it sent to her, upon which it copied the accused professors. The letter did not provide the accused any indication of the nature of the complaint.

One of the accused, Michael Goldstein, a business professor at the college, told JNS that the investigation is “definitely retaliatory. There’s no doubt about it.”

“They’re doing this because we’ve made accusations against them,” he added. “This has been going on for years. This is their way of getting back at us.”

JNS has viewed documents confirming that active CUNY investigations are underway against Goldstein and Jeffrey Lax, chair of the school’s business department, for “discrimination” and “harassment.”

Kingsborough is part of CUNY, which has been under fire for years for failing to take action against rampant antisemitism throughout its system, including within faculty, union and administrative ranks.

In 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency, found evidence of discrimination against Jewish CUNY faculty, following an investigation launched by one of Lax’s complaints.
Probe launched into police trainer who shared content describing Jews as ‘filth'
A probe has been launched into a former policeman in charge of training new recruits to the force after a damning report revealed that he shared content describing Jews as “filth”.

Dr Rizwan Mustafa, founding chair of the West Midlands branch of the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP), “shared conspiracy theories” about the origins of al-Qaeda and Islamic State, William Shawcross’ report on the government’s anti-terrorism Prevent strategy revealed earlier this month.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster has now launched an investigation into the former policeman following the revelations.

In a statement posted to Twitter, he said: “I am deeply concerned about this matter and am treating it with the utmost seriousness.

“I have immediately requested that West Midlands Police conduct an investigation into this matter and report to me as a matter of urgency, so that I can then determine the best course of action, based on the outcome of that investigation."

Having spent ten years working for the West Midlands Police, Mr Mustafa now serves as a regional course director at Staffordshire University, where he trains new recruits to the force.

The material shared by Mr Mustafa included a video that contained a “call” that asked: “Where is the Caliph of the Muslims? Don’t you care that the Jews are defiling the place of the prophet’s nocturnal journey with their filth? The Jews are the most hostile people towards the believers.”


The Newswashing of ISIS Bride Shamima Begum
ISIS brides were complicit in ISIS's genocide and crimes against humanity. Never mind that hostages were hung upside down and then burned alive, or locked in cages then lowered into water to drown, or crucified for hours "like Jesus;" or that children were crucified or sold as sex slaves; or that countless others were tortured, raped or lined up to have their throats slit.

The Free Yezidi Foundation recently wrote of ISIS and Begum: "Not only terror death cult, but mass-rape genocidal organization. The decision to join was hers. Her actions contributed to unspeakable acts of brutality, which she would have continued had ISIS, Daesh not been militarily defeated."

"Ms. Begum, for example, claimed that she was only a housewife and did not participate in any heinous crimes or violation of human rights as an ISIS member. Some portrayed her as an innocent schoolgirl who was brainwashed, uninformed, and simply wanted to return home to Britain.... evidence now suggests that she was in fact a member of the ISIS 'morality police, a group of ISIS women which was an integral part of ISIS' terror and atrocity apparatus, and was armed with an automatic weapon on her patrols. The crimes allegedly committed by the morality police include major human rights offenses, including support to ISIS' slave trade of Yezidis." — Free Yezidi Foundation, September 19, 2019.

"'Why are the BBC giving Shamima Begum more airtime?': 'Sickened' viewers slam broadcaster for airing 90-minute documentary that 'parades ISIS bride as a celebrity' just weeks after it launched 10-part podcast 'retracing her steps'. — The Daily Mail, February 18, 2023.

"What we Yazidis expect from the international community is support and solidarity, not digging into our wounds. ISIS criminals must face justice for what they have done and practiced. We expect the West to hold ISIS accountable in court rather than putting them on the cover of their magazine. Such stories are particularly difficult for us as Yazidis because these ISIS women tortured and abused Yazidi women while they were in ISIS's captivity." — Activist for Yazidi rights who lives in Iraq, to Gatestone, February 2023.
BBC News framing of amendment to Israel's citizenship law
In contrast to her portrayal of the newly passed amendment as “racist” and “racism”, the adjective chosen by Knell to describe the long-standing Palestinian Authority practice of paying salaries to convicted terrorists is “contentious” and the recipients are portrayed as “heroes”.

