Friday, February 24, 2023
Yair Rosenberg: The Invisible Victims of American Anti-Semitism
In December 2019, two gunmen shot up a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, killing four people and injuring three. In the aftermath of the attack, Representative Rashida Tlaib posted a tweet alongside a picture of one of the Jewish victims, declaring simply, “This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills.” When it became clear that the culprits were, in fact, tied to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, the lawmaker deleted the tweet, and did not post a replacement. In this, Tlaib is not exceptional but representative. When Americans do not have a convenient partisan frame through which to process an anti-Semitic act, it is often met with silence or soon dropped from the agenda. We understand events by fitting them into established patterns, and without them, we can’t even see the event.A Community on Edge
To be sure, anti-Semitic incidents elude our attention for other reasons as well. If an anti-Jewish attack leaves its victims bloodied but breathing, as happened in Los Angeles, it is less likely to make headlines. What’s more, if there is no explicit violence at all, as in the townships of New York and New Jersey, there is often no news. Without a body on the pavement to illustrate the impact, such discrimination remains abstract. There is also the uncomfortable question of the perpetrator’s identity. When the victimizer comes from a victimized community, like the Asian American assailant in Los Angeles or Black attackers in Brooklyn, many observers lack the vocabulary to address the complexity and opt to avoid the conversation entirely. Likewise, when the victims are visibly different, like Orthodox Jews, some have trouble identifying with them. On the flip side, the involvement of a celebrity—such as Kanye West and Mel Gibson—can lend a story greater popular appeal.
But although these considerations have some explanatory capacity, they cannot match the power of partisanship, which regularly enables some acts of anti-Semitism to achieve escape velocity, even as others do not. After all, nothing is able to elevate even the most abstruse anti-Semitism to our attention like a Trump tweet about Jews.
Partisan pull explains how Americans process the problem of anti-Semitism. It is also part of the problem. As long as the frames through which we view anti-Jewish prejudice are narrow and politicized, we will tend to misapprehend its nature and overlook incidents we should not. This has real-world consequences. Just because something goes unremarked doesn’t mean it doesn’t leave a mark. When we lack the language to discuss an anti-Semitic act, we cannot develop a strategy to counter it or find a way to protect and comfort its victims.
Anti-Jewish prejudice is as old as Judaism itself and predates our modern political categories and ideologies. Before there were Republicans and Democrats, progressives and conservatives, there were anti-Jewish bigots. Our response to the problem should acknowledge this fact, and make manifest the victims who have been rendered invisible by our own blinkered biases.
While the LA Jewish community may have been able to breathe a sigh of relief once Tran was arrested, some argue that anxiety remains high in the community. Rabbi Noah Farkas, who heads the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, told the Journal in a phone interview that “the community is still afraid and there’s also anger. And the anger, I believe, is that we know that no matter where antisemitism comes from — whether it’s from the left or the right — the victims of antisemitism are always the same, which is us Jews. And we know that we have been sounding the alarm since last year, since Colleyville, since the Kanye West and Kyrie Irving things. For a long time now, we’ve been sounding the alarm that when you normalize hate speech, and if you have more followers on Twitter and Instagram than there are Jews in the world and you normalize this kind of hate speech, we know historically, we know sociologically, that hate speech leads to hate crime … and that’s exactly what has happened.”Douglas Murray: Netflix's ‘Farha’ and the Perils of Propaganda
Dr. Hillel Newman, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles, told the Journal that he addressed the Pinto Center on Pico Boulevard during Shabbat services on February 17 and that while congregants were “somewhat shaken” they were in “good spirit[s].” “Rabbi Pinto is a wonderful, kind and gentle spiritual authority who leads the community in a most noble way, enjoying great admiration,” Newman said.
In general, Newman’s sense is “that many in the community are on edge now, feeling uncertain about the future, but the majority are calm.” “There is increased interest in making Aliyah,” he added. “I feel that from the many questions I get in this regard. Of course, we will welcome anyone who wishes to immigrate to Israel, but we believe that first and foremost we must guarantee the safety and security of everyone and every community.”
Security remained a priority for the community over the weekend, as police increased patrols in Jewish community areas. Both Young Israel of Century City and Beth Jacob Congregation sent out emails to their members, both of which were obtained by the Journal, saying that they would be beefing up their security after the shootings.
“Everyone is increasing their security profiles,” Farkas said.
Evan Bernstein, who heads the Community Security Service (CSS), said in a statement to the Journal, “The Los Angeles Jewish community should be reassured that the CSS Western States office is closely monitoring and working with its trained security volunteer leadership and teams on the ground, local law enforcement, and national Jewish communal security partners, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. We stand ready to continue ensuring the utmost safety and physical security of Jewish institutions nationwide.”
