Sunday, February 26, 2023
Israeli brothers killed in Samaria terror shooting
Two Israelis were killed in a terrorist attack near the village of Huwara, south of Nablus, in Samaria on Sunday.
The IDF said a terrorist drove to the Einabus junction and opened fire on a passing Israeli vehicle on Highway 60. The gunfire hit two civilians who were evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment, where they were pronounced dead.
They were subsequently identified as brothers Hillel Menachem and Yigal Yaakov Yaniv, both from the nearby community of Har Bracha.
Israeli forces blocked roads in the area of the attack and initiated a manhunt for the perpetrator.
An initial IDF probe found the gunman took advantage of a traffic jam to carry out the attack.
“On behalf of all citizens of Israel, I send from the bottom of my heart condolences to the Yaniv family from Har Bracha over the murder of Hillel Menachem and Yigal Yaakov—may their memory be for a blessing,” said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Our answer to terrorism is to strike at it with force and to strengthen our hold on our country,” he added.
Huwara terrorist still at large after killing two, manhunt underway
Two Israelis were murdered on Sunday in a terrorist shooting attack in the town of Huwara in the northern West Bank.2 Israelis killed in terror shooting in West Bank village near Nablus
The terrorist used a car to ram into an Israeli vehicle that was driving through the town, before shooting and critically injuring the two passengers who later succumbed to their wounds. The terrorist escaped from the scene and the IDF is conducting searches in the area for the suspect.
The two victims were confirmed to be brothers Hillel Menachem and Yigal Yaakov Yaniv.
The brothers were residents of the Har Bracha settlement near Nablus and Hillel had just completed his service in the Israeli Navy.
The Yizhar Hagedola junction and the Tapuah junction were temporarily closed to traffic after the attack as security forces searched for the terrorist.
Magen David Adom paramedic Gil Bismuth who arrived at the scene stated that "When we arrived, we saw the two wounded lying near the vehicle as they were unconscious. Along with an IDF medical force, we gave them initial medical treatment in the field, we put them in military intensive care vehicles and they were evacuated to the hospital in severe condition."
Israeli Ministers Approve Bill Allowing Death Penalty for Terrorists
In the wake of the deadly terrorist attack earlier in the day, Israeli ministers on Sunday approved a bill allowing the capital punishment for terrorism offenses.
The proposal has to pass several votes in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) before it can be ratified into law. Currently, the Jewish state doesn’t have the death penalty.
Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israelis driving in the West Bank town of Hawara. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came as Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Jordan to discuss ways of lowering tensions. The victims’ identity was not made public at reporting time.
The Israeli military said it was pursuing the gunman.
'I want progressives in the US to understand that the Palestinians are oppressed by Palestinians'
With the enormous media pressure facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the proposed judicial reform, new Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan has her hands full.What was the one grain of truth in the UN statement against Israel? - opinion
The proposed overhaul of the judiciary has set off a political firestorm and prompted protests in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
There is intellectual degeneration and ignorance on the Left, Distel Atbaryan, who spent part of her life working in left-wing institutions, notes. The "masses" are protesting, completely convinced that democracy is dying, but they have not checked how the judiciaries work in other countries, compared to Israel, and how judges are appointed elsewhere.
A simple 10-minute explanation of how the balance between the legislative executive and judicial has been violated in Israel for the past 30 years immediately disproves their claims, she stresses.
Q: If that is the case, why didn't the government lay the necessary groundwork ahead of the announcement? Perhaps some of the reactions could have been prevented.
"We thought the ground was ready as the Right had spoken of nothing but the need for a judicial reform for the past five years. The discussions did not focus on the two-state solution, nor the Palestinians, but on the reform. From the moment the elite resorted to incriminating someone who is innocent, it was a mistake to their detriment, because what was under the surface was revealed by the Netanyahu trial.
"And if you look at social media, you will see that was the burning issue. Looking back, there is an error of perspective here, which stems from the fact that we did not take into account that there were many centrists in Israel who were unaware of the discourse. And the Left, which buys ink by the barrels, reached them before us. If I tweet, I will reach a maximum of 20,000 Israelis out of a population of 9 million. When it comes to public opinion, the Left wins. And former and current leaders of the judicial system joining the protests is actually a good thing because the truth has surfaced: that it is ultimately a war of the privileged against those who have been left behind and stepped on for years."
