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Monday, February 27, 2023

02/27 Links Pt2: The new antisemitism of human rights; Research Shows Media Rely on Al Jazeera for Israel Reports; El-Al makes first ever flight through Omani airspace

From Ian:

Binationalism and the misuse of Holocaust memory
The mufti asked the Nazis to help eliminate Jews from the Arab world. Hitler offered his support and the plan came close to fruition. As historian Colin Shindler writes, “Had it not been for the victory at El Alamein, SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Walter Rauff would have ordered his Einsatzkommando to liquidate the Jews of Palestine. The Nazis expected local participation in their actions.”

Indeed, the mufti was planning a concentration camp to be located near Nablus.

After the war, the Arabs welcomed Husseini as a hero. Historian Jeffrey Herf notes that Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, called the mufti a “hero who challenged an empire and fought Zionism with the help of Hitler and Germany. Germany and Hitler are gone, but Amin al-Husseini will continue the struggle.”

As Herf shows, Husseini’s collaboration with the Nazis has had an ongoing impact on Palestinian politics. Indeed, Nazi-style antisemitism, including the usual Nazi tropes, has continued among Palestinian officials to this day. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, widely used in Nazi propaganda, is still popular with the Palestinian Authority and is often cited in its largest daily, al-Hayat al-Jadida.

Articles in that newspaper repeatedly demonstrate P.A. anti-Semitism. For example, its editor has complained of “Shylock-style banks that empty our pockets.” Another article asserted that the P.A. must “protect its people and itself from an enemy which bares its Jewish fangs from the four corners of the earth.” One of its writers has accused Zionists of using “Russian Jewish girls with AIDS to spread the disease among Palestinian youth.”

Through al-Hayat al-Jadida, the P.A. also engages in Holocaust denial, referring to “the forged claims of the Zionists.” On its official television station, the P.A. has issued a call “to oppose the Zionist media, which dominates more than half of the media in the world.”

That should all sound familiar to anyone acquainted with Nazi ideology.

Contrary to Beinart’s rosy picture, this is what Israeli Jews can expect from the leadership of a binational state with an Arab majority. So, it’s understandable that they might not want to live in such a state. There’s a valid concern here that cannot be wished away by claiming that Jews should just get over the Holocaust.

Nor is the situation likely to improve. Palestinian students—future leaders—are being indoctrinated with the same antisemitic ideology. A 2017 report by UN Watch shows Palestinian teachers “praising Hitler and posting his photo, and posting overtly antisemitic videos, caricatures and statements.” Third-graders are taught that Jews are to be exterminated. Part of this indoctrination takes place in summer camps modeled on the Nazi youth organization the Hitler Jugend.

It’s understandable that Jewish Israelis might find this troubling.

To claim that the pursuit of peace requires Jewish Israelis to set aside Holocaust memory is just one more example of its misuse. The point is not to get over the Holocaust, but to understand it. That understanding should include an acknowledgment of the Nazi legacy of antisemitic hatred among the Palestinians. That legacy, not Holocaust memory, is the real obstacle to peace.


The new antisemitism of human rights
This is the origin of the antisemitic attack on that Jewish child in Turin. Don’t look for it elsewhere. It is in the atmosphere of contempt for Israel that one breathes everywhere from the media to dinner parties.

It is the hate that explains why tens of thousands of Jews have left Europe in recent years. In Nice, France, for example, the Jewish community has dropped from 20,000 to 7,000 and this trend is ongoing across the continent. Jews no longer wear kippas in public and every 80 seconds an antisemitic post appears on social media. Elderly Jewish women are hurled out of Paris windows and Jewish children are murdered in front of their schools.

Following the Holocaust, the old, Nazi-style antisemitic mythology was taken up by Soviet propaganda, which gave antisemitism a powerful renewed form, with its tropes of colonialist, warmongering Jews and innocent aboriginal Palestinians.

Because it was supported by America, Israel was declared an “imperialist” power, condemned by an automatic majority at the U.N., and buzzwords like “occupation” came to be applied to the entirety of Israel and all its Jews, fundamentally delegitimizing the Jewish state.

At the same time, the Palestinians were given total legitimacy, even as they made terrorism the most terrible weapon of our time, an example for terrorists all over the world, and even as they slaughtered innocents, persecuted their own people and consistently refused offers of peace.