“Jews shouldn’t have to be fearful of expressing their First Amendment rights that every other American can enjoy — our right to assemble and our right to pray — and this just isn’t right,” Farkas told the Journal, “and we have to keep working to make life safer and more enjoyable for Jews to live here in the city.”
I started to make a list of things about which the viewer in this film will be left entirely ignorant. These include—but are not limited to—the fact that the war of independence of 1948 was not simply an ethnic genocide carried out by Jews against Palestinians but a war of very nearly all against all. Not only Palestinians against Israelis, but a war of all of the neighboring states on the newly created country. Although we get that one glimpse of Mandate-era British troops retreating, we have no sense of Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, and other troops advancing. We have no sign that Palestinians or other Arabs were involved in any atrocities or even fighting at this time.
The film fails as a work of entertainment because it is so un-entertaining. But it fails as a work of art because it is so artless. So what is it doing on Netflix?
My suspicion is that the platform has taken a certain amount of criticism because of the number of Israeli-made productions that have appeared on the platform. Dramas like Fauda have been among the most popular series of their kind on the platform—something that has drawn a certain amount of negative attention in the Arab press. Though just consider the difference between what Fauda does and what Farha does.
Does Fauda show all Palestinians to be evil child-killers? No, absolutely not. The series repeatedly shows Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, and others who want the best for their people and advocate and work for peace. Does Fauda show all Israelis as suffering, put-upon victims and people who are morally untainted? No, it shows people at all levels of society who are morally complex, torn, and self-questioning. Would Fauda even work as drama if it showed Israel without the Arabs as the sort of sepia-tinted Eden as Farha portrays the land without Jews as being? Absolutely not. And in that comparison you see the true ugliness of what Netflix has done here.
The platform has clearly fallen for the idea that it must balance out Israeli productions with Palestinian or Arab productions. In the process it has forgotten the fact that the Israeli-made productions just happen to be made by Israelis. The fact that they are Israeli-made is a production detail, not the point. Such productions are not propaganda films arguing a one-sided pro-Israeli case. They are not, for instance, one-dimensional cartoons depicting Arabs as evil, sadistic child-killers. Yet that is precisely the "balance" that Netflix has chosen to apply against Israel in the belief that this creates some kind of level-playing field. It doesn’t. It simply highlights the differences not just between one side in a conflict and the other but the difference between bigoted sermonizing and entertainment, between propaganda and art.
German City of Frankfurt Cancels Roger Waters Concert, Describing Singer as One of ‘World’s Best-Known Antisemites’
The city of Frankfurt on Friday announced that it was canceling the forthcoming concert of former Pink Floyd vocalist Roger Waters, citing his alleged status “one of the world’s best-known antisemites” as the reason.Governor Glenn Youngkin praises passage of bill to combat antisemitism
The May 28 concert was to have been staged at the German city’s Festhalle venue. A statement from the city council announcing the cancelation observed out that the venue had been used to detain 3,000 Jewish men arrested following the Nov. 9-10, 1938 nationwide pogrom in which Nazi thugs targeted Jews and their property.
The council pointed out that the city of Frankfurt owns a 60 percent stake in the Festhalle venue while the state of Hesse owns 40 percent. The decision to cancel Waters’ appearance was communicated to a local magistrate earlier this week and approved on Friday. Pressure had been growing in Frankfurt to cancel the concert since January.
The council roundly condemned Waters for backing the campaign to subject the State of Israel to a regime of “boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS)” as a prelude to its elimination as a sovereign state, and for pressuring other artists not to perform in Israel. It also highlighted the use of antisemitic imagery in Waters’ past concerts, including a balloon shaped like a pig and embossed with a Star of David and various corporate logos.
German Jewish organizations warmly welcomed the announcement, with the Jewish community in the city declaring in a statement, “We are proud of our Frankfurt today.”
House Bill 1606, which helps to combat antisemitism and was patroned by Delegate Anne Ferrell Tata, has passed with large bipartisan support.David Baddiel: Either cancel Dahl completely or leave his books alone
According to a release sent by Govenor Glenn Youngkin’s office, the bill adopts the “non-legally binding Working Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) on May 26, 2016.”
Youngkin praised the General Assembly for passing the bill saying, ““Hate has no place in the Commonwealth and I’m proud to take continued steps to fight antisemitism.”
Youngkin has been working hard to combat antisemitism since his first day in office when he signed Executive Order Number 8, which established the Committee to Combat Antisemitism.
“I am truly inspired by the devotion shown to transform what started as an idea into a law that will change how we combat antisemitism in the Commonwealth. I want to thank everyone who poured their heart and soul into seeing this bill pass,” said Youngkin.