Death, taxes, and United Nations condemnations of Israel seem to be the only certain things in this world, so the latest UN statement denouncing “Israeli settlements” would not seem to merit much of our attention or concern.Jonathan S. Tobin: Altermaniacal Delusions
Except for one thing: buried deep within the UN’s latest outrageous, falsehood-filled, brimming-with-double standards statement was one important grain of truth.
The 313-word statement issued by the UN Security Council on February 21 began with all the usual “deep concern” and “dismay” about Jews having the chutzpah to reside in the 3,000 year-old Jewish national homeland.
Then it proceeded to list, and decry, “unilateral measures that impede peace” – but the list consisted exclusively of Israeli actions. It appears that the UN Security Council cannot conceive of any action by the Palestinian Arabs that might fit the definition of “impeding peace.” Incredible.
Then, stuck deep down in the UN statement, appeared these surprising words: “[The members of the UN Security Council] further recalled the obligation of the Palestinian Authority to renounce and confront terror.”
Notice how, even in this brief, rare moment of speaking the truth, the UN still couldn’t quite bring itself to actually challenge the PA. The sentence used the passive tense – instead of demanding that the PA do anything, it simply “recalls” that the PA has such an obligation. Nevertheless, it’s remarkable that the UN acknowledged that fact at all.
Review of 'We Are Not One' by Eric AltermanThe blood libel pedigree is common to Professors of International Law
The minority of American Jews who are either more religiously observant or politically conservative look at American Jewry and worry. Assimilation, demographic decline, and the collapse of a sense of Jewish peoplehood all contribute to a situation in which most Jews become either insufficiently supportive of a still embattled Israel or actively hostile to it. Meanwhile, the small rump of anti- or non-Zionist American Jews looks at the same situation and bemoans the political reality that the pro-Israel community is still able to rally most of America behind its efforts.
The hard left sees more than a century of Zionist activism in the United States as a confidence game or conspiracy to hoodwink Americans into suborning their national interests in favor of an ungrateful, militaristic, and oppressive Israeli state. They think that Israel ought to receive, at best, a sound thrashing from its American sponsor until it behaves more like American Jewish liberals and not like a people who understand that their survival depends on themselves and not the kindness of strangers who welcomed them into a uniquely tolerant nation. At worst, they think that an “apartheid state” on its way toward elimination deserves a policy of brutal pressure and isolation.
While some may dream of one or the other of those scenarios happening, those still aware of American political realities know that neither one is a possibility in the foreseeable future. The majority of Americans support Israel, and even most liberal Jews aren’t comfortable with the kind of vicious anti-Zionism that frequently manifests itself as anti-Semitism among supporters of the BDS movement seeking Israel’s destruction.
Explaining how this came about is the conceit of veteran Nation magazine columnist Eric Alterman’s ponderous new book, We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel. Though it is packed with excruciatingly dull detail about the infighting among American Jewry, Alterman’s tome provides little in the way of genuine insight or original historical analysis. For all of its veneer of scholarly effort, it is exactly the sort of heavy-handed, snide, and generally clueless effort one might expect from reading him at the Nation.
Alterman’s exegesis makes the banal point that pompous citations of Jewish unity, even in the heyday of postwar American Zionism, have always been more aspirational than descriptive. But Alterman isn’t just trying to make the case that Zionism is a heavy lift for Jews who live in a country in which sectarianism of any kind is despised by liberal elites—save, of course, for those who are designated victims by intersectionality theory, which alleges that beneficiaries of “white privilege” oppress people of color. His goal is to portray Zionists as propagandists for a Jewish national liberation movement, which he thinks demonstrates the validity of the criticisms against it.