All of this has corrupted the very idea of human rights, whose adherents have become outright antisemites—the worst human rights violators of all. They believe they are protecting human rights by attacking the Jews. Instead, they are enabling the rise of the cultural evil of antisemitism by wrapping it in the mantle of good.
Seth Frantzman: Lessons of one year of war in Ukraine - analysis
Sending arms
Western countries often have a divided between the policies of their foreign ministries and their defense ministries. In the US this is expressed by the differences between the Department of State and the Pentagon. For instance, in the Syria conflict, the US pursued sometimes conflicting goals. US Central Command backed the SDF, but at times key US diplomats appeared to also seek to distance the US from the SDF and eastern Syria and preferred to work with Turkey. This means that the US has often had problems during the global war on terror since 9/11 with the military pursuing narrow goals and not always coordinating well with bigger goals.

This kind of policy disconnect means that in the West it was common for countries to put out statements condemning things, but not do anything. For instance, that is how China was able to build bases on small atolls in the South China Sea.

Russia believed the West was weak and divided and wouldn’t do anything more than put out virtue-signaling statements. Russia was wrong.

The decision to arm Ukraine is a key part of the reason Ukraine has maintained its resistance. The West has rallied and shifted procurement to help Ukraine as fast as possible. This is a big contract with decades of western policies that have often starved some partners of arms. For instance, South Vietnam didn’t have the re-supply it needed to resist in 1976. Other key partners have not always received the weapons they wanted, or in the quantities they need. Support for Ukraine appears to have shifted this policy.

Strong defenses and a Russian paper tiger
Russia has proven itself to be much weaker than it appeared on paper. This is a lesson from the war. Sometimes authoritarian regimes look strong but they may be weak internally. China also appears strong, but is its army, navy and air force as strong as it appears? These are key questions.

Western systems generally have proven themselves very effective in Ukraine. Ukrainians have also shown that willingness to stand up against the Russians has poked a huge hole in the myth of Moscow’s abilities. This has come at enormous expense for both sides. Nevertheless, the combination of Ukraine’s willingness to resist and rally, and Russia’s apparent feet of clay, provides a lesson for future confrontations.

Ideals are better than theories
One last lesson of the war is that theories of international relations generally are hollow when it comes to dealing with reality. The “realists” and others who predicted the US could “engage” with Russia and Iran have been proven wrong.

Russia was never going to do a “reset” with the West, and encouraging trade via pipelines like Nord Stream didn’t moderate Russia. The Ukraine war has shown that idealism, such as backing democracies, is better than the cynical theorists who always believe authoritarians can be trusted.


‘Apartheid Architecture’: Ohio State SJP Criticism of Israel’s Life-Saving Border Walls
On January 31, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Ohio State University (OSU) presented at the Ohio Union on what they call “apartheid architecture.” In a grossly misinformed presentation, two architecture students discussed Israel’s physical security measures and borders, which they claimed serve the sole purpose of oppressing Palestinians and separating them from Israeli society.

However, this claim couldn’t be further from the truth; citizens of Israel have the same constitutional rights regardless of race or religion. Israeli Arabs serve in every facet of public and private life — in the parliament, the Supreme Court, and as diplomats. Nevertheless, according to SJP at OSU, this freedom is somehow similar to apartheid South Africa, where black South Africans’ education was limited and segregated, and they were restricted from working in skilled job positions or having any form of political representation.

Although presenter Ismael Gad, a graduate architecture student, said that “a lot of this information isn’t openly available,” not a single source was cited throughout the presentation.

For instance, a slide from the presentations included several misleading maps. The first map showed a “State of Palestine” in 1947, encompassing all of Israel today as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This map neglects the fact that there has never been an independent Palestinian state. Mandatory Palestine was a British protectorate until 1948, and home to both a sizable Jewish and Arab population.

The rest of the maps were taken out of context and have been debunked numerous times.

Furthermore, the presenters called the Gaza Strip, which Israel voluntarily gave up in 2005 to foster peace with the Palestinians, “the world’s largest open-air prison.” Namely, the presenters claim that the Gaza border wall was built for the express purpose of “controlling Gaza’s resources and those entering and exiting Gaza.”