One of the lesser-known tirades in the portfolio of anti-Jewish rants released by Grime star Wiley when he, um, had a bit of a moment a while ago, was a video which he posted on social media. I can’t find it now, which means I assume Twitter finally decided, in an out-of-character moment, to care enough about antisemitism to press the delete button.‘Gobblefunk:’ Author Roald Dahl’s antisemitic legacy
But I remember that in it, Wiley walks around, as conspiracy theorists of all types like to say, “just asking questions” The principal one he asks, over and over, is: “Why? Why? Why did that happen between them and Hitler. Why did Hitler hate you? For nothing?”
I bring it up now, because whether Wiley knew it or not, asking that question put him in a long tradition, exemplified decades earlier by another well-known antisemite, Roald Dahl. As I’m sure you know Puffin have republished his children’s books with a series of edits designed to tone down perceived offensiveness in his writing.
Words such as “fat” and “ugly” have been removed; references to witches wearing wigs rewritten to allow for the (completely true) fact that many women wear wigs who are not witches; “small men” has become “small people”.
The re-writing involved has been ham-fisted (it’s not impossible to re-edit a children’s writer for modern tastes, but in so doing you need to at least retain a flavour of the original prose). So far, however, no-one has edited an interview he gave in the New Statesman in 1982 where he said: “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity…I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere. Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”
It’s a great example of a particularly British clubbable disdain for Jews, embodied in the word “stinker” – a public schoolboy expression more appropriate for someone who steals from the tuck shop than for a perpetrator of industrial genocide - but it’s also more universal than that.
Because throughout history, from the baselessness of the Blood Libel to modern “globalist” haters – and including of course all the propaganda put out by the stinker himself – a key element of antisemitism has always been a sense that the Jews are responsible for their own misfortune. If bad things happen to Jews, that isn’t racism: Jews deserve it, apparently, because they are globally controlling/money-grabbing/objectively hideous.
Nevertheless, there is some value in the fact that Dahl, thanks to Sunak, is once more a topic of conversation. Two years ago, Dahl’s family proffered an apology for what they described as his “incomprehensible” antisemitism, “buried deep in the author’s website,” as The Guardian put it. That drew short shrift from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who charged that the apology should have “been made long ago—and it is of concern that it has happened so quietly now.” Importantly, the board did not call for Dahl’s books to be censored or removed, arguing that the teaching of his books “should also be used as an opportunity for young people to learn about his intolerant views.” Doing that is far more sensible and educationally useful than tinkering with Dahl’s phraseology.CUNY School of Law faces state probe over anti-Jewish bias after BDS support
The views expressed by Dahl included a 1983 interview with the New Statesman magazine in which he opined that there “is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. … Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.” These are standard antisemitic views, casting suspicion over the supposedly tribal attitudes of Jews in general and ascribing the reason for their persecution to Jewish behavior, rather than non-Jewish stupidity, paranoia and conspiracy-mongering.
Dahl also loathed Zionism and Israel precisely because he loathed Jews—and this point should be a vital element in any attempt to raise awareness of his bigotry. “I’m certainly anti-Israeli, and I’ve become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism,” he told The Independent in 1990. “It’s the same old thing: we all know about Jews and the rest of it. There aren’t any non-Jewish publishers anywhere, they control the media—jolly clever thing to do—that’s why the president of the United States has to sell all this stuff to Israel.”
No doubt, Kanye West would agree. What Dahl’s outbursts show us is that the themes stressed by antisemites today—deliberately and falsely presented as revealing a dramatic truth “the Jews” wanted to keep secret—are long-established. They return and often flourish in times of crisis. Were Dahl still alive today, I have no doubt that he would be hawking the same garbage in media interviews. And that is the only part of his legacy that really matters.
The state Division of Human Rights has opened a bombshell probe into whether CUNY’s School of Law discriminated against Jews when its faculty council passed a resolution last year supporting the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel.Miss Iraq faces off against anti-Israel protestors at UCLA
The “active investigation” was confirmed in a Feb. 16 letter from the agency to Jeffrey Lax, a Kingsborough Community College professor who is co-founder of Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY (S.A.F.E. CUNY).
“You will be contacted by the Human Rights specialist assigned to your case when the active investigation of your complaint begins,” wrote DHR regional director Joyce Yearwood-Drury to Lax, the chairman of Kingsborough CC’s business department.
The state probe has been a long time coming.
S.A.F.E CUNY sent a letter to the human rights agency on July 5 of last year, alleging that the CUNY Law School Faculty Council’s BDS resolution, approved that May, constituted a “discriminatory boycott” against Jewish students and faculty — as well as of Israelis — under the state’s human rights law.