One lie has enough power to agitate the climate. No, not the earth’s climate but what is more lethal, the political climate. Whole nations and religions turn on the very smallest, all because of the one climate changing lie. You guessed it: Israel "occupies" Palestinian Arab territory. When I say that “whole religions” turn on Israel and on Jews over the lie, I mean it. The Anglican Archbishop laid into Israel for “invading Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967 by Jewish settlers.”NGO warns Knesset PA creating land bridge through illegal building in Samaria
The continuing lie over the continuing crime is the original sin for everything. Because of it the world gives terror groups leeway, and money, to sow murder and mayhem. Out of the magical lie sprang the narrative “cycle of violence” between ‘dispossessed’ and ‘usurper.’ What the cycle means is that Palestinian Arabs have a legitimate reason to kill Israelis who in turn have a legitimate right (reluctantly and ungracefully given) to defend their lives. Even a few million Jews hold to the golden sin and commensurate narrative.
Have I gone somewhat over the top? Well, look at a Jewish community paper and a Jewish law professor who wrote a column for it this very week.
“The most worrying force (of the 'dangerous' judicial reforms) is the moral corrosion caused by more than 55 years of occupation and the concomitant rise in of the settlement movement. Netanyahu says that Israel intends to settle all areas of the West Bank...there’s no good faith to end the occupation. To maintain the occupation there will be a need for continued significant force. Any semblance of the rule of law is undermined by settlements which are grave violations of international law and essentially legitimate theft and dispossession of Palestinian land.” (SA Jewish Report (23 Feb – 02 March 2023)
In a few lines Professor David Bilchitz has notched up the lie of occupation’s Big Two victims:
-The Truth
-Israel
The professor of, Fundamental Rights, Constitutional Law and International and Human Rights Law, clearly nows the core tricks of the trade. Ominous portend! He makes Israel guilty of the crime that is stock in trade for every anti-Semite and his dog, not omitting BDS and the Prof’s own South African government. The dear man echoes the maniacal mantra: Occupation Occupation Occupation. And then in full fury he pronounces the consequential crime: Jewish Settlements.
The way Bilchitz parries the pair of blood libels must make every last anti-Semite proud. Criminal Occupation and Jewish Settlements rally governments, the media, mobs and masses. They act as a red flag waved at a raging bull. They pit anti-Semites against Judaism and Jews. All going back to the original Adam sin: Israel "occupies Palestinian territories."
Into the dock with you, David Professor Bilchitz! And on to the response to the your mendacity.
The Israeli NGO Regavim on Sunday presented documentation to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee showing massive illegal Palestinian construction in Samaria, particularly where Jewish communities were located before to being evacuated as part of the 2005 disengagement plan.Papua New Guinea to open embassy in Jerusalem
During a discussion held in the context of efforts to repeal the parts of the Disengagement Law applying to northern Samaria, Avraham Binyamin, director of Regavim’s Policy Division, presented aerial photographs to the committee showing thousands of illegal Arab structures in Area C, the portion of Judea and Samaria under full Israeli jurisdiction.
He noted that these illegal structures have created a land bridge between blocs of Palestinian Authority-controlled towns and villages in Area B, thereby undermining the Oslo framework that left the question of territorial contiguity for a negotiated resolution.
“The 2005 Disengagement Law is one more element abetting the creation of a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel,” said Binyamin. “The land on which the de-populated Jewish communities of northern Samaria—Ganim, Kadim, Sa-Nur [and Homesh]—once stood, has been overtaken by illegal Arab construction, despite the fact that the IDF ostensibly retains [security] control of the territory.”
“By emptying the northern Samaria communities of their Jewish residents, the Disengagement Law opened the door for Palestinian Authority annexation of the territory which the Civil Administration has done absolutely nothing to prevent,” he added.
The Knesset approved on Wednesday in first reading a bill to abolish the Disengagement Law, which led to the destruction and evacuation of four Jewish communities in northern Samaria—Sa-Nur, Homesh, Ganim and Kadim—and 21 in the Gaza Strip.
The present bill would restore freedom of movement to Israelis in the area of the four Samaria communities.
The Oceana nation of Papua New Guinea will open its first embassy in Israel in Jerusalem this year, Israel’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday.German ambassador to Israel: Democracy means judicial autonomy
The Christian island nation of some 9 million inhabitants will become one of only a handful of countries to have embassies in the Israeli capital following the landmark move by the U.S. under President Donald Trump.
The move was agreed upon during a phone conversation between Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Papua New Guinea counterpart Justin Tkatchenko.
The two men also discussed expanding bilateral economic relations, especially in the field of advanced agriculture. Tkatchenko promised that his government would continue its support for Israel in the international arena, the Foreign Ministry statement said.