“The monthly stipends offered by the PA to Palestinian prisoners who have carried out attacks on Israelis, or their families, have long been highly contentious.

Israel describes them as a “pay for slay” policy which encourages violence.

It already acts to freeze the bank accounts or seize assets of those who hold Israeli citizenship or Jerusalem residency rights whom it suspects of taking the financial support .

Many Palestinians see the prisoners in Israeli jails as heroes of their nationalist struggle and the PA considers the payments made to them as social welfare.”

Interestingly, Knell chose not to remind her readers that other countries – including the UK, Australia and 14 EU member states – also remove people’s citizenship in certain circumstances, including in cases related to terrorism.

Knell closes her report with the following statements:
“About a fifth of Israelis are Arab citizens who often identify as and with Palestinians.

Most Palestinians in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed in a move not recognised internationally, have the status of permanent residents.”

As we have all too often had cause to note here in the past, the majority of Arab-Israelis do not identify as Palestinians, despite the best efforts of the BBC to convince its audiences otherwise.

Knell refrains from informing her readers that residents of East Jerusalem are entitled to apply for Israeli citizenship and, as is inevitably the case in BBC reporting, she fails to inform readers that the parts of Jerusalem to which she refers were invaded and illegally occupied by Jordan in 1948.
A Jerusalem event for CAMERA UK followers
In his extensively researched new book, Professor Richard Landes documents how a radical inability of Westerners to understand the ideology which drives Jihadism prompted a series of misguided reactions that have shaped these early years of the 21st Century.

As the world comes closer to the second quarter of this century and the political arena has become more polarised, and distrust in the media has become more pervasive, “Can The Whole World Be Wrong?: Lethal Journalism, Antisemitism, and Global Jihad“ offers compelling insights into our current trajectory.

Professor Landes will be discussing the book and the broader issues it raises at the Begin Center in Jerusalem this Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 20:00, with our co-editor Adam Levick, Yossi Kupperwasser, a leading expert on Israeli security and diplomatic strategy; and Times columnist Melanie Phillips.

To register in advance for tickets click here,, or register at the Begin Center the night of the event.


Florida Police Investigating ‘Goyim Defense League’ Antisemitic Propaganda at Daytona 500 Speedway
Police in Florida are investigating the spread of antisemitic propaganda in Daytona Beach after antisemitic activists displayed banners denouncing Jews at the annual Daytona 500 speedway race over the weekend.

A handful of supporters of the so-called “Goyim Defense League” (GDL) gathered on a pedestrian bridge leading to the event on Sunday holding up banners reading “Communism is Jewish” and “Henry Ford Was Right About The Jews.” The founder of the Ford motor company was one of the most notorious antisemites in the US during the twentieth century, whose book, “The International Jew,” was widely distributed at the time.

The outburst of hatred came just days after two Orthodox Jews were allegedly shot outside a synagogue in Los Angeles last week by a GDL activist who was expelled from dental school for distributing the group’s propaganda. According to a complaint filed by federal prosecutors, Jaime Tran, 28, allegedly called Jews “primitive” and is reported to have texted a former classmate with the messages, “Someone is going to kill you, Jew,” and “I want you dead, Jew.”

Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young dubbed the GDL demonstrators as “First Amendment auditors” whose goal was to bait police into violating their free speech rights in order to launch a lawsuit.

“The Daytona Beach Police Department remained and will continue to remain professional through their encounters with them while they exercised their first amendment rights,” he said.

Young added that “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all those who are affected by hate and discrimination, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that Daytona Beach remains an inclusive destination for all.”

Responding to the provocation, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) observed that the GDL “is a network of rabidly antisemitic provocateurs led by Jon Minadeo who recently relocated to Florida from California.”
As CAA seeks witnesses in “F the Jews” convoy case, senior CPS official incredulously tells Jewish community CPS “probably tried too hard” in failed attempt to prosecute suspects
A senior official at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has told the Jewish community that the organisation “probably tried too hard” in its abortive attempt to prosecute the suspects in the high-profile “F*** the Jews” convoy case.

Nick Price, the Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, made the comments yesterday in a presentation to a Jewish charity.