The resolution decried what it called the “unceasing military occupation and colonization of Palestine by the Israeli state” as “both settler colonialism and structural racism, supported politically, financially, and militarily by the US.”
The resolution also demanded that CUNY sever ties with Israel and accused the school of being “directly complicit in the ongoing apartheid, genocide, and war crimes perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people through its investments in and contracts with companies profiting off of Israeli war crimes.”
The faculty also called for the school to terminate student exchange programs with Israel and to sign on to the BDS movement.
“We are pleased to learn that NYSDHR will be conducting an investigation into CUNY for implementing BDS policy at its law school, in blatant violation of New York State’s Discriminatory Boycott Law,” Lax and S.A.F.E. CUNY told The Post. “A significant part of the BDS movement operates as a coordinated and sophisticated effort to directly harm not only Israel, but also the economic interests of persons conducting business in and with Israel, or with people deemed too closely affiliated with the country.
Miss Universe Iraq 2017 Sarah Idan protested against BDS at the University of California Los Angeles on Saturday when the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held its annual conference there over the weekend.
Recording a video of herself walking on the public sidewalks off of the University campus, Idan held a poster that had "BDS is BS: BDS hurts Palestinians" in bold and walked around trying to have a conversation with the BDS group.
Rather than speak to Idan, the group instead called security to have her escorted away from the campus.
"Last weekend, the anti-Israel hate group National Students for Justice in Palestine held their annual conference at UCLA," She wrote on Twitter attaching the video. "This group harasses Jewish students, promotes BDS and spreads lies about Israel. So I went to UCLA to have a conversation with them. To no surprise they didn't want to talk, instead, they sent security and even talked to the Police in a cowardly attempt to silence me."
SJP is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the US, Canada and New Zealand. They are a BDS movement that constantly boycotts Israel.
Last weekend, the anti-Israel hate group @NationalSJP held their annual conference at UCLA. This group harasses Jewish students, promotes BDS, and spreads lies about Israel. So I went to @UCLA to have a conversation with them. To no surprise they didn’t want to talk, instead they… https://t.co/knZ3NMeR8j pic.twitter.com/S1srpWpjwU
— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) February 23, 2023
UJS and Jewish youth groups confirm opposition to UK government’s anti-BDS Bill
The Union of Jewish Students along with leading communal youth groups have expressed the opposition to the UK government’s proposed Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Bill – claiming it impacts on the right to protest against countries that violate civil rights.California School District Pulls Teacher Who Taught Antisemitic Conspiracies Out of Classroom
A motion passed unanimously at UJS conference stated:”the UK government’s recently proposed BDS Sanctions Bill weakens the ability of British Jewish students to approach the conversation about Israel in a nuanced manner.
“The Bill, in the name of ‘community cohesion’ and purportedly the Jewish community seeks to impose a sweeping ban on public bodies making investment decisions based on considerations such as human rights.”
The motion stated:”UJS reaffirms its support for the democratic right to non-violently protest and opposes the government’s proposed Boycott Bill which is a curtailment of that right, as well as presenting a risk to British Jewish communities and a setback to Israeli-Palestinian peace.”
At the same time the motion reiterated student opposition to the BDS movement itself “in particular BDS motions that do not differentiate between internationally recognised pre-1967 borders of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.”
A California high school teacher who taught his class antisemitic conspiracies has been placed on leave of absence, the Hayward Unified School District announced on Thursday.Anti-Israel Propaganda Taught To Toronto Public School Teachers: Where’s The Media Outrage?
As first reported by The Jewish News of Northern California, during a unit on Elie Wiesel’s memoir, titled Night, Hayward High School teacher Henry Bens assigned as class reading “The Hidden Tyranny,” an antisemitic pamphlet authored by a Holocaust denier — Benjamin Freedman — that accuses the Jewish community of conspiring to subvert US power, control the media, and dominate the world politics. Bens, multiple students have alleged, also pantomimed the Nazi salute during lessons.
“Hayward Unified School District does not condone or tolerate any type of hateful or biased rhetoric, including antisemitism,” district spokesperson Lauren McDermott told The Algemeiner on Thursday. “We take these allegations very seriously, and the teacher alleged to have made much statements and used inappropriate materials is currently on a leave of absence.”
Students told Jewish News earlier this month that Bens repeatedly said everything they knew was a lie and that he would “remove the blindfold.” His behavior was first reported in December, but other students said it has persisted for several years. Despite numerous complaints to the administration and direct pleas at school board meetings, he remained in the classroom.
“If I was alive during Hitler’s time, I would have an interview with him.” Bens can be heard saying, according to Jewish News, in an audio recording a student took in secret. “I would let him share his views.”