“I would like to thank Papua New Guinea for the courageous ties, their overwhelming support in international institutions, and their decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem,” Cohen said in a statement. “This is further evidence of the warm and important relationship between the countries.”
He pledged to work to encourage other countries to open or relocate their embassies in the capital.
The U.S., Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo maintain their Israel embassies in Jerusalem.
Germany believes an independent justice system is a tenet of democracy and is closely watching the Israeli dispute over a government plan for judicial change, its envoy said, as protesters flooded the streets for an eighth straight week on Saturday.
The new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plowed ahead this week with its proposed changes as parliament took first steps in legislating limits to the Supreme Court's power to strike down laws.
Another change pushed by the ruling coalition would give it more sway in picking judges. The bills have won initial votes in parliament but have yet to be written into law.
"We have a strong interest in Israeli democracy remaining strong because ... this vibrant democracy is an important part of why we feel so committed to Israel," German Ambassador Steffen Seibert told N12 in an interview.
The government's plan has sparked nationwide protests in Israel and caused alarm among economists, former security officials and legal experts at home and abroad.
Critics say it undermines the courts' independence while handing the government unbridled power, which in turn would endanger minority rights, encourage corruption, isolate Israel diplomatically and wreak havoc on its economy.
"As an Orthodox Jew I accept Islam…" pic.twitter.com/rjFovEu0NY
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) February 26, 2023
Anti-Terror Operation in Nablus Is Further Proof of IDF Capabilities
The Test of Ramadan – Hamas’ Plan
The month of Ramadan is a testing period for the Palestinian terrorist organizations that want to turn the current security situation into a new armed intifada against Israel, and for the Israeli security forces who will try to prevent it.
The violent events so far have not developed into a full-scale intifada due to several reasons:
1. The internal Palestinian division between the Fatah and Hamas movements continues.
2. The Palestinian Authority refuses to sponsor the terrorist activities of the armed groups.
3. Most of the Palestinian public in the West Bank does not participate in violent events, and the situation is similar in eastern Jerusalem.
The Palestinian incitement machine is taking advantage of the fact that the Jewish Passover holiday (April 5 – April 13, 2023) will overlap with Ramadan this year. Groups on the Israeli right are planning activities on the Temple Mount and at the Western Wall during the holiday. The Palestinians will broadcast their false narrative that Israel intends to take over the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and divide them physically between Jews and Muslims, as it did at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994.
The Palestinian narrative will point to increasing numbers of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. Last year, 3,670 Jews visited the Mount during Passover, a figure which is expected to increase this year. Some zealous Jews may even proclaim their intention to restore the millennium-old Passover lamb sacrifice this year.
Any Israeli attempt to change the status quo on the Temple Mount is, from the point of view of Muslims, the crossing of a red line.
Hamas has been planning for a long time to ignite a new intifada in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria using two main elements that can arouse the Palestinian street: the security prisoners in Israeli prisons and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Therefore, the security prisoners have announced that they would start a hunger strike at the beginning of Ramadan.
The action plan of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for Ramadan is as follows:
1. proclamation of civil disobedience in the Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.
2. A war of attrition between the armed terrorist groups in Nablus and Jenin against IDF forces and Israeli civilians.
3. Firing rockets from Gaza at Israel to support the new intifada.
4. Calls for individual terrorists to launch attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians everywhere.
5. A call to Israeli Arabs to disrupt the fabric of life in Israel.
Estimates on the Palestinian street are that it will be possible to talk about a new intifada in the West Bank within a few weeks. As Palestinian deaths increase, the number of those joining the new intifada will increase.
Two Jews were murdered in a shooting by #Palestinian terrorists today.
— Israel ????? (@Israel) February 26, 2023
This is how Palestinians in the West Bank responded.