Adbusters Magazine, Recipient of Taxpayer Funding, Encourages Palestinians to “Plunge into a Third Intifada.”
Adbusters Magazine, a Vancouver-based publication describing itself as “a global collective of writers, designers, musicians, poets, philosophers and punks,” has a long and sordid history of publishing anti-Israel propaganda in its pages.

The magazine has denied Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, labelling the country’s entire 75 years of modern history as “occupation, oppression & apartheid,” it has compared Marwan Barghouti, a convicted Palestinian terrorist in an Israeli jail, with South African icon Nelson Mandela, among many other disgraceful incidents that crossed the line into antisemitism, including its comparing the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw Ghetto.

Tragically, the start of this year has seemingly not brought any new maturity, moderation or nuance to the publication.

In Adbusters’ February 21 edition, the magazine published a very disturbing “Message to the People of Palestine,” which read in part, “fight fight fight for your freedom…plunge into a third intifada…do whatever it takes…fight fight fight like hell…” Below this message, a poster appears calling for “Boycott, Divest, Sanction” of Israel, which Prime Minister Trudeau in the past has strongly condemned.

While publishing anti-Israel propaganda and disinformation is nothing new for Adbusters, this may be a new low.

This message, encouraging Palestinians to “plunge into a third intifada,” is in our view an explicit encouragement of violence and terrorism against Israelis. The intifada, or Palestinian uprising, refers to a period of unrelenting terrorism & violence perpetrated by Palestinians against Israelis, both military & civilian alike.
Globe and Mail Claims Without Substantiation That Israeli Troops Killed 11 Palestinians
On February 23, the Globe and Mail published a report from the Associated Press and Reuters wire service agencies that featured the following unsubstantiated headline:

It’s noteworthy that the AP/Reuters report did not claim outright that Israeli troops killed at least 11 Palestinians, just that 11 Palestinians (now 12) were killed in the Israeli raid.

The reason for this is that it’s ultimately unknown how many Palestinians were killed by Israeli vs. Palestinian fire. The article itself notes that there was a “fierce gun battle” between Palestinian “militants” (terrorists) and Israeli soldiers. To date, no ballistic reports and autopsies have been released.

While it’s likely that Israeli fired killed eight of the Palestinians, all of whom are confirmed terrorists from the Lion’s Den, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the other four of the 12 fatalities causes of death is unknown.

Accordingly, the same day this report was published, HonestReporting Canada asked the Globe and Mail if it can substantiate the claim that Israeli troops killed 11+ Palestinians? It’s important to point out that this headline was not featured in attribution such as, “according to Palestinian sources.”
Radio-Canada Upholds HRC Complaint, Acknowledges Reporting Marred By Journalists Failure To Mention That 5 Palestinians Killed By IDF Were Hamas Gunmen
HonestReporting Canada is pleased to announce a successful outcome following our recent actions in responding to a news report by ICI Radio-Canada which failed to mention that 5 Palestinians killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were all Hamas gunmen.

The February 6 television news report in question was entitled: “Cinq Palestiniens tués lors d’un raid” (Five Palestinians killed in a raid) and it failed to mention that the five Palestinians killed by the IDF were all armed Hamas gunmen.

This omission was particularly concerning as it likely led to a misunderstanding of the situation by viewers who may have only seen the offending headline. Without the aforementioned context stated – that the five dead Palestinians were gunmen of the Hamas terror group – ICI Radio-Canada viewers likely came to the false conclusion that the dead Palestinians were innocent civilians, when in fact, they were armed combatants who initiated hostilities with Israeli soldiers.

HRC issued a complaint calling on ICI Radio-Canada to correct their unfair and inaccurate reporting and to provide this necessary context to their viewers.

We’re pleased to note that Radio-Canada promptly responded to our complaint and after reviewing our concerns, acknowledged shortcomings of their reporting and agreed to sensitize its journalists about the importance of providing context, specifically about the makeup of these Palestinian casualties as all being armed combatants.

In a response sent to HonestReporting Canada, Maxime Bertrand, Director of Community Relations at Radio-Canada said: “The team will be reminded of the importance of context, especially when it comes to conflict.”
How a luxury handbag mogul used the Kanye West controversy as fuel to fight antisemitism
Berk took the money from the Ye sale and added to what was already invested in Truth Tells to build out both a nonprofit and political arm, which launched in June 2022 with the goal of evaluating Jewish politicians according to their voting records and their support or denouncement of antisemitic colleagues in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Members will receive a letter grade, and their constituents will be informed via TV ads and social media campaigns.