On Friday, February 17, a professional development (PD) program was hosted at a downtown Toronto high school which featured problematic anti-Israel disinformation.
The session entitled: “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Nakba Denial,” was organized by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) District 12, and was offered to teachers in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) during a PD day.
As noted by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF) in a news article covering this issue in The Toronto Sun on February 19, the session purported to be about combatting anti-Palestinian racism in Toronto public schools but was in fact filled with anti-Israel content.
One of the slides in the presentation referred to “Al Nakba,” meaning “the catastrophe” in Arabic, as being “the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the consolidation of the State of Israel in 1948.” Despite this being one of the most common tropes parroted by anti-Israel critics, the nascent Jewish State did not commit ethnic cleansing or anything remotely resembling it, either in 1948 or since.
While Israel’s War of Independence – which began when the country’s Arab neighbours invaded the newly reborn Jewish nation-state – did see hundreds of thousands of Arabs displaced, many left for a variety of reasons, including actively being encouraged to do so by Arab leaders at the time.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, since 1948, the population of Palestinian Arabs, both within Israel and in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, has increased by more than five-fold.
This is shocking.
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) February 24, 2023
In a London park, an Islamist screams at a Jew that Muslims are going to take Jewish women as sex slaves.
Jews now face this terrifying antisemitism in European cities.
Respect to the Jordanian Muslim who immediately rebuked him. pic.twitter.com/W613melhpw
Grandees attack the Guardian over its Corbyn leader
It seems the wokest paper in all the west has blundered once again. Last Wednesday the Guardian published a leader column on ‘Labour and antisemitism’ in which the bastion of right-on liberalism opined on the party’s record under Jeremy Corbyn. It opined that:
Mr Corbyn has a formidable record fighting against racism and in speaking up for many persecuted peoples, but in this case he was too slow and too defensive. To show how much better he was than some of his critics allowed, he should have tried harder to engage with their criticisms.
But it seems that not all of the Graun’s readers share their paper’s view of the Magic Grandpa’s reign of error. Today’s letters page makes for damning reading, with the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Jewish Labour Movement and one of Britain’s leading historians all queuing up to condemn the newspaper for its somewhat generous interpretation of Jezza’s record in office. Simon Sebag Montefiore began his contribution thus:
Like many other people, particularly my fellow Jews, I was surprised, dismayed and disappointed by your editorial. It is extraordinary that the Guardian should devote a formal editorial to defending Jeremy Corbyn only three years after his toxic crankery led to the unprecedented shame of an Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation into racism.
Ouch. Sebag Montefiore accuses the editorial of ‘craven bad faith’ and masking ‘Corbyn’s strange affinity for repressive, bigoted regimes and organisations.’ It ‘shows contempt for the EHRC’ and ‘implies that antisemitism is something other than racism. In doing so, it makes light of centuries of anti-Jewish racism. It is almost as if your editorial was carefully crafted to hurt Jewish people.’
It's amazing how often denial of antisemitism in Corbyn's Labour involves people saying things that are obviously untrue (from today's @guardian letters page, naturally https://t.co/H45A1hTILr) pic.twitter.com/ua0TsrQyf2
— Dave Rich (@daverich1) February 24, 2023
Outraged by a joint meeting between ambassadors of 3 countries who have just signed a peace agreement they took to the streets of Oxford chanting in favour of an Intifada cos why wouldn't you want people immolating themselves on public transport in order to murder civilians? pic.twitter.com/PW5Lfny4mI
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) February 24, 2023
The only "chilling effect" is the one imposed on Jews and anyone else on campus who wants to learn more about the Middle East. That Israel exists is a fact they can't stomach as evidenced by the desire to clear the area "from the river to the sea" pic.twitter.com/Utd6e7vpc9
— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) February 24, 2023
HRC Prompts Globe Retraction Of False Claim That Ariel Sharon Helped Incite 2nd Intifada By Entering Al Aqsa Mosque - Honest Reporting Canada
On February 22, the Globe and Mail published a lengthy article entitled: “Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir brings fury from the right-wing fringes to Netanyahu’s government,” by international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe, that saw the Globe’s journalist falsely report the following:How Israeli fight against online terrorism led to SCOTUS Section 230 case
“He sees other parallels between the two men. Mr. Sharon helped incite the second intifadah in 2000 by entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as Temple Mount – only to see the ensuing violence boost his own political career.”