This culture of hate starts with distributing sweets. It ends with innocents being butchered. pic.twitter.com/ggre1Z7o9A
A Palestinian explains why they're handing out sweets when terrorists murder Jews
— Adam Albilya - ??? ??????? (@AdamAlbilya) February 26, 2023
For those who support the "resistance", perhaps this will open your eyes:
- You're supporting the Nazi resistance to the existence of Jews, striving to achieve the Judenfreid final solution pic.twitter.com/jYME7LkbTQ
Shechem: A Palestinian boy hands out dates to passers-by as a sign of joy over the terror attack. pic.twitter.com/lN0sJyQuH2
— Adam Albilya - ??? ??????? (@AdamAlbilya) February 26, 2023
Hamas Video Provides Detailed Instructions for Carrying Out Drive-By Shooting Attacks Against Israelis, Shows Militants Simulating Attacks against Pedestrians, Cars: Plan Your Moves, Avoid Police, Finish Off Your Targets pic.twitter.com/hQzm4n2nZh
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) February 26, 2023
Day of hate by antisemites in US = Day of rage by antisemites in Palestinian Authority
— The Mossad: ?????? (@TheMossadIL) February 25, 2023
You don't get to condemn one and excuse the other.
Key Hezbollah financier, ‘global terrorist’ arrested in Bucharest
A Lebanese and Belgian citizen considered a key financier of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah was arrested Friday in Bucharest, Romania’s capital, federal authorities said.
Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 58, who was labeled a “global terrorist” by the United States in 2018 when $10 million was offered for information about his whereabouts, has funneled millions of dollars to Lebanon’s Hezbollah over the years, authorities said.
US Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said the extradition of Bazzi and Lebanese citizen Talal Chahine, 78, was sought on charges contained in an indictment returned last month in Brooklyn federal court.
“Mohammad Bazzi thought that he could secretly move hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United States to Lebanon without detection by law enforcement,” Peace said in a release. “Today’s arrest proves that Bazzi was wrong.”
Charges leveled against Bazzi and Chahine included conspiracy to cause US individuals to conduct unlawful transactions with a global terrorist and money laundering conspiracy. It was unclear who will represent the men when they arrive in the United States.
Daniel J. Kafafian, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New Jersey, said the defendants “attempted to provide continued financial assistance to Hezbollah, a foreign terrorist organization responsible for death and destruction.”
Romanian law enforcement authorities took Bazzi into custody after he arrived in Bucharest on Friday, according to the release announcing his arrest.
Hizbullah TV: Lebanese Entrepreneur Invents First Arab Car That Runs on Electricity and Solar Energy #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/4bLIUUGk2Z
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) February 26, 2023
The Republic of Fear: 20 Years After
Well, [Iraq] may not be a better place, but is certainly less bad than it was 20 years ago.CIA chief: Iran could produce weapons-grade uranium within weeks
Neighboring Iran is facing a bigger outflow of refugees, especially highly educated people, than Iraq.
In 2021, Iraq was no longer among the countries regarded as "vulnerable" in terms of food shortages and famine.
In terms of political and social freedoms, Iraq is also doing better than such neighbors as the Islamic Republic of Iran and the parts of Syria controlled by the Assad regime.
Facing such deadly challenges as the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS/Da'esh) and the attempted Kurdish secession, post-Saddam Iraq has manifested a higher degree of resilience than many might have expected.
It has also succeeded in frustrating attempts by the Islamic Republic of Iran to stall the emergence of an Iraqi national army and the imposition of a militia state.
The war didn't turn Iraq into a model of democracy. But, as an Iraqi friend put it the other day, it ended what Kanan Makiya had called "The Republic of Fear."
Iran could enrich uranium to weapons-grade within weeks, but the United States does not believe Tehran has made the decision to do so, said CIA chief William Burns on Saturday.#WalkoutIRI
Burns was speaking to CBS News’ “Face the Nation” just days after U.S. nuclear watchdog inspectors detected uranium enriched to 84 percent in the Islamic Republic, just below the 90% mark considered to be “military grade.”
“To the best of our knowledge, we don’t believe that the supreme leader in Iran has yet made a decision to resume the weaponization program that we judged that they suspended, or stopped, at the end of 2003,” said Burns in the interview, which airs in full on Sunday.
“But the other two legs of the stool, meaning enrichment programs, they’ve obviously advanced very far,” he continued. “They’ve advanced very far to the point that it would only be a matter of weeks before they could enrich to 90% if they chose to cross that line, and also in terms of their missile systems, their ability to deliver a nuclear weapon once they develop it, has also been advancing as well,” he said.