He said: “I would have loved to have prosecuted that case. Unfortunately we could not positively identify the people in the cars. We couldn’t prove to the criminal standard that the people in the cars are the people that were issuing antisemitic comments. That was a pretty fundamental evidential issue and we couldn’t get beyond that. In the end what we can’t do is create evidence. We can only work with the evidence that we get.”

Answering an audience question, he added: “We tried as hard as we could on that case. If I’m honest, we probably tried too hard. Which is why I think that the community was very disappointed that having begun a prosecution, we ended it.”

The CPS announced last November that it was dropping the case against the remaining two suspects, having already withdrawn charges against two suspects earlier in the year. At the time, Campaign Against Antisemitism demanded that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill KC, “immediately explain this decision or resign”.

As fighting flared in Gaza in May 2021, a convoy waving the flag of the Palestinian Authority set off from the north of England, heading into London. Men in one of the cars shouted from a megaphone: “F*** the Jews…f*** all of them. F*** their mothers, f*** their daughters, and show your support for Palestine.” The speaker went on to call listeners to “Rape their [the Jews’] daughters”. The incident took place a very short distance from a synagogue and was condemned by the Prime Minister and Home Secretary.
Trade and Tourism on the Rise Among Abraham Accords States
Ties among Abraham Accords nations are growing stronger despite the normalization agreements’ lack of popularity in the Arab partner countries.

This is according to the Abraham Accords Peace Institute (AAPI)’s recently released 2022 Annual Report, which examines avenues to improve and expand the agreements initiated by President Donald Trump in 2020. Normalization deals have been signed by Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and Kosovo.

Trade
Total trade between Israel and the Abraham Accords countries increased from $593 million in 2019 to $3.47 billion in 2022. Israel imported $2.57 billion worth of goods and services from these countries last year, up from $378.3 three years earlier, and exported $903.9 million in goods and services, up from $224.8. million.

Tourism
Some 5,200 tourists entered Israel from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Kosovo and Sudan in 2022 (up from 3,500 in 2019), as compared with 470,700 Israeli tourists visiting those same countries in 2022 (up from 39,900 in the earlier period).

Asher Fredman, the director for Israel at AAPI, said that this disparity in numbers comes for several reasons.

“Given the seven-plus decades of anti-Israel demonization and misinformation that was prevalent in these countries, it will naturally take time until large numbers of citizens from these countries feel comfortable visiting Israel,” said Fredman. “Additional reasons for low tourism from the Accords countries to Israel are challenges related to obtaining visas and transiting through Ben-Gurion Airport, and concerns by some citizens of Accords countries that they may face threats or harassment from Palestinians. We are working with all stakeholders to overcome these challenges.”
Israel opens first-ever national pavilion at IDEX arms expo in Abu Dhabi
The Israeli Ministry of Defense on Monday inaugurated its first-ever national pavilion at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in the United Arab Emirates.

As part of joint efforts to strengthen relations with the Abraham Accords countries, SIBAT, the ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate, is leading a delegation of more than 30 Israeli companies at the biennial event, which runs Feb. 20-24. The arms and defense technology sales exhibition in Abu Dhabi is the largest in the Middle East.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Kulas, the head of SIBAT, said that the pavilion’s inauguration marked an “important milestone” in deepening Israel’s partnership with the United Arab Emirates.

“As our defense relations continue to expand, we are proud to present and share the innovative technologies and systems developed and created by Israeli defense industries and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. We plan to hold multiple meetings during the exhibition to discuss new areas of collaboration and are looking forward to bolstering future cooperation with our partners in the UAE,” said Kulas.
How Israel’s HevenDrones latest hydrogen-powered drone can help UAE
Israeli technology company HevenDrones announced that it will unveil its hydrogen-powered drone for defense and commercial use at the upcoming International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) next week in Abu Dhabi.

The new H2D55 model is said to be five times more energy efficient than traditional lithium battery-powered drones, and fly for 100 minutes carrying seven kilograms, according to a press release on Tuesday.

The company says the net-zero-emission lightweight drone does not need regular battery replacements, eliminating the environmental impact of mining lithium, and also reducing ownership costs for companies planning to use it at scale. Start your PRO membership today.