Mr. Sharon absolutely did not enter the Al Aqsa Mosque per Mr. VanderKlippe’s claims, he merely walked on the Temple Mount compound. Furthermore, the issue is in fundamental dispute about if Sharon’s walk on the Temple Mount “helped incite the second intifadeh”. For example, the Mitchell Report asserted that: “The Sharon visit did not cause the “Al- Aqsa Intifada.” But it was poorly timed and the provocative effect should have been foreseen; indeed, it was foreseen by those who urged that the visit be prohibited.” Furthermore, this claim ignored the well-documented evidence that the Palestinians incited and prepared for violence that initiated the 2nd intifada.
Reporter VanderKlippe also erred by describing Hebron as “a Palestinian city.”
The impact of online terrorist propaganda is still fresh for Beatriz Gonzalez. Her daughter, Nohemi, was murdered in a 2015 Islamic State Paris attack.BBC WS radio ignores ‘contributors’ affiliations’ guidelines in Israel protests item
“This has been an injustice,” said Gonzalez, “not only for my daughter but for everybody suffering for their lost loved ones – so many families.”
On Tuesday, Gonzalez’s call for justice was heard before the US Supreme Court, in a case alleging that Google is liable for the algorithmic amplification of terrorist content on YouTube.
Gonzalez v. Google and its Wednesday companion case, Twitter v. Taamneh, have not only questioned the responsibility and role that social media platforms play in the recruitment and radicalization of terrorists, but have the potential to reshape the Internet. The cases have challenged Section 230, a controversial code that provides websites with broad immunity from liability for third-party content.
As Gonzalez noted, many families have been seeking justice and to prevent online terrorist impunity on social media. This includes families in Israel. These cases that could change the Internet have their roots in the Israeli fight against online terrorism. What began in Israel has arrived before one of the preeminent courts in the world.
Although listeners were told that Russell Avraham Shalev “supports the reform” himself, they were not given any information on the highly relevant topic of the “affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints” of the think-tank which employs him in its legal department.
The reason that missing information is important was clarified by another member of the same organisation a couple of months ago:
“…Kohelet is not just a successful policy institute but a revolutionary advocacy agency that has had an outsize influence in the intellectual debates of our times. […]
Kohelet also singlehandedly has put on the national agenda the demand for reform of the legal system and the need to re-balance the anchors of Israel’s democratic system – the Knesset and the courts.
In many ways, legal or constitutional reform is the hottest and most acute partisan issue on the domestic agenda, something akin to abortion as the most piercing issue in American politics. And Kohelet put it there (correctly so, in my view). I am sure that Kohelet’s thinkers and legal experts will play a sizeable role in the coming debate over the contours of judicial reform.”
Most of BBC World Service radio’s listeners will not have heard of the Kohelet Policy Forum and would certainly not be aware that the contributor they were hearing represents a foreign funded organisation which has been instrumental in advocating and drafting the highly controversial proposed changes.
What BBC audiences heard in this item were not only the private views of “a lawyer” but part of an ongoing PR campaign run by the Kohelet Policy Forum. The failure to adhere to the ‘contributors’ affiliations’ clause of the BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality means that listeners were not able to put this interviewee’s latest contribution to his employer’s PR campaign into its relevant context.
The user name "jude.slaktaren" is "the jew slaughterer" in Swedish. Apparently @tiktok_us found this to be appropriate, or they don't understand Swedish.
— Conrad Myrland (@miffno) February 23, 2023
What do you think? @TikTokSupport pic.twitter.com/HqTD5O2yBK
Anti-Semitism Was No Sideshow to Martin Heidegger’s Thought
Martin Heidegger was one of the 20th century’s most important philosophers, and his ideas did much to shape existentialism and many other intellectual movements. He also was a member of the Nazi party and for a time an enthusiastic supporter of Hitler—facts that many scholars and thinkers long downplayed or overlooked, treating Heidegger’s political tendencies as separate from his core ideas or as simple cowardice in the face of external pressure. But the publication of his “black notebooks” over the past decade has shown that his commitment to Nazism, and to anti-Semitism, ran deep. Reviewing Richard Wolin’s book Heidegger in Ruins, Jeffrey Herf writes:US Jews on alert as white supremacists plan antisemitic ‘day of hate’ Saturday
The depth of Heidegger’s anti-Semitism was frankly expressed in his many years of correspondence with his brother Fritz. In 1931, two years before Hitler came to power, Wolin tells us Heidegger wrote the following about Mein Kampf: “No one who is insightful will dispute the fact that, whereas often the rest of us remain lost in the dark, this is a man [Hitler] who is possessed of a sure and remarkable political instinct; . . . what is at stake is the redemption or destruction of Europe and Western Culture.” Until 2016, this document was omitted by those overseeing Heidegger’s collected works and correspondence.