“We don’t see evidence that they’ve made a decision to resume that weaponization program, but the other dimensions of this challenge, I think, are growing at a worrisome pace too,” he added.
Joint Letter to UN Member States: Walkout on Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on February 27th
The following public appeal is addressed to all UN Member States, and is being sent by formal diplomatic request.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is due to address the annual opening of the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 27 in Geneva.
We urge all country delegations to walk out of the session as soon as Mr. Amir-Abdollahian begins to speak, ideally in coordination with the delegations of other like-minded member nations.
The human rights record of the Islamic Republic of Iran has never been good, but this past year it has outdone itself in repression and violence. Since the hijab protests began, the regime has killed hundreds of protesters, wounded many more, and reportedly thrown into its notorious prisons some 18,000 of its own citizens.
A staged walkout will not be an unprecedented gesture. Just last year, delegates demonstrably got up and walked off when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the same session of the UNHRC.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Javaid Rehman, has described this year’s violence as the culmination of “chronic immunity and lack of redress for previous violations.” Refusing to be a backdrop for an Iranian official’s address to the UNHRC certainly doesn’t constitute redress, but walking out will be a first step to ending the chronic impunity.
Nothing can be done to prevent the Iranian Foreign Minister from coming to Geneva and lying to the assembled delegates about this regime’s own crimes. But the free nations of the world can and must register their horror at Iran’s actions these past months with a coordinated walkout.
The Islamic Republic's foreign minister addressing @UN_HRC is akin to having Jack the Ripper's representative address a homicide bereavement center. It is insulting as the people of #Iran have been beaten, raped, blinded, & killed. Members should #WalkoutIRI en masse on Monday. pic.twitter.com/6Xni4ht0YQ
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) February 25, 2023
Israeli coach files complaint against SA rugby body over boycott of Tel Aviv team
The head coach of the Rishon LeZion Owls rugby club, who previously played rugby in Johannesburg, has submitted a formal complaint to the South African Rugby Union for boycotting the Tel Aviv Heat rugby team.No stage for Roger Waters in Germany - opinion
The South African Zionist Federation and UK Lawyers for Israel helped Joshua Schewitz prepare the complaint, which explains the ways that the South African group violated its constitution when its executive council withdrew an invitation to the Tel Aviv team on Feb. 3.
The Tel Aviv team had prepared to compete in the Mzansi Challenge in South Africa for months, and the South African Rugby Union had twice confirmed the invitation. Israel is a full member of both World Rugby and the International Olympic Committee.
Schewitz called the disinvitation politically motivated and “pandering to the bigotry of unidentified ‘stakeholder groups.’” He added that the South African group’s decision also harms several young South African players who play for the Tel Aviv team, who will be barred from competing.
South African Friends of Israel has sought to understand which stakeholders complained about the Israel team’s involvement.
“Rugby is a game divorced from politics. The players, coaches and supporters love the game due to the nature of the game, which is to play the game hard and then shake hands when it’s finished,” Schewitz stated. “Bringing politics into the game is contrary to rugby ethos.”
In Germany, an alliance of civil society institutions and private individuals are battling for the cancellation of a Roger Waters concert tour. Antisemitic narratives play a central role in the major events of the musician, who has made a name for himself in recent years primarily as a protagonist of anti-Israel agitation. The thought of him performing in a hall, which was the historic site of violence perpetrated against Jews during the November pogroms, is so outrageous, that one can only wonder how such a contract could be signed with Waters in the first place.Luciana Berger rejoins Labour after Starmer apologises for 'disgusting' antisemitism
In the visuals of the former Pink Floyd member’s monumental stage events, stars of David are associated with dollar signs, among other things. Stars of David are drawn on inflatable pigs, which are usually symbolically destroyed at the end of the concerts to the cheers of the audience. The current tour, “This Is Not A Drill,” is explicitly meant to represent Waters’ political agenda, with a statement overhanging the stage, “If you’re here because you like Pink Floyd but can’t stand Roger Waters’ politics, then f*ck off to the bar,” according to concertgoers in the USA.