It will premiere at the UAE capital’s IDEX, one of the Middle East and North Africa region’s few defense and security events, which starts Monday. It’s the first of three drones scheduled to be revealed over the next nine months, with each subsequent version having a higher payload and longer battery life, lasting in the air for 100 minutes.

Seth Frantzman, the author of Drone Wars and writer for Defense News and the Jerusalem Post, said that drones with these capabilities are well suited for the UAE in homeland security, law enforcement, and other types of government services. “Drones can be really good for countering smuggling or piracy and also large-scale fires that are difficult to reach,” he said.

Frantzman told Al-Monitor that drones are already serving a useful purpose in Bahrain’s partnership with the US Navy, which the Israeli Defense ministry called the first regional partnership of its kind. An operation called Task Force 59 is using unmanned surface vessels in the Gulf, he said, to find smugglers or deal with Iranian threats.
Israel Boosts Cooperation with Boeing, Purchases 25 Advanced Fighter Jets
Boeing is expanding its cooperation with Israel Air Force, the head of the aerospace industry giant’s military branch said on Monday.

During his visit to Israel, Ted Colbert announced the company will supply Israel with four KC-46 tankers with an option of delivering four more in the future. Boeing will also supply Israel with 25 new and sophisticated fighter jets, F-15 IA (Israel Advanced). Similarly, an option is stipulated of delivering 25 more of those jets in the future.

The aircraft are set to arrive in 2025 and will give Israeli fighter jets the option of staying in the air for a much longer time period. The highly sophisticated KC-46 tanker will gradually replace the aging Boeing 707 currently used by the Israeli Air Force, and which is set to be phased out.

The 707, it should be recalled, was originally designed as a commercial plane and adjusted in Israel to be used a tanker; with the KC-46 it is a completely different story. It is significantly larger, and therefore has the ability to carry much more fuel than the 707, which will allow mid-air refueling.

Due to its size, the KC-46 can also provide other services, such as operating as a field hospital which may operate in hostile areas.

The F-15 IA has a long range and the ability to carry a large number of sophisticated weapons, therefore allowing the Israeli Air Force to work in far away arenas.
How is this pastor healing the rift between Black, Jewish communities?
Pastor Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI), is carrying the torch lit by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. to illuminate these dark times of strife between the Black and Jewish communities.

Born in 1967 in segregated Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised in San Francisco and Stockton, California, in a Christian spiritually Zionist home, he heard sermons from the Old Testament and listened to gospel songs about Jerusalem at his church.

He tells the Magazine, “This was always part of what was a stereotypically Black church.... There are lots of songs of Zion, songs of Jerusalem, spiritual [stories] that go back for centuries that talk about Moses and the children of Israel and Egypt... that’s very standard for most Black church attendees.”

Washington vividly recalls being a senior in high school when he saw a news report about Operation Moses, the rescue mission that saved approximately 8,000 Ethiopian Jews who had escaped civil war and famine and were languishing in refugee camps in Sudan by bringing them to Israel.

“It captured me,” he says. “I wanted to know more later on about the Jewish roots of my faith. These things were all part of my journey... it made me more curious about Israel and wanting to know about Jewish people.” He could not imagine then how much this experience would influence his life.
Over 15,000 Ukrainians Made Aliyah in the Past Year
More than 15,000 Ukrainians have immigrated to Israel since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine a year ago, according to government figures released Sunday.

The immigration statistics put out by the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliya and Integration come five days ahead of the first anniversary of the war, which shows no signs of ending.

“This is one of the largest rescue operations in history,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency. “It is the epitome of the notion of all of Israel being responsible for one another. Our sense of mutual responsibility serves as a moral compass which has guided us through history and will continue to do so.”

The new immigrants arrived in Israel with the help of the Jewish Agency and the cooperation of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which established 18 emergency aliyah centers in countries bordering Ukraine immediately after the Russian invasion.

At these centers, the refugees found safe haven. Once they arrived in the Jewish state, they were placed in hotels across the country as part of the government’s “Operation Coming Home,” which was led by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

The Ukrainian immigrants include many young people who enrolled in special absorption programs, mothers with young children and senior citizens including hundreds of Holocaust survivors.
Ancient Christian maps of Israel, Jerusalem gifted to University of Haifa
The University of Haifa received the gift of a rare map collection made up of 30 maps and atlases containing biblical illustrations and Christian narratives from the 1500s and 1600s.