As Heidegger scholars have demonstrated for many years, the philosopher placed the conventional political history of the Nazi regime into a grander narrative of “another Beginning” required to overcome a decline of “Being” since the Greeks. For Heidegger, Germany and the Germans occupied the exceptional status in that effort. The Jews, on the other hand, were “rootless” advocates of liberalism. “World Jewry,” a term used only by anti-Semites and made more famous by Nazi propaganda, was bereft of the redeeming depths of the Germans. Or, in Heideggerian terms: “The more primordial and original . . . future decisions and questions become, the more inaccessible they remain for this race [the Jews].”
He expressed these sentiments in the Black Notebooks written between 1939 and 1941—that is, during the years in which Hitler and Goebbels were denouncing “World Jewry” as “the Jewish enemy,” and first threatening then carrying out their extermination.
Heidegger believed that the Jews and their rootless rationalism were responsible for the arrival of modern technology, and he used that formulation to blame them for their own destruction.
Moreover, writes Herf, these ideas did not remain in the Ivory Tower: “A Heideggerian element can be found in Putin’s revanchist dictatorship and in Iran’s anti-Semitic theocracy.”
Law enforcement and Jewish groups in the US are urging vigilance ahead of an antisemitic “national day of hate” planned by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups for Saturday.
The white supremacists have called for followers to distribute antisemitic messaging with banners, stickers, fliers and graffiti. There are no known threats of violence and a Jewish security group said it did not expect widespread participation.
“Take a stand, and expose the international clique of parasitic vermin that infest our nation,” said a statement attributed to the hate groups. “Make your voices heard loud and clear, that the one true enemy of the American people is the Jew.”
The New York Police Department said it had not identified any specific threats in New York City, but would be stepping up security at houses of worship out of an abundance of caution.
The NYPD urged New Yorkers to “remain vigilant” and report any suspicious activity.
The Anti-Defamation League said it had been monitoring the situation and various extremist groups have endorsed and shared plans for the day of hate.
There is currently no genuine threat to the Jewish community in regards to the upcoming Day of Hate, according to frum NYPD Inspector Ritchie Taylor, Commanding Officer of Community Relations.https://t.co/BPn4iyJZP7 pic.twitter.com/yMrq8rFWrY
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) February 24, 2023
Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds Denounce Neo-Nazi Protestors Outside Musical About Lynched Jewish Businessman
A coalition of 18 unions representing workers both on and off Broadway has condemned the antisemitic group of protesters who harassed theatergoers waiting in line to attend Tuesday’s preview performance of Parade, the revival of the acclaimed Broadway musical that tells the true story of a Jewish businessman Leo Frank who was lynched in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1915.Heirs of Nazi-persecuted collector hail justice in auction of Edvard Munch painting
“Theater and the arts have the power to bring people together, promote empathy and understanding, and inspire each of us to make the world a better place,” the Coalition of Broadway Unions & Guilds (COBUG) said in a released statement. The group added that it “is united in its commitment to ensuring that members and audiences can enjoy the transformative power of the arts without fear of harassment or violence.”
COBUG Co-Chair Laura Penn, who is also executive director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, urged for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to get involved and ensure the safety of theater workers and guests. She said, “Antisemitism, vile hate speech, and censorship have no place on Broadway-or in American culture or society. COBUG calls on all members of the theatrical community, all people of conscience, and Mayor Eric Adams to safeguard inclusive environments for everyone who participates in or attends theatrical events in New York.”
Frank was convicted of the 1913 rape and murder of his female employee in Atlanta after facing a trial that was rippled with antisemitism. Flaws in his trial were ultimately exposed that supported Frank’s innocence and his death sentence was reduced to life in prison. But in 1915, a mob broke into his prison, kidnapped Frank and lynched him.
Patrons who were waiting outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City on Tuesday night ahead of the musical’s first preview performance were harassed by antisemitic protesters who distributed fliers that made mention of neo-Nazi and antisemitic hate groups.
An expressionist masterpiece by Edvard Munch, which a renowned German Jewish art expert was forced to sell less than four months after Hitler came to power, is expected to sell for $15-$25 million when it comes up for auction in London next week.NYC council votes to name street after antisemitic Nation of Islam leader
“Dance on the Beach” is going under the hammer on March 1 as part of an agreement between the heirs of Prof. Curt Glaser and those of Norwegian shipowner Thomas Olsen. Olsen acquired the painting at a sale in Oslo in 1934.
Both Olsen — who stowed the painting in a forest barn after the Nazis invaded Norway six years later — and Glaser were friends and patrons of Munch.
The artwork was originally commissioned by the famed Jewish impresario Max Reinhardt for his Berlin avant-garde theater at the turn of the 20th century.