The mass events currently scheduled to take place in Germany and elsewhere this year, are gatherings that promote Waters’ hatred for Israel and his calls to boycott the Jewish State, and which support his bizarre political theories, last expressed in his speech at the UN or a recent interview in the Berliner Zeitung. His theories, including those about the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, allegedly having been provoked by the USA, cannot be tolerated. Even former band colleagues clearly disassociate themselves from him.
As a known antisemite, conspiracy theorist, and Israel hater, Roger Waters should not be given a stage anywhere. For decades, Waters has been filling gigantic music halls with a program filled with antisemitic narratives and Israel-hatred, calling for discrimination of Jewish-Israeli artists, while successfully pressuring his fellow musicians who want to perform or bring their act to Israel.
Artistic freedom, like the right of free speech, is a fundamental right of every artist and every person, but there are limits to the tolerance one must have in the scope of this freedom. Artistic freedom stops when fundamental human dignity is endangered; when freedom turns into hateful incitement; when agitation turns into discrimination based on religion, national origin, race, color or sex; when political opinions turn into disgusting antisemitism.
Former MP Luciana Berger has rejoined the Labour Party following Sir Keir Starmer’s apology for the "disgusting" and "intolerable" antisemitism she experienced during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
In February 2019 Ms Berger quit the party, citing institutional antisemitism. The Jewish politician had been serving as the party’s MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010.
“The specific experience, the issue of physical threats being made against me in a party that is supposed to pride itself on values of anti-racism,” Ms Berger told the JC in 2019.
She also complained that the party had “sought to dismiss and turn a blind eye” to its catalogue of complaints regarding antisemitism.
Writing to Twitter on Saturday, Sir Keir said he felt "delighted" that Ms Berger had accepted his invitation to rejoin her former party, stating: "My test for change was whether those who were rightly appalled by how far we had fallen believe this is their party again.
In letters between the pair shared by Sir Keir, the Labour leader apologised that his former colleague had been "forced out by intimidation, thuggery and racism" and said she was "principled and brave".
Ms Berger said she believed there had been a "grim journey" between 2015 and 2019 "during which the party fell into the depths of the abyss under Jeremy Corbyn's reign".
She added that she was looking forward to rejoining Labour and "working with" Sir Keir to "continue what you have started".
Keir Starmer:
— LCSCA (@centre_as) February 25, 2023
"You left because you were forced out by intimidation, thuggery, and racism... a principled and brave move.
I write... to apologise... also to invite you back into the party."
Luciana Berger:
"I am looking forward to re-joining the party and working with you.." https://t.co/nqIO8EW8jz
And no, @HuffPost, "at least 10 Palestinian civilians" were not killed in the Israeli raid. The majority of the dead were confirmed terrorists. https://t.co/fYbbozXcEc
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 26, 2023
Please @AlexCKaufman correct the error. pic.twitter.com/E3fs6We1yc
“We are in different countries & in completely different conditions. But the threat is the same: for both us & you – the total destruction of the people, state, culture. And even of the names: #Ukraine, #Israel.” - @ZelenskyyUa, March 2022
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 26, 2023
Enough said, @mehdirhasan @AymanM pic.twitter.com/aAMGuEBs6D
How to know in one sentence who is who in comparisons between the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the Ukraine/Russia conflict.
— Blake Flayton (@blakeflayton) February 25, 2023
If the Arab states/ Russia laid down their arms, there would be no war. If Israel/ Ukraine laid down its arms, there’d be no Israel or Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/wrLpfbUkxh
That's better!
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 26, 2023
Thanks, @FoxNews for responding to our request and correcting the headline. pic.twitter.com/Xb2B7pb5BE
Insect Named for Hitler Draws Criticism from Organizational, Academic Circles
Connections between the Nazis and Volkswagen Beetles are well known. But an insect that looks like Adolf Hitler bearing his name? That’s like letting the bed bugs bite.Planned antisemitic ‘day of hate’ instead becomes day of unity, defiance for US Jews
An insect endemic to Southeast Asia and India, with the scientific name catacanthus incarnatus, is being called a “Hitler bug” for a feature on its back that resembles the dictator’s face, per recent reporting by New Indian Express. (Evidently, the nickname stuck to the bugs as far back as 2011, with a Daily Mail story in 2014.)
The bug was previously called the “man-faced stink bug,” due to its notorious smell. It also is widely regarded as a pest for eating fruit and crops.