The gift was bequeathed by the Richard Umansky Living Trust based on the wishes of the late Dr. Richard Umansky, a pediatrician, outdoorsman, traveler and historian.

Umansky studied the maps for decades and eventually gave them to Stanford University to be cataloged and, when he died, given to the University of Haifa.


One of the maps in the collection is a Dutch interpretation of a 13th-century map, dating back to the 1600s.

Copies of the collection are located in different places around the world.

“We're delighted. It was 20 years ago that I wrote an essay about two of these maps, and now they’re actually here,” said Dr. Zur Shalev, head of the Department of General History and the Haifa Center for Mediterranean History at the University of Haifa.

Shalev has found the maps indispensable in his research studying how Christian scholars interpreted Hebrew geographical texts.

“We have maps from German reverend Heinrich Binting, who drew many beautiful maps from the time of the Canaanite people, a Semitic-speaking civilization,” he said. "Binting compiled biblical accounts into a collection of travels. This 16th-century man managed to document long distances in voyages with zero advanced equipment to aid him while explaining the spiritual meaning of Abraham and John the Baptist.”

“Despite previous acquaintance with various parts of the world, maps back then were drawn from the perspective of biblical interpretations rather than physical presence in the drawn location. A cartographer is expected to go into the field and draw based on his voyage.”
300-year-old Jewish mikveh excavated in Auschwitz
A mikveh dating to the 18th or 17th centuries was discovered in the Polish city of Oświęcim, Heritage Daily reported on Friday.

Oświęcim is the Polish name for a place that is far better known for its German name, a name that will live in infamy forever: Auschwitz.

Jews first came to settle in Poland in the early 1200s, according to MyJewishLearning, and, as Heritage Daily notes, first settled in Oświęcim in the 1500s.

History of Jews in Poland
Over the next few centuries, the Jewish population would grow to reach, by the start of the second world war, 8000 members - a figure comprising half of the city’s population at the time, according to the University of California’s Shoah Foundation.

Recently, a piece of this history was discovered. The wooden mikveh, a bath used in Jewish religious life for purposes of ritual purity, was discovered along with other artifacts that dated to the middle ages.

Heritage Daily writes that the excavation efforts were conducted in preparation for the construction of an underground parking garage.

Grzegorz Mądrzycki, one of the archaeologists on the project said, “we dug up a few stairs leading down to a wooden floor, which first appeared to be a fragment of a wooden hut. However, after removing successive layers of earth, it turned out to be a wooden mikvah."

Fortunately for the archaeologists, the mikveh was found in excellent condition, an occurrence that is not a given, especially in regard to ancient wooden structures which are susceptible to rot and decay.
March of Living raises $500,000 to conserve 8,000 shoes at Auschwitz museum
The International March of the Living announced meeting the first “Soul to Sole” crowdfunding goal to conserve 8,000 shoes belonging to Jewish children who perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The group is partnering in the endeavor with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland. The Nazis murdered more than 1.1 million people, including more than 200,000 Jewish children, at the concentration camp and death camp.

“With the passage of time, these shoes have sadly deteriorated, threatening the last testament of the Jewish children who were deported to the camp and murdered there by Nazi Germany,” per an announcement.

It costs about $50 per shoe for restoration, and the group aimed to raise $500,000 in the campaign. “The conservation process will begin soon and will last for about two years,” Revital Yakin Krakovsky, deputy CEO of March of the Living, told JNS.

“The shoes are a symbol of a life lost, and every shoe represents a story that is the whole world,” said Eitan Neishlos, founder and president of an eponymous foundation, who donated to the campaign. “As the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, I will continue to do everything to make sure that the memory of the Holocaust will stay alive.”

Supporter Mati Kochavi, the creator of the Eva’s Story Instagram project, said “the heart aches at the sight of the shoes of the 2-year-old child, who was proud of his first shoes; the mischievous 4-year-old, who climbs on the slippery slide; and the 10-year-old boy, who kept his shoes for a football match.”

“We are left only with the great sadness of the Shoah and honored to participate in the preservation of the shoes of innocent children who perished,” he added.




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