Truth Tells’ Q2 ad budget this year is over $1,000,000.

Democrats Cohen, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland have received a preliminary grade of "F" because they allowed lhan Omar, D-Minn., to become second in command of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to keep her position as a vice chair.

Berk also mentioned Rep. Adam Schiff’s CNN interview with Dana Bash earlier this year amid Republican calls for Omar to be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for her pattern of antisemitic comments. The California Democrat failed to condemn the comments in the interview.

"He sidestepped the issue and, as far as I'm concerned, her disqualifications for being in on that committee is the legislation she has voted for and tried to incorporate," Berk said. Truth Tells produced a 60-second ad against Schiff for the interview, noting that he received an "F" rating from the organization for "staying silent in the fight against antisemitism."

While Berk says he’s committed to ensuring Truth Tells remains nonpartisan, he said that’s recently been challenging, noting that every Jewish Democrat in Congress voted against removing Omar from her committee seat.

"If you're a Jewish congressperson, you don't get a pass that you just voted for Iron Dome funding. And so what if you make the trip over there and shake hands?" he said. "What are you doing to stop the root of antisemitism here?

"I firmly believe that the normalization of this, the breadcrumbs go back to 2018 when these Squad members were introduced. And, in swift time, they all became little rock stars, and they've got tens of millions of followers. And those tens of millions of followers … the majority of them haven't done their homework about Israel and Palestine before they're getting forced a vantage point.

"And I don't think this forest fire of New York City's students being beaten up on campus and mezuzahs being stripped off the door at University of Denver and Zionism being banned at Berkeley … like it's all commingled to me," Berk said.

"And if this is a forest fire, it’s the Jewish politicians like Cohen and Frankel and Nadler and Raskin that continue to give these people the oxygen to keep this thing going."
PreOccupiedTerritory: Zionism Is Bad Because Nationalism Is Bad But Not Palestinian Nationalism Because Reasons By Ayama Dumfuq, campus Palestine activist (satire)
To avoid accusations that we anti-Zionists hold antisemitic views, we are forced to claim that we oppose the Jewish State in principle not because we want to deny Jews sovereignty, which sounds an awful lot like antisemitism, but because we oppose all ethnonationalism, which has led to so much suffering. Also, we support the ethnonationalist movement to establish a Palestinian state.

Calling for the destruction of Israel because of its policies runs into problems of inconsistency and hypocrisy: if such behavior delegitimizes a country, then where is the call to destroy numerous other bloodthirsty regimes around the world? Not that we Palestine activists care much about non-Palestine causes except insofar as we can hijack them, but sometimes we like to have a little bit of logic behind our slogans. Absent the rationale to end Israel because of its policies, we must fall back on a different principle, which of course poses a different inconsistency that we tend to ignore: we oppose nation-states constituted by a single ethnicity, not just Israel. We don’t single out Israel at all! OK so actually we do, because every Arab country defines itself as an Arab ethnostate, and the would-be state of Palestine does the same. But Palestine is different because reasons.

Apartheid Israel does not allow Palestinians to become citizens, but Palestine will not allow Jews to become citizens because that’s different. For the same reason, Jews are not allowed to worship at the spot they consider their holiest, because we Muslims revere it as our third-holiest, primarily because it was the Jewish holiest spot, you understand, in that we Muslims had to assert our supremacy and supplanting of Jews as God’s people by building our shrine on that site. We despise the religious supremacy that Zionism represents!

Also the genocide – who can forget the horrific genocide of Palestinians. Not like that fake genocide of which they accuse the poor Germans, for purposes of gaining the world’s sympathy to dispossess others in this land. And then the Zionists deny they commit genocide, simply because we cannot produce the proof to back up the accusation! Only racists needs proof. What kind of people denies someone else’s genocide and accuses them of trying to commit one?
What the Times got wrong about Charedi education
As a graduate of Hasidic boys’ school and yeshivas, my heart sank upon reading the Times weekend essay ‘Why I had to escape my Ultra-Orthodox life in London’.

Here we go again, I thought, treated to a sensational public unveiling of a Dickensian schooling experience, complete with hunger, beatings and deprivation of any true education.