“This exceptional painting is made all the more special due to its extraordinary provenance, a history that has unfolded since it was painted 115 years ago,” said Lucian Simmons, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman and Worldwide Head of Restitution, in a press statement. “Intertwined in the story of this painting are two families — both leading patrons of Munch.”
Sotheby’s has arranged for the painting to go on public display for the first time in more than 40 years in London from February 22 through the auction on March 1.
David Rowland, a lawyer representing the Glaser family, praised the Norwegians’ handling of the case, calling it “exemplary.”
The New York City Council approved a plan Thursday to name a block in Harlem after National of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.Notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz loses appeal against conviction over “grift a shekel or two” music video
“Early on, Elijah Muhammad preached about greedy Jews and advanced the longstanding antisemitic trope that Jews turned Jesus Christ in to the authorities,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Muhammad invited American Nazi Party boss George Lincoln Rockwell to the NOI’s 1962 Saviours’ Day Convention,” where Rockwell dubbed Muhammad “the Adolf Hitler of the black man,” the center added.
Still, the council supported naming the Manhattan intersection of West 127th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard “The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad Way,” reported the New York Daily News.
“He fails every test we could possibly put forward: the test based on the values and views of today, and the values and views of the times in which he lived and worked,” David Carr, a Republican council member said at a committee hearing.
Kristin Richardson Jordan, a far-left council member who represents Harlem and who proposed the street naming, called the honor “way overdue.”
The notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz has today lost her appeal after being found guilty of a communications offence following action by Campaign Against Antisemitism last year.
The two-day appeal hearing at Southwark Crown Court followed last April’s two-day trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court which concerned a video of the scene in the classic Oliver Twist film when Fagin, a fictitious Jewish criminal (a character that has come under significant criticism over the past century for its antisemitic depiction), is explaining to his newest recruit how his legion of children followers pickpockets. Ms Chabloz uploaded the video and sings an accompanying song of her own about how Jews are greedy, “grift” for “shekels” and cheat on their taxes.
The video appeared to be either a bizarre fundraising effort for her mounting legal costs due to numerous charges she has faced, including several ongoing prosecutions in which Campaign Against Antisemitism has provided evidence, or an attempt at mockery of Campaign Against Antisemitism for pursuing her in the courts.
When sentencing Ms Chabloz to the sentence that she has now failed in her appeal against, Judge Nina Tempia said that the defendant “was making up evidence” as she went along, and she did not accept Ms Chabloz’s claim that her song was about the controversial activist Tommy Robinson, describing that suggestion as “ludicrous”. Instead, Judge Tempia said, “I have no doubt” that the song related to Jews. She further noted that, given Ms Chabloz’s previous convictions, she “knew exactly what she was doing” and that she had a propensity to commit these types of offences.
Judge Tempia sentenced Ms Chabloz to 22 weeks’ custody because the matter was, “so serious”. Ms Chabloz would serve half of the sentence in prison and would then be under post-sentence supervision. She was ordered to pay £1,058 in costs by 30th September 2022.
Sickening - on the 1 year anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, vile graffiti was spotted in NYC (Broadway and W. 39th) equating Ukraine with the "Jewish Lobby", the grossly popular antisemitic trope of Jewish power and control. pic.twitter.com/f6YpPV3coH
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 24, 2023
Jewish gun clubs mobilize against rising antisemitism
The London-based Jewish Chronicle recently reported that the Iranian government is “mapping” Jewish leaders worldwide with plans to assassinate them if Israel attacked the Islamic Republic. Antisemitism has for more than two years now been on the rise both stateside and globally. So what are Jews who want, and at times need, to protect themselves and their family to do?Israel Defense Forces: Work Out with Us | The IDF Combat Fitness Exam
One answer has come in the form of individual self-protection. Jewish owners of gun clubs encourage fellow tribe members to learn their way around a weapon and arm themselves.
Tzvi Waldman of Rockland County, N.Y., founded the NYS Jewish Gun Club, which promotes responsible Jewish gun ownership to its roughly 300 members. He said the club’s experienced gun owners help new members become proficient with guns, Waldman.
“There has been an increase in gun ownership among the Chassidic community, especially in the past few years,” noted Waldman.
“Jewish people need to be vigilant, whether it is against a jihadist or a lunatic hopped up on drugs,” he said. “This underscores the need for every congregation to have a trained professional. Whether it is just for a hobby or self-defense, what we try to do is promote responsible and legal gun ownership among the Jewish people.”
Train with Lieutenant Colonel Akiva Grossman, a Combat Fitness Instructor at the IDF Officers Training School. In this interactive video, you can take the IDF Combat Fitness Exam and test your capabilities. Are you able to pass the test?
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