The man-face has been given a name, and it’s the most notorious one imaginable.
“I can’t think of any defensible reason to name an insect or any other organism after a reprehensible dictator,” David Skelly, director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Yale School of the Environment professor of ecology, told JNS.
“Animals—of any kind—are neither good nor bad. Loading a species with this name is not something I would ever support,” added Skelly. “It shows a lack of respect for biodiversity science and especially for the millions of people killed by Hitler.”
No major antisemitic incidents were immediately reported in the United States on Saturday, despite widespread alert over a “national day of hate” that had been planned by white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.Shabbat passes peacefully despite 'Day of Hate'
Instead, officials issued statements of solidarity and demonstrations of unity were held in Washington, DC, and elsewhere, while Jewish communities defied the threats by sticking to their normal Shabbat activities.
Law enforcement and Jewish groups had urged vigilance ahead of Saturday after the white supremacists called for followers to distribute antisemitic messaging with banners, stickers, fliers and graffiti.
“Take a stand, and expose the international clique of parasitic vermin that infest our nation,” said a statement last week attributed to the hate groups. “Make your voices heard loud and clear, that the one true enemy of the American people is the Jew.”
Ahead of the weekend, the New York Police Department had stepped up security at houses of worship out of an abundance of caution and urged New Yorkers to “remain vigilant” and report any suspicious activity.
Summarizing the day, the Anti-Defamation League tweeted Saturday evening that “Increased law enforcement presence as well as heightened community awareness helped to ensure this was a Shabbat of peace, not hate.”
Amid a vague threat this weekend to Jewish congregations around the country, and ensuing police warnings to remain vigilant, Rabbi Marc Katz assured his congregation he’s continuing Shabbat services as planned and that the focus will remain on the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.‘Powder keg’ for 9/11: World Trade Center 1993 bombing remembered
Katz’s congregation, Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey, has experienced first-hand this year’s rise in antisemitic incidents, with New York experiencing the most and New Jersey trailing close behind. Last month, the Essex County congregation of more than 500 families was victimized by an attempted firebomber when a flaming bottle of gasoline failed to rupture the glass of a synagogue door. There were no injuries.
Temple Ner Tamid was on high alert again this Shabbat as police departments and Jewish organizations in New York and nationwide were warned of rumors of an organized national “Day of Hate” Saturday, Feb. 25.
Vague threats
The organizers did not indicate targets or locations and as of Saturday afternoon, no specific incidents have been reported. Still, law enforcement, anti-terrorism agencies and antisemitism watchdog groups around the country were warned earlier this week of general action to intimidate and spread fear among Jewish communities by neo-Nazi groups.
News of the “Day of Hate” came following a leaked internal memo by the New York Police Department’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau. The memo warned officers that online organizers are "instructing likeminded individuals to drop banners, place stickers and flyers, or scrawl graffiti as a form of biased so-called action."
“While there are no identified threats to New York City, out of an abundance of caution, the Department will deploy additional resources to sensitive locations, including houses of worship, throughout the weekend,” an NYPD spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. “We urge all New Yorkers to remain vigilant.”
Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the World Trade Center, feeling like she worked at the top of the world. Then came the boom, and smoke started curling in from an elevator shaft.
Unsure what was happening, she joined thousands of other office workers on a harrowing trek down dark, smoky stairs, emerging into the scene of a terror attack.
It wasn’t September 11, 2001. This was February 26, 1993, when a deadly bombing killed six people, one of them pregnant, and injured more than 1,000 — becoming a harbinger of terror at the twin towers.
Jackson hopes that Sunday’s 30th anniversary serves as a reminder that even though decades have passed since the seismic acts of terrorism in the United States’ most populous city, no one, anywhere, can say the threat of mass violence is over.
She knows that more personally than most: On 9/11, she had to flee the trade center’s south tower again.
“I’m a living testament that it can happen to you, and it can happen to you twice.”
Victims’ relatives, survivors, dignitaries, and others are set to gather at the trade center Sunday for a ceremony that will include the reading of the names of the six people killed in the 1993 bombing. Anniversary observances also include a Mass Sunday at a church near the trade center and a panel discussion Monday at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
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