Just maybe, for a change, it’s worth hearing the voice of the overwhelming majority of alumni of Charedi boys’ schools. Mine is typical.

I am proud of the education that I received. Starting out at my Talmud Torah school, I was welcomed to the Aleph Bet with pomp and ceremony on my third birthday.

There was a strong focus on traditional Jewish education and I learnt the richness and depth of my heritage. I acquired four languages (by age twelve I was fluent in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, and confident to navigate the Aramaic of the Talmud), the content we covered was as broad as the Mishneh and Gemarah itself. While grappling with its conquest we gained an enormous appetite for academic endeavor and learnt about critical thinking, rational argument, analysis and diligence.

Like the vast majority of Charedi boys’ schools, my Talmud Torah school was registered with the Department for Education (DfE) and fulfilled the requirements that were in force for the provision of secular education.

Back in my days we covered English, Maths and Science. Did we have the same breadth and balance of secular education that other schools do? No, but that is the gift and prerogative of independent schools. They are independent and free to specialise.

The DfE regulations define a suitable base level of core subjects. Beyond this, independent schools have broad options regarding the education they provide. In Charedi boys’ schools, the difference is the emphasis on the teaching of traditional Jewish texts and studies. This is equivalent to other independent schools across the country that choose to specialise in subjects or areas of expertise outside of the state system norms.
Sham Source: HonestReporting Research Shows Media Rely on Al Jazeera for Israel Reports
It’s no secret that Al Jazeera isn’t exactly the most trustworthy source of information regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Qatar-owned broadcaster routinely depicts Palestinian suicide bombers as “self-sacrificing fighters,” has repeatedly been forced to take down false stories about the Jewish state, and stands accused of coordinating with the US-designated Hamas terrorist organization.

In 2011, a local Al Jazeera employee even admitted to being a senior operative in the Gaza Strip-based terror group.

Al Jazeera’s allegiance was further made explicit in the aftermath of the May 2021 Gaza war when Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar praised the channel’s reporting. “Allow me to extend a special salutation to Al Jazeera… Al Jazeera has been the best pulpit to give accurate voice to our position. All hail to you, heroic fedayeen [of Al-Jazeera],” the terror chief stated at a press conference.

In 2010, the US ambassador to Doha explained that Al Jazeera is “heavily subsidized by the Qatari government and has [proven] itself a useful tool for the station’s political masters,” and a former bureau chief for the network once called Al Jazeera “a mouthpiece for Qatari intelligence.” Much like Russia Today and Iran’s Press TV, the network serves as the PR arm of a dictatorship that severely limits freedom of expression within its own borders.

Qatar, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and funds Hamas and the international boycott movement against the Jewish state, also has strong ties to the Iranian regime.

Needless to say, Al Jazeera’s lack of independence, coupled with its long history of bias, should disqualify it from ever being used as a primary source by bureau reporters. After all, as the NPR Ethics Handbook warns: “Too often, incorrect information is passed down from one news story to another because of the failure of the first outlet to get it right.”
For the sixth time in six months, BBC Arabic corrects “settlements” error
Following communication from CAMERA Arabic, BBC Arabic once again corrected a reference to Jewish communities inside Israel’s internationally recognised territory as “settlements” (before/after):
“Militants launched several missile shells towards what is known as the Gaza envelope settlements area”

This is the sixth time in just under six months that CAMERA Arabic has had to prompt BBC Arabic to correct this recurring error.

The ‘Gaza envelope’ communities are unquestionably located within Israel’s internationally recognised territory. They are therefore “known as settlements” only by those who regard any Jewish sovereignty between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea as a form of illegitimate “settler colonialism”.

Furthermore, that terminology is contrary to the BBC’s own style guide, which clearly defines “settlements” as “residential areas built by the Israeli government in the territories occupied by Israel following the June 1967 war.”

The first three corrections of the same error were made in September of last year.
BBC reporting on a counter-terrorism operation in Nablus
As we see the BBC amended this report several times to include the names and in some cases ages and additional information of seven of the eleven people killed on February 22nd in Nablus as information became available.

That fact is particularly interesting given that just eight days earlier, in response to a complaint from CAMERA UK concerning the failure to name the victims of the February 10th terror attack in Ramot, the BBC had stated:


Unsurprisingly, the BBC’s report includes uncritical promotion of Palestinian Authority and Hamas talking points relating to a counter-terrorism operation:
“Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh condemned what he described as a “massacre”, while a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held Israel’s government responsible for “this dangerous escalation, which is pushing the region toward tension and an explosion”.

The militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, warned that it was “monitoring the escalating crimes conducted by the enemy against our people in the occupied West Bank and is running out of patience”.”

Equally predictable is the report’s promotion of false equivalence between Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli counter-terrorism operations:
“So far this year, more than 60 Palestinians – including militants and civilians – have been killed, while 11 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis.”

As has become standard practice in its coverage of terrorism and counter-terrorism in recent months, the BBC fails to inform audiences that while ten of the eleven Israelis and foreign nationals murdered in January and February 2023 were civilians, the majority of the Palestinians killed were terrorists or males engaged in violence at the time.
Telegraph erases terrorists from Nablus battle
A Feb. 24 Telegraph article (“Israel approves 7,000 West Bank settlement homes in largest single expansion”), co-written by Middle East correspondents Campbell MacDiarmid and James Rothwell, includes the following:
The planned [settlement] construction is likely to add to already heightened tensions following an Israeli military raid that killed 11 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday.

Omitted is the fact that the “raid” was an operation to arrest three wanted terrorists who had previously been involved in carrying out shooting attacks and who were planning to carry out additional attacks in the near future. Telegraph readers also aren’t informed that 6 of the 11 Palestinians killed were members of the Lion’s Den terrorist group, as noted by BBC and other major outlets, citing a post on the group’s own Telegram page.

Another Palestinian killed during the Nablus operation wa also likely a terrorist, and can be seen in this tweet (on the right) armed and standing next to one of the Lion’s Den members killed in the operation.

The omission is important in that it erases Palestinain actions from the explanation of why “tensions” in Israel and the Palestinian territories have been hightening – representing yet another example of the erasuse of Palestinian agency that’s ubiquitous within the British media.

We’ve complained to the Telegraph asking for a correction.


Israel Praises Bulgaria's Cancellation of Neo-Nazi March
The embassy of Israel in Bulgaria would like to express its sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Bulgarian authorities for their successful endeavours to bring about the cancellation of the infamous Lukov March, the embassy said on Twitter on February 25.

“This is of special significance this year in which Bulgaria marks eighty years to the salvation of its Jews during the Second World War, one of the most glorious chapters in its history,” the embassy said.

The embassy said that it would like to thank, first and foremost, the government of Bulgaria and especially the Minister of Interior as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Prosecutor General of Bulgaria as well the mayor of Sofia, the State Agency for National Security, Bulgarian police and all other law enforcing agencies which have brought about this most successful outcome.

“The cancellation of Lukov March is indeed an expression of the strong, continuous and sustainable Bulgarian efforts to combat antisemitism, xenophobia, intolerance and hate speech,” the embassy of the State of Israel said.

“Tonight, it has become evident once again that fighting these vicious phenomena is indeed a major priority for Bulgaria,” the embassy said.

The actions of the Bulgarian authorities will no doubt also resonate far beyond its borders, the embassy of Israel said.


El-Al makes first ever flight through Omani airspace
An El Al Boeing 787 Dreamliner that took off from Tel Aviv for Bangkok on Sunday evening at 8:40 p.m. became the first Israeli commercial flight to cross Omani airspace.

The new route will shorten flight times between Israel and Thailand by three hours, and substantially reduce flight times to several other far eastern countries, according to Ynet. For instance, a flight to India will take five-and-a-half hours instead of eight and a half.

The shorter route is also expected to reduce ticket prices by cutting fuel and personnel costs, though price cuts are not yet reflected in ticket costs.

Other Israeli airlines will also use the new route, including Arkia and cargo carrier Challenge Airlines.

On Feb. 23, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced that Oman had opened its airspace to overflights by Israeli airlines.

The announcement came after months of talks between the Foreign Ministry and authorities in Oman, and after Saudi Arabia last July announced during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel the opening of its airspace to “all carriers,” paving the way for Israeli commercial airlines to overfly the kingdom.

The Saudi move had hitherto proved largely symbolic, as shortening flight times between Israel and countries such as India and China required a similar authorization from Oman.
India, Israel, UAE, US ‘I2U2’ group convenes to strategize food security
India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States—the group known as the I2U2—convened in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 22 to discuss food security. Following the meeting, a top U.S. official told reporters that the group collectively and with other nations aims to make a dent in the current international food crisis.

Jose W. Fernandez, U.S. under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, made the trip to the UAE with Cary Fowler, U.S. special envoy for global food security. Fernandez led the meeting with UAE Minister of State Ahmed Al Sayegh; Dammu Ravi, secretary of economic relations at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs; and Ronen Levy, director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The I2U2 group, which is nearly a year-and-a-half old, helps those in the region better integrate economies and pursue a positive agenda in the Middle East and Asia, the under secretary stated on the call with reporters.

“It serves as a model for promoting trusted regional partnerships that can create collaborative commercial opportunities and good-paying jobs,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez added that the I2U2 facilitates increasing joint investments and initiatives across six sectors: water, energy, transportation, space, health and food security.

“I2U2 reinforces the Biden-Harris administration’s goal to build on the Abraham Accords and other normalization agreements to advance regional integration here in the Middle East,” he said.

The four nations established I2U2 in October 2021 as an intergovernmental economic cooperation forum. The group formed during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call with Israeli, Emirati and Indian counterparts.


Ancient Israelite Cuisine: What Did It Look Like?
Are Jews “appropriating” falafel? What about hummus? Or shawarma? Or other Levantine-Middle Eastern staples such as baklava and labneh? Do we have less of a right to claim these dishes than non-Jewish Levantine populations do?

Because of our long exile in Europe, many refuse to admit that Ashkenazi Jews (i.e. Jews with exile history in Germany/Eastern Europe) have any claim to Levantine identity at all. This, naturally, extends to Levantine cuisine.

However, the entire formulation of Ashkenazim as being foreign to the Levant is false and antisemitic. Therefore, so is the attendant claim that Ashkenazim are “appropriating” Levantine foods like falafel and hummus, as we will soon see.

My argument is not that cultural appropriation is a bogus concept, or that Jews “invented” any of these dishes (although some arguably were invented by Jews). Nor do I mean to argue that Mizrahi Jews (who now comprise the majority of Israel’s population) had these foods with them in their own diaspora countries. Rather, this article is concerned with pointing out that these dishes – or at least, precursors of them – are thousands of years old, predating the Arab conquests and the Roman exile. Thus, they are ancestral to all Jews, including Ashkenazim.

I penned a similar article back in 2019, but the information contained therein has been rendered at least partially obsolete in light of subsequent digging. That is why I have elected to write a new one. My primary sources for this piece are historians/archaeologists specializing in ancient Near Eastern cuisine, namely Miriam Feinberg Vamosh, Mor Altshuler, Nathan MacDonald, Gil Marks, among others.

Without further ado…
Porto Jews push to posthumously reinstate 'Portuguese Dreyfus' into army
The founder of the Oporto Portuguese Jewish community, who has been called “the Portuguese Dreyfus,” is the center of yet another campaign, headed by its current leaders. One hundred years after its founding in 1923, the community is campaigning for the Portuguese state to posthumously reinstate its founder into the army, after he was unjustly expelled because of practicing Judaism.

Arthur Carlos Barros Basto was a Portuguese Army officer who was declared “immoral” in June 1937 for helping returning descendants of Jews to become circumcised.

This is yet another campaign by the Oporto Jewish community in the past few years since it came into the spotlight as result of an amendment in the local law that offered descendants of Jews from around the world the chance to apply for citizenship.

The push to reinstate "the Portuguese Dreyfus" into the army
Three weeks ago, the community called on the European Commission to instigate an impartial international investigation into “an antisemitic action that took place in Portugal using robbers, murderers and convicts who intended to defame the country’s strongest Jewish community, destroy Jewish leadership, halt the influx of Israeli citizens and end the law that granted Portuguese citizenship to Jews of Portuguese origin,” according to Gabriel Senderowicz, Oporto Jewish community’s president.

Leading the efforts of this current campaign is Cpt. Basto’s granddaughter, Isabel Barros Lopes, who is continuing her mother and grandmother’s efforts to have him posthumously reinstated but has so far been unsuccessful.




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